Berkeley’s decision to cut off subsidies to the Sea Scouts because they refused to guarantee they wouldn’t discriminate against gays and atheists was perfectly legal, a unanimous California Supreme Court ruled Thursday. 

In the opinion written by Associate Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar, the seven justices said that the city council’s May 5, 1998 vote to stop subsidizing free berths at the Berkeley Marina did not interfere with the Sea Scouts members’ constitutional rights of association, free speech and equal protection. 

“I’m soaring,” said Berkeley City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque, who argued the case before the court on Jan. 10. Her opposing counsel was Jonathan D. Gordon of Pleasant Hill. 

A reporter was unable to reach Gordon by the Daily Planet’s deadline 

“It’s a wonderful opinion,” Albuquerque said. “It’s a really important civil rights case.” 

While the Sea Scouts have 90 days to file for a hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court, Albuquerque said she doubts the high court would take the case because the California court relied in key points on that court’s precedents. 

Asked if the increasingly conservative nature of the court might lead the justices to take the case, Albuquerque said the key cases cited by the state justices were relatively recent decisions written by conservative justices, including the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist. 

The state Supreme Court also held that reported comments that Councilmembers Kriss Worthington and Diane Woolley intended to punish the scouts for the Boy Scouts of America’s (BSA) discriminatory policies against gays and unbelievers were irrelevant because the scouts refused to guarantee that they wouldn’t discriminate in the future. 

“[A]llegations suggesting merely that individual council members voted for the action because of their personal hostility to BSA’s views do not state a claim for a constitutional violation” because they don’t alter “the undisputed grounds upon which the council, as a body, acted.” 

Reached Thursday, Worthington said he was delighted with the ruling. 

“I hadn’t sought a fight with the Boy Scouts,” he said. “It would have been so much healthier if they had spent their money on the kids instead of fighting for the right to discriminate.” 

The ruling marks the city’s third victory in the case. The council action was upheld at trial in Alameda County Superior Court In November 2002, and again a year later by the state Court of Appeal. 

The city had been providing free berths to the Sea Scouts starting in the late 1930s. 

The issue of discrimination was raised after other nonprofit organizations requested free berths in 1997, and the city manager’s office recommended adoption of a uniform policy which would guide the awarding of the scare slots. 

The council adopted rules mandating that groups receiving the free spaces had to promote ethnic and cultural diversity and were barred from discriminating “on the basis of race, color, religion, ethnicity, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, political affiliation, disability or medical condition.” 

When the Sea Scout berths came up for review a year later, on April 9, 1998, the organization refused to state that they would end discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation because “we believe sexual orientation is a private matter, and we do not ask either adults or youths to divulge this information at any time.” 

While the Waterfront Commission recommended continuing the subsidized slots, the city attorney’s office concluded their promise on sexual orientation wasn’t enough to comply with the city’s ordinance. 

But the courts consistently ruled that the city had the right to demand compliance in exchange for receiving what was effectively a taxpayer subsidy. 

The Boy Scouts of America, the national organization of which Sea Scouts is a part, has consistently refused to abandon its policies that bar homosexuals and atheists from membership, a fact that the court noted. 

Albuquerque said she was delighted that the court consistently rejected the notion that the city ordinance was a violation of the civil rights of the scouts. 

“The city is not trying to regulate private clubs,” she said. “It is only saying that they don’t get to discriminate on the taxpayer’s dime.” 

One of the ironies of the case was that there were no allegations that the Sea Scouts had actually discriminated against any gays or atheists. 

But the salient point from a legal perspective was the group’s inability to promise that they wouldn’t do so if directly ordered to by the national organization. 

Albuquerque said the decision had additional significance because it is the first time the court has specifically upheld the imposition of the specific non-discriminatory conditions in publicly funded programs. 

“They are many similar conditions on state and local programs up and down the state. I expect the decision will be cited throughout the country,” she said. ›

State officials have ordered extensive new tests at Richmond’s Campus Bay, looking for radiation, dioxin, asbestos, hexavalent chromium, cyanide, methyl mercury and other hazardous substances. 

The edicts were included in a 23-page document that raises new questions about the waterfront site in south Richmond where plans for a major residential development atop a hazardous waste dump have been placed on hold. 

The letters were triggered by a review of documents and recent meetings with the developers and the hazardous waste cleanup consultants hired by the site’s previous owners to design and conduct the environmental remediation of the site which held an 86-acre chemical manufacturing complex for 100 years, ending in 1997. 

The testing was ordered by the state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), which was given jurisdiction over polluted sites along the Richmond shoreline after protests by local environmentalists and a vote by the Richmond City Council. 

Meanwhile, site development partner Cherokee Investment Partners, a venture capital fund based in Raleigh, NC, that specializes in projects on rehabilitated toxic sites, has taken a new and highly conciliatory stance towards project critics, as revealed at a Monday morning meeting in the Richmond Public Library. 

Cherokee has teamed with Simeon Properties, a development firm based in San Francisco, in Cherokee-Simeon Ventures (CSV), a limited liability corporation. In early 2004, the consortium announced plans for a 1,300-unit housing project on the site atop a buried mound of hazardous waste. 

Retention of hazardous waste on the site was permitted under a plan developed by the consultants and approved by the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, an agency that has since been relieved of its role as primary regulator of the site. 

The developer originally planned to fill the site with a corporate research park, but switched to housing after the collapse of the market for dotcom stocks cooled the Northern California office park market. Housing plans included installation of fans beneath the buildings to prevent the buildup of any noxious compounds emitted from the soil below. 

That project has been on hold, along with any other development on the site pending the review by DTSC. 

Monday’s meeting was a sit-down attended by Steven J. Levitas, a Raleigh, NC, attorney who represents Cherokee, Doug Mosteller, the firm’s project manager for the site, and members of the Community Advisory Group (CAG) which is advising DTSC on the cleanup. 

Levitas concluded the meeting on an unusually conciliatory note, considering the somewhat tempestuous relationship between the firm and some of the CAG members in the past. “If I have done anything offensive to date, I apologize. The reason I am here is that I was feeling that much could be improved in terms of dialogue. 

“We really appreciate it,” said Peter Weiner, the San Francisco attorney who has been representing Bay Area Residents for Responsible Development (BAARD)—in which CAG member Sherry Padgett is the most prominent member. 

Levitas told CAG members “I really hope that if there are any problems and concerns you will call Doug or me or Dwight Stenseth,” who is Cherokee’s Managing Director. 

Throughout the meeting, the corporate representatives were noticeably cordial toward Padgett, whom Mosteller had accused in a Feb. 13 e-mail to DTSC officials of “[c]ontinued, unfounded accusations that waste state agency time, money, [CQ] and resources.” 

Padgett—perhaps the leading figure in the fight to change regulatory authority at the site—said she was glad the company had come, but she said many questions remain, including the idea of conducting tests before there was full knowledge of where all the potential pollution sites had been identified and located from historical data. 

CAG suspicions 

Padgett has been stricken with a series of rare cancers which she believes may have resulted from exposures sustained since she has been working as Chief Financial Officer of Kray Cabling, a business located next to the site. 

Levitas said Cherokee “hoped to prove to you” that the firm would approach the site in line with its “very strong commitment” to environmentally responsible community service. 

“Our major concern with the whole site is public health, the health of the community. Both for people who work at the Zeneca site and the Richmond Field Station and who have lived here, both now and then—and what is there, what has been done there and what will be done there,” replied CAG member and retired toxicologist Jean Rabovsky. 

CAG members who attended Monday’s gathering brought plenty of skepticism to the table. 

One is Gayle McLaughlin, the Richmond City Council member who sponsored the resolution calling for jurisdictional change. On Sunday, she had announced her candidacy for mayor—citing in part her concerns about developments on toxic sites. 

Two CAG members who work for UC Berkeley were also on hand—Richmond Field Station employee David Kim and Joan Lichterman, who represents six employee unions. The DTSC has exerted control over cleanup efforts at the field station over the university’s objections. 

Kim and fellow CAG member Joe Robinson are residents of Marina Bay, a nearby subdivision built on another site with residual toxins remaining in the soil resulting from the presence of a former shipyard on the site. 

Marina Bay home buyers must sign deeds forbidding them to eat fruits and vegetables grown in their yards. A similar covenant was planned for buyers at the now-stalled Campus Bay housing project. 

Three other CAG members at the table—CAG Chair Whitney Dotson and his sister, Ethel, and Pauline Reed—grew up in Seaport, a complex of apartment buildings erected next to the site in 1944 and demolished 12 years later to make room for Interstate 80 and the collection of buildings that now house what their present occupants—Padgett being one—describe as the “downwind businesses.” 

African Americans, the Reeds and the Dotsons lived with their families in racially segregated buildings. Others were white-only. 

Whitney Dotson is a long-time environmental activist, and his sister suffers from cancer which she believes is linked to growing up next to a chemical manufacturing complex. 

New investigators  

The February DTSC document, a series of letters addressed to Mosteller, raises serious questions about the adequacy of cleanup work done at the site conducted by LFR-Levine Fricke, an Emeryville-based firm. 

The DTSC, which took over jurisdiction early last year after California Assemblymember Loni Hancock joined with the environmentalists and McLaughlin’s resolution passed, is well-staffed with scientific experts, and has also brought in the state Department of Health Services to provide more medical expertise. 

LFR-Levine Fricke’s work was conducted under the oversight of the water board, a state agency which didn’t have a toxicologist on its staff during the cleanup. (A toxicologist is a scientist trained in identifying hazardous substances and evaluating their risks to humans.) 

While Mosteller said the company had gathered a large amount of information about the site, the developers are bringing in new consultants to conduct their own tests on the site. 

Erler & Kalinowski Inc. (EKI) is an environmental consulting firm with offices in Burlingame, Los Angeles and Denver . Their site examination will include both an area-wide grid search as well as concentrated tests at known or suspected toxics hot spots. 

“Some of us have the impression that when the previous (restoration) work was done on the site, a whole lot of stuff was smooshed around and may not longer be in the places where it was reported,” Weiner said. “Because of that we would like to see a pretty broad sampling plan.” 

Mosteller said that detection of contaminants at any testing site would result in more tests in a tighter grid in the surrounding area. 

CAG member and retired toxicologist Jean Rabovsky asked the developers to conduct a more detailed historical investigation, including records searches and interviews with former employees, to determine the locations of other, still unreported chemical facilities that may have been located on the property. She also asked that health data be collected about former workers and residents. 

“The documents to date have overlooked a whole lot of stuff,” said Padgett. “We only learned about the battery plant after DTSC became the lead agency.” 

“We want to be careful,” said Levitas. “We don’t want to say something publicly about what someone may or may not have done in the past.” 

“I have no faith in LFR,” said CAG member Eric Blum, a business owner whose firm is located near the site. 

“He’s not the only one,” said CAG member Joe Robinson. Fellow member Steven Linsley agreed. 

DTSC concerns 

The waste intentionally buried on site—consisting largely of burned iron pyrite (fool’s gold) cinders—had accumulated during the century the site housed a massive chemical manufacturing complex, which included extensive production of sulfuric acid derived from the pyrite. 

Rather than truck the 350,000 cubic yards of debris to a hazardous waste dump, the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board approved its burial at the site. 

The DTSC letters, written in late February, are critical of the work and documents prepared by LFR-Levine Fricke for failing to provide adequate information about the location of chemical sites and waste storage areas, failure to use appropriate testing standards and failure to provide adequate data on current site conditions. 

It was LFR Levine-Fricke which proposed the waste burial on site, saving an estimated $80 million of the $100 million AstraZeneca had budgeted for the cleanup. 

That cleanup was designed to restore the site to conditions suitable for commercial and industrial use, but not to levels judged suitable for housing. 

One of the most emotionally charged concerns involves the possibility of radioactive contaminants at the site from a source not mentioned previously by the developer (see sidebar).  

There’s no question that the site abounds in carcinogens—substances known to cause cancer—and other hazardous compounds and metals, and there’s no question that many remain in the soil and water. At one site adjacent to the Richmond Field Station, recent tests have discovered carcinogenic PCBs in the soil at 120 times the permissible level, Mosteller said. 

The principal questions are three:  

• Just where—and what—are the other toxins? And,  

• Are they safely contained? 

The short answer to both questions seems to be: Nobody knows. 

“There is super phosphate area we have recently discovered,” said Mosteller, referring to a fertilizer plant that used radioactive ore in a process that yielded both fertilizer and a waste slag that concentrated some of the radioactive elements for which the DTSC has ordered new tests. 

“We have always known there were high concentrations of TCE and PCE in the groundwater,” he said, referring to two chemicals, members of a class known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), are both suspected carcinogens. 

The site also includes hot spots laced with some of the pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. At the locations where PCBs—polychlorinated biphenyls—have been found at the site, the DTSC is also questioning whether the target reduction goal of one part per million, a standard set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is adequate to protect human health. 

Tests ordered 

Tests ordered 

The DTSC has ordered new tests to determine if the site contains everything from dioxin to cyanide, asbestos, methyl mecury, hexavalent chromium and groundwater radioactivity.  

The agency has also ordered tests at areas of the site that contained chemical and industrial drainage lines, and at the site of a 50,000 gallon sump which has apparently never been tested for contaminants.  

The report also asks why the LFR Levine-Fricke report on the site initially raised, then dropped the issue that pollutants from the site could potentially reach humans through the consumption of marine organisms from the shoreline marsh and the Bay and why the firm’s water board-approved cleanup didn’t require the cleanup of pyrite cinder deposits less than two feet deep. The cinders turn water acidic and are the source of various metal contaminants. 

It also asked why more tests weren’t conducted near a site where the soil was found to contain high levels of lead—7 milligrams per kilogram. 

Klein found particular fault with the cleanup firm’s reports on current site conditions, which she said make it difficult “to correlate current condition sample data with former process areas and remedial actions.” She also faulted “a plethora of naming conventions” for the same sites that make it difficult to interpret the data. 

“The current conditions report for Lot 3 (the largest portion of the site) indicate that significantly elevated concentrations remain in the soil for numerous inorganic chemicals of concern over much of the area, including arsenic, lead, mercury, and cadmium. There are elevated levels of many VOCs in soil gas, including benzene, tetrachloroethylene [PCE], trichlorethylene [TCE] and vinyl chloride. Shallow groundwater is also similarly contaminated with VOCs.” Klein wrote. 

Faced with the impossibility of purchasing electronic touch-screen voting machines that meet federal, state, and county guidelines in time for the June primary election, the Alameda County Registrar’s office has come up with a novel solution: paper ballots. 

With the exception of disabled voters who cannot cast a private ballot without the aid of a machine, all votes at Alameda County precincts this June will be cast on paper ballots, with the counting done by electronic scanning at a single location in the Alameda County Administration Building. 

According to County Registrar of Voters Elaine Ginnold, results on election night “will not be quick. It will probably take all night. We are going to need extra staff. We’ve already put out a call to various county offices for volunteers.” 

No new purchases will be needed for the June election. 

The county already has on hand eight Diebold optical scanners, and will lease the approximately 40 additional scanners needed. Ginnold said that the two disabled-accessible electronic touchscreen voting machines needed for each county precinct will be “borrowed” from San Diego County. 

The county operated a paper ballot/electronic scanning system during Tuesday’s Piedmont municipal elections. Because the number of voters in the Piedmont election was so small, the vote counting was able to be done at the precincts themselves. 

For voters, the difference between the two systems is that in the Piedmont election, voters physically put their marked paper ballot into the scanner. In the June elections, voters will deposit their marked paper ballots into a locked box, with the scanning itself later done by county election workers. 

“The Piedmont election went well,” Ginnold said. “The poll workers all said they liked it.” 

A “perfect storm” confluence of deadlines and legal requirements caused the county to have to back away from the touchscreen voting devices it has used since the 2000 elections. 

Beginning last January, a new state law required that all electronic voting machines in California include a provision for verifying the electronic vote count by paper. The Diebold machines used by Alameda County did not contain a paper trail, making it impossible to verify whether the machines’ electronic vote count was accurate. 

In addition, federal law requires that any precincts operated in a federal election contain voting machines which can be operated without assistance by disabled persons. The law is directed primarily at voters who are blind or do not have the use of their arms, and so cannot mark paper ballots on their own. 

Last year, Alameda County began the process of screening new touchscreen voting machines that could meet the new paper trail requirements, but was hampered by the fact that only two such machines—those manufactured by Diebold and ES&S—were only recently certified by California state regulators. 

“We need three to four months from the time we decide on the machines to purchase to the time we need them for the election itself,” Ginnold said. “Part of the time needed is for our own acceptance testing. We have to test each individual voting machine that we receive to make sure that it actually works.” 

Ginnold said that while continuing the paper ballot/optical scanning system is being considered for the November elections, she added that it is “not really practical to do all of the counting at one central location.” 

If such a system is operated in November, the county will obtain enough optical scanners so that the counting can be done at each precinct, with the results then transported to a central collection station in Oakland. 

›

The City of Berkeley has announced that the Willard Park Tot-Lot will be closed from March 9 to March 17 in order to bring the park’s current rat infestation under control.  

City staff as well as exterminators will be brought in to carry out an extermination. Traps to catch the rodents will also be set underneath the platform and the ramp at the tot-lot and underground baiting will be carried out. Baiting is a way of killing the rats by poisoning them.  

The bushes around the park will also be trimmed, especially the agapanthus. The city has also decided to replace the trash cans since they do not have secure locks. Contractors will be employed to look into long-term possibilities of eliminating rat harborage in the park since they are bound to reoccur.  

Speaking to the Daily Planet, Councilmember Kriss Worthington commented that “rat harborage posed a serious problem to the community and it should be dealt with promptly.” Worthington also stressed that the least toxic way of getting rid of the rats should be looked into in order to preserve the environment. 

The park will however remain open for those who walk their dogs there. 

The Daily Planet first reported on the Willard Park rat infestation problem March 7. ›

While Councilmember Laurie Capitelli lauded the proposal for a new Landmarks Preservation Ordinance which was approved by the City Council Tuesday night, saying it will give people more power to preserve their neighborhoods, Councilmember Kriss Worthington, argued that the revised law will open the door for “a whole bunch of developers who want to steamroll over historic resources.” 

On Tuesday, the council approved in concept Mayor Bates’ most recent proposal for a revised landmarks’ ordinance, including two more last-minute changes added during the council meeting by Bates and Capitelli. 

Bates’s last modification, brought forward for the first time during the meeting, further redefined “structure of meri,” a concept retained from the current ordinance to designate a historic resource which is not important enough on its own to become a designated landmark. In Berkeley, buildings in this category, which are seldom designed by famous architects, are often found in the flatlands. They have sometimes been modified over the years, but retain historical significance.  

This redefinition, passed on a slim 5-4 vote, with councilmembers Dona Spring, Kriss Worthington, Linda Maio and Betty Olds in opposition, added that the qualification that to be designated as a structure of merit a building would also have to be located in a city historic district, of which there are fewer than half a dozen at present. (Already-designated structures of merit would be grandfathered in.)  

Another set of amendments was proffered by Councilmember Laurie Capitelli in the form of a two-page handout which had not been included in the council packet, but was distributed during the meeting. His proposal added a new category, Neighborhood Conservation Districts, further restricted the definition of structure of merit, and provided for marking “historical points of interest.” It was accepted without a vote by Bates as the maker of the main motion. 

The mayor’s proposal, as posted on the Internet on the afternoon of March 3 plus the two revisions, passed in a 7-2 vote, with only Spring and Worthington opposing. 

Other provisions establish a Historic Preservation Officer within the Planning Department, and refer most projects involving older buildings to the Landmarks Preservation Commission for evaluation. 

Staff will draft ordinance language for the proposal as approved, send the draft to the Planning and Landmarks Commissions for comment, then bring it back to the council for a public hearing July 11, at which time the City Council will probably take its final vote. However according to Bates Capitelli’s amendments will “take a long time to figure out” and will probably be added after the enactment of the rest of the ordinance. 

Addressing the revamped structure of merit process at the meeting, Worthington said it discriminates against lower-income people in the flatlands, because that is where most structures of merit are located. Further, he argued in a phone interview, “historic preservation is one of the forces that has maintained rental housing in Berkeley,” having slowed the conversion of rental housing to condos.  

Capitelli said in a phone interview Thursday that Worthington’s argument is based on a fear that the proposed ordinance will allow development such as occurred in the ‘60s and ‘70s, where developers came in and “dramatically increased density,” with structures he calls “aircraft carriers.” 

In fact, Capitelli said, his amendment will bring even greater protection to the neighborhoods. He said that in the Neighborhood Conservation Districts he’s proposing, residents will come together and decide that their area must adhere to certain design and preservation guidelines. 

“People don’t have to worry,” Bates said by telephone Thursday, noting that his ordinance will counter overdevelopment. His proposal allows for the creation of “buffer zones,” which could reduce density requirements in areas situated between commercial and residential areas. 

Veteran Landmarks Commissioner Carrie Olson left Tuesday’s meeting so angry that she was unable to talk to a reporter. In a later phone interview, she blasted the mayor for having substituted a new formula for designating structures of merit. 

“Why not include it in the proposal that came out on Friday?” she said. “Tom slid it in at the last minute.” Olson pointed out that there can be two significant structures in a row that would not constitute a district but that should be preserved. 

Olson further argued against Capitelli’s amendments, saying that his redefinition of structure of merit “raised the bar,” making the protection of these structures more difficult. 

And she questioned Capitelli’s concept of historical points of interest, saying it could mean that all that would remain of these structures is a plaque. 

Berkeley resident Sharon Hudson cautions that the impact of the new ordinance is still unknown. 

“A lot will depend on how the Landmarks Preservation Commission modifies the concept of ‘integrity’ to fit local definitions,” she said. (Integrity means the degree to which a structure still reflects the original design.) “The devil is in the details,” she added. 

The new ordinance will include hiring a Historic Preservation Officer. Bates says that person, who will staff the Landmarks Preservation Commission, will be able to facilitate the commission’s work, but Councilmember Spring argues that, because the officer will report to the director of the Planning Department, and because the planning department has not supported preservation of buildings as structures of merit, the officer will play a negative role in the preservation of Berkeley’s history. 

The Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association had already registered its opposition to the proposal, which, it said in a March 7 letter to the council, would “continue to reduce significant landmark preservation provisions and protections that are currently established in Berkeley’s Landmarks Preservation Ordinance.” 



Progress on the West Berkeley Bowl project has stalled due to a case of mistaken identity—of a traffic report. 

Two draft environmental impact reports for the 90,060-square-foot supermarket plan were accidentally released to the public, Planning Department staff announced Wednesday, though just one paints an accurate portrait of projected weekend car congestion.  

The official traffic report was posted on the city’s website, in public libraries and delivered to the state clearinghouse. It logged traffic patterns in January surrounding the Heinz Avenue site, where the marketplace is slated for development. 

The other report, circulated to the Planning Commission, the Zoning Adjustments Board and members of the public, tracked December traffic. Staff said it is not applicable to the study at hand.  

In a letter of explanation, Principal Planner Allan Gatzke claimed that holiday shopping skewed traffic counts in December, and because alas, it isn’t Christmas all the time, staff omitted the data from the final report.  

Such an omission is consistent with traffic impact analyses in California and the United States, he said. 

The reports follow up on a traffic analysis presented in October that failed to account for Saturday peak-hour jams.  

The major difference between the reports is in the marketplace’s maximum square footage allowance if traffic is to maintain current flow. 

In December, that amounted to 5,474 square feet for a grocery, 2,881 square feet for a warehouse and 412 square feet for an office. In January, the figures more than doubled: 15,325 square feet for the grocery, 8,642 for the warehouse and 4,120 square feet for the office. 

By comparison, the proposed grocery measures in at 83,990 square feet, including a dual-level marketplace, storage space and offices. A neighboring food service building tacks on an additional 7,070 square feet.  

The reports further disagree on traffic buildup at the intersection of Seventh Street and Ashby Avenue, two blocks from where shoppers would predominantly gain access to the compound. In December, the traffic impact would be significant but open to mitigation. In January, it would be less than significant.  

Both December and January reports agree on one point: The project at its proposed size cannot avoid traffic buildup at the intersection of Ashby Avenue and San Pablo Avenue. 

But shrinking the new Bowl could do the trick, the report says. 

Some speakers at Wednesday’s regularly scheduled Planning Commission meeting agreed downsizing is the way to go. 

“I’m appalled by this project, as an architect and builder since 1960,” said Edward Levitch, 81. “To see a project of these proportions—it’s unconscionable to me. This is a small neighborhood that needs to be preserved in the nature it was intended.” 

The West Berkeley district is a melange of residences, artisan lofts and light industrial buildings.  

Others said size isn’t much of an issue, so long as West Berkeley reaps its long sought-after grocery store. An existing Berkeley Bowl on Oregon Street offers fresh, inexpensive food. Its popularity is evidenced by constant gridlock in the parking lot and surrounding streets.  

“Please build the store for the good of our neighborhood,” resident Christine Staples entreated the Planning Commission. “And please, build it to size.” 

Planning commissioners will hold a hearing for the recirculated draft environmental impact report April 5. The public viewing period for the report, initially scheduled to end March 17, has been extended to April 24. 

›

With a shiny red truck and neon green T-shirts, protesters descended on the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) office Wednesday to demand fair contracts for teachers. 

The rally gathered more than 300 teachers, parents, students and community supporters, who donned blindingly bright union T-shirts, and brandished signs calling for an end to the bitter battle over contract negotiations. 

Oakland Board of Education president David Kakishiba, Oakland City Council candidate Aimee Allison and representatives from other labor unions, including the president of the United Teachers of San Francisco, were in attendance.  

Thornhill Elementary School student Theresa Bagby Underwood, 10, mounted the proxy podium—a union board member’s cherry red pickup truck —and called out to the audience, her fist raised in the air “I’m here to support the teachers!” 

Uproarious applause ensued. 

The rally came just a day after district and union representatives agreed to a formal bargaining session next week, for the first time since Jan. 31. 

The district, run by state administrator Randy Ward since 2003, has been negotiating with the teachers’ union for two years. 

It last offered the union a three-year contract with a 4 percent raise doled out over two years, and a cap on healthcare after two years. 

The union wants a 3 percent raise on top of the 4 percent, the latter of which only restores a salary cut teachers took several years ago, the union says. Other demands include increased pay for substitute teachers, restored prep periods and a guarantee that teachers won’t suffer involuntarily transfers to other schools. 

But one of the chief concerns is healthcare. 

Oakland Education Association President Ben Visnick said Thursday the union has already accepted concessions in the bargaining process—namely the piecemeal salary increase—but it won’t budge on healthcare. 

“We don’t want a cap, that’s the bottom line,” he said. 

OUSD Spokesman Alex Katz said the district expends $76 million of a $436 million General Fund budget on benefits, an expense it can no longer afford.  

The association, representing 3,200 district employees, has used a neutral fact-finding report to support its position that the district can indeed shoulder healthcare costs and salary raises. 

But letters issued by the State Department of Education and two other agencies have called the report’s legitimacy into question. 

The letters, released March 6, came from State Superintendent Jack O’Connell, the nonprofit Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, and School Services of California Inc., a private company. They concluded that the district is not financially stable enough to grant all of the union’s demands. 

“In fact, the district is unable to afford a salary increase beyond that which has already been offered,” O’Connell wrote. 

Visnick called the letters “propaganda.” 

“These agencies are biased agencies,” he said, and should not undermine the veracity of the fact-finding report, which was chaired by a Public Employment Relations Board appointee.  

Visnick fears the district could use the letters to vie for a retrogressive deal at next week’s bargaining session. 

Katz said the letters could affect negotiations. 

“If the top three educational agencies are saying (the report) is very flawed, then it might change the discussion,” he said. 

Both sides hope the upcoming talks will yield a tentative agreement. 

Still, the threat of a strike looms. 

Union members will vote March 22 on whether to authorize a strike, which could go into effect 48 hours later.  

A strike that soon isn’t likely, Visnick said.  

All sides concur that a strike is a last resort. 

“I really believe that no one wants to strike,” Katz said. “I know Randy Ward doesn’t want a strike. I know teachers don’t want to strike. Parents certainly don’t want a strike.” 

Parent Amy Tessler agreed.  

“If it ends in a strike it’s going to be very sad,” she said. “But we’ll continue to support our teachers. We won’t send our children to school.” 

ô

With University of California officials announcing plans to appeal this week’s professional fee hike lawsuit loss in Superior Court in San Francisco, attorneys for the victorious students are already looking ahead to a second lawsuit now making its way through the courts. 

This week, Superior Court Judge James Warren ruled that the university had broken its contract with professional school students. The university promised that their school fees would remain the same throughout their enrollment, but later raised professional student fees to make up for budget shortfalls. The university must return $33.8 million in fees to some 40,000 students. 

The university has 60 days to appeal the ruling. 

Late last year, the Los Angeles Daily Journal quoted university lead attorney Ethan P. Schulman as saying that “students can’t close their eyes to reality and try to rely on narrow language to hold the university liable to a fictional contract.” 

But Jonathan Weissglass of the Altshuler, Berzon, Nussbaum, Rubin & Demain public interest law firm of San Francisco, one of the two firms representing the professional students, said that there was a “written contract” between students and the university at the time the students enrolled. “It was listed in the student catalogue and in fee statements,” Weissglass said. The Superior Court judge agreed. 

This week’s ruling involved professional students who enrolled at the university prior to the end of December, 2002. 

A second lawsuit was filed last July by students enrolled in 2003 and afterwards. Plaintiffs in that lawsuit included UC Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law student Freeda Yllana of San Jose, UC Berkeley joint Ph.D and J.D. candidate Ross Astoria of Berkeley, and a UCLA Law School student and UCSF School of Medicine student. Weissglass, who represents the students in the second lawsuit as well, says that the two lawsuits were filed on “basically very similar issues.” Weissglass said that the second lawsuit is in the early stages, with “only some low-level discovery” having taken place. 

This week’s ruling was the second time the Superior Court had ruled against the university in the 2002 student case. 

In 2003, the court granted the students an injunction, preventing the university from collecting the additional fees, a decision the university said cost them $22.5 million between 2003 and 2005. In the summer of 2005, university regents narrowly approved what they called a “temporary” two year professional school fee increase—$770 in the first year and $1,050 in the second year—to make up for the money the university could not collect because of the judge’s injunction ruling.  

According to the Los Angeles Daily Journal article, Judge Warren rejected a similar fee rollback injunction for the 2003 students, ruling last September that because those plaintiffs did not file their lawsuit until more than a year after the fee increase took place, the students cast “substantial doubt on their attempts to characterize the May 2004 fee increase as irreparable injury.”  

The vote on the temporary fee increase by UC Regents came on top of a 7 percent professional school fee increase voted on by regents at the same July 2005 meeting. At the regents’ November 2005 meeting, mandatory systemwide fees for professional school students were increased by another 5 percent, effective beginning the summer of 2006. 

At the time of the July 2005 professional fee increase vote , the Office of the President of the university issued a statement saying that “the increases [were] a reflection of the major impact state budget cuts have had on the University of California over the last several years. As a result of these cuts, UC has lost 15 percent of its state funding at a time when population-driven enrollments have increased 19 percent. Additionally, the 2004-05 state budget cut professional school budgets by more than $42 million with the expectation that professional school fees would be increased to offset the cuts. However, fees could only be increased by $37 million, leaving a funding gap of $5 million. The result has been program cutbacks, erosion in the competitiveness of faculty and staff salaries, and substantial student fee increases for students without desirable levels of financial aid.” 

But after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed a 2006-07 state budget that would use $75 million in state funding to rescind some of the UC student fee increases, the university’s office of the president issued a statement reading that if the governor’s proposals are approved by the legislature this year, “professional students would still see a one-year, temporary $350 increase in the Educational Fee, approved by the Regents last July to help cover lost revenue associated with [the professional fee] lawsuit...” And while the professional fee increases adopted at the July 2005 regents meeting would remain in place, the president’s office said that “the further fee increases adopted in November for 2006-07 would not occur. Total fees for professional students in 2006-07 would range from about $12,000 for nursing to about $25,000 for law.” 

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Berkeley School Board members at Wednesday’s meeting were in favor of introducing a fire science curriculum at Berkeley High School. 

Hank Silver, a member of the Berkeley Personnel Board, said that students would benefit greatly from this program. 

“It will help develop students’ academic and technical skills and prepare them for entry-level employment, college, as well as advanced training,” he said. “It’s good exposure for high school students and will help explain the complexities of this particular profession.” 

Berkeley Fire Chief Deborah Pryor also attended the meeting to show her support for the program that includes courses on fire science, use of fire fighting equipment, rescue methods, and emergency procedures. It is a regional occupational program. 

The proposal was moved to the consent calendar from the action items agenda by Director John Selawsky. 

Year-round school 

The topic that sparked debate at the meeting was the allocation and use of time in improving student achievement. 

Neil Smith, director of Educational Services, told that board that according to a research by the Educational Priorities Workgroup, “a reallocation and/or extension of time within the school day and/or year can be an effective component to improving student achievement.” 

According to the workgroup report, “the district should extend the K-12 school day,” and that in order “to implement a high-impact, high quality professional development program, school sites will need more time than they currently have.” 

The board deemed this as a viable approach but acknowledged that a longer school day and year would mean additional expenses.  

Shirley Issel, director, said that she “would not recommend a proposition for year-round school at this moment.” 

Issel further said that since student achievement had gone down in the last three years, she approved of changes that had immediate effect on professional development and in the classroom. 

District Superintendent Michele Lawrence commented that although year-round schools had some merit, lack of a sequential curriculum or solid staff would mean that “poor teaching would remain poor teaching.” 

School Board President Terry S. Doran acknowledged that “talking about change is difficult not only in this community but in all communities.” 

He lauded the fact that carving small schools from Berkeley High School had benefited students who had moved there. 

“Moving to year-round schools would be worthwhile and I welcome it. I hope that the reports presented would stimulate further discussion on this subject,” he said. 

Clarifications about the BHS Small Schools Lottery process were also made with regards to the ranking system. The board asked BHS Principal Jim Slemp why students were asked to rank up to six schools when most of them were admitted to any of their top three choices or did not even want to attend most of them in the first place. 

“It is always students who are the least engaged and whose parents are marginally involved who are the most confused by these choices,” the board said. 

According to the board, the two school choices, academic or international, which students had to select when they chose a small school were also confusing and they hoped that it would be cleared by next year. 

Other matters  

The board also approved the schematic for landscape design at Berkeley Arts Magnet’s playground project. Construction is scheduled to begin this summer. 

Toward the end of the meeting Nancy Riddle stated that it was important to understand that the state educational budget was in crisis and that the board was required by law to declare fiscal emergency for the 2006-07 fiscal years as had been the case in the last few years. 

A school parcel tax is likely to grace the ballot this November, as the Berkeley Unified District (BUSD) struggles to offset a projected $19 million deficit.  

Two local sources of revenue are scheduled to run out the following June, and if voters fail to approve a replacement measure, district officials say BUSD will have to slash its budget—or risk bankruptcy.  

“If we cannot pass this measure, drastic cuts will have to be made,” said Berkeley Board of Education President Terry Doran.  

Both the Berkeley Schools Excellence Project (BSEP) and Measure B of 2004 levy taxes on local properties. Set to expire this fall—the funding will run out shortly thereafter—the combined taxes cover almost 20 percent of the district’s expenses. They support reduced class sizes, music classes, libraries, school enrichment and other programs.  

Board of Education directors and district staff are currently seeking input from the public to ascertain the shape and form of an impending tax. The measure would require a two-thirds majority vote in November.  

Dan Lindheim, chair of the BSEP Planning and Oversight Committee, said officials are considering different replacement options. 

One option would roll BSEP and Measure B into one tax and maintain existing allocations. Another scenario would combine the measures, but redistribute funding according to updated priorities. A third option would hike up the tax rate.  

Doran said many residents are inclined to leave the rate as is. Currently, the district reaps approximately $19 million from BSEP and Measure B combined.  

Voters passed Measure B 72.2 percent to 27.8 percent in 2004 as a stopgap when diminished state support threatened the solvency of Berkeley’s schools. In the current school year, it’s plumped district coffers by $8 million. 

The measure supplemented the BSEP, which has funneled parcel tax dollars into specific school programs since 1986. It has contributed more than $10 million this year.  

The district also collects a local school facilities and maintenance tax, passed in 2000. 

Some fear local measures are becoming increasingly difficult to pass, given the barrage of taxes voters have shouldered in recent years. For this reason, Lindheim said, school officials are wary of raising the current rate. 

“Most of the insiders are very reluctant to do that, because you need a two-thirds majority vote,” he said. “There’s some concern that Berkeley voters are maxed out.” 

Regional trends appear to support that conclusion. 

Last March, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Bay Area voters rejected nine of 17 parcel taxes, while other measures passed by a sliver. On Tuesday, Piedmont voters approved a school bond with 58.31 percent of the votes; a narrow margin of victory over the needed 55 percent, when just months earlier, the city passed two parcel taxes with flying colors.  

Berkeley resident Stephanie Corcos has opposed school parcel taxes on other grounds. As a member of Berkeleyans for Responsible School Funding during the 2004 campaign for Measure B, she complained that funds don’t trickle down to students, a concern she holds today.  

“The money that’s given most of the time does not get to the children,” she said. “Any measure going to the schools should be carefully looked at that it goes into the classroom.” 

Lindheim insisted the money does go to classrooms. Together BSEP and Measure B fund about a third of the district’s teachers, ensuring 20-to-1 student-to-teacher ratios in grades kindergarten through three. 

The measures provide music education for all fourth and fifth grade students, and many sixth to eighth grade students. Art, science, PE, after-school tutoring, sports and other enrichment programs also receive significant parcel tax monies.  

Besides, Lindheim said, there is no other option. The state of California—the primary source of funding for K-12 schools—is failing to offer adequate support, he said, adding that so long that’s the case, districts will turn to their constituents. 

“The whole logic of (parcel taxes) was meant to be a temporary thing until the state got its act together,” he said. “But the state never did get its act together.” 

The Board of Education will hold special meetings March 22, April 26 and May 24 to allow the public to weigh in on the upcoming measure. The board will take a vote May 24.  

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A plan that would allow Berkeley residents to pull the plug on PG&E, with its nuclear power plant and investor-driven mindset—and replace it with a community-owned power provider—may be too good to be true, some city officials say. 

“We could be embarking on something that is high-risk,” Mayor Tom Bates warned in a Tuesday evening workshop on Community Choice Aggregation, a concept approved by the state Legislature in 2002 that allows municipalities to join together to generate power for their residents. 

Under discussion at the council workshop were the benefits and risks of creating a Berkeley-Oakland-Emeryville entity to provide power. 

Despite uncertainties, the council voted 8-0 with Councilmember Betty Olds abstaining, to spend $164,000 for the second phase of a study whose purpose would be to analyze legal risks and costs of a CCA. 

Some councilmembers wanted voters to weigh in on the project, though no decision was made on how that would happen. 

Councilmember Betty Olds said the council shouldn’t bear the blame if the project doesn’t work. “Let (voters) help decide,” she said. 

While some spoke of the project as a “pioneering” effort, Councilmember Kriss Worthington pointed out that healthy CCAs already exist in Massachusetts, New York and Ohio. 

“We’re not going to be the first in the world,” he said. 

The benefit, especially in the early years of the project, will be environmental, not savings to ratepayers. 

“We hope to get a higher percentage of green energy,” Worthington said, referring to renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. 

A panel of experts, with differing views, advised the council. The project’s likely cost sparked discussion. Berkeley resident and energy consultant Bill Roberts warned that high capital costs would make the CCA prohibitive, estimating it would need an annual subsidy of $8 million. He further pointed to the uncertainty in revenues. 

“CCA will never know with certainty what its customer base will be,” Roberts argued, pointing out that legislation permitting CCAs gives customers the right to opt out of them for a fee. 

Sean Casey, of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission—San Francisco is somewhat ahead of Berkeley in exploring the CCA—pointed out that PG&E would soon make large capital investments, including a $700 million upgrade for the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant, which could be passed on to the ratepayers. 

Over time, perhaps 30 years, CCA ratepayers will experience savings, Casey argued. 

Worthington further contended that CCA would not have to set rates to satisfy investors or pay exaggerated executive salaries. 

Gerry Adams, of the city’s Energy Commission, sat on the panel and conveyed the commission’s unanimous recommendation for further study.  

At the same time, Adams urged caution. 

“Doing better than PG&E takes doing. They have resources and experience,” he said. “We have good intentions.” 

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Directors of the East Bay Regional Parks will meet this afternoon (Tuesday) to pick one of the six finalists to fill the seat left empty by the death of Jean Siri, who represented Ward 1. 

The district, one of seven, includes parts of North Oakland and Pinole and the cities of Berkeley, Albany, El Cerrito, Richmond, El Sobrante, Kensington and San Pablo. 

Siri, a San Pablo resident, died Jan. 20 at the age of 85. An environmental activist who has served as president and later a director of the Sierra Club, she was one of the founders of Save the Bay. 

Siri was first elected to the parks board in 1992 after serving several terms as a city councilmembers and later mayor of El Cerrito. 

The candidate named to replace her will have the advantage of running as an incumbent for a full four-year term in the November election. 

The open seat attracted 13 applicants, of whom the board selected six as finalists during their regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday. 

Finalists are: 

• Former Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean, who served 24 years on that city’s council, including 8 as mayor, until she was unseated by Tom Bates in 2002. 

• Sierra Club attorney/activist and former El Cerrito City Councilmember Norman La Force who has been active in parks issues and spearheaded the successful opposition to a group campground in the parks district’s Sibley Regional Preserve. 

• Whitney Dotson, a Richmond environmentalist and parks activist who also serves as chair of the Community Advisory Group working with the state Department of Toxic Substances Control on the cleanup of the controversial Campus Bay site in Richmond. 

• Former Berkeley City Councilmember Nancy Skinner, one of the founders of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) and the U.S. director of the Climate Group, a non-profit organization rallying governmental and corporate support on climate change issues. 

• Oakland Deputy City Attorney Richard Illgen, a former Berkeley planning commissioner and rent stabilization board commissioner. 

• Former Berkeley school board member Carroll Williams, who represented Ward 1 until Siri unseated him in 1992. 

The selection meeting is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. in the district’s Headquarters Building, 2950 Peralta Oaks Court, Oakland. 

The district administers more than 95,000 acres of parks, including 65 regional parks and recreation, wilderness, shoreline, preserve and land bank areas in both Alameda and Contra Costa counties. 

The district’s 2005-2006 fiscal budget is $159 million and its staff includes 596 full-time and up to 80 seasonal and temporary employees. 

Berkeley voters approved instant runoff voting (IRV) with a 72 percent vote two years ago. Advocates came to Tuesday night’s council meeting to lobby the lawmakers to make it happen. 

“It’s a fair process,” Jesse Townley told the council, noting that savings can add up to $100,000 by eliminating runoffs. Runoffs are often undemocratic, since low numbers of voters show up at the polls, he said.  

Voting in an IRV race means people can vote for the person they really want to see win, said Dave Wilner, a Berkeley resident and board member of Fair Vote, a Maryland-based nonprofit that advocates for more democratic election processes.  

“Now, we can’t go into the polling place and express ourselves,” he said in an interview in the Daily Planet offices. 

The way IRV works is that voters indicate their first, second and third (or more, depending on the particular jurisdiction) choices when they vote – they can, however, choose fewer. If no winner emerges in the first round, the losing candidate is eliminated. People who voted for the loser will then have their votes transferred to their second choice. This continues until a winner emerges. 

Fair Vote Executive Director Rob Richie said the fairness of the process can be seen when Mr. X gets 46 percent of the vote, Ms. Y gets 46 percent, and Ms. Z gets 7 percent in the first round of voting. Since Ms. Y and Ms. Z express similar political values, Ms. Z’s supporters vote for Ms. Y and she wins in the second round. “Should 47 percent win when the 7 percent person is everyone’s second choice?” he asked. 

While Berkeley voters have already called for IRV elections, the process is not yet in place. The question that Interim Alameda County Registrar of Voters Elaine Ginnold faces is which electronic voting vendor is able and certified by the state to run the elections. The state certified the electronic voting vendor, Election Systems and Software, Inc. for San Francisco only, but there is no qualified vendor certified for Alameda County at the present time.  

IRV “is designed to revitalize democracy,” Wilner said. 

Richie added that IRV encourages positive campaigning. For example, in the IRV elections in San Francisco, candidates would encourage supporters to vote for a person with similar ideas as their second choice. 

San Francisco has used IRV in two elections and Burlington, Vt. just had a successful mayor election using IRV. 

The County Board of Supervisors will discuss types of voting systems to use in Alameda County at a hearing March 13, beginning at 6 p.m., in the County Administrative Building, 1221 Oak St. 

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Concerns about the possible presence of radioactive waste at the Campus Bay site in south Richmond have prompted the state to order new tests for the controversial site. 

Previous concerns about radiation hazards at Campus Bay involved the possible contamination by uranium testing in which the radioactive metal was melted with electron beams. 

But Campus Bay Project Manager and Cherokee Investment Partners engineer Doug Mosteller also hinted that radioactivity materials tests or experiments may have been conducted at a super phosphate plant that occupied part of the site. 

“We don’t know what they were doing for the government,” he said. “It was supposed to be secret. We are also concerned that testing may have been done at different places.” 

Simeon Properties—the San Francisco firm which has partnered with Cherokee Investment Properties to develop the site—responded by hiring MACTEC Development Corporation of Grand Junction, CO, to conduct a site radiation survey. 

The firm specializes in decommissioning and demolition of former nuclear power plants and nuclear weapon manufacturing facilities. 

MACTEC conducted a surface walkover of the sites of five demolished buildings, using a detector held at two to six inches above the ground. 

The device used, a sodium-iodide detection system, was capable of detecting only gamma radiation—which has the ability the penetrate several feet of concrete. 

“[O]ur survey found no indication of radioactive material at the site in excess of normal background level,” wrote Steven D. Rima, the firm’s radiological engineering manager, in an Aug. 13, 2003 letter to Simeon Vice President Susan J. Cronk. 

Cherokee Simeon posted the results at the Campus Bay website, www.campusbay.info, but the study has since been removed, a Wednesday afternoon website search revealed. 

MACTEC’s report noted that the tests weren’t capable of detecting beta rays, which can be stopped by a layer of clothing, or alpha rays—which are stopped by a sheet of paper. 

But alpha radiation can be the most dangerous, especially when inhaled or ingested—and it is alpha radiation which makes plutonium the world’s most toxic substance. 

In a Feb. 21 letter to Cherokee-Simeon, Barbara J. Cook, chief of DTSC’s Northern California Coastal Cleanup Operations Branch, specifically noted the inability of the MACTEC survey to detect the presence of plutonium at the site. 

DTSC is now demanding tests for all three types of radiation, not only at the site of the uranium melting experiments, but at a potentially much more hazardous site—the location of the plant that made phosphate fertilizers and so-called super phosphate from ore mined in Idaho. 

According to GeoNote 40, a publication of the Idaho Geological Survey, those ores contain uranium as well as selenium, another hazardous but nonradioactive metal. (Selenium has been identified as the cause of bird deaths and birth defects in the Kesterton Wildlife Preserve in California’s Central Valley.) 

Radioactive compounds (radionucleides) identified in phosphate ores include two forms of uranium, U-238 and U-234, thorium-230, radium-226, radon-222, lead-210 and polonium-210, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Emissions Factors and Policy Applications Center. 

In a letter written Feb. 22, Kimiko Klein, a toxicologist with DTSC’s Human and Ecological Risk Division, wrote that phosphate production could have produced increased concentrations of radioactive compounds in the slag (waste) generated by the process, which “may still be present on the site.” 

Even before concentration by processing, the radioactive elements present in the ore are found at levels up to 100 times the normal background level, according to the EPA. 

The tests won’t offer any means of assessing the exposures to those who lived and worked nearby when the fertilizer plant was operating. 

Cook has also ordered Cherokee-Simeon to produce any radioactive licenses held by former site owner Stauffer Chemical prior to 1977 and to identify where the firm stored radioactive materials. 

Staffer owned the chemical manufacturing complex between 1949 and 1986, when it was sold to Zeneca—now Astra-Zeneca—a Swiss pharmaceutical and agricultural manufacturing giant. 

It was during Stauffer’s control that the electron beam uranium tests were conducted.

Arson arrest 

Berkeley police arrested an 18-year-old Berkeley High School student Tuesday on suspicion of setting a Saturday night fire that did more than $80,000 damage to a home at 1154 Keeler Ave. 

Police spokesperson Officer Ed Galvan said the arrest resulted from a joint investigation by Berkeley Fire Department arson investigators and his department’s property crimes investigators. 

The blaze was set in a storage area beneath the carport of the hillside home and caused $80,000 in structural damage and $5,000 in damage to the home’s contents. 

Galvan said the suspect was a neighbor of the home he allegedly torched. The officer asked anyone with additional information on the crime to call the Property Crimes Unit at 981-5900. 

Hooded heister 

A short man of indeterminate age robbed the 7-Eleven store at 2887 College Ave. shortly about 9:40 p.m. Sunday night, reports Officer Galvan. 

The man, who was wearing black pants and a black hooded sweatshirt—a “hoodie”—and may have been hidden behind a ski mask, walked into the store behind a black semi-automatic pistol, which was more than enough to convince the clerk to hand over cash and coins. 

Galvan said the same individual may have been involved in a similar heist two weeks earlier at another merchant. 

Kidnap for meager haul 

A gunman accosted a Berkeley woman outside her car Wednesday night, forced her to drive him to Albany, where he then robbed her and forced her to drive him back to a spot in Berkeley about two blocks from where the crime began. 

In the process, the felon not only terrified his victim but earned himself a charge of kidnaping when—or if—he is finally apprehended. 

The incident began about 6 p.m. near the corner of Channing Way and Atherton Street and ended near the corner of Telegraph Avenue and Haste Street, where the suspect released the woman and her car and fled on foot. 

“It was crazy,” said Officer Galvan, “and he could’ve got more money by stealing a tip jar.” 

The suspect was described as a white man with graying hair who may have been in his 40s. He stands about 5’10”, has a medium build and was wearing a blue baseball cap, a black jacket and gray jeans. 

It’s official. Parents and children at Willard Park need a Pied Piper. And fast. 

Wendee Taylor, who works nearby and visits the park on most days, first saw rats coming out by the dozen from the bushes surrounding the Willard Park Tot Lot almost two years ago. 

“Every time I bring out a cookie or a ham and cheese cracker to feed my daughter, they suddenly appear,” she said. “They come out from the trash cans, from under the ramp and from around the bushes.” 

Wendee is not the only one to have sighted rats in the Willlard Park Tot Lot.  

David Soloff has being going to Willard Park for the last seven years, and he noticed a dramatic increase in rats since last summer. 

“It was really bad last October,” he said. “I was walking my 19-month-old son in the Tot Lot one evening, and these huge rats just raced across. I had to beat them with a stick, and only then did they leave us and disappear down the ramp. We stopped going there after that.” 

According to Soloff the large quantities of food and human waste in the park are an open invitation to the rats. 

“I have seen people smoking pot, cooking, and sometimes even defecating and urinating in the park,” he said. “The city needs to police these activities in order to control the rat infestation.”  

Doreyne Douglas said she has stopped taking her children to the park in the evening. 

“It’s a great park except for the rats,” she said. “As soon as the sun goes down we see the little heads popping out. I am scared of letting my children play there now.” 

George Beier, president of the Willard Neighborhood Association who lives on Derby Street, told the Daily Planet that he has heard of several sightings from neighbors. 

“It’s an endemic problem,” he said. “The population comes and goes. A lot of parents feed their kids in the Tot Lot and sometimes picnics are held. Rats by nature are attracted to leftovers and bio-degradable things like orange peels and banana skins which we often don’t think of as food. But it’s food for rodents, all right. As a result they keep coming back for more.” 

The Willard Neighborhood Association has been working with Jim Hynes, assistant to the city manager, to eradicate the menace, Beier said. 

Rats have also been sighted in the tennis courts next to the Tot Lot. 

Students of Willard School, located adjacent to the park, have also reported seeing rats in the school grounds in the past. However the school staff was successful in controlling the problem when it occurred in 2003, according to a few eighth-graders. 

Hynes said that rat infestation is a common problem in most urban areas.  

“Since fall 2005 there has been a slight increase in the rat population in the Willard Park Tot Lot,” he said. “As a result the baiting or trapping of rats has also increased. We have plans to remove the planks in the raised platform in the Tot Lot and bait the rats.” 

Baiting is a way of killing rats by poisoning them. Hynes also said that the homeless population camping out at the park often left food crumbs behind which attracted the rodents. 

Manuel Ramirez, manager of environmental health at the city’s Department of Health and Human Services, said that Berkeley faces rodent issues similar to those in other cities. 

“Most metropolitan areas struggle to keep rat and mice populations under control,” he said. “Rats and mice are communal rodents by nature, which means that they have a relationship with people who provide their food source. As a result they need to live among humans to sustain their needs.” 

Ramirez added that inspections have been carried out around the Willard Park neighborhood for several years now and they are yet to find any particular explanation for rats in the park. 

“We have found no violation of the Berkeley Municipal Code that could contribute to this problem,” he said. “Parks are good settings for picnics. We inadvertently provide rodents with water, food and shelter.” 

Although the Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus) has been sighted most often in Willard Park, the roof rat (Rattus rattus) and the house mouse (Mus musculus) are also common. 

“Rat infestation is a community issue,” Ramirez said. “We need to practice good sanitation. Trash dumpsters must be monitored, garbage needs to be kept in sealed bags, and public areas need to be routinely cleaned. Leaking pipes and standing water also need to be controlled. Thinning out vegetation also makes planter areas less inviting.” 

Ramirez also said that according to the integrated pest control management policy, the city is first required to look at the least toxic way of controlling rats. 

“We need to look into environmental issues before we start using poison to kill the rats,” he said. “The least toxic alternative is always the best.”  

An Oakland City Councilmember said Saturday that the Chief of the Oakland Police Department has a plan to almost triple the number of police officers on Oakland streets at peak crime periods, but said that implementation of the plan is being delayed by Mayor Jerry Brown and City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente because of opposition from the Oakland Police Officers Association labor union. 

The proposed plan would raise the number of available, on-call police officers from 35 to 84 at times when crime in the city is the highest, including weekend nights and early mornings. 

District 6 Councilmember Desley Brooks said that Brown, who is running for California Attorney General in the June primary, and De La Fuente, who is running to succeed Brown as mayor, “think that it is more important to get the police officers’ endorsement in their political races than to get more police officers on the streets. Shame on them. I am always amazed at the self-dealing going on at City Hall. But this has reached a new low.” 

Both Brown and De La Fuente are in difficult races, with Brown pitted against Los Angeles District Attorney Rocky Delgadillo and De La Fuente with two major opponents, City Councilmember Nancy Nadel and former Oakland-Berkeley Congressmember Ron Dellums. 

Neither Brown, De La Fuente, nor Oakland Police Officers Association President Bob Valladon responded to calls requesting a comment on Councilmember Brooks’ charges. 

Brooks said that the police officers’ union opposes the chief’s proposed deployment plan because it would virtually eliminate police overtime payments, which have become a staple in Oakland police paychecks. 

“But that’s $12 million in overtime costs out of our budget that we could use for other needs in the city,” Brooks said. 

The councilmember, who represents one of the areas hit hardest by the city’s recent spike in violent crime, made the charges at Frick Middle School in East Oakland during a police-community meeting sponsored by the People United For a Better Oakland community organization (PUEBLO). 

She said she expects to raise the issue again at the next Oakland City Council meeting, scheduled for tonight (Tuesday) at 7 p.m. at Oakland City Hall on the corner of 14th Street and Broadway. 

Police Chief Wayne Tucker, who also spoke at the PUEBLO meeting, confirmed the existence of the deployment plan and blamed its delay on the OPOA. 

“I have the power to implement the plan on my own authority,” Tucker said, “but under the ‘meet and confer’ provisions of the union contract, I have to get the approval of the union. I’m pushing for it. It would not take us long to implement.” 

Tucker was not asked if Brown or De La Fuente had a hand in delaying the implementation of the patrol deployment plan. 

Police overtime is an enormous budget and political issue in Oakland. Last June, the San Jose Mercury News reported that police overtime was running at $6 million in fiscal year 2004-05, 50 percent over budget, with the city auditor asking the grand jury to investigate the problem and, according to the article, “to look specifically into whether top officials of the city’s powerful police union are driving overtime costs and blocking reforms to reduce them.” 

The Mercury News reported that public access to Oakland employee records showed that two top police union officials had taken home more than $300,000 in overtime pay since 2000. That included $71,470 in overtime for police union president Valladon. 

“We are paying huge amounts of overtime and it’s killing us,” the paper quoted Council President De La Fuente as saying at the time. De La Fuente had earlier called for an outside audit of Oakland police overtime costs. 

At the same time, Oakland has been hit by a spike in violent crime in recent months—including 33 murders in the last three months of 2005, 19 in the first two months of 2006, and five more in the first week of March—and residents have complained of long delays in police patrol responses to 911 calls. 

Tucker said Saturday that “the measure of violent crime is not homicides but street robberies and assaults with firearms. Those types of violent crimes are increasing, and way off the charts from this time last year.” Tucker told meeting participants “the emerging violence in Oakland is of grave concern to us.” 

But Tucker blamed the delays in police response to reported crimes not on the number of Oakland police officers, but on the way patrols have been organized. 

“We presently have 803 sworn OPD officers,” Tucker said, “that’s pretty rich staffing for a city of this size. I won’t stand up here today and say that we are understaffed. We’re not. The problem is in the way our police are being deployed.” 

That was a radical change from the assertions by police and city officials during the Measure Y violence abatement bond campaign in 2004, when Oakland voters were told repeatedly that the Oakland Police Department was severely understaffed, and the police-to-citizen ratio was significantly lower than other comparable cities. Tucker was not a member of the Oakland Police Department in 2004. 

Under the City of Oakland’s current police deployment, Oakland police patrol officers work in standard eight-hour, five-day-per-week shifts, with equal staffing for all hours throughout the week. 

But according to Chief Tucker’s proposed “Patrol Division Deployment Plan,” prepared by Lt. P. Sarna, current deployment leads to periods—such as midnight, when the shifts change—when the numbers of crimes are rising while the numbers of police on the streets are not. Tucker’s report notes that “this places the department in a catch-up mode for a significant period of each time each shift.” 

The report called such an across-the-board even deployment, regardless of the crime rate at any given hour, “inefficient,” and said that it left “beat officers ... severely overburdened during the period of the highest crime workload. ... Present deployment clearly violates the simple rule of ‘being there when the need is greatest.’” 

By contrast, Tucker proposes to divide police patrols into three overlapping shifts—five days a week for eight hours a day, four days a week for 10 hours a day, and three days a week for 12 hours a day—so that patrols could be increased at peak crime rates and decreased at other times, with no overtime costs. 

“We need to get as many blue suits out on the streets as we can,” Tucker told participants at Saturday’s meeting. “We’re working on that.”›

The West Berkeley Bowl marketplace will usher in significant and unavoidable traffic, a new report says. 

An updated draft environmental impact report concludes that while most foreseeable car jams around the proposed Heinz Avenue-Ninth Street site can be mitigated, the nearby intersection of San Pablo Avenue at Ashby Avenue will suffer unavoidable congestion during weekend peak hours. 

A report issued Oct. 7, dismissing traffic surrounding the 90,060-square-foot project as “less than significant,” failed to account for the Saturday peak-hour traffic, a flub that former Planning Commission Chair Zelda Bronstein called “amusing.”  

West Berkeley Bowl would include an 83,990-square-foot marketplace replete with low-priced fresh produce and natural foods, a 7,070-square-foot prepared food service building and 211 parking spaces. Roughly half would lie underground. 

Customers would gain access to the store predominantly via Ashby from Ninth, an intersection expected to withstand heavier traffic, the report says. 

But further east, where Ashby hits San Pablo, traffic from grocery shoppers would only be alleviated with an additional northbound left-turn lane, the report says. Limited right-of-way availability at the intersection thwarts that prospect, however. Thus, delays at San Pablo and Ashby would increase by more than three seconds. 

The report details several other congestion problems that can be relieved with extra signage, lights or other features.  

Four land use alternatives to the proposed plan would generate lighter traffic, the report says. They are:  

• Alternative A: No new development at the site. 

• Alternative B1: Offices only. 

• Alternative B2: Light industrial/ manufacturing building only. 

• Alternative C: Reduced marketplace, 65,815 square feet total. 

• Alternative D: Reduced marketplace, 72,758 square feet total. 

Many project critics support building a smaller store, claiming it will minimize traffic in the neighborhood. 

“What the developer initially proposed was a neighborhood-friendly store,” Bronstein said. “What he’s now proposing is a regional superstore.” 

She added that a marketplace similar in scope to other grocery stores, like the existing Berkeley Bowl on Oregon Street, will ease traffic and better suit the neighborhood.  

Berkeley Bowl owner Glen Yasuda was quoted in the Daily Planet last year saying he would rather move the project elsewhere than downsize. 

“We feel compromising the size is not an option,” he said last January. Neither he nor project architect Kava Massih could be reached for comment by press time. 

For many, the proposed store warrants an unqualified stamp of approval. The original Berkeley Bowl is wildly popular, and West Berkeley residents have complained for years that they lack a high-quality grocery store nearby. 

According to an informal report resident Natalie Studer presented to the Planning Commission in November, West and southwest Berkeley shoulder the city’s greatest number of low-income, minority residents, who don’t have access to fresh fruits, vegetables and natural food. West Berkeley Bowl would alleviate that, supporters say. 

Most critics agree a grocery store in West Berkeley is necessary, but some say problems with the current project run too deep—deeper than size and traffic, even.  

To move forward with the market, officials must revise the city’s General Plan and zoning ordinance to allow for commercial properties. Some fear this will give other businesses the green light to swoop in, drive up rent, drive out residents and permanently alter the character of the neighborhood. 

“I’m very concerned with the rezoning,” Bronstein said. “It this site is rezoned, it sends a major signal to landowners that the city is not committed to preserving affordability for Berkeley manufacturing and industrial artists.” 

Instead of seeking rezoning, Yasuda could apply for a variance, which would grant him an exception to develop commercial property. Variances are generally difficult to obtain. 

Planning commissioners will hold a public hearing on the revised draft environmental review Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave.  

›

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) wants to get rolling on a rapid bus route through Berkeley, Oakland and San Leandro. 

But to do so, it must shelve other projects, including an enhanced bus service in Oakland.  

MTC’s planning committee said Friday that it will prioritize plans to develop an 18-mile AC transit Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line running from downtown Berkeley BART along Telegraph Avenue and to International Boulevard in Oakland and East 14th Street in San Leandro. 

The commission is pursuing a new source of funding to move forward with the $175 million project, already two years behind schedule. 

Alix Bockelman, MTC director of programming and allocations, said the commission will lobby Washington for an additional $75 million from the competitive Small Starts program, which encourages small, low-cost transit projects.  

AC Transit initially expected to fund the project through sales tax, regional transportation improvement funds and Federal Transit Administration dollars. 

“We’re proposing to move AC Transit from a less secure funding source to a more secure funding source,” said MTC Executive Director Steve Heminger.  

The line will speed commuters through Berkeley, Oakland and San Leandro in 12 minutes or less. Slated for completion by 2010, it will designate 33 new bus stations and replace car lanes with dedicated bus lanes along some stretches of road. 

The latter feature has been a bone of contention for Telegraph businesses and residents who say the dedicated bus lanes will make traffic unbearable and negatively affect commerce along the street.  

But Josh Weisman, representing the Transportation Land Use Coalition, said he’s pleased to see the project moving forward. 

“There is common support for it, I see that it is needed,” he said.  

Honing in on the Bus Rapid Transit line was part of the commission’s larger attempt to streamline regional transit projects. According to a resolution approved by the planning committee Friday, MTC also plans to work on a $180 million ferry project that will designate new services in Berkeley, Oakland, Richmond and elsewhere. 

Other points of focus in the East Bay include an elevated transit line from the Oakland Coliseum BART station to the Oakland Airport, and improvements to the Capitol Corridor train between Oakland and San Jose. 

But in order to get the work done—and to offset a $2.3 billion shortfall—commission officials say they have to table other projects. An enhanced bus service project along Hesperian, Foothill and MacArthur boulevards in Oakland will be put off.  

AC Transit said that does not eliminate the possibility of developing the line in the future. 

AC Transit Representative Mary King said, “AC Transit remains committed to the enhanced bus route.” 



The City Council will begin its session tonight (Tuesday) at 5 p.m. with a workshop looking at what it might mean for Berkeley to join other cities to replace PG&E with a locally owned energy supplier. 

After a rally for Instant Runoff Voting outside City Hall scheduled for 6:30 p.m., the council will hold its action meeting at 7 p.m., addressing a new landmarks law, instant runoff voting, sewers and more. 

Although preservationists say Mayor Tom Bates’ latest iteration of his proposal to change the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance—under review for several years—continues to present problems, the mayor is pushing forward. 

While the mayor’s new version would retain the controversial “structure of merit” category for historic buildings, he also calls for buildings in the category to meet the same criteria of structural “integrity” required of other landmarks. 

The mayor’s proposal still includes the creation of a city historic preservation officer, a position he said he would be withdrawing after the council’s earlier workshop on the ordinance on Feb. 14. 

Of the two competing ordinances—one prepared by the Landmarks Preservation Commission and the other by the Planning Commission—the mayor’s proposal hews more closely to the Planning Commission version, which is strongly backed by developers, who claim the existing law delays their projects. 

Whatever emerges from the council meeting will go to the staff for drafting, and the proposal will then be circulated back to the commissions for comments, followed by a public hearing on the ordinance July 11. 

IRV 

When Berkeley voters approved Instant Runoff Voting two years ago, details of its implementation were not spelled out. Councilmember Gordon Wozniak has placed a resolution on the council agenda calling for “full preference voting.” 

That is, voters rank their preference for every candidate running. In the San Francisco elections which used instant runoff voting, voters were able to rank only their first three choices. Wozniak argues that limiting the vote to ranking the first three candidates deprives some voters of having their votes counted.  

Jesse Townley and other IRV activists have called for a pro-IRV rally on the steps of City Hall a half-hour before the council meeting. 

Townley said Wozniak’s resolution would delay IRV in Berkeley. 

“While the rhetoric of Councilmember Wozniak’s alternate proposal sounds positive, it actually alters what the voters passed and what the (Alameda County) Registrar and the vendor (are) planning to provide,” Townley wrote to Councilmember Dona Spring. 

Sewers 

A public hearing will address costs to property owners of inspecting the city’s sewer laterals. These are the smaller sewers that connect private property to the city sewer that runs down the middle of the streets. 

Repair of the laterals is necessary to prevent storm runoff from getting into the city’s sanitary sewer system, resulting in higher treatment costs and claims for damages due to sewer blockages and overflow, according to a staff report. 

If the city adopts the proposed resolution, laterals will be inspected when homes are sold or remodeled. Certificates for the inspections will cost $185; repairs are estimated at $3,000 to $4,500. 

Lab groundwater 

The Lawrence Berkeley Labs and the city agree that contaminated groundwater and soil at the labs must be cleaned up. At issue, however, is the degree to which cleanup must be carried out. 

City staff say the groundwater can be cleaned up to drinking water standards, but scientists at the lab argue that it is not technically feasible. If the council approves an item on the consent calendar, where councilmembers vote on questions without discussion, the city manager will write letters to the lab, the president of the University of California, which operates the lab for the Department of Energy, the Department of Energy and the Regional Water Quality Control Board to ask for clarification regarding the groundwater cleanup. 

Energy choice 

Before the council meeting, the city will hold a 5 p.m. workshop on “Community Choice Aggregation.” 

Four years ago, the state Legislature passed a bill permitting cities and counties to get together to provide electricity to constituents; the possible risks and benefits will be discussed at the workshop.  

Advocates say that community choice opens the door for better use of renewable resources such as solar and wind energy, but others say aggregation can be costly. Councilmembers will vote at the meeting whether to devote further resources to the study of local Community Choice Aggregation. 

›

Richmond City Councilmember Gayle McLaughlin announced Sunday that she will run for mayor in the November elections. 

A member of the Richmond Progressive Alliance and the third-place finisher of 15 council candidates in November 2004, McLaughlin told supporters she won’t take any corporate contributions. 

McLaughlin’s opponent is likely to be current Mayor Irma Anderson, who is one of four councilmembers whose seats are up for grabs in the coming election. 

While Anderson—who was elected in 2000—hasn’t formally announced, she “has not made any bones about the fact that she’s running again,” said a source close to the mayor who would comment only on background. 

“She will probably hold off on announcing until after the June primary,” the source added. 

McLaughlin’s announcement included a call to end the utility tax exemption granted the city’s ChevronTexaco refinery 20 years ago in order to create a Richmond Community Youth Corps to provide “1,000 part-time year-round jobs that employ youth from the areas of our city hardest hit by street crime.” 

Her call for increased taxation on the refinery comes just as the oil giant is trying to get its property tax assessment reduced. The refinery is Richmond’s largest employer. 

She also called for the creation of community-based after-school programs designed to cut the high school drop out rate in half by 2010. 

Other planks of McLaughlin’s candidacy include: 

• Opposition to any increases in sales and utility taxes. 

• Reopening the closed West Side and Bayview branches of the Richmond Public Library. 

• Stronger city support for solar and other alternative power generation proposals, including support for the goals of Solar Richmond, a citizen group that calls for the generation of five megawatts of solar power in the city by 2010. 

• Enacting just-cause eviction and fair rent laws, as well as city support for land trust and cooperative efforts that would allow more Richmond residents to own their residences in a city with more than 50 percent of its citizens in rental units. 

• Creation of new housing for the city’s homeless population. 

• Support for infill housing and commercial development in the city center. 

McLaughlin’s announcement also included a reference to an issue that occupied her initial months on the council, her ultimately successful effort to call for new regulatory oversight at Campus Bay, a contaminated site in southern Richmond where a housing complex had been proposed. 

After initial resistance from Anderson and others on the council, McLaughlin was able to hammer out a compromise measure that called on the state to hand control of the site over to the state Department of Toxic Substances Control. 

“I’m not running just to oppose the old ‘Richmond Way’ that allows irresponsible development on toxic properties, rubber-stamping plans with no consideration for the health and well-being of families, children, the vulnerable and the elderly,” McLaughlin said. 

She said that before the city rushes “to allow the elimination of our open shorelines for a quick return,” the city should concentrate on improving existing neighborhoods. 

In 2003, McLaughlin out-polled two sitting councilmembers, Mindell Penn and Nathaniel Bates. Andres Soto, another Richmond Progressive Alliance member, placed sixth. 

McLaughlin told supporters that her eventual goal is to see a solidly progressive slate in control of the City Council in the years to come. 

A provision in the No Child Left Behind Act could threaten the jobs of as many as 76 Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) para-professionals. 

According to the federal mandate, instructional assistants, technicians, specialists and interpreters for the deaf working in Title I-funded school districts must meet a higher level of education by June 30 or risk losing their jobs.  

They must complete at least two years of education at an institute of higher learning, obtain an associate’s degree or take a test demonstrating an instructor’s knowledge of reading, writing and math. 

The law applies only to those hired before Jan. 8, 2002, when college level education was not a job requirement. Newer employees have already met No Child Left Behind standards. 

So far, 110 para-professionals in Berkeley schools have complied; 76 have not. 

The district will vote to issue pink slips on April 5, giving employees a necessary 45-days notice of termination. This is a legal formality, however; at-risk para-professionals will have until the end of June to come into compliance. 

Ann Graybeal of the Berkeley Council of Classified Employees, which represents the district’s para-professionals, said she “absolutely” believes many employees will not be able to meet the deadline. 

“Of course we are very concerned about that because the federal and state mandates state that if you can’t comply that you’re subject to layoffs,” she said.  

The school district claims it has monitored the progress of employees, sent out myriad warning letters and scheduled paid classes in math and English writing and test-taking skills to help para-professionals meet the requirements. 

Those efforts, which are paid for by Title II federal funds, have fallen short, Graybeal said.  

The council tried to negotiate an additional evaluation-based option for coming into compliance that would keep in mind the special circumstances of veteran employees, but the district rejected that option, Graybeal said. 

A district administrator said the options are set by the No Child Left Behind legislation, and the district has no jurisdiction to grant such concessions. 

Hosanna Kitzenberger, a reading resources specialist for Malcom X and John Muir elementary schools, has worked in the Berkeley school district for 12 years. With just three to four years to go until retirement, she said she refuses to go back to school or take a test. She thinks the district should look at her annual evaluations—which are practically perfect, she said—if it wants to get a feel for her qualifications.  

“I’m not taking any test,” she said. “I know how good I am.” 

The Berkeley Board of Education will hear a presentation on the No Child Left Behind requirements at its regularly scheduled meeting tomorrow, 7:30 p.m., in the Council Chambers at 2314 Martin Luther King Jr. Way.  

›

The message of this year’s annual Muslim Awareness Week was even more urgent than in previous years. 

On Friday, more than 200 Muslims, a few non-Muslims, and some media came to UC Berkeley’s Pauley Ballroom for Jum’uah—prayers that mark the end of the week. It was the final event of Muslim Awareness Week, which had included lectures on Malcolm X, women in Islam and Palestine. 

“There’s a negative image (of Muslims) in the media with the issue of the Danish cartoons,” said Bushra Ahmed, as she waited with friends for the prayer service to begin. “They were hateful, violent images.” 

Still, the violent reactions to printing the cartoons cannot be excused, said Rami Bailowy. They were “over the top.” 

The community gathering was also a time for the diverse group of Muslims at UC Berkeley to come together—they were bearded and clean shaven, veiled and not (though all women wear veils during prayers). Those who stood with hands open in prayer and then bowed their foreheads to the ground were people reflecting many races and countries of origin, from the Middle East, to the Far East and including the United States. 

UC Berkeley lecturer Hatem Bazian led the prayers and delivered a sermon that seemed directed more to the visitors and media than to those in prayer. He called for greater understanding and urged people not to collapse the notion of Muslims, Islam and the prophet Mohammed. He said: “Muslims are humans, afflicted with all kinds of spiritual diseases.”  

Bazian said he could write books critical of Muslims, but those would not reflect on Islam, but on human frailty. 

“Look at us as humans,” he said. “Don’t think you are better than us, or that we are better than you—we are struggling like you.” 

And he talked about the Prophet Mohammed. 

Islam “is not a cult of personality,” he said. “(Mohammed) is a human being and a prophet, a perfect human being.”  

Despite reports that the Albany Waterfront Coalition (AWC) plans a counter-intitiative to oppose a ballot measure being circulated by environmentalists to block a proposed shopping mall at Golden Gate Fields, no such proposal is in the works, says the group’s spokesperson. 

Architect Howard McNenny, a former member of the city’s Waterfront Committee and a 33-year Albany resident, said there are no plans to offer a counter-measure to the Albany Shoreline Protection Initiative that a group of environmentalists plans to start circulation next week.  

Albany City Attorney Robert J. Zweben told the Daily Planet last week that he had heard the McNenny and his group were planning a counter-proposal for voters. 

The environmentalists’ November ballot initiative would impose a moratorium on development at the track’s northern waterfront parking lot where Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso and Magna Entertainment are proposing to build an upscale, open-air shopping mall. 

Citizens for the Albany Shoreline (CAS) filed notice of their intent to circulate the petition last week in hopes of qualifying the measure for the November ballot. 

The CAS proposal would impact all proposed waterfront developments on land not owned by the city—and the sole private landowner is Golden Gate Fields, which is owned by Magna Entertainment, a Canadian firm. 

›

Simulated gun, real heist 

A young fellow professing to be carrying a piece in his pocket robbed a 24-year-old Berkeley woman of the laptop computer she was carrying as she walked along the 2500 block of Telegraph Avenue early last Wednesday. 

The victim was approached as she neared the corner of Dwight Way just before 6:30 a.m., and rather than find out if that really was a pistol in his pocket, she decided to hand over the black bag containing her computer.  

Strange robbery 

A 17-year-old Berkeley man was robbed of his car keys in a strange robbery that occurred in the 1400 block of Oregon Street shortly before 11 p.m. Wednesday.  

Berkeley police spokesperson Officer Ed Galvan said the young man was approached by a gunman who was the oldest of a trio of occupants in a red car. 

The man pointed a pistol at him and demanded his car keys. When the youth complied, the gunman warned him that if he called police, they would come back and steal his car. 

The young man called police, but the trio—which consisted of a gunman in his thirties who was accompanied by two other men a decade or so younger—was gone when police arrived. 

Dumb robbery 

Despite the ski mask, the puffy jacket and the baggy jeans, the 21-year-old resident of a home in the 2600 block of Piedmont Avenue was still able to identify the fellow who robbed him of his wallet and $5 in cash as his former roomie. 

Partner abuse 

An early Thursday morning call to a home in the 1600 block of Fairview Street ended in the arrest of a 52-year-old man on suspicion of spousal abuse, false imprisonment, resisting arrest and possession of drug paraphernalia. 

Police were called to the home at 2:35 a.m. and arrived to find the front door locked. After the suspect refused them entry, officers forced their way in, subdued the suspect and took him away to the county jail at Santa Rita. 

After an examination by paramedics, the man’s partner—a 30-year-old woman he had attempted to choke—declined further medical aid. 

Golden Gate felons 

Police recovered two stolen cars from Golden Gate Fields early Thursday morning, the first being a BMW stolen from the 2100 block of McKinley Avenue in Berkeley and the second a Toyota Camry stolen in Oakland. 

Guns stolen 

Police suspect a former tenant was the culprit who stole two handguns and a straight razor from a residence in the 2900 block of Harper Street. 

Officer Galvan said the crime, which apparently took place on Feb. 28, was reported to police two days later. 

Entry was apparently effected by means of a key, which is what led to suspicions about the former tenant, who apparently knew where the weapons were kept. 

Close call 

The sounds of someone jiggling the lock of her front door alarmed a South Berkeley woman late Thursday evening, and when she went to look, she saw a previously unknown bald man in a black coat trying to unlock her door. 

Catching sight of the resident within, the would-be intruder bolted, then headed toward a neighbor’s house where he leapt the fence and landed out of sight.  

A prompt response by police ended with the apprehension of a 32-year-old suspect who turned out to be in possession of keys belonging to the woman’s daughter, who had lost them a week earlier. 

The suspect was booked on suspicion of burglary, possession of stolen property (the keys), resisting arrest, vandalism and loitering. 

Smash and carry 

A window-smashing car clouter hit at least four vehicles in the south-of-campus area Friday afternoon. 

The first call came at 5:19 p.m., when officers were summoned to the 2400 block of Haste Street by a caller who said that a “gypsy trader” had made off with a bag of clothes after smashing a car window. 

Nine minutes later, officers were summoned to the 2500 block of Dwight Way, when a car window smash had resulted in the theft of a radio. 

Another 12 minutes and officers were called back to the 2400 block of Haste, where a window smash had resulted in a harvest of CDs. 

The next call came 22 minutes later, when officers were called to the 2300 block of Harper Street, where the window-smasher had collected a briefcase with checks and some luggage. 

The suspect remains at large. 

Despite the patrician heritage and the family fortune, Otis Chandler liked to come off as an ordinary guy. But he wasn’t, and that’s why he’ll be missed. 

He died a cruel death. The Lewy body disease that killed him combines the worst features of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, combined with vivid visual hallucinations. 

When I met Chandler, I was a 31-year-old reporter for the Santa Monica Evening Outlook, a great little daily newspaper that has since gone the way of so many suburban dailies—swallowed up by a chain and then killed off, leaving a community without a vital voice and watchdog. 

Chandler, a robust and craggily handsome 50, was publisher of the Los Angeles Times, a paper which then boasted 1,045,000 subscribers (cracking the million mark had been his long-time dream). He was also launching a San Diego edition that was central to another dream—to make the Times the paper of record for all of Southern California. 

The story that brought me to his office was a look at the newspaper war then shaping up, and at the key players—the editors and publishers of the three metropolitan Los Angeles dailies. 

The long-moribund Valley News and Greensheet, a free “throwaway” based in the San Fernando Valley, had recently been sold and was being retooled as the subscription-based Los Angeles Daily News, mounting a challenge to Chandler’s Times and the Hearst Corporation’s Los Angeles Herald-Examiner. 

The Daily News was a Tribune Co. newspaper, named after their flagship, the Chicago Tribune, and the firm had brought in as publisher Scott Schmidt, a former Tribune managing editor, along with a too-genial editor, former Baltimore Sun West Coast Bureau Chief Bruce Winters, to run the rechristened ship. 

The Her-Ex, as newsies called the Hearst paper, was dying, though the family-owned corporation had imported publisher Francis Dale, the Bible-quoting former head of CREEP—the Committee to Re-Elect the President which had run Tricky Dick’s second term run six years earlier—and a legendary editor, Jim Bellows, a former Times editor who had been hired away from the dying Washington Star. 

Bill Thomas was editing the Times, a skilled but somewhat unimpressive administrator. 

But it was Chandler who fascinated me. 

Of the three publishers, he was the only owner, the heir of a family dynasty with a checkered and sometimes bloody past. 

The Otis-Chandler dynasty had enriched itself by lies, deception and union-busting, and had planned and conducted with the California Chamber of Commerce the infamous program of false stories, deceitful movie theater ads and other propaganda—hailed as the birth of the modern media campaign—which defeated Upton Sinclair’s 1934 run for the California governorship. 

The Otis era 

The paper was a reactionary mess when a young Otis Chandler took the helm in 1960, languishing from the 16-year reign of his father, Norman, whose reactionary politics and their impact on the news pages had ensured that the paper gained little respect in media circles. 

Otis himself was regarded as a joke by many in the newsroom when he took the helm after a brief apprenticeship. (One Times reporter told me that during Chandler’s term as apprentice reporter, the heir had invited him to lunch. Expecting white linen and heavy plate at someplace like Perrino’s or the Brown Derby, the hapless scribe was taken instead to Tommy’s, a hamburger joint with seating on battered outside picnic tables.) Chandler was also noted for taking time off whenever the surf was up. 

But installed at the helm, Chandler took his job seriously, and he set out to make his paper a respected national institution. He took a big step two years later when he teamed up with the Washington Post to form a news syndicate, and he opened bureaus across the globe. 

He declared his independence two years later by approving a devastating series on the John Birch Society, a Paleolithic conspiracy-minded group that thought Ike was a commie and which had been favored under the Norman Chandler regime (his sister-in-law was a member).  

While Chandler remained a Republican, he opened the editorial pages to starkly contrasting views, embodied in the hiring of Pulitzer-winning Paul Conrad as editorial cartoonist. 

He was also legendary for flying reporters first class in those days when the curtain separating the front of the plane from the back was a basic class barrier. His theory: That reporters would find sources in their seat-mates, the sort of folk they otherwise might not get to corner for the long hours it took to make a cross-country or trans-oceanic flight. 

Close encounter 

When Chandler received me in his office, he’d been running the paper for 18 years. 

The scene was impressive, and carefully staged. 

His desk was a massive oak plane mounted on a spayed chrome pedestal. A visitor who sat before him was treated to three walls of photos of Chandlers, Otises and Buffums (his wife’s family), with most of the contemporary shots taken on safaris and other hunting trips. 

Behind him and to his right were shots of his Montana hunting lodge, including a well-lit photo that displayed the stuffed and rearing polar bear that stood watch over the fireplace and the countless glass-eyed mounted animal heads that sprouted from the walls. 

But all that was for visitors to see, so I angled my chair to get a look at what he beheld from behind that majestic desk. 

There were only two things. Atop a credenza behind me was an angled row of framed photos of magnificently restored antique cars, his second greatest passion after surfing—I recognized a Duesenberg and a Pierce Arrow in my quick survey. 

And on the far wall, directly facing him, was an incongruously utilitarian map of Southern California, the realm he was intent on conquering. 

I asked the obvious questions I needed for my story, but there was another one I just had to ask. . . 

Candid revelation 

“You’re obviously a man of great wealth and power, and you were born into it. Do you ever worry that you might be out of touch with the great majority of your readers who have to worry about things like whether their next paycheck is going to cover their bills?” 

He stopped, furrowed his brow and stared at me for a moment before the brows relaxed again. “That’s a really good question.” He was silent for another few seconds, then nodded. 

“It’s fairly simple to explain. I have the kind of personality such that I may associate with the important, the wealthy and the notorious, but also others. 

“I have divided my schedule between the business, family and social commitments—and then there is the other side, my hobbies. 

“I enjoy and like to get out with the masses and associate with them. I have some good friends who are in the middle class, including small businessmen. 

“Also, I am a hunter and a fisher, and I have Porsches which I like to race, and I like to ride my dirt bike in the desert and I like to surf. Most of the time when I’m doing these things, people don’t know who I am. 

“I have the kind of personality that lets me go back and forth between several worlds. For example, when I go dirt-bike riding in the desert with my son and at the end of the day we go into a bar with 20 or 30 other bikers and we are all dirty, hot and want a beer. They don’t know I’m Otis Chandler, publisher of the Los Angeles Times.” 

I quoted it all, and the day after my article came out, the quotes went up on newspaper bulletin boards all over L.A. 

Warts and all 

Yes, he was painfully naive. The middle class doesn’t race Porsches or go on safari to hunt elands and gemsbok. 

But Chandler tried, and what’s more, he did it well. 

Yes, his Times was flawed. There was a lot in L.A. they ignored, including many issues confronting the poor and the isolated. 

The paper also ignored organized crime in Southern California, which was one of my own beats at the time. 

According to what an old Times editor told me, mob lawyer Sidney Korshak had arranged with Chandler’s old man to raise the funds to build the Los Angeles Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion—named for Otis’s mother—if he’d keep the names of Korshak and his pals out of the news pages. 

The mob lawyer’s pals had the wherewithal to raise the bucks. 

The only place Korshak’s name appeared was in the society pages, because the man’s parties were the most legendary in Hollywood. Times columnist Joyce Haber even coined a phrase to describe the attendees, a term that has since passed into everyday usage—the A-List. 

Chandler’s San Diego edition failed, and the paper never became the regional giant he’d hoped. Helen Copley’s reactionary papers in San Diego easily weathered the assault, and the even-more-reactionary Santa Ana (later Orange County) Register thrived despite Chandler’s launching of an Orange County edition of the Times.  

But under Chandler’s regime, the Times became as great a paper as the West Coast has ever seen or is ever likely to see. He had, after all, a real conscience, and with it a sense of noblesse oblige. 

He had transformed the Times from a regional joke into a national force. 

He stepped down in 1980, two years after our conversation, and the paper passed into the hands of professional managers who began downsizing and cost-cutting. 

The Herald-Examiner died nine years later, and the Daily News remained basically a San Fernando Valley paper, leaving the Times as the only metro daily in a region where many suburban dailies were dead or dying. 

The worst came after 1995, when the board brought in former General Mills chairman Mark Willes to run things. 

Dubbed “the cereal killer,” Willes radically downsized the newsroom and ultimately disgraced the paper in 1997 when he struck a deal with the Staples Center that breached the Chinese Wall between advertising and editorial. 

Chandler, then 69, emerged from retirement to issue a scathing indictment of Willes and the damage he’d done to the paper’s reputation. 

It was then he famously told Editor & Publisher’s Lucia Moses, “You can’t run a company based on Wall Street.” 

But he was wrong. 

Soon afterwards, a divided family put the paper up for sale. The buyer, in 2000, was the Tribune Company, a company that slavishly dances to Wall Street’s tune. 

Chandler died last week, and already I miss him.w

Hills home fire 

A suspicious fire caused more than $80,000 in structural damage to a home at 1154 Keeler Ave. in the Berkeley hills Saturday night. 

Deputy Fire Chief David P. Orth declined to comment on the specifics of what has led investigators to suspect an arsonist caused the blaze. 

“It’s still under active investigation,” he said. 

Fortunately for the homeowner, Berkeley Fire Department Station 7 is located just a few hundred feet away, allowing engines to respond within moments of the 9:24 p.m. calls, said Orth. 

“They had it under control within 10 minutes,” he said. The blaze apparently began in a storage area under the carport. 

In addition to the structural damage, the flames also did about $5,000 in damage to the home’s contents, Orth said.

BANGKOK—Catherine Deneuve, grand dame of world cinema, sat serenely on stage at the International Bangkok Film Festival recently and declared her admiration for Asian films thusly: “I think Brokeback Mountain is something special.”  

Though she also mentioned several Asian films actually made in Asia like Shohei Imamura’s The Eel, what I liked about her declaration was the cross cultural ease with which she imagined what would constitute an Asian movie. The movie about American gay cowboys directed by a Taiwanese-American director—Oscar winner Ang Lee—is somehow as much part of the Asian sphere these days as, say, a Japanese movie from Japan.  

Indeed something as facile as Deneuve’s open-ended definition is happening here, too, in Asia as the various forms of Asian popular cultures are crossing borders as easily as the bird flu. Pan-Asianism, that is to say, is on the rise. Once more. 

Let me explain: Pan-Asia was first a dream of 19th century Japan after the defeat of Russia in the Russo-Japanese war. It imagined Asia as one, a continuous land, its people interconnected. That idea was resuscitated by Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore a century later, during the rise of Asian economic powers in the post-Cold War era. While Lee spurred the phrase “Asian Values,” nearby Malaysia’s leader, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, came up with a similar “Look East Policy.”  

But those ideas had been more or less top down and largely ideological—a regional chauvinistic reaction to its colonial past and a need to assert its new-found prowess against Western influences.  

What is happening now a generation later, however, is much more organic, and solidly on the cultural ground—and hardly anti-West.  

American cultural influences remain strong here, but so increasingly do Korean soap operas, pop singers and movies, Japanese mangas and cuisines, and as has been traditionally, Hong Kong kung fu films. And collaboration between the various entertainment nodes in Asia and Hollywood is happening at a faster pace.  

Nowhere is that more self-evident than in the world of cinema. “Today,” notes Christina Klein, writing for Yale Global, “the notion of a distinctly American or Chinese or Indian cinema is breaking down, as film industries around the world become increasingly integrated with one another in ways that make them simultaneously more global and more local.”  

Memoirs of a Geisha, for instance, is an American production but with an all-Asian cast. The same for Ang Lee’s Mandarin-speaking martial arts film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. 

Invisible Waves, a Thai production which opened the Bangkok International Film Festival, on the other hand, is as Pan-Asian as it can be. A movie which takes place in Macau, Thailand, and Hong Kong, with a cast and crew from Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand and Korea, it deals with the question of Karma. Directed by Thai director Pen-ek Ratanaruang, and starring Japanese actor Asano Tadanobu, it eludes any national identity. Instead, as its famous cinematographer, Australian-born Christopher Doyle, whose string of well-known movies include Happy Together and Chungking Express, giddily declared, “despite my skin, I am Asian.”  

Indeed, if this region was a couple of decades ago separated from each other by the Cold War’s bamboo curtains, these days collaboration across the borders and oceans has become the norm. We are witnessing Chinese movies being filmed in United States, Vietnamese films made in Thailand, and American movies made in China, Vietnam and everywhere else. Crossing-over is not only the norm for many local films, but the aim of many aspiring film makers.  

Pan-Asianism was originally the vision of the unified East as separate from the West, but it must now be redefined in its full global implications, which, in terms of movies, includes Hollywood. 

“A handful of Hollywood executives are scouring in this region [East Asia] for film ideas,” said Monica Edwards, a Hollywood film producer and the author of the book I Liked It, Didn’t Love It, on how to pitch a film script. “The Korean market has produced great films made into English language films.” 

Bollywood inspires American films like The Guru and infuse Moulin Rouge. Japanese movies prompt remakes like The Ring or Shall We Dance?, and Japanese manga inspired The Matrix, just to cite a few examples.  

As local Asian films have become more sophisticated and popular, Hollywood too is propping up local studios in Asia, creating special divisions to produce and distribute in-language films to local audiences.  

Even that ground-breaking filmmaker Quentin Tarantino is very much part of the Pan-Asia sphere. While his previous movies like Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill I & II may pay homage to Chinese kung fu movies, now he’s gone one step further: he’s making a kung fu movie entirely in ancient Mandarin to be filmed in China.  

A decade or so ago, Singaporean pop star Dick Poon prophesied the new phenomenon of Pan-Asianism in his song: “Our separate lands are one from now on/ We are Asians/ We sing in one voice, and we sing in one song.” In the new Pan-Asia the song may have to be revised a bit: “We are Asians. We sing in many voices. And we sing in many songs.”  

?

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez declares that his country is in the forefront of a new “Bolivarian revolution” sweeping Latin America. 

Just what defines a “Bolivarian revolution” is debatable. The Venezuelan leader and his counterparts elected in recent years in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay and Uruguay are called “leftists,” “socialists” and/or “populists.” Nationalist rhetoric against the policies of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank is commonly heard. But the amount of action to back up the words varies widely, and the recently elected “socialist” president of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, announced even before taking office that she is in accord with the Bush plan for a hemisphere trade pact. 

President Chavez’s invocation of Simon Bolivar suggests the nature of the Latin movement. Bolivar was a Venezuelan intellectual imbued with the 1789 French spirit of “liberty, equality, and fraternity,” who returned to Venezuela from living in Paris to lead the army of liberation from Spanish colonial rule. 

Across Latin America, the independence wars of the 1810-1830 era were fought in opposition to king and aristocracy and in favor of bourgeois republican institutions. Latin revolutionaries abolished royal monopolies and other economic restrictions while taxing to fund schools, roads, ports, and other props for commerce, such as public mule corrals. 

After Mexican independence the sleepy fishing villages of Tampico, Manzanillo and Mazatlan were dredged to become ports, and a road fit for carriages was finally constructed through the mountains from Veracruz to the capital. 

Today’s radicals tackle the issue of “economic infrastructure” through Chavez’s new program, ALBA, “Alternative Bolivariana para las Americas,” which promotes new public economic ventures while acting to protect from privatization entities which in many cases date back to the original Bolivarians. 

The Chavez revolution involves a political restructuring. His election ended a near century of presidential musical chairs between two parties beholden to the traditional Venezuelan elite; and new president Tabare Vazquez of Uruguay ended a similar dual party monopoly that had lasted 180 years. 

Fierce internal opposition to both Bolivarian revolutions has come from agents of the old inbred, sheltered European-looking elite of the mansions and great haciendas. When the independence era revolutionary, Lorenzo de Zavala, wrote that the class divide in his Mexico was more sharp and bitter than in Europe, he could have been writing from any number of Latin American countries. Outside the tall mansion doors, then and now, is an enormous mostly colored majority. 

Bolivarians are militants from those outside who have seen that a 51 percent vote meant political power. Hugo Chavez, the son of school teachers, calls himself Venezuela’s first “African President,” and first “Indigenous President.” One parent was a “zambo” (African-Indigenous), the other a “mestizo” (Spanish-Indigenous). 

The other new leaders include, President Nestor Kirchner of Argentina—his father was a postal worker in impoverished Patagonia; President Evo Morales of Bolivia, an Ayamra Indigenous coca farmer raised in poverty dire enough for the family to be migrant workers in Argentina; Luis Lula da Silva of Brazil was born of modest means in Pernambuco, one of the nation’s most poverty-stricken and most African states. 

Nicanor Duarte Frutos of Paraguay has mostly Indigenous heritage and came “from a humble peasant background.” He campaigned against the IMF privatization plans for his country, but analysts expected him to follow the Washington line because he was from the decades-old Colorado Party. However, once in office he broke Paraguay’s tradition of voting in the U.N. with the United States on Cuba resolutions, and he added insult to injury by inviting in Cuban doctors to help the struggling Paraguayan medical system. Two presidents of middle-class background are oncologist Vazquez of Uruguay and pediatrician Bachelet of Chile. 

The non-elite roots in the current Latin leadership echoes that of the revolutionaries against Spain. Mexico’s three independence army leaders presently honored with states in their name are mule driver Vicente Guerrero (African-Indigenous), the mule driver-turned priest, Jose Maria Morelos (African-Indigenous), and the smalltown priest Miguel Hidalgo (basically European, but from a family of farmers). 

Ironically, the 1810 national leader closest to the elite was Bolivar, whose family owned much land. But then census records show he had a mulatto grandmother. During the liberation wars he strove to be a man of the people, as in sleeping in hammocks rather than beds. 

Another European-traveled, French revolution-inspired South American independence fighter with African heritage was Argentina’s first president, the medical doctor Bernadino Rivadavia. His political enemies called him “Dr. Chocolate.” The founding father of Uruguay was the “gaucho” Jose Artigas. The elite considered gauchos low and disreputable. The first two presidents of Paraguay had African ancestry, Carlos Antonio Lopez and his son Francisco Solano Lopez. 

Education was and is again a “Bolivarian” issue. Hugo Chavez has arranged the creation of over three thousand public schools in his country; and President Evo Morales halved his salary upon taking office so he could employ more teachers. 

Among original “Bolivarians” to promote public education was Carlos Antonio Lopez, who is credited with land reform and launching public education in Paraguay. Argentina’s Dr. Rivadavia was a strong advocate of public schooling. 

In 1829 the Guatemalan radical, Jose del Valle, published a series of articles on the value of national funding of education, noting that throughout central Europe it was when the armies of Napoleon passed through that the country began public schooling. 

Del Valle declared that the example from Europe showed that “a successful nation cannot leave its citizens deaf and dumb, without value or aptitude to acquire a useful trade, and it is education that provides the aptitude to acquire skills and social value.” 

Two of Del Valle’s articles were on the need for women’s education. 

Del Valle wanted his country to follow through on bright promises made a few years earlier. In 1824 the Central American Federation declared that the nations of the federation should institute a system of public schooling. 

By the 1830s Central American nations and Mexico had adopted from England the “Lancaster” system of mass education, which was also adopted in parts of the United States at this time under pressure of “Jacksonian democrats.” 

The independence era was noted for the revolutionary innovation of the public hospital. Now, Hugo Chavez greatly expands medical coverage for his people. An important assist comes from a few hundred Cuban doctors who administer to people of the barrios who previously had virtually no medical care.  

Chavez talks of the need for racial equality in the new Venezuela, as does Lula da Silva for Brazil, who has made a number of trips to Africa to further cultural and economic ties with his country. Politics in the independence era were laced with declarations of equality between the races. 

“All inhabitants ... without distinction to their being Europeans, Africans or Indians are citizens with the option to seek all employment according to their merits and virtues,” read a clause in Mexico’s 1821 independence war peace plan. 

The French Revolution vision of equality permeated the Americas. One French Revolution poster was a painting depicting mother liberty suckling a baby on each breast, one black, one white (she was white). 

Although French militants called for the abolition of slavery, implementation in French colonies was lacking. Abolition in Haiti required the black troops of Toussaint L’Ouverture charging out of the mountains singing “La Marseillaise.” Historians write of French troops being angry and demoralized over the black slave enemy using their song of freedom. 

Simon Bolivar sought refuge in free Haiti in 1816 after a setback in Venezuela in his fight with the Spaniards. Haitian president Alejandre Petion promised Bolivar support in cash and arms if Bolivar promised in return to abolish slavery in Venezuela. 

A few years later Bolivar followed through on the promise, but after his revolution was crushed in Venezuela in 1830, slavery was temporarily reinstituted in that country. Other nations successfully seized the independence spirit to abolish the heinous institution for good: Chile in 1812, Argentina in 1813, Central America in 1824, Mexico in 1829, Bolivia in 1831. 

Making peasants into land owners was a feature of the revolution in France. In Latin America, informal seizure by peasants of land abandoned by fleeing Spaniards was common. However, over the following century conservative governments saw to it that the peasants lost far more land than they had expropriated. Now new “Bolivarians” arise. 

The government of Hugo Chavez is distributing land to rural peasantry, and in a move watched throughout Latin America, the government has empowered the residents of the sprawling barrios of shacks and shanties of Caracas and other cities to legally draw up deeds of individual family ownership. 

Legal possession is declared upon display of proof that the old owner has not, in a reasonable time, made an effort to use the land. Neighborhood barrio organizations take testimony about the owner’s land use or lack thereof. Poor people by the thousands have become homeowners. Complaints from old owners are few for the plots on steep hillsides or in ravines, but friction has been noted in land title switches in some better located barrios. 

The Bolivarian experiment in Venezuela is more talk than substance in the opinion of a few Marxist analysts. The journal El Militante laments that Venezuelans seem to lack the will to expropriate factories and the oil industry and thus directly challenge capitalist power.  

Critics to the left of Hugo Chavez wonder what he has in mind when he speaks of a socialism for the new millennium. He himself is probably not sure what it means, other than updating and consummating the short-circuited original “Bolivarian revolution.” 

Can the second Bolivarian movement succeed? The first one suffered from assorted economic reprisals against the new governments. Mexico’s profitable silver production, for instance, was cut to a trickle by a European boycott of sale to Mexico of mercury, an element essential to silver smelting. 

Today, economic reprisals from Washington are a well-known threat. Assassination was a problem for the first Bolivarians. Guerrero was a victim, and Bolivar withdrew from politics after an attempt on his life, which came while factionalism was ending his dream of a continent-wide republic. 

John Perkins, author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, explained from his knowledge as an undercover U.S. agent that political assassinations of Latin American leaders has been a feature of the political landscape in recent years, although often reported as accidents, such as airplane crashes. 

Interviewed on KPFA, Perkins explained the “fear factor” with the example of ex-President Lucio Gutierrez of Ecuador. In 2003 Gutierrez was an army officer assigned to crush a mass demonstration of Indigenous who were angry at IMF policies. Gutierrez refused his orders, became a folk hero, and was elected president.  

Perkins states that Gutierrez was then “visited” and, essentially, given two choices: tow the line or experience bad things for him and his family. Within a few months the Ecuadorian poor were calling Gutierrez the “Bush puppet.” Riots forced him out of office last year. 

From Panama comes President Martin Torrijos, a new Bolivarian who apparently will not be intimidated, although he could be excused if he was. Martin’s father, Omar, was Panama’s leader who bucked Washington in the 1970s and died in a plane crash caused by a bomb on board, according to Perkins and others. 

Nevertheless, Torrijos declared in his inaugural address this past year that his first acts would include reestablishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba,and moves to strengthen relations with “the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.” 

ª

Lately we’ve been privileged to get some short letters from Pat Cody, someone who has always been in the forefront of doing what needs to be done around here. She founded Cody’s Books with her husband Fred, the first bookstore in the Bay Area if not in the country to feature quality paperback books and to stay open for those of us who needed a reading fix late at night. My memory is that the original Cody’s, on the north side of campus, was open 24 hours a day, but that might be an exaggeration. 

Later Pat founded DES Action, a non-profit organization dedicated to informing the public about the dangers of DES (diethylstilbestrol) when taken during pregnancy, and to helping DES-exposed individuals. It’s had international impact.  

Pat’s always been a pioneer, always two steps ahead of everyone else identifying needs and filling them. Now she’s going boldly towards old age, and in the process creating a road map for those of us who hope to follow her there with pointers on what we’re all going to need as we get older. A February letter to the Planet commented that among the deficiencies of the Adeline post office was a lack of seats for older patrons: “South Berkeley has NO numbers system and only ONE chair. Many of the patrons are elderly and will appreciate bringing the station up to date with a numbers system and more chairs.”  

This week she’s sent a similar suggestion: “Many of us elders walk daily for our health and for errands, as we no longer drive. I want to advocate more resting stops, like the ones found at bus stops, but scattered through neighborhoods where buses do not go. Lack of such benches keeps many elders virtually housebound.” 

A place to sit and rest—it’s a simple thing, but much missed if it’s not there when it’s needed. If we’re ever going to be able to give people a real option of getting around without cars, we need to make sure that public places are accommodating for pedestrians whose mobility is limited. 

It’s not just old folks, either. I had a knee injury a few years ago, and was unable to stand for very long even though I could walk pretty well, and it seriously limited my activities. Much of Berkeley is designed for the convenience of people in two wildly disparate categories, bicycle riders and wheelchair users, but there are a lot of folks in between, and their needs are seldom considered.  

In one of the many expensive and pointless remodels of the downtown streetscape a few years ago, some seats were even removed, and others made more uncomfortable, with the stated objective of making it harder for homeless people to hang out there. And also for the rest of us, of course. (The re-done Union Square in San Francisco is the ugliest recent example of this inhospitable theory.)  

Would it be possible to convince whoever makes the decisions about Berkeley streetscapes to install a few benches in our walking neighborhoods? It seems highly unlikely, since the main priority of civic spending these days seems to be bigger and better pensions for civil servants. What if the benches were donated? Would the city allow them to be installed on the strips between the sidewalk and the curb? For a few years there was an inexpensive park bench cemented in next to a bus stop on Ashby near Telegraph, clearly donated by the residents for the convenience of bus riders, but now it’s gone. Did The Authorities make them take it out?  

Here’s a radical idea: What if homeowners and tenants just put benches in our own front yards and invited passers-by to sit down when they needed to? Benches in public places, especially in England, often bear commemorative plaques; this would be a fine way of honoring the memory of departed friends. The East Bay has quite a few local merchants who sell nice garden furniture: Each of these might be persuaded to designate a sturdy, inexpensive model from their stock as an appropriate bench for front yards. (Sadly, these would probably have to be very heavy or else chained down—we put an old metal garden bench in our front yard once and it eventually wandered off.)  

We could start, for example, with the Norine Smith Memorial Bench, to honor another woman who walked everywhere and was never afraid to tackle whatever needed to be done. A do-it-ourselves plan like this one seems much more likely to succeed than any campaign to persuade city mothers and fathers that they should install some seats along our sidewalks. This is an administration, don’t forget, which thought that what the venerable, genteel and cozy Le Bateau Ivre Restaurant on Telegraph really needed was some motorcycle parking spaces out front. We can do better than that on our own. Let’s get on it. 

—

The quasi-political operatives in the Berkeley mayor’s office placed their final salvo against Berkeley’s Landmarks Preservation Ordinance on the Internet on Friday night. For those who are interested, it can be found in the quaintly named Bates Update Update section of the city’s website. With attachments and appendixes, it’s much too long for citizens to read and comment on before the City Council votes tonight (Tuesday) to adopt it in principle; and anyway, rumor has it that Bates has the votes to do whatever he wants. City Hall insiders say that Capitelli, Anderson, Wozniak, Moore and Maio are in the bag. Doughty veteran Betty Olds is a long-time environmentalist and her own woman, so she might cast an independent vote at the last minute. Kriss Worthington and Dona Spring are the conscience of the council, though he sometimes votes with the majority if he knows his side is going down anyhow. She’s a tiger who votes her principles to the end.  

Why, exactly, do the six probable yes-voters want to gut the LPO? For those who have only the public record on which to base an analysis, it’s hard to understand. In an immortal tactic favored by politicians from Sacramento to Washington, the mayoral memo led off with five “areas of general consensus,” at least two of which are no such thing, if you rely only on what was said at the recent public hearing on the proposal to change the ordinance. And it gets worse after that. The big question: How does the Bates staff know what the consensus is?  

At the hearing, 41 of 47 speakers spoke in favor of retaining the protections in the current ordinance. The remaining speakers all had oars in the water of one kind or other—one was the attorney who fronts for most builders at the Zoning Adjustments Board. Thinking that perhaps “the other side” had submitted their opinions in written form, since they didn’t show up at the hearings, the Daily Planet made a California Public Records Act request for written materials relating to the proposed LPO revisions. We received a pitiful handful of documents, almost all communications from opponents of the changes, along with a letter saying that more documents had been withheld because of the “deliberative process exemption”—the California version of Nixonian executive privilege.  

This piqued the interest of the California First Amendment Coalition, an organization which believes that there is no such privilege: that deliberations of state and local government must be conducted in public, not behind closed doors. They put in their own request. This yielded a somewhat larger handful of papers: the same lengthy and intelligent arguments from opponents, along with just a couple of cryptic communications from the same two or three advocates for change who spoke at the public hearing.  

A cover letter to the CFAC, from Francisco DeVries, the mayor’s chief of staff, said that  

…upon learning what had been withheld, the Mayor reviewed the documents and e-mails received and determined that most of the individuals have publicly disclosed their opinions regarding the proposed Landmarks Preservations Ordinance. Thus the mayor then decided to exercise his discretion to release all communications he received from the public. 

This seems to mean that in written communications as well as in the public hearing citizen sentiment was overwhelmingly in favor of preserving the provisions of the current LPO. So why are the six prepared to vote for the mayor’s changes? The DeVries letter contains the key, for those who are able to read between the lines: 

We are … withholding four e-mails between the mayor and/or his staff and the personal handwritten notes by the mayor’s staff. These documents are exempt from disclosure … because they reflect the mayor’s deliberative process and the public interest in encouraging public officials to speak frankly and openly with their staff regarding pending matters outweighs the public interest in disclosure. 

You don’t have to have seen a recent re-run of All the President’s Men to realize that if the big-time condo builders want to lobby the mayor to get the LPO off their backs, they don’t need to write letters or show their faces at public hearings. Those “personal handwritten notes” might be records of the kind of face-to-face backroom deal-making that Bates brought with him from Sacramento—no paper trail, very clean. If we had the time and the budget, which we don’t, it might be interesting to ask for the mayor’s “sign-in sign-out” sheets (which are supposed to be public) and cross-reference them with the list of his campaign contributors and some of the major developers who have Berkeley in their sights. Of course, we still wouldn’t know for sure what they talked about.  

But let’s just take Cisco at his word: what’s been released is “all the communications” from the public. Like the speakers at the public hearing, the letter writers are overwhelmingly against the changes to the LPO. So why are the six councilmembers voting the other way? Why are they voting in clear opposition to all of the neighborhood organizations in their own districts who spoke?  

Here’s a little clue: In September of 2004 this space noted an invitation to a fundraising party for then council candidate Laurie Capitelli, which was mailed to us with an anonymous note calling it “the Developer’s Ball.” We said at the time: 

The venue was the office of former legislator and now lobbyist and consultant Dion Aroner, with co-hosts Mayor Bates and Assemblywoman Hancock. The other co-hosts were key players in Berkeley’s fat and sassy development industry: Norheim and Yost, commercial real estate brokers; Memar Properties, the new commercial vehicle for former non-profit developer Ali Kashani; Trachtenberg & Associates, architects; Hudson McDonald LLC, the new favored recipient of funding from powerhouse financier David Teece, also a funder of Patrick Kennedy; Miriam Ng, another real estate broker, and David Early, decision-maker for the Livable Berkeley pro-development lobbying organization. Mm-hmm. Looks like Berkeley’s headed for the soup for sure. 

And now, exactly as predicted, soup’s on. The Landmark Ordinance is being dismembered and tossed into the pot. Capitelli, now ensconced in a comfortable council seat, will probably vote against his neighborhood constituents and in favor of his contributors. Developers Hudson and McDonald have gotten their teeth into a horrendous project on University which will destroy adjacent neighborhoods. Early’s Livable Berkeley, right on cue, submitted one of only three letters pushing for LPO changes. The co-hosts at the Developer’s Ball are calling in their chits, and the public be damned. 

—

An article in the March 7 issue incorrectly stated that a Bus Rapid Transit line would transport passengers through Berkeley, Oakland and San Leandro in 12 minutes or less. The line will transport passengers with 12-minute headways or less, meaning that buses along the line will trail each other by no more than 12 minutes.

An article in the March 3 issue listed the wrong actor playing the role of King Lear in UC Berkeley’s Seven Lears. Joshua Forcum plays the role.

SWEATSHOP LABOR 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

What exactly is a sweatshop? Our college students’ aversion to sweat must apply only when the sweat results from productive labor, but not when it results from unproductive labor, as happens at the gym. Is the Cal Rec facility a sweatshop or not? The students want Cal merchandise produced in a “sweat-free” factory. What does that mean? Maybe they think everyone should sit comfortably at a computer terminal in an air-conditioned office, but that isn’t how clothes are made. 

As long as most of us keep demanding both low prices and high wages, U.S. factories will continue to close and move production to cheaper places. In most of those places one will find high temperatures, high population density, low wages and low employment rates. These features combine to motivate workers to work very fast and sweat. If they’re not sweating, we’re not saving money. It would be good if we could again produce most of our own clothing, but we probably won’t, and whoever does will sweat. They will have to. 

Paul Wooton 

Emeryville 

P.S. Great cover photo! 

• 

A PLACE TO REST 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Many of us elders walk daily for our health and for errands, as we no longer drive. I want to advocate more resting stops, like the ones found at bus stops, but scattered through neighborhoods where buses do not go. Lack of such benches keeps many elders virtually housebound. 

Pat Cody 

• 

DIEBOLD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I just found out that the secretary of state has certified the use of the entire Diebold line of voting machines in California despite the ample research findings that these machines are not reliable.  

As a 10-year resident of California, a low-income but high-bracket taxpayer, and an escapee from Ohio, the state Diebold makes its home, this action taken by the secretary of state is an affront to everything that I believe in and have supported in California. 

As a member of the Rules Committee Sen. Don Perata should subpoena the voting machine manufacturers, the ITA testers, and other relevant insiders. (For example: Diebold, ES&S, Sequoia, and Hart Intercivic; Ciber labs, Wyle labs, and the voting system examiners.) 

These folks are openly Republican, and, like other very well-known Republicans, have a habit of disregarding regulations with impunity. They should be required to testify under oath in response to questions put by the Senate Elections Committee.  

There are a lot of unanswered questions about voting machine programming, examination and certification, and these people need to be held to account to citizens and voters for their actions and decisions. 

California should be a trendsetter state, not an extension of the Bush administration’s Banana Republic. 

Heather Merriam 

• 

RAPID TRANSIT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Suzanne La Barre’s article on the forthcoming Bus Rapid Transit improvements says that “the line will speed through” three towns and 18 miles in 12 minutes—an average of 90 miles per hour, counting over 30 stops. Rapid indeed! 

At last we get some transit improvements that will make a real difference. But let’s hope the buses come equipped with seatbelts.  

Alan Tobey 

EDITOR’S NOTE: See correction, Page Two. 

• 

DOMESTIC TALIBAN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

South Dakota has passed a law outlawing most abortions for any reason. The governor stated he is doing this for the purpose of forcing a challenge to Roe. So now we know why President Bush lost interest in his war in Afghanistan. He’s planning to bring the Taliban to the United States. 

Jeff Paularino 

• 

SCIENTOLOGY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Hopefully this letter will get printed as the trickle of letters on this subject turns into a torrent. 

Two points about the matter of the Daily Planet accepting advertising from the “Church” of Scientology: 

First, the First Amendment issue: I recognize that this paper has the right to decide which advertising to accept. I also recognize that running ads for an organization doesn’t necessarily mean that the paper supports the aims of that organization. However, if Executive Editor Becky O’Malley has any doubt about whether refusing Scientology’s advertising might be seen as, or might in fact be, suppression of anyone’s freedom of religion, that doubt is very easily allayed. Because Scientology is not a religion. It says it’s a religion. It puts on airs as if it were a religion. It tries to assume the trappings of a religion. But it’s not; it’s a scam, perpetrated by a well-known science fiction writer with a bizarre imagination, and taken up zealously by his minions. 

By the way, please don’t take my word for any of this. One place you ought to look for starters is Wikipedia. Go there and look up their entry on “Xenu.” That’s right—just type this in and see what they have to say about this subject, which forms one of the core beliefs of this “religion.” Then decide for yourself whether this “church” ought to be accorded respect. (While you’re there at Wikipedia, there are lots more articles on the subject. I recommend reading them.) 

While you may think this is just a disagreement about whether people ought to be able to believe in whatever they want (in this case, space aliens—I kid you not), it’s much more than that. The Cult of Scientology is actually quite dangerous. One of the things imparted by their founder was a propensity to be absolutely vicious when attacked, and to attack their critics back harder. This is much different from a debate, say, over whether the Falun Gong ought to be allowed to march in the Chinese New Year parade. These people fight dirty. And yes, they are after your money. 

To sum: I won’t stop reading the paper even if they continue running Scientology ads. But if it were me, I’d pull that plug in a nanosecond with nary a pang of conscience. 

David Nebenzahl 

North Oakland 

• 

AWARDS AND MORE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

On the Academy Awards post-mortem, regarding the shameless baring of boobs to every eye in the place, plus the uncounted others across the globe: I guess they served the purpose of keeping the audience alert to a possible peek at some renegade nipple when the program waned. 

The whole business leads me to ask about the possibility of adding the Peek-a-Boobs award to the person sighting the first nipple of the evening. Other awards for successive sightings could follow along with one for the most daring cleavage not providing nipple sighting. 

There there are the men to consider, men in jock straps: Now there’s a bonanza for you. Oh, it could go on and on, and think how the ratings would go up. 

Dorothy V. Benson 

• 

ZEALOTS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

You have to ask yourself who are religious zealots and inquisitors going to target once they strike down Roe vs. Wade? It’s kind of a loaded question. We all know who these Biblical hypocrits have had their sights on. Are you now or have you ever been gay? 

Ron Lowe 

Nevada City 

• 

BERKELEY ZONING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

My 25-year-old software programmer nephew was visiting the other day. We were talking about the Berkeley economy, and when I told him about all the land zoned for light manufacturing, he cracked up laughing and almost fell to the floor. 

Your recent story about the proposed West Berkeley Bowl quotes one of your columnists, Zelda Bronstein, wondering whether the city is really committed to manufacturing and affordable living for artists. 

Given sky-high taxes and long-term budget woes, maybe the city would be better off commiting itself to supporting growing businesses that hire workers and pay taxes. 

If Berkeley can’t find a way to accommodate a popular organic grocery store, it’s hard to imagine that Berkeley is bound for anything other than declining 

prosperity. 

Tom Case 

• 

MORE ON RAPID TRANSIT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was pleased to see Rob Wrenn advocate for authentic citizen participation in development planning in Berkeley (“Brower Center, Ashby BART: A Right Way, A Wrong Way,” Feb. 28). Directly criticizing the way the city recently began the process of planning for the Ashby BART site, Mr. Wrenn argues that it is essential for such development plans to be “worked out in an extensive public process, not predetermined. There are many options to be considered. Let’s stand with Berkeley’s tradition of participatory democracy.” Elsewhere in his commentary, he lauds planning processes in which the public has “extensive and meaningful involvement.” It is clear that Mr. Wrenn holds this principle in very high regard.  

Therefore, I fully expect him to promote an extensive public process in considering the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) plan proposed by AC Transit (“Inter-City Rapid Bus Transit on the Fast Track,” March 7). In case you are not aware of this project, it would turn Telegraph Avenue—our last functioning north-south thoroughfare—into a road with one single lane in each direction. That is because one of the traffic lanes in each direction would be used for buses only at all times. In addition, Telegraph Avenue would become a virtual dead end for drivers where it reaches Dwight Way, because Telegraph from Dwight to Bancroft would be completely closed to automobile traffic. These proposed changes would dramatically increase traffic congestion on Telegraph, cause increased traffic flow into the neighborhoods adjacent to Telegraph, and result in substantial restrictions on motorists’ ability to enter and exit Telegraph Avenue due to turning restrictions. The BRT would also result in lane reductions on other streets because the buses need to travel on a route to connect with Berkeley’s downtown bus transit center. This proposal would have a dramatic impact on all residents and business owners throughout the Southside.  

Unfortunately, the public has been excluded from any meaningful involvement in the planning process for this major project. Knowing of Mr. Wrenn’s strong commitment to public participation, I anticipate that he will do everything he can to further an authentic public process to consider all of the implications of the BRT proposal as soon as possible. 

Doug Buckwald  

• 

PROGRESSIVE COALITION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Berkeley progressives are invited to plan a Coalition Convention for city elections.  

Berkeley’s progressive mission is to promote a more equitable economic and social life in our city and beyond, and to enhance social justice and democratic co-operation on every level. If this sounds like you, or your organization, then you are invited to help us plan at 2:45 p.m. Sunday, March 12 in the third-floor meeting room of the Berkeley Public Library at Kittredege Street and Shattuck Avenue. 

We will be planning two Coalition Conventions for Berkeley progressives for next November’s city election; first for platform and principles, and second for candidates. This is an opportunity to build a coalition which will include your priorities and those of your organization in its founding document. 

We can apply our progressive principles to every level of life; and we have been talking in our meetings so far about the following (alphabetically): 

Art; city planning and land use; economic development; disability; election reform; environment and ecology; ethnic and racial diversity; gay and lesbian concerns; health; homelessness and poverty; housing (affordable); labor; media; neighborhood and community; open public process; peace and international affiars; political clubs; public schools; religious life; seniors; women; university life.  

Yes, you’re right, you can’t talk about all of these in one session, and you can’t include it all in one platform (certainly not in the time we have available). But this list (and more) are what we mean when we talk about the progressive movement. If any of these are your passion, or the passion of your organization, then you are invited. Especially if you want to move in the direction of greater liberty, equality, justice and co-operation. Yes the words are old, but still unfulfilled. 

We have been talking about a Convention for Platform and Principles on the last weekend of April, and Candidate selection perhaps the next weekend. Both principles and candidates (and which city offices we contest) will be up to you and your organizations. We hope after March 12 that various groups may want to meet together according to type: ecology, students, neighborhood, etc., to work out common ideas. 

We expect that this convention and the following election will be only the beginning. Can we forge a progressive coalition which will further the goals of each individual and organization, and also enhance our ability to communicate and work for common ideals? It is up to all of us.  

Laurence Schectman 

Berkeley Coalition for a  

Progressive Convention  

• 

UNIFORM FOOD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Congress could vote as early as today (Wednesday, March 8), or very soon thereafter. This time, they are trying to vote in a bill titled “National Uniformity for Food Act.” My understanding is that they wish to stop labeling foods that contain allergy-inducing ingredients such as dairy, wheat, nuts, or other things, as well as not tell us whether a food is genetically modified. Guys, genetically modified foods are very very bad for the planet. Monsanto and the other corporate thugs-that-be aren’t telling us the full story on GM foods. We could be eating genetically modified foods at our favorite fast-food restaurants, or food bought at conventional big supermarkets like Safeway or Albertson’s. We may never know it! This is horrendous. I have food allergies which have very uncomfortable effects on me if I happen to accidentally ingest allergy-foods. So do many of us. Please call or e-mail your representatives and tell them to oppose HR 4167, the so-called “National Uniformity! for Food Act.”  

And kudos to the Berkeley Daily Planet for publishing online letters to the editor which can’t be printed in the paper edition. I am a very frequent and loyal reader of the Berkeley Daily Planet. You guys have exposed to me—and all of us—political corruptions that we may never have known about otherwise.  

Thanks, Becky O’Malley and everybody. 

Linda Smith 

• 

ALLEGORY OF THE SHIP 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The ship of state is adrift and sinking.  

One hundred and 17 years ago its architects designed a stout new hull, laminating civil liberty with due process to carry legislative, executive and judicial functions above a completely new creation called “balance of powers.”  

For over two centuries the ship made it through some severe storms—a war on board and attacks from abroad. To survive it was necessary from time to time to amend and renovate but on the whole the ship has served us passengers remarkably well—until now.  

At the controls the Bush/Cheney crew operates in secrecy in pursuit of global hegemony. Officers in the wheel house, against all reason, attend more to leaked revelations about their conduct than to leaks occurring in the hull of the ship itself.  

The falsely named Patriot Act breaches the civil liberty hull while wiretaps on passengers drown their due process protections. Ballast born of laziness and covered in “enemy combatants” and “terrorist suspects” compel the crew to jettison prohibitions against torture along with respects for human rights. The most critical damage, however, comes from structural imbalance.  

Executive power currently outweighs the combined powers of the legislature and the judiciary creating a precarious tilt further aggravated by heavily militarized cargo.  

If the leaks are to be repaired and the ship of state saved from sinking we passengers must oust the officials in control. The first chance we have to do it will come next November.  

Marvin Chachere 

San Pablo 

• 

PUBLIC LIBRARY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I have been in Berkeley two years and have experienced continuous problems at the public library—which never occur in other local systems—concerning the computer department. This is true of nearby libraries and overseas, too. 

Forgetting the fact that the computer system is down far more than any other system I have ever encountered, there are problems with about four sites which I can get but cannot get sections within them—all are chatrooms. 

I have brought this to the attention of the north branch staff and also of the central staff. The central staff sent a person out over a year ago and confirmed I was right (north branch had already done that). I was sloughed off with “we will get back to you.”  

They never did and they studiously ignore my communications asking for status—unbelievable arrogance!! 

One other thing I have brought to their attention is laughable-—always whining about not enough funding but north branch is frequently with heat blasting out and all windows and door wide open! Again I am studiously ignored. 

What a third world community you have here. 

Brian C Waters 

• 

INCOMPETENCE OR TREASON 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Was it due to incompetence or treason that Bush failed to heed the warnings about the attack on 9/11? Was it incompetence, or treason, when Cheney and Rumsfeld fabricated the assertion that Iraq had WMDs in order to start the war? Was it incompetence, or treason, that Bush’s administration has drained our national wealth with this endless, unwinable war, killing tens of thousands? Is it incompetence or treason that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rove are using the endless war as an excuse for curtailing our civil liberties and for torturing people in American gulags? Was it incompetence that Bush’s administration cut funding to rebuild the levees in New Orleans before Katrina, and Chertoff prevented a coordinated emergency response to the flood? Or was it treason that Bush lost New Orleans, the major port to our heartland? 

And now, as Bush and Chertoff want to let the Dubai Ports World company, from United Arab Emirates, run the six largest ports on our East and Gulf coasts, is it incompetence or treason, to risk Al Qaeda sneaking a bomb into our cities? Connect the dots, America, before Bush looses our entire country. 

Bruce Joffe 

Piedmont 

• 

GOP CONVENTION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Please, please bring the Republican convention to San Francisco in 2008. It will be the political TV entertainment of the decade. Ideally all the San Francisco freaks will turn out. They can protest the war, tout gay marriage and wear out their favorite buzz words like education, environment, health care, corporations, oil, profit and developer, none of which have any meaning from the mouth of a San Francisco Democrat. The ‘48 (Goldwater) and ‘56 (Eisenhower) conventions were great, but this would be the best. There is a downside risk. The freaks may refuse to play and sit home with their yoga. We could invite 90 percent of the Berkeley voters as imitators. Another by-product: a really good performance could ensure conservative victory for 30 years.  

W. O. Locke 

Emeryville 

• 

NUCLEAR MADNESS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The American public and Congress should oppose the Bush administration’s ill-considered nuclear treaty with India. This treaty violates the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) by allowing sales of nuclear fuel and reactor components to India and allowing India to increase its nuclear weapons production. The NPT forbids providing nuclear technological assistance to governments which haven’t signed it. India’s government is one of only three that has never signed the NPT.  

Meanwhile, President Bush wants North Korea and Iran not to develop nuclear weapons while he lets India make them. Don’t forget that Bush still sits on one of the world’s biggest stockpiles of nukes. Bush’s message to the international community is clear: “Do as we say, not as we do.” This hypocritical behavior makes other nations distrust us, and encourages the proliferation of nuclear weapons. “If you can have them, we can too!” 

Congress has the power to stop this. Voters should urge their senators and representatives to vote against treaty ratification and to cosponsor H.Con.Res. 318, introduced by Representative Ed Markey (D-MA). Voters should also demand that Congress reduce America’s nuclear weapon stockpile. We need to halt the nuclear madness, not encourage it. 

David Mitchell 

• 

WIRETAPS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I would like to leave politics out of this request, for an investigation on the wiretaps, FISA issue. No matter if the president is a Democrat, Republican, male, female, Jewish, Christian, etc. etc. I would still ask the question, “Are you spying on U.S. citizens? Wiretapping their phones? Reading their e-mails? What and where is the evidence for your cause?” 

Just the truth is all I am seeking. 

Michael Shemchuk 

Albany.

David Wilson, in his Feb. 28 letter, supports the conversion of rental units to condos, as a way of improving the opportunity for home ownership, reducing the rental vacancy rate, and rehabilitating dilapidated rent-controlled units.  

Mr. Wilson suggests that condos are the solution for “persons who want to put down roots in the community.” This reveals that Mr. Wilson does not understand or value the tenant community. About 60 percent of Berkeleyans are renters, and about half of renters are students (and young enough to be “short-term”), so that means that up to a quarter of Berkeley residents are long-term renters. I certainly hope that Mr. Wilson does not think that these 25,000 people do not have “roots in the community.”  

I have been a renter in Berkeley since 1971; I have lived in my current location for 26 years. My “roots in the community” match most of the homeowners in my neighborhood. As for our contribution to the community, long-term renters struggle much harder than most homeowners to maintain the livability of Berkeley, because almost all detriments are directed toward high-density parts of town where most renters live. 

I agree with Mr. Wilson that more condos could fill a needed housing niche in Berkeley. However, I strongly disagree that this should be accomplished through rental conversions. It should be accomplished through new construction of high-quality condos in appropriate locations. 

Tenants have limited housing options. About 40 percent of renters spend more than 35 percent of their income on rent, and probably most of these spend much more. Most of these people will never be able to afford condos. Tenants in all the newly constructed rental units around town are not protected by rent ceilings under rent control. Their rents can be raised by any amount every year. It was this untenable situation that brought about rent control in 1979.  

Such housing insecurity makes these units undesirable for long-term residents, and almost guarantees that they will be rented by short-termers. If we can, we should bring these new units under rent control, but if not, then building condos instead might improve the community “roots,” at least in areas where student demand is not high. 

On the other hand, we need to do everything we can to protect the existing supply of rent-controlled units in Berkeley, which enable “roots” to grow. Rent-controlled units (especially large ones) are in short supply, and will not be replaced. The worst thing for Berkeley’s housing stock would be for the cream of the rent-controlled units to be skimmed off for condos, which will surely happen if not thoroughly discouraged by strong policies.  

Although I generally oppose the removal of rent-controlled units from the market, if we truly have an excess of small rental units, we might consider permitting some of them to be refashioned into condos. A formula could be developed to permit limited condoization of some rental units, if there has been a certain vacancy rate for a certain number of years among a particular unit size. This is an option the Planning Commission might consider. 

Meanwhile, once Mr. Wilson realizes that rent control fosters long-term residency, thus providing the “roots” that he seeks, and that long-term renters contribute to the health of Berkeley’s neighborhoods and the homeowners that share them, I’m sure he will become an enthusiastic proponent of rent control.  

Sharon Hudson is a long-time resident of Berkeley’s Southside. 

There is a move afoot for Berkeley to weaken its restrictions on the conversion of rental apartments to condominiums. This would be the worst possible move for the city’s future. We need only look at San Francisco and New York City to see how condo conversions displace elderly and long-term tenants, gentrify neighborhoods, and ultimately destroy a city’s economic diversity. 

Proponents of increased condo conversions have framed their case around the indisputable need for more affordable homeownership. But as both San Francisco and New York City show, conversions exact an acute human and social and human cost while sharply reducing a city’s supply of affordable housing. 

San Francisco restricts condo conversions to 200 rental units per year, and to buildings of six units or less. These regulations appear restrictive, but they have failed to prevent the displacement of hundreds of tenants each year by real estate speculators using the state Ellis Act to preempt local eviction protections. 

While the Ellis Act does not preempt local condo conversion controls, speculators have found a market for tenancies in common (TICs). TIC owners purchase a share of the building without having the right to own a specific unit, as occurs with a condo. Speculators buy small buildings with long-term tenants paying below-market rents, evict the tenants under Ellis, and then sell the building as TICs. 

Three years later, the TIC owners can apply to convert to condominiums. 

Without the ultimate ability to convert to condos, the Ellis Act eviction wave in San Francisco would not exist. That’s why San Francisco tenant activists have pushed to break the link between evictions for profit and condo conversions, with two pieces of legislation passing the Board of Supervisors only to be vetoed by Mayor Gavin Newsom. 

Activists are readying a third, more stringent limitation on condo conversions that will go to the November 2006 ballot after its likely veto by the mayor. 

It does not matter how many eviction protections are enacted in a city’s condo or rent control laws; the Ellis Act preempts all. That’s why the economic motive for the eviction—the eventual conversion to condos—must be curtailed. 

In San Francisco, the sales prices of these converted units often differ little from newly constructed units. The difference in price between a four-unit rental building with long-term tenants and its sale as individual TICs is significant, but this money goes to the speculator. Buyers of the TICs get no discount, and the resulting housing fits no commonly understood definition of “affordable.” 

If Berkeley city officials believe more condos are needed, they should encourage their construction, rather than the conversion of the city’s already scarce rental housing supply. In addition, new units are likely to be built in more affordable areas, whereas conversions will target long-term tenants in more expensive areas like North Berkeley and Thousand Oaks, where the greatest profit from TIC sales can be made (that’s why North Beach has been the chief venue in San Francisco for Ellis evictions). 

A story in the Feb. 27 New York Times, “With Condo Conversions Back in Favor, Renters Are Frustrated by a Lack of Leverage,” describes what happened to tenants in New York City when conversion restrictions were lifted. It is not a happy story. The number of rental units converted to condos in New York City has quadrupled since 2003, even victimizing tenants living in buildings of over 100 units 

The Times story described the impact of these weakened condo-conversion protections. For example, a middle-class rental building of more than 100 residents was almost completely emptied after the owner announced plans in December 2004 to convert the building to luxury condominiums. Those remaining on the premises live amidst a construction zone, as the once affordable apartments are “upgraded” for sale. 

As we know from the epidemic of Ellis Act evictions in North Beach, speculators can reap quick and easy profits from converting rental housing to condominiums. The Times story describes how one NYC investment group will double its money once the conversion is approved, with two-bedroom units selling for $2.37 million. 

New York City once had a law that gave tenants under rent-control veto power over conversions, and this often led converters to sell units to these tenants at bargain prices to win their support for the conversion. But now only 15 percent of tenants must approve a conversion plan, outweighing opposition from the other 85 percent. 

The “business plan” used in New York City—“throw everyone out of the building, enlarge the apartments, renovate them and get the money”—sounds much like that of San Francisco’s speculators. 

We must keep such a “plan” out of Berkeley. This means strengthening, rather than weakening, restrictions on condo conversions. 

Randy Shaw is the director of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic and editor of BeyondChron.org, where a portion of this story first appeared. He can be reached at randy@thclinic.org. 

Ã

We of Anna’s Jazz Island were excited to move into downtown Berkeley where there has been a push to create a vital Arts District. We were thrilled to be part of a genuine arts center, with a live theater, arts organizations and our jazz venue—10,000 square feet of cultural use. The Gaia Building has a mission for cultural use that originated in a “cultural density bonus” agreement made between the developer, Patrick Kennedy, and the city. In this current real estate market, new downtown cultural spaces can come into being only with such agreements. After lots of community discussion, our Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) voted to give Mr. Kennedy two extra floors of apartments from which he generates extra revenue. In exchange, ZAB also voted, and he agreed, that he would place the ground floor in cultural use and that he would divide the huge mezzanine into four spaces for arts organizations. Anna’s Jazz Island opened in late May of 2005; we use only 15 percent of all the promised cultural use space.  

Mr. Kennedy has already received more than two million dollars in revenue from the extra floors of apartments. However, instead of placing the rest of the ground floor and mezzanine in cultural use, Mr. Kennedy is now in business with an upscale for-profit caterer who throws expensive private parties. The city did not subsidize this project for cultural use so that a few people could financially benefit from exclusive or private events. These events have included huge private dinners for several hundred people and raucous parties, one recently closed by the police. 

Because of the for-profit enterprise currently controlling the Gaia, there have been many code violations in order to generate more revenue. A concert for more than 200 was held where occupancy is only 96. A concert promoter recently told ZAB he has Mr. Kennedy’s approval to hold rock concerts for 400 teenagers at the Gaia. 

The caterer rents the theater space to The Marsh theater on Wednesdays and Thursdays until July 2006, keeping the more desirable weekends for their own profitable private events. Under these terms, it is likely The Marsh will not renew their lease. In addition, the caterer rents the theater to a church on Sundays, which staff says is a religious, not a cultural use. Due to Alcoholic Beverage Control licensing regulations regarding proximate churches, this may place our alcohol license at risk. It also places at grave risk any license the future David Brower Center would want for a restaurant in the new facility. Cultural spaces often need the option of selling alcoholic beverages to financially survive. 

So what happened at the Gaia Building? 

Although ZAB voted only for cultural use, the city staff has decided that 30-percent cultural use of the facility is sufficient to honor the cultural density bonus agreement. City staff has allowed the mezzanine to be used as a huge open space for parties rather than for the four separate spaces for arts organizations that ZAB voted for. Staff admits that the private parties and church use are not cultural. Even so, staff has not even required Mr. Kennedy to come before ZAB for a use permit modification so the large concerts, the parties and the church use can be discussed in public. Until now, these use approvals have been done privately by city staff, with no public scrutiny and no discussion even by ZAB. The impact of a rock and roll venue for 400 teenagers has had no input either from citizens or from the Police Department. All these new uses with large numbers of people, chaos and noise severely impact all of us. 

ZAB is made up of citizens who offer their time and dedication to protect community land use needs. As a citizen board, ZAB must be able to rely on staff to implement their votes and directives. Many of us feel betrayed by this unilateral staff action. 

What will become of the cultural density bonus? 

This bonus should be a good thing for our community, a way to enrich our lives. After lengthy community discussion and debate, ZAB voted what should have been a win-win at the Gaia. The staff has no confusion about what constitutes “cultural use.” They agree the private parties and the church are not cultural use. The central issue is that staff have arbitrarily decided that 70 percent non-cultural use by the developer is just fine. There are many arts organizations who can provide cultural activities and who need space. The cultural density bonus assumes that the cultural use space will not be rented for market value to these organizations. Of course Mr. Kennedy can get much more rent from a for-profit caterer than from a community arts organization.  

Now, Mr. Kennedy gets paid twice because staff will not implement the requirement for cultural use. First, he receives rents from the two extra floors of apartments; again, because he has a commercial tenant in a space that was promised for culture. Who can be surprised that The Marsh is given only Wednesdays and Thursdays? The caterer takes the profitable weekends and the community suffers the denial of the culture we were promised. 

Finally, we call on ZAB to direct the staff to carry out their vote of long ago: 100 percent cultural use and the mezzanine divided into four spaces for arts organizations. This building is a pilot partnership agreement between the arts and real estate development. If city staff will only enforce 30 percent cultural use, the cultural density bonus becomes a sham. It will be a cultural density bonus with almost no culture and a big bonus to Mr. Kennedy. 

Anna de Leon is the proprietor of Anna’s Jazz Island in the Gaia Building.›

CASINOS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The Feb. 28 article on the release of the Sugar Bowl Casino environmental impact statement (EIS) was absurdly pro-casino developer. You neglected to mention the fact that the report was commissioned and paid for by the Florida developers bankrolling the casino.  

There are gaping holes hidden in the several hundred pages of the report; notably absent is the economic impact of crime and gambling addition on surrounding communities. The upcoming federal hearing on the EIS report is a chance for the often-ignored community members affected by the casino to be heard. It will take place on March 15 at the Richmond Memorial Auditorium from 6-9 p.m. Three large community groups opposing to the casino will be present with many concerned local residents. The current plan calls for a 2,000-slot-machine and 225,000-square-foot casino, one of three Vegas-style casinos proposed for the East Bay, so your voice is critical.  

Casino San Pablo, located only a few miles from the Sugar Bowl site, already has 820 slot machines, with plans to expand to 2,500. Facts on the ground paint a dark picture. According to the city and county records, police calls from Casino San Pablo increased almost 500 percent since the installation of slot machines in July, while the number of ambulance trips increased by more than 200 percent. Imagine the problems that would affect the East Bay if all three giant casinos were built. 

East Bay residents who don’t want the crime, traffic and social problems brought by urban casinos, should take a stand for their community and attend the March 15 hearing. Even if you live in Berkeley, your voice is important: call 465-8230, or e-mail info@stopurbancasinos.org for more information or to join the fight. 

Dean Marshall 

East Bay Coalition Against Urban Casinos 

• 

GHOST RIDER SPACES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I missed the article on motorcycle parking in your Feb. 24 issue, but was alerted to this by Evelyn Giardina’s subsequent letter. Let me add my $0.08 (adjusted for inflation), based on empirical experience. 

Until last year, I owned a small business on Telegraph near Ashby which had two parking spaces in front. Imagine my surprise when I went to visit the new owners and found that both spaces had been converted to motorcycle-only slots, as well as several others up and down the block. 

When I owned the shop, I don’t ever remember seeing a motorcycle parked anywhere near my business. (Nor do I remember seeing any motorcycles circling the block looking for a place to park.) The current owner told me he has seen maybe one or two bikes parking there since the change was made. 

To whoever dreamt up this new policy, I want to say this directly to you: you’re an idiot. You give plenty of ammunition to those who hate government and bureaucracy, who characterize them as being slow, inefficient, incompetent and generally out of touch with reality. (I’m not saying I believe this, but I’m starting to wonder). You ought to do the honorable thing and just resign. 

David Nebenzahl 

North Oakland 

• 

RAVENS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Two things wrong with your headline “California Ravens: A Unique and Complex Species.” The first is that the California raven is not a species, but a population, as the article itself makes clear. The second is the redundancy of “unique species.” Each and every species is unique; that is what makes it a species. 

Ken Brower  

• 

MORE ON RAVENS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was delighted to read Joel Eaton’s piece on California ravens. Most of the year, I live in Maine, Bernd Heinrich territory, and our ravens are, indeed, wary and unapproachable. I think of them as being very shy; it takes forever for one of them to learn to trust us enough to hop onto the deck and sample the dog kibble we put out for him. 

Joe Eaton talks about ravens modifying their behavior as they learn about their environment, but he says that as far as he knows, there is no evidence of tool use by ravens. 

I don’t know whether you would call an automobile a tool or not, but a year or so ago, I read about some ravens in Japan who line up on the curb of a busy intersection, and wait for the light to turn red. They then hop out into the street and line up nuts they have collected off a local tree. Returning to the curb, they wait patiently. After the light has turned green, and cars have run over the nuts, the ravens wait for the next red light, and retrieve their dinner.  

(Only a seasoned raven observer would give any credence to such an outlandish tale, but personally, I believe every word of it.) 

Anne Folsom 

• 

KEEP IT BRIEF 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Maybe you would have room for more letters if your correspondents learned the virtue of being succinct. As I learned long ago from a prominent editor: The first and last paragraph should be enough to state the case and sum it up. So I read the first and last paragraph of most Planet letters that interest me and then I have time for living life.  

Constance Wiggins  

• 

CARTOON CONTROVERSY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Before Osha Neumann (Feb 24) continues blaming the new left because “the inability of the secular democratic movements to deliver on their promises opened the door to fundamentalism,” he might remember there were other forces that wiped out the left parties and only dealt with right-wing religious groups—the United States and the Brits.  

As to the cartoons, Neumann might read the well-documented journalistic explanation how the cartoons managed to be published and why in “The Caricatures in Middle East Politics” by James Petras and Robin Eastman (the article, from Abaya, Feb. 19, can be read online). 

The editor of the paper that published the cartoons is a Ukrainian Jew who was forced to resign and he left for Miami Beach, not Ukraine. The whole story is most intriguing and important. When in doubt about the “smoking gun” or “the facts,” I ask the question: Who benefits from the event (or the cartoons)? Which country or group of people wants to create a hateful response to Islam and pit the western capitalist Judeo-Christian countries against he Moslem-Arab countries? 

R.G.Davis. 

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NAKED PROTESTORS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was cheered by seeing the UC Berkeley students on your front page! And it is such an excellent cause—protesting sweatshop labor practices. 

Ardys De Lu 

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MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I’d like to draw your attention to an error in your recent front-page article, “Albany Mall Foes Generate Ballot Initiative.” Despite what Robert Cheasty keeps on saying, it’s not a mall. It’s a mixed-use development, containing a new park at the waterfront, restored beach and pier, new park at Fleming Point, upscale retail and restaurants, a new YMCA building, public gathering spaces, restored and expanded wetlands, a farmer’s market, and housing.  

In a democracy, it’s important for your readers to be fully informed; so please refer to it for what it is, a mixed-use development containing many desirable features for the enjoyment of the waterfront. 

Trevor Grayling 

Albany  

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SCIENTOLOGY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As an advocate of free speech, I understand your decision to accept ads from Scientology. But if you think Scientology is harmless, think again. 

You say Scientology operates in the realm of ideas and beliefs because you are unaware that they sometimes hold individuals against their will, like Lisa McPherson; that participants must sign waivers permitting Scientology to do so; that dozens of Scientologists have met suspicious deaths; that many members are dissuaded from seeking medical care, despite Scientology’s public claim of a “firm policy of sending sick parishioners to medical doctors to handle the physical aspect of any illness or injury”; and that their bogus drug detox program, Narconon, involves toxic levels of niacin and is based on such pseudoscientific nonsense that its drug “education” program was kicked out of California schools. You’re probably also unaware of cases of Scientologists raping children, and church executives in those cases illegally directing the distraught parents not to report the crimes to authorities. 

Scientology’s practices affect all of us, not only Scientologists. Scientology’s CCHR (whose Los Angeles gala was recently attended by Mayor Newsom) lobbies against mental health parity bills. Scientology has vowed to completely eradicate psychiatry. Scientologists want to impose their beliefs on your medical choices. Scientology’s coercive push into the workplace thrusts Scientology practices on reluctant employees. 

Scientology answers your question, “What if every church decided not to follow laws with which they disagreed?” Eleven top Scientology executives went to prison in the United States for breaking into government offices and stealing documents ; the church itself is criminally convicted in Canada for similar crimes. Scientology operatives have infiltrated police departments, the Coast Guard, the Justice Department, the California attorney general’s office and newspapers—and those are just the cases we know about. Members carried out orders to steal documents from doctors’ and lawyers’ offices and the Ontario Medical Association. 

Unlike your paper, unlike me, Scientology does not embrace free speech. Journalist Paulette Cooper wrote a book about Scientology. Scientology framed her by sending bomb threats to themselves—FBI raids uncovered the written, step-by-step programs to frame, harass, and terrorize Cooper. Those raids also found the documents directing Scientology’s attempt to frame a Florida mayor for hit-and-run. These are implementations of “Fair Game,” a policy the church claims was canceled in the ‘60s; yet in two 1980s court cases, Scientology attorneys claimed it was a core belief and deserved First Amendment protection . 

Scientology lies and defrauds every day, and gets away with it; in fact, Scientologists are rewarded with a tax exemption no other U.S. citizens get. As journalists, at least you could take the time to learn a little about the advertisers you defend. 

Kristi Wachter 

San Francisco 

u

I would like to thank the Daily Planet for two recent articles that included one of my favorite places in Berkeley—Berkeley Iceland. While I have no financial connection to Iceland or its owners, I do feel a strong connection with this uniquely Berkeley asset. As the father of one of those “...young girls laughing and skating...” that Marta Yamamoto wrote about in her South Berkeley exploration, I often tell people that Iceland is my second home—one that needs repair, but worth saving. 

The second article (“Berkeley Iceland Up for Sale,” Feb. 28) I think gives an overly pessimistic view of the rink’s situation. The sale of the rink is just as much an opportunity for the future as it is the possible loss of a historic cultural asset. 

In addition to being part of Berkeley since 1940, some of the things that make Berkeley Iceland unique are: 

• It was used in the past by U.S. Olympic skaters, including Brian Boitano, for training. 

• It is home to nationally competitive youth synchronized skating teams—the Ice Mystique—made up of girls from around the area. 

• Iceland employs young people from around the neighborhood to work in a variety of on and off-ice jobs. 

• Classes and programs are aimed at everyone, from the tiny tots and beginning adults to the more advanced Wednesday Blades clinic to midday Coffee Club time for adults—and that doesn’t include all the hockey programs. 

• It is just a fun place to hang out and see the full swath of the Berkeley community together having fun—something rare these days. 

Much of the coverage has focused on ammonia used in Iceland’s ice making equipment. The primary concern of the City of Berkeley (and everyone concerned with the rink) is with safety of the facility, not the specific refrigerant used. Ammonia is a commonly used refrigerant in large cooling systems and in many ways is better than the freon replacements. Ammonia can and is being used safely with appropriate controls as in the temporary unit currently in use at Iceland (which was certified by the Fire Department as part of the temporary permit) and another large site in Berkeley. Age and maintenance of the old freezer is a legitimate concern—especially for first responders. 

The freezing unit needs upgrading but that is only part of the story. Anyone who visits the rink knows that there are other improvements needed that affect both the ice itself and the off-ice amenities. The current owners—a group that includes people who were part of the original construction—have used Berkeley Iceland as a source of cash. This type of investing does not encourage capital spending for long term projects. As they looked at the costs of a more generalized improvement package it became clear that it did not meet their investment goal. 

This does not mean that it cannot fit into the goals of another group with a longer term outlook and a commitment to Berkeley Iceland as both a sports facility and community asset. 

The first step in a transformation of Berkeley Iceland is to gain approval of the extension of the use permit for the temporary refrigeration unit. It should be obvious that finding investors is much easier for an existing, working facility than for a closed shell of a huge building. The current managers of programs in Iceland believe that given time and the right conditions a group might be put together which would invest in the facility to make the improvements to sustain this community asset for the next 20 years and beyond. 

The long-term survival of Berkeley Iceland can be ensured with the support of the entire community. Unlike the rinks in Oakland and San Francisco, Berkeley Iceland receives no financial support from the city government. I don’t believe they are looking for such support (though it probably would be welcome). But there are other things the city, businesses, and everyone can do to help make our community asset remain economically viable: 

• Create after school programs at Iceland in conjunction with Parks and Recreation Department and BUSD. 

• Incorporate the Iceland facility into a larger recreation center proposed for the adjacent Derby Street property. 

• Create programs in conjunction with other sports organizations, such as the YMCA. 

• Cross-advertise with other local businesses. 

• Have your next party or organization event at Iceland. 

• Go out and join your friends and neighbors on the ice. 

The sale and change in ownership of this unique and very Berkeley place does not have to be a loss. It is an opportunity to keep and strengthen a 66-year-old tradition so that it remains vital for the future. Too often we forget what these institutions mean to the community until they are gone. We have a chance to help save this one for us all. 

Tom Killilea is a Berkeley resident.›

On March 8, the Planning Commission takes up the proposed Berkeley Bowl project again. More traffic versus better access to groceries; loss of scarce industrial land versus jobs and tax revenue—these are the some of the tradeoffs under consideration.  

Although West Berkeley Neighborhood Development Corporation supports the project, all of us could be much more strategic about it. We have the example of the first Bayer development agreement. Over 10 years Bayer channeled several million dollars into programs for low-income seniors, youth, and families, into Rosa Parks School, a shuttle bus for workers, training and jobs for dozens of Berkeley High School students, not to mention street improvements. Berkeley Bowl is not a wealthy multi-national, but the principles of a good community benefits agreement remain the same. 

It would be a great step forward if stakeholders and public decision-makers were actively negotiating the gray areas to improve the quality of life for the people who live and work here. The neighborhoods surrounding Ashby Avenue in South and West Berkeley include the city’s highest concentrations of youth, youth in poverty, households paying more than 50 percent of their income in rent, the highest high school drop out rates, lowest incomes, and widespread lack of health insurance, with dire consequences for family stability and longevity. 

Here are six ways to make a new Berkeley Bowl a better deal all around. 

1. The Bowl could actively motivate customers to use Pedal Express or other delivery service and to arrive by bus, bicycle, or foot. An example might be a frequent buyer discount for deliveries, or for presenting a valid bus transfer or bicycle parking voucher. 

2. In addition to existing local hiring guarantees, the Bowl could fill a certain number of part-time positions with youth referred through the city’s Youth Works program. Worker benefits could include introductions/vouchers to local urban farming, culinary arts, and self-employment and financial training programs already operating in Berkeley to help them build careers out of their experience. 

3. The Bowl should minimize the amount of space that is nonconforming to MULI standards. The proposed 3,000-square-foot “community room” proposed in the café/food preparation building, could be more economically productive if it were instead rented as light industrial space. Licensed kitchens for full-time or hourly rental are in high demand by small East Bay caterers and specialty food manufacturers. Such businesses could benefit from the connection to the Bowl’s food sales. There are several non-profit business development and micro-enterprise training agencies who could partner on this. 

4. The Bowl should actively sell and promote products made by companies licensed in Berkeley. Whole Foods has a Berkeley section, for example. We need more places to showcase the “Made in Berkeley” brand, for both local and regional shoppers. 

5. The city and the Bowl’s ownership could agree to set aside a portion of new revenues to increase funding for economic development and affordable housing projects with priority for the residents and workers of West and South Berkeley.  

6. To minimize the amount of square footage out of conformance with MULI standards, the Bowl should be asked to forgo any further subdivision of interior space or expansion of the non-grocery, non-industrial uses of the site in the future. Once the walls go up, so do the costs of space for other users in the future. No further upscaling of retail use should be permitted without further review, and capital gains on resale of the property should be recaptured all or in part by the city. 

Some of these are easy and low-cost, others will require planning and expense. But I encourage all stakeholders to do more to fulfill the spirit of economic equity in the West Berkeley Area Plan, and take the practical steps toward long-term health of our West Berkeley community. 

Betsy Morris is president of the West Berkeley Neighborhood Development Corporation.›

Hitler managed the Holocaust. He managed it so that in Germany everyone knew and no one knew. There would be worse news tomorrow. The wastes were picked up; the busses ran. Everyone knew, and didn’t know. It was happening. It happened. In his introduction to The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Shirer comments that Hitler was able to commit his high crimes and misdemeanors because the Germans were too torpid, too stupid, and too blind. 

That is America, now. We are habituated to a state that supports and protects us, yes, most of us, and in many ways. For the last six years those who tap in to the remaining relatively objective records and reports learn more every day about the Bush administration’s systematic violation of the support, protection, decency and trust between people and their government, between people and each other, which is the social compact. And nothing happens. 

It was patiently and laboriously proved within two years that Bush stole the presidency in 2000. Nothing happened. 

It was patiently and laboriously proved within one year that he again stole the presidency in 2004, and a report requesting hearings was submitted to Congress by the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee. Nothing happened. 

As each successive reason for the war evaporated it has become clear that the motivation for the war is war itself. We know these things; a fluctuating, unorganized plurality has known them, expected them for many years. Now that Bush has been able to appoint two doctrinaire Republicans to the Supreme Court, he controls all three branches of the government—the executive, by theft, the legislative through his lobbyist allies, and the judicial, by luck: the immense, powerful apparatus of the federal government as a network of lies that includes the party in control and the divided, timorous party of the “opposition.” The state, its powers and privileges, is taken, private property, no trespass. 

What is left? The people are left: California, the Bay Area, Berkeley. Four years ago a million Americans, on the street and in public assemblies, and millions more across the planet, gathered to protest the planned invasion of Iraq. Two years ago millions of Americans supported for president a candidate who said “We want our country back.” Who said, clearly and unequivocally, the nation’s wealth should be spent for the common good, for education, medical care, care for the environment—not to destroy life, not to enrich further the already very rich. 

How? By again taking to the street. By walking with strangers, who become not strangers, but comrades. By showing that we are, already, a community. Key leaders in this community must be the people who directly represent us: Barbara Lee, our representative in Congress. She is already heroic —the only member of Congress to vote against the Bush Blank Check for Invasion, and Undefined, Unending War. She is on the Committee to Impeach Bush. She is a leader in the effort to get a timetable for withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq. We need the voices of Tom Bates, our mayor, and Loni Hancock, our representative in Sacramento, too. We need their support for town meetings, their counsel and help to draft and prepare material for distribution. And then we need teach-ins, here in Berkeley, and in other areas—Stockton, Fresno, Chico, Monterey, Modesto. Lee has already held several town meetings (in each case, the announcements, unfortunately, were extremely late). Bates and Hancock are skilled and excellent in many ways. On the spreading blight of jingoist imperialism, spreading from our doorsteps across the planet, they have been austerely silent. The savagery, the greed, the blight is unified, a handful of directors and their beneficiaries situated on the power points of control. We too must be unified. We are potentially the incalculably greater force. And we shall win. 

We are the community that initiated and by example spread public opposition to the Vietnam War. We pulled down a freeway. We started up recycling of waste resources. We protected free speech on the UC Berkeley campus, and the movement spread. Our citizens turned on other citizens who turned on others to insist through legislation to keep San Francisco Bay a bay and not a river. 

Think globally, act locally is often a good rule. There are times when thinking and acting must be the same. We are caught in, and we must respond to what Martin Luther King called (on the night before his murder) the “fateful urgency of now.” 

Ariel Parkinson is a Berkeley artist and poet. 

Today is Osama bin Laden’s birthday, his 49th. A good time to consider the strange similarities between the world’s most notorious fugitive and the president of the United States. 

Bin Laden is a rich guy, the 17th son of Muhammed Awad bin Laden, a fabulously wealthy contractor close to the Saudi royal family. In his twenties, Osama converted to Islamic fundamentalism and became involved in radical politics. In 1979 he joined the Afghani fight against the Russians. In 1988 bin Laden founded Al Qaeda. Since 9/11, he’s had a $25 million bounty on his head. 

Osama is unusually tall for an Arab, at least 6’4”. He’s believed to have a variety of medical problems, including kidney disease, which requires dialysis. Most experts say he’s hiding in Waziristan, a wild region in northwest Pakistan, near the Afghan border. 

Shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, George Bush invoked images of American frontier justice when he discussed the hunt for bin Laden, “When I was a kid I remember that they used to put out there in the old West, a wanted poster. It said: ‘Wanted, Dead or Alive.’ All I want and America wants him brought to justice.” Bush declared, “The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him.” 

Late in November 2001, bin Laden and many Al Qaeda fighters were cornered in the remote Tora Bora region of Afghanistan. Then the United States made the decision to capture bin Laden by relying upon Afghani mercenaries. They were not up to the job. By the time regular American forces arrived, bin Laden and most of his companions slipped across the border into northwest Pakistan. 

In March 2002, George W. Bush abruptly changed his story: “I don’t know where bin Laden is,” Bush said. “I have no idea and really don’t care. It’s not that important. It’s not our priority.” Bush has a short attention span; his focus shifted from bin Laden in Afghanistan-Pakistan to Saddam Hussein in Iraq. 

There are striking similarities between Osama bin Laden and George W. Bush: Both grew up in privileged circumstances. Both had strained relationships with their fathers. As young adults, both men were seen as disappointments. 

Both fell under the spell of radical religion: Osama was swept up in Islamic Sunni fundamentalism, Wahhabism. This argues that the Koran is literally true, that life should be lived by puritanical rules, and that women are second-class citizens. In his late thirties, George W. converted to fundamentalist Christianity; he was “born again.” Bush’s version of Christianity believes that the Bible is literally true, that life should be lived by puritanical rules, and that women are second-class citizens. Both men swear by ultra-conservative forms of their religion. It’s a characteristic of their extremism that the world is inhabited by two kinds of people: believers and infidels. Paradoxically, both believe in a God of love who commands them to kill non-believers. 

Those who have met Osama and George say that neither is very swift. Two things account for their success: They have very clever advisers and they have a knack for saying things that the man in the street wants to hear. bin Laden has been greatly influenced by Ayman Zawahir, Bush by Karl Rove. 

Bin Laden tells the Arab man on the street that Muslims need a new military-spiritual leader who will throw the United States out of the Middle East, liberate Palestine, and get government to help them. Bush tells the American man on the street that Christians need a new military-spiritual leader who will ensure that America rules the world, protects Israel, and gets government off their backs. 

The accomplishments of both men have been greatly exaggerated. Osama’s Al Qaeda didn’t play a big role in the Russian defeat in Afghanistan. His leadership was often ill considered. bin Laden is touted as the head of a huge terrorist network, but his connection to groups such as the Zarqawi-led Iraqi insurgents is tenuous at best. Bush was never a successful CEO. His accomplishments as governor of Texas were greatly exaggerated. His tenure as president has been characterized by a series of epic blunders. 

The formal and informal speeches of both Osama and George are rambling and disjointed. Both men twist history and use faulty analogies. Both have trouble speaking in complete sentences and cannot clearly elucidate their positions. While both have goals, neither has a coherent plan to accomplish them. Public opinion polls taken in Saudi Arabia and America indicate that their respective populations admire each man but don’t think much of them as leaders. 

There you have it: Osama and George, two peas in a pod. People in America hate bin Laden. Folks in the Middle East hate Bush. Neither Osama nor George can travel without a large coterie of bodyguards. Neither will make it to Disneyland in the near future. 

So on bin Laden’s birthday, let’s make a deal with the Muslim world, a straight player exchange. They’ll hand over Osama bin Laden and we’ll deliver George W. Bush. No questions asked. 

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

›

Opportunities either mishandled or long left neglected during the Jerry Brown administration are now rapidly catching up with the mayor, threatening to give him a rocky send-off on his way out of Oakland’s door. (If you don’t get the pun, ask somebody.) 

One of these mishandled opportunities is a downtown entertainment district, which Mr. Brown has said was one of his administrative goals. 

When Mr. Brown took office in January of 1999, he was presented with a great chance to solidify an already-existing downtown entertainment center. Starting with Sweet Jimmy’s on 17th and San Pablo, there was a string of popular nightclubs within walking distance to Lake Merritt, running down 14th Street from Geoffrey’s Inner Circle to the old Club Caribé to several Southeast Asian clubs down around the Oak Street area. That is in addition to the city-run Alice Street Center (later renamed the Malonga Casquelord Center), which was regularly holding Friday and Saturday night cultural programs in its theater. San Pablo Avenue/14th Street at the turn of 2000 was nothing like the legendary Seventh Street during the war years, but it was a solid start, a multicultural scene that had started to get the feel of New Orleans to it, certainly in keeping with what Mr. Brown has always said he wanted to prevent the downtown area from being “dead” after dark. Entrepreneurs had done most of this on their own. All they needed was a little city help for it to take off. 

Why that San Pablo Avenue/14th Street downtown entertainment district never fully materialized is a story too long to tell in a single column. Some have suggested race (the San Pablo Avenue/14th Street venues all attracted a darker clientele into the downtown area); some said it was that in his drive to create a “legacy” in Oakland on which he could run for statewide or national office again, Mr. Brown generally promoted things that he could say he initiated on his own, rather than supporting things which Oaklanders had already developed. But it was always clear that for whatever reason, the Brown Administration never warmed up to the concept of an entertainment center along lower San Pablo and 14th Street, and so a partnership between the city and the entertainment business owners in that area never seemed to develop. Instead, we have seen an adversarial relationship, in which the city has repeatedly criticized the owners of those entertainment venues and sought to shut a number of them down, rather than help them solve their problems. In addition, Mr. Brown once sought to break up the successful Casquelord Center and replace it with his Arts School, a maneuver which was opposed by cultural groups across the city, and eventually defeated by City Council in one of its rare oppositions to the mayor’s proposals. 

A snapshot look at how sour the relationship between the Brown administration and the San Pablo/14th Street entertainment business owners was evident in an Oakland Tribune article two Sundays ago, which reported that police had to be called to break up disturbances outside of Geoffrey’s Inner Circle. (For the purpose of full disclosure, Geoffrey Pete is my cousin.) 

“A sideshow was reported around midnight Sunday morning at Club Planet Soule at 14th and Franklin streets,” the Tribune article reported. (Club Planet Soule is a venue inside Geoffrey’s Inner Circle.) “Police said Oakland-based rapper Too Short was performing at the venue, and his act attracted a crowd of at least 550 people. Several hundred others were standing outside the club and surrounding areas when the sideshows started. All of the city’s sideshow units were needed to silence the crowd, stop the reckless driving and lighten up traffic in the area. Shortly after the nightclub closed, sideshow activity resumed in the area.” The article reported that “sideshow activity” later spread to the Jack London Square area, and then out to High Street in East Oakland. 

But according to Mr. Pete, there was no “sideshow activity” outside of his club during the Too Short concert. 

In an open letter released in the week after the Tribune article appeared, Mr. Pete wrote that “the entire Too Short concert … was totally without incident. When capacity was reached at approximately 11:30, there was a line that numbered a maximum of 100 people who were informed that we had reached capacity and were no longer allowing entry. Within 15 minutes of said announcement approximately 70 percent of the individuals waiting in line dispersed while the other 30 percent lingered in hope of being admitted. There were not 200 people loitering outside. … There was no sideshow at anytime during the course of the evening. … If everything is a sideshow, then nothing is a sideshow, thus nullifying the very definition and accuracy of what a sideshow is. Any correlation between Geoffrey’s Inner Circle and sideshows is preposterous.” 

Mr. Pete has always been notoriously fussy about decorum and security at his club, which is a regular stopping ground for entertainers and sports figures when they come to Oakland, the modern replacement for the legendary Slim Jenkins’ club (one popular story—who knows how true it is—is that his security personnel once turned away a white guy who showed up at the club with a posse of enormous black men because the white guy had on sneakers and khaki pants; according to the story, Mr. Pete had to later explain to his security that the next time then-Warriors coach Don Nelson showed up at the door with team members, they should be allowed in regardless of how the coach’s attire violated the club’s dress code; apparently, the security men had not recognized Mr. Nelson).  

One would think, therefore, that both Mr. Pete and the Brown administration would have a common interest in a solution to the problems of holding violence-free downtown entertainment events. 

But maybe the problem is that Mr. Brown doesn’t really want these particular clubs in this particular area, and so has done little to help them out. 

This week, the San Francisco Chronicle’s Matier & Ross political columnists reported on an incident with the mayor outside of @17, a club near Telegraph Avenue not far from Sweet Jimmy’s (both @17 and Jimmy’s, just like Geoffrey’s Inner Circle, attract a predominantly African-American clientele). Mr. Brown had gone to the area of the club, apparently, to see what happened when the club let out for the night, and got there just after a disturbance had occurred. According to the Chronicle columnists, Mr. Brown reportedly remarked to a woman who had been injured in the disturbance “that is what happens when you come to a place like this.” When a friend of the injured woman said she asked the mayor “You really think that an innocent bystander who comes to a club deserves to get hit?” the friend says Mr. Brown replied, “What do you want us to do when you people come to a place like this?” 

It is not clear what Mr. Brown may have meant by “a place like this.” 

A Brown spokesperson denied in the column that this is the way the conversation went, but the column did not offer the mayor’s version of what was said. 

There has been trouble outside of downtown entertainment venues. But because of confused reports coming out of Tribune articles and the police department and the mayor’s office, it’s often hard to tell how much trouble is actually going on, how much of the actual trouble is the fault of the entertainment venues themselves, and how much of it is completely out of their control. 

Sorting all of that out is going to be one of the (many) unfinished tasks left by Mr. Brown for the new mayor to tackle. 

Although the closest I’ve been to Nepal is the Himalayan Fair in Live Oak Park, I’ve come to like Nepalese food—at least as represented by Kathmandu on Solano Avenue and Little Nepal on Cortland Street in San Francisco. 

Nepal is a smallish country with a rich and varied culinary tradition, blending elements from North India, via the ruling Ranas, and Tibet, and big enough to have ethnic (like Sherpa and Gurkha) and regional specialties. The Nepalese appear to take their food seriously. One of the major temples, dedicated to the goddess Kali, has charcoal grills going all day so worshippers can turn their sacrificial chickens and goats into a picnic.  

So I had reasonable expectations for Mount Everest, a fairly new Nepalese restaurant at University and Shattuck. Otherwise, my dining partner and I encountered the place cold: no word of mouth, no reviews. As it turns out, the food at Mount Everest is really really good.  

I knew we were in reliable hands when the momos arrived. Momos, which entered Nepalese cuisine by way of Tibet, are the Tibetan avatar of the East/Central Asian stuffed dumpling family: shiu mai, har gow, and all the other dim sum variants; Japanese gyoza, Afghani mantwo, and so on. 

Watching the momo assembly line is one of the highlights of the Himalayan Fair. According to Rinjing Dorje’s Food in Tibetan Life, the over-talkative are reminded: “Keep your mouth like a momo”—that is, closed. Momos can be meat-filled or vegetarian; we had the veggie option, with a filling of minced cabbage, chiles, cilantro, and ginger. They came with a brick-orange dipping sauce, tart and moderately spiced and reminiscent of the sauce in the chicken dish I keep ordering at Little Nepal, which is a very good thing. 

What followed was equally satisfying. A lamb dish, beda ko choila from the Nepalese Specials section of the menu, consisted of little cubes of lamb, seared crisp on the outside, tender on the inside, which had been marinated in something interesting and cooked in a clay oven. Fresh ginger was also involved, and more of the orange sauce came with it. 

As if Nepalese wasn’t exotic enough, we also tried the Bhutanese chili chicken. It was only the second Bhutanese dish I’d ever run into, the first being something involving pork and cheese at a place in Seattle’s university district about five years ago, and my strongest memory of that meal is that I was hungry enough after a long drive back from the San Juans that I could have eaten curried styrofoam.  

In contrast to Nepal, which has been going through a bad patch lately—the palace massacre, the new king’s power grab, the Maoist insurgency—Bhutan is a small peaceful mostly-Buddhist kingdom with a thunder dragon on its flag and a government that has been trying to quantify the Gross National Happiness. Well, if the Bhutanese get to eat chili chicken a lot, I would think they would be reasonably happy. The marinated chicken appeared to have been stir-fried with chunks of red onion and fresh medium-hot chilis, a felicitous combination. 

But maybe they don’t. Copeland Marks, whose Indian & Chinese Cooking from the Himalayan Rim has a chapter on Bhutan, says chicken is mostly an elite dish there. Pork, with or without cheese, is more widely eaten, and so is yak. Marks says the cooking is big on onion, ginger, garlic, and chili, fresh or dried. (I’ve always wondered about Marks: is he a real person or just a front for a syndicate of globe-trotting cookbook writers? How could one guy be an authority on Indonesian, Malaysian, Burmese, Himalayan, Sephardic, Maghrebi, Guatemalan and Peruvian cooking? Good recipes, though.)  

On a second visit, at lunchtime, we experimented with fish and vegetable dishes, and both were winners. Macha ko sekuwa gets you two fat catfish steaks (in Nepal, this would have been carp) that had spent just enough time in the tandoori oven. Aloo baigun is a tasty combination of cooked-to-pieces eggplant and tender potatoes in a complicated spice mix.  

What else? Good garlic and onion-mint naans. Four Indian beers are available: we passed up Karma and the oddly Scandinavian-sounding Dansberg (brewed with Himalayan water, though) for the known-quantity Golden Eagle, a decent lager that goes well with the spicy stuff. There’s also the yogurt drink lassi, sweet or salty. No wine. 

Mount Everest is in a fairly large space (formerly a Burger King, then Curry in Hurry, then something else) sparsely decorated with Himalayan landscapes and prayer flags along with what look like the original BK booths. 

The rest of the menu includes tandoori dishes, basmati-rice biryanis, a respectable number of vegetarian choices, and Indian style desserts: kheer (rice pudding) and gulab jamun (doughballs in syrup). Service, friendly but not so attentive that it gets on your nerves, is a bit slower at lunchtime. Princes range from $4.99 for most of the vegetarian options to $8.99 for the fish and seafood dishes. 

Mount Everest 

2011 Shattuck Ave. 665-6035. 

Open 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. and 5-10 p.m. Monday through Saturday; noon-10 p.m. Sunday. Credit cards accepted.

This year I watch the 78th Academy Awards from the ninth floor, east wing of Oakland’s Kaiser Permanente Hospital. I sit in an ergonomically incorrect chair and crane my neck upward toward a small TV hanging from the ceiling. 

In a hospital bed beside me, my husband Ralph goes in and out of consciousness, an infection coursing through his body, multiple IVs attached to various parts of his body. 

I try to distract myself from the immediate situation by thinking about other things, such as the last time I watched the Academy Awards. It had been in 2003 with my 81-year-old friend Leroy Liggons. 

Leroy told me he hadn’t been to a movie theater in 20 years. The last film he’d seen on the big screen was E.T. Before that it had been 16 years since he’d been inside a theater. He’d seen James Dean in Giant. 

“One helluva good movie,” Leroy reported. 

But going to the movies twice in 36 years didn’t stop Leroy from having an opinion on everything that was happening at the 75th Academy Awards. He gave me a running commentary on who was who and what was what. 

“I don’t need to go to the movies,” said Leroy. “I can find out everything I need to know on TV.” 

He mentioned that he used to drink with Whoopi Goldberg at Nick’s Bar down on 63rd and Adeline in Berkeley. Leroy said that if you thought Whoopi ugly now, you shoulda seen her then. 

“Back in the day,” said Leroy, “Whoopi was you-glee. You know what that means?” 

Before I could make a guess, Leroy answered his own question. 

“That means uglier than ugly. But that Halle Berry, now she is some kinda good lookin’ woman.” 

Leroy sat real close to the TV screen and squinted. Despite his cataracts, he showed an extraordinary interest in what was under Halle’s dress. 

Leroy said that in 1957 he’d tried out for a part in Porgy and Bess. In 1937, while growing up in Omaha, he’d followed Barbara Stanwyck around during the filming of Union Pacific. 

“Barbara had pockmarks all over her face,” said Leroy. “I couldn’t understand how she could be a movie star. But you know, when she showed up on the screen, those holes were all filled in. They can do anything in Hollywood. Make a blind man see. Make a movie star outta Whoopi. Hell, they could even make a guy like me look good, if they’d only given it a try.” 

Leroy paused for a moment and then asked, “How much does it cost to go to the movies these days?” 

“Between eight and 11 dollars,” I answered. “Plus $5 for popcorn and another three for a soda. But you could get in for a little cheaper since you’re a senior citizen.” 

“Damn,” said Leroy. He spread out the fingers of his left hand and counted off the digits one by one. “Twenty dollars for dinner, 10 dollars for drinks, another 16 for the movie and 30 bucks for a motel room.” 

He threw both hands in the air and then brought them down hard, slapping his thighs. “You can’t hardly afford to go out no more, can you?” 

I stared at my octogenarian friend. It hadn’t occurred to me that Leroy could get a date, let alone persuade someone of the opposite sex to go with him to a movie and then to a motel room. 

“I guess I got better things to do with my time,” Leroy continued. “But you know, I wouldn’t mind seeing E.T. again. It came back around last year, did you know that? Ain’t that the damnedest thing? You live long enough and everything comes around again. Hell, I betcha Whoopi’ll be back at Nick’s one of these days. And when she shows up, we’ll all be glad to see her. She’ll be a damn sight easier on the eyes this time, that’s for sure. And who knows, maybe she’ll bring along Halle. Now that would be worth sticking around for.” 

A nurse comes into room 921, distracting me from the current Academy Awards ceremony and my thoughts of Leroy. He didn’t have a chance to stick around for Whoopi or Halle. By the end of April 2003 he was dead from years of cigarette smoke and hard living. 

I look over at my husband, see his pained expression, hear his labored breath. I turn my thoughts to Hollywood, to Reese Witherspoon, George Clooney and the rest of them. Then I click off the television and pay attention to the here and now. Like Leroy, I’ve got better things to do with my time. 

›

We get just enough sun in between the rains to keep us hoping, this time of year; just enough life showing in the trees and plants, wild and tame, to make us believe that there’s more to the world than cold and mud. The plums have blossomed and are starting to get down to summer’s business, unfurling their leaves to catch the sun of longer days. The buckeyes—just look at the bunch in the center strip on Sacramento south of University!—are spreading translucent green hands out to the plenty flowing from the sky. The sun itself, as the world turns our side to face it straight-on, begins to touch us with palpable energy. 

That energy is light and heat together, and plants have the trick of using it, in particular the light. That’s the part that’s least palpable to us, only visible, and we have enough of it to see by all year in daytime and artificial means of making it by night, so we rarely appreciate its influence. Trees, though, reach for it with every fiber of their aboveground being, and use it to run the biggest manufacturing operation on the planet, photosynthesis, as they build themselves out of air and the water and minerals they stand rooted in.  

At eight photons a pop, a plant sorts out a carbon dioxide molecule in the air to make a carbon compound, a sugar, for its own use, and just by the way drops a molecule of oxygen back out into the air around it. As waste goes, this is rather environmentally benign, especially to those of us who need to breathe it. It does this trick using pigments, usually green, that get excited and start tossing electrons around when they see light.  

After that beginning, a chain of chemical reactions follows; some of those can happen in the dark. Plants don’t actually sleep at night; they just perform another set of metabolic chores. But some of them, the deciduous perennials including lots of our trees, seem to sleep in winter.  

In some climates, this is a drought adaptation of sorts. Water that’s frozen in the soil is just as unavailable to tree roots as water on the other side of a rainshadowing mountain range. So deciduous trees in cold climates drop all their leaves at once to save water, and even some trees here where there’s more water in the soil in winter than in summer have retained that habit. Some of them, like those buckeyes, strip bare when the year’s water reserves in their particular bit of soil are tapped out, even if this is just late summer. Others like bigleaf maples and creek willows have inherited the deciduous habit, apparently, as they share it with their northern relatives.  

Even in thoroughly deciduous species, there’s more than timing going on. I know a few people whose own trees—apple, ash—never did lose all their leaves this past winter, for the first time, and they’re poking new ones out now anyway. The consensus about global warming gets solidified by close-to-home instances like this as well as the news about glaciers and Arctic thawing. 

What, besides the availability of water, drives deciduous trees’ “decisions” to grow or drop leaves is still less well understood than arborfolk would like. We know at the molecular level something about how trees do it—but the why, the triggers that set the process in motion, are as far as I can tell still just a bit mysterious. We know they use photopigments, chemical compounds that sense light levels and changes. Soil temperature drives the process too, especially the temperature in the top soil layer; so does air temperature. We can see a lot of raggedly-timed, out-of-step leaf-drops in introduced landscape trees here; look at the sweetgums along MLK Way. (Some of that syncopation depends on what cultivar the individual tree is.)  

Whatever drives the spring budding and unfurling, you can almost feel it if you have your hands on enough trees. If you’re pruning them, they’re starting to bleed all over you; but just touching, you can feel the leaf buds firm up, swell, and loosen as cells multiply and embryonic leaves stretch themselves out and the tree stirs itself to greet the sun. 

Infant leaf and leafbud of Corylus cornuta, our native hazelnut.  

Photo by  

Ron Sullivan 

FRIDAY, MARCH 10 

THEATER 

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 

Central Works “Shadow Crossing” Thurs. - Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., through March 26. Tickets are $9-$25. 558-1381.  

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.  

Traveling Jewish Theater “Family Alchemy” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m. at the Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., through March 12. Tickets are $12-$35. 415-522-0786.  

UCB Dept. of Theater, “Seven Lears” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun at 2 p.m. at the Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Campus. TIckets are $8-$14. 642-9925.  

EXHIBITIONS 

“Three Figure Painters” works by Prabin Badhia, Steve Skaar, and Inna Jane Ray. Reception at 6 p.m. at Nexus Gallery, 2707 Eighth St. 655-7374. 

FILM 

The Wide Angle Cinema of Michael Brault “Orders” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

New Orleans Zine Reading A benefit and book release event for “Stories Care Forgot,” at 7 p.m. at Rock Paper Scissors Collective, 2278 Telegraph Ave. 238-9171. 

Anthony Hawley & Tanya Brolaski, poets at 8 p.m. at Pegasus Books, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Leo Kottke in a solo concert at 8 p.m. at Wheeler Auditorium, UC Campus. Tickets are $30. 642-9988.  

“Pacific Arts Trio” at 8 p.m. at Arlington Community Church, 52 Arlington, Kensington. Tickets are $15 at the door. 843-7745. 

“KITKA: Stories From Chernobyl,” A Celebration of Survival at 8 p.m. at Bishop O’Dowd High School, 9500 Stearns Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $10-$20. www.bishopodowd.org 

Rafael Manriquez in a musical tribute to women songwriters and poets from the Americas at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $13-$15. 849-2568.  

The Jazz Express Quintet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ.  

Native Elements and Razorblade at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10-$12. 525-5054. 

Jill Knight, singer-songwriter, at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

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

Bobbe Norris with the Larry Dunlap Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

DJ & Brook at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Steve Taylor, songwriter for Cowpokes for Peace, at 7 p.m. at A Cuppa Tea, 3202 College Ave. Oakland. 420-0196.  

Whiskey Sunday, Love Songs, Pink Black at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

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

SATURDAY, MARCH 11 

FILM 

The Wide Angle Cinema of Michael Brault “Drifting Upstream” at 6:30 p.m. and “Good Riddance” at 9:05 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Youth of Colored Ink, in coordination with Berkeley Art Center’s Youth Arts Festival, open mic at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. 644-6893.  

“Still Present Pasts” A collaborative exhibition on Korean Americans and the “Forgotten War” Artists’ talk at 1 p.m. at Pro Arts, 550 Second St., Oakland. 763-4361. 

Chris Hedges and Hamza Yusuf discuss “Does God Love War? The Fine Line Between Faith and Fanatacism” at 7 p.m. at Martin Luther King Middle School Auditorium, 1781 Rose St. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Recorder Performances at 11 a.m. at A Cheerfull Noyse, 1228 Solano Ave., Albany. 524-0411. 

Maria del Mar & Monica Salmaso at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $22-$40. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Jewish Music Festival with Septeto Rodrigues and Irving Fields at 8 p.m. at the First Congregational Church Oakland. Tickets are $22-$26. 415-276-1511. 

Mexican Mariachi Fest featuring Juanita Ulloa, at 8:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $13-$15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org  

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

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

The Waybacks at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

David Rovics with Attila the Stockbrocker, Ryan Harvey and Folk This, in a benefit for the Common Ground Collective in New Orleans at 7:30 p.m. at AK Press, 674-A 23rd St., Oakland. 208-1700. 

Stephen Swiss & Peter Frankel, Latin jazz funk fusion, at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7 per family. 558-0881. 

Chase Michaels at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Sila & The Afrofunk Experience at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Bobbe Norris with the Larry Dunlap Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

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

Plan 9, Monster Squad, Static Thought, Cell Block 5 at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $3. 525-9926. 

Will Bernard & Motherbug at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

SUNDAY, MARCH 12 

FILM 

Irish Film Festival at 3 and 6 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

The Wide Angle Cinema of Michael Brault “Chronicle of a Summer” at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ken Foster offers a memoir and guidebook “The Dogs Who Found Me” at 4 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Poetry Flash with Kate Braverman and Diane di Prima at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852.  

Elaine Taylor will speak on the feminist aspects in the suspense novel “Final Betrayal” at 2 p.m. at Change Makers, 6536 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 655-2405.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“Songs Against the War: Voices of Anti-warriors” with Barbara Dane and the San Francisco Mime Troupe Band, in honor of the Veterans and Friends of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and Veterans for Peace at 1 p.m. at the Florence Schwimley Little Theater, Berkeley High School, 1980 Allston Way. Reception follows. Tickets are $35. 582-7699. www.alba-valb.org 

Organ Recital by Jonathan Dimmock at 6:10 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. Donations accepted. 845-0888.  

Sounds New Contemporary American classic music at 7:30 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. Donation $10-$15. 524-2912.  

Takács Quartet, chamber music, at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Pre-concert talk at 2 p.m. Tickets are $42. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Masters of Persian Classical Music at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $24-$48. 642-9988.  

Jewish Music Festival with Cantors Alberto Mizrahi and Jack Mendelson at 7:30 p.m. at Temple Sinai, 2808 Summit St., Oakland. Tickets are $22-$26. 415-276-1511. 

Chamber Music, featuring Karla Donehew, violin, and Miles Graber, piano, at 4 p.m. at the Crowden Music Center Rose at Sacramento. Tickets are $12, children free. 559-2941. www.crowdenmusiccenter.org 

College of Alameda Jazz Band at 2 p.m. at Oakland Public Conservatory of Music, 1616 Franklin St., Oakland. Free, families welcome. 748-2213. 

All-request Beatles Sing-a-Long Fundraiser at 6 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. All proceeds will go to benefit The Future Leaders Institute. Donation $10, with $10 donation per song. 649-9878. www. 

thefutureleadersinstitute.org  

Carlos Oliveira and Brazilian Origins, featuring Harvey Wainapel, at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Steve Erquiga & Brian Pardo at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Chris Hillman & Herb Pedersen at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Vintage Tea Dance with Frederick Hodges at 2 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

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

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

MONDAY, MARCH 13 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Lost and Found” Wearble art made from found or recycled materials, by NIAD students with disablities and Piedmont High students, opens at the NIAD Art Center, 551 23rd St., Richmond. www.niadart.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Mark Anthony Thomas will read from “The Poetic Repercussion: A Poetic & Musical Narrative” at 3 p.m. at MLK Student Union, #4504, UC Campus. 642-9000. 

“Painting on Location in Italy and Mexico” A slide lecture with Anthony Holdsworth at 6:30 p.m. at ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $8, includes reception. 843-2527. www.accigallery.org 

Poetry Express with Mary Milton at 7 p.m. at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Adama Purim Party at 6:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10-$20. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Zilber-Muscarella Quartet & Invitational at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Parlor Tango at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

TUESDAY, MARCH 14 

FILM 

Vantage Points: New Documentaries by Women “States of UnBelonging” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“The Issue of Icons Once Again” with Prof. Constantine Scouteris, University of Athens, at 7:30 p.m. at Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute, 2311 Hearst Ave. 649-3450. 

Lola Vollen talks about “Surviving Justice: America’s Wrongly Convicted and Exonerated” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Orpheus Supertones with Walt Koken, Claire Milliner, Pete Peterson, and Kellie Allen at 8 p.m. in Berkeley near College and Ashby. Donation to performers $10-$20 sliding scale. For reservations and directions, please send an email to Cleoma@aol.com 

Creole Belles with Andrew Carriere at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Singer’s Open Mic with Ellen Hoffman at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Debbie Poryes & Friends at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Jazzschool Tuesdays, a weekly showcase of up-and-coming ensembles from Berkeley Jazz- 

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

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15 

FILM 

Latino Film Festival “Habana, Havana” at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $6. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Film 50: History of Cinema “East of Eden” at 3 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Edward Rutherford continues his history of Ireland in “The Rebels of Ireland” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

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

Joshua Beckman and Matthew Rohrer, poets, at 7:30 p.m. at Pegasus Books, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Music for the Spirit with the Rimsky-Korsakov String Quartet at 12:15 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, 2619 Boradway. 444-3555. 

Dave Brubeck Quartet & Ramsey Lewis Trio at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $36-$72. 642-9988.  

“Beyond Words: An Interfaith Ritual for Peace” A dance performance that transcends the barriers of words and dogma at 7:30 p.m. at Congregation Beth El, 1301 Oxford St. 540-7227. 

Calvin Keys Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

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

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

Balkan Folkdance at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $7. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Blue Roots at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

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

THURSDAY, MARCH 16 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Lost and Found” Wearable art made from found or recycled materials, by NIAD and Piedmont High students. Reception at 5:30 p.m. at the NIAD Art Center, 551 23rd St., Richmond. www.niadart.org 

FILM 

Film and Video Makers at Cal at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Nahid Rachlin, Iranian-born writer, reads from her works at 5:30 p.m. at Mills Hall, Mills College, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland. Part of the Contemporary Writers Series. 430-2236. 

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

Greg Mortenson describes “Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations One School at a Time” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Word Beat Reading Series with Jamey Genna and Jeffrey Grossman at 7 p.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Jewish Music Festival with Paul Dresher, Daniel David Feinsmith, Sarah Cahill and John Schott at 7:30 p.m. at the Thrust Stage, Berkeley Rep. Tickets are $22-$26. 415-276-1511. 

The Black Brothers at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Cathy Felter Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ.  

With River, Philip Rodriguez at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Glen Washington, reggae, at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $20-$22. 548-1159.  

Jonathan Alford Duo at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

FRIDAY, MARCH 17 

THEATER 

Central Works “Shadow Crossing” Thurs. - Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., through March 26. Tickets are $9-$25. 558-1381.  

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.  

FILM 

Asian American Film Festival “Letter from an Unknown Woman” at 7 p.m. and “Linda Linda Linda” at 9 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Tony Kushner in Conversation with Michael Krasney on Arthur Miller at 6:30 p.m. at Berkeley Repertory Theater, 2025 Addison St. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley High School Jazz Ensemble and Combos Spring Jazz Concert at 7 p.m. at Florence Schwimley Little Theater, Berkeley High School. Tickets are $10, BHS students, teachers and staff free. 527-8245. 

Frederica Von Stade, mezzo soprano, with jazz pianist Taylor Eigsti at 8 p.m. at the First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $125. Benefit for the Jazzschool. 845-5373. 

Saoco, dance band mixture of reggae and ricos ritmos cubanos at 9:30 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $10. 849-2568.  

Blind Duck, traditonal Irish music at 7:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $4. 843-2473.  

Hal Stein Quartet CD Release Party at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ.  

Stomp the Stumps Benefit for Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters with Gary Gates Band, Funky Nixons, Day Late Fool’s Band at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054.  

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

Darryl Henriques at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

George Cotsirilos Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Mariospeedwagon and Lemon Juju at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. 

Instant Asshole, Skinned Alive, Dog Assassin at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Glen Washington, reggae, at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $20-$22. 548-1159.  

Loretta Lynch, Oaktown country, Bob Wiseman & Leah Abramson at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 644-2204.  

The San Pablo Project at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277.

If you thought America’s victory over Germany in World War II was only a political/militaristic one, check out Before The Fall, opening today (Friday) at Landmark’s Act 1&2 theater in downtown Berkeley. Apparenty we won the culture war, too. The film may be German, made with German actors speaking the German language, but it is a purely American film, from the opening shots down to the score’s final notes.  

The movie is set in one of Hitler’s napolas, the elite schools created to cultivate future leaders of the Third Reich. Friedrich is a boy from humble origins whose boxing talents grant him entry to the school. He is Aryan in appearance, strong, blonde and handsome, and his German schoolmasters delight in this perfect specimen joining their ranks. 

In a couple of nicely understated scenes, it is made clear though that the boy is something of a genetic fluke, for his parents have dark hair and dark eyes. It is not clearly stated that they are Jewish, and in fact it doesn’t matter whether they are or not; it only matters that they are distinctly not Aryan, making the point that the boy’s ascension to Nazi paragon is simply a matter of chance. 

This sense of opportunities that come and go quickly and arbitrarily informs one of the film’s central motifs: Doors open and slam shut abruptly throughout the film. Early on, Friedrich’s father slams a door in his face as he refuses his son permission to enroll in the napola. A similar moment concludes the film, bookending the story with mirror images of opportunity and denial. And tellingly, it is not Friedrich himself who opens and closes these doors; it is always another who ushers him through or shuts him out. 

Such straight-from-the-textbook symbols permeate the film. None of them are subtle or unique but all are used simply and efficiently to convey the film’s intended messages: freshly fallen snow to connote youth and purity; a red, sweltering cellar to demonstrate a descent into the inferno of violence and disloyalty; cold, icy waters signifying Nazi cruelty and detachment. 

Before The Fall is a coming-of-age film, distinguished primarily because of its dramatic setting and strong acting. Otherwise, it’s really the same old formula, with all its attendant devices: domineering fathers; quietly suffering mothers; and a young son determined to see the world, finding solace and growth in newfound frienships as his naiveté is shattered en route to the realization that maybe, just maybe, mean old dad was right after all. What is impressive about the film is how affecting it is despite its by-the-book structure. It is a testament to the skill and talent of the director and his cast that we still care, even when we know exactly what is coming.  

The film is essentially a collection of artfully rendered cliches, full of stock characters and stock devices. Which is not to say that it isn’t effective, entertaining and fully engrossing. It is all of these. Yet there is a certain dissatisfaction that comes from viewing a German film dressed up as a Hollywood production dressed up as an indie.  

It is in the craft of the film that we most plainly see its American roots. Director Dennis Gansel has apparently steeped himself in American mainstream movies. He employs well-framed compositions and lovely photography—photography that is, however, somewhat shallow. It’s lovely in the way that a Thomas Kinkade painting is lovely: Sure there’s light and fog and a well-sculpted garden, but what the hell does it say? Nothing, of course, but it looks good with the new drapes.  

Before The Fall is full of this sort of imagery; the shots are well-crafted and often beautiful, and though you really can’t find fault with them, you know there’s really nothing unique about them. There is no bold, new vision here. It is art for the masses; accessible and competent, but rote.  

The music too is straight out of the Hollywood textbook: that plaintive, poignant sound of a delicate piano with its tinkling, poignant notes followed by somber, sometimes soaring, strings. This is the soundtrack to virtually every Hollywood film made in the past 15 years, and if you haven’t noticed it yet it will drive you crazy once you do. Again, it’s hard to find fault with it; it is neither jarring nor innocuous. It is Kinkade put to music: pleasing enough, but ultimately meaningless.  

Too often, the film slips into ready-made Hollywood sentiment. For instance, there is a scene where the two boys talk and start to express their disappointment with one another. Words give way to violence as they start to punch each other and eventually wrestle each other to the floor, where the emotionally laden punches give way to tears and an embrace on the cold tile floor. You can see it coming, and you can predict easily enough how it ends: The camera pulls slowly back, framing the boys between shower stalls while the music swells, all to convey to you, as if you didn’t know already, that this is a Poignant Moment. Spielberg couldn’t have hit us over the head any harder.  

The film shows remarkable restraint in one instance: There is no love interest. At one point the boys focus their attention on a lovely young girl who works at the school, and it looks as though the film is about to step off the cliff into pure Hollywood inanity. But fortunately, nothing comes of it. In fact, the girl is introduced, given a name even, and then is gone, only appearing once more, as the object of the boys’ giggling voyeurism. It leaves the distinct impression that the film had in fact featured a romantic subplot, perhaps a love triangle, but that it was left on the cutting room floor, leaving just a few awkward scenes behind as evidence.  

Gansel and his crew have taken a familiar set of ingredients and created a clean, polished product by sheer skill and craftsmanship. It is well-directed, well-written and completely engaging. But it’s a safe movie, one that plays by all the well-worn rules. Gansel has made an all-American, paint-by-numbers Hollywood tear-jerker, and there’s nothing wrong with that, if that’s all you want to make. But paint-by-numbers won’t get you the artistry and agony of a Van Gogh, nor the bold, striking colors of a Matisse.  

But if you’re good—well, it just might get you a Kinkade.  

BEFORE THE FALL 

Director: Dennis Gansel 

Cast: Max Reimelt, Tom Schilling, Justus von Dohnanyi 

Rated R, 110 minutes 

In German with English subtitles 

Playing: Act 1&2›

The 21st annual Berkeley Jewish Music Festival got off to a sizzling start last Saturday with a soul-stirring concert by the New Orleans Klezmer All Stars at Oakland’s First Congregational Church.  

The group combines the celebratory sounds of klezmer with the distinctive styles of their native city and musical genres from as far away as Morocco. Along with electrifying music that got the packed house dancing, the concert included heartfelt appeals for support of ongoing Hurricane Katrina relief and to close the concert, a marriage proposal from drummer David Sobel to his sweetheart at the foot of the stage. 

If that sounds like a show that can’t be topped, you haven’t yet looked at the festival’s amazing schedule of concerts. 

This Berkeley event is admired throughout the world, but its stature hasn’t stopped the festival from booking an adventurous lineup each year. 

This year’s program features “Bagels and Bongos: A Tribute to Irving Fields,” with top New York percussionist Roberto Rodriguez and his Septeto Rodriguez presenting their innovative mix of Cuban and Jewish traditions at Oakland’s First Congregational Church Saturday at 8 p.m.  

Whether you want to dance to the sounds of klezmer or the Cuban styles of son and danzon, or just love great music, this is well worth exploring. Concert dedicatee Irving Fields is, at age 90, one of the last of the Tin Pan Alley generation of songwriters, and is the creator of the 1959 classic album Bagels and Bongos, one of the first attempts at Jewish-Latin fusion. A special guest will be leading New York jazz pianist Anthony Coleman. 

Sunday night’s concert at Temple Sinai in Oakland celebrates the Jewish cantorial tradition with two of the world’s most renowned performers of Jewish liturgical music: Chicago’s Alberto Mizrahi, a featured performer in PBS’s “Three Cantors” special, and New York’s Jack Mendelson, subject of the recent hit documentary film “A Cantor’s Tale.” 

Again giving a twist to tradition, the program will feature Coleman accompanying Mendelson and a trio of leading performers of Middle Eastern Jewish music joining the Greek-born Mizrahi.  

The festival has always introduced new artists to the Bay Area and even to the United States, and this continues with first American performance by Yahudice at Berkeley Repertory Theater, 2025 Addison St, at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 19. 

Led by vocalist Hadass Pal Yarden, this virtuoso group of Turkish classical musicians will perform the music of Turkey’s Sephardic Jews. 

Festival Director Ellie Shapiro discovered the group on a trip to Turkey, and explains, “Hadass is the leading authority on this music, and she’s put out an album that’s become an underground hit in the U.S. This is a genre that’s dying out, and she’s made it her life’s work to perpetuate it. That’s part of our work too, to make sure this culture continues to live and to thrive.”  

There’s also no shortage of local artists. The March 16 program, “Jewish Fringes,” features music by four East Bay composers exploring Jewish themes. Presented at the Berkeley Rep at 7:30 p.m., the program features world premiere works commissioned for this concert by renowned composers Paul Dresher, Daniel David Feinsmith, Amy X Neuberg and John Schott. 

Dresher’s work will feature his self-designed instrument the Quadrachord, a hybrid electronic string instrument more than 13 feet long. Other performers include pianist Sarah Cahill, a female vocal sextet singing Neuberg’s music, and Schott leading his own jazz trio, Dream Kitchen.  

The festival’s family focus will be celebrated with the return of Community Music Day on March 26 at the Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center. 

Hosted by Berkeley’s own Josh Kornbluth, the all-day event features an instrument petting zoo, a children’s concert, a dozen music workshops, concerts all afternoon, and a klezmer/Roma dance party to finish off the celebration. 

Shapiro said, “It’s not just about sitting and watching a concert, it’s meant to get people actively engaged in participating and creating.”  

Two programs spotlight the Yiddish song tradition. On March 23 at 2 p.m., the Berkeley JCC will present Bayle Schaechter-Gottesman. 

The singer, performer, and poet, Shapiro says, “is the reigning Yiddish poet laureate of the US, who won an NEA award as a National Treasure last year. 

She creates contemporary poetry and songs in Yiddish with a very original sensibility, and younger performers in the Yiddish song revival all sing her songs. She and her son will also be doing a workshop on Community Music Day on Yiddish children’s folklore.” 

Across the bay on March 25 at 8 p.m., the San Francisco Jewish Community Center will host “Three Yiddish Divas,” with singers Joanne Borts, Theresa Tova, and Adrienne Cooper. 

All three are fiery and versatile performers who will explore Yiddish jazz, cabaret and theater songs. Listeners will find a link to the golden age of Yiddish song, and discover the artists who influenced the great Broadway songwriters. 

The 21st Annual Berkeley Jewish Music Festival includes numerous events in various locations. For more information see www.jewishmusicfestival.org. (415) 276-1511. 

Photograph of Roberto Rodriguez.

End the senseless torture and mutilation of trees and shrubs! Yes, they mean it and no, they don’t lack a sense of humor. They’re serious, not solemn. Their website features a gallery of pruning atrocities, and some are hilarious. 

They might be accused of having a prejudice against topiary, but when you see their examples of silly pruning you have to laugh and agree that topiary (like “cloud” pruning, or the mow-n-blow powershears special) can be excuses for some really silly green things in the landscape.  

They’re Plant Amnesty. They’re based in Seattle, and as far as I know their attempt to colonize the Bay Area with a separate chapter has been futile, but they do have members here: I’m one. 

What I fell for is their determination to spread the word about what seems to be a little-known problem threatening the urban “forest”—criminally bad pruning—with verve and good works. If you have a tree, you need to hear from them before you lay a hand on it—or let anyone else do so.  

It’s not just the looks of your tree that’s at stake. Bad pruning, including topping, stubbing, and just plain overdoing, can cost you serious money and worse. 

If the sentence “When done properly, branches are cut back to a lateral branch at least one-third the diameter of the limb being removed and large enough to outgrow lateral branches directly below,” sounds confusing, stop right there. You’re no more ready to use that saw than you are to do amateur brain surgery. 

You’re also in danger of paying to let someone who doesn’t know any more than you do to vandalize your trees and set you up for a lawsuit, as well as lowering your property’s value. How’s that for concrete results?  

Here’s my advice, free: If a tree service even advertises topping, don’t hire them. If your landscapers can’t explain why topping’s wrong, don’t let them mess with your tree. And if you have a neighbor who lets anyone top a tree or cut branches to stubs, contact Plant Amnesty for aid in warning them. They’re threatening everyone in reach to the tree.  

Topped trees often die slow deaths, as their formidable power to ward off rot—trees don’t heal the way animals do—can’t catch up with infections from such massive wounds. 

Badly pruned trees do, too, and when they don’t, they grow branches that aren’t as strongly attached as the originals, and tend to fall off to the detriment of the tree and whoever or whatever’s underneath it. 

Whoever hired the bad pruner can be sued for damages, and so can future owners, like one Florida landlord whose insurance carrier paid $500,000.00 to a 12-year-old for the landlord’s share of responsibility—less than half—for the tree-climbing accident that paralyzed the boy.  

Topping trees in actually illegal in some places, including San Francisco. If you have a neighbor who allows topping or ugly pruning, contact Plant Amnesty for useful materials to persuade otherwise.  

›

If you missed the Jazzschool’s 2004 benefit concert featuring the Heath Brothers, you missed a major jazz event. The music went from great to unforgettable when 81-year-old bassist Percy Heath, who died last April 28, sat down to pluck out unaccompanied piccolo bass solos on Charlie Parker’s “Yardbird Suite,” Fats Navarro’s “Nostalgia” and the Johnny Green/Edward Heyman standard “Out of Nowhere.” It was like hearing cello virtuoso Mstislav Rostropovich performing with the lyricism, grace and inspiration of an improvising jazz musician.  

This year’s Jazzschool benefit, March 17, promises to be just as intriguing with the imaginative pairing of opera diva Frederica von Stade with jazz piano sensation Taylor Eigsti. 

At 21, Eigsti is already a veteran jazz performer. He grew up in Menlo Park and began taking lessons at four. By the age of eight he was opening for David Benoit. At 13, he was performing with Dave Brubeck and not long after was opening for Al Jarreau and Diana Krall. His first recording was in 1999. At 15, he was teaching at the Stanford Jazz Workshop. After his freshman year as a jazz studies major at the University of Southern California, he dropped out to go pro. No longer a prodigy, but with the same incredible chops, he comes to the jazz scene as an adult with the equivalent of two decades of dues-paying behind him. 

His work with Dave Brubeck led to frequent shows with the Brubeck Brothers Band. When Michael Morgan and the East Bay Symphony performed Chris Brubeck’s “River of Song” for orchestra and voice, Taylor was an obvious choice for pianist. He had previously met the vocalist for that piece, Frederica von Stade, at a Music in the Schools benefit. Since then, they have worked together on other occasions performing from both the jazz and classical repertoire. 

Observing the history of pairing long hair performers with pop material is a little like looking at a stretch of highway littered with car wrecks. Often when opera singers wrap their vocal chords around standards, they act like they are jumping into the Concorde for a quick hop from San Francisco to Oakland. They forget Noel Coward’s dictum: “Strange how potent cheap music is.” 

These tunes stop working their emotional magic if you overpower them with too much that is conventionally or inappropriately beautiful. It can be like drinking from Wedgwood at a Japanese tea ceremony.  

Mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade is skilled at avoiding these errors in decorum. She has the ability to shift musical gears so that she can apply one kind of superb treatment to Mozart’s “Parto, parto” aria from La Clemenza de Tito, another to Magnolia singing “Make Believe” in Kern/Hammerstein’s Showboat, and yet another to Irving Berlin’s “Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better” from Annie Get Your Gun. 

In fact, she began as a singer of standards and Broadway material who, although she loved opera from childhood, did not consider it as a career until she was in her early twenties. Her talents as both singer and dramatic actress led to her debut at the Metropolitan just a few years later when she was 25.  

Known to her fans as “Flicka,” she has excelled in the classic operas of Mozart and Rossini, especially in trouser roles, revived interest in works by Rameau and Monteverdi, and championed new, experimental operas like Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking. She has also appeared in and made albums of operettas and musicals including The Sound of Music, The Merry Widow and A Little Night Music. 

What makes her art so compelling is not just her gorgeous voice with its range, power and control, but her dramatic ability. She is a consummate actress who infuses every role, every song, with a persona in whom we can believe. This is what allows her to do, in her own way, what jazz vocalists do when they invest songs with their personalities. 

These are two exciting performers with Bay Area connections and international reputations who have the potential to inspire each other beyond even their usual level of excellence. 

Although the ticket price may seem steep at $125, it is actually a bargain when you consider the intimate nature of the event, the complimentary food and beverages provided by some of the most esteemed names in Bay Area gourmandaise, the chance for some fascinating conversation with the performers, and the promise of brilliant music from the artists. 

In coming up with a program to benefit itself, the Jazzschool has again found a way to give back more to its benefactors than it receives.  

The fourth annual benefit for Berkeley’s Jazzschool will take place on Friday, March 17 at the First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley. The music starts at 8 p.m. followed by dessert, wine and a chance to meet the artists at 9:30 p.m. Admission is $125 per person, tax-deductible, and all of the proceeds go to benefit the Jazzschool. For more information call 845-5373 or see www.jazzschool.com. o

Although the closest I’ve been to Nepal is the Himalayan Fair in Live Oak Park, I’ve come to like Nepalese food—at least as represented by Kathmandu on Solano Avenue and Little Nepal on Cortland Street in San Francisco. 

Nepal is a smallish country with a rich and varied culinary tradition, blending elements from North India, via the ruling Ranas, and Tibet, and big enough to have ethnic (like Sherpa and Gurkha) and regional specialties. The Nepalese appear to take their food seriously. One of the major temples, dedicated to the goddess Kali, has charcoal grills going all day so worshippers can turn their sacrificial chickens and goats into a picnic.  

So I had reasonable expectations for Mount Everest, a fairly new Nepalese restaurant at University and Shattuck. Otherwise, my dining partner and I encountered the place cold: no word of mouth, no reviews. As it turns out, the food at Mount Everest is really really good.  

I knew we were in reliable hands when the momos arrived. Momos, which entered Nepalese cuisine by way of Tibet, are the Tibetan avatar of the East/Central Asian stuffed dumpling family: shiu mai, har gow, and all the other dim sum variants; Japanese gyoza, Afghani mantwo, and so on. 

Watching the momo assembly line is one of the highlights of the Himalayan Fair. According to Rinjing Dorje’s Food in Tibetan Life, the over-talkative are reminded: “Keep your mouth like a momo”—that is, closed. Momos can be meat-filled or vegetarian; we had the veggie option, with a filling of minced cabbage, chiles, cilantro, and ginger. They came with a brick-orange dipping sauce, tart and moderately spiced and reminiscent of the sauce in the chicken dish I keep ordering at Little Nepal, which is a very good thing. 

What followed was equally satisfying. A lamb dish, beda ko choila from the Nepalese Specials section of the menu, consisted of little cubes of lamb, seared crisp on the outside, tender on the inside, which had been marinated in something interesting and cooked in a clay oven. Fresh ginger was also involved, and more of the orange sauce came with it. 

As if Nepalese wasn’t exotic enough, we also tried the Bhutanese chili chicken. It was only the second Bhutanese dish I’d ever run into, the first being something involving pork and cheese at a place in Seattle’s university district about five years ago, and my strongest memory of that meal is that I was hungry enough after a long drive back from the San Juans that I could have eaten curried styrofoam.  

In contrast to Nepal, which has been going through a bad patch lately—the palace massacre, the new king’s power grab, the Maoist insurgency—Bhutan is a small peaceful mostly-Buddhist kingdom with a thunder dragon on its flag and a government that has been trying to quantify the Gross National Happiness. Well, if the Bhutanese get to eat chili chicken a lot, I would think they would be reasonably happy. The marinated chicken appeared to have been stir-fried with chunks of red onion and fresh medium-hot chilis, a felicitous combination. 

But maybe they don’t. Copeland Marks, whose Indian & Chinese Cooking from the Himalayan Rim has a chapter on Bhutan, says chicken is mostly an elite dish there. Pork, with or without cheese, is more widely eaten, and so is yak. Marks says the cooking is big on onion, ginger, garlic, and chili, fresh or dried. (I’ve always wondered about Marks: is he a real person or just a front for a syndicate of globe-trotting cookbook writers? How could one guy be an authority on Indonesian, Malaysian, Burmese, Himalayan, Sephardic, Maghrebi, Guatemalan and Peruvian cooking? Good recipes, though.)  

On a second visit, at lunchtime, we experimented with fish and vegetable dishes, and both were winners. Macha ko sekuwa gets you two fat catfish steaks (in Nepal, this would have been carp) that had spent just enough time in the tandoori oven. Aloo baigun is a tasty combination of cooked-to-pieces eggplant and tender potatoes in a complicated spice mix.  

What else? Good garlic and onion-mint naans. Four Indian beers are available: we passed up Karma and the oddly Scandinavian-sounding Dansberg (brewed with Himalayan water, though) for the known-quantity Golden Eagle, a decent lager that goes well with the spicy stuff. There’s also the yogurt drink lassi, sweet or salty. No wine. 

Mount Everest is in a fairly large space (formerly a Burger King, then Curry in Hurry, then something else) sparsely decorated with Himalayan landscapes and prayer flags along with what look like the original BK booths. 

The rest of the menu includes tandoori dishes, basmati-rice biryanis, a respectable number of vegetarian choices, and Indian style desserts: kheer (rice pudding) and gulab jamun (doughballs in syrup). Service, friendly but not so attentive that it gets on your nerves, is a bit slower at lunchtime. Princes range from $4.99 for most of the vegetarian options to $8.99 for the fish and seafood dishes. 

Mount Everest 

2011 Shattuck Ave. 665-6035. 

Open 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. and 5-10 p.m. Monday through Saturday; noon-10 p.m. Sunday. Credit cards accepted.

FRIDAY, MARCH 10 

Tibetan March for Freedom beginning at 9 a.m. at Berkeley City Hall and ending at 12:30 p.m. at the Chinese Consulate, Laguna and Geary, SF. www.tanc.org 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Kevin Tellis, engineer, on “The Delta Levees.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. 526-2925 

“9/11 Guilt: The Proof is in Your Hands” a documentary at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Unitarian Fellowship, 1924 Cedar St. Followed by discussion with the film makers. Cost is $5-$10, no one turned away. 527-7543. 

Piedmont Choirs’ 2006 Gala Celebration at 6 p.m. at the Oakland Rotunda. Tickets are $135. 547-4441.  

Womansong Circle Participa- 

tory singing for women at 6:45 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Donation $15-$20. 525-7082. 

Trinity Poets, a poetry writing group, meets at 11 a.m. at Trinity Church, 2362 Bancroft Way. southberkeleypoet@yahoo.com  

Berkeley Critical Mass Bike Ride meets at the Berkeley BART the second Friday of every month at 5:30 p.m.  

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. 

Kol Hadash Family Purim Potluck and Shabbat at 6 p.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. RSVP with food choice to info@kolhadash.org 

SATURDAY, MARCH 11 

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. 

Stream Bioengineering Workshop Learn how to use natural materials and non-structural techniques to combat soil erosion and restore creeks, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Codornices Creek Restoration Site, 5th and Harrison. Cost is $25. To register call 452-0901.  

Free Worm Composting Workshop Find out how to compost kitchen scraps into free, nutritious fertilizer using red wiggler worms, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

Mt. Wanda Wildflower Walk in the hills where John Muir took his daughters. Meet at 9 a.m. in the Park and Ride lot at the corner of Alhambra Ave. and Franklin Canyon Rd., Martinez. Wear walking shoes and bring water. 925-228-8860. 

Weed-Out at MLK Jr HS Track & Field from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., enter on Hopkins St. Sponsored by the Kiwanis Family of Clubs. 527-8652.  

“Does God Love War?” Does religion offer a way toward reconciliation? Or has it instead become part of the problem? Discussion with Pulitzer Prize-winner Chris Hedges and American-Muslim Hamza Yusuf at 6:15 p.m. at Martin Luther King Middle School, 1781 Rose St. 582-1979. www.zaytuna.org 

Burma Human Rights Day with a screening of “Our Cause,” speeches by former political prisoners and a Burmese dinner at 6 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship, 1924 Cedar St. Proceeds benefit Burmese American Democratic Alliance. 220-1323.  

Repainting Willard Community Peace Labyrinth from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Willard Middle School, Telegraph Ave. between Derby and Stuart, Berkeley. Rain date March 18. Volunteers needed. 526-7377. 

Progressive Democrats of the East Bay with Stefanie L. Faucher from Death Penalty Focus, at 2 p.m. at Temescal Library, 5205 Telegraph, Oakland. All welcome. 524-4424.  

“Current Land Struggles in Brazil” with Andreia Ferreira of the Landless Worker’s Movement at 4 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5-$15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Fashion Extravaganza with fashion show, vendors and designer displays to benefit Katrina victims at 5 p.m. at Black Repertory Theater, 3201 Adeline St. Tickets are $15-$20. 652-8030. 

Used Book Sale to benefit the scholarship fund from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sun. from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at The College Preparatory School, Buttner Auditorium, 6100 Broadway, Oakland. 528-7070. 

School Readiness Fun Fair Learn about quality child care and pre-school programs, register your children for kindergarten. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Beebe Memorial Cathedral, 3900 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. The event is free and everyone is invited to attend. 272-6686. 

East Bay “Birth” Day with information, resources, food and entertainment on pregnancy and birth, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Performance of “Birth” at 3:30 p.m. Cost is $20-$40, sliding scale. Child care is available during performance. 540-7210. 

Heart Truth: What Women with Different Abilities Need to Know A workshop for women with mobility limitations at 2:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 326-8718. 

American Red Cross Free CPR and Preparedness classes at 8:30 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., and in Spanish at 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. Patten University, 2433 Coolidge Ave., Oakland. 1-888-686-3600.  

Alameda’s Altarena Playhouse 68th Anniversary at 6 p.m. at the Grandview Pavillion, Alameda, with dinner and music. For reservations call 523-1553.  

“Puttin’ on the Ritz” Benefit for California Shakespeare Theater at 6 p.m. at the Rotunda Building, 300 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland. Tickets are $185. www.calshakes.org 

“Jewish Literature - Identity and Imagination” Discussion led by Dr. Naomi Seidman of the Graduate Theological Union at 2 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. Registration is recommended. 524-3043. 

Preschool Storytime for 3-5 year olds at 11 a.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

SUNDAY, MARCH 12 

Weather Whizzes Make your own tools to measure the wild weather and test them outside, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Frog Chorus Learn about their life cycle and where they live and thrive, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

“Songs Against the War: Voices of Anti-warriors” with Barbara Dane and the San Francisco Mime Troupe Band, in honor of the Veterans and Friends of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and Veterans for Peace at 1 p.m. at the Florence Schwimley Little Theater, Berkeley High School, 1980 Allston Way. Reception follows. Tickets are $35. 582-7699.  

Community Labyrinth Peace Walk to rededicate the Willard Community Peace Labyrinth at 3 p.m. at Willard Middle School, Telegraph Ave. between Derby and Stuart. Guided by Margie Adam. Rain reschedules to March 19. 526-7377. 

Tap Jam A tribute and fundraiser for tappers and street jammers of New Orleans from 3 to 5 p.m. at Montclair Recreation Center, 6300 Moraga Ave., Oakland. Donations requested. 548-9840. 

African/African Diaspora Film Society presents “Le Silence de la Foret” at 2 p.m. at Parkway Theater, 1834 Park Blvd. Tickets are $5. OurFilms@aol.com 

Iranian New Year Celebration at 2 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Sponsored by the Iranian Student Cultural Organization. Tickets are $5-$15 at the door. 

Oakland Voters Meet the Candidates, hosted by The MGO Democratic Club from 4 to 7 p.m. at 170 Roble Rd., Oakland. Tickets are $25. 834-9198. www.mgoclub.org  

Berkeley Progressive Coalition Help us plan a spring convention for November’s city election, at 2:45 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, Third flr. meeting room, Kittredge at Shattuck. 540-1975. 

“Confronting Anti-Semitism” Town Hall Forum at 7 p.m. at El Cerrito High School, 7007 Moeser Lane, El Cerrito. 839-2900, ext. 217. 

Music for Babies at 9 a.m. at Bananas, 5232 Claremont Ave. Donation of $4 suggested. To register call 658-7853.  

Creating a Family for LGBT Parents at 3 p.m. at Bananas, 5232 Claremont Ave. To register call 658-7853.  

Tibetan Buddhism with Lee Nichol on “Dialog of Being” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, MARCH 13 

Parenting Class in Spanish at 7 p.m. at Bananas, 5232 Claremont Ave. To register call 658-7853. www.bananasinc.org  

Feng Shui for Health & Vitality at 7 p.m. at Unity of Berkeley, 2075 Eunice St. Cost is $27. 925-287-9594.  

Introduction to Meditation with Diane Eshin Rizzetto at 6:45 p.m. at Bay Zen Center, 315 Alcatraz Ave. Suggested donation $10. Registration required. 596-3087. www.bayzen.org 

“Timbrels and Torahs: A Celebration of Wisdom” with local filmmaker Miriam Chaya at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 524-3043.  

Yoga and Meditation Every Sun. in March from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

Natural Solutions for Depression & Insomnia at 7:30 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

World Affairs Discussion Group for seniors at 10:15 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center. Cost is $2.50.  

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, MARCH 14 

Empty Bowls Dinner Benefit for Alameda County Community Food Bank. Enjoy a bowl of soup and a handmade soup bowl to take home at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $15, or $30 for a family of four. For deatils and location call 653-3663, ext. 328. 

“The Invaded Estuary: Exotic Species in San Francisco Bay” with Andrew Cohen of the SF Estuary Institute at 5:30 p.m. at the Goldman School of Public Policy, Room 250, UC Campus. 642-2666. 

“A Forgotten Resistance: The Mosque of Paris” A documentary by Derri Berkani at 7:30 p.m. in the Homeroom, International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave. Dr. Annette Herskovits, who survived the holocaust as a child in France thanks to a clandestine rescue network, will present the film. 

“Guatemala: The Struggle to End Impunity” with Aisha Brown of NISGUA’s Guatemala Accompaniment Project at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. Donation $5-$10, no one turned away. 415-924-3227. 

“Mental Training for the Endurance Athlete” with former professional triathlete Terri Schneider at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Design and Print T-Shirts Workshop with Alliance Graphics in conjunction with the Berkeley Youth Arts Festival from 3 to 5 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. Also on Wed. Registration required. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

American Red Cross Blood Drive from noon to 6 p.m. at Tau Beta Pi, Leroy St., next to Soda Hall, UC Campus. To schedule an appointment call 1-800-GIVELIFE. www.BeADonor.com 

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. 

Spring Decluttering Organize your mind, home, office and life at 7:30 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

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. Free, all ages welcome. 524-3043. 

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

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community 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 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15 

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

Bird Walk on Mt. Wanda led by Park Ranger Cheryl Able. Meet at 8:30 a.m. at the Park and Ride lot at the corner of Alhabra Ave. and Franklin Canyon Rd., Martinez. Wear sturdy shoes and bring water and binoculars. Rain cancels. 925-228-8860. 

Great Decisions Foreign Policy Association Lecture “Energy” with Prof. Daniel Kammen, UCB, at 10 a.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Cost is $40 for the eight lecture series. 526-2925. 

Sugar Bowl Casino Public Hearing on the Draft EIS for the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indian Casino at Richmond Parkway at 6 p.m. at the Richmond Memorial Auditorium, 403 Civic Center Plaza, Richmond. This is a chance for all East Bay residents concerned about the impact of the casino to be heard. 271-0640, ext. 103.  

“Ommissions and Distortions in the 9/11 Commission Report” Films by David Ray Griffin at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donation of $5. 

“Lead-Safe Painting & Remodeling” Free introductory class to learn about lead safe renovations for your older home, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Berkeley Tool Lending Library 1901 Russell St. Presented by Alameda County Lead Poisoning Prevention Program. 567-8280. www.ACLPPP.org 

“Top Ten Healing Foods” a lecture, cooking demonstration and meal from 2 to 5 p.m. at Bauman College, 901 Grayson St., Ste. 201. Cost is $15. Registration required. 540-7041. 

American Red Cross Blood Drive from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Mills College Student Union, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland. To schedule an appointment call 1-800-GIVELIFE. www.BeADonor.com 

Parents and Providers Childcare discussion at 6:30 p.m. at Bananas, 5232 Claremont Ave. To register call 658-7853. www.bananasinc.org  

Basic Balkan Singing Workshop led by Juliana Graffagna, Wed. evenings in March at 7:30 p.m. at KITKA/Children’s Advocates, 1201 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, at 12th, Oakland. Cost for the series is $60. Registration encouraged. 444-0323. 

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters welcomes curious guests and new members at 7:15 a.m. at Au Coquelet Cafe, 2000 University Ave. 435-5863.  

Entrepreneurs Networking at 8 a.m. at A’Cuppa Tea, 3202 College Ave. at Alcatraz. Cost is $5. 562-9431.  

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction 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. Heavy rain cancels. 548-9840. 

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

Sing your Way Home A free sing-a-long at 4:30 p.m. every Wed. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720.  

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. 

THURSDAY, MARCH 16 

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

“The Making of a Wildlife Refuge” with Leora Feeney who will describe the current efforts on the site of the former US Navy Air Station at the western end of Alameda. At 7:30 p.m. at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Sponsored by the Golden Gate Audubon Society. www.goldengateaudubon.org 

“Reflections Ten Years After the Vision Fire” at Point Reyes, with Jennifer Chapman of the National Park Service, at 12 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

“Women’s Rights, Warlords and the US Occupation of Afghanistan” with 27-year old Afghan Parliamentarian, Malalai Joya at 4 p.m. in Room 270, Dwinelle Hall, UC Campus. www. 

afghanwomensmission.org 

“China-Silenced” a KQED/ 

Frontline documentary on the Uighurs at 7:30 p.m. at International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave. Cost is $5. 642-9460. 

LeConte Neighborhood Association meets at 7:30 p.m. in the LeConte School cafeteria. Agenda items include recent crime patterns and the new Community Crime View web site, Black & White Liquor restrictions and Neighborhood Watch. KarlReeh@aol.com 

Living with Ones and Twos at 7 p.m. at Bananas, 5232 Claremont Ave. Donation of $4 suggested. To register call 658-7853. www.bananasinc.org  

“Benevolence, Compassion, Joyousness and Equanimity” with Mudagamuwe Maithrimurthi, Visiting Lecturer of Buddhist Studies, at 5 p.m. in the IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton St., 6th Floor Colloquium Sponsored by the Center for Buddhist Studies http://ieas.berkeley.edu/events/2006.03.16.html 

Berkeley Public Library’s Teen Services invite teen readers to come and discuss classic and contemporary science fiction and fantasy titles, at 4 p.m. at the Claremont Branch Library, 2940 Benvenue. 981-6133. 

“Spice it Nice: Culinary Secrets” at 5:30 p.m. at Parmaca Integrative Pharmacy, 1744 Solano Ave. 527-8929. 

Ask a Union Mechanic at 4:30 p.m. at Parker and Shattuck, until the strike is settled. They will offer advice on all makes of car. 

Historical & Current Times Book Group meets on Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1249 Marin Ave. 548-4517. 

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.  

CITY MEETINGS 

Council Agenda Committee meets Mon. Mar. 13, at 2:30 p.m., at 2180 Milvia St. 981-6900. 

Youth Commission meets Mon., Mar. 13, at 6:30 p.m., at 1730 Oregon St. Philip Harper-Cotton, 981-6670. ò

Once again, cheapness costs lives. This time it has to do with the skyrocketing cost of copper in the 1960s. If you’re my age, which I’m not going to reveal, you may remember when copper shot way up around 1965. Metal futures were all the rage and wire makers were freaking big time. Nobody wanted to pay twice the price for wire, but buildings had to be built, added onto or rewired. 

So aluminum was the solution. It was known even at this time that aluminum was a poor conductor when compared to copper but it was assumed that the difference was negligible (at least that’s what the marketing department told the legal department) and that aluminum would do the job until copper came down in price. 

What the manufacturers, the electricians and the public didn’t know was that aluminum wiring (especially the first generation made between 1965 and 1972) was going to end up causing a lot of fires. The early wiring is considered by the Consumer Product Safety Commission to be 55 times more likely to cause a fire than copper wiring. The later aluminum alloy is somewhat less dangerous but I can’t find any figures on just how much less scary it’s supposed to be. 

So what’s going on with aluminum wiring? Why does it cause more fires? It has to do with two effects, thermal expansion and oxidation and it looks like the oxidation is the more serious culprit.  

When wires have electricity running through them, they heat up somewhat. In fact, a basic principle in wiring is to size the wire as well as the switches, outlets and lamps so that they don’t overheat. A tiny amount of heat is OK, but toaster-hot or waffle-iron-hot is clearly not a good thing because these wires are running through the walls of your house and can start a fire if they get too hot.  

When wires are well connected to one another the power flows nicely through the system. When there’s something constricting the flow, the power tries to jump over the gap or heats up at the point of marginal contact and can actually start melting metal or plastic or throwing off sparks. 

This sort of resistance is the thing that makes the little wires in the toaster glow and look what that can do. Aluminum connections are more apt to have these things happen as a result of those two effects.  

Thermal expansion with aluminum wire is so great that it can push the contact screw outward as it heats up and then leaves a gap as it cools down. That gap can become one of the areas of poor contact that causes sparking and leads to a fire. It can also create a gap at a connection with another wire inside of a junction box, even when a tightly bound “wire nut” is holding them together. 

The other effect, oxidation, begins to occur as soon as the aluminum wiring is stripped for installation. Aluminum oxide is a really good insulator (unlike the corrosion that occurs on copper) and over time can cause the resistance at a connection to get high enough to make a nice little electric heater out of an outlet. 

One way to know that you have a problem is that you may actual smell burning plastic at an outlet or switch. If you see sparks, charring or hear sizzling, this is a very bad sign. If an outlet or switch feels warm to the touch you may be feeling the effects of aluminum wiring. If you’re experiencing any of the above or seeing lights dim when you operate small appliances, you may have aluminum wiring (although other electrical deficiencies can cause this as well). 

The only way to be sure that you have or don’t have aluminum wiring is to have someone (such as an electrician or building inspector) look and see. 

Aluminum is still used for very large “feeders” and seems to function well for these. They may be the main wires leading from your outside panel to an inside panel or the “dedicated” wiring to the stove or dryer. Wiring leading to outlets and switches should not use aluminum if at all possible and you may want to simply replace it with copper, cutting and abandoning the old wiring in the walls. 

An alternative is to have a certified installer place “Copalum” connectors in every junction box of the house that uses aluminum. This is the only method that the Consumer Product Safety Commission sanctions other than replacement of wiring. 

It’s not cheap either but it’s probably a lot cheaper than replacement, especially if you live in a two-story house. It’s also a lot cheaper than the tragedy of a fire, whose expense may not be measurable in dollars. 

If you have aluminum wiring from after 1972, it’s a little safer because the wire alloy was changed and the devices (outlets, switches, etc.) were improved. I’d still be very concerned if it were my house. Aside from having kids, I’m just plain afraid of fire. 

While the data is sketchy, there are some nasty news reports. The Pittsburgh Channel reports that 165 people were killed at the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Kentucky in 1977 as a result of aluminum wiring. A fire in New Jersey in 2001 killed a family of five including 3 children. Aluminum wiring was blamed. 

These aren’t the only stories I’ve found but it’s so unpleasant that I think I’ll stop there. We may have to wait a few years to have better data, but the scientific research is very clear that fires start much more easily with aluminum branch wiring than with copper. 

Wiring is not the most expensive thing in your home to fix or upgrade and electrical fires are anything but rare so it’s worth taking action if you have aluminum. If your house was built prior to 1965 or after 1973 and wasn’t rewired or remodeled, you probably don’t have any. If you’re not sure, have someone check. 

If you have determined that you have aluminum wiring leading to your outlets and lights and you want to go the Copalum connector route, you can contact Tyco at (800) 522-6752. Only certified Copalum installers can put them in and if you want to know more, the CPSC can send you a copy of Repairing Aluminum Wiring by writing to them at CPSC, Washington, DC 20207. 

And may only your thoughts and your heart be warm tonight. 

TUESDAY, MARCH 7 

EXHIBITIONS 

Michelle Echenique “New Work: Mixed Media Collage” opens at North Berkeley Frame and Gallery, 1744 Shattuck Ave. Runs through April 29. 549-0428. 

FILM 

Vantage Points: New Documentaries by Women at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Works In Progress” Women’s Open Mic with Jan Steckel at 7:30 p.m. at Montclair Women’s Cultural Center, 1650 Mountain Blvd., Oakland. 276-0379. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Gerard Landry & The Lariats at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054.  

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

Barbrara Linn at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

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

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8 

EXHIBITIONS 

Berkeley Youth Arts Festival celebrating the works of Berkeley High School students. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. 644-6893.  

FILM 

Film 50: History of Cinema “ Victims of Sin” at 3 p.m. and Vidoe: Recent and Strange at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

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

Cara Black reads from her mystery “Murder in Monmartre” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books, 1491 Shattuck Ave. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Music for the Spirit with Ron McKean on organ at 12:15 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, 2619 Broadway. 444-3555. 

Julio Bocca’s Ballet Argentino & Octango at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $24-$48. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Zabava! Izvorno and Late Clift at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Balkan dance lesson at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Berkeley High Jazz Ensembles at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Ned Boynton’s North Beach Django Band at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Julio Bravo & Salsabor at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Salsa lessons at 8 p.m. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Kurt Riabak Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

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

THURSDAY, MARCH 9 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Still Present Pasts” A collaborative exhibition on Korean Americans and the “Forgotten War” Reception at 6 p.m. at Pro Arts, 550 Second St., Oakland. 763-4361. 

“The Magic Flute” Buon Affresco by Francesca Giorgi, installation and reception at 5 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. 848-1228. 

FILM 

The Wide Angle Cinema of Michael Brault “Of Whales, the Moon and Men” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Exploring The Adirondacks: An Architectural Tour of A Great Rustic Tradition” with Steven Engelhart, Executive Director, Adirondack Architectural Heritage, at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Tickets are $8-$12. 843-8982.  

“Art and War at the Achaemenid Persian Court” with Dr. Michael Roaf, Prof. of Near Eastern Archeology at Munich Univ. at 7:30 p.m. at the Archeological Research Facility, 2251 College Building, UC Campus. 415-338-1537. 

Beshara Doumani, Judith Butler Joel Beinin adn Kathleen Frydl look at “Academic Freedom After 9/11” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

Word Beat Reading Series with Ronda Lawson and Cynthia Bryant at 7 p.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave., near Dwight Way. 526-5985. 

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

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Julio Bocca’s Ballet Argentino & Octango at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $24-$48. 642-9988.  

Hespérion XXI, “La Capella Reial de Catalunya” at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Pre-concert talk at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $52. 642-9988.  

Erike Luckett at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Steve Gannon’s Blue Monday Blues at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ.  

Isaac Peña, CD release party at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $16-$8. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Jeremy Cohen Duo at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

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

FRIDAY, MARCH 10 

THEATER 

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 

Central Works “Shadow Crossing” Thurs. - Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., through March 26. Tickets are $9-$25. 558-1381. www.centralworks.org 

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.  

Traveling Jewish Theater “Family Alchemy” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m. at the Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., through March 12. Tickets are $12-$35. 415-522-0786.  

UCB Dept. of Theater, “Seven Lears” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun at 2 p.m. at the Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Campus. TIckets are $8-$14. 642-9925. http://theater.berkeley.edu 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Three Figure Painters” works by Prabin Badhia, Steve Skaar, and Inna Jane Ray. Reception at 6 p.m. at Nexus Gallery, 2707 Eighth St. 655-7374. 

FILM 

The Wide Angle Cinema of Michael Brault “Orders” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

New Orleans Zine Reading A benefit and book release event for “Stories Care Forgot,” at 7 p.m. at Rock Paper Scissors Collective, 2278 Telegraph Ave. 238-9171. 

Anthony Hawley & Tanya Brolaski, poets at 8 p.m. at Pegasus Books, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Leo Kottke in a solo concert at 8 p.m. at Wheeler Auditorium, UC Campus. Tickets are $30. 642-9988.  

“Pacific Arts Trio” at 8 p.m. at Arlington Community Church, 52 Arlington, Kensington. Tickets are $15 at the door. 843-7745. 

“KITKA: Stories From Chernobyl,” A Celebration of Survival at 8 p.m. at Bishop O’Dowd High School, 9500 Stearns Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $10-$20. www.bishopodowd.org 

Rafael Manriquez in a musical tribute to women songwriters and poets from the Americas at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $13-$15. 849-2568.  

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

Native Elements and Razorblade at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10-$12. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Jill Knight, singer-songwriter, at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

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

Bobbe Norris with the Larry Dunlap Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

DJ & Brook at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Steve Taylor, songwriter for Cowpokes for Peace, at 7 p.m. at A Cuppa Tea, 3202 College Ave. Oakland. 420-0196.  

Whiskey Sunday, Love Songs, Pink Black at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

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

SATURDAY, MARCH 11 

FILM 

The Wide Angle Cinema of Michael Brault “Drifting Upstream” at 6:30 p.m. and “Good Riddance” at 9:05 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Youth of Colored Ink, in coordination with Berkeley Art Center's Youth Arts Festival, open mic at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. 644-6893.  

“Still Present Pasts” A collaborative exhibition on Korean Americans and the “Forgotten War” Artists’ talk at 1 p.m. at Pro Arts, 550 Second St., Oakland. 763-4361. 

Chris Hedges and Hamza Yusuf discuss “Does God Love War? The Fine Line Between Faith and Fanatacism” at 7 p.m. at Martin Luther King Middle School Auditorium, 1781 Rose St. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Recorder Performances at 11 a.m. at A Cheerfull Noyse, 1228 Solano Ave., Albany. 524-0411. 

Maria del Mar & Monica Salmaso at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $22-$40. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Jewish Music Festival with Septeto Rodrigues and Irving Fields at 8 p.m. at the First Congregational Church Oakland. Tickets are $22-$26. 415-276-1511. 

Mexican Mariachi Fest featuring Juanita Ulloa, at 8:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $13-$15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org  

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

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

The Waybacks at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

David Rovics with Attila the Stockbrocker, Ryan Harvey and Folk This, in a benefit for the Common Ground Collective in New Orleans at 7:30 p.m. at AK Press, 674-A 23rd St., Oakland. 208-1700. 

Stephen Swiss & Peter Frankel, Latin jazz funk fusion, at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7 per family. 558-0881. 

Chase Michaels at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Sila & The Afrofunk Experience at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Bobbe Norris with the Larry Dunlap Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

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

Plan 9, Monster Squad, Static Thought, Cell Block 5 at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $3. 525-9926. 

Will Bernard & Motherbug at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

SUNDAY, MARCH 12 

FILM 

Irish Film Festival at 3 and 6 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

The Wide Angle Cinema of Michael Brault “Chronicle of a Summer” at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ken Foster offers a memoir and guidebook “The Dogs Who Found Me” at 4 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Poetry Flash with Kate Braverman and Diane di Prima at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Elaine Taylor will speak on the feminist aspects in the suspense novel “Final Betrayal” at 2 p.m. at Change Makers, 6536 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 655-2405.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“Songs Against the War: Voices of Anti-warriors” with Barbara Dane and the San Francisco Mime Troupe Band, in honor of the Veterans and Friends of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and Veterans for Peace at 1 p.m. at the Florence Schwimley Little Theater, Berkeley High School, 1980 Allston Way. Reception follows. Tickets are $35. 582-7699. www.alba-valb.org 

Organ Recital by Jonathan Dimmock at 6:10 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. Donations accepted. 845-0888.  

Sounds New Contemporary American classic music at 7:30 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. Donation $10-$15. 524-2912.  

Takács Quartet, chamber music, at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Pre-concert talk at 2 p.m. Tickets are $42. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Masters of Persian Classical Music at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $24-$48. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Jewish Music Festival with Cantors Alberto Mizrahi and Jack Mendelson at 7:30 p.m. at Temple Sinai, 2808 Summit St., Oakland. Tickets are $22-$26. 415-276-1511. 

Chamber Music, featuring Karla Donehew, violin, and Miles Graber, piano, at 4 p.m. at the Crowden Music Center Rose at Sacramento. Tickets are $12, children free. 559-2941. www.crowdenmusiccenter.org 

College of Alameda Jazz Band at 2 p.m. at Oakland Public Conservatory of Music, 1616 Franklin St., Oakland. Free, families welcome. 748-2213. 

All-request Beatles Sing-a-Long Fundraiser at 6 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. All proceeds will go to benefit The Future Leaders Institute. Donation $10, with $10 donation per song. 649-9878. www. 

thefutureleadersinstitute.org  

Carlos Oliveira and Brazilian Origins, featuring Harvey Wainapel, at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Steve Erquiga & Brian Pardo at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Chris Hillman & Herb Pedersen at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Vintage Tea Dance with Frederick Hodges at 2 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

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

Shook Ones, Legit at 5 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

MONDAY, MARCH 13 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Lost and Found” Wearble art made from found or recycled materials, by NIAD students with disablities and Piedmont High students, opens at the NIAD Art Center, 551 23rd St., Richmond. www.niadart.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Mark Anthony Thomas will read from “The Poetic Repercussion: A Poetic & Musical Narrative” at 3 p.m. at MLK Student Union, #4504, UC Campus. 642-9000. 

“Painting on Location in Italy and Mexico” A slide lecture with Anthony Holdsworth at 6:30 p.m. at ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $8, includes reception. 843-2527. www.accigallery.org 

Poetry Express with Mary Milton at 7 p.m. at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Adama Purim Party at 6:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10-$20. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Zilber-Muscarella Quartet & Invitational at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Parlor Tango at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

TUESDAY, MARCH 14 

FILM 

Vantage Points: New Documentaries by Women “States of UnBelonging” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“The Issue of Icons Once Again” with Prof. Constantine Scouteris, University of Athens, at 7:30 p.m. at Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute, 2311 Hearst Ave. 649-3450. 

Lola Vollen talks about “Surviving Justice: America’s Wrongly Convicted and Exonerated” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Orpheus Supertones with Walt Koken, Claire Milliner, Pete Peterson, and Kellie Allen at 8 p.m. in Berkeley near College and Ashby. Donation to performers $10-$20 sliding scale. For reservations and directions, please send an email to Cleoma@aol.com 

Creole Belles with Andrew Carriere at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Singer’s Open Mic with Ellen Hoffman at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Debbie Poryes & Friends at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Jazzschool Tuesdays, a weekly showcase of up-and-coming ensembles from Berkeley Jazzschool at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277.ª

The following is an excerpt from Richard Schwartz’s Earthquake Exodus, 1906: Berkeley Responds to the San Francisco Refugees. The Daily Planet will run three more excerpts in the coming weeks. 

Berkeley was a peaceful small town before the 1906 earthquake. But as soon as the massive earthquake struck on April 18, that reality would change forever. Berkeley’s own newspaper, the Berkeley Daily Gazette, reported only a small portion of the total damage wrought upon the town. 

All neighborhoods were struck, though some suffered more damage than others. Stunned residents and horrified merchants soon discovered the town’s fate for themselves. A 13-year-old newspaper boy named Harold Yost, who lived with his mother at 2201 Hearst Ave., was an eyewittness to the events. 

News would be passed from one neighbor to another as all communications were knocked out of service, save for East Bay newspapers. No one was sure as to the extent of the disaster and a deep uneasiness blanketed the jumbled town. Let us join Harold as he begins his paper route just over an hour after the earthquake struck on that warm, fogless morning. 

Viewing the damage 

Despite the earthquake, Harold decided to deliver his papers. As he started his route around 6:30 a.m., Berkeley seemed about the same as always, except that people were outside their houses, milling around and talking. They were unaware of the damage beyond their neighborhood, yet deep down were worried.  

Harold passed his own house and saw his mother out on the porch. 

“I guess the house is all right,” she yelled to him, “but I’m going to stay out here for a while.” She promised him breakfast when he was done with his route. 

He continued up the hill to Le Conte Avenue. There he saw “the first of the great quake’s calling cards: bricks that had once been outside chimneys scattered across a front lawn, with people clustered around looking dazed and worried, chatting in subdued tones.” 

As he went up Euclid, he was sobered to discover much more of the same. From this point, he had a view across the bay. He was taken aback by what he saw—a growing cloud of black smoke rising over San Francisco. He didn’t connect the smoke with the earthquake and scurried home for breakfast. 

Afterward, he changed into his school clothes, picked up his report on Mt. Vesuvius, stuffed it into his bag, and headed to school. He was unaware that the water main from the nearby North Berkeley reservoir had broken, sending a huge geyser of water into the air. Many people living along his paper route had fled to the hills. 

School didn’t start until 9 a.m., but Harold always went earlier to play games in the schoolyard. By 8:30 he was on his way up Oxford Street, not far from his house, when he spotted a schoolmate running toward him, waving his arms and yelling “No school!”  

“They have got to see if the building’s safe before we go back,” Harold’s friend told him. “But they say somethin’s happened to Berkeley High. Let’s go down and see.” 

The high school at Allston Way and Grove Street (now Martin Luther King, Jr. Way) was Berkeley’s pride and joy. Built five years earlier at a cost of $87,000, it was an impressive, two-story brick structure, with two tall brick chimneys rising above the handsome slate roof. Harold and his buddy ran down Milvia Street, then stopped abruptly when they saw that the chimneys were gone. 

In their place were two great gaping holes in the roof. Two matching piles of brick rubble lay on the ground directly below them. 

“Plaster was broken from the walls of nearly every room,” the evening Oakland Tribune of April 18 reported, “and the great flues in the attic were torn down by falling bricks.” A huge structural crack marred the northwest wing. The boys were stunned. 

As it turned out, Berkeley schools—including Whittier, McKinley, Hillside, and San Pablo—suffered disproportionately to other buildings in the city. Hazel Skaggs, a student at the time, remembered, “Our brand new Washington School [Grove Street and Bancroft Way], a red brick building, toppled that morning. It had been completed only the day before.”  

Police officer W. H. McCoy, working his beat in the Oceanview, was standing at San Pablo and University avenues when the earthquake struck. The stone walls of the elegant West Berkeley Bank on the northwest corner shattered, the building shifted off its foundation, and the masonry cornices fell to the ground. One section weighing thousands of pounds flew past McCoy’s face and crashed at his feet. Dust blanketed his cup of coffee as he stood frozen and stunned. 

The bank, whose president was Berkeley’s Acting Mayor Francis Ferrier, had been a symbol of the financial importance of Oceanview. At the same time McCoy saw the walls of the D. H. Bruns General Merchandising store across the street buckle. His attention was suddenly drawn to an explosion at El Dorado Oil Works laboratory, at the northwest corner of University Avenue and Second Street. McCoy rushed to the nearest fire alarm box and then promptly pulled the alarm on a second box. 

Firemen from two stations arrived and extinguished the oil works fire, which could have quickly engulfed the entire west end of town. Sadly for the workingmen of Oceanview, Charles Hadlen’s and Dennis Landregren’s saloons, popular watering holes, displayed significant damage. Several blocks away, a large crack in the roadbed of University Avenue ran west all the way until the street ended. 

Downtown Berkeley, centered at Shattuck Avenue and Dwight Way, was especially hard-hit. The Barker Block, on the northwest corner, had just been completed, and its owner, J. L. Barker, was about to place advertisements seeking tenants. The masonry cornice, shaken loose by the earthquake, lay shattered on the sidewalk. The building’s awning hung limply. Damage to the interior was particularly extensive. 

“The building still stands,” the April 18 Oakland Tribune reported, “but the upper story is little more than a pile of bricks. It is simply rent through and through.” 

Across the street on the northeast corner, all the structures behind the Foy Block building were destroyed, and their collapse crushed other sheds attached to the rear of the building. The owner feared that the cost of repairs would reach $5,000. 

An Oakland Tribune reporter wrote in the April 18 paper that downtown Berkeley was an “indescribable scene of confusion.” At stores and pharmacies such as Rolla Fuller’s on Dwight and Bowman’s on Center Street, merchants stood knee-deep in glass containers shattered on the floor and merchandise thrown off shelves. Downed electrical wires ignited a fire at Pond’s Pharmacy on Shattuck near Center. 

The proprietor of Sorenson’s crockery shop on Center arrived to find the store filled with the shards of once expensive merchandise. The French Laundry at 2241 Shattuck collapsed, and cracks opened up in the walls of the Carnegie Library at the southwest corner of Shattuck and Kittredge. 

Construction workers who could reach downtown showed up to assess the damage. Steel girders had recently been erected for the new Masonic Temple at Shattuck and Bancroft Way. When the quake hit, the girders had slowly toppled, two of them falling through the roof of the neighboring University Laundry and then striking the telephone company building at 2239 Shattuck Ave., just beyond the laundry. 

The two frightened switchboard operators on duty, Miss McGreer and Miss Young, remained at their stations, even though plaster was thrown from the bulging walls. Telephone service immediately went dead. An estimated 40 percent of the lines were down, and telephone poles all over town were toppled. 

The Lorin District, south of downtown, also sustained heavy damage. The Loughhead and Armstrong Hardware building at 3226 Adeline St. was “way out of plumb” and the walls “cracked and shattered.” 

›

We get just enough sun in between the rains to keep us hoping, this time of year; just enough life showing in the trees and plants, wild and tame, to make us believe that there’s more to the world than cold and mud. The plums have blossomed and are starting to get down to summer’s business, unfurling their leaves to catch the sun of longer days. The buckeyes—just look at the bunch in the center strip on Sacramento south of University!—are spreading translucent green hands out to the plenty flowing from the sky. The sun itself, as the world turns our side to face it straight-on, begins to touch us with palpable energy. 

That energy is light and heat together, and plants have the trick of using it, in particular the light. That’s the part that’s least palpable to us, only visible, and we have enough of it to see by all year in daytime and artificial means of making it by night, so we rarely appreciate its influence. Trees, though, reach for it with every fiber of their aboveground being, and use it to run the biggest manufacturing operation on the planet, photosynthesis, as they build themselves out of air and the water and minerals they stand rooted in.  

At eight photons a pop, a plant sorts out a carbon dioxide molecule in the air to make a carbon compound, a sugar, for its own use, and just by the way drops a molecule of oxygen back out into the air around it. As waste goes, this is rather environmentally benign, especially to those of us who need to breathe it. It does this trick using pigments, usually green, that get excited and start tossing electrons around when they see light.  

After that beginning, a chain of chemical reactions follows; some of those can happen in the dark. Plants don’t actually sleep at night; they just perform another set of metabolic chores. But some of them, the deciduous perennials including lots of our trees, seem to sleep in winter.  

In some climates, this is a drought adaptation of sorts. Water that’s frozen in the soil is just as unavailable to tree roots as water on the other side of a rainshadowing mountain range. So deciduous trees in cold climates drop all their leaves at once to save water, and even some trees here where there’s more water in the soil in winter than in summer have retained that habit. Some of them, like those buckeyes, strip bare when the year’s water reserves in their particular bit of soil are tapped out, even if this is just late summer. Others like bigleaf maples and creek willows have inherited the deciduous habit, apparently, as they share it with their northern relatives.  

Even in thoroughly deciduous species, there’s more than timing going on. I know a few people whose own trees—apple, ash—never did lose all their leaves this past winter, for the first time, and they’re poking new ones out now anyway. The consensus about global warming gets solidified by close-to-home instances like this as well as the news about glaciers and Arctic thawing. 

What, besides the availability of water, drives deciduous trees’ “decisions” to grow or drop leaves is still less well understood than arborfolk would like. We know at the molecular level something about how trees do it—but the why, the triggers that set the process in motion, are as far as I can tell still just a bit mysterious. We know they use photopigments, chemical compounds that sense light levels and changes. Soil temperature drives the process too, especially the temperature in the top soil layer; so does air temperature. We can see a lot of raggedly-timed, out-of-step leaf-drops in introduced landscape trees here; look at the sweetgums along MLK Way. (Some of that syncopation depends on what cultivar the individual tree is.)  

Whatever drives the spring budding and unfurling, you can almost feel it if you have your hands on enough trees. If you’re pruning them, they’re starting to bleed all over you; but just touching, you can feel the leaf buds firm up, swell, and loosen as cells multiply and embryonic leaves stretch themselves out and the tree stirs itself to greet the sun. 

Infant leaf and leafbud of Corylus cornuta, our native hazelnut.  

Photo by  

Ron Sullivan 

TUESDAY, MARCH 7 

Rally in Support of IRV Voting at 6 p.m. on th esteps of Old City Hall, before the City Council meeting. www.irv4berkeley.org 

“The Right to Culture as a Human Right: Law in a Multi-cultural World” with Alison Dundes Renteln at 6 p.m. at the Great Hall, International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave. Cost for dinner is $15. Call for reservations. 642-4128. 

“Quest for the Seven Summits” A slide presentation with mountain climber John Christiana at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

National Nutrition Month Cooking Demonstration with Mary Vance from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the Farmers’ Market, Derby St. at MLK. 548-3333.  

Public Hearing on Sewer Laterals which would establish a fee for certificates of satisfactory condition of homeowners’ sewer laterals upon sale or remodel, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6901.  

Free Quit Smoking Class from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center., 2939 Ellis St. Also on the 21st. Free hypnosis also available. To register call 981-5330. 

Stress Less Seminar at 6:30 p.m. at New Moon Opportunities, 378 Jayne Ave., Oakland Free, but registration required. 465-2524. 

Berkeley Salon Discussion Group meets to discuss “Living Poor with Style” from 7 to 9 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 601-6690. 

“Wild Alaska: Whales, Glaciers and Bears of Wilderness Southeast Alaska” with travel photographer Ronn Patterson at 7 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland.  

Raging Grannies of the East Bay invites new folks to come join us the 2nd and 4th Tues, of each month, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. to sing(any voice will do), help plan our next gig, or write outrageously political lyrics to old familiar tunes, and have fun at Berkeley Gray Panthers office, 1403 Addison St., in Andronico’s mall. 548-9696. 

Berkeley School Volunteers Training workshop for volunteers interested in helping the public schools, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

Magic Show with Alex Gonzales at 6:30 p.m. at the Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 524-3043. 

Naturopathic Cancer Support A talk with Marianne Marchese at 7:30 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

Family Story Time at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Branch Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Free, all ages welcome. 524-3043. 

Compassion in Action A practical 4-week Buddhist meditation course with ordained nun, Kelsang Choyang, Tues. at 7 p.m. at Dzalandhara Buddhist Center, Berkeley. Cost is $7-$10 per class. Call to register 559-8183. www.meditationinberkeley.org 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Join a few slowpoke seniors at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm for an hour or two walk. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

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

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991.  

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8 

“Fashion Resistance to Militarism” a documentary in honor of International Women’s Day, follwed by a discussion with Aimee Alison and Tina Garnanez at 6:30 p.m. at First Unitarian Church of Oakland, 685 14th St. Tickets are $5-$10 sliding scale. Sponsored by Women of Color Resource Center. 444-2700. 

International Women’s Day March and Rally at 4 p.m. at the Downtown Berkeley BART Station. 384-1816. 

Great Decisions Foreign Policy Association Lecture “The U.S. and Iran” with Dariush Zahedi, at 10 a.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Cost is $40 for the eight lecture series. 526-2925. 

Berkeley Holocaust Remembrance Day Planning Meeting at 4 p.m. in the Redbud Room, 2180 Milvia St. 981-7170. 

East Bay Genealogical Society with Susan Snyder of Bancroft Library on the availability of materials during the remodeling process, at 10 a.m. in the Library Conference Room of the Family History Center, 4766 Lincoln Ave., Oakland. Guests are always welcome. 635-6692.  

Choosing Infant Care at 10 a.m. at Bananas, 5232 Claremont Ave. Babies welcome. To register call 658-7853.  

“Microcurrent Therapy for Pain Relief” at 9:30 a.m. at Alta Bates Summit, Cafeteria Annex B and C, 350 Hawthorne Ave., Oakland. Cost is $5, free for Health Access members. Registration required. 869-6737. 

Poetry Writing Workshop, led by Alison Seevak, at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library ,1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

“Struggles with Homo- 

sexuality in the Orthodox Jewish Community,” with a screening of the documentary “Keep Not Silent” at noon at the Gender Equity Resources Center, 202 Cesar Chavez Student Center, UC Campus. 

Breema Open House with sample exercise class at 6 p.m. at 6210 Florio St., Oakland. 428-1234.  

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction 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. 548-9840. 

Sing your Way Home A free sing-a-long at 4:30 p.m. every Wed. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720.  

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.  

Meditation and Discussion Sessions Wed. evenings at 7 p.m. near the El Cerrito Plaza BART station. No commitment to a particular religious or philosophical viewpoint is required. Free. www.heartawake.com 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at 6:30 p.m. at the Berkeley BART Station. www.geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, MARCH 9 

“Exploring The Adirondacks: An Architectural Tour of A Great Rustic Tradition” with Steven Engelhart, Executive Director, Adirondack Architectural Heritage, at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Tickets are $8-$12. 843-8982.  

Forum on Teen Drinking at 7:30 p.m. at Albany High School multipurpose room, 603 Key Route Blvd. albanyhighjournalism@yahoo.com 

“Refugee Cultures in Transition: From Southeast Asian Mountains and Plains to the Central Valley” at 1 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. 238-2200.  

“Rising Tides of White and Christian Supremacy: A Cross Atlantic Comparison of 9/11 and 7/7 with Jaideep Singh at 7 p.m. at the Bade Museum, Pacific School of Religion, 1798 Scenic Ave. 849-8225. 

“Paradise Now” The Oscar-nominated Palestinian film at 7:30 p.m. at the Grand Lake Theater, 3200 Grand Ave. Discussion to follow the film. Suggested donation $10. Benefit for the Middle East Children's Alliance. 548-0542. www.mecaforpeace.org 

“Corporate Responsibility in the Global South” at 7:30 p.m. at the Home Room, International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave. Sponsored by the Association for India’s Development. Cost is $5. 642-9460. 

“The Union Busting Epidemic and How to Fight It” with a screening of “Lockout 484” and “Solidarity Has No Borders” at 7 p.m. at Fellowship of Humainity Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donation of $3 requested. 415-867-0628. 

“Bilateral Trade Agreements in the Asia-Pacific” Panel discussion at 5 p.m. in the IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton St., 6th floor. http://ieas.berkeley.edu/events/2006.03.09.html 

Choosing Infant Care at 7 p.m. at Bananas, 5232 Claremont Ave. Babies welcome. To register call 658-7853.  

Grizzly Peak Flyfishers with Bill Carnazzo, a guide who specializes in the Upper Sacramento River, on winter fishing, at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Community Center, 59 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 547-8629. 

American Red Cross Blood Drive from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Metro Center Auditorium, 101 Eighth St., Oakland. To schedule an appointment call 1-800-GIVELIFE.  

Historical & Current Times Book Group meets on Thurs. at 11 a.m. at the Albany Library, 1249 Marin Ave. 548-4517. 

East Bay Mac Users Group meets at 6 p.m. at Expression College for Digital Arts 6601 Shellmound St., Emeryville. Netopia will present Timbuktu 8.5. http://ebmug.org 

FRIDAY, MARCH 10 

Tibetan March for Freedom beginning at 9 a.m. at Berkeley City Hall and ending at 12:30 p.m. at the Chinese Consulate, Laguna and Geary, SF. www.tanc.org, www.friends-of-tibet.org 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Kevin Tellis, engineer, on “The Delta Levies.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $13.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925 or 665-9020.  

Piedmont Choirs’ 2006 Gala Celebration at 6 p.m. at the Oakland Rotunda. Tickets are $135. 547-4441. www.piedmontchoirs.org 

Womansong Circle Participa- 

tory singing for women at 6:45 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Donation $15-$20. 525-7082. 

Trinity Poets, a poetry writing group, meets at 11 a.m. at Trinity Church, 2362 Bancroft Way. southberkeleypoet@yahoo.com  

Berkeley Critical Mass Bike Ride meets at the Berkeley BART the second Friday of every month at 5:30 p.m.  

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. 

Kol Hadash Family Purim Potluck and Shabbat at 6 p.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. RSVP with food choice to info@kolhadash.org 

SATURDAY, MARCH 11 

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. 

Stream Bioengineering Workshop Learn how to use natural materials and non-structural techniques to combat soil erosion and restore creeks, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Codornices Creek Restoration Site, 5th and Harrison. Cost is $25. To register call 452-0901.  

Free Worm Composting Workshop Find out how to compost kitchen scraps into free, nutritious fertilizer using red wiggler worms, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

Mt. Wanda Wildflower Walk in the hills where John Muir took his daughters. Meet at 9 a.m. in the Park and Ride lot at the corner of Alhambra Ave. and Franklin Canyon Rd., Martinez. Wear walking shoes and bring water. 925-228-8860. 

“Does God Love War?” Does religion offer a way toward reconciliation? Or has it instead become part of the problem? Discussion with Pulitzer Prize-winner Chris Hedges and American-Muslim Hamza Yusuf at 6:15 p.m. at Martin Luther King Middle School, 1781 Rose St. 582-1979. www.zaytuna.org 

Burma Human Rights Day with a screening of “Our Cause,” speeches by former political prisoners and a Burmese dinner at 6 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. Proceeds benefit Burmese American Democratic Alliance. 220-1323.  

Repainting Willard Community Peace Labyrinth from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Willard Middle School, Telegraph Ave. between Derby and Stuart, Berkeley. Rain date March 18. Volunteers needed. 526-7377. 

Progressive Democrats of the East Bay with Stefanie L. Faucher from Death Penalty Focus, at 2 p.m. at Temescal Library, 5205 Telegraph, Oakland. All welcome. 524-4424.  

“Current Land Struggles in Brazil” with Andreia Ferreira of the Landless Worker’s Movement at 4 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5-$15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Used Book Sale to benefit the scholarships fund from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sun. from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at The College Preparatory School, Buttner Auditorium, 6100 Broadway, Oakland. 528-7070. 

School Readiness Fun Fair Learn about quality child care and pre-school programs, register your children for kindergarten. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Beebe Memorial Cathedral, 3900 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. The event is free and everyone is invited to attend. 272-6686. 

East Bay “Birth” Day with information, resources, food and entertainment on pregnancy and birth, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Performance of “Birth” at 3:30 p.m. Cost is $20-$40, sliding scale. Child care is available during performance. 540-7210. 

Heart Truth: What Women with Different Abilities Need to Know A workshop for women with mobility limitations at 2:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 326-8718. 

American Red Cross Free CPR and Preparedness classes at 8:30 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., and in Spanish at 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. Patten University, 2433 Coolidge Ave., Oakland. 1-888-686-3600.  

Alameda’s Altarena Playhouse 68th Anniversary at 6 p.m. at the Grandview Pavillion, Alameda, with dinner and music. For reservations call 523-1553.  

“Puttin’ on the Ritz” Benefit for California Shakespeare Theater at 6 p.m. at the Rotunda Building, 300 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland. Tickets are $185. www.calshakes.org 

“Jewish Literature - Identity and Imagination” Discussion led by Dr. Naomi Seidman of the Graduate Theological Union at 2 p.m. at Kensignton Library, 61 Arlington Ave. Registration is recommended. 524-3043. 

Preschool Storytime for 3-5 year olds at 11 a.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

SUNDAY, MARCH 12 

Weather Whizzes Make your own tools to measure the wild weather and test them outside, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Frog Chorus Learn about their life cycle and where they live and thrive, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

“Songs Against the War: Voices of Anti-warriors” with Barbara Dane and the San Francisco Mime Troupe Band, in honor of the Veterans and Friends of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and Veterans for Peace at 1 p.m. at the Florence Schwimley Little Theater, Berkeley High School, 1980 Allston Way. Reception follows. Tickets are $35. 582-7699.  

Community Labyrinth Peace Walk to rededicate the Willard Community Peace Labyrinth at 3 p.m. at Willard Middle School, Telegraph Ave. between Derby and Stuart. Guided by Margie Adam. Rain reschedules to March 19. 526-7377. 

African/African Diaspora Film Society presents “Le Silence de la Foret” at 2 p.m. at Parkway Theater, 1834 Park Blvd. Tickets are $5. OurFilms@aol.com 

Oakland Voters Meet the Candidates, hosted by The MGO Democratic Club from 4 to 7 p.m. at 170 Roble Rd., Oakland. Tickets are $25. 834-9198. www.mgoclub.org  

“Confronting Anti-Semitism” Town Hall Forum at 7 p.m. at El Cerrito High School, 7007 Moeser Lane, El Cerrito. 839-2900, ext. 217. 

Music for Babies at 9 a.m. at Bananas, 5232 Claremont Ave. Donation of $4 suggested. To register call 658-7853.  

Creating a Family for LGBT Parents at 3 p.m. at Bananas, 5232 Claremont Ave. To register call 658-7853.  

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace Peace walk around the lake every Sun. Meet at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712. lmno4p.org 

Tibetan Buddhism with Lee Nichol on “Dialog of Being” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, MARCH 13 

Parenting Class in Spanish at 7 p.m. at Bananas, 5232 Claremont Ave. To register call 658-7853. www.bananasinc.org  

Introduction to Meditation with Diane Eshin Rizzetto at 6:45 p.m. at Bay Zen Center, 315 Alcatraz Ave. Suggested donation $10. Registration required. 596-3087. www.bayzen.org 

“Timbrels and Torahs: A Celebration of Wisdom” with local filmmaker Miriam Chaya at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 524-3043.  

Yoga and Meditation Every Sun. in March from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

Natural Solutions for Depression & Insomnia at 7:30 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

World Affairs Discussion Group for seniors at 10:15 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center. Cost is $2.50.  

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

ONGOING 

Free Tax Help—United Way’s Earn it! Keep It! Save It! program provides free filing assistance to households that earned less than $38,000 in 2005. To find a free tax site near you, call 800-358-8832 or visit www.EarnitKeepitSaveit.org 

CITY MEETINGS 

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

Commission on Disability meets Wed., Mar. 8, at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-6346. TDD: 981-6345.  

Homeless Commission meets Wed., Mar. 8, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5426.  

Planning Commission meets Wed., Mar. 8, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7484.  

Police Review Commission meets Wed., Mar. 8, at 7:30 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-4950.  

Waterfront Commission meets Wed., Mar. 8, at 7 p.m., at 201 University Ave. 981-6740.  

School Board meets Wed. Mar. 8, at 7:30 p.m., in the City Council Chambers. 644-6320. 

Housing Advisory Commission meets Thurs., Mar. 9, at 7:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5400.  

Commission on Early Childhood Education meets Tues. Mar. 9, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5428.  

West Berkeley Project Area Commission meets Thurs., Mar. 9, at 7 p.m., at the West Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7520.  

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., Mar. 9, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. 981-7410. ?