Berkeley city councilmembers voted Tuesday to pledge $4 million in federal funds to pay for community services and affordable housing as collateral for a federal loan to help fund the David Brower Center and Oxford Plaza. 

The council delayed acting on an appeal from the purported owner of Dwight Way Liquors, after neither he nor his lawyer appeared to testify. The council voted to continue the hearing to their Feb. 7 meeting. 

Brower Center 

The $60 million project includes two structures that would be built on the site of the city’s Oxford Plaza parking lot, located on Oxford Street between Allston Way and Kittredge Street. 

Project plans call for replacing the existing parking with an underground lot beneath the two structures. 

The David Brower Center would house offices of non-profit environmental organizations, as well as the commercial retailer Patagonia and a proposed organic foods restaurant. 

The second structure, Oxford Plaza Apartments, would contain 96 units—including two- and three-bedroom apartments, all reserved for low-income and very low-income tenants. 

The loan application approved by the council was a necessary component of the city’s request for a $2 million Brownfields Economic Development Initiative (BEDI) grant application. BEDI grants are awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to projects built on sites burdened by proven or potential chemical contamination. Parking lots are included within HUD’s definition. 

The BEDI funds would be used to help fund the Brower Center while the $4 million in HUD Section 108 funding the city is seeking to secure using the $4 million in Community Block Grant Development (CBGD) funds as collateral would help fund the apartments. 

Federal funding of CBGD grants nationally has been declining in recent years, with a 5 percent cutback last year and a 10 percent cut approved for this year. The grants fund a variety of programs and services in Berkeley, including the city’s housing department. 

Some of the councilmembers who voted to support the grant application said they weren’t entirely happy with the cautionary statements included in the written report from Housing Director Steve Barton, in which he warned of the possible dangers of commiting funds essential to many city programs. 

“I’m really troubled by the report,” said Laurie Capitelli. “It’s incomplete, and it raises red flags on every page.” 

Betty Olds, who cast the lone dissenting vote, said she was troubled by the fact the report had been submitted too late for her to be able to digest it. 

While the developers say they intend to rent office space in the Brower Center to non-profit environmental organizations, Capitelli asked Barton what might happen if they couldn’t. “Who would be the best tenant?” he asked. 

“I would say organizations like the energy functions of the Lawrence Berkeley Lab or various university projects related to the environment,” said Barton. “Certainly the university would be a deep-pocket tenant.” 

“So theoretically we could undertake this project to fund office space for the university?” Capitelli asked. 

“We’re taking this on primarily to get the BEDI grant that supports the affordable housing component,” Barton answered. 

“I think we should go ahead, but I too have concerns about the risks. They’re hard to ignore,” said Councilmember Gordon Wozniak. 

Liquor store 

The Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) voted to declare Dwight Way Liquors a public nuisance on Oct. 25, and Oakland Attorney Robert Bryden filed an appeal on behalf of Nasr Nagi. 

“Mr. Bryden does not represent the owner or the alcohol license holder,” city code enforcement supervisor Gregory Daniel told the council Tuesday. “There is only one person recognized as the operator and owner,” and that is Abdulaziz Saleh Saleh, said Daniel. 

He said the District Attorney’s office reported that during a Jan. 17 court hearing Bryden told the court that Nagi was selling the store, but he can’t be because he doesn’t own it. 

Bryden said Thursday that he hadn’t attended the council hearing because he hadn’t received any notice that it was occurring. He added that his client “is a partner with the guy whose name is on the license.” 

Asked if he would attend the Feb. 7 hearing, Bryden said, “most likely.” 

Daniel said notices of the hearing were sent out by regular mail, and that a copy had been sent to Bryden. 

Daniel told the council Tuesday that if the store is operating in the name of a partnership, “they have to have a liquor license under that name. Mr. Saleh is the only person on the liquor license and the only person on the business license and the zoning permit. Mr. Nagi appears nowhere.” 

In September, the city asked for a copy of any partnership agreement, but no copy was ever provided, said Daniel. 

ZAB Chair Andy Katz told the council that the board “did not take the remedy lightly in recommending closure.” 

Daniel had presented the council with a massive report, detailing a host of violations filed against the store and recounting a variety of state actions against the store’s liquor license. Neighbors told of violations of operating hours, sales to minors and of inebriates invading their property and discarding empty bottles on porches and in yards, along with drug paraphernalia. 

Other business  

The council delayed action on a new ordinance governing the care of dogs kept outdoors, as well as a proposed amendment by Dona Spring that would set different standards for animals kept by the homeless. 

Both proposals were referred back to the planning commission. 

The council also delayed action on a proposal from the Community Health Commission that would have the city set higher public health and safety standards for the installation of cell phone antennae. 

City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque noted that federal law preempts local laws from adopting different standards than those set by federal regulations. 

“We are handicapped, but people are genuinely concerned,” said Councilmember Linda Maio. “People are wearing ear pieces with their cell phones because they don’t want transmissions next to their brains. But we’re hooked on this technology.” 

Albuquerque said that the city was further hampered by a recent federal appellate decision drastically limiting local jurisdictions’ ability to limit antenna installation on municipal street lighting polls. 

The council voted to ask the health commission to investigate the one issue over which they do have control—whether or not the city should be encouraging the installation of a wi-fi system, a wireless Internet service. 

The council also approved: 

• An ordinance that would prevent new sidewalk flower vendors from setting up outside an indoor florist’s shop. 

• Amendments to the Coast Live Oaks Ordinance banning excessive pruning of the trees. 

• Allocating up to $350,000 for monitoring and maintenance of the closed landfill at Cesar Chavez Park. 

• A$45,000 increase in a legal services contract with a private law firm to advise on the Brower Center project.?

Sitting in his curio shop on University Avenue, Tsewang Khangsar recalls the onerous journey that he had made almost 45 years ago across the Himalayas from Tibet. 

“We were fleeing from the Chinese occupation,” he said. “The Communist rule was slowly destroying everything that we knew as culture, as sacred, as ancient.” 

After being given refugee status in India, Khangsar completed his education from Cambrian School in Dehradoon and later went on to teach elementary and high school in Dharamshala for 20 years.  

In 1995 Khangsar was uprooted for a second time when he won the green card lottery which allowed 1,000 Tibetan refugees to come to the United States. With the help of a Tibetan support group in California, Khangsar arrived in Berkeley. 

“I washed dishes and ran errands to make ends meet,” he said. “In spite of having a masters degree in education from the University of Massachusetts, I was not allowed to teach in California. Six years ago when I opened Little Tibet, on University Avenue, there was only one other curio shop on Salon Avenue that specialized in Indian and Tibetan handicrafts. Today there are at least 10 such shops in Berkeley.” 

Khangsar said that his business at 2037 University Ave. is slow because of fierce competition. Technological advancements and growing dependence on all things mechanical have not helped either. 

“People have no use for ancient cultures anymore,” he said. “Businesses such as these face a great risk of slowly drifting away.” 

Khangsar says that most of his regular clients are those who are tired of chains like Macy’s.  

Maulin Chokshi of Bombay Jewelry Company (1042 University Ave.) is the president of the University Avenue Association. He agrees that Indian businesses in Berkeley are gradually drifting away. 

“There was a time when people would fly down from as far as Honolulu to do their monthly grocery shopping at Vik’s,” said Chokshi. “The fame of clothing boutiques such as Roopam and Sari Palace spread as far as Reno. In the late 1970s, Berkeley provided the only connection to India in the Bay Area.” 

With Indian markets emerging in Santa Clara, Fremont, and San Bruno, customers no longer have to commute to Berkeley for that exotic spice from Malabar. They can easily get it two doors down at their neighborhood grocery shop. In Fremont itself there are more than 20 grocery shops today. Fremont also boasts of the Naz8 Cinemas, North America’s first multicultural entertainment megaplex which attracts hordes of Indians by showing Bollywood films every week. 

Chokshi however acknowledged that the number of Indian businesses have grown tremendously in West Berkeley since 1989. In the late 1970s there were a mere eight to nine Indian shops. Today the number has grown to well over 50. According to Chokshi, the UC system initially brought in a lot of clientele in the form of the student’s parents. But today the shops have a identity of their own and are not dependent on anything. 

“Indian businesses in West Berkeley have grown because of the tremendous effort each of us put into our work,” he said. “People respect us because of the superior quality of our service and products—be it garments, jewelry, or spices.” 

According to Chokshi, Indian businesses in West Berkeley flourished from 1992 to 2000. He recalls how the dotcom boom brought in the maximum traffic. 

“There was more business to be done, more money to be made,” he said. “Certain stores even had to hire extra help on the weekends. People were spending money like there was no tomorrow.” 

When the bubble burst however, the spending gradually died down and a lot of his clientele even left the country.  

Although business has been slow from 2000 to 2005, 2006 is witnessing a state of rebuilding. Chokshi acknowledges that both environment and security issues are dealt with a lot better by the City of Berkeley than before. In 1990 Chokshi was held at gunpoint and robbed in his shop in broad daylight. Today there are policemen patrolling the area continuously and the streets are a lot cleaner. The University Avenue Association also arranged for Diwali lights last year and it works to maintain harmony within the international market blocks in that area. 

However, Chokshi finds it distressing that the city is not doing anything to promote the uniqueness of international markets in West Berkeley. 

Echoing his concerns is Shaman Ajmani of Karma, an interior décor boutique on the same block. 

“The city should help to promote this part of town as a tourist attraction. We need more lights to brighten up the place in the evening. People are scared of walking here after 6 p.m. Graffiti is also a big menace,” Ajmani said.  

According to both Ajmani and Chokshi parking problems are one of the main reasons for the dwindling businesses. 

“It is not only in the benefit of the businesses but also the city if parking is made easier for tourists and local shoppers,” Ajmani said.  

In 1989, it was Ajmani’s father, Anil Ajmani, who took over Bombay Music which had been a part of Bombay Bazaar and Bombay Travel in the 1970s. An ardent admirer of Bollywood movies, Anil Ajmani worked hard to establish the store and today it is one of the most popular destinations for lovers of Indian cinema in Berkeley. 

Another popular Indian haunt in Berkeley is Vik’s on Allston Way. Mr. Chopra of Vik’s was the first to bring the sighs, smells, and tastes of Indian street food to Berkeley and since then Indian restaurants have been mushrooming all over the city. Bir Thapa of the recently opened Mount Everest Restaurant on Shattuck Avenue finds the cut-throat competition in the Berkeley Indian restaurant industry frustrating. 

Opening a business in Berkeley had not been easy for Mr. Thapa. He fled Bhutan in 1992 to escape from the Maoist regime and had arrived in the United States in 2000. Along with three other friends, he decided to start a restaurant specializing in Indian and Nepalese food that would appeal to international customers. 

“After opening in July 2005, the restaurant did very good business for the first three months,” he said. “It began to sag after new restaurants opened on our street two months back.” 

However, there are others like Chaat Café on University Avenue who refuse to be daunted by competition. Leena, a student of business management at UC Berkeley who works at the café, says that the restaurant is always packed. 

“Competition is good,” she said. “It helps to improve the quality of service.” 

Inspired by the booming business at Chaat Café, Leena said she plans to start her own Indian restaurant in San Francisco after graduating.

There’s no denying that Berkeley has a worldwide reputation, not always positive. From humble beginnings in the 1850s, through the turbulent 1960s and up to today, Berkeley’s citizens are seldom shy about voicing their passions. 

Berkeley was first home to squatters along the bay’s shoreline attracted by accessible water and farmland. Later, the establishment of the University of California acted like a magnet for students and staff. The 1906 earthquake further increased the population, causing many San Franciscans to cross the bay and change their city of residence.  

This magnetism has been a constant pull from all directions. Today over 120 different languages and dialects are spoken within Berkeley’s eighteen square miles. Diversity, except perhaps politically, is what gives Berkeley its unique character and occasional discord, often resulting in a cacophony of ideologies, each marching to its own drummer. 

A postcard setting from the waters of the bay to the verdant hills, intellectual pursuit, appreciation of the arts and fine food, an abundance of coffee houses and bookstores, a commitment to the outdoors on the one hand, countered with a population of many dispossessed on the other, all combine to create a city beloved by many but identified as “Berzerkeley” by some. 

Berkeley as a whole breathes because of its parts, the individual neighborhoods of which it is comprised. As multiple systems function together to create a living organism, so too multiple neighborhoods function together as the city of Berkeley.  

Over the next several months I’ll place Berkeley’s neighborhoods under my own microscope, highlighting their history, architecture, culture, parks, and businesses, some of the essence of what makes them unique.  

West Berkeley—Getting the job done 

West Berkeley, once known as Ocean View, was the first neighborhood established, around 1853, and soon became a vibrant community of farmers, dockworkers, innkeepers and saloon owners, attracting many minority settlers. From the German, Irish, Finnish, Italian, Chinese and French settlers of the early 1900s to African American immigration during World War II and the recent influx of Latin-American, Asian-American and Southeast Indians—cultural diversity rules in West Berkeley and is its greatest strength. 

Occupying the area from Sacramento Avenue to the bay and from the Albany border to Ashby Avenue, Berkeley’s economic engine is an eclectic mixture of working class neighborhood, light industry and thriving business. Warehouses, auto repair and body shops, nurseries and artists coexist among restored Victorians, small bungalows and dilapidated cottages as well as Berkeley’s most effective retail district. 

A wander around Ocean View yields pieces of Berkeley’s past. The lovingly restored home at 1723 Sixth St. was one of 20 saloons serving residents and university students in the late 1800s. On Tenth Street the barn-like Finnish Hall gives testimony to the thriving Finnish community who built the hall in the early 1900s. The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd and the First Presbyterian Church of West Berkeley, built in 1879, on Hearst Avenue, served the pioneer community.  

Ocean View’s architectural showpiece is the Delaware Street Historic District, a collection of 13 relocated Victorian buildings. With plank sidewalks, picket fences, period lampposts and signs and complementary colors, this street is a step back in time. Period detailing continues onto Fourth Street, where shops and eateries in attractive settings draw people from all directions. 

Much of West Berkeley’s charm lies in its juxtapositions. Twin Italianate houses on Fifth Street face a handbag outlet factory and a car repair shop. Throughout these streets, renovation alternates with dilapidation, residence with business, high technology with art—all thriving side by side. 

A natural resource for renovators and deconstructors alike is Ohmega Salvage and Ohmega Too on San Pablo Avenue. Here salvaged antiques and well made reproductions line the ground and fill the storage sheds. Multiple-pane wood windows and doors of all sizes are neatly stacked and labeled; pedestal porcelain sinks and claw foot bathtubs appear as art sculptures, with framed wood fireplace mantles and bannisters—proving that one person’s cast-off is another’s treasure. 

One area of West Berkeley’s cultural diversity can be found on lower University Avenue, where the smells and colors of Little India will send your heart east. From Bombay Spice House, redolent with exotic smells of curry and cardamom, the uplifting beat at Bombay Music to the fabrics at Roopam Saris, dazzling colors of a tropical paradise, all are a feast for your senses.  

Resembling the United Nations is Vik’s Distributors, where the market and the Chaat Café should be on everyone’s lunchtime list. Full plate curries, single entrees like Masala Dosa and Lamb Baida Roti, nan, puri and cholle, delightful confections and mango lassi—at incredibly low prices, explain why the line is long and tables full. Insubstantial paper plates and plastic sporks aren’t an issue when music fills the air and flavors burst in your mouth. 

West Berkeley’s tatterdemalion warehouses and buildings have reincarnated as homes and studios for artists in various mediums. The Berkeley Potters Guild, on Jones Street, in existence for 36 years, provides work and exhibit space for 19 ceramicists in a former auto repair shop. Styles range from whimsical to dramatic. A recent tour found duck candelabras, cuerda seca tiles, porcelain dinnerware in vibrant blue and rust, stark raku vases with copper-flamed designs, paper-clay pig statues—a small sample of the diverse work created here. 

Another culture awaits at Takara Sake on Addison Street. The architectural design of the Tasting Room, the crisp coolness of the various sakes, background music and a sense of calm serve as a stand in for another eastern trip. Douglas fir woodwork, granite floor tiles, shoji screens, large boulders and gently rotating ceiling mobiles each add to the unique ambiance. 

In the adjacent museum the story of 19th century sake production in Japan unfolds. Well laid out displays of rare tools and artifacts along with printed information give life to this period. Exquisitely rustic and simple and exquisitely beautiful are the wood implements and raffia containers. A wall-hung exhibit resembles the tools of present-day gardeners—broom, paddle, and rake. The museum’s showpiece is a giant wood and iron press adorned with thick ropes tied around large boulders.  

An area’s parklands are often indicative of its strengths. Strawberry Creek Park on Allston Way is easily missed, tucked between residential streets. On the former site of the Santa Fe Railroad, Strawberry Creek has been freed from its culverts and surrounded by green lawns and native plantings. Playground equipment and facilities for basketball, volleyball and tennis draw the more active. Expansive lawns, benches and an outdoors café in a stately brick building attract residents and visitors to this lovely urban park. 

Eclectic, diverse, economically vital, West Berkeley combines past and future. Restored Victorian homes, no frills food at Brennan’s and Juan’s Place, upscale shopping and dining on Fourth Street, small factory outlets and handmade craft, without pretense Berkeley’s first neighborhood gets the job done. 

Photograph by Marta Yamamoto. 

Day laborers wait for jobs outside the old First Presbyterian Church of West Berkeley.

Members of the joint commission formed to look into the city’s density bonus are moving closer to formulating suggestions for a new ordinance. 

The panel, drawn from the Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB), Planning Commission and the Housing Advisory Commission (HAC) gathered in the city’s Permit Services Center Tuesday.  

ZAB members Dave Blake and Bob Allen presented an update on their efforts to formulate a policy governing the use of ground floor retail space as a basis for granting builders the right to add an additional floor to buildings than would be otherwise permitted. 

Blake noted that as the law is currently administered, the 55-foot permissible height created to encourage higher ceilings in four-story buildings has been used by developers to squeeze in a fifth floor. 

“The result is horrible buildings without enough ceiling height,” Blake said. “We both agree that developers should be required to add more height to the first floor.” 

The ZAB members are also looking into minimum depths for retail space, in part because some buildings have been allowed a bonus for creating space as shallow as eight feet. 

“Dave and I keep talking through this to find what kind of inducement would attract better buildings and better retail,” said Allen. 

“If neighbors are going to have to put up with big buildings, the least we can give them is decent retail,” said Blake. 

One limiting factor is that developers also use part of the ground floor to provide required parking. 

Allen cited the large number of lots on University and San Pablo Avenues that are 100 feet deep. Because two rows of parking and a center lane require a 60-foot depth, the maximum depth of retail is limited to 40 feet, he said. 

“For any less than that, perhaps it should not trigger the density bonus floor,” he added. 

Planning Commissioner David Stoloff said that he agreed that the city should establish minimum sizes for ground floor retail spaces. 

“I am very interested in pursuing the notion of requiring ground floor commercial and not giving bonuses,” said fellow Planning Commissioner Susan Wengraf. 

While 55 feet is a maximum height for wood-framed buildings, structures built with metal stud framing can reach six to eight stories, said Allen, noting that the metal framing is included in plans for the six-floor Oxford Plaza Apartments that are part of the David Brower Center complex. 

Wengraf said the ordinance should also include minimum heights, a suggestion raised at last week’s meeting of the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee meeting, where a panel of experts faulted the city for permitting single-story construction along the Shattuck Avenue in downtown Berkeley. 

Planning Commissioner Gene Poschman said the city should also considering adopting in-lieu fees, where developers who didn’t want to include now-mandated units for low-income tenants could pay a fee to the city’s Housing Trust Fund that would help fund new affordable housing projects. 

Some members objected, saying that including lower-income tenants in upscale projects was a positive force, in alignment with Berkeley’s more egalitarian nature. 

“We can drop the inclusionary requirement, but that’s not a Berkeley value,” said city Planning Manager Mark Rhoades. 

Poschman countered with the observation that 80 percent of the city’s affordable housing is being provided by non-profit buildings. 

Blake said he favored the in-lieu fees as a means to establish a broader range of housing in the city. “I hope we would start using in-lieu fees in a controlled way to provide really high quality units for retirees,” he said.›

A report on negotiations between the Oakland Unified School District and the Oakland Education Association has brought the city closer to a teacher strike or closer to a settlement. 

Ben Visnick, president of the 3,200 member OEA, is not yet willing to say which. 

“We’re going back to the bargaining table on Saturday,” Visnick said late this week. “I’ll know better Saturday night.” 

The OEA plans a 9 a.m. Saturday rally at the OUSD headquarters, 1025 Second Ave. in Oakland, to support their bargaining position. 

Last May, OEA members overwhelmingly rejected a tentative contract agreement reached between the OEA bargaining team and the 43,000 student OUSD. Teachers last held a strike in Oakland in 1996. 

On the issue of health care benefits, the union wants the district to continue to fully fund worker health costs, while the district wants to impose a ceiling on how much money it spends on each district worker. 

The chairman of the fact-finding panel recommended that the two sides split the difference between their two proposals. 

In its analysis, the three-member fact-finding panel, made up of district and union representatives and a neutral arbitrator serving as chairman, found that Oakland’s education district is in a grave employment situation with an average 30 percent teacher turnover each year, and “is not competitive in attracting and retaining quality teachers or substitutes due in large part to low pay.” 

“According to the district,” the report noted, “exit interviews with teachers to determine the reasons for their early termination of employment reported general frustration attributed to working conditions in Oakland … low pay and greater opportunities for professional growth and promotions in other school districts.” 

The report added that while district officials wished to provide substantial teacher pay increases, it could not do so because “its financial situation is still grave.” 

The report concluded, however, that the union presented “persuasive, credible and verifiable evidence” that OUSD had “an improved financial liability” to fund a requested pay increase of between 2 percent and 2.5 percent. 

In a dig at the state-run Oakland school district, the report said that “much of the District’s financial data presented at the fact finding hearing was often incomplete, inaccurate and unverifiable; reflective more of its ongoing internal accounting problems.” 

OEA members—including K-12, adult education, and early childhood regular and substitute teachers, nurses, psychologists, counselors, librarians, and speech therapists—have been working without a contract since June of 2004. The major sticking points between the OEA and the district, according to the fact-finding report, involve health benefits and the district’s enrichment program. Agreement has been reached on raises, as well as a provision to reopen salary negotiations for the next budget year. 

Randolph Ward, the state-appointed administrator who operates the Oakland Unified School District under the authority of California State Superintendent Jack O’Connell, can legally impose the district’s proposed contract terms and conditions on the union as early as Feb. 2, an action that might directly lead to an immediate strike vote by the OEA. 

But Visnick said that while Ward possesses the power to impose such terms and conditions, it would be “silly for him to do so after only one follow-up bargaining session. I think that would hurt him politically. The community is moving towards our side.” 

Visnick said that he has been contacted in recent days by Oakland mayoral candidates Nancy Nadel, Ignacio De La Fuente, and Ron Dellums, all asking what might be done to lend their support. 

“There is also political pressure on the state superintendent,” he added. “The California Teachers Association has not yet endorsed O’Connell for re-election in part because of the actions he has taken in Oakland.” 

Both sides have been preparing for a strike, with teachers carrying green “Fair Contracts—Quality Schools” placards and chanting “real substitutes don’t scab” marching to the Oakland Airport Hilton last Monday to picket an OUSD job fair designed to sign up workers to act as strikebreakers. 

Representatives for Randolph Ward, were not available for comment for this article. 

But OEA President Visnick says it is too soon to tell how close the district is to a teachers’ strike. 

“I’m not Randy Ward,” Visnick said. “He runs the district by himself, but I don’t run the OEA alone. I’ve got a 15 member executive board to answer to, and a 150 member rep council. The OEA is among the most vocal, democratic unions in the country. Our members speak their minds. We probably have every left-wing tendency imaginable. All of our members will get the chance to give their input before we make a final decision.” 

Visnick said a strike would need to be supported by “a substantial majority of our membership … in order to be viable.”›

Planning Commissioners tackled creeks, cars dealerships and a proposed transportation services fee Wednesday—long-term issues that will eventually result in new city ordinances. 

First up on the agenda was a workshop on the city’s Creeks Task Force, which is preparing recommendations for a revision of existing law governing the miles of open and buried waterways in Berkeley. 

Most of the city’s creeks have been buried in culverts, and many property owners who live near or above them weren’t aware of them—or of the legal implications they carried. 

Owners of property within 30 feet of a waterway can’t add on to their structures, and they can’t rebuild if they’ve been irreparably damaged by dry rot. 

The current ordinance was passed in 1989, and until an amendment to the ordinance passed in November 2004, some owners of affected properties believed that they weren’t allowed to rebuild. 

Under the amendment, rebuilding is allowed only if a structure has been demolished by fire or a natural disaster like an earthquake—which prompted Commissioner Susan Wengraf to comment, “Seems like an invitation to arson.” 

The ordinance affects the owners of 1191 parcels, many of them single-family residences, built on or adjacent to the waterways. 

The task force must come back with specific recommendations to the city council by May 1, or structures affected by culverted creeks will automatically be removed from coverage by the existing ordinance. 

The task force will hold a public hearing on the ordinance on March 23, followed by another presentation to the planning commission on April 2. 

When commissioners questioned the 30-foot setback—actually 60 feet since it affects properties on either side of the waterway—task force secretary and planning staff member Erin Dando said that the panel is “concerned whether 30 feet is a good number or not.”  

Several members of Neighbors on Urban Creeks (NOUC) offered comments, including former Mayor Shirley Dean. 

One of the major issues confronting the task force is who bears the financial responsibility for repair maintaining creeks and the city’s aging culvert system. 

As the law now stands the responsibility falls on property owners, to which NOUC strongly objects. 

“The homeowners can’t afford the repairs,” said task force member John Roberts. 

NOUC member Barbara Allen said that costs of culvert repair typically run thousands of dollars per linear foot. 

“The creeks ordinance has to be cut back, revised and made reasonable,” said NOUC member Jerry Landis. 

Dean said that the decision to make property owners responsible for repairs to damaged culverts wasn’t included in the 1989 ordinance, but came from a subsequent ruling by the city attorney’s office. 

NOUC members also pointed out that the waterways were an integral part of the city’s storm drainage system, which has become overtaxed as more and more land is developed, built on and paved over. Dean said UC Berkeley’s planned expansion will compound the problem. 

“These issues haven’t been addressed,” said Katherine Bowman, who owns a home affected by the ordinance. “I’ve been to many Creeks Task Force meetings, and they have addressed how to preserve creeks and daylighting creeks but not the rights of property owners. I wish the task force would spend more attention on the human impacts.” 

“People are terrified” that the city will come onto their property and tell them they have to daylight a creek—and pay for it, said Roberts. 

Planning Commission Chair Harry Pollack said he hoped the task force would address the issue of restoring homes damaged by other causes than fires and natural disasters. 

Commissioner David Stoloff said the issue of distance also needed to be resolved. 

“They should also address the issue of the equity of creek maintenance,” said Commissioner Jordan De Staebler. 

“I am concerned that the data collected by city staff deals with the properties of creeks and not the kinds of data we’ve heard tonight,” said Commissioner James Samuels. 

Dealerships 

Tasked by Mayor Tom Bates and the city council with looking for ways to rezone West Berkeley to keep the city’s dwindling number of car dealerships, the commission held another workshop Wednesday. 

While the proposal has drawn fire from West Berkeley activists—who have strongly resisted efforts to reduce the amount of land zoned for industry and manufacturing—the first glimmers of a possible compromise appeared during the meeting. 

“It seems you are trying to accommodate four dealers,” said Rick Auerbach, who urged the commission to look for sites that wouldn’t disrupt existing business. 

“You don’t want to use a sledgehammer to go after a mite,” he said. 

“We urge you to draw the lines as narrowly as possible,” said West Berkeley woodworker John Curl. 

Dealerships are under pressure from auto manufacturers to locate near freeways, said Economic Development Director Dave Fogarty, a comment echoed by dealers during an earlier commission tour of West Berkeley sites. 

As the most desirable sites, both com-missioners and critics zeroed in Wednesday on self-storage businesses built along the Eastshore Freeway frontage road, which provide little in the way of revenues to the city in comparison with the lucrative taxes generated by new car sales. 

“We need to be very focused,” said Commissioner Helen Burke. “We don’t want to do something if it’s not really needed.” 

Fogarty said that in addition to current Berkeley dealerships that have expressed interest in moving next to the freeway, the city has received expressions of interest from other dealerships located in nearby communities. 

“The only area that has a future for dealerships in Berkeley is next to the freeway,” Fogarty said. 

“I have a lot of sympathy for the view that the area” for dealerships “should be very narrow,” said Commission Chair Harry Pollack. 

“I wonder if we could identify a zone, say two or three blocks off the freeway,” said Samuels. “It seems to me we’re getting off track by limiting them by zone rather than by area.” 

“If they’re not visible from the freeway, they’re not going to fly,” said de Staebler. 

Stoloff suggested limiting the number of dealerships, “so we don’t have an auto row.” 

In the end, the commission continued the workshop until their next meeting. 

Transportation fee 

Commissioners briefly discussed the proposed transportation services fee program drafted by the Transportation Commission. 

The fee would be imposed on new construction and is designed to partially offset the cost of the impacts of new automobile trips generated by the buildings on the city’s traffic and transportation infrastructure. 

Projects would be able to reduce or eliminate the fee altogether by offering mitigations that would reduce or eliminate the trips.  

Mark McLeod, one of the owner/operators of the Downtown Restaurant at 2102 Shattuck Ave., said his business and many others downtown wouldn’t have located in Berkeley had the fee been in place at the time. “No one would have considered locating in Berkeley,” he said. 

The fee is mandated in the city’s General Plan, and the commission voted to devote more time to discussing the proposal during their first meeting in March.g

In September 2003, two days after receiving an excellent evaluation, Chaplain James Yee was arrested, charged with espionage and thrown into solitary confinement for 76 days. When he left the Army in 2005 after all charges were dropped, he received a medal. He recounts his journey from Muslim American poster boy to “enemy of the state” in his memoir, For God and Country. Yee was interviewed by Sandip Roy, host of “UpFront,” New America Media's radio program.  

Sandip Roy: As chaplain at Guantanamo Bay you served not just the soldiers but also 660 prisoners. What did you have to do for them?  

Capt. Yee: I was an advisor to the command on the unique religious paradigm in Guantanamo, where all the prisoners are Muslim. I had open access to them and I would talk to them daily, understand their concerns and relay that information to the command so some of the tensions in the cell block between soldiers and prisoners could be relieved.  

Q: Donald Rumsfeld has called the prisoners some of the “worst of the worst.” How did you find them?  

A: I disagree with that characterization. Clearly many of them are innocent. At least three were between 12 and 14. There are a dozen Uighurs from western China. Some of them have been deemed to be not enemy combatants by the Pentagon's own review board but still haven't been released.  

I saw prisoners who were so despondent they would no longer eat. At least two were permanently in the hospital being force-fed through a tube. One prisoner attempted suicide and ended up in a coma.  

There were also mass suicide attempts. A prisoner would attempt suicide, the guards would unlock his cell and take him down, and the medics would come. Fifteen minutes later another prisoner would attempt suicide, and this would go on for hours. They were demanding the commanding general apologize for the abuse of the Koran.  

Q: Did you see any abuse?  

A: As a chaplain I was able to ensure some things like halal meals, the call to prayer, the painted arrow pointing to Mecca. But the Koran was desecrated. In the conduct of searches, it often ended up ripped. There were confirmed incidents where interrogators threw the Koran on the floor and stepped on it.  

When Newsweek report about the Koran desecration outraged the entire Muslim world, the Pentagon responded by showing that there was a policy in place that gave proper guidance on how to correctly handle the Koran. What the Pentagon never said was that the chaplain they had accused of spying and threatened with the death penalty was the one who authored that policy.  

Q: The government says the war on terrorism is not a war on Islam, but you write that's not how it felt on most days at Guantanamo.  

A: There was really strong anti-Muslim hostility directed not just toward the prisoners but also to the patriotic Muslim Americans serving there. I wasn't the only one singled out. Two others were arrested around the same time.  

Q: But was this the bigotry of a few bad apples, or more pervasive?  

A: The commanding general told me he had enormous anger toward “those Muslims” who carried out the attacks on 9/11. When new soldiers came to Guantanamo they were given a briefing that seemed to indicate the 660 prisoners there planned and carried out 9/11. E-mails referred to Muslims as “ragheads.” Muslim personnel who attended services on Friday were sometimes called “Hamas.”  

Q: What do you think triggered the suspicions about you?  

A: The Muslim personnel pray five times a day, bowing and prostrating just like the prisoners. We read the Koran in Arabic just like the prisoners. To some over-zealous, inexperienced and bigoted few, we were some kind of subversive sleeper cell.  

But my ethnicity also played a role. I found out that someone had said, “Who the hell does this Chinese Taliban think he is, telling us how to treat our prisoners?”  

Q: When you were arrested were you subject to the same things the prisoners had complained about?  

A: I was transferred to the consolidated naval brig in Charleston (S.C.), where U.S. citizen enemy combatants are held. I was shackled in three places—wrists, waist and ankles. They put the blackened goggles on my eyes so I couldn't see anything and heavy industrial earmuffs on my ears so I couldn't hear anything. That's how prisoners are transported from Afghanistan to Guantanamo.  

Q: Were you afraid you would just disappear?  

A: When I heard the accusations I thought they were absurd and would be cleared in a matter of days, if not hours. It became much more frightening when I heard I was being taken to some undisclosed location. Nobody knew where I was. My parents and family were not informed. My wife and daughter were in fact waiting for me at the airport to come pick them up. I never showed up. I essentially disappeared for 10 days.  

Q: Did the military learn something from the experience?  

A: My experience has worked to undermine the efforts in fighting the war on terrorism. What the world saw was if a U.S. citizen could not get a fair look under U.S. military justice, what makes anyone think that foreign prisoners in Guantanamo are going to get a fair shake?  

Q: Now that you are out, what do you want? An apology?  

A: When I separated from the military in January 2005, I received an honorable discharge and another army commendation, but I didn't receive that apology. Now I, my family and supporters, and several congressmen are awaiting the result of an investigation that the Department of Defense inspector general agreed to take on as to how it really was that I, Capt. James Yee, landed in prison for 76 days, being accused of these heinous crimes and being threatened with the death penalty. We are all looking forward to the results of that investigation—and a well deserved apology.  

On Jan. 26, 2006, Capt. James Yee received an Exceptional Communicator Award from New California Media.›

Brenda ran Los Angeles’ citywide marathon representing John Adams Middle School. After finishing at the top of her age group, she felt “on top of the world.”  

Then she told her track coach that she wanted to go to college. He told her it wasn’t going to happen, because she was undocumented.  

Eight years later, Brenda is a senior at the UC Berkeley. The California Dream Act of 2001 allows undocumented students to attend public universities for in-state tuition—and allowed Brenda to prove her coach wrong.  

Brenda will be among the first class to graduate since the law went into effect. But her opportunity for advancement may end on graduation day, as she tries to find her way into a job market from which she is legally barred.  

“I’m back in the same situation,” she said. “What do I do now?”  

The Supreme Court has ruled that immigrants have a right to an education regardless of citizenship. Undocumented graduates, however, cannot work legally in the United States.  

With the job market closed to them, some soon-to-be graduates are finding reasons to prolong their college education. The hope, according to Horacio Arroyo, a youth organizer with the Coalition on Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, is that the law might change in the near future, making it easier for these students to naturalize and enter the work force.  

Arroyo is in touch with undocumented students at colleges across the California. “A lot of them are looking for a second major right now,” he said.  

Only about half of undocumented high school students will make it to graduation. Of those, less than half will go on to college. Only 15 percent will earn a degree, according to Jeffrey Passel, a demographer at the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington, D.C.  

In high school, even promising students like Brenda can be timid about seeking support for their college aspirations, said Arroyo, whose organization advocates for undocumented students interested in higher education.  

Brenda, Arroyo recalls, approached the coalition seeking help for a friend. “We were amazed at the story she told, and at what her friend had been through. We encouraged her to bring her friend by.”  

The story Brenda told was her own.  

Brenda was 7 years old when she was carried across the border between Ciudad Juare z and El Paso, Texas in 1989. Her family settled near the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. Brenda grew up in a cockroach-infested one-bedroom apartment with her parents and three younger sisters.  

Brenda’s father found work in the textile mills, w here he has worked for minimum wage for the past 16 years. Brenda did her part throughout high school by working in “the alleys,” L.A.’s fashion district, where she made $35 a day selling dresses priced at $80 or more.  

After joining the coalition, Brend a participated in rallies, meetings with legislators and press events. That fall, then-Gov. Gray Davis signed the California Dream Act. Brenda enrolled at U.C.Berkeley in January, 2002, the month the law went into effect.  

Jack Martin, a spokesperson for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), is critical of the California Dream Act and of similar proposals at the national level.  

“Our first responsibility is to legal residents in this country,” he said. “We are not opposed to [undocument ed students] studying here, we would just like to see them study as foreign students—which they are.”  

FAIR estimates that taxpayers pay $7.4 billion a year to educated undocumented students in public elementary and secondary schools. When states like California allow these students to pay in-state tuition at public universities, he added, taxpayers cover that, too.  

But Stephen Levy, senior economist at the Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy, said the math is not that simple.  

“When we talk about ‘our kids,’ we talk about investment,” he observed. “When we talk about unauthorized immigrant kids, we talk about cost.”  

Levy pointed out that the difference in lifetime earnings between a high school and a college graduate can be cl ose to a million dollars. Increasing the earning power of undocumented residents, it follows, would increase tax revenues.  

Brenda said her parents are excited about her impending graduation—“I think they have the hope that I’m going to support them.” Bu t for the past four years, Brenda has had difficulty supporting herself. Undocumented students are ineligible for state or federal financial aid, and work is hard to come by without papers.  

Brenda has been lucky to find part-time work with a local nonprofit, but it’s not enough—she’s been late on every tuition payment. Each time, she’s had to go to the dean’s office and explain her situation.  

Now she’s wondering how to explain to her parents that a college diploma may not mean what they think it will.  

“My parents are older now,” she said. “My mom has diabetes. My sisters are growing up. How am I supposed to help?”  

“I really don’t have any hope for the future,” said the soon-to-be college graduate. “That’s the hardest thing.”  

Nick Guroff is a freelance writer studying journalism at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. His reporting is supported by a special James Irvine Foundation grant to develop reporting fellowships for U.C. students and the ethnic media.  

Two-alarm blaze 

A heat lamp used to keep a lizard comfortable in an Ashby Avenue apartment apparently caused a two-alarm fire early Wednesday that did heavy damage to one apartment and led to water damage to the unit below. 

Deputy Fire Chief David Orth said the fire at 1931 Ashby Ave. was reported at 1:24 a.m., and firefighters arrived to find the upper unit in the two-residence building spouting flames. 

A second alarm was sounded because the structure was close to another building, Orth said. 

Five engines and two trucks responded to the blaze, along with an ambulance. 

Firefighters returned to the scene several hours later after a small fire burst out in an area of the roof firefighters had been unable to reach. The flames were quickly doused. 

Orth said the fire displaced four or five residents. 

Arson suspected 

Firefighters were summoned to 821 Acton St. at 6:58 a.m. that same morning, where they found a bed afire. 

The fire was rapidly extinguished after doing about a thousand dollars of damage to the structure and $500 to its contents. 

Orth said that because of an ongoing investigation, the only thing he could say about the cause of the fire was that it was suspicious.f

Burglar nailed 

An early morning burglar alarm call from Model Shoe Renew at 1934 Shattuck Ave. on Jan. 11 ended with the arrest of a burglar who has since admitted pulling off more than 100 commercial burglaries—half of them in Berkeley—over the past eight months. 

Berkeley police spokesperson Officer Ed Galvan said that when police responded to the 3:30 a.m. alarm, they found the store’s front door glass had been shattered. 

Officers making a quick search of the surrounding area spotted a man looking into a trash container. 

When one of the officers approached the man—who they first thought was merely dumpster diving—to ask if he’d seen anyone suspicious in the area, the lawman noticed small slivers of glass on the man’s hat, jacket and gloves, Galvan said. 

A quick frisk turned up items stolen from the store, along with burglary tools. 

During a subsequent interview with a property crimes detective, the suspect—identified as Andrew Larry Austin, 56, of Berkeley—admitted to a long string of commercial burglaries. 

Most of the 50 or so Berkeley crimes targeted businesses in the downtown area, Galvan said. 

Purse snatched 

A 29-year-old woman walked into the police station lobby Sunday to report that she’d been robbed by a purse-snatcher 10 minutes earlier at the corner of Addison Way and Martin Luther King. Jr. Way. 

The suspect was described as a man in his early 20s. 

She said/she said 

Police were called to a neighborhood market and liquor store in the 1600 block of Ward Street early Sunday afternoon after a fracas broke out among a group of young women. 

Officer Galvan said that one of young women said another had hit her in the head with a Coke bottle, while the alleged bottle-basher said the alleged bashee had tried to run her down with a car. 

After listening to both disputants and some witnesses, officers elected to charge neither of the young women. 

Pink Flamingo crash 

A 29-year-old woman drove her car into a parked car in front of the Pink Flamingo motel in the 1700 block of University Avenue about 3:40 a.m. Tuesday. 

The woman sustained a head injury, and she was bleeding when officers arrived. Though she initially insisted on driving herself to and emergency room for treatment, she eventually accepted an ambulance ride. 

Posterior penetration 

Eight hours later, a 61-year-old man walked into the police station to report that he’d been stabbed in the buttock nine hours earlier in the 900 block of San Pablo Avenue. 

Paramedics were summoned, and, after a quick examination, they pronounced the wound as minor and not requiring hospitalization. 

The stabbing victim identified the suspect as a 56-year-old acquaintance. 

No arrest has been made, said Officer Galvan. 

Cell robbery 

A 26-year-old man called police Tuesday morning to report that a pair of juveniles had robbed him of his cell phone at 6:45 p.m. the day before in the 2800 block of California Street. 

Guard beaten 

Summoned by a caller who reported a group of men beating up someone in the Berkeley Bowl parking lot at 6:41 p.m. Tuesday, officers arrived to find a bleeding security guard and a 29-year-old suspect. 

The incident apparently began after the suspect was spotted shoplifting in the store, and the attack began outside when he was confronted by the guard. 

The suspect was booked on suspicion of robbery, burglary, battery, brandishing a deadly weapon and malicious damage to a motor vehicle. 

Botched robbery 

A team of teenage robbers, their faces concealed beneath their hoodies and brandishing a silver-colored semiautomatic pistol were unable to convince a clerk at the University Avenue Foster’s Freeze to part with the contents of the till at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday. 

The duo was last seen fleeing westbound along the avenue, said Officer Galvan. 

And another 

A Berkeley woman suffered a minor cut to her knee as she resisted a young man in a black hoodie who’d tried to rob her of her backpack in the 1600 block of Virginia Street at 10:47 p.m. Tuesday. 

Robbery team 

A teenager clad in a white hoodie and packing a small caliber pistol robbed a 41-year-old woman of her wallet and its contents as she walked along the 1200 block of Carleton Street just before 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. 

The robber then leapt into a small Japanese car driven by his wheelman. ›

Hundreds of people gathered at St. Joseph the Worker Church on Friday to mourn the death of 15-year-old Berkeley High School sophomore Alberto Salvador Villareal-Morales. 

Many in the audience at the Addison Street church were students from Berkeley High School. 

“I thought that it was a good outpouring of care,” said Principal Jim Slemp. “I felt inspired, because there were a group of Salvador’s friends who collected $3,000. Students were giving so much money. Many at the funeral may have known who he was, but were not necessarily friends with him. But they came there to honor Salvador and support each other ... to make a statement against violence.” 

Salvador was killed the night of Jan. 14 as he stood on the 2600 block of East 15th Street in Oakland. Police reported that he was killed by gunfire from a passing car. No one has been arrested in connection to the murder.  

The 9 a.m. funeral mass began with a viewing of the body in an open casket. Members of the public stood in line to view the body, while family members of Salvador stood around the casket. Screams of pain and sorrow rang out from family members while they paid their last respects to Salvador. 

The Rev. George Crespin told the crowded church, “This past Monday was the first Monday that I knew about Salvadore’s death. I looked up in the sky and saw a rainbow, while it was raining. There was no reason for there to be a rainbow. I took it as a sign that Salvadore was okay.” 

He also said he had a message for the many young people in the audience. 

“I know that this hits you harder than the rest of us,” Crespin said. “You walk the streets and you know what happens. You have to watch your back. You know how it feels to be put down. We in the community, in many ways, have failed you. I’m hoping that we can say, ‘We can make it better for you.’ We all need to work together to do that. I think the greatest thing we can do for Salvador is to change those things which we have some control over. We can all do something and I think that is what Salvador is asking us. Please do something.” 

Rosalinda Morales, 32, the mother of Salvador, gave a speech to the audience in Spanish which Crespin translated into English. She said that she wanted people to honor her son’s name and his memory by trying to ensure that no other mother finds herself in her situation. 

After the service, Morales told this reporter more about Salvador. 

“He was always so lovely,” recalled Morales.” He always said, ‘Mom. I love you.’ ... He was always helping people. He helped me a lot. He was my oldest son.” 

She said that before Salvador’s death, she expressed many concerns to Slemp and other school officials. 

“Many things need to be changed,” she said, summarizing the concerns she had told to the school administrators. “A lot of teenagers don’t have any manners and never even say ‘Thank you’ anymore. They need to be more respectful and take their education more seriously. This is all part of the problem. The principal told me, ‘We can’t change that.’ We leave this to the teachers, but education starts at the home. People are always blaming the teachers.” 

Morales said she believed the Berkeley community had a role to play in preventing future deaths of teenagers, “The more we organize today, the less blood is shed tomorrow.” 

“I think it’s really sad that he died,” said Rene Warren, 16, a friend of Salvador’s. “He liked having fun and hanging out. He had a lot of friends. I actually saw him on Friday, the day before he died. He was eating off-campus lunch on Shattuck. I’m not going to be able to see him anymore.” 

Salvador was a tenth-grader at Berkeley High and was involved in many extracurricular activities. He was a member of Huaxtec, which is a Latino youth leadership group. And he was also a member of the grassroots organization called TOJIL, which helps better the schools and education. 

Berkeley Councilmember Kriss Worthington adjourned last week’s council meeting in Salvador’s memory. 

Police are offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of Salvador’s killer. Anyone with information can call the Oakland homicide unit at 238-3821. 

Contributions to help with the funeral costs may be made to Rosalinda Morales, 2207 Bonar St., Apt. G, Berkeley, CA 94702. 

›

A Hayward judge has handed down a mixed victory for Raymond Chamberlin’s lawsuit challenging the reduction of traffic lanes on Marin Avenue. 

Unless the city complies fully with the California Environmental Quality Act, Berkeley will have to restore the roadway to its earlier, two-lane condition, ruled Alameda County Superior Court Judge Bonnie Sabraw in a decision filed on Jan. 13. 

Or will it? 

Neither Chamberlin, a Berkeley resident, nor city Deputy City Attorney Zac Cowan says he is quite sure what the judge’s ruling means. 

“Language is sometimes an imprecise instrument,” Cowan said. 

The ruling has no impact on the City of Albany, which conducted similar work on its portion of Marin Avenue, because Chamberlin missed the 90-day cutoff period before filing his challenge. 

In an effort to slow traffic on the roadway which parallels the highly congested Solano Avenue, the Albany City Council voted on Nov. 18, 2004, to approve narrowing the street from two lanes in each direction to one, while adding bicycle lanes. 

The project affects the length of Marin Avenue from San Pablo Avenue in Albany to The Alameda in Berkeley, where 85 percent of the traffic had been clocked at 35.6 miles per hour, more than 10 m.p.h. faster than the posted limit of 25. 

Albany had first prepared an initial study on the project—an environmental review document required by the California Environmental Quality Act—and adopted a negative declaration three days before the council vote, which held that the project carried no significant environmental impacts. 

Berkeley conducted its own hearings on the project and adopted a negative declaration of its own on Jan. 28, 2005. 

Chamberlin filed suit one month later, challenging the negative declarations, but did not seek to halt the project until July 8—the month after Berkeley removed the two cement islands from the median strip at the intersection of Marin and Colusa avenues. 

Superior Court Judge Bonnie Sabraw ruled July 25 that Chamberlin had filed his original petition too late to challenge Albany’s decision, and allowed that city’s work to continue. 

However, Sabraw also ruled that the action could continue against Berkeley—though denying his attempt to halt work on the project. 

While the judge ruled that Chamberlin had offered little evidence to support his claims that the reshaping of the Marin/Colusa interchange presented a threat to pedestrian safety or that it would impede emergency responses—both the Berkeley Police and Fire departments said it wouldn’t—the impact of slowing traffic was a different matter. 

Relying on a finding in the city’s initial study, Sabraw ruled that the document contained enough information “to support a fair argument” that reduced traffic times on Marin Avenue might send impatient drivers to side streets “and thus cause a significant adverse impact.” 

“Berkeley’s City Council appeared to have recognized the existence of this argument prior to approving the negative declaration,” Sabraw wrote. 

The judge cited comments from City Council members who worried that the project would “cause a disaster with great congestion” and the “the EIR (environmental impact report) is not a good EIR ... It’s flawed.” 

The fatal flaw in the approval, however, was the city’s request for an EIR only after it approved the reconfiguration project, rather than before. 

“CEQA, however, does not permit deferring evaluation of environmental impacts until after adoption of a negative declaration,” wrote the judge (emphasis in original). 

And here Chamberlin was supported by the one bit of scientific evidence he had provided, a study by the University of North Carolina which showed that on streets that carried more than 20,000 cars a day—which Marin Avenue does—a reconfiguration can lead motorists to divert to other, less congested streets. 

Cowan, Berkeley’s deputy city attorney, argued that the study was too general to be considered, but Sabraw wasn’t convinced. 

Furthermore, the city’s environmental study failed to consider traffic on “the network of quieter and more narrow streets immediately adjacent to Marin,” Sabraw wrote. 

“In light of this existence of this fair argument, Berkeley should have prepared an EIR ... prior to deciding whether to adopt the reconfiguration project....Failure to have done so was in violation of CEQA.” 

Studies conducted since the reconfiguration have failed to show the hoped-for five-mile-an-hour reduction in speed, and the city is now conducting another study to find out why. 

Under the judge’s ruling, the city must now rescind its original approval of the project, along with the negative declaration, and start the CEQA anew. 

Chamberlin said he’s not entirely happy with the process and is now considering an appeal, seeking to restore the action against Albany. He argues that under CEQA, projects should be considered as a whole, and that one part of the project cannot be separated from the other. 

A retired electronic engineer, Chamberlin represented himself in court—though that wasn’t his original intent. He’s now looking for a community-minded attorney to help with the appeal. 

“I’m not in a position to handle that level of expense,” he added. 

For Chamberlin, the basic issue remains pedestrian safety, and the diversion of traffic was the lesser issue. By doing away with the medians in the Colusa/Marin intersection, the city eliminated a stopping area for slower pedestrians, he said. 

“The judge said that pedestrian crossing safety wasn’t an issue, but I see it as an ongoing problem,” Chamberlin said. .

Amid a flurry of controversy, KPFA-FM General Manager Roy Campanella II has stepped down. 

The radio station chief, son of Brooklyn Dodger Hall of Famer Roy Campanella, submitted his resignation late last week, on the heels of reports that KPFA’s 24-member Local Station Board (LSB) voted to terminate his employment. Several board members cited a confidentiality gag in declining to confirm the verdict or whether it directly precipitated Campanella’s retreat. 

However, some active in the KPFA community said they expected KPFA’s parent company, the Pacifica Foundation, to shed light on the matter in coming weeks. 

KPFA representatives called a town hall meeting in San Francisco on Sunday to tackle escalating concerns over the conflict at the listener-supported radio station, a meeting Campanella was expected to attend. But the embattled boss, whose tenure has been marred by allegations of sexual harassment and abusive behavior—charges that were never substantiated—was not present. 

Instead, he issued a statement that included the first public acknowledgment of his departure: 

“I hope you will excuse me for not being able to attend the town hall meeting,” Campanella writes. “Last week I submitted my resignation as general manager of KPFA, and while I am sure this news will be the source of some discussion, I also hope your dialogue will focus on ways to build effective conflict resolution skills.” 

A few muffled “wows” swept across the crowd of roughly 50 KPFA listeners, participants and supporters. 

During Campanella’s stormy 14-month reign over KPFA, he was accused of sexual harassment and verbally abusing colleagues, allegations that prompted 78 paid and unpaid workers—roughly a quarter of KPFA’s employees—to sign a letter expressing no confidence in the general manager.  

In May 2005, he was lambasted for aggressive conduct, when he challenged a male employee to take a fight outside. The following month, a letter to the LSB board signed by 15 female KPFA workers excoriated Campanella for his alleged “pattern of inappropriate, gender-biased, and disturbing behavior … aimed particularly toward KPFA’s women employees.” 

One woman told the San Francisco Chronicle that after she turned Campanella down for a date, their relationship became “highly stressful and retaliatory.” 

Campanella denies those charges, and two subsequent investigations, one carried out by Pacifica and another conducted by a board-hired lawyer, upheld his innocence.  

Rumors surrounding Campanella’s ousting festered on the independent media website indybay.org before the San Francisco Chronicle reported on Jan. 14 that the board agreed to recommend his removal. 

Some KPFA community members were elated by the news of Campenella’s resignation. 

“As a Feminist Woman, I am pleased,” wrote one blogger in response to the indybay.org report. “He richly deserved it …” 

Others were horrified. At Sunday’s meeting, former board member and longtime KPFA supporter Tomas Moran lamented the circumstances surrounding Campanella’s resignation.  

“It’s a shameful mark on the KPFA community that Roy leaves the station and the Bay Area with an undeserved mark on his reputation regarding accusations about sexual harassment,” Moran said. 

Dan Siegel, the KPFA board-hired lawyer who upheld Campanella’s innocence on the harrassment allegations, ultimately urged the board to fire Campanella. LSB Chair Richard Phelps said that Siegel’s recommendation was based on other factors, and was not evidence of sexual harassment. Phelps declined to be more specific. Siegel said he is precluded from discussing details of the case. 

In August, the LSB shot down Siegel’s suggestion to remove Campanella in a 15-5 vote. But the board’s recent aboutface has left many nonplused: Why the change of heart? 

Campanella, a graduate of Harvard College and Columbia University who enjoyed a career as a director and producer before joining KPFA, repudiates conjecture that earlier harassment and abuse claims played into the board’s ruling. 

“The broad agenda for the discussion they had had nothing to do with those allegations,” Campanella said in a phone interview Sunday. “That had already been dealt with.” 

Moran suggested that larger forces may be at work. KPFA’s government is fiercely entrenched in faction wars, he said, and the GM is a sitting duck. He speculates that Campanella met political death by rankling both sides of the bureaucracy, which disagree over how much reform to press upon the station. 

“This has been going on at KPFA for a long time,” Moran said.  

The last general manager, former Berkeley Mayor Gus Newport, warmed the seat for less than a year, before checking out for personal reasons. (Some onlookers insisted other issues were at work. Then LSB Chair Willie Ratcliff was quoted in the Daily Planet saying, “[The staff] are afraid that [management] is going to usurp their power, they’re going to have a boss, and they don’t like it.”) 

At Sunday’s meeting, board member Max Blanchet said the station’s crisis delves far deeper than Roy Campanella. 

“We’ve been through two managers in two years, we need to address the problem,” he said. “There are systemic problems. … We need to create a structure so we can be properly managed.” 

Moran took the sentiment a step further: “Nothing’s going to change by getting rid of Roy,” he said.  

The process for seeking a new GM is underway, Blanchet said. The board will whittle the applicant pool down to three or four candidates, and Pacifica’s executive director will pick from the pack, he said, adding that a few staff members may take over general management duties in the interim.  

If an Oakland Public Works Agency guided walk around the south end of Lake Merritt was designed to dampen criticism of the city’s plan to remove more than 200 trees, it didn’t exactly work. 

Lake Merritt neighborhood activist Laurie Gordon said in a follow-up e-mail to fellow tree preservationists, “I really did appreciate the time and explanations given by” the Public Works staff, and “I thought they were very patient and well prepared,” but she urged tree supporters to continue to “call or e-mail your protests” about saving particular trees. 

In connection with Measure DD, Oakland’s $198 million water bond measure passed in 2002, the city has planned major construction projects around Lake Merritt that will involve the removal of approximately 225 trees and the planting of more than 500 new ones. City staff members are emphasizing that when the Measure DD construction project is finished, there will be a 52 percent increase in the total number of trees around Lake Merritt. 

Final decision on which trees will remain and which will be removed will be made by the city arborist this week. Construction on the Measure DD Lake Merritt projects is scheduled to begin this summer. 

The most extensive portion of the Measure DD Lake Merritt construction—and the portion that will involve the most trees—will take place at the southern end of the lake. The channel which connects the lake with the estuary—running through a series of small culverts—will be completely opened to allow its original free tidal flow. 

A tidal wetlands will be established between the channel and the Kaiser Convention Center parking lot in an area that now contains a long stand of trees. In addition, because the 14th Street/12th Street interchange at the foot of Lake Merritt will be drastically reduced, the Kaiser Convention Center parking lot itself will be reduced and completely refigured. City staff members estimate that three quarters of the Lake Merritt tree removal involves what is called the 12th Street Project portion of Measure DD construction. 

City Arborist Dan Gallagher said that the trees along the proposed wetland had to be removed “because raptor birds would find that a convenient place to hide and prey on the shoreline birds, and that would be the end of the shoreline bird habitat.” 

Gallagher said planners were trying to duplicate conditions along the California tidal wetlands “where you almost never see trees growing next to the water.” 

City staff have said that the majority of the remainder of the trees need to be removed either because they are diseased or subject to rot, or have been planted in areas that either restrict the tree’s growth or stand in the way of improvements planned for the parklands surrounding the lake. 

But in a letter sent to Oakland officials immediately following the tour, Oakland resident Patricia Durham wrote, “Many of us believe that these trees—ungainly, mature, aging, out of place as they might be considered by some—have a beauty, serenity and stability that is irreplaceable, and in short supply in our community today. They may not be ‘valuable’ according to a horticulturist’s definition. They might not have been the ‘best’ selection for the location when first planted. They are here now, most of them thriving, most of them familiar, and most of them beloved—despite their eccentricities or because of them—by a lot of folks who walk, run, bicycle, boat, drive, or sit at the Lake. Each tree is beautiful in its own way. The premise should have been to keep them, wherever possible.” 

“The wonderful promise of renovations at Lake Merritt is sadly compromised by this impending, irreversible threat to its existing trees and associated wildlife populations,” Durham wrote. “Many of us worked hard to create this plan for Lake Merritt. Never did we conceive that essential assets of Lake Merritt would be destroyed in order to ‘rebuild’ it.” 

According to Public Information Officer Karen Boyd of the Oakland City Administrator’s office, the original plans called for the removal of more than 300 trees. But responding to citizen complaints, intervention from the offices of Oakland City Councilmembers Nancy Nadel, Pat Kernighan, and Jane Brunner, and “indications from city staff that ‘that’s a lot of trees,’” the list was pared down by 75. 

Lake Merritt trees scheduled for removal have been tagged with red-colored notices, but in what appears to be a form of guerrilla protest, city workers say that several of the red tags have been removed without city authorization. 

On a damp, overcast Saturday morning, Measure DD Landscape Project Coordinator Lyle Oehler and arborist Gallagher led some 15 to 20 residents on a three-hour tour that began on the west side of the lake at the old boat house that once housed the Public Works Agency, crossed under 12th Street to the parking lot of the Kaiser Convention Center, and ended on the east side of the lake along Lakeshore Avenue. While Oehler and Gallagher gave detailed explanations of the thinking behind each set of tree removals, participants peppered them with questions, and sometimes attempted to draw them into debate. 

At one point, when a participant told Oehler that a proposed new parking lot at the old boat house was not authorized in the text of Measure DD, Oehler replied, “It’s just not possible for a bond measure to get into that level of construction detail.” 

And at another point, after Oehler said he was “only here to talk about tree removal” and not the overall direction of the Measure DD construction projects, participants asked him, “Well, if you’re not the best person to talk with, who is?” 

Oehler suggested they contact their councilmembers.?

AC transit’s plan to “delete” 44 bus stops in Berkeley, Alameda and Oakland next week to provide faster and more reliable service has angered many riders who depend on those stops. 

“For the disabled community it’s such a joke,” said Chris Mullins, information and referral specialist at Berkeley’s Center for Independent Living. “The disabled community very rarely benefits from the elimination of bus stops. It’s hard enough for them to get to bus stops now. Eliminating them is just going to make it harder.” 

According to AC Transit, months of surveying was done to determine which stops would be deleted. AC Transit is not required by law to have public hearings before removing stops, said Clarence Johnson, media relations manager at AC Transit. But the plan was brought to an AC Transit advisory committee that looks at issues of accessibility.  

The committee stopped the proposed elimination of several stops frequented by the disabled, Johnson said. The stops at 29th Street and Broadway and at 38th Street and Broadway were among the stops that were saved because the two stops were near facilities for the sight-impaired.  

Mullins said he takes about 100 bus rides a month and he knows dozens of disabled people who take the bus regularly. Mullins said that bus riders who are in wheelchairs might now have to wheel up hills that they didn’t have to before.  

“People with disabilities come to live here (in Berkeley) because it’s more accessible,” Mullins said. “Or at least that’s the reputation.” 

AC Transit’s budget problems were not the reason for removing the stops, Johnson said, though budget problems are a constant concern for its decision makers,  

“The decisions were made solely to improve bus routes by decreasing passengers’ travel times,” Johnson said, “eliminating unnecessary transit delays and enhancing overall public reliability. To that end, nothing is set in stone. If there is a community, disabled or otherwise that has a compelling case as to why removing a particular stop is a bad idea, we would certainly revisit our plan.” 

Mullins said AC Transit was dealing with a community that sometimes lacks a voice to combat discrimination. 

“I don’t think that expecting the disabled community to express outrage even if they are outraged is very feasible,” he said. “They are just glad there are bus stops out there for them to get on.” 

One of the 44 stops that will be removed is on the corner of University Avenue at California Street in Berkeley. A recent weekend visit found three disabled people who said they used the stop regularly, one of whom is visually-impaired and two others who have mobility impairments. 

Service to the neighborhood has already been significantly cut back with the removal of the number 67 bus line, they said. 

Now, a cover over the bus stop sign warns riders that no buses will stop beginning Jan. 29 in efforts to “streamline service” and “standardize bus stop distances.” The same sign is found at various stops in each direction on the 51, 40 and the 43 routes, the only lines so far affected. AC Transit officials said the bus stop removal is ongoing. 

Jenny Lee, a resident in the immediate neighborhood around the University Avenue and California Street stop, said she was concerned for her father who is in his 70s and frequently uses the stop. Her father would have to walk two blocks east or two blocks west from California Avenue to find another stop, she said. 

Lee noted that she doubted that removing her father’s stop, which is right before the stoplight at California Street, will do much to keep buses moving along more efficiently. 

But the removals will get AC Transit closer to the goal of its Board of Directors to have 1,300 feet between bus stops, 20 feet shy of a quarter mile. This is supposed to make the bus system more reliable and prevent delays, Johnson, of AC Transit, said. 

“It’s insensitive and seemingly unnecessary,” said Mullins. “It is going to stop people from using buses.” 

Mullins said he suspected that more disabled people would choose to use ride programs to taxi them places from their front door rather than take the bus when the stops are removed. 

“The idea is to get them to rely less on ride programs,” he said. “Getting to and from bus stops is one of the criteria for independent living. They are reducing that by eliminating bus stops.” 

A much-anticipated Board of Trustees presentation on the Peralta Community College District International and Global Education Department has been postponed. 

Peralta Vice Chancellor Margaret Haig told trustees last September that she intended to “conduct a review of the international education office, including the finances and the mission of the office,” with a report scheduled for the Jan. 24 meeting. 

As late as last week the report was scheduled to be on Tuesday night’s trustee agenda, but was then pulled. 

Jeff Heyman, Executive Director of Marketing, Public Relations and Communications for the four-college Peralta District, said that Haig was “still working on the report. We’re hoping to get it at the next board meeting.” 

Peralta officials downplayed the delay. 

Peralta’s International Education Department is responsible, in part, for recruitment and coordination of international students enrolling in the district’s four colleges. Because foreign student tuition fees go directly to the district—rather than being siphoned off first to the state and then a percentage filtered down as is done with tuition for in-state students—the International Education Department is considered a potential lucrative money-maker for the district. 

Trustee Vice President Bill Withrow has estimated that the department presently brings in a net of $2.2 million to the district while operating on a $470,000 budget. 

But trustees have complained that the international department could be bringing in far more money, and that has led to calls for reforming the department. Haig was hired last September as Vice Chancellor for Education Services in part because of her background in international education. 

Haig’s announcement of her review of the international affairs department came during a contentious September trustee meeting in which several trustees expressed concerns about the operation of the department. 

Withrow told Haig that “there is concern about this program in the community; it’s been shrouded in secrecy and there has been a lack of data.” 

And Trustee Cy Gulassa criticized a report submitted by International Education Department Director Jacob Ng, who did not attend the September meeting. 

Gulassa called the report “unacceptable to someone who’s trying to understand what’s going on in this program. If you’re going to Bangkok, let us know how many students later came to Peralta from Bangkok. And if you can’t answer that, maybe you shouldn’t be going to Bangkok.” 

But while calling for accountability in the department, trustees balked at Trustee Marcie Hodge’s motion to abolish the department altogether. 

Hodge has made reform of the international department a major effort. A month after the September trustee meeting, she sent out a brochure to constituents charging that the department “spends lavishly, traveling the world while tuition for students rises.” 

Hodge called on constituents to “help me demand an end to this shameful waste.” 

Allegations of fiscal mismanagement at the Peralta International Education Department led to an Alameda County Civil Grand Jury investigation, and is indirectly credited with the eventual firing of former Peralta Chancellor Ronald Temple. 

Public Relations Director Heyman has said that the department has been significantly reformed since those days. 

“These are events that happened in the past,” Heyman said late last year in response to Hodge’s charges that the International Education Department is misappropriating travel money. “They were looked into and worked on. We’ve done our duty. The issue isn’t relevant any longer.” 

The Peralta trustees meeting will be held Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at the Peralta Administration Building, 333 East Eighth St. in Oakland.›

With the approval of state Attorney General Bill Lockyer, the lawsuit filed by environmentalists over the sale of Richmond’s Point Molate is history. 

The settlement, filed Friday in Marin County Superior Court, marks the end of 13 months of litigation over the controversial proposal to build a luxury casino on the Richmond shoreline. 

The City of Richmond voted to sell Point Molate—a former U.S. Navy refueling station—to Upstream Point Molate in November 2004, and Citizens for the Eastshore State Park filed suit to block the sale a month later. The suit was joined the following day by the East Bay Regional Parks District. 

The agreement required the city to back Upstream’s plans for a Native American casino on the site and to lobby for approval of the casino deal in Sacramento and Washington. 

To build the casino, the land would first have to be declared a tribal reservation by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, followed by more approvals for the casino proposal. 

Though the city had decided that the sale was exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), CESP and the parks district disagreed and decided to challenge it. 

In March 2005, the city announced the start of the environmental impact report process, which is still under way. 

The state attorney general’s office entered the suit a month later, siding with the plaintiffs. 

In the settlement, Upstream agreed to pay the Attorney General’s office $13,740 in legal fees, with the questions of fees for CESP and the parks district to be resolved later by the court. 

Under the settlement, the city expressly reserves the right to select any use for the site available before the sale, and Upstream agrees that a city decision not to transfer or lease the land to them would not be a breach of the land disposition agreement (sales document). 

The city also agreed to prepare an environmental impact report before allowing any development on the property.

Berkeley city councilmembers will hear an appeal Tuesday by the owner of Dwight Way Liquor, who wants to overturn a Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) decision declaring the store a public nuisance. 

ZAB began proceedings against the 2440 Sacramento St. store in August, conducted a public hearing on September, and voted to declare the store a public nuisance in October. 

David Dryden, attorney for the partnership that owns the store, appealed the ZAB decision to the City Council, charging that the ruling was unconstitutional and an unlawful taking of property rights. 

Instead of ordering a shutdown, Dryden argues, the city could have taken less radical actions, including limiting hours, hiring security, ordering the store to pick up litter in the area and making them use branded bags. 

Along with the appeal, Dryden submitted petitions signed by 56 people urging the city to keep the store open. 

Store operator Abdulaziz Saleh Saleh has been cited repeatedly by the city for violating the terms of the store’s liquor license, and a large number of neighbors turned out for the public hearing and the meeting where ZAB voted to order the shutdown. 

A ZAB staff report prepared for the August hearing recounted 27 liquor law violations found by Berkeley Police and the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) and 12 violations of the city Zoning Ordinance. 

City staff had suggested that ZAB set conditions on the store—those cited by Dryden in the appeal—but the board voted instead for closure. 

Brower Center votes 

The council faces two votes involving the David Brower Center and Oxford Plaza affordable housing complex planned for the site of the city’s Oxford Street parking lot. 

The first vote would commit $45,000 from the city’s General Fund to pay outside legal consultants Goldfarb and Lipman LLP for work on the Oxford Plaza complex and other affordable housing issues, raising their total contract to $69,950. 

The second vote is on a resolution to the federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Loan Guarantee Program to use up to $4 million in Community Development Block grant funds to secure a loan to build the David Brower Center and Oxford Plaza housing complex. 

Unlike most of the new residential complexes being built in Berkeley recently, the Oxford Plaza housing would be reserved solely for poor and working-class families earning incomes well below the area median. 

The council will also consider: 

• A new city ordinance governing the care of “outdoor dogs,” pets that spend most of their days outside the home. 

• An amendment to the city’s Coast Live Oak ordinance banning excessive and damaging pruning. 

• An ordinance to rename the city’s Solid Waste Commission as the Zero Waste Commission. 

• A vote to add $100,000 and one year to the city’s contract with SCS Field Services for post-closure and maintenance monitoring at the now-closed landfill at Cesar Chavez Park. ?

Density bonuses, West Berkeley zoning changes and creeks are among the land use issues city officials will be considering this week. 

A Tuesday afternoon session in the city’s Permit Service Center brings together representatives of the Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) and the Planning and Housing Advisory commissions to hear recommendations for changing the city’s controversial density bonus ordinance. 

The joint committee was launched after ZAB formed a subcommittee to study the bonus, which some critics charged had been applied by city staff in a way that allows much larger buildings than intended by the city’s plan and zoning ordinance. 

ZAB members Bob Allen and Dave Blake will present the ZAB subcommittee’s recommendations on commercial space allocation and parking lifts. 

The panel will also consider the potential impacts of inclusionary regulation changes. 

The meeting will be held from 3-5:30 p.m. in the Permit Center’s Sitka Spruce Conference Room, 2120 Milvia St. 

Planning Commission 

Wednesday night the Planning Commission will hold the second of its workshops on proposals to change zoning in West Berkeley to allow car dealerships to move into areas now zoned for industrial and manufacturing use. 

The impending loss of two dealerships and the sales taxes they bring have prompted Mayor Tom Bates and city staff to consider allowing dealerships to locate along the freeway as one means of keeping them in the city. 

The Planning Commission, which meets at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave., will also conduct a workshop on preliminary recommendations of the city’s Creeks Task Force. 

The commission will also hear an update on the Southside Plan. 

Zoning Adjustments Board 

ZAB meets Wednesday starting at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers in Old City Hall, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

The main item on the agenda is Black & White Liquor Store at 3027 Adeline St. ZAB members have already declared the store a public nuisance—based in part on neighborhood complaints and in part on the store’s licensing problems. 

ZAB members will hear from neighbors and decide what conditions to impose on the corner store. 

Deputy City Attorney Zac Cowan said he expects ZAB will impose new hours and require the hiring of private security. Another likely requirement would have the store pack purchases in bags bearing the store’s name. 

Opponents of a plan to build a shopping mall in a Golden Gate Fields parking lot are holding a rally Thursday in the form of an old-fashioned ice cream social. 

The meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. in the multi-purpose room of Albany High School, is sponsored by the Sierra Club, Citizens for the Albany Shoreline (CAS) and Citizens for the Eastshore State Park (CESP). 

Rick Caruso, a Los Angeles developer known for his themed malls, has teamed with Magna Entertainment, the Canadian firm which operates Golden Gate and several other race tracks around the country. 

Before anything can be developed on the Albany waterfront, the proposal must first be submitted to a vote of residents. 

The three environmental organizations will be offering their own vision for the site and for the rest of the municipal waterfront area. 

Among those speaking at the meeting will be Mara Duncan, a member of CAS and co-founder of Sustainable Albany, Norman LaForce of the Sierra Club and former Albany Mayor and CESP President Robert Cheasty. 

?

In an unprecedented crackdown on more than 500,000 absconders—illegal immigrants who have not followed deportation orders—U.S. authorities this year are nearly tripling the number of federal officers assigned to round up such fugitives. 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement will deploy 52 fugitive-hunting teams across the nation by December, up from 17 teams last year, says John Torres, the agency’s acting director of detention and removal. 

Teams generally are made up of five to eight agents, focused on rounding up and deporting immigrants who have been ordered by a judge to leave the U.S. because they are here illegally or have violated the conditions of their stay by committing crimes. 

“It is one of our top priorities,” Torres says. “The message for absconders is this: While they think they may be able to flout immigration laws, this is not the case. They may get a knock on their doors very early in the morning.” 

The Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York City and Washington put a spotlight on domestic security concerns, including the U.S. government’s problems in tracking down and deporting foreigners who are in the country illegally. 

The fugitive teams were created in 2003. Various researchers estimate that between 10 million and 11 million illegal immigrants are in the U.S. 

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, does not dispute that. 

In part because tracking down all of those illegal immigrants is unrealistic, federal immigration agencies have focused on improving border security and on catching the approximately 536,000 illegal immigrants who are fugitives from the law. 

The number of fugitives increases by about 35,000 annually, ICE spokesman Marc Raimondi says. 

The new teams are expected to arrest 40,000 to 50,000 fugitives annually, Torres says. That would be a dramatic increase in the rate of such arrests; since March 2003, ICE has arrested 32,625 fugitives, agency records show. The agency needs another 50 teams, Torres says. 

“If we do the math, we’re just breaking even with those teams,” Torres said. “We’re looking to put a dent into the backlog.” 

The new teams are slated for Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, San Antonio, San Francisco, San Diego, St. Paul and several other cities. 

The agency is getting about $75 million over two years to pay for the teams, Raimondi says. 

The Filipino Reporter is part of Pacific News Service’s “Ethnic Media Exchange.”›

Brandisher boogies 

UC Berkeley police rushed to Hilgard Hall early Friday afternoon after a caller reported a heavyset woman in the area who was brandishing a deadly weapon. Both the woman and weapon—unspecified in the campus police crime alert—were gone by the time officers arrived.

COCHABAMBA, Bolivia—The inauguration of Evo Morales as the first president of Bolivia of indigenous origins marks a watershed in the history of the Americas. The “caras,” whites and mestizos who have dominated Bolivia for centuries, are being replaced by an Indian who represents the country’s true majority.  

But will Morales be able to truly empower Bolivia’s Indians to improve their social and economic lot? In countries like Peru, Ecuador and Mexico, history is replete with betrayal by national leaders with Indian blood, as well as by presidents placed in office by Indian movements.  

Morales’ inauguration, however, appears to mark a dramatic change.  

Morales’ presidency is the result of an ongoing massive social upheaval that has profoundly shaken the country. Bolivia may be a poor nation, but it has some of the richest popular mobilizations witnessed in Latin America over the past decade or more.  

Evo Morales made his home for many years here in Cochabamba, Bolivia’s third largest city with just under a million inhabitants. On Jan. 19 he had an informal gathering at his humble home before departing for La Paz to take up residence at the presidential palace. He spoke emotionally of his sense of loss at leaving Cochabamba, saying, “I hope to return every month to be in touch.” Those present, he said, “will need to tell me if I am fulfilling my commitment to help the most needy.”  

Much has been made of the uprising of the poor communities in Los Altos on the plateau above La Paz that shook the foundations of Bolivia’s entrenched political system. In October 2003 protesters descended on the capital to oust President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, and then in June 2005, his successor Carlos Mesa. As part of the accord that installed the head of the Supreme Court as interim-president, general elections were called for December 2005, leading to Evo Morales’ triumph.  

But it is in Cochabamba and the adjacent semi-tropical province of Chipare that one finds the true roots of the popular struggle that lifted Evo Morales to the country’s presidency. It is here that the Movement for Socialism, Morales’ political party, was founded.  

Like many others of Indian origin, Evo migrated to the Chipare as a young man from the Bolivian highlands as many of the tin mines were closed and labor unions disbanded in the name of modernizing the country’s mining industry. The growing of coca plants in Chipare became the primary economic activity of the immigrants. Clearing unoccupied lands, the new peasants formed a network of local unions, or syndicates, grouped together in seven federations. In 1989, the highly personable and self-effacing Morales became president of the seven federations of coca growers, or “cocaleros.”  

From the late 1990s onwards, the cocaleros have fought an intense war against the U.S.-sponsored “coca zero” program in Chipare. Intended to uproot and destroy all coca plants, the United States militarized the region, setting up four military bases while training and advising special Bolivian battalions. According to Pedro Rocha, a small coca grower interviewed while tending his plants, “nothing was sacred. Our homes were invaded and even burnt, our belonging were stolen or tossed into the fields and many of us were beaten and arrested.” Subsistence crops along with coca plants, Rocha said, were trampled and destroyed.  

The cocaleros, led by Morales, organized massive resistance to the eradication program, reaching out to other national unions and to international human rights organizations. Roads were blockaded in the Chipare for more than a month at a time as the local unions rotated their members, women and men, day and night, to stop all traffic through the center of the country.  

As the war was unfolding in Chipare, the city of Cochabamba erupted with massive demonstrations in 1999-2000 against Bechtel, the U.S. corporation that led a consortium of companies that had taken control of the city’s water supply as part of the privatization of public utilities occurring throughout Bolivia. The citizens won the “water war,” forcing Bechtel out, and doubtlessly helping inspire the people of Los Altos to move on the very seat of government in La Paz. The subsequent change in presidents also boomeranged in Chipare, as a weakened President Mesa was forced to negotiate a truce with the cocaleros in late 2004, allowing each family to grow one-sixth of a hectare of coca plants.  

The militancy of Cochabamba and Chipare is palatable as Evo Morales takes over the presidency. As farmer Pedro Rocha declares, “Bolivia’s presidents have all had their special military guards. We will be Evo Morales’ special guards, ready to rise up, making sure that no one dares to touch him so he can change our country.”  

Morales in his inaugural address on Sunday, Jan. 22, echoed the struggles of the people of Chipare and Cochabamba: “We cannot privatize public needs like water. We are fighting for our water rights, for our right to plant coca, for control over our national resources.” He added: “we need to end the radicalism of neo-liberalism, not the radicalism of our unions and our movements.”  

Paraphrasing Morales discussion of the mission of the Movement for Socialism that brought him to office, he said: “Socialism does not come from a small group of leaders; it comes from a fight, from a communal struggle. Socialism is an original mandate. It means social justice, the participation of all.”  

Roger Burbach is currently traveling in South America. In Chile, the Spanish edition of his book, The Pinochet Affair: State Terrorism and Global Justice, is being released.u

Today’s letters column contains an indignant response from an Oakland booster to a recent commentary from a Berkeley man who seems to think that Oakland will be getting a lot of new residents who won’t have much to entertain them. And also, that Berkeley’s much-hyped new Arts District is entertainment central, but there are not enough downtown residents to enjoy the fun. Oakland has every right to be annoyed.  

The letter-writer lists the many new restaurants and other attractions which have been added to downtown Oakland in the last few years, but leaves out many more amenities which have drawn people to the city over the years and still do. For example, there’s Lake Merritt and the park around it. It’s a great place to take the kids: Children’s Fairyland, the nature center and bird sanctuary, lots of open space to run around in and good playgrounds. Most of Berkeley’s parks are either in the hills, just about inaccessible to those without cars, or on the waterfront, windswept and cold for much of the year. Oakland’s warm sunny microclimate is unbeatable. 

Then there’s the entertainment scene. Oakland has a terrific venue in its glamorous restored historic Paramount Theater, home to an enormous variety of programs, most notably the Oakland Symphony, which plays to an enthusiastic full house of diverse residents for every performance, and whose conductor Michael Morgan is tirelessly active in civic endeavors, especially educating kids. 

Oakland has lots of avant-garde music too. The Oakland Opera Theater puts on exciting programs in a converted bar on Broadway near Jack London square, and has featured works by the likes of Phillip Glass which have gotten world attention. And the city is the cradle of many kinds of ethnic music in pop, folkloric and classic genres, such as the Purple Bamboo orchestra for Chinese instruments. 

And how about museums? The unique Oakland Museum manages to combine art, history and nature study into a harmonious whole in an architecturally delightful building. The new African American museum is a splendid addition. And for the museums of the future, Oakland’s industrial districts are home to many artists driven out of other cities by gentrification.  

Or food? In addition to the obligatory (and increasingly formulaic) California cuisine restaurants which Berkeley also boasts, Oakland’s ethnic diversity gives diners the chance to travel around the world at dinnertime. Right next to the Oakland Museum, there’s a Nigerian restaurant, and a couple of blocks away the best dim sun in the Bay Area. Out on International Boulevard there’s block after block of Latin American eateries from many different countries.  

But there’s that D-word again, a warning to Oakland that it might be in danger of destroying the city in the guise of saving it. What Oakland really has going for it, what Oakland has had going for it in the 33 years we’ve been around here, is Diversity with a capital D—all those folks from just about everywhere in the world living together in relative harmony and making the city more interesting. The 10,000 new downtown residents that departing Mayor Jerry Brown, our Berkeley writer and the Oakland booster are all so proud of could end up diluting Oakland’s exciting mix with too many dull whitebread yuppies (and that term “whitebread” can include some dull African-American and Asian-American yuppies too). It’s clear that Brown and his allies don’t really appreciate Oakland’s many existing treasures—they’re trying to change the traditional name of downtown Oakland to Uptown, a place which no one seems to be able to find on the map. They’ve even tried to push the blandly homogeneous Uptown concept into the lively Temescal neighborhood by using the destructive mechanism of redevelopment, though the residents there seem to have headed that off just in time.  

The most pernicious of Urban Legends are those born from the unproven dogma that planners can design a great city. Most of the great cities of the world have grown organically, and when they’ve declined, it’s been because of wrong-headed planning. Even Paris, which was re-planned to somewhat good effect in the mid-19th century by Baron Haussman, is now suffering from the effects of subsequent bad planning in its ring suburbs.  

The millennial belief that global warming will be prevented by mass transit is the Urban Legend that’s causing a lot of grief at the moment. Big buildings are being plopped into areas (where, granted, there really ought be opportunities for living without cars) with no reality check to see if it’s actually possible to get around on buses from the target location. Within blocks of the Planet office on Shattuck we see the notorious “flying cottage,” a small home being expanded to enormous size under the ideological supervision of the City of Berkeley’s Planning Department, and at the same time the bus stop at its doorstep is being removed by a different set of ideologues, the planners at AC Transit, who think that more people would ride if buses went faster and didn’t stop as often.  

Another theory that’s headed for big trouble is the belief, expounded by the Berkeley commentator, that the new downtown apartment dwellers are necessarily going to want a lot of excitement near home. Zoning, which arose in the early 20th century, was a response to the earnest desire of many city dwellers of the time to be insulated from the hustle and bustle of commerce and transport. It turns out that many today want the same things they wanted in the suburbs where they grew up: no noise from either revelers or buses, and plenty of free parking so they can drive to the same shopping malls they patronized before they moved downtown. They won’t be bringing that Ikea furniture home on BART, and they’ve already started objecting to music clubs staying open past midnight. And the building boom in Tracy and Fairfield hasn’t slowed down at all. 

B

Bernie Sanders has been in town this week, and he’s, to coin a phrase, a breath of fresh air. This is a man who seems never to hesitate to say and do exactly what he thinks is right, and it’s only been good for him. He was once the mayor of Burlington, Vermont, and for years he’s been the sole member of the U.S. House of Representatives from that small state. His biggest claim to fame is that he’s an independent, not a Democrat, in a state where Democrats and Republicans have traded off in political jobs most of the time. Now he’s running to replace retiring independent (formerly Republican) Senator James Jefferds, against someone he describes as “the richest person in Vermont,” a real Republican candidate who’s expected to spend as much as he wants of his own considerable fortune to beat Bernie. The Sanders camp thinks that they can hold their own, in a state where only about 600,000 souls live with three or four hundred thousand voting, for about $5 million. That’s a big number, but nothing like as big as expenditures in more populous states like California, where the war chest for a senate race is more like $15 million. So Bernie is touring the country unabashedly trying to raise what he needs to win, and judging by the enthusiasm with which he was received at the Berkeley function I attended, he’s well on his way. Turns out a lot of people still admire a person who speaks his mind. 

On the other hand, we have the depressing spectacle of Sen. Hillary Clinton. If there were ever a politician who embodied Jim Hightower’s quip that there’s nothing in the middle of the road but yellow lines and dead armadillos, it’s poor pathetic Hillary, who has managed to turn herself into a dead armadillo in a remarkably short period of time. Not only that, the person who’s set himself up as the arbiter of Democratic congressional candidates for 2006 is her old buddy Rahm Emanuel, the architect, long ago, of her disastrous attempt to please everyone with a health care plan that was the original armadillo compromise, doomed to die.  

I was all set to take off on Sen. Clinton’s right turn, in which she’s positioning herself as being more conservative than most voters recently polled, when Molly Ivins stole my thunder. So now I can just refer readers to Molly’s Jan. 20 column. We’re going to try to get permission to reprint it here, but in the meantime it can be read on the Creator’s Syndicate website at creators.com. Here’s the lead: “I'd like to make it clear to the people who run the Democratic Party that I will not support Hillary Clinton for president. Enough. Enough triangulation, calculation and equivocation. Enough clever straddling, enough not offending anyone. This is not a Dick Morris election. Sen. Clinton is apparently incapable of taking a clear stand on the war in Iraq, and that alone is enough to disqualify her.” 

Amen and hallelujah. 

However. Coming up like a cyclone from what used to be called left field is—big surprise—Al Gore again. I never expected to hear KPFA devote many hours of airtime to replaying a speech by a former Democratic candidate, but Gore’s stirring—it can only be called—oration on Martin Luther King Day to the American Constitution Society has been burning up the air waves all week. Gore called for an independent counsel to investigate whether George Bush broke the law in authorizing domestic eavesdropping without court approval. He sounded like the man he should have been when Bush stole the presidency from him in 2000, and it’s just possible that losing that election has turned him into someone who could lead this country back to where it should be.  

I asked Bernie Sanders if we were going to be stuck with Hillary in 2008, and he mentioned a few other intriguing possibilities besides Gore, among them John Edwards. Hillary’s a temptation for feminists, of course. She’s tried very hard to turn herself into the supposedly electable “honorary man” who’s not afraid to be bellicose, like our own Di-Fi, but we have better candidates and role models in our Barbaras, Lee and Boxer.  

Anyone who’s on the fence has a good chance to see Hillary in action this week in San Francisco and support a good cause at the same time. The San Francisco Bar Association’s charitable foundation has her on a program in conversation with TV journalist Jane Pauley on Saturday night, Jan. 28, at 7 p.m. Maybe she’ll surprise us all and call for withdrawal from Iraq. Go, and ask her about it. 

And one more role model: Jean Siri, twice mayor of El Cerrito, who died suddenly on Friday with her boots on, still an elected member of the East Bay Regional Parks District Board at 85. If she thought anything needed doing, she just went out and got it done without waiting for permission: everything from saving the bay to housing the homeless. We’ll miss her. 

• • • 

P.S.: While we’re on the subject of strong-minded women, Berkeley Councilmember Betty Olds left me a message saying indignantly that she has not endorsed Tom Bates for mayor, as I mistakenly reported last week. I should have known better than to believe that rumor, and I’m glad to stand corrected.  

c

In the Jan. 24 issue, an article misstated that Willie Ratcliff was the former local station board chair of KPFA radio station. Ratcliff was chair of the local advisory board..

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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TRANSIT VILLAGE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The only problem I saw with the East Bay Express story about BART station developments is that it wasn’t “cowboy libertarian” enough. The story mentions, but hardly dwells on, the fact that the Fruitvale BART development is run (not very well) by public developers. It also notes that the successful BART developments are privately run. 

I’m not sure I like the idea of an Ashby BART development. That’s a nice quiet residential neighborhood right now. But if one goes in, I’d rather see a vibrant development developed by people who know what they’re doing, and avoid an ill-managed half-empty ghost town of a project developed by well meaning but less-than-expert public do-gooders. 

Remember downtown pedestrian malls? 

Tom Case 

• 

SOUTH BERKELEY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It was reported in the Jan. 24 East Bay Daily News that, in her speech to the Berkeley Alliance of Neighborhood Associations, Laura Menard, who ran against Max Anderson in the last election, said that South Berkeley is suffering. Yes, south Berkeley is suffering, and has suffered ever since the BART tore through the once-thriving commercial area of the Lorin District! And thanks to the brave leadership of Max Anderson and Ed Church, the urban fabric may finally have a chance of being repaired. I say brave leadership because they likely knew they would have to face the anti-development hysteria in Berkeley that gets couched as neighborhood activism, and that was evident at last week’s meeting at the Senior Center.  

One of the reasons the citizens and City of Berkeley fought hard in the late 1960s for air rights and paid millions extra for an underground subway instead of an aerial one at the Ashby BART was undoubtedly to one day repair the damage that they knew would be done to the area. Now, after 35 years, we have a chance to create a plan that will bring back some life to the dead parking lot (flea market days notwithstanding) and create safer, walkable streets between Jack’s Antiques and the businesses on Adeline at the edge of South Berkeley. I, for one, am not going to stand idly by while nay-saying, anti-development activists derail this important planning work with misinformation and fear-mongering about eminent domain. I have lived within a block of Ashby BART for over 20 years and this is one neighbor that says it is time to be a part of the solution and create a development plan that will. 

Teresa Clarke  

P.S. Thank you for your coverage of this issue, albeit slanted! 

• 

DENSITY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Perhaps it’s because Mr. Stephens (Commentary, “Berkeley Needs More Density on BART Site,” Jan. 24) has only been here a couple of years, and does not know the history of the BCA that he is so naive as to not understand what we are afraid of. Or he also thinks that we had to invade Iraq, because Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. 

David Krasnor 

• 

A TALE OF TWO VILLAGES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The supporters of the plan to build a “transit village” atop the Ashby BART station have tried to allay the fears of the neighbors of this project by pointing to the Fruitvale Transit Village as an example of a successful “transit village,” and a model for their own project. 

I live one block from the Ashby BART station, and frankly, I am one of this project’s worried neighbors myself. 

I decided to go to the Fruitvale Transit Village and see this place for myself. Brother, that place is a total economic disaster! To see my photo essay about the Fruitvale Transit Village, go to: www.tarses.com/fruitvale.html and judge for yourself. 

Mark Tarses 

• 

BART ADVERTISING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

While riding BART yesterday, I was aghast to find an anti-abortion, anti-Roe v. Wade message advertised on the train. I called BART and they said they allow “point-of-view” advertising. On a municipal transit authority which is paid for in part by tax dollars? Is this proper? What if the KKK wanted to take out an ad? The Supreme Court has protected their right to free speech, too. Could I suggest you make you opinions heard by calling Marketing Representative Lewis Martin, Sr. at (510) 464-7122 or writing to him at BART, 300 Lakeside Dr., 18th Floor, Oakland, 94612. 

John McMullen  

• 

RENT CONTROL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In his Jan. 20 letter ( “Rent Control”), William Flynn asks why Berkeley’s rental unit registration fee for the city’s Rent Stabilization Program is not as low as San Francisco’s rent control unit registration fee. 

The answer to Mr. Flynn’s question is very simple: San Francisco’s citywide rent control policy is based on a mutual “honor system” between the individual property owner and the renter. Each San Francisco renter presumes—or expects—that his or her unit’s rent level is the correct, legal amount. There is no official, city-operated rent level tracking system in place for all of San Francisco’s 170,000 rental units. 

In contrast to San Francisco, Berkeley’s Rent Stabilization Program accurately tracks the correct, legal rent level for every one of the city’s 19,000 units. This comprehensive record keeping system is free and accessible to both tenants and property owners. An annual mailing is sent to both parties listing each unit’s legal rent level.   

Registration fees maintain and update this rent tracking system and the staff necessary to operate Berkeley’s program. Similar comprehensive rent tracking systems also exist in Santa Monica and several other California cities that regulate rent levels. 

In addition to tracking individual unit rent levels, Berkeley’s Rent Stabilization Program provides other important client services, including: 

(1) An agency mediation/hearing examiner process to successfully resolve property owner/tenant issues or disagreements; (2) an agency legal counseling service for both property owners and tenants; and (3) Rent Stabilization Program information newsletters/mailings issued several times a year to all property owners and tenants. 

Also, the city’s Rent Stabilization Program’s office staff receive and service over 10,000 inquiries a year via in-person office contacts, phone and e-mail. 

Berkeley’s Rent Stabilization Program office is located at 2125 Milvia St. (across the corner from City Hall) and is open 9 a.m.-4:45 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and noon-6:30 p.m. Wednesday. The agency’s phone number is 644-6128. The agency’s website is www.rent.ci.berkeley.ca.us 

Chris Kavanagh 

• 

CHOOSING DIRECTORS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

With the resignation/termination of KPFA’s most recent general manager Roy Campanella II this past week, and the widespread staff and public dissatisfaction with the managerial style of the current director of the Berkeley Public Library, it would appear that in both cases the hiring committees did not have full information about these individuals’ suitability for the organizations and the Berkeley context they would work in.   

Perhaps a bit of uncommon common sense in hiring procedures is in order. 

I propose that in addition to gathering the most impressive resumes and glowing recommendations, how about including in the interview procedure that the search committee make an effort to talk with colleagues and staff who worked under the proposed executive. Those folks have nothing to gain or lose by being honest, not always the case with a supervising executive who may be happy about the possibility that a troublesome or unsatisfactory employee might move on. The issue of personality and managerial approach should always be one element in such choices. 

Joan Levinson 

• 

ABORTION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

“The nationwide battle over abortion rights” seems to have both sides carefully avoiding a prime ingredient in the debate! Pro-life marchers were urged not to display signs equating abortion with “murder.” It is obvious that a murder penalty would have to be considered, as this “killing of a human being” is the prime argument in avoiding elimination of a fetus.  

Perhaps they realize that such a penalty discussion may have their proponents reconsider the question—how would a formerly pregnant female, and the doctor who performs her abortion, be penalized for this murder? 

More importantly, perhaps, why have the pro-choice forces seemingly ignored this vital question? 

Gerta Farber 

• 

FINDING A HOME 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was both troubled and heartened to read Annie Kassof’s story in Tuesday’s Daily Planet about Robert Coil and Alexis Hooper, the two remarkable Berkeley High School students who are scheduled to be put out of their foster group home in a little over a week through no fault of their own. 

I am troubled because I know these young people, and how much they have overcome to be where they are, leading stable, productive lives and making good grades in spite of lacking the family structure and support that is usually so crucial to kids’ success. (They seem to think of themselves as each other’s family.)  

I am troubled because my own son goes to classes with them, and if I had the space, I would be happy to take one of them in. But I simply do not. 

I am troubled because the rules of the game are so cruel. Robert and Alexis, who are 17, are being turned out while still in high school because they are too young for their group home’s new rules. Meanwhile other foster children who turn 18 before they graduate are “emancipated” (read: out of luck) and must struggle to support themselves while trying to finish school.  

I am heartened because their story made its way to the pages of the Planet, and I am so hopeful that someone in Berkeley will read it and be able to provide a home for them, at least through June so they can graduate. It would clearly be ideal if they could stay together, but that might be too much to ask. Perhaps they’ll need two homes, and need to keep their connections with one another at school. 

Their story makes me think of Wendy Tokuda’s “Students Rising Above” on Channel Four. I only pray someone will reach out and offer a place that will enable them to continue beating the odds by taking the next positive step as so many featured there have been able to do. Without this small miracle, they may well face the unthinkable prospect of being homeless, which would make graduation very hard to achieve. 

If you have a place for one or both of them, or an idea that might lead to one, please send an e-mail to Dr. E. Anderson at: ejakva@pacbell.net. 

Thanks for anything you can do! 

Edythe Boone  

• 

TRANSPORTATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Regarding two transportation items in your Jan. 24 issue: 

Speeds on Marin Avenue 

The reporter writes: “...where [on Marin] 85 percent of the traffic had been clocked at 35.6 miles per hour....” Impossible! How can 85 percent of the traffic all travel at precisely that speed? Having taught how to do speed studies for 40 years, I am pretty certain that the study found 85 percent of the traffic clocked at or below 35.6 percent. The result, if accurate, is bad enough— 15 percent speeding at above 35.6 mph. But (my guess), perhaps half the traffic was moving near the speed limit of 25 mph, 35 percent between 25 and 35 mph, and 15 percent above 35 mph. And let’s leave off the decimals— the speed meters are not that accurate. 

AC Transit Plan to Delete Stops 

There used to be a joke at UC (perhaps still is) that the faculty could work much better if it weren’t for students being there. Similarly, AC Transit must be thinking that it could run a very efficient system if it did not have to stop for passengers at all. Deleting bus stops (except perhaps in dense downtown areas) achieves little, because the buses can and do pass the stops when there is no one to drop off or pick up. It is unlikely to “improve bus routes by decreasing passengers’ travel times” [quote by AC Transit’s media relations manager] by any perceivable amount for those on board and will, of course, make these routes worse or completely useless for those whose stops are being eliminated. Eventually, someone at AC Transit will wonder: “We have improved the efficiency of this route, so why hasn’t the ridership gone up?” 

Wolfgang Homburger 

Kensington 

• 

DOWNTOWN ISSUES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Alan Tobey’s commentary “Two Halves Needed for a Whole Downtown” published in the Jan. 24 issue is inaccurate and misguided. His statement that the thousands of new downtown Oakland residents have “almost nowhere to go” is easily refuted by fact.  

Over the last few years, not only has Mayor Jerry Brown delivered on his goal to attract 6,000-plus units of market-rate housing to accommodate 10,000 new residents, but his success has prompted private investment to the tune of 36 new restaurants and cafes, 18 new nightclubs and bars and 14 new gallery spaces. The city’s new MeetDowntownOak.com campaign prompted 100,000 people to grab copies of a 25-page guide to downtown venues in just three months—a signal of strong demand.  

As a direct result of the mayor’s 10K Initiative, Whole Foods will open in late 2006—downtown Oakland’s first national grocery store in more than 30 years. Oakland must be on the right track because Tobey himself chides Berkeley for the “lack of one good grocery store to make the downtown an actual livable place.” With Whole Foods and other new retail to follow, over the next three years downtown Oakland is certain to emerge as one of the most sought-after residential neighborhoods in the nation.  

Samee Roberts 

Marketing Manager 

City of Oakland 

• 

BROWER CENTER 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

A City Council Action item for Jan. 24 was called HUD 108 Loan guarantee, to use $4 million current and future Community Development Block Grant funds to bail out the Oxford Street/ Brower Center project. This proposal was to be delivered (TBD), which means the information was not available timely and might even be delivered to the council meeting. Despite this obstacle to thoughtful consideration, enough yes votes are usually there to pass these items. In Berkeley, TBDs seem to serve as tools to cool hot issues; but they should be reason to pause and reflect before proceeding.  

Besides the lack of sunshine on this subject, there are important related issues. Martin Snapp, in a July 29 Berkeley Voice article, wrote about Brower Center difficulties. He said this project was “the most ambitious public/private development in the city’s history—facing huge cost overruns—had an $8.5 million funding gap and the city might end up holding the bag.” Snapp quoted Berkeley Housing Director Steve Barton, “This loan would be secured by the city’s future Community Development Block Grant allocation.” 

Snapp also quoted Mayor Tom Bates saying that added funds might come from city parking revenues. But Mayor Bates may not be considering that the Brower Center is to be built on the city’s Oxford Street parking lot which would be given to a developer not required to provide adequate replacement parking. And Mr. Barton stated that a second level of parking underneath the project would cost $6 million, increase risk of flooding from Strawberry Creek, and become our city’s responsibility to repair. 

The Oxford lot serves as satellite parking for our movie theaters, terrific restaurants, and other sales tax producing downtown businesses, many struggling to survive for lack of parking. The 150 spaces in the Oxford lot generate over $2,000 per day and could make more if the city would discourage patrons from sneaking out after hours by ticketing at midnight.  

There are better places for the Brower Center than our city’s popular, last surviving parking lot. (Note, the city’s small Berkeley Way lot is used for city vehicles and Car Share which makes it too difficult to find a space.) A terrific possibility for Brower Center is the site of the “Power Bar” Great Western building, which is dangerous and should be removed. The Great Western is lift-slab architecture, and therefore extremely earthquake unsafe. This huge building towers over the Downtown BART station from which thousands of people emerge daily. I am quite sure that FEMA, BART, and other agencies would help pay to remove this dangerous building. The area could then be restored as a beautiful sunlit plaza, a biking and environmentally friendly transit hub, and home for the Brower Center.  

Merrilie Mitchell 

• 

BUSH REGIME 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The Bush regime’s recent public relations campaign justifying the secret wiretaps of international calls and e-mail is just one more assault on civil liberties and other rights that has been justified by the so-called war against terrorism. Rather than admit that wiretapping without warrants is out of bounds, the administration has gone on the offensive and is making a concerted effort to justify its actions by making reference to the commander-in-chief’s “inherent powers.” 

This inherent powers theory can be used to justify any actions taken by Bush as the leader of the U.S. military without reference to the constitution or other laws. Under Bush we should be very afraid of the consequences of such a theory. The power to make war is extremely dangerous. 

In the last month a missile attack was launched against Pakistani territory by the U.S., allegedly to kill a terrorist leader. The result was at least a dozen innocent civilians killed, including women and children. Did we hear any apologies from the government for this violation of international law? No, instead we heard theories that real terrorists were killed but their bodies were carried away by other terrorists.  

This is not surprising. Under the guise of fighting terrorism, the Bush regime has justified the indefinite detention of citizens and others. It has refused access to attorneys and to the courts. It has justified torture and the contravention of international treaties that were meant to protect prisoners. It runs secret prisons and uses rendition so that it can “interrogate” prisoners. It even fought Congress when the legislature tried to ban torture.  

My favorite action of the regime has been its refusal to even release the names of detainees in order “to protect the privacy of the prisoners.” From an administration that uses illegal wiretaps and that tried to launch the Total Information Awareness system which would have “mined” e-mail and phone calls, it is laughable to believe that it cares about privacy. 

It is past time to fight back against these and other attacks that have occurred against our freedoms. On January 31, 2006, Bush will make his State of the Union speech promising to carry on his program. But at the same time, in cities all across the country, people will be demonstrating in the streets to demand, “Bush step down and take your program with you.” In San Francisco, the rally will take place at 5 p.m. at Union Square in San Francisco. For more information see worldcantwait.net. 

Kenneth J. Theisen 

Oakland 

• 

A PREEMPTIVE STRIKE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Berkeley’s faithful supporters of Palestine will rush to the sympathetic pages of the Daily Planet to explain Hamas’ recent victory. They will crow that Hamas is a breath of fresh air after years of cleptocratic Fatah rule—that these people are honest. But that is a mere variant on the defense of Hitler that he made the trains run on time. Look for writers for the Daily Planet to find a way to blame Israel. They always do. The simple awful truth is that when the Palestinians were given Gaza free and clear they turned it into a scene of bedlam, and a lauchpad for missiles aimed at Israeli civilians. At last count there were 28 separate militias in Gaza. Now, given the chance to vote freely, they have chosen a theocracy. In all likelihood this has been an exercise in one person, one vote, one time. Sharia, as divine law, by definition does not allow for givebacks. We know this by looking at Iran, the only other theocracy in the world today. Frankly, I have not expected much more of the Palestinians, steeped as they are in the culture of suicide bombings, martyrdom, and hate. But perhaps now I can reasonably expected Berkeley leftists like City Councilmember Linda Maio to stop dancing with the supporters of Palestinian terror. 

John Gertz 

• 

STATE OF THE UNION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As a prelude to the State of the Union address, the president is launching an intense campaign to increase public support for his so-called war on terror. He’s got a lot to do. In Iraq the infant democracy is on life support while the insurgency strengthens and the death toll mounts. Add a plethora of legal and constitutional hurdles—denial of due process for enemy combatants, extraordinary rendition, foreign detention camps, prisoner abuse, secret surveillances, etc.—and his task is all but insurmountable.  

His admirers believe he will succeed because of a genius for framing the issues, that is, for fashioning assets out of liabilities. For instance, two Iraq elections prove that democracy is taking hold, the insurgency is not getting stronger but more desperate, killing more insurgents increases the death toll, and legal and constitutional questions disappear under the glow of the commander-in-chief’s inherent powers. Thus, everything depends on carefully framing the issues. Nonsense! 

If the law says you must get a warrant and you don’t get a warrant, then you violate the law, no matter how attractive you make your frame. Iraq cannot simultaneously be more democratic and more dangerous and the Constitution allows inherent authority only for actual wars not for metaphorical wars.  

Expect Bush & Co. to again invite the public to focus on their framed and distorted shadows rather than on true contours of substantive issues. Or more bluntly, Bush & Co.’s frames of issues amount to a euphemistic covers for lies.  

Marvin Chachere 

San Pablo 

• 

W AND WOMEN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

George W. Bush showed on Roe v. Wade day what is important to him: his religious base to the exclusion of all else. Is George W. the president for 295 million Americans or an overzealous mulla playing to religious extremists as he says “We shall overcome.” 

Remember Bush’s campaign slogan in the 2000 presidential election “W is for women”? What a joke! Bush, Republicans, and new Supreme Court justices will criminalize your mother, sister, daughter, wife and girlfriend for having an abortion, if given the chance. 

George W. continues on his goal of denying a woman’s freedom of choice, feeding the frenzy of the faithful, and demonizing the opposition. Americans need to understand that anti-abortion politics is the be all and catch all for most abortion opponents. It borders on fanaticism. 

Ron Lowe 

Nevada City?

Since I first saw the city’s Caltrans grant application last month, I had the gut feeling that the 50 units per acre it envisioned was nowhere near dense enough to make a for-profit project on the site economically feasible. This week, I finally found the data to back up that guess: a 2004 study performed by the Berkeley consulting firm Strategic Economics for the East Bay Community Foundation. 

The study considers two alternatives for the six-acre site, one with 482 dwelling units and a density of 67 units per acre, the other with 553 units and 76 units per acre. Both would have two buildings with interior courtyards to provide open space for residents, retail space in the north building along Ashby and Adeline, and 370 parking spaces for BART, 490 for residents, and 90 for retailers in a basement garage and part of the first floor. (The study notes on page one that eliminating BART parking would provide little benefit, so it was not considered.) In both scenarios, half the units would be 800-square-foot one-bedrooms, half 900-square-foot two-bedrooms. 

The study assumes 80 percent market-rate units and 20 percent affordable, as required by Berkeley law. Half the affordable units would be reserved for households earning less than 80 percent of the “Area Median Income” (AMI), the other half for households earning less than 50 percent of AMI. The study assumes they would rent for the following amounts: 

One-bedroom units 

80 percent $1,200-1,500 “market rate” 

10 percent $1,242 (50 percent AMI) 

10 percent $1,116 (80 percent AMI) 

(That’s not a typo: the 50 percent AMI “affordable” one-bedroom rent is higher than the bottom “market-rate” range. The study’s assumption is that Section 8 funds would be available to allow that.) 

Two-bedroom units: 

80 percent $1,500-1,800 “market rate” 

10 percent $1,400 (50 percent AMI) 

10 percent $1,412 (80 percent AMI) 

When I checked craigslist.org today, I found 54 listings for Berkeley one-bedroom units under $1,116 and 30 for Berkeley two-bedroom units under $1,400. So much for the notion that developing Ashby BART would create below-market-rate housing. 

The study concludes that the project might be feasible if market rents were to rise and additional funding could be found to pay for BART’s portion of the parking lot. This conclusion is wishful thinking: No funding for building an underground garage or parking structure has been found in the past 40 years, and inflation in rents typically means inflation in construction costs as well. 

Given that this study envisions 67-76 units per acre, the grant application’s 50 units per acre would be even less feasible. It seems to me that the only way the numbers could work for a rental project would be to go even higher than six stories and/or provide significantly less parking for the retail and residential tenants. 

The study does not draw an explicit conclusion about the feasibility of condominiums, but apparently the project would break even if the market-rate units could sell for $300,000 for the one-bedroom units and $350,000 for the two-bedroom units. So if the real-estate bubble doesn’t pop too badly, condos might work: but the “affordable” units would cost $235,000 to $265,000, not exactly low-income housing. 

By the way—can anyone tell me why the East Bay Community Foundation, a charitable organization, commissioned a feasibility study for a for-profit development? 

Robert Lauriston maintains the Neighbors of Ashby BART website (nabart.com) and invites submissions from all points of view. 

Karl Marx was right; he only had to wait a little longer. Marxists once claimed that European capitalism was advancing into its final stages, decadence would overwhelm the West and capitalism’s contradictions would cause the system to collapse. Today, demographic collapse and cultural decadence may finally usher in the end stage of the ancient culture we share with Europe. 

Many people wonder why the United States needs Europe at all any more. From the stifling anti-democratic bureaucracy of the European Union, to its secular, post religious societies, to the stagnant, sluggish and statist economies of France, Germany and the rest, what does Europe offer the United States? Consider also the lily-livered foreign policy that dreams of a utopian post conflict world dominated by laws and diplomats that somehow reach “consensus” or “compromise” on all difficult questions and no one ever says anything nasty to anybody else. The corollary to this foreign policy consists of leaving to the United States the nasty, dirty and dangerous work of ensuring the stability of the world economic and political system and dealing with real and dangerous nations such as Iran, North Korea, Sudan and others past and present that have always existed in the international system. 

The answer to why the U.S. needs Europe is because we share a common culture with “old Europe” 1,500 years of western civilization, 2,500 years if we go all the way back to the Greeks. While displaying certain bloody tendencies, Europe produced many of the most important cultural advances in history in terms of science, economics, politics and human rights, now demographic collapse and a failure of cultural will seem to suggest that Europe as we know it may cease to exist by the time our grandchildren are grown. Europe is relying on immigration from North Africa to cover up the fact that its demographic trends have cratered.  

The birth rate per woman in Germany is 1.3, Italy 1.2, Spain 1.1; rates like this suggest a population falling by nearly half each generation. One doesn’t require a Ph.D. from Cal to see that this is an extremely perilous trend. In another two generations there may be very few “old Europeans” left. Meanwhile the immigrants from North Africa with their muscular Islamic faith and high birth rates fill the void. The problem with this scenario is that Islamic immigrants to Europe don’t seem to want to adopt the cultural traits of liberal, western culture, but instead desire to, and most likely will, create an Islamicized Europe. The problem here is that the Islamic culture of Europe’s immigrants is one that does not accept political pluralism, freedom of religion, rights for gays or women, etc. Now, trend lines can’t usually be projected in a linear fashion into the future and it may be possible that Europe can summon the cultural will to force its new populations to adopt a philosophy of the melting pot by which immigrants adopt and adapt to the new culture, bringing their own sensibilities to it but not changing its fundamental tenets. On current trends, however, this seems unlikely as European societies and their dithering, multicultural, relativist mumbo-jumbo attitudes just don’t seem like they will be able to summon the strength to defend their age old culture. 

The locus of western culture has been moving westward for 100 years or at least since 1914 and the US has clearly been the cultural leader of the west since 1945. It seems clear now that a coalition led by the United States, Canada and Mexico and hopefully South America, plus Australia and New Zealand will most likely have the burden of carrying forward the traditions of economic freedom, political openness, pursuit of liberty, equal rights under law and individual freedom. It is not necessary to see ourselves as under siege, but to recognize what seems a great opportunity our generation has to bring out the best in America as we develop a new civilization with a greater role for different cultures living in freedom under the rule of law. American leadership in the coming decades could produce the flowering of a new culture that would include a greater role for the groups that have contributed so much: Africans, Asians, indigenous people and the obviously significant role that Latin America will play in the future of our culture. If America has the cultural will power to accomplish this then we will certainly we will prevail in the clash of ideas and of competing visions of the future that looms before us.  

Alan Christie Swain is a UC Berkeley graduate student.›

Thank you for publishing your Jan. 24 front-page story, “Lake Merritt Tree Supporters Unmoved by Public Works Tour.” It revealed some new and troubling details about the Oakland city staff’s mentality behind its pig-headed plans to “rebuild” the Lake Merritt shorelines by killing more than 200 mature trees. This mentality seems to be “we had to destroy the shoreline to save it.” This would seem to parallel the Bush plan for Iraq: first destroy it and then rebuilt it at an obscene profit, as per the notorious no-bid contracts let to Halliburton.  

It seems that the Oakland city staff has decided to play God by cutting down many trees near the lower marshy end of Lake Merritt to protect the shorebirds from hawks that would be perching in said trees. It is asserted that you almost never see trees along the shorelines of tidal wetlands in California and thus city staffers wanted to replicate nature in this regard.  

But it is somehow fine to have high-rise apartment buildings and office buildings and roads and parking meters near the shorelines of Lake Merritt? This is looking at the Lake Merritt through the wrong end of bird-watching binoculars. There are currently hundreds of pedestrians walking on paved paths and thousands of cars driving on roads around Lake Merritt each day. This is natural? All this alleged naturalistic renovation is just pretend stuff. There are no longer any major predators such as grizzly bears, wolves, coyotes or foxes around the lake to keep the populations of Canada geese and other birds at natural levels.  

A recent article by one of the Oakland Tribune columnists explained how the lower marshy end of Lake Merritt used to be surrounded by dense thickets of shrubs and low trees. In the 1960s the Oakland police got city workers to remove almost all of this vegetation so that they could easily spot and roust out the hippies that were camping out there.  

The city staff is also participating in the demonizing of some species of mature trees that currently ring Lake Merritt as “non-native” and “undesirable.” This demonizing of trees that originally were from overseas locations is the modern sport of California nativist fanatics. The human standard of “nativity” is that if you are born in California you are a California native. However, we are unwilling to grant this same status to trees that are “born here,” i.e., ones that sprout from seed here. This is quite a double standard. California native plant fanatics are trying to turn the botanical clock back to an allegedly pristine pre-Columbian time unsullied by the presence of Europeans and their accompanying entourage of Old World plants and animals.  

Actually, any differentiation between species on the basis of where their distant ancestors grew hundreds of years ago is purely a human conceit: it has no basis in the science of biology. Natural environments are dynamic and are never static, with populations of different species coming and going and rising and falling in numbers.  

This human discrimination against certain species of plants by ancestry is a nativist non-science. “In the beginning God (Nature) created California natives,” and no one else need apply, thank you very much. This is a sort of creationism, if you will. Plants and animals live and interact in the here and now and do not bother with nativity checks.  

The City of Oakland should leave the mature trees now growing around Lake Merritt alone. If trees are felled by rainstorm or windstorm, then they should be replaced on an individual basis. We can’t recreate pristine “native habitat” in this area without removing all buildings, roads and all other signs of human activity. It is time for us to step back, take a deep breath and start from scratch (with full public disclosure) in trying to “improve” the Lake Merritt area. 

CORRECTION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The caption of the “Police Blotter” photo on page four of your Jan. 20 issue is incorrect. The photo shows my son’s car, with the license plate clearly legible. The caption identifies the car as having been stolen, and the driver as the thief. My son’s car was being driven by him; he is not a thief and the car was not stolen. 

My son’s car was struck by a stolen car heading south on Martin Luther King Jr. Way at high speed on the wrong side of the street through the red light, as my son was entering the intersection with the green light heading west on Derby Street. 

The stolen car was driven by another young man who was fleeing from police. The car the thief was driving is not shown in the photograph. 

My son was slightly injured, was taken to Alta Bates Hospital Emergency Department, treated for his injury, and released two hours later. His car appears to have been totaled. He came home to see the photo in your paper identifying him as a thief—literally adding insult to injury. 

The thief was not injured. He was apprehended by the police and taken to jail from the scene of the accident. 

Please correct your error. 

Joshua B. Kardon 

EDITOR’S NOTE: The information in the caption was provided by the Police Department. We regret the error. 

• 

YUPPIFICATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Since I’ve moved from Berkeley some 13 years ago, I’ve noticed how yuppified this place has become. The only two real places left to go in Berkeley anymore (in my humble opinion) are the Berkeley Flea Market and the Berkeley Farmers’ Market. So, it is with much sadness, but not surprise that I hear of officials, armed with big plans, proposing to move each institution to new locations as if they were nothing more than potted plants. I knew this day would soon come. 

The feelings of neighbors and communities have become nothing more than nuisances to special interest groups and developers who continue to enjoy cozy relationships with our elected “representatives.” Because both markets have taken many years to establish, they are now currently at risk of being destroyed. Do we really want to take such a risk in doing so? 

Michael Bauce 

• 

RENT CONTROL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I don’t know how to reach Chris Kavanaugh to thank him for his letter in the Jan. 13 Daily Planet, but I really appreciate it. It’s important for all our citizens to know the history of rent control in Berkeley and other cities. 

Unfortunately for tenants, especially those seeking apartments in Berkeley these days, statewide real estate interests succeeded in undermining rent control in the late 1980s and weakening its tenant protection by turning it into “vacancy decontrol.” In Berkeley, San Francisco, Oakland, and elsewhere, there have been numerous attempts to evict tenants (and further weaken rent control) by phony owner move-ins, and by turning rental apartments into condos and tenants-in-common (TICs). I have lived in my apartment since 1980, and rent control is the only reason I can afford to live in the Bay Area in 2006. The four students who occupy an  

apartment in the same building pay fully three times as much, plus water, gas, electric, and parking fees. 

Thanks to all the elected members of the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board for your unwavering advocacy on behalf of the thousands of neighbors in this city who cannot buy homes and need low-cost housing. 

Marianne Robinson 

• 

OAKLAND VIOLENCE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

J. Douglas Allen-Taylor has told the City of Oakland, and presumably by extension all of it’s citizens and the Police Department, that it is “past time for Oakland to confront violence” Hear hear! However, apart from prescribing “serious adult conversation,” he seems equally at a loss for the specifics of what to do as Oakland’s own law-abiding citizens.  

To excoriate Police Chief Wayne Tucker for saying that 60 murders a year would be better than the city average of 80-plus is unproductive and just plain mean. Or does Allen-Taylor believe that reducing the average by 20 deaths would not be an improvement?  

To assert that if there had been more murders, there would have been 132 is a meaningless straw man target that has no place in “serious adult conversation.”  

Glen Kohler  

• 

DERBY STREET 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Here’s a modest proposal: 

Just so we all have our facts straight and so the debate has some connection with reality, people interested in the Derby Street issue should gather to listen to one another, once at the Tuesday Farmers’ Market and again at a varsity baseball practice or game—this in addition to any hothouse meetings at Old City Hall. 

Such a thing could be arranged by city and/or School Board officials (or by the Daily Planet), but maybe we should run the thing ourselves for a change, perhaps choosing a moderator or two.  

The need to talk is pretty obvious, even to partisans.  

For instance, this partisan notes that Mark MacDonald’s letter (Jan. 20) opposing a regulation baseball field at Derby Street states that “presently (the baseball team) must take a bus to the new baseball field built for them at Gilman Street.” 

There is no field at Gilman Street. Players have to find own their way to San Pablo Park and have to miss at least two classes, in part to wrestle a plastic homerun fence onto the field.  

(Just the mention of a field at Gilman Street is another hint that the powers that be have decided to oppose the Derby Street field and hope they’ll be one someday at Gilman Street. It’s unclear how, if a Gilman Street field is ever built, the players are going to get there; who’s going to pay for the transportation. Will it be controlled by more than one authority; will it need to be leased, and at what cost?) 

It is also incorrect to imply that the team would use the field for just a few league games and to suggest that a small practice field would suffice at other times. There are at least as many non-league, pre-season games as regular games and any team needs a full field to practice. 

But more than any details, just as the Derby Street neighbors must get tired of being called NIMBYs, I get tired of having my son or this family or the kids we’ve known for years being called elitists.  

We should talk. 

James Day 

• 

WHAT IS TO BE DONE? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The ruling Republican Party has suffered casualties recently from its top elected and advisory ranks because of bad behavior: Cunningham, Libby, Delay, Ney, etc.   

I withhold applause and restrain from gloating just long enough to offer these words of consolation:  

 “Party struggles lead to party strength…[and the party]…becomes stronger by purging itself.” 

These words written by Karl Marx in 1852 were cited by Lenin at the top of a pamphlet published 15 years before the Communist Revolution in Russia, titled in translation, “What Is To Be Done?” 

Now, it’s time for the party in power to consider what is to be done about the abuse of power boastfully practiced by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzalez and Rice.  

Marvin Chachere 

San Pablo 

• 

PRESERVATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Roger Marquis’s Jan. 17 commentary on the Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Ordinance (LPO) should act as a wake-up call to all inhabitants of Berkeley’s older neighborhoods, particularly those west of Shattuck Avenue. The ill-considered demolitions that gave rise to the LPO may well return if it is weakened. 

The LPO’s “structure of merit” designation, which the city Planning Department proposes to abolish, is one of the very few government mechanisms through which ordinary taxpayers can hope to influence the meaning and appearance of the built environment that surrounds them. It is an effective means of reminding planners that the quality of neighborhood life should be their first concern, not an afterthought. 

No sensible person would claim that all our older districts contain landmarks of national importance. But most of them are dignified by at least one or two structures of historic interest at the local or even state level. And some districts merit consideration as a whole. In ours, for instance, there are about 1,100 structures, spread over 1.5 square miles, of which some 85 percent, according to a survey made by our group, are over 50 years old—many well over. 

Since nearly all of the lovingly maintained older structures have survived through various degrees of alteration, they would be prohibited, under the Planning Department’s revision of the LPO, from appearing on any list of historic structures that might qualify them for any degree of public protection whatsoever. That would apply even to the 19th-century mansion, built by a name architect, for which the Landmarks Commission, by unanimous vote, has asked us to initiate landmarking. 

Development has already claimed too many Berkeley buildings that should have been saved and reused. If landmarking procedures really delay worthwhile construction, then the city should allot the Landmarks Commission more staff support instead of trying to gut its authority. 

J. Michael Edwards 

Secretary, McGee-Spaulding-Hardy 

Historic Interest Group  

• 

CORRECTING THE CORRECTION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I read with bemusement Kelley Kahn’s letter in the Jan. 20 issue in which she bemoans the Daily Planet’s coverage as “getting a little sloppy, if not downright erroneous.” 

To which I, as the one alleged miscreant named in her letter, would respond: People who live in vitreous domiciles shouldn’t fling metamorphic projectiles. 

As an example of Planetary blunders, she cites a Jan. 17 story in which “reporter Richard Brenneman would have us believe that Ron Dellums already ran for mayor of Oakland.” 

There’s just one little problem with her that. I, the named offender, didn’t write the story—nor is it my byline that’s on the story. 

The second purportedly erroneous story she cites from the same issue—without naming the allegedly malfeasant author—was in fact my own effort. But there’s a problem here, too. 

To quote Ms. Kahn, “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.” 

Uh-oh! Major goof, right? 

Well, there one little problem. Consider the very first sentence of the article: “The panel charged with helping draft a new plan for downtown Berkeley will hear from a panel of experts Wednesday. . .” 

Last time I glanced at my calendar, Wednesday was, in fact, a day of the week. 

Which is not to say that I haven’t made mistakes. But when I make them and they’re called to my attention, I also write a correction to set things 

straight. 

Richard Brenneman  

• 

PETER’S PETITION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

My petition for Writ of Certiorari pertaining to the fraudulent settlement of the LRDP lawsuit is now on the docket in the U.S. Supreme Court. The docket number is 05-860. The petition can be viewed in its entirety in my “briefcase,” at the following Internet address: http://briefcase.yahoo.com/pjmutnick@sbcglobal.net .  

To the best of my knowledge, Feb. 17 is the earliest that the court may decide whether to grant the petition. Those who love justice can pray or otherwise hope for the petition to be granted.  

Do not worry about politics. The goal of all right-minded people is to break down the barriers between the stultified positions of right and left that defraud the people of their true and rightful sovereignty. My petition aims to do just that. It is right on the law, and hopefully that is all that will matter. 

Peter J. Mutnick 

• 

OSAMA BIN FORGOTTEN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In a new audiotape from Osama bin Laden (it’s gotta be new because in the tape he mentions the relatively recent revelation that Bush plotted to bomb the Al Jazeera offices in Qatar), bin Laden says stuff like, “We are people who do not stand for injustice and we will seek revenge all our lives. The nights and days will not pass without us taking vengeance like on Sept. 11, God permitting. Your minds will be troubled and your lives embittered.” He has plans to blow up America? We are now going to be living at Ground Zero? That does not sound good. 

What will it be like living at Ground Zero? There are many ways to find out. For instance, you could ask any New Yorker after 9-11, when George Bush failed to heed warnings that could have protected America—to say nothing of all the double-talk about bad pilots we have gotten out of Bush since.  

What is it like living at Ground Zero? Ask anyone in Iran. The Bush bureaucracy and its allies in Israel have been threatening to blow up that country regularly since the Supreme Court first gave the White House to GWB in 2000. People in Tehran have been living at Ground Zero daily for years. 

What is it like living at Ground Zero? Ask anyone in Iraq. Everyone there knows that when they leave their home in the morning, they may never come back. And even if they don’t leave their home in the morning...they still may never come back. 

What is it like living at Ground Zero? Ask any Afghani. In the past 25 years, the U.S. government has paid the Taliban to bomb Afghanis, paid warlords to bomb Afghanis, paid the Northern Alliance to bomb Afghanis and then went and bombed Afghanis themselves. 

What is it like living at Ground Zero? Ask any Palestinian. In 1947-48, 450 Palestinian farming villages were destroyed by Zionists and it has gone downhill from there every since. Today, there are 40,000 home demolition orders out on Palestinian homes. If you are a Palestinian, you never know when you leave your home in the morning if it will be there when you come back. 

What is it like living at Ground Zero? I hope to God that Americans, unlike all those poor schmucks in the Middle East, will never have to find out. And I also hope that the Bush bureaucracy will finally figure out that bombing the Middle East only adds fuel to the terrorists’ fire and that Bush will finally use what little sense God gave him and stop it -- so that we can finally go back to forgetting about Osama again. 

Jane Stillwater  

?

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.

First of all, I want to say that despite all the turmoil that has occurred since I sold my Honda dealership, I have been pleased at so many positive references to how Jim Doten Honda was viewed by the Berkeley community. That is very important to me. I want to assure all the citizens of Berkeley that I sold the franchise to a group in whom I have the utmost confidence. I believe that they are committed to being good corporate citizens and have the talent, dedication and wherewithal to grow the business to new levels, providing many more jobs and sales tax revenues to the community that I have served for 31 years. 

So what do I think of the strike? I’m glad you asked. 

I believe that the strike and boycott against Berkeley Honda is one of the most misguided and misdirected invectives I have ever witnessed. The union would have you believe that it is about people, but it clearly has nothing to do with people. Sadly, the good citizens of Berkeley are being fed a line by the union to stir their emotions and cause them to rush to the defense of the “wronged employees.” I believe that the owners of Berkeley Honda made not only legal, but sound business decisions in their hiring of staff for the new operation, an opinion that is shared by the NLRB. That is why the union dropped its unfair labor practices lawsuit so quickly. So why has all the hoopla continued and why has it gone on for so long? It is being done for one reason and one reason alone: To divert you from the real issue, which is the incompetence of the union and its pension plan. 

How am I so sure of that? I’m glad you asked. 

Two days after Christmas I received a thank you gift from the Automotive Industries Pension Plan. It was a bill for $543,878.36 for which I am personally responsible. As an additional present they graciously gave me the opportunity to pay this bill over three and a half years bringing the yuletide total demand to just shy of $600,000. Let me say again so you don’t miss it: six hundred thousand dollars. And to top it off, it all comes from after-tax dollars. This, after having paid every contribution for every employee that I was required to, on time, for the past 31 years. It is a tremendous amount of money, $541,923 in the past five years alone. The letter (whose salutation should have been “Greetings”) went on to point out that the unfunded vested liability of the plan was $141,495,878 at the end of 2004. To put that in perspective, the amount of the fund deficit was equal to the gross domestic product of Argentina! It is projected that as of year-end 2005 the unfunded vested liability will be $200 million. The amount I am being asked to pay is my pro-rata share, based on my contributions over the past five years. So the more I paid in, the more of the unfunded liability I am being asked to cover. 

So how did that unfunded liability occur? I’m glad you asked. 

Pension funds across this country are being faced with many problems, some of which are not in their control. The fact that Americans are living longer, while good news for all of us, has made the actuarial data used to establish these plans inaccurate. Another problem is the declining membership in the trade unions, meaning that there are less current workers to support more retired workers. These are problems over which there is little control. Other reasons leading to unfunded liabilities are poor investment decisions and actions taken by the trustees of the plan. The pension fund, like so many others, has suffered with the economy. I grant that the vagaries of the capital markets have bested some fine money managers. Let’s suffice it to say that modest growth is the least to be expected from a fund devoted to retirement benefits ... and this fund has not experienced modest growth. Despite that fact, it is the actions of the trustees on which I would like to focus. 

In 2001 the plan actually had a surplus of $150 million. The decision of the trustees was to give everyone a raise. The benefit payout percentage was increased from 4.2 percent to 5 percent per month. This increase was made retroactive to 1955. This means that a fully vested retiree would see a monthly retirement check equal to 5 percent of each and every monthly contribution made for them since 1955. What a great windfall for everyone. However the fund had a $0 surplus by the end of 2002, a $50 million deficit by the end of 2003 and the spiral continues. And now, to cover that deficit, they are coming after me, and any other dealer who has the desire to sell their dealership. You may not like businessmen but I ask you how fair it is, that after dutifully paying into their fund for all these years, I have to pay for their money grab. 

Additionally, in reaction to the deficits, and since the fund is precluded by law from taking away any benefits already given, they started dropping the payout percentage going forward. That percentage is now effectively down to 1.17 percent for current members of the machinists union. That means for every $450 monthly contribution that Berkeley Honda makes for each employee, that employee will see $5.27 per month in retirement benefits. Just three years ago the same $450 contribution would have brought $22.50 per month in retirement benefits. The new owners would prefer to see that their employees get the maximum benefit from the money put aside for them. 

I have to admit that I was unaware of the potential liability when I signed the union agreement. I am now being asked to pay a tremendous price for the oversight. The owners of Berkeley Honda were smart enough to actually read the pension plan trust agreement prior to signing the union agreement and saw it would make them personally liable for potentially millions of dollars over which they had no control. No rational person would agree to such a deal especially in light of the fund’s performance over the past several years. Their counter offer to put the same amount of money into 401(k)s for each employee is not only prudent, it shows an actual concern that their employees end up receiving the money they are entitled to receive. Yet the union keeps feeding people with misleading information so that they don’t have to face the real issue. While I respect the people of Berkeley and their concern for workers, this concern would be better aimed at the union. This protest ought to be conducted at the union headquarters and not at Berkeley Honda. Every union member ought to be questioning how their union could allow their pension to get into the state that it is in. Every union member ought to be questioning whether the union really care about them or about covering their own behind.  

Don’t shoot the messenger just because you don’t like the message. That is just my opinion. 

I’m glad you asked. 

Jim Doten is the former owner of  

Berkeley Honda.

Thank you for this community forum to discuss issues that affect the whole community. I feel compelled to respond to the letter written by Gloria Atherstone, owner of Glass Onion Catering Company, also the tenant who rents the performance space and mezzanine at the Gaia Building. She signs her letter as Gaia Arts Management, Inc. She asserts that the private party-turned-melee on Jan. 7 was “not facilitated in any way by Glass Onion Catering, Gaia Arts Management or Panoramic Interests.” The party was held in a building owned by Panoramic Interests, in a space rented and managed by Ms. Atherstone. Yet no one takes responsibility for this private party that attracted hundreds, kept my customers away and had to be shut down by the police.  

Neither the one security guard nor I could prevent at least a hundred young men from using my venue as a pass-through. Bad for my business, yes. And the ensuing melee was bad for downtown, occurring at Allston and Shattuck as the movies were letting out. Virtually any parent in flatlands Berkeley or Oakland could tell Gloria Atherstone that a party for an 18-year-old in a large downtown space would probably become uncontrollable. Once the word gets out, hundreds of teenage and young adult men will come to any party they can find on a Saturday night. 

Quoting part of the police report: “There were about 100 teenagers and young adults standing around on the sidewalk in front of [Anna’ s Jazz Island] and another 10-15 standing around inside the lobby. Ms de Leon told me that the party patrons were circumventing the security guards assigned to the party and were using her nightclub to walk in and out of the party through a rear entrance. They were smoking marijuana and some were drinking alcohol from two-liter soda bottles that had been spiked. 

“I recovered two such soda bottles abandoned in the lobby that contained at least half their contents. I examined the bottles and they smelled strongly of alcohol. The party was extremely loud and the music was easily audible from the sidewalk. 

“The person [responsible for the party] said he was unable to manage the crowd and the issues presented by them. ... The security assigned accomplished the dispersal of the room quick and orderly. Ms de Leon said she attempted to count the number of people in the room as they were leaving and she lost count at 182. [Current occupancy permitted is 86.] 

“I requested additional units to assist with what was likely to be a crowd control concern. Several officers and sergeants arrived within moments (in six police cars). Sgt. Frankel led a group of officers in an effort to move the crowd toward Shattuck Avenue and away from the Gaia Building. After about 20 30 minutes of interactive crowd management and only minor skirmishes, the crowd dispersed. While dispersing, a bottle was thrown from the crowd in the direction of the officers...” 

The officers handled this volatile situation extremely well. No escalation, no injuries, no arrests. But Ms. Atherstone states: “This birthday party was a private celebration and was not facilitated in any way by Glass Onion Catering and Gaia Arts Management or Panoramic Interests.” With that total unwillingness to take responsibility, or to apologize for bad judgment, this will likely happen again. And it makes one wonder: What mysterious person gave the parent of an 18-year-old the key to the Gaia door? Who told The Marsh to shut down the play that one night in a month-long run? Who received the rent that the parent told me he paid for the facility? Not only did this private party benefit no one, we all now bear the cost for the six police cars that arrived. We all pay the salaries of all those officers called to the scene to do “crowd control.” All for another private party that should never have been held in a space in which only cultural use is permitted. 

Anna de Leon is the proprietor of Anna’ s Jazz Island.

The reason that I moved to South Berkeley a few years ago was to become part of a community that shared my vision for an inclusive society that valued diversity and compassion above all other things. While I still feel deeply committed to a world that is centered more on the common good of its citizens than petty economic pursuits, I do feel that there needs to be a little flexibility and open mindedness when it comes to the growing need for high-density housing options here in Berkeley.  

Here in Berkeley this problem is more acute than anywhere else I can think of off hand. This city is one of the most densely populated cities in the entire state. For nearly a century, development of land in Berkeley was approached with a philosophy that was totally incongruent with the geographical limitations of the area. The approach was not unlike Los Angeles. However the fact that Berkeley is situated between the bay and the coastal range made the problems associated with urban sprawl much more acute than in the Los Angeles basin and its seemingly endless expanse of arid pasture land.  

With this bit of history in mind, I am amazed that the citizens of South Berkeley are angrily fighting the mere study of a potential development at the Ashby BART parking lot. In my estimation, parking lots are probably the biggest waste of land imaginable. The idea that a piece of land in the middle of a densely populated city is only being used to house cars and a flea market is insane. Thankfully, the kind of antiquated thinking that led to such an outrageous notion in the first place is being supplanted with the wisdom to do more with our land than host drum circles and collect oil slicks. Of course, this sentiment is coming from a guy who parks at the Ashby BART and loves to hear the drum circle when I sit in my back yard on the weekends. 

Now I am certain that most of the opponents to the development can agree with me in principle that something must be done at the site. I am pretty sure that a city with such an educated populace is more than aware that a parking lot is a big waste of space. Unfortunately, I don’t understand what the opponents are afraid of at this point. After all, at this point, Mr. Anderson and his associates are merely trying to secure money for a study regarding the property. When did this become a major no-no? It’s not as if they invited Bechtel over for drinks and signed a deal that would have given them enough kickback money to send the next three generations of family to college. Clearly, nothing illegal, immoral or underhanded was done. All that has happened so far is a chance for the city to get money to examine potential uses for the site.  

I think the real issue here is that many people who oppose this plan are being nit-picky about the bureaucratic process because they do not want to see any changes in South Berkeley. They would rather watch weeds grow in a parking lot than support a development that they view as elitist. I believe there is a pervasive fear that any development that doesn’t serve the far-fetched claims I have read about in this paper recently is inherently wrong.  

I’m sorry to say this, but the flea market does not justify the massive land waste at the Ashby BART. For those who feel the flea market is their only way to make a living, the city has pledged to find the venue a new home on Adeline. Moreover, citizens who use the flea market as their justification to oppose a new development need to acknowledge that something must be done with the land eventually, and it is inevitable that the flea market will have to find a new venue at some point. Further, using the land for “a creek to help children lose weight” is a nice sentiment, but a little unrealistic. In my view, the only viable option for the site is to provide high-density housing and viable commercial options in an area that badly lacks both of these things. Also, there is no chance that eminent domain will be used in any development, and nobody in favor of the development has insinuated that historical buildings should be torn down. However, if this development could bring upgrades to the area’s buildings, this is a good thing.  

Lastly, I am grateful to live in a city with so man citizens who care about the path we take as a community. However, there must be compromise to allow development to take place. We must keep pace with the changing dynamics of our time so that we can continue to provide for the current and future needs of our city. Instead of opposing any development outright, why don’t we look at ways to ensure there is affordable housing components of developments and that the construction is green. The future of any development on the parking lot must have the input of all of South Berkeley’s citizens and must conform to a vision that we all can agree on. I truly hope that we can have some sort of a creek in the new development, as I love the idea of restoring native habitat. I also hope that we can integrate essential services for underserved people in the new development. However, we cannot let far fetched theory and pettiness deride the great opportunity we have at the Ashby BART parking lot. For any development to work there must be compromise. The future will bring change regardless of our personal views, and the only way we can all shape this change is to talk it out and reach a consensus.  

Jonathan Stephens is a South Berkeley resident.$

Before you read this article, take a five count. Slowly inhale through your nose for five seconds, hold your breath for five seconds and then slowly exhale through your mouth counting to five. 

Who needs a road or a vehicle to be in a rage, a shopping cart can do just fine. Some people seem to think that by pushing their shopping cart in your behind in the check-out line the cashier will move faster. I’ve also noticed people behind me counting the items in my cart to make sure there are 15 or less. (Are 10 cans of Alpo considered one item or 10...it’s all dog food.) Also when someone finally has their groceries rung up and they pull out coupons—look out! The sighs and groans that come from the line are only duplicated by the changing of cashiers or someone being sentenced to jail.  

Line rage at the DMV got so bad that you’ll occasionally see an armed state trooper roaming the lobby instead of patrolling the highways. They’ve also introduced appointments.  

Line rage is not always unjustifiable. It can be brought on by rude store personnel or by someone standing in line in front of you waving for their three friends to join them. 

I’ve recently read in the Daily Planet of long lines and people’s discontent with poor service at the post office. Uh oh! We don’t need the public going postal too. 

But all is not lost, yet. I have some suggestions. 

“Not in a hurry, left early.” That’s my new mantra. It gives me, and especially those who are even more incompetent, time to handle their business. 

Reading tabloids. I look forward to standing in line as an opportunity to read the Enquirer, Globe and all those other papers that I have never purchased and never will. Who knows! Maybe Elvis and Jimi Hendrix really did come from another planet. Perhaps they can even install news racks at the post office and DMV. 

Be nice. Sometimes I turn to the impatient person behind me and insist they go in front of me. It confounds the hell out of them. 

The five-second count. Recently I’ve had to go as high as a 10-second count. But watch out! I can only hold my breath for so long. 

I’m amazed at the length some people will go to gain a few extra minutes out of a 24-hour day. We’ve all heard of fistfights and shootings on the freeway because someone wanted to get a few car lengths ahead of someone else. Impatience causes stress, and stress is a leading cause of death in America.  

Beware! Those few minutes you may gain rushing about could be the cause of your demise.  

Winston Burton is a Berkeley resident. 

That Sam A. Man, that Sam A. Man, I do not trust that Sam A. Man. 

I would not trust him in a judge’s box, and sure not with that Cheney Fox. 

Would not trust him with our last tree, he’s friends with Karl Rove you see. 

Big Business is where he’s at; he’s friends with “The Cat in the Fat.” 

Alito says he’s not rememberin’ the club of bigots that he’s in. 

We need someone to be a man, not a selective memory span. 

I would not trust him with a vote, not him, not in a judge’s coat. 

Not in Louisiana rain, it’s true he comes from Bush’s brain. 

Bush’s brain, whoever that might be, Rove, or Cheney, or Libby. 

We all know the time is now, and we can stop him, this is how. 

If we want to stop Alito, we have strength that we can muster,  

And Sam A. Man will be finito, now’s our chance to filibuster. 

It’s not so hard to do you see, now take this little tip from me: 

Just talk until the day is through, and then Sam A. goes away from you. 

In a March article in The New Republic, Robert Reich wrote of four essential American stories. One of these is “the triumphant individual,” the little guy who pulls himself up by the bootstraps. Thanks to the Bush administration, that story has died for most Americans. 

Reich explained that the triumphant individual “works hard, takes risks, believes in himself, and eventually gains wealth, fame, and honor. The moral: With enough effort and courage, anyone can make it in the United States.” 

American culture has always been characterized by the optimistic belief that no matter how humble the circumstances of our birth, we could rise above them. Now, due to the policies of the Bush administration, this mythic belief has evaporated. 

At its core, the story of the triumphant individual depends on three elements: perseverance, access to education, and fair treatment. Americans believe that if they stick in there and work hard, they will eventually succeed. However, working hard is no longer enough to get ahead in America. One in four American workers—30 million—are mired in low-wage jobs that do not provide for a life with dignity. Why has this happened?  

The answer is that worker’s wages are no longer tied to productivity. In July, Jonathan Tasini wrote in TomPaine.com, “For decades, workers’ wages were tied to productivity … Historically, increased efficiency flowed to workers in the form of higher wages.” 

Now that link has been broken. 

“Productivity has grown almost three times faster than wages since 2001,” he wrote. “During that time, 70 percent of the nation’s income growth has gone straight into corporate coffers as profits—presumably to continue to finance staggering pay and benefits for executives—a complete reversal from the previous seven business cycles when 77 percent of the overall income growth went to wages.”  

Simply stated, the heart of the American notion of productivity has been broken. When workers improve their output, this gain no longer benefits them or society in general; it goes straight to corporate profits. American productivity is no longer something we can all be proud of—it is a cruel hoax, a broken promise to Americas workers. 

The second essential element in the story of the triumphant individual is access to quality education. There is compelling research that shows that compensation is closely related to level of education. Most Americans understand this and routinely return to school to upgrade their skills. However, the Bush administration, as a side-affect of their duplicitous “no child left behind” program has denied the American educational system the resources it needs to ensure that our workers remain competitive in the world economy. During the past five years, the total funds allocated to worker training have diminished. The ancillary services that many workers need to receive, in order to take advantage of this job training, have also been cut: child care, vocational counseling, and the like. 

Finally, the president and his friends have set a dreadful example for the average citizen. The subliminal message from this administration is that one does not succeed on merit, but rather through connections—it’s not your competence that counts, but your cronies. George W. Bush was a failure as a CEO; one after another his businesses tanked—nonetheless, he was continuously bailed out by family connections. 

Dick Cheney provides another—and continuing—example of succeeding because of connections rather than competence. Michael “Brownie” Brown’s tenure as FEMA head is merely the most notorious of a series of crony appointments by the Bush White House. Recent events indicate that the administration learned nothing from the debacle following Hurricane Katrina; they continue to appoint cronies to senior governmental positions regardless of their lack of qualifications. 

The last Gallup poll on “opportunity” was conducted in January 2005. It contained a question regarding the respondent’s satisfaction with “opportunity for a person in this nation to get ahead by working hard?” Sixty-six percent were “very” or “somewhat satisfied.” 

In the same time period, The Economist reported that while Americans continue to believe that anyone can change social class through hard work, “A growing body of evidence suggests that the meritocratic ideal is in trouble in America. Income inequality is growing to levels not seen since the Gilded Age, around the 1880s. But social mobility is not increasing at anything like the same pace: would-be Horatio Algers are finding it no easier to climb from rags to riches, while the children of the privileged have a greater chance of staying at the top of the social heap. The United States risks calcifying into a European-style class-based society.” 

The underlying ethos of the United States has always been characterized by optimism; the confidence that the myth of the triumphant individual continues. What will happen when Americans realize that they have been tricked; that the Bush administration has corrupted the American Dream? 

Bob Burnett is a Berkeley writer and activist. He can be reached at bobburnett@comcast.net. 

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Competitive elections give citizens a rare opportunity: a chance to participate in a discussion that could actually affect the future of their community. 

The Oakland mayoral race—which includes heavyweight candidates Nancy Nadel, Ignacio De La Fuente, and Ron Dellums—gives Oaklanders such a chance. But this is simply an opportunity. It works only if citizens take advantage of it by demanding that candidates answer questions about issues that are important to us. 

In a recent Oakland Tribune article on a De La Fuente fundraiser, reporter Heather McDonald attempted to outline some of the terms of the current mayoral debate in the area of economic development, writing that “De La Fuente promised to encourage the influx of private investment in Oakland, and use it to revitalize the waterfront and other blighted areas of Oakland. Dellums has articulated a very different philosophy, saying he supports development—but only after city leaders ensure that it embraces Oakland's racial and economic diversity.” 

I’m not sure if this accurately portrays the views of these two candidates, or shows the differences between their positions, since it seems to imply that Mr. De La Fuente is not in favor of Oakland’s racial and economic diversity, or that Mr. Dellums would not encourage private investment to help cure the city’s economic problems. I doubt if either one of those assertions is true. And, even though Ms. McDonald neglected to mention the third major candidate in the race, I would also guess that Ms. Nadel would also encourage development and promote diversity. So if we’re to understand the differences and the possibilities, where should the debate go? 

There is one view of city planning that cities are defined by their central core—their “downtown,” in the old way of saying things—and that without a live and lively downtown, a city is dead and has no identity at all. I’m not sure if Mayor Jerry Brown holds this view—one can never be quite sure what Mr. Brown actually believes—but he certainly acts like he does, and during his administration we have seen most of the economic development attention coming out of the mayor’s office concentrated in the downtown area (and by downtown, of course, we also include the Forest City “uptown” project, which is located in the northern end of downtown). 

There is another view that modern cities can be better defined by their neighborhood commercial/social centers, and that concentration on the economic health of those neighborhood centers can make for a living, vibrant city, even with a downtown that is virtually dead, or never existed. 

In this view, the City of Oakland is bustling and thriving, and only in need of a little help from City Hall in order to burst out once more as the East Bay’s economic, social, and cultural center. 

The common complaint about Oakland’s downtown is that it lacks a variety of shopping outlets, and that it virtually shuts down after dark in many places, turning into a virtual ghost town. 

That is certainly not the case in many of Oakland’s neighborhood commercial centers. 

A visit to these centers—Grand Avenue/Lakeshore, College Avenue, Montclair Village, the Laurel, the Fruitvale, the wildly-successful Chinatown—delivers a far different experience: sidewalks jammed with shoppers, restaurants and clubs filled with patrons, parking lots and metered spaces at their capacity. In some of these areas—International Boulevard between 29th and 35th, for example, or most of Chinatown—vehicle traffic comes to a virtual halt at times, Manhattan-like, because of the massive amounts of commercial and social activity. 

Traffic and parking, in fact, not “how to attract development,” is Oakland’s major economic problem that the newly-elected mayor ought to address, and where the mayoral debate ought to focus. 

Oakland’s streets were laid out in a slower, more elegant time, and if you ever get the chance to drive San Pablo Avenue from the Berkeley border to downtown, and then International out to San Leandro at, say, 4 in the morning, you can see how much the street patterns once made sense. As the population rapidly fills in, and vehicles increase both in size and in number, that is no longer the case. At the same time, it is easy to see that the available parking in any of the neighborhood commercial centers no longer meets the demand. 

Those twin problems, lack of sufficient parking and lack of flowing traffic, are what have halted the further development of Oakland’s neighborhood commercial centers, why it’s not practical to try to entice a J. C. Penney’s to, say, Lakeshore Avenue instead of Broadway or Telegraph. Residents of these areas are rightfully resisting further development because the city streets and parking areas can’t handle what is already there. 

But are these problems unsolvable, simply the curse of modern city life? A quick look around the East Bay shows that they are not. 

No local city has packed more commercial development into a small space than little Emeryville, and no East Bay city had a greater traffic problem in recent years. Many people thought that the Emery Bay development would be the death of that city, bringing traffic to a halt. It didn’t. Instead, Emeryville has combined creative solutions ($1 for four hours of parking in the lots, for example) with some sort of deal with Caltrans that caused the creation of a four-lane flyover overpass that connects Stanford Avenue with Emery Bay and Ikea and on back up to San Pablo Avenue. If Emeryville has the smarts and the state political clout to develop such remedies, the new occupant of the Oakland mayor’s office—whoever that will be—should certainly be able to do the same for the transportation problems along College Ave. 

One of the stories about Oakland is that in the early 1960s the city leaders—swollen with their assurance that the city had always been the East Bay’s economic engine and always would be—looked on the development of the malls as a passing neon-driven fad that could never compete with Oakland’s brick-and-mortar downtown. That might simply be urban legend, but it certainly has the ring of truth to it. The malls in Pleasanton or Hayward or Richmond are booming. (At the same time, none of these cities has what one would call a thriving downtown.) 

I’m glad that Oakland missed out on the malls. They are for the most part sterile, artificial economic environments, most often completely divorced from the social environments of the cities in which they temporarily exist. 

But for Oakland, the neighborhood commercial/social centers are the malls of the 21st century, the place where our commercial and social future ought to lie. Are these neighborhood centers important to the three major candidates for mayor of Oakland? If so, how would each of them preserve what we already have, and what would they adopt as policies of improvement? How would they bring similar development to the areas that have been left behind—much of West Oakland, for example, or the far reaches of East Oakland going towards San Leandro? Specifics are in order. A candidate who could successfully answer those questions—and build a campaign around those answers—could develop a coalition that would include neighborhood residents and activists as well as the majority of the city’s business owners, stretching across all of the city’s diverse economic, racial, social, and cultural lines. That’s the kind of coalition that Oakland needs. That’s the kind of political debate that Oakland needs. 

I’ll wait, patiently, to see if that happens. 

Eighteen years ago, when I started in the inspection business, my clients were always buyers and never sellers. In fact, sellers and, all too often, their agents, viewed the inspection as an assault on their homes. This was often miserable and I was sometimes foolish enough to take the bait and join in the adversarial tone of the conflict. When sellers insisted on being home, pitch-fork in hand to defend their turf from my unfair assertions, I would debate and even argue on occasion.  

Then one day the light bulb came on for me and I realized that this did nothing for my client, the buyer. All I was doing was showing off how much I thought I knew and possibly endangering my client’s deal for nothing more than my hubris. Today, I’m more apt to understand how nervous the seller is and to offer them assurances, letting them see that I’m only there to help. And to lessen their liability by informing the buyer about vital issues that may affect their money or their life. 

The truth is, I now do about a third of my business for the seller instead of the buyer. Sellers and their agents have started figuring out that presenting a thorough report on the condition of the property when they’re showing the house does a number of very powerful things for them. For your edification, here are just two: 

Liability protection 

When a seller has the house inspected prior to sale, they greatly reduce the likelihood that they’re going to get into trouble with the buyer somewhere down the line. Major issues get looked at and talked about. The realities are laid down in plain type for all to see and these documents get signed and dated by the buyers in the course of sale so that a record remains to prove that sellers were told about the damaged foundation or the leaky pipe. Strangely, these realities don’t keep most people from proceeding with the sale. We all expect old houses—actually, all houses—to have some problems. It’s natural. But now it’s been recorded in detail for future reference and also so that the buyer is conditioned to the realities.  

People in Berkeley don’t buy houses simply because they have good pipes or good foundations. If that’s all they cared about they’d all be living in Tracy. They buy houses for their charm, for the neighborhood, the big living room, the nice backyard and the proximity to schools and shopping. The physical stuff is secondary. So the fact that people are told about these failings doesn’t necessarily stop them from buying, but it does inform them so that they can go forward without remorse. There are, however, some folks that will not want to buy your house once informed about a particular problem (or perhaps 10 particular problems). Trust me when I say that you don’t want them to buy your house anyway. It is far better to move on to a buyer who buys happily; that way you don’t have to wonder when the other shoe will drop, ending up with a regretful buyer to cope with (or their attorney). 

Improved Negotiations 

So you have a buyer. They read about the old furnace, the crack in the foundation and the flat roof. They understand about these facts and they love the house. They’re going to make you an offer that they think will get you to say yes. That’s the whole idea, right? They’re going to try to avoid taking into account as many of the future costs as they can so that you’ll say yes. This is common logic. Then comes the clincher. What usually happens, except in the most vigorous seller’s market, is that inspections are done after the deal is made and then, as facts come out, buyers and their agents endeavor to reduce the sale price based on new discovery. “Hey, we just found out that that the heater is kaput, can you drop by the price by six grand?” “Oh my, the foundation will need a $12,000 repair. Will you split it with us?” 

If you’ve presented these things up front in a report from the get go, there will be far less of this occurring. There is no way to prevent new revelations or new opinions from erupting but they are far fewer and often non-existent, when sellers have taken this bold step. 

Sellers also get rightly perceived as having less to hide and as being more forthright when they obtain thorough inspections for themselves prior to putting their houses on the market. This does mean one very important thing, though. It means that if you are such a person, you need to be willing to have the bumps and warts revealed by your own representative and at your own expense.  

Occasionally a seller will ask me to slant my report one way or another and, of course, this is both ethically improper and legally unwise. I will calmly explain that the full expression of the facts from a neutral perspective helps them enormously. The truth is that most people are very willing to have a fair disclosure of their house presented to the buying public once they understand how it all works. 

If you’re buying or selling, get to know an inspector. The condition of the house certainly isn’t the only thing that matters, but not knowing can sting a whole lot more than knowing. 

f

Last week I counseled patience with a newly acquired garden. Honest to Ceres, it really does pay off, or at least cost less in terms of lost plants and ego-damage, to wait a full year before doing anything major and permanent to your land. You don’t have to sit on your thumbs: put in some encouraging annuals, watch when sprouts from whatever was left behind, and get your hands in the dirt in the meantime. You know you want to.  

While you’re waiting impatiently to see what kind of yard you have and decide what you can grow there, you can do some simple testing to speed the process. 

What is the soil like? You probably won’t need expensive testing; you can learn what you need to easily. In Berkeley, you probably have clay. In the flatlands, that means poor drainage, but that can be improved. In the hills the drainage is better but the soil’s thinner, and there’s a slim chance you have some serpentine-derived soil. (Look for deep-maroon soil that most stuff isn’t growing well in.) Pick it up and squeeze it. Does it fall apart, wet as it is in midwinter? Good. You must have very good drainage and/or a gift of amended soil from your predecessors. 

Most of us have icky sticky bricky clay to work with. You know you’re one of us when the soil has stayed wet enough after a few non-rainy days to turn into a tight ball with your fingerprints on it. That also means you shouldn’t be digging it, walking on it, or generally messing with it because compressing it now will cost you lots of fluffing and amending later. 

Smell the dirt. Really. Hold a handful to your nose and savor the bouquet. Is it sour or stagnant-stinking? That’s really bad drainage. I have a mysterious watery hole in my yard, where the driveway turns from concrete to dirt, that smells like that. It’s not near a sewer or waterline; it appears every winter, no matter what I’ve tried to fill it with—rocks, sand, soil, garden waste, random small objects from the house. Something like it (OK, larger) appeared in Pennsylvania where a coalmine caved in, when I was a kid, and half the Susquehanna River poured into it. They tried truckloads of fill, concrete, even a locomotive and some of its train—really; I have pictures. I don’t remember what finally got the thing plugged. I’m worrying. If you hear that south Berkeley’s vanished, it might be my fault. 

Just plain clay smells like, well, clay: wet bricks, modeling clay (not plasticine), a freshly-watered plant’s pot. Dig a hole. How hard was that? Did the mud stick to your spade? Clay. Good amended garden soil, fit for growing food and most non-natives, smells loamy like a damp forest floor or just-picked root veggies.  

After rain, look for long-lasting puddles or mushrooms or even moss on the ground. That’s where you put your water feature. Watch the course of water running through your yard. You’ll be better off adapting to that than trying to make big changes in it. ?

The South Berkeley Blues 

Goin’ to South Berkeley 

Sorry but I can’t take you 

Said I’m goin’ to South Berkeley 

Sorry but I can’t take you 

‘Cause deep down in ole South Berkeley  

There just ain’t nothin’ for nobody to do... 

Well... 

Rant 

So, great, along with our bookstores, delicatessens, banks, boutiques, art galleries, museums, parks, Peet’s and Starbucks, we’re getting a “transit village” too? After our fair city allowed BART to rip apart our neighborhood while ‘60s hippies and Berkeley-style liberals quietly watched—I’m sure there were more important issues at the time—we got split in two so that north Berkeleyans could and still do speed through our used-to-be neighborhood to get to the freeway flyin’ down MLK not stopping for pregnant/elderly/our children with no pedestrian crossing/double the fines/school ahead/humans walking signs or stripes or lighted walkways like on College Avenue, Solano Avenue in the north east any place but here to prevent us from harm injury death ... the pleasure of calling out to our neighbors swallowed up by the constant din making us deaf to each other but not to the screeching of tires the blaring of horns our main street turned pollution filled highway so others can go go go as fast as you can to get to anyplace but here and their noise and the smell dust particles from their cars on our window sills our fruit trees settling into our lungs our children die younger in South Berkeley our elderly die younger our men our women I bet even our pets—would you care then if our dogs were dying because of the car exhaust you dump into our neighborhood would you care then if it was all about our dogs would you care then? 

So now we have what was a Transparent Theater now an Ashby Stage and an Epic Arts and young white kids moving in creatively trying to live where the rents are lower and there’s some hope some room for their kind of creativity and daddy’s money whose money their hard working money is this city money? Hey, are there any black owned stores in South Berkeley in north east West Berkeley any black owned businesses yes we do our own hair so we do have those and one shoe repair shop and and and and — 

We eat we wear clothes and read books and where are our stores? Will any of these new transit village homes shops creative ideas have room for us will we own anything create anything show our art, sell our food, your cheeses anybody’s coffee? Will we sing in this transit village will we recite poetry perform plays sew clothes paint pictures sculpt, play read sleep talk with other humans as though we were human too in this new village? Or will we weep? Will this transit village be just another transit be just another way of going through without seeing transversing without the village part just a going through to get to never mind who was there before and still might be now, they’re just remnants of what was anyway. 

And what of our beloved flea market our landmark truly the center of our village the village that is not in transit does not need funding or redesigning or building but the village that already is and has been? 

We gather at our flea market every weekend for communion for exercise we walk talk dance to our own made up music we laugh we share not just buy it’s not about the money. 

Do you really need another playground? 

End of Rant 

When I was growing up and spending my summers in South Berkeley with Grandma and Granddad (we just called it Berkeley then; it was all just plain old Berkeley) you could actually engage in a conversation with the Cottons across the street and you could walk across Grove Street without taking your life into your hands. 

What we did in South Berkeley was spend time with our families. It wasn’t about going out and shopping. We ate, we laughed, we walked down to the park, we played in the sand while our parents played tennis, we walked home, gathered together and shared our days. Now, the old black and Asian folks are mostly gone, their offspring as well. Many young black families cannot afford their own parents’ homes so they’ve moved to Oakland, Richmond, El Cerrito and further. Look around you. Where are Berkeley’s middle-class black families? Few and far between.  

My questions are these: Is it the plan for this transit village to be wholly self-contained? So that folks arrive on BART, shop and then leave? So there’s no interaction with the aborigines in the outer village at all? If so, what do the rest of us villagers get besides the loss of our beloved flea market? It sounds eerily like what’s being planned for our Derby Street Farmer’s Market. Destroy our landmark—one of our primary centers for nourishment and communion—to make our neighborhood more desirable for whom? For how many hours?  

If there is to be a South Berkeley Transit Village, we need some guarantees demonstrating inclusiveness. And while we’re waiting for our paid representatives to supply these guarantees, why don’t you people do something about the speeding down MLK, the lack of protection for pedestrians, the noise and pollution people in transit create while transiting through our used-to-be neighborhood and fill some potholes, smooth some sidewalks and plant some trees while you’re at it.  

Thank you.?

My New York friends took me to see the musical Jersey Boys at the August Wilson Theatre on 52nd Street in Manhattan. They thought that because I grew up in the Garden State I would identify with, at the very least, the title. And in some ways I did. Jersey Boys, the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, was familiar because, like almost everyone from the ‘burbs in the early ‘60s, I grew up with their music. 

Before entering the theater I had no idea how many Four Seasons’ tunes I knew by heart. 

It turns out I know more Frankie Valli lyrics then those of the Beatles or the Rolling Stones. Unbeknownst to me, Frank and the Seasons made up the background noise of my formative years. After four-plus decades I have, both regrettably and remarkably retained without effort, every word, doo wop, and mumble uttered by Mr. Valli and his boys. 

It helps, of course, that every Four Seasons’ tune sounds exactly the same, but perhaps that’s part of the charm. Secretly listening to WIBG Philadelphia blaring from my pink transistor radio hidden under my pillow, I woke up to Silhouettes (“On the Shade”), brushed my teeth to “Earth Angel,” ate breakfast to “Big Man in Town,” and left for Wenonah Elementary School to the strains of “C’mon Marianne.” 

I returned home, flicked on the radio, and was greeted by Frankie once again, singing Sherry (“Sherry baby”), Dawn (“You’re no good for me”), and my then personal favorite, “Ragdoll.” Just before going to bed Frank serenaded me with “My Eyes Adored You,” and followed up with “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You.” 

Is it any wonder I turned out to be the person I am today with short, falsetto, very Catholic Frankie telling the pre-pubescent me all night long he was ‘working his way back with a burning love inside’? 

On the way to the theater, I reviewed my brief history with the Broadway musical form. When was the last time I had seen a show in the Big Apple? I recalled going on a school bus trip when I was 14 or 15 years old, but what did I see? It wasn’t Hair, because eighth-graders from Gateway Regional Junior High wouldn’t have been permitted to see it. It wasn’t Oklahoma, The Sound of Music, Westside Story, My Fair Lady, or Fiddler on the Roof. Cats came later, as did Godspell and A Chorus Line. It wasn’t Oh Calcutta! because I would have definitely remembered naked people on stage. 

I went through the alphabet hoping it would help me jump-start my memory. I asked my friends to sing aloud the show tunes they remembered from childhood. They mumbled weirdly jumbled interpretations of “Climb Every Mountain,” “If I Were a Rich Man,” and “The Rain in Spain,” but we didn’t get any closer to unlocking my forgotten past. The only words to Camelot anyone could recall were these four sung in a Richard Harris-affected baritone: “to Ca-me-lot.” 

I tried another approach. What musicals did they see when they were teenagers? There was a long pause while everyone struggled to mentally search back 45 years or so. Suddenly, they all shouted at once: Man of LaMancha! Each of them burst into their own rendition of “The Impossible Dream.” It was pathetic. 

What had happened to us? We’d gone from dreaming the impossible dream, fighting the unbeatable foe, and bearing the unbearable sorrow to “I’m Beggin You and Bye Bye Baby, (don’t make me cry).” 

But while I don’t recall much about Don Quixote and his quest, I do remember Frankie Valli advising and admonishing in “Big Girls Don’t Cry” and “Walk Like a Man.” Perhaps it’s time to take his advice again and apply it to my waning memories as in “Let’s Hang on to What We Got (don’t give up girl, we’ve got a lot).” 

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It’s only on my worst, most misanthropic days that I suspect most of my fellow humans of not noticing that the trees around us are more than overdecorated hatracks. We all know they’re alive, right? And we all know, or ought to, that they’re in motion, growing, moving (though at a pace we’re ill-equipped to see), performing, building the massive edifices of themselves with light and carbon and air.  

They move themselves mostly by building, a few cells at a time, reaching by expanding, and bending by swelling or compressing themselves on one side or another, toward light above ground and water below. In the process of making their food and substance they emit oxygen and water into the atmosphere. Turns out they’re juggling that water in a more complex and sophisticated manner than anyone had suspected, according to recent finds by various scientists.  

The heights to which they can pump water, passing it and the nutrient minerals dissolved in it along their xylem tissues, vary among species—and it’s evidently the limiting factor for many trees’ ultimate heights. In the top leaves of big old redwoods, for example, photosynthesis is much less efficient than it was when the tree was younger and smaller.  

There appears to be a simple mechanical reason for this: Water is forced along those long columns largely by the force of evaporation through the stomata, the little pores on each leaf. At the top of a big tree, water is scarcer because it’s harder to draw up, so the stomata are closed more often to limit evaporation. But leaves also take in carbon dioxide through those stomata, and can’t do so when they’re in effect holding their breath. Metabolically, the tree ends up running as fast as it can just to stay in place.  

Conifers have larger pores in the connections within their water-conducting systems, which allow them to move more water through with less internal resistance. This would be one reason those redwoods and big pines and spruces can tower over other trees in the forest.  

Plumbing isn’t the whole story; there are internal cell-growth effects of hydrostatic pressure differences, and some tropical trees that also grow more slowly when they get big, but USDA ecologist Michael Ryan and his team studying a set of eucalyptus seedlings in Hawaii for seven years think that water’s too plentiful to be the limiter. They’re still looking for that. 

Meanwhile, a set of UC Berkeley researchers has figured out that deep-rooted trees engage in water-banking: they store water in different levels of the soil for their own use. By doing this, they’re able to keep their rate of evapotranspiration—the release of water into the air around them, humidifying and cooling it—and of photosynthesis 40 percent higher in dry months than they would otherwise be, and keep their place and the planet cooler than they’d be without them. 

Todd Dawson, Jung-Eun Lee, and Inez Fung of UC Berkeley, and their colleagues including Rafael Oliveira of the Laboratório de Ecologia Isotópica at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, studied Amazonian trees in particular but said their model showed effects in temperate places too.  

The tap roots that some species have, which can extend more than their height underground, have more to do than anchor the tree. Fibrous feeding roots reach a broad, shallower area around the tree; tap roots, using chemical potential gradients, redistribute water downwards in rainy seasons and upwards in dry seasons to keep nurturing life processes. These processes are how trees sequester carbon from the atmosphere—another control on planetary climate extremes. 

“These trees are using their root system to redistribute water into different soil compartments,” Dawson said. “This allows the trees and the forest to sustain water use throughout the dry season. … There’s this skin on the Earth—plants—that has an effect on a global scale, pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and letting water go, in a dynamic way that has climatic implications.” 

We know that trees modify our immediate surroundings in the city—you can feel that directly, standing in a tree’s shade on a hot day, being cooled by its transpiration. Apparently they’re actively doing that favor for the whole world, too. 

?

FRIDAY, JAN. 27 

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. www.aeofberkeley.org 

“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 

Berkeley Rep “9 Parts of Desire” about women in war-torn Iraq, at 8 p.m. at the Trust Stage, 2025 Addison St., through March 5. Tickets are $30-$59. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Contra Costa Civic Theater, “One Flew Over the Cockoo’s Nest” Fri. and Sat at 8 p.m. at 951 Pomona Ave. at Moeser Lane, El Cerrito, through Feb. 25. 524-9132. www.ccct.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 

“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 Feb. 5. 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. www.shotgunplayers.org 

Fib and Quibble Showcase, in celebration of Black History Month, at 8 p.m. Fri. and Sat., 3 p.m. Sun at Malonga Casquelord Cener for the Arts, 1428 Alice St. Donation $5. 839-9192. 

FILM 

African Film Festival “Delwende” at 7 and 8:50 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Alice Walker in conversation with Amy Goodman at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2501 Harrison St., Oakland. Tickets are $15-$20. Benefits Media Alliance. 832-9000, ext. 305. 

Suzanne Braun Levine talks about “Inventing the Rest of Our Lives: Women in Second Adulthood” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Gabriel Trop, cello and Jim Prell, piano at noon at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Free. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Pellejo Seco, Cuban son, at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Rami Bar-Niv, Israeli pianist, at 8 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. Tickets are $15. 848-1228. 

“New Works in the Nabe” new works by local writers, comedians, dancers, and musicians at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Cost is $10-$15. www.hillsideclub.org  

Sol Rebelz, Jerneye, Forensic Science at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Karen Blixt & Yooyoo Wolfe at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Don Carlos with RazorBlade at 10 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $18-$20. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Hal Stein Quartet at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

The Bobs at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

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

Stevie Harris and Aria at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Hostile Takeover, I Object, Abductee SD at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

Sila & The Afro Funk Experience at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$7. 548-1159.  

Amy Lou Blues Band at 9 p.m. at Eli’s Mile High Club, 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way., Oakland. Cost is $7. 654-4549. 

Three Faces of Evil, cabaret music with Carolyn Mark, Amy Honey and Lily Fawn at 9 p.m. at The Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph, Oakland. 444-6174. 

Ali Handal, guitar, at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10.  

Guru Garage at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

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 

SATURDAY, JAN. 28 

CHILDREN  

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Asheba at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Regla: Revolution” Selected prints from Cuban printmaker Antonio Canet. Reception at 2 p.m. at NIAD Art Center, 551 23rd St. Richmond. www.niadart.org 

Richmond Art Center Reception for Artists from 2 to 5 p.m. at 2540 Barrett Ave., Richmond. 620-6772. 

FILM 

Mikio Naruse “Husband and Wife” at 7 p.m. and “Wife” at 8:45 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Asian American Poets with Ed Bok Lee, Barbara Jane Reyes and Justin Chin at 2 p.m. at Heller Lounge, MLK Student Union, UC Campus. Sponsored by Eastwind Books of Berkeley. 548-2350. 

Dave Barry introduces “Dave Barry’s Money Secrets: Like: Why is There a Giant Eyeball on the Dollar?” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Opera “Falstaff” at 8 p.m. at Julia Morgan Theater, through Feb. 5. Tickets are $15-$40. 841-1903. www.berkeleyopera.org 

Berkeley Symphony “From Bach to Carter” at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $10-$54. 841-2800. www.berkeleysymphony.org 

Arlekin Quartet Concert, benefiting the Young Peoples Chamber Orchestra at 4 p.m. at Arlington Community Church, 52 Arlington, Kensington. Tickets are $10-$20 at the door. 595-4688. www.ypco.org 

Santa Fe Guitar Quartet at 7:30 p.m. at Regents Theater, Holy Names University, 3500 Mountain Blvd. Tickets are $25-$40. 549-3504. www.fourseasonsconcerts.com 

Ed Reed & Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

West African Highlife Band at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. African dance lesson at 9 p.m. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Larry Stefl Jazz Group at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Dream Sequence, with Sistas in the Pit, Company of Prophets, and headRush, hip hop and poetry at 9 p.m. at The Oakland Noodle Factory, 1255 26th St., Oakland. Tickets are $5-$20. All ages. 595-5526. 

The Mash Bash with Red Horizon, Secondhand Seranade, Story Told, and others at 6:30 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. All ages. 

Jeff Rolka and Duff Ferguson at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10. www.epicarts.org 

The Ravines and Jon Cooney at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

John Schott’s Dream Kitchen at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Lou & Peter Berryman at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Thrill Train R&B at 9 p.m. at Eli’s Mile High Club, 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way., Oakland. Cost is $7. 654-4549. 

Crack Pot Theory, Ghost Next Door, Absent Society at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Left Turn No Signal at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Warren Gale Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Megan Mclaugin and Patty Espeth at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7-$10. 558-0881. 

Rio Brasil Forró Band, Brazilian, at 9 p.m. at Capoeira Arts Cafe, 2026 Addison St. Cost is $8. 666-1255. capoeiraarts.com 

Mandrake, Lemon Lime Lights, Black Bird Stitches at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Lights Out, Internal Affairs, Down to Nothing at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, JAN. 29 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Art in Progress: Styles of the Artist” from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Poetry readings by John Curl, Meg Withers, and Patti Chepourkova at 2 p.m. at 800 Heinz. 845-0707. 

THEATER 

“Civil Rights Tales” By Stagebridge Senior Theater Company at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. Tickets are $5-$8. 848-0237.  

FILM 

Mikio Naruse “Older Brother, Younger Sister” at 4:30 p.m. and “Late Chrysanthemums” at 6:15 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Edward Weston: Masterworks from the Collection” with curator of photography Drew Johnson, at 2 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Poetry Flash with Amber Flora Thomas, Rose Black and Joseph Zaccardi at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Anna Carol Dudley, soprano, celebrates her 75th birthday with a free concert at 3 p.m. at the First Congregational Church of Berkeley, at Dana and Durant. 848-3696. 

Novello Quartet performs Haydn’s string quartets on period instruments at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. Tickets are $10-$15 at the door. www.novelloquartet.org 

Distant Oaks, a mid-winter Celtic celebration at 7 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Alameda, 2001 Santa Clara at Chestnut. Donation $10-$15. 522-1477. www.AlamedaChurch.com 

Prometheus Symphony Orchestra at 3 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Ave., Oakland. Admission is free, donations requested. 

Maria Loreto at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568.  

Vicki Genfan at 5 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

International Contemporary Ensemble “Composer Portrait Magnus Lindberg” at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32. 642-9988.  

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

John Worley & Worlview at 4:30 at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15. 845-5373. www.jazz- 

school.com 

Bandworks at 2:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $4. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Jessie Turner, and Vanessa Lowe at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Push to Talk, Aberdien, One Way Letter, at 5 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

MONDAY, JAN. 30 

THEATER 

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

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Writing for the Greater Good” panel discussion to celebrate the latest issue of Greater Good magazine at 5:30 p.m. at North Gate Library, Hearst at Euclid, UC Campus. http://peacecenter.berkeley.edu/greatergood 

“Electoral Guerilla Theatre: Speaking Mirth to Power” with UC Davis professor of theater, Larry Bogad at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books, 1491 Shattuck Ave. 486-0698.  

Kathleen Ragan describes “Outfoxing Fear: Folktales from Around the World” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Poetry Express with Zara Raab and HD Moe at 7 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Trovatore, traditional Italian music, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Daniel Sheridan, solo traditional and classical guitar at 6:30 p.m. at Fellini Restaurant, 1401 University at Acton. 

Nels Cline, music of Andrew Hill at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $6-$12. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, JAN. 31 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Making History in Avant Garde Film” Introduction and book-signing with Jeffrey Skoller at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

Bruce Andrews, performance artist and poet at 5:30 p.m. in the 1st floor Living Room, Mills Hall, Mills College, Oakland. 430-2236. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

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

Ellen Hoffman Trio and singer’s open mic at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

McCoy Tyner Residency, with Bobby Hutcherson, Ravi Coltrane, Charnett Moffet & Eric Harland at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Feb. 5. Cost is $15-$50. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Randy Craig Trio, jazz, at 7:30 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

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

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 1 

EXHIBITIONS 

African American Inventors and Scientists at the Junior Center of Art and Science, 558 Bellvue Ave., Lakeside Park, Oakland, through April 8. 839-5777. www.juniorcenter.org 

Israel Artfest 2006 Collection of works by over 100 Israeli artists. Reception at 7 p.m. at Congregation Beth El, 1301 Oxford St. Exhibition runs to Feb. 5. Cost is $10. 848-3988. 

Artists for Social and Political Awareness “Artifice” Reception at 5:30 p.m. at North/South Gallery, 5241 College Ave., at Broadway. 

FILM 

Film 50: “By The Law” at 3 p.m. at Weird America: “In a Nutshell: A Portrait of Elizabeth Tashjian” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Opera “Falstaff” at 7:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Theater. Tickets are $15-$40. 841-1903. www.berkeleyopera.org 

Lura, Caboverdian artist at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $18-$20. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

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

3 Strikez, K Diezel, G-I Joes, Hot Lipps at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

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

Saoco at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Salsa lessons at 8 p.m. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Chuck Brodsky, old-fashioned story songs, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

McCoy Tyner with Bobby Hutcherson, Ravi Coltrane, Charnett Moffett & Eric Harland at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $20-$35. 238-9200.  

THURSDAY, FEB. 2 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Telegraph 3pm” Poetry by Owen Hill and photographs by Robert Eliason at 7 p.m. at the YWCA in Berkeley, 2600 Bancroft Way. 

FILM 

“Al’léési ... an African Actress” free screening at 5:30 p.m. and Mikio Naruse: “Sound of the Mountain” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Kate Gale, poet, at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

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

Word Beat Reading Series with Jesse Redpond and Monique de Magdalene at 7 p.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

John Stowell/Mike Zilber Quartet at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Tickets are $10-$15. 701-1787. 

Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $22.50-$23.50. 548-1761. 

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

Deep Roots Urban Teahouse Hip Hop Show at 7:30 p.m. at 1418 34th Ave. , Oakland. Free for all ages. 436-0121. 

Dave Bernstein and John Wiitala at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. ?

“Early in the morning, always early, I come to throw dead shoes in the river ... today the river must eat.” 

The shadow of a woman with a vessel on her head glides beneath a ruined facade of blue tile and plaster, her figure in traditional abaya emerging from behind the plastic tarps screening off the rubble, past sandbags (which later double as pillows) and pours sandals into a pool surrounded by yet more tile, as she pronounces these words. 

She is a professional mourner in Baghdad, the first of the fe male characters played by Mozhan Marnò in 9 Parts of Desire, the solo show written by Heather Raffo, now on the Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s Thrust Stage. 

She goes on: “When the grandson of Genghis Khan burned all the books in Baghdad, the river ran blac k with ink ... We were promised so much. The Garden of Eden was here ... Bring me back to the water I was created in.”  

Marnò changes quickly from one character into another, cutting across class lines as well as leaping geographically, playing an exile d Iraqi woman. 

“Exile in London is mostly Scotch,” she says. “Let it [the war] be chaos; maybe something will come out of it ... I’ve always been political, though I’m bourgeois. In Beirut I protested ... Everywhere I go there is a war ... This war is ag ainst all my beliefs, yet I’m for it.” 

She also portrays a young Iraqi-American, compulsively watching TV, spending hours trying to reach family members. “We make a movie, go on Oprah, talk about it like we’re moving on,” she says. “‘The war, it’s so hea rtbreaking,’ the woman next to me said. She was getting a pedicure; I was getting a pedicure ... I can’t walk down the street and see people smiling.” 

It’s diversity with a vengeance. An artist favored by the regime, based on a woman portraitist of Sadda m that Raffo interviewed in the 90s, speaks of her love life, brushing off an unseen interlocutor’s questions with a wave of her cigarette holder: “Iraqis know not to open their mouths, even for the dentist ... I will never leave, not for freedom we don’t have. Your Western culture, sister, will not free me from being called a whore.” 

Later, a poor street vendor will try to sell one of the artist’s watercolors: “You must buy ... Our history is finished, so it is more worth. Two dollars! I have to eat.” 

There is the doctor retching over the sewage overflowing in the hospital wards, talking about the genetic abnormalities, how the depleted uranium from ordnance will go on for centuries (and children wear radioactive shell fragments as trinkets), revealing her own scars to a girl with breast cancer who embraces her—and how she’s pregnant. The woman who leads tours of the shelter where over 400 people died, named just Umm Gheda, “Mother of Tomorrow,” after her dead daughter, Gheda: “Wild greens are growing. Nature chooses to grow around this grave of Iraqi people. My family is all here. We could not live together like this.” 

9 Parts of Desire seems to follow closely the typical format of the more socially committed solo performances, like Anna Deveare Smit h’s pieces on the L.A. riots, and so on. But there’s a difference in both depth and nimbleness; maybe there’s a formula that equates speed with clarity. 

Marnò, an Angelina of Iranian heritage, playing what Raffo (whose father is Iraqi) has written and pe rformed to acclaim in New York and London, displays an exceptional, disarming ability to almost dance, but just a single step at a time, from one role into the next, or reprise an earlier one, with an agility of gestures, expressions, accents. Each identi ty is established with its own peculiarities, its own rhythms, which add up to a syncopation of sensibilities, emotions—hearts beating together, though not in unison. 

Solo performance is a very elastic form—usually too much so, all content (whatever fits), no form. 9 Parts of Desire doesn’t blaze any trails, but works within its limitations with grace and brevity, reflecting the good work of author, performer and director (Joanna Settle)—as well as of the designers (Antje Ellerman, set; Peter West, light s; Obadiah Eaves, sound—all of the New York show), and getting across the message, composed of all the little conflicting messages, with a directness and exceptional clarity that doesn’t stint the complexity of its subject. 

Many have complained, with jus tice, that this war has been treated as “about us;” Iraqis are reduced to a shadowy enemy or to “man in the street” sound-bites of no consequence. 9 Parts of Desire makes an opening into the lives and talk of a people, of women, without sentimentality, an d at just the point where both domestic tyranny and the spin of the invasion/occupation has tried to speak for them. 

It’s refreshing—upbeat, even—harrowing, absorbing and humane, bringing a situation overwrought with commentary back into focus, revealing figures, not images.  

Berkeley Repertory Theatre presents 9 Parts of Desire on the Thrust Stage through March 5. For more information, call 647-2949 or see www.berkeleyrep.org.  

Photograph by Kevin Berne 

Mozhan Marnò stars in Nine Parts of Desire, a o ne-woman show about women in war-torn Iraq, on Berkeley Rep’s Thrust Stage.›

Ah, a cappella.  

Concerts today are often so elaborately staged and embellished with everything from pyrotechnics to video backdrops, huge sound systems, background choruses, and full orchestras, that it’s can be a relief to periodically hear good singers perform with no amplification, no instrumental accompaniment, no lip synching—nothing but their natural voices.  

One need look no further than the University of California campus for that sort of musical entertainment.  

Cal boasts several excellent a cappella student groups, most of them student-run and loosely affiliated as part of the UC Choral Ensembles. 

Spring brings a variety of public concerts by these groups, individually and in combination. 

A cappella (“from the chapel”) music was originally sung in small religious precincts where instrumental accompaniment from organs or orchestral groups wasn’t available. It also developed a sturdy secular tradition. 

Collegiate a cappella has a long history on the East Coast, especially in the Ivy League, but there’s a venerable and thriving spirit and array of a cappella groups at West Coast universities as well. 

A good opportunity to hear some of them sing comes this Saturday, Jan. 28, when a regional quarterfinal of the National Championship of College A Cappella takes place at Wheeler Auditorium on the campus. The concert is at 8 p.m. and tickets are $10 at the door. 

Two Cal student groups—the co-ed Decadence, and the Men’s Octet—are on the competition program, along with the Troy Tones from USC and the cleverly named Fermata Nowhere (men) and Nothing But Treble (women) groups from Mount San Antonio College. 

Founded 58 years ago, the Men’s Octet fittingly won the National Championship in its 50th anniversary year. One of the best performances I’ve ever seen on any stage was the Octet in that championship season singing not only traditional favorites but also Madonna and a pitch-perfect send-up of “Do-Re-Mi” from The Sound of Music. 

The membership has changed over entirely now, but the new Octet still sings with vigor and enthusiasm.  

A fine complement to the all male group is the nine-woman California Golden Overtones, with a rich singing tradition of their own. Unfortunately they’re not performing in the Berkeley quarterfinal concert on Saturday—they’ve been seeded in another competition in the Pacific Northwest—but there are later opportunities to hear them sing. 

A cappella concerts at Cal are inexpensive, fun, and good entertainment. If you’re older than, say 25, you may initially feel a little out of place since college friends and classmates of the singers tend to dominate the audience.  

But the music—ranging from Cal spirit songs to “Golden Oldies” to contemporary pop and rock—is engaging, the students are fine singers and entertaining performers, and you should enjoy yourself at least as much as if you’d spent five or ten times more for a “professional” concert. 

If you can’t attend the competition concert this weekend, there are other opportunities this spring, although they aren’t well publicized off campus.  

Check the website of the UC Choral Ensembles, http://ucchoral.berkeley.edu/, particularly the Spring 2006 Calendar section.  

The Octet has its Spring Show on March 3 and 4. The Overtones follow with theirs on April 7 and 8th. There’s an “A Cappella Against AIDS” concert on Feb. 24, and something called the “Octet UnButtoned” on April 28.  

Events run through early May, and include an intriguing listing for the Perfect Fifth Spring Concert on April 29, staged in the soaring lobby of the Hearst Memorial Mining Building. And all the Choral groups get together for a cumulative Spring Show on May 5 and 6. 

The scheduled concerts aren’t the only public performances by any means. During the school year several groups perform weekly for free at Sather Gate. If you happen to be on the Berkeley campus at 1 p.m. you can hear the Octet sing on Wednesdays, the Overtones on Fridays, and Noteworthy on Mondays.  

Photograph by Steven Finacom 

The UC Men’s Octet, performing here at Sather Gate, will compete this Saturday evening in the  

National College A Cappella Championship quarterfinals on campus.m

Eighteen years ago, when I started in the inspection business, my clients were always buyers and never sellers. In fact, sellers and, all too often, their agents, viewed the inspection as an assault on their homes. This was often miserable and I was sometimes foolish enough to take the bait and join in the adversarial tone of the conflict. When sellers insisted on being home, pitch-fork in hand to defend their turf from my unfair assertions, I would debate and even argue on occasion.  

Then one day the light bulb came on for me and I realized that this did nothing for my client, the buyer. All I was doing was showing off how much I thought I knew and possibly endangering my client’s deal for nothing more than my hubris. Today, I’m more apt to understand how nervous the seller is and to offer them assurances, letting them see that I’m only there to help. And to lessen their liability by informing the buyer about vital issues that may affect their money or their life. 

The truth is, I now do about a third of my business for the seller instead of the buyer. Sellers and their agents have started figuring out that presenting a thorough report on the condition of the property when they’re showing the house does a number of very powerful things for them. For your edification, here are just two: 

Liability protection 

When a seller has the house inspected prior to sale, they greatly reduce the likelihood that they’re going to get into trouble with the buyer somewhere down the line. Major issues get looked at and talked about. The realities are laid down in plain type for all to see and these documents get signed and dated by the buyers in the course of sale so that a record remains to prove that sellers were told about the damaged foundation or the leaky pipe. Strangely, these realities don’t keep most people from proceeding with the sale. We all expect old houses—actually, all houses—to have some problems. It’s natural. But now it’s been recorded in detail for future reference and also so that the buyer is conditioned to the realities.  

People in Berkeley don’t buy houses simply because they have good pipes or good foundations. If that’s all they cared about they’d all be living in Tracy. They buy houses for their charm, for the neighborhood, the big living room, the nice backyard and the proximity to schools and shopping. The physical stuff is secondary. So the fact that people are told about these failings doesn’t necessarily stop them from buying, but it does inform them so that they can go forward without remorse. There are, however, some folks that will not want to buy your house once informed about a particular problem (or perhaps 10 particular problems). Trust me when I say that you don’t want them to buy your house anyway. It is far better to move on to a buyer who buys happily; that way you don’t have to wonder when the other shoe will drop, ending up with a regretful buyer to cope with (or their attorney). 

Improved Negotiations 

So you have a buyer. They read about the old furnace, the crack in the foundation and the flat roof. They understand about these facts and they love the house. They’re going to make you an offer that they think will get you to say yes. That’s the whole idea, right? They’re going to try to avoid taking into account as many of the future costs as they can so that you’ll say yes. This is common logic. Then comes the clincher. What usually happens, except in the most vigorous seller’s market, is that inspections are done after the deal is made and then, as facts come out, buyers and their agents endeavor to reduce the sale price based on new discovery. “Hey, we just found out that that the heater is kaput, can you drop by the price by six grand?” “Oh my, the foundation will need a $12,000 repair. Will you split it with us?” 

If you’ve presented these things up front in a report from the get go, there will be far less of this occurring. There is no way to prevent new revelations or new opinions from erupting but they are far fewer and often non-existent, when sellers have taken this bold step. 

Sellers also get rightly perceived as having less to hide and as being more forthright when they obtain thorough inspections for themselves prior to putting their houses on the market. This does mean one very important thing, though. It means that if you are such a person, you need to be willing to have the bumps and warts revealed by your own representative and at your own expense.  

Occasionally a seller will ask me to slant my report one way or another and, of course, this is both ethically improper and legally unwise. I will calmly explain that the full expression of the facts from a neutral perspective helps them enormously. The truth is that most people are very willing to have a fair disclosure of their house presented to the buying public once they understand how it all works. 

If you’re buying or selling, get to know an inspector. The condition of the house certainly isn’t the only thing that matters, but not knowing can sting a whole lot more than knowing. 

f

Last week I counseled patience with a newly acquired garden. Honest to Ceres, it really does pay off, or at least cost less in terms of lost plants and ego-damage, to wait a full year before doing anything major and permanent to your land. You don’t have to sit on your thumbs: put in some encouraging annuals, watch when sprouts from whatever was left behind, and get your hands in the dirt in the meantime. You know you want to.  

While you’re waiting impatiently to see what kind of yard you have and decide what you can grow there, you can do some simple testing to speed the process. 

What is the soil like? You probably won’t need expensive testing; you can learn what you need to easily. In Berkeley, you probably have clay. In the flatlands, that means poor drainage, but that can be improved. In the hills the drainage is better but the soil’s thinner, and there’s a slim chance you have some serpentine-derived soil. (Look for deep-maroon soil that most stuff isn’t growing well in.) Pick it up and squeeze it. Does it fall apart, wet as it is in midwinter? Good. You must have very good drainage and/or a gift of amended soil from your predecessors. 

Most of us have icky sticky bricky clay to work with. You know you’re one of us when the soil has stayed wet enough after a few non-rainy days to turn into a tight ball with your fingerprints on it. That also means you shouldn’t be digging it, walking on it, or generally messing with it because compressing it now will cost you lots of fluffing and amending later. 

Smell the dirt. Really. Hold a handful to your nose and savor the bouquet. Is it sour or stagnant-stinking? That’s really bad drainage. I have a mysterious watery hole in my yard, where the driveway turns from concrete to dirt, that smells like that. It’s not near a sewer or waterline; it appears every winter, no matter what I’ve tried to fill it with—rocks, sand, soil, garden waste, random small objects from the house. Something like it (OK, larger) appeared in Pennsylvania where a coalmine caved in, when I was a kid, and half the Susquehanna River poured into it. They tried truckloads of fill, concrete, even a locomotive and some of its train—really; I have pictures. I don’t remember what finally got the thing plugged. I’m worrying. If you hear that south Berkeley’s vanished, it might be my fault. 

Just plain clay smells like, well, clay: wet bricks, modeling clay (not plasticine), a freshly-watered plant’s pot. Dig a hole. How hard was that? Did the mud stick to your spade? Clay. Good amended garden soil, fit for growing food and most non-natives, smells loamy like a damp forest floor or just-picked root veggies.  

After rain, look for long-lasting puddles or mushrooms or even moss on the ground. That’s where you put your water feature. Watch the course of water running through your yard. You’ll be better off adapting to that than trying to make big changes in it. ?

FRIDAY, JAN. 27 

Reduced City Services Today Call ahead to ensure programs or services you desire will be available. 981-CITY. www.cityofberkeley.info 

Fib and Quibble Showcase, in celebration of Black History Month, at 8 p.m. Fri. and Sat., 3 p.m. Sun., at Malonga Casquelord Center for the Arts, 1428 Alice St. Donation $5. 839-9192. 

Alice Walker in conversation with Amy Goodman at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2501 Harrison St., Oakland. Tickets are $15-$20. Benefits Media Alliance. 832-9000, ext. 305. 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Benjamine Griffin on “The Genius of Mark Twain” 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.  

Lunar Lounge Express A party under the stars to view the Red planet and see the Sonic Vision planetarium show at 8 p.m. at Chabot Space and Science Center. Tickets are $15-$20. 336-7373. 

“Alameda's History and Architecture from the Gold Rush To Today” with Woody Minor, Alameda historian and author, at 7 p.m. at Home of Truth, 1300 Grand St., Alameda. Suggested donation $20. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from noon to 6 p.m. at Unit 4, Hillside Assembly Room, 2700 Hearst Ave., UC Campus. To schedule an appointment call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE.  

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. wibberkeley@yahoo.com 548-6310, 845-1143. 

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue, gather at noon on the grass close to the West Entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. People of all traditions are welcome to join us. Sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. 655-6169. www.bpf.org 

“Healing and Pain” a two day workshop at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. Cost is $100. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

SATURDAY, JAN. 28 

Afternoon with Owls Learn the natural history of our local owls, from 2 to 4 p.m. in Berkeley. Cost is $25. Sponsored by Keep Barn Owls in Berkeley. 549-2963. www.kboib.org  

Free Emergency Preparedness Class from 10 to noon at 997 Cedar St., between 8th and 9th. To sign up call 981-5605. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/fire/oes.html 

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

Peace and Freedom Party mobilization to support Berkeley Honda strikers. at 1 p.m. at Parker and Shattuck. 465-9414. 

Lunar New Year Celebration from noon to 4 p.m. at Oakland Asian Cultural Center, Pacific Renaissance Plaza, 388 Ninth St., Oakland. www.oacc.cc 

Introduction to California Chinchilla Rescue from 1 to 5 p.m. at RabbitEARS Adoption Center, 303 Arlington Ave., behind ACE Hardware, Kensington. 525-6155. 

Preschool Storytime for 3-5 year olds at 11 a.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

The Festival of Brigit A workshop for women at 7 p.m. at Changemakers, 6536 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. To register call 800-694-1957. 

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. 

SUNDAY, JAN. 29 

Believe in Basketry Learn about Native American basketry and make your own periwinkle basket, from 1:30 to 3 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $3. 525-2233. 

“Mad Hot Ballroom” A film presented by Diversity Works at 3 p.m. at Ellen Driscoll Theater, Frank Havens School, 325 Highland Ave., Piedmont. Free, for all ages. 599-9227. 

Lunar New Year Celebration for children with a dragon parade and other activities from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Habitot Children's Museum, 2065 Kittredge St. 647-1111. www.habitot.org 

Family Film Series will show “Babe” at 11 a.m. at the Julia Morgan Theater, 2640 College Ave. Cost is $5. 845-8542. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Temple Beth Abraham, 327 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland. To schedule an appointment call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE. www.BeADonor.com 

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 Peace Ceremony at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812.  

MONDAY, JAN. 30 

Claremont Elmwood Neighborhood Association General Meeting at 7 p.m. in the Fireside Room, St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 

Launch Party for “Greater Good” Magazine, reception and panel discussion, at 5:30 p.m. at North Gate Library, Hearst at euclid, UC Campus. 

“Electoral Guerilla Theatre: Speaking Mirth to Power” with UC Davis professor of theater, Larry Bogad, at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books, 1491 Shattuck Ave. 486-0698. 

Great Directors Film Series will show Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” at 7:30 a.m. at the Julia Morgan Theater, 2640 College Ave. Cost is $5. 845-8542. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from noon to 6 p.m. at UC Berkeley Unit 3, 2400 Durant Ave. To schedule an appointment call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE. 

Free Business Loan and Business Plan Writing Boot Camp Mon. and Fri. from 9 a.m. to noon at 519 17th St., 2nd Floor, Ste. 200, Oakland, through March 31. 395-6003. 

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. 

World Affairs Discussion Group for seniors at 10:15 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center. Cost is $2.50. 

TUESDAY, JAN. 31 

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. 

West Berkeley Alliance for Clean Air and Safe Jobs Community Meeting on Pacific Steel Casting Company with representatives from Pacific Steel Casting, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, and Berkeley City Council Member Linda Maio’s office. At 7 p.m. at the West Berkeley Senior Center, 1900 6th St. 558-8757. http://westberkeleyalliance.org 

“Eminent Domain: Abuse of Government Power?” with Steven Greenhut, author of “Abuse of Power” and Timothy Sanefur of the Pacific Legal Foundation, at 7 p.m. at the Independent Institute, 100 Swan Way, Oakland. Cost is $10-$15. For reservations call 632-1366. 

Chinese New Year with author Rosemary Gong to say goodbye to the Year of the Rooster and hello to the Year of the Dog, at 7 p.m. at the El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Ave. 526-7512.  

Yarn Divas Basic Knitting Come learn the basics of knitting, especially, but not exclusively, for women with cancer. Experienced participants are welcome. Learning materials provided. At 7:30 p.m. at the Women’s Cancer Resource Center, 5741 Telegraph Ave, Oakland. 420-7900, ext. 111.  

“Travel Photography: Pueblos & Canyons: The American Southwest” Oakland photographic adventure guide Don Lyon, at 7 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. 654-1548.  

“A Mile Down: Disaster at Sea” with author David Vann on his trip form Turkey to the Caribbean in a 90 ft. yacht at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from noon to 6 p.m. at UC Berkeley Unit 1, 2650 Durant Ave. To schedule an appointment call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE. 

Stress Less 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. 524-3043. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Meet at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm for an hour or two walk. In case of questionable weather, call around 8 a.m. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

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

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991.  

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 1 

Kalimba Interactive Assembly with Carl Winters in the African thumb piano, in celebration of Black History Month at 10:30 a.m. at the Oakland Public Library, Elmhurst Branch, 1427 88th Ave. and at 3:30 p.m. at the Cesar Chavez Branch, 3301 East 12th St. All ages welcome. 615-5727. 

“Painful Deception” a film on the 9/11 destruction of the Twin Towers at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Free, but $5 donations accepted. 704-0268. 

Bookmark Book Group meets to discuss “The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell at 6:30 p.m. at 721 Washington St., Oakland. The Bookmark is the bookstore for Friends of the Oakland Public Library. 444-0473. 

Berkeley School Volunteers Training workshop for volunteers interested in helping the public schools, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

Mozart’s Birthday Concert at 1:30 p.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave., Albany. 524-9122. 

American Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation from 10 a.m. to noon at the Oakland office. We need your help with blood drives all over the East Bay. 594-5165. 

Small Business Seminar on taxes at 2 p.m. at 2129 Shattuck Ave. To register call 655-2041. 

Breema Open House with free body work session at 6 p.m. at 6201 Florio St., Oakland 428-1234. 

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters welcomes curious guests and new members at 7:15 a.m. at Au Coquelet Cafe, 2000 University Ave. at Milvia. 435-5863.  

Entrepreneurs Networking at 8 a.m. at A’Cuppa Tea, 3202 College Ave. at Alcatraz. Cost is $5. For more information contact JB, 562-9431.  

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. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wed. and Sat. at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Action St. 841-2174.  

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes. 548-9840. 

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. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities. 

com/vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, FEB. 2 

“A Forgotten Resistance: The Mosque of Paris” A documentary by Derri Berkani with a discussion with Annete Herskovits, a Jewish woman who was protected by Muslims in Occupied France, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison St. 

Kalimba Interactive Assembly with Carl Winters in the African thumb piano, in celebration of Black History Month at 10:30 a.m. at the Oakland Public Library, Dimond Branch, 3565 Fruitvale Ave. and at 3:30 p.m. at the Martin Luther King Branch, 6833 International Blvd. All ages welcome. 615-5727. 

“Locating Buddhist Nuns in the Urban and Cultural Landscape of Early North India” A colloquium at 5 p.m. at the IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton St., 6th floor. 643-6492. http://buddhiststudies.berkeley.edu/events/  

St. Paul’s Episcopal School 30th Anniversary Celebration at 6 p.m. at Jack London Aquatic Center, 115 Embarcadero West, Oakland. Cost is $85. 285-9613. 

FRIDAY, FEB. 3 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with The Hon. David Sterling, on “Issues Before the Pacific Legal Foundation” 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. 

Benefit for Berkeley Food and Housing with blues and jazz by The Soul Sisters Band, The Dave Mathews Blues Band & Denise Perrier and Anna De Leon from 6 to 11 p.m. at The Gaia Arts Center, 2120 Allston Way. Tickets are $25-$30. For reservations call 649-4965, ext. 304. 

American Red Cross Blood Drive from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at MLK Student Union, 5th Floor Tilden Room, UC Campus. To schedule an appointment call 1-800-GIVELIFE. www.BeADonor.com 

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. 

Berkeley Chess School classes for students in grades 1-8 from 5 to 7 p.m. at 1581 LeRoy Ave., room 17. 843-0150. 

SATURDAY, FEB. 4 

“Francis Albrier and Social Change in South Berkeley” with local historian Donna Graves at 2 p.m. at the Frances Albrier Community Center in San Pablo Park. 981-7533. 

Progressive Democrats of America, East Bay Chapter, strategic planning meeting for the 2006 elections from 1 to 3 p.m. at Temescal Library, 5205 Telegraph, Oakland. All welcome. 524-4424. www.pdeastbay.org 

Redwood Park Mushroom Walk with the Berkeley Path Wanderers Association. Meet at 10 a.m. at the last parking lot, next to a meadow and well past the trout monument, on the road inside the Redwood Gate entrance. www.berkeleypaths.org  

Brooks Island Kayak and Walk with Save the Bay. All equipment and instruction is provided. Minimum age 16. Trip departs from Richmond Harbor at noon. Cost is $70. For information call 452-9261 ext. 109. www.savesfbay.org 

Sick Plant Clinic UC plant pathologist Dr. Robert Raabe, UC entomologist Dr. Nick Mills, and their team of experts will diagnose what ails your plants from 9 a.m. to noon at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr. 643-2755.  

Volunteer on Cerrito Creek Join Friends of Five Creeks volunteers planting natives and removing invasives to restore habitat along the new Cerrito Creek walkway. Meet at Creekside Park, south end of Santa Clara St., El Cerrito at 10 a.m. Wear shoes with good traction and clothes that can get dirty. 848-9358. www.fivecreeks.org 

French Broom Removal Work Party at 9:30 a.m. at the Skyline Gate Staging Area, Skyline Blvd., Oakland. We walk to the work site so arriving on time is important. Please bring your own gloves. Weed wrenches and other tools will be provided. Rain cancels. 684-2473. californica@mac.com 

East Bay Atheists Glenn Branch of the National Center for Science Education will speak on “Who’s Winning the Evolution Wars?” at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 3rd floor ,2090 Kittredge St. 

Disaster Mental Health Workshop from 9 a.m. to noon at 997 Cedar St. Sponsored by the Office of Emergency Services. To register call 981-5506. 

Turn Stress into Success Workshop at 10 a.m. at Creating Harmony Institute, Atrium Plaza, 828 San Pablo Ave. Suite 115B, Albany. Free but registration required. 526-1559. 

“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. 

Mindful Drumming for Opening Minds and Healing Hearts in celebration of Black History Month at 7 p.m. at 3278 West St., Oakland. Cost is $20, scholarships available. 652-5530. 

Kids’ Night Out Party for ages 4.5 to 10 years at The Berkwood Hedge School in Berkeley. Cost is $25-$40. Proceeds benefit Monkey Business Camp’s scholarship fund. To register call 540-6025. www.monkeybusinesscamp.com  

“Careers in International Trade” workshop at Vista College, 2075 Allston Way. Cost is $13 for California residents. To register call 981-2913. 

Preschool Storytime for 3-5 year olds at 11 a.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

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. 

ONGOING 

“Sprout Hope” Half-Pint Library Book Drive to benefit the library at Children’s Hospital, Oakland, is looking to register schools in the book drive. To register see www.halfpricebooks.com 

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 contact Berkeley Youth Alternatives, 845-9066. www.byaonline.org 

Albany Library Free Drop-in Homework Help for students in third through fifth grades, Mon. - Thurs. from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Emphasis is placed on math and writing skills. No registration is required. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

CITY MEETINGS 

Housing Advisory Commission meets Thurs., Feb. 2, at 7:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Oscar Sung, 981-5400. www.ci.berkeley.ca. 

us/commissions/housing 

Landmarks Preservation Commission meets Thurs. Feb. 2, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7419. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/landmarks 

Public Works Commission meets Thurs., Feb. 2, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Jeff Egeberg, 981-6406. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/publicworks 

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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.  

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.  

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. 

FRIDAY, JAN. 27 

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. www.aeofberkeley.org 

“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 

Berkeley Rep “9 Parts of Desire” about women in war-torn Iraq, at 8 p.m. at the Trust Stage, 2025 Addison St., through March 5. Tickets are $30-$59. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Contra Costa Civic Theater, “One Flew Over the Cockoo’s Nest” Fri. and Sat at 8 p.m. at 951 Pomona Ave. at Moeser Lane, El Cerrito, through Feb. 25. 524-9132. www.ccct.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 

“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 Feb. 5. 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. www.shotgunplayers.org 

Fib and Quibble Showcase, in celebration of Black History Month, at 8 p.m. Fri. and Sat., 3 p.m. Sun at Malonga Casquelord Cener for the Arts, 1428 Alice St. Donation $5. 839-9192. 

FILM 

African Film Festival “Delwende” at 7 and 8:50 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Alice Walker in conversation with Amy Goodman at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2501 Harrison St., Oakland. Tickets are $15-$20. Benefits Media Alliance. 832-9000, ext. 305. 

Suzanne Braun Levine talks about “Inventing the Rest of Our Lives: Women in Second Adulthood” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Gabriel Trop, cello and Jim Prell, piano at noon at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Free. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Pellejo Seco, Cuban son, at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Sol Rebelz, Jerneye, Forensic Science at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Karen Blixt & Yooyoo Wolfe at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Don Carlos with RazorBlade at 10 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $18-$20. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Hal Stein Quartet at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

The Bobs at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

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

Stevie Harris and Aria at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Hostile Takeover, I Object, Abductee SD at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

Sila & The Afro Funk Experience at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$7. 548-1159.  

Amy Lou Blues Band at 9 p.m. at Eli’s Mile High Club, 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way., Oakland. Cost is $7. 654-4549. 

Three Faces of Evil, cabaret music with Carolyn Mark, Amy Honey and Lily Fawn at 9 p.m. at The Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph, Oakland. 444-6174. 

Ali Handal, guitar, at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10.  

Guru Garage at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

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 

SATURDAY, JAN. 28 

CHILDREN  

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Asheba at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Regla: Revolution” Selected prints from Cuban printmaker Antonio Canet. Reception at 2 p.m. at NIAD Art Center, 551 23rd St. Richmond. www.niadart.org 

Richmond Art Center Reception for Artists from 2 to 5 p.m. at 2540 Barrett Ave., Richmond. 620-6772. 

FILM 

Mikio Naruse “Husband and Wife” at 7 p.m. and “Wife” at 8:45 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Asian American Poets with Ed Bok Lee, Barbara Jane Reyes and Justin Chin at 2 p.m. at Heller Lounge, MLK Student Union, UC Campus. Sponsored by Eastwind Books of Berkeley. 548-2350. 

Dave Barry introduces “Dave Barry’s Money Secrets: Like: Why is There a Giant Eyball on the Dollar?” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Opera “Falstaff” at 8 p.m. at Julia Morgan Theater, through Feb. 5. Tickets are $15-$40. 841-1903. www.berkeleyopera.org 

Santa Fe Guitar Quartet at 7:30 p.m. at Regents Theater, Holy Names University, 3500 Mountain Blvd. Tickets are $25-$40. 549-3504. www.fourseasonsconcerts.com 

Ed Reed & Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

West African Highlife Band at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. African dance lesson at 9 p.m. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Larry Stefl Jazz Group at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Dream Sequence, with Sistas in the Pit, Company of Prophets, and headRush, hip hop and poetry at 9 p.m. at The Oakland Noodle Factory, 1255 26th St., Oakland. Tickets are $5-$20. All ages. 595-5526. 

The Mash Bash with Red Horizon, Secondhand Seranade, Story Told, and others at 6:30 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. All ages. 

Jeff Rolka and Duff Ferguson at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10. www.epicarts.org 

The Ravines and Jon Cooney at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

John Schott’s Dream Kitchen at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Lou & Peter Berryman at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Thrill Train R&B at 9 p.m. at Eli’s Mile High Club, 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way., Oakland. Cost is $7. 654-4549. 

Crack Pot Theory, Ghost Next Door, Absent Society at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Left Turn No Signal at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Warren Gale Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Megan Mclaugin and Patty Espeth at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7-$10. 558-0881. 

Rio Brasil Forró Band, Brazilian, at 9 p.m. at Capoeira Arts Cafe, 2026 Addison St. Cost is $8. 666-1255. capoeiraarts.com 

Mandrake, Lemon Lime Lights, Black Bird Stitches at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Lights Out, Internal Affairs, Down to Nothing 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. 29 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Art in Progress: Styles of the Artist” from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Poetry readings by John Curl, Meg Withers, and Patti Chepourkova at 2 p.m. at 800 Heinz. 845-0707. 

THEATER 

“Civil Rights Tales” By Stagebridge Senior Theater Company at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 WAlnut St. Tickets are $5-$8. 848-0237.  

FILM 

Mikio Naruse “Older Brother, Younger Sister” at 4:30 p.m. and “Late Chrysanthemums” at 6:15 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Edward Weston: Masterworks from the Collection” with curator of photography Drew Johnson, at 2 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Poetry Flash with Amber Flora Thomas, Rose Black and Joseph Zaccardi at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Anna Carol Dudley, soprano, celebrates her 75th birthday with a free concert at 3 p.m. at the First Congregational Church of Berkeley, at Dana and Durant. 848-3696. 

Distant Oaks, a mid-winter Celtic celebration at 7 p.m. at Firts Presbyterian Church of Alameda, 2001 Santa Clara at Chestnut. Donation $10-$15. 522-1477. www.AlamedaChurch.com 

Prometheus Symphony Orchestra at 3 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Ave., Oakland. Admission is free, donations requested. 

Maria Loreto at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568.  

Vicki Genfan at 5 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

International Contemporary Ensemble “Composer Portrait Magnus Lindberg” at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32. 642-9988.  

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

John Worley & Worlview at 4:30 at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15. 845-5373. www.jazz- 

school.com 

Bandworks at 2:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $4. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Jessie Turner, and Vanessa Lowe at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Push to Talk, Aberdien, One Way Letter, at 5 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

MONDAY, JAN. 30 

THEATER 

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

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Writing for the Greater Good” panel discussion to celebrate the latest issue of Greater Good magazine at 5:30 p.m. at North Gate Library, Hearst at Euclid, UC Campus. http://peacecenter.berkeley.edu/greatergood 

“Electoral Guerilla Theatre: Speaking Mirth to Power” with UC Davis professor of theatre, Larry Bogad at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books, 1491 Shattuck Ave. 486-0698.  

Kathleen Ragan describes “Outfoxing Fear: Folktales from Around the World” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Poetry Express with Zara Raab and HD Moe at 7 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Trovatore, traditional Italian music, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Nels Cline, music of Andrew Hill at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $6-$12. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

›

“When we reach the end, we shall know more than we know now. Once upon a time...” 

Strange that this familiar opening formula for bedtime stories and fairy tales should be dictated by a character from Hans Christian Andersen, The Snow Queen, towering over her Snow Guard of workers in gauzy white jumpsuits at the beginning of Andrea L. Hart’s Splinters ... and Other F Words, produced by Ragged Wing Ensemble at the Northbrae Community Church on The Alameda, between Marin and Solano. 

The Snow Queen, all in glistening white gown and train, of course, is played on stilts by Ragged Wing cofounder Anna Shneiderman—credited as “Objective Observer” in the program, which clinical title goes along with the opening line above and its air of psychoanalysis. 

She proceeds regally throughout the whole play—90 minutes without intermission—dominating the stage and, until the end, its denizens, commenting sharply on the action which she signals in its phase-shifts with an upraised arm, a toss of her cape and what sounds like the blast of a winter’s gale. 

Splinters tells a story—a very clear one—but its episodes aren’t organized in a strictly dramatic or narrative sequence, despite the presence of the “Observer” seeming to narrate as well as participating in the scenes or vignettes along with the fluidly moving and changing ensemble, which flies across the floor of the playing area, between a mirror frame entwined by vines behind a steamer trunk (full of costume pieces and props) and the apron of a low curtained-off stage, forming ever-new groupings and tableaux.  

The story that’s told is of a girl who becomes a young woman (cofounder Amy Sass), sometimes the Gerda of Andersen’s tale, searching for Little Kai who’s in thrall to The Snow Queen, sometimes the daughter of an apostate minister who wrestles with leaving his wife, family, congregation and belief (both played by Keith Cory Davis). 

The father-daughter relationship (which reads like half an Electra complex) is complemented by the mother and other older women (one, met in a bar, is referred to as The Crone), as well as a boyfriend, a game show host, a sister and a girlfriend and other characters that spring up along the way as the story goes through its shifts, from one approach or attack to another. Credited as The Singer and Male and Female Chorus, this pool of roles is performed with energy by Mariah Howard, Mateo Hinojosa and Lauren Pizzi. 

(The real chorus of the play, the Queen’s Snow Guard, is an able bunch of middle and high school students—Esther Dane, Aiden Gavet, Amalia Mourad Korczowski, Eline Leemans, Roxie Perkins and Noah Teller—from the East and North Bay. The ensemble and other cast members teach drama and stress education and the integration of students into productions as a company goal.) 

Keith Cory Davis infuses his shifting roles with much juice, as he displayed in Ragged Wing’s first outing, The Serpent. Amy Sass, who directed that piece, is more internal, but often brings a sharp focus to Gerda/the young woman, which she plays with determination. 

Mateo Hinojosa always keeps an edge of humor to his “smarmy” roles, and Mariah Howard and Lauren Pizzi slip in and out of characters which they nonetheless delineate with distinction. 

Anna Shneiderman is every inch the Snow Queen atop her stilts, a tour-de-force of skill throughout the show (and a well-choreographed fight over her ice scepter), though perhaps exits and entrances would have added to both her role and the topology of the show’s design, which her figure dominates, relentlessly vertical, as the rest of the cast runs, slithers, writhes, pops up here and there, in processions, bar talk, a work camp or in bed. 

Andrea Hart has directed her own text, which is a kind of collage of statements, dialogue, and movement. Admitting to an early and continuing taste in theater as “a psychological dreamscape,” she’s outdistanced the constant risk of falling into a pastiche of primal scenes by constant theatrical activity, the main characters supported by or in contrapuntal distinction to the chorus. 

The sprains and speed of the show’s unfolding make up for some dramaturgical sketchiness, providing the amplitude that fleshes out the script’s perceptions into both the immediacy and staying power of drama. 

Ragged Wing is one of the newest of a batch of young movement theater companies that have added leavening to the Bay Area theater scene in recent years—foolsFURY of San Francisco, which just hosted a mini-festival for such troupes from all over, is probably the most ubiquitous, and most of them have some relationship with Dell’Arte Players and their school in Humboldt County. 

Ragged Wing Ensemble’s Splinters...and Other F Words, a performance in seven little parts runs  

at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Feb. 11. at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda, Berkeley. Tickets are  

$12-$25. For reservations call  

(800) 838-3006.›

It’s only on my worst, most misanthropic days that I suspect most of my fellow humans of not noticing that the trees around us are more than overdecorated hatracks. We all know they’re alive, right? And we all know, or ought to, that they’re in motion, growing, moving (though at a pace we’re ill-equipped to see), performing, building the massive edifices of themselves with light and carbon and air.  

They move themselves mostly by building, a few cells at a time, reaching by expanding, and bending by swelling or compressing themselves on one side or another, toward light above ground and water below. In the process of making their food and substance they emit oxygen and water into the atmosphere. Turns out they’re juggling that water in a more complex and sophisticated manner than anyone had suspected, according to recent finds by various scientists.  

The heights to which they can pump water, passing it and the nutrient minerals dissolved in it along their xylem tissues, vary among species—and it’s evidently the limiting factor for many trees’ ultimate heights. In the top leaves of big old redwoods, for example, photosynthesis is much less efficient than it was when the tree was younger and smaller.  

There appears to be a simple mechanical reason for this: Water is forced along those long columns largely by the force of evaporation through the stomata, the little pores on each leaf. At the top of a big tree, water is scarcer because it’s harder to draw up, so the stomata are closed more often to limit evaporation. But leaves also take in carbon dioxide through those stomata, and can’t do so when they’re in effect holding their breath. Metabolically, the tree ends up running as fast as it can just to stay in place.  

Conifers have larger pores in the connections within their water-conducting systems, which allow them to move more water through with less internal resistance. This would be one reason those redwoods and big pines and spruces can tower over other trees in the forest.  

Plumbing isn’t the whole story; there are internal cell-growth effects of hydrostatic pressure differences, and some tropical trees that also grow more slowly when they get big, but USDA ecologist Michael Ryan and his team studying a set of eucalyptus seedlings in Hawaii for seven years think that water’s too plentiful to be the limiter. They’re still looking for that. 

Meanwhile, a set of UC Berkeley researchers has figured out that deep-rooted trees engage in water-banking: they store water in different levels of the soil for their own use. By doing this, they’re able to keep their rate of evapotranspiration—the release of water into the air around them, humidifying and cooling it—and of photosynthesis 40 percent higher in dry months than they would otherwise be, and keep their place and the planet cooler than they’d be without them. 

Todd Dawson, Jung-Eun Lee, and Inez Fung of UC Berkeley, and their colleagues including Rafael Oliveira of the Laboratório de Ecologia Isotópica at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, studied Amazonian trees in particular but said their model showed effects in temperate places too.  

The tap roots that some species have, which can extend more than their height underground, have more to do than anchor the tree. Fibrous feeding roots reach a broad, shallower area around the tree; tap roots, using chemical potential gradients, redistribute water downwards in rainy seasons and upwards in dry seasons to keep nurturing life processes. These processes are how trees sequester carbon from the atmosphere—another control on planetary climate extremes. 

“These trees are using their root system to redistribute water into different soil compartments,” Dawson said. “This allows the trees and the forest to sustain water use throughout the dry season. … There’s this skin on the Earth—plants—that has an effect on a global scale, pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and letting water go, in a dynamic way that has climatic implications.” 

We know that trees modify our immediate surroundings in the city—you can feel that directly, standing in a tree’s shade on a hot day, being cooled by its transpiration. Apparently they’re actively doing that favor for the whole world, too. 

?

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. 525-2233. 

“The Non-GMO Project” with Sandy Myers-Kepler on the progran to implement standardized labeling for certifying food and supplements at 6 p.m. at Berkeley Natural Grocery, 1336 Gilman. 526-2456. 

“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. 

“The Five Secrets to Permanent Weight Loss” with Dr. Jay Sordean at 6 p.m. at Curves, 701 University Ave. To reserve a place call 849-1176. 

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. 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. 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

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 

Workshop on Creeks Task Force at the Planning Commission meeting at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7484.  

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. 

Bay Nature’s Fifth Anniversary Celebration with presentations by Michael Ellis, naturalist and writer, Phyllis Faber, Bay Area environmental leader, wetlands restoration activist, Jack Laws, naturalist, educator, and artist, and Greg Sarris, author and tribal chair of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, at 7:30 p.m. at the James Moore Theater, Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St. 548-9696. www.baynature.com 

Introduction to Conscious Parenting If you have ever wondered about new ways of parenting, or struggled with things not going how you expected, come and find relief, community, and a host of new tools. At 7:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. No fee required, donations appreciated. 415-312-1830. 

“A Startling Discovery of Jewish Identity” with Mrs. Rochel (Ingrid) Dorfman at 7 p.m. in Berkeley. Reservations required, call Sharalyn at 540-5824. 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Heavy rain cancels. 548-9840. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wed. and Sat. at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Action St. 841-2174.  

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. 

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 6:30 p.m. at the Berkeley BART Station. 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.  

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.  

FRIDAY, JAN. 27 

Reduced City Services Today Call ahead to ensure programs or services you desire will be available. 981-CITY. www.cityofberkeley.info 

Fib and Quibble Showcase, in celebration of Black History Month, at 8 p.m. Fri. and Sat., 3 p.m. Sun., at Malonga Casquelord Center for the Arts, 1428 Alice St. Donation $5. 839-9192. 

Alice Walker in conversation with Amy Goodman at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2501 Harrison St., Oakland. Tickets are $15-$20. Benefits Media Alliance. 832-9000, ext. 305. 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Benjamine Griffin on “The Genius of Mark Twain” 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.  

Lunar Lounge Express A party under the stars to view the Red planet and see the Sonic Vision planetarium show at 8 p.m. at Chabot Space and Science Center. Tickets are $15-$20. 336-7373. 

“Alameda’s History and Architecture from the Gold Rush To Today” with Woody Minor, Alameda historian and author, at 7 p.m. at Home of Truth, 1300 Grand St., Alameda. Suggested donation $20. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from noon to 6 p.m. at Unit 4, Hillside Assembly Room, 2700 Hearst Ave., UC Campus. To schedule an appointment call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE.  

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. wibberkeley@yahoo.com 548-6310, 845-1143. 

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue, gather at noon on the grass close to the West Entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. People of all traditions are welcome to join us. Sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. 655-6169. www.bpf.org 

“Healing and Pain” a two day workshop at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. Cost is $100. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

SATURDAY, JAN. 28 

Afternoon with Owls Learn the natural history of our local owls, from 2 to 4 p.m. in Berkeley. Cost is $25. Sponsored by Keep Barn Owls in Berkeley. 549-2963. www.kboib.org  

Free Emergency Preparedness Class from 10 to noon at 997 Cedar St., between 8th and 9th. To sign up call 981-5605. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/fire/oes.html 

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

Lunar New Year Celebration from noon to 4 p.m. at Oakland Asian Cultural Center, Pacific Renaissance Plaza, 388 Ninth St., Oakland. www.oacc.cc 

Introduction to California Chinchilla Rescue from 1 to 5 p.m. at RabbitEARS Adoption Center, 303 Arlington Ave., behind ACE Hardware, Kensington. 525-6155. 

Preschool Storytime for 3-5 year olds at 11 a.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

The Festival of Brigit A workshop for women at 7 p.m. at Changemakers, 6536 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. To register call 800-694-1957. 

Spirit Walking Aqua Chi 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. 

SUNDAY, JAN. 29 

Believe in Basketry Learn about Native American basketry and make your own periwinkle basket, from 1:30 to 3 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $3. 525-2233. 

“Mad Hot Ballroom” A film presented by Diversity Works at 3 p.m. at Ellen Driscoll Theater, Frank Havens School, 325 Highland Ave., Piedmont. Free, for all ages. 599-9227. 

Family Film Series will show “Babe” at 11 a.m. at the Julia Morgan Theater, 2640 College Ave. Cost is $5. 845-8542. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Temple Beth Abraham, 327 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland. To schedule an appointment call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE. www.BeADonor.com 

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 Peace Ceremony at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, JAN. 30 

Claremont Elmwood Neighborhood Association General Meeting at 7 p.m. in the Fireside Room, St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 

Launch Party for “Greater Good” Magazine, reception and panel discussion, at 5:30 p.m. at North Gate Library, Hearst at Euclid, UC Campus. 

“Electoral Guerilla Theatre: Speaking Mirth to Power” with UC Davis professor of theatre, Larry Bogad, at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books, 1491 Shattuck Ave. 486-0698. 

Great Directors Film Series will show Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” at 7:30 a.m. at the Julia Morgan Theater, 2640 College Ave. Cost is $5. 845-8542. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from noon to 6 p.m. at UC Berkeley Unit 3, 2400 Durant Ave. To schedule an appointment call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE. 

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. 

World Affairs Discussion Group for seniors at 10:15 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center. Cost is $2.50. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. 548-0425. 

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

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

TUESDAY, JAN. 31 

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. 

West Berkeley Alliance for Clean Air and Safe Jobs Community Meeting on Pacific Steel Casting Company with representatives from Pacific Steel Casting, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, and Berkeley City Council Member Linda Maio’s office, at 7 p.m. at the West Berkeley Senior Center, 1900 6th St. 558-8757. http://westberkeleyalliance.org 

“Eminent Domain: Abuse of Government Power?” with Steven Greenhut, author of “Abuse of Power” and Timothy Sanefur of the Pacific Legal Foundation, at 7 p.m. at the Independent Institute, 100 Swan Way, Oakland. Cost is $10-$15. For reservations call 632-1366. 

Chinese New Year with author Rosemary Gong to say goodbye to the Year of the Rooster and hello to the Year of the Dog, at 7 p.m. at the El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Ave. 526-7512.  

Yarn Divas Basic Knitting Come learn the basics of knitting, especially, but not exclusively, for women with cancer. Experienced participants are welcome. Learning materials provided. At 7:30 p.m. at the Women’s Cancer Resource Center, 5741 Telegraph Ave, Oakland. 420-7900, ext. 111.  

“Travel Photography: Pueblos & Canyons: The American Southwest” Oakland photographic adventure guide Don Lyon, at 7 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. 654-1548.  

“A Mile Down: Disaster at Sea” with author David Vann on his trip form Turkey to the Caribbean in a 90 ft. yacht at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from noon to 6 p.m. at UC Berkeley Unit 1, 2650 Durant Ave. To schedule an appointment call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE. 

Stress Less 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. 

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. In case of questionable weather, call around 8 a.m. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

Free Handbuilding Ceramics Class 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at St. John’s Senior Center, 2727 College Ave. 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. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

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 contact Berkeley Youth Alternatives, 845-9066. www.byaonline.org 

CITY MEETINGS 

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.  

Energy Commission meets Wed., Jan. 25, at 6:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Neal De Snoo, 981-5434.  

Fire Safety Commission meets Wed., Jan. 25, at 7:30 p.m. at 997 Cedar St. David Orth, 981-5502.  

Planning Commission meets Wed., Jan. 25, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Janet Homrighausen, 981-7484.  

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., Jan. 26, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. ?