Full Text

Stephan Babuljak: Linda Montecino, sister-in-law of Juan Carlos Ramos, comforts Belen Bohan, a close friend of the slain teenager, at a memorial Wednesday on the median on Key Route Blvd bordering El Cerrito and Albany..
Stephan Babuljak: Linda Montecino, sister-in-law of Juan Carlos Ramos, comforts Belen Bohan, a close friend of the slain teenager, at a memorial Wednesday on the median on Key Route Blvd bordering El Cerrito and Albany..
 

News

Friends Say Goodbye to Juan Ramos By Judith Scherr

Friday February 17, 2006

Juan Carlos Ramos didn’t know how much he was loved, friends said through tears Wed-nesday at a memorial for the 18-year-old Contra Costa College student, who was mortally stab-bed Feb. 10 at a party in Berkeley. 

“He was the sweetest guy ever, it breaks my heart, ” said Victoria Castillo who helped plan the memorial and had accompanied Ramos to the party. “I wish I could go back in time. I’m sure he’s smiling down on us.” 

Police still have no suspects in the murder that took place on the 700 block of Contra Costa Avenue at an unchaperoned party, which attracted more than 100 young people. Many learned of the event through a posting on the Internet. 

The memorial, which drew some 200 students mostly from Albany and El Cerrito high schools, took place on the grassy median on Key Route Boulevard, just about where Albany meets El Cerrito. Friends, family members, and school staff spoke of Ramos, often glancing behind them at the large photograph of the young man to which Mexican and American flags were affixed. Flowers, balloons, and candles were placed on a table near the photograph. 

Linda Montecino, Ramos’ sister-in-law, thanked the young people for planning the memorial. 

“We came today to support the kids,” she said through tears. “Sometimes we forget in our grief, that you are hurting too. He was so sweet, so good and caring to all of us.” 

Ramos graduated in January from El Cerrito High and had begun studying to be an electrician at Contra Costa College. 

“He was a neat kid,” said Maureen Crowley, a math teacher who knew Ramos for more than three years. 

Ramos loved soccer, cars—especially his red Camaro—and his friends, even those he hadn’t seen in years, friends said. 

Jake Johnson, a student at Berkeley High, ran into him at the Friday night party. 

“We were talking about old times,” he said, adding that he was inside the house when the stabbings were taking place outside. 

“Inside, everything was completely normal,” he said. 

Several students pleaded with their peers, urging those with information about the slaying to come forward. 

“If anyone knows, say the name,” one young man said. “Just turn his ass into the police.” 

El Cerrito High teacher Bonnie Taylor urged the young people to stay safe. 

“Parties are to get dressed up and kick it. Death is forever. I don’t want that to happen to any one of you,” she said. 

Even before Ramos’ death, Albany High faculty was talking about creating a new curriculum to instruct young people on staying safe and “what to do when a situation gets out of hand,” said Albany High Principal Ron Rosenbaum, who attended the memorial. 

Rosenbaum said the youth’s death further convinced him of the need for such a curriculum. It will be taught next school year, he said..


Landmark Law Change Closer By Richard Brenneman

Friday February 17, 2006

Preservationists made passionate pleas to preserve the city’s Landmarks Preservation Ordinance Tuesday night, but by the time the City Council meeting ended, they had little to cheer about. 

Mayor Tom Bates had made it clear that change was coming, and only two strong council voices rose in protest, Kriss Worthington and Dona Spring, while Betty Olds said she was willing to hear more from the public. 

“The structure of merit, it’s a problem. No two ways about it,” said Bates at the end of the meeting, referring to the secondary landmark designation. “This is the $64 question, no doubt about it. If something is going to be a landmark it should be a landmark.” 

People should know the rules, he said. 

“We now have a second prize that receives all the benefits of first prize, and I don’t think that’s appropriate,” the mayor said. 

The council was headed in a direction strongly urged by Oakland land use attorney Rena Rickles, who often represents developers before city commissions. 

“I am essentially here for one purpose—to support the removal of structure of merit except in the case of historic neighborhoods,” said Rickles. 

Under the current law, a structure of merit is a fully recognized historic building, which, while altered, still reflects fundamental elements of the original structure and is considered worthy of preservation. 

Spring and others say Berkeley’s flatlands, though without the majestic creations of the region and country’s name architects, nonetheless contain buildings of equal historic merit to the people of the city because they are the best surviving representatives of different times and peoples. 

The structure of merit category was created to recognize such buildings. 

Rickles echoed another point which several councilmembers had voiced during appeals before the council from developers who had found their projects blocked by structures of merit recently named by the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC). 

It’s an open secret, she said, that when people want to stop a neighbor from building an addition or a developer from doing something, they turn to the LPO and “hijack the process.” 

“No one has ever demonstrated why it’s unfair to developers to have the structure of merit designation,” said Spring. “Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater.” 

“I have a moral and legal obligation to stand up against the current threat to the goals of the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance,” said Worthington. “What’s before us is an insult to our intelligence ... basically a slap in the face to the landmarks commission and the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance and basically undermines the whole process.” 

Jesse Arreguin, an affordable housing advocate who serves on several city commission, said the existing law offered strong protections from the kinds of developers who, in the past, had demolished many of Berkeley’s older, low-rent buildings so they could build bigger, higher-rent buildings. 

“Landmarks advocates and housing advocates both have an interest in making sure Berkeley doesn’t become a bland suburb,” he told the council. 

Both sides were well prepared, and the preservationists brought out a seldom used weapon, humor. 

Sally Sachs likened developers to the irascible centenarian tycoon C. Montgomery Burns, nuclear power baron of television’s The Simpsons. 

“I fear what we would have is, ‘Smithers, I need to build my condo on that property’” where Jedediah Springfield, founder of the animated family’s hometown, had made history,” she said. 

Merilee Mitchell said that at a recent meeting on the new downtown plan, she’d seen a slide show about beautiful landmark cities, while the speakers had only spoken about height and density.  

What if politicians had to fit into profiles like that? she mused. 

“What about (Berkeley Planning Director) Dan Marks? He wouldn’t fit. He’s got height, but he’s not dense.” Surprised by the laughter she provoked, Mitchell said, “I should’ve been a comedian.” 

As Councilmember Dona Spring later noted, of 47 speakers who rose to address the council, 41 wanted to protect the city’s existing Landmarks Preservation Ordinance (LPO). 

But the other six—all with interests in development—found sympathetic ears on the council, starting with Mayor Bates. 

While the proposed changes to the existing ordinance were triggered by a call from the council for changes in the ordinance that would bring it into line with the state Permit Streamlining Act—which mandates timelines for approving development projects, Planning Director Marks acknowledged that the city had only gotten into one spot of legal trouble over the ordinance, which had to do with a city staff error and had nothing to do with a landmark. 

While no one from the Planning Commission appeared to speak for that body’s alternate draft of the LPO, the LPC was well represented by current and former members who spoke up in defense of the major provisions of the existing ordinance. 

Representatives of neighborhood associations from every council district appeared to argue in support of the ordinance, while the West Berkeley Business Alliance, (WBBA), a group formed by corporations (Bayer being the biggest), realtors, and professionals, said the mayor’s ideas didn’t go far enough. 

A key WBBA member is developer Dan Diebel, whose plans for a major housing-over-retail project at 700 University Ave. were placed on hold after the LPC designated the Celia’s Mexican Restaurant building on the project site as a structure of merit—a decision overturned by the City Council during a meeting when the majority of members complained that structure of merit designations were blocking projects they felt were worthwhile. 

Bates did say he was giving up on his previously floated idea of hiring a city historic preservation officer. 

Bates told councilmembers to formulate their ideas for the new ordinance, which would be discussed at next Tuesday’s council meeting. Bates said the council’s ideas would then go to city staff to prepare a proposed ordinance which would be available to the public—two months was a reasonable period, he said—followed by another public hearing. 

The LPC would have a chance to review the ordinance before it came back to the council for passage. 

If it follows Bates’ model, the measure will create a new review process that would give developers a chance for an initial city review through a new process called a request for determination, designed to make an authoritative finding about whether a property contains a potential landmark. 

Bates has also proposed allowing the structure of merit to have the legal protections now accorded under the California Environmental Quality Act only when found in a historic district. He has also floated the notion of a neighborhood preservation district. 

Under his proposal, future structures of merit outside districts would lose extensive protections, though structures already given the designation before the new ordinance takes effect would retain the protections. 

“Clearly we have to do something,” said Councilmember Linda Maio, though she, like her other colleagues, tried to assure the public that truly significant buildings would still be protected.  

 


Grandmothers Try to Enlist By Judith Scherr

Friday February 17, 2006

The people banging on the door of the downtown Oakland Army recruiting center on St. Valentine’s Day weren’t your typical military wannabes. 

They were mostly women, mostly over 60. Some sported flowered broad-brimmed hats covering grey or white or tinted hair, others dressed for the occasion in camouflage chic or valentine red. A few steered walkers steadily through the crowd, others stood in silent vigil, while some leaned on friendly arms or rolled along in wheelchairs. Some held the hands of small children. 

“Let us in!” the women yelled at the locked glass door, with no person visible on the other side. “We want to enlist! Are you afraid of a bunch of old ladies?”  

The noon-time event, sponsored by Grandmothers Against the War, Women for Peace, Bay Area Women in Black, and other organizations attracted some 300 women and a dozen or so men to the Armed Forces Career Center at 2116 Broadway. Similar protests were held in 13 cities around the country. 

“I want to try to enlist, but they locked the doors,” said Barbara Ellis, grandmother of a 7-year-old and a 10-month -old. Tongue in cheek, of course, Ellis said she had come hoping to trade places with a soldier fighting in Iraq. 

“I want to bring home one of the young people,” she said. 

Great-grandmother Mary O’Donnell carried a sign that read, “Great grandmother, take me, bring two home.” The sister of celebrated Berkeley peace activist the Rev. Bill O’Donnell, who died two years ago, O’Donnell said she was protesting in the spirit of her brother. 

“He stood for justice and peace,” she said. “He would be appalled by what’s going on in the country right now. I’m here because I love my country. And I want them to bring our troops home.” 

This was a protest without speeches, but the organizers read a statement in a call-and-response mode, which explained why they’d chosen Valentine’s Day for the event: 

“We are grandmothers heartbroken over the enormous loss of life and limb in Iraq,” the women chanted. “We are appalled by our leaders who make war on other people’s children—a war and occupation that our leaders justify with lies and deceit . . . On Valentine’s Day we are demonstrating our love for this country and its young people by enlisting in the U.S. military to replace the children and grandchildren too long deployed there.” 

Several choruses performed or led group singing during the hour-long event, often using old songs with new words. The San Francisco Chapter of the Raging Grannies sang a version of “God Bless America,” with lyrics written by Lynn Kalmar of Oakland: “American as apple pie / a loving grandma too / no more recruits for us must die / take us instead of you,” they sang. 

Reflecting on the significance of grandmothers demonstrating, Kalmar said: “It has real meaning when it is grandmothers who are trying to make life continue. It doesn’t matter if it’s an Iraqi grandmother that’s suffering or an American grandmother that’s suffering. I have a grandchild and if anything happened to that grandchild, I would be devastated. And I know that’s what many Iraqi grandmothers are feeling today. I want my grandchild to be able to grow up in health and in peace.” 

Hal Carlstad was among the grandfathers supporting the event. 

“I’m much better with a rifle than Cheney. He needs to go back and get in the military and learn how to shoot,” he said, referring to the recent hunting incident where the vice president shot another hunter. “Give him a chance to fight his war rather than other people fighting their wars.” 

Great-grandmother Miriam Singer, 86, used her walker to help her move along in a picket line that stretched along the block. “I want change,” Singer said. “I want the war to stop.”  

While demonstrators marched and sang and rapped on the glass door, the army recruiter who usually staffs the office was standing across the street, watching. 

“Everyone has a right to their opinion,” said the man, in an interview inside the spacious office later that afternoon. The recruiter declined to give his name. 

The recruiter was alone in the 10-desk office at the time of the interview—no one walked through the open door. The Daily Planet asked him if the Oakland office was having problems finding enlistees, as has been reportedly the case around the country. 

He said the army no longer is pushing for a specific number of recruits. “We want to recruit quality people to serve the country,” he said. 

Asked who would join the armed forces, given the possible danger, the recruiter said, “My job is to offer people an opportunity for education and a change of life. Some people have it bad here.” 

Some people live in dysfunctional families and Oakland is a place with high crime, drugs and drive-bys, he said. “It’s a way out.” 

The recruiter said he has been in the Army for 20 years, but had never seen combat. Asked how he felt about sending young people to Iraq to possibly die, he answered that he knew of only one of his recruits who went to Iraq. Another of his recruits served in the army for two years, then went to West Point, he said. 

If protester Carol Levy of Emeryville had her way, there would be no more recruitment and no more war. Levy’s grandchildren are 5- and 3-years-old. 

“I am so outraged,” she said during the protest and holding a sign that posed the question, “How many dead children? If we don’t do something, this war will still be going on when my grandchildren are 18.”  

 

 

Photo by Richard Bermack:  

Jane Scheer at the Grandmothers Against the War Valentine’s Day action in Oakland Tuesday..


Albany Police To Review Response to Stabbing Victims By Judith Scherr

Friday February 17, 2006

There were tears shared at Wednesday’s memorial for Juan Carlos Ramos, victim of a stabbing Feb. 10 at a party on Contra Costa Avenue. 

But there was also anger and frustration related to questions about police treatment of the victims. 

At the memorial, one young man’s shirt bore the statement: “Shame on the Albany police.” He declined to talk to a reporter, but others accused police of treating the victims of the stabbing as if they were perpetrators and not moving swiftly to save Ramos’ life. 

On the night of the stabbing, an uninjured driver took three youths who had been stabbed to the Albany Police Department at the intersection of San Pablo and Marin avenues. 

Albany Police Chief Gregory Bone told the Daily Planet he was looking into exactly what happened that night. On Friday nights, the small police department has only three officers on duty, he said. All three were in the field at about 11:30 p.m.; two were in the process of making felony arrests 

A lone dispatcher was at the police station, Bone said. 

“The dispatcher gets a frantic knock at the west door,” he said, relating the sequence of events as he understood them. 

Then, Bone said, the person announced through the speaker box that he had been stabbed. Soon after there was pounding at the north door and the person was saying, “We’ve been stabbed.” Then the pounding came from the east side, with a similar cry for help, Bone said.  

Bone said it was probably the same person moving quickly around to the different sides of the building. 

The dispatcher, who does not carry weapons and is not permitted to open the door at the police station, was trying to assess the situation and put the information out into the field for the officers there. 

“One officer was able to break from the field,” Bone said. “He arrives to a chaotic situation. There are several people in the parking lot. Someone is lying on the ground. There is chaos, pandemonium.” 

Bone said the officer then has to assess the situation—who are the victims? Who are the suspects? 

“From the victims’ perspective, they know who they are, but from the police perspective, things are not so clear. There’s a sorting out process,” he said. 

The Albany Police Department’s review will pinpoint the time the calls were made and the police response, Bone said. 

Meanwhile, Berkeley police still have no one in custody for the slaying and continue to speak to those who attended the party. 

“There are a couple who are working with us,” Public Information Officer Ed Galvin said Thursday, without elaborating. 

Galvin confirmed reports that the other three stabbing victims were out of the hospital and recuperating from their wounds.  

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call the homicide unit at 981-5900 or leave comments on the department's website at www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/police..


Mayor Bates Announces Bid for Re-election By Suzanne La Barre

Friday February 17, 2006

Berkeley was Mayor Tom Bates’ sweetheart this Valentine’s Day when he announced he’ll pursue the city’s chief position for one more term.  

“It’s Valentine’s Day, and I love Berkeley,” he said to a few dozen supporters Tuesday, moments after declaring he will seek re-election in November. 

Bates, a former state Assemblymember, was elected to four years in office in 2002, beating out incumbent Shirley Dean 55.3 percent to 43 percent. This year, he will compete for a two-year term, in accordance with voter-approved policy aimed at aligning city and national elections for maximum voter turnout. 

No other candidates have submitted official statements of intent to run, City Clerk Sara Cox said. However, local resident Zachary Runningwolf announced a month ago that he would vie for the seat. Also, Daily Planet columnist and former Planning Commission Chair Zelda Bronstein has said she is thinking about running. 

“I haven’t made a final decision yet,” she said this week. 

Bates said he doesn’t know who his adversaries will be, though he isn’t worried about the competition. 

“No matter who my opponent is, I’m going to run on my record,” he said. 

Bates, 68, made the announcement on the steps of City Hall Tuesday.  

Though California code precludes office holders from using public facilities for private gain, a representative from Bates’ office said he’s legally allowed to announce his candidacy on public property. The city attorney could not be reached to confirm that by press time. 

Bates told his audience he wants to continue the work he started. 

“It’s been an incredible three years. I’m very proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish,” he said. “Things take longer than we could possibly imagine and that’s why I’m running again.” 

Bates enumerated several professional accomplishments as mayor, echoing his State of the City address Feb. 7. During his tenure, he said, the city has expanded youth programs, built more than 1,400 homes, heightened environmental awareness and balanced the budget. He also lauded the city’s joint agreement with UC Berkeley to develop the downtown area. 

In a press briefing following his announcement, Bates said he wants to use a second term to address Berkeley’s recent spike in property crime, among other issues.  

“It’s a lot we want to do,” he said. “The city—we need to get results. We need a clear guideline.” 

Councilmembers Max Anderson, Gordon Wozniak and Laurie Capitelli, who attended the event Tuesday, have endorsed the mayor. 

Additional early endorsements have come from councilmembers Linda Maio and Darryl Moore. Congressmember Barbara Lee, Bates’ wife Assemblymember Loni Hancock, Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson and other public figures have also declared their support. 

Wozniak, of District 8, commended the mayor’s decision to seek a second mayoral term. 

“I think Tom has been a great mayor,” he said. “As he said, a lot of things have started and he wants to complete things. … He has a really great vision.” 

Wozniak said he’s confident Bates will “win overwhelmingly.” 

However, the mayor is not without his critics. Some have lambasted his stance on city expansion, accusing him of pandering to developers. Last year, Bates and the Berkeley City Council came under fire for settling the lawsuit against UC Berkeley over downtown growth. 

Critics said the deal—which will fatten city coffers by $22.3 million over 15 years—did not extract enough money from the university and failed to assert adequate control over development. Though Bates conceded the city did not get everything it wanted, he continues to stand by the settlement. 

“For better or worse, this agreement is a landmark,” he said. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington praised Bates for effectively civilizing the oft-quarrelsome City Council, but condemned him for neglecting progressive issues like affordable housing and the city budget. 

“Important progressive priorities are not making it on the priority list,” Worthington said. 

Worthington was a major proponent of Bates in 2002. “I begged him to run,” Worthington said. But this year, he is one of three councilmembers to not offer an endorsement. 

Still, he is hopeful the mayor will build a palatable progressive platform.  

“I’m hoping and praying Tom Bates can be encouraged to be as progressive as Loni Hancock was,” he said.  

Bates, a graduate of UC Berkeley, was elected to the Alameda County Supervisors in 1972 and State Assembly in 1976. He served in the Assembly until 1996..


Creek Ordinance Proposals a Wellspring of Conflict By Suzanne La Barre

Friday February 17, 2006

Invective flowed Wednesday at the first of two hearings to address the future of Berkeley’s embattled waterways. 

More than 100 residents and concerned citizens gathered at the North Berkeley Senior Center to weigh in on possible revisions to the city’s hotly contested creek ordinance, a 1989 addition to Berkeley Municipal Code that regulates development on and near city watercourses. 

The meeting revisited a long-standing face-off between property owners who want unhampered rights over their creek-side land and environmentalists who say Berkeley’s waterways are community resources worth preserving. Agreement between the two sides was nowhere in sight Wednesday.  

The existing ordinance, affecting 1,191 residences, prohibits homeowners from adding onto properties within 30 feet of a creek—whether the waterway is open or interred. This includes rebuilding should a home suffer major damage, though concessions are made for structures destroyed by a natural disaster, such as a flood, earthquake or fire. 

But homeowners want more freedom to develop their properties—or the code should be overhauled altogether, they say. 

The 15-member Creeks Task Force, formed to study the issue, presented four options for retooling the ordinance at Wednesday’s hearing. 

In a summary of the choices, city planning staff said Option A mirrors the current legislation, Option B is a slight variation, Option C invokes case-by-case standards and Option D regulates only vacant lots. The proposals exclusively address open creeks. Buried creeks, which flow underground through culverts, are dealt with separately.  

Reaction from the crowd was a mixed bag. Options A and B garnered little support from the Neighbors on Urban Creeks contingent, a homeowners’ activist group, while C and D earned a warmer reception. 

Former Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean expressed support for D. 

“I want to protect my home that my husband and I bought on a teacher’s salary,” she said. 

The neighborhood organization also offered its own solution: a 12-step proposal that allows more development leeway and calls for financial incentives for homeowners who care for their waterways.  

“I think it’s critical that properties that already have homes on them, that they be allowed to rebuild for whatever reason—as a matter of right,” said Berkeley resident Linda Franklin. 

Another option drafted by task force members Tom Kelly, Joshua Bradt and Carole Schemmerling, and published in the Berkeley Daily Planet Feb. 14, was submitted too late for consideration on Wednesday’s agenda, but lays out more rigorous restrictions on creek-side properties, including the protection of all creek culverts and a ban on roofed structures within 30 feet of a creek. Environmentalists strongly endorsed the plan.  

“All of us have a responsibility to the environment,” said Vikrant Soot, a renter in Berkeley. “I support Option E.” 

Some activists denounced homeowners for failing to view city creeks as natural assets to the community as a whole. Homeowners shot back that such criticism reflected little more than textbook idealism, pointing out how many waterways are infested with flies and trash. 

Berkeley City Council approved the current creek legislation in 1989 to “establish policy on culverting, rehabilitation and the restoration of natural waterchannels,” according to a background paper distributed by task force representative Jon Streeter. 

The ordinance went into effect Jan. 4, 1990, with support from environmental advocates and other interested parties, but there was otherwise little public input or awareness. 

Shortly after, problems arose surrounding language ambiguities in the legislation, particularly apropos the definition of a creek. There were questions, for instance, as to whether culverted creeks are included in the definition. A 1991 ruling by the city attorney’s office said yes. Currently, there is general agreement—among environmentalists and homeowners—that culverts should be treated less stringently.  

Problems are further compounded by the fact that maps locating Berkeley’s water channels have changed over the years. As one resident said, “not even the city knows where the creeks are.” 

In 2004, pressure mounted by homeowners on the City Council netted an amendment that clarified property owners’ right to rebuild near a creek in the event of a disaster. But complaints over homeowner rights haven’t stopped there.  

Wednesday’s hearing was held to allow the creek authority to solicit public comment only; no action was taken. The task force will hold a joint hearing with the Planning Commission March 22. It will then forward a recommendation to the commission, which will hand off a proposal to City Council. The council will decide the ultimate fate of Berkeley’s creek ordinance.  

Kelly, who represents the creeks community, said he felt Wednesday’s meeting represented some progress toward forging a solution.  

“Certainly we’re talking more rationally and I don‘t think these proposals are that much apart,” he said, though moments earlier, he was booed by audience members when describing Option E, pitched as having the capability to “resolve many of the conflicts that have arisen from the original ordinance.” 

Still, he said, “I’m hopeful.””


Neighbors Confront Developers over Project Proposal By Richard Brenneman

Friday February 17, 2006

A big five-story building is going up at the northwest corner of University Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Way and there’s nothing neighbors can do to stop it. 

That’s the one thing 50 or so of them learned Monday night in a packed meeting room at the Lutheran Church of the Cross a block to the west of the project site. 

“They’re going to play hardball,” said Steve Wollmer of Neighbors for a Livable Berkeley Way, a group formed in response to the project. Wollmer is also the principal figure in PlanBerkeley.org, a group which has been active on development issues along the University Avenue and San Pablo Avenue corridors and which has posted project plans on their website. 

Should critics kill the current project, the developers say they’re already entitled to build something even bigger and denser—and without the sweetener awaited by lots of folks in Berkeley. 

The incentive offered by developers Chris Hudson and Evan McDonald is Trader Joe’s, the eccentric and eclectic market that’s as much a cult as it is a store, and the source of potentially lucrative sales taxes. 

The home of “Two Buck Chuck”—that popular and inexpensive red wine that even some ardent oenophiles admit to tippling—and countless gourmet oddities and delicacies, Trader Joe’s has spawned a zealous following in 20 states from coast to coast. 

With the closest outlets at the Powell Street Plaza in Emeryville and at El Cerrito Plaza, the prospect of the popular “T.J.’s” opening in Berkeley has many locals salivating. 

Not that there’s a done deal. 

“There’s lots of interest in Trader Joe’s,” said Nancy Holland, an aide to City Councilmember Dona Spring. “However we have had these other projects where interesting retail was proposed but never appeared.” 

What guarantee was there that the market would actually occupy the space? 

“We have a lease,” said Hudson. “It requires a signature, and that will probably happen next month. But if it doesn’t happen by a certain time, it would go away.” 

“Will Trader Joe’s be at ZAB to answer questions?” asked Holland. 

“I doubt it,” said Hudson. “We’ll be Trader Joe’s representative.” 

And Trader Joe’s will come to University Avenue and MLK if and only if the city O.K.s the project according to the store’s timeline, the developers told the attendees at Monday’s gathering. 

The subject of the market also came up at Wednesday night’s meeting of the city’s Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee. 

Dave Fogarty, community development project coordinator for Berkeley’s Economic Development Department, said that no major grocery store was likely to locate in downtown Berkeley because rents are too high. Shopping centers frequently give major markets space at discounts simply to draw the traffic they bring, he said. 

Trader Joe’s, he said, “is the best grocery store that is likely to locate in downtown Berkeley.” 

 

Size and shadows 

Neighbors said they were also worried about the size of the building itself and the shadows it will cast, both literally and esthetically, on the adjacent neighborhood of single-family homes. 

The plans that will be presented to the Zoning Adjustments Board next month include 48 parking spaces for the store—twice the city’s requirement—all on the ground floor in an enclosed lot accessible only from Berkeley Way, the residential street that runs parallel to and north of University. 

And neighbors are worried about the traffic the store will generate from shoppers driving into and exiting the store’s parking lot from a residential street, as well as the impact from other shoppers who troll for the already scarce parking spots on the street. 

To accommodate the cars of residents, the building will also provide a level of underground parking with 110 spaces, some of them provide by the electric lifts that were the signature devices of the buildings the pair constructed for Patrick Kennedy. 

The underground lot will be accessible only from University Avenue via an entrance to the west of the truck access to Trader Joe’s. 

Asked about providing spaces for fewer cars than the number of apartments, Hudson said, “We are confident they will more than meet the demand. Apartment dwellers have fewer cars” than homeowners. 

Concerned that the mass of the building would overpower their one- and two-story homes on Berkeley Way, neighbors like Tom Hunt had asked that Hudson-McDonald build in the rear of the structure in tiers or steps, but the entire project ranges from 50 feet high to 55 feet at the midline of the structure along Berkeley Way. 

“Are you locked in at five stories?” asked an audience member. 

“It doesn’t meet the zoning,” said Wollmer. It’s going in under a super-duper exemption devised by the Planning Department because it is 30 units less than their original proposal. Even though it is higher, it is less intense.” 

The residential part of the structure—basically, everything above the ground floor—will offer 156 apartments, including 70 percent with one bedroom and the rest, except for four studios, with two. 

Unit sizes will range from 600 square feet to 850. 

The original version, said Hudson, was 186 units with only 4,000 square feet of retail and less parking. “It was deemed complete, and we believe that under state law is has to be approved as it stands. This is an alternate plan, and if this project is not accepted, we would go back to the 186 unit building that is grandfathered in.” 

“ZAB has recommended that the staff disapprove the project,” added Wollmer. 

ZAB member Jesse Anthony had no kind words for the original project when the board looked at it late last year. 

“Some buildings make you happy to see them,” Anthony said. But as for the original design, “Put bars on it, and it looks like a prison,” he said. “To me, it looks like San Quentin. It’s an indecent building. It just looks terrible.” 

Several neighbors did say the new design looks better. 

But the shadows cast by the big housing box are causing neighbors a lot of anxiety. 

“You have a big, substantive problem with this building,” said Rob Browning. “It throws year-long shadows on properties across the street, and that is simply not acceptable. Something has to give along the north wall, because an enormous quantity of shade is thrown on small scale properties for much of the year.” 

But Hudson said the design fit within the allowable construction envelope. 

Neighbors brought up the shadows several times during the course of the evening, but the developers repeatedly said the effects wouldn’t be so bad, and then only at their maximum extent during the solstice and equinoxes. 

The neighbors weren’t convinced. 

 

Other questions 

Merilee Mitchell and John McBride, Berkeley residents who frequently attend land use meetings, targeted their questions at the tenants’ cars. 

Mitchell suggested that the developers could reduce parking demand even more by offering tenants passes for BART and buses. 

“Put all that together and you could probably cut your spending on parking and still make your costs,” Mitchell said. 

Hudson said they had originally planned to offer fewer parking spaces, but upped the number in response to neighbors who feared residents would wind up parking on the streets. As it is, residents will have to pay extra if they plan to use one of the building’s spaces. He added that they do plan to participate in the city’s car share program. 

McBride asked the developers to commit to the city that their tenants wouldn’t be able to apply for residential preferred parking stickers, city-issued permits that allow for extended street parking beyond the normal two-hour limits imposed in most residential districts. 

“We’ve agreed to do that” in other projects, McDonald said, but not in this one. 

“We’ve already looked into that,” said Wollmer. “They’re going to play hardball.” 

At the end of the meeting, the developers thanked the neighbors for their comments. “We’ll look at what we can do,” said McDonald. 

Wollmer shrugged. “ZAB wanted us to have this meeting, but they (the developers) are going to do what they want to do.” 

The developers and critics did agree on one point. The project on 1885 University Ave. is probably the last of its kind along the heavily traveled thoroughfare. 

Limits on size in the University Avenue Strategic Plan, which was passed after the project was first proposed to the city, would preclude anything as massive in the future—and the developers say the plan may have effectively killed infill development along the corridor..


Is Trader Joe’s the Perfect Bait? By Richard Brenneman

Friday February 17, 2006

Trader Joe’s probably ranks as the most attractive bait the city’s seen skewered on a developer’s hook in recent years. 

Locating the popular market on Berkeley’s most popular street would offer something for almost everyone, ranging from Berkeley’s socially conscious shoppers to city officials desperate to balance the municipality’s ailing budgets. 

Proponents and critics of more residential development in the downtown area have pointed to the area’s lack of a major supermarket—and while the store would be a significant walk for a bag-laden resident of, say, the Fine Arts Building on Shattuck Avenue, it’s still closer than anything else. 

Groceries, which comprise the bulk of sales at traditional markets, are exempt from sales tax in California. 

Bulk sales of the taxable booze and snack foods that comprise a large segment of Trader Joe’s transaction are a powerful lure for a cash-strapped city, especially the numbers floated by the developers—maybe $600,000 or as high as a million dollars. 

Developer Evan McDonald said that figure compares to the $25,000 in sales taxes generated for the city by Kragen Auto Parts, the primary tenant in the strip mall that now occupies the site. 

And for the politically conscious and environmentally sensitive, the store won’t stamp its brand on genetically engineered foods or offer any seafood products from the eastern coast of Canada because of those infamous baby seal hunts. 

And Trader Joe’s own branded eggs don’t come from caged factory farm hens, thanks to an agreement the chain signed in November with the Humane Society of the United States. 

The store will, however, carry the controversial items offered under other brand names, though for Berkeley folk averse to enriching avaricious conglomerates, 85 percent of the store’s non-alcoholic products are private label stock rather than nationally known brand names, according to a June 2002 article in the trade publication Private Label Buyer. 

Trader Joe’s is owned by German Theo Albrecht, the 83-year-old billionaire who usually appears on listings of the world’s richest people—though estimates of his wealth vary widely. 

The store began in Southern California, the creation of grocer Joe Coulombe, who in the 1950s had started Pronto markets, fast food stores similar to 7-Eleven. 

According to the Trader Joe’s web site, in 1967 Coulombe decided to expand his product line to include gourmet and hard-to-find items, giving rise to his new brand. 

Albrecht bought the chain through a family trust 12 years later, carrying protecting the store’s image as a pleasant and slightly eccentric venue for would-be gourmets, gourmands and trenchermen.  

Trader Joe’s has avoided union organizers by offering higher pay, according to a Jan. 16, 2004 article in the German paper Deutsche Welle. 

The chain does little conventional advertising, preferring instead to distribute its own “Fearless Flyer” as inserts in local papers. The publication features descriptions of products and recipes illustrated with drawings and antique engravings rather than the more conventional photographs of typical grocery store ads. 

The formula works, and spectacularly. 

According to the cover article in the November/December issue of Private Label Magazine, Trader Joe’s—with its smaller selection and stores—generates about $1,200 to $1,300 per square foot in sales a year, about twice the revenue of conventional markets. 

The stores typically stock about 2,000 to 2,500 items, about one-tenth the stock of typical markets, reports the magazine, which also quotes estimates from industry experts who say that sales amount to about $12 million per store annually, or $2.6 billion for the chain. 

While the article says stores average about 8,000 to 9,000 square feet, McDonald said the chain has asked for 13,5000 square feet in the their building, of which 12,000 would be usable sales area.  

The store has also requested 48 parking spaces, which, with the store, will account for the lion’s share of the building’s ground floor. 

“Trader Joe’s expects it be a very well-performing store,” said Hudson..


PUEBLO Director Praises Oakland Police Chief By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor

Friday February 17, 2006

A veteran Oakland progressive community police activist says that the combination of federal judicial oversight, the upcoming expiration of Oakland’s agreement with the police union, and a cooperative new police chief has the chance to result in significant positive reforms this year in the Oakland Police Department. 

“Chief [Wayne] Tucker knows he needs the community’s help to overcome some of the obstacles he’s facing,” said Rashidah Grinage, acting director of PUEBLO (People United For A Better Oakland), in an interview. “We’ve been meeting regularly with him since he was appointed. He’s working with us.”  

Tucker, a veteran of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department, was hired by Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown on an interim basis last February to replace outgoing Oakland Police Chief Richard Word. Brown appointed Tucker as permanent police chief last summer. 

One of the first results of that PUEBLO-OPD chief cooperation was the release this week of a PUEBLO-initiated, city-commissioned survey showing that one-third of Oakland citizens had a negative impression of their most recent contact with Oakland police officers, and that only one in ten citizens expressing such a negative police experience later filed a complaint with the Citizens’ Police Review Board or the Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division. 

Tucker told members of the Oakland City Council Public Safety Committee this week that the survey showed that “underreporting of complaints against the police is a serious problem. It’s very troubling that people don’t have faith in the department’s reporting and complaint process.” 

Tucker said the survey also indicated that “police services are delivered differently” to different constituencies in Oakland. 

“We have a culture in the police department that needs to be changed.” Noting that the survey showed that two-thirds of Oakland citizens were satisfied with the conduct of the police they encountered, Tucker said, “this is not where we want to be. That figure should be 80 to 85 percent.” 

Tucker also called on the City Council to establish the citizen survey as an annual procedure. 

The Public Safety Committee referred the survey results to the full City Council for consideration.  

In a prepared statement, PUEBLO’s Grinage said, “while we commend the city for undertaking this survey, and believe some of the results to be encouraging signs of progress, we are deeply alarmed at the under-reporting of possible police abuse or misconduct.” 

The Oakland Police Department is currently under the scrutiny of U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson because of noncompliance with the settlement agreement terms of the Allen v. Oakland police misconduct lawsuit (commonly called the “Riders” lawsuit). 

Under the agreement, the Oakland Police Department must meet a series of court-mandated conduct reform goals while being monitored by a court-appointed independent monitoring team. 

In addition, the city is currently in negotiations with the powerful Oakland Police Officers Association (OPOA) labor union over the city-union Memorandum of Understanding labor contract agreement. The current MOU expires this June. 

“Judge Henderson has been very critical of the union” during the procedures when the monitoring team report reports back to him on the police department’s progress in meeting the settlement agreement goals, Grinage said in an interview. “He seems very concerned that the existing Memorandum of Understanding allows the union to hold up compliance. That gives Chief Tucker a lot of leverage in negotiating with the police union for the new MOU. He’s the first Oakland Police Chief to have that.” 

Grinage said PUEBLO reached tentative agreement with the City of Oakland to commission the police complaint survey, but added that it was “held up for many months” within the police-city bureau-cracy.  

“We’re crediting Chief Tucker with pushing it through to get it done,” Grinage said. 

In the September 2005 telephone interview survey conducted by McGuire Research Services, 1,000 Oakland residents were surveyed about their contact with an Oakland police officer over the past five years. The survey was jointly designed by City of Oakland staffers and experts retained by PUEBLO. The results were then analyzed by the Oakland offices of the Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin & Associates research firm, which presented its findings to the City Council Public Safety Committee this week. 

The survey showed the expected: African-Americans and lower income citizens were more likely to claim negative experiences with the police department than whites or upper income citizens. Of those participating in the survey, 39 percent of African-Americans reported a negative police experience, while the negative percentage was 32 percent for Latinos, 30 percent for Asian-Americans, and 21 percent for whites. Of citizens making under $20,000 a year, 39 percent reported a negative experience, while 26 percent of citizens making more than $60,000 a year reported a negative police experience. 

There was little percentage difference in the ethnicity of the police officer being complained about. 

The analysis showed that of the 11 percent of dissatisfied citizens who actually filed a complaint with the city or the police department, almost 50 percent said that the officer involved was “harassing, rude, or insensitive,” while 17 percent claimed the officer was “physically abusive” and 8 percent believed they were “racially profiled.” 

“’Rude and discourteous’ jumps out of the page at you,” Tucker told Public Safety Committee members. “That should never be.” 

“Fully 84 percent of Oakland residents who have had negative experiences with the police don’t report it because they didn’t believe it would make a difference, didn’t trust the process, or felt it wasn’t worth the time or effort,” said PUEBLO’s Grinage in a statement. “This suggests a level of disconnect between the Police Department and the public it is meant to serve that must be addressed.” 

Grinage added that “positive and negative experiences are directly correlated to race and economic status: white middle-upper class people had favorable experiences while people of color of lower economic status tended to have negative experiences. This suggests strongly that there are two styles of policing in Oakland—one for the affluent and one for the rest of the residents. This is unacceptable.” 

PUEBLO is planning to release its own analysis of the police complaint survey later this year. In addition, the organization has planned a community speak-out for Saturday, March 4, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Frick Middle School in Oakland to discuss community complaints about the Oakland Police Department..


Community Meeting Addresses Steel Plant Issues By Judith Scherr

Friday February 17, 2006

Fearing their jobs could be at stake if the plant was forced out of Berkeley’s shrinking industrial zone, some 200 Pacific Steel Casting workers bearing hard hats came to a Wednesday night community meeting at the West Berkeley Senior Center to laud their employer for the healthy working conditions they say they find at the plant. 

But several dozen neighbors of the 1333 Second St. foundry, many of them members of West Berkeley Alliance for Clean Air and Safe Jobs or the Clean Air Coalition, came to the meeting called by City Councilmember Linda Maio with lingering questions and concerns regarding the adequacy of a December settlement between the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the 72-year-old steel plant. 

The agreement mandates a $2 million carbon filtration system and imposed a $17,000 fine for past emission violations. 

Calling the plan “seriously flawed,” and accusing the parties of having written it without community input, West Berkeley Alliance activist Janice Schroeder said her organization’s concerns include an “ineffectual” odor complaint process: neighbors say they call the air district, but no inspectors are available after 5 p.m. Schroeder also cited the lack of a public updated emissions inventory report and the possibility that new permits for the filtration system will allow increased emissions. 

Emissions listed in Pacific Steel documents can cause a number of health problems including cancer and organ damage, Schroeder said.  

The Clean Air Coalition shared many of the West Berkeley Alliance concerns. Spokesperson Willi Paul said that his organization wants PSC to study non-toxic alternatives to the binder process, part of the steel casting procedure. (Binders hold the sand molds together and emit toxic substances.) 

Further, Paul blasted PSC for what he called, “a dog and pony show,” bringing the PSC workers with their hard hats into the meeting so that a jobs-versus-the-community climate would be created.  

The Clean Air Coalition said it plans to use the courts to force PSC to better practices.  

Organized by the Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics and Allied Workers International Union, the factory workers said they had come to speak to the fact that, even though they work inside the plant, they do not suffer from work-related health problems. 

Union representative Carlos Costa lauded Pacific Steel for its efforts to protect the environment. 

“Pacific Steel is always looking for new techniques,” he said. “Let Pacific Steel solve the problem.” 

Peter Hess, the deputy air pollution control officer for the Bay Area air quality district, promised that the community would be involved in the steps for choosing, permitting and installing a new filtration system. 

On March 31, Pacific Steel is scheduled to submit an odor abatement plan and an updated emissions inventory report will be released May 19. The new carbon filtration system will be installed by Sept. 30 and the abatement system is scheduled to be fully operational by Oct. 15. 

Councilmember Maio promised the city’s help in fast-tracking permits for the new filtration system. 

A health risk assessment is also underway and will be completed by June 10. 

“We’ll have a very good picture of what the emissions are,” said Brian Batement, the air district’s director of engineering. 

But the community wasn’t satisfied that the testing would resolve the health issues. In response to those concerns, Maio introduced Michael Wilson, an environmental health scientist and researcher at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health. 

“I’m not confident that the health risk assessment will get us where we want to go,” Wilson said. 

Instead, he urged what he called a toxic use reduction initiative strategy. Rather than using funds to filter or reduce emissions, he said, it would be better to reduce the use of toxics such as lead and chromium from the outset.  

But finding new ways of casting steel would not be easy. “The problems facing us today won’t go away overnight,” he warned..


Berkeley Downtown Plan Group Looks to Future By Richard Brenneman

Friday February 17, 2006

Downtown Berkeley’s never again going to be a major commercial center with department stores and other large retailers, a city economic development officer said Wednesday night. 

Instead, Berkeley should build on the core of the city center’s growing arts district, by attracting more niche business and restaurants, said Dave Fogarty. 

Fogarty talked economics and demographics when he briefed the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee, the panel charged with helping shape a new vision for the city’s core. 

“I only know one planning joke, but I can’t repeat it,” said DAPAC Chair Will Travis. “It has to do with planners always believing that the future is reality.” 

In the case of DAPAC members, the question was whether to start with blue sky realities or those of the knottier realities of the past as they set about their course of creating a new plan for an expanded downtown area that will have to accommodate the massive appetites of the University of California. 

Dorothy Walker, DAPAC member and a retired assistant vice chancellor for property development at UC Berkeley, wanted to start with blue sky—to look at downtown and imagine the best possible vision for the city’s future. 

But Rob Wrenn, a DAPAC member who also chairs the city’s Transportation Commission and has served on the Planning Commission, wanted to start with the existing downtown plan, the effort of years of work by Berkeley citizens. 

“I’m not sure it is going to further our work to know what’s permitted now or not and what the existing (planning) elements are,” said Walker. “I would love to see us not get bogged down into things that’ve been done before. Everybody agrees we want it to be an exciting place to be.” 

Wrenn said the committee ought to begin by looking at the current plans and policies, then begin to build on them. 

“We need to balance the goals of the University of California by looking at our own existing goals and objectives. We ought to look at what are the development standards (now) as a starting point for our discussion of alternatives,” Wrenn said. 

“I don’t agree with Rob on getting into the existing policies, because we are generating a new vision for the downtown,” Walker replied. “Let’s do that first, and then look at how it relates to the existing policies.” 

At least two university planning officials, Kevin Hufferd and Jennifer Lawrence, were on hand for the Wednesday meeting, reserving their comments for when the university presents its own proposals for the nearly one million square feet of expansion it plans for the downtown area. They said that the university would be ready to make its presentation at the end of March. 

DAPAC’s second meeting this month—on Feb. 28—will feature a discussion of individual members’ goals for the downtown, a carryover of the discussion originally set for Wednesday. 

The first March meeting will feature a presentation on existing land use and conditions in the downtown, followed by the UC presentation at the end of the month. 

The committee will focus on goals again at their first April 19 meeting, incorporating the information presented by the university. That meeting will be followed three days later by a Saturday morning workshop that may or may not include public participation..


Berkeley First Stop for 2006 STIGA North American Table Tennis Tour By Riya Bhattacharjee

Friday February 17, 2006

UC Berkeley’s Recreational Sports Facility will play host to the Western Open, a four-star table tennis tournament this weekend. 

Among the nearly 200 ping pong players registered for the tournament are San Jose resident Khoa Nguyen, a former U.S. Olympian and U.S. National Team member; Stefan Feth, who is the national men’s singles semifinalist from Germany and Western Open champion; and Freddie Gabriel, the top-rated local player from Richmond. 

The women’s side will include California powerhouses, such as Jackie Lee, who will be competing against the mother and daughter entry of Lily Yip (the top-rated U.S. woman over 40) and Judy Hugh (the top-rated U.S girl under 18). 

UC Berkeley will be the first stop on the 2006 STIGA North American Tour, the seventh in a series of professionally managed and organized events sanctioned by USA Table Tennis. Sponsored by STIGA, a Swedish manufacturer of sporting goods, the tour is owned and operated by the North American Table Tennis (NATT) and is America’s only professional table tennis series. 

“We’re very pleased to be at UC Berkeley,” NATT President Richard Lee said. “The school has been outstanding to work with, the facility is first-rate, and the students, particularly their table tennis team, should enjoy the opportunity to see top-flight competition. California is a hotbed of table tennis activity and is a popular travel destination as well. These two factors have combined to bring us a healthy turnout.” 

The open singles round robin play begins on Saturday starting at 4:30 p.m. and the championship matches of open singles begin Sunday Afternoon at 1 p.m. Spectators will be admitted to the recreation center, at 2301 Bancroft Way, free of charge..


Police Blotter By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday February 17, 2006

Manslaughter bust 

Berkeley police arrested a homeless man from Pennsylvania on Feb. 9 on a Pennsylvania arrest warrant charging him in the Christmas Eve 2004 starvation death of his 19-month-old son. 

Berkeley Police spokesperson Officer Ed Galvan said Robert Martus was spotted outside the University Avenue Foster’s Freeze by the same officer who had rousted him from a homeless camp near the Marina right before Christmas. 

Robert Martus, 46, has already been extradited to Allentown, Pa., where he faces charges of involuntary manslaughter and misdemeanor conspiracy in the death of his son, Alexander. 

Also charged in the death is his spouse, Sharon, who had told Pennsylvania authorities of her husband’s presence in Berkeley after she returned there from Berkeley last month. She faces the same charges as her spouse, according to a report in the Easton, Pa., Express-Times. 

The paper reported that the child suffered from a heart malformation. 

“We knew he was in the area because we had a call from the police in Pennsylvania,” Galvan said. 

 

Double oops 

Patrolling West Berkeley streets because of a rise of car burglaries in the area, Berkeley officers spotted a 45-year-old man peering into cars in the 2700 block of 8th Street just after 7 a.m. last Thursday. 

When they stopped to talk to the fellow, they discovered that not only was he in possession of tools of the car clout trade, but the hapless guy also gave officers a false name—which gave them two legal reasons to bust him for violating his probation from a previous offense. 

 

Swallows, charged  

When Berkeley P.D. Drug Task Force officers stopped a 19-year-old man in the 700 block of Aileen Street last Thursday just after 8 p.m., their suspect swallowed something and resisted the officers. 

“He was taken to a local hospital for an examination and an OK by the doc to take him to jail,” said Officer Galvan. “We give them their choice of hospitals.” 

The swallower was booked on suspicion of possession of an illegal drug, destruction of evidence and interfering with a peace officer. 

 

Wild times 

Residents of the neighborhood around the corner of Etna Street and Dwight Way who wonder why that CHP helicopter was spotlighting the area in the wee hours of last Friday morning can rest somewhat peaceably now. 

The pilot was patrolling the Eastshore Freeway when he heard radio reports about a man with a gun acting erratically at the aforesaid location, so he grabbed the collective and steered eastward to help the locals. 

Officer Galvan said that while the hunt was on another call came in, reporting that a man was loading a pistol in the 2500 block of Elm Street. Officers arrived at the scene and took the 22-year-old man after he first threatened them and a civilian. 

Another pistol and some pepper spray were later discovered in the home of the suspect, who claimed to be a military veteran of the ongoing mess in Iraq. 

He faces a felony charge of brandishing a firearm at a police officer. 

 

Belated report 

A San Francisco watchmaker called Berkeley police late Friday afternoon to report that he’d been robbed of a laptop computer, a watch and some of the tools of his trade four days earlier in the 2700 block of San Pablo Avenue. 

The man said he’d finally been moved to report the heist for insurance reasons, said Officer Galvan. 

 

Shots fired  

Responding to calls of shots fired in the area of the 2900 block of Acton Street, Berkeley police officers found two shell casings and vague reports of people running on the street and a dark, two-door American car last seen heading away on Ashby Avenue. 

No victims of the shooting or any bullet holes were reported. 

 

Robbery 

A 25-year-old man reported that he was robbed of a small amount of cash by another man shortly before midnight Friday in the 2700 block of Ellsworth Street. 

 

Unjust desserts 

A man carrying a note threatening violence if he wasn’t given cash walked into Gelato Milano at 3170 Shattuck Ave., downtown Berkeley’s newest ice cream store, just before 5:30 p.m. Saturday. 

After ordering a young woman behind the counter to lie face-down on the floor, the bandit cleaned out the cash drawer and escaped, said Officer Galvan. The clerk was not injured, he said. 

 

Bowled over 

A man who robbed a Berkeley Bowl customer of their food outside the store Sunday afternoon was apprehended by officers who discovered that he had leapt over a fence into the courtyard of a building on Emerson Street nearby. 

The 38-year-old suspect, a homeless man, was taken into custody without further incident and booked on suspicion of robbery. 

 

Drive-by bust 

Summoned to the Alta Bates Summit Medical Center Emergency Room at 6 p.m. Sunday by a report that a gunshot victim had appeared at the hospital, Berkeley police found a man with a gunshot wound to the right elbow and little to say. 

“He refused to talk,” said Officer Galvan. 

Further investigation revealed that the man was one of two occupants of a car that had been involved in a drive-by shooting in Richmond earlier in the day and who had been fired on in return by a Richmond police officer. 

Berkeley officers kept the man in custody until he could be treated and handed over to their counterparts in Richmond. 

 

Stabbed but silent 

Berkeley police rushed to the 1400 block of Alcatraz Avenue just before midnight Sunday, responding to a caller who said a man had just been stabbed in the back by his girlfriend. 

Arriving at the residence, officers found the 28-year-old victim, who had next to nothing to say to them. He was transported to a local hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. 

Officers still want to question the missing companion, who is 25. 

 

Hot stuff 

A West Berkeley contractor with offices in the 900 block of Pardee Street called police Monday morning to report that, sometime over the weekend, persons unknown had entered their property with a lock-cutter and made off with a $10,000 gas welder. 

 

Faked out 

Monday afternoon a man wearing a beanie and pointing a fake handgun proved less than convincing to the folks at the Chevron station at 1201 The Alameda, who refused to part with their cash. 

Frustrated, the faker fled. 

 

Knife threat 

Police took a 14-year-old boy into custody for brandishing a deadly weapon after he threatened another teenager in the 2800 block of Ellsworth Street just before 7 p.m. Monday. 

 

Two bandits 

A pair of robbers, at least one of them carrying a pistol, robbed a 27-year-old woman of her cash in the 2700 block of Claremont Avenue just before noon Tuesday. The woman was not hurt, said Officer Galvan. 

 

Rat packed 

A group of seven or eight teenagers from the Berkeley High School campus robbed a 16-year-old from Oakland of his iPod as he walked along the 200 block of Kittredge Street Wednesday afternoon, said Officer Galvan. 

 

Two carjacks 

A Richmond-based gang staged two carjackings in Berkeley Wednesday, one successful and the other not. 

The first incident began near 1099 Murray St. where an Oakland man was approached by a gunman who ordered him out of his car, then got behind the wheel and sped away. The vehicle, a Honda, was later recovered on El Portal Drive in Richmond, said Officer Galvan. 

Those suspects remain at large. 

In the second incident, two bandits commandeered a car at 753 Hollis St. near the Emeryville border, then sped away. 

As they made their getaway, they managed to crash into the fence at Ashby Lumber at 824 Ashby Ave., where the duo—one 20 and the other 17—was taken into custody by Berkeley Police and booked on suspicion of carjacking. 

Galvan said the two incidents were likely the work of the same gang.?


Mayor, Anderson Field Ashby BART Questions By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday February 14, 2006

“It’s pretty clear that we as a City Council got out in front of the community. I’m sorry. I think it was a mistake,” said Mayor Tom Bates to a crowd gathered in a church meeting room Saturday morning. 

“But the intent here was to do something to improve South Berkeley,” he said. 

Bates was joined by his council colleague Max Anderson, who champions with the mayor a request for a state grant to plan a housing and retail development for the main parking lot of the Ashby BART station. 

The meeting, held at St. Paul A.M.E. Church at 2024 Ashby Ave., had been called in response to another meeting organized by project critics and held on Jan. 17, the same evening as a City Council meeting. 

The meeting was run by Taj Johns, the mayor’s neighborhood services liaison for the area. 

“This is the beginning to an open process that excludes no one and invites everyone,” said Anderson, who had pulled a resolution in support of the grant which had been scheduled for a vote at the Feb. 7 council meeting pending the outcome of Saturday’s meeting. 

It was the first time the mayor and councilmember had met with the South Berkeley public about the project, which has raised suspicions with many in the community because the grant application had been presented for a council vote only after it had been filed with the state Department of Transportation (Caltrans). 

That suspicion was evident in many of the questions posed Saturday, although project supporters were more in evidence than they had been at the January meeting. 

The grant application called for a project to be built on the lot that incorporated a minimum of 300 units of housing over ground floor retail and commercial space. 

Though the housing is being touted as an opportunity for library workers and other city employees in the city, Bates referred several times to the units as condos, at one point saying that the project would generate “a lot of income” for the city through stores, restaurants, entertainment “and, if condos, transfer taxes.” 

The city controls the air rights above the parking lot, which is owned by BART—an agency which encourages development of housing and retail complexes (so-called “transit villages”) at its stations. 

Though several speakers called for the council to withdraw the grant application, Anderson said that “to delay, postpone or eliminate would be to take away from our responsibility.” 

He said, “If we delay a year or a year-and-a-half, we would end up with real estate and land speculators buying up the property along Adeline Street. That’s already starting.” 

To abandon the planning grant, he said, would leave the public to protest projects on a piecemeal basis as they appeared before the Zoning Adjustments Board.  

That, Anderson said, “would be a huge mistake.” 

Jackie DeBose, a neighborhood political activist who has taken a prominent role in criticizing the city’s handling of the proposal, said “the past process was on the true path of a nightmare, but there is a chance it can be salvaged.” 

The best thing, she said “is to withdraw the application and meet with the community. The good news is that the mayor and the councilmember have committed” to work with a broad-based community coalition. 

Errol Davis, a founding member, general manager and vendor of the Berkeley Flea Market which meets at the Ashby BART parking lot on weekends, said the vendors don’t want to be excluded from the process. 

Rosemary Hyde, a Prince Street resident, said she didn’t see any way that truly affordable housing could be built on the property. 

Bates had said that the project would follow city law, which requires that 20 percent of the units be set aside as affordable. 

Affordable apartments are reserved for those earning 80 percent less of the area median income (AMI), while so-called affordable condos can be purchased by those earning as much as 120 percent of AMI. Those rates are based on the metropolitan area of Alameda and Contra Costa County, a rate that is higher than that for the City of Berkeley—due in part to the city’s large student population. 

Bates said one possible solution would be for the property to be developed by a partnership consisting of both a for-profit and a non-profit developer. 

“I don’t think this is about affordable housing,” said Mary Trew. “These are condos as Mayor Bates said. “I think this is a land grab—taking public resources and putting them in private hands for profit.” 

“As a business owner, I welcome a project with the emphasis on housing,” said Steve Rasmussen, a Berkeley resident and owner of Key Curriculum Press. 

“As an employer, I have problem finding places for young people who work for me to live. I am confident that if the city is involved we will get something people can be proud of, a showcase.” 

Consultant Ed Church, who is developing the proposal for the South Berkeley Neighborhood Development Council, acknowledged that the grant application which the council approved on Dec. 13 contained errors. 

“We thought the site was a lot bigger than it is,” Church said. The figure of a minimum of 300 units was based on the assumption that a developer could build on all of the site’s six acres. But only four acres can be developed, he said. 

Robin Wright, another Prince Street resident, said that error and other concerns had led her to question the project. “How did you make the mistake of reading four acres as six? Come on, do your homework,” she said. 

But Michael Diehl, who lives near the corner of California and Woolsey Streets, said he favors a project on the site. “It may not be a perfect plan, but it talks about housing. I’m speaking for the people who do not have housing.” The question, he said, was how would the project help maintain diversity in one of Berkeley’s most ethnically mixed neighborhoods? 

Victoria Ortiz, who lives on Shattuck Avenue near the corner of Essex Street, remained highly skeptical. ”Why should we, the neighbors, trust that process?” she asked. 

Ortiz pointed to the inability of herself and other neighbors to stop the development of the so-called “Flying Cottage” at 3045 Shattuck Ave. 

“Our own representative on ZAB (the Zoning Adjustments Board) consistently voted against the community,” Ortiz said. “Why should we trust? Withdraw the application and let us build trust,” she said, receiving loud applause in response. 

The project drew strong support from mass transit proponents, including Steve Solnit and Brian Hill. 

“2005 was the hottest year on record,” said Hill, who lives on Emerson Street. “We need transit oriented development so people can go about their business without getting into a car.” 

“To me it’s a world-class site and it should be a world class project,” said David Krasnor, who added that he didn’t want to see the site developed as “a couple of hundred units of low-income stucco housing.”  

Krasnor said he also questioned why the South Berkeley Neighborhood Development Corporation (SBNDC) had been given the lead role in the project, “given their track record.” 

Church said that the intent had been for the organization to play the role of fiscal intermediary, “but at the City Council, somehow something happened that that made the SBNDC responsible for naming the task force” to direct the project. 

“I’m not sure it’s a good idea,” Church said. “I don’t think the SBNDC should lead. I think the city should.” 

Donna Mickleson, a Fulton Street resident, said she was concerned that the project, combined with the development of the Ed Roberts Center on the eastern Ashby BART parking lot, might interfere with the ability of passengers to use the BART station. 

Bates said that he would post updated information on the project on his web site, and said he and Anderson were willing to meet with small groups of residents in their homes to discuss the project. 

“We really learned that we need to work together,” said Johns at the meeting’s end, promising another community meeting within six weeks.  

One observer reported that a large number of city staff members attended the meeting, frequently applauding comments favorable to the project. ?


KPFA Staff, Board Eye New Pacifica Director By Judith Scherr

Tuesday February 14, 2006

The Daily Planet recently spoke with new Pacifica director Greg Guma. See Page 14 for the interview. 

 

Pacific radio is facing familiar challenges—how to bring in new voices without silencing the old, how to diversify the audience without dumbing down programming and how to keep peace in the often confrontational staff. At the same time Pacifica is facing 21st-century challenges: podcasting, Internet broadcasts, satellite transmission and a steady loss of listeners. 

The Pacifica Foundation is the parent company and license holder for KPFA-FM in Berkeley and four other radio stations around the country. It was founded almost 57 years ago in Berkeley by peace activists and has maintained a progressive political posture since that time. It’s also had a rocky history of internal fighting, and in 1999, the national Pacifica board physically threw out local programmers and briefly succeeded in an attempt to take over KPFA. That action was met by an outpouring of community support. Eventually new bylaws aimed at democratizing the station were put in place and a new executive director, Dan Caughlin, former Pacifica network news director, was named.  

Caughlin left his post last year and Greg Guma, 56, has been hired to take his place. On the job since Jan. 24, Guma says he’s ready for the challenge. And skeptical yet hopeful local board members and staff say they are set to give the new guy a chance. 

“I wish him good luck and a stomach of iron,” quipped KPFA News Co-Director Aileen Alfandary. 

Guma co-founded the Vermont Guardian, worked as a daily news reporter, managed bookstores, edited the Vermont Vanguard Press and the progressive international affairs magazine, Towards Freedom. 

He is the author of books, documentaries and civil liberties dramas. He is visiting each of the Pacifica stations before coming to the national office in Berkeley around Feb. 24. 

After the crisis of 1999-2001 during which the Pacifica national board attempted to take over KPFA, new bylaws were instituted, creating a democratic structure where local boards are elected. They, in turn, elect the national board. 

“No matter who takes the job, it’s difficult,” said Sarv Randhawa who sits on both the local and national boards. It is difficult to deal with people with a wide variety of interests and goals in a structure that is “not corporate, not hierarchical.”  

Mary Berg, who also sits on both local and national boards and has been in several conference calls with Guma, said she is hopeful.  

“I see that he’s a decisive sort of person, organized and into the democratic process. I don’t want someone who is top down,” she said. “It feels like he will be getting input from people.” 

The boards, however, are too large to be manageable, said Brian Edwards-Tiekert, a member of the news staff and local board member. The Pacifica Board has 22 members, four representing each local station and two representing the 87 affiliate stations; the local KPFA board has 26 members.  

Bylaws would have to be changed to refine the structure. Edwards-Tiekert said he hopes the new executive director will review the bylaws. 

On the national level, the board is too expensive. The cost of flying so many people to meetings, feeding them and paying for the conference calls among them is excessive, Edwards-Tiekert said. 

Larry Bensky, KPFA general manager during the mid 1970s, produces a Sunday morning public affairs program and anchors much of the network’s special national programming such as the recent hearings on the National Security Agency surveillance of people in the US. Bensky says the “dysfunctionality” of the national board is evidenced by the fact that the new executive director is not even announced on the Pacifica web page. 

A glance at the website also reveals that the last minutes posted were from an August 2005 meeting. 

Calling the local station board “useless,” Bensky said its members raise no money, do no outreach and spend their meetings engaged in “parliamentary battles, power trips, and wasting time.”  

Furthermore, he said, only about 10 percent of the eligible KPFA listeners bothered to vote for the board at all. “I don’t consider the board to be properly elected,” he said. 

The question of programming is another key issue Guma will face. 

“Pacifica is more like a confederation (of five stations) than a network,” said Max Blanchet, a Local Station Board member. “There is not much national programming. We function as five quasi-autonomous entities.” 

The network comes together for an occasional national meeting and all run Democracy Now! which is independently produced. “We are not realizing our full potential,” Blanchet said. 

Alfandary also underscored the need for the executive director’s support for “helping the network perform in a collaborative way.” 

Larry Bensky expressed concern that Guma has limited experience in radio, underscoring that one of the chief responsibilities of the executive director is to support the programmers. 

Guma, who has a degree in radio and television broadcasting, told the Planet, “I am not an expert in radio, but I have considerable experience on the air as a producer,” he said, calling himself a “multi-media communicator.” 

Bensky blamed a decline in listeners in part on the lack of program support. Bensky said that according to Arbitron ratings, early in 1995, there were on average 200,000 listeners; last summer there were 165,000 and this fall there were 147,000.  

“We will attract the audience if we do programming correctly,” Bensky said. “What the new executive director has to work on is enabling and empowering the people who do the programming.” 

Blanchet, Bensky, Alfandary and others underscored the need to take advantage of new technology. Guma has said that is something he wants to do.  

“We need someone to expand Pacifica, to take local programming onto the satellite network,” Edwards-Tiekert said, adding that podcasting was also needed. 

The new executive director will have a role to play in mitigating tensions on the staff not only at KPFA but at other Pacifica stations, particularly at the New York station, WBAI. 

At KPFA, calming the troubled waters will be on the agenda when a new general manager is hired. Roy Campanella II resigned under pressure last month. A search committee for a new general manager will probably be formed at the local board meeting Saturday. 

The local board approves top candidates and the executive director plays a critical role in making the final selection, according to Edwards-Tiekert. 

“We need an good, smart, politically-committeed and experienced general manager—someone who knows radio,” Alfandary said. 

Without a general manager or an interim manager, “it’s not clear who resolves issues,” Edwards-Tiekert said. “It’s not clear where the buck stops.” 

Still, even without a general manager, staffers and board members pointed to the recent fund drive where the station made just under its $1 million goal. 

“It makes me proud,” Randhawa said. “Our station must be doing something right. I’m amazed at the dedication people have.” 

Long time programmer Kriss Welch weighed in with her support for Guma. “The general verdict in my office … that he seems ‘sane,’” Welsh wrote in an e-mail. “Sane is good. I'll take sane. We sure could use sane … By me, I'll wait and see. Give the poor guy a chance. After all, he actually had the nerve (or the ignorance) to apply for what is surely the most thankless job in the network.” 

 

 


Murdered El Cerrito Student Identified By RICHARD BRENNEMAN and JUDITH SCHERR

Tuesday February 14, 2006

El Cerrito High School student Juan Ramos was fatally stabbed and three others received knife wounds when a Berkeley party—mobbed because of an Internet posting—turned deadly Friday night. 

The 18-year-old student, a popular figure on the El Cerrito campus, according to El Cerrito High School Principal Vince Rhea, was fatally stabbed in a confrontation outside a home at 772 Contra Costa Ave. just before 11:30 p.m. 

According to numerous published reports the homeowner is Keith Oppelt. 

The narrow street, bordered by million dollar homes, is generally quiet, according to neighbors. Once in a while you’ll hear doors slamming as someone leaves a party, “but it’s always adults,” said a nearby neighbor who did not want to be identified. 

Another neighbor, Alan Swain, went out Friday night to pick up his daughter from a party at Albany High and was surprised to see the street mobbed with cars. He said he saw “so many kids cruising back and forth.”  

After picking up his daughter, he drove down the street to see where the party was. “There were a large number of kids on the sidewalk,” he said. 

Swain was unable to get back to his house because of the number of young people and cars in the street. That’s when he saw the young man lying in the street. 

“He was rolling around,” he said. The other young people were trying to get a car door open and yelling, “Where are the keys?” 

Swain assumed the youngster was drunk or stoned and sat in his car for about 10 minutes until they got the doors open and got the young man into the car. At that point Swain noticed bloodstains on the sweatshirt of one of the young people helping the victim and realized that he was hurt. He was then able to get to his house and dial 911; police arrived shortly after.  

Partygoers took three of the injured, including the young man who eventually died, to the Albany Police Department, almost two miles from the home. From there, Albany and Berkeley paramedics rushed the three to Highland Hospital, according to Berkeley Police Lt. Daniel Lee. Ramos was pronounced dead at the hospital. 

A fourth victim took himself to Children’s Hospital in Oakland early Saturday morning, Lee said, adding that all of the three wounded are expected to recover. 

The party, where parents were apparently absent, was attended by students from El Cerrito and Albany high schools, as well as crashers who learned of the event on a popular Internet site. 

Lee said reports indicate that between 100 and 150 youths attended the party. 

No arrests have been made in connection with the crime, and Lee said he didn’t know if investigators had identified a suspect. 

 

School concerns 

“Right now, the information is really sketchy,” said El Cerrito High School Principal Rhea. “We know that two seniors were involved, and one, an 18-year-old, was fatally wounded.” 

One of the two other students who were stabbed is a senior at Albany High School, according to published reports. 

Word of the stabbings stunned students at the El Cerrito campus Monday. 

“We are having a lot of grief and support counseling on campus today,” Rhea said. 

The principal has appealed for students who know anything about Friday night’s events to contact authorities. 

“We have asked them to come forward, and I know that they will in a case of this magnitude. And I am hearing that students are beginning to come forward,” Rhea said. “I believe that we’ll get a pretty clear picture of what happened. 

Albany High School Principal Ron Rosenbaum did not return calls. 

 

Internet posting 

Rhea said that preliminary indications are that the party was originally intended to be a small gathering, but word of the event was posted on an online site—Myspace.com. 

Lee said he had seen something similar in one of the reports on the crime. 

“It could’ve happened that way,” Rhea said. “We’re still trying to piece it together.” 

Mark Coplan, public information officer for the Berkeley Unified School District said he had also heard that the party had been posted on Myspace.com. The site is popular among young people, especially in the15-to-18-year-old age range, he said. 

In addition to member biographies and weblogs, the site lists events, and users can search for parties and other happening by city, ZIP code and date. 

“Once it’s announced, you can’t tell who will show up. It’s not the 

people who are invited who usually cause the problems, it’s the crashers,” Coplan said. 

 

Berkeley police urge anyone with information on the case to call 981-5900. 

 

 

 


Black & White Liquor Battle Erupts Again at ZAB By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday February 14, 2006

The battle over Black & White Liquors took a new turn Thursday when the Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) voted to reject a proposed settlement imposing new hours and conditions on the store. 

Acting in response to complaints of neighbors who charged that the store was bringing badly behaved drunks into the streets and onto their porches, ZAB had signaled its intent to declare 3027 Adeline St. a public nuisance in December, then pulled in its horns last month when owner Sucha Singh Banger indicated a willingness to compromise. 

On a 5-4 vote Jan. 26, the board voted to allow the owner to negotiate a zoning certificate that would impose conditions on the business but not carry the stigma of a public nuisance declaration. 

But the terms Banger and attorney Rick Warren offered didn’t please the board, which voted unanimously to reject them. 

The key sticking point was setting time limits for Banger to sell off his remaining inventory of fortified beer and wine and single bottles of malt liquor. 

Deputy City Attorney Zac Cowan, who met with Banger, Warren and city inspector Greg Daniel, said that the store had installed a digital camera to monitor activity at the store, and that Berkeley police had approved the installation—one of the terms ZAB had insisted on. 

While Banger had agreed to stop selling liquor in smaller amounts than 200 milliliters—just less than a half-pint—he insisted on being allowed to sell off his remaining stock of smaller bottles until May 12. During the ZAB meeting, he agreed to reduce the time until April 15, which was still too long for the board. 

“I would feel better if everything was sold off by March 21,” said member Chris Tiedemann. 

Member Bob Allen said that he would consider moving to turn back the agreed-on store closing hours from 11 p.m. to 10 p.m., a time neighbors had requested. 

“We would not agree to 10 p.m. We made that clear before,” said Warren. “We voluntarily agreed to 11 p.m. for six months to demonstrate that we are not a problem and then we will apply for midnight every day.”  

In the end, the board voted to reject the proposed settlement and give Banger another month to negotiate something that would satisfy the board. 

 

More on Adeline 

Everything on ZAB’s agenda carried an Adeline Street address. 

ZAB members also voted unanimously to allow Spud’s Pizza to serve beer and wine with their pies, to permit unamplified live music at the 3290 Adeline St. establishment and to void a provision of the use permit that would have required a dozen parking spaces, allowing five instead. 

The pizza parlor, which the city helped finance with a $90,000 loan from the South Berkeley Revolving Loan Fund, had been unable to open for almost a year because of the parking requirements. 

A change in the city zoning ordinance, which Principal Planner Debbie Sanderson dubbed “the Spuds Memorial Parking Amendment” eased the requirements, and Thursday’s vote brings the establishment in line with the new code section. 

“We have had more support of this application than any other I can remember,” said Sanderson. “My email has melted.” 

The board was happy to approve the changes. 

The board also OKed a new Verizon cell phone repeater at the Phillips Temple CME Church at 3332 Adeline St. 

Neighbors had protested the installation because they said that generators and cooling equipment for repeaters from two other companies at the building caused objectionable noise levels. 

Verizon agreed to built a sound wall and is not installing a generator, a sore point with member David Blake, who said he believes that repeaters should have generators in case power is disrupted by an earthquake—enabling cell phone users to make emergency calls. 

Blake cast the lone dissenting vote, though colleague Carrie Sprague abstained. 

 

Election 

In their final business of the night, members voted by acclamation to elect Tiedemann as their new chair. A motion to elect Raudell Wilson as vice-chair was continued until the board’s next meeting.›


Landmarks, Creeks on Council Agenda By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday February 14, 2006

Three important meetings are slated for this week on documents that will play a central role in shaping the city’s future: the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance, the new Downtown Plan and the Creeks Ordinance. 

 

Landmarks hearing 

The City Council will hold a public hearing on the controversial Landmarks Preservation Ordinance during a special meeting tonight (Tuesday) at 7 p.m. 

The council conducted a workshop on the ordinance last week, featuring presentations from the Landmarks Preservation and Planning commissions, which have offered rival drafts of a new ordinance that has been requested by Mayor Tom Bates and the council.  

The ordinance is the only thing on the agenda for the meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. in the second floor City Council Chambers at the Maudelle Shirek Building (Old City Hall), 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

The council is expected to hear more from the Planning Commission about its version of the ordinance, which differs from the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s version by reducing protections for the structure of merit, one of two categories of landmarks recognized in the current ordinance. 

 

Downtown plan 

The Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee (DAPAC)—charged with drawing up a new plan for Berkeley’s city center as a result of the settlement of a city lawsuit against UC Berkeley’s expansion plans—meets Wednesday night to talk process and goals. 

The issue of landmarks also figures on their agenda in the form of appointments to a subcommittee that will be comprised of DAPAC members and others appointed from the Landmarks Preservation Commission. 

Called the Subcommittee for Process on Historic Assessments, the resulting panel will recommend guidelines for including historical resources in the downtown area that should be included in the planning process. 

Also on the agenda is a segment on developing the committee’s work plan, another on downtown demographics and economics, and a third during which individual members can outline their “three overarching goals for the Downtown Area.” 

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the Sitka Spruce Room on the second floor of the city’s Permit Service Center at 2118 Milvia St. 

 

Creek hearing 

At the same time as DAPAC is meeting, members of the divided Creeks Task Force will conduct a public hearing on their conflicting proposals to craft a new law governing property located on or adjacent to the city’s open and buried waterways. 

Unless the panel submits a new ordinance to the Planning Commission in time for it to act and refer the draft to the City Council by May 1, the existing ordinance governing construction on or near the city’s miles of buried (culverted) creeks will expire. 

The task force, which consists of homeowners and creeks activists, has deadlocked on many key issues, panel chair Helen Burke reported to the Planning Commission last week. 

Wednesday’s meeting will allow members of the public to offer comments. 

The session begins at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave.™


African Women Leaders to Be Honored By Judith Scherr

Tuesday February 14, 2006

… 

they have come for my body 

fault lines etched across my back 

my stomach a hollow grave 

to bury everyone else’s blame 

take on everyone else’s shame 

instead of singing my name 

—from “They Came for Me”  

by Uchechi Kalu 

 

Uchechi Kalu is a Nigerian-born poet who writes about the heavy burden African women bear. She will share her poetry at an event honoring three African women whose work has helped lighten that load. 

The event, “In Honor of the Women of Africa: Stories of Courage, Perseverance and Leadership,” will be held Thursday, 7-8:30 p.m. at the Linen Life Gallery, 1375 Park Ave., Emeryville. 

One woman to be honored is Bongfen Siona Forba from Cameroon. Co-director of Community Education and Development Services, she and the women she works with look for ways to support the women of their community. 

Typically, women and girls in many parts of Africa toil daily, walking long distances to fill buckets with drinking water, then hauling the precious water home to their families. Forba worked with her local organization to get funding from the Global Fund for Women to bring potable water to the community.  

The San Francisco-based Global Fund for Women is sponsoring the event and honoring its grantees. Co-sponsors include the Priority Africa Network, located in Berkeley, and the Women of Africa Resource Center and the Women of Color Resource center, both based in Oakland. 

Wanjiku Macharia, from Kenya, will also be honored. Macharia began her community work with a focus on children, but soon noticed the big cars coming by to pick up some of the young girls she worked with, according to Sande Smith, GFW’s senior communications officer. 

Once Macharia understood the girls were sex workers, “she realized she had to address the conditions that led to sex work,” Smith said. 

The organization Macharia works with, SourceNet2000 Plus Development Agency, offered the girls opportunities to get out of the sex trade, beginning with education.  

Education is key, Macharia said in a statement: “In our culture, if you educate one person, it will help 10 people, because we share what we learn.”  

The third honoree will be Mariam Kamara. Originally from Guinea, Kamara founded the Women of Africa Resource Center, which provides support to African immigrant women living in the Bay Area. 

One reason to honor women, especially African women and women of African descent, is to reverse stereotypes, said Nunu Kidane, spokesperson for the Priority Africa Network. These women “are projected as victims, as poor and as passive,” Kidane said. This event is an opportunity to showcase the capabilities of African women. 

Moreover, Smith said, “We are holding this panel now because we feel it is important to bring attention to both the challenges facing African women, and strategies that they are implementing to address those challenges, and African American history month is a perfect time to do that.” ›


Greg Guma Takes Charge as Director at Pacifica By JUDITH SCHERR

Tuesday February 14, 2006

On Jan. 24, print and radio journalist Greg Guma took the reins of Pacifica, a foundation that holds the licenses to five progressive radio stations, including KPFA in Berkeley. 

Guma, 56, co-founded the Vermont Guardian, worked as a daily news reporter, managed bookstores, edited the Vermont Vanguard Press and the progressive international affairs magazine, Towards Freedom. 

He is the author of books, documentaries and civil liberties dramas. On Friday, the Daily Planet spoke to Guma, who was working at the Washington, D.C. station. He is visiting each of the Pacifica stations before coming to the national office in Berkeley around Feb. 24. 

 

DP: Why did you seek the job of executive director? 

Greg Guma: The Foundation of the Pacifica network is one of the most important progressive institutions in the country. It’s an opportunity that comes to few people to really have an impact on the national dialogue, on a whole wide assortment of issues and to be involved in an institution that has a tremendous history and an important role to play in the years to come.  

 

DP: And you decided to try for the job despite the tremendous hurdles you knew you would face, especially in dealing with many of the conflict situations. 

Guma: That’s not the basis on which I make decisions. You know many things in life have obstacles. I’ve been involved in a lot of political struggles in my life. I’ve been involved in creating institutions, managing others, political campaigns and civil liberties, anti-nuclear, the peace movement, human rights and justice and so, you know, people have arguments. There are disputes. When the stakes are high, people get excited and I come into this with a clean slate. There have been many disagreements and even a virtual civil war inside Pacifica. But that’s over now and we’re moving on. And I’m very excited and challenged by the opportunity to bring people together to be involved in a process of realignment, reconciliation and the dynamic process of finding new audiences and really making a difference in the years ahead in these critical times. The next two years are going to be tremendously important and it’s centrally important that an organization like Pacifica play a major role in countering the dominant narrative in this country. And I want to be a part of that. 

 

DP: You talk about finding new audiences and I would guess that that means creating new programming, which means somebody has to give up a slot on the radio. 

Guma: I think there’s a fallacy in that. Yes, one radio station only has 24 hours, but there’s also satellite radio that we’re looking into, there’s Internet channels, there’s iPods. People are going to start to get their information from a lot of different sources. And as a major content producer, Pacifica has an edge here. There’s also a tremendous amount of good programming already being produced by Pacifica stations and the idea is to find out how to project the personalities and the programs to a national audience. 

At some point there’s going to be change, there’s going to be accommodations, that people move on, a new generation comes in. Radio is an evolving medium. ... But what I’m talking about is redeveloping the national programming capacity of the station, doing it from the ground up and using the talent that’s here and bringing in new talent to project the voice of the progressive community to millions more people around the country and beyond. 

 

DP: Specifically, here in the Berkeley area and at KPFA you are aware of the turmoil that the station remains in even after the (former General Manager) Roy Campanella has left. How do you see resolving some of the local conflicts at the station? 

Guma: Well, some of that’s going to have to wait until I’m actually there. I’ve visited the station once. I was in Berkeley for two days. I am helping them to begin to recruit a permanent new general manager. We’ll appoint an interim general manager, perhaps at the end of February, or beginning of March and I’m hoping that the [local station board] there will fast track the process of finding a permanent general manager within a matter of, hopefully, less than three months. 

Long-term, however, there are issues having to do with internal staff relations and how people treat each other inside the station and what I would describe as somewhat as people adopting almost a tenure-system approach to programming, that is to say that people who come in with the best of intentions as programmers or producers come to believe they own that small piece of real estate within the station. That’s not true and that will change. 

 

DP: I know you have a lot of experience in print journalism. Tell me about your experience in radio. 

Guma: I have a degree in radio and television broadcasting from Syracuse University. I first appeared on Pacifica Radio in 1978 doing a national feed on the terrorist trial in Burlington. I was co-producer of a radio program in WRUV in Burlington. I’ve been trained by the American Radio Network on the boards. I am not an expert in radio, but I have considerable experience on the air as a producer and I’ve also made documentary films. I am a multi-media communicator who was also a manager and that seems to be what the Pacifica Board wanted. What I don’t know about the technology, I can learn. Fortunately there are a tremendous number of talented people in this network who can help me. 

 

DP: How are you going to promote democracy within Pacifica. Something that you have written—and I find interesting is that in a democracy the loudest voices seem to win. Democracy is a messy thing. How would you promote democracy given the challenges? 

Guma: Growing democracy is obviously important and so is good management. Good management is if it is done on a consultative basis without trying to impose solutions on people, can enable people to amplify their voices. By winning trust from the board, by getting people who haven’t spoken to each other to begin to talk to one another, by getting them to distinguish matters that really are important policy matters and matters which are personnel matters or management concerns. Having them distinguish between those two things, it will help to free up more time for them to have discussions that they need to have so that the important things we have to do are not displaced by internal debates that tend to be so enervating and discouraging. Also promoting the election process itself. A revolution like the one that has been underway in Pacifica for the past three years will not sustain itself unless it is actively promoted. 

So I think one of the jobs that I have, and it is in my job description, is to promote both the network as an entity but also to promote the institution’s goals and that means getting the stations to put out the word that this is the place where they won’t just be subjected to boring meetings, but that they’ll be involved in the dynamic and exciting process in which progress is made. So what I’m going to try to do, is through this kind of active promotion throughout the stations, get more people into the election process so that the number of votes goes up rather than down in the next cycle. What they do as a result, that’s up to them. I don’t determine the outcome. My concern is the process.  

 

DP: Are you going to relocate here? 

Guma: I’ll be living in Berkeley or the environs. I love Vermont and I hope to return there some day and I have a house there and three cats and many friends, so I’m not giving up on Vermont but for the next while I’ll be living somewhere near the station. 

 

DP: What else would you like people to know about yourself? 

Guma: Don’t listen to Internet rumors; don’t listen to third parties who will attempt to distort not only what I say but what other people say. Finally, judge me by what I do, come talk to me, keep your minds open and so will I..


First Person: Recycling Team Finds Open Doors in England By DAN KNAPP Special to the Planet

Tuesday February 14, 2006

“You’re pushing against an open door!” said a dignitary in the audience. 

All morning on that warm September day last year, about 30 notables described as “statuatory authorities” had listened patiently as nine other Americans and I talked to them about reuse, recycling, and composting on an industrial scale in a purpose-built facility. 

We foreign guests hailed from Washington, DC, Boulder, Colo., San Diego, San Luis Obispo, and Berkeley. Our team included an engineer, an architect, several directors, managers, or administrators of large and stable resource-recovery enterprises. We were experienced people with practical knowledge to share.  

We were in Lowestoft, England—part coastal resort, part fishing port. The collapse of the North Sea fishery a couple of years ago produced widespread unemployment in and around Lowestoft, but agriculture and tourism are still strong. All around Lowestoft to the west is a dairying region known as the Broads, as flat as Holland and crisscrossed by canals that were carved out of the underlying peat. 

Traveling through that countryside one often sees Dutch-style windmills in the distance, and sailboats moving slowly through the fields, hulldown behind the pasture grasses and hedgerows. There is fresh water underfoot, running water nearby, water to drink, to supply the farmers and the tourists; it’s a watery place. 

Landfills that leak produce vast plumes of leachate that spread and contaminate fresh water. Hydrologically, it’s a safe bet there are no good sites for any new landfills in the Broads.  

The statutory authorities we are talking to know that, and they’re worried. The day before, our sponsor Maxine Narburgh had given us this project overview:  

• The American team is asked to design a resource recovery park for Lowestoft that can get to zero waste—no landfilling. It will be called the Zero Waste Centre.  

• Time is short; only 12 years’ worth of permitted landfill space remains in the Waveney region.  

• A 15-acre site suitable for the zero waste park is “in the planning envelope.”  

• European Union funding is available for business incubator functions and development.  

• Funds are available to build facilities that produce heat for housing and fuel for vehicles.  

• Bottom line: The whole operation should power itself from activities and resources the site will produce, including harvesting energy from the wind and the sun.  

• What are now social services will turn into social enterprises, a new business form combining entrepreneurial zeal with social consciousness.  

After our morning presentations and lunch, we reconvened for discussion and feedback. Outside the windows at the Hotel Victoria, the North Sea lapped gently against Lowestoft’s white beach under the warm autumn sun, with France and the Netherlands just over the horizon. 

Inside, we forgot the scenery and focused on what we knew about costs, the prospects for acquiring sufficient land zoned correctly, where the money would come from, what agencies it would flow through. People got up and walked around, formed little groups, worked on the problems. 

At day’s end our team leader, Rick Anthony from San Diego, asked for a show of hands of those who thought the project was a bad idea. No hands went up. Then he asked who thought it was a good idea. Almost all hands went up.  

Weeks later the Berkeley contingent began working up the zero waste site plan. We started with large concepts, some drawn from site designs we’ve done or worked on in the United States, New Zealand, and Australia. 

Principle: design a resource processing facility that mirrors policy priorities and maximizes customer convenience. Put reuse functions ahead of recycling so reusables arrive in better shape. Separate incoming customer traffic from outgoing product transport. Protect processing areas. Specify that operations will buy some materials, let some be dropped off free, charge disposal fees for others. Put wasting last in line, and make it the most expensive disposal option. Recognize and provide for all load types. Make unloading convenient, efficient, and safe. Provide space for lots of specialist niche operations handling different parts of the supply.  

England is more socialist than our country and is a nation of small enterprises. Government wants more and has a well-developed set of organizations to help businesses start up. So smack in the middle of the vast resource recovery park roundabout we created a set of buildings we called The Centre. 

This will house the authority set up to manage the Zero Waste Centre (it will be at the centre of the Centre), recruit its tenant businesses, and collect rents and fees to support itself. There are also offices for other supporting agencies and businesses, a restaurant area, meeting rooms, and classrooms.  

The intent of the entire complex is to replace all landfilling in the Waveney area by treating all discards as resources that can be sold into commerce.  

Using e-mails and occasional faxes, we got the designs reviewed by first our team, and then by the responsible folks in England. By mid-December, we deemed it done.  

This work in Lowestoft is paralleled by Berkeley’s own effort to renovate and expand its resource recovery facilities at Berkeley’s regional discard management center, currently known as the Berkeley transfer station. Berkeley’s council recently passed a zero waste goal, and a planning process designed to achieve 75 percent or better waste reduction has been proceeding for more than a year. This is a large capital improvement project, currently estimated to cost about $30 million, much bigger than anything done before.  

 

Two charming representatives of project Bright Green East of England will be staying in Berkeley from Wednesday night to Sunday afternoon. They will tour the Berkeley reuse, recycling, and solid waste facilities, including Urban Ore, as well as other facilities around the Bay Area, and will focus especially on Berkeley. Please contact me if you would like more details about this week’s visit by Maxine Narburgh of Suffolk Connect. A reception will be held at Urban Ore, at 900 Murray St., Thursday 1-4 p.m. 

 

Dan Knapp is the general manager of Urban Ore  

 


Police Blotter By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday February 14, 2006

Failed kidnapping 

University of California Police issued a crime alert Monday, two days after they say an unknown man tried to kidnap a 7-year-old girl at University Village Apartments. 

According to the alert, the girl was playing with two other children near the baseball field bear the corner of Tenth and Harrison streets when a man grabbed her and carried her for several feet before she was able to break free and run off. 

The youth wasn’t physically harmed during the aborted kidnapping, said UC Berkeley Police Chief Victoria L. Harrison. 

The suspect is described as a white male in his mid-20s who stands about 6’1” and who has short blond hair and may have a goatee. He was wearing a black short-sleeved T-shirt and blue jeans, and may have a large tattoo on his forearm. 

Anyone with information on the crime should call Detective Jason J. Collum of the UC Berkeley department’s criminal investigation bureau at 642-3184. 

Anyone who sees an individual matching the description of the suspect is asked to call the department’s main number at 642-6760. 

 

Hot wheels  

When a citizen who lives in the 3000 block of Prince Street called to report a car theft in progress early last Monday, little did officers know that they would get a twofer. 

Officers nabbed the fellow red handed as he was trying to make off with a Toyota, said Berkeley police spokesperson Officer Ed Galvan. 

Further investigation revealed that the suspect, a 28-year-old, had arrived on the scene in a small white Chevrolet pickup that had been stolen in Richmond. 

The fellow was booked on suspicion of committing a laundry list of potential felonies, ranging from auto theft to burglary, and possession of burglary tools to receiving stolen property. 

 

Bribe probed 

Berkeley Police are probing a possible attempt to bribe a manager at the city’s Building and Safety Department last Wednesday afternoon after the official reported the incident to investigators. 

No further information is available, said Officer Galvan. 

Purse snatched  

A strong-arm bandit relieved a San Leandro woman of her purse and its contents as she walked along the 2000 block of Seventh Street in Berkeley last Thursday afternoon. 

 

Problem house problem 

The 1610 Oregon St. home that neighbors have repeatedly called a public nuisance was the scene of yet another crime last week—this time, a stabbing. 

Neighbors of the house recently won $70,000 in damages in a Small Claims Court action which featured the testimony of one city police officer who called it “the most notorious drug house in southwest Berkeley.” 

The latest incident occurred about 4:15 p.m. Wednesday when a 17-year-old boy was stabbed in the back of the head by a girlfriend of the same age who is a relative of homeowner Lenora Moore, reports Officer Galvan. 

The boy’s injuries were not life-threatening, and he was treated at a local hospital. 

The girl was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and domestic abuse. 

 

Armed heist 

A fellow claiming to have a gun robbed the Roxie Food Center at 2250 Dwight Way shortly after 9 p.m. Friday, making off with the store’s cash. 

He can’t have been the world’s brightest stick-up artist because the bald bandit walked into the store wearing only his beard, while his accomplice waited outside, wearing a mask. 

 

Pellet gun shooting 

A UC Berkeley student was the victim of a drive-by pellet gun attack shortly before midnight Sunday as she sat with a group of friends on benches at the southwest corner of the intersection of Channing Way and Warring Street, reports UC Berkeley Police. 

The shot, which didn’t break the young woman’s skin, was one of several fired from the rear passenger seat of a late model light gray four-door Honda Civic that was last seen speeding northbound on Piedmont Avenue. 

The shooter was one of several occupants in the car, police said.›


Opinion

Editorials

Editorial: The People Speak on Landmarks Law By BECKY O'MALLEY

Friday February 17, 2006

The Berkeley City Council’s special hearing on proposed revisions to the city’s Landmarks Preservation Ordinance was both impressive and discouraging. It was impressive because 40 articulate citizens showed up, many with statements written out in advance to take exactly three minutes, and many representing even larger numbers of signers including most of the city’s neighborhood organizations. All 40 and those they represented, probably adding up several thousand citizens, were in favor of maintaining the city’s current level of protection for historic resources. 

Only seven speakers spoke on behalf of loosening the city’s standards. Two of these were members of the Brodsky family, the owners of The Tile Shop, a long-standing Berkeley business. Their complaint was that they’d sought to tear down an old building on property they owned in order to build a warehouse, and that an adjacent neighbor had succeeded in getting the Landmark Preservation Commission to designate the building as a structure of merit under the LPO. Michael Brodsky, the family spokesperson, quoted moving language from the famous 1886 Yick Wo v. Hopkins case, where a land use law was overturned, which he claimed he uses in law school teaching. If that’s true, he must surely know that the reason the law was overturned in that case was because it was unequally applied to Chinese laundry operators and not to white ones. There’s no reason to claim racial discrimination against the Brodsky family or anyone else in the application of Berkeley’s historic resource preservation law. Brodsky’s impassioned quote in this context was disingenuous at best—a very distasteful spectacle to those of us who are familiar with the case. Furthermore, the Brodskys appealed the designation to the Berkeley City Council as the law provides, got it overturned as the law allows, and built their warehouse anyhow. So why are they grasping for the Yick Wo mantle of victims of injustice? Embarrassing. 

Of the remaining speakers, two more—business partners Rempel and Miranda—had similarly gotten a designation overturned by the City Council, and demolished one of the oldest houses in West Berkeley to build their condo complex. One speaker, Rena Rickles, is an Oakland lawyer with olden-times BCA juice, who usually fronts for developers these days and usually wins her Berkeley cases at the council level. Another one was a building industry professional, an architect, and one speaker was there to read a letter from the small pro-growth lobbying organization, Livable Berkeley, known as enthusiastic cheerleaders for the stacks of condos-to-be now being built all over town.  

No ordinary citizen, no one without a profit motive in the outcome, showed up to speak in favor of changing the law. It should therefore no longer be possible for councilmembers to say that they don’t know what the public wants, though some of them can be expected to hide behind ex V.P. Spiro T. Agnew’s discredited theory that there’s a “silent majority” out there that wants something else, but is afraid to speak up. It wasn’t true when Agnew claimed it was, and it still isn’t.  

The interesting question, of course, is not who was at the hearing, but who wasn’t there. When we see who turned out, we wonder why the council still appears (with the exception of Spring and Worthington) to be hell-bent on changing the ordinance. There are ample grounds for suspecting that certain proponents of change don’t need to come to public hearings because they have the ear of councilmembers behind the scenes. That’s what’s discouraging.  

And that’s why the Berkeley Daily Planet has filed a California Public Records Act Request asking to see the mayor’s and council members’ correspondence on this topic. We’re happy to learn this week that the California First Amendment Coalition has joined us in filing their own request, as has the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, so the public might actually have a chance of finding out who the real backers of gutting the law are. 

I myself spoke at the hearing as a private citizen, since I was a member of the Landmarks Preservation Commission for more than seven years and participated in the commission’s four-year attempt to revise the ordinance. The draft that finally got a majority vote from the commission represented a compromise, incorporating many changes which the city planning staff had lobbied hard for on behalf of their builder clients. I voted for it myself at the end, mostly because I was tired of the whole thing. As soon as we’d approved it, however, the backroom maneuvering to get even more drastic changes began again.  

Now I think our compromise was a mistake. My current opinion can be summed up by a business cliché which I learned when I had a software development company: If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. The current law works just fine for almost everything it’s supposed to do, and citizens are satisfied with it, if we believe the testimony at Tuesday’s public hearing. Why does it need any changes at all? 

There’s only one genuine problem with its language, and that can be fixed by adding one word. California’s Permit Streamlining Act guarantees development applicants a final decision within a certain time period which can then be appealed if desired. Berkeley’s LPO does not allow an applicant to get a final decision on an application to demolish a designated historic structure. All the Commission can do is suspend the demolition for a period of time. If the word “disapprove” is added to the ordinance, it would enable them to give the demolition applicant a clear, appealable “no” which would satisfy the state law’s final judgment requirement.  

The council, at its next meeting, if it has the guts, could enact that one simple little change, and the city would then be in full compliance. It would no longer be at risk of the dire challenges with which the city attorney’s office has been threatening the city for the last six years, which incidentally have never materialized. 

That done, there would be plenty of time, with no pressure, for full study of any and all further changes that many citizens are willing to endorse in the open public forum. Perhaps the backroom backers might be even be persuaded to come out of the closet. But if they don’t, case closed, no more changes. The city would save a lot of money and staff time now allocated for what increasingly looks like yet another expensive developer-driven boondoggle. 

 


Editorial: Real Security: Three Ways Not to Get It By BECKY O'MALLEY

Tuesday February 14, 2006

The press over the weekend was full of bad news about our security at home. The Associated Press got ahold of a leaked copy of the summary of the Congressional report on what went wrong with Katrina, and it sounds like a doozy. 

“Our investigation revealed that Katrina was a national failure, an abdication of the most solemn obligation to provide for the common welfare,” the summary said, as quoted by the AP.  

“At every level—individual, corporate, philanthropic and governmental—we failed to meet the challenge that was Katrina,” it went on. And that’s just the beginning. This is a Republican Congress, and it can be expected to paper over whatever it can, which doesn’t seem to be much in this case. Unimaginable amounts of money were spent on the new Department of Homeland Security, and the country is even more vulnerable than it used to be to damaging attacks, whether by nature or by external enemies.  

The Department of Health and Human Services also would like us to believe that they’re on the job. Last week the Daily Planet office received a largish corrugated box from them which said on the outside “Terrorism and Other Public Health Emergencies: Facts…Information…Resources.” Inside was a thick book with lavish and expensive color illustrations, plus multiple copies of a large sheet cleverly folded into a very small unit with a glossy cover, titled “Preparing for Terrorism and other Public Health Emergencies: a Wallet Guide for Media.” It opened out to a blank grid, to be filled out by the lucky media person with emergency contact numbers: neighbors, relatives, even veterinarians.  

This is the kind of flashy junk they’ve been spending our tax money on, instead of preparing for real public health emergencies like Katrina or bird flu, or even, God forbid, another real terrorist attack. We media types already have our own phone books, and don’t forget, the phones didn’t work much during Katrina anyhow. 

The news from local fronts doesn’t look any more reassuring. We’ve just gotten a report of what the police were up to in Santa Cruz last fall, and it’s scary.  

That city has for a number of years put on a civic New Year’s Eve “First Night” celebration downtown, with entertainment at various locations and a parade. This year the money wasn’t available, so the event was canceled. A group of artists decided that they would just put on their own parade, no public funds needed, to be called the “Last Night Do It Yourself Parade.” The Santa Cruz mountains are the last bastion of the ‘60s, and the organizers, like many artists, have somewhat rudimentary politics tending toward anarchism, and also like many artists don’t have much cash money. They decided not to seek expensive city permits for their parade.  

As reported in Saturday’s Santa Cruz Sentinel, “Last Night organizers posted their plans on a website that indicated defiance of the city's special event policies. The site stated, ‘We’re just gonna do it...It’s our city...Who’s willing to take the risk of truly living without limits?’ ”  

Not the Santa Cruz police, evidently. They decided that people like this posed a serious threat to security in their city, and they took action. A pair of cops, with the blessing of their superiors, went undercover to protect the public. They dressed up in their version of what the locals wear, joined the Last Night organizing committee, went to meetings, and even took an active part in steering plans in what they thought was the right direction. Whether because of, or in spite of their participation, the event went off without a hitch. 

Of course, when word of the police’s undercover infiltration of the anarchists’ parade leaked out, some wimpy civil libertarians were annoyed. They called for an investigation, and the police department’s internal affairs office did one. Their report, several hundred pages long, came out on Friday: The cops did no wrong. The city manager agreed, according to the Sentinel.  

We weren’t able to get a copy of the report by press time, but one of the organizers (in so far as anarchists have organizers), an artist who goes by the nom de plume of Rico Thunder, has read it, and he sent out a furious e-mail on Monday: 

“Just three examples of why we do not need the police spying on our peaceful group meetings: 

• At one point during their infiltration of Last Night meetings, the Santa Cruz PD gathered information about the planned peaceful Victoria’s Secret protest which they shared with Capitola police. On the date of the protest 20 to 30 officers were waiting for protesters at Capitola Mall. 

• Police gathered information about Art & Revolution’s Anti-Corporate Christmas Caroling [in front of The Gap] on Pacific Avenue without any evidence that the group had any intention of breaking any laws. On the date, police monitored the group’s activities.  

• One person identified as a “main organizer” of the Last Night parade had little involvement and attended no meetings. Yet, now this person has a police dossier on file at the Santa Cruz Police Department. His police profile and entire police history appears in the public record as part of the internal investigation.  

“… Throughout the fracas I’ve viewed the whole thing a bit whimsically. It seemed the SCPD clearly fucked up in monitoring a peaceful group with no evidence of criminal intent. But after reading through the 600 pages of documents, which include photos of many of us, profiles, information from other groups, videotapes, I am truly creeped out and angry.  

“It is not a good feeling to know that when you do something outside of the box in a town known for its unconventionality, that the police actively work to repress and contain you.” 

Now it’s up to the Santa Cruz City Council (some of whom used to be called progressives before the country went mad over security) to set the city staff straight, if they have the courage. Don’t count on them, though, 

And meanwhile, as Homeland Security is a failure, the Department of Health and Human Services runs up big printing bills and Santa Cruz cops play dress-up, real opportunities for real terrorists to do real harm (like chemical plants) continue to go unmonitored, and real disasters like Katrina wreak havoc among our citizens. Rome is burning, and our leaders just go on fiddling around. 

 


Public Comment

Editorial Cartoon By JUSTIN DEFREITAS

Staff
Friday February 17, 2006

To view Justin DeFreitas’ latest editorial cartoon, please visit  

www.jfdefreitas.com To search for previous cartoons by date of publication, click on the Daily Planet Archive.

 




Letters to the Editor

Friday February 17, 2006

TRANSIT VILLAGE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I have followed the issue of the Ashby BART transit village, attending both the Jan. 17 community meeting and the Feb. 11 city-called meeting, and listened to the many, many who have expressed opinions on this topic, and it is very clear to me that: 

The common good must be defined and affirmed by the many, not the few. 

What might be gained on one specific project is meaningless if trust is not established and maintained. 

And though I do not doubt anyone’s intentions here, nor wish to impugn the same, I believe the city has bungled community participation in the proposed project and should withdraw the Caltrans grant application, begin a six-month community outreach and true community process, and resubmit the grant application in October. 

Further, I question whether any development at the South Berkeley Ashby BART site (a public asset), with air rights held by the City of Berkeley (a public entity holding another public asset) should ever include a for-profit, private developer; many of us oppose privatizing national forest properties, school vouchers, and the move to shift social security funds into private investment. Why should we permit privatization in our own city? 

John Selawsky 

 

• 

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Kriss Worthington deserves applause for forcefully questioning the paucity of students and minorities on Berkeley commissions. It seems to me that the issue is related to the shortage of young people and minorities on non-government as well as government agencies in Berkeley. The problem has long been ignored, in part out of reluctance to confront a prime cause. 

Berkeley has a huge glut of 1960s hippies, aged white radicals who happen to be experts in fields that lead to city commission or NGO positions. Years ago, averse to working for The Man, the longhairs chose to spend most of their waking hours researching, studying, writing and networking. They managed this lifestyle by living in communes, co-ops, and in lofts of Berkeley brown-shingle homes. The occasional financial problem has been handled by aid from the “square” brother or sister who “got a real job.” 

Berkeley of the ‘60s had its black hippies, but the sense of obligation to fight racism “in the hood” made most drift away. So, Bobby Seale, who spent many a day speechifying and selling the Black Panther newspaper in Sproul Plaza, went off to teach at Temple. Another Panther paper peddler at Sproul who went off to work with the masses in Philadelphia is Mumia Abu Jamal. He recently wrote fondly of his days in Berkeley. 

Kriss and the council could go beyond the hippie experts by creating commissions for which youth and minorities are the experts, such as a commission on poetry slams, commission on gospel church choirs, and commission on imports from India. A timely agency with an immediate task would be a commission to find a hiring hall for our day laborers. Numerous other “progressive” cities have established such halls. 

Ted Vincent 

 

• 

KPFA 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Those who have listened to KPFA over the past decade will not be surprised to see Larry Bensky note (Daily Planet, Feb. 14) the loss of a quarter of its listening audience over the past decade and, despite the growing anger toward Bush’s failed policies, the loss of nearly 20,000 listeners from last summer to the present day. To understand this precipitous decline, Bensky need look no further than his own news department, whose incessant reduction of everything its designated villains—the United States, Israel, and white heterosexual males—do as evil incarnate, has succeeded in marginalizing a once appreciated community resource into a voice valued solely by ideological simpletons. Some at the station may believe that the new director will reverse this, but they are woefully mistaken as this personnel change will only be akin to putting lipstick on a pig. 

Speaking of which, a few Hamas spokespeople’s dressing in suits for news conferences underscores that attempting democracy in a Palestinian society where it never previously existed is also comparable to attempting cosmetic surface alterations on a sow. As these spokespeople have articulated, the basic credo of Hamas remains the same: genocide, discrimination against women and homosexuals, censorship, etc. So when Helen Finkelstein (Letters, Feb. 14) denigrates Daily Planet cartoonist DeFreitas for depicting thuggish figures dressed in black and brandishing weapons, she fails to note that DeFreitas’ drawings are only reflecting the most basic values of that organization, as well as the way Hamas has publicly exhibited itself since its inception.  

Dan Spitzer 

Kensington  

 

• 

SUNSHINE ORDIANCE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

A Berkeley Sunshine Ordinance has been “in-progress” for many years, but our City Council majority may prefer to keep citizens in the dark. Consider a new City Charter change “Signature In-Lieu of Candidate Filing Fee.” Neither the charter nor the city clerk’s office has the correct information available on when the signature gathering officially begins. Yet knowing this timely information can give a candidate six or more weeks head start in official campaigning!  

In 2004 after this charter change was adopted, the council majority’s favorite candidates, Daryl Moore, Laurie Capitelli, and Max Anderson, knew what to do. 

They used the signature-gathering time to meet and greet and get signatures from unlimited numbers of their district voters who can sign only one council candidate’s papers. Independent candidates seemed clueless about this process because information was so late. 

Even now, correct information is not available for the “Signature in Lieu” period for the November (mayor, council, auditor, schools, and Rent Board) election. But possible candidates should expect the “signature” process to begin as early as May.  

Merrilie Mitchell  

• 

JERUSALEM CRICKETS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I just read Joe Eaton’s Feb. 14 article on potato bugs aka Jerusalem crickets. They have long been my favorite insect in the Bay Area. However, I must disagree with you that they don’t bite. Recently at school, I was holding one and everyone asked whether I wasn’t afraid. I cavalierly said that they aren’t dangerous and don’t bite, at which point the bug bit me hard, so hard that I couldn’t shake it off. No, not dangerous, but yes, they do bite! It actually broke the skin. Thanks for an informative article otherwise. 

Mary Wheeler 

El Cerrito 

 

• 

TOD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The Bay Area badly needs transit-oriented development (TOD), and particularly needs major amounts of housing within walking distance of rail stations. It makes no sense for the land around Ashby BART station to serve only as parking lots.  

Tom Bates, Max Anderson, and Ed Church have mulled this over for a considerable time, appropriately to their roles as mayor, local councilmember, and SBNDC consultant, respectively. Early last fall, Church saw an opportunity to snag a $120,000 state grant for new planning work, including public consultation. He quickly filed an application to meet the deadline, letting the City Council know of this small coup as soon as it would listen. Now Church and his elected partners are being accused of closed-door crony politics and worse. This groundless charge seems mainly to vent their attackers‚ generalized mistrust of government.  

At the same time, the 2004 feasibility analysis sponsored by the East Bay Foundation probably over-limits itself by trying to shoehorn about 500 apartments into the four acre triangle west of the station while keeping heights to six stories and declining to think about exploiting nearby space given to roads. There are plenty of things to discuss about this proposal, and about the Ashby project broadly construed. Bates, Anderson and Church have signaled eagerness for such discussions, which could certainly be helped along by the small Caltrans planning grant if it is awarded to Berkeley.  

Some of the people who are calling for the dropping the grant application, and casting themselves as Davids fighting Goliath, have made genuine contributions: Robert Lauriston has put up a perceptive and informative web-site at “nabart.org.” A good “policy wonk,” as he calls himself, is a pearl of great price in this kind of work, and he shares with Kenoli Oleari a populist vision and an articulateness which are much needed in such public decision-making.  

Mayor Bates should maintain the city’s application for the Caltrans grant. In addition to the neighborhood living room discussions now planned, he could well put together a working group including Anderson, Church, Lauriston, Oleari, a flea market vendors’ rep, and others, perhaps including reps from BART and the MTC, to roll up their sleeves on serious, ambitious TOD planning for Ashby. 

Peter Lydon 

 

• 

OPEN SPACE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Justifications offered (sarcastically) by Peter Levitt (Letters, Feb. 10) and remarks by Tom Bates and city staffers about obliterating the Ashby BART parking lot to put up yet more big buildings rely on assumptions that 1) something is wrong with the parking lot as it is, 2) “the neighborhood” will benefit from more buildings and businesses, and 3) that concerns over housing force a decision to proceed. 

A look about town reveals any amount of empty, recently built retail space and vacant older stores and offices. There is no crying need for more. And if we are talking about luring new business to South Berkeley, too many existing businesses now paying taxes to the city are on the verge of collapse. More competition will not do local small business people any good. 

The parking lot, on the other hand, does a lot of good for people who use BART, flea market vendors, and residents of the area who use both of these resources while enjoying the last bit of open space. Reducing available parking is a step backward—regardless of claims that filling “the air space over the parking lot” with more wood and stucco will somehow increase use of public transit. 

Housing? New apartments have sprung up all over town like mushroom children of the love fest between the city and developers. Rent prices are down and there are more vacant apartments in Berkeley now than in the last 20 years. Housing is not a pressing need either.  

Mr. Bates’s slip of the tongue by referring to “condos” during the recent meeting to drive development of the Ashby BART parking lot may offer a better clue to who the real beneficiaries are (and the reason the city attempted to circumvent public participation): dollars today for developers and builders and dollars forevermore for the city.  

Berkeley’s small businesses and working citizens should not always take a back seat to the machinations of the Must Have Mores, and we should all acknowledge that open space in Berkeley is precious and finite and needs to be preserved. 

Glen Kohler 

 

• 

RENT STABILIZATIONS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In his Feb. 7, Mike Mitschang blithley dismisses any need for a city-operated rent level tracking/database system monitoring each of the city’s 19,000 rental units. 

Mr. Mitschang declares that the city’s Rent Stabilization Program “should not” maintain any computerized record keeping system, or provide an annual mailing to renters and property owners citing each unit’s legal rent amount. 

Instead, under Mr. Mitschang’s scenario, the Rent Stabilization Agency’s rent level monitoring system should be fully dismantled and abandoned, and the computerized database eliminated. 

Subsequently, Berkeley’s tens of thousands of tenants would then submit to an informal “honor system” between individual renters and owners to correctly monitor each unit’s legal rent level year by year. 

Other rent level variables such as the “Annual General Adjustment”—the annual unit rent increase (or decrease)—property owner capital improvement expenses, increases or decreases in rental property services, etc, would, presumably, also fall under Mr. Mitschang’s new, informal renter/owner honor system policy. 

Obviously, Mr. Mitschang’s vision of a “database-free” system represents not only the dismantlement of Berkeley’s voter-approved Rent Stabilization Ordinance, but would also contribute to a lack of renter housing security and stability. 

A rent level information blackout is exactly what Berkeley’s renter and owner communities do not need in one of the nation’s most expensive rental housing markets. 

Very briefly, to respond to Michael St. John’s Feb. 14 commentary: if the City of Berkeley were to follow Mr. St John’s “advice” and allow the conversion of “200 to 500” rental units per year into condominums—or “remove all restrictions” on conversions—the consequences would be devastating: mass tenant evictions from their units would follow and use of the state Ellis Act (used to empty buildings of renters) would likely increase dramatically.  

Mr. St. Michael’s idea should be considered dead on arrival. 

Chris Kavanagh 

 

• 

SELF-SERVING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Robert Clear delivers a simplistic and self-serving critique (Letters, Feb. 10) of Daily Planet editor Becky O’Malley who has expressed legitimate concerns regarding Berkeley’s current development bonanza. It is a good idea for cities along the I-80 corridor to reasonably increase downtown density to slow the spreading suburbs and the added global warming car trips that come with it. Berkeley’s downtown density already exceeds other towns because we are home to a huge University of California campus and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), state and federal facilities who already have acquired much of our taxable base through their awesome budgets and land acquisition powers.  

Mr. Clear, an employee of LBNL, is just supporting his employer’s position on lab-university mega projects by not mentioning the obvious differences between Berkeley and other corridor cities like Fremont or Crockett.  

The development plans are contrary to the best interests of most of the other people and families who currently reside in Berkeley and threaten the balance that has made the town an interesting and barely affordable place to live.  

Mark McDonald  

 

• 

RACIST COMMENT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As a person of color and a producer at WBAI, KPFA’s sister station in New York City, I would like to point out a racially biased comment in the article “KPFA Staff, Board Eye New Pacifica Director” by Judith Scherr. Scherr wrote: “Pacific radio is facing familiar challenges—how to bring in new voices without silencing the old, how to diversify the audience without dumbing down programming and how to keep peace in the often confrontational staff.”  

Ms. Scherr assumes that in creating programming for “diverse” audiences, which today is typical code language for people of color, one might be tempted to engage in a “dumbing down” process. To clarify my objection, let’s change the phrase to “how to attract more women listeners without dumbing down programming.”  

Now is it clear?  

Actually, people of color audiences in the United States tend to be more sophisticated about foreign and domestic policy, racism, sexism, justice, etc. Typically immigrants speak more than one language while Americans are notoriously monolingual. The Indigenous peoples of the United States, who only receive token air time in Pacifica, likewise are highly educated like other peoples of color in the political reality of institutional racism.  

Speaking of institutional racism, it is the near failure of Pacifica to open the gates to peoples of color as producers (who will then attract “diverse” audiences) that is dumb. It is institutional racism that led to the defeat of affirmative action in Pacifica’s bylaws. Thanks to the racist gatekeepers in Pacifica, this year the majority of the Pacifica National Board is white, and Pacifica is going to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting which it grants to “minority” stations. With political leadership like that, who needs Alito?  

So the issue is not whether Pacifica’s programming has to be “dumbed down” but rather can we be inclusive and smart enough to attract and meet the needs of sophisticated audiences of color. I suggest the Daily Planet interview a “diverse” range of the many talented voices within Pacifica, and not let someone like Larry Bensky, who is viewed by many progressives within Pacifica as the “voice of PNR,” speak for the network. People on the outside of Pacifica like Scherr may not understand the struggle over race and power in Pacifica is now couched in terms of “money” and “budget” and “quality programming” with a drive by some forces at WBAI, (which is referred to by some as a “black station”), to “bring back white audiences,” an argument itself based on the colonialist assumption that audiences of color have no money and can be equally well served by well-intentioned, predominantly white programmers and boards. Bensky’s total disrespect for the Pacifica boards must be understood in this context.  

Pacifica’s future does not lie in mainstream mimicry, in recreating a dumbed down white male dominated national star system. Rather, we must lay our free-range eggs in many small grassroots baskets. Next time, Daily Planet, interview Tiokasin Ghosthorse of First Voices, or Eddie Ellis and Ayo Harrington of On The Count. Or talk to some of Pacifica’s radical anti-racist white programmers, or to the producers of the upcoming national Spanish language programming coming out of KPFK Los Angeles, or talk to reporters at Free Speech Radio News out in the field in Nigeria, Iraq, or in the jungles of Nepal. As Arundhati Roy said, a new world is coming, and if we listen carefully, we can hear her breathe.  

Sheila Hamanaka  

Producer, WBAI Women’s  

Collective, East Asia Radio  

Collective  

 

• 

CHANGE POLICY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

If KPFA wants to reverse its decline in listeners all it has to do is to emulate the editorial policy of the Daily Planet. How satisfying it is to read Planet commentary and letters from all sides of Berkeley opinion. But it is not so easy to get your voice out on KPFA. 

The number-one arbitron rating radio station in the Bay Area, for decades now, is KGO: 24 hours of audience talk-back. KPFA’s audience is vastly more articulate and educated than KGO’s. But except for a few shows, KPFA’s audience is shut out. And listener participation on KPFA is moving backwards. When C.S. Soong took over the noon hour Monday to Wednesday he immediately eliminated callbacks. Instead of Bill Mandel taking calls about the Soviet Union we have the one way voice of “North Africa and Middle East.” And who can ever replace Mama O’Shea? You always knew what she thought, but she was gracious and good-humored to everyone. 

OK, so I agree with about 75 percent of what I hear on KPFA. But if you want to win converts and new listeners and sharpen your own ideas, you have to have open dialogue. You can have self righteousness or you can have an expanding audience, but not both. Let us hope that the new Pacifica manager is aware of the choice. 

Laurence Schechtman 

 

• 

VETO POWER 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I’m curious: How did neighborhoods get veto power over all development? When South Berkeley residents oppose development at Ashby BART, by what right does their opinion outweigh those of others who might like to live there, but who can’t because of the shortage of housing?  

Nicholas Kibre 

Redwood City 

 

• 

YES YOU CAN! 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Yes, you can stop your City Council from doing stupid, costly, pointless things. You can stop the manipulative, imitation-grassroots manufacture of phony citizen groups. You can save your own tax dollars and the City of Berkeley from coming up with another laughing-stock opportunity to embarrass itself nationally, but only if you act now. 

It’s so easy. Tell Linda Maio and Tom Bates to quit it. Just quit worrying about the sound of train whistles. People who hate the sound of trains shouldn’t live in Berkeley, let alone West Berkeley, any more than people who hate the sound of the ocean should live at the beach. 

Train sounds may be an acquired taste, but once acquired, they seem as natural as moonlight, and as evocative as a saxophone. If Linda Maio and Tom Bates have their way, an “alternative system” will be put in place robbing us all of the sound of trains. 

They’ve even sent their flocks of operatives knocking door to door for petitioners, so the “alternative system” will resemble a response to a grass-roots request. Don’t think for a minute they knocked on mine. 

West Berkeley has problems. It has serious pollution, the life-threatening kind, which Maio and Bates only pose as opposing. It has constant threats to the plan which attempts to preserve its low-income art communities, probably Berkeley’s last, while Maio and Bates champion every condo project they see. Linda Maio was the crucial vote which brought my neighborhood the horrible Blockbuster/Pet Express building where once there was literally a beautiful gateway to Berkeley, and Bates, well, look around. 

West Berkeley needs a lot of attention in a lot of arenas; the list would be long. What it doesn’t need is a lot of money wasted on a project that is just a long, red carpet for the big condo project planned near the tracks, condos which won’t sell for as much money without the “alternative” to train sounds. 

Put down your foot. Pick up the phone. Tell your neighbors, and above all, start your own petition. Act now, before your town is, once again, the favorite focus of late-night comedians. 

Carol Denney 

 

• 

WARM POOL VANDALISM 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Vandals or other agents unknown have smashed three of the four BHS warm pool south window panels. The breakage occurred in the lower portion of each panel. As a result, the panels, tall and narrow, slowly slip down in their frames. The frames are breaking up and need to be replaced as well as the glass. 

The south window provides generous and welcome sun and light to the south pool room. The users all appreciate the south window’s function. We all want the window for its function. We want and need the window repaired. 

The plywood and boards recently put in place over low portions of window are temporary, to hold back broken glass from falling on people. Weeks have passed sine boards were placed there. Months have passed since plywood was placed there, inside. Plywood blocks the light. 

It may be years before the warm pool moves elsewhere. We community users realize that various forces within the school district feel the warm pool no longer serves the school district. If by magic we could lift the building to a new home site, everyone might be pleased. Planners make it look easy to move functions around as if by magic. Planners have promised everyone happiness by moving the warm pool function. 

An architect told me today that “the warm pool rooms are rock solid” in their structural construction. Kers Clausen, structural engineer, told me essentially the same thing six or seven years ago; leading to the new roof at the south pool. I’ve always felt the same about the structure. 

For these reasons, I believe the window repairs should take place. More damage can only further endanger the users. More damage due to vandalism can occur “unnoticed” if present damage is not repaired. Lexan can replace glass to avoid future softball breakage. Rusted ugly screen can then be removed. The wire glass employed at the south window failed under the type of blows impacted. 

Terry Cochrell 


Commentary: Free Speech and Cartoons, With a Side of Rock and Chicks By Mansura Khanam

Friday February 17, 2006

I haven’t seen the cartoons myself and frankly don’t care to (much in the same way if I hear that there is a porno picture that is being passed around, I probably wouldn’t want to see it; I rather personally dislike trashy things.) What I know is that they were printed in September and there were protests and outcries. Nothing was done. No apologies. Then, they were reprinted another time. And then the clerics caught on to it. And massive protests were organized and many people were genuinely outraged. I have to say, the stupidity of both sides astounds me and really shows some murky truths that further sadden me. First, how uncouth, how disrespectful, how racist, muslim-phobic do you have to be to mock another religion at its core of symbolism? All religions depend on symbolism. There is no imagery of the Prophet Muhammad because of a deep belief that no person should become a source of worship. Worship should be of God also left formless to take form in the individual. 

This past Christmas, I heard that hundreds people called into television stations because on “Everybody Hates Chris” they “revealed” that there was no Santa Claus along with the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. The younger Chris Rock said to his little sister, “Look we don’t even have a fireplace, we have a radiator.” This clinched it for her and she ran away in a burst of tears. Hundreds of outraged letters and phone calls, and peppered in those were even some threats. I think the outrage stemmed from people feeling like their choice to allow their children to believe in something unreal was taken away from them. A few years back the Dixie Chicks, former musical darlings of the Bible belt who broke through to mainstream, were at a concert in London and before the concert, the lead vocalist said she was ashamed what Bush was doing with Blair. Thousands of people were in the streets of America. Open bonfires of all their materials, album, pictures, etc. Radio stations were forced by violent listeners to stop playing the Dixie Chicks. The Dixie Chicks who are sisters got death threats (hmmm, fatwas) on them and their children! They finally went on air, told their story in an interview and apologized through sobs just so the terrorizing would stop. And this, just because she voiced an opinion about what her president was about to do in another country. Personally, if people didn’t like it, I think a few “boos” and walkouts from the concert, maybe even a few demanding their money back would have sufficed. 

Dumb. Very dumb of the Danish newspaper to reprint the cartoons a second time. Even dumber that they would print this and refuse at the same time to print some material that would disgrace Jesus. What’s that all about? Also, there is a pervasive problem that Muslim minorities in European countries are treated like third class citizens. Like any minority group that is discriminated against, this is another blow. Can you imagine if a white actor/actress decided to put on black-face and did a fumbling routine and said it was just supposed to be funny, just free speech? Or, a cartoon of Hitler smelling flowers growing out of gas chambers, or something like that- that’s not free speech, it’s purposely offensive and that’s what I think these cartoons are. And yet, still, every so often an offensive thing does get printed, a quack professor tries to espouse the scientific basis for the racial superiority of “Caucasians” over “Negroids.” No one bands with this quack. Everyone draws in a collective breath of surprise and disgust (some only because he got caught openly saying it.) Everyone distances himself or herself from this professor. Statements of apology are put forth and they fire this professor. They do not stand in solidarity with this professor (like some Europeans are doing with the Danish paper.) There should be protests and a call for an apology and maybe even “fire the editor.” 

But violent protests and fatwas, come on! Some intelligent responses, please!! This sort of thing only feeds the frenzy. I wish this kind of mass protest would occur over lack of access to food or health-care or decent living in Muslim countries. There’s something to scream in the streets about or burn down flags about. I wish it would occur over lack of education and liberalization, global supply chains that only benefit the rich, rampant consumerism and environmental degradation, human trafficking and abuse of all kinds. But sadly it doesn’t or it isn’t covered when it does.  

I fear in many Muslim countries, right wing extremists who also happen to have thick wallets have squelched moderate voices. But so has the media. It seems that the more frenzied, violent episodes always get the coverage. The moderate voices as well as the varied voices are not given space. Coverage is simplistic and dumbed-down playing on and into stereotypes. Never mind, the imbalanced access to and coverage by the media megalomaniacs. I think money and mega-media has done much to hurt free speech.  

And what about all the violence that is hurtled at us all day in practically every form of the media? Is that free speech or simply taking away my freedom or my children’s freedom not to be exposed to certain things? That is offensive. But who is to play God and decide what is permissible under free speech and what is limiting free speech? I do feel the world is slowly going crazy, and the pace has quickened these past years.  

 

Mansura Khanam, who happens to be a female Bangladeshi American returning student, just recently moved to San Francisco.  

\


Commentary: BART Proposal Contains Blatant Mistakes And Should Be Withdrawn Due to Flaws By Rosemary Hyde

Friday February 17, 2006

As a resident in the Ashby BART vicinity, I attended the city-sponsored meeting this past Saturday. The city had given us only four days notice before the meeting, and had not notified any area residents directly. Yet over 200 people were there, thanks in part to the Daily Planet’s good coverage of the City Council meeting. We were interested in learning the official view of the proposed BART parking lot project.  

I had read the proposal with interest. This document specifically said that the project would include 300-plus apartments, and that a developer would be selected by June 2006. It assured that the project came from broad community input. Since, like everyone else in the neighborhood, I had only learned of the project in January, almost five months after the city had originally submitted the proposal to Caltrans for funding, I was curious to learn more about this supposed community input.  

At the meeting on Saturday, we learned from Mayor Tom Bates, Councilmember Max Anderson, and Project Director Ed Church that the proposed project is premature and inaccurate.  

• The mayor and councilmember admitted that their process in making the proposal was mistaken. This was a good realization. They apologized but were not prepared to offer any action to rectify the mistake. A mistaken proposal should be withdrawn.  

• The mayor waved off our concerns by asserting that everything could be renegotiated after Berkeley gets the Caltran money. Are we really to believe that the state would fund the selection of a contractor to build a proposed 300-unit building and then allow the city to change its mind and use the money to plan, say, a pedestrian plaza instead?  

• The proposal offered no proof that building a 300-unit building in South Berkeley will solve the problems it is supposed to address: creating affordable housing and increasing BART ridership. In fact, data show that fewer than 10 percent of residents in transit developments across the country actually use transit. Also, the feasibility studies make it clear that this project cannot provide affordable housing and still be financially feasible. The problem and the proposed solution do not match.  

• Project director Ed Church conceded that the proposal contained blatant mistakes, such as a 30 percent overstatement of the buildable area on the BART west parking lot. Gross misstatements in a proposal destroy the city’s credibility.  

• The proposal implies that South Berkeley needs higher housing density. But the population density in the area surrounding the Ashby BART station already significantly exceeds what BART recommends. While other BART station areas lack the recommended density, the south Berkeley neighborhood should not be subjected to density levels dramatically higher than those required elsewhere. South Berkeley lacks open spaces, not housing density. 

• The proposal ignores the historic contribution of South Berkeley to the fabric of the city. This area has whole blocks of historic bungalows unique to Berkeley. In addition, the Ashby Flea Market represents a vital historic legacy. It is a lively, successful outgrowth of Berkeley’s political activism of the 1960s. It, too, deserves to be highlighted and supported, not shoved aside. The proposal displaces the flea market and depicts South Berkeley only as a broken place needing to be fixed. We as a community need to plan for enhancing the resources here that make all of Berkeley a special place to live. The proposal is premature and skewed.  

In short, this proposal, which involved no community input, imposes a straitjacket on the community. It builds on false information and destroys historical resources. It is flawed and inaccurate.  

Anyone concerned about the integrity of our irreplaceable resources needs to urge the city council to withdraw this second rate proposal for a 300 unit building on the west Ashby parking lot. Instead, the community needs to determine together what kind of a city we wish Berkeley to be, as Zelda Bronstein suggested in her Daily Planet column a couple of weeks ago. We look forward to conducting this process in collaboration with other Berkeley neighborhoods and with our elected representatives. We want south Berkeley and the Ashby BART area to represent and enhance the unique vitality and beauty of Berkeley as a truly livable city.  

 

Rosemary Hyde is a South Berkeley  

resident. 

 


Editorial Cartoon by JUSTIN DEFREITAS

Tuesday February 14, 2006

To view Justin DeFreitas’ latest editorial cartoon, please visit  

www.jfdefreitas.com To search for previous cartoons by date of publication, click on the Daily Planet Archive.

 




Letters to the Editor

Tuesday February 14, 2006

UNREASONABLE RESTRICTIONS 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

As a homeowner affected by the Creeks Ordinance, I’m not sure that I like being represented as “a small but vocal sector of the Berkeley population.” You might as well say “we only want to evict a few of the tenants, what are they complaining about?” 

These unreasonable restrictions on remodeling are unacceptable, and would have prevented our purchase of the house. Unfortunately, we did not know that the northwest corner of our backyard contained a culvert when we bought our West Berkeley house, so now we have been negatively affected by the restrictions and are unable to make room for my mother-in-law; nor can we sell the house at market value, because it would be illegal to not disclose the restrictions now that we know about them. Furthermore, if the culvert ever does collapse, under the current statute the property owner is on the hook for potentially more money than the house is worth. Our own chunk of culvert would cost an estimated $16,000 to fix ($7,000 per yard, plus repairing the fences and landscaping after construction). 

If the intention of this law is to gradually displace residents from the nearly 2,000 affected properties so that creeks can be daylighted, it’s certainly structured well. I for one certainly hope that if such a plan were to be seriously considered, it could be openly debated in a democratic forum. We’re willing to accept reasonable limitations on what we can do with the house for the greater good, but the current 30-foot setback ruling on enclosed culverts is problematic. A much more serious issue is the repair of culvert failures, which is practically guaranteed to force residents out of the city.  

Jack Coates 

 

• 

STAND UP FOR THE CREEKS ORDINANCE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As a caring citizen of Berkeley I urge the City Council to stand up for the health of our creeks, a very special resource which we are blessed to have in Berkeley. We need stronger protections for creek corridors instead of weakening the protections we have now. Please do not give in to the wishes of the developers. Business is not more important than environmental health. I thought that most on the City Council understood this, but it appears we must revisit it again. Here are some of the protections that need to be kept in place or implemented. 

1. No new construction closer than 30 feet to a creek. 

2. No paving right up to the banks of a creek. 

3. Culverted creeks should be kept in the ordinance. 

4. Protect real opportunities for daylighting creeks. 

5. Unroofed structures should also be built at least 30 feet away from the creeks. 

I ask the City Council to please do the right thing as you take a relook at these issues. The creeks and watersheds are part of the Commons and it is your job as public servants to protect the Commons. 

Meaveen O’Connor 

• 

ALARMED 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am writing to let you know that I am very alarmed by the proposed revisions of the Berkeley Creek Ordinance. If a small number of creekside property owners believe that they have the right to do what they wish with their tracts, then they must be ignorant or defiant of the negative consequences they could wield over an entire region. If the Planning Commission, the Creeks Task Force, and the City Council are not ignorant to the effects that such ordinance revisions could cause, what is the incentive for being defiant of them? I don’t feel that I need to list the ecological, economic and practical reasons for continuing to protect and even contribute to the health of our local creeks. Many an expert testimony has been provided for you, and common sense dictates that a creek is a conduit affecting all of the living things in its watershed.  

I can’t help but think of my 2-year-old son here. He’s a great guy, but there are times when he’s got a pretty vehement sense of “mine.” He’s learning the difference between his rights and his righteousness. I hope that the City of Berkeley can appreciate that distinction, as well. 

Kate Thompson 

 

• 

THE LORIN DISTRICT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Berkeley is rightly proud to be one of California’s oldest cities, at the same time it is one of California’s densest cities. Berkeley’s General Plan, adopted in 2002, endorses the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance to protect charming neighborhoods that contribute greatly to the character of our city. 

In a recent letter, Mayor Bates and City Councilmember Anderson described our historic Lorin District as being one of the most interesting, beautiful and historic neighborhoods. Indeed, our Ashby station and Lorin District hold buildings with a rich sense of history and character. Just passing by, the sight of the interesting architecture makes one want to stop and explore. It’s the type of architecture that one associates with creativity and interesting shops, treasures and good food. It is not the architecture of a bland strip mall or sterilized retail that offers little of interest or of substance. 

At a time when many large housing developments are being planned, in construction, or recently built, do we need to further hasten handing over our past and future to the developers? We can not just remanufacture our historic treasures at a later date. Our historic resources are a testament to the ingenuity, diversity, work ethic and dreams of both native born and immigrants to Northern California from many backgrounds and countries.  

Let’s protect our valuable historic resources. Protect the LPO. 

Robin Wright 

Amnuay Amuaydejkorn  

 

• 

PUBLIC LIBRARY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Regarding Judith Scherr’s Feb. 10 article “Public Library Workers Claim Retaliation for Speaking Out”: 

When Berkeley Public Library Director Jackie Griffin “note[d] that the complaints come from only some among the 212 employees and don’t represent the diverse group as a whole,” did she mean that retaliation against library staff is acceptable if it is against “only some among the 212 employees”? 

Bullying should never be tolerated. An administration that seeks to prevent staff members from attending library board meetings, retaliates against them if they speak out, and otherwise intends to curtail their freedom of speech, should be stopped immediately. 

The list of abuses in the article, and other actions over the past several years, including throwing thousands of our library books into garbage cans and dumpsters, and wasting close to a million of our tax dollars on RFID, a seriously flawed system that was not needed or wanted, indicate that our library system is out of control. 

If the Berkeley Board of Library Trustees (BOLT) does not take responsibility for overseeing library policies, what is their function? What recourse do we, the citizens and taxpayers, to whom these libraries belong, have? How much longer are we to tolerate the ungoverned actions of a library administration that has no interest in honoring the standards of our community?  

Shirley Stuart 

 

• 

LIBRARY FOLLIES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Reading the latest follies of our Berkeley Public Library with the allegations of retaliation against outspoken employees, I am struck by two things. First, when the library director says the alleged retaliations only involved some few of her diverse 212 employees, does she mean by that only the outspoken employees were retaliated against, or that there are many other unhappy employees not retaliated against, or that there are many other allegations of misconduct which do not involve retaliation? Second, wouldn’t it have been simpler for all involved if long ago the director had simply come forward and admitted that the RFID system does not work as planned. In our post-Watergate world, isn’t it better to play the innocent and cast blame on Checkpoint’s slick sales force than to attempt a career-destroying cover-up? 

Sylvia Maderos-Vasquez 

 

• 

CIVIL LIBERTIES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Bernie Sanders is still fighting for our civil liberties, as are John Conyers and some of the investigators into the NSA warrantless wiretapping surveillance hoopla. I feel glad about the continuing struggle to protect our civil liberties in Washington; never give up, Mr. Sanders and Mr. Conyers! 

I am chastened to read in last Friday’s Daily Planet that at least one of the Berkeley Library Board of Trustees (BOLT) thinks that people are “just coming together” on the issues of RFID and workplace safety/worker’s rights/fair labor practices at the library. She couldn’t be more wrong, unless she is referring to a very small group of people. Who could those people be, I wonder? 

It is worrisome that a city board overseeing a public trust with a more than 13 million dollar budget could be so out of touch with the true sentiments and goals of workers and library users. It still doesn’t seem like the Board of Library Trustees has a clue how most of us feel. Why is that? 

Super Berkeleyans for Library Defense (SuperBOLD), the ACLU, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, SEIU, EPIC, and many others have been speaking to these local and very real issues for over a year now at board meetings, at protests, and at City Hall during the public comment period, since we don’t seem to be able to get a public hearing on the issue. It seems as though they still can’t hear us. 

That sucking sound you hear is the vacuum created by city and library board lack of attention to and protection of our civil right to read what we want, watch what we want, and listen to what we want without the deterrent of potential surveillance. You also hear the draining of library budget dollars away from the true resources (materials and truly talented trained librarians) into a layer of management and technology potentially enabling the NSA to look easily in your back pocket, your purse, or your living room with even more ease than ever before. 

But perhaps only we, outside of the small group, can hear this sucking sound. Wake up, BOLT! How loud do we need to be? 

What price, privacy? Who decides what defines a terrorist? These are the questions we need to be discussing at a local level, before the vacuum engulfs us all. 

Lynda Winslow 

 

• 

A FEW CORRECTIONS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

On Feb. 11 the East Bay Daily News gave a substantially inaccurate account of a meeting I attended sponsored by Berkeleyans for a Livable University Environment (BLUE). Let me offer some corrections.  

Firstly, I (and some others present) did not support or endorse Zelda Bronstein as a mayoral candidate. There were some people present who seem to have decided in advance to so, but their numbers were thin, let’s say five or fewer. Ms. Bronstein may develop into a viable candidate, but for me the issue remains open. Secondly, I (and some others present) did not actively discourage Berkeley leader Dean Metzger from running. To the contrary, I think his candidacy should seriously be considered. Thirdly, I have been a member of BLUE for quite a while and therefore could not have been “invited” to attend. However, I will say here that I am now seriously reconsidering my support for and membership in this group since several of its leaders have, in my experience, not operated in a democratic manner. 

I have lived in Berkeley for 37 years and have been active in Berkeley politics for about eight years. I have developed an informed opinion about the most important issues. The city’s settlement with UC and the planned further expansion of UC is really unpalatable, but it is not the only issue. The issues important to me, and to thousands of other longtime Berkeley homeowners and residents, also include: restoring Berkeley as a slow-growth town with a good quality of life, limiting or eliminating subsidies and permits to developers of high-density residential projects, curtailing excessive local taxes and fees, economic development toward a strong retail and taxpaying base, high-quality schools that will entice Berkeley children and families, repair and restoration of our decaying physical infrastructure, increased attention to our high crime rate and increased funding for law enforcement, and municipal fiscal soundness and sustainability. 

Unless and until there is a mayoral candidate who openly supports a substantial part of my “platform” I will refrain, and I will advise anyone who will listen to me to refrain, from supporting or endorsing anyone for mayor. I will also add that I was not unimpressed with the city manager budget report of Feb. 7 and with Mayor Bates’ State of the City address. At this point, what I am hearing from that quarter is not without promise, and I will be following City actions as closely as ever to see how this surprising scenario evolves. 

Barbara Gilbert  

 

• 

RACIST CARTOONS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

For some time the Daily Planet has been publishing cartoons portraying Moslems as violent fanatics. For example, in the Feb. 3 issue, three thuggish figures dressed in black and brandishing weapons are labeled “Hamas” “Iraq” and “Iran.” These cartoons are not much different from cartoons depicting lazy blacks, avaricious Jews, ignorant Chinese, and so on. 

The Danish publishers of a cartoon on the same theme claimed that they were exercising freedom of the press. But there are limitations to freedom, and cartoons like these are unacceptable to decent people. That is because they have been used to justify and to incite discrimination, lynching, pogroms and wars. 

With these cartoons you are asking the rest of us to accept the repression and violence that is taking place against our Moslem brothers and sisters. I, for one, do not accept it and I object to the publication of this racist material. 

Whose interests do you think are being served when we are divided against each other by prejudice? 

Helen Finkelstein 

• 

DANISH REPRINTS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Will the Daily Planet please consider printing the 12 cartoons submitted to the Danish newspaper which has been the subject of such controversy over the past few weeks? I’m listening to a brave newspaper editor in Cheyenne, Wyo. who is the first U.S. newspaper editor I’ve heard of who has printed any of the cartoons. Why is our free press censoring these images which are so central to the situation? Since it is a legitimate news story I think our community would be enriched by the discussion of a free press, religious intolerance, racist intolerance, and more. 

Jesse Townley 

 

• 

TRAFFIC CALMING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Two hundred thousand dollars for traffic calming! There is no traffic on the streets where they put the traffic circles. There is no traffic to calm for $200,000! 

Myrna Sokolinsky 

 

• 

FREE SPEECH SATURDAYS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Defend our liberties! What should we do in the community about the repression in Berkeley and the United States? Come to the first Free Speech Saturdays, at 2 p.m. Feb. 18, at Telegraph and Haste in Berkeley. Rallies will also be held on March 11 and April 8. 

Who is doing this? The ad-hoc committee to organize the 2006 People’s Park anniversary is holding these rallies. We have a sound permit and everyone will get to speak. Also everyone is invited to the to the planning of anniversary events happening between April 23 -30. The meeting are at Café Med (upstairs), on the first and third Sunday’s at noon. 

Michael Delacour 

 

• 

FAST FOOD TAX 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am wondering how Oakland city administrators think that fast food restaurants and stores should pay extra taxes to keep the city streets clean. Why should they pay extra taxes? Do the restaurant owners throw wrappers, packages, plastic spoons and bottles on the streets? I don’t think it is right to punish and tax those who prepare and sell products to the customers. The public lacks the civil sense to keep their surroundings clean. There are bins and garbage cans almost everywhere to throw such trash and keep the city clean. Why don’t they catch the people who destroy the city’s beauty? I find graffiti and litter all over the place, especially in the streets of Oakland, Berkeley, and also Albany. The city officials should not transfer the civic responsibilities to others. It is high time that the people learn to keep their cities clean. 

Romila Khanna 

Albany 

 

• 

A FEW NUMBERS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I had to laugh at a bit of information regarding the apparently upscale Read Brother’s Building at Fourth and Addison. The lavish finishes for a 3,000-square-foot penthouse were described and then it was stated that “Construction cost is expected to exceed $300 square feet.” I wonder if the taxpayers of Berkeley are aware that the Hills Firestation, which is providing over 3,000 square feet of living space for the full-time three-person crew, is costing over $1,000 per square foot (6,800 square feet total at $7,250,000 was, I believe, the last publicly stated total cost).  

According to the president of a company that specializes in fire station construction the going rate for very nice new stations is $350 square feet, which includes land acquisition. Perhaps someone might want to look into this very upscale city project. 

Andrea Cukor 

 

• 

SHOOTING DETAILS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Regarding the recent article on the shooting at Acton and Ward streets: 

“Officers later found shell casings from both 9-millimeter and .223-caliber bullets outside the house. The latter rounds, which are used in assault rifles like the AR15, are designed to fragment on impact, Galvan said.” 

I know that that this information came from the police, but it is incorrect.  

First of all, the AR-15 is not an assault rifle. Assault rifles are by history, design, and definition, full-auto firearms like the military M-16. The semi-auto only AR-15 does not fire full-auto. There is a similar term, assault weapon, which is often used to describe semi-autos like the AR-15, but it is really a pretty meaningless term.  

Second, the .223 round itself is not designed to fragment. There are specific bullets that one can buy for the .223, or any other caliber for that matter, which are designed to fragment, others are designed to expand but stay together, and yet others are designed to not expand or fragment at all. The bullets used by the military do tend to fragment at above specific velocities, but this is unintentional and usually occurs because of a cannelure around the bullet. The purpose of the cannelure is to provide a crimping surface so that the bullets will not move inside the cartridge case during handling. Such movement could be very dangerous.  

Finally, there are a lot of different rifles which fire the .223 round including bolt action rifles, break action rifles, pump action rifles, lever action rifles, as well as semi-auto rifles.  

John Bloodgood, 

Former military and civilian arms  

instructor 

 

• 

CRITICAL MASS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

On Friday night, I was driving home after a long work week and looking forward to a relaxing weekend. As I approached the Marin Circle I noticed a line of cars ahead of me and vehicles backed up in every direction approaching the circle. Normally I am a strong advocate of free speech and in fact enjoy seeing protests/vigils, etc. held at the circle. This time however, the cause of the traffic jam made me frustrated and angry. Circling around the fountain were bicyclists, four or five abreast, most without lights or helmets (at 7 p.m.), preventing vehicles from entering the circle. A-ha, I thought to myself, this must be a Critical Mass ride. I myself often ride my bike to work and enjoy recreational riding in my time off. I am a huge advocate of cycling and cyclists. I am not however an advocate of idiots.  

What are these people thinking? What are they hoping to achieve with these rides? Not only are they breaking laws designed to protect them (riding without a light when it’s dark, not following the same rules as motor vehicles), but their actions lead to anger and ire in the “driving community” and are achieving nothing in terms of policy change. Please, if you are a member of the cycling community, think about your actions. Not everyone behind a wheel of an automobile is “out to get you.” Read the laws and regulations of operating a bicycle on city streets. You are to act like a motor vehicle. Stop at stop signs, stop at red lights, yield to pedestrians in cross walks! Thankfully, I’m finally home, despite this unpleasant and unnecessary delay to my commute. I will continue to “see bikes” as the bumper sticker says, and am hoping that more cyclists will start to “see cars” and we can finally “share the road” in peace.  

Ilana Peterson 

• 

FOOLS ON BIKES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

First it was parking your car in the middle of the street to jaw with friends. Now it’s riding your bike at night with no lights. Dark clothes on dark streets at night. The dumber and more selfish the idea, it seems, the hipper it is.  

The excuse of many is that their slip-on, $20 headlights have been stolen. I went through a couple of those myself until I bought a perfectly bright $10 version and superglued it in the slot. I push the lamp face down whenever I lock my bike and no one seems to notice it. It’s been there two years.  

That said, there is still no valid reason for riding without lights or even one light in front or back. I urge the police to enforce the law requiring vehicle head- and taillights and parents and schools to do the same before we see cars driving at night without lights. Wouldn’t that be fun? 

Bud Hazelkorn 

 

• 

RELIGION AND HYPOCRISY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thank you, Becky O’Malley, for opening the door a little, on this country’s widespread hypocrisy concerning religion (“They’re Everywhere, the Stupids,” editorial, Feb. 7). Just one example, which goes far beyond “silly,” is our ridicule of other cultures and religions, while we allow anti-democratic exclusionary religious prayers to begin every congressional session! 

It goes far beyond silly that these lawmakers unquestioningly allow this discrimination against many of us by regularly pledging their faith in God and Jesus- in our “halls of justice”! 

It goes far beyond silly when they pretend to honor the teachings of “the prince of peace” while authorizing an unjust war. 

We may not teach such violence as the cutting off of body parts, but we are, just as unthinkingly, and even cruelly, cutting off respect for individual beliefs. 

Gerta Farber 

 

• 

SILLY? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In response to Becky O’Malley’s editorial on the silliness of religious belief, I have to tell you that what is much more silly is to believe that there is no mystery, that this material world we see around us is all there is. That would be the biggest joke ever, to think that this more or less nonsensical montage of matter and experience might be self-sufficient and the end-all of being. No, Becky, think thrice before you make such a silly statement as you have made in your most recent editorial. One thing to think about is the limited character of our modes of human experience. All evolutionary creatures have limitations and there is every reason to believe that as such we are severely limited in our ability to perceive the ultimate reality of what appears to us as the world around us. The aspiration beyond our limited human existence is the very noblest of human attributes. It is what truly makes us human. 

Peter J. Mutnick 

 

• 

THEIR WORLD AND MINE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The world governed by the Bush administration grows daily more distant from the one I inhabit.  

Looking abroad they see democracy marching, freedom spreading, terrorism waning, insurgency expiring, coalition expanding. Closer to home they incarcerate enemy combatants and question suspects up to the threshold of mortality, they unleash unlimited unconstitutional executive powers, they help the poor by cutting tax on the wealthy.  

Vice President Cheney sees in Afghanistan the beginning of freedom and in Iraq the last throes of the insurgency.   

Defense Secretary Rumsfeld defends us against enemies at our doorstep, evidently extending across an ocean and a sea.  

Attorney General Gonzales dismantles all barriers to extra-judicial eavesdropping in order to make his fellow citizens feel safer.  

State Secretary Rice answers allegations of torture by emphasizing the amoral savagery of its victims. 

I see a different world. I see the president praise “Brownie,” an inept rescuer of a major city then accept his resignation, promise to rebuild and then delay funds. 

I see democracy marching, yes—forward in Bolivia, Venezuela, Iran, Palestine and backward in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and alas here. In Afghanistan I see the Taliban resurrected and in Iraq I see young soldiers and civilians in the tens of thousands killed and maimed.   

The world is as it is, of course, but theirs is full of fear, fluff and fantasy while mine is all too depressingly bloody and dysfunctional. 

Marvin Chachere 

San Pablo  

 

• 

A FEW THOUGHTS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was so happy to meet with Ruth Bird, through her letter in the paper last week. Just wanted to agree in writing to stop the killing—of precious life. Stop the killing and start (once again) to simply care for one another. No need to have the rich and the poor, Mr. Bush et al. No need to poison one another. The only need—and oh so necessary—is for some light to be shed within the vacant, conniving minds of those who rule us right now. Let’s face it...they do. Have for some time.  

We all deserve what any social order could provide, if it wasn’t distracted from the needs of living by the orders of the uncaring. There is enough wealth for all. There is the mighty sun. It is simple enough to pay attention—to do no harm; to reach out to all of life as it reaches out to us. 

Iris Crider 

 

• 

ONE WOMAN’S STORY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

On Jan. 21 I was violently attacked by a female that I have not had contact with for five years. When I called the Berkeley police, they told me that they currently had her pulled over in her vehicle for an unrelated charge and if I wanted to press any charges I would have to meet them at the location in North Berkeley that she had been pulled over at. I drove back to Berkeley and brought two witnesses of the attack with me; one witness is someone that I had never met before that night. The police told me that my attacker claimed I was in possession of a firearm and that I had punched her in the face earlier that night (although she had no evidence of this) and threatened to shoot her. This girl was clearly on drugs that night, has mental problems, and the police didn’t seem to care about that. The police also didn’t care to document the fact that my eye was swollen shut, or any statements from my two witnesses. I asked them if they needed pictures or statements, and they said no. Thanks to the Berkeley police report, my case is not going to court and this girl is trying to contact my family members. I am really excited to have read in the Berkeley Daily Planet that the department is seeking new officers, because maybe unlike the officers who handled my case, they will pay attention to detail and learn how to take a proper report. 

Nancy Harrison 

 

• 

BROKEBACK 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

P.M. Price’s reaction to seeing the film Brokeback Mountain was interesting to me as a white person (and someone who has not seen the film). Price wondered whether the white cowboy characters in Brokeback would have cared about the oppression of black people or known about the civil rights movement taking place in 1963. I would like to point out that there was more commonality between gay and African American oppression in 1963 than Price may be aware. An openly gay man or lesbian in 1963 could be imprisoned or lose their job because “gay sex” (or even same sex dancing) was illegal everywhere, including California. The story of Bayard Rustin as told in the film Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin is an especially interesting lens for looking at both issues, since the U.S. government tried to discredit Martin Luther King, Jr. for having a gay advisor in Rustin. Read more about him on the website rustin.org. 

Janine Baer 

El Cerrito 

 

• 

DO YOUR PART 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

My God, Bush decides to help these nefarious spy types spy on Quaker peace groups and also vegans? Who does he think he is—king? Good Lord! I respectfully suggest that Sen. Harry Reid and others in power now work to find a special prosecutor to help hold President Bush and the other nefarious ones (people like Condi Rice, Gonzales, Rumsfeld, etc.) accountable for spying on innocent Americans who are not terrorists and don’t know any personally!  

What is happening to this country? Pray, meditate, use your intuition, and keep after Congress and others in power. Work, to build a better, more peaceful country. Help get us out of Iraq ASAP, take back Congress in 2006, and above all, learn to live a life of peace and love and generosity, yourself!  

I, in the meantime, am working on forgiving America for falling for this entire ruse in the first place. “WMD in Iraq”... horseybleep! Unless they’re discussing the WMD that we have since put there.  

Please don’t become another grieving mother or friend! Let’s take back America. Let’s make world peace. What you do affects all of life, all people. And for God’s sake, cut down on use of fuel and gas, and find a more sustainable lifestyle. We can’t go on using cell phones and technology ad nauseam. We’re endangering ourselves and the earth. Pray for all of us. Pray for America. Pray for yourself, your friends and family, your sweetheart if you are lucky enough to have an intimate partner(s). Pray, as if it all depended on God or Goddess or Jesus or Buddha or whomever. Then work, as if it all depended on you.  

It is not too much trouble to be kind, gentle, to smile at a stranger, write to your mother, hug your friends, follow your dreams, and keep on saving stuff like college scholarships, jobs in America (oh please not Wal-Mart wage slavery). 

I’ve elaborated long enough. I’m glad to be doing my part. If I can’t do a lot, I’ll do a little. Doing a little is better than doing nothing, for Heaven’s sake. I love all of you, all of America, and all of the world. I just don’t have a close personal relationship with everybody alive, only my good friends, family, and any future lovers, pets, or children.  

Linda Smith 

 

• 

STATE OF THE UNION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The State of the Union could be looking a lot cooler. I find it quite deceiving that President selectively used information in order to make his energy policy look beneficial for the American people. Firstly, Bush’s foreign policy is driven by a desire to secure oil resources from “unstable parts of the world”; so, it is absurd to make a claim about weaning the United States off of oil when we have been at war for three years in a region rich with oil reserves. While we only import about 10 percent of our oil from the Middle East, George Bush made the claim that we will replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025. Hooray George! You successfully fooled Americans into believing we get most of our oil from the Middle East, when in actuality most of it comes from Canada and Mexico. If Bush really wanted to replace our imports from the Middle East, then he should push the Energy for Our Future Act, which would raise fuel efficiency standards to 40 mpg in the next 10 years and in turn save as much oil as we currently import from the Middle East. Congress needs to work together on this new piece of legislation if they hope to actually have an energy policy in place that will begin to dramatically cut our contribution to global warming and move us in a progressive direction. 

Josh Sbicca 

Campaign Director  

Environmental Action 




Commentary: Facts on Pension Fund Could Use a Tune-Up By Don Crosatto

Tuesday February 14, 2006

I don’t blame Jim Doten (Commentary, Daily Planet, Jan. 24) for being upset about having to pay $541,000 in withdrawal liability to cover his employees pensions. No one likes unexpected bills, not even millionaires. 

The fact that he’s upset, however, shouldn’t give him a free pass to make numerous misstatements of fact in an effort to win sympathy from the public. 

First, Mr. Doten claims that the strike is all about the pension plan and that the new owners of Berkeley Honda made “sound business decisions in their hiring of staff.” If their hiring decisions were sound, then it doesn’t say much for judgment because the nine Doten employees who were let go by the new owners had a cumulative 137 years of service working for him. Most were given one 20-minute interview before being kicked to the curb. As far as we can tell, none of the Berkeley Honda new hires have ever worked in a Honda dealership before. While the pension plan is an important issue, the main reason the employees struck was because of the cavalier way that the new management treated their co-workers. 

In his article, Doten refers to the “union and its pension plan.” It has been illegal since 1947 for a union to solely manage or run a pension plan. Automotive Industries (the plan in question) is governed by a 10-member board of trustees, five picked by the participant unions and five picked by employers. The employer association which Mr. Doten belonged to for 30 years has a seat on the board and the president of that group sits as the co-chair of the pension fund. All board decisions require a majority from both sides of the table. Every increase and decrease in benefit levels in the last decade have passed with the unanimous support of the five employer trustees. 

Mr. Doten may be unhappy with the board’s decisions, but he can’t complain about lack of representation. He really can’t complain about lack of information either. All trustees have their addresses and phone numbers published and are readily available to discuss the fund’s status with any employer or participant who chooses to call. 

Mr. Doten clearly did not choose to educate himself about the plan because he got some of the facts wrong and this leads him to an erroneous conclusion. The crux of his argument is that foolish and imprudent trustees jacked up the benefits by 20 percent in 2001 when the stock market had already peaked and most people could see we were heading into a recession, thus leading to the pension plan’s unfunded liability. That’s a great story, but not even close to the truth. The last increase in benefits was actually passed in June 1998 (with an effective date of Jan. 1, 1999). It increased benefits by a whopping .1 percent, from 4.9 percent per month to 5 percent per month of service. It was the last of four increases that took place between 1992 and 1999 that collectively added up to about 20 percent. Why did that happen? I’m glad you asked.  

Between 1992 and 1998, the pension fund’s assets grew by $944 million, an average of 15.45 percent per year. The trustees had to increase benefits for two reasons. One, the purpose of the plan is not to rat hole money, it is to provide benefits for the participants. When a pension fund grows to a certain level, the Trustees have both a legal and a moral obligation to spend that growth on the people in the plan. Two, the IRS will eliminate the tax exempt status of a plan and impose an exise tax on employers in that plan if it accumulates a certain level of assets without paying improved benefits. This sensible regulation was designed to prevent employers from using pension plan contributions as a tax dodge. 

One wonders how Mr. Doten would have felt in 1998 if the trustees had not made plan improvements and the IRS had levied hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties and fines against him. I also don’t recall hearing any complaints about the $100,000 per year tax deduction that the plan afforded him year after year. I can certainly understand why people feel it is unfair that a withdrawing employer gets assessed a large penalty even after they have paid their monthly bill. If you believe there is a villain in this little melodrama, you need to look to Congress. In 1980 it passed a law that required pension funds to assess withdrawing employers if there was a deficit in the pension plan. It did so to prevent a “run on the bank” mentality when pensions had a few bad years. 

Congress did so because it was concerned that a mass exodus of employers from a fund during a down investment cycle could lead to pension plans collapsing. If that happens, either the taxpayers have to pick up the pieces (United Airlines is a good example) or thousands of seniors would be left destitute. 

Because of this law, multi-employer pension plans almost never go under. The most recent report from the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC) demonstrates this point. Approximately thirty million Americans are covered by single-employer pension plans. Because the steel and airline industries have been allowed to dump their plans on the PBGC, the single-employer insurance account has a deficit of $23 billion, and it could triple in the next few years. 

Multi-employer plans (such as automotive industries) cover about 10 million people. The PBGC deficit for these plans is $240 million, or 1 percent of the single employer deficit. The only reason our pension plan is running a deficit is two years (2001-2002) where the fund actually lost money. The worst year was a loss of 6.68 percent, which coincided with a steady increase in retirements. During the last decade, which includes three of the best and four of the worst years we have experienced, the pension plan grew by an average of 9.3 percent per year. 

Mr. Doten also claims that the very concerned new owners of Berkeley Honda are putting the same amount of money into a 401k that he put into his employees pension. He’s really selling himself short. Doten Honda contributed $465.97 every month for journey-level and $232.99 for non-journeyperson classifications to the pension fund. Every union employee got a pension contribution. 

On the other hand, Berkeley Honda is giving four employees $166 per month cash, which they can spend or put in a 401k as they wish. They have also stated that at some unspecified time in the future they will put $3,600 into the 401k for those four individuals. The other 30 employees of Berkeley Honda get nothing.  

The final word on Mr. Doten’s credibility (and math skills) should be this: He claims that the pension fund deficit of $141 million “was equal to the gross domestic product of Argentina.” A quick Google search shows Argentina’s GDP to be $91 billion, or 650 times as much. 

Enough said.  

 

Don Crosatto is the area director for Local Lodge 1546 of the Machinists Union and a Trustee of the Automotive Industries Pension Plan.  


Commentary: Creeks Ordinance: The Fifth Option By TOM KELLY

Tuesday February 14, 2006

The Creeks Task Force (CTF), charged by the City Council to recommend revisions to the Creeks Ordinance, will hold its first Public Hearing on Feb. 15 at the North Berkeley Senior Center. At that Hearing, the CTF, of which I am a member, will be presenting a series of preliminary recommendations for public review and comment. These recommendations consist of four proposals (Options A-D) which can be seen on the city’s website at www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/planning/land use/creeks. 

Unfortunately, a fifth proposal authored by Carole Schemmerling, Josh Bradt, and me, that builds on and strengthens the current ordinance, was submitted too late to be included in the materials that will be discussed at this hearing. For that reason, copies of our proposal will be distributed at the hearing for consideration by the public and the CTF. 

Entitled “Option E” (below), we believe that our recommendations resolve many of the major conflicts that have arisen from the original ordinance and its subsequent interpretations. Option E lays out a sensible plan for creating a safe and healthy system of creeks that will reduce damage to property and streams, improve riparian habitats, and alleviate the flooding that occurs in many parts of the city. Option E looks forward to a city that supports a healthy natural environment that is an asset to the entire community while providing property owners with assurances that their use of their property will not be unreasonably restricted. 

 

Option E  

Roofed structures on open creeks 

1. No roofed structures may be built within 30 feet of the creek’s centerline without a variance. 

2. For properties with existing roofed structures at 30 feet and beyond from the creek’s center line—no extension of roofed structure into the 30-foot setback without a variance.  

3. Repairs and upgrades to existing roofed structures that extend into the 30-foot setback are allowed, including installation of solar panels, geothermal heating, and solar hot water equipment, subject to the criteria required for an administrative use permit. 

4. Rebuilding of a roofed structure in its original footprint after it has been destroyed is allowed, subject to the city’s zoning and building regulations. Owner must show that no other option to conform to the Creeks Ordinance is reasonable. Plans for construction within the setback must include engineering reports that recommend the least harmful impact to the existing site, the creek, and owners of upstream and downstream properties. City may require mitigations to creek (removal of barriers, riprap, native vegetation planting, use of permeable materials, on-site rainwater sequestration, etc.) to offset impacts caused by construction within the setback. 

 

Decks, patios, and other un-roofed structures on open creeks 

1. No unroofed structure may be built within 20 feet of the creek’s centerline. Exceptions may be granted for pedestrian bridges, pathways, open fences and will be granted through discretionary review or administrative use permit. 

2. Existing unroofed structures that must be replaced due to damage or age must conform to the 20-foot setback requirement, except as described in item number one. 

 

Culverts 

1. All creek culverts (including those in the historic creek channel and those that have been relocated) should be covered in the Creeks Ordinance. Setbacks for culverts will be determined by a formula that anticipates that access will be required to remove, repair, and/or replace the culvert at some future date. 

2. Creek culverts that could be permanently removed to restore a creek channel should be identified by the City of Berkeley. Setbacks on these culverts may be greater than those culverts that are so close to existing structures that they are not likely to be removed. 

 

Additional recommendations 

• City of Berkeley will provide incentives and services for property-owners to create and/or improve riparian habitat areas within the 20-foot setback. These incentives will include, as appropriate: the reduction or waiving of permit fees and property taxes, and exemptions from certain other zoning requirements. City services to assist property-owners in implementing these environmental improvements will include: small grants, free materials describing best management practices, and on-site consultation.  

• Regardless of a future legal determination of responsibility for maintenance and repair of the city’s culverts, the city shall begin now to determine how to assess a fee that will establish a fund for the purpose of creek and culvert improvements. 

• The City of Berkeley would be able to address the complex watershed issues the city and its residents face, if we were to immediately fund the City Council-approved Watershed Coordinator position. The watershed coordinator will be responsible for establishing a watershed management plan, best management practices, incentive packages for creek side property owners, recommended riparian vegetation plans, and recommendations for daylighting culverts.  

Please come to the public hearing to hear about the CTF recommendations and to provide us with your valuable ideas about how we can fashion a sensible ordinance that reflects the values of the entire community. 

 

Thomas Kelly was a Green Party  

candidate for City Council in 2000. 


Commentary: More Condominiums Will Raise More Tax Dollars By MICHAEL ST. JOHN

Tuesday February 14, 2006

On Feb. 21, the Berkeley City Council will hold a workshop on its policy concerning the conversion of rental units into condominiums. The council has for many years prohibited most conversions, but has recently opened the door to a minor extent because a San Francisco lawsuit cut the legs from under the council’s parallel prohibition of tenants-in-common sales. As a result, interest has been awakened in a topic long considered closed. 

For several decades City of Berkeley housing policy has been based on the proposition that rental housing is in short supply and should be preserved in order to protect the city’s ethnic and cultural diversity. For a quarter century, therefore, we have had rent and eviction controls, prohibitions on tenants-in-common ownership and condominium conversion, funding for the construction of “permanently affordable rental housing,” and inclusionary zoning requirements on new construction, all designed to achieve the underlying diversity objective. 

But times have changed. First, the Costa-Hawkins Act changed Berkeley’s rent control rules from the restrictive form that began in 1979 to the “vacancy decontrol” form that now prevails throughout the state. Beginning in 1999, rents go to market on turnover. As of 2006, roughly a quarter of Berkeley’s rental units are still occupied by pre-1996 tenants paying below market rents, but the majority of Berkeley’s rental units are at market now and can no longer be considered “affordable housing” in any meaningful sense. 

Second, the appellate decision in the case known as “Tom v. City and County of San Francisco” spelled the end of Berkeley’s prohibition on tenants-in-common (TIC) ownership. It is now recognized that Berkeley rental properties can be freely converted to tenants-in-common ownership, as they could be before the TIC prohibition was enacted in 1992. 

Third, the dot-com crash in 2001 led to the exodus of thousands of young professionals from the Bay Area, reducing the demand for rental housing. Rental housing is no longer in short supply. Indeed, the vacancy rate is higher than it has been since the 1960s or early 1970s. There are thousands of vacant rental units in Berkeley today. And rents have been falling, not rising, for the last three or four years. The rental market is soft, not tight, as it had been, prior to these developments, since the late 1970s. 

Meanwhile, the Bay Area has experienced a sharp rise in prices of for-sale housing. Whereas middle-income individuals and families could afford to buy a home in Berkeley in the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s, middle-income individuals and families are hard-pressed to find a home in Berkeley that they can afford today. Condominiums are a logical second choice for middle-income residents who want to live in Berkeley but can’t afford Berkeley’s home prices. Yet, because of the long-standing prohibition, condominiums are in short supply. Current rules cap the conversion of rental units at 100 units per year, a number that falls far short of the demand for affordable for-sale housing. 

It is time for a paradigm shift. We need a new vision to match new circumstances. What is needed today is workforce housing for university employees, policemen, teachers, city government employees, and other middle-income residents. These individuals and families typically want to own their own homes. Wisely, these families don’t plan to remain in rental housing for more than a brief transition period. Understanding well the financial advantages of homeownership, they know that remaining in rental housing prevents the accumulation of equity that, for most Americans, is a crucial component of financial security in retirement. 

What makes sense in this market is to allow condominium conversions so that the underutilized stock of rental housing can be turned into for-sale housing needed by middle-income residents. There would be no loss to renters—they are already housed, and already protected by rent and eviction controls. There would be significant benefits to middle-income residents, on the other hand, because a greater supply of condominiums will tend to reduce the over-high prices for condominiums and other for-sale housing, allowing these residents to stay in Berkeley. Otherwise, Berkeley’s middle-income working folks will be forced by the high price of homes to seek housing elsewhere and to commute to their jobs in Berkeley, further increasing traffic congestion and parking difficulties. 

The 100-unit limit to conversions is overly restrictive. A higher limit will not lead to net loss of rental housing because hundreds of rental units—many of them “affordable”—have been constructed in high-rise buildings in the downtown area in recent years. It would be wise to allow 200 to 500 units to convert to condominiums per year, so that the current imbalance (oversupply of rental units/undersupply of for-sale housing) can be corrected. The best policy would be to remove all restrictions and let citizens determine the number of rental and for-sale units in Berkeley. An alternative would be to set a vacancy rate floor. If the vacancy rate is above 5 percent, conversions might be unrestricted. If the vacancy rate is below 5 percent they might be limited. 

As to diversity, there is no evidence that the city’s housing policies have achieved their goals. A study using census data from 1970, 1980, and 1990 (St. John & Associates, 1993), showed that, even with restrictive rent control and condominium conversion prohibitions, Berkeley was gentrifying faster than any surrounding community. The study showed that lower income residents, single-parent families, working-class persons, households receiving public assistance, and even university students were systematically barred from living in Berkeley during the time of restrictive rent controls, whereas these categories of households were welcomed into all surrounding communities. 

A more recent study by San Jose State University economists Benjamin Powell and Edward Stringham showed that “inclusionary zoning” programs don’t work either (“The Economics of Inclusionary Zoning: How Effective Are Price Controls?” 2004). Communities with inclusionary housing programs added fewer affordable housing units than communities without such programs. The study also showed that these programs make market-rate housing more expensive, and that the decrease in market rate housing construction caused by the programs exceeds by many times the construction of affordable units under the programs.  

Taken as a whole, the programs are counterproductive. Space prevents an explanation here of the reasons for the failure of these programs. Suffice it to say that like King Canute, who failed to stop the incoming tide, the city cannot stop steps people take to further their personal financial security.  

Meanwhile, the benefits that flow from allowing conversions are significant: 

• A 1.5% transfer tax on the sales price of condominium units sold. 

• A substantial increase in the assessed value of the property, of which a part goes to the city through increased property taxes. 

• The affordable housing fee that would help fund truly affordable housing for low-income residents. 

These new revenues—which could sum to several million dollars a year—could be used to fund the many important services in the city which are currently under funded. 

 

Michael St. John is an economist specializing in rental housing and condominiums and a member of Berkeley’s Housing Advisory Commission. His comments reflect his personal views, not the views of the HAC.  

ô


Commentary: Red, White and Blue, But Not Colorblind By WINSTON BURTON

Tuesday February 14, 2006

I turned on the TV and there was a black boxer fighting a white boxer. I had the sound turned down and was blasting a Jimi Hendrix record while I was watching the fight. I had never seen or heard of either fighter before and didn’t know a thing about them. 

I found myself enthusiastically rooting for the black boxer to win. The only thing that distinguished one fighter from the other was the color of his skin. 

I realized this was proof. There could be no more doubt that I too was a racist. Will counseling or therapy help? Am I a bigot or just prejudiced?  

I thought back on my past and what led me to this fork in the road. 

When I was born, in 1949, my mother, father, older brother, two uncles and their wives all lived in a three-bedroom house in West Philadelphia with my grandmother and grandfather. My father worked at the shipyard, and six months after I was born he was able to buy a house only a few miles away from my grandmother. We were the third black family on an all white street of 70 row houses. For the first five years of my life I played primarily with white kids. By the time I was ten there was only one white kid left. His name was Francis. 

Francis was Italian. He was neither big nor strong and one of the slowest runners on the block. The slowest was a black kid named Billy who always got caught while the rest of us got away; eventually Billy did a lot of time in jail. In a role reversal Francis was the only kid on the block without a dad. He lived with his mother and his grandfather, and in spite of the white-flight and block busting around us they never moved away. He attended an all boys Catholic high school, never had a cool nickname or wore a weird hat. Francis loved to play stick ball and dance. While most of us were listening to Smokey Robinson and the Temptations, Francis was into Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Maybe that’s why he had no rhythm! People in the neighborhood might mess with him because he was wrong, but we never let anyone mess with him because he was white. He was one of us!  

We went to the movies every Saturday (it was only a nickel), and when we role played Cowboys and Indians afterwards most of us wanted to be the Indians. I must admit it was partially due to their skin pigment, but mostly because the Indians wore hipper and much more functional clothes. How are you going to sneak up on someone wearing pointed toe high heeled boots and a big white cowboy hat? Francis always wanted to be the cowboy. He was usually out numbered 10 to one, and the cowboys routinely lost on our block, but that’s who he identified with! Francis was the first kid on our street to enlist into the military (most of us were drafted). Francis was also the first friend I knew that died in Vietnam. He’s on The Wall. His last name is Daniels.  

I realize now that Hollywood, and TV in its infancy, had a major impact on who my friends and I rooted for and our color consciousness. My favorite western movies were always about Custer’s Last Stand and the Civil War. Although not that great in history class I knew that no matter how Hollywood would try to change the story and make a sympathetic ending, Custer and Johnny Reb would get their just desserts. Hollywood also put out a movie called Logan’s Run that was about the future, but had no people of color in it. Whose future was that? It surely wasn’t mine. Don’t get me started on the movie Zulu: a heroic tale of 120 British soldiers against 5,000 Zulus. Why don’t they make a movie about the preceding battle where the Zulus defeated 1,200 British troops or Toussaint L’Ouverture in Haiti? Tarzan used to be my favorite character. But as the years progressed many of his antics became disturbing as well!  

On TV there was Rochester and Amos and Andy. And wow, how my mother would swoon when Nat King Cole sang his songs. Anytime a Negro would appear on TV we would break through on the telephone party-line and call all our friends and relatives. 

Sports were a whole different story. Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson, Wilt Chamberlain (who lived on the same street as me in Philadelphia), Bill Russell, and Joe Louis were heroes during the game, but zeroes when it came time to buy a home. The American Dream was not for them, and the American public was only colorblind when they were on the field. Once the game is over it was Jim Crow all over again! But I digress. 

As I sat there rooting while the black and white boxers competed I realized that too much has happened, there’s too much history, and even with therapy I will probably never be colorblind. Maybe my kids will—who are part African, American Indian, Hispanic, Irish and Asian. But the images and experiences of the past are still strong, and stay with me today.  

To be honest I don’t see anything wrong with cheering for people that look like you, speak like you, and share the same ancestry or culture. We should appreciate each others’ uniqueness and not be threatened by our own loyalties. Being colorblind may be an unrealistic mountain to climb, a bridge too far that doesn’t really matter. For most of us living in the Bay Area we should applaud our attempts at diversity and our desire to make it a reality. That’s why we live here, and we shouldn’t beat ourselves up! Sometimes when you try to achieve the impossible–like a colorblind society, there’s nothing possible to achieve!  

Meanwhile there was a break in the fight. The two boxers went to their corners where they were splashed with water and attended to by their trainers. I turned up the sound. The white fighter’s handlers said, “Champ he can’t hit you, he can’t touch you. You’re winning every round.” The fighter responded through swollen lips and a half closed eye in a Brooklyn accent, “Well somebody better watch that referee!” The TV camera switched over to the black fighter’s corner where they were talking in a language that was neither English nor Spanish. My allegiance immediately switched to the white fighter, and all my anxieties vanished. I may not be colorblind, but I’m an all-American sports fan! 

 

Winston Burton is a Berkeley resident.›


Columns

Column: Dispatches From The Edge: Scary Words, Wolf Tracks and Orange Swastikas By Conn Hallinan

Friday February 17, 2006

In the past two weeks the rhetoric on Iran has taken a chilling turn, in part because it doesn’t all come from the White House. Consider the following statements: 

President George W. Bush, subsequent to the Feb. 3 vote by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) referring Iran to the U.N. Security Council: “The world will not permit the Iranian regime to gain nuclear weapons.”  

On Feb. 4, U.S. Senator (and presidential hopeful) John McCain said at the Munich Conference on Security Policy, “There is only one thing worse than military action, and that is a nuclear-armed Iran.” 

National Intelligence Director John Negroponte testifying before the Senate Feb. 3: “Tehran has been responsible for at least some of the increasing lethality of anti-coalition attacks by providing Shia militants with the capacity to build improvised explosive devices with explosively formed projectiles similar to those developed by Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah.”  

Robert G. Joseph, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security before the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee on Feb. 1: “A nuclear-armed Iran could embolden the leadership in Tehran to advance its aggressive ambitions in and outside the region, both directly and through the terrorists it supports.” Once so armed, it “would represent a direct threat to U.S. forces and allies in the region” “could provide the fuse for further proliferation,” and “would represent an existential threat to the state of Israel. Finally, Iran is at the nexus of weapons of mass destruction and terrorism.” 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Munich security conference on Feb. 4: “We want, we must prevent Iran from developing its nuclear program further.” Merkel went on to compare Iran to the rise of Hitler Germany, arguing, “Now we see there were times when we could have acted differently. For that reason Germany is obligated to make clear what is permissible and what isn’t.” 

Quick analysis:  

Bush: The use of “the world” sounds a lot like the green light the White House took from the first U.N. vote on Iraq. Might the administration now argue that the IAEA referral means the “world” has condemned Iran, making it legal for the U.S. to put together a “coalition of the willing” to attack Tehran? 

McCain: The man had no problems bombing Vietnamese, why would anyone be surprised that he wants to pound Iranians? 

Negroponte: Iran is making bombs to attack U.S. and British troops, who are arming and protecting Iran’s clients in the Shia community? Come again? Of course John was the guy who covered for the Contra war against Nicaragua when he was ambassador to Honduras, so making things up—like the Sandinistas were a threat to the U.S.—is old hat for him. 

Joseph: Substitute the word “Iraq” for “Iran.” Then be afraid. 

Merkel: Her remarks may be the most troublesome. Add them to French President Jacques Chirac’s recent threat to use nuclear weapons against “terrorist states,” toss in Tony “The Poodle” Blair, and suddenly Washington has a coalition with considerably more clout than the one that invaded Iraq. 

The Beirut Daily Star is reporting that the United States plans to close the Straits of Hormuz and seize Iran’s oil-rich Khuzestan province on the pretext of cutting off supplies to the Iranian military. Khuzestan was the target of Saddam Hussein’s 1980 attack on Iran. 

Stay tuned. 

 

World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz is under fire by staff for bypassing World Bank hiring procedures, stacking the deck with Republican stalwarts, and concentrating power in the hands of a small cabal around the president’s office. 

The bank’s internal investigations unit is examining Wolfowitz’s appointments of Robin Cleveland, Kevin Kellems, and Suzanne Rich Folsom, who the staff charges were handed open-ended contracts at excessive salaries. Cleveland was formerly the associate director of the White House Office of Budget and Management and used to work for Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell. Kellems worked for Wolfowitz when he was undersecretary of defense, and for Vice President Dick Cheney. 

According to staff complaints, one of Folsom’s first acts as head of the Department of Institutional Integrity was to bypass the bank’s rules and snoop through e-mail accounts. 

In a Jan. 24 editorial, the Financial Times chided Wolfowitz for “draining authority upwards from those beneath him in the hierarchy to his clique of advisers.” 

After “almost eight months…Paul Wolfowitz has yet to set a course for his presidency, and staff disquiet is reaching deafening levels,” opined the Times. 

Institutional incompetence, breaking bylaws, and concentrating power in the hands of right-wing ideologues? Who would have thought? 

 

When Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko and his “Orange Revolution” toppled the corrupt regime of Leonard Kuchma, they were the toast of the Bush administration, the neo-cons, the Freedom House gang, and the European Union. But according to reporter and essayist Doug Ireland, the West was hiding a dirty little secret: the “Orange Revolution” was riddled with anti-Semites and was apparently as corrupt as the people it tossed out. 

On the eve of the International Day of Commemoration for Holocaust victims, Yuschenko awarded the “Hero of the Ukraine”—Ukraine’s highest honor—to Ivan Spodarenko, editor of the anti-Semitic mass circulation newspaper, Silski Visti. Silski Visti, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, once asserted, “400,000 Jews served in Nazi SS forces during the German invasion of the Ukraine during World War II.”  

Silski Visti, with a circulation of 500,000, is widely read in rural areas, and was sued for publishing anti-Semitic articles in 2004. The cases were dismissed in 2005. 

At the same time as Yushchenko was being hailed as a great democrat, the British Helsinki Human Rights organization reported “Western media and governments…edited out the manifestations of extreme nationalism and anti-Semitism,” but “key opposition leaders, including Viktor Yushchenko, Julia Timoshenko and Alexander Moroz defended anti-Semitic publications and accepted the backing of neo-Nazi groups.” 

Headed into March elections, Yushchenko is mired in corruption charges and his party is polling at around 15 percent. Kuchma’s handpicked candidate, Viktor Yanukovych, who lost to Yushchenko in the last election, is polling 25 percent. Julia Timoshenko, Yushchenko’s former coalition partner, and the person who blew the whistle on the president’s corruption, is polling at 12 percent. 

 

Quebec Solidarire, a new left-wing party recently formed in Quebec, is challenging the separatist and more conservative Parti Quebeçois. Formed by a merger of the L’Union des Forces Progressives and Option Citoyenne, the new party, according to one of its leaders, Françoise David, will “bring values like solidarity, ecology, equality between men and women” to the province’s voters. 

The party will support sovereignty, but according to Amir Kahdir of the L’Union des Forces Progressives, “Separatism is not a goal… It’s not an end in itself. What we are here for is social justice.” 

Parti Quebeçois has been accused of hostility toward immigrants in the past—even accusing the immigrants of torpedoing a sovereignty referendum—and it tends to be conservative on economic issues. But because it stood for sovereignty, it could depend on a solid bloc of voters. That bloc is now up for grabs, and with the new conservative government gearing up for an attack on social services, Parti Quebeçois will either have to shed its neo-liberal economic policies or lose some of its base to the new kid on the block. 

 


Column: UnderCurrents: Mayor Jerry Brown’s Arts Promises Failed Oakland By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Friday February 17, 2006

At what point should the citizens of Oakland begin declaring the two-term administration of Mayor Jerry Brown to be a failure? Massive. Total. Complete. 

This is a question I’ve been posing for quite some time now, but it was prompted (again) by the recent announcement of the demise of the Oakland Ballet, which is closing its doors after 40 years because of financial difficulties. 

So much for the Oakland Arts Renaissance Mayor. 

While a politician ought to be judged not only on what they promise to do while in office, at the very least they ought to be able to deliver on those promises, or explain why they couldn’t. 

Instead, Mr. Brown appears to be altering history in his last months in office as mayor of Oakland, pretending that he didn’t promise something at all. 

In the “About Jerry” link to Mr. Brown’s California attorney general campaign website (www.jerrybrown.org), Mr. Brown’s campaign writes that “Upon taking office [as Oakland mayor in 1999], Brown emphasized three goals: reducing crime, revitalizing the downtown and encouraging charter schools.” 

That’s not what I remember. Actually, upon taking office in 1999, Mr. Brown emphasized four goals. The fourth one, not listed on his “About Jerry” website link, was support for the arts in Oakland. It’s listed as one of Mr. Brown’s four policy goals in the fiscal year 2001-03 proposed policy budget, the document around which the city budget was fashioned. That fourth mayoral goal reads: “Arts: To encourage artistic expression and craft through public grants and civic festivals and establish a school for the performing arts.” Mr. Brown’s now-missing arts goal was also listed as one of Mr. Brown’s four policy goals in his January 1999 inaugural address (“The fourth element of my pledge is to support the arts and encourage festival and celebration in Oakland,” he told us), and as late as his 2000 State of the City speech, he was still listing “celebration of the arts” as one of his priorities. 

When, then, did support for the arts in Oakland get dropped as one of Mr. Brown’s goals and promises? 

Can’t exactly say for sure, but if we’d been paying attention, there were some signs along the way. 

One of them was Mr. Brown’s appointment of his longtime friend, aide, and used-to-be housemate, Jacques Barzaghi, as director of Oakland’s Craft and Cultural Affairs Department. (No romantic attachment between Mr. Brown and Mr. Barzaghi is implied, by the way; they just shared a big loft together with Mr. Barzaghi’s wife, and before Mr. Brown got married.) Anyways, while he may have served invaluably as a political advisor to Mr. Brown during his years as California secretary of state and governor and in his run for the United States presidency, Mr. Barzaghi never demonstrated the type of arts background needed to serve a city as sophisticated, ethnically varied, and artistically diverse as Oakland, and his appointment always seemed a way to get a buddy a nice city paycheck rather than as a way to actually help the city. 

Another indication of Mr. Brown’s flagging interest in arts in Oakland, was Mr. Brown’s failure to lift a public hand to try to save the Carijama Festival. 

Carijama, you may remember, was one of Oakland’s most successful festivals, a celebration of Caribbean and African-American dance, song, art, food, and artifacts that attracted hundreds of folks every Memorial Day to Mosswood Park in North-West Oakland since 1984. In 2002, the privately run festival ran into trouble with fights breaking out between youths who had not participated in the festivities, and only showed up when the entertainment was just about over and people were beginning to go home. After similar end-of-the-festivities violence broke out the next year, the city forced Carijama to move from grassy Mosswood to the sterile Frank Ogawa Plaza. Eventually, when the youth trouble continued, Carijama was sadly discontinued. 

Perhaps Carijama couldn’t have been saved. But while other Oakland officeholders put in efforts to keep the festival going—West Oakland Councilmember Nancy Nadel being one I especially remember—there’s no public indication that Mr. Brown even tried. So much for his 2001-03 city budget pledge to “encourage festival and celebration in Oakland.” 

Mr. Brown actually did worse with the Malonga Casquelord Center over on Alice Street, coming close to destroying one of Oakland’s most successful public art programs. The Casquelord Center—formerly the Alice Arts Center—is undoubtedly one of the most best public/private arts collaborations in the country, where several performing arts companies—mostly based in African dance—get free or reduced-price headquarters space in exchange for operating public dance classes through the City of Oakland. Thousands of Oakland citizens attend the dance classes every year. When Mr. Brown first formed his charter Oakland School For The Arts, he housed the school in a portion of the Casquelord facility, at one point putting in something like a million dollars in city subsidies to convert the basement and storefront space into classroom facilities. But instead of working out a partnership between the existing Casquelord programs and the Arts School, Mr. Brown eventually tried to take over the entire facility and muscle out the performing arts companies and the dance classes, suggesting at one point they house themselves in the storefronts surrounding the vacant Fox Oakland Theater. The companies—and a group of residential tenants on the center’s top floor—fought back, and eventually got City Council to make Mr. Brown back off his attempt to take over the whole Casquelord. If Mr. Brown had succeeded, he would have destroyed one of Oakland’s performing and participating arts treasures. That should have been another clue as to how he was viewing his goal to support the arts in Oakland. 

Now—under Mr. Brown’s watch—comes the demise of the Oakland Ballet. 

In 2004, citing financial problems, the Ballet had to take a year off to raise money. Until then it had been performing in the Paramount Theater, but moved to the Calvin Simmons Theater in the Kaiser Convention Center complex in 2005 as a cost-cutting measure. When City Council voted to close the Convention Center at the end of 2005 in order to balance the city budget, the Ballet had no performance home, and with bills mounting and low ticket sales for the 2005 season, the company had to call it quits. 

Could Mr. Brown have saved the Oakland Ballet, and, for that matter, the Kaiser Auditorium and the Calvin Simmons Theater? Again, I don’t know. There is every evidence that a city as diverse and culturally sophisticated as Oakland could have figured out a way to keep the ballet, given a massive, coordinated effort headed by the mayor’s office. But there is also no evidence that Mr. Brown—distracted, perhaps, by his run for California attorney general—even tried. Where were the press conferences? The City Hall meetings? The mobilization of city resources like we saw when he was fighting to get his military and arts charter schools approved by the Oakland Unified School District? The appeals to wealthy donors, both in Oakland, around the state, and around the country? Where were those fabulous contacts Mr. Brown promised us during the 1998 mayoral campaign that would “put Oakland on the map?” 

Instead, we got a prepared statement from the mayor’s office, which read: “The Oakland Ballet brought pleasure to generations of Oaklanders. It’s truly unfortunate that the financial challenges proved overwhelming.” 

Unfortunate?  

Meanwhile, Mr. Brown has spent most of his “arts” time in Oakland developing his charter Oakland School For The Arts. One of the curriculum paths at that school allow a student to build the foundation to become a professional ballet dancer. For the last 40 years, an Oakland kid could use those classical European-based dancing talents to become a professional dancer in her or his hometown. Now, under Mr. Brown, that opportunity is lost. 

At what point, then, should the citizens of Oakland begin declaring the two-term administration of Mayor Jerry Brown to be a failure? 

 

?


Garden Variety: Urban Ore Likely Has What You’re Looking For By RON SULLIVAN

Friday February 17, 2006

When I need some retail therapy, you won’t be surprised to hear, I often go look for something for the garden. I spend time in the nurseries I write about in this space, and I have to be careful if I actually want to make my occupation produce income, rather than outgo. There’s just something so hopeful about a fresh seedling or seed packet, and the scent of wholesome dirt makes my spirits rise.  

Some places are even more dangerous to people like me than nurseries are. Urban Ore is one of them, though it’s easy enough on the wallet. I had the definitive shopper’s experience there years ago, when it was in its former Gilman Street spot: I went in to get a piece of used lumber, and came out with a hand-woven wool coat, probably of Afghan origin, that didn’t fit but really needed to come home with me. It hangs on my parlor wall; I’d rather look at it than wear it anyway. I still like it, it still gets compliments, and it cost well under ten dollars.  

I suppose I got the lumber too, but I don’t even remember what it was for. You don’t have to be the sort of alt-Berkeley gardener who puts a toilet planted with geraniums on the front lawn to like shopping at Urban Ore. There’s no shortage of plumbing fixtures in case you want to ring changes on the concept of a sink garden—rather a lot of them in Fifties Pink the last time I was there —but there’s lots of other stuff that integrates more gracefully into a landscape. I have a weakness for chimney flue tiles to plant succulents in a gravel-heavy mix, and sometimes there are enough there to build a sort of effigy pipe-organ.  

Used lumber, of course, and stone too: landscape rocks, granite countertop cuts. Rows of windowpanes, good for cobbling together a mini-greenhouse for your tropicals in winter, or a cold frame, not that we need them much here for the usual subjects. (They’re also good for group picture frames.) Cinderblocks, which don’t have to look industrial if handled cleverly; planters and containers including good old red clay pots. If you’re handy and willing with a wire brush, paint, any sort of tinkering and sweat equity, you can get anything from a barbeque kettle to outdoor furniture to edgers and lawnmowers at minimal cost. Last week there was a whole barrel of tiki torches.  

The idea behind Urban Ore is to stop dumping stuff that can be reused; to stop wasting things (and the energy that goes into manufacturing and transporting them) and to reduce what got dumped in “landfills.” (That term bugs me, as I have never yet seen empty land. Anyone who supposedly has needs to learn more.) This isn’t a high-end “salvage” yard, but I’ve found treasures here and compared to elsewhere they’re cheap.  

Take your work gloves and your imagination along, and remember that stock changes unpredictably. Have fun! 

 

 

Urban Ore 

900 Murray Street, Berkeley 

(510) 841-7283 

Monday–Saturday 8:30 a.m.–7 p.m. 

Sunday 10 a.m.–7 a.m. 

Receiving closes at 5 p.m. daily. 


About the House: The Practical Realities of Remodeling By MATT CANTOR

Friday February 17, 2006

Our friends the Shnozzles (names herein will be changed to protect me, the person I’m always most concerned about) are in the throws of a major remodel and the festivities attending this blessed event are reminding me of all the things I learned back in the days when I engaged in this most cruel and unusual of professions. I’ve been giving them a little advice here and there and hearing about their woes-du-jour so I’ll pass along a few of each in the hopes that you might be spared just a little of the misery that so often accompanies the day when our houses change. 

Nina Schnozzle came over one day and said that when she visited the job-site, it turned out that a major window that looked out over the bay was about a foot too low. She was genuinely shocked and assumed that this sort of thing couldn’t happen unless the contractors were drunk or recently lobotomized. It wasn’t necessarily so, I told her and continued to iterate the well known capabilities of this particular contractor (who charges all the arms and all the legs). That’s just the way it is. 

Contractors make mistakes, everyone makes mistakes. Not all of the time and everywhere but some of the time here and there. Therefore, I said, and this applies to all of you as well, keep an eye on the work. Go there often, being sure not to get hurt or get into fights with the help and look. Do not be afraid to ask if the light fixture is where it is supposed to be. It’s not an extraordinary question. If things look wrong, you might well be right and you might also be doing the contractor (and yourself) a big favor by point it out earlier in the process than they might otherwise figure it out.  

Contract work proceeds in phases and the earlier one identifies a problem, the easier and cheaper it is going to be to fix. In fact, if you find a mislocation or improper choice of some other type late enough, it might not be reasonable to fix it at all, given the expense and complexity. 

Construction is sort of a layering process. We being with ground-work, staking out the earth and deciding where things will end up being located. Mistakes made at this level can result in violations of set-backs that can result in having to tear off exterior walls and rebuild them. This is really expensive and you don’t want this to occur. 

Cities can be forgiving but they don’t have to be. Assuming the site work is done properly, foundations are dug and formed with reinforcing metal laid in place. This too must be laid out properly and inspected fully by the city because it is very hard to remove and replace a foundation once it has been poured. Next comes framing which is generally wooden and takes days or weeks to install and is followed by wiring, plumbing and heating. 

When we have the sheetrock in place and someone says, “Hey, that window is a foot too low,” it’s not any fun at all. There are so many layers including exterior siding, trims, framing and possibly electrical or plumbing that now will have to be changed and this can cost a lot.  

Many folks will, at this point, say, “Well, too bad. It’s their own fault” and they will be right. But being right has only so much going for it. If you can smooth the path for your contractor by pointing out things that you are aware of, you might stay out of trouble or at least lessen the trouble that is almost synonymous with remodeling a house (especially one you’re living in). 

If the contractor has the sense that you are on their side, you will be welcome at the jobsite and your participation can be beneficial in other ways. Contracts rarely give us a sense of all the small design details that make up a house, such as the way a trim is crafted and installed by the carpenter. If you see these in the early stages and don’t like the detail, it might be very easy to change them. If you only seen them after a thousand board feet have been installed, it can be very expensive and much less friendly.  

This is, however, very tricky business. It is important to keep a constant sense of friendliness present in these interactions, with compassion and respect. If these things are not present, it is very easy for the contractor to begin pointing out the limitations of the contract. It is likely that your preferences were not all written in and that the contractor has a certain amount of latitude in doing things the way that they prefer. 

This is a hard nut for many homeowners to crack. They assume many things and if it’s not in the contract, the assumption may be worth nothing. Therefore, calm, friendly exchanges are worth gold. Also be prepared to pay a change order fee if you want something different as you move along and it wasn’t specified in the contract. 

Be cautious about saying, “Well, I though it would so and so.” You will not be in a defensible position and you may find yourself shutting down the lines of communication. You may also end up getting passable work but not the kind of quality that this contractor is capable of and only provides when he or she is feeling appreciated. This is true for all of us, isn’t it? I certainly do better work when someone is stroking my ego and staying on my good side. 

So keep in mind that your contractor is, like you, just human, and that a little vigilance and a lot of pleasant communication will always produce a better finished product. 

 

 

Got a question about home repairs and inspections? Send them to Matt Cantor, in care of East Bay Real Estate, at realestate@berkeleydailyplanet.com.?


Column: Running Out of Space is Always a Good Excuse By SUSAN PARKER

Tuesday February 14, 2006

I spent over four hours working on this week’s column, but I wasn’t satisfied with the results. When this happens, I send it to friends whose opinions I respect. 

I have several acquaintances who are willing to read through rough drafts and give me advice. Some of them are writers, some avid readers. Two of them are good with grammar, sentence structure, when to use a dash instead of a comma, who instead of whom, that instead of which. 

One of them gets my sense of humor. Another is a communist with political opinions on everything. I have a friend who works at home and is available on short notice. Sometimes this is the most important quality one needs from another when seeking advice. 

I send works in progress requiring a second opinion to specific people depending on their expertise. I never send a column about neighborhood issues to my Idaho writing partner Karen because her concerns center around snow, mountain lions, and frozen pipes. But if I’m in doubt about where to place a comma, she’s the one to ask. I don’t send anything humorous to my communist friend because, well, he’s a communist. 

I have to be cautious when sending essays to the friend who works at home because she tends to like everything I write. 

The column I needed help with was about recent activities occurring in my house and how California politics affected those activities. In the essay I mentioned Arnold Schwarzenegger. Because the mere whisper of his name smacks of controversy, I sent the piece to my communist acquaintance for evaluation. I also e-mailed it to my friend who is always available, in case the communist wasn’t. 

This, of course, was a big mistake. 

They both got back to me. The always-available friend said she liked the column and could find nothing wrong with it. Several hours later the communist weighed in and said the opposite. “You complain about everyone around you, make yourself look like a clueless do-gooder, and don’t really say anything. Start over.” 

I re-read the column. It was true there were some complaints in the story, but they were other people’s complaints about Arnold, not mine. I re-looked at my do-gooder status. I had written about a young houseguest who needed help with her homework and a lift to school. I edited her out of the story, but by doing so I was left with only Arnold and me. The column no longer made sense. I put the homework back in and made myself appear less helpful, but it’s difficult to write about one’s self in a negative light. 

I started over. Maybe I could write on a subject nobody else had ever written about, but that was unrealistic. Maybe I could discuss something newsworthy in an uncommon way, but none of my views on current issues is very unique. Perhaps I could just repeat what other people had already said. 

I made a list of hot topics and my relationship with each: 

Brokeback Mountain: liked it 

A Million Little Pieces: couldn’t get through it. 

Jessica Simpson: don’t know who she is. 

Israel and the Gaza Strip: haven’t been there and don’t want to go. 

Danish cartoons: haven’t seen them. 

Marin Avenue: once rode my bicycle from the bottom to the top but couldn’t do it now without risking heart failure and possible death. 

Ashby BART station: 

• Went to the last community meeting but no one from the neighborhood was there; perhaps the Ed Roberts Campus is no longer an issue. 

• Haven’t been to the flea market since my neighbor Mrs. Scott died; don’t need incense, lavender soap, used furniture or CDs. 

Sideshows: saw one and thought I might be killed; never want to see another as long as I live. 

Iraq: too depressing. 

George Bush: ditto. 

I re-looked at the old column. Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all, but now, thank God, I’ve run out of space. 

 

 

 

 

 

 


The Life and Times of the Jerusalem Cricket By JOE EATON Special to the Planet

Tuesday February 14, 2006

This is not an owl column per se, but it was inspired by a recent conversation with an owl person: Maggie Rufo of the Hungry Owl Project, who brought a barn owl named Wookie to a Keep Barn Owls in Berkeley event. We were talking about barn owl diets, and Rufo mentioned finding a lot of Jerusalem cricket remains in the nests she monitors.  

“I didn’t know what they were at first,” she said. “They looked like extraterrestrials.” 

That’s not an uncommon reaction to encountering a Jerusalem cricket, alive and intact or not. Both the California Academy of Sciences and the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum say they get more inquiries about these insects than about any other invertebrate species, mostly along the lines of “What in God’s name is this?” and “Will it bite?” 

The accompanying photograph conveys the unsettling appearance of these good-sized grasshopper relatives. To me they are uncannily like the plastic cootie bugs of the ‘50s (not the more recent cootie incarnation). The Navajo call them wo see ts inii, which I have seen variously translated as “old bald-headed man” or “bone-neck beetle,” and some Spanish-speakers call them niñas de la tierra, “children of the earth.” They’re also known, without foundation, as “potato bugs.” 

Their nearest relatives appear to be the extraordinary wetas of New Zealand, the namesake for that special-effects outfit that was involved in the Lord of the Rings movies. Wetas, up to 6 inches long with a record weight of 2.5 ounces, fill the ecological niche of the small mammals that never reached the islands. 

As it happens, Jerusalem crickets don’t bite, and although they chew on roots, they are not particularly important garden or agricultural pests. Their social behavior has interesting complexities, and David Weissman at the Academy has found that they’re a paragon of California’s biodiversity. 

(I have never seen a satisfactory explanation of the name, by the way. They don’t come from Jerusalem: they’re North American natives. And they’re not the same as the Mormon crickets that devoured the Utah settlers’ crops, which are altogether more conventional grasshopper types). 

Jerusalem crickets don’t swarm like locusts or Mormon crickets; they lead solitary subterranean lives. It takes some doing for males and females to get together. Other grasshoppers and crickets use modified wing and leg structures to produce courtship calls. But those kinds of stridulations wouldn’t carry far through soil. Instead, a Jerusalem cricket of either sex signals potential mates by slamming its abdomen against the bottom of its burrow. 

It used to be assumed that there were only seven species of Jerusalem cricket in California. However, in analyzing their drumrolls, Weissman has detected at least 50 distinct patterns. Although these different drummers may appear identical, he suspects each pattern may represent a separate species; the new ones are still in the process of being scientifically described. Like birdsong, the drumming provides a way for females to locate males of the appropriate species (and apparently vice versa). 

Why so many species is a matter of conjecture. Some groups of plants and animals seem prone to bursts of speciation: California also has high diversity in manzanitas, chipmunks, and slender salamanders. Among animals, populations of creatures with small home ranges and limited mobility—and Jerusalem crickets fit that profile—may become isolated from each other and follow divergent genetic and adaptive pathways. Drumrolls, songs, or other forms of courtship communication then act as reinforcers of the new species boundaries, preventing the sharing of genes among formerly close relatives.  

When Jerusalem crickets pair off, the ensuing courtship is highly strenuous. And as in their distant mantid relatives, it often ends with the female dining on the male—a last gift of protein to nourish the eggs that he’s hopefully fertilized.  

Even individuals who escape this Liebestod are likely to end up being eaten by something else. When they emerge from underground, the insects are conspicuous, slow, and defenseless. It’s not just the barn owls: gray foxes are particularly fond of Jerusalem crickets, and low-flying pallid bats, skunks, lizards, snakes, and toads also take their toll.  

If they turn up in your yard, don’t panic. They’re not only an important link in the food chain: they may actually be doing you a favor by eating detritus and aerating the soil.  


Arts & Events

Arts Calendar

Friday February 17, 2006

FRIDAY, FEB. 17 

THEATER 

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

Aurora Theatre “The Master Builder” Wed. through Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m. at 2081 Addison St., through March 12. Tickets are $38. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org 

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.  

Black Repertory Group “The Piano Lesson” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at 3201 Adeline St., through Feb. 25. Tickets are $7-$15. 

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.  

Impact Theatre, “Hamlet” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave., through March 18. Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468.  

The Marsh Berkeley “Strange Travel Suggestions” monologue by Jeff Greenwald, Thurs. and Fri. at 7 p.m. through March 3, at 2118 Allston Way. Tickets are $15-$22. 800-838-3006.  

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.  

EXHIBITIONS 

“Love Letters” New works by Susie Lundy. Reception at 6 p.m. at Deep Roots Teahouse, 1418 34th Ave., Oakland. 436-0121. 

FILM 

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

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Deborah Tannen introduces “You’re Wearing That? Understanding Mothers and Daughters in Conversation” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

Joseph Massey and Graham Foust, poets, at 8 p.m. at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Xylem Folkestra Project, Balkan music at 8 p.m. at First Unitarian Church of Oakland, 685 14th St., at Castro. Balkan dance lesson at 7 p.m. Tickets are $16, $12 for children under 12. www.kailaflexer.com 

Orquesta La Moderna Tradición at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Perú Negro, Afro-Peruvian music on traditional instruments at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $22-$40. 642-9988.  

Amy Likar, flute, Liisa Ruoho, flute, Miles Graber, piano at 8 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont at Ashby. Cost is $12. 848-1228.  

Mobius Donut CD Release at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

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

Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Frankie Manning at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Junius Courtney Big Band at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Eddie Pasternack Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Arnoldo Garcia and Linh Nguyen at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Born/Dead, Direct Control, Strung Up, Greivous 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. 

Lauren and Judge Murphy with Lansdale Station at 9 p.m. at Roundtree's Rythym & Blues Museum, 2618 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $10. 663-0440. 

Vinyl, Get Down at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$7. 548-1159.  

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

SATURDAY, FEB. 18 

CHILDREN  

“Junie Jones and A Little Monkey Business” theater for ages 5 and up, at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $13-$18. 925-798-1300. 

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Uncle Eye & The Strange Change Machine, at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

“The Art of Seeing: Nature Revealed Through Illustration” opens at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak St. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Susan Jenkins, Tim Mooney, H. C. Hannah, abstract art. Reception for the artists at 7 p.m. at Fourth Street Studio, 1717D Fourth St. Exhibit runs to March 4. 527-0600. www.fourthstreetstudio.com 

“Beneath the Scratches” Paintings by Kazuyo Leue. Reception at 2 p.m. at Z Cafe, 2735 Broadway, Oakland. Exhibition runs to March 15. 663-2905. 

Zuni Fetish Carvers, Lena Boone and Evalena Boone, Sat. and Sun. at Gathering Tribes Gallery, 1573 Solano Ave. 528-9038. 

FILM 

Mikio Naruse “Yearning” at 7 p.m. and “Scattered Clouds” at 9 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“The Art of Living Black” Artist talk at 2 p.m. at the Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Ave. at 25th St. 620-6772. www.therichmondartcenter.org 

Michael Lerner introduces “The Left Hand of God: Taking Back Our Country from the Religious Right” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Trinity Chamber Concerts presents John Partridge on piano and organ at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St., bet. Durant & Bancroft. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. http:// 

trinitychamberconcerts.com 

Ensemble Galatea “Curiose Invenzioni” Italian music at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $10-$25. 528-1725. www.sfems.org 

Golden Gate Youth Jam, in celebration of Black History Month at 2 p.m. at the Golden Gate Branch of the Oakland Public Library, 5606 San Pablo Ave. Free. 597-5023. 

West Coast Blues Hall of Fame Awards Show at 7 p.m. at the Scottish Rite Center, 1547 Lakeside Drive. Tickets are $20-$25, children 12 and under free. 836-2227. www.bayareabluessociety.net 

Noche Flamenca at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $ 24-$48. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Stephen Varney and Naomi Sanchez “Pas de Duo” featuring works of Brahms, Poulenc, Rzewski and Tchaikovsky at 7 p.m. at Regents’ Theater, Holy Names University, 3500 Mountain Blvd., Oakland. Tickets are $5-$15. 436-1330. 

Robin Gregory and her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Zydeco Flames at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Mas Con Menos, Afro-Cuban folkloric music and dance at 8 p.m.at La Peña. Cost is $18-$20. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Ken Mahru and Propel at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Bill Tapia, Hawaiian ‘ukele maestro, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

A Band Called Pain, Black Sun, Black Snake Moan at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Matt Small’s Chamber Ensemble at 8 p.m. at the Jazz 

school. Cost is $12. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Snake Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

The Urban Monks at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7-$10. 558-0881. 

Falsano Baiano, alternative Latin, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Amber Asylum, Graves at Sea, Laudanum 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, FEB. 19 

FILM 

The Troubles We’ve Seen: A History of Journalism in Wartime at 3 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Bootstrap Productions Poets Andrew Schelling, Derek Fenner and David Michalski at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Poetry Flash with Laynie Brown and Brian Teare at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

“Let the People Speak” The International Women’s Writing Guild celebrates Black History Month with Bay Area poets and writers at 3 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Island Literary Series, jazz and poetry with Kathryn Takara, Ukali Johnson, Chandra Garsson, Karla Brundage and Wanda Sapir, at 3 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $3. 841-JAZZ. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

San Francisco Chamber Orchestra “Valentines for a Cello” with Matt Haimovitz, at 3 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Free. 415-248-1640. www.sfchamberorchestra.org 

Volti, chamber singers, featuring the premiere of “Sound Explanations” by Eric Lindsay at 4 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. Tickets are $8-$20. 415-771-3352. www.voltisf.org 

Jonathan Biss, pianist, at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $42. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Noche Flamenca at 7 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $ 24-$48. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Mas Con Menos, Afro-Cuban folkloric music and dance at 8 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $18-$20. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

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

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

Allison Miller Trio at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$15. 845-5373.  

Bobby Hall and Friends Annual Gospel Concert at 5 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 201 Martina, at W. Richmond Ave., Point Richmond. 236-0527. www.point 

richmond.com/methodist 

Jez Lowe & The Bad Pennies at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

MONDAY, FEB. 20 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Derek Fenner and Ryan Gallagher, poets, at 8 p.m. at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

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

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Tom Russell with Andrew Hardin at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $20.50-$21.50. 548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jeremy Pelt Group at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, FEB. 21 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Modernism in Israel: Works on Paper” opens at the Judah L. Magnes Museum, 2911 Russell St., and runs through July 9. 549-6950. 

“Ansel Adams: Inspiration and Influence” opens at the Lindsey Wildlife Museum, 1931 First Ave., Walnut Creek. 925-935-1978. www.wildlife-museum.org 

FILM 

Women’s Preservation Film Fund with Alice Guy-Blanché, Meredith Monk, and actresses Grace Cunard and Francine Everett at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Alan Halsey, Geraldine Monk at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam Prelim #1, for youth aged 13-19 at 7 p.m. at Berkeley High School, 2223 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Tickets are $4-$6. 415-255-9035, ext. 22. www.youthspeaks.org   

Kenji Yoshino describes “Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Sauce Piquante at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Ellen Hoffmaan with Singers’ Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Mike Marshall & Hamilton de Holanda, mandolins, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$14. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays, a weekly showcase of up-and-coming ensembles from Berkeley Jazz 

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

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 22 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Measure of Time” with works by Marcel Duchamp, Jackson Pollock, Robert Brer, Dennis Oppenhiem and many others, opens at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Ave. 642-0808.  

FILM 

Film 50 “The Murderers Are Among Us” at 3 p.m. and Weird America “Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea” at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Sister Helen Prejean talks about “The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account to Wrongful Executions” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam Prelim #2, for youth aged 13-19 at 7 p.m. at Pro Arts Gallery, 550 Second St., Oakland. Tickets are $4-$6. 415-255-9035, ext. 22. www.youthspeaks.org  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

UC Jazz Ensembles 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.  

Candela at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Salsa dance lessons at 8 p.m. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Benny Lackner Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Mary Gauthier, American gothic orginals, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$14. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, FEB. 23 

EXHIBITIONS 

“The White Album” works in varying shades of white, at Kala Art Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. Exhibition runs through March 25. 549-2977. www.kala.org 

“Charles Criner: A Colorful History” in honor of Black History Month. Reception at 4 p.m. at the LunchStop Cafe, Joseph P. Bort MetroCenter, 101 Eighth St., Oakland. 817-5773. 

FILM 

Human Rights Watch “Mardi Gras: Made in China” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Measure of Time” Curator’s talk with Lucinda Barnes at 12:15 p.m. in Gallery 5, at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Ave. 642-0808.  

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

Taylor Branch presents the final volume of his history of Martin Luther King Jr. and the history of the civil rights movement, “At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68” Reception at 6:15 p.m. followed by talk at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Tickets are $20, or $12 with purchase of the book. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

Word Beat Reading Series with Lenore Weiss and Diana Q. at 7 p.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave., near Dwight Way. 526-5985. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

New Century Chamber Orchestra “Baroque Festival” at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $28-$42. 415-357-1111. www.ncco.org  

Sheldon Brown Group at 8 p.m. at The Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Cost is $10-$15. 701-1787.  

Zion-I, Crown City Rockers, Serendipity Project, reggae, at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13-$15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Stephen Bennett, harp guitar, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. 

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

The Seventh Season at 10:30 p.m. at Expression College for Digital Arts, 6601 Shellmound St., Emeryville. All ages, free.  

Mark Little and Ricardo Peixoto at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Jessica Williams at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$6. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 




Active Arts Enchants Children And Adults at Julia Morgan By KEN BULLOCKSpecial to the Planet

Friday February 17, 2006

Junie B. Jones is a rambunctious 6-year-old—and 6-year-olds take things very literally. She doesn’t mean to get into trouble; it just kind of happens to her. 

When her grandmother comes back from the hospital and tells her that her new baby brother is “th e cutest little monkey you’ve ever seen,” Junie goes and brags during Show And Tell at school about her new brother, the monkey ... and the complications begin. 

That’s the hook to Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business, a musical play adapted by Joa n Cushing from the popular children’s book series by Barbara Park, playing today at noon, as well as this Saturday and next, Feb. 18 and 25 at 11 a. m. and 1:30 p. m., at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts on College Avenue.  

“We believe that giving ki ds a way to experience books encourages them to read,” said Nina Meehan, educational director of Active Arts For Young Audiences, the East Bay professional theater company for kids and their families that’s staging the play. “And that stories like Junie’s remind us of how many different ways there are of interpreting the world around us.” 

“Junie’s a little bit like what Ramona Quimby was for my generation, in the books by Beverly Cleary,” said Rachel Posamentier of Active Arts. 

She spoke of Active Artis ts and their mission to entertain whole families with shows drawn from both the real-life experiences of children and from literature, encouraging kids to read and to explore the other arts, without moralizing about lessons to be learned. 

“We’re adult ac tors who play all the parts, some of us trained specifically to perform for children and their families,” said Posamentier, “but all with longtime experience in Children’s Theater and as teachers and arts administrators in the performing and other arts. We work with visual artists and provide links to other artforms—music, dance, movement—to give a multi-arts dynamic to each show and the related workshops for our audiences.” 

Active Arts was founded by Posamentier, Meehan, Mina Morita and Jared and Tracy Randolph. Their first show was Heroes (a play about unexpected heroes, like a mouse, overcoming obstacles) during the fall 2004 at the Bay Area Discovery Museum, where the troupe maintains an ongoing program of performances as well as puppetry and storyte lling workshops. 

All five company members have been deeply involved in theater and children’s theater and education nationally and internationally. Locally, they’ve worked individually with companies like The Shotgun Players (Morita is on Shotgun’s Board of Directors), Berkeley Actors Ensemble, CalShakes, Playhouse West and Willows Theatre Co. in the East Bay, and A Traveling Jewish Theater and Thick Description in San Francisco, as well as with educational institutions like East Bay School of the Arts, Holy Names High School in Oakland and Playhouse West Academy.  

“We met through Kaiser Permanente’s Educational Theatre Programs [where Morita is a program coordinator],” Posamentier said. “Active Arts is modeled on Children’s Theatre Co. in Minneapolis a nd Seattle Children’s Theatre [where Jared Randolph worked in the drama school]; we’re geared to kids five and up and their families.” 

After Junie B. Jones, Active Artists will produce an original show, Building Bridges, in which the story of immigration and diversity in California is told by the workers building the Golden Gate Bridge. Building Bridges will premiere at the Discovery Museum in late April. 

“We aim to enchant audiences of all ages,” Posamentier said. “Entertaining, but with some kind of m eaning behind what we’re playing, taking our audience out of their own individual worlds for a moment. We believe kids in particular learn from seeing their own lives reflected back from the stage.” 

When the company does its job well, the actors, and the characters they play, connect well with the audience, she said. 

“It’s a challenge for the actors,” Posamentier said. “Kids are a very honest audience; they’ll believe in you. And we don’t underestimate their ability to get it. Something that tickles us is after bringing it alive onstage, at the end when we ask everybody to tell their friends about the show, the kids say, ‘It’s happening again? You mean, we can come back?’” 

 

 

 

Active Arts For Young Audiences presents Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business at noon today (Friday), Feb. 18 and 25th at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. $13, children 12 and under; $18 for adults. For more information, call (925) 798-1300 or see www.activeartstheatre.org. 

Active Arts will hold a Family Fun Workshop from 2:30-3:30 p.m. March 4 at at the Julia Morgan Center. Tickets are $10 for children and adults are free. Children are encouraged to bring their favorite Junie B. Jones book. 

 

 

Photo by Joshua Posamentier: Sharnee Nichols (Princess Lucille); Virginia Wilcox (Junie B. Jones); and Leslie Ivy (That Grace)..


Garden Variety: Urban Ore Likely Has What You’re Looking For By RON SULLIVAN

Friday February 17, 2006

When I need some retail therapy, you won’t be surprised to hear, I often go look for something for the garden. I spend time in the nurseries I write about in this space, and I have to be careful if I actually want to make my occupation produce income, rather than outgo. There’s just something so hopeful about a fresh seedling or seed packet, and the scent of wholesome dirt makes my spirits rise.  

Some places are even more dangerous to people like me than nurseries are. Urban Ore is one of them, though it’s easy enough on the wallet. I had the definitive shopper’s experience there years ago, when it was in its former Gilman Street spot: I went in to get a piece of used lumber, and came out with a hand-woven wool coat, probably of Afghan origin, that didn’t fit but really needed to come home with me. It hangs on my parlor wall; I’d rather look at it than wear it anyway. I still like it, it still gets compliments, and it cost well under ten dollars.  

I suppose I got the lumber too, but I don’t even remember what it was for. You don’t have to be the sort of alt-Berkeley gardener who puts a toilet planted with geraniums on the front lawn to like shopping at Urban Ore. There’s no shortage of plumbing fixtures in case you want to ring changes on the concept of a sink garden—rather a lot of them in Fifties Pink the last time I was there —but there’s lots of other stuff that integrates more gracefully into a landscape. I have a weakness for chimney flue tiles to plant succulents in a gravel-heavy mix, and sometimes there are enough there to build a sort of effigy pipe-organ.  

Used lumber, of course, and stone too: landscape rocks, granite countertop cuts. Rows of windowpanes, good for cobbling together a mini-greenhouse for your tropicals in winter, or a cold frame, not that we need them much here for the usual subjects. (They’re also good for group picture frames.) Cinderblocks, which don’t have to look industrial if handled cleverly; planters and containers including good old red clay pots. If you’re handy and willing with a wire brush, paint, any sort of tinkering and sweat equity, you can get anything from a barbeque kettle to outdoor furniture to edgers and lawnmowers at minimal cost. Last week there was a whole barrel of tiki torches.  

The idea behind Urban Ore is to stop dumping stuff that can be reused; to stop wasting things (and the energy that goes into manufacturing and transporting them) and to reduce what got dumped in “landfills.” (That term bugs me, as I have never yet seen empty land. Anyone who supposedly has needs to learn more.) This isn’t a high-end “salvage” yard, but I’ve found treasures here and compared to elsewhere they’re cheap.  

Take your work gloves and your imagination along, and remember that stock changes unpredictably. Have fun! 

 

 

Urban Ore 

900 Murray Street, Berkeley 

(510) 841-7283 

Monday–Saturday 8:30 a.m.–7 p.m. 

Sunday 10 a.m.–7 a.m. 

Receiving closes at 5 p.m. daily. 


About the House: The Practical Realities of Remodeling By MATT CANTOR

Friday February 17, 2006

Our friends the Shnozzles (names herein will be changed to protect me, the person I’m always most concerned about) are in the throws of a major remodel and the festivities attending this blessed event are reminding me of all the things I learned back in the days when I engaged in this most cruel and unusual of professions. I’ve been giving them a little advice here and there and hearing about their woes-du-jour so I’ll pass along a few of each in the hopes that you might be spared just a little of the misery that so often accompanies the day when our houses change. 

Nina Schnozzle came over one day and said that when she visited the job-site, it turned out that a major window that looked out over the bay was about a foot too low. She was genuinely shocked and assumed that this sort of thing couldn’t happen unless the contractors were drunk or recently lobotomized. It wasn’t necessarily so, I told her and continued to iterate the well known capabilities of this particular contractor (who charges all the arms and all the legs). That’s just the way it is. 

Contractors make mistakes, everyone makes mistakes. Not all of the time and everywhere but some of the time here and there. Therefore, I said, and this applies to all of you as well, keep an eye on the work. Go there often, being sure not to get hurt or get into fights with the help and look. Do not be afraid to ask if the light fixture is where it is supposed to be. It’s not an extraordinary question. If things look wrong, you might well be right and you might also be doing the contractor (and yourself) a big favor by point it out earlier in the process than they might otherwise figure it out.  

Contract work proceeds in phases and the earlier one identifies a problem, the easier and cheaper it is going to be to fix. In fact, if you find a mislocation or improper choice of some other type late enough, it might not be reasonable to fix it at all, given the expense and complexity. 

Construction is sort of a layering process. We being with ground-work, staking out the earth and deciding where things will end up being located. Mistakes made at this level can result in violations of set-backs that can result in having to tear off exterior walls and rebuild them. This is really expensive and you don’t want this to occur. 

Cities can be forgiving but they don’t have to be. Assuming the site work is done properly, foundations are dug and formed with reinforcing metal laid in place. This too must be laid out properly and inspected fully by the city because it is very hard to remove and replace a foundation once it has been poured. Next comes framing which is generally wooden and takes days or weeks to install and is followed by wiring, plumbing and heating. 

When we have the sheetrock in place and someone says, “Hey, that window is a foot too low,” it’s not any fun at all. There are so many layers including exterior siding, trims, framing and possibly electrical or plumbing that now will have to be changed and this can cost a lot.  

Many folks will, at this point, say, “Well, too bad. It’s their own fault” and they will be right. But being right has only so much going for it. If you can smooth the path for your contractor by pointing out things that you are aware of, you might stay out of trouble or at least lessen the trouble that is almost synonymous with remodeling a house (especially one you’re living in). 

If the contractor has the sense that you are on their side, you will be welcome at the jobsite and your participation can be beneficial in other ways. Contracts rarely give us a sense of all the small design details that make up a house, such as the way a trim is crafted and installed by the carpenter. If you see these in the early stages and don’t like the detail, it might be very easy to change them. If you only seen them after a thousand board feet have been installed, it can be very expensive and much less friendly.  

This is, however, very tricky business. It is important to keep a constant sense of friendliness present in these interactions, with compassion and respect. If these things are not present, it is very easy for the contractor to begin pointing out the limitations of the contract. It is likely that your preferences were not all written in and that the contractor has a certain amount of latitude in doing things the way that they prefer. 

This is a hard nut for many homeowners to crack. They assume many things and if it’s not in the contract, the assumption may be worth nothing. Therefore, calm, friendly exchanges are worth gold. Also be prepared to pay a change order fee if you want something different as you move along and it wasn’t specified in the contract. 

Be cautious about saying, “Well, I though it would so and so.” You will not be in a defensible position and you may find yourself shutting down the lines of communication. You may also end up getting passable work but not the kind of quality that this contractor is capable of and only provides when he or she is feeling appreciated. This is true for all of us, isn’t it? I certainly do better work when someone is stroking my ego and staying on my good side. 

So keep in mind that your contractor is, like you, just human, and that a little vigilance and a lot of pleasant communication will always produce a better finished product. 

 

 

Got a question about home repairs and inspections? Send them to Matt Cantor, in care of East Bay Real Estate, at realestate@berkeleydailyplanet.com.?


Berkeley This Week

Friday February 17, 2006

FRIDAY, FEB. 17 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Daniel McFadden on “Consumers and Part D.” 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.  

“WELLSTONE!” A documentary sponsored by the Conscientious Projector Film Series at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. at Bonita. Donation of $5 suggested. 528-5403.  

Circle Dancing Simple folkdancing in a circle, no partners; no experience needed, at 8 p.m. at Finnish Brotherhood Hall, 1970 Chestnut at University Ave. 528-4253. www.circledancing.com 

American Red Cross Blood Drive from 1 to 7 p.m. at Gelateria Naia, 2106 Shattuck Ave. To schedule and appointment call 1-800-GIVELIFE.  

Berkeley Chess School classes for students in grades 1-8 from 5 to 7 p.m. at 1581 LeRoy Ave., room 17. 843-0150. 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 8 p.m. at the East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St. Players at all levels are welcome. 845-1041. 

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. 548-6310. 

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. Sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. 655-6169. www.bpf.org 

SATURDAY, FEB. 18 

Mini-Farmers in Tilden A farm exploration program, from 10 to 11 a.m. for ages 4-6 years, accompanied by an adult. We will explore the Little Farm, care for animals, do crafts and farm chores. Wear boots and dress to get dirty! Fee is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Wildflower Restoration Join us for a morning of planting to restore rare grassland habitats, from 9 a.m. at noon. Watershed Project, 1327 S 46th St. Bldg. #155, Richmond. 665-3689. www.thewatershedproject.org 

Sushi Basics Learn the natural and cultural history of sushi. We will prepare seven basic types. Parent participation required for children 8-10 years old. From 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center. Fee is $35, $30 for seniors and $25 for children age 8-12. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Black History Month Celebration from 2 to 6 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St., with entertainment, community dialog and soul food. 981-5218. 

West Coast Blues Hall of Fame Awards Show at 7 p.m. at the Scottish Rite Center, 1547 Lakeside Drive. Tickets are $20-$25, children 12 and under free. 836-2227. www.bayareabluessociety.net 

“Follow the Drinking Gourd” film and other activities in celebration of Black History Month from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Chabot Space and Science Center. www.chabotspace.org 

Alternatives to Water Needy Lawns & Landscapes at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens Landscape Nursery, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. 

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

African American Literature Festival from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the McGee Avenue Baptist Church, 1640 Stuart St. 843-1774. 

“Inherit the Wind” John Russo, Oakland City Attorney and and Matt Gonzales, former SF Supervisor, discuss creationism v. evolution theory, at 8 p.m. at the Parkway Theater, Oakland. Youth particularly encouraged to attend.  

Friends of the Albany Library Book Sale from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. All paperbacks and hardback books are 50 cents each, magazines are 25 cents each or 5 for $1. To volunteer for the sale, call the Albany Library at 526-3720, ext. 5. 

California Writers Club meets to discuss screenwriting with James Dalessandro at 10 a.m. at Barnes and Noble, Jack London Square. 272-0120. 

“The War at Home: The Corporate Offensive from Reagan to Bush” with author and economist Jack Rasmus at 7 p.m. at Home of Truth Center, 1300 Grand Street, Alameda. Sponsored by the Alameda Public Affairs Forum. www.alamedaforum.org 

Preschool Storytime for 3-5 year olds at 11 a.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17.  

Spirit Walking Aqua Chi (TM) A gentle water exercise class at 10 a.m. at the Berkeley High Warm Pool. Cost is $3.50 per session. 526-0312. 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

Tibetan Buddhism with Abbe Blum on “Freedom to Change” from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. Cost is $80, registration required. 843-6812.  

SUNDAY, FEB. 19 

Reptiles at Tilden Touch a snake and meet a turtle at 10:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Native and Non-Native Trees of Tilden Park. Meet at 1 p.m. at the Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

“Meat Market: Animals, Ethics, and Money” with vegetarian and animal rights activist Erik Marcus at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books, 1491 Shattuck Ave. 486-0698. 

Musical Masterpieces: Making Art, Making Music, in celebration of Black History Month from noon to 4 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St. 238-2200.  

Berkeley Cybersalon meets to discuss The Future of Radio with Carol Pierson who represents community radio at the national and regional level at 5 p.m. at The Hillside Club 2286 Cedar St. 

Spartacist Black History Month Educational on Class Struggle and the Road to Black Freedom at noon and The Fight to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal at 3 p.m. at the YWCA Tea Room, 1515 Webster St., Oakland. Free. 839-0851. 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace meet at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712. lmno4p.org 

Reawakening the Chakras with Suzanne Grace at 2 p.m. at Unity of Berkeley, 2075 Eunice St.Cost is $10-$25 donation. 528-8844.  

Tibetan Buddhism with Mary Gomes and Erika Rosenberg on “Mindful Parenting” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812.  

MONDAY, FEB. 20 

Monday Night Movies “Lolita” at 7:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Cost is $5.  

World Affairs Discussion Group for seniors at 10:15 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center. Cost is $2.50.  

McGee Avenue Toastmasters meets at 7:30 p.m. at McGee Ave Baptist Church, 1640 Stuart St. 501-7005. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, FEB. 21 

Birdwalk on the MLK Shoreline from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. to see the ducks here for the winter. Beginnners welcome, binoculars available for loan. 525-2233. 

Berkeley Garden Club, “Great Underused Garden Plants” with Bobbie Feyerabend, Landscape Architect, at 1 p.m. at Epworth Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St. 527-5641. 

The Sudan and Human Rights Law with Mark Massoud, Vision of Hope Essay Contest winner at 7:30 p.m. in the Home Room, International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave. Cost is $5. 642-9460. 

“Runner’s High” with ultra-marathoner Dean Karnazes at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Apartment Management Class begins at the Building Education Center. Cost is $250 for five sessions. For information call 525-7610. 

“Tax Hypocrisy and How it Can Work for You” with Randy Silverman, tax specialist, at 7 p.m. in the third floor Community Room, Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6100. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Aquatic Park, 700 Heinz Ave., Building F., and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Claremont Resort, 41 Tunnel Rd. Sign up online at www.BeADonor.com  

Berkeley Salon Discussion Group meets to discuss unexpected pleasures from 7 to 9 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 601-6690. 

Cancer Prevention and Survival Cooking Course begins at 6:30 p.m. at Keller Williams Office, 4341 Piedmont Ave., second floor, Oakland. Class runs for 8 sessions. Free, registration required. 531-2665. 

Mardi Gras History and Costume Making at 7:30 p.m. at Nabolom Bakery, Russell St. at College.  

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. 

A Hard Days Knight Activities to learn about the Middle Ages for ages 5 and up at 6:30 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

“Insight and Inner Peace” a lecture on on Sufism by Nahid Angha at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Buddhist Monastery, 2304 McKinley Ave. 527-2935. 

Family Story Time at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Branch Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Free, all ages welcome. 524-3043. 

Stress Less Seminar at 6:30 p.m. at New Moon Opportunities, 378 Jayne Ave., Oakland Free, but registration required. 465-2524. 

“Sufism: Living in the Spirit of Surrender” with Seyedeh Nahid Angha, at 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery, 2304 McKinley. 527-2935. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your digital images, slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

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

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 22  

“A Taste of Urban Perma- 

culture” at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

“The Truth and Lies of 9/11” at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Free, but $5 donations accepted. 704-0268. 

“California Cleanup: Get the Money Out of Politics” A discussion of AB583 at the Berkeley-East Bay Gray Panthers meeting at 1:30 p.m. at North Berkeley Senior Center. 548-9696. 

“Let’s Get Conscious” on the role of youth in today’s activism, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Merritt College, Building A, Room 129, 12500 Campus Drive, Oakland. Hosted by the Black Students Union. 703-3990. 

Bayswater Book Club meets to discuss “Empire of Debt” by William Bonner at 6:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble, El Cerrito Plaza. 433-2911. 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. Heavy rain cancels. 548-9840. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wed. and Sat. at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Acton 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. www.ecologycenter.org 

Sing your Way Home A free sing-a-long at 4:30 p.m. every Wed. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720. 

Prose Writer’s Workshop An ongoing group made up of friendly writers who are serious about our craft. All levels welcome. At 7 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. georgeporter@earthlink.net 

Stitch ‘n Bitch Bring your knitting, crocheting and other handcrafts from 6 to 9 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Sing for Peace at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/ 

vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, FEB. 23 

Public Hearing on Inclusionary Housing Ordinance Proposed Amendments at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5420. 

“Dead Man Walking: The Journey Continues” with Sister Helen Prejean at 7 p.m. at 2050 Valley Life Sciences Bldg., UC Campus. Sponsored by International and Area Studies. ias.berkeley.edu 

African American Heritage Dinner & Gospel Extravaganza at 5:30 p.m. at International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave. Cost is $8.50 for the dinner, Cost is $5. 642-9460. 

Report from the Front Lines of Struggle: West Africa, Venezuela and St. Petersburg, Florida with Gaida Kambon, National Secretary of the African People’s Socialist Party at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. 569-9620. 

UnPlug Clear Channel Community meeting to turn 106.1 KMEL into a real People’s Station at 4 p.m. at La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Donation of $3 suggested. 849-2568.  

“Arctic Melting: ... Destroying One of the World’s Largest Wilderness Areas” with Chad Kister, Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave., near Dwight Way. 548-2220, ext. 223. 

Question 9/11 A Call to Activism with a film and presentations in a benefit for Northern California 9/11 Truth Alliance at 7 p.m. at Grand Lake Theater, 3200 Grand Ave. Oakland. Donation $10. 339-9358. 

Berkeley School Volunteers Training workshop for volunteers interested in helping the public schools, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

Ask a Union Mechanic every Thurs. from 4:30 to 6 p.m., at Parker & Shattuck, until the Berkeley Honda strike is settled. They will offer advice on all makes of cars. 

Easy Does It Disability Assistance Board of Directors Meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst. All welcome. 845-5513. www.easyland.org 

“Understanding Senior Care Options” Learn about residential care facilities and how to find the right one, residents rights and other services, from 2 to 4 p.m. at North Oakland Senior Center, 5714 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, at 58th St., Oakland. 638-6878, ext. 103. 

“Dogs and Children” at 7:30 p.m. at dogTec, 5221 Central Ave., #1, on the border of El Cerrito and Richmond. Free, but donations appreciated. 644-0729. www.openpaw.org 

World of Plants Tours Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at 1:30 p.m. at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $5. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

FRIDAY, FEB. 24 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Frik Scott on “Overview of the Turmoil in Central Asia and Caucasus Region.” 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 or 665-9020.  

“Spiritual Enlightenment in Classical Islam” with Sufi Master Shaykh Hisham Kabbani at 7 p.m. at the Graduate Theological Union’s Starr King School, 2441 Le Conte Ave. 654-7542. 

American Sign Language Conversation Group at 4 p.m. at 604 56th St at Shattuck. A Free Skool class. www.barringtoncollective.org 

How’d You Become Activists? What Now? with Peter Camejo of the Green Party and Jennifer Kidder, long-time peace, labor and voting rights activist, at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. at Bonita. Donation of $10 requested. 528-5403.  

Chechnya’s Past and Present: Russia’s “War on Terrorism” with Professor Michaela Pohl, Vassar College and Musa Khasanov, Public Interest Law Initiative fellow and Grozny-based human rights lawyer, at 6:30 p.m. at VIita College, Room 1, 2020 Milvia St. 415-565-0201, ext. 12. 

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

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 at 8 p.m. at the East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St. Players at all levels are welcome. 845-1041. 

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

“Jews In The Modern World,” the third annual Scholar-in-Residence Weekend Seminar, sponsored by Kol Hadash and the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism, through Feb. 26 at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. The fee for the series for non-members is $100. Individual sessions are $40 each. 415-543-4595. 

Kol Hadash Humanistic Shabbat with Madrikha Susan Averbach, at 7:30 p.m., Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. Please bring finger dessert to share, and non-perishable food for the needy. free. Info@kolhadash.org 

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 

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 

City Council meets Tues., Feb. 21, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Civic Arts Commission meets Wed., Feb. 22, at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Mary Ann Merker, 981-7533.  

Disaster Council meets Wed., Feb. 22, at 7 p.m., at the Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. William Greulich, 981-5502.  

Energy Commission meets Wed., Feb. 22, at 6:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Neal De Snoo, 981-5434.  

Fire Safety Commission meets Wed., Feb. 22, at 7:30 p.m. at 997 Cedar St. David Orth, 981-5502.  

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board meets Thurs. Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, Pam Wyche, 644-6128 ext. 113.  

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., Feb. 23, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410.   

ø


Arts Calendar

Tuesday February 14, 2006

TUESDAY, FEB. 14 

FILM 

Alternative Visions: Films by Peter Tscherkassky at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Love Fest 06 hosted by Aya de León, featuring members of Kreatibo, Mike Molina, Alicia Raqule and others at 8 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Wild Catahoulas, Cajun, Zydeco, at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054.  

Ellen Hoffman with Singers’ Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. 841-JAZZ.  

Cheryl Wheeler at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $24.50-$25.50. 548-1761.  

Khali Hustle, 20 Boyz, BTA Boyz at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $10. 848-0886.  

Kitty Margolis “Heart and Soul” at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $12-$8. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

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

Jessica Neighbor & The Hood at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 15 

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 

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

Print Exchange between the California College of Arts and University of Osaka. Reception at 5:30 p.m. at CCA, 5212 Broadway. 594-3636. 

FILM 

Film 50 “All Quiet on the Western Front” at 3 p.m. and Weird America “Born in a Barn” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ayelet Waldman reads from “Love and Other Impossible Pursuits” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

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

Linda Blachman introduces “Another Morning: Voices of Truth and Hope from Mothers with Cancer” at 7 p.m. at the Women’s Cancer Resource Center, 5741 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Calvin Keys Trio 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.  

Groundation, Bob Marley Tribute at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13-$15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Orquestra Universal at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Salsa dance lessons at 8 p.m. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

J-Soul at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

John Benet, With All Sincerity, Name at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Cheryl Wheeler at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $24.50-$25.50. 548-1761.  

Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $20-$24. 238-9200.  

THURSDAY, FEB. 16 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley, “Twelfth Night” at 8 p.m., at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave., also Fri. and Sat. Tickets are $12, seniors and students $10 on Thurs. 649-5999.  

The Sun & Moon Ensemble, “Luna” a multi-media performance, Thurs.-Sun. at 8 p.m. through Feb. 26, at Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Avenue at MLK Jr. Way. Tickets are $10-$15. 415-621-7978. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“A Retrospective in Black & White and Color” works by photographer Susan Sai-Wah Louie at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St., through March 16. 981-6100. 

“Black Reparations Now” Works by African American Artists on Land, Freedom and Democracy. Reception at 6 p.m. at the Asian Resource Gallery, 310 Eighth St. at Harrison, Oakland. 287-5353. 

Reception to Celebrate the Completion of the “City Center Triptych” by artist Anthony Holdsworth at 5:30 p.m. at 250 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland. 

Changming Meng “Ink Paintings” Reception for the artist at 5:30 p.m. at IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton St., 6th floor. http://ieas.berkeley.edu/events/ 

FILM 

Mikio Naruse “Her Lonely Lane” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Works by Bill A. Dallas and Amana Brembry Johnson Artists’ talk at 6:30 p.m. at the Craft & Cultural Arts Gallery, State of California Office Building, 1515 Clay St., Oakland. Music at 5 p.m. Runs through March 3. 622-8190. 

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

John Hope Franklin reads from “Mirror to America: The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin” at 7 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

James Dalessandro, author of “1906” the story of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire at 7 p.m. at El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Ave., El Cerrito. 526-7512. 

Word Beat Reading Series with The Poet Formerly Known as Mark States and Tom Odegaard at 7 p.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Rev. Billy C. Wirtz at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Lloyd Gregory Trio featuring Tranishia Gholston at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Sheila Alix and the Dan Damon Trio, acoustic jazz standards at 7:30 p.m. at the Pub at Baltic Square, 135 Park Place, Point Richmond. 237-4782. 

Avenues XPO, a showcase of Oakland youth artists, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5-$8. Benefits The Avenues Project. 849-2568.  

Lalo and Jack West at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Jazz Mafia Quartet at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

FRIDAY, FEB. 17 

THEATER 

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

Aurora Theatre “The Master Builder” Wed. through Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m. at 2081 Addison St., through March 5. Tickets are $38. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org 

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.  

Black Repertory Group “The Piano Lesson” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at 3201 Adeline St., through Feb. 25. Tickets are $7-$15. 

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.  

Impact Theatre, “Hamlet” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave., through March 18. Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468.  

The Marsh Berkeley “Strange Travel Suggestions” monologue by Jeff Greenwald, Thurs. and Fri. at 7 p.m. through March 3, at 2118 Allston Way. Tickets are $15-$22. 800-838-3006.  

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.  

EXHIBITIONS 

“Love Letters” New works by Susie Lundy. Reception at 6 p.m. at Deep Roots Teahouse, 1418 34th Ave., Oakland. 436-0121. 

FILM 

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

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Deborah Tannen introduces “You’re Wearing That? Understanding Mothers and Daughters in Conversation” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

Joseph Massey and Graham Foust, poets, at 8 p.m. at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Xylem Folkestra Project, Balkan music at 8 p.m. at First Unitarian Church of Oakland, 685 14th St., at Castro. Balkan dance lesson at 7 p.m. Tickets are $16, $12 for children under 12. www.kailaflexer.com 

Orquesta La Moderna Tradición at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Perú Negro, Afro-Peruvian music on traditional instruments at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $22-$40. 642-9988.  

Amy Likar, flute, Liisa Ruoho, flute, Miles Graber, piano at 8 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont at Ashby. Cost is $12. 848-1228.  

Mobius Donut CD Release at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

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

Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Frankie Manning at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Junius Courtney Big Band at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Eddie Pasternack Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Arnoldo Garcia and Linh Nguyen at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Born/Dead, Direct Control, Strung Up, Greivous 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. 

Lauren and Judge Murphy with Lansdale Station at 9 p.m. at Roundtree's Rythym & Blues Museum, 2618 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $10. 663-0440. 

Vinyl, Get Down at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$7. 548-1159.  

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

SATURDAY, FEB. 18 

CHILDREN  

“Junie Jones and A Little Monkey Business” theater for ages 5 and up, at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $13-$18. 925-798-1300. 

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Uncle Eye & The Strange Change Machine, at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

“The Art of Seeing: Nature Revealed Through Illustration” opens at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak St. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Susan Jenkins, Tim Mooney, H. C. Hannah, abstract art. Reception for the artists at 7 p.m. at Fourth Street Studio, 1717D Fourth St. Exhibit runs to March 4. 527-0600. www.fourthstreetstudio.com 

“Beneath the Scratches” Paintings by Kazuyo Leue. Reception at 2 p.m. at Z Cafe, 2735 Broadway, Oakland. Exhibition runs to March 15. 663-2905. 

Zuni Fetish Carvers, Lena Boone and Evalena Boone, Sat. and Sun. at Gathering Tribes Gallery, 1573 Solano Ave. 528-9038. 

FILM 

Mikio Naruse “Yearning” at 7 p.m. and “Scattered Clouds” at 9 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“The Art of Living Black” Artist talk at 2 p.m. at the Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Ave. at 25th St. 620-6772. www.therichmondartcenter.org 

Michael Lerner introduces “The Left Hand of God: Taking Back Our Country from the Religious Right” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Trinity Chamber Concerts presents John Partridge on piano and organ at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St., bet. Durant & Bancroft. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. http:// 

trinitychamberconcerts.com 

Ensemble Galatea “Curiose Invenzioni” Italian music at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $10-$25. 528-1725. www.sfems.org 

Golden Gate Youth Jam, in celebration of Black History Month at 2 p.m. at the Golden Gate Branch of the Oakland Public Library, 5606 San Pablo Ave. Free. 597-5023. 

West Coast Blues Hall of Fame Awards Show at 7 p.m. at the Scottish Rite Center, 1547 Lakeside Drive. Tickets are $20-$25, children 12 and under free. 836-2227. www.bayareabluessociety.net 

Noche Flamenca at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $ 24-$48. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Stephen Varney and Naomi Sanchez “Pas de Duo” featuring works of Brahms, Poulenc, Rzewski and Tchaikovsky at 7 p.m. at Regents’ Theater, Holy Names University, 3500 Mountain Blvd., Oakland. Tickets are $5-$15. 436-1330. 

Robin Gregory and her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Zydeco Flames at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Mas Con Menos, Afro-Cuban folksloric music and dance at 8 p.m.at La Peña. Cost is $18-$20. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Ken Mahru and Propel at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Bill Tapia, Hawaiian ‘ukele maestro, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

A Band Called Pain, Black Sun, Black Snake Moan at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Matt Small’s Chamber Ensemble at 8 p.m. at the Jazz 

school. Cost is $12. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Snake Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

The Urban Monks at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7-$10. 558-0881. 

Falsano Baiano, alternative Latin, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Amber Asylum, Graves at Sea, Laudanum 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, FEB. 19 

FILM 

The Troubles We’ve Seen: A History of Journalism in Wartime at 3 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Bootstrap Productions Poets Andrew Schelling, Derek Fenner and David Michalski at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Poetry Flash with Laynie Brown and Brian Teare at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

“Let the People Speak” The International Women’s Writing Guild celebrates Black History Month with Bay Area poets and writers at 3 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Island Literary Series, jazz and poetry with Kathryn Takara, Ukali Johnson, Chandra Garsson, Karla Brundage and Wanda Sapir, at 3 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $3. 841-JAZZ. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

San Francisco Chamber Orchestra “Valentines for a Cello” with Matt Haimovitz, at 3 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Free. 415-248-1640. www.sfchamberorchestra.org 

Volti, chamber singers, featuring the premiere of “Sound Explanations” by Eric Lindsay at 4 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. Tickets are $8-$20. 415-771-3352. www.voltisf.org 

Jonathan Biss, pianist, at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $42. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Noche Flamenca at 7 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $ 24-$48. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Mas Con Menos, Afro-Cuban folkloric music and dance at 8 p.m.at La Peña. Cost is $18-$20. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

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

Echo Beach at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Allison Miller Trio at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$15. 845-5373.  

Bobby Hall and Friends Annual Gospel Concert at 5 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 201 Martina, at W. Richmond Ave., Point Richmond. 236-0527. www.point 

richmond.com/methodist 

Jez Lowe & The Bad Pennies at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$8.50. 548-1761.  

MONDAY, FEB. 20 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Derek Fenner and Ryan Gallagher, poets, at 8 p.m. at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

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

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Tom Russell with Andrew Hardin at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $20.50-$21.50. 548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jeremy Pelt Group at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

 




TheatreFIRST Looks at the History of Love By KEN BULLOCK Special to the Planet

Tuesday February 14, 2006

If, in Marx’s famous phrase, Hegel saw the history of the world as though seeing a man walking on his head, TheatreFIRST has put that history flat on its back—or whatever position a couple might assume—in Loveplay. 

Often hilarious, the rapidly changing play features 10 scenes, with a cast of six taking on 32 roles. But this thumbnail sketch, sometimes satiric, of erotic mores through the ages isn’t just a sexy romp. 

As director Robin Stanton notes, “In [playwright] Moira Buffini’s detailed construction, each lifetime’s lessons leave a resonance that is applied to the next. ... Perhaps Buffini would like us to consider that we cannot escape accountability to ourselves and each other. The quality of love can only be defined by the consciousness of the lovers.” 

That consciousness first dawns onstage with a centurion chasing—and haggling with—a British lass, whom he finds a tough customer, and pursues the arc of its theme into the present, with a previously unacquainted foursome coupling up in unexpected ways at a dating service. 

The one stable element is location, the same “patch of land” in England on which the lovers meet, as passion is born, flourishes or misfires, and dies, over and over, in curious combinations that at times would put a sex manual to shame.  

The dialogue is pointed and witty, the situations unusual for this popular stage topic, and the cast game for their various encounters. Rowan Brooks, Noah James Butler, Lizzie Calogero, Holli Hornlien, Dana Jepsen and Kendra Oberhauser quickly grasp and relinquish their several characters in this kaleidoscopic ensemble piece, showing many fine emotional moments along the way, weaving these often contrasting moods into a whole, and achieving a kind of unity of intention that can’t be easily pinned down to a simple statement of what’s been seen or what it means. 

There are strong confrontations: three men and a woman who have met for sex in the ruins of a pagan temple during “The Dark Age,” each of the men expressing a fear of being watched; the nun washing the corpse of her “special friend” in a Gothic abbey, the abbess discovering how special that friendship has been; Renaissance actors in the ruins of that same abbey, speaking rhyme in the moonlight from a play that unravels as autobiographical, about a love both unaccustomedly real and yet a conceit; an empirical investigator of the human form in the Enlightenment, seeing and touching, and spurning, her first naked man, an illiterate laborer; a Victorian decadent painter who wishes to paint his old school chum the vicar as “Lucifer—but before The Fall!” These are the fascinating tableaux that TheatreFIRST sets into motion, in serious play. 

The troupe has been Oakland-based since its founding in 1994, and is only now mounting its first full run in its new and ideal location just off Broadway in the Old Oakland section of downtown. It is an unusually well put together storefront playhouse, with fine acoustics and sightlines, and the flexibilty for an ambitious range of stagings of practically any type of work. BART is right there, as well as parking, and the convivial and culinary delights of Old Oakland and Chinatown. 

Clive Chafer, TheatreFIRST’s founder and artistic director, is appealing to Oakland for further assistance to help subsidize the commercial rental rates in exchange for a much-needed community performing arts venue that would also be TheatreFIRST’s home. It’s been a longtime disappointment that Oakland has no professional resident company of TheatreFIRST’s high caliber, much less a viable performing space downtown, at a time when the Bay Area has an unprecedented number of theater companies and projects. 

It’s a noble cause, which could prove as important for Oakland and TheatreFIRST as the Ashby Stage has for Berkeley and the Shotgun Players. One immediate way to support it is to go enjoy a fun, sophisticated, thoughtful show that plays like a nonstop revue of love, and plan to go again in late April when World Music opens, a drama about the Rwanda genocide and the hesitations of “the civilized world” to respond.  

TheatreFIRST has tackled epic-sized themes with grace, good humor and theatrical professionality. It’s time this brilliant exponent of our local theater culture gains a stage of its own, especially one that would anchor an important urban center that, for live theater, has been too long adrift. 

 

TheatreFIRST presents Loveplay, February 9–March 5, Thursday–Saturday  

8 p.m., Sunday 3p.m. at Old Oakland Theatre, 461 Ninth St. For more information, call 436-5085 or see www.theatrefirst.com›


A Play Falls Through, But the Show Goes On By BETSY HUNTON Special to the Planet

Tuesday February 14, 2006

It’s not a criticism to remark that the most remarkable thing about the Actors Ensemble’s current production of Shakespeare’s grand old comedy Twelfth Night might well be the fact that there wasn’t a messed-up line in the entire evening. 

Look, we all know that Shakespeare’s language and style—even in such a preposterous bubble as this little play—aren’t exactly current usage.  

So, naturally, Shakespeare must be a tougher assignment than are more modern roles, if only for actors just to get their words down right. Like, for example, in Harvey, that classic American comedy famous for Jimmy Stewart’s portrayal of the guy with the six-foot-tall rabbit on his hands. It may seem a touch strange to marvel that all the actors in Twelfth Night know all their lines, but it turns out that what we have in this production is no small example of the theater tradition: “The show must go on.”  

Three weeks into a six-week preparation period before Harvey was due to open, the Actors Ensemble had the rights to present that play pulled out from under them. (The owners got a better offer when a Los Angeles touring company decided to take it to New York.) In clear theatrical tradition, it was suddenly up to director (and board member) Stan Spenger to save the show.  

Spenger, whose life in the theater  

hasn’t ceased since his first acting class when he was 8 years old, apparently never considered canceling the production. For reasons that make sense when he discusses them, Spenger replaced Harvey with Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Possibly the “burned child” syndrome had something to do with it; he wasn’t about to have another play pulled out from under him because somebody else had more rights to it than his company did.  

It probably helped a lot that it’s the shortest of Shakespeare’s plays, probably the only one you may ever see where the cast can brag that it’s presented “without cutting a single syllable.” 

But the deciding factor in choosing a Shakespearian play in such stressful circumstances may well have been that Spenger knows the play extremely well; he’d worked in three full productions as well as two staged readings. His intimate knowledge obviously benefited the ultimate production. 

Actors Ensemble is presenting the play at the Live Oak Theater. In addition to the quick switch of plays for the company, one of the actors had to leave during the last week of rehearsals, leaving Spenger to take on a substantial part in addition to a smaller one that he was already filling.  

He’s not alone in playing more than one role. Many of the actors play multiple roles—and often so effectively that it isn’t at all clear that we aren’t seeing somebody totally new—that counting the actual actors themselves becomes a bewildering task. It looks like a cast of approximately 13, but I wouldn’t put any money on it. It’s complicated even further by the fact that the roles the actors play also involve some important portrayals of characters who are in disguise, sometimes as someone of the opposite sex. 

One particularly distinguished performance is that of Norman Macleod, who does a  memorable performance as Sir Toby Belch, one of Shakespeare’s great comic roles. Macleod’s British accent is genuine, and his portrayal of Sir Toby is a delight.  

 

Actors Ensemble presents Twelfth Night at 8 p.m. through Saturday at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave. $12. For more information, call 649-5999 or see www.aeofberkeley.org.


The Life and Times of the Jerusalem Cricket By JOE EATON Special to the Planet

Tuesday February 14, 2006

This is not an owl column per se, but it was inspired by a recent conversation with an owl person: Maggie Rufo of the Hungry Owl Project, who brought a barn owl named Wookie to a Keep Barn Owls in Berkeley event. We were talking about barn owl diets, and Rufo mentioned finding a lot of Jerusalem cricket remains in the nests she monitors.  

“I didn’t know what they were at first,” she said. “They looked like extraterrestrials.” 

That’s not an uncommon reaction to encountering a Jerusalem cricket, alive and intact or not. Both the California Academy of Sciences and the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum say they get more inquiries about these insects than about any other invertebrate species, mostly along the lines of “What in God’s name is this?” and “Will it bite?” 

The accompanying photograph conveys the unsettling appearance of these good-sized grasshopper relatives. To me they are uncannily like the plastic cootie bugs of the ‘50s (not the more recent cootie incarnation). The Navajo call them wo see ts inii, which I have seen variously translated as “old bald-headed man” or “bone-neck beetle,” and some Spanish-speakers call them niñas de la tierra, “children of the earth.” They’re also known, without foundation, as “potato bugs.” 

Their nearest relatives appear to be the extraordinary wetas of New Zealand, the namesake for that special-effects outfit that was involved in the Lord of the Rings movies. Wetas, up to 6 inches long with a record weight of 2.5 ounces, fill the ecological niche of the small mammals that never reached the islands. 

As it happens, Jerusalem crickets don’t bite, and although they chew on roots, they are not particularly important garden or agricultural pests. Their social behavior has interesting complexities, and David Weissman at the Academy has found that they’re a paragon of California’s biodiversity. 

(I have never seen a satisfactory explanation of the name, by the way. They don’t come from Jerusalem: they’re North American natives. And they’re not the same as the Mormon crickets that devoured the Utah settlers’ crops, which are altogether more conventional grasshopper types). 

Jerusalem crickets don’t swarm like locusts or Mormon crickets; they lead solitary subterranean lives. It takes some doing for males and females to get together. Other grasshoppers and crickets use modified wing and leg structures to produce courtship calls. But those kinds of stridulations wouldn’t carry far through soil. Instead, a Jerusalem cricket of either sex signals potential mates by slamming its abdomen against the bottom of its burrow. 

It used to be assumed that there were only seven species of Jerusalem cricket in California. However, in analyzing their drumrolls, Weissman has detected at least 50 distinct patterns. Although these different drummers may appear identical, he suspects each pattern may represent a separate species; the new ones are still in the process of being scientifically described. Like birdsong, the drumming provides a way for females to locate males of the appropriate species (and apparently vice versa). 

Why so many species is a matter of conjecture. Some groups of plants and animals seem prone to bursts of speciation: California also has high diversity in manzanitas, chipmunks, and slender salamanders. Among animals, populations of creatures with small home ranges and limited mobility—and Jerusalem crickets fit that profile—may become isolated from each other and follow divergent genetic and adaptive pathways. Drumrolls, songs, or other forms of courtship communication then act as reinforcers of the new species boundaries, preventing the sharing of genes among formerly close relatives.  

When Jerusalem crickets pair off, the ensuing courtship is highly strenuous. And as in their distant mantid relatives, it often ends with the female dining on the male—a last gift of protein to nourish the eggs that he’s hopefully fertilized.  

Even individuals who escape this Liebestod are likely to end up being eaten by something else. When they emerge from underground, the insects are conspicuous, slow, and defenseless. It’s not just the barn owls: gray foxes are particularly fond of Jerusalem crickets, and low-flying pallid bats, skunks, lizards, snakes, and toads also take their toll.  

If they turn up in your yard, don’t panic. They’re not only an important link in the food chain: they may actually be doing you a favor by eating detritus and aerating the soil.  


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday February 14, 2006

TUESDAY, FEB. 14 

Birdwalk on the MLK Shoreline from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. to see the ducks: Scaup, Goldeneye and Bufflehead. Beginnners welcome, binoculars available for loan. 525-2233. 

“Take Me Instead” Grandmothers Against the War will try to enlist to repl ace young people in military in Iraq as act of love on Valentine’s Day at noon at the Army Recruiting Station, 2116 Broadway at 21st St., Oakland. 526-5075. 

Public Hearing on the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-690 0. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Valentine’s Day Celebration with community participation in poetry, song, dance and prayer at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St. midtown Oakland. www.HumanistHall.net  

“Black Beauties: The History of Oakland’s Mis s Bronze Pageant” with author Maxine Leeds Craig at 10:30 a.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St. 238-2200.  

Health Education Presentation by Dr. Robert Cooper of the West Oakland Health Council at 7 p.m. at the El Cerrito City Council Chamb ers, 7007 Moeser Lane. Sponsored by the NAACP El Cerrito Branch. 233-5460. 

Travel Photography in Venice and Tuscany with Don Lyon at 7 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. 654-1548.  

“Doing Business in China: Panasonic’s Growth St rategy” with former Matsushita Executive Vice-President Yukio Shohtoku,at 4:30 p.m. at the IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton St., 6th Floor. 642-2809. 

Valentine’s Day Crafts and Stories for Children at 7 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 52 4-3 043. 

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. 

Family Story Time at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Branch Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Fre e, a ll ages welcome. 524-3043. 

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

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Communit y Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

Introduction to Buddhist Meditation at 7 p.m. at the Dzalandhara Buddhist Center in Berkeley. Cost is $7-$10. Call for directions. 559-8183. www.kadampas.org 

Sleep Soundly Seminar at 6:30 p.m. at New Moon Opportunities, 378 Jayne Ave., Oakland Free, but registration required. 465-2524. 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 15 

Tilden Tots Join a nature adventur e program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! We’ll search for our amphibian friends, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Tilden Explorers An a fter-school nature adventure program for 5-7 year olds, who may be accompanied by an adult. We will search for newts, slender salamanders, ensatinas and more, from 3:15 to 4:45 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8, registration required. 6 36-1684. 

Creeks Task Force Public Hearing at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Erin Dando, 981-7410. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/planning/landuse/Creeks/default.html 

“New Era, New Politics Walking Tour” at 10 a.m. at the African American Museum, 659 1 4th St., at Jefferson, Oakland. A two-hour guided tour of the points of interest in African American history in Oakland. 238-3234. 

“Exploring the Place, Meaning and Purpose of the Black Studies Movement” from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Merritt College, B uilding A, Room 129. 12500 Campus Drive, Oakland. 434-3935. 

Disaster Preparedness and Wilderness Safety with Michael St. John of Marin County Search and Rescue at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

“Water The Matrix of Life” What to drink for he alth an d eco-living at 7 p.m. at Teleosis Institute, 1521B 5th St. Cost is $5-$10. Registration required. 558-7285. www.teleosis.org  

“Celcius 9/11: Full Spectrum Dominance and the War of Terror” a film by Jeremy Wright at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St. F ree, but $5 donations accepted. www.HumanistHall.net 

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. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wed. and Sat. at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. Heavy rain cancels. 548-9840. 

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

Sing your Way Home A free sing-a-long at 4:30 p.m. every Wed. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720.  

Prose Writer’s Workshop An ongoing group made up of friendly writers who are serious about our craft. All levels welcome. At 7 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. georgeporter@earthlink.net 

Stitch ‘n Bitch Bring your knitting, crocheting and other handcrafts from 6 to 9 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Sing for Peace at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/ 

vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, FEB. 16 

Berkeley Fire Dep artment Versus Berkeley Police Third Annual Charity Basketball Game at 7:30 p.m. in the Berkeley High Donahue Gym on Milvia at Kittredge. Tickets are $5, $2 for BHS students. Tickets can be purchased in advance at the Public Safety Building, 1st floor, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.  

“Realizing Our Power” Visions for Youth Organizing A panel discussion on building a movement that will fight for young people and win, at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St. Oakland. Sponsored by The Action Caucus and the East Bay Young Democrats. www.actioncaucus.org/ 

events/realizingourpower 

“Seabirds: Their Travels and the Impact of Plastics at Sea” with Carol Keiper, director of Oikonos-Ecosystem Knowledge, at 12:30 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. 23 8-2200.  

“Rough Cut: Return to Kirkuk” a KQED-Frontline screening of the documentary at 7:30 p.m. in the Great Hall, International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave. Cost is $5. 642-9460. 

“Preparing for the End of Cheap Oil” A panel discussion by the Post Carbon I nstitute at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. Requested donation of $5-20 sliding scale. No one turned away for lack of funds. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

“Beyond Deep Throat: the Press, Confidential Sources and Your Right to Know” with Seth Rosenfield, SF Chronicle and Erica Craven, media lawyer, at 7 p.m. at Pegasus Books, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

Simplicity Forum “Sufism and Simplicity” Two practicing Sufis telling their story about finding this path at 6:30 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, Claremon t Branch, 2940 Benvenue Ave.  

MGO Democratic Club will discuss the Oakland Teachers’ Contract and the Clean Money Bill at 7 p.m. at Piedmont Gardens, 110 41st St. 834-9198. www.mgoclub.org 

“The Education of Shelby Knox” The documentary of a youn g girl’s t ransformation from conservative Southern Baptist to feminist at 7 p.m. at College Prep School, Buttner Auditorium, 6100 Broadway at Brookside, Oakland. Free.339-7726. 

African American Cultural Celebration at 7 p.m. at First Congregational Churc h, 2501 Har rison St., corner of Harrison and 27th. Presented by St. Paul’s Episcopal School. Free and open to the public.  

 

The Golden Gate Audubon Society Ravinder N. M. Sehgal will speak on “The Infectious Diseases of Birds” at 7:30 p.m. at Northbrae C ommunity Chu rch, 941 The Alameda. www.goldengateaudubon.org  

 

“Japan and China: Toward a Better Understanding” with Akira Chiba from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs at 2:30 p.m. in the IEAS Confe rence Room, 2223 Fulton St., 6th Floor. http://i eas.berkeley.edu/ 

events/ 

“Life and Legacy of Theos Bernard” early pioneer of Indo-Tibetan religious studies with Paul Hackett, visiting scholar, at 5 p.m. at 370 Dwinelle Hall, UC Campus.  

Ask a Union Mecha nic from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at Parker & Shattuck, u ntil the Berkeley Honda strike is settled. They will offer advice on all makes of car. 

“New Hormonal Treatments in Breast Cancer” with Dr. Tom Lee, medical oncologist at 6:15 p.m. at Alta Bates Summit, Merrit Pavilion, 350 Hawthorne St., Oakland. Free, bu t registration required. 869-8833. 

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, FEB. 17 

City Commons Club Noon Lunch eon with Daniel McFadden on “Consumers and Par t D.” 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.  

“WELLSTONE!” A documentary sponsored by the Conscientious Projector Film Series at 7 p.m. a t Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. at Bonita. Donation of $5 suggested. 528-5403.  

 

Circle Dancing Simple folkdancing in a circle, no partners; no experience needed, at 8 p.m. at Finnish Brotherhood Hall, 1970 Chestnut at University Ave. 528-4253. www.circledancing.com 

American Red Cross B lood Drive from 1 to 7 p.m. at Gelateria Naia, 2106 Shattuck Ave. To schedule and appointment call 1-800-GIVELIFE. www.BeADonor.com 

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 C hess Club meets Fridays at 8 p.m. at the East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St. Players at all levels are welcome. 845-1041. 

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. 548-6310. 

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue, g ather at noon on the grass close to the West Entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. Sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. 655-6169. www.bpf.org 

SATURDAY, FEB. 18 

Mini-Farmers in Tilden A farm exploration program, from 10 to 11 a.m. for ages 4-6 years, accompanied by an adult. We will explore the Little Farm, care for animals, do crafts and farm chores. Wear boots and dress to get dirty! Fee is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Wildflower Restoration Join us for a morning o f planting to restore rare grassland habitats, from 9 a.m. at noon. Watershed Project, 1327 S 46th St. Bldg. #155, Richmond. 665-3689. www.thewatershedproject.org 

Sushi Basics Learn the natural and cultural history of sushi. We will prepare seven basic ty pes. Parent participation required for children 8-10 years old. From 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center. Fee is $35, $30 for seniors and $25 for children age 8-12. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Black History Month Celebration from 2 to 6 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St., with entertainment, community dialog and soul food. 981-5218. 

West Coast Blues Hall of Fame Awards Show at 7 p.m. at the Scottish Rite Center, 1547 Lakeside Drive. Tickets a re $20-$25, children 12 and under free. 836-2227. www.bayareabluessociety.net 

“Follow the Drinking Gourd” film and other activities in celebration of Black History Month from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Chabot Space and Science Center. www.chabotspace.org 

Alt ernatives to Water Needy Lawns & Landscapes at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens Landscape Nursery, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. 

Berkeley Alliance of Neighborhood Associations meets at 9:15 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, Sproul Conference Room, 1st Floor, 272 7 College Ave. www.berkel eycna.com 

“Inherit the Wind” John Russo, Oakland City Attorney and and Matt Gonzales, former SF Supervisor, discuss creationism v. evolution theory, at 8 p.m. at the Parkway Theater, Oakland. Youth particularly encouraged to atte nd.  

Friends of the Albany Library Book Sale from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. All paperbacks and hardback books including library discards will be sold for 50 cents each, magazines are 25 cents each or 5 for $1. For more inform ation, or to volunteer for the sale, call the Albany Library at 526-3720, ext. 5. 

California Writers Club meets to discuss screenwriting with James Dalessandro at 10 a.m. at Barnes and Noble, Jack London Square. 272-0120. 

“The War at Home: The Corporate O ffensive from Reagan to Bu sh” with author and economist Jack Rasmus at 7 p.m. at Home of Truth Center, 1300 Grand Street, Alameda. Sponsored by the Alameda Public Affairs Forum. www.alamedaforum.org 

Preschool Storytime for 3-5 year olds at 11 a.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17.  

Spirit Walking Aqua Chi (TM) A gentle water exercise class at 10 a.m. at the Berkeley High Warm Pool. Cost is $3.50 per session. 526-0312. 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

Tibetan Buddhism with Abbe Blum on “Freedom to Change” from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. Cost is $80, registration required. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

SUNDAY, FEB. 19 

Reptiles at Tilden Touch a snake and meet a turtle at 10:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Native and Non-Native Trees of Tilden Park. Meet at 1 p.m. at the Tilden Nature Center, Ti lden Park. 525-2233. 

“Meat Market: Animals, Ethics, and Money” with vegetarian and animal rights activist Erik Marcus at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books, 1491 Shattuck Ave. 486-0698. 

Musical Masterpieces: Making Art, Making Music, in celebration of Black History Month from noon to 4 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St. 238-2200.  

Spartacist Black History Month Educational on Class Struggle and the Road to Black Freedom at noon and The Fight to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal at 3 p.m. at the YWCA Tea Room, 1515 Webster St., Oak land. Free. 839-0851. 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

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 

Reawakening the Chakras with Suzanne Grace at 2 p.m. at Unity of Berkeley, 2075 Eunice St.Cost is $10-$25 donation. 528-8844.  

Tibetan Buddhism with Mary Gomes and Erika Rosenberg on “Mind ful Parenting” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812.  

MONDAY, FEB. 20 

Monday Night Movies “Lolita” at 7:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Cost is $5.  

World Affair s Discussion Group for senior s at 10:15 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center. Cost is $2.50.  

McGee Avenue Toastmasters meets at 7:30 p.m. at McGee Ave Baptist Church, 1640 Stuart St. 501-7005. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on curren t issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

ONGOING 

“Sprout Hope” Half-Pint Library Book Drive to benefit the library at Children’s Hospital, Oakland, is looking to register schools i n the book drive. To register s ee 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 800-358-883 2 or visit www.EarnitKeepitSavei t.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. 

C ITY MEETINGS 

City Council meets t o hold a Public Hearing on the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance Tues., Feb. 14, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Berkeley Unified School Board meets Wed., Feb. 15, at 7:30 p.m., in the City Council Chambers. Q ueen Graham 644-6147 or Mark Coplan 644-6320. 

Creeks Task Force meets Wed., Feb. 15, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Erin Dando, 981-7410. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/planning/landuse/Creeks/default.html 

Citize ns Humane Commission meets Wed., Fe b. 15, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Katherine O’Connor, 981-6601. www.ci.berkeley.ca. 

us/commissions/humane 

Downtown Area Plan Advisory Commission meets Wed. Feb. 15, at 7 p.m. in the Sitka Spruce Conference Room, 2nd Floor, 2118 Milvia St. 981-7487. 

Library Board of Trustees meets Wed. Feb. 15, at 5 p.m. at South Berkeley Senior Center., Jackie Y. Griffin, 981-6195. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/library 

Design Review Committee meets Thurs., Feb. 16, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berke ley Senior Center. Anne Burns, 981-7415. www.ci.berkeley.ca. 

us/commissions/designreview  

Transportation Commission meets Thurs., Feb. 16, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Peter Hillier, 981-7000. www.ci.berkeley.ca. 

us/commissions/transportation 

ae