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Saying Goodbye to Alberto Hundreds of mourners came Thursday afternoon to the Bonar Street apartment that was the home of Berkeley High School sophomore Alberto Salvador Villareal-Morales, who was killed by a drive-by shooting Saturday night in Oakland.
           Photo by Michael Howertonn
Saying Goodbye to Alberto Hundreds of mourners came Thursday afternoon to the Bonar Street apartment that was the home of Berkeley High School sophomore Alberto Salvador Villareal-Morales, who was killed by a drive-by shooting Saturday night in Oakland. Photo by Michael Howertonn
 

News

Neighbors Oppose Ashby BART Project By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday January 20, 2006

Nearly 400 neighbors of Ashby BART packed the South Berkeley Senior Center Tuesday night to voice their concerns about the transit village project proposed for the station’s western parking lot. 

And by the time the meeting had ended, 220 of them had sig ned a petition calling for rejection of a CalTrans grant application that would provide $120,000 to develop a project plan. 

The meeting also produced a flood of communications to CalTrans, agency spokesperson Tamie McGowen said Thursday afternoon. 

“We r eceived numerous phone calls and emails, mostly in opposition, but a couple in support,” McGowen said. 

Few who spoke had anything good to say about the plan, which is backed by Mayor Tom Bates and South Berkeley City Councilmember Max Anderson, to install a complex that would include about 300 residential units and a collection of shops in a building to be constructed at the BART lot. 

The meeting opened with presentations by a panel of speakers, with Robert Lauriston leading off. Lauriston, who lives a block from the site, has organized Neighbors of Ashby BART and its website, www.nabart.com. 

“I donated $250 to Max’s campaign, but that doesn’t mean he returns my phone calls,” Lauriston said. 

Proposing a specific development before consulting the neigh borhood “is putting the cart before the horse,” he said. “We may have to figure out for ourselves” what to put on the site. 

Lauriston pointed out discrepancies in the reported number of residential units proposed for the site, noting that the grant appli cation specified a minimum of 300, while project coordinator Ed Church told the City Council that 300 was a maximum. 

Church was chosen by the South Berkeley Neighborhood Development Council (SBNDC) to guide the project, the nonprofit group that filed the application. 

Lauriston also pointed to another neighborhood concern, the 25 percent density bonus that would be allowed for new construction within a transit village district, which includes properties within a quarter-mile radius of a project. 

Panelist Sam Dykes, an Adeline Street merchant who serves on the SBNDC board, had little to say. 

That was not the case with former Planning Commission Chair Zelda Bronstein, who is not a project neighbor. 

“This should be stopped because it’s a back-room deal” and an example of cronyism, Bronstein said. “Judging from the way it’s been handled, I have to say the SBNDC cannot be trusted to represent the South Shattuck neighborhood.” 

Bronstein called on opponents to make their positions known to CalTrans official s who would be awarding the grant, and one Prince Street resident reported Thursday that a friend had contacted 32 friends and family members who had fired off emails to the agency. 

She also questioned whether the village would accomplish one of its goal s, the reduction of automobile trips by its residents—a question raised by other speakers as well. 

Panelist and former Mayor Shirley Dean was invited because organizers figured she would be a backer of the proposal, but she proved to be anything but. 

“T he application says it’s important that there be an open and vital community process, but it has already settled a number of important issues, like the 300 units,” Dean said. “It was on the City Council’s consent calendar, and it was only discussed becaus e a single member of the community, Jackie DeBose, stood up and objected.” 

Dean said she had never before seen an occasion when a grant application had been filed on behalf of the city before its approval by the City Council. Church told the council at t he Dec. 13 meeting where the application was approved that he had filed the document in October because he had become aware of the grant at the last minute before the application period closed. 

Dean said she also objected because the community had no way to hold the SBNDC board accountable. 

Panelist Bob Brokl had been invited because he had spearheaded a successful campaign to derail a North Oakland redevelopment district that had been submitted to residents only after the city had gotten consultants to develop the proposal. 

A 33-year Temescal neighborhood resident, Brokl urged BART project opponents to mobilize neighbors through door-to-door personal contacts and through flyers. 

“Create unusual alliances,” he said, noting that in the North Oakland ca mpaign his group had allied with a prominent Orange County Republican.  

 

Speaker comments 

“A big G-word campaign is happening. The G-word is gentrification,” said David Shoemaker, who works on Adeline Street directly across from the site. 

“I feel we’v e been betrayed by Max Anderson,” said Newberry Street resident Max LeClampe, who proposed a recall campaign against the city councilmember. 

“I want a moratorium on any development at Ashby BART until we get more information on the impact of the Ed Rober ts Center,” said letter carrier Martin Vargas. That center, which will serve the needs of Berkeley’s disabled community and its organizations, is scheduled to be built on the station’s eastern parking lot. 

“Tom Bates and Loni [the mayor’s spouse, Assemblymember Loni Hancock] want to demolish every historical landmark we have in South Berkeley,” Vargas declared. 

“I’m strongly opposed to this project. It doesn’t make any sense,” said Zachary Running Wolf, a Native American activist and the only currently declared candidate to run against Bates in the fall mayoral election. 

Several speakers also raised concerns about the flea market held each weekend on the BART lot. 

Charles Gary, a member of the market’s board who also sits on the board of the Shotgun P layers, which has a theater directly across from the BART lot on Ashby Avenue, read from a letter sent by Community Services United, which manages the market, to the city.  

Osha Neumann, the attorney who wrote the letter and a BART neighbor, ridiculed th e city’s proposal to relocate the market to Adeline Street immediately to the east. 

“We’re talking about the death of the flea market, one of the most diverse communities in Berkeley,” he said, ridiculing the notion that Adeline Street merchants would be happy with the noisy market on a closed thoroughfare in front of their stores and restaurants. 

Adama Mosley, a flea market vendor, said that without the market, “I’d probably be on the welfare rolls.” 

Noting that the market also provides free space to nonprofit community groups and affords residents a chance “to sell the stuff in our attics and basements,” Mosley said. “Berkeley is selling us out. Let’s not let them do it.” 

“How dare they think they can come in here and tell us our community is blight ed?” said Russell Street resident Sam Herbert. “They can’t have our gol-darned neighborhood. If they go forward, I will be circulating a petition for a class-action lawsuit and we will sue the city.” 

Though greatly outnumbered by critics, several speaker s rose to defend the project. One was Max Anderson’s spouse, Linda Olivenbaum, who noted that the councilmember wasn’t able to attend because the council was meeting at the same time. 

Criticizing the panel for a lack of balance, Olivenbaum said “There is no done deal. Fear and lack of reason is taking over. There will be a time when a more balanced discussion can be heard.” 

She said the project would help undo the damage done to the community when the BART station was built and provide needed working cl ass housing. 

Other speakers declared that because only 20 percent of the units would be set aside for lower-income tenants, the rest would go for market rate rents which would unaffordable to working class families. 

Theresa Clark offered her support for the proposal, telling critics that “we need to give people a chance. We need to give the South Berkeley Neighborhood Development Council a chance. I don’t know why people are getting so crazed. You need to mellow out.” 

Her comments drew scattered applau se. 

 

State deadline 

A CalTrans official—speaking on background—said that while the official period for public comment had already closed, the agency would take the emails and calls into consideration. 

The grant application wasn’t presented to the City Council until after the normal comment period had closed. 

CalTrans officials are scheduled to have the list of finalists completed by March 10, when administrators will make the final awards.  

The total of grant money sought far exceeds the available f unding.›


Panel: What Makes a Great Downtown? By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday January 20, 2006

What makes a great downtown? 

‘Look to Portland, Oregon,’ seemed to be the consensus of the experts who outlined their visions Wednesday night to members of the Berkeley Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee (DAPAC). 

The panel gathered in Warren Hall on the UC Berkeley campus to hear four thinkers share their vision. 

One panelist was missing: Austene Hall, of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, who was asked to speak about the history of buildings in the city center. 

“I asked not to be on the panel because I feel, as a preservationist, that I need to speak specifically to Berkeley,” Hall said. 

She said she had asked Matt Taecker, the city planner hired with UC Berkeley money to coordinate the planning process, if she could make a separate presentation, one that would include a representative of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and a preservation architect. 

The four panel members outlined their own criteria for what makes for a workable downtown, starting with Donlyn Lyndon, professor emeritus of architecture and urban design at UC Berkeley and the editor of PLACES, an environmental design journal. 

The key characteristic of a great downtown, Lyndon said, is “that everybody wants to be there at some point. It’s great if the physical configuration makes it memorable.” 

Stressing a point made by all of the panelists, Lyndon said housing was a critical element of a healthy city center, living in “buildings overtly housing other people.” 

“It should be full of choice and opportunity,” he added. 

Panelist Dena Belzer, a Berkeley resident who is a principal of Strategic Economics, a firm specializing in regional economics, and also serves on the board of the Center for Transit-Oriented Development, talked about the evolving new role of city centers. 

While downtowns once served at hubs for department stores, financial institutions, media companies and other institutions, Belzer said, decentralization of information brought about by the Internet, changing demographics, the decline of urban department stores and other shifts were altering the nation of the urban core. 

Nonetheless, she said, downtown Berkeley currently accommodates 7,179 jobs with 5,178 housing units either built, under construction or planned. 

What downtown Berkeley lacks, she said, is synergism and visual cohesion. 

Paul Okamoto of Okamoto Saijo Architecture, asked, “Is there a ‘there’ there?” An advocate of daylighting urban creeks, he said he hopes plans for downtown Berkeley would include restoration of buried waterways. 

Alan Jacobs, UCB professor emeritus of city and regional planning, also served as San Francisco’s Planning Director. 

“A dense urban center creates a critical mass of people, ideas, products and activities that promote growth and trade,” he said. “Any good city has a good transportation system. Really good downtowns are congested. Stop worrying about it—pray for it.” 

Other key characteristics of healthy downtowns include low levels of service at certain periods, “and there is always a shortage of parking in any good downtown,” he said. “Cities that spend the most on traffic and parking are not nearly as good as those that don’t.” 

Jacobs faulted the city for allowing Barnes & Noble to build a one-story bookstore on Shattuck Avenue, when a taller building with housing—and possibly UCB offices—above would have been more appropriate. 

“It’s the habitation of downtown that counts,” he said. 

One member of the audience asked the panelists how they would deal with the homeless who frequent the streets of downtown Berkeley. 

“Downtown needs to be a place where everybody wants to be and if not enough people are using it, it seems to be dominated by one group,” said Lyndon. 

Okamoto suggested adding more truly affordable housing. 

Asked how downtown Berkeley could become “truly inspirational,” Jacobs said “more people and more density,” along with “more clarity and more mystery.” 

“What we don’t have is a really well-formed public space,” said Lyndon, pointing to his pet peeve as an example: Oxford Street. 

“It only serves as a division,” he said. “It doesn’t have a visual character that connects with what’s on either side of it.” 

“The whole creek scene,” said Okamoto. “Provide an open public space and integrate it with the natural environment.” 

“The scale is really great,” said Belzer, “but you drive through downtown Berkeley pretty quickly, so the scale is distorted.” Instead, Belzer suggested slowing traffic and creating more public spaces along the streetscape. 

When Travis told the panelists that UC Berkeley planned to add more than a million square feet of space in downtown Berkeley—the impetus that led to the lawsuit that resulted in creation of DAPAC—Jacobs was surprised. 

“A million square feet in downtown Berkeley? For offices? Who said it?” 

“It’s an opportunity but it creates a great challenge,” said Belzer. “It’s important to look where it could go, where it could fit. That’s a lot to think about, how it could possibly be made to work. A million square feet is a lot of space, but I wouldn’t dismiss it out of hand.” 

Patti Dacey, one of two new DAPAC members, said, “I am puzzled how homogenous this group is. We have only gotten one fairly narrow view of what our marching orders should be. It seems to be density, plus a little bit of nature . . . I feel a little bit like one very narrow vision has been picked for us to be lectured on.” 

Dacey, recently ousted from her seat on the Landmarks Preservation Commission, said she was particularly concerned about the lack of consideration given to landmark buildings.  

“It is true we all know each other and we have a lot that we agree on,” said Lyndon, who also agreed that the city has “wonderful historic buildings downtown.” 

But, he said, “All of those buildings that are historic were once new, outrageous, outside the norm. They rattled people’s cages. It’s important to create additional historic heritage.” 

Jesse Arreguin, a city housing commissioner and Rent Board member who also sits on DAPAC, said he was concerned that the panelists “weren’t specific about the types of housing,” noting that the downtown lacked units for truly low-income people. 

Among those in audience was Mayor Tom Bates, who got the last word. 

UC’s plans posed a major problem, he said. 

“I would love to see what we can preserve and build on. How does it fit with the old? What can we build together? And how can we take Oxford Street and make it blending and not a barrier?” 

The mayor said he hoped the state would turn the old State Health Department building—a huge piece of property—over to the university, and noted that the school already has considerable property along Oxford it could develop.  

 

Other business 

Before he turned the meeting over to the speakers, DAPAC Chair Will Travis acknowledged criticism about his decision to admit UC Berkeley officials to serve on the panel in an ex officio capacity. 

City Councilmember Kriss Worthington had raised concerns about Travis’s appointments to a city commission whose other members had been selected by the City Council and the Planning Commission. 

“There has been some question if the committee has the capacity to invite people to participate in an ex officio capacity,” Travis said, adding that the matter would be presented to the City Council. 

“This is a city commission. That is why it got into trouble,” said former Planning Commission chair Zelda Bronstein during the opening public comment period. “It is your mission to guide city staff, and so far I don’t see any guidance.” 

Travis responded by telling Bronstein that “the worst way of commenting is in this fashion.” 

“What do you mean?” asked DAPAC member Lisa Stephens. 

Travis said that because “numerous studies” have shown that only 20 percent of verbal comments are remembered, remarks were better off submitted in writing.g


Housing Authority Director Resigns Under Cloud of Suspicion By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Friday January 20, 2006

The surprise resignation of the manager of the Berkeley Housing Authority has left City Councilmembers puzzled and Housing Department officials scrambling to find a replacement by the end of the month. 

Director Sharon Jackson made the announcement to Councilmembers Tuesday night in the break between the Berkeley Housing Authority meeting and the Berkeley City Council meeting. The Housing Authority consists of all city councilmembers as well as two appointed tenant representatives. 

But the real shock to the council, according to Councilmember Kriss Worthington, was Jackson’s revelation that she was under investigation by the city’s Housing Department for allegations of malfeasance. 

“She told us that someone had found incorrect data in the Housing Authority database and accused her of entering incorrect data,” Worthington said. 

Worthington said that Jackson did not give details as to the nature of the “incorrect data,” or who had accused her. He said that Housing Director Steve Barton told councilmembers that “it was a personnel matter, and he could not give out any confidential information about the matter at the present time.” 

Councilmember Linda Maio said the accusation and investigation apparently stemmed from allegations of “falsifying data” in the Housing Authority computer database. She said that because of the nature of the Housing Authority’s password system at the time of the alleged data falsification—a password was needed to put data into the system, but all authorized employees were given the same password—department officials could not determine which employee entered data at any given time. 

“The department is correcting that,” Maio said. “They are in the process of changing the system so that they can determine which employee was logged on and entering data at any given time.” 

Maio said that she did not know if results of the Housing Department investigation would come back to the City Council. 

“It depends on what they find,” she said, adding that Jackson told councilmembers that she was not responsible for the incorrect data entry. 

“That fact that [Jackson] told us about the accusation at all was surprising,” Worthington added in a separate interview. “Usually when there’s an accusation against an employee, Personnel doesn’t want us to know about it.” 

The councilmember said that he “didn’t get the impression” that Jackson was saying “there was a causal connection between the accusation and her resignation.” 

Housing Director Barton, Jackson’s supervisor, said in a telephone interview that Jackson resigned because she’s “been in a high stress job for some time. She found another position that pays almost as much with a shorter commute and much less stress.” 

Jackson, who served for two years as assistant Housing Authority manager before serving two years as manager, is taking on the job of deputy director of the Benicia Housing Authority. 

Barton said he was “extremely disappointed” by Jackson’s departure. 

“Good housing authority managers are hard to come by,” he added. “We’re going to have to recruit really fast to replace her.” 

Maio added that the real story was how Jackson had risen up through the ranks to become manager of the Housing Authority. 

“She’s a Berkeley girl who came to work for the city on the clerical staff and worked her way up the ranks to a position of authority,” Maio said. “She cut her teeth in the department. There’s not a lot of people who do that.” 

The Berkeley Housing Authority is a city program operated out of the city’s Housing Department. It is charged with oversight of the city’s public housing programs, including 1800 individual Section 8 vouchers funded through the federal Housing and Urban Development Department, 100 project-based Section 8 units occupied mostly by formerly homeless individuals, and 75 public housing units owned and operated by the City of Berkeley. 

Jackson’s resignation comes at a time when the Berkeley Housing Authority is struggling for its life. 

Two years ago, the Daily Planet reported that the Berkeley Housing Authority’s Section 8 program was mismanaged, poorly staffed, and on the brink of insolvency, according to a sweeping independent study conducted at HUD’s request. The study found problems ranging from thousands of dollars lost in miscalculated rents to no procedures for managing a waiting list of 5,000 applicants for Section 8 housing vouchers, and a backlog of 900 housing units not inspected. 

At the time, the Planet reported Housing Director Barton saying the report’s findings came as no surprise to him because the authority had flunked itself on repeated self-evaluations. 

“The housing authority is lacking just about everywhere, and has been for some time,” Barton said at the time. 

The Berkeley Housing Authority was later put on “troubled” status by HUD, which could allow the federal agency to disband the authority if it does not correct a list of deficiencies by June, including charges that the authority has not submitted required paperwork documenting its expenditures.  

In that event, the city’s voucher program and public housing projects could be transferred to oversight by another local agency, including ones operated by Alameda County or the City of Oakland. But Worthington said that Housing Department officials and employees were confident that they could correct the deficiencies by the June deadline. 

That, however, could come at a cost to the city. 

According to Worthington, City Manager Phil Kamlarz has informed Councilmembers that the city manager has authorized $79,000 out of surplus Housing Authority funds to hire temporary clerical staff to catch up with the HUD-required paperwork. 

Kamlarz has told councilmembers that the surplus funds are almost exhausted, and that council may have to appropriate as much as $100,000 out of the city’s general fund each year to pay for staff to keep up with the federal government’s reporting requirements. 

Worthington called that expenditure “a small price to pay” for the city keeping its Housing Authority.›


Regents Pass Employee Compensation Reform By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Friday January 20, 2006

A month after announcing initial plans to regain public confidence over its handling of employee compensation, the University of California Board of Regents is considering several proposals to tighten controls over salaries of high-paid university officials and professors. 

The crisis began last November after a series of articles appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle charging that many highly paid university employees had gotten close to $600 million in additional compensation packages not publicly reported by the university. 

Coming as it did when the UC Regents were holding the line on lower-level salaries and considering steep student fee increases, the reports spurred an immediate call by legislators, salaried UC employees, and a systemwide coalition of university professors for an investigation into the high-end secret compensation practices. 

Last December, in a telephone press conference with reporters representing newspapers throughout California, regents announced the creation of a permanent Regents’ committee on compensation, initiated an independent audit going back 10 years and released the names of task force members charged with looking into the compensation issue. 

This week, meeting at UC San Diego, the regents formally considered a series of more detailed curbs on employee compensation recommended by UC President Robert Dynes. Included in Dynes’ proposed reform package was: 

• Submission to the Board of Regents for approval of all severance agreements for all top-level UC employees, including the President, Vice Presidents, Chancellors, Department of Energy Laboratory Directors, and Medical Center Directors. 

While the UC President will retain the power to approve all severance packages under $100,000, all severance agreements over that amount will have to be submitted to the Regents. 

The policy is intended to be a stopgap measure until more permanent measures are recommended by the various Regent-authorized committees and organizations looking into the compensation issue. 

• Adoption of a new salary schedule for senior leadership staff. That recommended schedule runs from a minimum of $94,000 to a maximum of $791,600 per year. 

Regents and President Dynes were still meeting at the time of this story deadline, and were not available for comment. 

This week’s meetings are the first for UC Regents on the UC San Diego campus. Regents normally rotate meetings between the UCSF-Laurel Heights campus and UCLA. The last Regents’ meeting, however, was held in November at UC Berkeley.


City, Kennedy Lawyers Discuss Gaia Controversy By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday January 20, 2006

Attorneys for the city and developer Patrick Kennedy are meeting today (Friday) to reach what Kennedy hopes will be a final settlement on the use of the Gaia Cultural Center. 

“We’ve been exchanging letters, e-mails, memoranda and other communications for seven years now,” Kennedy said. 

The latest controversies stem from a rowdy party held in the cultural center—the central part of the Gaia Building’s ground floor—and from a proposal to hold weekly church services for the homeless in the center. 

Anna de Leon, proprietor of Anna’s Jazz Island, the building’s first commercial tenant, called police after a birthday party held in the center on Jan. 7 got out of hand. 

De Leon said she called police after customers became anxious and would-be party-goers were sneaking in through her club. When police arrived, they shut down the party, and de Leon said she counted 191 people leaving a space where the city had declared a maximum capacity of 99. 

“Who would’ve thought that would happen at an 18th birthday party for a Berkeley High School honor student?” asked Kennedy. “I do know there wasn’t any alcohol being served.” 

“No alcohol was being served,” echoed Gloria Atherstone, an officer of Gaia Arts Management, Inc., which administers the cultural center, as well as an officer of Glass Onion Catering, which provides food service for gatherings at the center. 

However Berkeley Police Officer H. Wellington, who wrote up the official report of the incident, said he found two soda bottles abandoned in the building’s lobby that “smelled strongly of alcohol.” 

The crowd grew more rambunctious after the eviction, and several scuffles broke out, resulting in the citation and release of one attendee for throwing a bottle toward the officers, police said. 

De Leon has also alleged that Glass Onion has improperly served alcohol without a liquor license at several functions in the cultural center. 

The state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) has said that while the catering company doesn’t have a liquor license, they are allowed to serve charity events where the non-profits have acquired a special license for one-day events. 

Only one organization, The Marsh, which holds theatrical performances in the center, failed to obtain the requisite license. In response, the ABC denied the troupe the right to obtain further licenses, said an ABC spokesperson. 

“Anna has provided a wonderful addition to downtown Berkeley at a time when movie attendance is down,” along with other business, said Kennedy. 

“It’s a shame that there’s conflict,” he said. 

One of the issues to be resolved today is the lease of the center for weekly services of the San Francisco City Church for its East Bay congregation. 

City Planning Manager Mark Rhoades said that the church can’t use the space without first acquiring a use permit as required under the city zoning code for religious institutions. 

“Our lawyers disagree,” said Kennedy, “if he wants to say a spiritual quest isn’t a cultural use. Does that mean someone who wants to hold a prayer meeting in their hotel room has to first get a use permit? I’m confident our lawyers will sort things out.” 

 

Cultural bonus 

The flap over the Gaia Cultural Center is merely the latest twist in the ongoing brouhaha about Berkeley’s building bonuses, which allow builders to create larger structures than would be otherwise permitted. 

Critics of the bonuses point to the Gaia Building as the city’s prime exemplar of what not to do. 

Kennedy’s Panoramic Interests was allowed to build the Gaia higher than downtown zoning would normally allow because he was awarded both of the city’s available bonuses—one mandated by state law and the other dispensed by the city. 

The first awards beefier building size for projects that allot a percentage of residential units for lower-income tenants—or upper-median- income in the case of condos. The second locally-awarded privilege was intended to bestow a bonus for space devoted to cultural activities. 

While the authors of Berkeley’s 1990 Downtown Plan recommended that cultural bonuses be allowed only for projects that reserve the resulting space for purely non-profit use, that proviso wasn’t adopted until its inclusion in the 2000 General Plan. 

In issuing permits for the Gaia Building, Berkeley’s Zoning Adjustments Board specifically permitted for-profit uses, provided that the space was allotted to businesses that give preference to local artists, musicians or writers and that allow the facility’s use for other cultural purposes, said Rhoades. 

“That can’t happen again,” he said.›


City Attorney Narrowly Avoids State Supreme Court’s Wrath By MIKE McKEE San Francisco Recorder

Friday January 20, 2006

Berkeley City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque walked a dangerous line during oral arguments before the California Supreme Court in San Francisco a week ago—and probably didn’t even realize it.  

Several times during the case in which she was defending the city’s decision to deny free mooring to the Sea Scouts—an affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America—Albuquerque interrupted or talked over questions posed by justices Joyce Kennard and Marvin Baxter. She even ignored an inquiry by Kennard, insisting on completely answering a previous question by the justice.  

That just isn’t done, and it was surprising that neither Kennard nor Baxter snapped Albuquerque in line with a sharp retort. Both appeared frustrated by Albuquerque’s well-intentioned interruptions, but bit their tongues rather than get mean.  

Kennard, however, did plead with Albuquerque at one point to just let her finish a sentence. The attorney seemed to calm down afterward and butted in less often.  

Still, veteran court watchers were holding their breath, waiting for the rebuke that never came from the bench.  

Don’t expect future buttinskis to be so lucky.  

 

 

Reprinted with permission from the Jan. 17 issue of the San Francisco Recorder. All rights reserved. Further duplication is prohibited.


Council Rings in New Year With Unfinished BusinessBy SUZANNE LA BARRE Special to the Planet

Friday January 20, 2006

Three news items unresolved in 2005—outdoor dog care, cell phone tower radiation and a controversial homebuilding amendment—dominated discussion at the first Berkeley City Council meeting of the new year on Tuesday.  

Councilmembers unanimously approved a revised work plan requiring the Planning Commission to contemplate changes to Berkeley’s contentious by-right addition ordinance, a code that currently allows homeowners to add up to 500 square feet to their property. 

By-right build-outs have come under fire recently because some residents, particularly those in the Berkeley hills, are complaining about blocked sunlight and views. Many lament that they have no recourse under existing policy. 

In December, the council considered issuing an urgency ordinance that would have banned additions above the second floor, required use permits and granted neighbors the opportunity to appeal. But the ordinance required a four-fifths vote, a majority that the council deemed unfeasible.  

“There’s a majority for some change,” Councilmember Gordon Wozniak said in a phone interview Wednesday, but “it’s not clear what yet.” 

Councilmember Linda Maio was less ambivalent about championing reform.  

“It seems to me there’s a definite gain on the part of one party and a loss on the part of another one,” she said. “I’m actually in favor of moving along more aggressively, but I will go along with my fellow councilmembers and pass staff’s recommendation.” 

As a result of Tuesday’s decision, the Planning Commission will be responsible for drafting a palatable by-right addition amendment, a process that is expected to begin in 30 to 60 days. Planning Director Dan Marks said the commission will postpone its annual general plan review and a land-use analysis of the area between Gilman Street and Ashby Avenue from Interstate 80 to San Pablo Avenue to allot time for the by-right addition project. 

 

Cell phone health standards get  

mixed reception 

The city manager’s reminder to councilmembers Tuesday that the city is, by federal law, precluded from thwarting development of cell phone towers on account of health and safety concerns alone, reignited debate over regulation of radio frequency (RF) emissions.  

The recommendation countermanded urgings from the Community Health Commission (CHC) in November that council not approve new cell phone base stations until completion of a health study due out in May. The CHC had further directed the city to implement the most rigorous international health standards known, which permit one hundredth of the exposure currently deemed safe by the U.S. government. 

Wozniak expressed skepticism about the precaution. “From what I know … I would say there’s no convincing evidence there are any health hazards associated with cell phones.” 

Councilmember Max Anderson disagreed. 

“If we’re waiting on some results from the Health Commission, it seems to me that it would be prudent to not approve any more cell towers during the interim,” he said Tuesday.  

Legally, however, Anderson’s point is moot, City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque said. 

“You’re making complete logical sense, councilmember,” she told him. “The only problem is that we’re not allowed to regulate health effects at all. … Our hands are completely tied by the government.” 

Though opinions appear well formed, the issue will be held over until the next meeting, because councilmembers received no documentation from the CHC on Tuesday.  

In the meantime, controversy surrounding RF emissions is not likely to fade. In addition to an ongoing demand for new cell phone towers, Berkeley is considering a citywide wireless Internet system and radio frequency identification devices for use at the public library, compounding concern over potential health hazards. 

On Tuesday the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that cell phone towers can not be denied under California law because of aesthetic reasons. 

 

Not in their backyard? Outdoor dog care amendment carried over 

Councilmembers deferred passing an amendment that would exempt homeless people who own dogs from the same outdoor care standards required of other dog-owners, given that concessions may be implicit in the code. 

“The way I read the ordinance, it says ‘No person shall keep a dog on premises …’” Wozniak said. “It seems to me that it says we’re not talking about homeless people.” 

The city attorney agreed. “I don’t think (the amendment) is necessary, because on its face, (the ordinance) doesn’t apply to anything that’s not on premises,” Albuquerque said.  

In December, the council approved care requirements for canines tethered outdoors, delineating shelter, water, food and exercise protocol. But Humane Commission member Jill Posner worried that the ordinance unfairly targeted homeless dog-owners.  

“It does not enshrine in it the kind of protections for the homeless and for those people without shelter,” she said Tuesday. “The people who do not have shelter themselves cannot be expected to provide the same level of care for their animals.” 

The ordinance does not deal with inhumane treatment, an issue that is touched upon separately in the municipal code. 

Councilmember Dona Spring, who proposed the amendment, moved to shelve the matter until next week, pending discussion between Posner and the city attorney. 


Defeating Alito with Cookies and Milk

Friday January 20, 2006

Photo by Stephan Babuljak  

 

University of California law student Carrie Skolnick places a call to Sen. Dianne Feinstein's office Wednesday from the Boalt Law School lobby. Alliance for Justice partnered with Boalt Law Students Against Alito to encourage students and professors to call the offices of senators Feinstein and Boxer to urge them to vote against Judge Samuel Alito’s nomination for the Supreme Court and to not rule out the possibility of a filibuster. Calling the event a “Reverse Bakesale,” the group gave away milk and cookies to students in exchange for their support and participation.n


Correction

Friday January 20, 2006

The Daily Planet incorrectly reported that a meeting that will be held Monday evening focused on the Ashby BART transit village proposal. The meeting will focus on the Downtown Berkeley BART station. 

The session, which begins at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave., seeks public input for a redesign of the Downtown BART plaza to better accommodate bus, paratransit, taxi and other connections for BART riders.Ã


Elena Fernández Herr 1920-2006 By Richard Herr

Friday January 20, 2006

Elena Fernández Herr died in her apartment in Paris, France on Sunday Jan. 15. She was born in Madrid, Spain on Aug. 14, 1920, the daughter of a jewelry appraiser. Her primary and secondary education was at the liberal Instituto Escuela of Madrid, which moved with its students to Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War. 

As Barcelona fell to the forces of General Franco in early 1939, Elena crossed on foot into France with her parents. During the German occupation of France she and her father worked for a woolen factory in Normandy. With help from an American fund, she attended the Sorbonne University in Paris 1944-46, preparing to teach French abroad. 

During this period she met Richard Herr, of the U.S. Army. They were married on March 2, 1946 and came to the United States. Together they had two sons, Charles and Winship, and attended the University of Chicago graduate program, where Elena received a Ph.D. in comparative literature in 1970. Her thesis became a book, Les origines de l'Espagne romantique, les récits de voyage 1755-1823.  

After living in Connecticut and Berkeley, she and her husband were divorced in 1966 and she returned to Paris to complete her doctoral thesis. Between 1966 and 1973, she taught at the American University of Paris and St. Xavier College in Chicago. 

In 1973, she returned to Berkeley to the elegant house which has been her home since then, and from which she made regular trips to Paris and Madrid. She hiked with the Alpine Club and was an early member of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association. Those who knew her will not forget her spirit, her warmth, generosity, and strong will, preserving the democratic idealism of the Spanish Republic of the 1930s. 

She is survived by her two sons and their families: Charles Fernandez Herr of New York, his wife Betsy and son Dave; and Winship Herr, of Lausanne, Switzerland, his wife Nouria and children Julien and Isabel Elena. 

The funeral will be on Wed. Jan. 25 at 11 a.m. at the Fernwood Cemetery, 301 Tennessee Valley Road, Mill Valley. Friends are also invited to celebrate Elena’s life at her home 1731 La Loma Ave., Berkeley, that afternoon at 4 p.m.  


Police Blotter By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday January 20, 2006

Car slasher 

Berkeley police arrested a 34-year-old man on Jan 11 after he allegedly threatened a motorist with a knife which he then used to damage the vehicle, said Officer Ed Galvan, the new official Berkeley police spokesperson. 

 

Silent victim 

An emergency room nurse at Summit Alta Bates Hospital called police at 5 p.m. on Jan. 12 after a patient was admitted suffering injuries from an obvious assault. 

The victim, who said he had been assaulted with a baseball bat, refused to provide officers with any information about the attack or his attacker. 

 

Paintballed 

Police were summoned to the 2500 block of Durant Avenue at 10:24 p.m. Sunday, where they arrived to find a 28-year-old man with a welt on his neck. 

The man, who declined medical aid, said he’d been attacked with a paintball gun by an unknown assailant. 

Officer Galvan said police are classifying the incident as assault with a deadly weapon. 

 

Bottle slasher 

Police arrested a 35-year-old man after he allegedly slashed an acquaintance’s face with a broken bottle outside the Caffe Meditteraneum shortly before 11 a.m. Tuesday. 

The incident reportedly began when the victim broke a beer bottle, which the attacker then picked up and used to slash the victim’s face. 

The injured man was rushed by ambulance to the Summit Alta Bates emergency room. 

 

Drugs dealt, then crash 

A Berkeley police officer on patrol spotted a drug deal going down about 4 p.m. Thursday, and when he ran the license plate of the car involved, it came back as stolen. 

The car sped off, only to crash six blocks later at the corner of Derby Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

Officer Galvan said the passenger had already fled on foot when officers arrived, leaving the driver—a juvenile—behind to face the music.ò


Column: Dispatches From The Edge: Planning the Next War: White House Targets Iran By Conn Hallinan

Friday January 20, 2006

Iran has long been a target of the Bush administration’s rhetorical ire. The president called it “the world’s primary state sponsor of terrorism,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice characterized it as “something to be loathed.” But with the U.S. military under siege in Iraq, and polls running heavily against the Iraq war, it seemed just bluster and so much talk. 

But this past December, German newspapers reported that briefings by high-level officials indicate that the United States is seriously contemplating an air attack on Iranian nuclear facilities sometime this spring. And the general consensus among newspapers like Der Spiegel, Der Tagesspiegel, and DDP News Agency is that recent anti-Semitic tirades by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmandinejad gives the Bush administration an opening. 

“I would be very surprised if the Americans, in the mid-term, didn’t take advantage of the opportunity offered by Tehran,” one high placed German defense official told DDP. 

The European speculation is based less on any escalation of threats, than on who is making them. According to Der Tagesspeiegel, Central Intelligence Agency Director Porter Goss visited Turkey Dec. 12 and informed Turkish Prime Minister Redep Tayyip Erdogan that the United States was seriously considering striking Iran sometime in 2006. 

Rice and FBI Director Robert Mueller also made trips to Ankara.  

Goss reportedly told the Turks that if they cooperated, the United States would “green light” a Turkish cross border attack on the People’s Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). 

Turkey is deeply opposed to the establishment of an independent Kurdish state, having fought a long and bloody war with the PPK in the mid-1980s. Turkey fears Kurdish independence would send separatist ripples through Kurdish populations in Syria, Iran and Turkey’s eastern provinces. 

As recently as March 20, Rumsfeld denounced Turkey for refusing to let the U.S. Fourth Infantry Division invade Iraq from southern Turkey during the opening weeks of the Iraq War. He charged that Ankara was partly responsible for the United States’s current problems with the insurgency. 

But in mid-December, Yasar Buyukanit, head of the Turkish army and the likely future military chief of staff, flew to Washington for a round of talks with the Department of Defense, which he later described as “very friendly.” The question Europeans are asking is, did Washington and Ankara reach a quid pro quo? The United States whacks Iran with minimal protest from the Turks; Ankara smashes the PKK and derails the formation of a Kurdish state with a few mild “tut-tuts” from the Americans? 

And then there is Israel.  

According to the Sunday Times, Israeli Special Forces have been put on alert in anticipation of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s March report on whether Iran has been concealing a nuclear weapons program. The Israelis say they will not tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran. 

Likud’s candidate for Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has made it clear what he will do if elected: “When I form the new Israeli government, we’ll do what we did in the past against Saddam’s reactor, which gave us 20 years of tranquility.”  

In 1981, Israeli fighter-bombers destroyed Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor. 

The American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) attacked the Bush administration for its decision not to refer Iran to the UN Security Council, (Washington did not have the votes to do so), and for endorsing a Russian proposal to enrich reactor fuel for the Iran’s civilian program. AIPAC called the decision a “disturbing shift” in administration policy that “poses a danger to the U.S. and our allies.”  

No one thinks Iran has nuclear weapons, and estimates of when they could produce them range from five years to a decade. 

The Iranians deny they intend to build a bomb, and the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, says nuclear weapons are incompatible with Islam. But then again, everyone denies building bombs. India and Pakistan disavowed they were constructing nuclear weapons up until the moment they tested them, and Israel even built a false wall at its Dimona Reactor to hide its weapons program from the Kennedy administration. 

Given that Iran is surrounded by nuclear powers in Russia, Pakistan, India and Israel, and that American troops occupy countries on its borders, one can hardly blame them. And it does not follow that a nuclear-armed Iran is a danger to countries in the region, even Israel. Given the number of nuclear weapons in their arsenals, any attack on Israel or the United States would be tantamount to national suicide. 

Most observers think Ahmandinejad’s anti-Israeli rants have more to do with domestic matters than foreign policy. “He wants to control the domestic situation through isolating Iran,” says Saeed Laylaz, an Iranian policy analyst. “Then he can suppress the voices inside the country and control the situation.” 

An Israeli attack on Iran would be logistically complex, because Israel’s air force would need to over fly Jordan and Iraq to strike targets in Iran. The planes would also have to be refueled in-flight. However, the Israelis recently purchased some 500 GBU-27 and GBU-28 “bunker buster” bombs that can penetrate 30 feet of concrete, so they could pull off an attack. 

But given the upheaval in Israel following Ariel Sharon’s stroke, and the regional political fallout from such an action, it seems more likely Washington would do the job. 

The United States, could do it easily, using either carried launched planes, B-2 “stealth” bombers armed with “bunker busters,” or Tomahawk cruise missiles. The U.S. might even invoke the 2002 “Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations” and use tactical nuclear weapons. 

If Iran is no immediate threat, why attack?  

First, the United States would love to put a crimp in the developing Asian Energy Security Grid, which in turn would hamper the development of India and China. An Iran in turmoil, maybe enchained by sanctions, might help derail or slow down the second great industrial revolution in Asia 

Foreign reaction would be severe, but it is not clear the White House much cares. In a Jan. 5 interview with the Financial Times, a “senior” State Department official told the newspaper that the administration will concentrate on “coalitions of the willing” in future conflicts, rather than turning to “existing but unreliable” institutional alliances such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.  

Second, an attack on Iran rolls the 9/11 dice for the 2006 mid-term elections. Recent polls indicate that the Republicans may lose both houses of Congress, which would make U.S. Rep. John Conyers chair of the House Judiciary Committee. Conyers armed with subpoenas is the White House’s definition of a nightmare. If the country is in another war, might the voters again feel uncomfortable about shifting horses in mid-stream? 

Attacking Iran seems like madness, but the White House appears more desperate and out of touch these days than at any time in the past five years. What the administration does know is that if it cannot change the subject from domestic spying, Katrina, and the chaos of Iraq, it faces defeat in November, which would deeply damage Republican designs on the presidency in 2008. 

It will not be easy to stop this new drive toward war, particularly given that many Democrats in the Congress are almost as bellicose on Iran as the Republicans. But any attack on Iran will unleash regional and international consequences that will finally make Iraq look like the cakewalk the Bush administration originally predicted it to be.›


Column: UnderCurrents: Punishing Politicians for Doing the Right Thing By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Friday January 20, 2006

Last week’s column ended saying that Oakland needs some straight talk and some serious, adult conversation on this recent explosion of violence in our city, where it’s coming from, and where it may be leading. 

This week, in an almost surreal reply, the president of the Oakland City Council says that perhaps we’ve already talked too much. 

In an Oakland Tribune article entitled “Gangs Tighten Grip In City—Police, Officials Acknowledge Violent Surge,” reporters Kamika Dunlap and Harry Harris write that Council President Ignacio De La Fuente “said he agreed that city officials had spent too much time talking about the [gang violence] problem rather than actually working to end it. ‘We have to get the gloves off,’ De La Fuente said.” 

(It wasn’t clear who Mr. De La Fuente was agreeing with, since no one else in the article was talking about too much talking, but perhaps that part got cut out of the article in editing.) 

In any event, if we needed any reminder that the 2006 campaign season has officially started, this was it. As they prepare to come before voters, officeholders are often sensitive to charges that they haven’t done something about the problems they were supposed to fix during the period for which we elected them the last time, and are too often quick to embrace initiatives that show that they are “taking charge” and “doing something.” While this ends up with good one-liners on a campaign brochure or a newspaper article (such as saying “we have to get the gloves off”), many times it also results in bad government as officeholders scramble to pass laws or institute policies that buck up their resumés while making the initial problem worse. 

And so last year, in order for Mayor Jerry Brown to polish up his law-and-order credentials in preparation for his run for California Attorney General, we got stuck with Mr. Brown’s arrest-the-sideshow-spectators ordinance. The ordinance got introduced so suddenly that originally it did not even have time to go through the normal channels of public discussion and hearings in the City Council Public Safety Committee. Was Mr. Brown’s arrest-the-sideshow-spectators ordinance actually needed as a police tool? What was its immediate effect? What are its long-term implications? Who knows? Since it has already served its actual purpose—to get Mr. Brown statewide headlines as being tough on crime—the actual result on Oakland’s streets has gotten lost in the bureaucratic paper shuffle. 

With Mr. De La Fuente in a race to succeed Mr. Brown as mayor of Oakland—and with the Oakland Tribune noting in its gang violence article that Mr. De La Fuente representing the district “where most of this crime takes place”—God only knows what we’ll end up with out of City Council before the June election. 

But if you think this column is an attack on Mr. De La Fuente himself, you are mistaken. Within reason, officeholders tend to respond to what we demand, and usually only deliver what we accept. In most cases, the public accepts superficiality and often punishes politicians who actually dig down, stick with it, and try to solve the problem. Since superficiality is what we almost always reward, superficiality is what we generally get. 

Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente is the best proof of that. We can show that by a quick test, but the results will probably not be what you are expecting. 

Think of the botched Oakland Raiders deal, in which the City of Oakland and Alameda County wooed Al Davis and the Raiders to come back from Los Angeles, and then got stuck with a monumental bond bill that is going to last into the generation of our grandchildren. What politician comes immediately to mind as most closely associated with that debacle? Most people will say Ignacio De La Fuente. 

But why do we identify Ignacio De La Fuente most closely with the Raiders deal and almost nobody else? 

In the early 1990s, when the City of Oakland was wooing the Raiders back from Los Angeles and the deal was being struck that we eventually got stuck with, Ignacio De La Fuente was just getting on the Oakland City Council (he was originally elected in 1992). He was not the major council power that we know today and although he certainly supported the Raider deal—practically every Oakland official did at the time—it was not a deal that Mr. De La Fuente put together. 

Actually one of the major powers behind the Raiders deal was State Senator Don Perata. But almost nobody today associates Mr. Perata with the Raiders deal, and the newspapers rarely, if ever, mention his connection. 

That wasn’t true when the deal itself went down. A 1996 news archive entry in a website run by one of the Raider Nation faithful (www.vertgame.com) gives us some interesting history and insight from a contemporary San Francisco Chronicle article: “Monday, Aug. 26, 1996—There’s yet more bad news today about [the Oakland Football Management Association], the incompetent organization responsible for selling [Personal Seat Licenses] to pay off the cost of the Coliseum renovations. Former Alameda County Supervisor Don Perata, who was instrumental in helping convince the Raiders to return to Oakland, has quit his job as a marketing consultant to OFMA in disgust. In a resignation letter dated Aug. 19, Perata wrote, ‘The lack of a discernible organizational structure and the absence of a coherent marketing plan simply make it impossible to perform effectively . . . What we have is a bureaucracy.’” 

The year date of the Chronicle article and the Vertgame website entry is significant. It was 1996, a year after the Raiders returned to Oakland. The financial structure of the botched Raider deal was all in place—including the personal seat licenses that never sold and the massive stadium renovations that the public has to pay for—but in the euphoria of the Raiders’ first couple of years back in Oakland, the full implications of how bad that deal actually was hadn’t yet sunk in with the general population. Mr. Perata “quit his job as a marketing consultant to OFMA in disgust” after putting the deal in place, thus jumping clear of the Raider mess before it hit the fan. His involvement in putting together the Raider deal has long since been forgotten, and he is rarely, if ever, mentioned when people talk these days about the Raider mess. 

In the meanwhile, Mr. De La Fuente, who was a junior councilmember in the early 1990s and only a minor player in the Raider deal, at best, spent the next decade trying to clean up the mess. Whatever you think of Mr. De La Fuente’s politics or whether he was right or wrong to support the original Raiders deal or what moves he has tried to make since then to correct the Raider deal mistake, he didn’t cut and run. The public associates Mr. De La Fuente with the Raiders mess not because he was its originator, but because he was the janitor left with the broom trying to sweep up behind others who have long since washed their hands and left the building. 

Politicians are many things, but most of them are not dumb. They get the message. In Oakland, politicians are not punished if they screw up and cut out. They are only punished if they stick around and do the work required to clean up a bad situation, whether or not they created that situation. That rewards superficiality. It leaves us with a lot of snappy campaign rhetoric during election time—“We have to get the gloves off”—but with a reluctance by officeholders to dig in and do the dirty work required to actually solve the problems. If it looks like that is what we’re now getting from officeholders like Mr. De La Fuente, we need to look to ourselves for part of the blame. 


Editorial Cartoon By JUSTIN DEFREITAS

Friday January 20, 2006

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.

 


Letters to the Editor

Friday January 20, 2006

RENT CONTROL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Last week you printed a letter from Chris Kavanaugh touting the 25th anniversary of the San Francisco and Berkeley rent ordinances. He thinks that the results have been favorable to tenants in both cities. 

Why does it cost so much more for Berkeley to do the same rent control benefit as San Francisco? San Francisco’s rent control budget is about $26 per unit served while Berkeley’s is $165 per unit served. San Francisco gets by with only five commissioners while Berkeley (with under 11 percent of the units covered in San Francisco) has nine commissioners. 

Maybe if San Francisco is the “City That Knows How” we could borrow some ideas from it. Happy anniversary to all. 

William J. Flynn 

 

• 

EAST BAY EXPRESS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I’m sorry, Mike Mechanic. I’m well aware of your work—prior to managing East Bay Express—while you were in the punk scene. Your band Juke and record label Bad Monkey Records were well intentioned but at best mediocre. What’s transparent with the paper you’ve reigned in the past few years is that it is not well intentioned. In your letter to the Daily Planet you swear up and down autonomy from New Times, that you are honest and a Democrat, that you’re a true-blooded East Bay native. Yippie! The paper is still cynical and alienating. In short, East Bay Express was once a diverse array of freelance thought, a shining example of the smart people of our community. You’ve lost it. That’s why we don’t read it, and we don’t care. 

Robert Eggplant 

 

• 

FALLING FLAT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Oh! But you are so bad! Publishing Michael Mechanic of the East Bay Express simply gives him rope to hang himself. His self-aggrandizing letter demonstrates why so many readers eschew the East Bay Express and SF Weekly. (“Puhlease!” is campy enough for The City, but falls distinctly flat in Berkeley.)  

The UC journalism grad did not mention picking up experience at an established professional publication before being hired by New Times. Some newbie journalists like to acquire a bit of polish, you know. But since New Times publications in the Bay Area emphasize caustic editorial contempt towards other publications, perhaps his banty rooster attitude is qualification enough for the crew at New Times.  

Glen Kohler  

• 

RIVALRY? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As a professional journalist and a Berkeley native, I am conflicted about the strange new rivalry between the Daily Planet and the East Bay Express. On the one hand, the Planet does not have the history or the resources of the Express—on the other, the Planet has worked hard to cover local issues including City Council meetings and intra-city issues where the Express has tapered off.  

But it is important to point out that it is in the interest of a newspaper to be even-handed with other local publications. The Daily Planet’s original publisher, Arnold Lee, made it his goal to bury the Berkeley Voice, which, if not being the greatest newspaper, had impressive and enviable prep sports coverage in writer Peter Mentor. The Voice is still publishing, but its role has been reduced in the face of local competition. 

The question really is whether Berkeley is a big enough city to support so many weekly newspapers plus a small number of daily upstarts. Certainly, we can look at history: Oakland’s UrbanView disappeared in 2002. The Planet folded temporarily that same year.  

The issue here is definitely not politics, it’s simply about money. There are not enough advertisers to support a myriad of newspapers. All the new choices have put retailers in a dilemma, and that problem is really about audiences. From my own research, despite being 4,000 miles away now, the Planet is mostly read by the Berkeley middle class—what is known in audit terms as the AB set. The Express’ audience is younger, earn less money, but are more likely to spend on events and nights out; they want a quality paper with lots of info on local events but which skims over the political details of their area to focus on the interesting and the weird. The Express also has a great sex advice column, which is funny and explicit. I would challenge the Planet to run something like that, but the most controversial it will likely go is editorial cartooning. 

Were the Planet to challenge local papers better it should bone up its local sports coverage to two or more pages, find some more prescient columnists, and make journalists do their homework on stories.  

If I were Becky O’Malley I would probably retract my claims that the Express is run in the spirit of “Cowboy Libertarianism.” These newspapers have more in common than they think: a need to strengthen the bottom line. 

John Parman 

College Park, MD 

 

• 

BERKELEY HONDA 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The tone of D. Doulgeropoulos’s letter in the Jan. 13 Daily Planet does not suggest that he, or she, has any suspicion or concern that there might be anything unethical in Berkeley Honda’s replacement of the former employees of Doten Honda. Berkeley Honda is not a brand new business. It is the continuation, under new owners, of an existing business. Part of the value of any existing business is what is called “goodwill.. In Doten’s case this consisted of former customers, service records, and personal relationships to staff. Staff created the goodwill, but can only share in its value as long as they have a job. Executive staff often have contracts that provide for substantial severance pay when there is a change of control. I doubt that any of the staff at Berkeley Honda received such pay, and I doubt they have as much leverage or flexibility to relocate to another job with equivalent pay and benefits.  

The capitalist/free trade ethic is often interpreted to mean maximize one’s own return, without regard to others. On the world scale, proponents ignore poverty, global warming, and so on. On our local level, Berkeley Honda, and D. Doulgeropoulos, want to ignore any responsibility to the former employees of Doten Honda. Everyone for themselves is the ethical system of a slime mold. Thank you Berkeley, for showing that humanity can mean more.  

Robert Clear  

 

• 

SCARE TACTICS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Recently, two citizen groups—Bay Area Residents for Responsible Development (BARRD) and the South Shoreline Richmond Sites Community Advisory Group (CAG)—have demanded that the highly acclaimed Making Waves program be evicted from its temporary home on our Campus Bay property. It’s hard to imagine what is motivating this action, but it can’t be concern for the best interests of the children served by Making Waves.  

Making Waves, which provides after-school tutoring to at-risk students, has been a part of the Richmond community for 15 years, and has sent more than 80 local students to colleges around the nation. Unfortunately, area facilities with the capacity to hold 250 children are few and far between, After Making Waves had been forced out of the city’s recreational buildings and had outgrown the Eastshore Community Center, where it operated for a number of years.  

Making Waves board member Ron Nahas approached Cherokee Simeon Ventures (CSV) about providing facilities at our Campus Bay property. Campus Bay covers 86 acres, some which were contaminated by prior owners. Although much of the contamination has been remediated, additional remediation is required in some areas of the property. However, we believed that former office buildings at Campus Bay which had never been used for industrial purposes and had never shown any evidence of contamination could provide a safe temporary home for Making Waves.  

After our testing of the facilities in question confirmed that they were safe for use by Making Waves, we agreed to host the program with no financial benefit while it continued to look for a permanent home. These facilities have since been evaluated by the California Department of Toxic Substance Control (DTSC), the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, the Contra Costa County Health Services Department and California Department of Health Services—all of whom have concluded that the building used by Making Waves is safe for children, and that there is no health reason to discontinue use of the facilities. 

Despite this convincing evidence, and the absence of any evidence to the contrary, and despite the pleas from the directors of Making Waves to allow them to continue to use our facility until construction of their new home is completed later this year, BARRD and the CAG insist that the kids of Making Waves would be better off on the street. These are the same people who claimed that radioactive drums were buried at Meeker Beach, yet just last week DTSC found that the buried drums that were supposed to contain radioactive materials were no such thing. Nothing radioactive or harmful was found, but it took a lot of time and created a lot of worry for people who live at Marina Bay. They are also the same people who alleged that trees on the Campus Bay property were being damaged by unknown substances in the groundwater or soil, which proved to be entirely wrong, according to DTSC and Dr. Robert Raabe, professor emeritus, UC Berkeley.  

Scare tactics like these divert attention from the real problems facing Richmond. Making Waves shouldn’t suffer from unsubstantiated accusations, and the community shouldn’t be made to worry about radioactive waste and other problems that have never existed. 

CSV is committed to making Campus Bay clean and safe, and we need to allow DTSC to focus on the most important issues instead of being distracted any further. We hope the community will join us to support DTSC’s continued efforts to do its job—to protect local residents by making sure the Richmond Shoreline is clean and safe.  

We also hope that your newspaper will join these efforts by offering accurate and unbiased reporting as we strive to transform Campus Bay and help reinvigorate the city of Richmond. 

Dwight Stenseth,  

Doug Mosteller 

Cherokee Investment Partners, LLC 

 

• 

WHO’S AFFECTED? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

First there was John Roberts, then Harriet Miers and now Samuel Alito. If you’re not tired by now, you’re tougher than I am.  

I cannot for the life of me get excited about the impending confirmation of Alito to replace O’Connor on the Supreme Court. (I confess a cynical behind-the-hand curiosity—will women senators vote “No”?)  

I’m not foolish enough to deny the significance of another conservative on the highest court. It’s just that, you know, it’s politics. Conservatives run Washington and financial interests run conservatives. So, who besides the usual suspects is affected?  

If Roe v. Wade is overturned, then women under 40 will be second-classed. If flag burning is outlawed, then dissenters will be second-classed. If school children are obliged to pledge their loyalty “under God,” then school children will be second-classed. The thing is, women, dissenters and children are already second-classed.  

Finally, if the court decides to overturn the ruling that overturned its 1896 Plessey v. Ferguson ruling and legalize, in patriotic pursuit of a secure homeland, a modernized application of “separate but equal,” then only minorities will be second-classed.  

Look at it this way. Those who are not affect don’t care, and those who are affected and care can’t do anything about it. Anyway, everyone belongs to a minority of some sort and therefore everyone will be equally second-classed. Get it? 

Marvin Chachere 

San Pablo 

 

• 

TRANSIT VILLAGE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I recently attended a neighborhood meeting at the South Berkeley Senior Center. I had gone to it with an idea that I was supportive of a transit village at the west parking lot of Ashby BART if the housing built was available to our homeless population here—and the working poor (whomever they may be) and I felt it with the idea that the retail component of the project should be—instead—parking facilities, shape and form the only issue. 

Perhaps the people who attended would support this idea or perhaps still resent the project being shoved into their lives. The point is, I think, that it is social services in this city which need to be developed and that does include providing housing for people. Retailers might be able to provide more than a doorway now and then--I am not very up on how money gets funneled or how taxes provide enrichment for a community. What I do know is that we need more housing and we don’t need more things to buy or even yet another coffee shop. I understand wanting to have community input for this project but I think the substance of it is what is at issue over and above the speed at which it is planned. 

Iris Crider  

 

• 

EL CERRITO PLAZA 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Building condos at El Cerrito Plaza is the “best and highest” use of the land because of the sites location to BART and pedestrian orientation to services. Development however requires needs and services. Whether 128 units or 97 units are built is not going to make a significant difference on the environment. What is important and has impact in the long term is the amount of light (sun light), structure volume and big trees (greenery) when mature are provided. For those concerned about traffic, the solution is to rent/sell to those who do not have cars. 

Richard Splenda 

 

• 

CLEAN MONEY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I believe the time has come for a constitutional convention assembled for the stated purpose of removing all money from politics. Politicians could not be trusted to do this. If our members of congress did not have to spend so much of their time and energy getting elected and re-elected maybe they could help solve our countries problems.  

Jack Parks 

 

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NEEDS IMPROVEMENT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

While I always disagree with the oddly conservative politics of Daily Planet Executive Editor Becky O’Malley, who seems intent on keeping Berkeley what it was half a century ago rather than supporting and celebrating the economically and socially diverse place it really is, I do read the newspaper for its comprehensive coverage of Berkeley and Oakland. However, this coverage has been getting a little sloppy, if not downright erroneous. 

In the Jan. 17 issue, for example, reporter Richard Brenneman would have readers believe that Ron Dellums already ran once for mayor of Oakland: “In 1998, De La Fuente was a candidate for Oakland mayor against Dellums...”  

In fact, Ron Dellums’s current campaign for Oakland is his first and only.  

In addition, the same issue contains a write-up of an upcoming panel about a new plan for downtown Berkeley. I would like to attend, but the article lists only the location and time of the panel, and not the day. Please try harder to provide your readers with factual and correct information. 

Kelley Kahn 

Oakland 

 

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CLARENCE RAY ALLEN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was amused by the claims from the anti-death penalty crowd regarding the “unfairness” of executing an elderly death row inmate like the heinous Clarence Ray Allen. When in fact it was precisely because of the endless stalling and circumventing of our legal system by the anti-death penalty zealots that allowed condemned killer Allen to live to a ripe old age in the first place. It kind of reminds me of the old joke where the guy murders his parents and then appeals to the judge for mercy on the grounds that he’s an orphan. Ha ha. And its also worth noting that if Allen had in fact been put to death for his first murder, he wouldn’t have been around to commit three more murders. The innocent blood of those three people is on the hands of the anti-death penalty zealots. And if you don’t think so, you couldn’t be more wrong.  

Peter Labriola 

 

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SUPREME COURT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the Bush administration went too far in trying to block Oregon’s assisted suicide law. The three dissenting votes were Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and new Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. What did you expect? Bush told us all along he was going to appoint justices in the mold of Scalia and Thomas and that’s exactly what he did. The Supreme Court now has three ultraconservatives. 

How did we get the new chief justice? John Roberts deceived America through evasion as to his true nature at the recent confirmation hearing. Samuel Alito has used the same tactic of evasion to mask his intentions during a confirmation hearing. One could lay odds that Alito also fits the mold of Scalia and Thomas. 

Ron Lowe 

Nevada City 

 

 

CANARY IN THE FREEBOX 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Just what we need, another secretly appointed, UC-selected committee. 

On Thursday, Jan. 19, at 7 p.m. at the La Fiesta Banquet Room on Haste at Telegraph, yet another in the endless parade of powerless committees debuted with great fanfare from the university for the alleged purpose of overseeing People’s Park. 

It is safe to suggest the sudden, unexplained dismantling of the previous committee six months ago was not be on the agenda. 

The thousands of dollars spent paying overtime to UC employees to systematically destroy freebox replacements in the last six months in the dead of night was probably not be on the agenda, either. 

The sudden birth and even more sudden death of these seemingless endless committees, boards, and advisory groups paints a distinctive portrait of a university committed to maintaining a pathetic facade of community involvement and oversight while fiercely protecting its right to override, ignore, or dismantle any committee which steps out of line. 

The City of Berkeley usually joins the limp celebration of the production of yet another committee, or just looks the other way. People’s Park always seems like such a small matter compared to the future of downtown, or the erection of pedestrian overpasses which elevate the lucky few above the UC-generated congestion the rest of us must brave daily. Some entire neighborhoods are locked down with big rigs, deafening noise, and choking dust while weathering seemingly constant UC construction projects, while others watch as beloved historic landmarks disappear. 

The freebox is a small matter compared to these other issues. A small group may depend on it for clothing assistance, but its larger mission of general community-based free exchange can be interrupted with only modest inconvenience. It hardly seems worth notice, although it parallels the other issues with alarming congruence. 

The City of Berkeley, the community of people that cares about the park, and the appointees themselves should object to the non-democratic nature of this group, as should anyone who sees the pragmatism of democratic values. An honestly representative group, with an honest set of responsibilities and autonomy, is the only way the community, so long abused, can be well served. 

Carol Denney 

 

 

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Commentary: Two Halves Needed for a Whole Downtown By ALAN TOBEY

Friday January 20, 2006

Thanks to the city’s very helpful online NewsScan service, we recently saw two different visions of what makes for a successful downtown—and neither of them goes far enough. It’s instructive to figure out why. 

Tuesday’s edition contained two related articles—one in the San Francisco Business Times about Oakland, and one in the Contra Costa Times about Berkeley. Both proclaimed recent downtown developments to be major successes, but they couldn’t possibly have been describing more different outcomes. 

The Oakland article (“Oakland Mayor Finishes 10K Race in Time”) noted the success of mayor Jerry Brown in meeting his goal of creating housing for 10,000 new residents in the once-depressed downtown. The main factor seems to have been encouraging “regional and national developers” to build some “soaring condo towers” to replace “squat apartment complexes.” And the planning goal behind that was to encourage “a downtown brimful of workers . . . during the day and keep it from emptying out at night.” But housing is all that’s been built. 

The result, if you’ve been there lately, is still the dullest downtown in the whole Bay Area. Oakland has provided for 10,000 new residents who will have almost no reason ever to leave their cozy new digs, except to go to work or to seek urban excitement (and a decent supermarket) outside the downtown.  

The Oakland article noted that, in the last five years, Oakland issued permits for 3,648 units of infill multi-family housing while Berkeley approved permits for 977. It was this increase in denser development that allowed the “success” of Jerry Brown’s plan. 

The Berkeley article (“Berkeley’s Cultural Renaissance”) described how the downtown has been brought back from “its absolute worst” around 1990 by the success of the Berkeley Rep and the subsequent Arts District it inspired. Now there are “signs of vitality everywhere. Theatergoers line the streets, the clubs are hopping, and restaurants are filled with diners.” Future plans for new museums and galleries that may “stay open late six nights a week,” plus a relocated Pacific Film Archive, are noted as signs that more is to come. And being “close to BART” means that Berkeley’s downtown will have “regional appeal.” How different from downtown Oakland can you get? 

Let’s compare the two “successes.” Downtown Oakland will be the host of many denser and taller housing projects, but their residents have nothing to do at night in a cultural desert. Downtown Berkeley may be on the way to being a happenin’ place, but it seems to be basing success on renting its downtown by the night to visitors from elsewhere. Berkeley’s own cultural desert is apparent in the daytime sunshine, when downtown workers or a few optimistic local residents try to buy a loaf of bread, a pair of pants, or some other basic necessity. All the trendy night-time restaurants and jazz clubs in the world don’t make up for the lack of one good grocery store to make the downtown an actual livable place. Downtown Berkeley is in danger of becoming nothing but—forgive the nasty word—an entertainment mall, as dependent on non-local patronage as any Hilltop or Emeryville mall is. 

So we have opposite solutions: downtown Oakland as a place to live but with almost nowhere to go, and downtown Berkeley as a place to go but (unless you’re a student) almost nowhere to live. Yet both are failures at creating a truly livable downtown in the sense of an integrated community of residents and visitors who support—and are supported by—a full range of urban services and amenities. Together the two towns constitute a “dumbbell solution”—a mass of housing in downtown Oakland and a mass of entertainment in downtown Berkeley, joined by a thin BART track. Surely that’s not the best of outcomes. 

Oakland must bravely believe that “if we build it (dense housing), interesting amenities will come.” For their sake we can hope that this time is different—that there’s enough new housing to create a critical mass of support for the still-missing services. Berkeley apparently believes, since “soaring condo towers” or other more dense housing are apparently unthinkable, that transient success at night—supported by visitors much more than by downtown residents—is all we need. The slogan must be “if we don’t build it (dense housing) maybe nobody will notice (at least after 6 p.m.).” 

Berkeley’s newly-launched (re)planning effort for the downtown, fortunately, still gives us the opportunity to build the missing half of a complete downtown. Instead of merely boosting more of the same (focus on arts-goers and transient hotel guests), we have the chance—let’s call it our last good chance—to create a truly livable place at our urban core. And the key, clearly, will be the courage to build downtown more densely, with residential critical mass in mind, and to build for the daytime as well as for the night-time—with “our daily bread” the right measure of success.  

We have the choice: a downtown only optimized for the pleasure of others, or a vital mixed residential and commercial district that thrives by day as well as by night. If we build it WE will come—to live as well as to play. 

 

Alan Tobey is a retired technologist who has lived in Berkeley since 1970. 


Commentary Parsing the Derby Street Proposals By MARK McDONALD

Friday January 20, 2006

I would like to help clarify the two competing plans on what type of sports field should be developed at the Derby Street field. One is labeled the Multi–Use—Don’t Close Derby Street plan. The other is the Regulation Baseball Ballfield—Close Derby Street plan.  

The Multi-Use–Don’t Close Derby Street plan includes a practice field for Berkeley High School’s baseball teams and guarantees use by other school sports teams such as boys’ and girls’ soccer, lacrosse and others. This plan also includes basketball courts, a tot lot, public restrooms and tables and seating for patrons of the Tuesday Farmers’ Market which would continue to operate on Derby Street as it has for over a decade. Also included is guaranteed public access to the field when not in use by a school sports squad. This plan was crafted by a lengthy public process involving professional field architects and cost the Berkeley Unified School district (BUSD) hundreds of thousands of dollars. The construction cost of this plan is within the BUSD budget and does not require additional city funding.  

The Regulation Baseball Ballfield—Close Derby Street plan would provide a regulation League standard baseball field that would enable Berkeley High’s 40 baseball players a short walk when they host their six or seven games a year with other cities’ baseball teams. Presently they must take a bus to the new baseball field built for them at Gilman Street. This plan does not guarantee usage to other sports teams and does not guarantee public access when not in use. In fact, there is a real possibility that the field will have to be padlocked to protect the league quality infield. The closing of Derby street will require the removal of the Tuesday Farmers’ Market to a fenced in basketball court which will cause a variety of operational difficulties to the market as expressed by their representatives. The closing of Derby Street will add millions of dollars to the cost presumably to be paid out of the city’s general fund and may require additional property taxes.  

It is not a coincidence that former Councilmember Maudelle Shirek and BUSD Director John Selawsky both oppose the Baseball Ballfield—Close Derby Street plan. Both are to be commended for weighing the needs of all students and the community versus those of a small vocal baseball group. The issue has been confused and over simplified by local spin masters, most of whom do not live in South Berkeley. Petition-signers have not been told that Derby Street is a vital emergency route for South Berkeley and that the San Pablo Park fields would also benefit from the Multi Use-Don’t Close Derby plan, which could have been built eight years ago were it not for the baseball lobbyists holding the project hostage until their demands are met.  

For twenty some years the Derby Street neighborhood , ethnically and economically diverse, predominantly low income and working class, has tolerated the neglected BUSD property at the Derby site. This two block corridor that lies along Shattuck Avenue and MLK Jr. Way is home to public housing at Ward Street, Savo Island coop housing at Oregon Street, Harriet Tubman Senior Housing at Russell Street, numerous Section 8 housing and offers other public facilities like the Tool Library, Iceland and the new theaters at Ashby. The neighborhood has embraced the teens at the Alternative High School as part of their community. This is hardly the selfish NIMBY homeowners as described by the Baseball Ballfield—Close Derby advocates.  

Councilmember Max Anderson recently pointed out that there are many senior and children programs that suffered drastic cutbacks in the recent budget crisis that should be considered before spending city general funds on an expensive sports facility for the convenience of one small group of student baseball players.  

 

Mark McDonald is a Berkeley resident. 


Commentary Exit Exam is Misguided Educational Policy By KEN STANTON

Friday January 20, 2006

Requiring students to pass the California High School Exit Examination in order to qualify for a high school diploma is a misguided educational policy. In his Jan. 6 letter to the state Board of Education, California Superintendent of Schools Jack O’Connell said, “Some schools pushed each and every student to succeed while others, wallowing in the status quo of low standards, handed out diplomas to any student who simply put in seat time.” According to O’Connell, the goal of requiring seniors to pass the exit exam is to “hold every school in California accountable for improving student achievement...” 

The method that has been selected to achieve this goal is the same method that has been rejected by American industry. After years of failure to compete in the global marketplace, the American automobile industry achieved major successes by replacing traditional quality control methods with continuous quality improvement. In quality control, products are inspected after they come off the assembly line; those that fail to pass inspection are either repaired or discarded. The result is considerable waste of time and resources. In continuous quality improvement, the process is designed at the front end to assure that failures are minimal or nonexistent. Since the 1970s, this method has been applied with impressive results to a wide variety of manufacturing and service enterprises. 

Applying traditional quality control methods to public education, in order to hold schools accountable for improving student achievement, means that students who fail the exit exam will either be repaired—by allowing them to take additional remedial classes until they are able to pass the exam—or discarded. As the automobile industry learned at great cost to private investors and the national economy, this wastes time and resources, and ultimately leads to failure. In this case, unfortunately, much of the burden of this failure will fall on the students we have failed to educate. In effect, the high school exit exam will hold students, rather than schools, accountable for our failure to improve student achievement.  

Superintendent O’Connell promises that the state will provide “sufficient funding to ensure that students who do not pass the exam—24 percent of all tenth graders who took the exam in 2005—will have an opportunity to take remedial classes in order to pass the exam. Unfortunately, remedial programs are not particularly effective. According to the independent analysis commissioned by the state, “about half of those re-tested members of the Class of 2006 still have not passed.” In effect, the state is planning to create a large pool of citizens who lack a high school diploma after 12 years of public education. 

If the funding for remedial programs is actually made available as promised, it will divert resources from schools that need these funds to educate students in basic math and English in the first place. According to the independent analyst’s report, “Minority and disadvantaged students in schools where there were high concentrations of such students had lower passing rates than their counterparts at other schools.” Clearly, it is the quality of the schools, rather than the quality of the students, that makes the difference in providing a good, basic education. A more economical use of the promised funding would be to improve the quality of education in schools with inadequate resources. 

More likely, however, in spite of the genuine good intentions of advocates for the high school exit exam, the additional funding for remedial education will not continue for long. When the old state hospitals for the mentally ill were closed in the 1960s, advocates for deinstitutionalization promised that funding would follow these patients into the community. After a brief existence, comprehensive community mental health centers disappeared from most communities in the state, and the mentally ill were left to fend for themselves. In the case of high school students who fail the exit exam, we may hope the money for remedial education will continue to be available, but it is not likely. 

Denying a high school diploma to students who attend school for 12 years in good faith, and who trust that their efforts will be rewarded by a good education, is a misguided educational policy. We need a school system that is capable of providing a basic education to more than 76 percent of its students. After six years in operation, the high school exit exam has demonstrated that it is not an effective means for achieving this goal. 

 

El Cerrito resident Ken Stanton works in Berkeley as a registered nurse. 

 

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Commentary: Jackson, King and the Business of Black Leadership By EARL OFARI HUTCHINSON Pacific News Service

Friday January 20, 2006

Jesse Jackson is peeved that Martin Luther King Jr.’s chronicler, Taylor Branch, revealed that King regarded Jackson as an egoist and opportunist. Branch made the charge in At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-1968. He claimed that after a stormy meeting in Memphis shortly before his assassination, Dr. King shouted at Jackson that he wanted to carve out his own niche in society and was only interested in doing his own thing.  

Jackson has a right to be incensed at Branch. The revelation (allegation?) comes decades after King’s death, giving Jackson little chance to refute it. But Jackson’s ire and the propriety of the charge aside, the flap points to the glaring contrast in objectives, style and even personal motives between King, Jackson and other mainstream black leaders then and now.  

King’s style of leadership was egalitarian, hands-on and in the trenches, and he always kept a careful eye on the needs of poor and working class blacks. He was a selfless leader who never made a nickel from his civil rights activism. He would be appalled at the cash, glitter and bling fetish of prominent blacks. He would have been aghast at the money squabble within his own family over the King Center’s fate.  

King also would have recoiled at the frantic maneuver of some black leaders to command center stage at press conferences and put their media spin on racial issues. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is a textbook example of that penchant. He grabbed headlines by claiming Katrina was God’s punishment to blacks for their allegedly profligate ways. A shamefaced Nagin later apologized, but he got his camera action.  

Nagin’s shoot-from-the lip quips were no different from the ways in which other telegenic leaders operate. Jackson’s media-grabbing, hit-and-run style of leadership has long been geared to burnish his image and credentials as a humanitarian, religious leader and peace advocate. This instantly boosts his stature in the media and strengthens his standing as black America’s main, if not only, man.  

In the past few years Jackson’s image and top-dog standing as the supreme black leader has taken a severe pounding with the scandal over his fathering a child out of wedlock, the allegations of financial profiteering from his civil rights actions and the ever-present charge that he is a crass opportunist who relentlessly chases TV cameras and microphones.  

In years past, King’s SCLC, the NAACP and other mainstream black organizations relied on the nickels and dimes of poor and working class blacks for their support. This gave them complete independence and a solid constituency to mount powerful campaigns for jobs, better housing, quality schools and against police abuse.  

The profound shift in the method and style of black leadership began, tragically enough, with the murder of King, the collapse of legal segregation in the 1960s, the class divisions that imploded within black America and the greening of the black middle-class. By the close of the 1960s the civil rights movement had spent itself. The torrent of demonstrations, sit-ins, marches and civil rights legislation annihilated the legal wall of segregation. With the barriers erased the black middle-class had a field day. They were starting more and better businesses, marching into more corporations and universities, winning more political offices, buying bigger and more expensive homes, cars, clothes and jewelry, taking more luxury vacations and joining more country clubs than ever before. The first chance they got, many packed up their bags and started their headlong flight to greener, suburban pastures.  

None of their success has even the remotest bearing on the lives of the black poor, who have become even poorer and more desperate. Many of the latter turn to crime, drugs and gangs as their only way out.  

Mainstream civil rights leaders are trapped in the middle by the twisting political trends and disparate fortunes of the black middle-class and the black poor. A tilt toward an aggressive activist agenda carries the deep risk of alienating the corporate donors they have carefully cultivated in the past few years. They depend on them to gain more jobs, promotions and contracts for black professionals and businesspersons and to secure contributions for their fund-raising campaigns, banquets, scholarship funds and programs. That keeps their doors open, but it dulls the cutting-edge activism that was the trademark of King and the civil rights leaders of his day.  

Branch may have been picky, gossipy and even unfair in airing King’s censure of Jackson. But when Jackson and today’s black leaders turn leadership into a business-style competition in which success is measured by piling up political favors and corporate dollars, they leave themselves wide open to that criticism.  

 

 

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an associate editor at New America Media, an association of over 700 print, broadcast and online ethnic media organizations founded in 1996 by Pacific News Service and members of ethnic media.  


China, Taiwan Crack Down on Korean Soap Operas By EUGENIA CHIEN Pacific News Service

Friday January 20, 2006

In the cramped space of AsiaStar Fantasy, a video store that specializes in Chinese cinema in a predominantly Chinese neighborhood, DVDs of flashy Korean soap operas like “Jewel in the Palace” and “Greatest Hits of Korean Drama” have been edging their way in.  

“People just love these Korean soap operas,” says Mr. Luo, the store’s proprietor. “In the past year or two, they have really become so popular.”  

“Jewel in the Palace” stars a fair-skinned, royal chef-cum-first woman physician in the Korean palace. The soap has gathered such a huge following among Chinese that the set has been turned into a theme park where fans from all over East Asia come to see their favorite show up close.  

Luo devotes an entire display to Korean soap operas and television series in his store, which has more than 100 different Korean titles.  

Since 2002, South Korean music and television have dominated youth culture in China and Taiwan. Korean pop singer Rain sells out concerts in Chinese cities and New York; Korean sitcoms dubbed in Chinese such as “The Marrying Type” and “Jewel in the Palace” are shown on television in China and Taiwan. Korean hip hop and fashion are widely imitated by young people there.  

In 2002, 30 Korean soap operas were aired in Taiwan, where they received some of the highest ratings. In Hong Kong, “Jewel in the Palace” was the most-watched of any program in the last 25 years.  

But lately, the popularity of Korean soap operas is causing a backlash against Korean pop culture imports. Rising economic tension in the region and competition between Korean soaps and those produced in China and Taiwan finally came to a head last week as the Chinese and Taiwanese governments announced measures to curb the “Korea wave.”  

Taiwan’s Government Information Office announced on Jan. 10 that it is considering limiting foreign television shows during prime time, reported the Taipei Times.  

In December 2005, China’s State Administration for Radio Film and Television, which controls programming on Chinese television stations, announced that it will decrease the air time for popular Korean television shows by half. Local TV programming directors told the People’s Daily that stations want to cool down the “Korean fever.”  

One reason is that Korean shows are cutting into budgets for Chinese shows. A television programming director in Hunan province told the People’s Daily that Korean soap operas have become so hot that the station is spending more money on purchasing Korean programs than developing its own shows.  

Additionally, Taiwanese television stations import more South Korean soap operas than they sell to South Korea, according to Darson Chiu, an associate research fellow at the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research. In an editorial for the Taipei Times, Chiu said that banning Korean soap operas from prime time is “merely an attempt at making an unequal situation more fair.”  

While relations between China and South Korea have expanded in recent years, South Korean and Chinese export products compete against one another. According to a Korea International Trade Association report, South Korea is lagging behind China in global market growth, and many of its key exports, including cell phones and computers, are in direct competition with China.  

Some disagree that the economic tension in the region is contributing to the anti-Korean sentiments.  

“Competition is heating up between the two countries,” says David Kang, visiting associate professor at Stanford University’s Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center. But the economic interaction is “much more ‘squabbling’ than anything else,” Kang says.  

However, competitive and nationalistic sentiments over the soap operas are creeping into the Chinese media. A well-known Chinese actor, Zhang Guo-Li, was quoted as saying that the growing anti-Korean sentiments made watching Korean soap operas an act of national subterfuge.  

China’s media is traditionally state-owned, and its purpose is to maintain social stability and instill nationalism, according to Ling Chi Wang, professor of ethnic studies at the University of California at Berkeley.  

“From the point of view of China, an excessive amount of Korean soap operas will undermine national prestige, self-confidence and nationalism,” Wang says.  

The allure of Korean soap operas caught many media watchers by surprise. For years, Japanese culture imports were popular in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. But Korean soap operas, with their Confucian values and sleek production, appealed to Chinese viewers. They found Korean culture easier to accept than that of the Japanese, whose war-time crimes are still rooted deep in the hearts of most Chinese.  

History aside, viewers explain their attraction to Korean soap operas simply.  

“Chinese soap operas are outdated and boring,” says Rachel Wang, a 27-year-old Chinese immigrant and Bay Area resident. Wang watches “Jewel in the Palace” and likes the show’s segments on cooking and Asian herbal medicine. “Korean soap operas have attractive actors and fun story lines,” she says.  

China and Taiwan may be trying to cool down the wave of Korean pop culture imports, but in the end, the rampant copyright infringement in Asia might make the governments’ attempts meaningless.  

When asked what she will do if television channels stopped showing Korean soap operas, “Jewel in the Palace” fan Rachel Wang shrugged and said, “I can get the shows on pirated DVDs anyway.”  

 

Eugenia Chien is a writer and editor for New America Media, an association of over 700 print, broadcast and online ethnic media organizations founded in 1996 by Pacific News Service and members of ethnic media.


Correction

Friday January 20, 2006

The Pacific News Service article, “Arab Analysts Give Nod to Favored Oscar Contenders,” published in the Jan. 17 Daily Planet, stated that the film Munich had been banned in Israel. The film has not been banned there. Pacific News Service regrets the error. ›


Barn Owls in Berkeley? Learn How to Keep Them Here By JOE EATON Special to the Planet

Friday January 20, 2006

Barn owls are more common in urban areas, including Berkeley, than you might think. Most of the time they’re just ghostly apparitions in the night. But on Jan. 28, you can meet one of these nocturnal hunters face to face at a fundraiser for the Hungry Owl Project (HOP), sponsored by Keep Barn Owls in Berkeley, a recently launched owl-advocacy group. 

Jane Goodall has described the Marin-based HOP as “a much needed and very important initiative” for the protection of these birds, which are in trouble in many parts of their almost world-wide range.  

The “Afternoon with Owls” event, from 2-4 p.m. on Regal Road in Berkeley, will feature presentations by volunteers with the HOP and Napa County’s Habitat for Hooters, a video of life inside a barn owl nest, and other exhibits. The main attraction, though, will be the visiting owl—a bird with a remarkable presence.  

For those who want to encourage barn owls in their own neighborhoods, nest boxes will be available for sale at the event. Traditionally cavity nesters, the owls will readily accept nest boxes—much safer places to raise a brood than the palm trees they often use. HOP has already installed over 100 boxes at private homes, farms, ranches, and vineyards. Owls that use the boxes are being banded for ongoing research in collaboration with the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory to fill in some of the gaps in our knowledge of their behavior: how long they live, how far they travel. 

And why would you want to attract owls? 

“They’re not that wise,” says Dennis Christiansen, a Fresno teacher who uses barn owls in a classroom program. “But they’re the best at what they do.” 

These birds are consummate rodent-killers. In California, rodents and other small mammals make up 95-99 percent of a barn owl’s diet. In rural areas this would be mostly voles and gophers; in cities, house mice and rats. One study found that a brood of six owlets consumed 600 field mice in 10 weeks. 

A single owlet can eat its weight in mice every night; a captive accounted for 13 at one sitting. Vineyard managers particularly appreciate their taste for gophers. San Bernabe Vineyard in Monterey County, home of the Night Owl label, has over 70 owl boxes in its operation. 

 

Admission to the “Afternoon with Owls” is $25 per person, and space is limited. For more information, contact Lisa Owens at 549-2963; for owl background, visit Keep Barn Owls in Berkeley’s web site, www.kboib.com. 

 

Photo by Deane P. Lewis  

A single owlet can eat its weight in mice every night.


About the House: Yes, You Really Can Learn To Do It Yourself By MATT CANTOR

Friday January 20, 2006

I have known quite a few handymen and even a couple of handywomen over the years and there’s nothing especially distinctive about them as a group. Perhaps there is one thing and it might be worth taking note of. Each of them is willing to do something they’ve never done before…every day.  

What most people don’t understand about their handyperson or even their contractor is that they often have no idea what they’re doing. It doesn’t stop them, it just makes their day a bit more interesting than the average accountant. You see, when you go to the store to pick up a faucet or a new deadbolt, you don’t really know what you’re about to contend with. They keep changing them. One day you only need a screwdriver and the next, you need a wrench, three hands and the ability to breath underwater.  

Sometimes I just sit down and watch one of these people work. They open the box, read the instructions and start fiddling. At some point things start making sense and eventually the whole thing gets done. Now, in all fairness, these folks do learn a thing or two along the way, but that isn’t where I want to go with all of this, so don’t give it too much weight. The point is that when a fixer-upper (as my Tennesseean friend calls them) starts to fix, they know with almost absolute certitude that they are going to have to figure out some of the details of their task from scratch, upside-down and in the dark.  

Now why am I telling you all this? Do I want you to pay your handyguy or gal more? Buy ‘em a beer at the end of the day? Feel more gratitude in your life? These are all nice, but no. The reason I’m pointing out these daily struggles is that there is positively no good reason that you, dear reader, should not attempt to undertake at least some of these adventures for yourself. 

As one who is conscripted to study the workmanship of others each day, I am often amazed at the quality of the homeowner’s efforts. Though they may be flawed in one way or another or show a lack of familiarity with the subject, they often show great care and are not infrequently superior to the work I would expect to see from a good portion of the paid workforce. This isn’t surprising, really, when you consider the notion that one can generally figure these things out and often perform simple repairs with only limited knowledge. Additionally, the homeowner has a high vested interest in doing things well and this can compensate for a lack of experience. All too often I’ll see second-rate work produced by paid people for, I assume, the simple reason that they just didn’t care enough. 

So what do you have to lose? Fair question. First, don’t bite off too much. There are loads of tasks that you might start with but certainly some you want to avoid at first. Leave the furnace alone. Don’t mess with your breaker or fuse panel. Let someone else deal with gas piping. 

That still leaves a huge list of things you might try your hand at. If this is your first time out, how about changing the washers on a leaky faucet or replacing a set of doorknobs? This isn’t the sort of thing I want to try describing here and now, but there are a load of books at the library or at the bookstore on simple repair jobs like these.  

Consider starting a small fix-it library as inspiration for your newfound avocation. A good simple book to get is New Fix-It-Yourself Manual: How to Repair, Clean, and Maintain Anything and Everything in and Around Your Home, published by Reader’s Digest. Another is The Complete Photo Guide to Home Improvement: Over 1700 Photos, 250 Step-by-Step Projects (Black & Decker Complete Photo Guide). 

Buy yourself some tools. There is nothing so satisfying as arming yourself with a cordless drill with a keyless chuck. Every woman and man should have one these babies in their own plastic toolbox. Get yourself a small set of drill bits and some screwdrivers. You do not need to buy these things new. If they have no moving parts (hammer, screwdriver, toolbox) used is just fine. Drills are better bought new because they start to act badly just prior to people selling them. Same thing with electric saws and almost anything else which is motor-driven. New is nice and it does not need to be the most expensive one in the store. Here is a good rule of thumb for buying tools as a new explorer in this very exciting world. Buy the tools you need for your first job. See how it goes. Do it again with the second job. Rent or borrow here and there (Berkeley has a Tool Lending Library!) As things move along, you may decide that you want to buy a nice set of drill bits (when they’re sharp, life goes more smoothly). 

Although it is not my goal to have this “teach you a lesson,” one of the things that will surely come out of doing a few household repairs on your own will be an increased appreciation of the time and effort (and savvy) it actually requires to do some of these seemingly simple projects. This isn’t a reason to turn tail and run from your chore but you may find future interplay with paid help may prove less upsetting when you see how long or difficult a “small” job can be. 

Women, take note, these words are for you. Men who claim to be lousy at fixing things. These words are for you. Start small. Get someone to show you how. Read the book and go forth and fix.  

Here’s a parting thought as I wish you all a great adventure. A girlfriend of mine, some 20 years ago, used to say something that I often think about: “I can do anything if I do it slowly enough.” 




Garden Variety No Need to Rush Those Gardening Decisions By RON SULLIVAN

Friday January 20, 2006

You’ve found it! You’ve signed on the line, committed a scary amount of money and time, got your own piece of ground, a roof of your own over your own head, no landlord to answer to and the freedom to garden as you please. Congratulations! 

Since your first look at the place, you’ve been building some Eden in your imagination. Old roses like Grammy’s, new tropicals like the latest Garden Style, a riot of variegated foliage, a peaceful all-white, no, all-blue garden with a bench. A pergola!  

You’ll grow your own heirloom tomatoes and corn, spend autumn weekends making preserves. You’ll graft 10 varieties of peach and nectarine onto a single trunk. Maybe there’ll be room for a goat, and herbs for the goat cheese too. (Goats in Berkeley? Don’t laugh.) 

Don’t put a leash on your imagination yet, but give it a season or four to let it mesh with the reality of your new space. Plant annuals or winter veggies and watch what your dirt does with them, so you don’t feel guilty for taking your time.  

You have several things to consider before you make any big decisions.  

First, and don’t rush this: What do you want out of your garden? A playspace for kids, food, seasonings, medicinals, flowers to cut, a quiet outdoor room, habitat, screening, climate control? You might have to choose, but you might not have to choose only one.  

What’s there already? Lots of lots are overplanted; people love their living stuff and can’t bear to give it the axe. Wait before commencing wholesale slaughter. It’s winter! If you’re not absolutely sure of what every plant is (and experts are most likely to be humble about this) give it a year to show its stuff. I’ve heard horror stories about newcomers who helpfully had the bare conifer cut down before learning it was a deciduous dawn redwood, and an historic specimen planted from the first seeds of this “living fossil” brought from China.  

If you know it’s going to be a jungle, don’t attack it with the hedgetrimmer, because that will only make it worse when it grows back. Go up to Merritt College or browse local nurseries for basic pruning lessons, like how to turn a juniper ball into a small tree with character. Or hire a real arborist, not the mow-n-blow guys.  

Check out the neighbors’ gardens. What grows well there? Talk to them; they might know why. Maybe you’re in a banana belt, or maybe there’s an underground creek on the block. They can give you hints about where stormwater runs, what happens when it’s windy, and who that critter was rattling the bins last night.  

Give yourself a year—really!—to watch for patterns and possibilities, to see what you want to do outside daily, to get to know your place.  

Next week, I’ll give you some seat-of-the-pants (literally) tests you can use to figure out how to get what you want out of a new garden. Stay tuned. 


Cal OSHA Investigates Worker’s Fatal Fall By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday January 17, 2006

The state Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) has launched an investigation into the fall that claimed the life of a construction worker at the new Berkeley City College Building. 

Robert Walton, a 58-year-old Oakland man, sustained fatal injuries when he fell four stories while working on the new community college building at 2000 Center St. 

Cal/OSHA spokesperson Renee Bacchini said investigators were on the scene of the Jan. 3 accident soon after the accident. 

Walton was rushed to Highland Hospital, where he died a week later on Jan. 10. The Alameda County Coroner’s officer attributed the cause of death to “multiple blunt force injuries.” 

Bacchini said Walton was applying stucco to the surface of the building from a scaffolding at the time of the accident. “He fell from four stories up,” she said. 

Walton was an employee of J&J Acoustics, a San Jose firm. 

Bacchini said investigators will question witnesses, co-workers, and his employer and will examine equipment he was using, whether he had received adequate safety training, any safety equipment or mechanisms he may have been using and whether he was properly equipped with a safety harness. 

“It will be a very comprehensive investigation,” she said. 

While the agency is allowed six months to conclude an investigation, the Cal/OSHA spokesperson said she expected that results would be available in two to three months. 

 

 

A memorial service for Walton will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at Fouche’s Hudson Funeral Home, 3665 Telegraph Ave., Oakland.


Berkeley High Student Murdered In Drive-By Shooting By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday January 17, 2006

A Berkeley High School student was gunned down in Oakland Saturday night as he was standing on the street with friends, police said. 

“We’re not sure of the motive,” said Oakland Police homicide Sgt. Ersi Joyner. 

The crime, a drive-by shooting, occurred at 11:54 p.m. in the 2200 block of East 15th Street, said Joyner. 

Alberto Salvador Villareal, 15, a sophomore at Berkeley High, was standing with several others when shots were fired from a passing car. He was the only person struck by the bullets. 

A spokesperson for the Alameda County Coroner’s office said Monday that the youth was a Berkeley resident. 

The murder is Oakland’s second of 2006, said the officer.  

 


Oakland Mayor’s Race Picks Up Steam As Candidates Start Campaigning By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday January 17, 2006

The three candidates for this June’s Oakland mayoral race—Oakland City Councilmember Nancy Nadel, Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente and former Congressmember Ron Dellums—have begun to increase campaign activity.  

Both Dellums and De La Fuente have opened up campaign headquarters at the same downtown Oakland office near 12th and Broadway, with De La Fuente on the 14th floor and Dellums two floors higher. It could not be determined whether Nadel had yet opened a campaign office. 

Nadel’s website lists a series of campaign house parties throughout Oakland, beginning last summer. 

A De La Fuente spokesperson said the candidate is also planning a series of house parties, as well as school visits throughout the city, and kickoff events in each of Oakland’s seven council districts. 

Dellums, meanwhile, has been on a series of speaking events in Oakland that highlighted his celebrity status, providing keynote speeches for Martin Luther King Jr. birthday events. This past weekend demonstrated the power of that celebrity at Rhythmic Concepts’ 5th Annual Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King at the palatial Oakland Scottish Rite Center, when Oakland Humanitarian Award recipient David Muhammad called Dellums a “living legend.” 

Dellums gave a 15-minute address to a packed audience, never directly mentioning the Oakland mayoral race. Instead, in outlining the relevance of Dr. King’s message of peace and social protest to today’s situation, Dellums mentioned several times what “we have to do in this city.” To a crowd packed with Oakland voters, the inference was clear. 

Reports of a poll putting Dellums far in the lead of the mayoral race surfaced at the weekend event. Oakland School Board member Greg Hodge, who entered the mayor’s race and then dropped out last fall when Dellums became a candidate, said that a poll recently commissioned by Nadel had Dellums at 52 percent and Nadel and De La Fuente trailing badly at “around 17 percent apiece.” 

Hodge said that he did not know which polling organization actually conducted the poll. He said the results of the poll showed the “difficulty” present for Dellums’ challengers. 

Last fall, before Dellums entered the race and before several other candidates dropped out, Oakland political activists had reported seeing two private polls which showed Nadel with a slight lead over De La Fuente. A notice on the front page of the “Nancy J. Nadel for Oakland City Mayor” website indicates that “recent polls taken on the mayoral election show [Nadel] as a frontrunner.” No date was given for the poll referred to on Nadel’s website, and only a voicemail message was available at the telephone number supplied for the campaign. 

Oraiu Amoni, a staff member in the De La Fuente for Mayor campaign, said that he was “not aware of any poll” showing Dellums with a significant lead over De La Fuente and Nadel, and said “I would be hard-pressed to talk about a poll I haven’t seen.” 

Before Dellums dramatic entry into the race last fall after a grassroots petition campaign convinced him to run, the Oakland mayoral race appeared to be a faceoff between two longtime members of the Oakland City Council. Nadel, who represents predominantly-black West Oakland and a portion of the downtown area, has long been seen as the council’s most progressive voice, frequently a critic of big development and pushing for more police accountability. De La Fuente, who represents the predominantly-Latino Fruitvale area, came to City Council from the labor movement, but has identified more closely in recent years with large development. 

The two candidates’ relationship to Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown—who is being termed out this year—demonstrates the sometimes insider, family warfare type campaign that the Oakland mayor’s race had been shaping up to be before Dellums’ arrival. 

In 1998, De La Fuente was a candidate for Oakland mayor against Dellums, and Nadel was Brown’s sole supporter on the Oakland City Council. De La Fuente lost in 1998, running fourth in an 11-member field with a little over 5,000 votes while Brown got almost 44,000. But following the election, Brown formed an alliance with De La Fuente, running the city in a triumvirate that included the mayor’s office, De La Fuente’s council presidency, and the office of then-City Manager Robert Bobb. 

Despite her support for Brown during the campaign, Nadel was frozen out. And until Councilmember Desley Brooks’ election to the 6th District Council seat in 2002, Nadel was often the sole dissenter to De La Fuente and Brown initiatives on the City Council. 


Warm Water Pool Fate Still Bleak, Says Councilmember By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday January 17, 2006

The fate of Berkeley’s warm water pool—a treasured resource to many of Berkeley’s disabled and elderly residents—looks bleak, City Councilmember Dona Spring said Thursday. 

The pool, located on the grounds of Berkeley High School, can’t be replaced with the $3.25 million bond measure city voters approved five years ago, and the outlook for additional money looks grim. 

Located in the aging Old Gym at Berkeley High School, the pool is the home to a wide range of programs, including a Summit Alta Bates physical rehabilitation program for head trauma patients and physical therapy classes for people with arthritis and other degenerative diseases. 

“It’s meant everything to me,” said Frances Breckenridge, a 71-year-old Oakland native who moved to Berkeley four years ago to be closer to the pool. “I wouldn’t be able to walk without it.” 

Breckenridge, who suffers from a degenerative spinal disease and congestive heart failure, said the presence of others like her at the pool is an incentive to greater activity. 

She visits the pool on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and said she’d go more often if she could afford it. 

“The fee is only $2, but that’s all that I can afford,” Breckenridge said. 

With the rise of construction costs since the bond issue was passed, the raising of additional funds becomes more difficult. 

“The school district is prepared to dedicate space for the pool, but there is no financial participation presumed,” said Berkeley Unified School District facilities manager Lew Jones. 

Demolition of the existing structure is planned as the second phase of new development at the high school, with the first phase being the construction of new bleachers on the eastern side of the property with locker and weight rooms. 

The second phase calls for demolition of the Old Gym and its replacement with classrooms and other facilities. 

Preparation of an Initial Statement, the preliminary environmental document required under California, should be completed in the next few days. 

Jones said the district had looked at the idea of heating the pool at the West Campus site, but found too many problems with the plan—including the fact that users said the water wasn’t deep enough for their needs.  

The existing pool is the only facility of its type in the East Bay, Spring said, predicting that demolition would result in negative consequences for the school district. 

“I don’t believe it will play well with the voters when the district comes to them for more money after using tax dollars to destroy a valuable resource,” she said. “After all, everyone in this community is going to get old, and they’ll need to us it.” 

As it now stands, the gap between available funds and actual construction costs is at least $2 million, and the school district rebuffed a call by the city to chip in a million dollars of their own. 

While Mayor Bates and the city manager’s office have suggested going back to the voters to fund the difference, Spring said the approach was problematic in light of recent elections in which virtually all proposed funding measures were defeated. 

“We also don’t have a Fred Lupke to organize the campaign this time,” she added. 

Lupke, a disabled activist who was instrumental in organizing support for the initial bond measure, died when a car struck in wheelchair in September 2003. 

Spring said other options for preserving the existing pool should be explored, noting that one possibility might be to enclose it under a geodesic dome. 

Meanwhile, the existing building continues to deteriorate. Recent storms revealed leaks in the roof, which will cost the city $100,000 to repair. 

“It’s just a shame to have to keep on wasting money on a building the school district says it’s going to demolish,” Spring said. 

Meanwhile, BUSD isn’t letting its own students use the pool and has signed a contract with the Berkeley YMCA to accommodate special needs students. The decision was based on the education code, said district spokesperson Mark Coplan. 

“It’s the same with our offices,” he said, referring to the Old City Hall building on Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Because the building is considered seismically unsafe, the structure is off-limits to students but can be used by adults. 

Coplan said the decision to bar the use of the pool came because the structure is also semismically unsafe and because of the general condition of the aging structure.›


UC Berkeley Richmond Field Station Development Plans Remain on Hold By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday January 17, 2006

The University of California continues to harbor big plans for a 152-acre parcel of land near door to a massive chemical plant on the southern Richmond shoreline—both as an academic research facility and as the potential home for cash-generating corporate research programs. 

But environmental hazards have postponed those plans until the state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) studies the site. 

When the university first took possession of the Richmond site in 1950, it offered just what the university wanted—lots of room to try out massive engineering projects away from the main campus, where future development was targeted for the school’s primary teaching mission. 

“The College of Engineering was interested in the site for large-scale testing facilities,” said Kevin Hufferd, project manager and senior planner for the university’s Facilities Services/Capital Projects staff. 

With room to spare the site allowed for testing of such large-scale projects, including a fog tunnel to test aircraft landing lights, test tracks for self-steering cars, testing facilities to measure the capacity of cables for the Bay Bridge and a massive “shaking table” to test architectural scale models for earthquake safety. 

The site also houses a Forest Products Laboratory, a major regional chemical testing for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a regional library for the UC system.  

 

Future plans 

The university has been pondering ways to increase use of the field station, which Hufferd called “a wonderful piece of property” and the school’s largest off-campus possession. 

Sparsely and casually developed—Hufferd called it a “hodgepodge”—the site contains a number of 22 pre-1940 buildings rated as seismically poor and very poor in a 1997 survey. Hufferd said the university’s long-term goal is to develop the site as “an auxiliary high-end research campus, but the question is how to get there.” 

In the interim, he said, the school is considering adding private sector research facilities alongside the university’s as a means of generating revenue to fund infrastructure improvements. 

But the regulatory change has delayed the negotiations with Simeon Properties, the San Francisco-based development firm the university had picked as its potential partner in developing the site. 

“We thought we would place them on hold until we could see what would come out” of the administrative hand-over, Hufferd said. 

For the time being, “everything is on hold pending further feedback from the DTSC” and an evaluation by campus administration, which has yet to give final approval of the joint corporate/academic research park concept, Hufferd said. 

Of the 152 acres owned by the university, 100 consist of dry lands and the remainder is either shoreline marsh or submerged beneath the waters of the bay. 

In its call for development discussions, Hufferd’s staff proposed a project that would add 2.2 million square feet of new construction on 70 acres of the site. Structures now on the site total about 500,000 square feet. 

Part of the development would be purely academic, including an expansion of the 215,000-square-foot regional University of California Northern Regional Library Facility to 500,000 square feet. 

The climate-controlled library currently houses 7.7 million books from all Northern California UC campuses. The volumes are computer-indexed and stored according to size rather than subject matter or authorship. 

Despite the temporary setback, Hufferd said he is still very interested in pursuing the proposal, in which the university would retain ownership of the land. 

Because space leased to corporations would pay a possessory interest fee equivalent to property tax, the City of Richmond is also very interested in the proposal, said Steve Duran, the city’s Director of Community and Economic Development. 

Hufferd said development would occur over a number of years, and that in the long-run, the sites leased to corporations would revert to university use. 

“In the interim, it would provide a tax benefit to the community and help us create a critical mass of development to allow us to invest in infrastructure and amenities,” he added. 

No housing is planned for the site, and is precluded by the existing water board cleanup order. 

Officials also insist that the site poses no health risks to employees. 

Mark Freiberg, director of the university’s Office of Environment, Health & Safety, said the university recognized that residual contaminants remained at the site when they purchased the property in 1950, but he said that evaluations made at the time of purchase and in the years since “indicate that there is no hazard to the occupants.” 

Field station workers have repeatedly raised concerns about residual contamination at the site, but Freiberg said extensive testing over the years has never yielded evidence of health risks to employees. 

UC officials say they have worked hard to provide information to employees and the public. 

“We do struggle with how to get communications out effectively,” said Freiberg. 

Health concerns are evaluated as they come in, he said, “and we have yet to find any that actually pan out.” 

Reports are regularly posted on a web site—http://rfs.berkeley.edu/—and on bulletin boards at the facility. The web site also gives contact information for university officials, state and county regulators and others. 

“There is more current information on our web site than on the DTSC’s,” said Greg Haet, UCB’s associate director of environmental protection. “We post things more quickly.” 

“The rumors are frustrating,” said Christine Shaff, communications manager for Hufferd’s department. “We’re not getting the information to follow up on them.” 

Shaff said she has scheduled meetings with staff, and sends weekly updates to all who are interested while construction and remediation work is conducted. 

But along with the land, the university also inherited a toxic legacy, one which has stalled development plans and raised concerns by field station employees, neighbors and environmental activists. 

 

Contaminated earth 

Until two years before the purchase, the property had been the home of a plant where for 68 years the California Cap Company had used a particularly dangerous chemical to manufacture a variety of explosives. 

At the site once known as Stege Station, California Cap manufactured a variety of explosives. But their primary product was the blasting cap, a small metal-clad explosive ignited by a burning fuse or an electric charge and used to detonate other explosives like dynamite and TNT. 

The explosive compound in the caps, mercury fulminate, is made from mercury—a hazardous metal in itself and the source of a variety of other toxic compounds, one of which—methyl mercury, derived from a variety of sources—has made San Francisco Bay fish unsafe for pregnant women to consume. 

California Cap also added other contaminants to the soil, most notably lead and copper. 

When the university acquired the land in 1950, the plant itself had been demolished and removed, though a collection of smaller buildings remained—along with some of the contaminants. 

But there were other contaminants, as well, coming from right next door. 

 

Toxic Neighbor 

When UC bought the 152-acre property, the largest source of contamination lay immediately to the east, in the massive manufacturing complex that was then churning out a host of noxious compounds, including sulfuric acid and a variety of herbicides and pesticides. 

The plant, owned by Stauffer Chemical and a variety of successor firms, generated a massive amount of a dangerous wastes, including hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of iron pyrite ash. 

Pyrite, a brittle metal commonly known as “Fool’s Gold,” is composed of iron and sulfur. Heated, the metal releases the sulfur, which is used in the manufacture of acid. Some remains with the iron, and when wet, the residual acid produces an acid solution and releases other metals that naturally occur in pyrite into the environment. 

Pyrite ash was used as landfill both at the chemical plant and at the field station. 

Acid production ceased in 1970, but the production of other hazardous chemicals continued until the plant closed. 

The San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board exerted its jurisdiction over the Stauffer site in 1980, when tests revealed that chemicals from the complex were leaching out into the waters of the bay. 

The board’s jurisdiction also extended to the Richmond Field Station. In 1999, the agency ordered evaluations of both sites, and followed up with a pair of cleanup orders two years later, one for the Stauffer site and the other for the RFS. 

 

Controversial cleanup 

While the university was legally responsible for cleaning up the legacy of California Cap, AstraZeneca—the giant London-based pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturer—was held liable both for the Stauffer site and for contamination at RFS that had come from the Stauffer plant. 

While the pharmaceutical giant hired an Emeryville-based private contractor to conduct their cleanup, UC opted to do its own work, relying on the scientific expertise of its own staff. 

The plan the water board approved for cleanup at the Stauffer site proved controversial from the start, in part because it called for burial of most of the hazardous wastes on site rather than their removal to an approval toxic waste disposal landfill—the costlier option chosen by the university. 

“We’ve spent over $16 million to date,” said Mark Freiberg, director of the university’s Office of Environment, Health & Safety. 

But community suspicions generated over the Stauffer cleanup—starting with the unregulated demolition of plant buildings which generated massive amounts of dust—had created a critical, often hostile environment. 

Suspicions heightened after the Stauffer site was sold on Dec. 31, 2002 to Cherokee-Simeon Ventures LLC, a consortium formed by Simeon Properties—the university’s would-be partner at the fiield staiton—and Cherokee Investment Partners, a firm which specializes in funding projects developed on restored contaminated sites. 

After the firm found few takers for its planned research park at the site, Cherokee-Simeon unveiled a scheme to build a 1330-unit high-rise housing project directly atop the entombed 350,000 cubic yards of pyrite cinders and other hazardous wastes assembled during the cleanup. 

The announcement served as a catalyst to neighbors and political activists, and they began mobilizing around the issue of forcing a change in regulatory oversight. 

Instead of the regional water board—an agency without a single toxicologist on its staff—groups like Bay Area Residents for Responsible Development (BARRD), the Richmond Progressive Alliance (RPA) and the West County Toxics Coalition called for oversight by the state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), an agency staffed with a wide range of scientific experts. 

Their cause was joined by East Bay Assemblymember Loni Hancock, along with Cindy Montanez, another powerful Assembly Democrat, followed by the Richmond City Council. 

While the activists’ initial focus was aimed at Campus Bay, their focus soon expanded to include the field station—especially after the announcement that UC Berkeley had selected Simeon Properties as their potential developer of the proposed academic/corporate research park expansion of the field station.  

UC Berkeley officials—Freiberg included—opposed a handover, but after the Richmond City Council joined the call for DTSC control and the state Environmental Protection Agency ordered the transfer. 

With the DTSC takeover came the creation of a Community Advisory Group composed of officials, activists and other citizens who advise the agency on what should be included in cleanup plans. 

That panel has called for a thorough characterization of the field station—a detailed examination of all parts of the site to determine what contaminants remain and where. 

Meanwhile, plans for the housing complex at Campus Bay have been placed on hold. One thing is certain. The university’s efforts will be closely monitored, not only by the DTSC, but by the community. 

Union officials like Joan Lichterman and activists like BAARD’s Sherry Padgett say they are concerned that the university’s drive for growth may come at the expense of workers and the community, and they say they’ll be keeping a close eye on the field station in the months and years to come.â


No Radioactive Waste Found at Richmond Site By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday January 17, 2006

A test dig at the Richmond shoreline site where a retired UC Berkeley worker said barrels of possible radioactive waste had been buried has turned up no evidence of radioactivity or barrels, a state agency reported. 

The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) reported the results last week following the conclusion of the dig at a site between Marina Bay and the UC Berkeley Richmond Field Station. 

“No metal drums were found and no evidence of metal drums was observed” during the investigation, DTSC Public Information Officer Angela Blanchette said. 

State officials had been alerted to the site (known as Meeker Beach) by Rick Alcaraz, who said he and other university employees had dumped drums from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at the site three decades ago. 

A preliminary UC Berkeley exploration had determined that metal had been buried beneath the surface at the site, and the agency hired a private contractor, Engineering/Remediation Resources Group (EERG) of Concord, to conduct a test dig at the site to search for radioactivity. 

The site is no longer located on UC property but on land owned by the Richmond Redevelopment Agency, which gave permission for the survey and subsequent excavations. 

EERG dug two 12-foot-deep trenches at the site Monday, and “no metal drums were found and no evidence of metal drums was observed in either trench,” reported the DTSC in a report issued Tuesday morning. 

Detection equipment also recorded no readings of radioactivity or harmful volatile organic compounds above normal background levels.


Extra Staffer Hired for South Berkeley Post Office By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday January 17, 2006

Sometimes, apparently, government can act quickly. 

Less than a week after a Daily Planet story appeared concerning long lines and inadequate staffing at the Adeline Street Post Office in Berkeley, a post office spokesperson called to say that the problem has been solved. 

“We have made adjustments to the situation at the South Berkeley Post Office,” Berkeley U.S. Postal Service Customer Service Coordinator Mercer W. Jones said in a telephone message. “We have assigned another employee to cover lunches and breaks as well as for some additional time. Hopefully you’ll have a more pleasant experience if you go there again.” 

In its initial article, the Daily Planet had reported waiting a half hour in line to see the single clerk assigned to the Adeline Street Post Office. The article also reported the service window closed three times a day during the single clerk’s half hour lunch break and two 15-minute additional breaks. 

A check of the post office on Friday afternoon following Jones’ call showed a second employee covering the service window while the first clerk took her afternoon break. While there had consistently been about a dozen customers waiting in line during the Planet’s first visit, only three customers were there when the Planet made the follow-up visit after the new employee was assigned. 

South Berkeley business owner Jesse Palmer, who had initiated a petition campaign late last year to ask the post office to increase staffing at the Adeline Street station, said he was cautiously optimistic about the changes. 

“It’s fantastic that the post office appears to have responded, and I’m hopeful that things will improve,” Palmer said. 

He added, however, that “there were two issues involved in our complaint. One of them was about the window closing down during breaks. The second one was about the long lines.” 

Palmer said that the second complaint—the long lines—could only be addressed if the new employee is present at the Adeline Street facility all day and works the window simultaneously with the original employee during crowded periods. Saying that he had not yet heard from Berkeley Post Office officials directly, Palmer said, “It’s still too early to tell if this will be a permanent improvement.” 


Police Drug Evidence Abuse Probe Launched By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday January 17, 2006

Prosecutors and Internal Affairs investigators have launched a criminal investigation into the handling of drug evidence at the Berkeley Police Department. 

BPD Chief Doug Hambleton said in a statement released Friday that he ordered on Jan. 6 a review of drug evidence handling which uncovered “irregularities in the handling of some of the drug evidence.” 

The criminal investigation “to determine if any improper or illegal conduct may have occurred” was launched after the chief met to discuss the findings with Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff. 

According to a report published in the Oakland Tribune, the investigation centers on impounded heroin and one officer, a sergeant with over two decades on the force who has worked on the narcotics and robbery units. 

A parallel administrative investigation of possible violation of department policies and procedures will be conducted by BPD’s own Internal Affairs Bureau. 

“The public should be assured that Chief Hambleton and all members of the BPD take this matter very seriously,” declared the department statement. 


Downtown Panel to Hear from Experts By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday January 17, 2006

The panel charged with helping draft a new plan for downtown Berkeley will hear from a panel of experts Wednesday discussing “What Makes a Great Downtown?” 

The meeting, scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. in room 22 Warren Hall on the UC Berkeley campus, is located just east of the intersection of University Avenue and Oxford Street. The meeting is co-sponsored by UCB’s Advisory Committee on the Downtown Plan. 

Creation of the new plan was mandated as one of the conditions of the settlement agreement that ended the city’s lawsuit against the university’s Long Range Development Plan 2020. 

Panelists will include: 

• Former San Francisco Planning Director and UCB Professor Emeritus Allan Jacobs; 

• Dena Belzer, a member of the board of the Center for Transit-Oriented Development and a principal of Strategic Economics, a consulting firm; 

• Donlyn Lyndon, an emeritus UCB professor of architecture and urban design and the editor of PLACES, an environmental design journal; 

• Paul Okamoto of Okamoto Saijo Architecture and a former board member of Urban Ecology and the Greenbelt Alliance. 

• A representative of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association. 

Among the subjects to be discussed related to the downtown plan are economics, livability, cultural identity, social equity, design and environment. 


Council Faces Light Agenda By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday January 17, 2006

The Berkeley City Council will face a relatively light agenda when they hold their first meeting of 2006 Tuesday. 

Among the items to be discussed are: 

• An amendment to the sidewalk vending ordinance to bar future sidewalk flower vendors from setting up within 300 feet of existing flower shops. 

• An amendment by Councilmember Dona Spring to the new standards of care passed at the council’s last meeting governing the care of dogs kept outdoors. Spring’s amendment would exempt canines kept by the homeless, which would continue to be covered by existing codes governing cruelty to animals. 

• Amendments to the city’s Coast Live Oak Moratorium Ordinance barring excessive and injurious pruning of the trees—“excessive” being defined as removal of more than 25 percent of the leaf, stem or root system within a two-year period. 

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in council chambers at the Maudelle Shirek Building—Old City Hall—2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 


Correction

Tuesday January 17, 2006

Toward the end of the Jan. 13 article “A Samizdat For Our Time,” quotation marks were mistakenly omitted from a quote by playwright Harold Pinter, giving the impression that the words were those of the story’s author. We regret the error..


Two Berkeley High Students Search for a New Home By ANNIE KASSOF Special to the Planet

Tuesday January 17, 2006

Berkeley High students Robert Coil, a senior, and Alexis Hooper, a junior, are two of the most gracious teens you could hope to meet. They have ambition, good manners, and guts—the kind of kids who would make their parents proud, if only their parents were around. 

Because of their families’ problems, the two have been living in a group home in Berkeley, one of several operating in the Bay Area under the auspices of the Fred Finch Youth Center. On Jan. 10 they were notified that they will have to leave by the end of the month, and they have no idea where they’ll go. 

The Fred Finch Youth House administration is converting the home into a facility for young adults 18-24 years old, including those recently emancipated from the foster care system. According to Robert and Alexis, the group home isn’t making enough money on its younger residents, and state law prohibits youth under 18 from living in group homes where adults also reside. Currently the home’s only other resident is an Oakland Tech student who has already turned 18. 

“We’ve got each other’s backs,” says Robert, a year-long resident of the South Berkeley home, who met Alexis when she moved in about six months ago. The pair—he’s slender and soft-spoken with gentle brown eyes, and she has close-cropped black hair and a confident demeanor—call each other “brother” and “sister.” Their bond is evident from the moment they start talking. They finish each other’s sentences or playfully tease each other.  

“I grew up a lot faster than I was supposed to,” says Alexis. 

Alexis had been kicked out of her single mother’s home “many times,” ultimately for good, over disagreements about Alexis’ sexuality among other issues. She wound up homeless for two months yet managed to get herself to school at Skyline High in Oakland, maintaining a 4.0 grade point average despite her dyslexia, before moving to Berkeley. 

Alexis is interested in “the science of the brain.” With the same certainty and confidence as someone who’s always had a loving home and a roof over her head, she says specifically she’d like to be an “FBI profiler” and “study the brains of serial killers.” She had taken anger management classes, and by the time a spot opened for her at the Fred Finch Youth House she was on a direct path toward self-acceptance, graduation (from BHS, she hopes), a four-year-college, and police academy. 

Robert, who talks with a slight speech impediment, has no doubt that he wants to be a firefighter and an EMT. He was adopted when he was 1, but his adoptive mother and later his stepmother both died. His adoptive father, who lives in Grass Valley, is unable to continue raising him. Besides earning good grades, Robert has a part-time job teaching arts and crafts to fifth- and sixth-graders at Berkeley Arts Magnet school. He has already ordered his graduation gown, but now he wonders whether he’ll be able to remain at BHS to wear it. 

Robert and Alexis both desperately hope to stay at Berkeley High, and they want to continue living together. Against all odds, Alexis and Robert have been thriving, due in part to the stability they’ve found living at the Fred Finch Youth House, but also because of the support they give each other. A sympathetic staff is apparently powerless to arrange for Alexis and Robert to remain together in the house that has become their home. 

The two feel that, as displaced youth, they have few advocates outside the Fred Finch Youth Services organization to help with their transition. A mental health therapist who has worked with them only since November has also been unable to find an option in the East Bay for either one, and cannot provide any assurance that either will be able to continue at the school where they’ve both found a niche. 

As of press time, calls to the Fred Finch Youth House administration concerning this issue had not been returned. 

 


Principal Gives BHS Good Marks in Annual Address By YOLANDA HUANG Special to the Planet

Tuesday January 17, 2006

Berkeley High School Principal Jim Slemp’s State of the School speech last week gave the picture of a high school that is ready to step into the future. 

Before 200 parents, many of whom were parents of 8th graders, Slemp outlined the vision for the high school and presented his accomplishments of the past two and a half years in his Jan. 10 speech. These accomplishments had eluded his predecessors for over a decade and range from the mundane—such as having clean grounds, clean bathrooms and improved security—to the less routine—such as making sure the high school that not too long ago received only conditional accreditation is now accredited until 2011. 

Slemp stated that this significant accreditation awarded by the Western Association of Colleges and Schools was based upon the new high school plan, which took two years to develop. The high school is now “goal focused” toward becoming a learning community where “all” 3,263 currently enrolled students would graduate with the skills to go onto a four-year college, he said. 

Slemp also reaffirmed the high school’s commitment to diversity, stating that all small schools and academic choice would reflect the diversity of the entire student body. There were several questions from parents about students who lived in the “wrong” zip code and were not accepted into a small school or academic choice. Slemp told parents that they are to “expect quality teaching” and that the “comprehensive high school still does good things.” 

Slemp stated that Berkeley High is “one of the top high schools in the country.” Comparison of Berkeley High’s college entrance SAT scores for high school seniors confirms that Berkeley High School’s combined totals for the SAT verbal and math scores are higher than most other public high schools in Alameda County, except for Piedmont High and Albany High, and compares favorably with other top public schools in neighboring areas. 

And while the scores of African-American students at Berkeley High were the lowest among Berkeley High School students who took the SAT test, these scores were still higher than the school average of the best of Oakland’s high schools.  

Slemp also cited the increased number of students who enrolled in advanced placement (AP) classes. Over the past year, the number of students taking AP courses at Berkeley High has substantially increased from 905 students in 2004 to 1,334 in 2005. This included a 35 percent increase in African-American students taking AP classes to a total of 97. Slemp said he was proud that the African-American students did as well on the AP exam as white students. 

Starting this September, Slemp said he wants to see an International Baccalaureate program added because he thought that such a rigorous and challenging curriculum would increase student achievement and help eliminate the achievement gap. 

Slemp said his goal is to monitor classroom practices by being in every classroom once every two weeks.  

Seniors Niles Dhar and Huey Lerer said that they see Principal Slemp frequently around the school. Lerer said that Slemp “actually cares about kids because if he sees you out of class, he doesn’t get you into trouble, he finds a place for you to go.” 

Dhar added that Slemp’s comment to students at an assembly the week before, that when other students are “messing up the school with graffiti, tell them how you feel, but students shouldn’t snitch,” was a good approach. 

Andrew Hoeft-Edenfield commented that the creation last year of on-site suspension, instead of sending students home was also a good idea, and that since transferring to Berkeley, he hadn’t gotten into a single fight. 

Juniors Melina Pauline, Alina Schanke-Mahl and Judith Joy all said that they regularly see Principal Slemp in their classes, but not for very long. Pauline stated that Slemp “pops in, waves and leaves.”  

All students interviewed agreed that graffiti is now hardly visible, and that the new bathrooms in the D building were nice. However, many students complained that the C building only had one bathroom for four floors of classrooms. 

Stephanie Allen, business agent for the custodial union, commended Slemp for advocating and obtaining additional custodial staff for the high school. She said that before the additional staffing, it just wasn’t possible to keep the huge campus high school clean. 

Slemp vowed to continue cleaning up the school and work his way into the classrooms. 

 


Column: Riding the Bus With Shipwreck and Louis Sachar By SUSAN PARKER

Tuesday January 17, 2006

In Sunday’s New York Times Book Review, I read that Louis Sachar has finally written a sequel to his best-selling, award-winning young adult novel, Holes. Reading the review of this new novel, Small Steps, reminded me of a trip I took three years ago. Although I didn’t go far, it made a lasting impression, just as the book Holes made an impression when I read it back in 1999.  

In the spring of 2003, my friend Jernae asked me to help chaperone her seventh-grade class to the Metreon to see the Hollywood movie version of Holes. I met her and her classmates in front of their school, St. Paul of the Shipwreck in Hunters Point. When the No. 15 Muni bus pulled to the corner where we stood, the driver opened the door and shouted, “Oh lord! If I’d known Shipwreck was waitin’ for me, I wouldn’t of stopped.” Then she laughed and let us on her bus.  

The bus ride felt as if I was in a shipwreck, not just riding with Shipwreck. Third Street was, and still is, under construction. The No. 15, a double-length bus, swayed back and forth, dangerously close to huge potholes, piles of rubble, and orange-clad Caltrans workers. It was not smooth sailing. 

But most of the kids were occupied with electronic devices, and they seemed not to notice the rocking and rolling. Jernae’s teacher, Mr. Quinn, told me class trips were much more peaceful than in years past. “The noise level used to be off the charts,” he said, demonstrating by rolling his eyes and making little circles with his hands around his ears. “A Shipwreck class trip used to be just that: a shipwreck. But now they all have cell phones, Game Boys, and CD players. Shipwreck kids are multi-taskers.” 

When we finally got off the bus, within the theater, and into our seats, the lights dimmed and a hush fell over the crowd. We were transported to Green Lake, Texas, where our hero, Stanley Yelnats, has been sent to juvenile detention. Stanley digs holes every day in a dry lake bed under the hot desert sun in order, he is told, to build his character. In truth, the wicked warden is looking for buried treasure and is using the young inmates as her personal excavating machines. Stanley has to fight off vicious rattlesnakes, deadly yellow-spotted lizards, and other juvenile delinquents. He’s been sent to Camp Green Lake unfairly. The future looks grim. 

When the movie ended, Mr. Quinn asked his students which did they liked better, the book or film version. “The book!” shouted all 14 Shipwreckers, and then they got back on the No. 15 and stared at their Game Boys. In front of the school, at the corner of Jamestown Avenue and Third Street, we parted company. 

A few weeks later the Archdiocese of San Francisco closed down St. Paul of the Shipwreck Elementary School as a cost-saving measure. The students scattered. Some enrolled in different Catholic schools across the city; others went to public schools. Jernae bounced around in several parochial and San Francisco Unified junior highs before finally winding up at her current high school in Vallejo.  

There won’t, of course, be anymore class trips with the Shipwreckers, which is too bad, because I really liked their M.O. But if I’m lucky, I’ll find another group of seventh graders, or at least one pre-teen to read Louis Sachar’s newest novel with. Small Steps is recommended for children age ten and older. It features two of the characters from the first novel, Armpit and X-Ray. According to the Times review, there are “...no poison lizards or buried treasure, just racism, adult indifference and the arduous daily struggle against them.” Sounds like a good book for all of us. 

 

Louis Sachar will read from Small Steps (published by Delacorte Press) on Jan. 26 at Books Inc., 3515 California St., San Francisco, at 6:30 p.m.; and on Jan. 27 at Stanley Middle School, 3455 School St., Lafayette, at 7 p.m.  

 

 

 


Editorial Cartoon By JUSTIN DEFREITAS

Tuesday January 17, 2006

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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Letters to the Editor

Tuesday January 17, 2006

CAMPAIGN FINANCE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Perhaps Steve Geller (Letters, Jan. 10) forgot that Berkeley voters rejected a City Council initiative for public campaign financing a short while ago by a huge margin. 

It was rejected because it was revealed that given the present state of our democratic experiment, such public campaign financing with our tax dollars mainly benefits (our) incumbents. Apparently, this prospect horrified an overwhelming number of Berkeley voters. 

Given the Loni/Tom axis, one wonders if Loni’s AB582 is a way to circumvent the will of Berkeley voters. 

Maris Arnold 

 

• 

PHIL ELWOOD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

While in his mid 20s, Phil Elwood taught civics at Albany High School. His classes almost always segued into discussions about the contemporary jazz musicians of the day, and on many days, and always on Fridays, after a pro functionary lecture, he’d use a portable phonograph to play 78 rpm records. His collection of records numbered in the many thousands. For many students, this was their introduction to jazz and for some of us, jazz music became a life-long passion as a result of his unbridled enthusiasm and knowledge. 

Michael Yovino-Young 

 

• 

AC TRANSIT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I found out yesterday that, without any consulting of the community, AC Transit plans to close several bus stops on the No. 51 line through Berkeley. One of them is University/California and the other is Durant/Oxford. There may be others.  

The closures will happen on Jan. 29, which gives about two weeks notice. 

The notices say that this will “standardize bus stop distances” and “streamline service.” 

On one short bus ride, however, I found five bus stop duos that are as close as, or closer than, the distance between the stops slated for closure and the next one down the line. How is this “standardizing bus stop distances?” 

At one stop, mine at University and California, at least 30 people use the stop regularly. Three of us are disabled, including two with mobility impairments and one blind. How is this serving the community? 

The bus service at my stop was already cut 50 percent when AC Transit cut the No. 67 bus, leaving the No. 51 the only bus serving that stop. 

Clearly this decision was made by someone with a map and a pencil, not by anyone who bothered to come and check out the stops.  

I ask bus riders to e-mail AC transit and ask them to not cut the proposed stops. 

Dianne Leonard 

 

• 

MAIL DELIVERY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Another tale of woe. I’m elderly so a few years ago I had railings installed on each side of my front steps so I’d have something to hold on to. My mailman refused to put his hands through the railings to put the mail in the box though there was plenty of room. He also refused to climb the three steps to the porch to put the mail in the back of the built-in mailbox. Instead he threw the mail on the porch. On one occasion this included a box of checks which would have been a real gift to any thief. 

I told the mailman I guessed I’d have to put up a new mailbox at the bottom of the steps. He said I couldn’t do that without a permit from the post office and he continued to throw the mail onto the porch. I wrote to the superintendent of the Berkeley system asking for a permit and never got an answer. In desperation I bought and installed the new box anyway. 

Nancy Ward 

 

• 

EAST BAY EXPRESS 

To East Bay Express Executive Editor Michael Mechanic, 

I am glad to see that you read the Berkeley Daily Planet, I certainly do faithfully. It is such a blessing to have this interesting, informative and authentically local paper in our community. I’m sorry, but the noticeable decline of the East Bay Express since its sale to the New Times Chain has made it unworthy of my precious time. Frankly, I thought Ms. O’Malley hit it on the head with the “cowboy libertarianism” comment. The common tone of your paper is to sensationalize and de-merit issues like they don’t actually affect the lives of people around here. Chris Thompson is a prime example. His snide belittling of the real struggles of the times is a lot like the ignorance cowboys had of the depth and beauty of the natives they were harming. Puhlease! Real journalism knows the important role it plays in creating a wise and just society. The Express is not at this time. And you even messed up your Billboard section so the paper is useless for the simple apolitical task of helpfully listing local nightlife/events. Maybe your corporate overlords don’t have to visit often as you have quite successfully destroyed our local weekly all on your own. 

Cynthia Johnson 

 

• 

TRANSIT VILLAGE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Dear Mayor Bates and Councilmember Anderson, 

I appreciated reading about the Ashby BART transit village plans in your e-tree newsletter and the Berkeley Daily Planet. As you know, this is a very contentious issue for our neighborhood. 

Your article states clearly that the city does not intend to use eminent domain, yet it's my understanding that the current plans allow for eminent domain within a quarter-mile radius. What guarantee is the City of Berkeley willing and able to make in regard to this particular issue? 

It’s also been my understanding that the zoning for this project would change the overall character of the neighborhood by rezoning for higher density. Your letter again refutes that idea. How will it be possible to re-zone only for the project, but keep the current zoning for the surrounding areas? Again, what guarantees can the city offer in this regard? 

Lastly, so far, it appears the City of Berkeley has done little to support broad community discussion. It’s been suggested that the city withdrew the rental waiver on the South Berkeley Senior Center for the community discussion slated for Jan. 17 at 7 p.m.. How does the city propose to reverse the contentious course that has been set? 

I would like to be able to support this project, but without guarantees on the first two critical issues, and progress on the last, I don’t see how it can develop the broad community support such a project requires. 

Please do whatever you can to address these issues, and perhaps a more meaningful dialog and process can begin to take shape. 

Julie Chervin 

 

• 

BERKELY HONDA PICKETERS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

D. Doulgeropoulos’ letter complains that Berkeley Honda picketers are “paid professional picketers” rather than dedicated picketers. But two paid picketers, Judy Shelton and Jennifer Kidder, spend more hours each week protesting the inhumane practices of Berkeley Honda than the number of hours they are gainfully employed. Another paid picketer is a striking worker. The small hourly wage helps cover some of his living expenses. 

To put the issue in perspective, the more than 50 picketers who protest every week management’s refusal to seriously negotiate with the union do not receive a single penny for their efforts. And they pay their own gas going back and forth. Their compensation is the satisfaction they enjoy for taking a principled stance on behalf of working people who are standing tall and proud against wealthy, influential, and callous business men.  

In addition, many progressive organizations have joined us. A large contingent from the Berkeley Federation of Teachers, including its president and vice president, just picketed at Berkeley Honda. None of them was paid. Nor are members of the UC Berkeley Labor Coalition and SEIU 790, who are joining us on the picket line. The Gray Panthers, Green Party, and the Social Justice Committee of St. Joseph Church are also among our supporters. Members of the Wellstone Democratic Club picket Berkeley Honda regularly. 

S. Doulgeropoulis writes that “I was not interested in anything but having my car repaired, and that I was not going to go elsewhere”. But our wonderful activist individuals and organizations have very different motives for coming to the dealership. Making money as a condition for working on progressive causes is certainly not among them.  

Harry Brill 

Co-Chairman, Berkeley Honda Labor and Community Coalition 

 

• 

POINT ISABEL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

My partner and I went to Point Isabel on Sunday, Jan. 8. It was a beautiful day and people and dogs abounded.  

My partner was ahead of me when a woman called her dog. The dog tore down the hill and hit my partner broadside, knocking her off her feet. I watched in horror as my partner’s body slammed to the ground. 

By the time I reached her, a stranger was cradling her head, which was bleeding profusely. Several people offered to call 911.  

The dog’s owner sat off to the side, and asked if I wanted her to stick around. I told the woman I wanted her name and phone number, but I didn’t have anything to write with. She said she had pen and paper in her car. She left the scene, and didn’t return. 

Meanwhile, another bystander got a blanket and covered my partner, who shivering uncontrollably. 

The ambulance arrived, and took my partner to the hospital. The puncture wound on her scalp bled for five hours. Her right ankle was broken. She is bruised from head to toe.  

My partner has lived with chronic illness and disabilities for many years. Walking is one of her greatest joys. Point Isabel has always seemed the best of all worlds—great views, bay breezes, and fabulous dogs and their humans. 

While we are deeply grateful for the outpouring of help and concern from many strangers, we are disappointed and angry at the woman whose dog caused the accident. The dog did not intend to cause harm. In fact, she seemed to know something was wrong and nosed and sniffed my partner. The owner was less concerned.  

My partner has osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. She could have broken her neck, her spine, or her hip. The head wound could have caused bleeding in the brain. How could the dog’s owner leave the scene? 

In many ways, we are fortunate. We have medical insurance, and most of our costs are covered. My sick leave allows me to stay home until my partner can fend for herself. Even so, my partner will have limited mobility for the next six weeks. She is not able to use crutches. 

Since Sunday, we’ve heard about two other “fast-moving dog” accidents at Point Isabel. We are both passionate dog lovers. We want dogs to have a place to run and play. However, when dogs are off leash around people of all ages and abilities, there will always be the potential for an accident. As a community, let’s find a way to keep the park safe for dogs and people.  

Nora Hale 

Richmond 

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Response to Story on Anna’s Jazz Island

Tuesday January 17, 2006

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Does my recollection fail me or has the editorial staff of the Berkeley Daily Planet periodically excoriated various local free newspaper rags for selling out their journalistic integrity by nakedly promoting the interests of an advertiser in their so-called news coverage? 

Now I read in the Planet ad nauseum about Anna’s Jazz Island’s troubles with its neighbor Glass Onion Catering Company, noting the important proviso in the article, “Neither Glass Onion nor Kennedy was contacted for this story, which is based wholly on the allegations in de Leon’s complaint.” Flip to page five of the Planet and, surprise(!), there’s an ad for Anna’s Jazz Island. 

Is there any other disclosure the Planet would like to make regarding any old personal friendships or other relationships between staff members of the Planet and de Leon who is a fellow traveler of the same generation and ilk? 

Regardless of that, now that the Planet is littered with ads for Scientology in various vacuous guises, what are we to expect next from articles attributed only to the “Daily Planet Staff”? Perhaps an angry, one-sided apologia for the life and works of L. Ron Hubbard wholly based on material supplied by the Church of Scientology? 

O once esteemed Daily Planet! To what depths of journalistic turpitude you have sunk in desperation for an advertising buck! Perhaps only even heavier doses of anti-Israel and anti-Neo-Con (the latter as commonly understood code for the former) screeds could now resuscitate your clearly failing enterprise. 

Edna Spector 

 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As the management company for the Gaia Arts Center I was astounded to see an article published in your paper regarding a private event that was hosted at the Gaia Arts Center on Saturday, Jan. 7. The party was the 18th birthday celebration of a local Latino Berkeley High School honor student. The birthday party was a private celebration and was not facilitated in any way by Glass Onion Catering, Gaia Arts Management or Panoramic Interests. The student’s father is not an employee of Panoramic Interests, and is in fact the owner of his own company. No alcohol was being served at the event. 

The amount of erroneous facts that have been quoted in the article make it difficult to address each one so I will simply address the major issues. There were claims that the Gaia Arts Center and Glass Onion Catering have engaged in the illegal sale of alcohol. All public events hosted at the Gaia Arts Center that fall under ABC regulations are required to obtain proper permits from the ABC before alcohol can be served. These permits require the approval of the Berkeley Police Department and the building owner before they can be approved by the ABC. According to officials at the ABC, neither Glass Onion Catering nor the Gaia Arts Center is under investigation by the ABC in any way.  

Your article further states there were masses of young drunk adults gathered outside the Arts Center alleging there were fights and other illegal activity. According to the police record there were no arrests or citations written . I am appalled at the lack of journalistic integrity required to print such a piece. You stated in your article that you did not contact Glass Onion Catering, Gaia Arts Management or Panoramic Interests, I would hope that you would have checked you facts more carefully.  

If you really want to know what is going on at the Gaia Arts Center, I would encourage you and your staff to attend one of the many artistic or community functions we host weekly. The Gaia Arts Center opened its doors in July. In August, we introduced “The Marsh,” a well-known San Francisco Theater Company to downtown Berkeley. Since their debut in August The Marsh has had weekly theater performances, more than 70 in total. The Marsh has introduced more than six new performers to downtown Berkeley, and I believe the Gaia Arts Center is the only facility in downtown Berkeley that can boast weekly theater 12 months a year!  

In addition to weekly theater, the mezzanine has an ongoing art exhibit by local Berkeley artist Carol Brightman (curator of the Addison Street Window Project), Audrey Wallace Taylor and Sylvia Susman. Berkeley’s non-profit and local business community have also embraced the facility. We have hosted fundraisers, meetings and/or seminars for the following organizations: Cal State 9 Credit Union, BAHIA, the mayor’s office, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Hop-A-Long Animal Rescue and Clif Bar. In the next few months we will be hosting events sponsored by Berkeley Food & Housing, the Berkeley Art Museum, and The VERGE (a local nonprofit committed to supporting youth music and art programs). The San Francisco City Church will also be using the facility temporarily for worship services as it searches for a permanent location to house its East Bay parishioners.  

This is what should be making headlines. The Gaia Arts Center has become and will continue to be a positive presence in the downtown Berkeley community. We should all be applauding the positive impact the new community center has had.  

Gloria Atherstone 

Gaia Arts Management Inc.


Commentary: Why Attack the Landmarks Ordinance? By Roger Marquis

Tuesday January 17, 2006

You’d never know it from reading his press releases, but Mayor Bates is pushing a proposal to effectively eliminate Berkeley’s Landmarks Preservation Ordinance (LPO). He recently told a group of concerned citizens, “This is going to happen, I have a majority on the council.” But there’s more to it than a council majority. 

Across the bay in Palo Alto, where I once lived, demolitions have averaged nearly 150 per year since its preservation ordinance was lost in 2000. As a result that city no longer has a single neighborhood which qualifies as an historic district. Mayor Bates is proposing the same fate for Berkeley. I wonder if we are ready for McMansions and tract condos by the hundreds? 

Interestingly, the mayor’s proposal starts off recognizing Berkeley’s unique architecture and neighborhoods and the need to conserve both. Reading farther into it, however, makes clear the proposal’s intention is exactly the opposite. Most importantly the proposal would prevent consideration of neighborhood context by eliminating the “structures of merit” category entirely. At the heart of the issue are these structures of merit, buildings which were not designed by a famous architect like Julia Morgan or lived in by a famous person but are fundamental to the character of their neighborhood. Without this category the LPO would only apply to the few dozen stand-alone structures which qualify for the state or national registers. This revision alone would attract developers to traditional neighborhoods, away from the city’s many blighted lots. It is not a smart-growth proposition by any measure. 

Why are Mayor Bates and the Planning Department spending so much time and effort attacking the LPO? The reason most often cited is that it is in violation of the state Permit Streamlining Act (PSA). However, no developers have complained of PSA violations nor have any been attributed to the LPO. In truth the PSA and state environmental law (CEQA) explicitly allow for more than enough time to perform historic reviews. 

Obviously, the Permit Streamlining Act is a red herring. The real beneficiaries of Mayor Bates’ LPO revision efforts would be big developers. The same individuals who don’t actually live in Berkeley and are frequently afforded subsidies, fee reductions and zoning “adjustments” while our local homeowners, carpenters, painters and electricians are shortchanged by increasing permit delays and fee hikes. This local version of corporate welfare is no different from that practiced by Schwarzenegger in Sacramento or Bush in Washington. 

Politics aside the real question is what would Berkeley look like in 10 or 20 years were the mayor’s LPO revision efforts to succeed? We need only look back 40 years for the answer. Demolition permits were doled out by the dozen in the 60s and early 70s. It was during this time that Berkeley lost many residents to suburban flight, property tax rolls fell, crime increased, and civic pride plummeted. The city is still suffering the effects of those demolitions. We responded by passing a Neighborhood Preservation Initiative in the 1973 election from which the council created the LPO in 1974. Have we already forgotten why? Do we really need to relive the city’s most difficult decade to remember how quickly neighborhoods can decline?  

 

Roger Marquis is a local computer security consultant and a UC graduate.


Commentary: Teaching My SonOne of Life’sHardest Lessons By CAROLYN DOELLING

Tuesday January 17, 2006

Last weekend my son was confronted by a team of police in a parking lot when he was returning from watching the Chronicles of Narnia. He was held at bay on suspicion of robbing the nearby Circuit City store even though the description of the suspect was i n no way similar to his physical features except that he is an African-American.  

He was ultimately released but not without substantial emotional distress. The incident, the first of its kind for him, has officially initiated him as a black male in America. Ironically, the incident occurred just weeks after a lengthy debate that was held among the student body and faculty of his high school about whether racism is still a factor in the East Bay.  

As rewarding as it may be at times, being the parent of a 16-year-old is no easy task. There are many lessons we must teach about the finer points of getting along in the world, even when we’d rather not, especially the message I needed to deliver to him about the varying levels of freedom in America.  

Here i s my message to my 16-year-old son:  

Freedom has a different ring. 

Even though you maintain an A average in math and science at one of the most prestigious high schools in the nation, even though you are fluent in French and play on the tennis team, eve n though you are a featured musician in a local youth orchestra, in spite of all of the good you will do in life helping others, in the eyes of the police and the majority population of Americans, you are black and therefore a criminal.  

Many of your fri ends live in upscale residential areas where it is not safe for you to walk at night when you visit them because the neighbors will automatically suspect you of wrongdoing. You will be followed when you go shopping, especially if you choose to shop in ups cale department stores.  

Since you have started driving, you also need to know that you will most likely be pulled over by the police, even though you are not speeding, have current registration and insurance and have your seat belt fastened. 

It is a ge neral societal policy, my son, that black youths are questioned for crimes more frequently than any other segment of the population. These incidents create fear and distress for you, but just imagine what it must be like for other young black males target ed for this discrimination. Most do not have the resources or an advocate to fight back. 

Recent studies on health disparities of ethnic groups have proven decidedly how social stress can have a devastatingly negative effect on normal physiologic function ing. This association holds for most chronic illnesses, including hypertension, diabetes and coronary artery disease. The psycho-social stress caused by these insidious racist incidents builds up over time, affected by one incident after another. The para noia about future experiences only adds to the stress level. 

When researchers control for variables such as education level, income and other socio-economic factors, African-American males, whether Harvard- or Yale-trained professionals, or not, are stil l more likely to have a shorter life span. Living in a racist society is deadly. 

There are hard lessons for a 16-year-old to learn, and even more difficult for a parent to teach. 

 

 

Carolyn Doelling is an Oakland resident.›n


Commentary: Campbell Coe: Not a Myth to Many By SANDY ROTHMAN

Tuesday January 17, 2006

Thanks for publishing a lengthy obituary on Campbell Coe, one of Telegraph Avenue’s colorful characters and an important person in the local music scene. Scott Hambly’s writing evokes the wide-ranging talents of a true “Renaissance man” and observes his conversational style thoughtfully. His description of the “incredible” tales that turned out to be true was as well put as it’s ever been. I have a few corrections and comments: 

The accompanying photo is erroneously credited to Carl Fleischhauer (correct spelling), according to Carl. 

Hambly writes (perhaps assumes) that Campbell died in his sleep. That is not true. According to the Seattle hospice owner, who was with him at his passing, Campbell was fully awake and conscious right up to the moment of death. (The hospice is not called “Honeydew House,” as reported in this piece. Its correct name is “Honeydew Adult Family Home.”) The manner of his death convinced the owner, not that she hadn’t already discovered (even knowing nothing of his broad interests and skills), that this patient was a most remarkable person. 

The obituary says Campbell was in the UC Berkeley graduating class of 1955. According to the university, he would’ve been in that graduating class if he’d completed his studies, but he did not, so he wasn’t. His major was biophysics, not biochemisty. 

Aschow’s wasn’t the East Bay’s only violin shop back then, as stated, but it was likely the best. Respected luthier Hideo Kamimoto apprenticed with the Aschow family after learning from Campbell at Campus Music Shop or, as he says, learning patience by waiting for Campbell to show up at the shop. 

I believe it was Barry Olivier, not Campbell, who originally helped Jon and Deirdre Lundberg start their Berkeley guitar shop, although at an early point Campbell was in partnership with the Lundbergs. Later the two shops existed not far from each other. Lundberg’s was well known for collectible acoustic instruments and a coolly rarefied “folk atmosphere.” Campbell’s shop had affordable instruments, sometimes electric guitars and country LP records, and people remember it, and him, as “warm and friendly.” When he was there. 

During the ‘70s, Hambly writes, the music store’s “transactions diminished incrementally.” In fact, Campbell (whose abundant energy and flowing rap caused Jerry Garcia to dub him “the straight Neal Cassady”) continued sharing his wealth of musical knowledge with pickers far and wide, pursuing his passion for marine and other photography, and continuing whatever playing and repairing gigs came his way. Also in this period Campbell, an expert carpenter/woodworker like his father and brother, presaged the recycling movement by working with his pals in what he liked to call the “deconstruction trade”: salvaging useful parts from old houses slated for demolition. While in the ‘60s you might’ve gone to his shop to look through dusty boxes of old banjo or mandolin parts, which he would often sell for next to nothing, in the ‘70s you’d find boxes of interesting old door locks and face-plates rescued from houses. 

A gifted musician, Campbell’s major guitar inspiration was Chet Atkins. Hank Snow is cited, but he really wasn’t a special exponent of that flatpick style. Able enough with a flatpick (though he usually used a thumbpick as a flatpick, even on mandolin), Campbell was without question mainly a fingerstyle guitarist. He was also a spirited singer, notably from the western swing songbook. 

Hambly says Campbell occasionally tested the “his own limits, and those of others, as well.” I’d say it plainer: he might take six years to finish your banjo repair job, a delay best appreciated by your upstairs neighbor. 

But “blandishments”? I don’t think so. Flattery and cajoling seem to be at the core meaning of this five-dollar word, and I didn’t see that. Yes, we’ll remember his “confidence, optimism, and irrepressible spirit,” and something even greater: his humanity and continuous advocacy. Not to those who “he thought needed his support,” a strange and incorrect spin. To know Campbell as a friend was to be encouraged by him. 

Decades ago somebody, I still don’t know who, produced a run of Day-Glo bumperstickers reading “Campbell Coe Is A Myth.” It was hard to know what effect this might’ve had on Campbell, but it was entertaining when one of them was spotted on a Berkeley police car. After Campbell’s Oct. 2 passing, a mutual friend’s e-mail was titled: “Campbell Coe: not a myth to me.” 

 

Sandy Rothman is a Berkeley resident. 

 


A Few Good Places to Hear Poetry in Berkeley By Jake Fuchs Special to the Planet

Tuesday January 17, 2006

It would be impossible to write a comprehensive history of American poetry in the last century and not make significant reference to the Bay Area. Only New York would seem to exceed it in importance. And one couldn’t very well compose that Bay Area section without paying considerable attention to Berkeley, home at one time or another to a number of major poets, such as Allen Ginsberg and Gary Snyder. 

Robert Hass, a present member of the UC Berkeley English faculty, served as U.S. Poet Laureate from 1995 to 1997, and Robert Pinsky, a former member, succeeded him in that position from 1997 to 2000. UC professor of Slavic languages and literature Czeslaw Milosz, who died in 2004, won the Nobel Prize for his poetry in 1980. 

All these poets can, of course, be read, and those still living can be heard, if you know where to go and how to get there. As Berkeley continues to be an important center for poetry, you can occasionally hear them without leaving town, as well as many other poets. For the living poetic word, there are three major local spots: Cody’s Books on Telegraph for the Poetry Flash readings, the Starry Plough Pub for Berkeley Poetry Slam, and UC’s Morrison Library for the Lunch Poems series. 

Poetry Flash is a remarkably comprehensive, free Berkeley publication for and about poets and poetry that appears in your local bookstore several times a year. Its associate editor, Richard Silberg, presents two or more poets reading their own work virtually every Sunday evening of the year at 7:30. These are generally local poets, some well known like Silberg himself (who read last month) and Diane di Prima (who will read on March 12), some not. 

Many in the audience come to hear the poets they already know, but others, perhaps drawn by the biographical information to be found on Poetry Flash’s Web site, show up to experience someone new. For a schedule of readings through June 2006, see www.poetryflash.org. Donation is $2. 

Berkeley Poetry Slam explodes each Wednesday night at 8:30 p.m. A poetry slam, if you don’t already know, is a spoken poetry contest with rules that are neatly printed on a card each audience member receives upon arrival at the Starry Plough. You may be a judge or, if you want, a competing poet. All you need to do is sign up, although I recommend at least one evening’s quiet observation, to see what you’re getting into. 

Poets are judged both on the quality of their poems and the effectiveness of their presentations, which—on a 10-point scale ranging from gently reflective to manically enthusiastic—average out to about 8.2. Audience response is even higher than that. Up to 15 poets read each night, and the contest rules, which are generally followed, limit each contestant to one poem not to exceed three minutes in reading time. Admission is $7 if you’re not a student, $5 if you are. See www.starryploughpub.com or call 841-2082 for more information. 

Lunch Poems begins the university year with readings in September by university faculty and staff (of poems they like by other people) and closes its series in June with UC students reading poems they’ve written themselves. In the intervening months, except for January, when no event is scheduled, one poet reads. 

Everything happens at noon on the first Thursday of each month in the Morrison. Admission is free. Here you can find poets that everyone has heard of, like Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who did a reading in December, and Billy Collins, who appeared in 2004-05. For a schedule and of Lunch Poems readings in previous years, see www.berkeley.edu/calendar/events/poems. 

Another way to acquaint yourself with what these folks do on first Thursdays is to consult a magnificent, new book, The Face of Poetry (UC Press, 2005), which contains selections from some 45 Lunch Poems readings since the first one in 1996. There is a striking photograph by Margaretta K. Mitchell of each one of the poets, whose number includes Milosz, Hass, Snyder, and Pinsky, as well as Linda Pastan, someone I had never heard of, but who seems to be speaking directly to me, Maxine Hong Kingston, Ishmael Reed, and Galway Kinnell. There is a thoughtful, instructive foreword by Robert Hass, as well as introductions by photographer Mitchell and by the poet Zach Rogow, who made the selections.  

In their foreword and introduction, both Hass and Rogow stress the diversity of American poetry today, a point amply borne out by the book’s poems and poets. Richard Silberg, in conversation with me, emphasized the variety of poetic styles and subjects to be found at the Poetry Flash readings, and given the set-up at the Starry Plough on Wednesday nights, who would expect anything else? 

Diversity’s the word, and it’s a good one, if not exactly a guarantee of excellence. In fact, diversity almost requires that all poets be appreciated, or perhaps not, on their own merits. You are at liberty to like or dislike. Give yourself the chance to decide. In this town, it’s easy.›


Arts Calendar

Tuesday January 17, 2006

TUESDAY, JAN. 17 

FILM 

“Crossroads: Avant-Garde Films from Pittsburgh” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Peter Selz introduces “Art of Engagement: Visual Politics in California and Beyond” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Melissa and Alison Houtte write about vintage clothing in “Alligators, Old Mink & New Money” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Swamp Coolers at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054.  

Freight and Salvage Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $5.50. 548-1761.  

Howard Barkan Trio, jazz, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Russell Malone Quartet at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

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

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 18 

EXHIBITIONS 

Annual Members’ Showcase opens at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. in Live Oak Park.  

“Dreaming California” Photographs by Ruth-Marion Baruch, Bill Owens and Larry Sultan, opens at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808.  

“American History and Culture by Grandmothers Who Help” Photographs and exhibits with disscussion at 3 p.m. at Eastmont Branch Library, 7200 Bancroft Ave., Oakland. 615-5726. 

“The Family of Clay: CCA Ceramics” Reception for the artists at 6 p.m. at Tecoah Bruce Gallery, Oliver Art Center, California College of the Arts, 5212 Broadway. 530-304-0499. 

“Illuminated Garden” Pinhole sun prints by Susannah Hays at North Berkeley Frame and Gallery, 1744 Shattuck Ave., through March 4. 549-0428. 

FILM 

Weird America: “Derailroaded” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Introduction to Film Language” with Russell Merritt at 3 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

Joanne Jacobs tells the story of a successful charter school in San Jose in “Our School: The Inspiring Story of Two Teachers, One Big Idea, and the School that Beat the Odds” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. 

Cafe Poetry hosted by Paradise at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Donations accepted. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Music for the Spirit with Ron McKean, organ, at noon at First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, 2619 Broadway. 444-3555.  

Calvin Keys Trio Invitational Jam at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. 841-JAZZ.  

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

Blues & Grooves with Mike Pyle at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Lessons at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $6. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Sol Spectrum at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Country Joe McDonald, in a fundraiser for Easy Does It Disability Assistance at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Whiskey Brothers at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473.  

Absinthe Academy, Dan Tedesco at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $7. 848-0886.  

Russell Malone Quartet at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, JAN. 19 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Claim the World of Art as Our Domain” Artists’ reception at 6 p.m. at Pro Arts, 550 Second St., Oakland. www.proartsgallery.org 

Works by Bill A. Dallas and Amana Brembry Johnson Reception at 5 p.m. at the Craft & Cultural Arts Gallery, State of California Office Building, 1515 Clay St., Oakland. Runs through March 3. 622-8190. 

Matt Gil and Stephen Giannetti, sculptures and paintings, at Gallery 555, 555 12th St., Oakland. 238-6836.  

FILM 

Mikio Naruse: “Hideko the Bus Conductress” at 7 p.m. and “Ginza Cosmetics” at 8:15 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

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

Joe Loya describes “The Man Who Outgrew His Prison Cell: Confessions of a Bank Robber” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Word Beat Reading Series with Alexandra Yurovsky and Bruce Barnes at 7 p.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Plays Monk at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Tickets are $10-$15. 701-1787. 

3 Fox Drive at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Andre Sumelius FinnJazz at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ.  

Benefit for Code Pink with Famous Last Words and Robert Temple and his Soulfolk Ensemble at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Brian Kane, jazz guitar, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Ledisi at 8 and 10 p.m., at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is 20-$24. 238-9200. 

FRIDAY, JAN. 20 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley, “Twelfth Night” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave., through Feb. 18. Tickets are $12. 649-5999. 

“Walkin’ Talkin’ Bill Hawkins ... In Search of My Father” performed by W. Allen Taylor at 7 p.m. at the Marsh-Berkeley, 2118 Allston Way, through Jan. 28. Tickets are $15-$22. 800-838-3006. 

Ragged Wing Ensemble “Splinters ... and Other F-Words” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda, through Feb. 11. Tickets are $12-$25 sliding scale. 800-838-3006. www.raggedwing.org 

Shotgun Players “Cabaret” Thurs. - Sun. at 8 p.m. at the Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Through Jan. 29. 841-6500.  

EXHIBITIONS 

“Painting Italy” Works by Audrey Brown opens with a reception at 6:30 p.m., at Red Oak Realty Office, 2983 College Ave. 849-9990. 

FILM 

“The Best of Youth, Parts 1 and 2” at 3 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Sesshu Foster introduces a fantastical mythology “Atomik Aztex” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Oakland East Bay Symphony performs Puts, Mozart and Brahms at 8 p.m. at Paramount Theater, 2025 Broadway, Oakland. Pre-concert lecture at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15-$60. 625-8497. 

King Wawa and the Oneness Kingdom Band at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Eurythmy Recital Dance by students of the East Bay Waldorf School at 7:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Free. www.juliamorgan.org 

Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company “As I Was Saying” at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $26-$48. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Warsaw Poland Brothers, Hukanolix at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886.  

Bradford Powers & Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Steve Lucky & the Rhumba Bums with Ms. Carman Getit at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. Corinne West at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Palm Wine Boys at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Eric Swinderman Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Meric Long, The Pigeon and the Peasant at 8 p.m. at the Living Room Gallery, 3230 Adeline St. Donation $3-$5. 601-5774. 

Robin Galante and Martin Dory at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Pansy Division, Fleshies, Abi Yo Yo’s at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Monophonics at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Ledisi at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is 20-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, JAN. 21 

CHILDREN  

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Mary Ellen Hill, multicultural folk and fairy tales, at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Mikio Naruse “The Song Lantern” at 7 p.m. and “A Tale of Archers at the Sanjusangendo” at 8:55 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

THEATER 

Moshe Cohen and Unique Derique “Cirque Do Somethin’” at 1 p.m. at the Marsh, 2120 Allston Way. Tickets are $10-$15. 800-838-3006. www.themarsh.org 

Masquers Playhouse "Over the River and Through the Woods" Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. through Feb. 25 at 105 Park Place, Point Richmond. Tickets are $15. 232-4031. www.masquers.org 

FILM 

“NeoPaganism in California: Visions of the Past and Memories of the Future” Films and panel discussion from 1 to 5:30 p.m. at the Chapel, Pacific School of Religion, 1798 Scenic Drive. Cost is $15-$25 sliding scale. www.thepaganalliance.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“I Have Been to the Mountaintop” Listen to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s last speech, followed by discussion with Demetrius Gins at 2:30 p.m. at Lakeview Branch Library, 550 El Embarcadero, Oakland. 238-7344. 

Ronne Hartfield describes “Another Way Home: The Tangled Roots of Race in One Chicago Family” at 4 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

Gary Hart introduces “God and Caesar in America: An Essay on Religion and Politics” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Miss Poppy (Elaine Addison) talks about “Miss Poppy’s Guide to Raising Raising Perfectly Happy Children” at 11:30 a.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

“The Genite Chronicles - A Link to the Past” with transgendered authors Nicole and Debbie Cook at 2 p.m. at Changemakers, 6536 Telegraph Ave., Oakland.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company “Blind Date” at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Discussion with Bill T. Jones after the performance. Tickets are $26-$48. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

San Francisco Early Music Society at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. www.sfem.org 

Sarah Cahill, pianist, at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. trinitychamberconcerts.com 

American Bach Soloists at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $18-$40. 415-621-7900. www.americanbach.org 

Jessica Neighbor Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Sambo Ngo at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Caribbean Youth Project Presents: Youth in Action at 8 p.m.at La Peña. Cost is $7-$10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

KaUaTuahine Polynesian Dance Company at 8 p.m. at Maha Uchiyama Center, 729 Heinz Ave. Tickets are $12-$15. 845-2605. 

Noitada Brasileira at 8 p.m. at The Beat, 2560 Ninth St. Tickets are $15-$20. 548-5348. www.the-beat.org 

Jared Karol and Nate Cooper at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

CV1 at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Maria Muldaur at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Finless Brown, The Contaminates at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Dave Bernstein Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Moment’s Notice, improvised music, dance and theater at 8 p.m. at Western Sky Studio 2525 8th St. Cost is $8-$10. 649-1791. 

Jason Webley, Two Gallants, Teenage Harlets at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, JAN. 22 

CHILDREN 

Gary Laplow at Ashkenaz at 3 p.m. Cost is $4-$6. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

EXHIBTIONS 

Annual Members’ Showcase Reception at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. in Live Oak Park. 

FILM 

Screenagers: Bay Area High School Film Festival at noon and 2:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

A Tribute to Frenando Alegría at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5-$10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry Flash with Kate Gale and Heather Lee at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Island Literary Series, hosted by Avotcja, at 3 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $3. 841-JAZZ. 

Andrea Johnston talks about “Girls Speak Out: Finding Your True Self” at 3 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Jürgen Vsych reads from “The Woman Director,” the first autobiography by an American female film director, at 2 p.m. at Change Makers Books. 655-2405 www.TheWomanDirector.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Tribute to Barbara Shearer at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Free. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Brad Mehldau Trio & Bill Frisell Quintet at 7 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $20-$40. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

San Francisco Symphony Chamber Music Sundaes at 3 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $9-$17. 415-584-5946. www.chambermusicsundaes.org 

Oakland Civic Orchestra, with Callan Milani, finalist in OEBS Young Artist Competition at 4 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Ave., Oakland. Free. 338-0538. 

Tina Marzell Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Nate Cooper at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Flamenco Open Stage at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Jacqui Naylor at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

John McCutcheon at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $24.50-$25.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Ledisi at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is 20-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

MONDAY, JAN. 23 

THEATER 

Subterranean Shakespeare “The Tempest” Staged reading at 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Unitarian Fellowship, Fireside Room, 1924 Cedar St. Donation $5. 276-3871. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Making Cakes for the Queen of Heaven” an exhibition on family religion in Ancient Israel opens at the Bade Museum at Pacific School of Religion. 849-8201. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Saving Antiquities” Matthew Bogdanos, author of “Thieves of Baghdad” and a colonel in the Marine reserve will describe his efforts to save irreplaceable antiquities looted from the Iraq Museum in 2003, at 7:30 p.m. at 145 Dwinelle Hall, UC Campus. www.savingantiquities.org 

“Women’s Religious Culture in Ancient Israel” with Carol Meyers at 3:30 p.m. in Chapel Room 6, Pacific School of Relgion, 1798 Scenic Ave. 849-8201. 

Theodore Rosak reads from his new book “World Beware! American Triumphalism in an Age of Terror” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

www.codysbooks.com  

Poetry Express with John Curl at 7 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. 644-3977. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Hallifax & Jeffrey at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

West Coast Songwriters Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $5.50. 548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.org 

Willie Jones III Quintet at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$14. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

 

?


News Analysis: Religious Martyrdom is a European Ideal, Too By PAOLO PONTONIERE Pacific News Service

Tuesday January 17, 2006

Political analysts in Europe and the United States a month ago reacted with horror to the news that a native-born Belgian woman had become the first female Western convert to Islam to blow herself up for “martyrdom.” It’s as if being born and raised in the West were a vaccine against religious extremism.  

But Muriel Deraque’s tragic end in Iraq could be a sign that the lure of religious self-sacrifice is once again resonating among some Europeans, a zeal that isn’t exclusive to fanatical followers of Islam.  

As an Italian and a Roman Catholic, I find in Muriel’s story a confirmation that the spiritual wall that separates Muslim and Christian extremism isn’t very thick. Italian, German and French thinkers, both on the left and on the right, have often advocated nationalism, protectionism and anti-globalism with an unapologetic embrace of extremist violence. Indeed, the fight against evil worldwide provides Catholic and Islamic zealots a lot to agree on, including the practice of martyrdom.  

Doctrinal similarities between Roman Catholicism and Islam provide an easy bridge for dissatisfied Christians to cross into Muslim faith. Seen through the window of Catholic orthodoxy, Muriel’s decision not only becomes conceivable—even the late Pope John Paul II called the invasion of Iraq immoral—but also hints that she may be only the first of a long line of European defenders of God getting ready to fight against Western materialism and moral turpitude.  

Martyrdom, intrinsic to Catholicism, rose to prominence during the fourth century when Catholics came to believe that dying for one’s faith was not just a duty, but also an honor and a privilege. Under Catholic canon law, Christian martyrs are assured immediate ascension to Paradise upon their death. Martyrdom cleanses the person of every sin, even capital ones. At the time of the Crusades, the promise of eternal life achieved through fighting for the glory of God, and not only the lure of free land and war loot, compelled thousands of Christians to travel to Jerusalem, especially during the first Crusade.  

Closer to our time, the late Pope Jean Paul II actively celebrated the gift of martyrdom. During his papacy, he beatified 266 martyrs. In 1982, he canonized Maximilian Kolbe as a martyr of charity. Kolbe was a Polish priest and theologian who, while interned at Auschwitz in 1941, offered his life in exchange for that of another prisoner. The Nazis condemned him to slow death by starvation, but seeing that he was lasting longer than expected they terminated him with a poisoned injection. Today Kolbe is considered the protector saint of journalists, families, prisoners and chemically addicted persons.  

“Charity, in conformity with the radical demands of the Gospel, can lead the believer to the supreme witness of martyrdom,” wrote JPII in his encyclical Veritatis Splendori. In so doing, he recognized that those who act—witness—on their faith against tyranny are to be considered martyrs. While the definition has been used generally to recognize those who do not fear self-destruction for the sake of affirming the sacredness of human life, in the U.S., anti-abortion bombers and snipers do not hesitate to cloak themselves with the mantle of martyrdom.  

Members of the Army of God, like Paul Hill, who was executed in a Florida prison on Sept. 3, 2003; Eric Rudolph, who was responsible of the 1996 bombing of the Atlanta Summer Olympics that caused the death of two people; and James Kopp, a Catholic who in 1998 summarily executed abortion provider Dr. Barnet Slepian at his house in Buffalo, N.Y., have never hesitated to define themselves as martyrs in the fight to save innocent unborn children.  

“If you believe abortion is a lethal force, you should oppose the force and do what you have to do to stop it,” said Hill from the death chamber on his execution day. “May God help you to protect the unborn as you would want to be protected,” Hill added before exhaling for the last time.  

These warriors of God had found plenty of support and refuge across Europe. Many security analysts say European women converting to Islam via marriage could represent the latest and most serious threat to the stability of the continent. Anti-terrorism experts believe that while in many cases these conversions are just normal steps in marrying a Muslim, in a few instances they are true political statements.  

In 2003, French Judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere, foretelling what would come years later, warned that terrorist networks in Europe were actively seeking to recruit Caucasian women. He predicted that in an initial phase they would be used merely for logistics and communication, but that it would be just matter of time before they started to carry out attacks themselves. Deraque’s case seems to confirm that the time has come.  

 

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


News Analysis: Arab Analysts Give Nod to Favored Oscar Contenders By JALAL GHAZI Pacific News Service

Tuesday January 17, 2006

For many years big budget Hollywood movies depicted Arabs as terrorists or greedy oil barons, but since Sept. 11, 2001, and the war in Iraq, it seems such films are finally falling out of fashion. Arab analysts and media are lauding portrayals of Arabs and Muslims in the recent films Syriana and Munich, and the smaller budget independent film Paradise Now. Each are contenders to be on the list of Academy Award nominations released on Jan. 31.  

Hafez Mirazi, Al Jazeera’s Washington bureau chief and host of its weekly television program “From Washington,” devoted a recent hour-long program highlighting these films. He also added a fourth movie, the upcoming Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World. 

As Mirazi explains, “Yes, these films talk about Arab terrorists, suicide bombers and oil sheiks, but what is new is that Hollywood is finally trying to sympathize with Arab characters, understand their motives and give them human characteristics.” Evil and good parts are being portrayed equally, he says.  

Syriana is about an imaginary oil-rich Arab country. The two sons of its dying king are competing to succeed their father. One resembles the stereotypical image of a rich, short-sighted Arab sheik who cares only about promoting his personal wealth and prestige. The other, Nasir, is kind and generous. He wants to reform his country and stop American oil companies from taking his nation’s resources for granted.  

Director Stephen Gaghan (Traffic) told Al Jazeera, “I felt that it is very important to portray the true image of Arabs I have met. They were kind, polite, educated and wonderful. I live in Hollywood where many of the things about the Middle East in the movies are frankly inaccurate and stereotypical. This is why I wanted these characters to speak for themselves in their own voices.”  

Alexander Siddig, a British Arab actor who played Nasir, explains that the name Nasir was chosen because “it is the name of one of the most respected leaders in the Arab world.” Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egypt’s second president and the father of pan-Arab nationalism, envisioned a united and strong Arab world that could defend its resources from imperialism.  

The film reflects the aspirations of Arabs and Muslims to have a national leader who puts his country’s interests ahead of his own.  

In Munich, director Steven Spielberg tells the story of an Israeli intelligence Mossad cell that is tasked with killing 11 Palestinian leaders. The Palestinians were suspected of masterminding the operation in which 11 Israeli athletes were kidnapped and eventually killed during the 1972 Munich Olympics.  

The movie does not stereotype its Palestinian characters. In fact, one talks about why he is fighting and explains how he lost his homeland.  

Likewise, the film shows the internal struggles of Avner, the leader of the Mossad cell. Each time Avner’s group kills a Palestinian leader, their romantic ideas of Israel are challenged. By the time they kill the seventh man they realize that what they are doing is not so much different from what the Palestinian armed group did in Munich.  

The movie was banned in Israel and condemned by the Israeli general consul in Los Angeles Ehoud Danoch, who said any comparison between the Palestinian “terrorists” and the Israeli Mossad cell was “immoral.”  

The spokesman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), however, told Al Jazeera that he “expected this new Hollywood film to depict Muslims, Arabs and Palestinians as terrorists, monstrous and criminals, but I was surprised because the film was much deeper ... the film avoided depicting one side of the conflict or character as evil.”  

A much less publicized Palestinian independent film submitted for the Oscars is Paradise Now, in Arabic with English subtitles. The film explores two Palestinian young men who carry out a suicide operation against Israelis. It portrays how these young men were driven to do the extreme by unbearable and humiliating Israeli policies. At one point, however, one of the two men decides not to detonate himself on a bus because he saw a Jewish child.  

The film does not attempt to justify suicide operations; rather, it attempts to humanize those who are driven to become suicide bombers.  

Although not up for Oscar contention this year, the upcoming film Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World attempts to bridge U.S.-Arab tensions through comedy. Director Albert Brooks, who also plays the leading role, is assigned by the U.S. State Department to go to India and Pakistan and write a 500-page report on what makes a Muslim laugh as a new foreign policy strategy.  

Brooks told Al Jazeera, “This is the first comedy film on this topic produced in America. We should have 50 films if not 100 because this is the only way we can begin to build bridges and this is why I decided to make the film.”  

The Sept. 11 attacks provoked interest among Americans to learn more about Muslims and Arabs and “why they hate us.” Americans seem no longer willing to accept the pre-911 Hollywood films, such as Rules of Engagement or The Siege, in which Muslims are stereotyped as terrorists. Instead, they are now following more accurate and fair portrayals of the Arab world.  

 

Jalal Ghazi monitors and translates Arab media for New America Media (a project of Pacific News Service) and Link TV.  


Recent Winter Storms Blew Red Phalaropes Ashore By JOE EATON Special to the Planet

Tuesday January 17, 2006

Two small gray shorebirds pitched down into the new Berkeley Marina mitigation wetlands, among the ducks and geese, and swam off out of binocular range. They were red phalaropes, part of a huge involuntary invasion blown in by the winter storms, scattered along the coast from the mouth of the Columbia River to Morro Bay. Some were dying of starvation when they hit land; the luckier ones seemed to be hanging around and regrouping before heading back out to sea. 

They wouldn’t be red for a few more months. A red phalarope in high breeding plumage is a nifty little bird: black crown, white face, bright chestnut neck and body. The fact that females have more vivid colors than males is consistent with their unorthodox lifestyle. Phalaropes—three species, the red, red-necked, and Wilson’s—are among a handful of birds in which females sport brighter plumage, take the lead in courtship, and hand over the chores of incubation and childrearing to the males. The phenomenon is known as reversed sexual dimorphism. Other birds exhibit it to some degree—females are larger in many species of birds of prey—but the syndrome is best developed in the shorebird order, in jacanas and painted snipe as well as phalaropes, and in the button-quail family. 

If the sex ratio on the red phalarope’s high-Arctic breeding grounds is skewed in favor of males, females may practice serial polyandry: deserting their first mate for a second male and laying a second clutch of eggs. When there’s no male surplus, the birds are more or less monogamous. Looking at the habits of some phalarope relatives, you can see how this may have evolved. In monogamous spotted sandpipers, the female produces a second clutch which she incubates herself while her mate incubates the first. Phalaropes have taken this one step further by delegating incubation to a second mate. Among birds, only jacanas go in for simultaneous polyandry: several males nesting in the territory of a dominant female. 

Red phalaropes were suspected of polyandrous tendencies for a long time, but it wasn’t until 1975 that two intrepid ornithologists, Douglas Schamel and Diane Tracy, braved the biting insects of the Alaskan marshes near Barrow to catch them in the act. Of eight paired females in their study area, half had multiple mates. Courtship involves aerial chases and a behavior called “pushing,” in which male and female face off and bump their chests together. 

The female lays her eggs in a scrape on the tundra, usually sheltered by sedges, and the male takes it from there. He has well-developed brood patches to conduct body heat to the eggs, and his blood is laced with the hormone prolactin which facilitates nurturant behavior. The hatchlings are precocial, able to run around and feed themselves, and stay with their father for only a couple of weeks. 

Once all that’s out of the way the phalaropes return to their other world, for which they’re superbly suited. “So well adapted to a floating life are phalaropes”, writes Peter Matthiesen in The Wind Birds, “that they seem to scud before the slightest breeze, like feathered pingpong balls.” They’re adept at foraging in crashing surf. 

Like many marine birds, phalaropes have glands that allow them to drink seawater and excrete salt through their nostrils. They lack fully webbed feet, but their toes are lobed. Whether on sea or tundra ponds, they spin in tight circles—up to 57 rotations per minute—to concentrate small aquatic prey, scooping it up with specialized bills that may act as strainers. The direction of spin can be either clockwise or counterclockwise and appears independent of the Coriolis force.  

Whalers used to call red phalaropes “bowhead birds” because of their association with the great baleen whales. They’ve been observed picking “whale lice” and other ectoparasites off the cetaceans’ backs. In late summer in the Bering Sea, reds take advantage of the sloppy feeding behavior of California gray whales. As the whales plow up the seafloor, the phalaropes sift the resulting mud plume for small bottom-dwelling crustaceans.  

For most of the winter, red phalaropes are birds of the great nearshore currents, where upwellings bring a cornucopia of plankton to the surface. The ones that were blown ashore here may have been lingering in the California Current. Most Alaskan and eastern Siberian nesters wind up further south, in the Humboldt Current off Peru and Chile. Their counterparts in Canada and northern Europe traverse the Atlantic to the west coast of Africa, concentrating in the Canary, Guinea, and Benguela currents. Both populations migrate over the open ocean. 

Red phalaropes from the Benguela Current, off Namibia, sometimes fetch up in South Africa after storms, so I assume they’re the titular bird of Alan Paton’s apartheid-era novel Too Late the Phalarope. As I recall, there are no actual phalaropes in the book except the ones in a bird guide that the protagonist gives his estranged father, or vice versa. It’s been a few decades since I read it, so my memory may not be reliable. 

When El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events perturb sea-surface temperatures, red phalaropes appear to suffer. One study showed a decline in breeding densities at Prudhoe Bay following the 1983 ENSO. And if, as some climatologists speculate, global warming deranges the oceanic currents, the phalaropes will be in deep trouble. 

As will we all, of course. 

 

 

 

 

 




Berkeley This Week

Tuesday January 17, 2006

TUESDAY, JAN. 17 

Martin Luther King Day Celebration at noon in the Civic Center Lobby, 2180 Milvia St. 981-7000. 

Ashby BART Development Community Meeting at 7 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St., to discuss the development proposal and transit villages. 

Martin Luther King Day Celebration at noon in the Civic Center Lobby, 2180 Milvia St. 981-7000. 

Berkeley High School Site Council meets at 4:30 p.m. in the BHS Library. On the agenda are: Berkeley International High School Proposal-decision on a recommendation for the Board, review of lottery results and an update on the plan for the Master Schedule. 525-0124. 

Birdwalk on the MLK Shoreline from 3 to 5 p.m. to see the shorebirds here for the winter. Beginnners welcome, binoculars available for loan. 525-2233. 

Berkeley Garden Club “Saving San Francisco Bay for the Future” with David Lewis of Save the Bay at 1 p.m. at Epworth Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St. 527-5641. 

Berkeley Salon Discussion Group meets to discuss “Status Anxiety: What Me Worry?” from 7 to 9 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 527-1022. 

“English Country Life” Travel photography with Don Lyon at 7 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. 654-1548.  

“Tax Saving Tips for the Small Business Owner” with Cathy Mu, C.P.A. at 6:30 p.m. at the El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Ave., El Cerrito. Reservations recommended, call 925-646-5377.  

“Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plans” and other options with Florence Piliavin, Advocate with HICAP at noon at Maffly Auditorium at Alta Bates Herrick Campus, 2001 Dwight Way. 644-3273. 

“Spiritual Wickedness in High Places” a four-day course on the Christian Conscience, Dissent, and Public Policy in Contemporary American Society at the Pacific School of Religion, 1798 Scenic Ave. Fees for Continuing Education Credit are $150-$300. www.gtuss.org/psr 

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. 

American Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation at 6 p.m. at its headquarters in Oakland. Volunteers are needed to support the more than 40 blood drives held each month all over the East Bay. For more information, please call 594-5165. 

Sleep Soundly Seminar with hypnosis and relaxation skills at 6:30 p.m. at New Moon Opportunities, 378 Jayne Ave. Free, but registration required. 465-2524. 

Family Story Time at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Branch Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Free, all ages welcome. 524-3043. 

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. 

Brainstormer Weekly Pub Quiz every Tuesday from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Pyramid Alehouse Brewery, 901 Gilman St. 528-9880.  

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your digital images, slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

Introduction to Buddhist Meditation at 7 p.m. at the Dzalandhara Buddhist Center in Berkeley. Cost is $7-$10. Call for directions. 559-8183. www.kadampas.org 

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

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 18 

Tilden Explorers An after-school nature adventure program for 5-7 year olds, who may be accompanied by an adult. We will learn about patterns in nature, from 3:15 to 4:45 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8, registration required. 636-1684. 

“What Makes a Great Downtown?” a symposium, sponsored by the City of Berkeley and University of California Downtown Planning Committees at 7 p.m. at 22 Warren Hall, UC Campus. 981-7487. 

Berkeley School Volunteers Training workshop for volunteers interested in helping the public schools, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

Berkeley Drop-In Center Neighborhood Advisory meeting at 7 p.m. at 3234 Adeline St. This is an opportunity to find out how you can support the Drop-In Center, or to voice neighborhood concerns. Light refreshments. 653-3808, 652-5891. 

“Medicare: How to Avoid Problems with Your Prescription Needs” with Michael Lyons of the California Alliance for Retired Americans at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Gray Panthers, 1403 Addison St. 548-9696. 

“Animal Health Care: Eastern and Western Perspectives” at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley East-Bay Humane Society, 2700 Ninth St., at Carleton. Donation $10. Please RSVP to 845-7735, ext. 22. 

“Out of the Pit: Dog Fighting in Chicago” a film by Butch Campbell at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 17th St., Oakland. Sponsored byt East Bay Animal Advocates. Donation $5. www.HumanistHall.net 

Green Health Care at 7 p.m. at the Teleosis Institute, 1521B Fifth St. 558-7285. 

Lead Funding Informational Meeting on financial assistance to reduce lead hazards, from 9 to 11 a.m. at Truitt and White conference room, 1817 Second St. Owners of pre-1978 rental housing with low-income tenants encouraged to attend. 567-8280. 

Community Policing in Oakland A program of the MGO Democratic Club with Deputy Chief Greg Lowe of the OPD, Claudia Albano of the City of Oakland’s Home Alert and Neighborhood Services Dept. and others, at 7 p.m. at the Piedmont Gardens, Oakland. 834-9198. 

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. 562-9431. 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meet at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Heavy rain cancels. 548-9840. 

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.  

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. 

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, JAN. 19 

Golden Gate Audubon Society with Seth Brewer on “The Hunt for Brewer, Buckwheat and Bowerman” at 7 p.m. at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. www.goldengateaudubon.org 

Alaskan Rainforest Kayak Journey with Dan Kiely at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

Benefit for Code Pink and the Campaign to Bring Home the National Guard with Famous Last Words and Robert Temple and his Soulfolk Ensemble at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

LeConte Neighborhood Association meets at 7:30 p.m. at the LeConte School, Russell at Ellsworth. Agenda items will include: The Transit Village at Ashby Bart, the Black & White Liquor store, our annual election and other District concerns. For more information, please contact: KarlReeh@aol.com or 843-2602. 

Simplicity Forum on “What to Incorporate in Your Life this Year?” at 6:30 p.m. at the Claremont Branch of the Berkeley Public Library, 2940 Benvenue Ave. 549-3509. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from noon to 6 p.m. at MLK Student Union, UC Campus, also on Fri. To schedule an appointment call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE.  

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, JAN. 20 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Robert Flammia on “The Power of Touch” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $13.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. 526-292  

Berkeley Chess School classes for students in grades 1-8 from 5 to 7 p.m. at 1581 LeRoy Ave., room 17. 843-0150. 

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, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. 548-6310, 845-1143. 

SATURDAY, JAN. 21 

Free Emergency Preparedness Class on Disaster First Aid from 9 to noon at 997 Cedar St., between 8th and 9th. To sign up call 981-5605.  

Mini-Farmers in Tilden A farm exploration program, from 10 to 11 a.m. for ages 4-6 years, accompanied by an adult. We will explore the Little Farm, care for animals, do crafts and farm chores. Wear boots and dress to get dirty! Fee is $5-$7. Registration required. 525-2233. 

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. 

Birds of Mystery A stroll to listen for the Great Horned Owls looking for mates. Meet at 2 p.m. at the Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Wintertime Pruning and Tree Care A hands-on Workshop from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Berkeley. Cost is $10-$15. Registration required. 548-2220, 233. www.ecologycenter.org 

Mend a Marsh for the Birds Planting and restoration at 9 a.m. at The Watershed Project, 1327 South 46th St., Richmond Field Station, #155, Richmond, followed by naturalists talk at noon. To register call 665-3689. 

Volunteer for Cerrito Creek Wear shoes with good traction and clothes that can get dirty. Meet at 10 a.m. at Creekside Park, south end of Santa Clara St., El Cerrito. 848-9358. www.fivecreeks.org 

A Ghost Town in San Francisco Bay? Learn about the town of Drawbridge on Station Island in the salt marshes of South San Francisco at 3 p.m. at the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Fremont. 792-0222. 

“In the Company of Wild Butterflies” A new nature documentary by Bill Levinson at 6:30 p.m. at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum, 1931 First Ave. Walnut Creek. Donation $5-$8. 925-935-1978. 

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 

“Building the Progressive Movement in the East Bay” Kick-Off event with Congressman Ron Dellums and Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson at 5 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Oakland, 2501 Harrison St. at 27th. 272-6060. 

“War Powers: How the Imperial Presidency Hijacked the Constitution” with Prof. Peter Irons, UCSD at 7 p.m. at Home of Truth Center, 1300 Grand Ave., Alameda. Sponsored by the Alameda Public Affairs Forum. www.alamedaforum.org 

“A Literary Lion at Your Side” with Peter Miller, literary agent at 10 a.m. at Barnes & Noble, Jack London Square, Oakland. 420-8775. www.berkeleywritersclub.org 

“I Have Been to the Mountaintop” Listen to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s last speech, followed by discussion with Demetrius Gins at 2:30 p.m. at Lakeview Branch Library, 550 El Embarcadero, Oakland. 238-7344. 

Bayshore Walk at Point Isabel with the Solo Sierrans. Meet at 3:30 p.m. in the parking lot off Rydin. Bring binoculars. Optional dinner follows. Rain cancels. 234-8949. 

Piedmont Choir Spring Tryouts for children ages 5 to 10 from 9:30 a.m. to noon in Piedmont and Alameda. To schedule an appointment call 547-4441. www.piedmontchoirs.org  

“New Era, New Politics Walking Tour” at 10 a.m. at the African American Museum, 659 14th St., at Jefferson, Oakland. A two-hour guided tour of the points of interest in African American history in Oakland. 238-3234. 

Workshop with Magician Norman Ng for 6th-8th graders at 2 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

“NeoPaganism in California: Visions of the Past and Memories of the Future” Films and panel discussion from 1 to 5:30 p.m. at the Chapel, Pacific School of Religion, 1798 Scenic Drive. Cost is $15-$25 sliding scale. www.thepaganalliance.org 

Preschool Storytime for 3-5 year olds at 11 a.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

Spirit Walking Aqua Chi (TM) A gentle water exercise class at 10 a.m. at the Berkeley High Warm Pool. Cost is $3.50 per session. 526-0312. 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

“Transforming Negative Emotions” a workshop from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

SUNDAY, JAN. 22 

Newt Walk Join the annual trek to Sindicich Lagoons, the breeding waters for the California newt. Hike is 5 miles, over the Briones Crest, some muddy trails. Sturdy young hikers eight and older are welcome. Bring lunch and liquids. 525-2233. 

From Fog to Stormdrains A complete tour of our watershed at 2 p.m. at the Environmental Education Center, Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

“The U.S. Sees the U.N.: A Media Analysis” with Larry Bensky of KPFA at 3:30 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall, 1924 Cedar St. Sponsored by the United Nations Association.  

El Cerrito Historical Society meeting with Richard Tuck on his “Playland-Not-at-the-Beach” Musuem at 1 p.m. at the El Cerrito Senior Center, 6510 Stockton Ave. Pot-luck lunch. for details call 526-7507. 

Berkeley City Club free tour from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tours are sponsored by the Berkeley City Club and the Landmark Heritage Foundation. Donations welcome. The Berkeley City Club is located at 2315 Durant Ave. 848-7800. 

Cottage Brunch . . . in French! Hosted by Leonard Pitt and Kimberly Vergez from 9:30 a.m. to noon at 1542 Grant St. at Cedar. Cost is $20, reservations required. 841-0686. 

“Interfaith Families and Anti-Semitism” from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Temple Sinai, 2800 Summit St., Oakland. 547-2250. 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace Peace walk around the lake every Sun. Meet at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712. lmno4p.org 

Tibetan Buddhism with Jack Petranker on “When it Rains, Does Space Get Wet?” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, JAN. 23 

Berkeley School Volunteers Training workshop for volunteers interested in helping the public schools, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

Kensington Library Book Club meets to discuss William Saroyan’s novel, “The Human Comedy” at 7 p.m. at 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 524-3043. 

World Affairs Discussion Group for seniors at 10:15 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center. Cost is $2.50. 

Free Small Business Counselling with SCORE, Service Core of Retired Executives at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge. To make an appointment call 981-6244. 

Medical Qigong Clinic at 5 p.m. at Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine College, 2550 Shattuck Ave. For an appointment call 666-8234. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. 548-0425. 

ONGOING 

Free Tax Help—United Way’s Earn it! Keep It! Save It! program provides free filing assistance to households that earned less than $38,000 in 2005. To find a free tax site near you, call 800-358-8832 or visit www.EarnitKeepitSaveit.org 

CITY MEETINGS 

City Council meets Tues., Jan. 17, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Board of Library Trustees meets Wed. Jan. 18, at 7 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Jackie Y. Griffin, 981-6195. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/library 

Citizens Humane Commission meets Wed. Jan. 18, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Kate O'Connor, 981-6601. www.ci.berkeley.ca. 

us/commissions/humane 

Commission on Aging meets Wed. Jan. 18, at 1:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. William Rogers, 981-5344. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/aging 

Commission on Labor meets Wed., Jan. 18, at 6:45 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Delfina M. Geiken, 981-7550. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/labor 

Downtown Area Plan Committee meets Wed., Jan. 18, at 22 Warren Hall, just east of Oxford at University. Matt Taecker, 981-7487. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/dapac 

Human Welfare and Community Action Commission meets Wed. Jan. 18, at 7 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Kristen Lee, 981-5427. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/welfare 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board meets Thurs., Jan. 19, at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, Pam Wyche, 644-6128 ext. 113. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/rent 

Design Review Committee meets Thurs., Jan. 19, 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., Jan. 19, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Prasanna Rasaih, 981-6950. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/faircampaign 

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Opinion

Editorials

Editorial: Give Purple a Chance in Berkeley By BECKY O'MALLEY

Friday January 20, 2006

Every year about this time I start feeling my California confusion. Though I’ve lived here for most of my life, my imprinting on the proper rhythm of the seasons came in the years I spent as a child and again as a young adult in the East and Midwest, where January is cold and the trees are bare. But even though the holiday wreath of bay leaves on our front door is still fresh and green, the spring bulbs next to the door are coming up fast, and the pear tree next door is already covered with white blossoms. Spring is here already, though this year, with a long warm fall, winter lasted less than a month. 

In this context, perhaps I should not be so surprised to hear on the grapevine that the old pols are already soliciting endorsements for their fall mayoral campaigns. In Oakland, Ron Dellums’ kickoff has taken place, and he presumably got a bunch of signers before he even declared. Two opponents were already in the race when he decided to enter, each with an existing coterie of early endorsers, some of whom jumped ship when Dellums made his move.  

The mayor of Berkeley is the currently reigning representative of an erstwhile progressive organization (only conservatives unkindly call them “machines”) that rivaled Dellums’ own when both were young Turks. Each of them has managed to control the succession to his respective position, Dellums in the U.S. Congress and Bates in the state legislature.  

Dellums saw to it that trusted aide Barbara Lee succeeded through a carefully timed sequence of resignations and special elections. Bates anointed first his top aide, Dion Aroner, and then his wife, Loni Hancock (who engineered her own succession when she resigned as Berkeley mayor midterm.) Unseemly primaries have largely been avoided, though the two groups, who exhibit frosty politesse at public gatherings, have sometimes duked it out when underlings engaged in fights for lesser offices. It’s all very cozy, and newcomers don’t have a chance.  

Some are now suggesting that if the 68-year-old Bates is re-elected, he might resign in the middle of the next term to take a job with his UC administrator friends. The retirement benefits for such positions are awesome, and he could leave the mayor’s job, a la Hancock, to an anointed successor without an untidy election. 

Bates has started to press everyone in Berkeley whose name counts with the public to support his re-election campaign. Rumor has it that he started with the City Council faction formerly known as Moderates or even conservatives (Capitelli, Wozniak, Olds), and with them in hand moved on to some former Progressives (Maio, Moore), but that he has yet to sign the two stubborn true-progressive holdouts, Dona Spring and Kriss Worthington. There’s no final word on the position of the enigmatic Max Anderson, who was substituted in for Maudelle Shirek in a truly remarkable piece of political engineering which saw her top aide “forgetting” to file her nomination papers, enabling Anderson to step out of the wings just in time to avoid a real contest for her seat. Anderson’s recent alliance with Bates to propose a big pork project for the Ashby BART station is taken by some as a clue that he’s now joined the council’s developer-driven majority. 

To make things more interesting, ex-Mayor Shirley Dean, who used to be the leader of the Mod faction, has been popping up in appearances all over town, though she coyly refuses to say whether or not she’s a candidate. But just her face on a discussion panel seems to be enough to send some local progressives running back to the Bates camp. Many progressives claim to be deeply disappointed with Bates’ record as mayor, where he’s distinguished himself by siding consistently with big developers (especially the biggest of all, UC Berkeley) against the interest of residents. It’s a record that is virtually indistinguishable from Dean’s on most key issues, but the knee-jerk partisan reaction from some is that they’d never support a candidate opposing Bates if it gave Dean a chance to win.  

The major reason why no one in Berkeley with any sense should be filling out endorsement cards for Bates this early in the game is that we don’t yet know what form the November mayoral election will take. Berkeley passed a ballot measure authorizing instant runoff voting, which would enable voters to indicate their second choice for mayor if their first choice loses, in a multi-candidate race. In a no-primary election, that would be the best way for a newcomer to get a foothold on the electoral ladder without an organizational blessing. But IRV in Berkeley is currently stalled because Alameda county is claiming that its voting machines aren’t set up to handle it, even though San Francisco has made it work. If it doesn’t happen by November, a candidate who can get 40 percent (almost any incumbent, in this case Bates) will win without a runoff. But if it does, new candidates with a truly progressive and neighborhood-friendly agenda will have a shot at defeating Bates.  

Where would such candidates be found? Spring and Worthington, the most obvious choices to carry the progressive banner against the neo-Mods who now control the council, both face re-election in their council districts, and are likely to be reluctant to risk losing everything, since they can’t run for both offices at the same time. There seems to have been a recent poll which put forward names of former candidates, commissioners, neighborhood activists and other plausible contenders, but no results have been released.  

In any event, two slogans for whatever candidate is willing to step up to the plate emerged at the remarkable meeting this week of those who oppose the Ashby development. Oakland resident and Berkeley artist Bob Brokl talked about the coalition of those who defeated a recent developer-backed attempt to bring redevelopment and eminent domain to his Temescal neighborhood. He said they came from all parts of the political spectrum: “both red-state and blue-state kinds of people: we should be called the purple people.” Le Conte neighborhood activist Patti Dacey, a preservationist recently removed from the Landmarks Commission by Max Anderson, happened to be wearing a purple scarf at the meeting. She characterized the pro-developer council majority this way: “They’re not left, they’re not right, they’re just wrong.” Before purple Berkeleyans sign up for two more years with Bates, they should wait to see if there are any other options available. 

 

 

 

 


Public Comment

Arts Calendar

Friday January 20, 2006

FRIDAY, JAN. 20 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley, “Twelfth Night” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave., through Feb. 18. Tickets are $12. 649-5999. 

“Walkin’ Talkin’ Bill Hawkins ... In Search of My Father” performed by W. Allen Taylor at 7 p.m. at the Marsh-Berkeley, 2118 Allston Way, through Jan. 28. Tickets are $15-$22. 800-838-3006. 

Ragged Wing Ensemble “Splinters ... and Other F-Words” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda, through Feb. 11. Tickets are $12-$25 sliding scale. 800-838-3006. www.raggedwing.org 

Shotgun Players “Cabaret” Thurs. - Sun. at 8 p.m. at the Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Through Jan. 29. 841-6500.  

EXHIBITIONS 

“Painting Italy” Works by Audrey Brown opens with a reception at 6:30 p.m., at Red Oak Realty Office, 2983 College Ave. 849-9990. 

FILM 

“The Best of Youth, Parts 1 and 2” at 3 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ana Marie Cox introduces her political comic novel, “Dog Days” at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes & Noble, 98 Broadway, Oakland. 272-0120. 

Sesshu Foster introduces a fantastical mythology “Atomik Aztex” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Oakland East Bay Symphony performs Puts, Mozart and Brahms at 8 p.m. at Paramount Theater, 2025 Broadway, Oakland. Pre-concert lecture at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15-$60. 625-8497. 

King Wawa and the Oneness Kingdom Band at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Eurythmy Recital Dance by students of the East Bay Waldorf School at 7:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Free. www.juliamorgan.org 

Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company “As I Was Saying” at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $26-$48. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Warsaw Poland Brothers, Hukanolix at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886.  

Bradford Powers & Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com  

Steve Lucky & the Rhumba Bums with Ms. Carman Getit at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054.  

Carlos Zialcita Blues Band at 9 p.m. at Eli’s Mile High Club, 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way., Oakland. Cost is $7. 654-4549. 

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

Palm Wine Boys at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Eric Swinderman Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Meric Long, The Pigeon and the Peasant at 8 p.m. at the Living Room Gallery, 3230 Adeline St. Donation $3-$5. 601-5774. 

Robin Galante and Martin Dory at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Pansy Division, Fleshies, Abi Yo Yo’s at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Monophonics at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

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

Ledisi at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is 20-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, JAN. 21 

CHILDREN  

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Mary Ellen Hill, multicultural folk and fairy tales, at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Mikio Naruse “The Song Lantern” at 7 p.m. and “A Tale of Archers at the Sanjusangendo” at 8:55 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

THEATER 

Moshe Cohen and Unique Derique “Cirque Do Somethin’” at 1 p.m. at the Marsh, 2120 Allston Way. Tickets are $10-$15. 800-838-3006. www.themarsh.org 

Masquers Playhouse "Over the River and Through the Woods" Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. through Feb. 25 at 105 Park Place, Point Richmond. Tickets are $15. 232-4031. www.masquers.org 

FILM 

“NeoPaganism in California: Visions of the Past and Memories of the Future” Films and panel discussion from 1 to 5:30 p.m. at the Chapel, Pacific School of Religion, 1798 Scenic Drive. Cost is $15-$25 sliding scale. www.thepaganalliance.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“I Have Been to the Mountaintop” Listen to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s last speech, followed by discussion with Demetrius Gins at 2:30 p.m. at Lakeview Branch Library, 550 El Embarcadero, Oakland. 238-7344. 

Ronne Hartfield describes “Another Way Home: The Tangled Roots of Race in One Chicago Family” at 4 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

Gary Hart introduces “God and Caesar in America: An Essay on Religion and Politics” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Miss Poppy (Elaine Addison) talks about “Miss Poppy’s Guide to Raising Raising Perfectly Happy Children” at 11:30 a.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

“The Genite Chronicles - A Link to the Past” with transgendered authors Nicole and Debbie Cook at 2 p.m. at Changemakers, 6536 Telegraph Ave., Oakland.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company “Blind Date” at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Discussion with Bill T. Jones after the performance. Tickets are $26-$48. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

San Francisco Early Music Society at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. www.sfem.org 

Sarah Cahill, pianist, at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. trinitychamberconcerts.com 

American Bach Soloists at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $18-$40. 415-621-7900. www.americanbach.org 

Jessica Neighbor Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Sambo Ngo at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Caribbean Youth Project Presents: Youth in Action at 8 p.m.at La Peña. Cost is $7-$10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

KaUaTuahine Polynesian Dance Company at 8 p.m. at Maha Uchiyama Center, 729 Heinz Ave. Tickets are $12-$15. 845-2605. 

Big Delta Blues Club at 10 p.m. at Eli’s Mile High Club, 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way., Oakland. Cost is $7. 654-4549. 

Noitada Brasileira at 8 p.m. at The Beat, 2560 Ninth St. Tickets are $15-$20. 548-5348. www.the-beat.org 

Jared Karol and Nate Cooper at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

CV1 at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Maria Muldaur at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Finless Brown, The Contaminates at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Dave Bernstein Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Moment’s Notice, improvised music, dance and theater at 8 p.m. at Western Sky Studio 2525 8th St. Cost is $8-$10. 649-1791. 

Jason Webley, Two Gallants, Teenage Harlets at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, JAN. 22 

CHILDREN 

Gary Laplow at Ashkenaz at 3 p.m. Cost is $4-$6. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

EXHIBTIONS 

Annual Members’ Showcase Reception at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. in Live Oak Park. 

FILM 

Screenagers: Bay Area High School Film Festival at noon and 2:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

A Tribute to Frenando Alegría at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5-$10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry Flash with Kate Gale and Heather Lee at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Island Literary Series, hosted by Avotcja, at 3 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $3. 841-JAZZ. 

Andrea Johnston talks about “Girls Speak Out: Finding Your True Self” at 3 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Jürgen Vsych reads from “The Woman Director,” the first autobiography by an American female film director, at 2 p.m. at Change Makers Books. 655-2405 www.TheWomanDirector.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Tribute to Barbara Shearer at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Free. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Brad Mehldau Trio & Bill Frisell Quintet at 7 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $20-$40. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

San Francisco Symphony Chamber Music Sundaes at 3 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $9-$17. 415-584-5946. www.chambermusicsundaes.org 

Oakland Civic Orchestra, with Callan Milani, finalist in OEBS Young Artist Competition at 4 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Ave., Oakland. Free. 338-0538. 

Tina Marzell Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Nate Cooper at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Flamenco Open Stage at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Jacqui Naylor at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

John McCutcheon at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $24.50-$25.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Ledisi at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is 20-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

MONDAY, JAN. 23 

THEATER 

Subterranean Shakespeare “The Tempest” Staged reading at 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Unitarian Fellowship, Fireside Room, 1924 Cedar St. Donation $5. 276-3871. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Making Cakes for the Queen of Heaven” an exhibition on family religion in Ancient Israel opens at the Bade Museum at Pacific School of Religion. 849-8201. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Saving Antiquities” Matthew Bogdanos, author of “Thieves of Baghdad” and a colonel in the Marine reserve will describe his efforts to save irreplaceable antiquities looted from the Iraq Museum in 2003, at 7:30 p.m. at 145 Dwinelle Hall, UC Campus. www.savingantiquities.org 

“Women’s Religious Culture in Ancient Israel” with Carol Meyers at 3:30 p.m. in Chapel Room 6, Pacific School of Relgion, 1798 Scenic Ave. 849-8201. 

Theodore Rosak reads from his new book “World Beware! American Triumphalism in an Age of Terror” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Poetry Express with John Curl at 7 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. 644-3977. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Hallifax & Jeffrey at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

West Coast Songwriters Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $5.50. 548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.org 

Willie Jones III Quintet at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$14. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, JAN. 24 

THEATER 

“MacHomer” Rick Miller’s one-man show of “Macbeth” featuring impressions from “The Simpsons” at 8 p.m., Sat at 7 and 10 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at The Roda Theater, 2015 Addison, Tickets are $30-$35. 548-9666. www.calshakes.org 

FILM 

Mary Ellen Bute, Gunvor Nelson and “The Woman’s FIlm” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

James McManus describes “Physical: An American Check-up” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Sauce Piquante at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Ellen Hoffman with Singers’ Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

Freight and Salvage Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $5.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Debbie Poryes, jazz, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

McCoy Tyner Residency, with Joe Lovano, Dave Holland & Lewis Nash at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Feb. 5. Cost is $15-$30. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays, a weekly showcase of up-and-coming ensembles from Berkeley Jazzschool at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Eric Muhler, jazz piano, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 25 

THEATER 

Berkeley Rep “9 Parts of Desire” about women in war-torn Iraq, at 8 p.m. at the Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St., through March 5. Tickets are $30-$59. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

Jeanne Dunning “Study After Untitled,” photographs and video works, opens at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. Artists talk at 2 p.m. 642-0808. 

FILM 

Movies in the Nickelodeon Era at 3 p.m. and “La Lucha: The Struggle” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Looting the World’s Archaeological Heritage: Whose Fault?” with Lord Colin Renfrew, Disney Professor of Archaeology, University of Cambridge and Director, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, at 5 p.m. at the Archaeological Research Facility, 2251 College Building, UC Campus. 

Josh Kun describes “Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Wednesday Noon Concert: “Bach’s Influence on Mozart” at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Free. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Music for the Spirit with Dave Hatt, organ, at noon at First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, 2619 Broadway. 444-3555. www.firstchurchoakland.org 

UC Jazz Ensemble at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

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

Big Lou’s Polka Casserole at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Polka dance lesson at 8 p.m. with the Golden Gate Bavarian Club. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Pepe y Su Orchestra at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Dance lessons at 8 p.m. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Cas Lucas at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Eliza Glikyson at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Infamous, Yellow Bus Gang, Sani at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $10. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

THURSDAY, JAN. 26 

FILM 

Mikio Naruse “Lightning” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“California Faience of Berkeley: A Family Perspective” with Kirby William Brown at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Cost is $8-$12. 843-8982. 

Matthew Bokovoy reads from “The San Diego World’s Fairs and Southwestern Memory, 1880-1940” at 7 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloway’s Bookstore, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

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

Word Beat Reading Series celebrates Jesse Beagle’s 80th birthday at 7 p.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave., near Dwight Way. 526-5985. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Young People’s Chamber Orchestra at 2 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Free. www.ypco.org 

The Bobs at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Smithtone Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Philip Rodriguez with Water, guitar, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Wayward Monks at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Danny Caron, jazz guitar, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 


Arts & Events

Berkeley This Week

Friday January 20, 2006

FRIDAY, JAN. 20 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Robert Flammia on “The Power of Touch” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $13.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. 526-2925. 

Berkeley Chess School classes for students in grades 1-8 from 5 to 7 p.m. at 1581 LeRoy Ave., room 17. 843-0150. 

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, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. 548-6310, 845-1143. 

SATURDAY, JAN. 21 

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. Representatives from the Berkeley Police Dept will talk about protecting ourselves in a major disaster. www.berkeleycna.com  

Free Emergency Preparedness Class on Disaster First Aid from 9 to noon at 997 Cedar St., between 8th and 9th. To sign up call 981-5605.  

Mini-Farmers in Tilden A farm exploration program, from 10 to 11 a.m. for ages 4-6 years, accompanied by an adult. We will explore the Little Farm, care for animals, do crafts and farm chores. Wear boots and dress to get dirty! Fee is $5-$7. Registration required. 525-2233. 

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. 

Birds of Mystery A stroll to listen for the Great Horned Owls looking for mates. Meet at 2 p.m. at the Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Wintertime Pruning and Tree Care A hands-on workshop from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Berkeley. Cost is $10-$15. Registration required. 548-2220, 233. www.ecologycenter.org 

“California Native Plants for the Garden” with author David Fross at 3 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloway’s, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

Mend a Marsh for the Birds Planting and restoration at 9 a.m. at The Watershed Project, 1327 South 46th St., Richmond Field Station, #155, Richmond, followed by naturalists talk at noon. To register call 665-3689. 

Volunteer for Cerrito Creek Wear shoes with good traction and clothes that can get dirty. Meet at 10 a.m. at Creekside Park, south end of Santa Clara St., El Cerrito. 848-9358. www.fivecreeks.org 

A Ghost Town in San Francisco Bay? Learn about the town of Drawbridge on Station Island in the salt marshes of South San Francisco at 3 p.m. at the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Fremont. 792-0222. 

“In the Company of Wild Butterflies” A new nature documentary by Bill Levinson at 6:30 p.m. at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum, 1931 First Ave. Walnut Creek. Donation $5-$8. 925-935-1978. 

“Building the Progressive Movement in the East Bay” Kick-Off event with Congressman Ron Dellums and Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson at 5 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Oakland, 2501 Harrison St. at 27th. 272-6060. 

“War Powers: How the Imperial Presidency Hijacked the Constitution” with Prof. Peter Irons, UCSD at 7 p.m. at Home of Truth Center, 1300 Grand Ave., Alameda. Sponsored by the Alameda Public Affairs Forum. www.alamedaforum.org 

“A Literary Lion at Your Side” with Peter Miller, literary agent at 10 a.m. at Barnes & Noble, Jack London Square, Oakland. 420-8775. www.berkeleywritersclub.org 

“I Have Been to the Mountaintop” Listen to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s last speech, followed by discussion with Demetrius Gins at 2:30 p.m. at Lakeview Branch Library, 550 El Embarcadero, Oakland. 238-7344. 

Bayshore Walk at Point Isabel with the Solo Sierrans. Meet at 3:30 p.m. in the parking lot off Rydin. Bring binoculars. Optional dinner follows. Rain cancels. 234-8949. 

Piedmont Choir Spring Tryouts for children ages 5 to 10 from 9:30 a.m. to noon in Piedmont and Alameda. To schedule an appointment call 547-4441. www.piedmontchoirs.org  

“New Era, New Politics Walking Tour” at 10 a.m. at the African American Museum, 659 14th St., at Jefferson, Oakland. A two-hour guided tour of the points of interest in African American history in Oakland. 238-3234. 

Workshop with Magician Norman Ng for 6th-8th graders at 2 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

“NeoPaganism in California: Visions of the Past and Memories of the Future” Films and panel discussion from 1 to 5:30 p.m. at the Chapel, Pacific School of Religion, 1798 Scenic Drive. Cost is $15-$25 sliding scale. www.thepaganalliance.org 

Preschool Storytime for 3-5 year olds at 11 a.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

Spirit Walking Aqua Chi (TM) A gentle water exercise class at 10 a.m. at the Berkeley High Warm Pool. Cost is $3.50 per session. 526-0312. 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

“Transforming Negative Emotions” a workshop from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

SUNDAY, JAN. 22 

Newt Walk Join the annual trek to Sindicich Lagoons, the breeding waters for the California newt. Hike is 5 miles, over the Briones Crest, some muddy trails. Sturdy young hikers eight and older are welcome. Bring lunch and liquids. 525-2233. 

From Fog to Stormdrains A complete tour of our watershed at 2 p.m. at the Environmental Education Center, Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

“The U.S. Sees the U.N.: A Media Analysis” with Larry Bensky of KPFA at 3:30 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall, 1924 Cedar St. Sponsored by the United Nations Association.  

“Blood on the Border: Memoir of the Contra War” with Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz at 6 p.m. at Berkeley Felloship, 1924 Cedar St. 495-5132. 

El Cerrito Historical Society meeting with Richard Tuck on his “Playland-Not-at-the-Beach” Musuem at 1 p.m. at the El Cerrito Senior Center, 6510 Stockton Ave. Pot-luck lunch. for details call 526-7507. 

KPFA Town Hall Meeting from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Women’s Building, 3543 18th St., San Francisco. All listeners are invited to come and express your thoughts and opinions about your community needs and KPFA. 848-6767. 

Berkeley City Club free tour from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tours are sponsored by the Berkeley City Club and the Landmark Heritage Foundation. Donations welcome. The Berkeley City Club is located at 2315 Durant Ave. 848-7800. 

Cottage Brunch . . . in French! Hosted by Leonard Pitt and Kimberly Vergez from 9:30 a.m. to noon at 1542 Grant St. at Cedar. Cost is $20, reservations required. 841-0686. 

“Interfaith Families and Anti-Semitism” from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Temple Sinai, 2800 Summit St., Oakland. 547-2250. 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace Peace walk around the lake every Sun. Meet at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712. lmno4p.org 

Tibetan Buddhism with Jack Petranker on “When it Rains, Does Space Get Wet?” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, JAN. 23 

Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza Community Workshop on a new design plan at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7065. 

“Saving Antiquities” Matthew Bogdanos, author of “Thieves of Baghdad” and a colonel in the Marine reserve will describe his efforts to save irreplaceable antiquities looted from the Iraq Museum in 2003, at 7:30 p.m. at 145 Dwinelle Hall, UC Campus. www.savingantiquities.org 

Berkeley School Volunteers Training workshop for volunteers interested in helping the public schools, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

Kensington Library Book Club meets to discuss William Saroyan’s novel, “The Human Comedy” at 7 p.m. at 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 524-3043. 

World Affairs Discussion Group for seniors at 10:15 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center. Cost is $2.50. 

Free Small Business Counselling with SCORE, Service Core of Retired Executives at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge. To make an appointment call 981-6244. 

Medical Qigong Clinic at 5 p.m. at Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine College, 2550 Shattuck Ave. For an appointment call 666-8234. 

Introduction to Meditation with Diane Eshin Rizzetto at 6:45 p.m. at Bay Zen Center, 315 Alcatraz near College Ave. $10 suggested donation, but no one turned away. Register in advance 596-3087. www.bayzen.org 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, JAN. 24 

Return of Over-the-Hills Gang Hiker 55 years and older who are interested in nature study, history, fitness and fun are invited to join us on a series of monthly excursions exploring our Regional Parks. This month we’ll visit Sobrante Ridge and see a stand of rare Alameda manzanita. For details call 525-2233. 

“Living with Lions” A reception and lecture by the Mountain Lion Foundation at 6:30 p.m. at the Oakland Zoo. Tickets are $10-$20. 632-9525, ext. 122. 

Birdwalk on the MLK Shoreline from 3 to 5 p.m. to see the ducks and shorebirds here for the winter. Beginnners welcome, binoculars available for loan. 525-2233. 

Winter Backcountry Travel: Safety and Survival Tips with Mike Kelly of the National Ski Patrol at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

“Nepal and Bhutan: Traditional Life” a photography slide show with Don Lyon at 7 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave. 654-1548. 

“Another Side of Peace” A documentary about Israeli and Palestinian parents who have lost their children at 7 p.m. in the Albany High School Library, 603 Key Route Blvd. Enter through the gymnasium doors on Thousand Oaks. Discussion follows. Presented by Embracing Diversity Films. 527-1328. 

“Insight and Inner Peace” a lecture on Buddhism by Joe Bobrow at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Buddhist Monastery, 2304 McKinley Ave. 527-2935. 

Clowning at the Library with Daffy Dave at 6:30 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. Reservations required. 524-3043. 

Berkeley PC Users Group Problem solving and beginners meeting to answer, in simple English, users questions about Windows computers. At 7 p.m. at 1145 Walnut St. corner of Eunice. All welcome, no charge. 527-2177.  

Red Cross Blood Drive from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Argosy University, 999-A Canal Blvd., Point Richmond. To schedule an appointment call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE. 

Reverse Mortgage Seminar with Maggie O’Connell of Seattle Mortgage at 1 p.m. at the Oakland Zoo Auditorium. Free, but registration required. 800-489-0986. 

Healthy Eating Habits Seminar with hypnosis at 6:30 p.m. at New Moon Opportunities, 378 Jayne Ave. Free, but registration required. 465-2524. 

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. Share your digital images, slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

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. 

Brainstormer Weekly Pub Quiz every Tuesday from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Pyramid Alehouse Brewery, 901 Gilman St. 528-9880.  

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

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

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 25  

Solar Richmond Project Community Meeting, on how to build solar energy in Richmond, hosted by Council member Gayle McLaughlin at 7 p.m. at Richmond Public Library, Whittlesey Room, 325 Civic Center Plaza. www.SolarRichmond.org 

Robert Burn’s Night at 6 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club. Bagpipes and traditional readings. Cost is $30 per person including dinner and a small glass of whiskey. Reservations required. 848-7800. 

Film Series on Animal Agony, the California egg industry amd Wegman’s cruelty, at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donation of $5 suggested. www.east 

bayanimaladvocates.org 

“Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” with John Perkins, Kevin Danaher and Anuradha Mittal at 7:30 p.m. at the King Middle School Auditorium, 1781 Rose St. Tickets are $12-$15. Benefit for KPFA and Global Exchange. 415-255-7296, ext. 200. 

“Looting the World’s Archaeological Heritage: Whose Fault?” with Lord Colin Renfrew, Disney Professor of Archaeology, University of Cambridge and Director, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, at 5 p.m. at the Archaeological Research Facility, 2251 College Building, UC Campus. 

“Strange Weather: Global Warming and Its Effects” with Tom and Jane Kelly of Kyoto-USA at 1:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Sponsored by the Gray Panthers. 548-9696. 

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. Heavy rain cancels. 548-9840. 

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 

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. 

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. georgeporter@earthlink.net 

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, JAN. 26 

“California Faience of Berkeley: A Family Perspective” with Kirby William Brown at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Cost is $8-$12. 843-8982. 

Martin Luther King. Jr. Community Banquet at 7 p.m. at the Rotunda Building, 300 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland. Cost is $150. Presented by the YMCA of the East Bay. 451-8039, ext. 777.  

Community Meeting on the Albany Shoreline and an alternative to the mall project at 7 p.m. at the Albany High School multipurpose room on Key Route Blvd in Albany. Sponsored by Citizens for the Albany Shoreline (CAS) in cooperation with Citizens for East Shore Parks (CESP) and the Sierra Club. 526-0073. www.albanyshoreline.org 

“A Crisis Call to Action” with Sgt. Delacy Davis, founder of Black Cops Against Police Brutality at 7 p.m. at South Berkeley Community Church, 1805 Fairview St. Donations accepted. 548-0425. 

“Housetraining your Puppy” at 7:30 p.m. at dogTec, 5221 Central Ave., #1, on the border of El Cerrito and Richmond. Free, but donations appreciated. 644-0729. www.openpaw.org 

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 

Free Tax Help—United Way’s Earn it! Keep It! Save It! program provides free filing assistance to households that earned less than $38,000 in 2005. To find a free tax site near you, call 800-358-8832 or visit www.EarnitKeepitSaveit.org 

Pee Wee Basketball for ages 6-8 begins Feb. 4, and All Net Basketball for ages 9-11 begins Feb. 23. For further information cantact Berkeley Youth Alternatives, 845-9066. www.byaonline.org 

CITY MEETINGS 

Creeks Task Force meets Mon. Jan. 23, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Erin Dando, 981-7410. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/planning/landuse/Creeks/default.html 

Parks and Recreation Commission meets Mon., Jan. 23, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Virginia Aiello, 981-5158. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/parksandrecreation 

Disaster Council meets Wed., Jan. 25, at 7 p.m., at the Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. William Greulich, 981-5502. www.ci.berkeley.ca. us/commissions/disaster 

Energy Commission meets Wed., Jan. 25, at 6:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Neal De Snoo, 981-5434. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/energy 

Fire Safety Commission meets Wed., Jan. 25, at 7:30 p.m. at 997 Cedar St. David Orth, 981-5502. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/firesafety 

Planning Commission meets Wed., Jan. 25, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Janet Homrighausen, 981-7484. www.ci.berkeley. ca.us/commissions/planning 

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., Jan. 26, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/zoning  ?