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Photograph by Riya Bhattacharjee. Ruby Harmon, in her Berkeley home, said working on her jigsaw puzzle is her favorite activity.
Photograph by Riya Bhattacharjee. Ruby Harmon, in her Berkeley home, said working on her jigsaw puzzle is her favorite activity.
 

News

Ruby Harmon Celebrates Her Centennial Birthday

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday May 23, 2006

At 99, Ruby Harmon still insists on a slice of crispy bacon, grits, and coffee for breakfast everyday. Her face breaks into a smile—a million tiny creases—when I ask her why.  

Recovering from a series of recent strokes, Ruby can neither talk nor walk without support. Her mind, however, is as alert as ever. She tells me by scribbling painstakingly on my yellow legal pad that her favorite part of the day is when she sits down to work on her crossword and jigsaw puzzles. 

Ruby turns 100 this Thursday, and her remarkable journey through life was celebrated by the Trinity United Methodist Church last Sunday.  

“Friends, family, neighbors—they were all there to celebrate the indomitable spirit that is Ruby,” said Luanne Rogers, friend and a church trustee. “She is one of the most willing and able women I have ever known. She is capable of everything and has done it all in the name of social justice.” 

If walking for miles for food and raising money for blankets to help her community after moving to California from Louisiana in 1943 wasn’t enough, Ruby served on every possible church committee—locally and at the district, state and national level for United Methodist Women—and was a lay preacher in the pulpits of churches in Vallejo, Pleasanton, Alameda, and Trinity. 

She also volunteered in the Berkeley Unified School District for more than ten years and developed a Civil Rights cartoon collection that has been exhibited at Trinity, Pacific School of Religion, and the Berkeley Public Library. 

These decades of dedication to the community are part of the reason the City of Berkeley will be proclaiming May 25, as Ruby Harmon Day today. 

Ruby was the eldest of three children born to Jim Tom and Sally Philip Roberson in Arcadia, La. 

“In my hometown Arcadia, my father held me by the hand when I would go to town with him,” she said. “And in the fall he would take his cotton into town to the merchants. And the one that paid the most, that’s the one he would sell his cotton to. And the sidewalk was narrow and if a white lady would come he had to step off the curb because he couldn’t get too close, a black man couldn’t get too close to a white lady in Louisiana, or in the south anywhere.” 

In her conversations with Rogers in 1997, which were later transcribed for preservation, Ruby speaks of Civil Rights in Louisiana, the segregated school system and the integration that followed thereafter: 

“You can’t believe the education they had for blacks in the south, or particularly in Louisiana,” Ruby said. “We didn’t have a high school in the whole parish until 1937 when they built a high school in Arcadia for blacks. All the blacks could do was go to seventh grade if they didn’t have money to go away somewhere to board.” 

After arriving in California in 1943, she worked for Lockheed Aircraft and later moved to Berkeley and became a devoted volunteer in the Berkeley public schools, working to make sure that all students had a chance to succeed and continue their education. 

Ruby completed her own studies at a boarding school in Grambling, La., which later went on to become Grambling University. In Ruby’s words, “When integration came, Arcadia immediately integrated. I was surprised at that redneck hick town. They tore down that white high school across town and built Arcadia High School and the black high school that was built on parish land became a training school for anybody who wanted a trade.” 

She remembers being surprised by the changes she witnessed when she went down to Louisiana for her nieces’ graduation from the first integrated school. 

“I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “I sit up and look around and on the platform were two white teachers and two black teachers. The main speaker was a black professor from Grambling University. And the high school band of about 40 was mixed, white and black. The conductor was black and he had jazz in there and white people were playing that jazz. And ooh the white girls and white boys were playing that jazz and I couldn’t believe my ears! I looked around and said, ‘Is this Arcadia? This couldn’t be Arcadia.’ 

The white ladies that my father used to step off the curb for, their grandchildren were playing with his grandchildren. They had their arms around each other’s necks and they were dancing together and they would even take a piece off my plate and stick it in their mouth—integrated and I couldn’t believe it, in Arcadia.” 

In these transcriptions, Ruby also talked about her great grandfather, who was one of the last slaves shipped from Africa before the slave trade was abolished and whom she knew before he died in 1917 at age 111. 

“He was 11 when he was sold on the auction block in New Orleans,” she said. “His mother and little sister and he came over here and they were sold to three different families. He never did meet them ever again and he always wondered what happened to his little sister.” 

Ruby’s vivid descriptions of the horrors of slavery and the plundering of the south by the Yankees are stories she heard from her grandmother—and they all left a deep impact on her. Her great-grandfather was a tremendous influence on her and when he died, it was a huge loss for her: 

“I was 11 when he died. I was very hurt because I loved to hear him talk. He talked about flowers and snakes and every creature in the world. Louisiana had all kinds of things, all creatures, frogs and snakes and lizards. He would talk about those instead of what had gone on in slavery.” 

Today, Ruby’s gold wedding band is the only living reminiscence of the life she had led as a young girl in Louisiana. In 1967, after retiring from Lockheed Aircraft in California, Ruby got married to Bill Harmon and moved to Berkeley. And thus began a completely new chapter in her life—one through which she found her calling for social justice and service. 

When asked whether she misses Louisiana, her father’s farm, or Arcadia, she wrote on her yellow pad, “No — I can’t because I am all grown up.” 

Now, on the cusp of being alive for a century, Ruby said she is looking forward to her big birthday. 

“I am very excited about Thursday,” she wrote. “There will be a party with homemade birthday cake. And ice cream. Lots of it.”


BAM Curator Quits Over Exhibit Dispute

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday May 23, 2006

After serving as a curator at the Berkeley Art Museum since September 2005, Chris Gilbert abruptly resigned because of rising conflicts with museum administrators over his controversial project “Now Time: Media Along the Path of the Bolivarian Process,” part two of which is currently showing at the UC Berkeley museum. 

Gilbert is now in South Korea, where he is currently curator for the Gwangin ju Biennale exhibit, but he explained the reason for his April 28 resignation in an e-mail to the Daily Planet. 

“My struggles with the museum over the content and approach of the projects in the ‘Now-Time Venezuela’ series go back quite a few months,” he wrote. “In particular the museum administrators—meaning the deputy directors and senior curator collaborating, of course, with the public relations and audience development staff—have for some time been insisting that I take the idea of solidarity, revolutionary solidarity, out of the project. For some months, they have said they wanted ‘neutrality’ and ‘balance’ whereas I have always said that instead my approach is about commitment, support, and alignment—in brief, taking sides with and promoting revolution.” 

The “Now-Time” cycle exhibit received a large response—drawing 180 visitors to the March 26 panel discussion that opened “Now-Time.” The exhibit was popular because of the class interests it stood by and because of the fact that it promoted the idea that contemporary art is in danger. 

Kevin E. Consey, museum director, told the Planet that in Gilbert’s resignation letter to Connie Lewellen, chief curator, Gilbert had offered no explanation for his decision. 

“I gather from newspaper reports that Gilbert resigned because he felt that the university did not want to support his projects and therefore he did not want to continue working here any more,” Consey said. “We recommended him, hired him, gave him a budget, sent him to Venezuela, supported him academically and even held two symposiums after he returned. It does seem strange to me that after doing all this he felt that we did not support him.”  

Consey added that he has been “perfectly pleased and happy” with the exhibit and thought that it made an excellent point about politically relevant art in Venezuela. 

Gilbert had been selected last September through a national search process for the position of MATRIX curator who puts together changing exhibits at the museum. The selection committee had been impressed with Gilbert and his earlier work, including that as curator of contemporary art at the Baltimore Museum of Art, and he had been offered a position in Berkeley. 

When asked to comment about the reasons for resignation stated in his e-mail, Connie Lewellen, BMA chief curator, told the Planet: “Chris couldn’t do the program as he wanted and therefore he wanted to resign.” 

Peter Selz, founding director of the Berkeley Art Museum and a former curator of New York’s Museum of Modern Art, said he was shocked to learn of Gilbert’s resignation. (Selz wrote a review of the exhibit for the Planet.) 

“Gilbert’s work was vey politically radical in spirit,” Selz said. “I felt that the kind of politically engaged art that he was showing, exemplifying the series of videos dealing with revolutionary Venezuela, is a very important aspect of contemporary art. I feel that it was very appropriate for the Berkeley campus to exhibit excellent art of dissent. I regret that Mr. Gilbert has felt it necessary to resign from the Berkeley Art Museum after such a brief tenure.” 

Gilbert explained that his decision to leave stemmed from an argument over a text panel for the ‘Now Time’ exhibit. 

“Their plan was to replace the phrase ‘in solidarity with revolutionary Venezuela’ with a phrase like ‘concerning revolutionary Venezuela,’ for another phrase describing a relation that would not be explicitly one of solidarity,” he wrote. 

Gilbert said he threatened to resign and terminate the exhibition if his langauge wasn’t kept. Having received no reply, on April 28, he handed in his letter of resignation and said he would cancel the show. According to Gilbert, the musuem agreed to restore his text panel as he had written it. 

“Having won that battle, though at the price of losing my position, I decided to go forward with the show, my last one,” Gilbert wrote in his e-mail to the Planet.  

The show is scheduled to run for two more weeks. 

According to Gilbert, the general outlines of this incident mirror the familiar patterns of class struggle. He said that the class interests represented by the UC museum, which are above all the interests of the bourgeoisie that funds it, have two things to fear from a project like his. 

“One, of course, revolutionary Venezuela is a symbolic threat to the U.S. government and the capitalist class that benefits from that government’s policies,” he wrote. “The second threat, which is probably the more operational one in the museum context, is that much of the community is in favor of the ‘Now-Time’ projects . . . The museum, the bourgeois values it promotes via the institution of contemporary art (contemporary art of the past 30 years is really in most respects simply the cultural arm of upper-class power) are not really those of any class but its own. Importantly the museum and the bourgeoisie will always deny the role of class interests in this.”


BUSD Eyes West Campus For New Headquarters

By Suzanne La Barre
Tuesday May 23, 2006

With a lease set to expire on a seismically unsound building, Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) officials are pushing to relocate district headquarters. 

West Campus, a district-owned parcel on University Avenue between Curtis and Bonar streets, is the designated new command center. 

On Thursday, BUSD will present architectural renderings for the northeast corner of the property, which will house district administration, classrooms, professional development facilities and other offices. The site would also include surface parking. 

“I’m very excited about it,” said Board of Education President Terry Doran. “I think it will address many of the needs of the district, especially relocating administrative offices.” 

At present, BUSD administrators occupy Old City Hall at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, a city-run building branded unsafe because it is not retrofitted for earthquakes. 

The district’s lease on Old City Hall runs out in 2009. Consequently, officials are moving quickly to develop West Campus, a site that served as the Adult School for 20 years. It was abandoned in 2004. 

Preliminary drawings, prepared by Baker Vilar Architects, show demolition of six structures north of Addison Street and east of the playing field at University and Curtis. An existing classroom building on Bonar at Addison and an auditorium at University and Bonar will both remain. A new 8,000 to 10,000-square-foot classroom and administration building would extend from the latter. 

District administration offices would predominantly take up the first and second floors of the Bonar Street building, which would also hold a print center, a purchasing warehouse and conference rooms. Classes would be held on the third floor for about 145 independent study students—who currently occupy space at the Alternative High School campus—and other yet-to-be-identified students. 

“The superintendent has a dream of that being a real educational facility not just offices,” said district spokesperson Mark Coplan. “We anticipate a lot of different programs, but we haven’t identified what they will be at this point.” 

The building on University would accommodate a Board of Education room, a media lab and library, staff development facilities, conference rooms and other offices. About 100 parking spaces would be accessible via entryways on University and Addison. 

District officials expect administrators to move in by spring 2009. The estimated cost of the project is $9.93 million in Measure A and Measure AA funding. About $600,000 was already spent on minor projects, roofing and project planning.  

Community members are invited to weigh in on the proposed development on-site (at the auditorium) Thursday, at 7 p.m. However, the public process that characterizes most projects in Berkeley is not on the books for this phase of West Campus development. That’s because BUSD is held to the standards of the Division of State Architects, not the city of Berkeley, district officials say. So long as instruction takes place on the premises, the district claims it is exempt from city zoning laws (though the city would be responsible for approving curb cuts for the parking lot.) 

“The fact that we will have students in the building gives us no option,” said Coplan. “We have to design it to meet student needs [per state standards] and the fact is it’s a higher standard.” 

Some residents are balking at that allowance, insisting that because only a portion of the buildings is designated for classrooms, the district is still accountable to the city. 

“A lot of us feel it’s inappropriate,” said John McBride, who lives close to West Campus. The project “just doesn’t rise to the level of exemption from city review,” he said. 

The city has not forged an official legal opinion, because the district has not provided enough information on the project, said Assistant City Attorney Zach Cowan. 

“It’s not entirely clear to me what they’re doing,” he said. 

Coplan said the district has been in touch with the city on numerous occasions, but not the city attorney’s office per se. Deputy City Manager Lisa Caronna called the Daily Planet later on Monday to clarify that the city is “waiting for details from the district and they are in the process of getting that information to us.” 

Other concerns raised at a meeting May 5 held by the West Campus Site Committee, a group of district and community representatives, included environmental impacts, traffic, the student body makeup and the timeline for project completion. 

The entire West Campus site covers 5.77 acres, but the district has only drafted a concrete concept for the northeast portion. Use for the remainder of the property, currently home to a child development center, a playing field and other structures, is still unknown, though a pool center and a gymnasium constructed in 1930 will remain.


Jury Rejects Claims of Former Vista Head in Reverse Discrimination Suit

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday May 23, 2006

A federal civil jury in Oakland has rejected claims that the Peralta Community College District practiced reverse discrimination, gender discrimination, and retaliation when it failed to renew the contract of John Garmon, the former president of Vista Community College in Berkeley.  

In addition, the same jury ruled that then-Peralta trustee Darryl Moore—now a Berkeley City Councilmember—did not defame Garmon in remarks Moore made about the former college president in a Berkeley Daily Planet article in June of 2004. Moore was named individually by Garmon in the lawsuit and would have been personally liable for the damages had the jury found against him. 

Garmon, who is white, filed the lawsuit against the district in the fall of 2004. He served as Vista president for three years since 2001 until Peralta trustees voted not to renew his contract in May of 2004. He now is a professor in the English Department at College of Alameda, a Peralta District college. 

In his lawsuit, Garmon said that when he was hired by Peralta, he was told by district officials it would be long-term. He claimed that “but for [my] race, Caucasian, [my] contract with Peralta would have been renewed and [I] would not have been removed as President.” 

He also claimed that he was terminated “because of his complaints of reverse discrimination and his advocacy for fair practices and procedures.”  

While the jury ruled that Garmon had proved that his “opposition to decisions or practices [in the college district] that he reasonably believed were racially discriminatory was a motivating factor in [Peralta’s] decision not to renew his contract,” the jury also ruled that the district had other “lawful reasons” for firing him. The jury awarded Garmon $1 for past and future emotional distress.  

Attorney Larry Frierson of Calistoga, the outside counsel the Peralta District hired to represent both Peralta and Moore in the lawsuit, said that he was only authorized to say that “the district is pleased with the verdict,” and could make no other comment. 

Garmon’s attorneys, Wells & Hopkins of Tiburon, could not be reached for comment.  

In a June 4 Daily Planet article written by then-staff reporter Matthew Artz, Moore denied the reverse discrimination claims, saying that Peralta Chancellor Elihu Harris “had been talking to Garmon for months about concerns over his performance,” that Garmon “knew he wasn’t going to be renewed,” and that “the vote [that rejected the renewal of Garmon’s contract] had nothing to do with [Garmon’s] race and everything to do with his performance.” 

In the same article, Moore said that Garmon had “dropped the ball” on fundraising for Vista’s new downtown campus, and had failed to build community support for the college’s then-upcoming 30th anniversary celebration. 

Garmon later wrote Moore asking him to “correct the record and apologize” for what Garmon called the “false, misleading and incriminating statements” Moore made about him in the article. 

While the federal jury ruled that Garmon had proved that the statements made by Moore in the Daily Planet article were false, it also ruled that the former college president had failed to prove that Moore knew at the time the statements were false. 

Moore said by telephone, “I’m glad that this is over, it ends my chapter with Peralta,” and declined further comment.


Andrew Martinez, ‘The Naked Guy,’ Dies in Jail

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday May 23, 2006

Andrew Martinez, who as a 19-year-old UC Berkeley undergraduate created national news in November 1992 for getting suspended from the university for attending class in little more than a pair of sandals and a backback, was found unconscious in his Santa Clara County jail cell at 11:19 p.m. on Wednesday and declared dead early Thursday. 

Last seen alive at 11 p.m. on Wednesday, Martinez, 33, was found under his bed clothes with a plastic bag around his head, leading jail officials to label the incident an apparent suicide.  

In custody for three felony charges of battery and assault with a deadly weapon during a Jan. 10 fight at a halfway house where he was living, Martinez was being housed solitarily in a maximum security area in the Santa Clara jail. 

Martinez reportedly had a history of mental illness and was seeing mental health professionals for the last couple of weeks. Calls made to the Santa Clara County jail for comment on the subject were not returned. 

Martinez was responsible for staging a “nude-in” on campus with over 20 people in September 1992, an action he vociferously defended at the event as well as in the media. Martinez defended his Sproul Hall Plaza “nude-in” by saying that he was trying to make a point about free expression in the birthplace of the 1964 Free Speech Movement. 

According to media reports, he told the crowd at the event that “what I am getting out here is there’s a lot of social control going on here.”  

His philosophy toward free speech, free expression, and his non-conformist outlook made him a hero in the eyes of those advocating nudity, and his followers included X-plicit Players, a performance troupe from Berkeley. 

Because of his nudist exploits on campus, Martinez went on to appear in scores of newspaper articles and was even featured in the October 1993 issue of Playboy and a issue of Playgirl. He also appeared in several TV shows. 

Berkeley artist Richard List recalls an incident when cartoonist Ace Backwords used Martinez’s picture as the centerfold in Berkeley’s street calendar. 

List said, “I heard that Andy took one look at the picture and told Ace, ‘I am overexposed.’ However I don’t think he meant it to be funny.” 

List remembers Martinez as being a confused person. 

“He looked like he was perpetually in a fog,” he said. “It’s really sad that they couldn’t cure him of his mental problems.” 

An A student at Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, Martinez was known as a “math whiz” on the Berkeley campus and was liked by his peers for his kindhearted ways. 

The “nude-in” incident led to a few other students coming to class in the nude, and Martinez was ultimately expelled in 1993 from the university for refusing to wear clothes. Martinez was also arrested for showing up with some of his supporters in the buff at a City Hall meeting, because of which he was arrested under the Berkeley city ordinance adopted in July 1993. 

Mary Wainwright, then a Berkeley councilmember, had proposed the ban on nudity after Martinez had testified before the City Council in the nude. 

After being expelled from school, Martinez lived at numerous halfway homes and psychiatric wards. 

Commenting on Martinez’s death, Berkeley councilmember Kriss Worthington said, “This is the tragic reality that is repeated everyday with mental health cases. We need to prioritize mental health patients rather than criminalizing them.”  

Worthington added that Martinez had lived down the street from him, and he had often spotted him on the UC Berkeley campus and at the city government meetings. 

“He was a colorful character and definitely made people stop and look,” he said. “His ideas were interesting and he had a novel sort of a way of exposing the humanness in each of us. Andrew pointed out that the clothes don’t make the person—it’s your ideas, the way you live your life.” 

 

Photograph by Rory Merry 

Andrew Martinez, ‘the naked guy,’ being arrested outside the offices of the Associated Students of UC Berkeley in the summer of 1992.


Progressive Convention Hammers Out A Platfom

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday May 23, 2006

Some 60 self-identified political progressives got together on Saturday at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall to try to turn an 18-page draft document into a progressive platform. It was a tightly run meeting, but only half of the draft was covered, so the convention will reconvene June 3. 

While the platform is intended to bring the various progressive groups together, “it won’t be a litmus test” for endorsement for office, convener Laurence Schechtman said. However, an endorsement convention is planned for July, he said. 

The event drew a number of elected officials—Supervisor Keith Carson, Councilmember Kriss Worthington, School Board Member John Selawski and Rent Board Members Howard Chong and Jason Overman. 

Past and present city commissioners from the Planning Commission, the Zoning Adjustments Board, the Commission on Homelessness, the Mental Health Commission, the Peace and Justice Commission and more were also on hand, as were mayoral candidates Zachary Runningwolf and newcomer Christian Pecaut, who says he’s moving to Berkeley from San Francisco in order to run. 

While individuals in attendance said they belong to a number of other progressive groups—the Green Party, Berkeley Citizen’s Action (BCA), the Berkeley Progressive Alliance (out of which the Berkeley Progressive Coalition was born) and various Democratic Party clubs—all participated in the convention as individuals. The BPC structure is still evolving, Schechtman said. 

BCA member Mel Martynn said he had come to “check out” the convention and didn’t see it as competing with BCA. 

“We’re going through a transition,” Martynn said of the 30-year-old organization, whose endorsement was at one time key to the victory of progressives in Berkeley. “What is important is that the goals, values and ideals of BCA continue, as opposed to the organization. We’re willing to work with other progressives.” 

Martynn added: “We might end up endorsing the same candidates.”  

Four years ago, another group of self-styled progressives led by Councilmember Dona Spring convened the Coalition for a New Mayor, to encourage Tom Bates to run for mayor. Eighty-seven percent of those present at a May 2004 convention of that group called on him to run. Bates has since lost favor with some who participated, including Spring. 

“There was such motivation to defeat Mayor (Shirley) Dean that factionalism on the left gave way to complete unity behind Bates,” wrote David Mundstock, a chronicler of Berkeley’s political history, on the Berkeley Campaign Art Website. 

The Coalition for a New Mayor wrote no platform in 2004. The last platform BCA wrote was in 1988, according to Schechtman.  

Sam Ferguson, who works with both BPA and BPC, helped to write the draft platform plank on fair elections and led that discussion Saturday. 

“Elections should be about people power,” he said, before reading a draft plank that called for Instant Runoff Voting, public financing of local elections and accessible voting machines that have a paper trail.  

An amendment to go back to the paper ballot proposed by Runningwolf was voted down, but one presented by Judy Shelton to call for the use of voting machines that create a paper trail with separate pieces of paper rather than a roll was supported. 

The youth and education plank focused largely on addressing the divide in education between low-income minorities and more affluent Caucasian students. It emphasized the need to encourage ethnic pride and include opportunities for the arts and recreation. Also included was a call for funding outdoor swimming pools and the indoor warm pool. 

The group accepted an amendment put forward by Algeria-born artist-activist Khalil Bendib calling on the schools to make sure the curriculum “includes non-European perspectives.” 

The platform addressed issues of homelessness and poverty, endorsing creating specific spaces for people without homes to sleep outdoors and in their vehicles. While the original platform had called for housing for those with very low income, it was amended to add the needs of persons with no income at all.


Hancock Bill Would Stop Berkeley Projects, Local Developers Say

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday May 23, 2006

A bill now pending in the state Legislature would end the bonuses that enable larger apartment buildings and condominium complexes to get even larger—but developers say it would end infill development in cities like Berkeley. 

The measure, by Assemblymember Loni Hancock, would bar granting the so-called inclusionary bonus to projects with a density greater than 40 units per acre. 

Patrick Kennedy, who has built most of the new housing in downtown Berkeley in recent years, said none of his projects could have been built had Hancock’s proposed law been in place. 

“I’m bumfuzzled by it all,” said Kennedy. “She’s been a consistent supporter of transit-oriented infill development, and now this.” 

Evan McDonald, a partner in Hudson McDonald LLC, which has developed many Kennedy projects and is now developing a major housing project at 1885 University Ave., agreed with Kennedy. 

“It would basically stop development here in Berkeley,” he said, adding, “but I’m not too worried about it. I don’t think it’s going anywhere.” 

Currently, state law allows developers to increase project size by up to 35 percent for reserving some units—20 percent in the case of Berkeley—at reduced rents or sales prices. 

The bonus is designed to allow building owners to recover funds lost from their legally imposed obligation to provide the required lower-income units. 

The bonus has been the subject of ongoing debate within the city’s Zoning Adjustments Board and Planning Commission. 

A joint task force involving both agencies is now hashing out details of what may become a new set of local codes for the units. 

While rentals must be rented to individuals or families earning less than the area’s median income (AMI), the city has allowed condo developers to set inclusionary unit prices at levels affordable to those earning 120 percent of the median—though that rate is being lowered to 80 percent of AMI. 

Under the current calculations used by the city, planning department staff calculated that developers of the nine-story condo building now planned for Center Street west of Shattuck Avenue were entitled to build a 14-story project. 

That figure was arrived at by combining the inclusionary bonus with the city’s downtown cultural bonus and using calculations to arrive at a figure that would restore funds lost by provision of the inclusionary units. 

It was that finding that triggered the current discussions among the city commission and board members. 

Hancock’s measure, Assembly Bill 2484, would end the bonus on projects in urban areas with more than 40 units per acre, with a 25-unit maximum set in suburban areas and 20 in rural settings. 

The bill would also set limits on parking spaces for units in the larger exempt projects, with one space for studio and one-bedroom apartment, two spaces for two- and three-bedroom units and two-and-a-half spaces for units with four or more bedrooms. 

The bill is currently lodged with the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee. 

Hancock’s measure ran into strong opposition from the start, including three of the state’s most powerful constituencies: the California Chamber of Commerce, the California Association of Realtors and the California Building Industry Association. 

Other opponents include the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, Housing California, the Western Center of Law and Poverty, the Southern California Association of Non-Profit Housing, Housing California, the California Association of Retired Americans and the California Association of Homes and Services for the Aging. 

By comparison, the measure attracted only three supporters, the League of California Cities and the cities of Daly City and Lakewood. 

Even the staff of the Assembly Committee on Housing and Urban Development registered caution, in the analysis of the measure drafted by Hubert Bower. 

Noting that the latest version of the state density bonus law has been in effect less than two years and a cleanup law took effect only at the start of 2006, Bower wrote, “The Committee may wish to consider calling for a ‘cooling off’ period ... to give the most recent changes time to take effect so that all parties can evaluate their impacts and can take time to carefully negotiate any further changes to the law.” 

“Even organized labor is opposed to the bill,” Kennedy said. 

“The question is, what’s she trying to stop? Downtown Berkeley is already on life support, and they’re administering last rites to Telegraph Avenue,” Kennedy said. 

The bonus is essential to developers, he said, as long as state law requires building owners to rent or sell units at a loss. 

“What the inclusionary requirement taketh away, the density bonus giveth,” he said. “When you just have the taketh away component, you can’t make a project work ... This law is more like something you’d expect from an Orange County Republican trying to preserve one-acre lot minimums,” he said. 

Calls to Hancock’s office for comments were not returned by deadline.


Council to Look at Condo Conversion, Telegraph Ave.

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday May 23, 2006

Converting rented apartments to condominiums is on the agenda again today (Tuesday). Last week the council reinstated a lapsed condominium conversion ordinance, which caps allowable conversion at 100 units each year and sets a conversion fee at 12.5 percent of the selling price. 

The Tenant-Owner Partnership for Affordable Homes is circulating a petition that would put a competing condominium conversion ordinance on Berkeley’s November ballot. 

With an affirmative vote of the council today, the city manager will prepare a report on the ballot initiative’s impacts, including the impact on city finances, the availability and location of housing, the impact on infrastructure and more. 

The initiative calls for: 

• Conversion of up to 500 units when the vacancy rate is at 5 percent or more as established by independent analysis.  

• A conversion fee of $8 per square foot. 

• A 5 percent discount to purchase and the right of first refusal for pre-existing tenants. If these tenants don’t purchase the unit, they do not have the right to stay in the unit. 

• Landlords who go out of the rental business can evict tenants who do not purchase their units under the Ellis Act.  

On its website, the Berkeley Property Owners Association, which is not supporting the initiative per se, touts it as an approach it has “long fought for.” The association says the measure will empower tenants to buy their own homes at a “substantial [5 percent] discount” and protects tenants from tenants-in-common conversions. 

In an e-mail responding to a request for an interview, David M. Wilson, attorney representing supporters of the initiative, speaks in opposition to the current ordinance, arguing it “does nothing to solve the real housing crisis in Berkeley which is the lack of affordable ownership opportunities: in the year 2000 homeowners were about 42 percent of the population. Now they are probably about 38 percent. This is because the city and the university have added thousands of rental units to housing stock.” 

He further contends that “middle-class families (including teachers, firefighters, and police) cannot enter the market. Tenants, instead of moving up to homeownership in Berkeley, move out to other places.”  

Arguing against the proposed ballot initiative, Rent Stabilization Board Member Jesse Arreguin, says the proposed law would cause conversion of affordable rent-controlled apartments, leaving newer apartments, which don’t fall under rent control, vulnerable to conversion. Affordable units would be removed from the market, he argued. 

“Reducing housing stock drives prices up,” Arreguin said, adding that “buying a condo is not possible for people earning $30,000 or less.” 

The proposed ballot measure could bring radical change to Berkeley, making it “a city of people of higher income and less diversity,” he said. 

 

Clean elections 

The City Council will vote on whether to place an initiative on the ballot which would support a charter amendment in favor of public financing of elections.  

According to the ballot measure as written, the present system of raising funds for campaigns “creates a danger of corruption by encouraging elected officials to take money from private interests that are directly affected by governmental actions, forces candidates to raise larger and larger percentages of money from interest groups that have a specific financial stake in matters before the Berkeley City government ..., violates the rights of all citizens to equal … participation in the democratic process, [and] disadvantages challengers.” 

The remedy would be to have candidates collect $5 donations from a large number of individuals in order to qualify for public financing—a candidate for mayor would have to collect $5 from 600 people and a City Council candidate would have to collect $5 each from 150 people. 

In return, council candidates would get $20,000 to spend on the campaign and a mayoral candidate would get $140,000. Provisions are made to increase the amount for candidates facing challengers who have not accepted public financing. 

“It’s a voluntary system,” said Sam Ferguson, who has worked on the ballot measure.  

The system is already in place in Portland, Ore., and Albuquerque, N.M., Ferguson said, noting, “It allows candidates to run on the basis of ideas, not how much money they can raise.” 

 

West Berkeley Bowl 

The Zoning Adjustments Board approved the West Berkeley Bowl project on April 25, which, according to a staff report, is likely to be appealed. The City Council is being asked to vote to call for a public hearing on the project for June 13. 

 

Assisting Telegraph Avenue businesses 

The council will be asked to vote, in concept, for an economic development assistance package to improve the Telegraph Avenue commercial area, including an increased police presence, better lighting and street cleaning, streamlining permits for the district, improved social services and launching a joint marketing effort with the university. An affirmative vote will have the city manager return with a detailed plan. 

 

Other matters 

The council will vote on upgrading Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park, addressing hypertension in the African-American community, making sure the Association for Sports Field Users is documenting and using city funds correctly and rebuilding homes after a disaster “by right” on the same footprint as were previously located.  

A council workshop on the budget related to infrastructure begins at 5 p.m., with the regular city council meeting at 7 p.m.


New Telecom Antennae Installations Before ZAB

By Suzanne La Barre
Tuesday May 23, 2006

A Catholic church and a moving and storage warehouse could be the latest recipients of wireless telecommunications facilities in Berkeley.  

Nextel Communications and Verizon Wireless want to erect multiple antennae and related equipment at UC Storage on Shattuck Avenue, while AT&T Wireless hopes to construct a telecommunications facility at St. Ambrose Catholic Church on Gilman Street. 

Each project will go before the Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) for use permits at a regularly scheduled meeting Thursday. 

Nextel is proposing 12 standard antennae and a global positioning system (GPS) antenna at the four-story UC Storage building, formerly Shattuck Avenue Self Storage, at 2721 Shattuck Ave. between Ward and Derby streets. The project includes installation of an emergency backup generator, an air conditioner and additional equipment. Verizon would install similar equipment at the same site, though it would erect about half as many antennae.  

UC Storage is located on a commercial corridor that features shops like Any Mountain, Kirala and Berkeley Bowl. There are residential properties to the east. 

An additional proposal up for consideration Thursday would involve the installation of three regular antennae, a GPS antenna and other equipment at St. Ambrose Catholic Church, at 1145 Gilman St., between Stannage and Cornell avenues, a low- to medium-density residential area. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland owns the building. 

Providers say the new facilities would alleviate poor reception or overload on nearby towers. Both the church and the storage company receive payment for leasing their property, but how much is not clear because providers do not release that information. 

Neither UC Storage Manager Eddie Maciel nor Father George Alengadan of St. Ambrose was available for comment. 

Some Berkeley residents who insist that wireless technology could pose health hazards to humans and the environment oppose the projects.  

“There have not been enough studies to conclude the safety of wireless technology,” said Mary Wyand, a Stannage Avenue resident, and Paul Vellutini, in an e-mail to the city. “My family, my neighbors and I do not want to be lab rats.” 

The correspondence details how other countries, such as Switzerland and England, have taken steps to harness risks associated with wireless technologies.  

But in the United States, under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, local governments are precluded from regulating wireless services based on environmental effects of emissions. Because all three projects comply with the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) regulations that stipulate maximum exposure limits, the city cannot deny proposed wireless development on health objections alone. 

Aesthetics is a further prominent community concern—one that ZAB is capable of regulating. To grant a use permit, ZAB must find that facilities are not readily visible or that it is impossible to incorporate additional measures to reduce visibility. 

The Design Review Committee (DRC) granted preliminary approval to plans for UC Storage on condition that providers reroute cables internally to minimize a potential eyesore. Nextel and Verizon say they cannot meet that requirement due to structural limitations. 

The committee did not consider St. Ambrose for review because design staff determined that the proposed facilities are not overly conspicuous. 

Community members have also raised questions about how much noise the equipment would generate. Studies conducted by Illingworth & Rodkin, Inc., a Petaluma-based acoustics and air quality engineering firm, found that sounds emitted at both sites would not exceed limits spelled out in the city’s Noise Ordinance. 

An additional concern exclusive to Shattuck Avenue residents is that a portion of the proposals—particularly equipment placement on the Ward Street frontage—may not be permitted for commercial use because permits for nearby stores, like Any Mountain and Kirala, do not allow for commercial use there. City staff insists that those use permits are not germane to the projects at hand.  

Other items on the agenda for Thursday’s ZAB meeting include: 

• continued discussion of a mixed-use housing and commercial project at 1885 University Ave. 

• an application to build a bell tower at the Jesuit School of Theology at 1735 LeRoy Ave. 

• expansion of a machining shop at 2735 San Pablo Ave. with a single-story addition to the rear of an existing two-story building. 

• a carryout food service and teller machine at Grove Market on Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

ZAB meets Thursday at 7 p.m. at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way.  


Berkeley Landmarks Ordinance Proposals Debated

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday May 23, 2006

Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) members will meet Thursday to discuss a revised ordinance proposed by Mayor Tom Bates and Councilmember Laurie Capitelli. 

It’s the panel’s last chance to comment before the council takes up the ordinance next month. 

Meanwhile, the City Council will discuss tonight (Tuesday) a counter-proposal now being circulated in the form of a public initiative to replace the existing ordinance with a slightly modified version supporters say would preserve the intent of the existing law without eliminating protections, as they claim the Bates/Capitelli measure would.  

Preservationists have been busily rounding up the needed 2,007 valid signatures from registered voters to qualify the measure for the November ballot and submit them to City Clerk Sara Cox. 

“We’d like to get all the petitions by the end of the month or early June at the latest,” said Cox. “We’re very short-staffed and so is the county Registrar of Voters.” 

If successful, the initiative would block the changes proposed in the Bates/Capitelli measure. 

Asked if the needed signatures had already been collected, Laurie Bright, one of the proponents of the measure, commented, “I wouldn’t deny that.” He declined to offer any specifics on the number already obtained. 

The mayor’s ordinance includes changes that critics say would greatly weaken protections for landmark buildings in Berkeley, while supporters contend the measure merely creates one that complies with other state regulations and removes ambiguities facing property owners. 

One of the provisions of the council proposal would allow demolition of landmarks if the replacement would fulfill an important public policy that would outweigh any detriment resulting from destruction of a public legacy. 

The council is scheduled to take up a proposal from City Manager Phil Kamlarz to direct the staff to review the financial and other implications of the initiative measure, which preservationists Bright and Roger Marquis are proposing. 

The mayor’s proposal has won the endorsement of developers, who say that the current ordinance has proven an obstacle to their plans. 

Bates has reportedly told preservationists he wouldn’t demand a council vote on his measure if the ballot initiative qualified, and hinted at a more drastic measure should the preservationist initiative fail in November. 

In recent years, the council has generally sided with developers on appeals of cases where neighborhood activists have been able to landmark properties in response to demolitions called for by developers in order to build new projects. 

Such was the case with the landmarking of the building housing Celia’s Mexican Restaurant at 2040 Fourth St. The LPC declared the building a Structure of Merit, one of the city’s two categories of landmarks. 

The City Council overturned the designation, which could have blocked condo and retail project plans for 700 University Avenue by Urban Housing Group. 

Once the signatures have been counted and validated as enough to qualify for the ballot, the City Council must then order the measure placed on the November ballot by Aug. 11. 

The last meeting before the council takes its traditional summer break is July 18, and the city and the county must have 30 working days after the petitions are turned in to examine the signatures, Cox said. 

“I really encourage people to get them in sooner rather than later,” she said. 

Several LPC members—particularly members Patti Dacey, Lesley Emmington and Carrie Olson—have been highly critical of the mayor’s proposal, insisting that the alterations they included in their own draft were more than sufficient to meet deadlines and other issues imposed by state law. 

The LPC meeting, which was scheduled by the commission at their May 4 meeting, was not posted on the official calendar on the city’s web site as of Monday afternoon.


Greenway Project Breaks Ground in Richmond

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday May 23, 2006

An abandoned three-mile stretch of railroad right-of-way in Richmond will begin its conversion into a community walking and biking trail Thursday. 

At 10 a.m., Mayor Irma Anderson, City Councilmember Tom Butt, city and county staff and students from Lincoln Elementary School will break ground for the Richmond Greenway. 

Unused for a quarter-century and filled with weeds, the right-of-way is being transformed into a community corridor through the joint efforts of the city, Contra Costa County, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and the Healthy Transportation Network. 

According to Benjamin Gettleman, much of the credit goes to Richmond City Councilmember Tom Butt. 

“He’s really been the local champion from the beginning, for more than 20 years,” said Gettleman, who runs the western regional office of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. 

Rails-to-Trails is a nationwide organization with more than 100,000 members and supporters dedicated to turning abandoned and unused railroad rights-of-way into recreational hubs. 

It was Butt who asked Rails-to-Trails to get involved, Gettleman said. 

The Greenway follows a three-mile stretch of right-of-way abandoned by the Atcheson, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway and deeded over to the city in 1979. 

The property, encompassing 32 acres, runs from Garrard Boulevard on the west to Key Boulevard on the east, running parallel with Chanslor and Ohio streets.  

Thursday’s ceremony will mark the start of construction on the trail’s western segment, which should be completed in time to open early next year. 

Rails-to-Trails has helped the city find funding for the project, which has come in part from a grant from the Transportation for Livable Community program of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the Contra Costa Transportation Authority State Transportation Improvement Program. 

The MTC kicked off the project in 2000 with a planning grant, followed by $50,000 in state funds and a July 2001 vote by MTC to allocate $1.9 million for construction of the first phase, which was originally planned to start two years ago. 

“The second phase will take the project to San Pablo Avenue and the Ohlone Greenway, and on into Berkeley,” said Butt. 

When completed, the trail will extend all the way from western Berkeley to Point Richmond. 

While the project’s master plan spells out a budget of more than $15 million, Butt said the costs included a “wish list of projects we’d like to see,” including a pedestrian-and-bicycle bridge over San Pablo Avenue. 

Butt said the Greenway project is one of several quality-of-life issues that have nearly foundered in Richmond.  

“The city gets money, and then it goes into the general fund and gets squandered. Mayor Anderson has been especially helpful on the Greenway, and she’s salvaged it more than once,” he said. 

The councilmember also praised Laura Cohen, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Western regional director. 

Ceremonies begin at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Sixth Street Crossing between Ohio and Chanslor avenues, with Mayor Anderson breaking ground.


Berkeley Honda Is Back in Business

By Suzanne La Barre
Tuesday May 23, 2006

Councilmember Linda Maio dropped her ’94 Honda EX station wagon off at Berkeley Honda for a routine checkup Friday, signaling the end of the council’s longstanding boycott against the dealership. 

The City Council lifted the boycott Tuesday, following the close of a bitter 10-month strike in late April when service workers reached a contract agreement with dealership owners. Councilmembers are now urging citizens to return to Berkeley Honda. 

“We’re all happy the strike is resolved, and we’re encouraging people to bring their cars into the dealership for service,” said Maio. 

Employees from Machinists Lodge 1546 and Teamsters Local 78 walked off the job last June when new dealership owners refused to rehire all the veteran workers and renew union contracts. The unions quickly gathered support from community members who helped stage biweekly rallies in front of the dealership at 2600 Shattuck Ave. The Berkeley City Council sanctioned a boycott of Berkeley Honda in July. 

Patronage of car servicing plummeted by about 60 percent, Berkeley Honda General Manager Steve Haworth told the Planet last month. On Friday, Haworth reported that business has tripled since the end of the strike. 

The new contract offers workers a wage hike, a pension deal and extends employment to workers not hired back last June. 

So far, dealership management has offered to rehire six workers; just two have accepted. (The others are either on disability or found other jobs.) The rest of the employees will be reinstated in phases as work demands dictate. 

Said Haworth, “The quicker the business comes back, the quicker the employees come back.”


Police Blotter

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday May 23, 2006

Student robbed 

A UC Berkeley student and her mother were confronted by a pair of bandits using that old “I’ve got a gun in my pocket routine” as they walked near the corner of Ellsworth Street and Durant Avenue just before 10:30 Thursday night. 

One of the bandits grabbed the student’s purse while another tried to grab her mother’s. Mom screamed, and the nonplussed bandits fled, reports UC Berkeley Police Chief Victoria Harrison. 

The two men were African-Americans in their mid-20s, and both were thinly built, stood about 5’10” and wore their hair in braids. One was clean shaven and the other sported a goatee. 

 

Still broken 

The Berkeley Police Department’s online Community Crime View software appears to be still be broken, and no incidents have been posted since May 5. Calls made to the department Monday afternoon weren’t returned.


Fire Department Log

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday May 23, 2006

Expensive butt 

A South Berkeley apartment dweller—and a landlord—learned an old but important lesson last Tuesday: Make sure that your cigarette is out before tossing it in the trash. 

Deputy Fire Chief David Orth said firefighters were summoned to an apartment at 1629 63rd St. at four minutes after midnight because a smoldering butt had ignited the contents of a kitchen trash can. 

The fire was quickly extinguished but not before causing $1,000 in damage to the dwelling and another $100 in damage to contents. Most of the damage was confined to kitchen cabinetry, Orth said.


Markos Speaks: Berkeley Blogger’s Daily Kos Makes National Waves

By Richard Brenneman
Friday May 19, 2006
Richard Brenneman: Markos Moulitsas—Kos to his hordes of readers—enjoys a moment in the sun outside a South Berkeley coffee shop, before heading to his newly bought nearby home, where he runs the world’s most popular political blog—dailykos.com—from his bedroom.
Richard Brenneman: Markos Moulitsas—Kos to his hordes of readers—enjoys a moment in the sun outside a South Berkeley coffee shop, before heading to his newly bought nearby home, where he runs the world’s most popular political blog—dailykos.com—from his bedroom.

For political cognoscenti, a day just isn’t complete without a Daily Kos fix. 

That’s good news for new South Berkeley resident Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, the creator of what has become one of the world’s most popular blogs. 

Even better news for local activists, he’ll be starting up a new Berkeley- or Oakland-based training program for political activists, politicians and others. 

A soft-spoken activist with intense eyes, Moulitsas has emerged as perhaps the country’s—and the world’s—preeminent political blogger.  

Blogs—short for web log—have become the new medium for political activism, and Moulitsas, a soft-spoken army vet, has created a phenomenon that draws up to a million visitors day to dailykos.com. 

New media activism 

As an example of the power of blogs, he points to another Berkeley resident, Cindy Sheehan. 

“The anti-war protests this year were completely useless,” he said. “The most impactful activism was Cindy Sheehan, and it was the bloggers who promoted her first. She gave the media a hook, a story to tell.” 

And the protests which he said did count—the massive marches by immigrants across the country—were heavily promoted on the Internet. 

“These were leaderless rallies, people with flags talking about fighting for their families. You had 80,000 people turn out in Salt Lake City, and principals locking down schools to keep their students from attending. Suddenly the media had a hook. And it didn’t hurt that they were on message,” Moulitsas said. 

And now, paired with another blogger with a talent for political activism, he’s invading the turf of one of the oldest of the old media, books. 

With fellow blogger Jerome Armstrong of Alexandria, Va.—creator of the MyDD.com blog—Moulitsas has written Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Democracy, a 196-page volume that has garnered serious attention from political leaders and big media. 

And for Moulitsas, it even produced a graphic icon—a David Levine caricature in the New York Review of Books. 

As unabashed liberal Democrats, the two bloggers see the Internet as a seminal tool in reshaping a Democratic Party that has become so enamored of high-priced consultants and so reluctant to confront the conflicting interest groups that make up the party that the once-powerful political machine has been reduced to a state of near-ineffectiveness. 

 

Party contrasts 

“The Democrats have become a minority with absolutely zero input in Washington,” said Moulitsas. “The GOP has no interest in compromising.” 

The Republicans haven’t always been implacably hostile to negotiation, he said. “Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency, and his party at least would listen and sometimes compromise. But those of us who have come to age politically after 2000 have never seen it.” 

And the same goes within the groups that compromise the party establishment, he said. “They still think it’s 1980.” 

While both parties represent coalitions of interests, Moulitsas said, the Republicans have been far more effective in wielding them into an effective machine. 

“It’s amazing to me how myopic our side is,” he said. “The other side will work in concert with each other because they each know they’ll get their turn and wind up getting 50 to 75 percent of what they want.” 

Democratic coalition groups, by contrast, engage each other in all-or-nothing battles. 

The solution, he said, lies partly in changing the nature of the dialogue. 

“People are willing to overlook their political difference if you talk about values. Bush talked in the language of values, so people were willing to give him the benefit of the doubt,” he said. 

Moulitsas said that, for instance, when Bush violated his professed values, as he did in the case of the proposed handover of U.S. port security to a Dubai firm and in the case of his response to Hurricane Katrina, “People started to say, ‘Holy shit! He really doesn’t give a damn about security or about the people in New Orleans.’” 

For the next two years, Moulitsas plans to devote himself towards a single goal—helping the Democrats seize control of the political process. 

“It took the GOP 30 years to build up their machine, and it will take 10 years to dismantle it,” he said. 

 

East Bay institute 

Moulitsas said he’s going to be working over the next year to help build a training institute for activists working in 21st Century online media. “It will be in Berkeley or Oakland, wherever we can find the space.” 

The facility will provide training for politicians, activists, organizers and consultants. 

“TV and online will become one and the same,” he said, with “blogcast” videos emerging as a new force, and TIVO video recorders set to capture online RSS media feeds starting in the fall. 

“We’ll also do some old school media training, and teach how to present yourself on camera,” he said. 

They’re even going to train consultants, the group he and Armstrong single out for scorn for their advice to the Democratic establishment. 

“My job is to build the infrastructure for a new progressive movement to emerge,” he said. “I’m working to build a vast left-wing conspiracy to match the right’s very powerful political machine. 

“I only see myself doing this for the next five years or so, and then I’ll do something completely different. What that may be, I have no clue.” 

 

Road to blogville 

Born in Chicago in 1971, where his Greek father and El Salvadoran mother met while attending college, Moulitsas was 4 when his family moved to El Salvador. They returned five years later, during that country’s bloody civil war. 

“I’ve seen first hand how politics really can be a matter of life and death,” he said. 

When he came back “to lily-white suburban Chicago, I was skinny and short, and I’ve always looked young for my age. I was miserable,” he said. 

At 17, he enlisted in the Army: “My parents didn’t have a lot of money, and it was a way of going to college.” 

Illinois offered free tuition for veterans, the only state that does. 

After a hitch serving as an artillery fire director at the headquarters for a missile battery, he attended Northern Illinois University, winning dual degrees and majoring in philosophy, political science and journalism and minoring in German. 

From there, it was on to Boston University, where he earned his law degree. 

“I knew in law school that I never wanted to be a lawyer. It was a way to kill three years of my life,” he offered with a smile. 

He could have become a reporter—there was a job offer from the Associated Press—and he did freelance for three years for the Chicago Tribune, “but I decided I didn’t want to live vicariously through other people’s lives.” 

His memories of El Salvador and a fascination with politics propelled his interests in news. “When I was 9, I forced my parents to get subscriptions to both Chicago papers.” 

 

To the Coast 

He moved west to San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhood in 1999, and began working for a Latino-themed Internet portal being developed by a web development shop in the city. 

After his wife graduated from Boston University in 2000, they moved to Berkeley 

“We were paying $1,800 for a studio in SOMA and we realized we could rent a house in Berkeley for a lot less. If we’d stayed in the studio, we would have killed each other,” he said, smiling. 

In May 2002 he applied his skills to creating his own blog, today’s Daily Kos. 

“It was mostly election stuff and I was writing about the war. I’m always good at staying within my own niche. That’s the great thing about the blog world—anyone can write about anything.” 

He left the web development business in 2003, venturing into the world of political consulting. 

During the following year, “I worked with [campaign manager] Joe Trippi on the Howard Dean campaign” with his fellow blogger and co-author Armstrong. “We realized we were good at what we did, and we got clients.” 

After the Dean campaign ended, he devoted full time to his blog, having become one of the few practitioners of the art who can make a decent living at it. 

Early on, blogging threatened to pose marital problems with spouse Elisa. “She hated it, but now she’s blogging too and she’s as addicted as I am.” 

With three others, she blogs at mothertalkers.com, writing about motherhood and related issues. Son Ari—short for Aristotle—at two-and-a-half, is still too young to blog, though he’s already bilingual. 

 

A blogger’s day 

“I spend most of the day with my laptop grafted to my hip. I get up about 7:30 and check my emails until about 9,” he said—a daily deluge that, after winnowing, amounts to about 400 emails a day. 

“By 9, the East Coast bloggers have most of their news up for the day, so I riff off that and blog heavily until about noon, when I get out of bed.” 

Afternoons of late have been spent doing media promotions for the book, along with sending email questions to sources. 

From 4 to 6 p.m. is family time, after which he tries to work in one or two more blog posts. 

Then there are the long days on the road, promoting the book. 

It was in the middle of his touring that the family learned of a chance to buy a home at a good price in South Berkeley, and the sale closed earlier this month. 

“It was the worst possible time for us, but it was a great deal,” he said. “It’s the kind of house I can see myself staying in for the next 40 years.” 

Moulitsas says the one political arena he hasn’t followed closely is the Berkeley municipal scene—something that is changing because of a new development planned not far from his home at the Ashby BART station—a project that has raised his concern.


Brower Center Project Clears Key City Vote

By Richard Brenneman
Friday May 19, 2006

City councilmbers Tuesday approved transferring the Oxford Plaza parking lot to developers Tuesday night, but their vote—the first of two—left as many questions as answers. 

On a 6-1-2 vote, with Betty Olds voting no and Gordon Wozniak and Laurie Capitelli abstaining, the council voted to approve the $62 million project for the site of the city’s current Oxford Plaza parking lot. 

In its place, if all goes as currently planned, will rise the David Brower Center, touted as an international showcase of environmental organizations, and Oxford Plaza apartments, 97 units, half of them with two or three bedrooms—all reserved for those who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford to live in Berkeley. 

Capitelli had the most questions—26 that he’d emailed to Housing Director Steve Barton—but Wozniak had several as well, while Olds already had the answers she needed. 

The project is complex, reflected in the 333 pages of paperwork that constitute the Disposition and Development Agreement that accompanied the 25-page staff report and four pages of resolutions. 

That agreement, as Capitelli pointed out, could well change as the project moves forward, since it includes a provision vesting City Manager Phil Kamlarz with the power to change it in whatever way he sees fit. 

While Capitelli proposed amending the ordinance right then to include controls mandating council review of significant changes and Councilmember Kriss Worthington wanted an amendment requiring quarterly reports to council, Mayor Tom Bates closed the discussion and forced a vote, saying amendments could be added when the measure comes up for a second and final vote at the council’s next session Tuesday night. 

“The amazing irony is that this is being built next to the Gaia Building, which is named after something that never came to fruition,” Capitelli said, “and I hope that’s not the case with the David Brower Center.” 

The Gaia Building was named after a bookstore, which was scheduled to occupy the two floors of “cultural space” that allowed the builder to add two more floors of apartments. The bookstore went broke before its namesake building was ever completed. 

One of the uncertainties never addressed at the council meeting involves whether the David Brower Center, the building planned for the corner of Oxford Street and Allston Way, would actually house non-profit environmental groups. 

While the mayor, Barton, project developers and environmental groups all hale the building as—in Barton’s words—“a centerpiece for bringing together environmental organizations in the city of Berkeley,” nothing in agreement says any such thing. 

In fact, Barton’s staff report reveals that “the developer has not agreed to limit the use of all the office space” in the center, “but rather insists that, to ensure the financial feasibility of this component of the project, leases may need to go to for-profits.” 

Under the worst-case scenario, he wrote, “51 percent of the office space could be leased to government entities with no relationship to the environment and 49 percent could be leased to for-profit entities (with an environmental component to their business).” 

Or, as he acknowledged at the Jan. 24 council meeting, the offices might go the University of California, which is embarked on a massive campaign to acquire office space in downtown Berkeley. 

John Clawson, the founding principal of Equity Community Builders, the San Francisco firm hired to handle the development, said he had letters of intent for 70 percent of the space in the Brower Center, and interest from others “that could fill the remaining space three or four times.” 

The university could be a major source of tenants for the 97 housing units to be built in the affordable housing complex that will front along Oxford between Allston and Kittredge Street. 

“The need for affordable housing is indisputable,” said Carolyn Bookhart, project manager for Resources for Community Development, which will be operating the housing—reserved for families earning 20 to 30 percent of the area’s median income, with some units for those earning up to 60 percent of that level. 

As an example of likely tenants, she cited the 87 percent of UC Berkeley service workers and the 39 percent of university clerical works “who are not paid a sustainable wage—almost 2,000 people working downtown who cannot afford to live here.” 

She also cited the “close to 50 different classifications of people working for the city” who aren’t able to afford housing in the town where they work. 

Capitelli said he was also concerned that while the proposed agreement said no transfer of the property from the city to the developer could occur until all the needed financing was secured, “there are a couple of indications” in the agreement “that we may have to waive that contingency.” 

“We are the deep pockets here,” Capitelli added. 

Wozniak said his concern was the Oxford Plaza component. 

“We’re losing the parking revenues” during construction from the city’s lot that now occupies the site, and the city is paying the property taxes of about $1.5 million, as well as paying another $445,000 for real estate transfer and oversight costs. 

“The cost per unit of housing is $350,000, and yet we’re calling it affordable. That’s just too expensive,” he said. 

Wozniak said he was also alarmed that the so-called “soft” costs of the project—money not involved in actual construction or land purchase—amount to one third of total project costs,. 

“We’re giving away a lot that we’re going to live to regret and we’re going to ruin the downtown, and I’m glad that’s not going to be my legacy, because I’m going to vote no,” said Olds, the lone no voter. 

By the time the item surfaced on the agenda, midnight was in sight and many would-be speakers had left, including members of the family of the late environmentalist for whom the project is named, the late and Berkeley-born David Brower. 

“This is very exciting to me,” said Linda Maio, one of the council majority, praising “a very bold and important project” that will be “markedly wonderful for the downtown.” 

Of the $62 million in projected costs, about half would come from commercial lending sources and half from government funds and tax credit programs earmarked for housing. That total includes $2.5 million from the city’s Housing Trust Fund and another $1.54 million in city redevelopment funds.


Progressive Convention GIves BCA Competition

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday May 19, 2006

Depending on whom you talk to and how you read between the lines, this Saturday’s Berkeley Progressive Coalition Convention will pull together a coalition of old and new progressive organizations in the city—including members of the longtime Berkeley Citizens Alliance and the year-old Berkeley Progressive Alliance—strengthening all of them. Or else it is a movement by the BPA to supplant the BCA that could potentially lead to a split in Berkeley’s progressive movement and establish competing progressive candidate endorsements for the fall elections. 

The first session of the progressive convention is scheduled to be held this Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Hall. It is designed to be a two-part process with Saturday’s session setting out a progressive platform and a later session inviting local candidates for possible endorsements. 

The convention has been organized in two separate sessions in part because local nonprofit organizations, that wanted to be part of the platform-writing work, were prevented by tax-exemption laws from participating in the political endorsement activities. 

Part of the confusion as to whether the progressive convention is a distinct entity from the BPA, and not simply an auxiliary, is that both are most closely associated publicly with local progressive activist Laurence Schechtman, and the convention is a direct spinoff of the BPA. 

In a Daily Planet commentary last September that announced BPA’s second meeting and outlined the group’s mission, Schechtman was already talking at length about the need for a progressive convention, tying it directly to the BPA. 

“In the 1970s and most of the ’80s [Berkeley] had conventions which attracted up to 600 people,” Schechtman wrote. “We wrote lengthy platforms. And the candidates we elected usually stayed true to progressive principles . . . If we can host a coalition convention that will draw 500-600 people who will then stay active in holding our candidates true to their word, we can again become a national model.” 

In a telephone interview this week, Schechtman said that the convention was spun-out of the BPA last January partly because of a conflict of interest involving former Planning Commission chair Zelda Bronstein. 

“Zelda was on the BPA coordinating committee, and the organization became closely identified with her,” Schechtman said. 

The conflict occurred between an endorsement convention and Bronstein’s plans to run for mayor of Berkeley against incumbent Tom Bates. 

“If you’re going to be an honest broker, that can’t be,” Schechtman explained, “so the BPA voted to form a second organization.” 

Even though several BPA members are closely associated with the progressive convention, Schechtman says that Bronstein is not, adding that “now it’s two different bodies. No one group dominates.”  

Closely associated or not, Bronstein was working with the convention at its onset. She was among some 25 Berkeley activists—including Councilmembers Dona Spring and Kriss Worthington—who met at the Downtown Berkeley Library in February to plan the convention. 

And some of the convention activists are not BPA members. 

Councilmember Dona Spring, who convened the February convention planning meeting, said that while she “thought the idea [of the BPA] was good,” she said that she has “never been to any of the meetings.” 

Spring said that she felt the convention was necessary because “progressives in Berkeley have become rather rudderless. There has been a vacuum for a least the last half-decade.” 

She attributed that in part to past success. 

“As late as 1988, the BCA produced a progressive platform that [then] Mayor Loni Hancock endorsed,” Spring said. But after progressive majorities were elected to Berkeley City Council “it was kind of like people thought they didn’t have to organize any more. Progressives thought all they had to do was just tell [councilmembers] what to do, and they’d do it. But it doesn’t necessarily work that way.” 

But Spring said that progressive political activism has resurfaced because “many progressives do not feel they are represented by Mayor Tom Bates.” 

It was Spring who convened the progressive convention four years ago that encouraged Bates to enter the race against then-mayor Shirley Dean. Spring now calls that “kind of a shotgun wedding. He was probably the only person who could beat Dean, but at the time we didn’t question enough why. His positions on local issues were not well known at the time, and they later came as something of a surprise.” 

Meanwhile, just under the surface, the rivalry between the BCA and the BPA smolders, even though representatives on both sides try to downplay it. 

“It feels like the BCA has been shrinking, without a lot of energy to it,” said Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS) staff member Michael Diehl, who is working on some of the convention platforms. Prior to the formation of BPA, Diehl said that “there were some thoughts of trying to revive BCA and go through them. But a lot of progressives have gotten alienated from the organization. For a lot of the young people, BCA doesn’t mean much to them. And if progressives want to advance, they have to reach out to the youth.” 

Diehl said he believed the goals of the convention was “to try to do what BCA was doing originally.” 

In his commentary, Schechtman made a thinly-veiled dig at the BCA, staying that Berkeley government “fail[ed] to enact the ideals of its people . . . mainly because we have allowed our progressive coalition . . . to decay and fall apart.” 

And he said that after the convention was over “later we’ll talk about some community organizing ideas of the Berkeley Progressive Alliance.” 

Asked in a telephone interview this week if that “decay and fall apart” comment referred to the BCA, Schechtman said that the BCA “used to be that greater coalition, and it isn’t now.” 

He called the BCA an organization “in serious disrepair.” 

That the progressive convention and the progressive alliance was virtually one and the same was the impression of members of the BCA steering committee when they were presented with the idea of the convention earlier this year, leading to the BCA steering committee declining to officially endorse the convention. 

“Our impression is that it was the same group putting together both,” BCA secretary Judy Ann Alberti said in a telephone interview. 

“So when the steering committee looked at it, they didn’t feel like they were looking at two separate things. The people who came to present the convention plan to us said that was why they were setting up the Progressive Alliance, so they could have these conventions.” 

In the end, while failing to endorse the convention, “is not discouraging people from our organization from going and participating,” according to Alberti. “Our feeling is that it’s great. We hope that they come up with candidates that the BCA will also see as progressives, so that both groups can endorse them.” 

But asked what might happen if the BCA and the Progressive Convention end up endorsing different candidates in the November election, Alberti said, “That’s always a potential.” 

Other activists hope that doesn’t happen. 

Both Councilmember Worthington in the February convention organizing meeting and Schechtman in his telephone interview referred to the progressive division in the District 8 City Council meeting, in which moderate Gordon Wozniak beat out three progressive challengers. 

“I think one of the key reasons to have a convention is to have a candidate to pull people together into a District 8 coalition,” the Daily Cal newspaper quoted Worthington as saying at the February convention. 

“Progressives have lost a lot of elections because they were not united,” Schechtman said, citing the Wozniak victory and stating that “the BCA did not prevent that.” Schechtman said that rather than splitting their vote between several progressive candidates, “we should decide on only one progressive for each office.” 

Former District 5 City Council candidate Jesse Townley is working on the convention, and is a member of the BPA. But he’s also a BCA member. 

“A lot of us are,” he said, referring to joint BPA and BCA membership. “And happily so. We’re allies.”  

Townley called the BCA “more establishment progressives; they can bring in more well-known figures to do major speaking events. They have the name and the history.” 

The BPA, on the other hand, he said, “has its feet on the ground more. We’re knocking on doors. It’s helping groups focus more on grassroots work. We’re bringing in people who were never BCA members, or even know what those initials stand for.” 

And despite the fact that the BCA has turned down the convention’s request for an endorsement, Schechtman says “I won’t say the matter is entirely closed. It depends on how many groups we can get involved in the convention. If it snowballs, then they’ll come in.”


Council Calls Black-and-White Public Nuisance

By Judith Scherr
Friday May 19, 2006

South Berkeley neighbors sparred verbally at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, most supporting Black and White Liquor store owner Sucha Banger in his quest to overturn the Zoning Adjustments Board vote to designate his store a “public nuisance” and impose restrictions, such as hours of operation, on the establishment.  

Voting 8-1, with Councilmember Kriss Worthington in opposition, the City Council majority supported the position of a smaller group of neighbors present at the meeting to testify in favor of the nuisance designation and its restrictions.  

Based on the council vote, the city attorney will prepare formal findings intended to show that the store is a public nuisance and the council will vote to affirm the findings, possibly next week. And as a result of the designation, Banger’s attorney Richard Warren told the Daily Planet he intends to sue the city. 

Problems at the store came to light after a July 2005 arson fire that forced temporary closure of Banger’s store. When a liquor store is closed more than 15 days, the owner must provisionally surrender his liquor license to the state, then reapply to reinstate it. When Banger reapplied, however, a number of problems came to light, including the purchase for resale of stolen alcohol by an employee and neighbors’ complaints of nuisance and criminal activities created by the presence of the store. 

When the fire caused the store to shut down temporarily, “the community realized that without his ability to sell liquor, the quality of life increased and they wanted that better quality of life to continue,” said Gregory Daniel, a Planning Department supervisor of code enforcement, who testified at the council hearing. 

But Jackie DeBose, who lives in the neighborhood, claimed the fight against the store was not simply about stopping nuisance activities. 

“It’s all about gentrification,” she said. “People are more concerned about property values.” 

And Marian Jones, who owns two nearby shops said, especially when she worked late, she was grateful for Black and White Liquor. “I feel protected by the presence of the store,” she said. 

Neighbor David Arnold, who had objected to nuisance activities around the store, conceded that it changed after the fire and that it was “peaceful, pleasant.” 

But things “changed under pressure,” he said. “My fear is that if the conditions [imposed] are diminished, it would revert” to previous nuisance activities.  

Councilmember Max Anderson, in whose district the store sits, underscored improvements were due only to enforce efforts of the city to regulate the store and called Black and White “a problem the city has to eliminate.” 

Banger’s attorney agreed that after the fire the storeowner had put in security cameras and better lighting. “Since the store reopened, the problems have gone away,” he said. “They no longer exist.” 

He said his client would agree to the city-mandated restrictions, but argued that if the business were deemed a “public nuisance,” the Alcohol Beverage Control bureau might shut the business down. “We can give you what you want,” he said. 

Worthington said he voted to oppose the designation because it seemed that evidence showed that the store might have once been a problem, but that it currently it was not. He questioned whether it was “proper to question someone [whose store] used to be a nuisance.”


Neighbors Oppose El Cerrito Hills Land Sale

By Suzanne La Barre
Friday May 19, 2006

A nascent plan to develop open space in the El Cerrito Hills is eliciting protests from neighbors who say the city’s natural land must be preserved. 

Residents are marshalling forces to prevent the sale of an undeveloped 15-acre expanse to an Emeryville buyer who is reportedly working with developer Aaron Vitale. Vitale, opponents say, wants to construct 20 to 30 luxury homes at the site, a steep, grassy area replete with vegetation and native wildlife. Vitale did not return multiple calls for comment. 

The private property, called the Willis Parcel (after Orinda owner Ralph Willis), comes with a $3 million price tag, residents say. Buyer Anne Koenig is in escrow for the site, though neighbors say she is still seeking investors. Koenig declined to speak to the Daily Planet about the project, saying only, “I don’t want to talk about it right now,” before hanging up.  

Residents of the newly formed community group El Cerrito Hillside Organization (ECHO) insist the Willis Parcel is the largest remaining unprotected open space in the El Cerrito hills. Natural features include creeks, native oaks, deer, owls and, until recently, coyote dens. The parcel borders the Hillside Natural Area, a 79.3-acre, city-designated stretch of undeveloped land. 

“We are opposed to any development on this land,” said Norman LaForce, former El Cerrito mayor and current chair of the Sierra Club’s West Contra Costa group, in a prepared statement. “We can’t afford to lose these last remaining acres of native oak woodland and riparian habitat.” 

Opposition, though, is not entirely to preserve natural ecosystems. Vitale’s portfolio as a developer includes luxury homes of McMansion proportions, and some fear his structures won’t jibe with other homes in the neighborhood. 

“They’re huge, really out of scale for the area,” said Lori Dair, ECHO member and El Cerrito hills resident for 12 years. “That’s what [residents] are really worried about, not to just mention the aesthetic.” 

Neighbors guess the parcel has remained undeveloped because a quarter to a third is designated as a slide zone. Steep slopes, combined with fill soil and landslide debris make development tricky, if not impossible, they say. 

Berkeley-based geotechnical engineering consultant Alan Kropp, who was hired by Koenig to conduct a preliminary study, agrees portions of the property are unstable but that about 50 percent is on solid ground and ripe for development. 

ECHO member Rob Frankenburg, a resident of the hills for seven years, doesn’t buy it. 

“Big developers will come in, develop the land, leave the homeowners behind, and they’ll be subject to unsafe land,” he said. 

A past attempt to develop the Willis parcel proved unsuccessful. According to El Cerrito Planning Manager Jennifer Carman, the city rejected a developer’s proposal to erect an apartment complex, though it was not due to land instability. The site wasn’t zoned for the project, she said.  

Residents insist other proposed projects have failed, because the terrain is so difficult to navigate. Records are sparce, however, and Willis, who has owned the property since 1977, could not be reached to comment.  

At present, the city can do little to heed citizens’ concerns. If the sale is finalized, developers must submit a project proposal before commencing the city’s approval process, which would include rigorous environmental review and public scrutiny. 

ECHO members hope it doesn’t go that far. 

“We’re trying to discourage developers from spending the money because there is going to be opposition,” Frankenburg said. “We want the opposition to be there upfront, so they know what they’re getting into.”


Pacific Steel Faces New Lawsuit From Environmental Group

By Suzanne La Barre
Friday May 19, 2006

An Oakland-based environmental nonprofit is threatening to sue Pacific Steel Casting in federal court. 

Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) plans to file suit against the West Berkeley steel foundry 60 days from May 5 for violating the Clean Air Act, federal legislation enacted in 1990 that sets limits on air pollution. 

The lawsuit, to go before the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, accuses Pacific Steel of exceeding emissions limits and failing to adequately report its activities. According to a notice of intent to file suit, CBE intends to sue for each violation from 2002 to the present. Future breaches may also be included, because the plant continues to emit pollutants at higher levels than what’s permitted, the notice says.  

“Our main goal here is to force Pacific Steel to comply with the law,” said Adrienne Bloch, senior attorney for CBE. “[West] Berkeley is primarily a community of color, there are a lot of schools, daycares and homes for the elderly. People there are constantly exposed to toxins. ... We want to make sure that Pacific Steel acts like a responsible neighbor.” 

Under the Clean Air Act, Pacific Steel could owe as much as $37,500 per violation in civil penalties, though it is not known exactly how many violations the company will be held to, said a staff attorney with the Golden Gate University School of Law Environmental Law and Justice Clinic, the firm representing CBE. CBE may also sue to recoup legal costs and other fees. 

Pacific Steel has the opportunity to correct the problems between now and July 5, Bloch said. Veteran environmental activist L A Wood says that isn’t likely. 

“I believe Pacific Steel still feels they’re very insulated from the recording process,” said Wood, who approached the law clinic several years ago about Pacific Steel and facilitated the current lawsuit. “I think they’ll kick and scratch … but I don’t think Pacific Steel is going to meet the demands of the attorneys.” 

Pacific Steel spokesperson Elisabeth Jewel, of Aroner, Jewel and Ellis Partners, declined to answer questions about the lawsuit; however, she released the following statement: “The company is evaluating the claims made in this notice to sue and looks forward to responding.”  

Located on Second Street in West Berkeley, Pacific Steel produces steel parts up to 7,000 pounds, and is the third largest plant of its kind in the country. 

It has also been the subject of neighborhood complaints for more than two decades. Residents claim the foundry releases a noxious “burning pot handle” odor and some say it poses a health risk. The plant is known to release hazardous pollutants such as phenols, benzene, formaldehyde and manganese, but whether they occur in dangerous amounts is not known. A health review assessment is due out in June. 

A sharp rise in production in recent years, in conjunction with the lifting of an odor abatement order in 2000, has exacerbated odor problems. Registered complaints to the environmental regulatory agency the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) grew from 18 in 2001 to 533 in 2005. 

In December, BAAQMD reached a settlement agreement with Pacific Steel detailing measures the foundry must take to come into compliance with environmental regulations, including the construction of a $2 million carbon-abatement filter system. Pacific Steel was also forced to pay $17,500 in fines for nine emissions violations. But many residents felt the agreement was insufficient, and they demanded further action. 

An environmental group formed in February, threatening to take Pacific Steel to small claims court. Infighting stalled the suit’s progress, and plaintiffs, each eligible for as much as $7,500 in damages, have yet to file suit. The litigation is unrelated to the federal case. 

Some believe BAAQMD will take exception to the CBE action, because going to the courts could simply interfere with measures already underway to curb the company’s emissions. Several high-level BAAQMD officials did not return the Daily Planet’s calls for comment. 

Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates, a recent appointee to the BAAQMD Board of Directors, said he is committed to making sure the facility is clean and safe, though he doesn’t know if going to the courts in the way to do it. On Wednesday, he said he was not familiar with the federal case. 

Councilmember Linda Maio, who represents District 1, where Pacific Steel is located, said she was receptive to CBE’s action. 

“What I’m interested in is continuing to get Pacific Steel to cut down on emissions we can smell and emissions we can’t smell that are dangerous,” she said. “I’m interested in studying what CBE is doing toward that end, and getting Pacific Steel to the table faster. So if this is what will do it, fine.” 


Gore, Newsom Pass on UC Commencement

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday May 19, 2006

The latest Democrats to cancel speaking events at a UC Berkeley event are Al Gore and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. 

The former vice president canceled a talk he was supposed to give on Tuesday on global warming at a China-U.S. Climate Change Forum, which was being organized by Peking University and UC Berkeley. Members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees threatened to picket at the event. 

Gore refused to cross picket lines created by university custodians, landscapers and food service workers in an ongoing labor dispute between the university and the union. 

Newson joins a growing group of Democratic politicians refusing to cross the picket lines to speak at UC Berkeley graduation events. Picket threats by the workers resulted in Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, State Sen. Liz Figueroa (D-Fremont), and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles), and U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio) canceling plans to speak at university commencements. 

A press release by the UC Berkeley News Center states that “plans for Gore to speak were canceled after a local union threatened to picket the event” but that “the remainder of the climate change program” would be taking place as scheduled on Tuesday and Wednesday. 


Golden Gate Fields Mall Opponents Turn in November Vote Petitions

By Richard Brenneman
Friday May 19, 2006

Foes of the proposed upscale mall planned for Albany’s Golden Gate Fields turned in nearly three times the signatures needed to qualify a November ballot initiative measure that would stop the proposal. 

Members of Citizens for the Albany Shoreline (CAS) presented a box containing 445 pages of petitions bearing 2,446 signatures to City Clerk Jacqueline Bucholz Tuesday noon. 

That figure is nearly three times the 950 signatures needed, or ten percent of the city’s registered voters. 

“We actually got 2,800 signatures, but we eliminated any that might raise any questions,” said Robert Cheasty, a former Albany mayor and CAS chair emeritus. 

“I will look after these like my first-born child,” quipped Bucholz, who said Contra Costa County officials have 30 working days to verify signatures. 

The Albany Shoreline Protection Initiative is designed to thwart the mall proposal by Canadian-owned Magna Entertainment Corp., owner of the track, and Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso’s Caruso Affiliated, Inc. 

Caruso, a prominent figure among Republican supporters and a major fund-raiser and donor for George W. Bush, has been applying his political skills in Albany, meeting with voters and donating to politically connected groups like the Albany Education Foundation. 

Asked for his firm’s response to the filing, Matt Middlebrook, who is coordinating events in Albany for Caruso, said the measure would “impose an unfunded $1.5 million mandate on the citizens of Albany” in the form of costs for the environmental impact report required by the initiative. 

“What services will they have to cut to pay for the EIR?” Middlebrook asked. “The city doesn’t have enough money to repair the storm water drain system and they are having to pass a parcel tax to extend library hours. We are confident the citizens of Albany will be able to see through and reject this blatant effort.” 

Costs for a similar report on the mall project would be paid for by the developers, he said. 

“I’m not surprised the developer is unhappy with the fact that the citizens don’t seem to support his plan,” said Cheasty. 

He said he expected EIR costs would be considerably less than Middlebrook’s estimate because the document would focus only on the plan created by the task force mandated in the initiative. 

Cheasty said costs could also be reduced by seeking funds from other sources. 

Just before they handed in the petitions, one CAS member, PCM Construction owner Peter Maass, attended a meeting of the developer and a group of local merchants. 

“There were 20 to 25 people, of whom four or five consisted of Caruso and his employees,” said Maass. “They’ve learned enough about Albany that they show up now with their ties off.” 

Caruso and Magna have teamed up to build malls at two of Magna’s tracks in California, Golden Gate Fields on the Bay and Santa Anita in the Los Angeles Basin. By the end of March, the firms had spent $3.3 million in promoting the two projects, splitting the costs evenly, according to filings with the Security and Exchange Commission. 

With track attendance down and horse racing in decline, Magna Entertainment has been selling off tracks and developing casinos—so-called “racinos”—at tracks in states where gambling is legal. 

Magna is believed to have been behind the telephone survey conducted a year-and-a-half ago asking if Albany voters would support a casino if its operators provided scholarships for all Albany and Berkeley High School graduates. 

Caruso is perhaps the country’s most successful mall developer, and his up-scale open-air projects, typically built with housing above the stores, have proven to be phenomenal success stories in Southern California.  

In Albany, the development team is up against local activists and environmentalists who have long viewed the waterfront as the site for an expansion of the Eastshore State Park. Wearing another of his many hats, Cheasty is also in Citizens for East Shore Parks (CESP). 

The CAS initiative would bar development along a 600-foot-deep band along the shoreline, impose a moratorium on any shoreline development and create a public planning process that would end in a plan for the area that would be presented to the voters. 

Even if voters defeat the initiative, the developers would face at least one more public vote on their plans. 

Any development along the Albany shoreline must be approved by voters, a condition imposed by another initiative, Measure C, which voters passed in 1990. 

Caruso has deep pockets, and has shown a willingness to spend heavily on election campaigns involving his projects. He spent a reported $1.85 million on direct mail and other costs on an initiative campaign to build a mall in Glendale, which was contested by the owners of an existing mall.


103 Woolsey Street Residents Kicked Off Berkeley Voter Rolls

By Judith Scherr
Friday May 19, 2006

Peter Sussman, noted journalist and editor, often described as a 35-year Berkeley resident, was shocked when he looked at his sample ballot and discovered he was slated to vote across the border in Oakland. 

The border for Sussman is actually close to somewhere between his living room and his kitchen. One hundred and three of his nearest neighbors also straddle two cities. 

“My kids went to Berkeley schools,” he said, aghast that the change could have been made administratively. “There was no warning, no public hearing—they just did it.” 

Living between two cities has often brought bureaucratic headaches, especially when it’s time to pay property taxes. The taxes, often fraught with error, are split between Berkeley and Oakland; every year multiple phone calls to straighten out overcharges are required, Sussman said. 

As close as anyone can figure out, the administrative change in jurisdiction happened because of a parking permit question, with a bureaucrat from Berkeley public works calling the registrar of voters to make sure the residents on the south side of Woolsey belonged to Oakland. 

Not shy, Sussman called every public official he could—Councilmember Kriss Worthington, County Supervisor Keith Carson, Assemblymember Loni Hancock.  

He found that the law gives homeowners with parcels split between jurisdictions the right to decide where they will vote. 

“It was illegal to remove them from Berkeley,” said Worthington, who spent hours addressing the issue. 

Worthington said the problem was resolved and a letter will be sent to residents in the next few days correcting the error.  

“We got the 103 voters back,” he said, affirming his membership in what he called the Woolsey Street Voters’ Liberation Front. 

 

 


School Board Votes to Create Berkeley Technology Academy

By Suzanne La Barre
Friday May 19, 2006

When classes commence this fall, students at 2701 Martin Luther King Jr. Way will be the first to navigate the multiple pathways of Berkeley Technology Academy. 

The school, in its existing form as the Alternative High School, has earned a bad rap for low test scores, poor attendance and truancy, among other problems. Administrators and school officials hope a new continuation model that offers students three avenues for earning high school diplomas will help turn the school around.  

On Wednesday, the Board of Education unanimously approved a proposal to revamp the school, put forth by Alternative High School Principal Victor Diaz, in conjunction with district administration.  

The Alternative High School was a continuation school in the past, but in 2000-2001, as an attempt to diminish negative associations with continuation programs, the Board of Education formed the general alternative school, which students could attend voluntarily.  

The experiment was short-lived. Last year, a legal settlement between BUSD and a group of students who accused the district of organizing involuntary student transfers forced the district to revisit its need for a continuation program. B-Tech, as administrators are calling it, is the result of that settlement—with a few perks thrown in for good measure. 

The school prepares 10th- to 12th-grade students for graduation via college preparatory courses, vocational training or independent study. The new program will feature a 15-to-1 student to teacher ratio, additional hires—a work experience coordinator and a second school safety officer—in addition to community partnerships with organizations like Berkeley City (Vista) College, the Black Ministerial Alliance, InnerWorks and Project ECHO. 

Students who don’t fit in elsewhere in the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) because of truant behavior, academic performance or other reasons may be sent to the school involuntarily. 

District administration, school board directors and parents at Wednesday’s Board of Education meeting lauded the reform. 

“I’m for the proposal,” said Nancy Williams, whose child attends the alternative school. “It’s not fair for [students] to be in a class where they aren’t challenged. These programs the principal is proposing are programs that are helping students succeed.” 

Tenth-grade alternative school student Keneishia Lewis shares those high hopes.  

“I think it’s wonderful,” she said Thursday. “It will help us prepare for life.” 

Some residents, like Laura Menard who lives near the school site, also back B-Tech. It’s an “improvement for youth education and safety,” she said.  

But not everyone supports B-Tech unconditionally, particularly staff members who learned about the overhaul late in the game and aren’t sure proposed reforms can solve the school’s problems.  

B-Tech will only work if the principal tightens up discipline, said English teacher Kadhir Raja who, along with one of his students, devised the nickname “Hotel Berkeley” for the alternative school, because students come and go as they please. 

B-Tech would be “cool,” Raja said, “as long as [Diaz] is more strict and more structured.” 

Raja, a first year teacher, doesn’t know if he’ll come back to the school next year. Diaz expects that just four of the school’s 10 teachers are returning.  

Other staff members have concerns with implementation. Teachers received copies of the new proposal a day before the Board of Education was scheduled to act on it May 3. (The board delayed that action until Wednesday.) Still, just weeks before school gets out for summer recess, staff members have yet to discuss the restructuring process, said English teacher Andrea Pritchett. 

Some students are also in the dark. When the Daily Planet visited Thursday, a class of about eight ninth- and 10th-graders were unaware that their school’s name and curriculum were changing. Eleventh-grade student Kionna Lemott, who participates in student leadership, said seniors weighed in on the proposal, but underclassmen did not. 

“I don’t like it, because this school’s been this way for hecka’ long and they didn’t even get our input,” said Lemott. “They still haven’t talked to us about it.” 

She admitted, though, that if the changes are as sweet as administrators say, B-Tech could be a good thing. 

“I think it’s a step in the right direction,” said school board President Terry Doran at Wednesday’s school board meeting. “It’s not a panacea. As long as we can remain flexible and talk to each other, that’s really the atmosphere we need to improve the school.” 

In other news Wednesday: 

The board unanimously passed a resolution supporting Proposition 82, the state Preschool for All Initiative. 

Board directors approved an extra $100,000 for an environmental impact report for an East Campus/ Derby Street playing field, with Director John Selawsky opposing. The review will look at the environmental effects of closing Derby Street and leaving it open. 

Directors fleshed out details for how funding should be distributed in a renewed school parcel tax measure, which would provide the school district with $19 million a year for 10 years. They are scheduled to vote on recommendations May 24.


Council Looks at Condos, Budget, Cops on Telegraph

By Judith Scherr
Friday May 19, 2006

The question of condominium conversion, one of some 50 items on the City Council agenda Tuesday night, was significant, not so much for the council vote, but for what modifications the ordinance might face in the future. 

 

Condo conversion 

The council decision—approved unanimously—simply continues an ordinance that had lapsed. The vote, however, included a mandate to revisit the issue in September, a question of particular note since members of the Berkeley Property Owners Association are beginning to petition for a ballot measure which could increase the number of permitted conversions.  

The approved ordinance caps the number of permitted conversions at 100 units per year. A fee for the conversion is 12.5 percent of the sale price for owners who have occupied a unit in the building for less than seven years. Owners who have lived in the building seven years or more pay a fee of 5 percent of the cost of the converted unit. Fees are put into the Housing Trust Fund, intended to replace lost rental units.  

Councilmember Gordon Wozniak touted conversion. “We’re trying to help long-term renters achieve home ownership,” he said. 

Counilmember Max Anderson, formerly a member of the Rent Stabilization Board, argued for higher fees, but voted with the majority. 

“I believe a 15 percent rate is more appropriate,” he said. 

Housing Director Steve Barton told the council that 55 units have been selected for conversion this year. 

“We have 120 units waiting for the next round,” he said.  

While Councilmember Kriss Worthington argued that condo affordability to the middle class was “rhetoric,” with condos selling for as much as $400,000 in Berkeley, Councilmember Laurie Capitelli said he had done the math and that, with tax deductions for interest paid, a condominium owner might end up paying less per month than a renter. 

 

Budget in balance 

While the City Council won’t vote to approve the $293 million 2006-2007 budget until June 27, councilmembers heard good news from City Manager Phil Kamlarz, who outlined a balanced budget. In December, Kamlarz had presented a preliminary budget that was $1.6 million in the red. 

But the manager predicted a less rosy future.  

“There’s a major uncertainty in the transfer tax and property tax,” Kamlarz said in a press briefing Tuesday morning. 

Sales tax is flat and there are concerns that auto dealerships could leave the city, leaving a hole in the city budget. While property taxes and transfer taxes are up, experts such as the UCLA Anderson School predict real estate sales will slow. And the city may be able to collect less in utility taxes, due to pending state and federal legislation and new technology, such as the increasing use of the Internet for phone service. 

Still, this year’s income, especially due to transfer taxes, about 1.3 million more than had been expected will allow for some one-time expenditures, such as keeping some parks and planning staff positions funded, giving nonprofits a 3 percent increase, funding disaster preparedness efforts and paying for infrastructure needs such as roads and the storm drain system. The transfer taxes comprise about 10 percent of the city’s $130 million general fund budget. 

Council critic Barbara Gilbert, reached by phone on Thursday, said she is “glad the city has a balanced budget, but it’s not doing great for sustainable Berkeley.” 

Gilbert pointed to council reserves of only 6 or 7 percent, while other cities in Alameda County have reserves at 13 percent, which she said is prudent. (Similarly, in his budget message to the council, Kamlarz said the council may wish to consider a higher reserve policy.) 

Furthermore, Gilbert argues that homeowners pay all the taxes for services. 

“UC is not paying; renters are not paying,” she said. And, instead of raising taxes, which must go before the voters, the council is hiking fees. There is a recommended 8 percent increase in refuse fees, she said. All the fees go up automatically, she added. 

At the May 23 meeting, the council will look at the budget again, focusing on infrastructure needs. 

 

Union support 

In other business, by unanimous vote, the council lifted the boycott on Berkeley Honda, with Councilmember Linda Maio making it known that she would take her Honda there this week. The council lifted the boycott when the employer reversed his position and allowed the return of the union shop. 

The council also voted unanimously to support unionization efforts of ABC Security employees who work on contract at the city’s corporation yard. Claiming they are forced to work unpaid overtime, they have filed complaints with the National Labor Relations Board, according to Service Employees International Union organizer Miya Saida-Chen. 

 

Cops on Bikes and other budget referrals 

The council voted to consider in the budget process the restoration of funds for bike cops and community mental health workers on Telegraph Avenue. The item was of special interest, because of the recent announcement that Cody’s on Telegraph would close in July. 

“Telegraph is at a pivotal moment,” Al Geyer, founder of Annapurna, told the council during public comment period. “I urge you to pass the proposal.”  

This, however, is just a small part of the solution. In a note to the council Geyer called for a number of improvements, including better lighting, ending the concentration of homeless people and those with mental problems in the Telegraph Avenue area and parking after 6 p.m. in the yellow zones. 

“If Berkeley wants a vibrant Telegraph Avenue … it should include authentic small businesses such as quirky used book shops, boutiques, food and used CD stores” which he said “have been defining elements of the alternative culture in Berkeley.” 

The council also voted to add to the proposed budget partial funding for the warm pool and support for an auto theft reduction plan. 


Beier Challenges Worthington Again for District 7 Seat

By Judith Scherr
Friday May 19, 2006

Supported by councilmembers Betty Olds, Laurie Capitelli and Gordon Wozniak, George Beier, 42, has jumped into the proverbial ring, challenging incumbent, nine-year Councilmember Kriss Worthington, 51, for the second time. 

Beier received 35 percent of the vote in a 1998 attempt to unseat Worthington, who won 61 percent of the vote.  

While he hasn’t served in an elected capacity, the challenger has spent years in public service, having sat on the Zoning Adjustments Board and the Waterfront Commission; he is currently serving on the People’s Park Community Advisory Board and is president of the Willard Neighborhood Association. 

“My life is about service,” said Beier, who retired two years ago when he sold a successful software business.  

The contrast between Beier and Worthington—who plans June 1 to officially announce a reelection bid—will offer a choice to Berkeley’s majority-renter, half-student district that includes the celebrated, yet underperforming, Telegraph Avenue commercial district. 

 

Crime and People’s Park 

Reportedly, sales are down on Telegraph Avenue and panhandlers and disoriented people, highly visible in the area, are often blamed for scaring shoppers and committing crimes.  

“We need some radical changes to the status quo,” Beier said. 

As member of the People’s Park Advisory Committee, Beier said he would target drug sales in People’s Park: “We should think about putting [security] cameras in People’s Park,” he said, underscoring his belief that addicts commit petty crimes. “If we can put cameras at Ashby and San Pablo [avenues] to stop speeders, we can install cameras in People’s Park to stop drug dealing.”  

Asked to comment on the idea, Worthington quipped that the only place for cameras in the park is “putting a camera on the stage to film the many interesting and novel performances in the park.” But “filming the average person in the park is intruding on his rights,” Worthington said. 

While Beier said he would push the council to hire more drug enforcement officers, Worthington said it is important not only to hire more police, but to make sure there is cooperation between UC police and Berkeley police. 

Addressing the issue starts by restoring cuts made two years ago of two Telegraph Avenue bike cops and a team of social workers for the area, Worthington said. The council voted Tuesday to include the funding in the proposed 2006-2007 budget. 

Beyond policing efforts, Beier supports drug treatment and is a board member of the non-profit Options Recovery Services. 

“I have compassion for people who are drug addicted,” he said. Worthington is a longtime supporter of needle exchange, which prevents addicts from getting HIV/AIDS as a result of sharing needles, and advocates drug treatment on demand.  

Both Beier and Worthington advocate stepped-up use of the park. 

“The more people in the park, the safer it will be,” said Beier, who envisages a park café where people who frequent the park would train and work, an idea Beier credits to the park advisory committee. He is also calling for a memorial to the Free Speech Movement. 

Worthington said he doesn’t think the café is a bad idea but plans should come from park users. 

“Having the university force things on the community is counter-productive,” he said, pointing out that the advisory committee for People’s Park is hand-picked by the university.  

“One of the key problems is that the university has demanded unilateral control,” Worthington said. “There used to be a more cooperative approach between the city and the university.”  

Worthington said he has helped promote events in the park such as the annual Residential Hall Assembly and chess tournaments. 

The area needs stability, Beier said, advocating more long-term area residents that include condominium-owners. As for new construction, buildings height should be constrained. “I’m all for affordable housing, but these buildings are too big,” he said, questioning the bonus height given to developers who provide affordable units.  

 

Telegraph shopping  

With the announced demise of Cody’s Books on Telegraph, both candidates are calling for a sharper focus on economic development there. Both support fast-tracking permits so that businesses move quickly into empty spots. 

“We need to address the nightmare of Berkeley’s zoning mess,” Worthington said, pointing to the fact that members of the public who wish to speak have to come to the Zoning Adjustments Board meetings at 7 p.m., although action on the issue of interest may take place at midnight. 

“That hurts small business,” he said. 

Beier says the city should do more to help Telegraph Area promote itself. There’s too much bad press, he said. “It’s still wonderful, vibrant. We don’t need to air our dirty laundry in public,” he said. “We need to control the message.” 

Worthington underscored the importance of highly-visible bike cops and social workers on the avenue. “A feeling of safety is important,” he said. Cuts in bike cops and social workers two years ago, a relatively small savings, came at a high cost to the neighborhood, he said. 

Similarly, Beier said the goal of his focus on drug enforcement is to encourage shopping on Telegraph. 

Asked what citywide issues he would address, Beier said he is more focused on improving District 7 at this time. Given that the Berkeley Property Owners Association has touted him on its website as “in all likelihood the next city council member from this student-heavy district that is crucial to citywide politics,” the Daily Planet asked if Beier supports the BPOA-sponsored condominium measure, now circulating as a petition to go on the November ballot. 

“I don’t know enough to speak to it,” he said. 

Worthington addressed condominium conversion, saying that facilitating the conversion of 100 units each year to condominiums allows homeownership while not depleting the city’s rental stock. The impact of the BPOA’s proposal to allow some 500 units a year to be converted would hurt renters, Worthington said, adding that the city must find a way to prevent speculators from buying apartment buildings to convert to condominiums.  

While Worthington is best known for his progressive role on the council, advancing measures to impeach Bush, fighting for the city’s Living Wage Ordinance and supporting workers on strike, he said what gives him most pleasure as a council person is addressing individual needs.  

For example, he is now working on behalf of 103 people whose homes border Oakland and Berkeley, who have suddenly been administratively transferred to Oakland voter status, though they have always voted in Berkeley. He also pointed to his advocacy for a woman overcharged for 12 years on her trash bill. 

Through the budget process, Worthington said he’s advocated for affordable housing, protecting nonprofits to “save and strengthen the social safety net,” and increasing the fire department budget. 

Implementing programs such as additional police and permit reform will take money, Beier acknowledges. He said he thinks the voters will tax themselves for these services, but first city government needs to show it is can work efficiently.


Remembering the Spirit of Wayne S. Dismuke 1941-2006

Friday May 19, 2006

Wayne S. Dismuke was born Oct. 17, 1941, in El Dorado, Ark., through the union of Horace K. and Doris J. Dismuke. Wayne was the first child of Horace and Doris. He graduated from Berkeley High School in 1959. 

After High School, Wayne joined the Naval branch of the Armed Forces and served in the Submarine Division, until he was honorably discharged in 1964. 

Wayne was hired in the Berkeley Fire Department on Sept. 11, 1967, and was the top candidate in his recruit class. He promoted through the ranks of Apparatus Operator, Fire Lieutenant and Fire Captain. In November of 1985, Captain Dismuke became the first African-American Fire Training Director of the Berkeley Fire Department. 

As the Director of Training, he formed many of the current leaders in the Berkeley Fire Department. He was the initial incident commander in the City of Berkeley, in the 1991 Berkeley/Oakland Hills fire. 

As President of the Berkeley Black Firefighters Association, Wayne was dedicated and committed to improving diversity in the fire service and was a leading voice for this cause, organizing demonstrations, and appealing to Fire and City officials to increase employment opportunities in the fire service for African-Americans, women and other minorities. 

As a visionary, he advocated for a youth training program and in 2002, the Berkeley Youth Academy was formed, bringing together young people of all ethnicities and genders.  

Captain Dismuke was the first recipient of the Berkeley Black Firefighters community service award, recognizing his service to the community and naming the award in his behalf, the Wayne S. Dismuke Community Service Award. 

He was the originator of the Berkeley Black Firefighters slogan, “Serving the Community and Not Ourselves,”, which spoke volumes about his character, as did his 36 years of selfless giving and dedication to the Berkeley community.  

Aside from the challenges of the fire service Wayne enjoyed traveling, especially taking cruises to the Caribbean and the Bahamas, fine dining and an occasional horse race. 

On May 14, 2006, Captain Wayne S. Dismuke was called home. He was preceded in death by his mother, Doris Jean Dismuke and his son, Wayne Lamont Dismuke. 

He leaves to cherish his precious and loving memory, his wife, Mrs. Raquel Dismuke; daughter, Ms. Monique Dismuke of Oakland; granddaughter, Nyela Jones; two stepchildren, Anthony and Mercedes Flores of Hayward; five step granddaughters, Brandie, Brittany, Samantha, Antonia Flores and Isabelle Lewis; his father, Horace K. Dismuke and sister, Ms. Glenda Dismuke of Berkeley; three aunts, Mrs. Toni Crosby of Oakland, Mrs. Dorothy Younger of Richmond, and Ms. Evelyn Dismuke of Oakland; three nieces, Ms. Tamara Harris, Shuana Scarbrough, and Mrs. Nichole Blair; two nephews, Mr. Damon Scarbrough Sr., and Mr. Aaron Scarbrough Sr. and a host of other family and friends.  

The family requests that any donations or gifts be given to the City of Berkeley’s Rebuilding Together, a program formerly known as Christmas In April.


CHP Officer Is Injured in Crash

By Richard Brenneman
Friday May 19, 2006

A California Highway Patrol officer was injured Thursday afternoon when his motorcycle was struck by a car on westbound Interstate 80 near Ashby Avenue. 

Officer Brian Land said his colleague sustained moderate injuries in the 3:37 p.m. accident, which briefly closed the number one lane. 

Land said the other vehicle, a light colored Buick Century, stopped after the incident. 

Land was unable to say whether any citation was issued, or to identify the officer and the nature of his injuries. 


Bateman Mall to be Restored

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday May 19, 2006

Neighbors of Alta Bates-Summit Medical Center who gathered for the Bateman Mall Restoration meeting at Alta Bates on Wednesday night welcomed the city’s announcement that the grassy area that has lately been the site of the temporary road during construction at the hospital would be restored. 

Many of the neighbors had feared the road through the grass would become permanent. 

Berkeley’s Associate Traffic Engineer Peter Eakland and Deputy Planning Director Wendy Cosin told the neighbors that the path through the grass would still be used for two-directional emergency access but it would be restricted to fire trucks only. There were no plans of letting it being used by ambulances or police vehicles.  

“Our main concern is to put it back in a useful form,” Eakland said. “If we take out the emergency access completely, and there is a fire next week, then it becomes a liability issue. The emergency exit really is for fire and need not be used for anything else.” 

Eakland also added that once some kind of consensus was reached more detailed planning could be done on how to allow the vehicles to come onto the grass. There was also talk of putting the sidewalk back. Eakland also said that a “fire truck only” sign would be put up on the spot. 

Both residents and city officials agreed that drainage was one of the main concerns and needing further study. Residents were in favor of a covered concrete trench rather than a valley gutter. 

Henry Sobel, a resident of Prince Street, said that there was water coming down Dana Street during both rainy and dry seasons. Colby Street resident Marcy McGough brought up the standing water issue in Prince and Dana streets. 

“The problem lies in the antiquated dewatering system that pumps out water from below the hospital’s emergency room onto Colby and Prince streets and beyond instead of into a storm drain,” she said. “This creates serious health issues in terms of mosquitoes and other water born diseases.” 

Deborah Pitts, Alta Bates spokesperson for the Bateman Mall project, told The Planet that apart from hospital water, the drainage problem was also being created by the presence of a creek in the area. 

“We are looking into new drainage methods that would pump the water straight down Ashby,” she said. “However, we can say that the hospital water is not coming from the emergency room.” 

Residents at the meeting were also strongly in favor of a detailed study of the drainage problem as they said that the volume and source of the problem could not simply be solved with the help of a trench. Cosin and Eakland both said that the drainage problem would need to be talked over in detail with engineers and the results would then be discussed with a smaller group of neighbors.  

The deadline for completing the current construction at Alta Bates which would determine the start of the Bateman Mall restoration project has been postponed from August to October of this year because of the heavy spring rains. 

 


Police Blotter

By Richard Brenneman
Friday May 19, 2006

There is no Police Blotter again because the city’s new Community Crime View software has caught a bug. 

Berkeley police spokesperson Officer Ed Galvan said the program refuses to accept any new information. As a result, the latest crime reports available online end with May 5. 

In adopting the new program, the department abandoned the Daily Bulletins, the day-by-day lists of crimes and accidents the department used to post on line. As a result, the software glitch leaves citizens without a way of keeping tabs on local incidents and leaves reporters without a source for police blotters. 

Galvan said the department is working with the software maker to solve the problem. In the interim, the department is exploring the possibility of briefly resurrecting the daily bulletins, he said.


Opinion

Editorials

Editorial: Penny Wise, Pound Foolish, Failed Levees

By Becky O'Malley
Tuesday May 23, 2006

On Monday two UC Berkeley professors, Raymond Seed and Robert Bea, professors of civil and environmental engineering, presented the findings of an independent investigation team of 36 engineers and scientists from around the nation which they led in studying why the levees in New Orleans failed after Hurricane Katrina. Previous reports, including one from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, seemed to indicate that the failure of the levees was more or less inevitable, given the severity of the storm. But this independent team, whose members (except for a few graduate students) were working pro bono, free in the public interest, had a different take on what went wrong. Which turned out to be almost everything…. 

The report of the Independent Investigation Team (IIT) stressed the fact that levee design was not subjected to the same peer review process commonly used in dam design. It notes that “such review would have likely caught and challenged errors and poor judgments (both in engineering and in policy and funding) that led to failures during Hurricane Katrina.” A repeated complaint in the report is that cheap solutions were consistently chosen over safe solutions, or in the more polite prose of the report “there was a persistent pattern of attempts to reduce costs of constructed works, at the price of corollary reduction in safety and reliability. This represented a policy that has now been shown to be ‘penny wise and pound foolish.’” One example: the use of cheap sandy dredged materials instead of packed clay to fill levees. 

The investigators are engineers, not politicians, but their report takes a sharp look at the political processes which produced this result. Their conclusion is that there were many different things which all went wrong and caused “the resulting catastrophe.”  

Two major categories, in addition to the hurricane itself, are targeted. One is “the poor performance of the flood protection system, due to localized engineering failures, questionable judgments, errors, etc.” The first half of the report details all of these in exhaustive detail. The second is institutional problems with the interactions between national, state and local agencies responsible for the flood protection system’s design, construction and maintenance. 

One problem highlighted is the recent history of pressures put on the Corps of Engineers to do more with less, to “do their projects better, faster, and cheaper.” The report compares these pressures to those on the National Aeronautics and Space Agency which were uncovered after the shuttle disaster: “Our study indicates that, as in the case of NASA, technical and engineering superiority and oversight [were] compromised in attempts to respond to all of these constraints and pressures.” 

Penny wise and pound foolish, indeed. This report might be taken as an indictment of almost everything that’s wrong with our current governmental systems at all levels. The Bush administration is gleefully cutting taxes for the rich, and thereby exposing the rest of the citizens to hazards of all kinds from which they have a right to be protected. 

The IIT report’s findings and conclusions section contains recommendations that could profitably be applied to everything done by government. In particular, Recommendation 2 is to “Exploit the major and unprecedented role that exists for citizens who should be considered part of governance in the spirit that those who govern do so at the informed consent of the governed….the public protected by the [New Orleans Flood Defense System] need to be encouraged to actively and intelligently interact with its development.” In other words, the people who are at risk should be “asked for their informed consent especially regarding tradeoffs of safety for cost.” Good idea. 

The report is a generally fine piece of engineering analysis. Its flaws are the mirror of its virtues: if anything, it’s too engineering-heavy. The list of its contributors shows no obvious ecologists, biologists or historians, all of whom might have added dimension to the discussion. A traditional American failure mode is to believe that everything can be fixed by engineers, when sometimes what’s wrong was the initial choice of task. Besides trying to figure out what’s the best way to fix the levees, as a society we should also be considering how the choice of draining wetlands and holding back the sea was made in the first place, and whether it could or should be reversed in part.  

The report makes a few slighting references to environmental impact studies, hinting that the Corps of Engineers is being pushed to do frivolous environmental research in place of apparently more highly valued straight civil engineering. It’s a false dichotomy: What’s needed is not either/or but both. We’re no longer in a time when building decisions can be made without evaluating their impact on the fragile environment. Of course, when levees are built, they should be built right or not at all, but as a society we are now obliged to give proper consideration to alternatives as well. Choosing engineering solutions over ecology is just another way of being penny wise and pound foolish. We can afford both.  

 


Editorial: Taking Jane Jacobs’ Name in Vain

By Becky O’Malley
Friday May 19, 2006

The recent death of Jane Jacobs has prompted the usual spate of hagiographic reminiscences from professional planners and their critics who hope that they are candidates to assume the Jacobs mantle. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the word, hagiographies are Lives of the Saints, and Jane Jacobs was one of those unlucky or lucky people who are canonized before they die.  

The first thing to remember about her is that she was the original NIMBY. She didn’t want the Lower Manhattan Expressway to destroy her Greenwich Village backyard, and she used her considerable writing skill (she started out as a journalist) and her organizing ability to stop it. And those planners who loudly proclaim their links to the Jacobs heritage should remember that she detested planners, precisely because of their pseudo-scientific pretensions to know better than neighborhood residents what is “good for them.”  

Planning, like most fields, is subject to the whims of fashion. In the early ’60s, when Jacobs wrote The Life and Death of Great American Cities, the fashion czar in New York City was Robert Moses, who favored large-scale grandiose prescriptive urban renewal schemes. Today’s planning fashions are different, but in their own way just as prescriptive and formulaic. Believers in rapid transit today, who hold as an article of faith that if they build it riders will come, are just as fanatical as those in earlier days who insisted that mega-highways should be built everywhere.  

While visiting Santa Cruz this weekend I chanced to pick up the phone when a pollster was calling, and out of curiosity let him put me through his whole spiel. At first I thought his questions were devised to test support for some political candidate or other, but at the end of the interview he confessed that his Florida company was hired by the planning department of the City of Santa Cruz to test-market solutions that might be offered in that city’s upcoming general plan revision. Funny thing—his Santa Cruz solutions, for a much smaller, more isolated town which differs from Berkeley in many important particulars, were almost identical to those which have been pushed by the Berkeley planning department: Big Boxes on traffic arteries, paving over or building on all remaining open space inside town, much more student housing for Santa Cruz’s tiny one-street “downtown,” etc.  

It’s a new paradigm, but it’s still one size fits all.  

This new assortment of planning fads often invokes the sacred name of Jane Jacobs because it’s somewhat Greenwich-Villagesque in detail. Taller buildings, residential over retail, no cars—what’s not to like? Everyone loves New York, a wonderful town. 

The problem is that what’s right for the Village is not right for everywhere, as Jacobs would be the first to admit if she were still around to defend herself. She believed that places grew organically (and most of the places she cared deeply about were cities, but that’s a whole different discussion.)  

Santa Cruz in 1965 was a little seaside resort which had what was supposed to be a small, intimate new kind of university dropped into a big ranch well out of town. Now the obscene metastasizing of the University of California is threatening to gobble up little Santa Cruz in the same way it’s threatening to take over downtown Berkeley. Berkeley, however, is a city with many more residents and a longer and more complex history and infrastructure. Also, Santa Cruz’s historic downtown, what there was of it, was mostly destroyed in the 1989 earthquake, so it’s largely been rebuilt since, now with plenty of parking lots. But Berkeley still has a wealth of historic buildings which are gravely at risk in the latest round of planning-by-fad.  

Preserving cities’ historic fabric was another of Jane Jacobs’ core beliefs which many contemporary planners and developers would like to ignore. Andrew Berman, the executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, has put together a whole web page of Jacobs obituaries. The one from Metro, a New York city alternative paper, quotes Berman’s contention that the arena to fight development has changed. “The forces of real estate are probably more highly organized now and the money in real estate is staggering,” he said. “Now, the battles are with private developers, with the city greenlighting their projects instead of in Robert Moses’ day, when the city itself was the enemy.”  

That’s certainly true in Berkeley, with politicians and planning staff falling all over each other thinking of new and better ways to deliver the city into the hands of development capital. Mayor Bates started things off with his Task Force on Permitting and Development, launched soon after he took office. One of the fruits of their labors is the disgraceful draft for a gutted Landmarks Preservation Ordinance which is being fast-tracked over the objections of citizens for passage in July, right before the City Council’s Long Vacation.  

Concerned activists are conflicted over what is the best way to stop this shortsighted plan. One group is circulating an initiative petition which would put an updated version of the current LPO on the November ballot. Others, though, fear that such an initiative would suffer the fate of the late Measure P, a height limitation initiative which was swamped by big developer money.  

Cynics now point to the fate of P as the vox populi, when it was no such thing. It was just another example of how easy it is to buy elections in Berkeley, contrary to the naïve assertions of some of our frequent correspondents. There’s no spending limit for initiatives—the anti-P forces got a $5,000 “contribution” from Patrick Kennedy’s mother-in-law, who lives in Sacramento. And that’s just one example from many in the list of anti-P contributors, the majority of whom were friends, employees or family of private developers.  

To make the analysis harder, Bates has been doing Sacramento-style inner-office “meet&greets” with preservationists. These are reported to combine vague offers to amend the draft with veiled threats of an even worse version if an initiative is tried and defeated. If an initiative were on the ballot, the council would probably not pass the draft in July, thus enabling mayoral opposition to be based on pie in the sky promises of improvements if the initiative is defeated. 

A better strategy might be to dare the mayor and city Council to do their worst in July. Let them pass the dreadful draft if they’re foolish enough, and then mount a referendum campaign against it, coupled with an initiative for a better update if desired. A campaign against a specific bad ordinance would be easier to mount, though referendums require more signatures and developer money would still be a problem. It is possible, with plenty of time to organize, to defeat even well-funded opponents. And Jane Jacobs didn’t shy away from direct action—she was arrested in a 1968 demonstration against a revival of Robert Moses’ expressway. We’re not recommending that necessarily, but it’s another thought. 


Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Tuesday May 23, 2006

IRAQ WITHDRAWAL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In the United Nations, to celebrate their 60th anniversary in September, 2005, 150 heads of state agreed that there should be a new peace-building commission. We, as Women for Peace, applaud this effort and commit our energies to this goal. In particular, we want to see all the troops and private security withdrawn from Iraq by June, 2006. We want to see the closure of all bases, the release of all prisoners not already charged with crimes, and the phase-out of foreign contractors. 

To aid in this effort, we recommend the employment by the UN Commission of a panel of internationally respected experts in peace building. This panel would have the responsibility of assessing the current situation and developing a comprehensive plan for restoring peace and a reasonable quality of life in Iraq. Clearly such a process of restoration will take considerable time and resources. An appropriate and effective way to support the United Nations’ peace building efforts would be for the United States to redirect a portion of the vast sums currently being spent on the war to the newly formed peace-building commission. Other countries may then be persuaded to cooperate in restoring Iraq. 

The U.S. withdrawal from Iraq will end, or at least substantially reduce, the violence. The existing civil strife may go on, but we must stop American occupation and let the Iraqis rule themselves. 

Tobey Wiebe 

www.womenforpeace.org 

 

• 

CODY’S AND COMMUNITY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Cody’s Books on Telegraph Avenue will soon be past history, a victim of one or more of the varying possibilities variously offered this week by owner Andy Ross, by an oddly self-serving Daily Planet editorial, and by any number of fellow citizens in Planet letters to the editor, coffeehouse conversations, and e-mails. The loss is enormous. Cody’s was (and I wince at typing the past tense) a great store that provided not only an incomparable inventory, but a reliable and astonishing array of international authors presenting their books. For years Cody’s also sold tickets without charge for literary and political events throughout the Bay Area that were sponsored by KPFA Radio and numerous other non-profit organizations. Cody’s provided copious other services that all too clearly came to be taken for granted by far too many residents whose lazy buying habits and prolonged abandonment of a few blocks of Telegraph massively have undervalued more than one great community resource. 

Cody’s is a self-proclaimed independent bookstore that isn’t really independent. It was dependent on all the publishers, writers and artists for its inventory, and it was dependent on its customers for its existence. As are all our other “independent” bookstores. Their owners and staffs need to know this simple truth, and we need to recognize and respond to it—if we are to have such authentic community resources shaped by this community, and protected by it. Don’t let the valued commons be degraded. Buy books in Berkeley. Be a caring member of this unique community. 

Andy Ross says it was “a family business.” He’s entitled. For many of us, I’m thinking, that family is a much larger one than he realizes. 

Bob Baldock 

20 years at Moe’s,  

Black Oak Books’ co-founder,  

KPFA Public Events Producer  

• 

TAKE THE BUS! 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

You. Don’t just get into your car again. Take the bus! Check it out. AC Transit has well planned routes. Find the ones near your house and see where they go. By the simple act of getting out of your car you can relieve stress, air pollution, war, road rage, runoff and global warming. Enjoy leisurely looking out the window, people watching and walking rather than circling in your car for parking. 

It costs a little more that it should but I feel good about donating to the place I feel can most improve our quality of life. (And it’d really save you money if you can arrange a car free life.) Buses are usually on time, drivers are friendly and competent and the bus goes near most places. The one thing that AC Transit sorely lacks is you! It is absurd to sit in an empty bus surrounded by SUV’s with one person. (Tilden Park had traffic jams and exhaust last Sunday while the bus was empty.) Take the bus and we’ll all arrive sooner and healthier. 

Terri Compost 

 

• 

BERKELEY: CLOSED FOR  

BUSINESS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Tom Bates is up for re-election. 

That’s the only reason for all of the Fix Telegraph Avenue (part 17) nonsense. 

People just don’t come to Berkeley to shop anymore because parking has disappeared (by city mandate) and it’s so much easier to drive to Emeryville, El Cerrito and the exception to the rule, Fourth Street (which does have parking—for now). 

The Berkeley mantra “Public Transportation—Public Transportation—Public Transportation” is the dream of fools and the main reason Berkeley is becoming a commercial ghost town. Like it or not most people like to drive and that is not going to change, gas prices hikes or no. 

The Act 1&2 Theater just closed and you can bet another movie theater will close next year. The auto dealers are leaving town soon. 

Welcome to Berkeley—Closed for Business! 

F. Greenspan 

 

• 

CORRECTION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

While you know we appreciate the free publicity and Berkeley street cred that comes with having the cafe on the front page of the Daily Planet, I just wanted to remind you that (despite popular belief) we are still in North Oakland and are not (nor have we ever been) in South Berkeley. 

Gabriel Frazee 

Manager 

Nomad Cafe 

 

• 

CARELESS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Your May 16 editorial “Don’t Blame Telly for Cody’s Woes” romanticizes the Avenue and brushes aside the problems on the street as merely being the “rowdy edge” that has always been there. You posture about “free speech” instead of trying to address the balance of interests that sensible policy would require. You label Cody’s as ignorant of the Internet although you yourself are ignorant about Cody’s website that allows information to be accessed on a million books. Finally, you practically gloat over the supposition that advertising in the Planet might have made a difference in Cody’s fortunes.  

Both in content and tone, your column reflects oversimplification, carelessness with facts, arrogance and superciliousness. You are graceless in ignoring the contribution that Cody’s has made to Berkeley as a source of good books, a cultural center at which important issues are discussed, and a business that is kind to its customers with substantial discounts of which you also know nothing.  

Stanley Lubman  

 

• 

DEMOCRATIZE THE REGENTS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Imagine our public institution of higher learning as a positive asset to the community. The libraries would be open to all, they would buy books through our treasured local book stores, they would subsidize the public transit system (instead of buying and running their own private empty buses!). They would act like a good citizen in city planning rather than an imperial invader. And the Board of Regents would fire anyone caught lining the pockets of the top brass at the expense of students, professors, workers, the public and the integrity of the university. 

And then there’s the deeper issues: A real public good university would have open intellectual and public review before, and likely preventing, the building of a nano-technology lab next to a tritium releasing lab on a major earthquake fault. It would deny deals with the biotechnology industry that render the university useless in fairly assessing the dangers to health and environment that this powerful science can release. It would treasure Gill tract for organic sustainable agricultural studies. And it would get out of the nuclear weapon making business. 

The university is rotten from the top. The regents can’t correct the problem they are the problem! David Nadel had a radical idea: democratize the regents. Fire them all and let the people elect who we want to run our university. 

Cyndi Johnson 

 

• 

EDUCATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I hear all the time that California schools don’t fare well in national educational tests. I wonder why school superintendents and other educators don’t want students to take the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE). 

Teaching is an art. Not all credential holders are able to motivate students equally. A teacher who knows the art of teaching will make self-learners out of students. Such a teacher will identify each student’s strengths and interests and build on those. All students have natural gifts but many students need to be taught how to use these gifts to become better learners. 

Making a difference to the life of young learners is a deep and meaningful vocation. Let the State of California recognize and encourage those teachers who have mastered the art of teaching. 

I would request the family of educators to bring the academic standards of all enrolled students to the highest level of total health (physical, emotional, intellectual and inner self). The CAHSEE can motivate teachers to pour their best into teaching. 

Romila Khanna 

Albany 

 

• 

MAYOR BATES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I chuckled through Mayor Tom Bates’ spin-soaked May 12 commentary, “Why I’m Running for Re-Election.”  

Bates claims the deal he made with the university over its Long Range Development Plan “allows our community a real voice in future university development”—an outrageous statement. The settlement agreement actually gives the university a measure of control over Berkeley’s downtown, as well as many residential areas near downtown, “regardless of ownership.” Did he bother to read this document before signing it? 

Bates quotes a San Francisco Chronicle editorial, published shortly after the agreement was revealed to the public, suggesting that the agreement “could serve as a model for many other California communities….” He fails to mention that subsequently, a group of citizens sued him and the five City Council members who approved it. Perhaps lawsuits against the city are so prevalent that he fails to even notice them (another day, another lawsuit). 

If he wants to know what people think about secret deals and the sell-out of the community, Bates should attend fewer selected task forces, and more meetings with neighbors, who would be delighted to let him know how they feel. 

Gale Garcia 

 

• 

CONDO CONVERSIONS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In his May 16 commentary (“Condo Conversions Fee Bad for Landlords”), John Blankenship misses the proverbial forest for the trees. 

Mr. Blankenship claims to want “affordable ownership opportunities” for Berkeley rental property owners by lowering or removing the city fee required to convert rental units into condominiums, but he says nothing about the crushing, unaffordable rent burden placed upon many of Berkeley’s renters. Nor does he mention that conversions will lead to the permanent removal of what remains of the city’s affordable rental housing stock.  

According to the 2000 Census, 40 percent of tenant households across Berkeley received an income UNDER $20,000, while the median tenant household income stood at approximately $27,000 citywide.  

Berkeley rent levels are some of the highest in the nation. Affordable housing opportunities for renters is a much more pressing concern at the moment. For this reason, Berkeley’s Rent Stabilization (or Control) Program is crucial to maintaining existing rent level affordability and—most important—rent level predictability. 

During the 1999-2002 dot-com surge, for example, rent controlled units shielded most Berkeley renters from the dramatic—and unexpected—rent level increases that swept across the Bay Area at the time. 

Mr. Blankenship’s commentary is part of a carefully calibrated campaign now underway to set in motion the attempted dismantlement of Berkeley’s long-established condominium conversion public policy. In an earlier op-ed page commentary, Michael St. John also assailed the city’s conversion policy. 

Working in tandem with Mr. Blankenship and Mr. St Clare, the Berkeley (Rental) Property Owners Association is currently circulating a petition to place a rental unit conversion measure on Berkeley’s November ballot. This ballot measure—if it qualifies and passes—would permit the conversion of hundreds and hundreds of affordable rental units into condominiums across Berkeley. 

Like Berkeley and San Francisco, more than 200 California cities have passed rental unit conversion restrictions. The reason for these conversion limits is self-evident: Converting rental units into condominiums permanently removes affordable and moderate level units from a city’s housing stock. This imposes hardship and displacement upon low and middle income residents, especially working families, single parents, seniors, disabled and those on fixed incomes among others.  

Chris Kavanagh 

 

• 

SELAWSKY’S DERBY VOTE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Once again, School Boardmember John Selawsky has cast a vote on the Derby Street field issue, an issue in which he has very close personal and political interests. 

Though the local and state Fair Campaign Practices rules can be surprisingly hard to nail down, technically, Mr. Selawsky is right: His house is outside the 500-foot mark that is used locally as the conflict-of-interest boundary, by about 150 feet.  

But I think most voters would agree that the spirit of the rules is to avoid both real and perceived conflicts of interest, and Mr. Selawsky clearly violates that spirit whenever he votes or works with and lobbies other city officials on the Derby Street issue. 

And, of course, the contacts with City Council members raise the same questions his votes do: Is he speaking as a Derby Street neighbor, a politician serving his home base and future ambitions, a School Board member who was elected in a citywide vote, not a vote of one small district?  

Mr. Selawsky—especially when he’s on the defensive—is good at coming up with rationales for his actions; he’s very good at the detailed and seemingly irrefutable argument. But when you stand back from the polished logic, the duck is still walking like a duck and talking like a duck, and still a conflict of interest. 

It is always disappointing when progressives play the same games for which they regularly excoriate their foes. Mr. Selawsky should recuse himself from this issue. 

James Day


Commentary: Berkeley Public Library is Still a Vibrant Institution

By Susan G. Kupfer
Tuesday May 23, 2006

Several articles in the press over the past year, most recently in the May 9 Daily Planet, have called continuing attention to the “mismanagement” of the Berkeley Public Library. I write, as chair of the Board of Library Trustees (BOLT), to inform the community that the library remains a vital, vibrant community institution with a dedicated staff and a focus on serving the needs of the public. The library is on sound fiscal footing, within the limits of our budget. Comprehensive planning for the next several years has been instituted and community feedback is being sought on a variety of proposed initiatives. 

Many of the articles in the press have focused on allegations regarding certain conflicts between staff and management at the library. These are personnel matters involving specific individuals and it is inappropriate for BOLT to issue public comment about them. We have therefore held our collective voice and have not responded. We have processes in place for considering and evaluating these claims and we want to assure the public that we are undertaking a serious review of them. Unfortunately, as they involve employees’ individual rights, those processes do not provide for public scrutiny of details during the evaluation. I do want to address in this commentary some of the issues that have been percolating over the past year.  

 

Library budget 

Financially, the library, due to careful management, is on solid ground. There is an operating surplus for fiscal 2006 and the fiscal 2007 budget proposes an increase in library services citywide. We are considering opening additional hours at Central and the branches, adding additional staff, and implementing certain technological services. Our budget review process continues through the adoption of the budget at the June meeting.  

 

Union charges 

SEIU 535, one of the unions representing library workers, has publicly raised allegations of retaliatory disciplinary actions against workers who have advocated on behalf of the union. The board has referred these specific allegations to the city attorney’s office for a complete review and has directed staff to comply with the city attorney’s investigation of the complaint. 

 

Radio frequency identification 

From the comments we have gotten at BOLT meetings, it is apparent that we need to continue the public discussion about the radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. Although we did not hold a separate public forum before the Board vote on RFID in 2004, the consideration of the issues surrounding the addition of RFID took place over several monthly public meetings before the Board voted to approve the use of the tags. The decision to approve RFID was made carefully and thoughtfully and only after the board and the staff had performed due diligence. Despite what you might hear, RFID is NOT a substitute for people at the library. We never intended to replace our irreplaceable library staff with machines. It is, rather, an attempt to eliminate repetitive injury of front desk staff, ease processing of increased limits on checkouts (which the public has cheerfully adopted and utilized) and dramatically increase the ability of front desk staff to offer personal guidance and support to library patrons. The public should know that over 60 percent of checkouts in April were processed through the RFID system. This represents a solid public acceptance. The board continues to consider best practices in the use of RFID and takes seriously the concerns raised in the public discussion about the use of library resources to establish this system. Our conclusion was, and is, that RFID is a useful, additional tool and that it can be implemented without invading our privacy rights and security. 

 

Labor-management committee 

The board established an ad hoc committee to consider labor-management issues arising from the workplace and service to the public. A committee of seven was appointed and weekly meetings began to take place in February. The committee identified several matters to address and began investigation of the first few items. At the end of March, the union members unilaterally withdrew from the work of the committee, citing an ongoing disciplinary matter (not involving the committee per se) with which they did not agree. The committee has not met since. On the other hand, the Shelving Task Force, formed by this committee, composed of staff from a variety of classifications, worked together to formulate data and conclusions which have contributed to our staffing and budget considerations for the next fiscal year.  

 

News about the library 

The positive news about the library these days, on the other hand, deserves to be placed within the public arena. Examples include:  

 

• The Central Library has reopened between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. each Sunday so that it is now open 7 days a week downtown. 

• There are 1.6 million library materials, including books, CDs and DVDs, available for circulation 

• Programming continues to be strong, including the Monday night Berkeley History program at Central in April and May and Children’s Day/Book Day on April 30 by city proclamation.  

• Our Teen Program, consolidated at Central, has reached out to underserved teens in Berkeley. 

• Development of our collection is fully funded and this past year has seen additional initiatives which, for example, purchased sufficient copies of popular materials to reduce queues for holds substantially and beefed up editions of e-books duplicating aspects of the print reference collection to make these widely available at the branches as well as electronically. 

 

Who serves on the Board of Library Trustees 

All of the members of Board of Library Trustees are volunteers who live in the Berkeley community. We devote dozens of hours per month to our work on behalf of the library. Our monthly meetings, on the third Wednesday of each month, are open to the public and many community members have taken advantage of the public comment session to address BOLT on a range of issues. We do listen to the concerns expressed in these sessions, as well as the correspondence received at the library. It is our responsibility to weigh the various views and to establish sound policy and management of the library.  

It should not surprise anyone reading this that our community has a wealth of committed citizens expressing a variety of views on almost any issue. They are vocal and active in the public debate. It is what many of us cherish about living in Berkeley. In a representative democracy, however, decision-making is left to a smaller group to master the details of proposed actions and institute those that are appropriate. BOLT knows that we cannot please everyone all the time but we do want the community to understand that we listen carefully and, at all times, strive to use our best judgment in implementing policy. 

 

Susan G. Kupfer is the chair of the Board of Library Trustees.


Commentary: Library Service, Prestige Has Deteriorated

Tuesday May 23, 2006

Four years ago, thanks to the generosity of the Berkeley community, the beautifully renovated Central Library opened its doors to great celebration. The local and national press praised the project and library workers were justifiably proud of our involvement.  

To enter the Central Library and its four branches today is to enter an altered and much-diminished facility. In this once world class and prestigious organization, service has deteriorated and library staff has no confidence that it is safe to speak openly about problems.  

What has the community lost?  

Hours of operations have been reduced by 20 percent. Remember when every branch was open until 9 p.m. on weekdays? No more.  

Once library users found books and CDs quickly reshelved and available for checkout. No more.  

Now library materials are frequently unavailable because of shelving backlogs created by a reduced workforce. Library users are regularly advised that the books they need won’t be available for several days, and carts of unshelved DVDs languish in work areas. 

Library employees once felt respected in their workplace. No more. Now staff morale is at an all-time low.  

Until two years ago, 30 part-time library aides were assigned to shelve at the Central Library. Now there are only 18 aides to do the work.  

Three librarians were assigned to each branch. Now there are only two.  

The Reference Department was nationally known for its skillful handling of inquiries. Alas, no more. The Reference Department has lost four positions in the past two years and now relies on substitutes and library school interns much of the time.  

Vivian Pisano, the recently hired deputy director, quit after just three months on the job, striking another blow to staff hopes for restoring the library to its former levels.  

Several other highly valued managers have resigned or retired early in the past few years as well. Once Berkeley library was led by a respectful and dedicated group of leaders willing to consult and compromise. Alas, no more.  

A system of radio frequency tags (RFID) was implemented by library management, supposedly to reduce repetitive stress injuries among staff, and therefore saving the library money. However, the truth is repetitive stress injuries were actually reduced prior to the RFID program. Ironically, repetitive stress injuries have increased due to the RFID program.  

SEIU Local 535, the union for city workers including most library staff, is proud of our efforts to use proper channels to advocate for the public and to protect our members. A facilitated Organizational Diagnosis last year (costing the library $50,000) found that the library organization was in crisis and that management and the director were responsible for handling changes poorly. Remedies were implied, but have been neglected.  

In November 2005, City Council stepped in and mandated that a labor/management committee be formed to create a meaningful dialog between all concerned parties. Library union members participated with the understanding that retaliatory actions against outspoken workers would cease. Unfortunately, the retaliations have continued and SEIU 535 was forced to discontinue meeting until management gives assurance that workers who speak up will be protected from unfair treatment in the workplace. Staff frustration grew to the point that last month a majority of library workers signed a petition of no confidence in Library Director Jackie Griffin.  

There is a crisis in leadership at Berkeley Public Library. It is being discussed in the local and national press. This is not the public library the citizens of Berkeley deserve. However, SEIU 535 is ready to sit at the table and seek agreements with Library management. For starters, let’s agree on fair and respectful ways to lead and guide employees. Then let’s talk about the work we all want to do and how to do it best.  

 

Ayaan Gates-Williams  

Ad Hoc Committee Member 

 

Lisa Hesselgesser 

Ad Hoc Committee Member and SEIU 535 Secretary  

 

Ray Jefferson 

SEIU 535 President  

 

John Mathews 

SEIU 535 Library Steward 

 

Anne-Marie Miller 

Ad Hoc Committee Member  

 

Claudia Morrow 

SEIU 535 Library Steward  

 

Andrea Moss 

SEIU 535 Library Steward  

 

Jane Scantlebury 

SEIU 535 Library Steward  

 

Andrea Segall 

Ad Hoc Committee Member and SEIU 535 Vice President  

 

Vivian Vigil 

SEIU 535 Library Steward 


Commentary: Connecting the Dots: Cheap Labor, Goods And Moral Values

By Ken Norwood
Tuesday May 23, 2006

The so called “problem” with illegal immigration from southern countries, Mexico the source of most pressure, is so much larger than that Mexican workers make less and are under employed and want jobs and better pay in the United States. Sure, the simple minded among us clamor for unworkable punitive measures, police state enforcement and punishment, and solid walls at the borders. This is not merely a border state issue or their responsibility to resolve. The news article, “Cheaper China taking business away from Mexico” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 2006), tells of the larger picture from the view of Mexican workers and factory operators in relation to Chinese competition.  

When we start to connect the dots of cheap Mexican and Chinese worker’s and the dots of “cheap” this and cheap that, “cheap” morphs into greed on a convoluted international scale that again fine tunes to include immorality on a colossal universal and spiritual scale. What would Jesus say? 

The honest secular reply may be that as long as people can buy goods cheaper, and the retailers can buy it cheaper, and the manufacturers can hire cheaper workers, they will do so. No one appears to care about the poor overworked underpaid people at the bottom of this pyramid for greed. At the top levels are the investors, materials suppliers, factory owners, and shipping firms. They can do this and make profits entirely because they can do so outside the confines of U.S. laws and the scrutiny of inspectors. Oh, the beauty of outsourcing to third world countries. There are lots of dots to connect that tell the pattern of competitively downward labor prices in this country, Mexico, and China. 

But there are more dots to connect. Our businesses want cheap labor; Mexico lacks the capability to manage its industrialization, its abundant work force potentials, and the control of corruption. We in turn pay little attention to their plight except to pass the egregious NAFTA, which further erodes the rural workers incomes. Their option then is to seek the low paying ($2.59 an hour), foreign financed (mostly U.S.), “maquiladoras” and the abusive harsh working conditions. That is one big dot.  

The displaced workers know that over the border in America are better jobs, higher pay, and un-known to them, the greedy American employers always seeking more profit at less cost, and the greedy and needy American people eager for “bargains.” Connect several more dots.  

Now add in the China dot that represents worse conditions by which foreign investors and retail goods corporations are flooding China to under cut what has been done in Mexico (and other poor countries) to capture the low paid Chinese work force ($1 an hour and less). Now the ”scourge” of evading Mexican immigrants is upon us and our officials are beset with conflicting values, goals, defenses, and options, and excuses and cannot seem to connect the dots. The Chronicle article “Cheaper China taking business away from Mexico,” is trying to tell us how to connect the dots. And when that is done we will see the larger social-economic-international matrix that implicates us all—no place to hide. 

We the greedy consumer aid and abet China’s under cutting of Mexico’s “maquiladoras” and our own workers as well. This is an international morality play, by which we American consumers choose to look the other way, as in Darfur and other past genocide hotspots, and blithely overlook the corrupt, dictatorial, indifferent, cruel, etc. actions of the Chinese Communist government, and the “problems” in Mexico and our own backyard. A secular Jesus would merely say, something like, “Look at the last five of the Ten Commandments and find your own way to compassion and morality.” This would not be inserting religion into this issue, but merely quoting one of the worlds greatest teachers on how to behave. 

So, to all of you, go do your job of leading. 

 

Ken Norwood is a retired architect and planner as well as an author, speaker and community organizer.  


Commentary: Immigrant Crisis is Election Issue

By Margot Smith
Tuesday May 23, 2006

I am the child of immigrants who came to the United States in 1910, at the height of the great European immigration. During World War II, my mother aided illegal Jewish immigrants who were escaping Hitler’s Germany. I as a child remember these traumatized people who were smuggled over the border from Mexico. One six-foot-tall woman was curled up in half a gas tank to get across the border, while others described their experiences under the Nazis--sterilization, and I saw the fingers with pulled out finger nails. These Jewish refugees in dire need were denied visas to the United States. 

Now we have another immigrant crisis, this time created by the right as an election issue. I hear mainly about callousness and greed—punish the poor, preserve a low paid labor force for employers, guard our borders against those seeking to sustain their lives, deny people their language, religious and cultural heritages. and profiteer in developing countries. This is not my religious, moral or patriotic view of what the United States democracy stands for, as  

found in its constitution and its history of concern for and broadening of human rights. 

Everywhere I go I see immigrants at work. I have a question. How is it that immigrants from Mexico and Latin America with often no more than a sixth grade education, come to the United States and do carpentry, construction work, roofing, plumbing, work as restaurant workers, nannies and domestics and janitors, while our poor (often with high school diplomas) do not have the skills? Are not getting these jobs? An important question we should be asking is how do people from developing countries get these marketable skills and why our own people lack them. And after immigrants are here, how is it that the immigrant family often works together to educate its young, and teaches them to succeed?  

Why have we left our own poor and uneducated to punitive and destructive social policies that destroy families and undereducate the young? If a U.S. family or person suffers a misfortune such as unemployment, crime, death or illness, and needs help, our policies make it a punishment—long waits, paperwork barriers, arcane regulations, heartless regulations.  

Why are our schools in poor areas underfunded and overcrowded? We should be concentrating our efforts there to improve the lot of the poor and work to have an educated and skilled labor force. I recently visited Venezuela, where new social programs have reduced illiteracy to less than 1 percent. This is better than the illiteracy rate in the United States. They also have free programs offering high school diplomas, job training and university degrees. They have far fewer resources than we have in the United States, but their goals for educating the labor force are clear and implemented. 

Here in the United States we are raising college tuition, creating barriers to high school diplomas, and underfunding and overcrowding schools in poor areas. In Venezuela, I heard a man say that in his Caribbean country, they have a gender problem. Boys aged 11 to 21 are dropping out of school and not getting job training and not entering the labor force. That sounds like many poor areas of the United States—East Oakland, Richmond, here in the Bay Area. How are we addressing this issue? We do not even acknowledge it as a gender problem. Are our schools missing the opportunity to educate boys? Recently, a study noted that male enrollment in college was dropping. Maybe we should have another look at gender education in Title IX. 

When I go to the symphony and opera, and the theater, the seats are filled with old people. The young often no longer have music, art and theater in the schools. Where will the audiences of the future come from?  

We are supposed to have freedom of religion, yet some of our policies are anti-religion. We closed down the Muslim banks serving the U.S. Muslim community because they were supposed to support terrorists—an undefined group that could be anybody. (Muslims do not allow usury in their religion.) Quaker groups, peace groups, religious groups opposing war are infiltrated. What happened to Thou Shalt Not Kill, the good Samaritan, turn the other cheek, charity to the poor, not coveting thy neighbors goods (oil), and so on? If we really wanted to solve our immigration problem, especially for immigrants from Latin America, we would be implementing policies that work to develop the economies of our neighbors to the south. The World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund and our foreign policies would be designed to improve the educational level of the labor forces in developing countries, increasing access to health care and improving public health, funding loans to local entrepreneurs, improving agricultural productivity, working on environmental and labor issues, and helping to make life in Mexico and Latin America economically viable for the people who live there.  

Instead, our policies only view developing countries and immigrants through greedy corporate eyes. They are the source of a cheap labor force, a potential market for arms, pesticides, herbicides, a resource for producing cheap goods, a cheap resource exploiting lumber and pharmaceutical plants. Our policies support the privatization of water, health care, education, prisons, transportation, ravaging the environment and everything that can be perceived at profit producing. These policies must change, and we can only do that by changing the leadership of our country. 

Closing our borders and ousting immigrants is not the answer. We need to look at the big picture. What are we saying about our country, our values, what are we doing to our planet? What is the constitutional, moral, humane way to treat human beings? Our religious, cultural, and legal background gives us guidelines, let’s follow them. 

 

Margot Smith is a Berkeley resident.


Letters to the Editor

Friday May 19, 2006

TELEGRAPH AVENUE 

Editors, Daily Planet  

In response to Becky O’Malley’s May 16 editorial: I (we) look forward to what sort of interesting comments you’ll have about Amoeba after we bail on this scene. I’m so sorry our carefully and strategically placed print ads do not grace your pages. I notice with interest the fact that you fail to identify or mention the land banking that’s been going on around Telegraph Avenue for years—which has contributed a great deal to our various problems. 

I’d truly be interested in your obviously insightful opinion as to how we might transcend the decades-long political standoff that has prevented us from making even limited progress at getting the district what it needs (and has needed for decades).  

I believe Cody’s departure represents an potential opportunity to bring significant changes to the Avenue—but it’s likely to be squandered in the bureaucratic mess. 

Marc Weinstein 

Owner, Amoeba Records 

 

• 

CODY’S WEBSITE 

Editors, Daily Planet 

As an Internet customer of Cody’s for many years, I’m curious about Donna Carter’s comment “open a website.” Have I imagined Cody’s website over the years? I don’t think so, as the books I’ve ordered have both arrived and been picked up. I don’t think there is any great, much less good, independent bookseller without an active Internet site, allowing for purchases from near and far. 

I have ordered books I’ve heard about, read about; books recommended by friends and books I’ve listed in my own “want to read” lists over the years—and books recommended in Cody’s seasonal lists (pretty much always posted online, and kept archived, which is great). I’ve also ordered signed copies—sometimes personalized—of books by writers I admire (and often love) who are visiting Cody’s locations when I can’t attend an event there. You have no idea what that means to me and my family. And I will continue to do so, when I can’t get to author events at Cody’s Fourth Street store or San Francisco store. 

If you don’t, as Donna Carter doesn’t, know about it, check out www.codysbooks.com. 

Jenna Wilder 

 

• 

THANKS TO CODY’S 

Editors, Daily Planet 

We would like to thank Andy Ross and his family, Mr. and Mrs. Cody, and all the great Cody’s Books employees for providing Telegraph Avenue with one of the greatest independent book stores in the country, if not the entire world. It is a sad day for Berkeley when Cody’s Books closes. I guess the one consolation is that all the minds that have been expanded by all the great Cody’s books over all the years, will continue to reverberate in the hearts and minds of the universe for many years to come. 

Many reasons have been given for the demise of Cody’s Books, as well as the closing of many other long-time businesses on Telegraph Avenue: the Berkeley Market(!), Tower Records, Greg’s Pizza, the Gap, the Coffee Source, Wall Berlin, the Book Zoo, etc. We are hardly economists or financial wizards, God knows what’s going on. Andy Ross has stated that sales have been dropping since 1990, and I believe him. One reason for this, I believe, is that rents have tripled for many Berkeley residents during those 15 years. And people who used to have hundreds of dollars of disposable income to spend on books, records, jewelry, etc., now are forced to scrape together every penny just to keep a roof over their heads. 

Another reason for the dismal state of our economy, I believe, is the billions of dollars that that idiot George Bush is spending destroying and then trying to re-build Iraq’s economy.  

Much has been made of blaming the street people for the myriad of Telegraph Avenue woes. There’s no question that there are some obnoxious, dysfunctional, and even dangerous street people up there (I’ve probably been one of them on a bad day). But I think this has been way over-blown, simply because the streets of Telegraph are packed with more people than ever these days. And most of them aren’t street people (come up and count them some time if you don’t believe me). The customers are there: They just don’t have much money to spend anymore. At any rate, we wish Cody’s Books the best of luck in all their future endeavors. As Andy Ross said: “Cody’s Books isn’t real estate, it’s an idea.” It’s just a damn shame that that idea will no longer be part of the Telegraph Avenue real estate. We will all be poorer for it. All the best.  

Ace Backwords 

B.N. Duncan 

 

• 

MAKING USE OF THE WEB 

Editors, Daily Planet 

I read with pleasure that the Daily Planet is using the Internet to be a true daily. Congratulations. The move seems to tie in with your comment that Moe’s Books developed a good Internet business and Moe’s survives, while Cody’s owner Ross neglected the net, an error which appears to have contributed to the lack of funds to keep the Telegraph flagship branch of Cody’s alive. 

Ted Vincent 

 

• 

ASHBY BART TASK FORCE 

Editors, Daily Planet 

The task force members for the proposed Ashby BART development have been selected. How much is just window dressing to give the appearance neighborhoods actually have a say in their future? (Much like the recent dog and pony show for the proposed Landmarks Preservation revisions.) Are residents any match for developers and their determined backers? 

Recently, a task force nominee and member of our Lorin District neighborhood list-serve asked if anyone had information about the task force that SBNDC and Ed Church were putting together. He wondered if anyone had knowledge of what Mayor Bates and Max Anderson had been up to regarding the development. The neighbor had been contacted by Ed Church weeks earlier but had not heard further. Wondering if other neighbors had been contacted, the nominee was nervous about a process without public knowledge.  

I forwarded a copy of an e-mail questionnaire that “select” nominees had received from Ed Church. I was not surprised yet disappointed that many nominated neighbors and I received no communications from Ed Church. (For heavens sake, we are listed in the phone book.) A total of 44 nominees were listed on Church’s website, how many were contacted? Others were nominated but did not appear on the list of nominees. To my knowledge none of the “house parties” that Mayor Bates touted to vision the Ashby BART development had taken place either.  

Another neighbor described the task force selection as, “throw the dog (neighborhood) a bone, but don’t let ‘em chew.” Lo and behold, just two days after I circulated my e-mail, a dozen task force members were announced on our list-serve by Ed Church. A glaring omission was the absence of any Ashby Arts District member. There may be conflicts of interest among some selected members as well.  

This is the state of our city politics of late. It is clearly time for us to stand up and take the ownership of our neighborhoods and our city back. If not, it’s more paved back yards, condo high rises and fast food joints to come.  

Robin Wright 

 

• 

BERKELEY BOWL WEST 

Editors, Daily Planet 

The controversy over building the second Berkeley Bowl in West Berkeley has made me wonder even more why we don’t have a grocery store co-op here in the supposed progressive bastion of California. I think it is ridiculous that we don’t. Our choices are between Whole Foods, a growing corporate chain, Berkeley Bowl, a “family-owned” business who fought the unionizing of their employees tooth and nail, and the impending Trader Joe’s, with their over-packaged produce and no bulk bins, and most of their goods shipped from far, far away. I’m not even considering Safeway and their ilk, with 12 aisles of nothing and a store that smells like noxious detergents more than anything approaching edible. 

We should have a health food co-op that is on par with Rainbow in San Francisco. I know there are small markets scattered around Berkeley, but their prices tend to be very expensive and their stock is limited, of course. Some neighborhoods have nothing, and thus the automobile insanity at the aforementioned stores. A strategically placed co-op market could also encourage bike riding and walking, which would benefit everyone. 

So what’s up? Is anyone else wondering about this? And what are we going to do about it? 

Jessica Taal 

 

• 

ISRAEL AND THE  

UNITED STATES 

Editors, Daily Planet 

We congratulate Kris Martinsen (letters, May 16) for the timely letter pointing out some obvious inconsistencies in the arguments of Israel’s apologists in the United States. Abetted by the United States, Israel has failed to comply with 33 United Nations resolutions. The Israeli government has become adept at balancing its roles as supposed victim and as oppressor and occupier. For a reasonably complete review of Israel’s policy and U.S. complicity in them, readers are referred to the scholarly analysis of John Mearsheimer (University of Chicago) and Stephen Walt (Harvard University) titled The Israel Lobby published in March issue of The London Review Of Books. 

For tactics used by apologists to suppress opposing views, the book by Norman Finkelstein (Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of anti-Semitism and  

the Abuse of History, University of California Press) is important reading. Among the tactics used at a personal level are name calling and labeling. We cannot continue to ignore Israel’s lock on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, and hence we need open discussion and not intimidation. 

Andrew and Marina Pizzamiglio-Gutierrez 

Kensington 

 

• 

FRESH VOICES CORRECTION 

Editors, Daily Planet 

Thank you very much for running Ken Bullock’s preview of our Fresh Voices VI programs. We really appreciate your support for the arts, and Ken’s excellent writing. Please note, however, that, perhaps due to a balky phone connection at this end, I believe I characterized Steven Clark’s “Amok Time” as having “a tongue-in-cheek demented, pop-influenced score,” rather than “a tongue-in-cheek insipid pop score.” For me, “demented, pop-influenced” is high praise. “Insipid pop” is not. If possible, we would appreciate this correction be made in your web page. 

Thanks again for your article, and best wishes. 

Dr. Mark Alburger 

Music Director 

Goat Hall Productions 

Fresh Voices VI Festival 

 

• 

THE G.O.P. 

Editors, Daily Planet 

Alan Swain’s op-ed whining about his disillusionment with contemporary conservatism cuts no ice with me.  

First, the war on terrorism is a sick joke. For many years the United States government has been what Martin Luther King, Jr. labeled it in April, 1967, “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.” We have armed and financed dictatorships from Indonesia to Zaire, from Guatemala to Singapore, ad nauseum. William Blum estimated that the policies of the U.S. government were responsible for over six million deaths and that estimate was made twenty five years ago! We created the monster in Afghanistan which came home to haunt us on 9-11. 

Second, the Bush tax cuts combined with huge increases in unnecessary Pentagon porkbarrel spending have saddled us with the greatest debt in our history and will lead to our bankruptcy as a nation if not reversed. 

Third, we are in far greater of losing our basic civil liberties under Bush than anything a foreign foe could do to us. Outside of the salient fact that our foreign policy creates more enemies every day leaving us much less secure than when the chimp took office. 

Fourth, we need to get the oil prices under control before they wreak inflationary havoc throughout the entire economy. I don’t see any “pandering” going on here, I see politicians kowtowing to the oil company ripoff. 

I share Swain’s disgust with liberals who have sacrificed core socio-economic principles for the dead end of identity politics. But the GOP was never a solution. 

If the Democrats somehow don’t manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory once again this fall, the first order of business is the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. Nothing compares in importance with this absolute necessity. 

Michael Hardesty 

Oakland  

 

• 

THE PATH OF TRUTH 

Editors, Daily Planet 

State Senator Sheila Kuehl has introduced a bill into the California Legislature that would require public school textbooks to include the contributions of gays and lesbians. This brings to mind Schopenhauer’s statement that all truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.  

Thirty years ago, the National Organization for women and many other women’s and minority groups read literally thousands of text books to document the depiction of women and minorities. This was cruel and unusual punishment. How many times can you look at Mother (always wearing an apron) saying “Wait till your father gets home, he’ll know what to do,” and Jane saying, “I know I’m just a girl”? Or high school texts in which the only African American depicted was Booker T. Washington, the only woman, Marie Curie, and the internment of Japanese Americans not mentioned. 

We won that fight. Now it’s time for gays and lesbians to win theirs. 

Nancy Ward 

Co-Coordinator 

Oakland/East Bay 

National Organization for Women


Commentary: Zoning Board Ignored PSC Health Hazards

By Chris Kroll, Janice Schroeder and Davis Schroed
Friday May 19, 2006

The May 11 Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) meeting offered a peek into how things get done here in Berkeley; as in most other places, who you know trumps everything. We are members of the West Berkeley Alliance for Clean Air and Safe Jobs and attended the ZAB meeting. While the Alliance favors cleaning the air and preserving union jobs at Pacific Steel Casting (PSC), the Alliance opposes the staff’s finding that PSC’s request for a use permit to construct a carbon adsorption system for Plant 3 is categorically exempt from review under the California Environmental Quality Act. PSC and its regulator —the Bay Area Air Quality Management District—claim the carbon system will resolve odor problems. However, the community has not just been asking for odor nuisance complaints to be resolved. For a quarter century, the West Berkeley community has been trying to get PSC to clean up its act by ridding operations of toxic pollution, mitigating nuisance emissions, and providing full transparency to prove the air is clean. At the ZAB meeting, community members of the Alliance had many unanswered questions that the city staff report skirted by finding the project exempt.  

Why is the Alliance opposed to a quick approval of PSC’s use permit request? 

The proposed carbon system filters odors but not all pollutants. PSC installed carbon adsorption systems in Plant 2 (1985) and in Plant 1 (1991), yet a Pacific Institute analysis shows that, of all Bay Area Toxic Release Inventory facilities ranked for carcinogen risk-related impacts in 1997, Pacific Steel Casting Company ranks 2nd highest for carcinogen risk out of 30 industries. A 2006 report by Dr. Michael Wilson of the University of California Berkeley’s School of Public Health states that the U.S. EPA stationary source risk ratings for 2,171 industrial sites in six Bay Area counties ranked Pacific Steel Casting the 12th highest risk. A 2004 report by the Oakland/Berkeley Asthma Coalition states that Berkeley has an asthma hospitalization rate 2.5 times the national Healthy People 2000 objective, disproportionately among people of color. The study also states that West Berkeley has the highest rate of asthma emergency room visits in all of Berkeley, in part because, “These areas are more heavily impacted by industry that releases a multitude of pollutants into the air….”  

According to PSC’s engineer, Chris Chan, PSC did not use Plant 3 to its full capacity until after 2000. This means PSC posed a serious cancer risk while carbon systems were present and used in Plants 1 and 2—and Plant 3 was not operating fully. Now Plant 3 operations are increasing dramatically. There are data confirming community fears of serious health problems from PSC’s toxic pollution, but where is data refuting these fears? 

The Alliance has requested—and never received—material safety data sheets, updated and comprehensive emissions inventory data, and complete flow diagrams of the operations, sources and processes in PSC’s facility. If PSC’s updated emissions have not been analyzed, how can we know that the carbon system will capture all pollutants? Even the city manager could not get access to this data; there is no reason for the city to presume PSC is exempt from a CEQA environmental assessment before its permits are approved. 

The Alliance also has concerns about the carbon adsorption system potential to interact, react and create new, more toxic byproducts. The Alliance believes that when the emissions inventory and flow diagram data are made public and analyzed, as they should have been in the staff report, vital concerns can be addressed. The staff report did not reference or analyze the emissions inventory or the flow diagram. Our basic point to the ZAB last Thursday was that this was the City of Berkeley’s opportunity to do a thorough analysis of the proposed carbon adsorption system in the context of existing plant operations. PSC’s use permit has not been reviewed by the city since 1991, and since 2000 the company’s production levels have increased each year. The Alliance felt a more thorough environmental review of the facility and its operations was in order before the city moved to approve the use permit request. We hoped the city’s precautionary principle policy would play a role here, but it didn’t. 

Mr. Brenneman reported on the May 11 ZAB meeting in the May 16-18 Daily Planet but his reporting missed the major story relating to the PSC item, at least for us, which is “it’s not what you know but who you know that counts in the end.” When the Alliance arrived at the meeting, we had no idea what a circus it would ultimately become. PSC’s item was third on the agenda after continued hearings on the new Berkeley Bowl and the possible Trader Joe’s building at University and MLK Jr. Way. But the ZAB Board reordered the agenda so that shorter items could be heard first. The PSC project was not one of the projects moved ahead of the Berkeley Bowl hearing. Why, we are still not clear. The meeting began at 7:00 pm. By 1:00 am the ZAB was in its fourth hour on Berkeley Bowl. Alliance members were seated three rows up from Dion Aroner (former assemblywoman and former chief of staff to Tom Bates) whose PR firm, AJE Partners, was representing PSC. In the hallway, PSC management was huddled with five Bay Area Air Quality Management District (Air District) senior staff and Aroner’s partner Elizabeth Jewel. They had been plotting strategy together all evening. Dr. Nabil Al-Hadithy, the city’s toxics manager, was standing nearby. 

Our energy level was fading, but so was Ms. Aroner’s patience. She and Elizabeth Jewel summoned Calvin Fong, the mayor’s aide, who had been in the audience for some time, to inform him that “this is outrageous” and something had to be done. Thus began the interesting drama of Mr. Fong and the lead board staff person, Debbie Sanderson, making several back and forth trips from the meeting room to the hallway and back. Ms. Aroner and Ms. Jewel joined PSC management, Air District staff, and city staff for urgent discussions in the hallway. We, in the meantime, had begun asking Zoning Board staff about whether the PSC item would still be heard. Ms. Sanderson wasn’t clear because she said PSC really wanted to have their item heard that night. Now it was past 1:15 a.m. and staff told us that they would suggest to the board that the PSC item be heard at a special meeting on May 18. Meanwhile, ZAB was still grilling the consultants who prepared the traffic study for the new Berkeley Bowl.  

We were reconciling ourselves to coming back on the 18th because we believed that a new day would be preferable to a hearing on a complicated matter such as PSC at 1:30 a.m. before a ZAB that had just spent four hours listening to Berkeley Bowl public testimony and debating the merits of the traffic study. ZAB soon interrupted their Berkeley Bowl deliberations to vote on a motion to hear the PSC item on May 18. The motion passed and ZAB returned to the traffic study.  

Things got a little murky at this point. We were preparing to leave, but after another one of her visits to the people in the hallway, Ms. Sanderson suddenly asked to take a poll of those board members who would be attending the May 18 meeting. Two of the eight said that they couldn’t attend. Ms. Aroner had resumed her seat a few rows behind us, and I could hear her mutter “oh no, he needs to be there.” The shuttle diplomacy between staff and the people in the hallway continued. Mr. Fong approached us to say that PSC would in fact be heard after the Berkeley Bowl discussion had ended. We protested that it was now 1:30 a.m. and the board had already voted to reschedule the hearing to May 18. Our protests were in vain. Next thing we know the board decides to hear PSC next. We didn’t hear a formal motion or vote, but the decision was made. Dion Aroner and PSC would have their decision that night (er.. morning). And so it went, over our objections, the exhausted ZAB wrapped up some kind of vote or other on Berkeley Bowl and announced they were moving on to PSC.  

It was now past 1:30 a.m. and we all had been there since 7:00 p.m. The ZAB members were tired, we were exhausted and frustrated as now we had serious concerns about whether we would get a fair hearing at this late hour. The hearing began. Each of us was called to speak. We laid out our serious concerns about the project review and the late hour of the hearing. PSC gave a presentation. The ZAB asked a few questions of the Air District staff and PSC. The Air District and PSC refuted our concerns. After assuring us that they would revoke PSC’s use permit if the odor problems persisted (and I have a bridge to sell you…), the ZAB voted unanimously to approve the modification of the use permit.  

It was now about 2:15 a.m. PSC had what it wanted. Aroner, Jewel, and the PSC and Air District managers were happy. AJE had done what they had been hired to do. And the City of Berkeley and its residents were well served by the political process. Or were they?  

After the hearing we learned that Mayor Bates will now take a seat on the Air District Board representing Berkeley and Alameda County. What will this mean to resolving the long-standing issues relating to PSC’s pollution of our air? Considering his long association with Dion Aroner and his (and the city’s) lack of any substantive involvement in resolving the matter, we are very interested in what perspective Mayor Bates will bring to the issue representing Berkeley on the Air District board. City staff and politicians have long maintained that it’s the Air District and not Berkeley that has the real authority in overseeing PSC as a way of excusing the city’s lack of any significant effort on its own. Now Berkeley will have a voice on that board. We know that many people in West Berkeley will be watching to see just how the mayor uses his new position.  

 

Christopher Kroll, Janice Schroeder and Davis Schroeder are members of the West Berkeley Alliance for Clean Air and Safe Jobs. 


Commentary: Baseball at San Pablo Park

By Tim Moellering
Friday May 19, 2006

Although I enjoyed reading, and laughing at, Neil Cook’s satirical commentary on Berkeley High Baseball and San Pablo Park, it contains some denigrating comments about our team and the fine young men who comprise it. Unfortunately, some people take these comments seriously, so I feel obligated to respond. 

Yes, it is true that our players, without revealing any parts of their anatomies that cannot be shown in a G-rated movie, change clothes in the bleachers and the dugout. It would be impossible for them to cram into the bathroom, hold one set of clothing above the puddles beneath them, and change their pants and shoes while balancing on one foot. The only seat available is a frequently wet and slimy toilet seat in an open stall. A room behind the stall serves as the team’s crowded storage shed. When players go to retrieve equipment practice is often delayed 10 minutes out of respect for a man’s need to use the aforementioned stall. Although others may use the shed behind the backstop as a urinal, our players always run to the bathroom for that activity.  

These inconveniences occur precisely because San Pablo Park is a public park which our teams are generously allowed to use between the hours of 4 and 7 p.m. in the afternoon from February through May. Any activity that occurs on that field outside of those hours is not associated with Berkeley High School. This should be obvious as our players are in class during the day and most of our coaches are teaching classes. And, our teams are filled with outstanding students. 

The stereotypical characterization of our players as competitive jocks and our school as a place that values athletics over academics is completely baseless. Despite having to miss as much class time to travel to home games and set up a fence as they do to take a bus to an away game, our team maintains better than a 3.0 grade point average. In my six years as a coach, all of our players have gone on to colleges and universities except two; one chose professional baseball. As a teacher, I can attest that athletics is our most consistently successful academic program. In addition to providing motivation to maintain academic eligibility, participation on a school sports team increases pride, self-esteem, and connection to school.  

Although the long debate over the Derby Street field has inspired lurid fables of the catastrophe that would accompany the field, Mr. Cook does reveal the major problem associated with living next to a baseball field: foul balls. Ironically, according to some city officials, his intransigent insistence on demanding an ineffective backstop overhang thwarted efforts to install mesh above the existing fencing that could actually reduce the amount of balls that leave the field. In the current configuration, of the diamond and backstop, foul balls land in neighbors’ yards during most of our games. Upon the request of the neighbors, our players have been instructed to retrieve balls in view in front yards and to seek permission before entering a back yard or searching through plants. If a different policy is desired, we are happy to abide by it. Obviously, we would prefer to have fewer balls leave the field. Hopefully, if a new field is built on Derby Street, we can construct it in a manner that will minimize this hazard. I am looking forward to an honest discussion with the stakeholders in this lingering controversy and am optimistic that the result will be a field we can all enjoy.  

 

Tim Moellering teaches English and history and coaches baseball at Berkeley High.


Commentary: Verbal Violence is Not the Same as Actual Violence

By Michelle J. Kinnucan
Friday May 19, 2006

boona cheema writes about “the peace movement’s hostility towards Vietnam soldiers.” I’m not sure what she’s talking about. I was not yet a teenager when that war ended; still, I have some memory of it and the protest movement it inspired. In the midwestern industrial town I grew up in, one way I opposed the war was by joining kids across the country and wearing a black arm band to school. I had it repeatedly ripped off my arm by other kids; mostly, I suppose, as punishment for being different rather than as an expression of support for the war. However, I don’t remember anyone being hostile to Vietnam vets; after all they were our fathers, uncles, and cousins and, less often, our mothers and aunts. MIA bracelets were popular in school then, too. 

Perhaps, cheema is referring to anti-war types spitting on returning vets but there’s little evidence that ever happened on a large-scale, if at all. The myth of the spat upon soldier has been soundly debunked by Jerry Lembke in his book, The Spitting Image. As Air Force veteran H. Bruce Franklin writes in Vietnam and Other American Fantasies, “There is no contemporaneous evidence of any antiwar activists spitting on veterans. The first allegations of such behavior did not appear until the late 1970s. The spat-upon veteran then became a mythic figure used to build support for military fervor and, later on, the Gulf War.” 

In any event, I share cheema’s concerns about hate, aggression, and abuse in today’s peace movement. As A. J. Muste pointed out, “There is no way to peace, peace is the way.” Surely, hate, aggression, and abuse can’t be very helpful although in my experience self-styled liberal peaceniks are more likely to abuse other anti-war protestors than they are to target advocates of the current war. As for anger, there’s nothing wrong with it per se. It seems to me that there ought to be a place in progressive movements for a healthy anger that focuses and energizes some of us to engage in the daunting struggles we face. 

I do not deny that there is such a thing as “verbal violence;” however, in the peace movement, I see the phrase more often used by the spiritually correct to discredit and silence those holding a critical or opposing opinion. In its World report on violence and health, the World Health Organization defines violence as “The intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment or deprivation.” 

In her venerable Conquest of Violence, Joan Bondurant defines violence as: “... the willful application of force in such a way that it is intentionally injurious to the person or group against whom it is applied.” In my opinion, the peace movement would do better to reserve the word “violence” for those rare instances where force, intent, and injury really do come together. We need to work harder to understand and, where possible, resolve our substantive disagreements when merely offensive, disagreeable, or critical speech comes our way. 

Finally, yes, we ought to “Love the Soldier” but we must also remind the troops of, and hold them accountable to, the Nuremberg principles. Among these are the principles that “Any person who commits an act which constitutes a crime under international law is responsible ...” and “The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government ... does not relieve him from responsibility ...” We must hold our brothers and sisters accountable in order to try to stop future and ongoing killing but also as a step towards restorative justice for their victims and healing for them. Of course, we must also consider and take responsibility for our own complicity in the death machine as consumers, voters, taxpayers, and workers. 

 

Michelle J. Kinnucan is a Veteran for Peace and the author of Pedagogy of (the) Force: The Myth of Redemptive Violence.


Commentary: West Berkeley Bowl is Out of Scale with Neighborhood

By Bernard Marszalek
Friday May 19, 2006

My workplace is located one block from the proposed West Berkeley Bowl. It’s a unionized enterprise and an Alameda County-certified Green Business. 

We take seriously our commitment to sustainability both for the environment and for our community. 

Our firm is also an active member of West Berkeley Artisans and Industrial Companies (WeBAIC) and as such endorses WeBAIC’s call for an economic impact report on the repercussions for the current businesses of situating a 91,000-square-foot retail store (over twice the size of the current Bowl) adjacent to a residential area and near an already impacted freeway exit at Seventh and Ashby. 

Sad to say, the City of Berkeley is promoting this out-of scale project. The city administration has not been able to walk its green talk—or to  

promote a sound democratic process. 

A regional shopping “experience” is neither what West Berkeley needs nor what was proposed in the bold and well-crafted West Berkeley Plan. That  

plan was ahead of its years, envisioning a human scale community with a rich but delicate diversity of uses. Its “green” vision will be trashed by the scope of this project. There is nothing green about encouraging extra freeway auto traffic or clogging the narrow side streets around the store that are vital to keep accessible for the established businesses in the area. And, as many have said, putting a project on this scale up against a semi-residential neighborhood without due consideration of the traffic and economic impacts is simply irresponsible. 

Yes, this project will serve the neighbors, but it is self-serving for the Berkeley Bowl to take credit for that when we know from their poor labor relations practices that their concern for stakeholders is a decidedly secondary consideration. 

As for democratic process: What has stalled this process is the bungled environmental process and the unbelievably poor traffic reports. The first report (the Initial Study) was so misguided that the West Berkeley Traffic and Safety Coalition had to hire its own consultant to set it right and get the city to require an environmental impact report. It is outrageous that local businesses and residents had to pay to correct the errors in an official city government report. Subsequent reports on the part of the traffic engineers hired by the city contain serious flaws. 

I personally would like to question the professionalism of these consultants. Businesses I am familiar with may be able to retain a customer if they “drop the ball” once, but if they do it twice they lost a customer. Why does the City of Berkeley have such tolerance for questionable professional opinion? It doesn’t reflect well on the criteria the staff uses for its selection of expert opinion. 

As a result of these missteps and the resulting delays, we find ourselves being rushed through hearings that are established to give some validity to democratic process but cannot possibly do so at bullet train speed. 

So much for a reasoned consideration of one of the largest projects on the city’s agenda. 

So much for the concern of the local businesses and the neighbors. 

And so much for democratic process. 

I was born and raised in Chicago and what I sense here, in this process in Berkeley, is a whiff of a familiar smell. 

 

Bernard Marszalek works in West Berkeley. 

 


Commentary: In Favor of Berkeley Bowl West

By Claudia Kawczynska
Friday May 19, 2006

I am a long-time and enthusiastic supporter of the West Berkeley Bowl project, and have attended every meeting on this issue for the past three years. I live a block away from the site, on one of those “alternative” route streets that could experience an increase in traffic. But I am more than willing to accommodate this in order to have such a wonderful and worthwhile project in my neighborhood.  

I think that it behooves us to show support for “home grown” businesses. The Bowl is not a big box store (as some would like to convince you it is), it isn’t even as large as many new supermarkets. Nor do I think that it will have quite the regional draw like an IKEA. What it is a world-class grocery store that has demonstrated its community values by bringing to market the fresh foods grown by California family farmers, and by offering them at prices that are affordable and attractive to the people of Berkeley, regardless of their economic strata. It is a green business in the truest sense of the word. 

Berkeley has a long tradition as a city whose populace cares about the culture of food and how it is grown and distributed, from the early days of the Berkeley Co-op (where I used to sell my organic apples) to Alice Waters with her edible schoolyard to UC’s Michael Pollan with his investigations into the perils of factory farming. We as a community pride ourselves on our knowledge of what good food is and how it is produced, and have long championed the organic farming movement. So I find it ironic that Berkeley is still debating the merits of allowing the Bowl to build a state-of-the-art store—with a much needed community center—on a long-abandoned site in one of the least densely developed or populated areas in the city. Any other city, be it Oakland or Emeryville, would be welcoming the Bowl with open arms. The benefits of this project so outweighs the negative aspects that it unconscionable that this project could have taken so long to win approval. 

With all the concerns about our country’s epidemic of obesity and diabetes (even within the youngest of our citizens) we should be applauding a grocer who provides its customers with the largest selection of fresh grown produce. Some who oppose the size of this project have questioned why the public needs such a wide array of choices—but take it from someone who has a graduate degree in agricultural development from UC Davis and who was one of the first organic apple growers in Sonoma County—that such diversity is vital to the sustainability of a robust family farm sector. And to find a visionary grocer who supports small farmers by showcasing their products and who also forges relationships with them, is truly remarkable. Glenn Yasuda should be cheered as a local hero and not jeered as a Sam Walton. It is important for Berkeley to view this project in a much broader context than knee-jerk NIMBYism, or how it might affect local land values (which are soaring with or without the Bowl), or if we might be inconvenienced a few more minutes in traffic—and to realize that by supporting this project we are also showing support for much larger social issues impacting the lives of so many others, like the small family farmers and the health of our children.  

I do believe that most of the concerns, especially those having to do with traffic in the adjacent neighborhood, are easy to mitigate. But the overriding considerations of what benefits the Bowl will bring to Berkeley should merit approval for the project. We all should do what you can to insure that the Bowl is built, and built soon, to do otherwise would be a disservice to all of Berkeley but most especially to the people of West Berkeley. 

 

Claudia Kawczynska is a Berkeley resident.  


Commentary: Is There a Better Way?

By Vincent Casalaina
Friday May 19, 2006

Berkeley has a real problem with property crime and no part of Berkeley has been untouched by this rising tide of crime. Our City needs to make a clear statement that the rate of property crimes must be reduced and that there are concrete steps that will be taken to achieve that goal. 

Berkeley’s auto theft rate in 2003 was 50 percent greater than Oakland’s and 100 percent greater than the state of California’s. Between 2000 and 2003 the auto theft rate in Berkeley increased 11 percent each year. To lower this rate we need to look for innovative solutions, solutions that leverage our tax dollars to achieve the most reduction possible.  

Auto theft hits hardest at working people. In 2004, California’s top 10 stolen vehicles averaged 12 years old and were worth $2,750. These cars often represent people’s primary means of getting to work and they are probably not covered by insurance against theft. When these cars are stolen, the theft severely disrupts the lives of those who depend on them. 

I have proposed a community-based plan that has the potential to both reduce auto theft and to directly aid those residents who have suffered from this crime. The proposal asks the city to adopt as policy the installation of unobservable vehicle protection systems in cars in Berkeley.  

Research in other communities by Ayers and Levitt on Lojack (the most widely used GPS based unobservable vehicle protection system) show a clear correlation between the rate of penetration of these systems and the reduction of auto thefts. This was particularly striking in Boston where a 5 percent penetration rate led to a 50 percent reduction in auto thefts. Over 90 percent of the cars with Lojack installed were returned within 24 hours. Boston is not Berkeley, but such strong data deserves to be looked at and evaluated in terms of its impact on our problem.  

My proposal applies the strengths that this research identifies to the issues surrounding auto theft in Berkeley. It has five major components. 

1) The City of Berkeley should establish as city policy, and widely publicize, the installation of unobservable vehicle protection systems in existing vehicles in Berkeley.  

2) City of Berkeley policy should also encourage the purchase of an unobservable vehicle protection systems as an option when a new vehicle is purchased.  

3) For those residents of Berkeley who have had their vehicle stolen, the City of Berkeley should offer a substantial subsidy toward the installation of a Lojack style system.  

Its important to offer those who’s vehicles have been stolen a way to quickly recover their vehicle if it were stolen a second time. It is also a way for the city to do something concrete to make sure the lives of those affected are not similarly disrupted in the future. 

Other benefits of this approach include putting unobservable vehicle protection systems directly into the communities that are most affected by auto theft. If auto thefts move to another area of town the installation of Lojack style systems follows immediately. 

4) Berkeley should offer a smaller subsidy to all other residents of who chooses to install a Lojack style system by means of a lottery.  

5) Once the funding for the subsidies of this proposal are exhausted, Berkeley should install LoJack style systems in any resident’s vehicle for $450. This one time only fee covers both hardware and installation.  

This cost is still a $250 discount off the $700 list price of the system and is possible through the city’s discount for mass purchasing. 

The cost for the proposal is $250,000 per year for three years. You can see a complete copy of the proposal under item 37 on the 04/18 Council agenda. http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil/2006citycouncil/packet/041806/04-18a.htm 

Installing unobservable vehicle protection systems will help to deter auto theft by providing the police with timely information to apprehend the criminals. It will also aid in the speedy return of vehicles that are stolen. The proposal, sponsored by Gordon Wozniak, went before the City Council on April 18 and was referred to the budget process. It will return for further discussion in the city manager’s budget presentation May 16th.  

What’s unique about the unobservable vehicle protection systems is that it leverages individual action by citizens (the purchase and installation of Lojack) to achieve a greater good of the community (a community wide decrease in auto theft). Such community-based initiatives don’t look at solving the problem by moving it down the block to your neighbor’s car. They look for ways that an individual’s actions can make the entire community safer.  

If you’d like to voice your opinion on the implementation of this system, you will be able to do that shortly on Berkeley’s newest participatory forum, Kitchen Democracy. http://www.kitchendemocracy.org. Their goal is to strengthen democracy by engaging citizens in local issues. Your comments will be forwarded to the City Council. 

 

Vincent Casalaina is a Berkeley resident.


Columns

Column: Summer Reading Suggestions

By Susan Parker
Tuesday May 23, 2006

I read in the paper a review of a new book entitled My Mother’s Wedding Dress: The Life and Afterlife of Clothes. Justine Picardie, former features editor of British Vogue, has penned a memoir on “how clothes express our personality and style, and also provide a view of how we live and what has passed.” 

Damn. I should write that book. It could be a bestseller. 

I’d start my version of Picardie’s story in 1955 with the leopard print pedal pushers my mother dressed me in when I was 3 years old. I’d move forward in time to the Gene Autry cowboy boots I insisted on wearing at 4, and the yellow fairy godmother gown I wore to kindergarten on Halloween. 

From there I’d skip ahead a few years to the blue jumper, Peter Pan-collared blouse, white socks and saddle shoes I donned for the first day of junior high school in 1964. What a mistake. After that I wore only black socks and Converse sneakers on my feet, and later sheer black stockings held up by a painfully tight pink garter belt. I employed clear nail polish to keep the runs that started at my ankles from traveling up my calves and thighs. It never worked. 

Around the time the White Album came out I was sporting mini-skirts with matching poorboy sweaters. I was particularly fond of an ensemble that included an impossibly short ultra-suede green skirt, pink and green striped top, pink stockings and green Mary Janes. I was a vision of coordinated loveliness. John, Paul, George and Ringo would not be able to resist me should they ever have had an opportunity to grace my presence. 

On to the proms: turquoise when I was a freshman, violet as a sophomore, lime green junior year, and a homemade purple, orange and red psychedelic polyester number with a matching fringed shawl for the big senior dance. I thought my date, Jackie Wiler, had puked on his powder-blue ruffled tuxedo shirt because of something he had ingested earlier in the evening, but maybe it was my dress, and the Jungle Gardenia perfume emanating from every pore of my body that made him sick to his stomach and unable to dance with me. 

In college I went organic: overalls and plaid flannel shirts, moccasins or knee-high lace-up black leather boots. The bigger I got, the baggier the clothes. For dress-up, which was rare since I didn’t get invited anywhere, I wore the same paisley print, princess-style Indian dress that substituted for pajamas on dateless nights. I accessorized my tie-dye T-shirts and patched hip hugger bellbottoms with a variety of necklaces made from beads, bones, seeds, and shark teeth. 

I was particularly fond of a pair of Asian sandals that wrapped around my big toes and produced a rash that itched like hell and refused to go away. I replaced the sandals with uncomfortable wooden Doctor Scholls or a pair of neon orange platform shoes that caused me to pitch dangerously forward whenever I strapped them onto my feet. 

I wore a two-piece purple polyester thingy to see Simon and Garfunkel, a flowered vest with matching pants to see Jimi Hendrix, and a Mexican peasant blouse and barely legal cut-offs to a Janis Joplin concert. Then I graduated from college. Everything I’ve worn since is a blur. Maybe it’s just as well. I don’t think I have enough material for a memoir based around my wardrobe history. 

As I sit here in my raggedy-ass bathrobe and fuzzy pink bedroom slippers, I decide to try another angle. Local writer Daniel Handler has just published a book in which every chapter starts with a single adverb. Perhaps I could combine the two concepts: Picardie’s clothes memoir with Handler’s parts-of-speech chapter headings. I could call it Dressed Extremely Poorly, My Life in Ugly, Badly Chosen Clothes. It would be full of descriptive language summarizing the inappropriate garments that have filled my closets. 

But I wouldn’t include those long ago well-worn leopard print pedal pushers. They were, without a doubt, timeless, and really, really cool. 

 

My Mother’s Wedding Dress  

By Justine Picardie, 

Bloomsbury, $22.95. 

 

Adverbs 

By Daniel Handler 

Ecco/HarperCollins, $23.95.


Commentary: English-Only Laws Don’t Work, and Bush Knows It

By Earl Ofari Hutchinson, New America Media
Tuesday May 23, 2006

In September 1999, then-Texas Gov. George Bush told an audience during the New Hampshire presidential primary, “English-only would mean to people, ‘Me, not you.’” The few times during his White House tenure Bush has seen moves to restrict the use of non-English languages by government agencies, the president didn’t budge from that position. 

However, when House and Senate Republicans pounded Bush recently for championing a non-punitive immigration reform measure he slightly backpedaled, supporting the Senate’s tough English-only amendment and a competing amendment that simply touts English. The Senate’s English-only amendments are at best empty symbolism, and at worst, a xenophobic, race-tinged tact that could imperil programs that genuinely help non-English students and adults attain English proficiency. 

Bush knows that. As Texas governor, he enthusiastically backed bilingual education, and for a good reason. It is the quickest path for non-English speaking immigrants to assimilate and ultimately attain citizenship. 

If Congress’ English-only amendment stands, it would undermine that effort. But it wouldn’t be the first time that a shortsighted Congress shot itself in the foot on the issue. In 1996, the House passed an English-only bill. The following year, Arizona Sen. John McCain proposed a “non-binding” Senate resolution endorsing English plus. The House has proposed amendments and even legislation over the years to dump or severely curtail funding for bilingual education. 

The English-only drive got a rocket boost in 1998 when businessman Ron Unz dumped millions into the campaign to pass Proposition 227 in California. The initiative’s premise was simple: bilingual education was costly, wasteful and ineffectual, and non-English speaking students, mainly Hispanics, didn’t learn a lick of English in bilingual classes. Some charged that the programs were a sneaky way to promote multiculturalism. 

The proposition drastically slashed funding for bilingual education programs. English-only proponents boasted that students would learn English in a year or less if they simply spoke it. The proposition passed by a landslide. English-only quickly became the national rage. 

In the next few years, English-only groups soon popped up in dozens of states. They subtly played on the public fear that hordes of mostly poor, non-white, foreign-born immigrants were out to subvert English-speaking values and civilization. Voters and state legislators in 27 states bought the English-only pitch, and enacted statues that specified English as the official language. 

But four years after Proposition 227 ignited the English-only firestorm, educators took a closer look at the proposition to see if it magically transformed non-English speaking students into proficient English speakers. They used language census figures from the California Department of Education. The results were dismal. Less than half of non-English speaking students enrolled in English immersion programs had attained proficiency in English. 

There was no tangible evidence that English immersion programs improved English skills of students faster or more effectively than students in bilingual education courses. Many parents demanded waivers to enroll their children in bilingual programs. By 2003, more than 100,000 students in California were taking bilingual classes. 

Meanwhile, nearly a half-million limited English speaking students were not “mainstreamed” into English programs. That meant they received no special help in learning English, and consequently their English language skills remained poor to non-existent. 

The failure of the English only approach to deliver a new generation of flawless English-speaking students was no surprise. A decade earlier, a federal study to determine whether bilingual education helped or hindered the attainment of English proficiency concluded that bilingual education was not the losing proposition that English-only advocates claimed. 

It found that well-funded and properly implemented programs enabled students with limited English to catch up to their English-fluent counterparts at a faster rate. It also found that it took students nearly five years to fully master English, not the one year that English-only backers claimed would be needed for immersion programs. 

The English-only amendment fuels the racially tinged myth that immigrants don’t want to learn English. The gargantuan waiting lists for enrollment in adult English classes at schools and community centers shatter that myth. Still, passage of an English-only amendment in the immigration bill could embolden state legislators to further slash programs that help limited English speaking students. 

The Bush administration has walked a fine line on the issue of bilingual education. It has not slashed federal funding for these programs. But it also has not increased funding for them in the past five years, even though the demand for the programs is greater than ever. 

Some senators recognized the mischief that an English-only amendment could cause. Buried in the Senate’s counter-amendment that declared English a “common and unifying language” is a pledge not to cut federal aid for bilingual services and programs. 

Bush has repeatedly said that speaking English is the fast track to citizenship. State-imposed English-only laws won’t speed anyone along that track. A federal English-only amendment won’t either. 

 

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an associate editor at New America Media and the author of The Crisis in Black and Black”(Middle Passage Press). TheHutchinsonReport blog is now at www.earlofarihutchinson.com.  


The Sometimes-Mellower Gopher Snake: A Great Pretender?

By Joe Eaton, Special to the Planet
Tuesday May 23, 2006

Although I’m a Southerner by birth and upbringing, I’ve never handled a snake in a religious context. Our church didn’t even use tambourines. All I know of the spiritual side of snake-handling comes from books like Dennis Covington’s memoir Salvation on Sand Mountain and Weston LaBarre’s more scholarly They Shall Take up Serpents. 

Secular snake-handling is another story. Depending on the disposition of the snake, it can be a pleasurably relaxing experience (for the handler if not the reptile). A few weeks ago, I was at UC’s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology for the Cal Day open house, passing around a large but tractable Colombian red-tailed boa constrictor and talking about snakes, when I got some gratifying news from a young naturalist named Henry. Henry and his father said they had been finding gopher snakes at the Berkeley Marina. I was thrilled, in fact: I had no idea they were still around. 

If you want a snake for handling, I would not hesitate to recommend a gopher snake—especially a gopher snake that hasn’t completely warmed up yet. A warm gopher snake can be feisty.  

On the other hand, I wouldn’t advise picking up a garter snake, a decorative but foul-tempered creature with disgusting habits. 

When a gopher snake is averse to being handled, it will let you know. It coils up, flattens its head, hisses, and vibrates its tail rapidly. Against a substrate like dry leaves, the effect of the tail vibration can be very rattlesnake-like—a resemblance that was first noted by the Lewis and Clark expedition, and that has probably gotten a number of gopher snakes killed.  

Some biologists have claimed that this performance is a case of Batesian mimicry, in which a relatively benign creature has evolved a resemblance to another species which is venomous, otherwise dangerous, or at least unpalatable. They also claim that gopher snakes and western rattlesnakes have similar color patterns. 

Henry Walter Bates, one of those 19th-century British amateurs and author of The Naturalist on the River Amazons, described the phenomenon in tropical butterflies. The classic instance of Batesian mimicry among snakes is, of course, the nonvenomous milksnakes and kingsnakes whose red-black-and-yellow banding resembles that of the venomous coral snakes. The viceroy butterfly is a Batesian mimic of the distasteful (to most birds, although not to black-headed grosbeaks) monarch. Behavioral mimicry is rarer, but there are examples. 

But is that really what’s going on with the gopher snake and the rattlesnake? In the 1980s, Samuel Sweet at UC Santa Barbara decided to test the notion by comparing several California populations of the two species. He hypothesized that the snakes’ microhabitats might have something to do with the degree of resemblance. Rattlers and gopher snakes overlap broadly in habitat preference, but previous studies had shown rattlesnakes to be more common in chaparral and woodland, and gopher snakes to be more common in open grassland. Where trees and shrubs are scarce, as in the Carrizo Plain, both are found in grassland. 

Sweet photographed snakes of both species against backgrounds of coastal grassland, Carrizo Plain grassland, and mountain chaparral, and analyzed the extent to which the snake’s pattern matched its setting. He found that gopher snakes were more visually cryptic in grassland, rattlers in chaparral. For both coastal and mountain populations, rattlesnakes and gopher snakes had significantly different patterns. 

It was only in the Carrizo Plain that rattlers and gopher snakes really looked alike. And it was in this habitat that both species were equally cryptic. The implication Sweet drew from this was that there was no model-mimic relationship: gopher snakes had not evolved to look like rattlesnakes. Instead, each species had evolved to blend into its preferred microhabitat, to conceal itself from predators and prey. Where the microhabitat was the same, the patterns were similar—but this was the result of convergence, not mimicry. 

What about the head-spreading and tail-vibrating, though? Sweet pointed out that other nonvenomous snakes that don’t particularly resemble rattlers—among them, racers, corn snakes, kingsnakes, whipsnakes, and indigo snakes—have comparable, if somewhat less intense, defensive displays. This suite of behaviors seems widespread in venomous and nonvenomous snakes alike. Although it would have benefited any nonvenomous snake to be mistaken for a venomous one, he concluded that there was little direct evidence that the gopher snake was a behavioral mimic of the rattlesnake.  

It’s interesting that California ground squirrels, who’ve had a long evolutionary relationship with both rattlers and gopher snakes, have no trouble telling them apart. But the squirrels are fooled by the uncannily rattler-like vocalization of the burrowing owl, which holds up better than the gopher snake’s display as an example of behavioral mimicry.  

 

 

Photograph by Bob Dyer / Petaluma Wetlands Alliance 

A young gopher snake winds his way through the sand at Petaluma’s Schollenberger Park.


Column: The Public Eye: Could 2006 Be Another Year of the Woman?

By Bob Burnett
Friday May 19, 2006

It’s been 14 years since four Democratic women were elected to the Senate in the so-called “year of the woman.” 2006 is shaping up as another historic year for women, as Democrats are poised to take back the House of Representatives and make Nancy Pelosi the first-ever female speaker of the House. At least, that was the prevailing opinion at the annual Emily’s List gathering May 11 and 12 (www.emilyslist.org.) 

The attendees at the Washington DC event heard from a number of impressive female candidates for the House and Senate and learned of an intriguing strategy for getting women out to vote in the November 6th elections.  

Winning control of the Senate is a stretch for the Democrats. They must hold onto all their contested seats, as well as two seats where Dems are retiring, and win six of the vulnerable Republican seats. 

Minnesota has a vacant Senate seat because Democrat Mark Dayton is retiring. There was going to be a contested Democratic primary in September. However Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar proved to be such an impressive candidate that all her main competitors withdrew and she’s likely to win this senate seat. 

Democrats target Republican incumbents in Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Tennessee. Emily’s List attendees heard from the Missouri senatorial candidate, State Auditor Claire McCaskill. She’s running a strong race to unseat the ill-named Jim Talent. 

In the roughly 24 hotly contested House races, Emily’s List mobilized 11 female candidates. Five jumped out as particularly interesting. Francine Busby is running for the congressional seat in California’s 50th Congressional District vacated by convicted Republican congressman Duke Cunningham. The special election will be held on June 6. Busby is running even in a slightly Republican district. 

Tammy Duckworth is a retired Army pilot who lost both legs when her helicopter was shot down in Iraq. She got out of Walter Reed Army Medical Center on Dec. 15, returned home to Illinois, and started running for Congress on the 18th. She’s competing for an open Illinois Congressional seat, where incumbent Republican Henry Hyde is retiring. While this is a slightly Republican district, it’s hard to imagine that anyone who meets Duckworth would vote for her opponent and the latest polls show the race is even. 

Diane Farrell is running against Connecticut Republican incumbent Christopher Shays. The district leans Democrat, but the race leans Republican. 

New Mexico Attorney General Patsy Madrid is running against ultra-conservative incumbent, Heather Wilson. Madrid is the first female, Hispanic Attorney General and running even with Wilson. Lois Murphy is running against Republican Congressman Jim Gerlach in Pennsalvania. Murphy is energetic and articulate and it’s likely that she’ll take this seat. 

Ultimately the Nov. 7 election will depend upon which Party gets out its base. Emily’s List will focus its get-out-the-vote resources on five states: Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. This effort will not only help Emily’s list candidates in these states, such as Murphy in Pennsylvania, but it will also have a salutary affect on other key races. In Pennsylvania, there will be a spillover to the senate race where challenger Bob Casey, Jr., is favored to unseat radically conservative Republican Rick Santorum. 

The second aspect of Emily’s sophisticated get-out-the-vote program is targeting women voters. One pollster noted that public support for President Bush and the Republican Party is rapidly declining. However, this does not automatically translate into support for Democrats, as voters are turned off on politicians, in general. Therefore, support for Dems is only marginally better than it is for Repugs.  

In the 2006 race, the GOP will count on their base turning out in force, particularly the Christian Right. Democrats must mobilize their base whose turnout typically drops 12 to 18 percent in an off-year election. Emily’s List will particularly focus on the eleven races where they have sponsored a candidate. Using sophisticated demographic analysis, they will identify likely supporters, even when they are in overwhelming Republican districts. 

Emily’s List operatives tried out their new approach in the May 2 Ohio primary. It produced a victory for Emily’s candidate, Betty Sutton, running in Ohio’s 13th Congressional district, considered a safe Democratic seat in the fall. 

The good news coming out of the Emily’s List gathering is that Dems have gathered a good set of candidates and have a strategy to win in November. However, there’s a long road ahead. Despite their dreadful poll numbers and their woeful record, Republicans can be expected to fight tooth and nail to hold onto their majorities in the House and Senate. They may not have public confidence, but they have lots of money. There’s a long way to go before we declare 2006 another year of the woman. 

 

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


Column: Undercurrents: Why Oakland School Lands Are Being Sold Off

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday May 19, 2006

The seizure of the Oakland Unified School District by the State of California stands as one of the greatest public scandals in Oakland’s history, perhaps surpassed, only by the waterfront land-grab scheme through which the City of Oakland came into being. It is certainly greater, by far, than the Oakland Raiders scandal that has assumed so much of our attention in the past decades. The Raider deal, after all, only took our money. The OUSD seizure took our schools, and in its wake of confusion, has severely jeopardized the future of our children. 

How—and why—Oakland’s public schools came to be taken out of the hands of Oakland citizens is still being sorted out; a task made all the more difficult because many of the principal players are still in power, working hard to obscure the sorry history of this sad event. 

But if we care to pay attention, the signs are all around us, and are becoming clearer. 

In a recent interview with the Tri-City Voice, Newark Superintendent of Schools John Bernard, who is running against Sheila Jordan for Alameda County Superintendent of Schools in the June election, outlined Ms. Jordan’s role in the Oakland school takeover in 2003: “Other county superintendents allow districts to use bond money as a loan when the district is going into the red,” Mr. Bernard told the newspaper. “The incumbent, Sheila Jordan, did not allow Oakland to use the bond money; they went into default and the state took over.” 

It’s a key point that ought not be forgotten. To keep from having to accept the state loan, the Oakland School Board had proposed borrowing money from its own construction bonds fund, money that the district would later pay back to itself. The use of the bond money in this way was approved by OUSD’s bond attorneys, who happened to be the bond attorneys for the State of California, and expert in their field. Apparently not expert enough for Ms. Jordan, however, who took it upon herself to ask for a further opinion from State Attorney General Bill Lockyer. Mr. Lockyer declared the bond-borrowing transfer illegal, blocking OUSD from using it to balance the budget and keep Oakland schools in Oakland hands. In a mass community meeting later held at Allen Temple Baptist Church, Ms. Jordan defended her actions by saying that she could not allow the bond transfer because it was illegal. 

That’s an interesting opinion, in light of the recent revelation in a Daily Planet article that State Superintendent Jack O’Connell is prepared to announce the sale or long-term lease of more than 9 acres of school properties, including the Paul Robeson Administration Building. The article raised the possibility that the proceeds would be used to pay back the state for the original loan that was forced upon Oakland. 

Normally, state law prevents a school district from using the money from the sale of school facilities for anything but the building of new facilities, and so the state loan payback would be illegal. But that law was changed—just for Oakland—in the State Senator Don Perata-written legislation that authorized the state loan and the state takeover of Oakland’s schools. That legislation was later renewed in the massive Omnibus Education Bill that recently came out of the California Senate Education Committee. So if Mr. Perata could get a special law passed for Oakland that allowed the city to pay back the state with money from the sale or lease of the Paul Robeson Administration Building, couldn’t Mr. Perata just as easily have gotten the legislature to pass a law allowing Oakland to save its schools by borrowing from its own construction bond money? And if he could have, why didn’t he? 

But, of course, there have been some people who have speculated for a while that sale of the Robeson Administration Building to developers was the motivation behind the Oakland school takeover in the first place. 

In late January of 2004, I wrote the following in this column: “And if you believe the rumors—and Oakland is full of rumors this morning—the sale of the Robeson Administration Building is what the Oakland school takeover was all about. In this scenario, real estate developers—under the cover of willing local politicians—would dearly like the 2nd Avenue property for upscale housing. Looking at the dreary neighborhood in which the Robeson Building sits, that wouldn’t seem to make any sense. Unless, that is, you take into account that Oakland is busily making plans to reconfigure the 12th Street–14th Street junction around Lake Merritt, and daylight the creek from the lake to the estuary. Very soon, therefore, the Robeson Building will be waterfront property, sitting on one of the most stunningly beautiful sites in the entire city. 

“And so, this rumor goes, developers went to the local politicians, and the local politicians went to Superintendent Dennis Chaconas, trying to get him to agree to the sale. Chaconas would not agree, and it was never thought that such a crazy idea could ever get past an elected Oakland School Board, the Oakland public being as excitable as it is. And so they had to go, Chaconas and the elected School Board, in one great sweep. And under this scenario, the Oakland school takeover was no necessary result of some accidental overbudgeting due to antiquated computer technology but was orchestrated from start to finish. You could make a pretty good case for this, I suppose, starting with County School Superintendent Sheila Jordan sending over her financial advisor (Pete Yasitis) to run the Oakland school finances, continuing with Yasitis developing the teacher pay hike plan that led to Oakland’s overbudgeting, and ending with Jordan being one of the major players in stopping a Chaconas/School Board plan that would have held off the state ‘loan’ and thereby prevent the state takeover. I suppose we could ask Yasitis some interesting questions about this, but he has long since left the building. 

“Anyhow, now comes a Sunday article by Alex Katz of the Tribune (and Tribune reporters have been doing some valuable work recently on the Oakland school issue), in which an extended quotation is in order. Talking about what to do with the five Oakland schools set for closure by state-appointed Oakland School Administrator Randolph Ward, Katz writes: ‘Another option would be to move the district’s central offices to one of the sites, making it possible to lease or sell the district’s valuable administration buildings . . . “Right now the whole administration building is up for discussion,” Ward said.—[A]n agenda for a Wednesday closed session meeting includes negotiations between the ‘district and prospective developers and/or owners’ of the district’s headquarters and adjacent buildings.—According to the agenda, the subject of closed session negotiations will be the ‘Price and/or Terms of Payment for Both the Purchase or Lease or Development of some or all of said property.’ State Sen. Don Perata . . . has encouraged the sale of the property, which [Perata] said would make spectacular housing, to help pay down the district’s $65 million loan from the state.’” 

Mr. Katz, indeed, was doing some good work writing for the Tribune about Oakland school matters last year, and his voice and experience and insight would have been valuable in sorting out the recent developments concerning the proposed sale or lease of the administration building and surrounding properties. So why hasn’t Mr. Katz spoken up? He hasn’t because earlier this year, he was hired by OUSD state-appointed administrator Randy Ward to be OUSD’s Public Information Officer, thus [conveniently] removing Mr. Katz as a potential threat to dig into these matters and reveal them to the public. 

Perhaps you think this was just a coincidence, and the powerful don’t make moves like this to cover their tracks. Perhaps. But who’s being naïve now, Kay? 

Who lost Oakland’s schools, and why? The full story has yet to be told, in part, perhaps, because the story has yet to be finished. It’s continuing to happen, right now, right in front of us, a public scandal for the ages.


Travel Through Time at Black Diamond Mines

By Marta Yamamoto
Friday May 19, 2006

Atop Rose Hill Cemetery, I gaze out at the undulant hillsides and narrow canyon of Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve. I share this peak with two hundred former 19th century residents—coal miners, their wives and children. Little remains as testament to their settlement, but their voices stir the trees. Sojourn at Black Diamond Mines to revisit past glories and relish present verdant splendor. 

With almost 6,000 acres and 65 miles of trails, this is a vast parcel of preserved land, ideal for hiking, picnicking and observing wildlife. Within grassland, foothill woodland, mixed evergreen forest and chaparral, you’ll discover Coulter pine, black sage, desert olive and dudleya providing habitat for over 100 species of birds and common mammals. Add some exotic plantings and a springtime display of wildflowers deserving the attention of Monet and the urge to visit just increases. 

Below the surface, Black Diamond Preserve offers a look into the past when coal, and then sand, were mined from its core. The discovery of coal in 1850 drew immigrants from all over the world to mine for “black diamonds.” During 40 years of existence over four millions tons of coal were removed, depleting, not the resource but the workforce. At the end of the coal era, the five boomtowns and their remaining residents packed up and left. 

The next chapter in Black Diamond history came in the 1920s when sand mining began to extract high-grade silica used in glassmaking. With better and safer mining techniques, over 1.8 millions tons were removed from underground caverns by the end of World War II, when sand ballast from Belgium usurped the local product.  

The East Bay Regional Park District came into the picture in the early 1970s when it acquired land for the preserve. One unfortunate chapter, the party and vandalism era, took place before the land was acquired, leaving its mark, though now less evident, on the mines and cemetery.  

Approaching the Preserve on Somersville Road, I felt like I was leaving the world behind me. As the canyon narrowed it drew me forward until I was surrounded only by rural buildings and pristine landscape. I was ready for outdoor exploration. Since it was too early to tour the Visitor Center, I began my exploration with a walk up Nortonville Trail, once Road, to Rose Hill Cemetery. All around me were signs of new life: the tender leaves of trees of heaven emerging through last year’s seed clusters; purple vetch and blue lupine pushing up through thickets of grass; and the sounds of bumblebees, red winged blackbirds and the wind coursing through the foliage. 

The Protestant Cemetery stands sentinel over the land’s reincarnation as a park. “Gone but not forgotten” read the stones. Life was precious in the 19th century and often too short. Mining accidents and epidemics of smallpox, diphtheria and scarlet fever took many before their time. Ages on marble and granite tombstones are carved in exact time: Mary Adams lived 49 months and 7 days, Daniel Richards 69 years, 1 month and 22 days. Four children in the Joseph family died before reaching nine years of age; by eight years most were already toiling in the mines. The cemetery remains as testament to the hard lives and the contributions of those who came for a new life. 

Even when outside temperatures rise to uncomfortable levels, it’s always a crisp 56-degrees in the epic-size Greathouse Visitor Center, open to both human and canine visitor, whether on foot or on bike. Traverse a long narrow tunnel to experience how 1920s sand miners reached their underground chamber. Small lights strung at head level emit just enough light to examine the timbered walls and ceiling, shale sides and dripping water.  

At tunnel’s end, a giant cavern opens up, vast in size and marked with evidence of its past, white areas of the desired silica, orange streaks formed of rust in the less desirable sandstone and black lines of the soot remaining from days when party bonfires burned illegally.  

The center is nicely arranged with just enough exhibits, photographs, video and brochures for information, but without distracting from the cavern itself. Handsome wood cases hold vintage Lane’s Honey and Star Wine Vinegar, a sampling of the glassware produced from the mined high-grade silica. Further on, artifacts from the towns of Nortonville and Somersville—marbles, scissors, heavy iron, teapot and lock and key—are familiar in their commonality. Displays of coal samples, common rocks and Preserve wildflowers lend a science-hand. Souvenirs for budding miners include Hazel-Atlas hardhats, hardhat flashlights and park T-shirts and caps. 

It’s a short but very scenic walk from the Visitor Center to the Hazel-Atlas Mine portal and the hillside above is a springtime display. Thick shrubs and grasses are polka-dotted with glittering colors: three-toned bush lupine in blue, violet and cream, yellow coreopsis with feathery leaves, red Indian paintbrush and white hemispherical yarrow.  

You don’t need to purchase a hardhat and flashlight for the Hazel-Atlas Mine Tour; they’re included with the price of a ticket. You’ll be glad to have them, along with a sweatshirt, for the one-hour walk 400-feet into a restored silica mine. On my tour, park guide Lauren, enthusiastically instructed and entertained us with history, geology and mining techniques.  

After locking the gate and brassing us in, the park guide showed us a narrated slide show describing precarious coal mining in 18-inch coal rooms. With an image of today’s park on screen, Lauren pointed out reminders of Somersville, like level areas and piles of rocks. The walking tour focused on sand mining techniques, in which I learned about adits, stopes, scaling rods, room-and-pillar mining, slusher buckets and fossils of ancient ghost shrimp in the sandstone walls.  

Prolong your visit with a temperature-warming hike for further mine tunnel exploration or scene stealing views. Follow the Stewartville Trail past grassland and foothills to Prospect Tunnel, excavated in 1860. Use your flashlight to explore the two hundred feet of tunnel open to the public. Another option is Railroad Bed Trail, parallel to and above Somersville Road providing you with an overview of park terrain. Most trails connect up with others for loops and extensions; I used my trail map for reference. 

Black locust trees planted by miners in the 1800s at the Lower Picnic Area shaded my final stop. Springtime added the perfume of white floral clusters decorating lacy leaves and age-old weathered trunks. Here I reflected on miners, coal, silica, wildflowers, rolling landscape and the importance of open space in our lives. Explore Black Diamond Mines Preserve, and honor this turn-of-the-century mining landmark and present day refuge.  

 

IF YOU GO: 

GETTING THERE: Take Hwy 4 to the Somersville Road exit in Antioch. Drive south (into the hills) on Somersville Road to the Preserve entrance. 

Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve: 5175 Somersville Road, Antioch, (925) 757-2620, www.ebparks.org. Park hours 8 a.m.-dusk. Fees: $5/car, $2/dog (Seasonal weekends) 

Greathouse Visitor Center: 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m., weekends March-Nov. free. 

Hazel Atlas Mine Guided Tour: weekends at noon and 3 p.m., 15 maximum, $3/person, for advance reservations call 636-1684. 

 

Getting there: Take Highway 4 to the Somersville Road exit in Antioch. Drive south (into the hills) on Somersville Road to the Preserve entrance. 

 

Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve: 5175 Somersville Road, Antioch, (925) 757-2620, www.ebparks.org. Park hours 8 a.m.-dusk. Fees: $5/car, $2/dog (Seasonal weekends). 

 

Greathouse Visitor Center: 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m., weekends March-November. Free. 

 

Hazel Atlas Mine Guided Tour: weekends at noon and 3 p.m., 15 maximum, $3/person. For reservations call 636-1684.  


East Bay Then and Now: Peralta Park Grew in the Shade of Giants

By Daniella Thompson
Friday May 19, 2006

Lying northwest of Hopkins Street between Gilman and Colusa, the Peralta Park tract straddles Berkeley and Albany across Codornices Creek. Built up in the 1920s, the neighborhood presents to the eye a sea of low stucco bungalows among which one can pick out a handful of Victorians. 

Of the latter, three average-sized Queen Annes may be found along Hopkins Street. The other two, however, are giants boasting remarkable architectural features. Relics of a grander era, they stand as a reminder of the larger-than-life people who harbored bold visions for this land. 

In the public domain until 1820, the area was part of the 44,800-acre Rancho San Antonio granted to Luís María Peralta for his services to the Spanish Crown. In 1842, Peralta divided the lands among his four sons, and José Domingo Peralta (1795–1865) received the portion that today comprises Berkeley and Albany from Alcatraz Avenue to El Cerrito Creek. 

Having his pick of many prime locations for his home, Domingo settled on the bank of Codornices Creek, where he erected a 30x18-foot adobe (removed after the 1868 earthquake) and, in 1851, a two-story frame house (moved to the nearby Schmidt tract in 1872 and torn down in 1933, when UC owned the tract). 

Had these structures survived in the original location, their address would be 1304 Albina Ave. 

During the Gold Rush, cattle robbers, squatters, and fortune hunters whittled away Domingo’s possessions, and by 1853, he was forced to sell most of his land, reserving 300 acres around his house. Taxes and legal fees ate up the remaining acres by 1868. 

Sixty of those acres were acquired by William Chapman Ralston (1826–1875), the boldest speculator on the Pacific coast, founder of the Bank of California, director of the Central Pacific Railroad, and builder of San Francisco’s fabled Palace Hotel. Never one to do anything on a small scale, Ralston was the first to have visions for Peralta Park, but his untimely death in the aftermath of a rush on his bank stopped any development for a while. 

The executor of Ralston’s estate fraudulently used the land as collateral for an $8,000 loan from the California Insurance Company. When he defaulted on the loan, the company, founded by Caspar Thomas Hopkins in 1861, seized the land, and Hopkins set about looking for a buyer. In 1887 he found a fabulous one. 

The man who reputedly peeled off $32,000 for a deed was Maurice Strelinger, aka M.B. Curtis (c. 1850–1920), a wildly successful actor who made his name playing the lead in the comedy “Sam’l of Posen” (more on him in a future story). Strelinger’s visions were as grand as Ralston’s. He planned an elegant subdivision, anchored by the luxurious, multi-turreted Peralta Park Hotel. 

The hotel was to be surrounded by large houses on spacious lots, circled in turn by medium-sized houses on standard lots. Always highly leveraged, Strelinger recruited investors from among his San Francisco business and theatre connections, and some of them bought parcels and erected homes. In all, thirteen houses were built on the tract, including Strelinger’s own home at 1505 Hopkins Street. Six of the houses went up in 1889, all constructed by Lord & Boynton, who in the same year also built the Niehaus Brothers’ West Berkeley Planing Mill and George C. Pape’s East Berkeley Planing Mill. 

Most of the six Peralta Park houses built in 1889 contained between eight and ten rooms. The largest belonged to the San Francisco physician Robert Macbeth and was located on a large creekside parcel on the east side of Albina Avenue. On the west side, also on outsize parcels, stood the houses of Anita Fallon and Julius Alfred Lueders. Although both of the latter survived, only the Lueders house at 1330 Albina remains on its original site. 

The house was designed by Ira A. Boynton, who was related to Moses Chase, a former seafarer and forty-niner known to have been the first squatter on Antonio María Peralta’s land and the first American settler in Oakland. A New Englander, Boynton came to Berkeley in 1877 and lived on Berkeley Way. Among the houses he built locally are 2328 Channing Way (1889) and the Edward Brakenridge house (1892) at 1410 Bonita Avenue. 

In 1895, Boynton’s daughter’s wedding took place in Joseph Clapp’s cottage at 2007 Berkeley Way. It is not known whether Boynton designed this Gothic Revival cottage, commonly known as the Morning Glory House (built c. 1878), but it’s possible, since Clapp was another transplanted New Englander. 

For a while, Boynton was associated with Horace Kidder (later of the contracting firm Kidder & McCullough), but in the mid-1890s he was drawn by the building boom in Alaska and settled in Douglas. He died in Seattle in 1920. 

Boynton’s client on Albina Ave. was one of the San Franciscans lured to Berkeley by Strelinger. According to his daughter, Mrs. Frieda Frohwerk, Julius A. Lueders moved his family from San Francisco to Peralta Park because his wife wanted to live in the country. Born in Germany, he “had no use for the Prussian military system, so came to San Francisco in 1877.” 

The Berkeley Daily Gazette columnist Hal Johnson interviewed Mrs. Frohwerk in 1947, at which time she divulged that her father “had learned the perfumery business in Germany by serving a four-year-apprenticeship to a leading chemist. 

He brought to California several formulas along with his family. In a few months he had worked up quite a business in perfumes in San Francisco. Interested in the life insurance business, he started his own life insurance company. And because he was particularly careful whom he insured, he prospered.” 

Mrs. Frohwerk didn’t tell Johnson that her father was secretary of the Pacific Endowment League, a real-estate firm whose reputation was less than a stellar, and that the family finances were kept on an even keel through the exertions of her mother, Anna, a stern woman who operated a dress shop in San Francisco.  

The Lueders house cost $4,900 and was second only to the Macbeth house, which came in at $6,900. In addition to ten rooms on the first and second floors, there was a third-story attic with four rooms and surmounted with a bell-shaped cupola. The three-acre lot was a block deep, extending from Albina to Fleurange Ave. (now Acton). The amenities included a gazebo, a large garden, a barn, and a well house with windmill. A gas plant on the premises provided illumination. The well water was still being used in 1947. 

Julius and Anna Lueders had four children: Hilda, Frieda, Walter, and Edgar. Hilda was principal of the West Berkeley Kindergarten until she married George Bruns. Thereafter she helped her husband run the D.H. Bruns General Merchandising store and post office on the corner of San Pablo and University. Frieda attended the Sprague School in Peralta Hall (formerly the Peralta Park Hotel) before becoming a teacher in the West Berkeley Kindergarten. When Sunset Telephone & Telegraph introduced 24-hour telephone service, Frieda became the night operator. 

Later she advanced to chief operator, and eventually went to work as a county employee. In middle age she married the carpenter William Frohwerk. Neither Walter nor Edgar married. Walter worked as a bookkeeper and Edgar as a mechanic. Both continued living with their mother at 1330 Albina. Walter bought the Bruns store, renamed West Berkeley Hardware. He died in 1924, and Edgar continued running the store until his own death in 1971. 

In 1972, the Lueders house was acquired by Thomas Roe and his partner, who lovingly restored it, preserving the original first-floor rooms. They added a second turret on the south end, glazed the gazebo with windows salvaged from a Mills College demolition, and constructed a showcase kitchen, largely with salvaged materials. Still a work in progress, the house is one of the finest Victorians in the East Bay. 

 

This is the first part in a series of articles on Peralta Park. 

 

Photograph by Daniella Thompson 

The Lueders house at 1330 Albina Ave. combines Queen Anne styling with Stick detail.


About the House: On The Mortality of Water Heaters and Furnaces

By Matt Cantor
Friday May 19, 2006

Everything ages and everything dies. It’s sad but it’s certainly true and no less for water heaters than for people, cats and presidential administrations. The funny thing about water heaters and electrical panels is that we don’t tend to think of them as getting old in the same way that we think about Aunt Martha. We see her getting older and increasingly forgetful, despite her being so adorable, even as she searches for her car keys (should she still be driving?) 

Actually, water heaters and furnaces, garbage disposers and, yes, foundations have life cycles just like Aunt Martha and your dog, Mr. Buggles. I think we all need to see these things a bit more in this way since it seems so very widespread that people tend to express real surprise when I tell them that an item is getting old or is ready for the heap. “Well, it’s worked just fine, all these years” they sometimes say and sure as this may be true, it doesn’t take into account the fact that said item, the furnace for example, may have commenced to leak flue gases into the living space. 

Yes it still comes on and heats the house but there may be any number of unseen things that aren’t working as they should or may be nearing a point at which it is unlikely that they will function at all. 

Let’s start with the general issue of wear and function. When devices, such as the breakers in electrical panels, are new, we can eliminate from the equation most aberrant performance based on wear. 

As such devices age, they are subject to a range of natural forces. A spring loses it’s springiness from metal fatigue, corrosion forms on parts, which may play a critical role, things get dirty and fail to operate smoothly from the contamination of foreign particles, heat or cold may gradually wear upon parts and cause them to malfunction. 

There are too many natural forces to list here but you get the general idea. Even if you do nothing else to a breaker, a dishwasher or a phone jack, over time it’s going to be exposed to elements that will wear upon it and eventually prevent it from functioning properly. 

In the case of the electrical breaker, the spring metal inside is wearing from being sprung as well as from the heat created by electricity running through it. Over time, it will become less responsive and may eventually fail to work altogether. 

Another reason that things eventually want to be replaced is that they are failing to take advantage of innovations in science and technology that we come to consider either highly desirable or baseline essentials. Most of us would not drive a car that didn’t have a seat belt despite the fact that they were not present in cars 40 years ago. 

One might say, “Hey the car drives, what are you complaining about” and most would respond, “Well, my life is at risk without one and I don’t want to drive without it.” Increasingly, we have come to feel this way about air bags, tempered glass and ABS brakes as well, despite the fact that you don’t really have to have them to drive. 

The same is true in your house. I wouldn’t live in a house that didn’t have smoke detectors because they exist and can save my life, as well as the lives of my two girls and my wife. I also have a carbon monoxide tester running 24/7 in the hall. Same reason. It’s not essential but it’s available and it might save our lives. 

This logic extends to all the equipment in the house and to elements of the house itself, such as the roofing, the siding and the foundation. Some older systems simply lack the advantage that modern advances have to offer. Most houses around here weren’t built with enough bolts or enough inherent bracing to survive a large earthquake and most modern houses were. 

This is one example where an alteration can update us to a close equivalent of modern safety standards. This is true of some other systems as well. 

Single glazed window sashes can often be replaced with double glazed replacements providing better heat conservation and sound reduction but this isn’t really a safety issue. On the other hand, an old electrical breaker (I keep hitting that note) can, in my opinion become far less reliable over time and can usually be replaced, even within an existing panel to improve fire safety.  

An older heat exchanger in a furnace can also, often, be replaced when it has become worn or cracked although I would argue that the additional cost of an entirely new furnace is so well offset by the many advantages that come with a newer unit that a repair is rarely worthwhile. New furnaces are not only far more efficient than older ones (PG&E told us last October that energy prices were expected to rise by 71 percent in response to Katrina), but also offer a range of improved safety features as well as simplified flues that can eliminate costly and ugly installations. 

Many older features of houses are extremely desirable and I sorely wish that modern builders would more frequently take lessons that present themselves visibly in so many of our older houses and exploit them in what it built today. 

Nonetheless, old floor furnaces are dangerous, smelly, inefficient and best replaced by the myriad newer choices that modern technology has brought us. Similarly, a breaker panel in a convenient location has real advantages over a small fuse panel that’s buried at the back of a clothes closet. 

If we all tended to think of our houses the same way we think of our computers we might be a little better off. That ancient furnace in the basement is a hard drive that’s skipping and only has 20 megabytes of memory. With that old wiring of yours and one outlet per room, it take you 30 seconds to download a page off the internet and those old Windows of yours … Well, you know. 


Garden Variety: Necessary Gardening Gagets: A Felco and a Hori-Hori

By Ron Sullivan
Friday May 19, 2006

Gardening is like fishing in some ways. You can do it for dinner, or just for the halibut; you can do it for purely recreational or aesthetic reasons, or both. It can give you peace and relaxation, or vein-popping frustration. It helps a lot to know the natural history of the place and of your target. You can do it for very little money, or you can go broke buying fascinating tools and gadgets.  

I’m a collector at heart but also nearly broke most of the time, so I hover between the extremes. I have more tools than many folks because I worked as a pro for some years. But my favorites, the reliables I use most often, can mostly fit on my jeans pockets plus one hand for the long ones. It’s a good idea for a new gardener to start with the basics and then add the equivalents of Victorian specialty silverware, the asparagus tongs and the left-handed runcible spoons, as the garden progresses.  

The two things I always have in my pockets are my Felcos and my hori-hori.  

I don’t endorse commercial brands often, but Felco brand pruning shears are the only ones worth buying. They’re a big investment at first—in the $50.00 range—but if you don’t lose them they’re the last pair you’ll ever have to buy, because every part is replaceable at a reasonable price. Blades are easy to sharpen, and after a few years of hard use or abuse you’ll pay under ten bucks—usually about six—for a new one. Felcos come in many sizes and configurations, including left-handed, and you really need to try them on like shoes. It’s worth the effort; you’ll know when you have the right fit.  

Between the fit and the sharpness, you’ll save damage to your joints and other vulnerable bits, and to the plants you cut. I keep my Felcos sharp with a couple of inexpensive hones that look and work like emery boards; got them at a cutlery shop.  

A hori-hori is a Japanese farmers’ tool that’s become popular here too. It’s a broad, heavy knife, not terribly sharp, with a scooped central channel and one serrated edge. It has a wooden grip and a full tang: the metal of the blade runs all the way through, the handle. This makes it very strong; I frequently use mine by sticking the blade under a stubborn weed and stepping on the handle, to lever the thing out. I’ve never damaged a hori-hori this way. 

In fact, I’ve never damaged one significantly at all. This includes the one that spent at least a year under a compost pile. When Saint Anthony finally got around to answering those prayers, the hori-hori was rusted and the handle just a bit loose. That full tang meant the loose handle doesn’t compromise its function one bit, and the rust came off with a few uses, so I didn’t even have to scour it. In fact, I used it brutally enough to wedge some clay under the grip and it’s not loose anymore. 

In future columns I’ll talk about bigger and weirder tools, and the places I like to get them. 

 

 


Arts & Events

Arts Calendar

Tuesday May 23, 2006

TUESDAY, MAY 23 

FILM 

Embracing Diversity Films “Out of the Shadow” a documentary of a woman with paranoid schizophrenia, at 7 p.m. at Albany High School Library, 603 Key Route Blvd. Please enter through gym doors on Thousand Oaks Blvd. Suitable for children over 12. Free. Discussion follows. 527-1328. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

From Chaucer to Pynchon in 90 Minutes Students rread from six centuries of literature at 6 p.m. in Room 210, Vista College Bldg., 2020 Milvia.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

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

The Weepies at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Ellen Hoffman Trio and Singers’ Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ.  

Mel Martin Quartet at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$14. 238-9200.  

Free Persons Quartet, jazz, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

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

WEDNESDAY, MAY 24 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Leslie Larson reads from her new novel “Slipstream” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Telegraph. 845-7852.  

Daniel C. Matt introduces “The Zohar” at 7:30 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Donation $10-$20. 848-0237, ext. 110. 

“Writing Teachers Write” monthly reading series at 5 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Music for the Spirit Organ music at 12:15 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, 2619 Broadway. 444-3555. 

UC Jazz Ensembles at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

The Kaveman Experience, 15-17 year old musicians, at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568.  

The New Sing Sextet at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Regina Maria Pontillo & Le Jazz Hot at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Afro Man, Mad Ro at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $10-$15. 848-0886.  

Dope at 8:30 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100.  

Hanneke Cassel at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

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

THURSDAY, MAY 25 

FILM 

A Theater Near You “The Weeping Meadow” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

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

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Composer John Adams and Crowden School Students in a Spring Celebration at 7 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Free. 559-6910.  

Raquy and the Cavemen, progressive Middle-Eastern dance music at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Drum workshop at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $13-$15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Bryan Bowers at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Terence Brewer Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

The Wild Life, Luminous Family Trust, Naomi & The Courteous Rudeboys at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Chico Debarge and Family “A Night for the Ladies” at 8 p.m. at Kimballs Carnival, 522 2nd St., Oakland. Tickets are $25-$35. www.ticketweb.com 

Fusion, mixed heritage spoken word artists and musicians at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$15. 849-2568.  

Showtime @ 11 Hip Hop at 10 p.m. at the Ivy Room, 585 San Pablo Ave. at Solano. 524-9220. www.ivyroom.com  

Jennifer Johns at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $8. 451-8100.  

Robben Ford Band at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $15-$26. 238-9200.  

FRIDAY, MAY 26 

THEATER 

Altarena Playhouse “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” at 8 p.m. Fri. and Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. 1409 High St. through June 11. Tickets are $12-$15. 523-1553. www.altarena.org 

Berkeley Rep “The Glass Menagerie” at 8 p.m. at the Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. Tickets are $59. Runs through June 18. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Berkeley Rep “The Miser” at 8 p.m. at the Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. Tickets are $53. Runs through June 25. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Impact Theater “Money & Run Episode 4: Go Straight, No Chaser,” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave. Cost is $10-$15. Runs through May 27. 464-4468. www.impacttheater.com 

Shotgun Players “King Lear” Thurs.-Sun. at 8 p.m. at the Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. to June 18. Tickets are $15-$30, reservations suggested. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

Albany Community Center Group Show with works by Susan Adame, Kanna Aoki, Judith Corning, Carole Fitzgerald and Michael-Che Swisher through June 16 at 1249 Marin Ave., Albany. 

FILM 

A Theater Near You “Baby Face” at 7 p.m. “Classe tous risques” at 8:50 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Milvia Street Readings from the 15th issue of the art and literary journal of Vista Community College at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 3rd floor. 

Jenny Kurzweil describes “Fields That Dream: A Journey to the Roots of Our Food” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Telegraph Ave. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Ballet Theater, “Saisons” at 7 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $19. 843-4689.  

“The Transit Rider” a song cycle at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $10-$12. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

“Springtime Ragas” with Ali Akbar Kahn at 7 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $25-$35. 415-454-6264. 

Bolokada Conde & Les Percussion Malinke at 8:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $15-$20. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Lunar Lounge Express Night with The Rise and Fall of Uke-Y Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, at 8 p.m. at Chabot Space & Science Center, 10000 Skyline Blvd., Oakland. Tickets are $10-$15. 336-7373.  

Tanzix, Yunsta at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Alexa Morales Weber Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Soul Majestic, reggae, Dennis Brown tribute at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Zej, world, folk, rock, at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Philips Marine Duo, jazz, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Nik Freitas, Mandrake, Sonya Hunter at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Precise Device, San Pablo Project, Mercenary Audio Squad, funk, jazz and hip hop at 9 p.m. at Eli’s Mile High Club, 3629 Martin Luther King Way, Oakland. Cost is $10. 654-4549. 

Abi Yo Yo’s Black Flag, Rock ‘N’ Roll Adventure Kids at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

“The Mackin” at 10 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$7. 548-1159.  

Btiches Brew at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Robben Ford Band at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $15-$26. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, MAY 27 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Gathering Time” Photographs by Heidi B. Desuyo. Reception at 6 p.m. at Photolab Gallery, 2236 Fifth St. Exhibit runs to June 24. 644-1400.  

FILM 

A Theater Near You “Mouchette” at 6:30 p.m. “Classe tous risques” at 8:15 p.m 9:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Rhythm & Muse music and poetry open mic, featuring poet John Menaghan at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St., between Eunice and Rose. 644-6893.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Ballet Theater, “Saisons” at 2 and 7 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $19. 843-4689. www.berkeleyballet.org 

Donna Lerew, violin and Lynn Schugren, piano at 8 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Road, Kensington. Tickets are $20-$25. 525-0302. 

Flauti Diversi “Baroque Pearls” at 8 p.m. at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, 1501 Washington Ave., Albany. Tickets are $15-$18. 527-9840. 

Vox Populi Vocal Ensemble “Gate of the Morning” Sacred music of Guillaume Dufay at 8 p.m. at Church of St. Mary Magdalen, 2005 Berryman St. Tickets are $10-$12. 843-3608. www.vox-pop.org 

“New Keys Concert” New music for the piano at 8 p.m. at The Oakland Public Conservatory of Music, 1616 Franklin St. at 17th. Suggested donation $12. www.opcmusic.org 

“The Transit Rider” a song cycle at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $10-$12. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

Amel Larrieux at 8 p.m. at Sweets Ballroom, 1933 Broadway, Oakland. Tickets are $25-$30. www.groovetickets.com 

Trillium Harp Ensemble at 3 p.m. at A Cheerfull Noyse, 1228 Solano Ave. 524-0411. 

Pa to the Bay, hip hop, reggae and dancehall at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $7-$10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

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

The Bandworks Allstars in a benefit for Ashkenaz, at 7 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Mariospeedwagon and Joe Rut, singer-songwriters, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Angel of Thorns, Broad Rob at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Pyeng Threadgill at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Rhonda Benin Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Chris Peterson at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7-$10. 558-0881. 

The Skygreen Leopards at 10 p.m. The Ivy Room, 858 San Pablo Ave. Tickets are $7. 524-9220. 

Cushion Theory, October Allied, The Trenchermen at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. All ages show. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Ariah Firefly Band at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Funeral Shock, Acts of Sedition, Brain Handle at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, MAY 28 

FILM 

A Theater Near You “Baby Face” at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry Flash with Jane Hirshfield and Kay Ryan at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Telegraph. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Ballet Theater, “Saisons” at 2 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $19. 843-4689. www.berkeleyballet.org 

Berkeley Ballet Theater Adult Division Showcase at 6 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $14. 843-4689.  

College of Alameda Jazz Band performs a free jazz concert from 2 to 6 p.m at the Oakland Conservatory of Music, 1616 Franklin St., Oakland. Families welcome. 748-2213. 748-2312. 

Ajamu Akinyele with Gemini Soul at 2 p.m. at Borders Books & Music, 5800 Shellmound St., Emeryville. Free. 654-1633. 

Chamber Music Sundaes featuring San Francisco Symphony musicians and friends at 3 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $9-$21 at the door 415-584-5946. www.chambermusicsundaes.org 

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

Spitfiyah Village at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $10. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Americana Unplugged with Fun With Finnoula at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 655-5715. 

Laky, Mystic Man, King Wawa & The Oneness Kindom Band in honor of Haitian Flag Day at 5 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Sarah Manning Quartet at 4:30 at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

A Class Act, Duct Tape Mafia, The Icky Girlfriends, The Gnomes at 5:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $8. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

TUESDAY, MAY 30 

FILM 

A Theater Near You “Mouchette” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Terri Jentz reads from “Strange Piece of Paradise” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Telegraph. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

Tell it on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $8-$12.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Unconditional Theatre’s Political Dialogues Dramatic reading of ballot measures at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 644-2204.  

Zoyres Eastern European Wild Ferment at 7 p.m. at Mama Buzz Cafe at 2318 Telegraph Ave. at 23rd, Oakland. Cost is $3-$7. 

Courtableu at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $5. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

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 

Randy Craig Trio, jazz, at 7:30 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Jeff Gauthier Goatette, Nels Cline at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$14. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

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

WEDNESDAY, MAY 31 

FILM 

Arab Women Film Festival “Souha Surviving Hell” at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5-$10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

A Theater Near You “The Weeping Meadow” at 7 p.m at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Scott Anderson reads from his novel of expats and diplomats, “Moonlight Hotel” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Telegraph. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Music for the Spirit with organ and piano music for Memorial Day at 12:15 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, 2619 Broadway. 444-3555. 

Voci Women’s Vocal Ensemble “Aphrodesia” at 7:30 p.m. at The Marsh, 2118 Allston Way. Tickets are $20-$50. 800-838-3006. 

David M’Ore Band, blues, rock, at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Gorilla Math, 2 Cape May, Earthquake Weather at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Orquestra Sensual at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

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

The Other, Lebowski at 8 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100.  

Steve Baughman, Alec Stone Sweet at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Fareed Haque Group at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 


At the Theater: Golden Thread Brings ‘Island of Animals’ to Fremont

By Ken Bullock Special to the Planet
Tuesday May 23, 2006

What if the animal kingdom, in all its vast diversity, filed a class action suit against humanity, for its presumption at designating itself as steward of all the beasts of the world, hunting and domesticating them? 

Something like this happens in Island of Animals, playing this weekend at Fremont’s Park Cinema (converted into a live theater). 

Hafiz Karmali, a director visiting from Paris, has created a stage adaptation of a medieval Islamic fable by the illuminati of the Ikhwan al-Safa, “Brethern of Purity,” a 10th-century scholarly society in Basra (now Iraq) who produced an encyclopedic work on everything from Cosmology and Revelation to Ethics and Aesthetics—a forerunner of the great Humanistic encyclopedias of the Enlightenment of 18th-century Europe. 

When a shipload of men from all countries is wrecked on a “desert isle” abounding in fauna, the humans set up shop as the masters—business as usual. The animals meet with their fellows in each family of beasts—birds of prey, songbirds, creeping things, and so on—and choose representatives to take their case to the wise King of the Jinn (the genies of the Arabian Nights, beings “of smokeless vapor”). While the humans mutter about who to bribe or threaten, the animal representatives sing, twitter, roar, squawk, hiss and buzz their pleading ... but what if there could be found a human as diverse in talents as the animals themselves, one learned and insightful, who embodies the best of the nations of Mankind, mirroring the splendors of heaven and earth?  

The idea of The Perfect Man, long a key notion of many Asian religions as well as Eastern Christianity and Gnosticism-Manichaeanism—and central to Renaissance Humanism and its later secularization—is only one of the philosophical nuggets shared by East and West that glisten throughout this charming show, intended very much as a family entertainment, with much humor and panache.  

A talented cast slips in and out of various guises, both animal and human, with musical timing, from the conducting of the cacophonous “Animal Symphony, in Asia Minor,” to the awkward tenderness of giraffes (to the tune of “Birds Do It, Bees Do It”), to the enormous virtues of the great pachyderms (accompanied by “Elephant Walk”), all represented by gesture and voice, and by a stage splendid with great Islamic art in painted scenery, calligraphy and in projections. 

After a successful run at Thick House on Potrero Hill in San Francisco, this troupe of eight, itself a diverse crew and well-schooled in voice and movement, has sharpened its ensemble work to a fine edge for a piece that constantly shifts in focus, but never wavers in its heartfelt concerns. 

Erika Salazar is an enchanting—and enchanted—King of the Jinn; Joseph Estlack (of Mugwumpin) proves a quick study, whether as a grinning, nodding, agreeable simian, as the King of the Beasts, or of the Bees; Shruti Tewari charms as the Narrator, and pleads in court vocally as The Nightingale; Drea Bernardi and Carol Ellis leap from Frog and Cricket to the Aesopian Kalila and Dimna; John Sousa presents the human's case, and has a laugh as a hyena; Sahar Hojat plays Angel and Griffin and dances, as do her alternating colleagues from Ballet Afsaneh, Tara Pandeya and Aliah Najmabadi, with elegant Persian gesture or whirling as dervishes.  

The Afghan Coalition brought Hafiz Karmali to the Bay Area from Paris, where he is a doctoral candidate in (and translator of) medieval Shi’ite philosophy. He stages Islamic stories using Western theatrical technique after a career directing in North America. Golden Thread Productions, which stages the annual ReOrient Festival of one-acts concerning the Middle East (and much other intercultural activity), is co-producer, and Sharlyn Sawyer of Ballet Afsaneh, choreographer. 

Both Sharlyn and Torange Yeghiazarian of Golden Thread spoke of their enthusiasm in working with such a cosmopolitan theater man and scholar as Hafiz. Torange adding that it has provided the opportunity for her and others “who have been concerned with how religion has influenced the masses, both in the Middle East and here” to “wrestle with religious thought” in a more enlightened context. 

Hafiz Karmali smiled when asked his feelings about the experience. 

“It’s been a pleasure to perform this tale before such diverse—and nearly sold-out!—audiences as we have had here, especially with so many young people ... It is a chance to share this wonderful story and to dispel some of the myths about Islamic civilization.” 

 

ISLAND OF ANIMALS 

Presented by Golden Thread Productions May 26-29 at Park Cinema, 37411 Fremont Blvd., Fremont. (415) 626-4061.  

www.goldenthread.org.


The Sometimes-Mellower Gopher Snake: A Great Pretender?

By Joe Eaton, Special to the Planet
Tuesday May 23, 2006

Although I’m a Southerner by birth and upbringing, I’ve never handled a snake in a religious context. Our church didn’t even use tambourines. All I know of the spiritual side of snake-handling comes from books like Dennis Covington’s memoir Salvation on Sand Mountain and Weston LaBarre’s more scholarly They Shall Take up Serpents. 

Secular snake-handling is another story. Depending on the disposition of the snake, it can be a pleasurably relaxing experience (for the handler if not the reptile). A few weeks ago, I was at UC’s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology for the Cal Day open house, passing around a large but tractable Colombian red-tailed boa constrictor and talking about snakes, when I got some gratifying news from a young naturalist named Henry. Henry and his father said they had been finding gopher snakes at the Berkeley Marina. I was thrilled, in fact: I had no idea they were still around. 

If you want a snake for handling, I would not hesitate to recommend a gopher snake—especially a gopher snake that hasn’t completely warmed up yet. A warm gopher snake can be feisty.  

On the other hand, I wouldn’t advise picking up a garter snake, a decorative but foul-tempered creature with disgusting habits. 

When a gopher snake is averse to being handled, it will let you know. It coils up, flattens its head, hisses, and vibrates its tail rapidly. Against a substrate like dry leaves, the effect of the tail vibration can be very rattlesnake-like—a resemblance that was first noted by the Lewis and Clark expedition, and that has probably gotten a number of gopher snakes killed.  

Some biologists have claimed that this performance is a case of Batesian mimicry, in which a relatively benign creature has evolved a resemblance to another species which is venomous, otherwise dangerous, or at least unpalatable. They also claim that gopher snakes and western rattlesnakes have similar color patterns. 

Henry Walter Bates, one of those 19th-century British amateurs and author of The Naturalist on the River Amazons, described the phenomenon in tropical butterflies. The classic instance of Batesian mimicry among snakes is, of course, the nonvenomous milksnakes and kingsnakes whose red-black-and-yellow banding resembles that of the venomous coral snakes. The viceroy butterfly is a Batesian mimic of the distasteful (to most birds, although not to black-headed grosbeaks) monarch. Behavioral mimicry is rarer, but there are examples. 

But is that really what’s going on with the gopher snake and the rattlesnake? In the 1980s, Samuel Sweet at UC Santa Barbara decided to test the notion by comparing several California populations of the two species. He hypothesized that the snakes’ microhabitats might have something to do with the degree of resemblance. Rattlers and gopher snakes overlap broadly in habitat preference, but previous studies had shown rattlesnakes to be more common in chaparral and woodland, and gopher snakes to be more common in open grassland. Where trees and shrubs are scarce, as in the Carrizo Plain, both are found in grassland. 

Sweet photographed snakes of both species against backgrounds of coastal grassland, Carrizo Plain grassland, and mountain chaparral, and analyzed the extent to which the snake’s pattern matched its setting. He found that gopher snakes were more visually cryptic in grassland, rattlers in chaparral. For both coastal and mountain populations, rattlesnakes and gopher snakes had significantly different patterns. 

It was only in the Carrizo Plain that rattlers and gopher snakes really looked alike. And it was in this habitat that both species were equally cryptic. The implication Sweet drew from this was that there was no model-mimic relationship: gopher snakes had not evolved to look like rattlesnakes. Instead, each species had evolved to blend into its preferred microhabitat, to conceal itself from predators and prey. Where the microhabitat was the same, the patterns were similar—but this was the result of convergence, not mimicry. 

What about the head-spreading and tail-vibrating, though? Sweet pointed out that other nonvenomous snakes that don’t particularly resemble rattlers—among them, racers, corn snakes, kingsnakes, whipsnakes, and indigo snakes—have comparable, if somewhat less intense, defensive displays. This suite of behaviors seems widespread in venomous and nonvenomous snakes alike. Although it would have benefited any nonvenomous snake to be mistaken for a venomous one, he concluded that there was little direct evidence that the gopher snake was a behavioral mimic of the rattlesnake.  

It’s interesting that California ground squirrels, who’ve had a long evolutionary relationship with both rattlers and gopher snakes, have no trouble telling them apart. But the squirrels are fooled by the uncannily rattler-like vocalization of the burrowing owl, which holds up better than the gopher snake’s display as an example of behavioral mimicry.  

 

 

Photograph by Bob Dyer / Petaluma Wetlands Alliance 

A young gopher snake winds his way through the sand at Petaluma’s Schollenberger Park.


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday May 23, 2006

TUESDAY, MAY 23 

Report Back from Argentina and Uruguay with Andres Conteris. Reception at 6 p.m., talk and slide show at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar at Bonita. Donation $10. 524-6064. 

“Hiking the America Discovery Trail” with Ken and Marcia Powers who have walked more than 13,000 trail miles through 30 state, at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. Free. 527-4140. 

Aging & Health Care with Judith Steinberg Turiel on “Our Parents, Ourselves: How American Health Care Imperils Middle Age and Beyond” at 7 p.m. at the El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Ave. El Cerrito. 526-7512.  

Berkeley High School Site Council meets at 4:30 p.m. in Conference Room B. 525-0124. 

Classroom Safari meet real wild animals at 6:30 p.m. at the Kensington Branch Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Free, all ages welcome. 524-3043. 

Embracing Diversity Films “Out of the Shadow” a documentary of a woman with paranoid schizophrenia, at 7 p.m. at Albany High School Library, 603 Key Route Blvd. Enter through gym doors on Thousand Oaks Blvd. Suitable for children over 12. Free. Discussion follows 527-1328. 

Berkeley PC Users Group Problem solving and beginners meeting to answer, in simple English, users questions about Windows computers. At 7 p.m. at 1145 Walnut St. corner of Eunice. 527-2177. 

Being in the World: Transforming Our Relationships with “Opponents” and “Enemies” with Donald Rothberg at 7:30 p.m. Berkeley Buddhist Monastery, 2304 McKinley. 527-2935.  

Raging Grannies of the East Bay invites new folks to come join us from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. to sing and have fun at Berkeley Gray Panthers office, 1403 Addison St., in Andronico’s mall. 548-9696. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Join a few slowpoke seniors at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm for an hour or two walk. In case of questionable weather, call around 8 a.m. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991.  

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 24  

Tilden Explorers An after-school nature adventure program for 5-7 year olds, who may be accompanied by an adult. We will learn about the seasons from 3:15 to 4:45 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8, registration required. 636-1684. 

Walking Tour of Old Oakland “New Era/New Politics” highlights African-American leaders who have made their mark on Oakland. Meet at 10 a.m. and the African American Museum and Library at 659 14th St. 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

“The Immigration Dilemma: What Kind of Country Are We?” with Cary Sanders, Policy Analyst for The California Immigrant Welfare Collaborative, at 1:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst. Sponsored by the Berkeley East-Bay Gray Panthers. 548-9696. 

“In Harms Way: Toxic Threats” with Dr. Brian Linde of Kaiser Oakland and Physcians for Social Responsibility at 7:30 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Donation $5. 848-0237, ext. 127. 

“Electile Dysfunction: Take Back Your Right to Vote” a film at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donations of $5 accepted. 

“How to do Space Age Work with a Stone Age Brain” analyze your productivity with Eve Abbott from 8 to 10 a.m. at Linen Life, 1375 Park Ave. Emeryville. 601-5550.  

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. 548-9840. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wed. and Sat. at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. Sponsored by the Ecology Center’s Farm Fresh Choice. 848-1704.  

Prose Writer’s Workshop at 7 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237.  

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station. Sing for Peace at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m.  

THURSDAY, MAY 25 

Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association Preservation Awards with Jane Powell on “Travels in Preservation: Success Stories of Restoration and Adaptive Reuse” at 7 p.m. at The Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. 841-2242. www.berkeleyheritage.com 

Richmond Greenway Groundbreaking Ceremony for the new community bicycle and walking trail, at 10 a.m. at the 6th St. crossing of the Greenway at Ohio. For more information call 415-397-2220. 

Teen Book Group meets to discuss “Cheaters” by Eric Jerome Dickey at 4 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, South Branch, 1901 Russell St. 981-6147. 

An Evening with Father Michael Hensley Lapsley, South African anti-aparthied activist at 7:30 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Donation $10-$20. 848-0237. 

Easy Does It Disability Assitance Board of Directors meets at 6:30 p.m. at 1744A University Ave., behind the Lutheran Church. Fully accessible and all welcome. 845-5513.  

Berkeley School Volunteers Training workshop for volunteers interested in helping the public schools, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

World of Plants Tours Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at 1:30 p.m. at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $5. 643-2755.  

FRIDAY, MAY 26 

Reduced City Services Today Call ahead to ensure programs or services you desire will be available. 981-CITY. www.cityofberkeley.info 

Impeachment Banner Fridays at 6:45 to 8 a.m. on the Berkeley Pedestrian bridge between Seabreeze Market and the Berkeley Aquatic Park, ongoing on Fridays until impeachment is realized. www. Impeachbush-cheney.com 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Gordon Graham on “Vietnam & Cambodia: History, Culture and Travel” 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.  

“Can We Stop the US Attack on Iran?” with Jeanette Hassberg of the War and Law League and Ali Mirardal of the Iranian-American Community of Northern California at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship, 1924 Bonita St. at Cedar. Donation $10. 528-5403.  

Berkeley Chess School classes for students in grades 1-8 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. A drop-in, rated scholastic tournament follows from 7 to 8 p.m. at 1581 LeRoy Ave., Room 17. 843-0150. 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 8 p.m. at the East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St. Players at all levels are welcome. 845-1041. 

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. wibberkeley@yahoo.com 548-6310, 845-1143. 

SATURDAY, MAY 27 

Chocolate and Chalk Art Festival on sidewalks along the entire length of Solano Avenue in Berkeley and Albany from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Register early for the chalk drawing contest at 1561 Solano Peralta Park; 1850 Solano at Andronico’s Market; and 1127 Solano at Royal Ground Coffee. Artists chalk is available for a fee. Judging at 4 p.m. 527-5358. 

Berkeley Path Wanderers Association North Berkeley Walk Meet at 10 a.m. at the entrance to the Berkeley Rose Garden, west side of Euclid Avenue between Bayview Place and Eunice. Bring water, snack, and sun protection. The pace will be moderate, with some steep stairways. 526-7609. www.berkeleypaths.org 

Family Day at Union Point Park with an Aztec Run/Walk for Education, at 8:30 a.m., dedication of “Wave Oculus” the new public art insatallation at 11 a.m. and kite flying at 11:30 a.m. at 2311 Embarcadero East, Oakland. 

Brooks Island Voyage Paddle the rising tide across the Richmond Harbor Channel to Brooks Island from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. For experienced boaters who can provide their own canoe or kayak and safety gear. For ages 14 and up with parent participation. Cost is $20-$22. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Walking Tour of Historic Oakland Churches and Temples Meet at 10 a.m. at the front of the First Prebyterian Church at 2619 Broadway. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/ 

walkingtours 

“Our Oil and Other Tales” A documentary on the Venezuelan oil and coal industries at 7 p.m. at AK Press Warehouse, 674-A 23rd St., Oakland. Coat is $5-$20 sliding scale. Benefit for Copwatch. 208-1700. 

Podcasting Class In two days, public radio professionals teach you interview skills, writing for the ear, editing tricks and much more. Sat. and Sun. from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at KQED Studios, 2601 Mariposa St., SF. For information call 415-335-0500. contentcrashcourse@audioluxe.org  

Sanskrit Chanting Workshop for the whole family at 7 p.m. at Sacred Space Yoga Sanctuary, 816 Bancroft Way at 6th. Cost is$15-$35. 496-6047. 

Healing Energy Workshop from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at First Unitarian Church of Oakland, 685 14th St. Cost is $80. www.tibetanqigong.org 

Pre-School Storytime for 3-5 year olds at 11 a.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave., through June 22. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden Sat. and Sun. at 2 pm. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

Around the World Tour of Plants at 1:30 p.m., Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

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, MAY 28 

Natural Science Illustration Field Study with Malissa Garden Streblow. Learn basic visual fundamentals of drawing, sharpen your observation skills and learn about the ecological relationshid of the region’s inhabitants. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. For ages 16 and up. Cost is $30-$34. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Nature Drawing for Youth, ages 8-15. Learn field drawing skills through fun exercises, while learning about the plants and animals of the area. From 2:30 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $15-$17. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Berkeley City Club free tour from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tours are sponsored by the Berkeley City Club and the Landmark Heritage Foundation. Donations welcome. The Berkeley City Club is located at 2315 Durant Ave. For group reservations or more information, call 848-7800 or 883-9710. 

The Joy of Rats Meet the adoptable rats and learn about feeding, habitat, grooming and healthcare from 2 to 4 p.m. at RabbitEARS, 303 Arlington Ave. behind ACE Hardware, Kensington. Suggested donation $15. 525-6155. 

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 Mark Henderson on “The Birth of Shayamuni Buddha” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, MAY 29 

Memorial Day Open House at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Vist our resident critters, make nature crafts and learn about the park, from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. 525-2233. 

“Great Hikes in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park” with Andrew Dean Nystrom, winner of the 2005 National Outdoor Book Award, at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. Free. 527-4140. 

 

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group for people 60+ years old meets at 10:15 p.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave., through June 19th. Cost is $2.50 per week includes refreshments. 524-9122. 

Breathexperience?Classes “Oh, My Aching Back!” 12-1 p.m, $10; “Restoring Viitality” 5:30-6:45 p.m. $10; “The Experience of Breath” 7-8:15 p.m.$12, at MIBE, 830 Bancroft Way, #104. 981-1710. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, MAY 30 

Public Hearing on Creeks Task Force at 6 p.m. at Longfellow School Auditorium, 1500 Derby St.  

City and County Resources for Older Adults at 1:30 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720. 

National Senior Health & Fitness Day with speakers, information booths on massage therapy, fitness testing, arthritis prevention, dentistry, and more, plus entertainment from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Salem Lutheran Home, 2361 East 29th St., Oakland. Free. 534-3637. www.eldercarealliance.org 

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. 

Family Story Time at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Branch Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Free, all ages welcome. 524-3043. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Join a few slowpoke seniors at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm for an hour or two walk. 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. Also, Mon. noon to 4 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Materials and firing charges not included. 525-5497. 

Brainstormer Weekly Pub Quiz every Tuesday from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Pyramid Alehouse Brewery, 901 Gilman St. 528-9880.  

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your digital images, slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 31 

“Palestinian Lesbians Speak Out from the Occupation” at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Friends Church, 1600 Sacramento St. at Cedar. Donation $10-$20. Sponsored by Bay Area Women in Black. www.bayareawomeninblack.org 

Walking Tour of Oakland Chinatown Meet at 10 a.m. at the courtyard fountain in the Pacific Renaissance Plaza at 388 Ninth St. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

“American Dictators” A documentary by Alex Jones on the election of 2004 and the degeneration of our political process at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donations of $5 accepted. 

Bayswater Book Club meets to discuss “American Theocracy” by Kevin Phillips at 6:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble, El Cerrito. Also organizing meeting to become a Democratic Central Committee Chartered Club. 433-2911. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wed. and Sat. at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. Heavy rain cancels. 548-9840. 

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. Sponsored by the Ecology Center’s Farm Fresh Choice. 848-1704. www.ecologycenter.org 

Stitch ‘n Bitch Bring your knitting, crocheting and other handcrafts from 6 to 9 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Sing for Peace at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil 

CITY MEETINGS 

City Council meets Tues., May 23 at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Civic Arts Commission meets Wed., May 24, at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Mary Ann Merker, 981-7533. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/civicarts 

Disaster and Fire Safety Commission meets Wed., May 24, at 7 p.m., at the Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. Gil Dong, 981-5502. www.ci.berkeley.ca. us/commissions/disaster 

Energy Commission meets Wed., May 24, at 6:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Neal De Snoo, 981-5434. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/energy 

Mental Health Commission meets Wed. May 24, at 6:30 p.m. at 2640 MLK Jr. Way, at Derby. Harvey Turek, 981-5213. www.ci.erkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/mentalhealth 

Police Review Commission meets Wed. May 24, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-4950. 

School Board meets Wed., May 24, at 7:30 p.m., in the City Council Chambers. Queen Graham 644-6147 or Mark Coplan 644-6320. 

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., May 25, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/zoning  

 

 

 


Arts Calendar

Friday May 19, 2006

FRIDAY, MAY 19 

THEATER 

Altarena Playhouse “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” at 8 p.m. Fri. and Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. 1409 High St. through June 11. Tickets are $12-$15. 523-1553.  

Berkeley Rep “The Miser” at 8 p.m. at the Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. Tickets are $53. Runs through June 25. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Berkeley Rep “The Glass Menagerie” at 8 p.m. at the Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. Tickets are $59. Runs through June 18. 647-2949.  

Contra Costa Civic Theater “Animal Crackers” at 8 p.m. Fri and Sat., and Sun. at 2 p.m. at Contra Costa Civic Theater, 951 Pomona Ave., El Cerrito, through May 20. Tickets are $12-$20. 524-9132.  

Impact Theater “Money & Run Episode 4: Go Straight, No Chaser,” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave. Cost is $10-$15. Runs through May 27. 464-4468.  

Shotgun Players “King Lear” Thurs.-Sun. at 8 p.m. at the Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. to June 18. Tickets are $15-$30, reservations suggested. 841-6500.  

Subterranean Shakespeare “Richard III” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. at Rose in Live Oak Park, through May. 20. Tickets are $12-$17. 276-3871. 

TheatreFIRST “World Music” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 3 p.m. at Old Oakland Theatre, 461 Ninth St. at Broadway. Tickets are $18-$22. 436-5085.  

EXHIBITIONS 

“Notations” Introducing artists Keiko Ishihara, Erik Schmitt, and Carol Lee Shanks. Reception at 6 p.m. at Cecile Moochnek Gallery, 1809-D Fourth St. 549-1018. 

“Mindscapes” Paintings by Dianne Arancibia. Reception at 6:30 p.m. at Red Oak Realty Gallery, 1891 Solano Ave. 849-9990, ext. 2160. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Vision and Misperception: What Art Lovers Need to Know” with Ariella Popple, Vision Scientist, UCB, at 7:30 p.m. at 4th Street Studion, 1717D Fourth St. 527-0600. 

Paul Rieckoff describes “Chasing Ghosts: A Soldier’s Fight for America From Baghdad to Washington” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Telegraph Ave. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Kairos Youth Choir “We Travel Along, Singin’ Our Song ... Side by Side” at 4 p.m. at Live Oak Theater, Live Oak Park. Tickets are $8-$12. 704-4479. 

Oakland East Bay Symphony “Let Us Break Bread Together” Chorale Concert with the Oakland Symphony Chorus, the Kucy Kinchen Chorale, the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir and Mt. Eden High School Choir at 8 p.m. at Paramount Theater, 2025 Broadway, Oakland. Tickets are $15-$60. 625-8497.  

Soli Deo Gloria and the Russian Chamber Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. at Christ Episcopal Church, 1700 Santa Clara, Alameda. Tickets at the door are $20-$25. www.sdgloria.org  

Jacqueline Castro Ravelo, Chilean singer, with Raphael Manriquez at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568.  

Culture Shock Oakland “Bringing Back the Boogie!” at 8 p.m., Sat. at 7:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $12-$20. www.shockfamily.org  

Forensic Science, Enzyme Dynamite, Distant Relatives at 8:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886.  

Beegie Adair Trio, piano jazz, at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15-$18. 845-5373.  

Ed Reed with Laura Klein Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ.  

Don Neely’s Royal Society Five at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $16. 525-5054.  

Amy Meyers, singer-songwriter, at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Darol Anger’s Republic of Strings at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761.  

Terry Rodriguez Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Jaia Suri and Renee Asteria, singer-songwriters, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Jonathan Segel, Victor Krummenacher, Lucio Menegon at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082.  

Batalion of Saints, Deadfall at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Santero, latin fusion, soul at 8 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $5. 548-1159.  

The Mad Youth Orchestra at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $10. 451-8100.  

Gabriel Mann, Cas Lucas and Zack Hexum in an all ages show at 8 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5. 644-2204. 

The Regiment at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Keiko Matsui at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $24-$28. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, MAY 20 

CHILDREN  

“How to Be” Lisa Brown introduces her new picture book for children at 11 a.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

“It’s NOT a Piece of Cake” Children’s Theater by the Berkwood Hedge School at 2 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $6 at the door. 

THEATER 

Living Arts Playback Theatre Ensemble Personal stories shared by audience members then transformed by the ensemble into improvised theater pieces at 8 p.m. at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $12-$18. 595-5500, ext. 25.  

Livarte opens at 8 pm, with a stage appearance and art installation in a living room atmosphere, 3230 Adeline St. 601-5774. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“FinnArt” Art by Finns and art inspired by Finland From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Finnish Kavela Hall, 1970 Chestnut St. Free. www.geocities.com/finnartexhibits/info.html  

“Fresh Paint - Second Coat” works by 25 Bay Area artists opens with a reception at 6 p.m. at Piedmont Lane Gallery, 4121 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. Exhibit runs to June 17. www.3lisha.com/freshpaint/  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Jan Steckel reads from her new book of poetry, “The Underwater Hospital” at 5 p.m. at the Laurel Book Store at 4100 MacArthur Blvd., corner of 39th Ave., Oakland. 531-2073. 

Storytelling Festival from 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and on Sun. from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Kennedy Grove Regional Recreation Area in El Sobrante. Tickets $11-$55. 869-4946. www.bayareastorytelling.org 

Matthieu Racard, a Buddhist monk, introduces “Happiness” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Telegraph Ave. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“Celebrating 25 Years of Integrated Dance in America” a festival of physically integrated contemporary dance featuring AXIS Dance Company, Dancing Wheels and Full Radius Dance at 8 p.m. at Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, 1428 Alice St., Oakland. Tickets are $10-$20. 925-798-1300.  

Chamber Mix performs music of Tann, Hoover, Tower, Bilotta, McManus, and Stoddard, at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. bet. Durant and Bancroft. Tickets are $12-$18. 549-3864.  

“Till You Find Your Dream” Broadway selections, American folk and popular music by the Cantare Chorale and All Star Singers at 7:30 p.m. at Woodminster Amphitheater, 3300 Joaquin Miller Rd., Oakland. Tickets are $10-$25. 836-0789.  

Young People’s Symphony Orchestra at 8 pm at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. www.ypsomusic.net 

Hip Hop Festival at 7 p.m. and Dream, El Efe and Company of Prophets at 9:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $15 for both shows, or $10 for each. 849-2568.  

Robin Gregory & Bill Bell Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ.  

Tom Rigney & Flambeau at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054.  

Steve Taylor, folk-country-blues, at 7 p.m. at A Cuppa Tea, 3202 College Ave., at Alcatraz. 

Jared Karol, singer-songwriter, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Jody Stecher & Kate Brislin at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Re-Ignition, The Miserables, Index A, Displace at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886.  

Good for Cows and John Schott’s Dream Kitchen at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12. 845-5373.  

Caroline Chung Duo at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

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

Ray Cepeda at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7-$10. 558-0881. 

The Hoo, The Rave Ups, Sun Kings at 8 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $20. 451-8100.  

bonoR, Danny Partridge Experience at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082.  

Jinx Jones Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Corrupted Youth, Civilian Outbreak, The Deadly Rhythm at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

Keiko Matsui at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $24-$28. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SUNDAY, MAY 21 

CHILDREN 

Asheba, participatory Caribbean music concert, at 3 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $4-$6. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

“It’s NOT a Piece of Cake” Children’s Theater by the Berkwood Hedge School at 2 and 7 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $6 at the door. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Healing Waters” paintings by Judi Miller, glass sculpture by Carol Holmes, and “Katrina’s Children” art and poetry by gulf coast youth from River of Words. Reception at 4 p.m. at the Community Art Gallery, Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, 2450 Ashby Ave. Exhibit runs through July 5. 204-1667.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Storytelling Festival from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Kennedy Grove Regional Recreation Area in El Sobrante. Tickets are $11 for a single event, $55 for the entire weekend. 869-4946. www.bayareastorytelling.org 

Joe Fischer will discuss his new book “Poker Passion” at 2 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Poetry Flash with Lynne Knight and Kathleen Lynch at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Telegraph. Donation $2. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Jazz on Fourth Street from noon to 5 p.m. with Bill Bell Quartet, Big Belly Blues Band, John Santos Quartet and the Berkeley High Jazz Orchestra & Combos. 526-6294.  

Volti and the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra “Our Voices Rise in Song Together” at 4 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way, at Ellsworth. Tickets are $15-$20. 415-771-3352. www.voltisf.org 

Prometheus Symphony Orchestra performs Mahler’s Ruckert Lieder with Elspeth Franks, mezzo soprano, and Claudio Santome, tenor, at 3 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Ave., Oakland. Admission is free, donation requested. www.prometheussymphony.org 

Kairos Youth Choir “We Travel Along, Singin’ Our Song ... Side by Side” at 4 p.m. at Live Oak Theater, Live Oak Park. Tickets are $8-$12. 704-4479. 

Golden Gate Boys Choir at 2 p.m. at Calvary Christian Center, 1516 Grand St., Alameda Tickets are $10 adults, $5, children. 887-4311. www.ggbc.org 

Organ Music at St. John's with Roberta Gary, University of Cincinatti, in an an all-Bach recital on the Brombaugh organ at 4 p.m. at St. Johns Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Donation $15. Reception follows performance. 845-6830. 

Oakland School for the Arts Big Band, Drum Corp, and Percussion Ensemble at 2 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. Donations benefit Oakland School for the Arts. 228-3207. 

Kenny White at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Ben Adams Quintet, CD release party, at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ.  

Americana Unplugged, bluegrass and oldtime showcase, with The Earl Brothers at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 655-5715. 

Creative Aging Benefit Concert with Avotcja, Rafael Gonzalez, and many others, at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12. 849-2568.  

Advanced High School Jazz Workshop Ensemble at 4:30 at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10. 845-5373.  

Stephanie Neira, flamenco, at 7 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  

DJ Hamouris at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Howard Alden Quartet at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

MONDAY, MAY 22 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Page to Stage A conversation with Rita Moreno at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Rep, 2025 Addison St. Free. 647-2949.  

Mark Levy will discuss “Void in Art” at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Sarah Schulman reads from her novel “Empathy” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Telegraph. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

West Coast Songwriters Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $5. 548-1761.  

Hot Frittatas, café music, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Blue Monday Jam at 7:30 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100.  

Zilberella Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ.  

Opie Bellas at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $6-$10. 238-9200.  

TUESDAY, MAY 23 

FILM 

Embracing Diversity Films “Out of the Shadow” a documentary of a woman with paranoid schizophrenia, at 7 p.m. at Albany High School Library, 603 Key Route Blvd. Please enter through gym doors on Thousand Oaks Blvd. Suitable for children over 12. Free. Discussion follows. 527-1328. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

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

The Weepies at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Ellen Hoffman Trio and Singers’ Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ.  

Mel Martin Quartet at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$14. 238-9200.  

Free Persons Quartet, jazz, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

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

WEDNESDAY, MAY 24 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Leslie Larson reads from her new novel “Slipstream” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Telegraph. 845-7852.  

Daniel C. Matt introduces “The Zohar” at 7:30 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Donation $10-$20. Benefits Aquarian Minion. 848-0237, ext. 110. 

“Writing Teachers Write” monthly reading series at 5 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Music for the Spirit Organ music at 12:15 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, 2619 Broadway. 444-3555. 

UC Jazz Ensembles at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

The Kaveman Experience, 15-17 year old musicians, at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568.  

The New Sing Sextet at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Regina Maria Pontillo & Le Jazz Hot at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Afro Man, Mad Ro at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $10-$15. 848-0886.  

Dope at 8:30 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100.  

Hanneke Cassel at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

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

THURSDAY, MAY 25 

FILM 

A Theater Near You “The Weeping Meadow” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

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

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Composer John Adams and Crowden School Students in a Spring Clelebration at 7 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Free. 559-6910.  

Raquy and the Cavemen, progressive Middle-Eastern dance music at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Drum workshop at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $13-$15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Bryan Bowers at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Terence Brewer Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

The Wild Life, Luminous Family Trust, Naomi & The Courteous Rudeboys at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. 

Chico Debarge and Family “A Night for the Ladies” at 8 p.m. at Kimballs Carnival, 522 2nd St., Oakland. Tickets are $25-$35. www.ticketweb.com 

Fusion, mixed heritage spoken word artsists and musicians at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$15. 849-2568.  

Showtime @ 11 Hip Hop at 10 p.m. at the Ivy Room, 585 San Pablo Ave. at Solano. 524-9220. www.ivyroom.com  

Jennifer Johns at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $8. 451-8100.  

Robben Ford Band at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $15-$26. 238-9200.  


Moving Pictures: ‘Afghanistan’s Fatal Flower'

By Justin De Freitas
Friday May 19, 2006

Berkeley filmmakers Cliff Orloff and Olga Shalygin return to the public airwaves this weekend with their latest documentary about Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban.  

Afghanistan’s Fatal Flower, a half-hour look at the opium trade, airs on KQED at Sunday at 2 p.m. and again on KQED World at 9 a.m. and noon on Tuesday, May 23. 

Orloff and Shalygin track the production of opium from the poppy fields of Afghanistan to the streets of the world’s urban capitals. The path, like the issue itself, is complex, winding through various strata of society.  

Though the reins of power have changed hands, Afghanistan is far from the success story the Bush administration would have us believe. The warlords may have exchanged their fatigues for business suits in an attempt to gain public respectability but their practices have apparently changed little, as they still maintain private militias that are funded primarily by the opium trade. And their opulent lifestyles, in marked contrast to the people they claim to represent, can only be funded—in a country where the average income is well below a dollar a day—by illicit activity. 

Afghanistan is responsible for 87 percent of the world’s heroin, which may give an idea of just how much money is to be made in the business, and consequently just how strong the allure of the trade is for the country’s poor farmers. One farmer is quoted as saying that a field of poppies can bring in more than 20 times as much money as a field of cotton.  

Gold is still the traditional method of storing one’s wealth, but Fatal Flower shows that opium has become far more lucrative. It essentially serves as Afghanistan’s stock market. From farmers and smugglers to politicians and warlords, everyone along the chain of production socks away stockpiles of opium to sell at a later date when the price is high. In a nation of great uncertainty, the illicit opium trade has filled a gaping void, proving to be not just a seductive and lucrative side business, but one of the few sources of economic and cultural stability.


Moving Pictures: Bello Makes ‘The Sisters’ Worth Watching

By Justin DeFreitas
Friday May 19, 2006

The Sisters, opening today (Friday) at Shattuck Cinemas, is an adaptation of a play by Richard Alfieri, which was in turn derived from Anton Chekhov’s play The Three Sisters. Alfieri himself wrote the screenplay, and that fact may be largely responsible for the film’s undoing. 

The Sisters is a highly literate movie, in the sense that its characters are highly literate, highly articulate and endlessly chatty. Other than that, it’s really a simple family drama, examining the threads that bind and constrict three sisters and a brother. But this is not quite your average family. All are somehow involved, like their late father, in academia, or at least in rather academic professions, making them educated, ruthlessly ambitious and more than a little smug.  

The story takes place in New York and begins with a birthday party for the baby of the family, a college student whom the two elder sisters have essentially raised. Guests at the party, held in the university’s faculty lounge, include two other professors and a visiting professor who knew the girls when they were children but hasn’t seen them since.  

This gathering—Act 1—becomes a cauldron of volatile emotions, establishing the relationships between the characters and setting the stage for a series of confrontations, confessions and recriminations that quickly unravel the family’s carefully constructed myths. 

The first half-hour is pretty rough going, not because of its content but because of its form. Alfieri and director Arthur Allan Seidelman have essentially put the stage play directly on screen, resulting in a stagy and excessively verbose film, with the actors pitching their performances toward the cheap seats. The dialogue is constant, using words, words and more words to say what a glance, a pause or a gesture could have expressed so much more simply and effectively. 

Though it may have been a more successful film had it been rendered more cinematically, the filmed-play technique is a valid stylistic choice, and might have worked much better had the filmmakers stuck to it. But ultimately Alfieri and Seidelman give in and make a few tepid concessions to the cinema.  

For instance, virtually the entire film takes place in the faculty lounge. However, the filmmakers attempt to paper over this with unnecessary flashbacks and cutaways. Gaps between scenes and acts are papered over as well, with clichéd montage sequences of turning leaves and couples removing their clothing used to communicate the passage of time and the changing of relationships, whereas a simple fade-out and fade-in would have sufficed. 

There are many examples of stage plays successfully transferred to the screen without these compromises. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? comes to mind, a film that made excellent use of a single set and of highly educated and verbose characters. The Sisters could have used some of that confidence, locking its characters in that lounge for two hours and letting them have at it. Instead, the brief excursions outside the hall only serve to remind us of the artifice of the exercise. 

The highlight is Maria Bello. She carries the film, forging through the material with charm, beauty and charisma, bringing to life the character of Marcia—proud, angry and fierce, yet battered, fragile and slightly unhinged.  

Marcia flaunts her intelligence, her wit and her beauty, yet Bello does an excellent job of revealing that that very beauty is in fact the source of much of Marcia’s pain. We learn that she has always been something of an ornament adorning the men in her life: a surrogate society matron for her widowed father; a charming companion to her esteemed psychiatrist husband; an object to be displayed. 

Marcia can be coy and seductive in flirtation, then doubly so by preemptively admitting to her coyness. Then doubly so again as she drapes herself across a sofa, like a patient on a psychiatrist’s couch, revealing—along with plenty of skin—the motivations and agony behind that coyness and seduction. This is all she knows how to do; it is both her survival technique and a trap she longs to escape. She puts herself on display, either physically or emotionally, at every opportunity; it is a role she has played for so long that she can no longer do anything else. Though she considers herself brutally honest, her outbursts and insults are little more than melodrama. Marcia is so enthralled by her own pain and her own drama—and her public performances of that drama—that she really has little understanding of her siblings. She has a few insights into them, but her badgering displays of self-absorption have only driven them into protective foxholes. What’s really at work here is not honesty at all; it’s deception, self-preservation and vitriol. 

Most of the other actors do well enough with the material they’ve been given, but they’re essentially just playing types, marking time until each is granted one soul-baring expository scene to reveal their characters’ motivations and secrets—secrets which are rarely very surprising or insightful. Like much of the film, these details seem perhaps a little too rote—off-the-shelf Freudian explanations for characters who should and could be so much more interesting. 

The Sisters was probably engaging and energetic on stage, and might have been on screen, but what we’re left with is a half-hearted hybrid of stage and screen, labored yet lacking, overwrought and underthought. 

 

 

THE SISTERS 

Written by Richard Alfieri.  

Directed by Arthur Allan Seidelman. 

Starring Maria Bello, Mary Stuart Masterson, Erika Christensen, Tony Goldwyn, Steven Culp, Rip Torn, Erik McCormak, Chris O’Donnell.  

Playing at Shattuck Cinemas.


Arts: Fourth Street Swings With Jazz on Sunday

By Ira Steingroot
Friday May 19, 2006

If ticket shock is the only thing stopping you from going to live jazz in clubs and concerts, you will not want to miss hearing the top-rated artists who will be performing al fresco and for free at the Jazz on 4th Street Festival this Sunday. 

The Bill Bell Quartet, the Big Belly Blues Band, the John Santos Quintet, and the Berkeley High Jazz Orchestra plus two of its combos will all be on hand to entertain you and to give you a taste of what can come from top-flight musical pedagogy.  

Public school jazz education began in Berkeley in 1966 when Herb Wong, the principal at Washington Elementary, offered a jazz class to his music students. It was not long before every school in the district had a jazz band. 

When Phil Hardymon, who had worked with Wong at the grade school level, became band director at Berkeley High in 1975, he parlayed all the work that had gone on in the lower grades into the top-rated high school jazz education program in the country. 

Berkeley High jazz bands and members regularly win state and national competitions and scholarships and have performed at the Monterey, North Sea and Montreux Jazz Festivals—and why not when their alumni include such stellar players as David Murray, Craig Handy, Josh Redman, Benny Green and Peter Apfelbaum? 

What Herb Wong began has become a multi-generational community of teachers, alumni and students that gives the Berkeley jazz community a depth and resonance often lacking elsewhere. Unfortunately, major budget cuts are threatening this innovative and successful program. 

The proceeds from this Tenth Annual Festival, sponsored by KCSM/Jazz 91, Yoshi’s and 4th Street Merchants, will benefit Berkeley High School Performing Arts to help ensure that the jazz program is able to continue. 

Appropriately, the featured musician at this year’s festival is pianist, composer, arranger and revered music educator Bill Bell, known to many as the Jazz Professor. Bell has taught in colleges and universities for over three decades. 

Although he just retired, he still holds adjunct professor positions in jazz at both UC Berkeley and Stanford University. From 1991 to 2001, he was the chairman of the College of Alameda’s music department. Trumpeter Jon Faddis, pianists Benny Green and Michael Wolfe and drummer Will Kennedy are just the most well-known of the thousands of players who have benefited from his instruction. 

For all his work as a teacher, Bell made his name as a performing artist. He toured as musical director and accompanist for vocalist Carmen McRae and provided the same solid backing for other vocalists like Joe Williams, Anita O’Day, Nancy Wilson, Lou Rawls and the Supremes. He always knows what chords to play underneath a lyric to give just the right support to a jazz singer. 

That same ability to feed a soloist the most stimulating changes made him a favorite with instrumentalists like Benny Carter, Louie Bellson, Milt Jackson, Clark Terry, Art Farmer and Kenny Burrell. One of his most impressive gigs was as choir director for a 1967 Duke Ellington Sacred Concert at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.  

It has long been known to both fans and visiting jazz stars that having Bill Bell accompanying you means having the best. His latest album, Just Swing Baby, indicates that Bell is just as sensitive, creative, swinging and virtuosic as ever. 

Two other excellent bands with strong connections in the Bay Area complete the lineup. Like Bill Bell, Afro-Latin percussionist John Santos is an educator and scholar as well as a major performer who has worked with Latin stars like Yma Sumac, Tito Puente, Patato Valdés, Armando Peraza, Lalo Schifrin, Santana, Cachao and Omar Sosa as well as jazz masters like Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Art Farmer, Bobby Hutcherson, McCoy Tyner and John Faddis. His knowledge and experience of Afro-Latin percussion traditions, rooted in family, community, tradition, study, practice and meditation is profound. 

The Big Belly Blues Band is a mid-size orchestra with a large sound that brings together horns, keyboards, bass, guitar and percussion plus vocalists to explore the affinities shared by jazz, blues, rhythm and blues and hip hop. Various combinations of the highly esteemed Berkeley High Jazz Ensemble will open and close the festivities.  

 

The Bill Bell Quartet (1:15-2 p.m.), the Big Belly Blues Band (2:15–3 p.m.), the John Santos Quintet (3:10-4 p.m.), and the Berkeley High Jazz Orchestra and two combos (noon–1:15 p.m. and 4–5 p.m.) perform at the Tenth Annual Jazz on Fourth Street Festival, Sunday, May 21, noon-5 p.m., on Fourth Street in Berkeley, between Hearst Avenue and Virginia Street. For more information call 526-6294.


At the Theater: ‘The Miser’ Comes to the Rep

By Ken Bullock
Friday May 19, 2006

“I’ll spare no-one ... I’ll break with the whole human race.” In the darkness before curtain at the Berkeley Rep, the audience hears these ominous words. The lights go up on the set of a ruined drawing room, the salon of some great old house “before the Revolution” in France, walls stained with neglect and the ceiling drooping down. 

It’s Moliere, but not The Misanthrope. The strange comedy we see begin through a plastic scrim as two young persons get up from the floor and quibble over their mutual devotion and chances for marriage, is The Miser, as adapted by David Ball and staged by Theatre de la Jeune Lune, guest touring company at The Berkeley Rep, under the direction of its cofounder, Dominique Serrand.  

The two figures in the sidelit morning tableau are Elise, daughter of the title character (Sarah Agnew), and her secret beau, Cleante (Stephen Cartmell), sycophantic steward of the household and a castaway dignitary of Naples posing as a servant. Soon the whole cast suddenly leaps up from the corners where they’ve huddled unnoticed, like a pile of rags, reef the plastic scrim—and enter “the world’s least human human,” Harpagon (Steven Epp), The Miser. 

As portrayed by Epp, Harpagon is a manic salamander of a creature, scurrying back and forth, tongue darting or lolling. Serrand has noted that it was only in the post-war French theater that Harpagon was shown as vigorous, standing upright, an innovation of Jean Vilar of the Theatre Nationale Populaire. There’s a moment of great physical humor in the close byplay between Harpagon and young La Fleche (Nathan Keepers), like mirror images of each other as they skitter nervously around the stage as The Miser shouts, “Like a tree waiting for a dog ... Your bulging eyes take in everything I own.”  

Harpagon also rails at and strip-searches his own servants. Crazy invectives and great lines from Moliere’s original stand out in a blur of dialogue and speeches delivered with an odd, rickety syncopation, sometimes broken with inarticulate mouthings and odd gestures sawing the air. 

The story jolts along amid much side business, which takes center stage. Both Harpagon’s children are desperate to marry. His gambler son Cleante (Stephen Cartmell), accouttered like a post-punk rooster, wants ingenue Mariane (Maggie Chestovich, with sharp gestures and poses), only to have his unwitting father as rival. Frosine (Barbara Kingsley), an older woman, serves as go-between. 

In truth, the plot seems more a ploy for the cast to work back, with various schtick, through Moliere to the improvisations of his predecessors and inspiration, the Italian Commedia Dell’Arte troupes—a logical mission for a touring company founded by alumnai of the Ecole Jacques LeCoq. 

But the sometimes mismatched and broken off routines aren’t so much lazzi as a showcase of The Three Stooges after a course of shock treatment. And the attitudinizing is less stylized, less grotesque than a warmed-over bizarrie-unto-itself. There’s often a kind of lassitude to the timing, a drag to the quirky pace of this long show, especially before intermission. 

Some of this is a result of the curious halting vocal delivery, a version of the jerky claptrap that occurs either when stylized speech is translated too literally into highly-accented English, usually sounding like mumbling or babytalk, or to archly signal with its pauses that the dialogue’s an arty put-on (early John waters and later David Lynch films come to mind). 

The articulation of more than the speech is slipshod, too, inconsistant even in regard to individual players’ mannerisms, much less the integration of gestural business in ensemble playing. 

Serrand has mentioned “the comedy of tragedy” and a “language based on lies” in “a desperate world where because you’re dealing with a tyrant, everything has to be coded.” 

But there’s less tragedy than anxiety, even stress, expressed onstage, and the social comment seems more on the level at times of an art school production, convinced that tragedy and comedy are euphemisms for self-display. The ultrachromatic, even atonal overtones of the show are reflected in the uncomplementary colors of the otherwise wellmade costumes, a kind of blotchy spectrum, for a postmodern parody of a parody, or burlesque of a burlesque. 

Not all is over or underblown. There’s real talent for physical comedy in the players, and some of them execute very well within the constraints of all the conceptualism--especially David Rainey as Master Jacques, a recent addition to the cast, who turns a consistant, wonderfully nuanced performance. There are explosions of slapstick, and local performers GreyWolf (as Anselme) and an ensemble of six (including Clive Worsley) cringe, cavort and sound out (there’s not much strutting) on Riccardo Hernandez’s funhouse set. 

It’s a little like that old story of George Kaufman backstage at a Marx Bros. show he wrote: Moliere can be imagined in the wings, saying, “I thought for a minute I heard one of my own lines ...” Too bad Jeune Lune missfires at the ultraburlesque shredding of conventions and expectations the Marxes reveled in. 

 

THE MISER 

Presented by the Berkeley Repertory Theatre through June 25 at the Roda Theatre, 2025 Addison St. 647.2900. www.berkeleyrep.org  

 

 

Photograph by Kevin Berne 

Stephen Cartmell, Steven Epp and Sarah Agnew in The Miser.


Travel Through Time at Black Diamond Mines

By Marta Yamamoto
Friday May 19, 2006

Atop Rose Hill Cemetery, I gaze out at the undulant hillsides and narrow canyon of Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve. I share this peak with two hundred former 19th century residents—coal miners, their wives and children. Little remains as testament to their settlement, but their voices stir the trees. Sojourn at Black Diamond Mines to revisit past glories and relish present verdant splendor. 

With almost 6,000 acres and 65 miles of trails, this is a vast parcel of preserved land, ideal for hiking, picnicking and observing wildlife. Within grassland, foothill woodland, mixed evergreen forest and chaparral, you’ll discover Coulter pine, black sage, desert olive and dudleya providing habitat for over 100 species of birds and common mammals. Add some exotic plantings and a springtime display of wildflowers deserving the attention of Monet and the urge to visit just increases. 

Below the surface, Black Diamond Preserve offers a look into the past when coal, and then sand, were mined from its core. The discovery of coal in 1850 drew immigrants from all over the world to mine for “black diamonds.” During 40 years of existence over four millions tons of coal were removed, depleting, not the resource but the workforce. At the end of the coal era, the five boomtowns and their remaining residents packed up and left. 

The next chapter in Black Diamond history came in the 1920s when sand mining began to extract high-grade silica used in glassmaking. With better and safer mining techniques, over 1.8 millions tons were removed from underground caverns by the end of World War II, when sand ballast from Belgium usurped the local product.  

The East Bay Regional Park District came into the picture in the early 1970s when it acquired land for the preserve. One unfortunate chapter, the party and vandalism era, took place before the land was acquired, leaving its mark, though now less evident, on the mines and cemetery.  

Approaching the Preserve on Somersville Road, I felt like I was leaving the world behind me. As the canyon narrowed it drew me forward until I was surrounded only by rural buildings and pristine landscape. I was ready for outdoor exploration. Since it was too early to tour the Visitor Center, I began my exploration with a walk up Nortonville Trail, once Road, to Rose Hill Cemetery. All around me were signs of new life: the tender leaves of trees of heaven emerging through last year’s seed clusters; purple vetch and blue lupine pushing up through thickets of grass; and the sounds of bumblebees, red winged blackbirds and the wind coursing through the foliage. 

The Protestant Cemetery stands sentinel over the land’s reincarnation as a park. “Gone but not forgotten” read the stones. Life was precious in the 19th century and often too short. Mining accidents and epidemics of smallpox, diphtheria and scarlet fever took many before their time. Ages on marble and granite tombstones are carved in exact time: Mary Adams lived 49 months and 7 days, Daniel Richards 69 years, 1 month and 22 days. Four children in the Joseph family died before reaching nine years of age; by eight years most were already toiling in the mines. The cemetery remains as testament to the hard lives and the contributions of those who came for a new life. 

Even when outside temperatures rise to uncomfortable levels, it’s always a crisp 56-degrees in the epic-size Greathouse Visitor Center, open to both human and canine visitor, whether on foot or on bike. Traverse a long narrow tunnel to experience how 1920s sand miners reached their underground chamber. Small lights strung at head level emit just enough light to examine the timbered walls and ceiling, shale sides and dripping water.  

At tunnel’s end, a giant cavern opens up, vast in size and marked with evidence of its past, white areas of the desired silica, orange streaks formed of rust in the less desirable sandstone and black lines of the soot remaining from days when party bonfires burned illegally.  

The center is nicely arranged with just enough exhibits, photographs, video and brochures for information, but without distracting from the cavern itself. Handsome wood cases hold vintage Lane’s Honey and Star Wine Vinegar, a sampling of the glassware produced from the mined high-grade silica. Further on, artifacts from the towns of Nortonville and Somersville—marbles, scissors, heavy iron, teapot and lock and key—are familiar in their commonality. Displays of coal samples, common rocks and Preserve wildflowers lend a science-hand. Souvenirs for budding miners include Hazel-Atlas hardhats, hardhat flashlights and park T-shirts and caps. 

It’s a short but very scenic walk from the Visitor Center to the Hazel-Atlas Mine portal and the hillside above is a springtime display. Thick shrubs and grasses are polka-dotted with glittering colors: three-toned bush lupine in blue, violet and cream, yellow coreopsis with feathery leaves, red Indian paintbrush and white hemispherical yarrow.  

You don’t need to purchase a hardhat and flashlight for the Hazel-Atlas Mine Tour; they’re included with the price of a ticket. You’ll be glad to have them, along with a sweatshirt, for the one-hour walk 400-feet into a restored silica mine. On my tour, park guide Lauren, enthusiastically instructed and entertained us with history, geology and mining techniques.  

After locking the gate and brassing us in, the park guide showed us a narrated slide show describing precarious coal mining in 18-inch coal rooms. With an image of today’s park on screen, Lauren pointed out reminders of Somersville, like level areas and piles of rocks. The walking tour focused on sand mining techniques, in which I learned about adits, stopes, scaling rods, room-and-pillar mining, slusher buckets and fossils of ancient ghost shrimp in the sandstone walls.  

Prolong your visit with a temperature-warming hike for further mine tunnel exploration or scene stealing views. Follow the Stewartville Trail past grassland and foothills to Prospect Tunnel, excavated in 1860. Use your flashlight to explore the two hundred feet of tunnel open to the public. Another option is Railroad Bed Trail, parallel to and above Somersville Road providing you with an overview of park terrain. Most trails connect up with others for loops and extensions; I used my trail map for reference. 

Black locust trees planted by miners in the 1800s at the Lower Picnic Area shaded my final stop. Springtime added the perfume of white floral clusters decorating lacy leaves and age-old weathered trunks. Here I reflected on miners, coal, silica, wildflowers, rolling landscape and the importance of open space in our lives. Explore Black Diamond Mines Preserve, and honor this turn-of-the-century mining landmark and present day refuge.  

 

IF YOU GO: 

GETTING THERE: Take Hwy 4 to the Somersville Road exit in Antioch. Drive south (into the hills) on Somersville Road to the Preserve entrance. 

Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve: 5175 Somersville Road, Antioch, (925) 757-2620, www.ebparks.org. Park hours 8 a.m.-dusk. Fees: $5/car, $2/dog (Seasonal weekends) 

Greathouse Visitor Center: 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m., weekends March-Nov. free. 

Hazel Atlas Mine Guided Tour: weekends at noon and 3 p.m., 15 maximum, $3/person, for advance reservations call 636-1684. 

 

Getting there: Take Highway 4 to the Somersville Road exit in Antioch. Drive south (into the hills) on Somersville Road to the Preserve entrance. 

 

Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve: 5175 Somersville Road, Antioch, (925) 757-2620, www.ebparks.org. Park hours 8 a.m.-dusk. Fees: $5/car, $2/dog (Seasonal weekends). 

 

Greathouse Visitor Center: 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m., weekends March-November. Free. 

 

Hazel Atlas Mine Guided Tour: weekends at noon and 3 p.m., 15 maximum, $3/person. For reservations call 636-1684.  


East Bay Then and Now: Peralta Park Grew in the Shade of Giants

By Daniella Thompson
Friday May 19, 2006

Lying northwest of Hopkins Street between Gilman and Colusa, the Peralta Park tract straddles Berkeley and Albany across Codornices Creek. Built up in the 1920s, the neighborhood presents to the eye a sea of low stucco bungalows among which one can pick out a handful of Victorians. 

Of the latter, three average-sized Queen Annes may be found along Hopkins Street. The other two, however, are giants boasting remarkable architectural features. Relics of a grander era, they stand as a reminder of the larger-than-life people who harbored bold visions for this land. 

In the public domain until 1820, the area was part of the 44,800-acre Rancho San Antonio granted to Luís María Peralta for his services to the Spanish Crown. In 1842, Peralta divided the lands among his four sons, and José Domingo Peralta (1795–1865) received the portion that today comprises Berkeley and Albany from Alcatraz Avenue to El Cerrito Creek. 

Having his pick of many prime locations for his home, Domingo settled on the bank of Codornices Creek, where he erected a 30x18-foot adobe (removed after the 1868 earthquake) and, in 1851, a two-story frame house (moved to the nearby Schmidt tract in 1872 and torn down in 1933, when UC owned the tract). 

Had these structures survived in the original location, their address would be 1304 Albina Ave. 

During the Gold Rush, cattle robbers, squatters, and fortune hunters whittled away Domingo’s possessions, and by 1853, he was forced to sell most of his land, reserving 300 acres around his house. Taxes and legal fees ate up the remaining acres by 1868. 

Sixty of those acres were acquired by William Chapman Ralston (1826–1875), the boldest speculator on the Pacific coast, founder of the Bank of California, director of the Central Pacific Railroad, and builder of San Francisco’s fabled Palace Hotel. Never one to do anything on a small scale, Ralston was the first to have visions for Peralta Park, but his untimely death in the aftermath of a rush on his bank stopped any development for a while. 

The executor of Ralston’s estate fraudulently used the land as collateral for an $8,000 loan from the California Insurance Company. When he defaulted on the loan, the company, founded by Caspar Thomas Hopkins in 1861, seized the land, and Hopkins set about looking for a buyer. In 1887 he found a fabulous one. 

The man who reputedly peeled off $32,000 for a deed was Maurice Strelinger, aka M.B. Curtis (c. 1850–1920), a wildly successful actor who made his name playing the lead in the comedy “Sam’l of Posen” (more on him in a future story). Strelinger’s visions were as grand as Ralston’s. He planned an elegant subdivision, anchored by the luxurious, multi-turreted Peralta Park Hotel. 

The hotel was to be surrounded by large houses on spacious lots, circled in turn by medium-sized houses on standard lots. Always highly leveraged, Strelinger recruited investors from among his San Francisco business and theatre connections, and some of them bought parcels and erected homes. In all, thirteen houses were built on the tract, including Strelinger’s own home at 1505 Hopkins Street. Six of the houses went up in 1889, all constructed by Lord & Boynton, who in the same year also built the Niehaus Brothers’ West Berkeley Planing Mill and George C. Pape’s East Berkeley Planing Mill. 

Most of the six Peralta Park houses built in 1889 contained between eight and ten rooms. The largest belonged to the San Francisco physician Robert Macbeth and was located on a large creekside parcel on the east side of Albina Avenue. On the west side, also on outsize parcels, stood the houses of Anita Fallon and Julius Alfred Lueders. Although both of the latter survived, only the Lueders house at 1330 Albina remains on its original site. 

The house was designed by Ira A. Boynton, who was related to Moses Chase, a former seafarer and forty-niner known to have been the first squatter on Antonio María Peralta’s land and the first American settler in Oakland. A New Englander, Boynton came to Berkeley in 1877 and lived on Berkeley Way. Among the houses he built locally are 2328 Channing Way (1889) and the Edward Brakenridge house (1892) at 1410 Bonita Avenue. 

In 1895, Boynton’s daughter’s wedding took place in Joseph Clapp’s cottage at 2007 Berkeley Way. It is not known whether Boynton designed this Gothic Revival cottage, commonly known as the Morning Glory House (built c. 1878), but it’s possible, since Clapp was another transplanted New Englander. 

For a while, Boynton was associated with Horace Kidder (later of the contracting firm Kidder & McCullough), but in the mid-1890s he was drawn by the building boom in Alaska and settled in Douglas. He died in Seattle in 1920. 

Boynton’s client on Albina Ave. was one of the San Franciscans lured to Berkeley by Strelinger. According to his daughter, Mrs. Frieda Frohwerk, Julius A. Lueders moved his family from San Francisco to Peralta Park because his wife wanted to live in the country. Born in Germany, he “had no use for the Prussian military system, so came to San Francisco in 1877.” 

The Berkeley Daily Gazette columnist Hal Johnson interviewed Mrs. Frohwerk in 1947, at which time she divulged that her father “had learned the perfumery business in Germany by serving a four-year-apprenticeship to a leading chemist. 

He brought to California several formulas along with his family. In a few months he had worked up quite a business in perfumes in San Francisco. Interested in the life insurance business, he started his own life insurance company. And because he was particularly careful whom he insured, he prospered.” 

Mrs. Frohwerk didn’t tell Johnson that her father was secretary of the Pacific Endowment League, a real-estate firm whose reputation was less than a stellar, and that the family finances were kept on an even keel through the exertions of her mother, Anna, a stern woman who operated a dress shop in San Francisco.  

The Lueders house cost $4,900 and was second only to the Macbeth house, which came in at $6,900. In addition to ten rooms on the first and second floors, there was a third-story attic with four rooms and surmounted with a bell-shaped cupola. The three-acre lot was a block deep, extending from Albina to Fleurange Ave. (now Acton). The amenities included a gazebo, a large garden, a barn, and a well house with windmill. A gas plant on the premises provided illumination. The well water was still being used in 1947. 

Julius and Anna Lueders had four children: Hilda, Frieda, Walter, and Edgar. Hilda was principal of the West Berkeley Kindergarten until she married George Bruns. Thereafter she helped her husband run the D.H. Bruns General Merchandising store and post office on the corner of San Pablo and University. Frieda attended the Sprague School in Peralta Hall (formerly the Peralta Park Hotel) before becoming a teacher in the West Berkeley Kindergarten. When Sunset Telephone & Telegraph introduced 24-hour telephone service, Frieda became the night operator. 

Later she advanced to chief operator, and eventually went to work as a county employee. In middle age she married the carpenter William Frohwerk. Neither Walter nor Edgar married. Walter worked as a bookkeeper and Edgar as a mechanic. Both continued living with their mother at 1330 Albina. Walter bought the Bruns store, renamed West Berkeley Hardware. He died in 1924, and Edgar continued running the store until his own death in 1971. 

In 1972, the Lueders house was acquired by Thomas Roe and his partner, who lovingly restored it, preserving the original first-floor rooms. They added a second turret on the south end, glazed the gazebo with windows salvaged from a Mills College demolition, and constructed a showcase kitchen, largely with salvaged materials. Still a work in progress, the house is one of the finest Victorians in the East Bay. 

 

This is the first part in a series of articles on Peralta Park. 

 

Photograph by Daniella Thompson 

The Lueders house at 1330 Albina Ave. combines Queen Anne styling with Stick detail.


About the House: On The Mortality of Water Heaters and Furnaces

By Matt Cantor
Friday May 19, 2006

Everything ages and everything dies. It’s sad but it’s certainly true and no less for water heaters than for people, cats and presidential administrations. The funny thing about water heaters and electrical panels is that we don’t tend to think of them as getting old in the same way that we think about Aunt Martha. We see her getting older and increasingly forgetful, despite her being so adorable, even as she searches for her car keys (should she still be driving?) 

Actually, water heaters and furnaces, garbage disposers and, yes, foundations have life cycles just like Aunt Martha and your dog, Mr. Buggles. I think we all need to see these things a bit more in this way since it seems so very widespread that people tend to express real surprise when I tell them that an item is getting old or is ready for the heap. “Well, it’s worked just fine, all these years” they sometimes say and sure as this may be true, it doesn’t take into account the fact that said item, the furnace for example, may have commenced to leak flue gases into the living space. 

Yes it still comes on and heats the house but there may be any number of unseen things that aren’t working as they should or may be nearing a point at which it is unlikely that they will function at all. 

Let’s start with the general issue of wear and function. When devices, such as the breakers in electrical panels, are new, we can eliminate from the equation most aberrant performance based on wear. 

As such devices age, they are subject to a range of natural forces. A spring loses it’s springiness from metal fatigue, corrosion forms on parts, which may play a critical role, things get dirty and fail to operate smoothly from the contamination of foreign particles, heat or cold may gradually wear upon parts and cause them to malfunction. 

There are too many natural forces to list here but you get the general idea. Even if you do nothing else to a breaker, a dishwasher or a phone jack, over time it’s going to be exposed to elements that will wear upon it and eventually prevent it from functioning properly. 

In the case of the electrical breaker, the spring metal inside is wearing from being sprung as well as from the heat created by electricity running through it. Over time, it will become less responsive and may eventually fail to work altogether. 

Another reason that things eventually want to be replaced is that they are failing to take advantage of innovations in science and technology that we come to consider either highly desirable or baseline essentials. Most of us would not drive a car that didn’t have a seat belt despite the fact that they were not present in cars 40 years ago. 

One might say, “Hey the car drives, what are you complaining about” and most would respond, “Well, my life is at risk without one and I don’t want to drive without it.” Increasingly, we have come to feel this way about air bags, tempered glass and ABS brakes as well, despite the fact that you don’t really have to have them to drive. 

The same is true in your house. I wouldn’t live in a house that didn’t have smoke detectors because they exist and can save my life, as well as the lives of my two girls and my wife. I also have a carbon monoxide tester running 24/7 in the hall. Same reason. It’s not essential but it’s available and it might save our lives. 

This logic extends to all the equipment in the house and to elements of the house itself, such as the roofing, the siding and the foundation. Some older systems simply lack the advantage that modern advances have to offer. Most houses around here weren’t built with enough bolts or enough inherent bracing to survive a large earthquake and most modern houses were. 

This is one example where an alteration can update us to a close equivalent of modern safety standards. This is true of some other systems as well. 

Single glazed window sashes can often be replaced with double glazed replacements providing better heat conservation and sound reduction but this isn’t really a safety issue. On the other hand, an old electrical breaker (I keep hitting that note) can, in my opinion become far less reliable over time and can usually be replaced, even within an existing panel to improve fire safety.  

An older heat exchanger in a furnace can also, often, be replaced when it has become worn or cracked although I would argue that the additional cost of an entirely new furnace is so well offset by the many advantages that come with a newer unit that a repair is rarely worthwhile. New furnaces are not only far more efficient than older ones (PG&E told us last October that energy prices were expected to rise by 71 percent in response to Katrina), but also offer a range of improved safety features as well as simplified flues that can eliminate costly and ugly installations. 

Many older features of houses are extremely desirable and I sorely wish that modern builders would more frequently take lessons that present themselves visibly in so many of our older houses and exploit them in what it built today. 

Nonetheless, old floor furnaces are dangerous, smelly, inefficient and best replaced by the myriad newer choices that modern technology has brought us. Similarly, a breaker panel in a convenient location has real advantages over a small fuse panel that’s buried at the back of a clothes closet. 

If we all tended to think of our houses the same way we think of our computers we might be a little better off. That ancient furnace in the basement is a hard drive that’s skipping and only has 20 megabytes of memory. With that old wiring of yours and one outlet per room, it take you 30 seconds to download a page off the internet and those old Windows of yours … Well, you know. 


Garden Variety: Necessary Gardening Gagets: A Felco and a Hori-Hori

By Ron Sullivan
Friday May 19, 2006

Gardening is like fishing in some ways. You can do it for dinner, or just for the halibut; you can do it for purely recreational or aesthetic reasons, or both. It can give you peace and relaxation, or vein-popping frustration. It helps a lot to know the natural history of the place and of your target. You can do it for very little money, or you can go broke buying fascinating tools and gadgets.  

I’m a collector at heart but also nearly broke most of the time, so I hover between the extremes. I have more tools than many folks because I worked as a pro for some years. But my favorites, the reliables I use most often, can mostly fit on my jeans pockets plus one hand for the long ones. It’s a good idea for a new gardener to start with the basics and then add the equivalents of Victorian specialty silverware, the asparagus tongs and the left-handed runcible spoons, as the garden progresses.  

The two things I always have in my pockets are my Felcos and my hori-hori.  

I don’t endorse commercial brands often, but Felco brand pruning shears are the only ones worth buying. They’re a big investment at first—in the $50.00 range—but if you don’t lose them they’re the last pair you’ll ever have to buy, because every part is replaceable at a reasonable price. Blades are easy to sharpen, and after a few years of hard use or abuse you’ll pay under ten bucks—usually about six—for a new one. Felcos come in many sizes and configurations, including left-handed, and you really need to try them on like shoes. It’s worth the effort; you’ll know when you have the right fit.  

Between the fit and the sharpness, you’ll save damage to your joints and other vulnerable bits, and to the plants you cut. I keep my Felcos sharp with a couple of inexpensive hones that look and work like emery boards; got them at a cutlery shop.  

A hori-hori is a Japanese farmers’ tool that’s become popular here too. It’s a broad, heavy knife, not terribly sharp, with a scooped central channel and one serrated edge. It has a wooden grip and a full tang: the metal of the blade runs all the way through, the handle. This makes it very strong; I frequently use mine by sticking the blade under a stubborn weed and stepping on the handle, to lever the thing out. I’ve never damaged a hori-hori this way. 

In fact, I’ve never damaged one significantly at all. This includes the one that spent at least a year under a compost pile. When Saint Anthony finally got around to answering those prayers, the hori-hori was rusted and the handle just a bit loose. That full tang meant the loose handle doesn’t compromise its function one bit, and the rust came off with a few uses, so I didn’t even have to scour it. In fact, I used it brutally enough to wedge some clay under the grip and it’s not loose anymore. 

In future columns I’ll talk about bigger and weirder tools, and the places I like to get them. 

 

 


Berkeley This Week

Friday May 19, 2006

FRIDAY, MAY 19 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Edward Holbrock, Prof. of Law on “Estate Planning” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $13.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. 526-2925 or 665-9020.  

“A Quarter-Century of Preserving Oakland’s History” Fundraiser for Oakland Heritage Alliance at 6 p.m. at the historic Lake Merritt Hotel, 1800 Madison St. at Lake Merritt, Oakland. TIckets are $40-$50. 763-9218. info@oaklandheritage.org 

Conscientious Projector: “The Take” A documentary on the worker takeover of Argentina’s factories at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalist Hall, 1924 Cedar St. at Bonita. Donation $10. 528-5403. 

International House Garage Sale For Charity for Darfur and Red Cross Blood Drive from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 2299 Piedmont Ave. To volunteer email garagesaleforcharity@gmail.com 

Bay Area Classical Harmonies Benefit Dinner and Concert at 7:30 p.m. at Pro Arts Gallery in Oakland. Tickets are $60-$100. 290-3604. www.bayareabach.org  

Impeachment Banner Fridays at 6:45 to 8 a.m. on the Berkeley Pedestrian bridge between Seabreeze Market and the Berkeley Aquatic Park, ongoing on Friday until impeachment is realized. www. Impeachbush-cheney.com 

“Organizing Your Life as a Spiritual Practice” with Eve Abbott at 7:30 p.m. at Unity of Berkeley, 2075 Eunice St. Cost is $15-$25, registration required. 528-8844.  

Berkeley Chess School classes for students in grades 1-8 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. A drop-in, rated scholastic tournament follows from 7 to 8 p.m. at 1581 LeRoy Ave., Room 17. 843-0150. 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 8 p.m. at the East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St. 845-1041. 

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. wibberkeley@yahoo.com 548-6310, 845-1143. 

SATURDAY, MAY 20 

Himalayan Fair from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sun. from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Live Oak Park, 1300 Shattuck Ave. at Berryman. Cost is $8, benefits grassroots humanitarian projects in the Himalayas. 869-3995. www.himalyanfair.org 

Kid’s Garden Club for ages 7-12 to explore the world of gardening, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8, registration required. 636-1684. 

California Wildflower Show from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sun. from noon to 5 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. Cost is $5-$8. www.museumca.org 

Botanical Illustration Workshop with Catherine Watters using fresh wildflowers from the Museum’s California Wildflower Show, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. For reservations call 238-3884. 

Basic Organic Vegetable Gardening Learn how to grow your own food, taught by Herman Yee, an avid gardener who has worked in many community garden projects in the East Bay. Bring sunscreen, hat, and sun protection if needed. Class will be held in Albany, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Pre-registration required. Cost is $15-$10. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

West Stege Marsh Restoration Volunteers are needed to assist with the on-going effort to restore a portion of West Stege marsh, its surrounding uplands, and adjacent grassland, on the UC’s Richmond Field Station from 9 a.m. to noon. 665-3689.  

Free Box Vigil and Free Market at 1 p.m. at People’s Park. 

Berkeley Progressives Platform Convention at 2 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Hall, Cedar and Bonita. www.berkeleyprogressivealliance.org 

Berkeley Alliance of Neighborhood Associations meets at 9:15 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, Sproul Conference Room, 1st Floor, 2727 College Ave. www.berkeleycna.com 

Berkeley History Center Walking Tour: “The Sisterna Tract in West Berkeley: A Small Chilean Ranch Transformed” led by Stephanie Manning, from 10 a.m. to noon. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0181.  

Walking Tour of Old Oakland uptown to the Lake to discover Art Deco landmarks. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of the Paramount Theater at 2025 Broadway. Tour lasts 90 minutes. For reservations call 238-3234. 

“Designing for a Vertical Garden” with Gail Yelland at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens Landscape Nursery, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. 

Chef Demonstration with Jessica Prentice, author of “Full Moon Feast: Food and the Hunger for Connection” at 11 a.m. at the Farmer’s Market, Center St. at MLK, Jr. Way. 548-3333.  

Emergency Preparedness Class on Fire Supression from 9 a.m. to noon at the Berkeley Marina, 201 University Ave. Free, registration required. 981-5506. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/fire/oes 

Latino College Day for Chicanos and Latinos in the East Bay Area. Information on admissions, financial aid, scholarships and special programs, from 1 to 4 p.m. at Laney College, 900 Fallon St., Oakland. 464-3161. 

Foster Youth Alliance Walkathon & Resource Fair in support of youth transitioning from foster care. Registration begins 9 a.m., Walk begins 10 a.m.; Resource Fair open until 1:30 pm. at the Lake Merritt Band Stand Area near Fairyland, Oakland. Walkathon fee is $35, $15 for children and seniors, free for current and former foster youth up to age 24. 428-9821. www.fosteryouthalliance.org  

The West County Coalition to Inform Voters Democratic Candidates Forum from 1 to 5 p.m. at John and Jean Knox Center for the Performing Arts, Contra Costa College, 2600 Mission Bell Drive, San Pablo. 233-2786, 215-5780.  

California Writers Club meets to discuss “Surprise Characters: Animators or Antagonists?” at 10 a.m. at Barnes and Noble, Jack London Square. 272-0120. 

Satsuki Arts Festival & Bazaar with San Jose Taiko, other performers, a variety of Japanese food, Asian arts and crafts, a silent auction and carnival games. From 4 to 9 p.m. , and noon to 7 p.m. on Sun. at Berkeley Buddhist Temple, 2121 Channing Way. Free. 841-1356. 

Safe Medicine Disposal Day Don’t flush or trash medicine! Bring medicines to Walgreens, 5055 Telegraph, Oakland, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for safe disposal. www.baywise.org  

Lead-Safety for Remodeling, repair and painting of older homes. A HUD & EPA approved class held in Oakland from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. To register, call Alameda County Lead Poisoning Prevention Program at 567-8280. www.ACLPPP.org 

Pre-School Storytime for 3-5 year olds at 11 a.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave., through June 22. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

SUNDAY, MAY 21 

Himalayan Fair from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Live Oak Park, 1300 Shattuck Ave. at Berryman. Cost is $8, benefits grassroots humanitarian projects in the Himalayas. 869-3995.  

Celebration of Old Roses with heritage, hard-to-find, miniature, and modern roses from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the El Cerrito Community Center, on Loeser at Ashbury. Free.  

Community Labyrinth Peace Walk at 3 p.m., Willard Middle School, Telegraph Ave. between Derby and Stuart. Everyone welcome. Wheelchair accessible. Rain cancels. 526-7377.  

Teens Touch the Earth Community Service from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Damon Marsh, Martin Luther King, Jr. Shoreline. Help remove invasive plants and shoreline debris while learning about protecting watersheds, wildlife and native plants. For ages 12-19. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Unselt Lecture on “Urban Bee Gardening” with Dr. Gordon Frankie of the College of Natural Resources, UCB, at 10 a.m. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Free, but registration required. 643-2755. 

“Plentiful Poppies” Wildflower discovery day for children and their families from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. Cost is $5-$8. www.museumca.org 

“Shake it, Don’t Break It” A family earthquake program from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. Cost is $5-$8. www.museumca.org 

Bug Patrol for ages 6 to 12 from 1:30 to 3 p.m. to hunt for local creepy crawlies around the Tilden Nature Center. Fee is $3. 525-2233. 

California Wildflower Show from noon to 5 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. Cost is $5-$8. www.museumca.org 

Botanical Illustration Demonstration with Catherine Watters using fresh wildflowers from the Museum’s California Wildflower Show, from 1 to 4 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. www.museumca.org 

Victorian Preservation Center of Oakland invites the public to view the ongoing preservation projects at the Cohen-Bray House, built in 1884, from noon to 4 p.m. at 1440 29th Ave., Oakland. Donation of $10 requested. www.cohen-brayhouse.info 

Ecole Bilingue de Berkeley 's “La Place du Marché” French marketplace from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 1009 Heinz Ave. www.eb.org 

Berkeley CyberSalon “Is the Future of Music Now?” with Gerd Leonhard, author of “The Future of Music”; Tom Conrad, CTO of Pandora; Ann Greenberg, cofounder of ION; Brian Zisk, founder and board member of the Future of Music Coalition; and Amy Tobin, singer, composer, and multimedia show producer, at 5 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Cost is $15. 

Salem Salutes Recognition Banquet honoring the 2006 recipient of the Milton Moore Award, Joan Roberts, at 5 p.m. at Scott’s Seafood Restaurant at Jack London Square, 2 Broadway, Oakland. Tickets are $100 for dinner and entertainment. 434-2828. 

Young People’s Symphony Orchestra Auditions from 2 to 6 p.m. Rehearsals are every Mon. eve. in Berkeley. For audition time please call 849-9776.  

Hands-on Bike Clinic Learn how to fix a flat at 10 a.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. Bring your bike and tools. Free. 527-4140. 

KIDsational Fashion Benefit for Music in the Community at 5 p.m. at Black Repertory Group, 3201 Adeline St. Tickets are $15-$20. 652-2120. 

Meet the Guinea Pigs Learn all about guinea pigs and how enjoyable they can be as companion animals for every family member, from 2 to 4 p.m. at RabbitEARS, 303 Arlington Ave., behind ACE Hardware, Kensington. 525-6155. 

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 Lama Palzang and Pema Gellek on “The Healing Mantras” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812.  

MONDAY, MAY 22 

Free Bone Density Testing from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

Cancer Prevention and Survival Cooking Course meets for four Mondays at 6:30 p.m. at Keller Williams, 4341 Piedmont Ave., 2nd Floor, Oakland. Free. Sponsored by the Cancer Project. To register call 531-2665. 

Kensington Library Book Club meets at 7 p.m. to discuss Ernest Hemingway’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” at 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 524-3043. 

Soroptimists International of Oakland Tea and Fashion Show at 5:30 p.m. at Zazoo's Restaurant, 15 Embarcadero West, Oakland. Benefit for the Charlotte Maxwell Complementary Clinic, assisting women in recovery from cancer. Donation $25. 444-2386. 

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group for people 60+ years old meets Mon. at 10:15 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave, through June 19th. Cost is $2.50. 524-9122. 

Breathexperience?Classes “Oh, My Aching Back!” 12-1 p.m, $10; “Restoring Viitality” 5:30-6:45 p.m. $10; “The Experience of Breath” 7-8:15 p.m.$12, at MIBE, 830 Bancroft Way, #104. 981-1710. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, MAY 23 

“Hiking the America Discovery Trail” with Ken and Marcia Powers who have walked more than 13,000 trail miles through 30 state, at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. Free. 527-4140. 

Aging & Health Care with Judith Steinberg Turiel on “Our Parents, Ourselves: How American Health Care Imperils Middle Age and Beyond” at 7 p.m. at the El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Ave. El Cerrito. 526-7512.  

Berkeley High School Site Council meets at 4:30 p.m. in Conference Room B. 525-0124. 

Classroom Safari meet real wild animals at 6:30 p.m. at the Kensington Branch Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Free, all ages welcome. 524-3043. 

Embracing Diversity Films “Out of the Shadow” a documentary of a woman with paranoid schizophrenia, at 7 p.m. at Albany High School Library, 603 Key Route Blvd. Enter through gym doors on Thousand Oaks Blvd. Suitable for children over 12. Free. Discussion follows 527-1328. 

Berkeley PC Users Group Problem solving and beginners meeting to answer, in simple English, users questions about Windows computers. At 7 p.m. at 1145 Walnut St. corner of Eunice. 527-2177. 

Being in the World: Transforming Our Relationships with “Opponents” and “Enemies” with Donald Rothberg at 7:30 p.m. Berkeley Buddhist Monastery, 2304 McKinley. 527-2935.  

Raging Grannies of the East Bay invites new folks to come join us from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. to sing and have fun at Berkeley Gray Panthers office, 1403 Addison St., in Andronico’s mall. 548-9696. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Join a few slowpoke seniors at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm for an hour or two walk. In case of questionable weather, call around 8 a.m. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991.  

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 24  

Tilden Explorers An after-school nature adventure program for 5-7 year olds, who may be accompanied by an adult. We will learn about the seasons from 3:15 to 4:45 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8, registration required. 636-1684. 

Walking Tour of Old Oakland “New Era/New Politics” highlights African-American leaders who have made their mark on Oakland. Meet at 10 a.m. and the African American Museum and Library at 659 14th St. 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

“The Immigration Dilemma: What Kind of Country Are We?” with Cary Sanders, Policy Analyst for The California Immigrant Welfare Collaborative, at 1:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst. Sponsored by the Berkeley East-Bay Gray Panthers. 548-9696. 

“In Harms Way: Toxic Threats” with Dr. Brian Linde of Kaiser Oakland and Physcians for Social Responsibility at 7:30 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Donation $5. 848-0237, ext. 127. 

“Electile Dysfunction: Take Back Your Right to Vote” a film at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donations of $5 accepted. 

“How to do Space Age Work with a Stone Age Brain” analyze your productivity with Eve Abbott from 8 to 10 a.m. at Linen Life, 1375 Park Ave. Emeryville. 601-5550.  

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. 548-9840. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wed. and Sat. at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. Sponsored by the Ecology Center’s Farm Fresh Choice. 848-1704.  

Prose Writer’s Workshop at 7 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237.  

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station. Sing for Peace at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m.  

THURSDAY, MAY 25 

Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association Preservation Awards with Jane Powell on “Travels in Preservation: Success Stories of Restoration and Adaptive Reuse” at 7 p.m. at The Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. 841-2242. www.berkeleyheritage.com 

Richmond Greenway Groundbreaking Ceremony for the new community bicycle and walking trail, at 10 a.m. at the 6th St. crossing of the Greenway at Ohio. For more information call 415-397-2220. 

Teen Book Group meets to discuss “Cheaters” by Eric Jerome Dickey at 4 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, South Branch, 1901 Russell St. 981-6147. 

An Evening with Father Michael Hensley Lapsley, South African anti-aparthied activist at 7:30 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Donation $10-$20. 848-0237. 

Easy Does It Disability Assitance Board of Directors meets at 6:30 p.m. at 1744A University Ave., behind the Lutheran Church. Fully accessible and all welcome. 845-5513.  

Berkeley School Volunteers Training workshop for volunteers interested in helping the public schools, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

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 

Parks and Recreation Commission meets Mon., May 22, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Virginia Aiello, 981-5158.  

Zero Waste Commission Mon., May 22, at 7 p.m., at 1201 Second St. Tania Levy, 981-6368. www.ci.berkeley.ca. 

us/commissions/solidwaste 

City Council meets Tues., May 23 at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Civic Arts Commission meets Wed., May 24, at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Mary Ann Merker, 981-7533. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/civicarts 

Disaster and Fire Safety Commission meets Wed., May 24, at 7 p.m., at the Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. Gil Dong, 981-5502. www.ci.berkeley.ca. us/commissions/disaster 

Energy Commission meets Wed., May 24, at 6:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Neal De Snoo, 981-5434. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/energy 

Mental Health Commission meets Wed. May 24, at 6:30 p.m. at 2640 MLK Jr. Way, at Derby. Harvey Turek, 981-5213. www.ci.erkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/mentalhealth 

School Board meets Wed., May 24, at 7:30 p.m., in the City Council Chambers. Queen Graham 644-6147 or Mark Coplan 644-6320. 

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., May 25, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/zoning