DAPAC “visioned” Thursday night. -more-

There have always been leftovers at People’s Park, be it food, clothes, shoes, plants, or anything else people want to donate to those in need. -more-

Don’t like a development proposal? In Alameda, that could cost you more that $10,000. -more-

Issues on Tuesday night’s City Council calendar brought an overcapacity crowd—and a handful of police officers to enforce fire rules and keep anyone without a seat out of the council chambers. -more-

Six dozen kids, most garbed in sports uniforms, came to the Berkeley City Council Tuesday night to ask for the closure of one block of Derby Street to provide space for a regulation-size baseball field and other sports. -more-

Click here for the Survey PDF -more-

It has survived heated criticism, a curriculum overhaul and a new name, but Freshman Seminar can’t stand up to Academic Choice. -more-

With the state-controlled Oakland Unified School District narrowly averting a one-day teacher strike, and the mayor of Los Angeles requesting the state Legislature to give him control of that city’s schools, the Oakland mayoral campaign took an educational turn this week. -more-

It was billed as a day of victory. After marathon negotiations, the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) reached a tentative contract agreement with the teachers’ union Wednesday and averted a one-day strike. -more-

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Librarians raised the pressure a notch this week in the two-year battle with their boss, presenting a statement of no confidence in Library Director Jackie Griffin Tuesday to the City Council and Wednesday to the Library Board of Truste es. -more-

It’s a remarkable moment in Haiti’s 200-year history, one where both optimism and fear coexist. -more-

What began as a fantasy, a “fairy-tale candy land” in the form of Sweet Dreams Candy Store 35 years ago on College Avenue is now a successful toy shop. -more-

UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism Dean Orville Schell announced Wednesday he will not seek reappointment this fall. -more-

The Berkeley City Councilmember representing the district of embattled Oregon Street homeowner Lenora Moore has sharply criticized the neighbors who brought a lawsuit in Small Claims Court against the 75-year-old grandmother, saying that their action involved a “revenge motive.” -more-

Berkeley officials have taken the first steps toward moving the city’s popular flea market, the market’s attorney said Monday. -more-

Former Berkeley Police Officer Sgt. Cary Kent, 53, pleaded guilty Friday to three felony charges: grand theft, possession of heroin, and possession of methamphetamine. -more-

Cultural uses at the Gaia Building, sewer fees, and adopting the barn owl as the city’s official bird are just a few of the issues the City Council will address tonight (Tuesday) after its month-long spring break. -more-

Two incumbents will vie to maintain their hold on the Berkeley Board of Education, while President Terry Doran says he won’t run again. -more-

Warped lane configurations on Telegraph Avenue and a traffic analysis of proposed mixed-use development on University Avenue topped the list of hot button issues on the Transportation Commission’s agenda Thursday. -more-

Despite heavy rains experienced in Berkeley this year, two of the city’s emergency storm shelters have closed and a third has only a few more days of funding. -more-

Faced with a budget crisis, the Contra Costa Health Department has proposed $12.8 million in cuts that would eliminate 88 jobs and reduce some key services. -more-

Efforts by Richmond environmental activists are playing a major role in reducing developer opposition to laws tightening regulations at contaminated sites. -more-

The Secretary-Treasurer and Finance Committee Chair of the Alameda County Medical Center Board of Trustees abruptly resigned from the board last week, leaving the board without a key financial expert at a time when the center is facing a fiscal crisis and questions about board oversight of its fiscal management. -more-

Just when it seemed impossible for relations between the United States and Iran to get any worse, they have deteriorated once again. The rhetoric and counter-rhetoric over Iran’s nuclear program sounds serious and substantive. However, a little reflection reveals this situation for what it is: a continuing piece of high-stakes political theater that principally benefits the leaders of both nations by shoring up their lagging political fortunes. -more-

The following is an excerpt from Richard Schwartz’s Earthquake Exodus, 1906: Berkeley Responds to the San Francisco Refugees. This is the last in a series of four installments from the book. -more-

There is a 62 percent chance of an earthquake of a magnitude of 6.7 or greater striking the San Francisco Bay Area before the year 2032, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. -more-

A little bird dropped off at the Daily Planet office a document entitled “Survey on Economic Development in Berkeley—Preliminary Materials,” dated April 9. It is described as “proposed categories and question [sic] for an economic development survey,” to be converted by a professional survey company into the appropriate format to reach 400 potential Berkeley voters. It purports to be an attempt “to discover how Berkeley residents feel about a variety of public policy challenges confronting the city in spring, 2006.” -more-

Traditional summer school isn’t working. -more-

OREGON STEET -more-

My limited experience in Oakland is that police officers are mismanaged and poorly trained. The problems of mismanagement and lack of accountability affecting officers extends well beyond their ranks and into city, county and state government. It’s not ex citing, but fostering basic, functioning systems is what is needed for our schools, police, transit, DMV among other services. -more-

Since taking office, the Bush administration has waged what amounts to a war on science. On issues ranging from climate change to contraception to AIDS prevention, policies based on sound science have routinely been cast aside in favor of policies that fa vor the economic interests of corporate contributors or the ideology of right wing supporters. -more-

BERKELEY BOWL WEST -more-

While Ed Church and the South Berkeley Neighborhood Development Corporation claim that on Dec. 13 the City Council authorized them to organize a task force to make recommendations to the council regarding development of the west parking lot of the Ashby BART station (“Development Corp. Seeks Task Force,” March 24), in fact the council did no such thing. Neither the resolution passed that night nor the Caltrans grant application it endorsed says anything about a task force. The cover memo from Planning Department Director Dan Marks to the City Council said that the SBNDC suggested that Mayor Tom Bates and City Councilmember Max Anderson appoint a task force, but in its discussions the council rejected that proposal, and took no action to endorse any of several proposed alternatives. -more-

At a March 15 EIR Scoping Meeting, Oakland City Planning Commissioner Michael Lighty described the recently unveiled plans for yet another transit village—this one at the MacArthur BART station—as “radical.” He wasn’t being strictly dismissive, defending developments at BART stations as “logical.” But even he allowed that this project with “signature” twin towers, one 20 stories, the other 22, abutting Hwy. 24—was a bold move by BART, the City of Oakland redevelopment agency, and a private development company headed by Shea Homes. -more-

Although we live in a dense urban environment, I think we all support conservation. Fortunately, our predecessors did as well. They’ve given us the East Bay Regional Parks—90,000 acres of natural habitat laced with miles of creeks. And here in Berkeley we have access to natural creeks in many public parks and on the UC campus. But these are urban creeks flowing through urban neighborhoods and must be viewed differently from those in natural preserves. -more-

It was a shame to once again read in the Daily Planet an inaccurate and one-sided account of the proposed revision of the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance (“Preservationists Vow to Take Landmarks Law to Voters,” April 11).    -more-

Unless Democrats win control of either the House or the Senate, nothing is going to change in Washington. There will be no meaningful shift in Iraq, ethics, or economic policy until there is real debate on Capitol Hill. According to veteran DC prognosticator, Charlie Cook, there are seven Senate seats in play. In order to prevail, the Democrats will have to win at least six. -more-

They adopted an unusual questioning format at this week’s mayoral debate at Skyline High School, which solicited an all-too-usual reply from one of the candidates. But at least it advanced a necessary dialogue. -more-

One century ago the Bay Area was rocked off its foundations. Every year around this time we’re reminded that the next “big one” is just around the corner. For weeks we’ve heard survivor stories of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and received advice abou t how to be prepared when the ground again rattles beneath our feet. -more-

Mention Folsom and most folks think of the prison. That connection has become even stronger since the Academy Award-nominated movie Walk the Line brought the town’s famous, scenically situated Folsom Prison to prominence once again. -more-

In 1873, UC Berkeley’s first commencement exercises were held. It was on that occasion that California’s governor Newton Booth, who was considered one of the great public speakers of his day, called Berkeley the “Athens of the West.” The appellation stuck—not only in word but in practice. And so it came to pass that in 1914, a wealthy Norwegian-Hawaiian family brought its large brood to Berkeley to be properly educated. -more-

My wife and I spent the night in Sacramento last night. Nice town, Sacramento, if a bit kitschy in parts. I guess that’s what you get with tourist towns. Some nice stuff. Some kitsch. The older part has some very beautiful older homes from the early part of the 20th century and more than a few buildings from the 19th century. One of the things that my wife, Este, and I share is a great love of old things, houses, cars, paintings, you name it. It’s part of why we live here. -more-

Maybe we’re going to get sprung after all. Maybe we don’t have to try raising duck potatoes and cattails in all our gardens, and who knows? The sun might even come out for a few days before the summer fog rolls in. -more-

A few people have told me that they missed reading my column in this beloved rag. I’ve missed writing it. (Thank you, friends, for noticing my absence.) -more-

Last week I received an important letter from the United States Navy. This is what it said: -more-

The dawn redwoods don’t mind the soggy weather; they’re leafing out more or less on schedule. I suppose they evolved with wetter weather to begin with, so no surprise there. In other ways, this tree has been full of surprises. -more-

FRIDAY, APRIL 21 -more-

After too long a period of vacuous, gallery-driven shows, the MATRIX program of the Berkeley Art Museum has come back to life with a radical exhibition by its newly appointed curator Chris Gilbert: “New-Time: Media Along the Path of the Bolivarian Process.” -more-

The films of Busby Berkeley are rendered in the popular imagination as naïve and silly entertainments from a simpler time, from a bygone era of innocence, frivolity and wholly unsophisticated audiences. This notion is not only false, it gives short shrift to the director and to the moviegoers who flocked to his films. -more-

The Devil’s Disciple, Bernard Shaw’s comedy set during the Revolutionary War—and now onstage at Live Oak Theatre in an Actors Ensemble production—is a humorous collision between costume drama, comedy of manners and a problem play: Shaw’s peculiar formula. -more-

One century ago the Bay Area was rocked off its foundations. Every year around this time we’re reminded that the next “big one” is just around the corner. For weeks we’ve heard survivor stories of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and received advice abou t how to be prepared when the ground again rattles beneath our feet. -more-

Mention Folsom and most folks think of the prison. That connection has become even stronger since the Academy Award-nominated movie Walk the Line brought the town’s famous, scenically situated Folsom Prison to prominence once again. -more-

In 1873, UC Berkeley’s first commencement exercises were held. It was on that occasion that California’s governor Newton Booth, who was considered one of the great public speakers of his day, called Berkeley the “Athens of the West.” The appellation stuck—not only in word but in practice. And so it came to pass that in 1914, a wealthy Norwegian-Hawaiian family brought its large brood to Berkeley to be properly educated. -more-

My wife and I spent the night in Sacramento last night. Nice town, Sacramento, if a bit kitschy in parts. I guess that’s what you get with tourist towns. Some nice stuff. Some kitsch. The older part has some very beautiful older homes from the early part of the 20th century and more than a few buildings from the 19th century. One of the things that my wife, Este, and I share is a great love of old things, houses, cars, paintings, you name it. It’s part of why we live here. -more-

Maybe we’re going to get sprung after all. Maybe we don’t have to try raising duck potatoes and cattails in all our gardens, and who knows? The sun might even come out for a few days before the summer fog rolls in. -more-

FRIDAY, APRIL 21 -more-

TUESDAY, APRIL 18 -more-

East Bay composer Clark Suprynowicz and San Francisco playwright John O’Keefe have joined forces for the new opera Chrysalis, “a hallucinatory riff on cosmetic surgery and genetic manipulation,” to be premiered by Berkeley Opera, April 22-30, at the Julia Morgan Theatre on College Avenue. -more-

The dawn redwoods don’t mind the soggy weather; they’re leafing out more or less on schedule. I suppose they evolved with wetter weather to begin with, so no surprise there. In other ways, this tree has been full of surprises. -more-

TUESDAY, APRIL 18 -more-