The Berkeley City Council and Board of Library Trustees will meet in a special closed session on Wednesday, June 7, to consider threatened litigation by attorney Jonathan Siegel on behalf of Library Director Jackie Griffin. This announcement was received by the Planet at 5:41 a.m. on June 6, too late to include in our Tuesday edition. The meeting will be held at 5 p.m. in the sixth floor Conference Room, 2180 Milvia St. The meeting will begin with a Public Comment Session.

The Berkeley City Council last month asked for the city’s Fair Campaign Practices Commission to analyze a proposal to place public financing for the mayor’s office on the November ballot. But the council directive has been stalled by City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque, who says her office has insufficient time to prepare the ballot measure. 

The commission had planned a special June 7 meeting to address the issue, but, according to FCPC Chair Eric Weaver, a Friday afternoon e-mail from Deputy City Attorney Kristy van Herick advised against the meeting. 

“It seems to be a political decision by the city attorney,” said Sam Ferguson, a Berkeley resident who has been active on the question of “clean money” elections. “That seems to be going against the will and the advice of the City Council,” Ferguson said. 

At its May 23 meeting, on the recommendation of Mayor Tom Bates, the council modified a ballot measure proposal written by councilmembers Darryl Moore, Max Anderson and Kriss Worthington to allow public financing for all elected Berkeley offices. The amended proposal only referred public financing of the mayor’s race to the Fair Campaign Practices Commission. 

“The city attorney will be reporting to City Council at its meeting on June 13 that there is insufficient time to review and prepare this item for the November 2006 election. This will likely make any such special election meeting moot,” the e-mail said. 

The committee, which will nevertheless meet and discuss the issue in regular session June 22, will make a recommendation to the City Council regarding the public financing of elections, after which the council must vote on the ballot measure before its mid-July recess. 

In a phone interview Monday morning, Albuquerque said at first she had thought there would be a faster way to write the ballot measure, but it was complicated by the fact that the measure would amend Berkeley election law. The modifications would have to be cross-referenced and integrated into the city charter, she said.  

“Proponents underplay the complexity,” she added. 

“Nobody’s saying it’s simple; but there’s still a month and a half to do it,” Ferguson countered. 

Learning from a reporter that the City Attorney planned to put the measure on hold, Councilmember Darryl Moore said, “That’s ridiculous. I thought we referred it within the deadline.”  

Moore said he thought the city attorney should have told the council at the time that there was a problem. 

If the city attorney’s office can’t do it, it is still possible for the city to contract out to have it written, Moore said. 

Mayor Bates agreed, saying, “If it does go forward, we can contract out.” 

At the same time, the mayor said, “I’m not wild about going forward with it,” since the ballot measure’s supporters continue to call for public financing for all offices and not simply for the office of the mayor. 

Bates said he did not want to see a ballot measure to publicly finance all offices in Berkeley since it would not be backed by the full council and would not have a strong campaign behind it. He said his fear is based on a possible backlash caused by the statewide public financing measure being put forward by the California Nurse’s Association for the November ballot. 

“There’s incredible opposition to that measure,” he said, noting that there will likely be a very negative statewide campaign against it. 

Ferguson said, however, that while he and other supporters prefer the ballot measure to include all Berkeley electoral races, if the council’s final vote is to recommend the narrower mayor-only public financing, “We are willing to support whatever goes. It’s not about a difference of opinion. It’s about getting it on the ballot in the first place.”  

Moreover, he said, responding to the mayor’s notion that the CNA ballot measure might cause heavily-financed negative campaigning against public financing: “Berkeley voters are too intelligent. They will see through that.”  

Christina Paniagua’s daughter, a fifth-grader at Jefferson Elementary School in Oakland, needed extra help with reading, so Paniagua attended a school fair to find out about free private tutoring services available on-campus. 

When she arrived, she was barraged with tutoring companies handing out fliers and logo wares—pens, pencils and books—in attempt to sway parents to sign up for their program. Paniagua, who speaks minimal English, wasn’t sure how to differentiate between the companies; eventually, she settled on one because “the people at the table convinced” her to. 

Tutoring fairs are part and parcel of a prominent feature of No Child Left Behind: free supplementary educational services for the nation’s low-income students who attend underperforming schools. Proponents tout the law for offering federal Title I funds to help those most in need and empowering parents—who select tutors—to influence their children’s learning. 

But critics say the law has hatched a culture of capitalism in public education, evidenced by aggressive marketing among providers—some of whose qualifications are questionable. 

“It is not anything out of the world of education,” said Arlene Graham, director of Art, Research & Curriculum (ARC) Associates, a nonprofit tutoring provider in Oakland. “It’s out of business and marketing.” 

Nowhere in the East Bay is that more apparent than in the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), a 42,000-student school district that allocates nearly $1,500 in Title I dollars per student for after-school tutoring. About 3,350 students participate, meaning private tutoring in Oakland is a $5 million a year industry and growing. Compare that with Berkeley Unified School District, which spends around $60,000 a year for the same services. 

Parents select tutors from a list of state-approved providers, which charge anywhere from $25 to $90 an hour, according to Niambi Clay, an OUSD program manager. Students typically receive 20 to 60 hours of instruction a year. 

This year, 40 companies vied to tutor students in OUSD and 25 secured contracts. When No Child Left Behind was signed into law in 2002, Oakland contracted with just three vendors, one provider said. The number of companies providing tutoring services has since mushroomed; in 2005-2006, the California Department of Education approved about 70 vendors. 

Vendors are nonprofits, for-profit and faith-based groups. To receive state approval, they must show they are founded on research, designed to improve academic achievement and meet other standards. 

That does not, however, guarantee quality control. Sobrante Park Elementary School Principal Marco Franco complained that just about anyone can start a tutoring company and bill it as a professional organization.  

“Some are better than others,” he said. “But this (is the) nature of No Child Left Behind—these people are coming out just because it’s an opportunity to make money. It’s as sad as that.” 

Platform Learning, a New York-based corporation that launched tutoring under the auspices of the federal law in 2003, was ousted from the Chicago schools in 2005 over complaints of large class sizes, tutor shortages, tutors canceling classes and administrative snafus. The same company was the largest provider in Oakland last year; it is no longer on the list of California-approved vendors.  

Competition among those that are approved is fierce. At the beginning of the 2005-2006 school year, three districtwide tutoring fairs and countless site-level events were held to persuade parents of eligible students to enlist in tutoring programs. Vendors set up shop in libraries and cafeterias, luring parents in with logo swag and raffles that some say advertised an iPod, an Xbox or a $100 credit card as the grand prize. 

Therein lies a problem, critics say. At tutoring fairs, many parents are unable to distinguish between providers, don’t speak English or are otherwise unclear about what they’re enrolling for—and, the best prizes don’t necessarily presage the best tutors. 

Like Christina Paniagua, Ana Luisa Becerra looked into free tutoring throught the Oakland school district because her child struggled with reading. 

Becerra, who does not speak English, attended a fair at Jefferson Elementary School and a selected a company for her fifth-grade daughter Dayana because representatives at the table gave her an application. Dayana never finished the program, though. Some boys in her tutoring group were mean to her, and the adults in charge never addressed the problem, she said. Next year, Becerra will seek out a different company if tutoring is offered at the middle school Dayana is slated to attend. 

Tutoring fairs prove particularly daunting for some nonprofits, whose salesmanship lacks the glossy finesse of their business-savvy counterparts. Graham, a former Oakland schools administrator, signed on to offer tutoring through No Child Left Behind because it seemed like a natural progression from the general education services ARC Associates offers, she said, but she wasn’t prepared for the promotion wars that ensued. 

“This is competitive,” she said. “We could sink because I don’t know anything about marketing.” 

ARC Associates has made a name for itself in Oakland as a dependable provider, and relies on word-of-mouth to secure participants. That may be a better bet, anyway, because as vendors, teachers and administrators have pointed out, parent attendance at fairs is spotty at best. 

“Those generally have limited success because parents don’t show up for them,” said Mark Lemyre, CEO of Reading Revolution, which serves five elementary schools in the Oakland school district. 

So vendors try other tactics. They visit schools, pass out fliers and solicit principals. 

Allendale Elementary School Principal Steven Thomasberger bemoaned the companies that have called him on his cell phone, at home and have camped out in his office, waiting to sell him on their services: “They were so aggressive and obnoxious,” he said. 

Another principal described the vendors as “vultures coming out of the woodwork.” 

Lemyre conceded, “The warmth with which we are received varies from school to school.” 

For tutoring companies, the incentive to conduct aggressive marketing campaigns is simple. They need to enroll enough students to earn a profit. If they can’t, the business venture is no longer lucrative, and they consolidate services or decamp altogether.  

This year, tutors from two companies declined to continue their program or failed to show up at tutoring sessions at Allendale when they were unable to recruit enough students, Thomasberger said.  

“If it’s not financially feasible, they beg off,” he said. 

More and more, vendors are discovering that financial gain is not a shoo-in. Education Station, the largest provider to serve Oakland—and one of the first—is up for sale by parent company Educate, Inc. because the cost of developing and operating the No Child Left Behind enterprise has proved “detrimental to consolidated operating performance,” a 2005 company press release said. 

Reading Revolution, another founding provider, has seen business in Oakland fall off, due to increased competition and other factors, Lemyre said. 

“Programs are increasingly becoming less profitable,” he said. “In general, it’s certainly not the most lucrative line of business for us, but it’s marginally profitable.” 

Still, it’s no drop in the bucket. PLATO Learning, a Minnesota-based provider approved in Oakland, raked in $3.7 million for federally funded tutoring services in 2004, the Associated Press reported in April. The No Child Left Behind arm of Education Inc. logged about half a million dollars in revenue the same year. 

That’s money which schools could be using to fund their own after school programs, Thomasberger said. 

“If you contract out with other kinds of services, you don’t have the same control,” he said. “I’d rather have that money to put my own tutoring program together.” 

Part II will look at implementation roadblocks and the efficacy of private tutoring through No Child Left Behind.

A small revision of the city’s Landmarks Preservation Ordinance (LPO) appears headed to the November ballot: supporters turned in 3,200 signatures on Monday. 

And an initiative that would allow the conversion of 500 Berkeley apartments into condominiums each year could pass its first hurdle this week when supporters turn in signatures to place the measure on the November ballot. 

Landmarks law 

Co-chair Roger Marquis and supporter Julie Dickinson gave City Clerk Sara Cox the petitions for the Landmarks update. 

“It looks like you’re in good shape,” Cox told Marquis. 

“I guess I could make one more run through City Hall,” he replied. “I wonder if Tom Bates is in his office?” 

“A sense of humor never hurts,” Cox replied. 

Mayor Bates is the least likely signatory of the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance 2006 Update Initiative. The petition is a direct response to the mayor’s own proposed new ordinance. 

The mayor’s version, with some tweaks by City Councilmember Laurie Capitelli, would limit the power of the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), the body charged with implementing the law, and transfer more of its responsibilities to city staff. 

The Bates version would also greatly increase the commission’s workload, say critics, by forcing the panel to review minor alterations to non-landmarked buildings. 

Both the LPC and the Planning Commission had prepared versions of a new ordinance, mandated, the City Council said, to bring the existing law in line with the state Permit Streamlining Act, which sets deadlines and time limits on how long the city can take to process construction applications. 

Marquis and Co-Chair Laurie Bright said their initiative resolves all the legal issues. 

The LPC has found itself increasingly at odds with the council and Planning Commission. 

The council has overturned several designations of structures of merit—one of two city landmark categories—that were created in response to development proposals. 

That category was created to allow for designation of buildings that may have been altered since their construction so that they are less pristine that those that qualify for the landmark designation—although both categories are entitled to the same protections under city law and the California Environmental Quality Act. 

The mayor’s proposal would have eliminated the category except in the city’s few historic districts, though city planning staff has prepared two versions of the ordinance, including one alternative that would basically leave the category intact. 

The mayor’s proposal also creates a new process called a Request for Determination that would allow a property owner to ask the LPC for a preliminary evaluation of whether a structure might qualify as a landmark. 

Several LPC members have said that process, plus the need to review routine construction permits, would place an impossible burden on a commission whose monthly meetings usually end near midnight. 

The mayor’s proposal has the strong backing of developers, who have been the loudest voices raised against the current ordinance and the commissioners who oversee its application. 

Rena Rickles, an Oakland attorney who is the developers’ lawyer of choice in battling the commission, has told the City Council that the structure of merit should be abolished. 

“[W]e are trying to find a new path that recognizes the importance of protecting neighborhood character but acknowledges that it is sometimes a different issue than historic preservation,” wrote the mayor in introducing the original draft of his proposal. 

LPC members Lesley Emmington and Patti Dacey, among others, have argued that because many structures in the city’s “flatlands” have been altered in comparison to those in the city’s hills, the structure of merit is essential to preserving neighborhood character in city’s middle- and working class-neighborhoods. 

Cox said that now the petitions are in her hands, the identities of signatories are granted absolute confidentiality “equivalent to a vote.” 

Supporters were required to submit 2,007 valid signatures, or five percent of those who voted in the last general election. The figures rise to 10 percent for a special election, and 15 percent if the petition calls for a charter amendment, Cox said. 

Condo Conversion 

Condo conversion initiative spokesperson David Wilson said his petitions would be turned in “early this week.” 

Berkeley’s current ordinance limits condominium conversion to 100 units per year. The initiative would allow up to 500 conversions when the vacancy rate is at 5 percent, as established by independent analysis. 

The initiative sets a conversion fee of $8 per square foot, whereas the present ordinance sets the fee at 12.5 percent of the selling price. 

The initiative gives tenants the right of first refusal and offers a 5 percent discount to tenants who lease an apartment, but mandates that the tenants leave the unit if they do not opt to purchase it. However, if they are forced to leave the unit, they receive 2 percent of the selling price. 

At present, a tenant whose unit is rent-controlled and who declines the purchase of the unit is given the right to lifetime occupancy subject to rent increases allowed by the rent stabilization board. (Units built since 1988 do not fall under the rent stabilization ordinance.) 

Rent Stabilization Board member Jason Overman opposes the initiative, which he says sets up a false dichotomy between those who aspire to own their own homes and apartment dwellers. Instead, Overman advocates city assistance to first time homeowners. Further, he said he doesn’t see the need to raise the limit beyond 100 conversions per year to what he said would be “opening up the floodgates to having lots of rental units taken off the market.” 

Speaking for those circulating the initiative, Wilson said that, in fact, easing condominium conversion provides the best path to homeownership. A $400,000 condominium could cost less than rent, he said. 

While some opponents say that the most affordable apartments—those under rent control—will be the first to be converted to condos, Wilson said that is a moot point, since, given the restrictions on rent control, only about 20 percent of Berkeley’s apartments are below market rate. 

And while it is true that a tenant may face eviction because of a homeowner move-in, when a unit is converted, “the tenant can go out with $8,000—that is not at all bad,” he said. 

Opponents of the initiative “are going to try to turn the initiative into a landlord versus tenants issue,” which, Wilson said, it is not. Noting that the percentage of apartment dwellers has diminished to 38 percent with respect to homeowners, Wilson said: “There is no conceivable loser.”  

Although Berkeley voters called for Instant Runoff Voting when they passed Measure I in March 2004 by 72 percent, IRV will not happen in 2006, according to City Clerk Sara Cox. 

“There’s no time to put it in place,” Cox said by phone on Friday. The process, including going out to bid for machines that can perform IRV, then negotiating a contract for them, cannot be put in place before November, Cox said. 

Instant Runoff is a system whereby voters rank candidates by preference: voters indicate their first choice and can rank their second, third or more preferences. This eliminates the need for a runoff, which generally attracts fewer voters. Berkeley’s adopted measure calls for the implementation of Instant Runoff Voting “when voting systems and equipment make it technically feasible.” 

It includes a clause mandating the system only if “the city will not incur additional election cost.” 

Alameda County voters are using a paper ballot for the primary today (Tuesday). Ballots will be counted by scanners located in Oakland. Each polling place has an electronic touch screen machine leased for the June election, which many disabled voters can use without assistance.  

Meanwhile, at a special meeting Thursday, the county supervisors will consider choosing between two voting machines, Diebold Election Systems of Texas and Sequoia Voting Systems of  

Oakland. 

“The two top machines do not have the software [for IRV]” said Dave MacDonald, acting Alameda County Registrar of Voters. 

Election Systems and Software (ES&S) machines are authorized uniquely for the county of San Francisco, which has run two IRV elections. 

“To use them [in Berkeley] the state has to agree,” MacDonald said. 

City Councilmember Kriss Worthington is part of a group of citizens that had been meeting with former acting Alameda County Registrar of Voters Elaine Ginnold, now the Marin County registrar, on efforts to implement IRV.  

Learning from a reporter that officials said IRV will not be implemented this year, Worthington said: “Someone has decided we’re not going to do this. It’s disrespect of 72 percent of the voters.”  

Worthington said he had been under the impression that the Secretary of State was reviewing the city’s request for certification of the ES&S system, but Jennifer Kerns in the Secretary of State’s communications office said that is not so.  

“There’s been no request to review the question,” Kerns told the Daily Planet.  

Ginnold told the Daily Planet on Friday that she had passed Berkeley’s request to implement IRV voting on to County Counsel Richard Winnie. But, in a phone interview, Winnie called the former acting registrar “confused,” and said the county is concentrating on other election-related countywide issues. 

“We’ve been struggling to find the proper equipment to conduct an election this fall,” he said. The county has been looking for machines with both a paper trail and access to the disabled, he said. 

These issues must be considered, “before we consider IRV,” he said, adding, “Berkeley can conduct its own election.” 

Worthington said he had understood that the county was helping Berkeley at this stage, but argued, nevertheless, that there is a way for the city to run its own elections in November. The state would have to certify the ES&S machines, as it had for San Francisco. The cost of Berkeley running its own elections would be equal to or less than funding run-off elections, Worthington said. 

The annual senior streaking tradition at Berkeley High School nearly went awry Monday when students descended upon the school ready to flaunt skin, only to find out the doors were locked. 

Dressed in masks, capes and smeared in body paint, streaking students circulated the school moments before lunch Monday, attempting to gain entry into the locked school. They eventually found an in on Allston Way, but not before attracting the attention of several security guards. 

After a speedy run around campus—with onlookers aplenty—15 naked seniors were caught. It is unclear how many students were involved. 

Those caught streaking will not graduate from high school or participate in senior activities unless they complete 40 hours of community service on campus by June 15, said Berkeley High School Vice Principal Denise Brown 

“While people say it’s just running naked, it’s still breaking the rules,” she said. 

Senior streaking is a tradition at Berkeley that dates back roughly 20 years, Brown said, but in recent years, students have become more sophisticated about their execution. 

They plan well in advance (they have meetings, she said), and on the day of the event, they skip school in the morning, pile out of cars around lunchtime and race through campus stark naked, crossing their fingers that they skirt security. 

In April, Berkeley High School Principal Jim Slemp and the student activities director warned seniors against upholding the tradition. Students received written statements about possible consequences—which are the same every year, Brown said—if they are caught. 

The school’s primary concern is safety, she said. 

“There are so many kids, and it’s so out of control,” Brown said. “They go to someone’s house (beforehand), they’re drinking and doing drugs. I’m just afraid someone’s going to get hurt.” 

She recalled that a student fell last year and was kicked in the side as fellow streakers fled by. 

Rick Ayers, lead teacher of the small school Community Arts and Sciences, said he generally avoids the senior streaking fiasco, though he isn’t sure why administrators don’t just let students get it out of their system. 

Debian Watts, a freshman, found the event amusing. His friend Robert Edwards, a sophomore, joked, “They was real butt, booty naked” before handing down an opinion: “It was weird.” 

Freshman Monique Williams, said it was definitely “different. I just saw a whole bunch of people and I was kinda’ scared.” 

UC Berkeley’s plans for a high-rise hotel and conference center in downtown Berkeley are moving closer to reality, a university official said Monday. 

“There’s nothing signed yet, but we are in general agreement on the broad issues,” said UC Capital Projects Senior Planner Kevin Hufferd. 

Carpenter and Company, the Boston developer working with the university on the project, has scheduled a June 14 reception to unveil their preliminary plans. 

“We are committed to designing the downtown hotel/conference center consistent with the Berkeley Planning Commission Task Force recommendations,” wrote company President Dick Friedman in a letter to City Councilmember Kriss Worthington.  

The task force he cited was the UC Hotel Task Force, set up by the Planning Commission to offer guidelines for the project, planned for the northeast corner of Shattuck Avenue and Center Street. 

“There’s been no formal application,” said Berkeley Planning Director Dan Marks. “We’ve had some informal conversations, and we have suggested they need to fold the project into the downtown planning process.” 

Carpenter and Company has already picked a name for the new facility—the Berkeley Charles Hotel, named for Charles Square in Boston, where the company has headquartered. 

“We are very excited about this opportunity and want to share our enthusiasm with you and other community leaders,” Friedman wrote. 

During the June 12 reception and conference in the Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theatre, Friedman said his company would be “introducing our team and company background as well as our vision of the Berkeley Charles Hotel.” 

Marks said the hotel project would need several zoning ordinance modifications, “and if they want those, they need to engage in the downtown planning process.” 

That process, embodied in the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee, is currently engaged in shaping a new plan for an expanded downtown area. 

That plan is mandated as one of the terms of the settlement of a city lawsuit filed against the university’s Long Range Development Plan for 2020, which includes a massive expansion of university use in the downtown. 

The hotel complex would be located at the site of the current Bank of America branch. 

Hufferd agreed. “This has to work through the planning process,” he said. 

If approved, the project would add a third highrise to the intersection that already houses Berkeley’s two tallest commercial buildings, the Wells Fargo Bank and Power Bar buildings on the western side of Shattuck. Another high-rise, the nine-story Berkeley Arpeggio condos, is scheduled to rise soon in the middle of the block of Center Street immediately to the west. 

“I’m not sure when there’ll actually be a ground-breaking,” said Hufferd. “There’s still a lot to work out.” 

Carpenter and Company has worked closely with Starwood Resorts, the parent company of the firm, which is the planned operator of another hotel planned for downtown Berkeley, the revamped Shattuck Hotel, also on Shattuck a block to the south.

The Berkeley Board of Education is expected to finalize language Wednesday for a renewed parcel tax measure that would supply Berkeley schools with an estimated $19.6 million a year. 

The measure, slated for the ballot this November, would combine and extend two existing taxes, scheduled to end in 2007, for 10 years. The measure would levy a square-footage tax on individual and commercial properties at a rate that would increase with the cost of living. Low-income seniors are eligible for an exemption. 

About $12.7 million, or two-thirds of the funding, would go toward class size reductions, a quarter would fund school excellence programs such as libraries, parent outreach and music and visual and performing arts, and less than a tenth would provide for professional development.  

A survey released in March found that more than three-fourths of Berkeley voters would support a renewed school parcel tax. 

Support is not unanimous, however. One opponent claims the language of the measure would allow the district to spend funds at its leisure and fails to adequately detail auditing requirements. 

The Berkeley Board of Education meets Wednesday at 7 p.m., at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. For more information, call 644-6206.  

The Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) is slated to reconsider a use permit for a vacant site on University Avenue that allows Toyota of Berkeley to operate an automobile sales and service facility.  

The board issued Toyota of Berkeley a use permit for 1865 University Ave., last occupied by Berkeley Tire, but a neighbor appealed that decision on discrepancies in the permit application, insisting that tires are still sold at the site. 

The City Council heard the appeal in April and referred the issue back to ZAB, which will decide, for a second time Thursday, whether to approve the use permit. 

In an applicant’s statement dated May 24, applicant Tim Southwick said he plans to use the facility primarily as a car dealership and service center—what the building was designed for in 1946—though he will also sell and service tires as an ancillary business. 

Berkeley Tire is located on the north side of University Avenue, amid other commercial buildings. 

Residential buildings are to the rear of the site along Berkeley Way, the street on which the neighbor appealing the case resides.  

The Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thursday at 7 p.m., at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

The committee helping formulate the new downtown plan will hold a joint meeting with the city Transportation Commission Wednesday. 

The meeting, which focuses on transportation issues to be addressed in the plan, follows by a week another joint session with the Landmarks Preservation Commission which addressed historical structures in the downtown. 

The Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee was created as a result of the settlement of a city suit over UC Berkeley’s plans for development through 2020. 

The university plans to add about a million square feet of office, museum and other space in the downtown within that period. 

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. at the corner of Martin Luther king Jr. Way. 

Scheduled speakers include: 

• John Holtzclaw of the Sierra Club Transportation Commission speaking on transportation and land use; 

• AC Transit Project Manager Jim Cunradi and planning consultant Sam Zimmerman-Bergman of Community Design + Architecture planning consultants speaking on Bus Rapid Transit and alternative proposals for the downtown BART plaza; 

• Greg Tung of Friedman, Tung and Bottomley, a San Francisco planning firm, addressing the design of boulevards and streets to handle multiple modes of transit; 

• Dave Campbell of the Bicycle Friendly Berkeley Coalition discussing bike plans and possible improvements, and 

• A speaker talking about “City-UC Transportation Demand Management.” 

• James Patton of the Oakland Pedestrian Safety Project has been tentatively booked to talk about pedestrian issues. 

Parking will be addressed in a future session, reported Matt Taecker, the planner hired to assist in creating the downtown plan.

Disabled People Outside Project activist Dan McMullen was informed last week that he could either pay $10,000 in bail money or face arrest for violating an earlier probation by getting arrested at People’s Park on April 30. 

According to eyewitness reports, the People’s Park incident involved McMullen transporting his two sons in a trailer attached to his wheelchair, when he was informed by two UC officers that vehicles or carts were not allowed in People’s Park. 

When McMullen refused to move his wheel chair, he was ordered to procure his I.D., and when he refused to do so it resulted in a physical confrontation with the officer, leading to his getting handcuffed. 

The UC police have withdrawn their charges against him for trespassing, resisting arrest, and battery on a peace officer. 

Captain Mitch Celaya of the UC Police Department told the Planet that according to the charge sheet, McMullen will appear in court on July 5 to hear charges related to violation of probation only. 

Celaya added that by getting arrested at People’s Park, McMullen had violated an earlier probation.

KABUL, Afghanistan—I am writing this in my apartment in one of the “posh” new buildings constructed in 2004 near downtown Kabul. The shiny structure is five stories tall with tinted windows. My roommate and I pay $300 a month in rent, the going price in such buildings. Few locals can afford such relative luxury—a civil servant's salary is just $50 a month. And this is no Trump Towers.  

Foreign dignitaries and television cameras see only the shiny windows and new-looking construction. Inside, our bathroom drains emit the stench of sewage because of faulty plumbing. The pipes in the walls leak constantly, and the lightest touch sends disintegrated wallboard cascading to the floor. There's no insulation in the walls, and the gaps in our misshapen door and window frames allow icy winds to blow directly into the apartment. As temperatures drop below zero in the winter, we get 15 hours of power for the week.  

Very little in Afghanistan could be considered well-made. Soviet-era construction is notoriously flimsy. But for sheer lack of durability, you need look no further than some of the reconstruction projects undertaken in just the last few years.  

For example, a U.S.-funded highway in the northern provinces of Afghanistan is disintegrating even before it has been completed. By the time construction materials were purchased, project money had trickled through so many agencies and contractors that all those contractors could afford were second-rate goods. The resulting paved road is little improvement over the dirt one it replaced.  

The $15 million for the project originally came from USAID, which gave it to the United Nations Office of Project Services, which in turn hired the Louis Berger Group as a consultant. The UN also contracted with the Turkish firm Limak to build the road itself, and Limak hired an Afghan-American company, ARC Construction Co.  

Where did the money go? Between USAID at the top and ARC Construction at the bottom, most of it was siphoned off for “overhead” and profits. Louis Berger reports that $4 million alone was spent on setting up and moving the mobile camp that housed employees, and on importing construction equipment from Turkey. Another $1.6 million has gone to the salaries of 12 Afghan and three international inspectors. The laborers who work on the road, on the other hand, are paid about $90 a month, without insurance or worker's compensation. Between 2002 and 2005, 80 people—about 18 expatriates, and the rest Afghans—were killed working on Berger-supervised projects in Afghanistan.  

After the expenses, salaries and profits have been taken out, there isn't enough money to build a decent road. Without maintenance—which has not been funded—the road will not last more than five years, according to one of the engineers.  

The Berger Group insists it is not beholden to political promises or even community expectations, but that it answers to a higher power: the spending cap on its contracts.  

“I understand their problems and needs, but I also have an obligation to keep within the budget of the taxpayers' money,” said Peter Pengelly, Berger's project manager in the camp. “To the community, we're guilty until proven innocent.”  

The community to which Pengelly refers includes about 1,000 drivers, farmers and other concerned Afghans who signed a petition complaining that the road is substandard, and demanding what they were promised. Drivers say the gravel on the road has punctured their car tires and broken their windows, and that potholes create hazards and delays.  

But the real discontent is about water. The road is built close to mud homes, which have been here for decades. The old dirt road was low and allowed run-off to drain away. The new road is built atop a raised berm, blocking drainage. If a heavy storm strikes, the villagers fear the mud homes they built with their hands will collapse.  

They submitted their petition to the governor of Sar-e Paula province, but the governor has no power over the single major highway in his jurisdiction, which was designed and built by outsiders.  

“USAID can take advice and suggestions from the Afghan government, but they don't have to listen to it,” said one of the contractors. “USAID will spend the money in the way they want.”  

On a sunny Friday morning last October, three villagers dug a ditch right through the new roadbed in an effort to create a drainage canal before the rainy season. They were arrested for damaging public property.  

The contractors pointed out that, according to an obscure and rarely-enforced Afghan highway law, no structure may be with in 30 meters of the road. Therefore, they argued, it was not the builder's responsibility to deal with homes that may flood because they are too close to the road -- even though the homes were there first.  

Two months later, the frustrated villagers dug a new ditch in the road.  

Because the road is guaranteed for a year against defects, Limak, with the advice of the Berger Group, agreed to build 63 new concrete culverts. When the culverts proved to small too accommodate the water flow, the contractors built additional ones next to them (and billed for it). Limak and the Berger Group point to this as a moment of altruism, rather than poor advanced planning.  

The whole project began as a campaign promise from Hamid Karzai, who could offer big infrastructure improvements since the Bush administration had the aid money to back him up. The locals helped elect him, but today many of them believe they were hoodwinked. They are left with a crumbling eight-meter wide gravel road, and a healthy case of buyer's remorse.  

This article was excerpted from “Afghanistan, Inc.: A CorpWatch Investigative Report,” by Fariba Nawa, a freelance journalist living in Kabul who researched the foreign reconstruction of Afghanistan for six months.

Berkeley City Clerk Sara Cox said that if voters’ names do not appear on the voters’ list at the polling place where they believe they are registered, they have the right to ask for a provisional ballot. 

Cox warned there could be a large number of people whose names have been left off the voter rolls this year due to changes in voting registration procedures and changes in personnel at the Alameda County Registrar of Voters’ office. 

Candidates for office in Berkeley are required to pay a $150 filing fee when they take out nomination papers. However, in lieu of paying the fee, they can collect signatures. 

“Each valid signature will reduce the filing fee by $1,” says a memo from the City Clerk’s office. 

The signature in-lieu-of filing fee period opened June 2. Forms can be obtained from the City Clerk and must be filed by July 27. 

The nomination period opens July 17 and closes August 11. Nomination papers must be obtained from the City Clerk 

Rape suspect arrested 

Police are asking the public’s help in locating any other victims of a man they’ve arrested for the April 11 rape of a woman in North Berkeley, reports Berkeley police spokesperson Officer Ed Galvan. 

Adamu Chan, 30, has been charged with assaulting a Berkeley woman he lured into his residence after they had shared coffee. 

The Alameda County District Attorney’s office has charged him with rape, false imprisonment, oral copulation and menacing. 

His victim, a Berkeley woman in her 30s, has only a limited grasp of English, Galvan said. She identified Chan as her attacker from a photo lineup, in which the unique tattoos that adorn both of his arms and his upper chest were clearly visible. 

Galvan said investigators are concerned that there may be other victims, also unfamiliar with the language and or who may be afraid or unable to contact police. 

Anyone who may have been a victim of the suspect or knows anyone who may be a victim is asked to contact the Berkeley Police Dept. Sex Crimes Unit at 981-5735. 

Middle school heist 

A gang of five juveniles robbed another Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School student of his cell phone last Tuesday afternoon at the school, his coach told Berkeley police. 

Belated robbery report 

After mulling the incident for three days, a 26-year-old Berkeley woman finally decided to call police about the man with the scruffy beard who had tried to rob her near the corner of Adeline and Russell streets on May 26. 

The man, professing to be holding a concealed handgun, demanded her valuables, and after she called his bluff, the fellow departed, apparently as empty-handed as before. 

Photograph of Adamu Chan

Caltrans last week denied the city of Berkeley’s request for a $120,000 grant to fund a transportation plan to be used in shaping the development of a project that would feature about 300 units of housing over commercial space and parking at the Ashby Bart Station. 

Late on Thursday, project promoter Ed Church sent this email message to members of the task force recently appointed to plan the project, telling them to call off their Monday meeting: 

“I just met with Mayor [Tom] Bates and Councilmember [Max] Anderson. They suggest that you cancel your meeting scheduled for this coming Monday, June 5, and await a rescheduling date until after the City Council has had an opportunity to re-evaluate planning efforts along the Adeline Corridor.” 

Just because the state denied Berkeley’s request for a grant to plan a housing and commercial development at the Ashby BART main parking lot doesn’t mean the project is dead, however. 

The city-sponsored task force created to handle the project’s early stages had planned to meet Monday night, according to Chair and Berkeley Unified School  

District board member John Selawsky. 

“There still needs to be some sort of community process,” Selawsky said. And before the Church email was received, Bates told the Planet development there remains a top city priority.  

“In some ways it’s a blessing in disguise,” said Bates, one of the project’s leading proponents. “Obviously, we would’ve been pleased to get the money, but this gives us a way to come back to the community in a way that everyone’s comfortable with.”  

Selawsky was not available for comment after Church’s letter was forwarded to the Planet on Thursday night. 

The city’s standing policy for a number of years has been to build affordable housing on the site, Bates said, “and now we need to decide how to do it.” 

On Feb. 13, 2001, the council adopted a resolution making housing development at the site “a top priority,” with prices affordable “to the extent feasible” by public employees. 

On Dec. 13 last year, the City Council appointed the South Berkeley Neighborhood Development Corporation (SBNDC) as their agent for the project in the same vote in which they approved the SBNDC’s grant application. 

The plan ran into immediate well-organized and highly verbal opposition, both from alarmed neighbors and from the vendors and supporters of the Berkeley Flea Market, which occupies the parking lot on weekends. 

Selawsky said the task force had planned to take up the issue of what to do next when it met Monday night at 7 p.m. in the South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

The group’s last meeting, held at the senior center on May 26, was interrupted repeatedly by shouting from an audience that had been stirred into action by a half-hour-long rally held outside before the meeting began. 

The project has roused considerable suspicion, in part because it was presented for approval to the City Council a month after the grant application had been filed in the city’s name. 

Flea market activists are opposed to any changes at the site, and have derided a city plan to relocate it to Adeline Street between Ashby Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Way. The city has retained an engineer to look at the implications of the weekend closure. 

One critic, former City Council candidate Laura Menard, said project opposition was divided, with one group opposed outright and another faction hoping that the task force will sever ties with the SBNDC and steer an independent course. 

Denial reasons 

Caltrans spokesman David Anderson said the agency rejected the city’s application for a Community-Based Transportation Planning Grant “because the application received a low score.” 

Applications were judged on their ability to fulfill the agency’s seven criteria, including: 

• Support of livable community concepts. 

• The ability to address a deficiency, conflict or opportunity in coordinating land use and transportation. 

• Relevance to a study where considerable community benefit would come from addressing a deficiency in balanced multi-mode transit planning. 

• Leveraging resources for use in future developments. 

• Support for increased residential development or rehabilitation, including revitalization of an area. 

• The presence of synergistic effects that would lead to other benefits. 

• Innovation combined with an emphasis on community-based grassroots involvement.

Stop that initiative or we’ll sue, an attorney for Golden Gate Fields has warned Albany officials. Citizens for the Albany Shoreline (CAS) filed the initiative in question, an attempt to stop shoreline development, with Albany City Clerk Jacqueline Bucholz on May 16. 

What’s behind the threat: charges that the initiative’s proponents didn’t publish notice of their intent to circulate petitions in a legally qualified newspaper. The notice appeared in The West County Times, one of several area papers currently being sold by Knight-Ridder to MediaNews, but allegedly not one approved by the court for legal notices for Albany. It’s a subsidiary of the Contra Costa Times, published out of Contra Costa County.  

In her May 25 letter to Albany City Attorney Robert Zweben, track attorney Marguerite Mary Leoni charged that the West County Times “is adjudicated neither for the City of Albany nor for the County of Alameda,” thus invalidating the initiative. 

A representative of the advertising staff of the paper said Thursday that the West County Times wasn’t adjudicated for Albany, though the Berkeley Voice/El Cerrito Journal, a local weekly also part of the Knight-Ridder package, was. 

Tom Newton, general counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers Association (CNPA), said the publication requirements are set in state statutes, and require a court finding before a paper can accept legal notices. 

“The laws were an attempt by the legislature to make sure the newspaper is established in the community and is one which residents will look to for important public notices,” he said.  

The measure would call a halt to all shoreline development—including a mall which Los Angeles super-mall developer Rick Caruso is planning with the racetrack’s parent corporation, Magna Entertainment. 

Their plan calls for an upscale open air mall on the track’s northwestern parking lot, within the zone where development would be banned by the CAS initiative. 

Under the initiative, waterfront development outside the immediate coastal strip would be suspended until a formal planning process is developed.  

Leoni cited a Sept. 21, 1989, opinion by the state Court of Appeals Third Appellate District holding that signatures collected before the legal notice requirement had been fulfilled “should not be counted because they were gathered outside the legal time period for circulating the petition.” 

CAS turned in 2,446 signatures for the intiative—nearly three times the required 950. If approved, the measure would go on the November general election ballot. 

High stakes 

The battle carries high stakes on both sides. 

In one corner is an ailing racing company seeking to revive itself through development deals and holding out promises of big tax and other benefits to the city. 

They are paired with a major developer with deep pockets and a demonstrated willingness to bankroll seven-figure election campaigns. 

In the other corner is a collection of environmentalists and local businesses who see the project as a threat to both the biological and the local commercial environments. 

Robert Cheasty, a former mayor and an environmentalist who runs his legal business out of a Solano Avenue office, is one of the initiative’s most outspoken backers. 

“We used the process the city uses for publication of all its notices,” said Cheasty. 

The City of Albany also publishes notices in the West County Times, raising possible issues for the city as well. Calls placed to City Attorney Zweben were not returned. 

Cheasty said the CAS had certainly fulfilled the intent of the publication ordinance. 

“There were stories in all the local publications and coverage by the television stations. We also posted the initiative on our web site,” he said. 

Another proof that the initiative was widely available is the fact that a fourth of the city’s voters signed it, Cheasty said. “We went out in good faith.” 

Cheasty said the decision cited by Leoni was only one of several cases related to the issue. “The authority on this issue is split,” he said. 

As for the attempt to kill the initiative, Cheasty said, “This is like Goliath telling David, ‘No slingshots.’” 

Even if the track suceeds in killing the initiative, their mall proposal would still have to go before voters under the provisions of Measure C, a 1990 initiative that called for public votes on all waterfront projects.

The City Council on Tuesday approved the Creek Task Force (CTF) recommendations that ease current building restrictions, but still would require various permits and environmental analyses to build or remodel near creeks.  

“Healthy creek corridors protect structures from erosion and damage, improve water quality, prevent floods, and protect and enhance fish and wildlife habitat,” wrote CTF supporters. the Sierra Club, Urban Creeks Council, the Golden Gate Audubon Society and other environmental organizations, in a newspaper ad. 

Opponents of the task force’s recommendations, however, called the recommended permitting process “onerous.” Neighbors on Urban Creeks Steering Committee member Vonnie Gurgin said it “tramples on the rights of property owners.” 

The 7-2 vote, with Councilmembers Betty Olds and Gordon Wozniak in opposition, came after a three-hour public hearing attended by about 140 people at Longfellow Middle School. 

“I’m horrified to think we’re voting tonight,” Olds said as the hour neared 11 p.m. “There have been so many issues raised tonight. The task force has been working a year and a half. I’d like to absorb what they’ve said.” 

The task force proposals were a compromise, CTF Chair Helen Burke told the council. 

“An uncompromised view would be for larger setbacks than [the 30 feet] CTF recommended,” she said. 

The task force labored on the ordinance for 18 months. “It is time now for action,” Burke said. 

Planning Commission Vice Chair David Stoloff, however, called for “more flexibility to protect private property” and asked the council to modify the task force recommendations to “avoid an onerous permit process.” 

The CTF recommendations run counter to both Planning and Public Works commissions’ advice to the council.  

Planning staff will draft an amendment to the 1989 Creeks Ordinance based on the council recommendations. It will be reviewed by Planning and Public Works commissions and the Creeks Task Force. After a second public hearing, the council will vote on the final ordinance. 

Task Force recommendations for allowing various kinds of structures to be built in various creekside locations turn on whether or not variances are required. A variance, issued by vote of the Zoning Adjustments Board, is usually needed if a proposed building project does not comply with zoning regulations, while planning staff may grant certain use permits for uses allowed by the zoning code. 

Current law prohibits almost all building or remodeling within 30 feet of a creek or culvert. Changes approved by the council include: 

• Remodeling an existing structure by making it higher or excavating would be possible with an over-the-counter permit and a professional environmental analysis.  

• Expansion of a roofed structure within 25-30 feet of a creek would take a use permit and an environmental analysis, but expansion to 25 feet or less from the creek would require a variance.  

• New construction of buildings with roofs within 30 feet of a creek would also require a variance. 

• An environmental analysis would be required when new decks are built within 10-30 feet and when replacing decks after a loss within 30 feet of a creek. A variance would be required to build closer than 10 feet. 

• Building on or near a culvert would not be governed by rules regulating creeks. 

In addition to CTF recommendations, the council voted to incorporate the right to rebuild the same size structure after a disaster with an over-the-counter permit, consistent with the “right to rebuild” zoning ordinance passed, in concept, by the council last week.  

A second resolution,authored by Councilmember Laurie Capitelli, which passed 6-1-2 (Mayor Tom Bates opposing and Councilmember Kriss Worthington and Wozniak abstaining), asked staff to explore allowing a use permit in instances where a variance had been recommended by the CTF, in order to make it easier to rebuild. 

Much of the disagreement among those attending the hearing revolved around elements of the ordinance the CTF left up to staff, including the definition of a creek. Some people argued that because Berkeley creeks range from flowing waterways with fish to trickles that run dry in the summer, that a “one-size-fit-all” approach to regulations is misguided. 

Arguing for a “case by case approach,” Jana Olson, a task force member who signed a CTF minority report, contended that “a lot of homes are on small rivulets. The situations are different.” 

Moreover, soil composition varies from solid rock or loose sand, she said. 

Also of concern was the question of the “environmental analysis” necessary to get a permit for building and rebuilding. 

“What will that involve?” asked Capitelli, underscoring that he feared the review could trigger the need for a more extensive environmental study. 

The difficulty of obtaining a permit to build or rebuild drew fire at the public hearing. Pointing to a potentially costly permitting process for remodeling her house on a creek—or the possibility that she would not be allowed to remodel—homeowner Sara Baughn said the proposed law hurts her investment. 

“Why should someone buy our house?” she asked. 

Homeowner Janet Byron countered that her house beside Strawberry Creek had tripled in value since she bought it in 1997, despite the strict rules in effect under the 1989 Creeks Ordinance. 

“I’m not worried about selling it,” she said. 

Friends of Five Creeks President Susan Schwartz urged the council to adopt the CTF recommendations, which, she wrote the council, “allow(s) homeowners reasonable flexibility to expand their homes, along with the security of being able to repair or rebuild.” 

The question of financial responsibility for repairing culverts that run through private property was brought into the mix by speakers who argued that should be the city’s responsibility. 

“It’s not fair to put [culvert repairs] on the backs of the homeowner,” Olson said. “How the water reaches the bay is a public, not private [issue].”  

In an interview during a break in the meeting, City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque said that “all culverts on private land were built privately,” and therefore should be maintained by property owners. 

Graduation season is fast approaching, but more than 40,000 students statewide, including about 200 in Berkeley, still have not passed the high school exit exam.  

The California Department of Education released results from the March administration of the exit exam Thursday. Statewide, 41,758 students have not passed the test, meaning they will not know until well after graduation ceremonies are complete whether they will receive diplomas, since results from a May administration of the exam won’t be announced until July. 

About 200 Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) students have not passed the exam, said district spokesperson Mark Coplan. A smaller number are at risk of not earning diplomas this month, because the figure includes special education students who are exempt from the test mandate this year. 

The other students, who have met all graduation requirements but have not passed the exit exam, are eligible to walk the stage with their peers, per a decision by the Berkeley Board of Education in February. They will not, however, receive diplomas.  

This is the first year students must pass the exam to receive high school diplomas. The test assesses 6th- to 8th-grade math and 9th- to 10th-grade English, academic skills proponents say are key to success in life.  

“Maintaining this exam is critical to holding California schools accountable,” said State Superintendent Jack O’Connell in a May 30 press release. “Without these essential skills in English and math, [students] will face a very tough road ahead.” 

Critics of the test complain it unfairly discriminates against low-income and minority students, particularly English language learners who have difficulty with the English portion of the exam. Statewide, about 79 percent of English learners have passed the English language arts section compared with 94 percent of all students.  

In the English learners’ department at Berkeley High School, the March test netted five students who passed and 11 students who did not. Of those 11, about seven meet all other graduation requirements. The students have been in the United States for five years or less. 

Pedro Borges is among the few who passed. A native of Brazil, he’s lived in the United States for a year and a half. He failed the English portion of the exam the last time he tested, but worked arduously with his English language development teacher and took special seventh period exit exam classes. The hard work paid off--but the same isn’t true for some of his friends. 

“I have some friends who still haven’t passed the test,” he said. “They’re feeling really bad.” 

Madeleine Scott, a counselor for English language learners at Berkeley High School, said one of her students was accepted to Cal State East Bay, but did not pass the exam, and must now tell the school he cannot attend.  

“It’s a really difficult situation,” she said of all the students she knows who haven’t passed. “They are struggling with having been in high school and having completed all their requirements, and now not being able to graduate and receive a diploma.” 

A lawsuit filed on behalf of a group of students who claim the test is unfair for low-income and minority students nearly uprooted the exam requirement. In early May, an Alameda Superior Court judge granted an injunction against the test. The California Supreme Court later countermanded that decision. The case is scheduled to go to the state Court of Appeal later this summer. 

Students who have not passed the test can take it again in July and still earn a high school diploma. Summer classes, adult education courses and independent study programs are available to help students prepare for the exam. 

Members of the Nexus Institute were still occupying their rented West Berkeley home Thursday, the day after the deadline had passed for them to leave. 

Just how much how longer they will be allowed to stay remains an open question. 

Nexus, an artist collective founded in 1973, faces threat of eviction from their landlord, the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society. 

Mim Carlson, the Humane Society’s executive director, offered little in the way of response. 

When a reporter noted that Nexus artists were still in residence, she said, “That’s what I’ve heard, too.” 

Asked if eviction might be in the works, Carlson did say the society’s board would be meeting to discuss their options, but declined to say where or when. 

“We’re still in there,” said Nexus co-president Carol Newborg. “Hopefully negotiations will continue on our attempting to purchase the buildings.”  

Nexus has been trying to negotiate a purchase, though talks were recently broken off unilaterally by the Humane Society. 

Carlson has said her non-profit needs to sell the building in order to raise much-needed funds. 

“The fence didn’t go up,” said Robert Brockl, a Nexus artist. The fence he referred to was one the Humane Society planned to erect around their landmarked brick building once the artists had departed. 

Victor Lap, one of the collective’s founders, said Nexus has occupied the facility at 2701-2721 Eighth St. since its founding. 

The site consists of a landmarked brick building and two non-landmarked sheet-metal-clad structures.  

Jos Sances, chair of the city’s Civic Arts Commission (CAC), said the CAC is asking the City Council to protect the artist spaces as required under existing city statute and the West Berkeley Plan. 

“There are 12 artist’s spaces and a woodworking shop where 12 artists work. We want to make sure there is no loss of spaces,” he said.  

CAC members voted unanimously on May 24 to ask the council to delay any evictions until the artists and craft workers “are provided with comparable space.” 

The West Berkeley plan includes a policy to “protect small businesses, particularly arts and crafts businesses, so they can continue to flourish in West Berkeley.” 

To implement that policy, section 23E.84.090 of the city code provides that “the Zoning Officer or Board must find that the space formerly occupied by the protected use has been replaced with a comparable space in the West Berkeley Plan area, which is reserved for use by any protected use in the same category.” 

“There’s a lot of language in the ordinance and in the West Berkeley plan that may be confused, but it clearly protects arts and crafts use,” Sances said. 

He said the commission isn’t asking that city mandate that the Nexus artists be allowed to say in the current home, only that some home is provided for them. 

“There are complicated negotiations going on, and there are also divisions within Nexus,” Sances said. “Rather than getting mixed up with any of that, we are just asking the city to protect the spaces.” 

City Civic Arts Coordinator Mary Ann Merker said the resolution would go before the City Council during their June 20 meeting. 

“Clearly the status quo needs to change,” said Newborg. “The Humane Society needs the money and we need a place to stay.” 

One solution might include the addition of a buying partner, “because there’s more space than we need” she said. “There should be a way to work together without them going broke and us getting kicked out.”

A federal court judge last week ordered the Department of Defense to expedite a Freedom of Information request made by the ACLU of Northern California on behalf of UC Berkeley Stop the War Coalition and UC Santa Cruz Students Against the War.  

The American Civil Liberties Union claims that the DOD’s TALON (Threat and Observation Notice) program collected data on both groups, as reported in December by MSNBC, and filed a lawsuit in March in federal court calling for the DOD to expedite the process of releasing the information. 

“Expediting the process” means moving the request to the front of the queue, said Mark Schlosberg, police practices policy director for the ACLU of Northern California. 

“I expect we’ll get the information in days or weeks—not months,” Schlosberg said. 

“There’s an urgency to inform the public, involving alleged government spying on Americans,” he added. 

The information the ACLU wants released concerns allegations of government data collection related to a campus Stop the War Coalition protest in April 2005. Information on the protest was reportedly collected by government agents and stored in the DOD’s TALON database. 

At UC Santa Cruz data was allegedly collected at a protest against military recruiting on campus last year. 

According to U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup’s order, the decision was influenced by some 70 news articles on the subject and inquiries into the TALON system by public officials including Senators Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif, Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Bill Nelson, R-Fl., and Representatives Sam Farr, D-Calif., Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif. and Robert Wexler, D-Fl. 

“On December 14, 2005, MSNBC.com published an article revealing that the Department of Defense had been gathering information on political protests within the United States,” according to Alsup’s order. “The article stated that about 40 anti-war gatherings were documented over six months, ranging from street demonstrations in Los Angeles to a planning session by Quaker peace activists. MSNBC.com said the information was gathered as part of the TALON … system …. The program was designed to gather information on terrorism and threats to military bases.” 

Getting the information is particularly critical at this time, Schlosberg said. 

“As we’ve seen in the last several weeks, issues of domestic surveillance are in the forefront,” he said.  

The San Francisco Bay Guardian joined ACLU as a plaintiff in the case. According to the judge’s order, the ACLU “asked for expedited processing on the grounds that they had a compelling need for the information because the Bay Guardian was a news organization that needed the information urgently to inform the public about alleged federal government activity. They also alleged that the military’s domestic gathering of intelligence on political activities was a breaking news story.” 

The Department of Defense did not respond before deadline to requests for comment. 

The Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee (DAPAC) and the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) held a joint meeting Wednesday, and the topic du jour was architectural preservation. 

The boards heard presentations from a handful of experts in the field, including well-known state historic preservation officer Wayne Donaldson. Featured perspectives ranged from traditional preservationism to “contextual” interpretations, in which contemporary structures complement existing streetscapes. The meeting was held as part of the visioning process for developing downtown Berkeley. 

Austene Hall and Carrie Olson of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association discussed the rich tradition of downtown Berkeley, which goes back 130 years, before the city was incorporated. 

In 1876, the steam train arrived downtown, Olson said, and the track cuts are still evident on Shattuck Avenue. She pointed out that many other features of bygone Berkeley remain today: Downtown is host to 94 historical buildings, including the Shattuck Hotel, the Mason-McDuffie building and the Shattuck Square building. 

She advocated for preserving downtown’s history. “Preservationists want a cohesive downtown,” she said. 

Architectural Resources Group Principal Bruce Judd looked at the economic benefits of preserving architecture downtown. 

“Historic preservation needs to be part of the economic strategy [of downtown],” he said. 

He argued that most cities with the best economic development, like Santa Fe, Carmel and Monterey, have one feature in common—they emphasize historic preservation. He further insisted that working with existing buildings rather than developing new structures creates more jobs, both in the construction phase and beyond, increases property value and otherwise improves a district’s economic standing. 

Donaldson, a leading figure in preservation architecture in California, took a philosophical approach to preservation. He urged board members to hone in on the culture of Berkeley when considering downtown’s future landscape. 

“To me, if you can focus on saving those communities that tell the story of cultures, then Berkeley won’t dwell too much on the physical structures,” he said. “…If you keep the scale, keep the communities and keep the spirit of the culture” then downtown Berkeley will attract people. 

UC Berkeley architecture professor and editor of PLACES magazine Donlyn Lyndon put a contemporary spin on preservation. He showed slides of modern structures in Spain, Italy and New York, among other places, to show how they mirror the “cadence” of established districts.  

“We need to seek not just replication of values but we need to endorse them,” he said. 

Due to time constraints, commission and committee members were unable to delve into much discussion about presentations, though Donaldson’s concept of preserving culture elicited some talk. DAPAC member Gene Poschman said it was too “nebulous” and instructed fellow members to be “less philosophical and anthropological” when visioning downtown Berkeley. 

Winston Burton, also a DAPAC member, disagreed. He said the idea gave him some context for thinking about preservation in a contemporary manner, one that doesn’t conjure up “steam trains and stagecoaches.” 

Following the close of the joint DAPAC-LPC meeting, DAPAC met to discuss a draft Environmental Impact Report for UC Berkeley’s southeast campus plans, which include retrofitting the stadium, a new athletic training center, new offices and parking. 

DAPAC members briefly debated whether to instruct the university to move its proposed 911-space parking lot elsewhere. Dorothy Walker offered a motion to do so, which Rob Wrenn quickly shot down saying, “It’s just taking one person’s problem and dumping it on somebody else.” 

Committee members eventually agreed to submit comments to the university saying DAPAC has reservations about the parking, and encourages the university to explore all other possibilities. 

Discussion of a recent Technical Advisory Committee charette, a subset of DAPAC, was deferred until the next meeting. 

L. A. Wood has filed an appeal to the Zoning Adjustments Board’s (ZAB) decision to modify a use permit that allows Pacific Steel Casting to construct odor pollution reducing facilities. 

Wood, a longtime critic of the steel company, submitted the appeal to the City Council May 29. He accuses ZAB of violating open meeting laws, inadequately scrutinizing the odor reducing technology and failing to require a full environmental review. ZAB approved the modified use permit for the $2 million carbon abatement system May 11.  

Wood is also demanding that City Council, which will hear the appeal, impose mitigations on one of the polluting sources at Pacific Steel. 

Pacific Steel, at 1333 Second St., has been the subject of complaints from West Berkeley residents for more than two decades. The foundry emits an odor many liken to the stench of a burning pot handle. 

Implementation of a carbon abatement system is the upshot of a settlement agreement reached between Pacific Steel at the Bay Area Air Quality Management District in December. The settlement issued Pacific Steel $17,500 in fines for emissions violations and required the company to take measures to curb odor. 

Wood said he expects the appeal to go before City Council June 13 or June 27. 

The “opt-out” notification high school military recruiter bill co-sponsored by Bay Area Assemblymembers Loni Hancock and Sally Lieber has moved on to the California State Senate, but solid Republican opposition and lack of full Democratic support mean that the bill continues to have little chance of surviving a possible gubernatorial veto.  

The Hancock-Lieber notification bill passed the Assembly last week on a 45-33 vote, with Republicans voting in a block against it. In addition two Democrat Assemblymembers, Nicole Parra of the Central Valley and Tom Umberg of Anaheim, voted against the measure. 

The bill would require that high schools include an “opt out” military recruiter checkout box on the emergency information contact forms filled out every year by the state’s students and parents. 

Supporters of the bill estimate this would dramatically increase the number of students and parents who choose to prevent high schools from releasing the student’s contact information to military recruiters. 

Military recruiter access to student information is required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act unless the parent or student notifies the school that such access is not desired.

Two self-professed gang members were wounded in a drive-by shooting in South Berkeley Monday night—and neither one is talking to police. 

Neither of the victims, a 21-year-old Berkeley man and a 20-year-old man from Richmond, “seems very interested in talking to us,” said Berkeley Police spokesperson Ed Galvan. 

The two were drinking in front of a Russell Street apartment next to the corner of Sacramento Street—an area that has seen several violent incidents over the last year. 

A car drove by and at least five pistol shots were fired at the pair, striking both men without inflicting life-threatening injuries, Galvan said. 

One neighbor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, reported that at least nine rounds were fired during the 10:55 p.m. drive-by. 

Both victims were rushed to an emergency room, Galvan said, and both were expected to be released from the hospital by this afternoon (Friday). 

Galvan confirmed the neighbor’s account that a white car was seen leaving the scene within moments of the shooting. 

The injured Berkeley man was not a resident of the neighborhood where he was shot, added Galvan.

With Alameda County Supervisors coming down to the wire on a decision for the purchase of a permanent new voting system, local voting activists are hoping for what they call an “interim solution” that will not commit the county past the November elections. 

“We want them to adopt a minimalist approach” to the current schedule of purchases said Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club Voting Rights Task Force member Michele Gabriel in a telephone interview. 

“We won’t have another major election for another two years,” she said. “There could be a change in the California Secretary of State after the November elections, which means there could be a complete change in which voting machines receive state certification, and which ones don’t. In addition, Alameda County doesn’t have a permanent Registrar of Voters, and it would seem that the new ROV should be in place before the county makes a decision on a permanent voting system.” 

County supervisors are scheduled to vote at a special Thursday morning meeting on June 8 at 11 a.m. between $17 million contract proposals for voting machine purchases from Diebold Election Systems of Texas and Sequoia Voting Systems of Oakland. 

The contract negotiations were authorized on a 3-2 vote by superivisors last March, but even supervisors who voted for the negotiations at the time cautioned that they did so in large part to move the contract proposal forward, and left room to change their minds when the time came for the vote on the actual contract. 

Under the original proposal, Alameda County would operate what they are calling a “blended” voting system, with most voters marking paper ballots that would be counted on optical scanners at each precinct. Each precinct would also have an electronic touchscreen voting machine available for any voter who wished to use them, an option which is aimed primarily at disabled voters. 

The proposed contracts call for the purchase of the optical scanners and electronic touchscreen voting machines from either Diebold or Sequoia in time for implementation during the November general election and beyond. 

Alameda County will operate a similar voting system for next Tuesday’s election, with the exception that all of the paper ballot voting will be counted by the county’s current handful of scanning machines at a central location in Oakland, and electronic touchscreen voting will be done at each precinct on machines leased for the June election only from San Diego County. 

Local voting activists are hoping that supervisors reject the Diebold and Sequoia bids outright. 

Diebold has achieved notoriety in recent years on charges that it has altered election outcomes to favor Republican candidates, and for that reason “my guess is that the county staff will recommend Sequoia,” said Berkeley Peace and Justice Commissioner Phoebe Anne Thomas Sorgen. But Sorgen said that “Sequoia is just as bad” as Diebold, with the problem being that both systems operate “hackable machines.” 

Both Sorgen, Gabriel, and Wellstone Voting Task Force member Dan Ashby said that rather than a purchase of either Diebold or Sequoia machines, Supervisors should forego purchase of scanning machines for the present, continuing the central scan of the paper ballots with the scanners already owned by the county. 

For the disabled voters, all of them recommended the purchase of Automark Touchscreen voting machines manufactured by Election Systems & Software (ES&S), one of the four companies which submitted a bid to Alameda County. 

Sorgen said that the Automark system allows touchscreen voting, but produces a paper ballot rather than tabulating the count electronically, thus minimizing the vulnerability of the system to hacking. In addition, Sorgen said that Automark “allows for ranked choice voting, which makes it compatible with Instant Runoff Voting, which is a concern for many Alameda County voters.” 

She also said that another advantage of Automark was that “it is already certified by the Secretary of State,” so it could be implemented immediately by the county. 

Ashby said that in addition to optical scanning, supervisors “could also consider returning to a hand-counted paper ballot system. There would be challenges, of course, but those could be overcome.” 

That was an option also suggested by Board of Supervisors President Keith Carson at the March 17 contract negotiation vote, stating that “while paper ballots might take a little longer to count, it’s a system that worked well recently in Iraq, and in South Africa, when Nelson Mandela was elected. And people have confidence in the result.” 

Carson was one of the two supervisors voting against going forward with the contract negotiations with Diebold and Sequoia. 

Officials from Alameda County, the Albany Chamber of Commerce as well as Albany residents and small businesses got together at the Albany City Hall Tuesday to talk trash. 

The event, which was co-hosted by Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson and the Albany Chamber of Commerce, celebrated the one year anniversary of the Green Albany Project, which aimed at helping Alameda County meet its goals of diverting 75 percent of its waste from landfills into recyclable products. 

Congresswoman Barbara Lee recognized the efforts of the City of Albany, the Waste Management staff, county services and local businesses that have contributed towards the success of the project. 

“It’s a new day, a new possibility,” Lee said. “How often do you see Waste Management working with the city to promote greenery? Albany has proven to be a leader once again.” 

Supervisor Carson also lauded the project and acknowledged how Albany was setting the standard in terms of the future. 

“It works and it pays,” he said. “It is the morally and environmentally sound thing to do.” 

Albany mayor Allan Maris called the project a “milestone” and said it would pave the way for less landfill and more parks and open areas in the city.  

The Green Albany Project is the first of its kind in the United States and is staffed by a team of student environmentalists who are working with the Chamber of Commerce, the City of Albany, and Stopwaste.org. The project itself is funded by Stopwaste.org and is sponsored by the city and the Albany Chamber of Commerce. 

Twenty-six local Albany restaurants compost and recycle their food scraps and materials, saving nearly 150 tons of waste from entering landfills. In 2006 Albany’s businesses will divert 290 tons of its solid waste toward recycling and composting programs, organizers estimate. 

The brainchild of James Carter, former director of the Albany Chamber of Commerce, the project’s goal is to make the Albany business district the greenest in the nation. 

“The project doesn’t just save energy, it saves money too. Up to 80 percent of restaurant waste is organic,” he said. “One of the best things about this project is that people actually want to shop and dine at places that recycle.” 

Paul Revenaugh, the owner of Sunny Side Cafe on Solano and Curtis Street, was one of the first to join the project. 

“It’s great for the environment and cheaper,” he said. “I save more money recycling than by just dumping the trash in the garbage bin. The whole process is very addictive and I just want to keep the momentum going so that it spreads to other businesses.” 

Bryan Mathews, senior program manager for stopwaste.org, added that Alameda County needed to have a compost facility of its own as currently all the waste was being recycled in other counties. 

David Arkin, an award-winning green architect and member of the Albany Chamber Board of Directors, spoke at the event about the benefits of green building in Albany. 

“This project shows that businessmen can also be environmentalists,” he said. “The goal of green building is also to protect the environment, to harmonise with the site and to build as little as possible.” 

Mia Kitahari, student intern for the project said: “I never thought l would be this excited about trash, but here I am. I think it’s really good to put the word out there that environmentalism can actually be good for business.”

Even though the end of the school year is approaching, it’s not too late for local teenagers to find summer activities. 

In the Bay Area, there are hundreds of organizations offering jobs, internships, volunteer opportunities, and classes over the summer, but finding one that is enjoyable can seem like a daunting task. There are many resources available to help teens find these opportunities. 

For someone who has never worked before, finding a job is made easier by a variety of programs, books, and websites that help teenagers look for jobs, create resumes, and prepare for interviews. The City of Berkeley’s YouthWorks matches Berkeley residents from age 14-20 with jobs. 

Teens who are interested in YouthWorks can call 981-4970 for more information. For non-Berkeley residents, East Bay Works (www.eastbayworks.org) and Teen 411 (www.teen411.info), which are available to anyone, provide information about job opportunities and job training. 

For teenagers who are nervous about starting a job search, there is a variety of resources that can help. Websites such as Quintessential Careers (www.quintcareers.com/teen_job_strategies.html) and books such as H. Anthony Medley’s Sweaty Palms: The Neglected Art of Being Interviewed offer detailed advice to help teens overcome their nerves before a job interview. 

Other books, including Cindy Pervola’s How to Get a Job if You’re a Teenager and Kathryn K. Troutman’s Creating Your High School Resume help teens find jobs and create resumes. 

In addition to working, teens can also choose an organization to volunteer with over the summer. Volunteering doesn’t have to be boring—in fact, the best way for teens to find a volunteer job can be to look for organizations that match their interests. 

Animal lovers can care for animals at the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society, while avid readers can help younger children play summer reading games at the library. There are literally hundreds of organizations such as these, and they can be found through websites such as Volunteer Match (www.volunteermatch.org), ServeNet (www.servenet.org), and The Volunteer Center (www.helpnow.org). 

High school students also have the opportunity to take classes for college credit over the summer. UC Berkeley allows high school students to take a lower division Cal class. To be eligible, students must have completed 10th grade and have a B average or higher and must pay a $350 enrollment fee and $250 per unit. 

UC Berkeley offers five summer sessions running at different times between May and August. There is still space in many classes, and more information (including a list of classes) can be found at summer.berkeley.edu. 

The Peralta Colleges also offer summer classes for high school students. Berkeley Community College (formerly Vista College) offers classes in subjects ranging from English to Psychology. Each class costs $26 per unit and, for many classes, the credit earned is transferable to both the UC and CSU systems. The program is open to students who have completed 9th grade, and more information can be found by calling the admissions office at 981-2805. 

Trying to find a job, internship, or other summer activity can be a challenging process, but there are a wide variety of resources available for teenagers who want to take the initiative to find them.

“People think Berkeley is different, that we don’t have undocumented people,” says Belen Pulido-Martinez, organizer with BOCA, Berkeley Organizing Congregations for Action, a nonprofit dedicated to giving voice to people from communities with little power. 

“There’re here on Telegraph Avenue in every restaurant and on Fourth Street. Up in the hills—who’s doing the gardening? Who’s taking care of the babies?” she asked. 

While people in Berkeley without proper immigration papers are mostly from Mexico and Latin America, many are from Eritrea and other parts of Africa, Haiti, the Philippines and elsewhere, she said. 

As part of its effort to let the public know what immigrant communities face and to educate immigrants about their legal status, BOCA is sponsoring Immigrant Solidarity 2006 at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison St. at 1 p.m. on Sunday. 

At the event, older African-Americans who fought for civil rights and new immigrants will share stories. Attorneys will be on hand to consult individually with immigrants. Speakers will address legislation Congress is contemplating that could criminalize people without papers and those who help them. There will be gospel and Latin music and food from everywhere, organizers say. The event is free. 

BOCA is part of the nationwide faith-based activist movement PICO or People Improving Communities Through Organizing, headquartered in Oakland. PICO-California consists of 350 congregations and 450,000 people, working with health care, education, housing, fair wages and immigration issues. Some 1 million families in 150 cities and 17 states are involved nationwide. 

The Berkeley organization, founded in 1999, consists of 13 ethnically diverse religious congregations; one Jewish synagogue is among the Christian churches. “We're organized by congregation to make changes for the people who are the most needy,” said BOCA Executive Director Rev. Andrew McComb. 

“We develop leaders, pushing members to take leadership,” Pulido-Martinez added. Because BOCA is a nonprofit organization, the group does not support candidates for elections but works on issues.  

BOCA’s message is: “Don’t hide in the dark. There is strength in numbers; get to know each other,” McComb says. 

Among its activities, BOCA works with the Berkeley schools. The organization is part of the effort to divide Berkeley High into small schools. They also are working through the schools to bring health care to all Berkeley children. 

At the predominantly African-American McGee Avenue Baptist Church, a congregation that belongs to BOCA, issues are different. 

Elderly people are trapped at home and don’t feel safe going out, so BOCA helps them resolve issues of isolation, Pulido-Martinez said. 

Sunday at St. Joseph’s individual attorney consultations will be, in part, aimed at arming newcomers with information to help them avoid going to “Charlatans” who might get them into legal trouble with authorities, said Mark Silverman, immigration attorney with San Francisco-based nonprofit Immigrant Legal Resource Center, who will participate at the event. 

Immigrants should bring any legal papers they have with them to share with attorneys, Silverman said.  

Michael McBride, pastor of the Way Christian Center on University Avenue is helping to organize the Sunday event. Addressing the question of competition between African-Americans and Latinos for jobs, McBride, who is African-American, said, “A host of issues overlap. The nature of the particular political climate thrives on the ability to keep one group at odds with another. Fighting each other keeps us distracted form larger concerns.” 

About a dozen Berkeley residents filed into Council Chambers last Thursday to urge the Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) to reject a proposal for new wireless facilities at a local Catholic church. The board took heed. 

Board members denied AT&T Wireless Services an application to erect three antennae and related equipment at St. Ambrose Parish, 1145 Gilman St. That same night, the board approved plans for more than a dozen cell phone antennae at a storage building on Shattuck Avenue. The difference?  

St. Ambrose is in the heart of a residential neighborhood; the storage business is not. City code stipulates that towers in residentially zoned districts must meet more stringent standards—providers must prove the location is necessary to improve their coverage, and interference with “neighborhood character” must be kept to a minimum. 

AT&T was unable to convince ZAB members it could meet those requirements. The board denied the proposal 7-2, with Robert Allen and Jesse Anthony voting against the rejection. 

But the real issue—the one that motivates residents to sit through lengthy civic meetings—is the very issue ZAB and all local governing bodies are forbidden from regulating: health and safety. 

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 prohibits local governments from rejecting wireless facilities on the basis of health concerns, so long as the stations conform to Federal Communications Commission standards. 

Some people fear that the radio frequency (RF) radiation telecom antennae produce can cause cancer, interfere with medical devices and otherwise affect personal health. 

Terry Dillon’s partner suffers from arrhythmia, and Dillon fears RF emissions could significantly upset her heart. The couple, who lives within 300 feet of St. Ambrose Parish, was prepared to move from their home of 20 years if the AT&T project won approval. 

“We were going to have to sell our house,” he said. “I didn’t want to move, but we would have had to because of the health concerns.” 

According to the World Health Organization and the American Cancer Society, existing research suggests that base stations are unlikely to produce or induce cancer. However, both organizations concede the research literature is incomplete. 

The United States is home to more than 200 million wireless subscribers, up from 24 million just over a decade ago. In 1994, there were fewer than 18,000 cell sites, which include antennae and other equipment. Today there are more than 180,000. 

Wireless providers select cell sites based on centrality of location and building height: churches, telephone poles and multistory businesses are desirable locations. Typically, providers offer a monthly fee in exchange for a lease on space to house their facilities.  

In the case of St. Ambrose, AT&T would have paid $1,500 to $1,700 a month to use the church’s steeple, basement and fence for equipment--money the parish needs to offset flagging membership, said pastor Father George Alengadan. 

“It’s a tough situation for us, because we need money to keep this place,” he said. 

As cell phone use grows ubiquitous and demand for more and better coverage rises, residents from across the country are voicing opposition to the construction of wireless facilities in their communities: “Zoners Nix Sprint Cell Phone Tower Application”; “City Council Notebook: Faulty Towers”; and “Santa Cruz Preschool Closes Citing Cell Tower Radiation” read recent headlines from papers in New Jersey, Massachusetts and Santa Cruz. 

In California, it could become a lot more difficult for local governments to regulate telecommunications facilities. SB 1627, the Permit Streamlining Act, introduced by Sen. Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) in February, would prohibit cities and counties from taking certain actions as a condition of permit approval for construction or reconstruction of a wireless station, including “that all facilities be limited to certain geographic areas or sites owned by particular parties within the jurisdiction of the city or county.” 

That means Berkeley would no longer have the authority reject cell sites because they are slated for development in residential neighborhoods. 

For resident Erika Lamm, who opposed the antennae proposal at St. Ambrose Parish, that could spell trouble. 

“If local control is taken away,” she said, “every church steeple will be prime location for a cell phone tower.” 

Stuck up 

An El Cerrito woman walking in the 2500 block of Ninth Street about 12:45 a.m. on May 23 was approached from behind by two men, one packing a pistol, said Berkeley police spokesperson Officer Ed Galvan. 

When they demanded her purse, she complied, and watched as the duo beat their feet eastbound on Dwight Way and out of sight. 

Thrown for purse 

Two callers alerted police to screams for help coming from the corner of Regent and Woolsey streets at 8:40 p.m. on the 24th. 

Officers arrived to find a 26-year-old Berkeley woman who had been thrown to the ground by a man who grabbed her purse, which contained cash and an iPod. 

The suspect was gone by the time officers arrived, and the woman was taken to an emergency room for treatment. 

Trash fire 

Police and firefighters were called to the 2300 block of Channing Way at 5:20 a.m. last Thursday, where they found a curbside recycling bin ablaze. 

No suspects were located, and the fire was confined to the blue bin. Asked what kind it was, Galvan responded, “Paper, obviously. Bottles and cans don’t burn.” 

Beauty shop hit 

When the tall fellow with dreadlocks walked into Ginny’s Beauty Shop on University Avenue just before 11 a.m. last Thursday, he was looking for cash, not a haircut. 

The small black pistol he flashed was enough to convince the beauticians to grant his wish, and he had fled by the time officers arrived. 

Bat attack 

A 44-year-old Oakland man was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after he and another man attacked a man who was walking in the 2100 block of Seventh Street about 5:20 p.m. last Thursday. 

Officer Galvan said that while the victim was being rushed to an emergency room, officers were able to locate one of the suspects, who was also given a ride—his to the city lockup. 

Galvan said he was unable to report on the condition of the victim, a Berkeley resident. 

Rat pack 

The sounds of a woman screaming lead a Bancroft Way resident to call police at 12:15 a.m. last Friday to report that someone was in trouble near the corner of Bancroft and Roosevelt avenues. 

Arriving officers found a 26-year-old Berkeley woman who told them she had just been set upon by a gang of five or six juveniles, who had robbed her of her bag, which included a wallet and credit cards. 

Another purse  

An Alameda couple told police they were robbed by a pair of bandits who approached them as they were standing in front of a restaurant at Bowditch Street and Durant Avenue at 3:15 p.m. last Friday. 

The pair made off with the woman’s purse and its contents, said Officer Galvan. 

Bandits in furs 

Four young women, two of them wearing fur-lined black jackets, stole a Berkeley woman’s wallet and cell phone when they braced her in the 2400 block of Haste Street just before 2 a.m. Saturday. 

UC Police Department officers found the wallet nearby, and three of suspects were located within minutes—in part because of their unique garb. 

“You shouldn’t wear fur in Berkeley,” said Galvan. 

The suspects were all Oakland juveniles, he said.

UC Berkeley’s Memorial Stadium joined the ranks of Berkeley’s landmarks Thursday by a unanimous vote of the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC). 

A proposal to landmark another big building nearby—the Bevatron building at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory—was continued for another month. 

Another request, to designate the troubled Iceland skating rink, was delayed until August at the owner’s request. 

The commission also took comments on two draft environmental impact reports, one involving university projects at and near the stadium and the other for the block-square, two-building, five-story condo-over-retail complex planned for 700 University Ave. 

After hearing heated remarks from angry neighbors, the commission nonetheless gave their approval to the illegal demolition of a landmarked cottage in the Sisterna Tract historic district—though not without harsh words for the developer. 

Memorial Stadium 

“Memorial Stadium is already a landmark in the common sense of the term,” said John English, author of the designation proposal. “I urge you to make it official.” 

With the demise of Kezar Stadium in San Francisco and major alterations at Stanford Memorial Stadium, the Berkeley facility “is the region’s only intact surviving coliseum-style stadium,” he said. 

The elegant Romanesque coliseum at the foot of the Berkeley hills is the creation of architect John Galen Howard, a polymath who founded the architecture department at the university and wrote epic poems about Italian Renaissance architect/artist Filippo Brunelleschi and the Classical Greek sculptor Pheidias. 

Howard occupies a leading place in the pantheon of Berkeley architectural greats, along with Bernard Maybeck and Julia Morgan—who studied with Howard.  

The LPC’s decision comes as the university is planning massive developments at and near the stadium, including the addition of a row of press boxes and luxury sky boxes above the stadium rim and a 186,000-square-foot athletic training center against the stadium’s western wall. 

Jennifer McDougall, a UC Berkeley planner who attended the meeting, said, “The university respects the structure and is fine with having it landmarked,” though she did contest some of the application’s description of the surrounding spaces. 

Michael Kelly of the Friends of Piedmont Way—the street that is also a landmark—agreed with English that the trees, including native Coastal Oaks, were a special feature that deserved attention in the landmark application. 

Commissioners Steven Winkel, Lesley Emmington and Carrie Olson said they agreed, and more specific language was added to the resolution, which passed on a unanimous vote. 

At Emmington’s suggestion, the commission voted to send the news to the state Office of Historic Preservation, with a request to add the site to the California Historic Register. 

An application to include the stadium on the National Register of Historic Places is also under way. 

Bevatron delay 

Commissioners delayed a vote on landmarking the Bevatron, a particle accelerator at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory that was the site of historic discoveries into the inner workings of the atom that led to Nobel Prizes for Berkeley physicists. 

Proponents have spoken as much about their fears of public health hazards resulting from demolition as they have about their desires to preserve the structure for its historic merits, and Emmington told them they should address their comments to the LPC on historic issues alone. 

That didn’t stop speakers from devoting much of their remarks to their worries about possible exposure to lead, radioactive particles and asbestos during demolition, and their concerns about the dangers of hauling thousands of truckloads of debris down crowded city streets.  

The delay, approved on a 5-2 vote with Chair Robert Johnson and Fran Packard in opposition, was granted to allow proponents to try to obtain more information from federal records. 

2104 Sixth St. 

“I’m appearing on behalf of Adolf Hitler, Ghenghis Kahn and anybody else you can blame for anything,” declared attorney John Gutierrez, who represents Gary Feiner, the developer who is converting two Victorian cottages in the Sisterna Tract historic district into duplexes, and his architect, Timothy Rempel. 

Gutierrez was responding to what he characterized as “slanderous remarks” from neighbors, who have found little to like about the project, its developer and its architect. 

“Their track record is not one that gives us confidence,” said Neal Blumenfeld, who owns a cottage adjacent to the other Feiner duplex at 2108 Sixth St. 

“If there’s money floating around, that seems to win,” said neighbor Sarah Satterlee. “I would like to see that not happen any more.” 

“I feel insulted. You should feel insulted. They knocked down a landmarked building,” said Jano Bogg, a neighbor who also lost his fence to the unannounced demolition. 

The landmark demolition in question didn’t involve the complete destruction of the cottage, but it did entail the destruction of the roof and most of the siding, including key architectural features. 

Rempel, who lives a block and a half away, has said he hadn’t been aware of the roof demolition, which he and Gutierrez blamed on the contractor. 

While Commissioner Olson has described the demolition as the first of its kind in her long experience on the commission, the LPC voted its approval—though their resolution included the provision that the city hire an architect of its choice at the developer’s expense to visit the site twice a week and report on compliance. 

Winkel also pointed out that unpermitted demolition is a crime under city code, punishable by fine and imprisonment. 

EIR comments 

More comments on the university projects came from the public during the open comment session at the start of the meeting than came from the commissioners during the formal hearing later because the LPC addressed its concerns to the university in greater detail during an April hearing. 

The university’s EIR draft involves massive construction and demolitions required to renovate the stadium, construct a 911-space semi-underground parking lot just north of the stadium, and build a new “connection” building joining offices and functions of the Boalt Hall Law and Haas Business schools. 

Johnson said the report failed to offer any justification for the elevated sky and press boxes that would have added 50 percent to the stadium’s western wall, a notion that he said is “getting away from the whole egalitarian idea of the stadium.” 

“The project is putting the whole setting at risk,” said Emmington. 

Olson said more attention needed to be given to Piedmont Way in light of earlier repairs that had led to the loss of historic trees. 

Emmington said the draft EIR for the 700 University Ave. condo project failed to give adequate consideration to three existing buildings on the site, one a landmark, another a former landmark and a third—Brennan’s Irish Pub. 

The building that houses Celia’s Mexican Restaurant had been declared a Structure of Merit until the City Council reversed the decision, and the old South Pacific railroad station is a current landmark. 

Several commissioners said they’d like to see the station—currently earmarked as the future site of the to-be-demolished Brennan’s—returned to station use. 

Developer Dan Deibel of Urban Housing Group said the railway wasn’t interested. 

Johnson and Winkel said they were both concerned about the mass of the buildings, given the neighborhood.

If you’ve come to this space looking for a recommendation card to take with you to the polls, you’ve come to the wrong place. We—the Publisher and I—still haven’t made up our minds which candidate for governor to choose. Frankly, they both look somewhat unattractive at this point.  

We met Angelides at the home of two environmental activists for whom we have the utmost respect, who have known him for years and who are big fans. It was a high-end fund-raiser, and the price of admission indicated that many attendees had to be pretty well-off, but Angelides told them straight-out that he planned to raise taxes on high incomes to pay for education. His prepared talk and all the questions afterwards were about education, to an audience which included many parents of school-age kids, and he scored well--not a wimp in that department.  

But afterwards, face-to-face, I asked whether he thought that it was possible to make cities so crowded that it drove families to the suburbs, and he seemed confused by the question, which admittedly turned the conventional wisdom on its head. After a pause, he trotted out the usual smart growth orthodoxies about why it was good to fill in all the open spaces in cities, which I guess added up to a no to my question. It seemed like a classic example of thinking inside the box, but on the other hand he didn’t change his position to accommodate my question, which shows that he was at least being honest. 

On the other hand… the Chronicle, which supports Westly, has been making a Very Big Deal of all the money being spent on Angelides’ behalf by big-time Sacramento developer Angelo Tsakopoulos, a former employer and business partner who has bankrolled Angelides for most of his political career. Historically, the Hearst Corporation hasn’t endorsed candidates simply out of dedication to the public interest. Just the fact that Hearst is attacking Angelides while hyping Westly makes Westly suspect somehow. It’s tempting to think that there’s some other motive up their corporate sleeve, so to speak, prompting their devotion to Westly, but if so it’s hard to find.  

The building industry, however, is well known for buying politicians in both parties, and the last minute cash deluge from a developer on behalf of the Angelides candidacy does indeed look like more of the same. Acquaintances familiar with Sacramento, one a journalist and the other an environmental consultant, have told me lurid tales of past environmental crimes perpetrated by the Angelides-Tsakopoulos development enterprise. However Angelides has lately gotten endorsements from well-regarded environmentalists, including the Sierra Club, so maybe he’s changed. 

Westly is more reluctant than Angelides to tell the voters the truth: that Californians need to bite the bullet and raise taxes. He talks instead of belt-tightening and fiscal conservatism, which won’t begin to meet California’s funding needs, which he undoubtedly knows. However, that’s the sort of candidate’s campaign posturing which often changes after elections. It’s a point of view, whether or not he’s sincere, which might play better in a fall race against Schwarzenegger than Angelides’ call for more taxes. And is it the good news or the bad news that Westly’s spending his own money to run? 

What really makes it hard to choose between the two is reading reports that attack ads have started to appear for both candidates. I say reading because I don’t watch television much, which probably ought to disqualify me right there from any endorsement pronouncements. But I’d certainly vote for the candidate who renounced ugly ads and stuck to it. Unfortunately, that’s neither Westly nor Angelides.  

There’s one thing on the ballot that’s not hard to support, and that’s Proposition 82. Yes, yes, it’s not perfect—it leaves out schools based on particular educational theories like the Montessori Method. But nowadays most parents must be working by the time a child is four, whether in a single- or a two-income family. Someone’s going to be taking care of the kids, and they won’t all be going to unique preschools. Proposition 82 is a workable concept that will get some more kids into good enough schools, and if it works there will be an opportunity and an incentive for the legislature to create supplementary programs to serve the rest of the kids.  

And Proposition 81? Whoever votes against spending on libraries, even when they should?  

As far as the rest of the choices, you’re on your own. We’ve opened up these opinion pages to fans of various Oakland candidates, and perhaps they’ve persuaded our Oakland readers to vote for one candidate or another. Luckily I don’t live in Oakland, so I don’t have to choose, and I wouldn’t attempt to tell Oaklanders what to do. 

But I’m still on the fence about the Democratic candidates for governor, which is why you’ll see me at the polls in person on Tuesday—I couldn’t possibly make up my mind in time to vote absentee. Much has been made of media-engendered voter cynicism--- reporting the nasty things that candidates say about one another so that voters just want to stay home. I don’t think opting out of elections solves anything, but it is getting harder and harder to choose among the flawed offerings on the ballot.  

BEARING  

RESPONSIBILITY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Whatever the conduct of the Oakland Police Department in chasing suspects may be, J. Douglas Allen-Taylor makes a fatal mistake in his criticism of the department by reframing the debate to make it appear that the police are responsible for the deaths of innocents in those chases (“Two More Innocent Bystanders Die in High Speed Chase,” June 2, 2006). He somehow manages to twist the facts—disputed as they are—to say that “. . . two innocent young people are dead and another is in critical condition in the hospital because the City of Oakland has decided that ‘blaring loud music’ is a serious offense. At least, it is in the sideshow zones of East Oakland.” 

At the end of the day, even for infractions as minor as playing music too loud from one’s car, our society operates on the predication that citizens, when pursued by the police, must comply. Does this assumption discredit the possibility that beat officers—and even command staff—enforce laws in an arbitrary fashion, profile suspects based on race, class and other factors, and treat certain communities as war zones, deserving of either neglect or brutal crackdowns? Absolutely not. Does it deny the rights of citizens to fight charges brought against them, to seek redress in the courts when the police abuse their authority? No. 

Just last week, I was pulled over by a BPD officer. Driving legally and under the speed limit, I did not know why I was being pulled over (it turned to be a fix-it ticket for faulty brake lights). Does Mr. Allen-Taylor really mean to suggest that if I had decided to run rather than pull over when the flashing lights appeared behind me and the siren “whooped,” I would somehow have been absolved of the consequences of my actions once the chase began, just because the police officer chasing me might not have been doing the right or legal thing? 

Make no mistake—when innocent people die because someone has decided to flee rather than comply when the police try to pull them over, there is only party responsible for those lost lives—the one who runs. 

Daniel Jimenez 

• 

BERKELEY BOWL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The West Berkleley Bowl project, as proposed, will bring more harm to the city than it will bring benefits. 

The City Council should reject the environmental impact report as prejudiced and inadequate. It starts with the unreasonable premise that the store, although near I-80, would not have a significant regional draw, and therefore arrives at the unreasonable conclusion that it would not have severe unmitigatable impacts on the intersection of 7th and Ashby. The EIR’s extreme underestimation of traffic congestion in that intersection is meant to mislead the public and the City Council as to the actual unmitigatable impacts: the enormous traffic jams that will harm many existing businesses, harm commuters, and harm the entire city. 

This project is much larger than any other supermarket in Berkeley. At the public hearing on June 11, I will urge Council to reject the proposal and to tell the applicant to resubmit it as a request for a zoning variance conditioned on the project scaled down to the size of Alternative C, which is in scale with Berkeley’s other supermarkets, and would cause commensurately less impact. 

The council should not change the zoning of the property. The industrial businesses of the area rely on the City to maintain a friendly environment, and to do this they need industrial zoning. West Berkeley is the only place in the city where industries and arts and crafts can exist. Their continued existence provides diversity and richness, and makes our economy strong. While much of America is closing and offshoring industry, Berkeley should be dancing to beat of a different drummer: instead of dismantling the zone parcel by parcel, we should instead be a leader in proactively planning an industrial zone for the 21st century. 

John Curl 

• 

UC SUPPORT CODY’S? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As one of many Berkeley citizens who care deeply about our town, our cultural treasures, and our future, I am requesting that you take a positive step on behalf of UC Berkeley students, faculty, and the entire city community by helping to keep Cody’s Bookstore on Telegraph Ave.  

Simply put, you can direct the UC Libraries to buy some portion of their books at Cody’s. Right now, as you may know, purchases are made through national book sources. This practice does nothing to support local businesses. 

There always is a symbiotic relationship between any university and the town in which it is established. The school needs the employees, public services and amenities of the surrounding community. The townpeople needs the jobs, the ambience, the cultural assets of the university. And students, especially, need the town for its offerings of bookstores, restaurants, movies, parks. It has always been this way—it’s a normal relationship. And the current contentious relationship between Berkeley town and gown needs some serious mending.  

Local business thrives from both communities. When the university withdraws any significant portion of its operating expenditures from the town, there is animosity, economic decline, and in this case, a significant loss of a cultural treasure. Since textbook stores sell only textbooks, a first-class book store is a learning opportunity where students, just blocks away, have the opportunity to browse the many gems of an extraordinary bookstore which offers not only the new books just out, but their authors who arrive 18 to 20 times a month to meet readers and potential readers. This is a valuable learning process for everyone. 

To some extent, every university within a small town is a “company town,” and that certainly is true in Berkeley. But the university’s recent policies of dominance and disdain for Berkeley citizens seem to be taking a leaf from the corporate goal of money uber alles. It is not an attitude conducive to good relationships. You have the power to repair that situation.  

If Cody leaves the Avenue, that area will be a much lesser event. We urge you to do your utmost to help the store stay where they have been for 50 years as a cultural icon.  

Joan Levinson 

• 

CODY’S 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

How ’bout Stoney Burke’s Satire Hall of Fame idea for Cody’s!? With underground parking all the way to China. Personally, I would like to see it in the old KPFA/Eddie Bauer space. A nice little “lower Manhattanish” museum right at a BART stop. 

Arnie Passman 

• 

IMMIGRATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I have sent the following letter to our President, Vice President, the First Lady, 50 Governors, 99 Senators, and 250 Representatives. Only about five have replied, all saying it was someone else’s department. No one cares. I know he can’t be the only one this is happening to.  

I am writing this letter because of something that happened last week. 

My son-in-law is Mexican. He has been married to my daughter for over six years. He has his A number and he has permission (or did have) to be in the U.S. He was in Tucson Arizona, when the police picked him up. He told them he had his A number, and had permission to be here. They told him they didn’t care; they put handcuffs on him and beat him. Finally, they put him across the border. He had to walk three days to get to his hometown.  

My grandkids, especially the eight- and seven-year-old keep asking when their dad is coming home. Do you have a good answer for them?  

What is he supposed to do now?  

He wasn’t supposed to be sent back there anyway, he was supposed to come back to his wife and kids. Are you going to let him back across as easily as the government threw him across to Mexico? 

I wrote a few people and no one has the guts to answer me or they just don’t give a damn. Is this how they are going to treat any of the Mexicans who become legal? If it is, why should they even bother to become legal in the first place? 

Thank you for any information you can give me. I would really like to see my son-in-law back home with his children where he belongs, he shouldn’t have been treated that away. He is a good decent family man. 

Kathy Charlton  

Ed. Note: If you have any ideas, we’ll forward them on to Ms. Charlton. 

• 

PUBLIC LIBRARY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

One would like to believe that the Berkeley Public Library Trustees are just as concerned with fact as fiction. However, Library Trustee Chair Kupfer’s Op. Ed. (”Berkeley Public Library is still a vibrant institution”, Planet 5/23-25/06) suggests otherwise, being filled with fiction: 

Fiction 1. “. . . library is on sound fiscal footing . . . There is an operating surplus for fiscal 2006”.  

The Library Fund Forecast In the 5/23/06 City Council Budget Packet shows a projected annual shortfall for 2006 of $479,703. The Library Finance Manager in  

her 4/19/06 report stated “the Berkeley Public LIbrary has a structural deficit caused by growing expenditures which are outpacing revenue . . . the Library cannot grow out of the structural deficit by adding more revenue. . .” 

Fiction 2. “. . . conflicts between staff and management . . . are personnel matters involving specific individuals . . .” 

64 percent or almost two-thirds of the Library’s employees have signed a statement of no confidence as follows: “We find the management of the Berkeley Public Library as provided by Library Director Jackie Griffin, to be a liability for the organization and a misuse of the public trust”. (Planet 4/21-24/06) 

Fiction 3. “. . . community feedback is being sought on a variety of proposed initiatives.”  

What initiatives and how is feedback being sought? 

Fiction 4. RFID “is . . . an attempt to eliminate repetitive injury of front desk staff, ease processing of increased limits on checkouts . . .” 

The repetitive injury is the Library Director’s and now a Library Trustee’s repetition of a totally discredited basis for RFID. Director Griffin told the Trustees in Dec. 2003 that there were $1 million in Workers Compensation claims for the past 5 years mostly due to repetitive stress injuries. Actually the total RSI claims for the 5 years were $167,871, and there is no evidence those were caused by bar code scanners. (See “RFID Should be Cancelled Immediately”, Planet 3/4-7/05) 

In the spring of 2005 a Library Manager touted the alleged ability of RFID self checkout machines to check out a large stack of books, CDs, DVDs all at once. Now patrons are instructed to place only one item at a time on the machine. Also patrons are asked to bring DVDs, CDs and videos to a library employee at the desk for checkout. 

Fiction 5. “RFID . . . can be impemented without invading our privacy rights . . .” 

The ACLU’s and Electronic Frontier Foundation’s vigorous campaigns against RFID suggest otherwise. They believe RFID contributes to an evolving Surveillance Society. Also see “The End of Privacy? a chip that could track your every move”, Consumer Reports (June, 2006, p.33).  

Gene Bernardi 

SuperBOLD  

Berkeleyans Organizing for Library Defense  

Corrine Goldstick 

• 

CORREX 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Here is a correction to the letter from Alan Collins published on 2 June. Cody’s building is not owned by Andy Ross. He has the same landlord that we had 29 years ago and pays a high rent. 

Pat Cody 

• 

POLITICAL DREAMERS 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

So Ignacio De La Fuente considers Ron Dellums a “dreamer,” eh? Well, that’s not so unusual, especially when you consider that every living thing has been known to do that every now and then, from the earliest embryo to come into existence to those of us walking around today, whether dreaming of surviving a good long life, finding food, shelter, and heat, or liberating oneself from oppressive conditions (or persons), or founding promised lands of all sorts (our own U.S.A., for example). 

Dreams are a spark from which many things can and have come about—one might hazard a guess that De La Fuente himself has dreamed quite a few times, be it of leading a union, or becoming a city councilmember, or president of a board(!)—or even being head schoolhouse bully. 

Everyone has dreams; it’s part of maintaining one’s life and sanity to dream of better days and ways and of, as another “dreamer” Jesse Jackson put it, “keeping hope alive.” Those who dismiss or destroy dreams (or dreamers) are essentially schoolhouse bullies—and we have far too many of those in charge of things already (a big factor in the high proliferation of bullying referred to by P.R. Price [June 2-5]). 

Garrett Murphy 

• 

AN ASSUMPTION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I enjoyed Bob Burnett’s fine article on Al Gore and I intend to see the movie, An Inconvenient Truth. However there is one error in the article which should be corrected. He states “Of course, in the alternative universe where Gore won the 2000 election, 9/11 would still have happened”. 

I don’t think 9/11 would have ever happened. When President Gore was informed by the CIA briefing that Al Qaeda was about to launch attacks on American cities by airplane, he would have immediately picked up the phone and told the heads of all the airlines to instruct their pilots to keep the cockpit doors locked at all times. 

The hijackers could not have got into the cockpit. They didn’t have guns. Anyway, the FBI man sitting in front of the plane, sent by President Gore, would have wrestled the hijacker to the floor. In case a hijacking happened anyway, President Gore would have let NORAD do its job and fighter jets would have chased down the plane. 

The World Trade Center would still be standing. There would be no PATRIOT act, no war in Afghanistan or Iraq, and certainly no War Without End. Of course, Saddam would still be abusing the Iraqi people, just as the Bahdar Brigade is now doing in Iraq; the Taliban would still be abusing Afghan women, just as the U.S.-backed warlords are doing now. The hideous dictator of Uzbekistan would still be boiling people alive, as he is still doing, the Burmese junta would still be mistreating its own people, and Israel would still be abusing the Palestinians. It would not be a perfect world. 

However, the reputation of American would not be in shreds, and most Americans would still believe that their country had a future. 

Dolores Plumb 

• 

AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I just saw the movie An Inconvenient Truth. It is an excellent production.  

It’s ironic that Gore, who “lost” the 2000 election, is now showing  

the leadership on global warming what we should be getting from Bush. Instead, Bush is trying to build religious intolerance into the constitution with his marriage amendment. Some of the religious right say that Katrina was divine punishment for allowing gay marriage. Will they see a message from God when the sea level rises all over the planet?  

Gore says he has been discouraged by widespread ignorance and denial about global warming. The movie makes it clear that carbon dioxide is climbing and the warming is happening. We may see a sudden rise in sea level, in the next five years. We’ll get a surge if a few chunks of shelf ice the size of Rhode Island break off and encounter a patch of heated sea water. The extra fresh water will also alter ocean currents; the California coast could lose its coolant.  

Meanwhile, Exxon-Mobil will keep on making money and paying for its propaganda. And most Americans will keep on paying Exxon whatever it asks for gas. Meanwhile, Berkeleyans will continue to ignore the TDM study, which called for a “modest mode shift” from cars to transit. 

Berkeley is one of the cities which ratified Kyoto but Berkeley keeps on favoring the car culture: Parking first! No dedicated bus lanes for the BRT! Maybe we’ll get serious about cutting emissions when the waves start lapping over the feet of the Marina’s guardian statue. If you see the movie, you’ll see that the sea could really rise that much. 

Steve Geller 

• 

GAY MARRIAGE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Oppose the federal marriage amendment.  

The constitution of the United States must not be amended to allow discrimination against our gay-born children. To do this is to criminalize the most beautiful document that our founder fathers created. “Freedom and equality for all citizens of the United States.”  

We do not know why our children are gay. Whether it is genetic, hormonal, or whether something occurs during the critical time of fetal development, we do not know. What we mothers can tell you with absolute certainty is that it is inborn. Millions of children were born, are being born and will be born sexually different. It can happen in any family and there is no choice involved.  

Homosexuals like all human beings need companionship. They have the right to marry and live a happy life of equality, respect and love, as much as any other citizen. If God did not want the existence of homosexuality, he would not have created it. The fact is, homosexuality exists in every sector of society, in all professions and trades. Even in the animal kingdom.  

We parents and relatives of our gay children have sat in silence with our hearts bleeding as we saw our children being harassed, persecuted, killed, injured and discriminated because they had the misfortune of being born sexually different. Also, we have seen the agony of our gay children wanting to be sexually normal, and their pain when they face the reality of their sexuality in their adolescent years—some committing suicide, others faking being straight to avoid harassment and discrimination, others trying to change into a sexuality that belongs in their physical bodies but not in their inner self, only to suffer silently at their futile attempts.  

Marina Vasquez  

Mother of a gay son 

• 

PRESCHOOL  

CAREGIVERS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I hear there is a proposal to require credentialing for pre-school caregivers. We all believe in credentialing, but we need to know what skill is most important for pre-school caregivers: that is sensitivity to the unspoken needs of a child. 

The second most important skill is the heart to give a child open attention even when the caregiver is stressed or worn out. The desire to reach out to the community for support is another important skill. 

Along with these skills, the pre-school caregiver certainly needs to know the developmental stages of the child and tested techniques for providing children challenges and opportunities. But the ability to make a child feel secure is essential. Pre-school caregivers should be selected not only on the basis of their credentials but also for their capacity for nourishing human relations. 

Romila Khanna 

• 

CONDO CONVERSION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In their respective May 26 letters, both David M. Wilson and John Blankenship (”Correcting Chris” and “Condo Response”) criticize me for suggesting that a coordinated, “calibrated campaign” is now underway seeking to dismantle Berkeley’s long-established condominium conversion public policy. 

With all due respect to both gentleman, rather than using the term “calibrated campaign”, perhaps “interesting coincidence” would have been more appropriate: two pro-conversion commentaries published several weeks apart in the Daily Planet, and then the recent launch of a pro-conversion ballot measure petition campaign.  

Reasonable people may disagree, but this series of above events strikes me, again, as a very interesting coincidence. 

The proposed ballot measure would allow the annual conversion of hundreds and hundreds of existing affordable rental units across Berkeley into condominiums. 

In a complaint directed at me, Mr. Blankenship states that he does “not belong to the Berkeley Property Owners Association (BPOA)”. At absolutely no point in my May 23 letter did I state that Mr. Blankenship is a BPOA member. 

I stated only that Mr. Blankenship’s op-ed commentary happened to appear at the same time as the recent launch of a pro-conversion petition campaign that includes individuals belonging to or associated with BPOA members. 

Chris Kavanagh 

• 

STOP SIGN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Has anybody seen the speed limit sign on Colusa Ave in the Thousand Oaks area of Berkeley. Some enterprising individual has whited out the S and the D. It now reads “Pee Limit 25mph”  

I know the city of Berkeley is fanatic about regulating our lives, but this exceeds our personal limits of tolerance. Perhaps the city, in its wisdom, after careful study and environmental impact reviews in the costs of thousands of dollars, believes that individuals can actually pee at a rate of between 20 and 25 mph. I personally think these studies must be flawed and through personal experience and observation, at no cost to the taxpayers I might add, believe there is no individual whose flow can exceed 3mph.  

Another concern I have is enforcement. Who, among city staff, would want the task of enforcing this ordinance? I imagine there would be a high employee turnover rate and an unusually large amount of workers compensation claims. One can only imagine the nature of such claims.  

Has the Creeks Ordinance Committee even bothered to look into the significant impact such a flow might have on our creeks and waterways? Have they even considered the financial impact and limitations on property owners if one is not allowed to build within a certain distance of such a flow? And, of course, where are our concerns for the wildlife, the birds and fish, upstream and downstream?  

I do feel comforted that some enterprising nonprofit developer, who wants a free land grab gift from the city of Berkeley, will set up some sort of ecological or urological nonprofit corporation for the public good, throw in some public housing for the downtrodden, burden the taxpayers of Berkeley to pay for this generosity, and tell us we don’t really need a place to park our cars.  

Since I have not seen the pee limit signs anywhere else in Berkeley, I must assume that the city, after careful deliberation, decided that the residents of the Thousand Oaks area of the city are a more rebellious lot and need far more regulation than the more law abiding citizens of our other districts. I’ve even heard it rumored that the city is planning to seize all property along Colusa Avenue under eminent domain to insure that it will be a pee free zone. I can only hope these rumors are false.  

Remember folks, if you are pissed off, don’t be, its regulated.  

Paul M. Schwartz  

• 

COACHING IN THE PARK 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It was relatively quiet here in the San Pablo Park neighborhood across from the field where Berkeley High School practices and plays its home games. 

It seems the same coach that was here Thursday (5/25) at 1:20 p.m. is back this morning at 10:45 a.m. on the Memorial Day holiday pitching batting practice to several young men who bear a strong resemblance to members of the BHS baseball team. 

In an opinion piece published in The Berkeley Daily Planet on 5/19. In that article the head coach of the BHS team represented that “. . . 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.” 

The fact is that such appearances, at various times during the day and on weekends, is fairly typical. 

But then, I’m sure there’s a perfectly logical explanation. 

Neil Cook 

• 

IRRADIATING  

BERKELEY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

A few nights ago, May 25, the Zoning Adjustments Board did their customary rubber stamping on two of three cell tower applications. A total of 17 antennae were approved for the top of the Bekins Storage building at 2721 Shattuck, which already has at a few. Although the building is zoned commercial, the immediate area—excluding the strip of commercial buildings along Shattuck—is predominantly residential. My sympathies go out to those folks living in the shadow of this radiation hot zone. My hope is that neighbors will appeal this decision to the City Council and mount the kind of resistance brought forth by the St. Ambrose neighborhood.  

Much, if not most, of the public comment revolved around fears of the health effects of cell towers, but ZAB as a group were uninterested, claiming the familiar copout that their hands were tied because of the FCC rule that bars municipalities from denying a cell tower application on the basis of environmental considerations. They were determinedly unfamiliar or uninterested in the Supreme Court ruling of early last year that protects cities from legal damages for “WRONGFULLY” denying (i.e. for health and safety reasons) cell tower applications.  

Another no-fly zone in the heads of ZAB commissioners, as well as Berkeley City staff, is the well-established California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) concept of “cumulative impact.” It was briefly noted that by staff and ZAB’s current appraisal methods there is no cutoff as to the number of cell towers allowable in Berkeley, so full speed ahead and cumulative impacts be damned.  

BUT, in what I believe is a landmark decision, the ZAB denied the application for three antennae atop the steeple of St. Ambrose Church on Gilman St. The ZAB based their decision on the fact that this area is zoned as residential.  

My congratulations to the neighbors of St. Ambrose Church as well as my hope that, should the decision be appealed to City Council, they will again prevail. I think the potential public relations debacle for AT&T Wireless makes that a strong possibility.  

I also hope that they offer their stunningly well co-coordinated efforts in support of the neighbors of Bekins Storage on Shattuck. This is a city wide issue. Perhaps one day the many disparate neighborhoods will coalesce into one large irresistible political force to—yes I know it’s but a dream—prevent future towers and remove of existing ones.  

Power to the People. 

Peter Teichner 

Last Wednesday night, I went to the school board’s public hearing to express my concern about how the superintendent’s proposed new parcel tax of over $19 million would be spent.  

I was even more concerned over what I heard and learned at this public hearing. The superintendent’s proposed parcel tax will allow the school district to deduct a significant amount of money for overhead, administration and other expenses rather than provide directly for children’s learning. These deductions include: 2 percent right off the top, then $3,000 per classroom for “direct support”, and then 7 percent for “indirect support.” “Direct support” isn’t defined 

Then I heard the president of the teachers’ union state his concern over school district finances because the school board has never refused a single one of the Superintendent’s requests for additional administrative staff, or for administrative staff salary increases. 

When the school board members responded, not one said anything contrary. Shirley Issel stated that all increases were made to save money, which I did not understand. Both Issel and director Rivera made statements about the integrity of the school board. 

In November of 2004, I opposed BUSD’s parcel tax measure because the language in the ballot measure was too loose and not detailed enough in what the money could be used for. The funding title says “class size reduction” but the actual parcel tax language states that the monies can be used for “all costs attendant . . . including operational and professional development . . . and other costs associated with the opening or maintaining of classrooms . . .” 

This language in effect permits the school district to spend the money on practically anything, including custodians, light bulbs, telephone lines, or mowing the grass. Parcel taxes should not be used for upkeep. We already provide $4 million a year in a separate parcel tax for maintenance. This new parcel tax must be used to benefit the children directly.  

I want to know that the children are benefiting directly. The language of the parcel tax must be re-written to insure that the monies are used for children and not upkeep. If an independent audit committee and an independent auditor were closely monitoring the school system for efficiency, effectiveness and assurance that programs are reaching the stated objectives, and if the independent audit committee then publicly reported their findings, then that would be a reliable, and trustworthy assessment and public report. But the current parcel tax does not have such a structure. It has a section with the title “audit committee” but without genuine details. 

If BUSD was a corporation with an annual budget of $100 million, federal law would require it to have an independent audit committee and to conduct reviews for efficiency and effectiveness. I think BUSD should take the high road, and show us, that it values our tax dollars, and that it is doing the right thing. 

I am a long-time Berkeley resident. My children attended Berkeley public schools. One grandson recently graduated from Berkeley High and a second enters Berkeley High next September. I am a retired music teacher, and have been involved with children and the schools of Berkeley for 50 years. I know that many of us older, retired people look carefully at how we agree to spend our dollars. I want to know that the money I give the school district is not wasted and is well spent on children in a way that benefits their minds. Children’s education is really what is important. 

Therefore, I urge the school board to adopt proposed language changes made by the Berkeley Organization Be Smaart including: 

1. The specific and detailed independent audit committee and audit requirements. 

2. Clarifying and limiting what and how the money can be spent. 

3. Reducing the term of the parcel tax to 4 years, so that we can review what’s going on more frequently. 

Copies of BeSmaart’s proposed revisions and the superintendent’s version will soon be up on the website: www.kitchendemocracy.org. 

Stevie Corcos is a Berkeley violinist.

Fifty years ago, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, and public transportation, more specifically buses, became the stage from which the civil-rights movement was launched. The paradox is that today discrimination is alive and well in mass-transit bus service. In the Bay Area, for instance, a federal civil-rights lawsuit is pending in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, charging that the Bay Area’s Metropolitan Transportation Commission (which plans and allocates the majority of funding for the area’s transit needs) supports a “separate and unequal transit system” that discriminates against poor transit riders of color.  

I am proud to write that the Alameda County Board of Supervisors joined a growing chorus of East Bay elected officials—more than thirty in the last year alone—who have called on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) to treat low-income bus riders equitably in its funding practices. On May 23, by a vote of three to one, our board adopted a resolution requesting that MTC increase the allocation of public funds so that low-income and minority AC Transit passengers receive a substantial increase in subsidy per transit trip from MTC to approach parity in the subsidy levels provided to users of BART and Caltrain.  

We did so to reinforce the cry for fair treatment by those who depend on the bus daily to conduct one’s basic needs, among which are getting to work or school every day. Most of these families are fighting their way out of poverty, yet they are the first to suffer from service cuts and fare hikes. More often than not, these individuals live on the margins. If bus service is not made more reliable and inexpensive, moderate income folks will not use it and lower income folks, with no alternatives, will continue to pay more for less service. Those of us who are already ravaged by the increases in gas prices, housing prices, the closing of our inner city schools, bear the brunt of these decisions. The bottom line is that society pays either way: we pay on the front end with the increasing costs as I just described, or we pay on the back end with increasing high school drop out rates, unemployment, and violence in our communities. These are the costs of disparity; more often than not, these are the ones living on the margins. 

Supporters of our resolution note that funding decisions by MTC have left AC Transit bus riders with lower per-passenger subsidies, and lower levels of service, than the predominantly affluent riders of BART and Caltrain. While AC Transit bus riders receive a per passenger public subsidy of $2.78, BART and Caltrain passengers receive subsidies of $6.14 and $13.79, respectively.  

I believe that the Bay Area has two “separate and unequal” transit systems: an expanding rail system, Caltrain and BART, for relatively affluent communities, and a less financially supported bus system for low-income people. Over sixty percent of adult riders of AC Transit are transit-dependent, and over seventy percent are from households with extremely low or very low incomes. In short, a majority of AC Transit’s passengers depend on AC Transit’s vital bus services. In addition, about eighty percent of AC Transit’s riders are people of color. These passengers receive a fraction of the public subsidy that riders of Caltrain and BART enjoy, and have experienced a steady reduction in essential transit services while their rail counterparts have benefited from expanded service. 

The resolution that we at the Alameda County Board of Supervisors passed requests that the Metropolitan Transportation Commission make use of its extensive authority in the area of transportation finance, project planning and selection, and legislative advocacy to ensure that each transit passenger, regardless of income or ethnicity, receives an equitable subsidy of public dollars and equal access to vital transit services. I believe that until public transit is free for all, we must work towards the goal that everyone in the Bay Area has equal access to a first-class, safe, dependable public-transit system.  

To get a copy of the resolution or to find out more, please e-mail Lara Sim on my staff at lara.sim@acgov.org. 

Keith Carson is President of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors

It is possible to build housing at Ashby BART to create a sizable neighborhood park, and to make the neighborhood more livable. Let me describe what could be done in a sketchy way, using approximate numbers.  

Narrowing Adeline  

We can give ourselves more land to work with by narrowing Adeline adjacent to the BART parking lot.  

This part of Adeline used to be three lanes in each direction but was restriped so that it now has two very wide lanes and a bike lane in each direction. It also has a bleak looking mall in the center of the street.  

If we made it into a normal four-lane street, we could narrow it by about 30 feet. It is at about the same level as the deck that would be built over the BART parking lot for the development, so the land that is no longer needed for the street could be added to the project area.  

This would add over an acre to the project area, increasing it from about five to over six acres. 

Housing and Park  

This expanded site could give us two-and-a-half acres for housing and over three-and-a-half acres for a park.  

Two-and-a-half acres would be enough to build 250 units of housing at 100 units per acre—close to the “maximum of 300 units” proposed for the site.  

By comparison, the Trader Joe's project at University Avenue and MLK is on one acre of land and has over 150 units in five-story buildings. Housing at Ashby could not be this dense, because we have to put the resident parking at ground level rather than underground. But 100 units per acre is less than two-thirds of the density of the Trader Joe’s project, and we could easily accommodate it in four- and five-story buildings.  

The rest of the site—over three and a half acres—could be used for a neighborhood park similar to Willard Park. This is more than two-thirds the total current area of the BART parking lot, enough land for the flea market. On weekdays, when the flea market is not operating, this park would give the neighborhood badly needed open space where it now has an ugly parking lot. 

Restoring Urban Fabric  

The park should be in the center of the site, and housing should be at the north and south ends of the site.  

It is better to have this sort of park surrounded by housing than to convert the entire parking lot into a park because the housing provides “eyes on the street” that make the park safer. 

Housing should be of buildings with small footprints, compatible with the scale of the neighborhood. For example, there should be four or five buildings facing Ashby, rather than one mega-building that fills the entire block.  

There should be shopping on the ground floor of the housing facing Ashby Avenue. Currently, drivers treat Ashby as a freeway. With shopping on both sides, Ashby would become an old-fashioned neighborhood shopping street. When they pass this sort of shopping street, drivers tend to slow down and watch for pedestrians—as they do on San Pablo Avenue between University and Addison, which is a pleasant place to walk and shop even though it is a state highway like Ashby. There should also be some shopping at the southern end of the site, where Adeline and MLK meet. Currently, there is commercial zoning on both sides of the street here, but the street is so wide that it is hard to cross. If we put some shopping in the middle and made Adeline narrower, more people would walk here.  

We should break up the large parking lot site into smaller blocks by creating pedestrian walkways that line up with the surrounding streets. There should be stop signs or stop lights where these cross streets meet Adeline, in order to knit the urban fabric together by making it easier to cross. Though MLK has heavier traffic, it should also be possible to add at least one traffic light there.  

A Shared Vision  

Ideas like this vision of a traditional neighborhood are the first step in creating a vision of what should be developed at Ashby BART, and I hope that other people come up with other positive visions.  

New urbanist planners have found that the best way to create a shared vision is by having a charrette where planners do drawings that let residents see what their suggestions would look like. The city should do this sort of envisioning for Ashby BART.  

People tend to panic when they hear abstract numbers like 100 units per acre, but they are pleased when they see what a traditional neighborhood with 100 units per acre would actually look like. It reminds them of North Beach or of some other turn-of-the-century neighborhood that they love.  

Charles Siegel is a Berkeley resident.

IGNACIO  

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Ron Dellums’ great vision for Oakland is identical to that of the person I hope will be our next mayor, Ignacio De LaFuente. I’ve wondered just what we’ve missed that, now, it’s said, it requires our long absent/retired former representative to stop lobbying for private interests, show us the way, and save us. 

Who’s missed that education, healthcare, economic progress, and criminality are inextricably intertwined? Oakland’s City Council, led by De LaFuente, regularly wrestles with the relationship in debates ranging from the school system to sideshows to the Port of Oakland. Ignacio’s led and encouraged collaboration among residents, NGOs, government agencies, and city departments notably the federal, state, regional and county agencies dealing with crime, education, and transportation. 

Who’s missed seeing that all residents have a stake and say in what happens in our future, and why government inefficiency can be tolerated no more than corporate welfare or criminal violence? We who’ve lived in Oakland the past decade, braving the street crooks and the boardroom crooks, know that Ignacio has worked diligently to overcome the cards we’ve been dealt and effect the “better world” vision we share. 

It’ll become more obvious that the best candidate for Mayor is the guy who’s been here living with and working for us, and that the only thing we’ve missed is the sleight of hand pushing voters to another messiah. 

Patrick K. McCullough  

• 

TELEGRAPH 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Replacing Cody’s with a Walgreens?? Shame on Tom Bates for continuing his sell out of Berkeley. We have already lost much of the Shattuck Business district to chain stores. Jupiter, Alko’s, Berkeley Games, The Capoiera Cafe, Razan’s Kitchen and other locals are all that’s distinguishing Berkeley from a strip mall in Iowa. We do not want Telegraph Ave sold to corporate giants! 

That Tom Bates will grovel for the tax revenue of chain stores as he bends over to give UC access to 23 city-hall-sized pieces of tax free Berkeley property in our downtown, is both hypocritical and stupid. If we encourage and support small local business, Berkeley will benefit not only from tax revenues, but from profits that will be reinvested in our community rather than lining a distant corporate bottom line. 

And this is not just the responsibility of our local government. Think about every purchase you make. If you buy your book at Pegasus Books instead of giving your money to the Barnes and Noble chainstore across the street, that money will stay in our community! If we shopped at Cody’s instead of Amazon books, it wouldn’t be closing. Our local businesses are precious and need our support. Think before you shop! 

It is great to give some positive attention to Telegraph Ave. Attracting and supporting small local businesses (what’s happening with the Book Zoo?), planter boxes, lessening traffic, services for people in need, how about rent control for businesses, all can be helpful. But a strip mall by getting rid of any regulations that may hinder chain stores is an insult to the vision of Fred Cody, and bad planning. 

Cyndi Johnson 

P.S. The Green Machine is an oxymoron! Pay some locals to push a broom and you’ll get them off the sidewalk and purchasing in the stores instead of sending all that city money to the machine company. We’ll be a lot more likely to shop on the Ave if we are not insulted by being run over by a loud, polluting machine!  

• 

BOOK BUSINESS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

With all due respect to the comments of the owner of Amoeba Records, that landlords are jacking up rents on Telegraph Avenue, and that is contributing to business closures there, Cody’s building is owned by Andy Ross, so rent played no part in his departure. Mr. Ross made a business decision to open another major bookstore on Fourth Street, thereby shifting a significant portion of the new-book buying business in Berkeley from south campus to West Berkeley. With no huge increases in population to support another major bookstore in Berkeley, just where did Mr. Ross expect his business to come from, if not substantially from the customers who patronized the Telegraph Avenue store? 

This conscious decision to move has to be considered a major part of the lessening of customers and foot traffic on Telegraph Avenue, where a good portion of the people who visited went because Cody’s was there. Now that Mr. Ross has staked his claim in an area away from the intellectual heart of Berkeley, he has left that heart stranded without a major new-book bookstore for an area that not only depends on one, but will now suffer tremendously intellectually because somebody in his selfish greed thought more bucks could be made elsewhere, to hell with the cultural consequences. 

I work on the Berkeley campus and have spent literally thousands of dollars in Cody’s, but I live in San Francisco, where Mr. Ross has recently opened another store. Because of my anger at his irresponsibility, I will not step foot inside his store in Union Square. 

Alan Collins 

• 

VIEW FROM KENSINGTON 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

How Berkeley can you get? How ironic can you get? Here’s City Council person Kris Worthington calling for a rally to “save” Cody’s and support other businesses on Telegraph Ave.  

Talk about chutzpah! It should not be lost on readers that Worthington and fellow Berkeley pols Linda Maio and Dona Spring have long helped perpetuate the climate of crime and fear that has for years diminished Telegraph’s commerce by sanctioning the bad behavior of the miscreants who hang out on the Ave.  

Voters, don’t let Worthington’s current spin on saving Cody’s dull your memories to his role in maintaining the disaster that is Telegraph Ave. Accordingly, those who wish to one day see a regeneration of Telegraph should in the next election give Worthington, Maio and Spring their walking papers. 

Dan Spitzer 

• 

SAVE CODY’S 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Please help save Cody’s. Or else generations of Cal students and Berkeley citizens will never know a decent bookstore. 

Mary Pugh 

Senta Pugh Chamberlain 

• 

MAYOR’S LPO DETAILS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Now that the mayor’s office has released actual markup language for the approved-in-principle revision of Berkeley’s Landmarks Preservation Ordinance, we have had the chance to see just how many devils are hiding in the details. Though there really aren’t many points of disagreement still embedded, one of the devils-in-residence has been quite a surprise. 

The new ordinance would, for the first time, allow the Landmarks Preservation Commission to have initial authority to approve or deny the demolition of a designated city landmark or structure of merit—something preservationists have long desired as a seemingly natural part of the LPC’s scope. But the markup language goes even further by allowing, as a criterion to explicitly justify such demolitions, a “weighing of interests.” This would require the LPC to look not only at the value and current condition of a historic resource, but also to look at the potential virtues of a project proposed to replace that resource. Doing so would allow the LPC to approve a demolition if it found that “The proposed project is necessary to achieve an important public policy and and the expected benefit to the public substantially outweighs the detriment it will cause to [historic] resources.”  

Even ardent preservationists will concede that, on rare occasions, such a hard judgment call might need to be made by the city in favor of a demolition. But such “weighing” has been—and should properly remain—the responsibility of the city council, not the LPC. Only the council has the scope of oversight to decide on the basis of what’s best for the city as a whole, and it has the authority to act on an appeal from any LPC decision. The LPC has been established as an advocacy commission, and in its other deliberations it is expressly charged to look only at the historic merits of each resource that comes in front of it, and not to consider whether a proposed project would produce a better or worse result. 

This unfortunate provision was not among the draft ordinances forwarded to the Council by either the LPC or the Planning Commission, nor had it been requested by the Council. Questioned by the LPC on where the “weighing” language came from, Planning Director Dan Marks, responsible for the draft, simply said, “I just chose to put it in.” For a would-be “community consensus” draft, such unrequested creativity on the part of city staff seems especially out of place. 

Fortunately this unneeded language can be cleanly removed—without doubt what the mayor’s office should do even before the council again takes up the ordinance at a public hearing on July 11. That exorcism, and a bit more needed cosmetic and reconstructive surgery, can still give us a new LPO that the entire city will whole-heartedly support. 

Alan Tobey is a Berkeley citizen who has closely followed the revision of the LPO since the beginning of 2004. 

• 

PROPOSITION 81: YES 

Please vote YES on state Proposition 81 on the June 6 primary ballot.  

A YES vote on Prop 81 is a vote for the future of Berkeley’s West Branch Library and its patrons.  

The community that utilizes the West Branch includes many low-income families, recent immigrants and English language learners. The current conditions at West Branch are hindering its ability to adequately serve this diverse community. Built in 1923, West Branch is an early 20th Century building trying to serve a population with 21st Century needs. Visit West Branch and see for yourselves. It’s located at 1125 University Avenue.  

Prop 81 will not increase your local taxes. Funding will come from the state general fund. It is a bond measure that will help renovate libraries all over California. Priority will be given to projects that came close, but were not supported by the last round of state funding (Proposition 14). Our West Branch Library is one of those. If Prop 81 passes, the state would pay for 65% and local governments 35% of the cost of renovating libraries. Berkeley voters have already approved this city’s portion of the funding for a renovated West Branch.  

The money could only be spent on infrastructure, not personnel, administration or operating costs. That would mean a new Library Learning Center to teach students, parents and teachers to make the most of the Library’s resources. A Family Literacy Center would help young children learn to read and keep them reading. West Branch is also the home of Berkeley Reads, the library’s literacy program. Passage of Prop 81 means Berkeley Reads teaches more and more adult learners to read and write English, learn computer skills, get jobs and succeed in school.  

More information on Prop 81 is available at yesforlibraries.com.  

A vote for Proposition 81 is a vote for Berkeley’s much-loved and much-used West Branch, its patrons, wonderful staff and our city itself. VOTE YES ON PROPOSITION 81!!  

Sincerely,  

Linda Schacht Gage  

President,  

Berkeley Public Library Foundation  

Amy Roth,  

President,  

Friends of the Berkeley Public Library  

• 

POLITICS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The editorial “Remembering the Cost of War” in the May 26-29 issue of the Daily Planet was incisive and true until the last sentence. 

The easy thing would be to leave it to the political process that has served to keep the plutocrats in power. Since the 2000 election, it should be clear that those in power won’t yield power; as far as they are concerned, they are the only legitimate rulers here, and the rest of the world must bow down to them, too. Don’t expect them to honor˜or even allow˜any election that might depose them. Whatever it takes˜crooked voting machines, insufficient voting machines, purging voter rolls, or canceling elections˜they’ll help “God” keep them in power. 

The Democrats are pretty slavish in their support of the republican agenda; witness its leadership’s reluctance to discuss impeachment, though it’s a popular idea; witness http://www.davidswanson.org/  

What it will take is a movement in the streets that forces the administration to step down.  

The World Can’t Wait! Drive Out the Bush Regime! www.worldcantwait.net 

I got my whole life to do something, and that’s not very long 

Ani Difranco 

• 

RHYME 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Here’s tip of my hat to the Planet, 

And how well that you woman and man it. 

With your editors’ labors 

and letters by neighbors, 

Your paper’s so good, they should ban it. 

Ove Ofteness 

• 

DELLUMS 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Randy Shaw (Charon Attack machine Targets Ron Dellums) employs a rather despicable technique to attack the SF Chronicle. He appears to believe that if you say something long enough, people will begin to believe what you say has some merit. Shaw keeps repeating that the Chronicle editorial writers were somehow duplicitous in asserting that Dellums lacks municipal government experience and that his approach to dealing with the myriad problems currently confronting the people of Oakland is utopian. Instead of repeating these statements ad nauseam, it would better serve the electorate if Randy Shaw were to provide some factual data as to Dellums prior municipal government experience or substantive reasons for believing that Dellums promise for Oakland is indeed other than utopian. Why not tell all of us, for example, where Dellums proposes to go to raise the money required to accomplish what he promises to do if elected Mayor of Oakland? 

Irving Gershenberg 

• 

XXXXXXXXXX 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Ron Dellums’ great vision for Oakland is identical to that of the person I hope will be our next mayor, Ignacio De LaFuente. I’ve wondered just what we’ve missed that, now, it’s said, it requires our long absent/retired former representative to stop lobbying for private interests, show us the way, and save us. 

Who’s missed that education, healthcare, economic progress, and criminality are inextricably intertwined? Oakland’s City Council, led by De LaFuente, regularly wrestles with the relationship in debates ranging from the school system to sideshows to the Port of Oakland. Ignacio’s led and encouraged collaboration among residents, NGO’s, government agencies, and city departments ˆ notably the federal, state, regional and county agencies dealing with crime, education, and transportation. 

Who’s missed seeing that all residents have a stake and say in what happens in our future, and why government inefficiency can be tolerated no more than corporate welfare or criminal violence? We who’ve lived in Oakland the past decade, braving the street crooks and the boardroom crooks, know that Ignacio has worked diligently to overcome the cards we’ve been dealt and effect the „better world‰ vision we share. 

It’ll become more obvious that the best candidate for Mayor is the guy who’s been here living with and working for us, and that the only thing we’ve missed is the sleight of hand pushing voters to another messiah. 

Patrick K. McCullough 

• 

XXXXXXXXXX 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I hear there is a proposal to require credentialing for pre-school caregivers. I know we all believe in credentialing, but we need to know what skills are most important for pre-school caregivers. The most important skill is sensitivity to the unspoken needs of a child. The second most important skill is the heart to give a child open 

attention even when the caregiver is stressed or worn out. The desire to reach out to the community for support is another important skill. Along with these skills, the pre-school caregiver certainly needs to know the developmental stages of the child and tested techniques for providing children challenges and opportunities. But the ability to make a child feel secure is essential. Pre-school caregivers should be selected not only on the basis of their credentials but also for their capacity for nourishing human relations. 

Romila Khanna 

Albany 

• 

XXXXXXXXXX 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

David Altschul employs a familiar tactic used by the apologists for Israel’s indefensible policies. He ignores every specific, documented criticism of Israel and reiterates all the old nonsense about “the Arabs” being solely responsible for the Palestinian conflict. This does not square with the meticulous research of Israeli historians like Tom Segev and Avi Shlaim which show the original Zionist antagonism towards the native Arabs as well Israeli belligerence towards the Arab states from the beginning. The Palestinians were never “nonexistent” to use Altschul’s repellent version of holocaust denial and the PLO did distinguish between Jews and Zionists, whom are not all identical. Altschul’s selective reading of the Arab media is not impressive, Al-Jazzera has had the freest, best investigative reporting of 

any media outlet in the Middle East. Women are required to sit in the back of the Orthodox synagogues in Israel, Reform and Conservative Jews have considerably less freedom of religion. Israel does have some courageous media outlets and they are constantly being censored by the Israeli government. Altschul overlooks the history of Israeli aid to Hamas as a counterbalance to the secular PLO. As he overlooks the horrible occupation that gave rise to the Hamas victory. Altschul’s “arguments” for Israeli policies parallel those former apologists for apartheid South Africa who would proclaim the superiority of that regime to those of the rest of Africa as if that mitigated the horrors of apartheid. 

Kris Martinsen 

Fundamentalist Christians have a long history of using out-of-context quotes from the Bible to justify hatred against gays, lesbians, and whosoever else they might be demonizing. They are on shaky ground. 

There are very few references of homosexuality in the Bible. Most explicitly are those in Leviticus. Leviticus is the book of the Bible which was used to justify slavery. Leviticus says that you can eat locusts, but not shellfish. How about bug salad for dinner  

As for the the tale of Sodom, all reputable scholars agree that it is a parable about mistreating strangers, not a warning about where to stick your rod and tackle. 

Jesus does not once say “hate gays”. Quite to the contrary, he says ‘Love Your Neighbors’. Paul mentions gays a couple times, but even that only brings the total number of Bible quotes to a half-dozen or so. 

Gay-bashers haven’t got a leg to stand on. 

Ron Lowe Grass Valley 

In their respective May 26 letters, both David M. Wilson and John Blankenship (”Correcting Chris” and “Condo Response”) criticize me for suggesting that a coordinated, “calibrated campaign” is now underway seeking to dismantle Berkeley’s long-established condominium conversion public policy. 

With all due respect to both gentleman, rather than the term “calibrated campaign”, perhaps “interesting coincidence” would be more appropriate: two pro-conversion op-ed commentaries published several weeks apart, and then the recent launch of a pro-conversion ballot measure petition campaign.  

Reasonable people may disagree but this series of events strikes me, again, as a very interesting coincidence. 

The proposed ballot measure would allow the annual conversion of hundreds and hundreds of existing affordable rental units across Berkeley into condominiums. 

In a complaint directed at me, Mr. Blankenship states that he does “not belong to the Berkeley Property Owners Association” (BPOA). At absolutely no point in my May 23 letter did I state that Mr. Blankenship is a BPOA member.  

Rather, what I stated was that Mr. Blankenship’s op-ed commentary happened to appear at the same time as the recent launch of a petition campaign that includes individuals belonging to or associated with BPOA members. 

Briefly, to respond to Michael Katz’s May 26 commentary assailing the David Brower/Oxford Plaza development (”Brower Center: Over-Hyped”), it is remarkable that Mr. Katz completely omitted any mention of Oxford Plaza’s unprecedented housing component: 96 units of housing----every single unit affordable----with half designed exclusively for work force families (two and three bedroom units). 

Contrary to Mr. Katz’s unfortunate misrepresentations, the Brower/Oxford development will be world class in caliber, designed as one of the “greenest” structures in the nation, and will include very sizable outdoor and indoor public space.  

With respect to parking, the city only agreed to allow this development to move forward if the existing number of city-operated parking spaces was replaced underground. The Brower/Oxford development will be a magnificent asset for Berkeley’s ongoing downtown revitalization. 

Chris Kavanagh 

I would like to clarify just a few of Mr. Katz’s misstatements that relate to the David Brower Center: 

The Brower Center: Mr. Katz’s editorial begins by acknowledging that the Brower Center/Oxford Plaza development project is indeed two separate projects, The David Brower Center (non-profit offices/conference facilities/restaurant/gallery) and Oxford Plaza (affordable family housing), but the ensuing torrent of mischaracterization fails to distinguish between the two projects. The distinction is quite important because each of these worthy projects has separate ownership, developers, management, mission, and financing. 

Psuedo-ecological name: Really? The Brower Center project was discussed with and approved by David Brower himself before his death in 2000. Ken Brower, David’s oldest son, is a board member of the David Brower Center, which is the project’s non-profit owner. Shirley Richardson Brower, Executive Director of the South Berkeley YMCA, has appeared at numerous times at public events to speak in support of the Brower Center. Indeed, all Brower family members are in full public support of the project. 

Greenwash by making exaggerated claims: The Brower Center is on track to be built at a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum Standard, the highest possible Green Design standard established and monitored by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). The USGBC is an independent certifying authority and there are only a handful of LEED Platinum buildings in the entire USA. Please visit www.browercenter.org for detailed information about the innovative green design features planned for the David Brower Center. 

Land for free: An offer was made to purchase the property from the city, in which case the city would have had cash but no parking lot, and no control over the development. The City Council decided instead to retain control through a Development and Disposition Agreement (DDA) that has resulted in attracting over $22 million of downtown investment for the Brower Center alone ($10 Million of private philanthropic donations, which leverage $12 million in conventional financing, tax credit financing, and program related loans from Foundations) while also creating employment opportunities, conference facilities that support the entire non-profit sector, and a vibrant center that will attract international attention while serving the progressive non-profit community through the coming decades, plus Oxford Plaza’s 96 units of sorely needed, cost-effective affordable/workforce family housing. In addition, the city also gets to keep its parking lot. Mr. Katz seems to believe that just having a parking lot is a better deal. 

Greedy developers: Mr. Katz characterizes the Brower Center owners as greedy developers pulling hidden strings for their own enrichment. So who are these demons? The building owner is the David Brower Center 501c(3) non-profit, which in turn is controlled by its Board of Directors. A visit to www.browercenter.org will give interested parties the complete list of board members and their biographies. What you will find are dedicated individuals who have devoted their working lives to improving environmental and social conditions for the whole community, which includes Mr. Katz. Apparently the few computer keystrokes required to call up that website were beyond the effort or imagination of Mr. Katz. 

The mission of the David Brower Center is to inspire and nurture current generations of activists and to build a foundation for future generations. That’s what we agreed with David Brower to do, and that is what we are building. Building for the future. 

Sincerely, 

Peter K. Buckley 

Chairman 

David Brower Center 

Back in Berkeley briefly after a 20-year hiatus, I’m surprised at a lot of what I see and hear in my hometown, but nothing is quite as peculiar to me as the Berkeley Daily Planet’s unloving coverage of the Oxford Plaza/David Brower Center. Most recent case in point: Michael Katz’s 5/26 commentary “Brower Center: Over-Hyped, Over-Sized, Over-Budget.” I hope someone else will educate Mr. Katz about the facts of the DBC. Let me just correct his interpretation of its namesake. 

Katz heard him, once, yet he’s happy to speak for David Brower. He asserts that if he were to see what’s going on, Brower would “spin in his grave like a wind turbine”; what’s more, building the David Brower Center would “forever exile the Archdruid’s pesky, uncompromising spirit from his birthplace.” 

Now, I listened to my Dad a LOT over our 50 years together, and I can tell you he was proud and flattered at the prospect of having his name on such a Berkeley building. And even with another’s name on it, he would be excited about this innovative structure designed to create and support a dynamic fusion of green and for-profit groups, diverse local and distant communities, cool things to do˜all under a LEED platinum roof. His enthusiasm for good urban design was almost as keen as his love of wildness. And, living for the moment in his house (where his ashes sit quietly, I assure you), it appears to me that far from being exiled, Dave Brower’s spirit is vigorous in Berkeley˜particularly in the people working so hard to make the Brower Center a reality in the face of ill-informed and mean-spirited commentaries like Michael Katz’s. 

Sincerely, 

Barbara Brower 

In the wake of the news of the upcoming closing of Cody’s bookstore, people are acting like something that has been happening for over twenty years is suddenly a “crisis.” This is not necessarily good. As useful as “crises” are in finally focusing attention on their causes, it is equally important to focus on controlling their consequences. Crises always energize those with ideological or self-interested agendas, which they advance as panaceas for the problem at hand.  

We can expect the proposals to “save” Telegraph Avenue—which must equally include “saving” People’s Park—to be of three types: 

1. Incrementalism. This is a minor variation on “excrementalism,” which has been city policy on Southside for the past twenty years. The incrementalist response is to apply a few more police and social workers to the area. But unless there is a radical shift in what these resources are directed to do, this is the same formula that has kept Southside just as it is now. Removing a few drug dealers won’t solve the problem; we must change the entire culture of permissiveness and uncivil behavior the city and university have fostered in Southside. Do I want incremental variations on the existing theme on Telegraph and People’s Park? No thanks. 

2. Experimentalism. This is when a group of wannabe urban planners descend on a troubled area to test out their latest urban design theories. They will tell those of us who have lived here for decades how to create “vibrant” commercial centers and healthy communities by rearranging our physical space, perhaps adding a few kiosks, benches, and banners of Nobel laureates. Their standard “solution” involves more and bigger buses, fewer cars, less parking, bigger buildings, more cutesy businesses, and most importantly, more people. Once those are in place, everything else automatically takes care of itself . . . supposedly. (But wait . . . doesn’t Telegraph already fit their model more than 4th Street, Elmwood, or Solano?)  

3. Opportunism. This is when the developers and commercial real estate interests, working through their political arm, the mayor, use this “crisis” as an excuse to “streamline” building and use permits for Telegraph Avenue. The danger is that the community love fest will not stop at removing unnecessary red tape and expense for some desirable businesses but will be used as an excuse to effectively eliminate neighborhood control over quality of life, the commons, and the public planning of Southside. Shall I give away my rights because Cody’s is giving up the ghost? I don’t think so. 

Berkeley is suffering from an unholy alliance of experimentalism (so-called “smart growth”) and opportunism (giving away of the commons to developers). It’s too bad that this is happening with the downtown area plan, but it doesn’t have to happen with Telegraph. Residents of Southside, Le Conte, and Willard neighborhoods, and the Telegraph merchants and shoppers, must take control of their own urban space—and not accept the choices of excrementalism, incrementalism, experimentalism, and opportunism.  

We could hold off on other solutions—“expensive” in more ways than one—until we have tried something new but simple and safe: ethical, equitable, and common-sense public policy. The City might start simply by giving Southside neighborhoods, along with People’s Park and Telegraph Avenue, the same respect, expectations, policing, and stewardship given to 4th Street, Solano, the Elmwood, and the wealthier Berkeley neighborhoods.  

That would be radical enough, in part because it would require reversing the City’s equally “permissive” relationship to the university. The university competes for commercial resources, and destroys the neighborhoods that healthy business districts depend upon, so it’s no coincidence that our most troubled commercial areas are those closest to the university. The blood of Cody’s is on the university’s hands as much as anyone’s. 

This is the dangerous moment: The upside of “crises” is that they galvanize change. The downside is that they galvanize hysteria. Decisions made under the influence of hysteria are rarely good ones. 

Sharon Hudson has been a Willard Neighborhood resident for 25 years.

Here are some thoughts on each of the nine items that were part of the Telegraph Avenue assistance package passed on May 23 by the Berkeley City Council: 

1. Public safety and police presence 

The Berkeley Police Department has repeatedly assigned officers to patrol the avenue and later removed them over many years. About three years ago they reduced the number of patrol officers to just two for the entire south campus area. Prior to that, things had been improving. UC’s police presence in the south side has never interacted with merchants, vendors and citizens as directly as Berkeley police officers have, so the UC police presence may have nothing to do with solving Telegraph’s problems. We need additional Berkeley police officers immediately and their mandate should be stopping socially aggressive behavior and fighting crime. Jaywalking and innocent minor violations should not be a priority when we have larger crimes and intimidating behavior to deal with. 

2. Street cleaning and sidewalk  

cleaning 

Obviously, we want our city to maintain the cleanliness of our streets. Why was this reduced in the past? Graffiti removal is a priority. All windows on Telegraph Avenue storefronts have been acid stained and this degrades the entire avenue. This started less than two years ago and has been attributed to an East Bay family that has not been prosecuted, nor have damages, which have been estimated at $750,000, been collected. If the Berkeley police cannot prosecute and collect damages from this family, the city of Berkeley must help with the exorbitant cost of repairing windows. 

3. Improving pedestrian lighting 

This is a clear and immediate need. Were the lights ever reduced? If so, for what reason? 

4. Facade improvement program 

No merchant would argue with having a wonderful, fresh storefront. We totally endorse this. 

5. Streamline the permits process for new businesses 

This is essential, but the review process should include members of the community and merchants in a consulting collaboration with the council. The community that results from these efforts should be a vibrant and original neighborhood and not a recreation of a suburban mall or even other neighborhoods in Berkeley. A Walgreens, for instance, although being a paying tenant and business tax contributor, would degrade Telegraph as a “destination.”  

6. Improve social services and mental health outreach 

We totally endorse this. A permanent mental health team should be in the south campus area because Berkeley funnels all of its homeless and disadvantaged to this area. This, again, was present before and then removed. We as merchants have been providing the city with de facto mental health and security with no city services to help us deal with this problem. We are not qualified as citizens to deal with this.  

7. Street behavior 

Aggressive panhandling, physical and verbal harassment must be stopped and punished.  

8. Request property owners provide rent incentives and coordinate to attract new retail shops and restaurants 

To have a diverse and unique destination shopping community will require an innovative discussion and search for the kind of retail, service and residential mix that should be available on the avenue. 

9. Joint marketing effort 

A joint marketing effort by the city of Berkeley and the university is a great idea, but it should also be directed at international tourism and day tourism, and should highlight Telegraph's rich history and its vibrant future. 

A last point not mentioned in any ordinance but that must be immediately dealt with is the issue of parking in the south campus area. There needs to be a change in the policy of ticketing individuals in the numerous yellow zones on Telegraph Avenue between the hours of 6 and midnight. Starting three months ago, police have been ticketing anyone parked for even five minutes when they pick up food or items from shops located on Telegraph, despite the avenue’s depressed evening traffic. This is having a terrible affect on night business as cars cannot make stops on Telegraph Avenue to make quick purchases at restaurants or stores, but rather are forced to park further away in the more dangerous and dim off-Telegraph streets. These after-hour commercial zones should be changed to fifteen minute or one hour time limits, and possibly converted to metered parking in the future. 

Al Geyer is the owner of Annapurna on Telegraph Avenue.

Ron Dellums is running for mayor of Oakland at a time when the people of Oakland are desperate for a change in leadership. The Board of Education has lost control of its own schools,the education of our own children. Under its current president, Ignacio De La Fuente, the City Council cannot even protect the safety of its own citizens. The security of life and limb is the first test of government, and De La Fuente has failed the test. He talks tough, he postures. But Oakland now has one of the highest murder rates of any city in the U.S., triple the national average. Our city is the crime capital of California, and entire sections of Oakland live in fear. Forty-six residents have been murdered in three months.  

Paralyzed by a crime wave, De La Fuente’s City Council lacks the courage and political will to declare a state of emergency.  

Nevertheless, the election of Ron Dellums, whose programs offer hope for change, is by no means certain. De La Fuente has already built a political machine, and Nancy Nadel may well become a kind of Ralph Nader in Oakland’s mayoral showdown June 6th.  

With the help of the San Francisco Chronicle and the East Bay Express, De La Fuente is promoting an insidious caricature of Ron Dellums, a misleading image that is taking its toll on public consciousness.  

De La Fuente portrays Dellums as a kind of outsider who lacks practical skills to run the city. He claims that Dellums is a mere dreamer with his head in the clouds. Dellums has nothing to offer, says De La Fuente, but “pie in the sky.” The Chronicle (April 28) argues that Dellums is not grounded In Oakland affairs. He’s too grandiose, too big for Oakland. Dellums is “eminently qualified to become Secretary of State” but not mayor of Oakland, Chronicle editors contend! Remember the male chauvinist tactic for isolating women from power? Put them on a pedestal.  

If De La Fuente’s caricature of Dellums strikes a cord, De La Fuente could actually win on June 6th. 

It is time to set the record straight 

Ron Dellums is hardly an outsider swooping down from Mars. He’s a homeboy. He attended Oakland Tech and McClymonds High Schools when he was a youth. He worked in Parks and Recreation, and he knows first hand about poverty and despair in Oakland. When he worked at Hunters Point Bay View Community Center, he gained invaluable experience mentoring at-risk kids in the ’hood, an experience that enables him to understand the roots of crime.  

In 1967, Dellums became an effective leader on the Berkeley City Council, familiar with zoning regulations, city finances, community planning agencies. Dellums knows about pot holes and day-to-day issues that arise in local government. Even in his early years, Dellums realized that corporate power can be made to respond to well-organized efforts on behalf of the seemingly powerless. 

Because of his down-to-earth achievements in local politics, Bay Area voters sent Dellums to Congress and kept him in Washington for nearly 30 years. 

Contrary to De La Fuente’s propaganda, Dellums’ practical achievements on behalf of Oakland are impressive and manifold. 

His ability to raise revenue, to form coalitions, to unite adversaries, led to the construction of Oakland’s Chabot Science Center, which houses a nationally known telescope. The Astronomy Center is a vast resource, an entire world of wonder and information, for Oakland students. 

It was Dellums’ savvy that brought the Federal Building to downtown Oakland. 

Larry Hendel, staff director of Local 790 of the Service Employees International Union, notes that the airport and the port are the great success stories of Oakland. “Their success depended on the audacity of Ron Dellums. Years ago the port was too shallow for super tankers. There was a point where our seaport survival was at stake. Dellums got the federal funds to get the port dredged. Now super tankers that once docked in L.A. come to Oakland. Dellums saved us. Dellums was the key.” 

The Chabot Science Center, the Federal Building, the bustling port are not “pie-in-the-sky” ideas. They are practical achievements based on coalition-building, fund-raising, and skills in negotiation. Dellums is a brilliant, practical negotiator who earns the admiration of friends and adversaries alike. It is almost a miracle that the former Chair of the Armed Services committee, surrounded by Hawks, got out of Washington with his principles and faith in tact.  

It is a rare moment when a beleaguered city gets an opportunity to elect a statesman. Ron Dellums is one of the most respected Congress persons in the world. Remembered for his role in helping to end apartheid in South Africa, for stopping production of the heinous MX missile, he is returning home to Oakland, a city he served for thirty years. That is why some parishioners are singing an African-American spiritual: “Let Not This Harpist Pass.” 

Paul Rockwell is an Oakland activist.

The good news is that Telegraph Avenue and the Southside commercial district are doing just fine. 

The bad news is that they’re doing fine in Philadelphia. 

Shockwaves are still reverberating from the announced shutdown of Cody’s on Telegraph. Unless some angel and community goodwill conspire to save the bookstore, Berkeley will lose a cherished, bedrock institution. (Any angels reading this are invited to materialize at the community meeting on June 8, 7 p.m., at Trinity Church on Bancroft Way at Dana Street.) 

Cody’s current owner attributes the store’s negative balance sheet to obvious causes: Internet booksellers and the Telegraph Ave. commercial area’s decline. But neighboring merchants blame that very decline partly on parking difficulties. 

Remarkably, some city officials think Telegraph’s “cure” is to make automobile access and parking even more difficult, by cooperating with AC Transit’s wasteful proposal to implement “Bus Rapid Transit” (BRT) on Telegraph, just a few blocks beside BART. 

A bad version of this proposal would create bus-only lanes on Telegraph, and on Bancroft Way, Durant Avenue, or both. This would remove at least one vehicle lane, and some parking, from each street. A worse version would also block Bancroft Way to through-traffic at Telegraph. Because people would find it harder to drive to stores and restaurants, these options ought to kill off a few more Southside businesses. 

The really bad version would entirely ban cars on Telegraph, from Haste Street north—creating a “pedestrian-transit mall,” and extending historic campus creep. As we’ll see below, from other cities’ experiences, this would likely turn Telegraph into a ghost town. 

Leave things to Berkeley’s mayor, and he may yet kill off Moe’s, Shakespeare & Co., Amoeba, and Rasputin. Our youth might soon have to buy their bongs in San Leandro (whose officials were rebellious enough to flatly reject AC Transit’s proposed bus-only lanes). That’s a long trip that might not even be safe. 

You say you want a retailution? If Berkeley’s top officials and their advisors were really on the Bus (to quote a 1960s shorthand for enlightenment), they’d carefully study the success of Philadelphia’s South Street. This 1-1/2-mile commercial, restaurant, and entertainment strip feels more like Telegraph Ave. than Telegraph itself, with elements of San Francisco’s bustling Valencia, Mission, and Fillmore Streets thrown in. 

Funky music shops, jazz clubs, counterculture cafes, and tattoo parlors blazed a trail there in the ‘60s for chain outlets later on. But although the boho vibe is gradually migrating elsewhere, everyone seems to be basically thriving. Thrift stores, traditional Jewish delis, and ‘50s-flavored basic appliance dealers have all hung in. A large Tower Records store—and a separate Tower Classical annex—are both still doing fine. Two voodoo-supply stores serve their particular community. The South St. business district promotes itself visibly and capably. 

Now this is in a metropolitan area that lacks many of our assets: It’s more starkly segregated. And lacking hot new industries, Philly has fought stagnation for decades. The city has been sustained by a cluster of universities, but intriguingly, South Street is across town from “University City” (or “U.C.”). Meanwhile, Berkeley’s core retail districts can’t find that old black magic to retain the captive market of 43,000+ people who study or work at our own U.C. 

South St. also steadily attracts visitors from Philadelphia’s suburbs, and even from the New Jersey suburbs. Plus lots of tourists. It’s a regional destination, as Telegraph once was. 

I don’t claim to know all the secrets of South Street’s ongoing vigor. But its rebirth was launched by the same 1960s spirit of rebellion that shaped today’s Telegraph Ave. Neighbors of South Street fought and killed that era’s version of AC Transit’s gleaming busway promises—a freeway extension, ironically, that Philadelphia planners had proposed as a replacement for South St. 

I can tell you that on South Street, you’ll find: Cars, cars, cars on the street. Parking, parking, parking at the curb. People, people, people on the sidewalks. Very few vacancies. 

What you won’t find is bus-only lanes. Starting around 1976, Philadelphia did try a bus/pedestrian “transitway” on venerable Chestnut Street a half-mile north. This killed off a premium retail corridor. The city later returned Chestnut to mixed use—a debacle that you can read about on discussion boards like phillyblog.com. 

Chicago came close to similarly killing its main drag, State Street, with a bus/pedestrian mall. Many other North American cities, including Toronto and Vancouver, tried this folly on principal retail streets in the 1970s—only to reverse course when it nearly destroyed commerce. People simply wouldn’t shop where they couldn’t park. Thriving boulevards became sterile, desolate, and forbidding places. 

But some Berkeley officials, planners, and transportation enthusiasts seem to have just thawed out from 30 years’ cryonic suspension. They think this tried-and-failed notion is some shagadelic, hot new thing. 

In reality, I count only a handful of people who are convinced that little Berkeley needs bus-only lanes on Telegraph, or on Shattuck downtown, or anywhere else. Bus Rapid Transit is great technology, but it should be implemented on corridors that BART doesn’t serve—where it could really take lots of cars off the road, by giving motorists a needed alternative. AC Transit proposed a redundant Telegraph/downtown route for its own purposes, not ours. 

Unfortunately, in a long-running Berkeley farce, the few with the most outlandish and unfounded notions have been given the inside track. How many gaping storefronts will it take to recognize the error of empanelling marginal folks—who are proud of making every day “Buy Nothing Day”—to guide policy for commercial districts? 

Meanwhile, several thousand city residents have signed petitions, at places like Moe’s and Caffe Strada, opposing lane removal for the hell of it. Smart university city. Pretty smart City Council. Let’s assume they can count. 

Michael Katz advises against eating cheesesteak, but endorses all things Ben Franklin. 

Three quarters of the miseries and misunderstandings in the world would finish if people were to put on the shoes of their adversaries and understood their point of view. 

-Mahatma Gandhi 

Standing on the platform at the MacArthur BART station, I saw two teenage boys waiting for the train. They were dressed in baggy shirts and pants, caps on sideways, belts slung low on their hips. There was nothing unusual about their attire except for their shoes. They wore a different brand and style of sneaker on each foot. One of them sported a black shoe on his leftfoot, and a white shoe on his right. The other kid was similarly shod with sneakers that didn’t match. 

Over the weekend my 16-year-old friend Jernae stopped by for a visit. Her feet were encased in things that resembled mini bumper cars: enormous, shiny red plastic-looking sneakers, the kind Shaq and Allen Iverson wear. 

“What’s with the sneaks?” I asked as she kicked them off and sprawled on my couch. 

“Boys’ shoes,” she said, throwing her hands behind her head, and crossing her legs. “All the girls wear ‘em.” 

Just then my housemate Andrea came downstairs. “Nice shoes,” she said to Jernae. “Look at me, I can’t even find two that match.” 

She pulled up her pajama bottoms to reveal a sparkly yellow rubber flip flop on one foot, and an orange plastic thong adorned with a fuzzy flower on the other. 

“You’re right in style,” I said. “Saw something similar at the BART station just the other day.” 

“Shoes are my passion,” she said, “you know that. But my feet are all swelled up and I’m about to get a bucket and soak these puppies.” 

“My feet hurt, too,” said Jernae. “Can someone bring me a soda and some chips?” 

The next day I met my friend Sue for lunch. “I’ve got the most comfortable shoes!” she exclaimed. “Aren’t these cute?” 

She pointed down at her feet. She was wearing wide, dull green clogs that looked like a miniature version of apparatus you might find on a children’s playground. I’d seen these shoes before, in gardening magazines and once on a friend, who wore them to a Halloween party. She was dressed as the Easter Bunny and she sported the same holey plastic clogs that Sue had on, only hers were hot pink. 

“Crocs,” said Sue after I failed to acknowledge how cute her feet looked. “Thirty dollars. You can wear them in the rain, and they come in every color imaginable.” 

“Great,” I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. “But you gotta admit, they’re damn ugly.” 

“I don’t think they’re ugly at all,” said Sue. “They’re incredibly comfortable. Here, try them on.” 

“No thanks,” I said. “I’m saving my feet for something more attractive, perhaps in two different colors, or Shaq-like. 

“You should keep an open mind,” said Sue. “These shoes could change your life.” 

Yesterday I took my dog for her usual walk to Genova’s Delicatessen. On the way we often pass by Vincent, an elderly man who sits most mornings at the bus stop by the post office on Shattuck, smoking bummed cigarettes, and reading old newspapers. Vincent always says hello, pets Whiskers, and gives us his daily blessings. This time I noticed Vincent wasn’t wearing his worn-out, hand-me-down sandals. He was shod in a pair of scuffed, but fashionable Crocs! 

“You’ve got new shoes!” I shouted. 

“Yeah boy, you know about these things? Most comfortable shoes ever. Got ‘emfrom somebody who was ‘bout to toss ‘em. Threw away my sandals and made these my summertime shoes. May even wear them into fall and next winter, that’s how much I like ‘em.” 

“You know, Vincent, I thought they were women’s shoes.” 

“Hell, no,” said Vincent. “They’re universal! Girls wear ‘em, boys wear ‘em, and old folks too. You oughta get yourself a pair. They’ll change your life.” 

“I’ve heard that before,” I said. 

“Well then,” he said. “You oughta listen.” 

Unless you’ve been living in a cave since 1979, you have undoubtedly seen the Mad Bluebird. It was captured by aspiring wildlife photographer Michael L. Smith on a cold February day in Maryland. The subject, a male eastern bluebird, feathers fluffed out, sits on a fence post glowering at the camera. The Mad Bluebird has been very good to Smith, enabling him to quit his day job as an electrician. Over 100,000 signed prints have been sold, and the image appears on calendars, coffee mugs, and all kinds of tchatchkes. The royalties by now must be considerable.  

That bluebird’s actual emotional state at the time is, of course, open to conjecture. But the image came to mind recently when I read about a really ingenious study of our own local species, the western bluebird, that appears to demonstrate a connection between the evolution of behavioral traits—in this case, aggressiveness—and physical characteristics.  

What scientists mean when they talk about evolution depends on the scale of the process. Macroevolution is what drives the dramatic changes that cross major taxonomic boundaries: fish into four-limbed amphibian, feathered dinosaur into bird, hoofed land mammal into whale, ape into hominid. Microevolution is more subtle. It’s what Peter and Rosemary Grant spent years studying in the Darwin’s finches of the Galapagos, as chronicled in Jonathan Weiner’s book The Beak of the Finch: incremental changes in the size and strength of the bird’s beaks, tracking the vagaries of climate—El Niños and La Niñas—that determined the kinds of seeds that were available for food.  

Give it long enough, and microevolution can produce a new species. You can imagine a scenario in which a population’s lifestyle becomes so specialized that it no longer interacts with its parent stock and becomes reproductively isolated. But it’s just as likely to act as a stabilizing force, with small changes varying around a long-term norm. As the Grants found, incipient species can begin to diverge, then merge back if the environmental forcing conditions reverse themselves. 

How does all this apply to western bluebirds? Renee Duckworth, an evolutionary ecologist at Duke University—and, as a loyal North Carolina alumnus, it pains me to admit that anything good can come out of Duke—did her field work in Montana. She found that bluebirds varied in aggressiveness, although I’m not sure how that was scored. (And yes, I’ve seen bluebirds being aggressive; not long ago I watched one chasing an interloping house wren away from its nest tree). The more aggressive birds seemed to get the choicest territories, in open meadows. Those lower in aggressiveness made do with closed forest areas. 

Those two environments make different physical demands on a foraging bluebird. In meadows, bluebirds hover above the grass to snag insects; in forests, they glean bugs and berries among the branches of trees. Duckworth measured the two populations and discovered that the among the aggressive meadow-nesting birds, individuals with longer wings and tails—better suited for hover-foraging—succeeded in raising more offspring than their shorter-winged-and-tailed neighbors. 

In Darwinian terms, the longer-winged birds were more fit than the others. Evolutionary fitness isn’t just about personal survival—that would make it the tautology that creationists claim it is. It’s about how many copies of your own genes you leave in the world. If more aggressive, longer-winged bluebirds have more offspring, those traits will increase in frequency within the meadow-nesting population. (Wing and tail proportions seemed to make no difference for the nestling-survival rates of the forest-nesters). 

So, according to Duckworth, aggressiveness drives habitat choice, which affects physical proportions. Could this process ultimately turn meadow-nesting and forest-nesting bluebirds into different species? Not likely, because neither habitat is stable over the long term: forest fires keep shaking up the mix. The isolation that is a key part of the speciation process is only temporary. 

It’s an intriguing set of findings: a salutary reminder that behavior evolves too, and that differences in behavior can translate into physical differences. You have to wonder how much our own evolution owes to some remote ancestor having been bolder, or more curious, or more socially-skilled, or just plain meaner than the competition. 

“Spell it!” demanded the young redhead, eyes glaring, hands on narrow hips. 

“I know how to spell it,” responded the brown boy, indignantly. 

“Then spell it!” the freckled second grader dared him. 

“I don’t have to spell it!” her classmate retorted. 

“My mom says that people who say ‘I don’t have to spell it’ are losers.” And with a flick of her long, shiny tresses, she turned on her heel and dismissed him. 

An instant of pain flickered in his dark eyes, quickly replaced with anger. His face hardened and he, too, turned away. Perhaps the eight-year-old wordsmith had touched something inside him. A nagging, resurfacing voice that many African-Americans and other oppressed people often hear. A voice whispering to him, taunting him, telling him: you’re not good enough, you’re not smart enough, you—who you are right here and right now—are simply not enough. 

This exchange—written here exactly the way it happened—is not atypical of the numerous interactions I witness while working in the Berkeley Unified School District, primarily with second and third graders. 

While Berkeley prides itself on its history of integration within the public school system (well, at least it used to), the fact is that the disparity between not just the races but the classes is growing larger, just as it has throughout our country. 

Part of the reason for the sense of distance felt between so many Americans has to do, in part, with our seeming inability to truly empathize with those who appear to be different. There’s a disconnect. An uninformed assessment. A judgment. A dismissal. 

What the little girl was telling the little boy was, in so many words, that he was stupid and they both knew it. Her mother had told her how to judge people like him and she was simply doing as she was instructed to do. 

Over time, her words combined with other disapproving words, hostile stares, repeated rejection, avoidance, fear and even repulsion, dished out by various shop- keepers, authority figures, teachers, neighbors, media and even complete strangers, all contributed to what is too often a negative self-fulfilling prophecy. 

Kids aren’t born thinking they are inferior any more than they are born to be “bad” or indifferent. These are learned attitudes and behaviors that become internalized; they become part of a person’s hard drive, stamped onto some internal mechanism that defines who we are and what we’re about. 

While it doesn’t excuse antisocial behavior, it can explain the thought processes; the reasons why a person automatically goes from “A” to “B” to “C”.  

In my last column (May 16) I wrote about losing my firstborn child to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. What I didn’t mention was this: four days after my daughter died, I was distraught. I held this searing, boomeranging pain inside of me that the four walls around me could not contain. I had to get out of the house. I needed to move, to walk. My husband took my hand and we started walking, from south Berkeley toward UC Berkeley. 

As we walked along Campus Road nearing our alma mater Boalt Hall, a jeep full of young white men, what we used to call “frat boys,” approached us. As they passed, one of them laughingly shouted at us: “Nigger!” 

I was stunned, incensed, livid. My hormones, already off-kilter with grief, went off the charts. If I had had a gun, there might be one less Corporate-CEO-Daddy’s Boy in the world today. I wasn’t thinking. I was feeling. And all I felt was rage.  

There have been countless times when I, along with every other black person I know, have been on the unwelcomed receiving end of mindless, cruel racism. I have been followed through stores as though I were a common thief. I have been ignored by clerks when clearly I was next in line. Passed over while waiting for a table. Ignored by waitresses. I recall standing at a bus stop on University Avenue, my arms laden with law books, only to have some white man in a long American car pull up and ask “How much?” 

Not long ago, I was in a popular bakery near closing time and the clerk jumped back from the register, a look of terror on her face as she stared towards the door. I turned to look. A tall black man was running toward the entry way. He stopped, bent over and scooped up his toddler who giggled as he kissed her. He had run towards the bakery door chasing his two-year-old, not planning on armed robbery. 

I live in south Berkeley, in the house my grandparents purchased in 1934. They were among the first people of color to integrate this neighborhood. As the elders in our community passed away, some of their children and grandchildren inherited their homes, debts and responsibilities but not their dreams of a better life. 

Two, some say three, generations have been lost to drugs, in particular to crack cocaine. There are those who blame this on the CIA, who insist that there was a well-orchestrated conspiracy to destroy African-Americans through drug addiction and that they have the documentation to prove it. I’m not going to debate that assertion here. Whatever the cause, it is evident that far too many in our communities have suffered the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, many beginning in utero.  

Addiction is often accompanied by depression, lack of education, diminished mental capacity, unemployment, poverty and various expressions of antisocial behavior. I wonder whether any of these factors contribute to the mess on Oregon Street. 

We’ve all read about the drug dealing emanating from 1610 Oregon St. in south Berkeley, not far from my home. We’ve read numerous articles alternately describing the owner of the property, 76-year-old Lenora Moore as a long-suffering grandmother dedicated to her ailing husband and as an irresponsible maven who has no control over her drug-dealing offspring.  

What we haven’t read about are the offspring: the source of the disruptive, illegal activity. Who are they? What are their names? Are they all merely “alleged” drug dealers? Have any of them been arrested? Convicted? Why or why not? Is anyone going after them? Has anyone asked them why they continue to use and disrespect their grandmother? There is nothing “African-American” about that. 

Quite the contrary. In African cultures, the elders are held in the highest regard; lovingingly cared for and listened to. They would never be placed at such risk by their own children or any other young people in their community.  

I recently spoke with one of the families directly affected by the Oregon Street controversy, some of whom had grown up around the children and grandchildren of Mrs. Moore. 

I wanted to know what these “alleged” drug dealers were like as kids, if there were any warning signs or predictors. I wasn’t surprised to hear that these young adults were the schoolyard bullies, the neighborhood vandals. 

Never mind school. Apparently, they are bullies still: vandalizing the property of their distraught neighbors, threatening to kill those who complain. 

There are many African-American families who do not want this activity in their neighborhood. However, they are reluctant to speak out for fear of retaliation.  

I wonder whether or not these bullies-turned-dealers are some of the same kids who were told they were stupid and worthless so often and in so many ways that they came to believe it, not only of themselves, but of everyone around them, including their grandparents, including you and me.  

Not to excuse their behavior, mind you, simply to try to understand it, so that perhaps we can do more to cut out the source of this cancerous growth—this indifference towards other human beings—at its roots.

We didn’t do anything about it when it happened the first time and so, perhaps, that is why it has happened again . . . a high-speed police chase, supposedly from an East Oakland “sideshow,” ending in the death of innocent bystanders. Saturday night, it happened on 90th and MacArthur Boulevard. 

As always when the East Oakland “sideshows” are involved, it’s important—if you wish to get to the truth—to save the articles and official statements, read the fine print carefully, and check current “facts” against the “facts” as previously presented. Official “facts” given out about Oakland’s sideshows are like houses built on the Hayward fault—the ground tends to move under them and if you don’t pay attention, some of it ends up disappearing altogether or changing so much you can hardly recognize it. 

Reporting on the first court appearance of 33-year-old Oakland resident Amiri Bolten, Oakland Tribune staff members Harry Harris and Kristin Bender write in Thursday’s paper that “Bolten’s 1988 Chev- rolet van . . . first attracted the attention of police near the intersection of 73rd and Ney avenues about 9:20 p.m. Saturday because it was blaring loud music. Officers stopped the van and while walking up to it smelled marijuana inside, said Traffic Officer Jeff Thomason.” 

Thomason, it should be noted, was not one of the officers involved in the incident; he’s just the one who talked with the reporters. The Tribune account goes on to say that after the officers walked up to the van “without warning, the van sped off and officers pursued it, radioing to other officers and supervisors that they were in a chase.” According to the Tribune account, Bolten sped up 73rd Avenue to MacArthur with the police following some blocks behind, turned right, and then roared through a red light at 90th and MacArthur, hitting a Nissan Sentra driven by 25-year-old Jessica Castaneda-Rodriguez of Oakland. Castaneda-Rodriguez was killed in the crash, along with a passenger, 21-year-old Salvador Nieves Jr., also of Oakland. A second passenger, a 24-year-old San Leandro woman, was hospitalized in critical condition. 

The Thursday Tribune report said that Bolten was captured trying to run away from the accident scene, and that officers “found marijuana in the van.” The paper reported that Bolten has been charged by the Alameda County District Attorney’s office with “vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, one count of evading police causing injury or death, hit and run, and a parole violation.” 

But not DUI or possession of marijuana? Even though that was the underlying offense which was supposed to have triggered the pursuit in the first place? An interesting omission, but perhaps that was an oversight, either by the DA’s office, or by the reporters, to be corrected as we go on. 

In any event, the Harris-Bender Thursday morning Tribune account of the chase and accident were slightly different from those printed in the Tribune on the previous Monday, this one attributed to Tribune “staff reports.” 

In the Monday story, the Tribune said that “Strategic Area Command officers were in the vicinity of 73rd and Ney avenues about 9:20 p.m. Saturday when they saw a full-size 1988 Chevrolet van involved in “sideshow activities, which can include reckless driving, people hanging out of car doors and doing donuts in the street.” 

This is an interesting way to characterize the initial circumstances, don’t you think? The Tribune “staff reporters” don’t actually say that the Chevrolet van was doing “reckless driving [with] people hanging out of car doors and doing ‘donuts’ in the street.” In fact, it doesn’t even say that such activity was going on in the vicinity at the time the police stopped the Chevrolet van. Why, then, one wonders, did the Tribune include the reckless driving, etc., in the original story? Was it actually going on at the time at 73rd and Ney, or did they just add it, for “color”? Perhaps the good folks at the Tribune will someday explain. 

Three other items are notable in the original Tribune story. The article says that “police said Bolten appeared under the influence of alcohol while driving,” but does not mention any marijuana. It also says that “the names of the officers chasing Bolten were not released,” although it doesn’t say why this should be. 

Why is the marijuana important to this story, both its absence in the original Tribune account, and its addition later? 

Without the “smell of marijuana” from Bolten’s van, what we are left with is Strategic Area Command officers riding through what the Oakland Police Department officially calls the “sideshow zone,” stopping a car because of “blaring loud music,” and then chasing it after the driver ran away. If this was the case, then two innocent young people are dead and another is in critical condition in the hospital because the City of Oakland has decided that “blaring loud music” is a serious offense. At least, it is in the sideshow zones of East Oakland. 

(A “sideshow zone,” by the way, is not the official police description of the location where a sideshow is actually taking place. It is the Oakland police designation of geographic areas—all in East Oakland—where they enforce traffic laws in a stepped-up way. No sideshow has to be occurring—or ever has to have occurred in that location—for this stepped-up enforcement to take place.) 

The Castaneda-Rodriguez/Nieve tragedy is agonizingly similar to the death of 22-year-old U’Kendra Johnson, who was killed on Seminary Avenue in the early morning hours in February 2002 by driver Eric Crawford, who was also being chased by Oakland police. 

Back in 2002, police said they’d seen Crawford spinning donuts on Foothill Boulevard just before they started chasing him, and most newspaper and television accounts at the time blamed Johnson’s death on the sideshows. Before Johnson’s death, there had not been any deaths at or near a sideshow, and very little reported violence, even though murders were rampant on the streets of Oakland. The Johnson death ushered in the hysteria over sideshows, and became an instant political platform with State Senator Don Perata naming an anti-sideshow bill after Johnson, and gruesome, in-color accident-scene photos of the car Johnson died in appearing on the cover of promotional pieces for two candidates running for Oakland City Council to advertize those candidates’ positions of cracking down on the sideshows. 

The facts that witnesses denied that a sideshow was taking place at the time that police began chasing Crawford, or that the accident had more to do with a police chase and Crawford’s drinking and driving, were lost in all the general uproar. 

U’Kendra Johnson’s mother eventually filed a wrongful death action against the City of Oakland, the Oakland Police Department, and the two officers involved in the high-speed chase of Crawford, but she later quietly dropped it, without comment. And Oakland police said that while the officers did chase Crawford, they never got close enough to have any effect on the accident. (That’s the same position currently being taken in the Castenda-Rodriguez/Nieves accident.) 

U’Kendra Johnson’s death—and the official attribute of it to the sideshows—opened the political floodgates against the sideshows, leading to Oakland City Council passing Mayor Jerry Brown’s “arrest the sideshow spectators” law, and the setting up of the so-called “sideshow zones” in East Oakland, where Oakland Police officials openly admit that they enforce traffic laws different than in the rest of the city. Under this policy, police crack down on minor traffic violations in East Oakland, not because the drivers are involved in sideshows, but on the theory that doing so will prevent sideshows from occurring. In any other city, that would be called both discriminatory and unconstitutional. In Oakland, they are getting by with it. 

The high-speed police chase over a “sideshow” incident that led to the death of U’Kendra Johnson in 2002 got covered up, so that most Oakland citizens never knew that such a high-speed police chase ever took place. Now we have another one, in which two more innocent citizens have been killed. 

This time, maybe, we should pay closer attention to what is being done on our streets by the people we are paying to protect us. 

It’s unlikely that the producers of the documentary An Inconvenient Truth thought that they were producing a sequel to Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People. But it’s impossible to see this 96-minute film about Al Gore’s single-handed fight to educate America about the dangers of global climate change and not wonder how different things would be if he had won in 2000. 

It’s hard to forget how close that presidential contest was, the fact that millions of Americans decided that they trusted George Bush more than “wonk man,” that the dark forces of Karl Rove managed to label Al “an enemy of the people.” 

Of course, in the alternate universe where Gore won the 2000 election, 9/11 would still have happened. But we probably wouldn’t have diluted the war on terror by attacking Iraq or crippled our economy by taking on a mountain of debt. And Gore certainly would have recognized the danger posed by Hurricane Katrina. One thing for sure, George Bush wouldn’t have gone on the road, night after night, to show Americans his elaborate multi-media pitch about the evils of global warming. 

Most of us remember the 2000 presidential election ending with a disputed Florida vote count, where the Supreme Court ultimately determined the results. But the fact is that George Bush was close to Gore in the popular vote because millions of Americans liked and trusted him. Under the direction of the Machiavellian Karl Rove, the Bush campaign did a number on Al Gore. A lot of voters were put off by his personality. Americans bought Bush’s claim that Gore was a liar; that he had bragged of inventing the Internet. On November 7, 2000, many Americans voted for George Bush believing that he was a “good Christian man,” who would usher in “an era of responsibility.” 

Sensing that it wasn’t “hanging chads” that had defeated him, Gore left the political stage. But he didn’t give up. After taking some time off, he returned to his original, heart-felt message, “Our ability to live on planet earth is at stake.” 

Gore’s story parallels that of the protagonist in An Enemy of the People, one of Ibsen’s most famous plays. Dr. Thomas Stockman discovers that environmental pollution threatens the municipal baths at his small Norwegian community, a health resort. He thinks that if he tells the townspeople the truth, they will believe him and take remedial action. Instead, his fellow citizens brand Stockman “an enemy of the people,” because they are afraid of the economic consequences of his news. They harass him and his family, but Stockman doesn’t leave town. At the end of the play, he declares, “The strongest man in the world is he who stands alone.” 

After the 2000 presidential election, Al Gore never left town either. He embarked on a one-man crusade to wake up America to the perils of global climate change, a subject he’d been interested in since his college days. He put together a multi-media presentation and schlepped it back and forth across the US. Gradually the presentation got better and attracted more attention. Eventually it became the subject of the movie that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January. 

The documentary has problems. It’s too long. How many times do we need to see Gore walking through airports or sitting in hotel rooms staring soulfully at his laptop computer? And it doesn’t give viewers enough to do. Al refers them to www.climatecrisis.net, but he easily could have shown them what’s being accomplished in green cities such as Curitiba, Brazil, and Oslo, Norway. And Gore misses an opportunity to lobby for collective action, the formation of a public-private partnership to address global warming. 

Moreover, An Inconvenient Truth can’t decide what it is. Is it an information-oriented documentary about the dangers of global climate change, where Gore does the voice over? Is it a semi-biographical film about Al reinventing himself? Or is it a soft political film implying that the United States made a big mistake ditching the wonk man for that cheeky Dubya? The documentary is at its best when it shows us the redemption of Al Gore: how he found moral clarity by standing up for his beliefs and woke up America to the peril caused by its shortsighted policies. 

In the process, public perception changed and America grew fond of Al’s awkwardness. He’s no longer labeled “an enemy of the people.” In fact, in some quarters he’s become a folk hero. There are whispers that if Hillary Clinton falters, wonk man might be drafted as the Democrats’ presidential candidate in 2008. 

There’s been a reversal of fortune. Americans are waking up to discover that they made a bad mistake electing George Bush. That he can’t be trusted and isn’t even that likeable. That Dubya not only doesn’t have a plan to solve America’s problems, he hasn’t recognized most of them. Rather than usher in an era of responsibility, he’s championed an era of unbridled self-interest. After five and a half years, it’s Bush who’s become the enemy of the people. 

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

It never ceases to amaze me what madness the media and the legal community have created out of a little thing like mold. 

It happened with asbestos about 25 years ago and, although that has calmed down a great deal, there are still companies making millions removing what is most likely not going to hurt you if you leave it where it is. 

These are, of course, hot button issues because for every 1,000 cases of not mattering very much, you can always find one that might be a real case. And so we all suffer for a lack of understanding and good shared knowledge about the subject. 

Molds are funguses. They are part of our world, they’re literally everywhere we go and on almost every surface in nature. They are part of what makes the biosphere operate. Without funguses, bacteria and insects (FBI), we would have no breakdown of organic matter and no transformation into new life (including the produce at the store, the fish in the sea, you and me). 

Molds are also part of our intimate world. They’re not just outside the door, they’re in the pizza, the brie and some less common foods like tempeh and the meat substitute quorn. 

Without mold, there’s no penicillin. In short, we eat mold, we breath it and it lives in our shower. Additionally, mold’s first cousin, the mushroom, is on the diet for most folks and, if properly chosen, proves quite safe. 

For most of us and under the majority of conditions, molds do very little harm to us. When we take a walk in the woods we are surrounded by molds which are releasing their spores (to give birth to more of the little wonders) into the air. 

The problem with mold in the home is almost (I said almost) entirely a matter of moisture. For homes that have moisture problems, mold is a real issue. But, then again, moisture would be a problem if there were no molds at all. 

If you have high humidity in your home a wide range of funguses, including those that have no interest in human beings, can do quite a bit of damage to the wooden (and wood pulp) parts of your home. 

Those oft-seen pest reports are, locally, mostly about fungal damage and usually not so much about the work of insects. Again, this is invariably about water or elevated humidity levels in the home. 

There is one fabulous exception to this that we’re not seeing too much in this area but has done some major damage to houses in Southern California. That would be poria incrassata which brings it’s own water with it (eek) and can, thereby, consume lots of wood when no leaks exist to wet the wood. We don’t have much of it up here so don’t freak. 

But back to the main point; that molds (again, a subset of the funguses) are rarely found in large growing colonies except where a good source of moisture is present. In other words, when the inside of the house is leaking. There are mold problems in houses that have competent roofs and walls but which have basements which flood or weep copiously. 

There are houses that have mold in closets because the overall humidity in the house is high. There are houses where mold is growing in lots of places because it’s either raining inside the walls or the roof. Or when there is a source of water below and very low porosity through the structure. The last case is more common in newer homes than in old ones. 

We’ve begun, in recent years, to build houses that are so tight that they’re literally pressure tested before they can pass muster. Our local housing stock is mostly very porous and so we lose lots of heat and pay high bills. But, we also don’t have the same kind of problems with fungi.  

I’ve been in a few houses that clearly had serious mold/fungus problems and they were invariably ones that had a moisture problem that would require addressing even if there were no concern about the dreaded M-word. It’s not OK to have the inside of the house be damp, is it? Well, I suppose if you’re Newt-Man it would be a good thing but I don’t have a big N on my spandex wrapped chest and so, like most folks I will call for help if the inside of the house gets wet. 

Here are a few things you can do if you believe you have mold in your home. First, if you’re getting sick, talk to a doctor. If you have good reason to believe it has to do with where you’re living, get out. This will do two things. 

First, it may help you get better, and second, it will act as a control in an experiment, helping you to understand what may be making you ill. You’ll have eliminated one variable from the equation and can run the experiment again (i.e. stay alive). 

Second thing. Find and address sources of wetness. Molds and funguses are found in homes as a result of leaks or of elevated humidity due to inadequate isolation or ventilation of moisture sources, such as wet crawlspaces, basement or gas appliances (gas appliances give off huge amount of water vapor).  

Some of the simple things that CAN but do not always work to address the latter include: the use of vapor barriers (plastic sheeting over damp soil), sump pumps, drainage systems, diverting gutter downspout water away from the house and increased crawlspace ventilation (which allows moisture to reach equilibrium with the outdoors through evaporation). 

For many houses I see, a vapor barrier combined with a small amount of ventilation (1 square foot per 1,500 square feet) should be sufficient, although I prefer to see 5-10 times this amount of ventilation. One square foot per 150 square feet of crawlspace is the basic code requirement and I virtually never see it met. I also see quite a few houses that clearly have elevated moisture levels. 

A hygrometer can be bought from any cigar store (I’ve gotten them on ebay) and can be hung inside the house to monitor moisture levels. The only problem with this method is that various molds and fungi propagate at a wide range of moisture levels (some only grow at 100 percent!) so once again, we’re back to basics. 

Keep the house as dry as possible and if you have allergies, try to keep it bone dry. If you have significant allergies to mold, my person feeling is that you should never try to live in an environment that has any significant moisture level and that will exclude many places. 

I, for example, don’t eat any dairy. Life’s throws us all curve balls but I’m a happier guy when I don’t eat cheese. So I’d suggest that you grin and bear it and stay away from clammy housing if you know you react poorly to mold. 

If your landlord has a damp house and you have good reason to believe you’re getting sick from it, move out. If you’re child seems to be getting sick from your damp rental, move out and if it’s your house, well, it’s time to find the window leak, the roof leak or the moisture in the basement.  

The important thing is to keep everything as dry as possible, starting with your sense of humor. 

Got a question about home repairs and inspections? Send them to Matt Cantor, in care of East Bay Real Estate, at realestate@berkeleydailyplanet.com.

One of my favorite places to look for—or just look at—esoteric, obscure, clever, or kinky garden tools is Hida Japanese Tools on San Pablo, across from REI and a few doors down from Ashkenaz. 

Hida started as a woodworkers’ tool shop with some bonsai wares, than branched out into other pruning and gardening tools; it’s where I got my brace of hori-horis. (By the way, I was wrong last week when I said they all have full tangs. They don’t, but the tangs are long and the tools are tough enough to stand on.)  

I used to buy stuff from them on a regular basis when I was a pro, and still allow myself to be tempted. For one thing, I made more money gardening than I do writing, and I could tell myself that whatever odd marvel I went home with was part of the job.  

They were, still are, a lot cheaper and more reliable than the average computer accessory.  

I bought my extension pruner there, when they had two models and $50 was a lot to pay. Since then, Hida’s added to the long-reach line and now there are, oh, about a dozen kinds including telescoping and two-handed shear models, and pole saws with those wonderful (and replaceable) Japanese blades. 

I still like the one I have, and Hida still sells it. It’s about five feet long, very lightweight, and has a pistol grip; I can control my cuts with it almost as well as I can with my Felcos. Don’t confuse this with the average pole pruner, which I’ve always found clumsy. Don’t underrate the value of a good controlled cut either, as a tool that lets you make one will maintain even the monetary value of the tree you keep healthy and don’t mutilate.  

Don’t need a long reach? Hida’s still the best place for saws. A good Silky or similar pruning saw cuts through branches like butter. Learn to make a jump cut and, unless you cut a lot of Hollywood junipers, you won’t need a chainsaw. (Those abominable little chainsaws on poles I see in magazine ads shouldn’t be sold without a permit and proof of expertise. Better to buy a three-year-old a pistol. Ugh.)  

Hida’s branched out into kitchen knives and grooming scissors and other tempting cutlery. There are more and better bonsai tools, and oddments like the long, flexible, leaf-shaped knife I find perfect for getting plants out of pots. 

If you absolutely must have a pink trowel, this is where to find it—along with its less colorful brethren in half a dozen useful shapes and sizes. Since I don’t read Japanese, there’s at least one tool there I still don’t know the use of, despite a helpful diagram.  

On the other hand, there are implements there that say, “Take me home!” just by the way they fit and balance when I pick them up, and are eloquently enough made to speak their usefulness immediately. For tools you didn’t know you needed, look into Hida.  

Another hot tip 

The Berkeley Garden Club will hold its annual plant sale at 547 Grizzly Boulevard (at Euclid) from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturday, June 17.  

Hida Tool  

1333 San Pablo Ave. 

524-3700, www.hidatool.com. 

Monday-Saturday 9 a.m.–5 p.m.

TUESDAY, JUNE 6 

FILM 

Against Indifference: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski Early Works: Program 1 at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“A Celebration of Jaime de Angulo” presented by Malcom Margolin, Stefan Hyner, and Steve Dickison at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Jason Roberts introduces “A Sense of the World” a biography of the blind explorer James Holman, at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Telegraph. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Linda Donn reads from “The Little Ballonist” at 7 p.m at Mrs. Dalloway’s, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Oakland Opera “X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X” at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro Opera House, 201 Broadway. Tickets are $32-$36. 763-1146. 

Artists’ Vocal Ensemble, “Music of the Apocalypse” at 5:30 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft at Ellsworth. Tickets are $10-$20 at the door. 717-9422. 

Ensemble Cerumina “Music across the Alps” at 8 p.m. at St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel, 2316 Bowditch Ave. Donations appreciated. 459-1582. 

Alta Sonora and Women’s Antique Vocal Ensemble “Viaggio: a Musical Tour of Renaissance Italy” at 8 p.m. at International House, Bancroft and Piedmont. Tickets are $10-$15. 233-0868.  

Singer’s Open Mic with Ellen Hoffman at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

PhilipsMarine, jazz, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Yoshida Brothers at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $20. 238-9200.  

Michael Coleman Trio Jazz Jam at 8 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Bring your instrument. 451-8100.  

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Stitches in Time I: Food and Identity” Textile and multi-media works about food and cultural identity. Reception at 1:30 p.m. at Richmond Health Center, 100 38th St., enter at 39th and Bissell, Richmond. 231-1348. www.artschange.org 

FILM 

Against Indifference: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski Early Works: Program 2 at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Greg Palast introduces “Armed Madhouse: Who’s Afraid of Osama Wolf?, China Floats, Bush Sinks, The Scheme to Steal ‘08, No Child’s Behind Left, and Other Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Class War” at 12:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Telegraph. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Ivan Doig reads from his new novel “The Whistling Season” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. 

Nando Parrado describes “Miracle in the Andes” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Telegraph. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

James Carroll describes “House of War: The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power at 7:30 p.m. in the Large Assembly, First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way at Dana. Donation $10. 845-7852. 

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 

Oakland Opera “X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X” at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro Opera House, 201 Broadway. Tickets are $32-$36. 763-1146. 

Berkeley Baroque Players at 8 p.m. Pre-concert talk at 7 p.m. at International House Auditorium, 2299 Piedmont Ave. Tickets are $10-$15. 272-9147. 

Vox Populi Vocal Ensemble “Sacred music of Guillaume Dufay” at 6 p.m. at Chapel of St. Joseph of Arimathea, 2316 Bowditch St. Tickets are $10-$12. 843-3608.  

Bay Area Classical Harmonies Music for the Dead from Bach to Byzantine Chant at 6 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. Tickets are $12-$18. 868-0695  

Carol Denney at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Calvin Keys Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

Whiskey Brothers, old time and bluegrass, at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473.  

Home at Last Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Juio Bravo, salsa, at 8 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Grant Geissman at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $10-$18. 238-9200.  

THURSDAY, JUNE 8 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Future Tense” sculpture installations, constructions and mixed-media works by four artists opens at 6 p.m. at Kala Art Insitute, 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977. www.kala.org 

FILM 

“New Orleans Music in Exile” a film by Robert Mugge at 2 and 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 3rd Flr. Community Room, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6233. 

Against Indifference: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski “The Double Life of Véronique” at 7 p.m. and “Blind Chance” at 9 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Michael Pollan reads from “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” at 7 p.m at Mrs. Dalloway’s Literary and Garden Arts, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

Harlyn Aizley talks about “Confessions of the Other Mother: Non-Biological Lesbian Mothers Tell All” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Ramor Ryan introduces his new book “Clandestines: The Pirate Journals of an Irish Exile” at 7:30 pm. at AK Press Warehouse, 674-A 23rd St., Oakland. 208-1700. 

Chris Abani and Colin Chandler introduce their new books “Becomming Abigail” and “Iron Balloons” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Telegraph. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Ensemble Vermillian Seventeenth Century Italian Chamber Music at noon at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $15. 559-4670. 

The Golden Age of Spain with Karol Steadman soprano, at 1 p.m. at St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel, Bowditch at Durant. Tickets are $10-$15. 805-773-1057. 

Mahan Esfahani, harpsichord, at 2 p.m. at Loper Chapel, Dana and Durant. Tickets are $10-$20. 240-418-9585. 

Pedro Jesús Gómez, lute and vihuela “The Lyre of Orpheus” at 5 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $10-$15. 549-3864.  

The Albany Consort Great Concertos and Cantatas at 6:15 at University Lutheran Chapel, 2425 College at Haste. Tickets are $15. 408-773-0375.  

Howard Kadis, lutenist, at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, Dana and Durant. Tickets are $10-$15.  

De Profundis Low Sounds Only at 7 p.m. at St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel, Bowditch at Durant. Tickets are $10. 459-7462. 

Baroque Cabaret with Sheli Nan and the Musicians Angelic at 8 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Tickets are $20-$25. 919-4493.  

The Klez-X at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Steve Gannon Monday Blues Band at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ.  

Be Brave Bold Robot, Dustin Aaron, Drunken Boat at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. 

Hwy 42, Cult of Sue Todd, Toofless Sean Corkery at 8 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100.  

Gary Burton Quartet Revisited at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$65. 238-9200.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Michael Pollan reads from “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” at 7 p.m at Mrs. Dalloway’s Literary and Garden Arts, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

Harlyn Aizley talks about “Confessions of the Other Mother: Non-Biological Lesbian Mothers Tell All” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Ramor Ryan introduces his new book “Clandestines: The Pirate Journals of an Irish Exile” at 7:30 pm. at AK Press Warehouse, 674-A 23rd St., Oakland. 208-1700. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Ensemble Vermillian Seventeenth Century Italian Chamber Music at noon at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $15. 559-4670. 

The Golden Age of Spain with Karol Steadman soprano, at 1 p.m. at St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel, Bowditch at Durant. Tickets are $10-$15. 805-773-1057. 

Mahan Esfahani, harpsichord, at 2 p.m. at Loper Chapel, Dana and Durant. Tickets are $10-$20. 240-418-9585. 

Pedro Jesús Gómez, lute and vihuela “The Lyre of Orpheus” at 5 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $10-$15. 549-3864.  

The Albany Consort Great Concertos and Cantatas at 6:15 at University Lutheran Chapel, 2425 College at Haste. Tickets are $15. 408-773-0375.  

Howard Kadis, lutenist, at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, Dana and Durant. Tickets are $10-$15.  

De Profundis Low Sounds Only at 7 p.m. at St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel, Bowditch at Durant. Tickets are $10. 459-7462. 

Baroque Cabaret with Sheli Nan and the Musicians Angelic at 8 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. TIckets are $20-$25. 919-4493.  

The Klez-X at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Steve Gannon Monday Blues Band at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ.  

Be Brave Bold Robot, Dustin Aaron, Drunken Boat at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. 

Hwy 42, Cult of Sue Todd, Toofless Sean Corkery at 8 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100.  

Gary Burton Quartet Revisited at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$65. 238-9200.  

FRIDAY, JUNE 9 

THEATER 

Altarena Playhouse “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” at 8 p.m. Fri. and Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. 1409 High St., Alameda, through June 11. Tickets are $12-$15. 523-1553.  

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.  

Berkeley Rep “The Miser” at 8 p.m. at the Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. Tickets are $53. Runs through June 25. 647-2949.  

California Shakespeare Theater “The Merry Wives of Windsor” at the Bruns Amphitheater, 100 Gateway Blvd., Orinda. Tues.-Thurs., 7:30 p.m., Fri.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 4 p.m. through June 25. Tickets are $15 and up. 548-9666.  

Masquers Playhouse “The Fantasticks” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at 105 Park Place, Point Richmond. Tickets are $18. 232-4031. www.masquers.org 

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.  

FILM 

Isabelle Huppert: Passion and Contradiction “The Lacemaker” at 7 p.m. and “Loulou” at 9:10 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Shan Sa reads from “The Empress” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

E. Lynn Harris reads from “I Say a Little Prayer” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 

Douglas Coupland introduces is novel of the digital age “jPod” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Telegraph. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Tammy Hall Quintet featuring Helena Jack at 8 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6233. 

Oakland Opera “X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X” at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro Opera House, 201 Broadway, through Sun. Tickets are $32-$36. 763-1146. 

Peter Hallifax and Julie Jeffrey, viols at 11 a.m. at Loper Chapel, Dana at Durant. Tickets are $7-$10. 220-1195. 

Janine Johnson, harpsichord at 5 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $10-$15. 549-1520.  

Flauti Diversi “Counterpoint: Bach and The Beatles” at 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Tickets are $10-$12. 527-9840. 

Atris, Brides of Obscurity at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886.  

Hurricane Sam Rudin and the Hotshots at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ.  

West Coast Beatbox Battle at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054.  

Adrianne, singer-songwriter, at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

High Country, bluegrass, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

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

DJ & Brook, jazz, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Rockermoms Benefit Concert at 7:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Late Show at 11 p.m. with Vince Charming and the New Americans. Cost is $5. 841-2082.  

Fleshies, Toys That Kill, Kreamy ‘Lectric Santa at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926.  

Sleepy Alligator, Famous Last Words at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $8. 451-8100.  

San Pablo Project, Latin funk, reggae, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Gary Burton Quartet Revisited at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$65. 238-9200.  

SATURDAY, JUNE 10 

CHILDREN  

Jose-Luis Orozco and the Children of Centro Vida at 10 a.m. at La Pena Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $8 adults, $5 children, and $25 families 525-1463.  

Early Music for Families Young musicians will demonstrate instruments used to play Renaissance and Baroque music at 2 p.m. at International House, Bancroft and Piedmont. Free. 848-5591.  

THEATER 

“Lily, The Felon's Daughter” 19th Century fun, frolic and music, at 8 p.m., Sun. at 3 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Road, Kensington. Suggested donation is $20. 524-2912.  

EXHIBITIONS 

“Expect Respect: The Power, Joy, and Dignity of Being a Woman” Reception for the artists at 2 p.m. at Prescott-Joseph Center for Community Enhancement, 920 Peralta St, Oakland. 835-8683.  

“Fresh Paint - Second Coat” Meet the artists from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m at Piedmont Lane Gallery, upstairs, 4121 Piedmont Ave. Oakland. www.3lisha.com/freshpaint 

East Bay Open Studios Sat. and Sun. For maps and times see www.proartsgallery.org 

FILM 

Against Indifference: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski “Three Colors: Blue” at 8:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Rhythm and Muse “In Celebration of Swimming” spoken word and music at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. in Live Oak Park. Donations appreciated. Benefits public pool use for homeless and low-income youth. 644-6893. 

J. Othello will read from and discuss his book “The Soul of Rock ‘N Roll: A History of African Americans in Rock Music” at 2 p.m. at the Oakland Public Library, West Auditorium, 125 14th St. 238-3134. 

Alexander Polikoff describes “Waiting for Gautreaux: A Story of Segregation, Housing, and the Black Ghetto” at 4:30 p.m. at at Cody’s Books on Telegraph. 845-7852.  

Sean Wilsey explains “The Thinking Fan’s Guide to the World Cup: 32 Writers on 32 Countries” at 7:30 p.m. at at Cody’s Books on Telegraph. 845-7852. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Philharmonia Chamber Players “Viva Vivaldi: Concerti by Candlelight” 10:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $20-$40. 642-9988.  

Kensington Symphony in a program honoring Robert Schumann at 8 p.m. at Northminster Presbyterian Church, 545 Ashbury Ave. El Cerrito. Suggested donation. $10-$15. 524-9912. 

La Peña 31st Birthday An evening of performances by artists and groups who have had a long association with La Peña at 6 p.m. at La Peña. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Emma’s Revolution Benefit Concert at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Friends Church, 1600 Sacramento St. at Cedar. Tickets are $20 and up at Cody’s books.  

Charles Hamilton Jazz Ensemble at 8 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6233. 

“Lost Tales: Glimpses from 1000 Ramayanas” Classical Indian dance at 4 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Theater, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $12-$18. 338-4538. 

St. Ann Consort O Wondrous Novelty: Masterpieces of Monastic Chant at 1 p.m. at St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel, Bowditch at Durant. Tickets are $8-$15. 717-9422 

Pacific Collegium, Motets of Couperin le Grand, Bernier, and others at 3 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. Tickets are $10-$15. 459-2341. 

Baroque Etcetera “Pallas Nordica: A Swedish Queen in Rome” at 3 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $10. 540-8222. 

Voci Women’s Vocal Ensemble “Aphrodesia” at 7:30 p.m. at The Marsh, 2118 Allston Way. Tickets are $20-$50. 800-838-3006. 

Babatunde Lea Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Damond Moodie at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Stanley at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Robin Flower & Libby McLaren at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Kalas, Ragweed, 100 Suns at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $8. 451-8100. 

Ed Saindon and Dick Whittington at 8 p.m. at the Jazz- 

school. Cost is $20. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Ben Stolorow, solo piano, at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Best Friends, The Morning Benders, Birds and Batteries at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Punks for Pets Benefit for the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society with The Uptones, The Plus Ones, Abui Yo Yo’s at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

BabShad Jazz at 8 pm. at the Sea Mi Restaurant, 856 San Pablo Ave. 845-5692. 

SUNDAY, JUNE 11 

CHILDREN 

Circus Clowning A showcase by the students of the Clown Conservatory at Circus Center at 2 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $7.50 children, $12.50 adults. 925-798-1300.  

FILM 

“Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till” at 2 p.m. at Parkway Speakeasy Theater, 1834 Park Blvd., Oakland Discussion to follow. 848-1994.  

Against Indifference: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski “Decalogue 7 and 8” at 3 p.m. and “Decalogue 9 and 10” at 5:15 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Gabriela Taylor reads from “Geckos and Other Guests: Tales of a Kuaa’i Bed & Breakfast” at 5 p.m. at Black Oak Books, 1491 Shattuck Ave. 486-0698. 

Bill Buford describes “Heat: An Amateur’s Adventures as Kitchen Salve, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

The “Farewell” Consort, a festival to celebrate Pastor Jim Stickney’s many years of support for early music at 7:30 p.m. at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, 1501 Washington Ave., Albany. Suggested donation $10-$15 to benefit the St. Alban’s disabled access fund. 525-1716. 

San Francisco Choral Artists “Partly Cloudy With a Chance of Song” at 4 p.m. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 11 Montecito Ave., at Bay Place, Oakland. Tickets are $18-$25. 415-979-5779. 

Horizon Woodwind Quintet at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, Live Oak Park, 1275 Walnut St. Cost is $8-$10. 

Seda Ensemble, contemporary Persian classical music at 7 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $25. 925-798-1300. 

Young People’s Symphony Orchestra Pops Concert at 2 p.m. at Greek Orthodox Church, 4700 Lincoln Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $10-$15. 849-9776. 

Junior Recorder Society Concert at 5 p.m. at International House Auditorium, 2299 Piedmont Ave. Free.  

Renaissance and Traditional Music from the British Isles and Scandinavia at 2 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $10-$15. 549-3864. 

Galileo Project “Liebesmahl: Feast of Love” Sat 3 p.m. at St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel, Bowditch at Durant. Tickets are $10-$15. 787-9956.  

Sweet Hope and Bitter Despair: the Ayres of England’s Golden Age at 7 p.m. at St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapell, corner of Bowditch and Durant. Tickets are $8-$10. 415-565-3274.  

King’s Trumpetts & Shalmes at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $10-$15. 415-665-2083.  

“A Visit to Paris” Concert of French music at 2 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 201 Martina St., Point Richmond. Tickets $10 at the door. 237-5551.  

Orquesta La Moderna Tradicion at 8 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St.. 981-6233. 

Rachel Efron Quintet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Gift Horse at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Americana Unplugged: Jacob & Harry at 5 p.m. at Jupiter, 2181 Shattuck Ave. 655-5715.  

Tanaora at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool, 2087 Addison. Cost is $12-$15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Leftover Dreams, music from The Great American Songbook at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. 1111 Addison. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org

Joseph Wright as Malcolm Little, from the depths of a prison cell, sings, “You want the truth, but you don’t want to know,” as he contemplates his change from “country boy” newly arrived in Boston to “Detroit Red,” hustling the Harlem streets, on the verge of a conversion that will make him into Malcolm X. His is the powerful voice that will express African-American rage and hope as portrayed in Anthony Davis’ lucid and compelling opera X, based on Malcolm’s autobiography and performed by the Oakland Opera Theater through June 11 at the Oakland Metro Operahouse near Jack London Square. 

“It’s a story of transformation,” Davis said of the opera, which besides his score, has the book by his brother Christopher Davis (an actor-director), and has a libretto by their cousin, poet Thulani Davis. “It’s a heroic story; he goes through the fire to realize who he is. It’s our heroic story for African-Americans, which is how I realized it could be an opera. Its spirituality really is operatic.”  

And its high point is the scene of Malcolm’s conversion by Elijah Muhammed (played by splendid tenor Darron Flagg) to the Nation of Islam. The scene is deftly staged, with Malcolm ascending up the tiers of a set dominated by a smiling Elijah at the pyramidal apex, gradually putting on glasses, taking up the Book, and intoning the Creed. This is after his long-lost brother Reginald (Jason Jackson) has introduced him to Elijah’s version of Islam in his cell. Malcolm was initially incredulous, a trapped con-man who thinks he knows all the angles: “You talk in riddles about truth and a man ... what’s the game? ... Soon I will ask him how empty it feels to be the god of an empty man like me.” 

This epiphany is counterpointed by Malcolm’s later acceptance into orthodox Islam, when he is sent by his wife Betty Shabazz (Angela Baham) to take the Hajj to Mecca after his lonely walk away from Elijah and after being censured for his famous reaction to JFK’s assassination: “America’s climate of hate coming back on itself ... chickens coming home to roost.” 

This is a quieter, contemplative moment, as Malcolm feels the solidarity of all humanity—and then returns to a chorus of reporters harrying him: “Mr. X! Mr. X! Mr. Malcolm X!” 

“You always ask what you already know,” parries Malcolm, who reintroduces himself with his name of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz, “a man of peace [whom] they do not know . . . he is already free.” This is before his assassination, which he has predicted: “We do not know which mask evil wears . . . These men do not wear white hoods but hide on the street in suits.” 

The cast of 20 reflects both the depth of the storytelling and the importance of the chorus. Singers emerge from the chorus to solo or to silently play incidental roles, and the chorus itself is an integral part of the movement of the piece, both musically and in story, moment by moment tightly joined to—and boosting—the expressiveness of the principals. 

The score and exposition of Malcolm’s life prove complex rhythms, both dense and crystal clear with harmonies always shifting, surging forward in power, then quieter, more contemplative—floating upward and away, dreamlike, or dropping into modal harmonies that subtly restore the tension with syncopated rhythmns. 

Intensity marks certain scenes from the beginning with Duana Davis excellently portraying in voice and harried stance Malcolm’s mother, awaiting his Garveyite preacher father’s return home in Michigan, long after dark, only to learn of his death under a streetcar, which she attributes to the Klan, who have terrorized the family before. 

Her resulting breakdown and the breakup of the family by a white social worker (Lisa Bolin), eventually send Malcolm, suitcase in hand, to his adult sister Ella (Lori Willis) in Boston, where he’s introduced to the street by a chorus of players, one of whom (not clearly credited!) lays it on him in a brilliant aria detailing the modus operandi and demeanor of the hustler. 

Malcolm had always said his distinction as a leader was his familiarity with streetlife and its awful draw for black youth.  

Throughout, Joseph Wright gracefully portrays Malcolm’s transformation, richly singing and intoning his speeches and commentaries on “bad times” that are briskly but coherently touched on, four decades of radical change that pass by in quick vignettes more like the tableaux of “pregnant moments” of classical modern dramaturgy. 

The superb orchestra, hidden away in a loft, under the musical direction of Deirdre McClure with the assistance of Skye Atman, brilliantly plays a spectrum of musical forms, including touches of jazz which the composer hoped would parallel the history that unfolds, with excellent work by trumpeter, vibraphonist, bass and drums, reeds and keyboards. 

X should be seen and heard, as a seminal work in contemporay American culture—yet the Oakland Opera Theater production seems to be the first full staging since its premiere in New York in 1986. This is a rare—unfortunately rare—and important event. 

The Oakland Opera presents X, the Life and Times of Malcolm X, through June 11, 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m., at the Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway, Oakland. For more information, call 763-1146 (between 2-6 p.m.) or see www.oaklandopera.org. 

Photograph of Joseph Wright as Malcolm X, by Ralph Granich.

If you live anywhere near the inner city or have occasion to have business there, this may have happened to you. Walking down a street near dusk you meet a young African-American man, clothes sagging, walking toward you. As you get closer, you can hear him talking, and, although you can’t make out the words, it seems as if he may be signaling commands to one of his partners who may be behind you, or else he’s crazy and talking to himself. In either case, it doesn’t seem good. 

You contemplate breaking and running, but you don’t want to embarrass yourself if you’re wrong and, besides, what would be the use (he is, after all, a young black man and he can almost certainly beat you to the corner, flat out). So you continue to walk, stomach queasy, heart thumping in your chest. And as you come closer, the young man’s words become clearer, and suddenly, it comes to you. 

Oh, snap! you say (or oh, goodness! if you don’t happen to be black yourself). You’ve heard this before! He’s not signalling and he’s not crazy, and if he’s armed with anything, it’s with harmony, as Naughty by Nature used to say. He’s rapping. 

It happens a thousand times every day—maybe a hundred thousand—young African-Americans—men, mostly—sitting somewhere or walking down the street, practicing their raps. 

There have been at least three great fusions of African and European cultures during the four centuries of the American experiment: music and dance, sports, and language. 

In football and basketball especially, it is widely acknowledged and accepted that African-American athletes have virtually revolutionized the way games are played. The fusion of what was thought to be the incompatable African and European music scales on the Southern slaverytime plantations—the creation of the bended so-called “blue” notes—led to the sound explosion that gave birth to both blues and jazz and most modern American music. The same is true for dance, where it is difficult to imagine what American dance forms would be like without African infusion. 

In each of these areas, black performers and performance are universally accepted and applauded. 

Only in the area of language is there still considerable controversy, even though  

listening to the young rappers roaming the inner city streets, studios, and stages, you are immediately struck by their complex rhythm patterns and the sometimes mind-numbing, warp-speed blending of rhyme and word-sound and cultural context. 

To succeed in this game clearly takes intelligence. Moreover, rap is only the latest in a long line of African-American mastery of English wordforms while bending and blending it to their own particular ends, from black preaching to Brother Rabbit storytelling. Why, then, does so-called “Black English” get such a bad rap? 

In his newly-published book The Sociology of African American Language (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), Berkeley linguist Charles DeBose attributes that to the “stigma” that European American slavemasters imposed upon their African captives. 

“When a particular language, or way of speaking the common language of a society, is associated with persons of elite status,” he writes, “the ability to speak the language, and to speak it ‘correctly,’ may serve a legitimating function. That is, the superior position of the dominant group is justified by their ‘proper’ speech; and the subordinate position of marginalized groups is legitimated by the characterization of their language in such pejorative terms as ‘poor,’ ‘slovenly,’ ‘broken,’ ‘bastardized,’ and ‘corrupt.’ … In slave society, … hegemony was exercised through the power of words like ‘savage,’ ‘primitive’ and ‘heathen,’ used in conjunction with the presupposition that being ‘civilized’ is a prerequisite to full participation in American democracy. … In the present Post Civil Rights era, the stigmatization of Blackness as a rationale for denial of full and equal status in American democracy has outlived its purpose. 

Nevertheless, the idea that African American language is tantamount to ‘Bad English’ remains embedded in the hearts and minds of the public.” 

Instead, DeBose argues that there is no such thing as “bad English” or “broken English” that “deviates” from the norm, but rather that American English—as all language—is divided into distinct dialects, each of which has its own set of complex—and within itself “correct”—rules of grammar. 

In the world of linguists, all of us speak dialects. The stigma against Black English, he says, is not an objective linguistic formation, but is the last residue of the system designed to keep people in slavery by convincing them of their own inferiority. 

Nowhere was that stigma more apparent than in the 1996 political firestorm over the Oakland Unified School District’s ebonics controversy. 

“Citing the continued poor educational performance of African-American students in its area schools,” this reporter wrote at the time, “the Oakland Board passed a resolution that: (1) the primary language of a majority of African-American students is not English, but a heretofore little-known language called Ebonics; (2) Ebonics is ‘genetically based’ in Africa; and (3) the Oakland Public Schools would be directed to set up training programs for teachers so that they could instruct African-American students using the language of Ebonics, both to maintain ‘the richness and legitimacy’ of Ebonics itself and to help the students learn English. Finally, and perhaps most provocatively, the Oakland board suggested that funding for the Ebonics program could come from federal education ‘second language’ funds earmarked for students whose primary language is not English. For a while after that it was hard to sort everything out, what with all the hollering and the blood and the hum of the chainsaws. In a fierce-hot reaction that rolled over the country and back with interwarp speed, Oakland's Ebonics policy was both ridiculed and denounced on talk shows and op-ed pages and in newsgroups everywhere.” 

DeBose devotes a full chapter to the Oakland Unified ebonics issue, explaining both the positives and the pitfalls of Oakland’s approach from a linguist’s point of view, with an emphasis on analyzing it as what he calls “a case study of language planning.” 

DeBose uses the controversy to advance his contention that what he describes as the “surface differences” between what is commonly known as Standard English and the dialect that most African-American children speak at home and among their peers “are [not] of a sufficient magnitude to constitute a barrier to teaching and learning” in and of themselves. Instead, DeBose advances the argument that “whatever language barrier might exist consists mainly of teacher attitudes. … [T]he teachers’ lack of knowledge of the linguistic nature of Black English causes them to react to it in the speech of students in ways that are detrimental to the learning process.” 

In other words, he says, the fundamental Oakland Unified ebonics proposal that “training programs for teachers [be set up] so that they could instruct African-American students using the language of Ebonics, both to maintain ‘the richness and legitimacy’ of Ebonics itself and to help the students learn English” was fundamentally correct. 

But the Oakland ebonics contoversy, as important as it continues to be in the discussion of Black English, is only a small portion of DeBose’s book, where he presents a history of African American language, breaks down its peculiar grammar and structure in a chapter engagingly and appropriately entitled “We Be Following Rules,” and closes with a detailed invitation to readers to join him “in an imaginary journey from the status quo of American educational policy to a possible future in which African American language is seen by the average person asi it is presently seen by linguists: as an instance of normal language.” 

“The Sociology Of African American language” is an academic book, and readers not familiar with that style of writing will find the going a little dense. But as DeBose argues, the put-down of black language is part of “the stigmitation of Black American identity [that] has functioned historically to exclude persons of African descent from full participation in American life. The stimatization in question is so deeply embedded in the fabric of American society that its full significance has tended to escape the attention of scholars of African American language.” 

In this book, DeBose attempts to help correct that oversight, so that in advancing the acceptance of black speech by the linguistic academic community, the advancement of Black America itself will eventually be enhanced.  

Charles DeBose reads and discusses his new book The Sociology of African American Language at La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley on Thursday June 8, 7:30 p.m. Admission is free. 

Unless you’ve been living in a cave since 1979, you have undoubtedly seen the Mad Bluebird. It was captured by aspiring wildlife photographer Michael L. Smith on a cold February day in Maryland. The subject, a male eastern bluebird, feathers fluffed out, sits on a fence post glowering at the camera. The Mad Bluebird has been very good to Smith, enabling him to quit his day job as an electrician. Over 100,000 signed prints have been sold, and the image appears on calendars, coffee mugs, and all kinds of tchatchkes. The royalties by now must be considerable.  

That bluebird’s actual emotional state at the time is, of course, open to conjecture. But the image came to mind recently when I read about a really ingenious study of our own local species, the western bluebird, that appears to demonstrate a connection between the evolution of behavioral traits—in this case, aggressiveness—and physical characteristics.  

What scientists mean when they talk about evolution depends on the scale of the process. Macroevolution is what drives the dramatic changes that cross major taxonomic boundaries: fish into four-limbed amphibian, feathered dinosaur into bird, hoofed land mammal into whale, ape into hominid. Microevolution is more subtle. It’s what Peter and Rosemary Grant spent years studying in the Darwin’s finches of the Galapagos, as chronicled in Jonathan Weiner’s book The Beak of the Finch: incremental changes in the size and strength of the bird’s beaks, tracking the vagaries of climate—El Niños and La Niñas—that determined the kinds of seeds that were available for food.  

Give it long enough, and microevolution can produce a new species. You can imagine a scenario in which a population’s lifestyle becomes so specialized that it no longer interacts with its parent stock and becomes reproductively isolated. But it’s just as likely to act as a stabilizing force, with small changes varying around a long-term norm. As the Grants found, incipient species can begin to diverge, then merge back if the environmental forcing conditions reverse themselves. 

How does all this apply to western bluebirds? Renee Duckworth, an evolutionary ecologist at Duke University—and, as a loyal North Carolina alumnus, it pains me to admit that anything good can come out of Duke—did her field work in Montana. She found that bluebirds varied in aggressiveness, although I’m not sure how that was scored. (And yes, I’ve seen bluebirds being aggressive; not long ago I watched one chasing an interloping house wren away from its nest tree). The more aggressive birds seemed to get the choicest territories, in open meadows. Those lower in aggressiveness made do with closed forest areas. 

Those two environments make different physical demands on a foraging bluebird. In meadows, bluebirds hover above the grass to snag insects; in forests, they glean bugs and berries among the branches of trees. Duckworth measured the two populations and discovered that the among the aggressive meadow-nesting birds, individuals with longer wings and tails—better suited for hover-foraging—succeeded in raising more offspring than their shorter-winged-and-tailed neighbors. 

In Darwinian terms, the longer-winged birds were more fit than the others. Evolutionary fitness isn’t just about personal survival—that would make it the tautology that creationists claim it is. It’s about how many copies of your own genes you leave in the world. If more aggressive, longer-winged bluebirds have more offspring, those traits will increase in frequency within the meadow-nesting population. (Wing and tail proportions seemed to make no difference for the nestling-survival rates of the forest-nesters). 

So, according to Duckworth, aggressiveness drives habitat choice, which affects physical proportions. Could this process ultimately turn meadow-nesting and forest-nesting bluebirds into different species? Not likely, because neither habitat is stable over the long term: forest fires keep shaking up the mix. The isolation that is a key part of the speciation process is only temporary. 

It’s an intriguing set of findings: a salutary reminder that behavior evolves too, and that differences in behavior can translate into physical differences. You have to wonder how much our own evolution owes to some remote ancestor having been bolder, or more curious, or more socially-skilled, or just plain meaner than the competition. 

TUESDAY, JUNE 6 

REMEMBER TO VOTE TODAY 

“Pack Light, Pack Right” Tips for comfort on the trail at 7 p.m. at from 10 to 11 a.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Senior Housing Alternatives with Panelists from Claremont House, Piedmont Gardens, Salem Lutheran Home, St. Paul’s Towers, Cardinal Point and Sunrise at 1:15 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5190. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Join a few slowpoke seniors at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm for an hour or two walk. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

Berkeley Discussion Salon on “Travel and Favorite Vacations” at 7 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. at Rose.  

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7 

Walking Tour of Old Oakland around Preservation Park to see Victorian architecture. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of Preservation Park at 13th St. and MLK, Jr. Way. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

“Earthlings” a documentary on the industries which rely on animals for profit at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donations of $5 accepted. 

“Girl, I’ve Been Through A Lot ...” Poetry workshop for girls age 13 to 17 at 4 p.m. at Oakland Public Library, Room 219, 125 14th St. 238-3134. 

Classes in English and Citizenship offered by the Oakland Adult Education program Mon.-Fri. from 6 to 9 p.m. Free. Register at Lincoln Elementary School, 225 11th St., room 205. 879-8131. 

Environmental Health for Children Bring toys, pottery and lunch boxes from home and the Berkeley Public Health Dept. will test them for lead, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Habitot, 2065 Kittredge St. Cost is $5-$6. 647-1111. 

American Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation at 10 a.m. in Oakland. We need your help with blood drives all over the East Bay. 594-5165.  

Red Cross Blood Drive from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Oakland State Building, 2nd floor, 1515 Clay St. To make an appointment call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE.  

Swami Khecaranatha Kundalini Yoga Talk at 7 p.m. at Sacred Space Yoga Sanctuary, 816 Bancroft at 6th. Free. 486-8700.  

“Organizing Your Time and Energy” at 6 p.m. at The Breema Clinic, 6201 Florio St., Oakland. 428-1234.  

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. 848-1704.  

THURSDAY, JUNE 8 

Save Telegraph A community meeting with Pat Cody, Andy Ross, neighbors, business people, shoppers, authors, street artists and students at 7 p.m. at Trinity United Methodist Church, 2362 Bancroft Way. For more information call City Councilmember Kriss Worthington at 981-7170. 

Voting Machines at Alameda County Supervisors Meeting will discuss the purchase of Diebold and Sequoia voting machines. Make your feeling sknow at Public Comment at 11 a.m. at Supervisors’ chambers, 1221 Oak St., 5th Floor, Oakland. 

Tilden Tots Join a nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! We’ll explore the nature area ponds from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Tilden Explorers An after-school nature adventure program for 5-7 year olds, who may be accompanied by an adult. We will explore the ponds and learn about aquatic insects from 3:15 to 4:45 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8, registration required. 636-1684. 

Alternatives to War Through Education A project of Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors at 7:30 p.m. at the Niebyl Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. The speaker will be Eduardo Cohen on “The Selling of War and US Foreign Policy: Propaganda, Racism and News Media Complicity.” 649-1696. 

“The Sociology of African American Language” Prof. Charles DeBose reads from and discusses his new book at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 654-9587. 

East Bay Mac Users Group presents QuickBooks/Quicken at 6 p.m. at Expression College for Digital Arts, 6601 Shellmound St., Emeryville. http://ebmug.org 

An Evening of Chocolate, demonstration class, with Alice Medrich at 7 p.m. at Epicurious Garden, 1511 Shattuck Ave. Tickets are $100. All proceeds support the Berkeley High School Development Group. 464-1181. 

FRIDAY, JUNE 9 

Impeachment Banner Fridays at 6:45 to 8 a.m. on the Berkeley Pedestrian bridge between Seabreeze Market and the Aquatic Park, until impeachment is realized. www. Impeachbush-cheney.com 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon is cancelled today. For information on future events, please call 526-2925.  

Berkeley Critical Mass Bike Ride meets at the Berkeley BART the second Friday of every month at 5:30 p.m.  

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. 548-6310. 

SATURDAY, JUNE 10 

Live Oak Park Fair Sat. and Sun. from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. featuring 125 artists and craftspeople. Free. Free shuttles provided from the North Berkeley BART Station to the park. 898-3282. www.liveoakparkfair.com 

Repainting Willard Community Peace Labyrinth from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Willard Middle School, Telegraph Ave. between Derby and Stuart. Volunteers needed. 526-7377. 

Health Fair with informational workshops, screenings, fun and giveaways for the whole family from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the social hall and parking lot of 6401 San Pablo Ave., Oakland.  

Walk on the Wild Side A 5.5 mile hike over varied terrain to investigate wildlife, wildflowers and a wild watershed. Meet at 9 p.m. at the Wildcat/Alvarado staging are in Tilden Park. Bring a sack lunch, water and sunscreen. 525-2233. 

“Backyard Habitat” a workshop to learn about the wildlife native to the area, what they need to secure food and shelter from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at De Anza High School, 5000 Valley View Road, Richmond. Free. 665-3538. www.spawners.net 

Full Moon Walk at John Muir National Historic Site A walk to the top of Mt. Wanda, in Martinez, to see the full moon, and nocturnal animal life along the way. Free, but reservations required. 925-228-8860. 

Mini-Farmers in Tilden A farm exploration program, from 10 to 11 a.m. for ages 4-6 years, accompanied by an adult. We will explore the Little Farm, care for animals, do crafts and farm chores. Wear boots and dress to get dirty! Fee is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Cerrito Creek Work Party Meet at at 10 a.m. at the end of Adams St., one block west of San Pablo, to remove invasives. 848-9358. www.fivecreeks.org 

La Pena’s 31st Birthday Open house and performances by artists and groups who have had long association with La Peña, at 6 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Free. 654-9587. 

Jeremy’s One Man Show with giant transforming origami, juggling, magic, comedy, unicycling, at noon at El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Ave., El Cerrito. Free for all in grades 6 through 12. 526-7512.  

Emergency Preparedness Class on Light Search & Rescue from 9 a.m. to noon at 997 Cedar St. Free, but registration required. 981-5506.  

Berkeley History Center Walking Tour: “Explore the New Berkeley City College Building” from 11 a.m. to noon. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0181.  

Walking Tour of Jack London Waterfront Meet at 10 a.m. at the corner of Broadway and Embarcadero. Tour lasts 90 minutes. For reservations call 238-3234.  

East Bay Baby Fair Resources for pregnancy, birth and parenting from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 540-7210. 

Vegetarian Cooking Class on Breakfast and Brunch from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at First Unitarian Church of Oakland, 685 14th St. Cost is $45. 531-2665.  

Cooking the African Way A demonstration on how to make nutritious Nigerian Yoruban food at 1 p.m. at Oakland Public Library, Martin Luther King Jr. Branch, 6833 International Blvd. 615-5728. 

New Business Startup Expo Meet new local entrepreneurs and learn how to start your own business, from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland City Hall. 879-4020. 

Learn to Row Day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at The Jack London Aquatic Center, 115 Embarcadero, Oakland. 208-6067. 

Great War Society East Bay Chapter meets to discuss “Myths of WWI” at 10:30 a.m. at 640 Arlington Ave. 527-7118. 

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, JUNE 11 

Trees are Treasures Learn about the diverse tree species in Tilden on a 2 mile walk at 2 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Community Labyrinth Peace Walk at 3 p.m. to rededicate the Willard Community Peace Labyrinth, Willard Middle School, Telegraph Ave. between Derby and Stuart. Guided by Margie Adam. 526-7377. 

People’s Park Community Garden Tour Learn about native and edible plants with long time gardener, Terri Compost. Hear some history and find out how to get involved and garden in this unique and special place. Meet at 1 p.m. at the South West (Bongo Burger) corner of the People’s Park Community Garden. 658-9178. 

Green Sunday Election Wrap-Up with Wilson Riles, former Oakland City councilmember and mayoral candidate, and and J. Douglas Allen Taylor, Berkeley Daily Planet staff writer, at 5 p.m. at Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave. at 65th in North Oakland. 

Make Your Own Liquid Fertilizers A workshop to learn how to turn weeds and other natural byproducts into plant fertilizers. Bring 2 liter plastic bottles, old hoses or bicycle tubes, cardboard or newspaper, large containers or 5 gallon buckets with lids, misc. tools, and leave with a system of your own. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Berkeley Eco-House, 1305 Hopkins St. Cost is $1, sliding scale, no one turned away. 547-8715. 

Architecture Tour of the Oakland Museum’s Building and Gardens at 1 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. Free. 238-3818. 

“Disaster Then and Now: Ready or Not?” Earthquake discussion at 2 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. Free. 238-3818. 

Art Book Sale including catalogs, journals and magazines from the Museum’s own collection as well as donations from private collections. From 1 to 4 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. Free. 238-3818. 

“Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till” film screening at 2 p.m. at Parkway Speakeasy Theater, 1834 Park Blvd., Oakland. Discussion to follow. 848-1994. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at St. Mary Magdalen Parish, 2005 Berryman. To make an appointment call 526-4811. 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace Peace walk around the lake every Sun. Meet at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712. lmno4p.org 

Sunday Summer Forum: Towards a More Just World with Pierre Laboissiere, Haiti Action Committee, at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302, ext. 306. 

Tibetan Buddhism with Readings from Voice of the Buddha on “Buddha’s Enlightenment” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812.  

MONDAY, JUNE 12 

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group for people 60+ years old meets at 10:15 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. Cost is $2.50. 524-9122. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. 548-0425. 

CITY MEETINGS 

Joint Meeting of the Transportation Commission and the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee, Wed. June 7, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7487. 

Commission on the Status of Women meets Wed., June 7, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5190.  

School Board meets Wed. June 7, at 7:30 p.m., in the City Council Chambers. 644-6147. 

Community Health Commission meets Thurs., June 8, at 6:45 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5356.  

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., June 8, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410.  

FRIDAY, JUNE 2 

THEATER 

Altarena Playhouse “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” at 8 p.m. Fri. and Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. 1409 High St., Alameda, through June 11. Tickets are $12-$15. 523-1553.  

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.  

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 

East Bay Improv at 8 p.m. at Spud’s Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 597-0795.  

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 

Theatre of the Sacred Soul “A Man For All Seasons” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at All Souls Episcopal Parish, 2220 Cedar St. Donation $10. 848-1755. 

We Theater “The Tempest” at the Albany Bulb, Fri. and Sat. at 4 p.m. Donation $12. agentava@weplayers.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

Janine Brown & Lucy Traber 2005 Members’ Showcase Winners. Reception at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. 644-6893. 

New Work by Chris Russell and Kari Morris Reception at 7 p.m. at Boontling Gallery, 4224 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 

“Possibilities” Paintings by Donna Mendes, “Disassembly” figurative paintings by Marty McCorkle, and “Celebrating the Body Through Art” work by Nancy Ballard at Esteban Sabar Gallery, 480 23rd St., at Telegraph. www.estebansaber.com 

“Birds and Flowers in Japanese Art” Early 20th century woodblock prints by Ohara Koson and early 21st century color etchings by Ando Shinji, to July 28 at the Schurman-Scriptum Gallery, 1659 San Pablo Ave. 524-0623.  

The Portrait Show An introduction to The Thin Ice Collective. Reception at 7 p.m. at Auto3321 Art Gallery, 3321 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Exhibit runs to June 11. www.auto3321.com 

FILM 

Against Indifference: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski “Decalogue 3 and 4” at 7 p.m. “Decalogue 5 and 6” at 9:15 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Mona Lee will show slides and talk about her book “Humbler Than Dust: A Retired Couple Visits the Real India by Tandem Bicycle” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Eduardo Galeano shares his new book, “Voices of Time: A Life in Stories” at 7:30 p.m. at the First Congregational Church, 2501 Harrison, at 27th St., Oakland. Tickets are $10-$12. 415-255-7296, ext.253.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Oakland Opera “X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X” at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro Opera House, 201 Broadway. Tickets are $32-$36. 763-1146. 

Ruth Botchan Dance Company and Shahrzad Dance Company “Bridges: A Concert Bridging Jewish and Persian Cultures” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m at Western Sky, 2525 Eighth St. Tickets are $15-$18. 848-4878.  

Harry Best and Shabang and Tom Rigney and Flambeau at 5:30 p.m. at Park Place and Washington Ave., Pt. Richmond. 237-9375.  

Los Nadies & Tere Estrada at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568.  

Sony Holland and her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ.  

Eve Decker at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

The Ravines and Ronnie Cato, singer-songwriters, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Matthew Sperry Memorial Festival with Daniel Popsickle, Black Cat Duo and Dot Dot Dot at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $10. 841-2082.  

Look Back and Laugh, This is my Fist, Army of Jesus at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

L.A.E., Ranch Hand Brown at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5. 548-1159.  

Raw Deluxe Band at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Bill Frisell New Quartet at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $16-$26. 238-9200.  

SATURDAY, JUNE 3 

EXHIBITIONS 

East Bay Open Studios Sat. and Sun. For maps and times see www.proartsgallery.org 

“Duane Cramer Works, 10 years in the making” Black and white photography. Reception at 6 p.m. at FLOAT 1091, Calcot Place, Unit#116, Oakland. 535-1702.  

Photography by Russ Greene at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. Exhibition runs through June. 595-5344.  

THEATER 

California Shakespeare Theater “The Merry Wives of Windsor” at the Bruns Amphitheater, 100 Gateway Blvd., Orinda. Tues.-Thurs., 7:30 p.m., Fri.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 4 p.m. through June 25. Tickets are $15 and up. 548-9666. www.calshakes.org 

FILM 

Superfest International Disability Film Festival from 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $5-$20. For schedule and access accomodations call 845-5575. 849-2568.  

Against Indifference: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski “Decalogue 7 and 8” at 6:30 p.m. “Decalogue 9 and 10” at 8:45 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Heather Lende introduces “If You Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Telegraph. 845-7852.  

Bay Area Poets Coalition Open Poetry Reading from 3 to 5 p.m. at Strawberry Creek Lodge, dining hall, 1320 Addison St. Park on the street, not in Lodge parking lot. 527-9905.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley World Music Festival featuring African, Latin American, Celtic, Indian music from noon to 9 p.m. Sat. and Sun. along Telegraph Avenue, with All West African Concert at People’s Park on Sat. from 1 to 5 p.m. www.telegraphberkeley.com 

Oakland Opera “X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X” at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro Opera House, 201 Broadway. Tickets are $32-$36. 763-1146. 

“A Special Evening of Harp Music” with Bay Area Youth Harp Ensemble, Pleiades Harp Ensemble, and Triskela Harp Trio at 8 p.m. at St. Mary Magdalen Church, 2005 North Berryman St. Tickets are $7-$15. 548-3326. 

Donna Lerew, violin, and Lynn Schugren, piano, at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Piano Club, 2724 Haste St. Tickets are $15-$20. 848-4088. 

The Moon Town Schmatts Bassoon Ensemble at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets aare $8-$12. 549-3864  

Voci Women’s Vocal Ensemble “Aphrodesia” at 7:30 p.m., Sun. at 4 p.m., at The Marsh, 2118 Allston Way. Tickets are $20-$50. 800-838-3006. 

GTS, Ojada at 8 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $10. 451-8100.  

Alice Stuart & the Formerlys at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Los Mapaches at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5-$10. 849-2568.  

Dangerous Rhythm, Tim Fox at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

The Snake Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ.  

Greg Pratt at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7 per family. 558-0881. 

Karen Blixt at 8 p.m. at the Jazz 

school. Cost is $15. 845-5373.  

Fred Randolph Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Mayim and Katherine Peck, singer-songwriters, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Loosewig Quartet at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

The Chantigs, Everest, Fainting Goats at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Second Opinion, The Helm, Hit Me Back, Robot Eyes at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, JUNE 4 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Tilden and Beyond” Paintings by Mary Robinson. Reception at 2 p.m. at Tilden Park Environmental Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233.  

“My America: Art from The Jewish Museum Collection 1900-1955” opens at at 2 p.m. at Magnes Museum, 2911 Russell St. Cost is $6-$8. 549-6950. 

FILM 

Superfest International Disability Film Festival from 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $5-$20. Reception at 6 p.m. For schedule and access accomodations call 845-5575. 849-2568. 

“The Cosmology of Words ... The Journey from Griot to Rapper” A documentary by Christina Abram-Davis at 6 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Fundraiser for the Jamaica Study Abroad program July 2006 of the Merritt College Ethnic Studies Department. Donation $10. nefetertinaproductions@yahoo.com 

Against Indifference: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski “Decalogue 1 and 2” at 1:30 p.m. “Decalogue 3 and 4” at 3:45 p.m. and “Decalogue 5 and 6” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Alameda Architectural Society 2006 Preservation Awards with Woody Minor on “The History of Measure A” at 7 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, corner of Santa Clara Ave. and Chestnut St., Alameda. 986-9232. 

Julie Gamberg reads from her book of poems “The Museum of Natural History” at 4:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Maxine Rose Schur reads from “Places in Time: Reflection on a Journey” at 1 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloway’s Literary and Garden Arts, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

Robert Greenfield will present “Timothy Leary: A Biography” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley World Music Festival featuring African, Latin American, Celtic, Indian music from noon to 9 p.m. Sat. and Sun. along Telegraph Avenue. www.telegraphberkeley.com 

Oakland Civic Orchestra “An Afternoon in Vienna” at 4 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Ave., near Lake Merritt, Oakland. Admission is free.  

Piedmont Choirs Spring Sing at 3 p.m. at Farnsworth Theater, Skyline High School, Oakland. 547-4441. 

Oakland Opera “X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X” at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro Opera House, 201 Broadway. Tickets are $32-$36. 763-1146. 

Galax Quartet Adagios and other movements at 7 p.m. at Loper Chapel, Dana at Durant. Tickets are $10. 601-1370.  

Twang Cafe with The Whoreshoes, early honky tonk country and Kemo Sabe, modern camp fire songs at 7:30 p.m. at at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10.  

Americana Unplugged: Jimbo Trout & The Fish People at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Falso Baiano Choro Band at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ.  

Marc Cary’s Focus Trio at 4:30 at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12. 845-5373.  

Peter Mulvey at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Sam Misner & Megan Smith at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Verse, Crime in Stereo, Guns Up at 5 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

MONDAY, JUNE 5 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Judy Jones reads from “Bones of the Homeless” at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Actors Reading Writers “English Eccentrics,” stories by Alan Bennett and P.G. Wodehouse at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave.  

Poetry Express with Avotcja and Ramon Pinero at 7 p.m. at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave.  

Christopher Robin and JC read their poems at 7 p.m. at Pegasus Bookstore, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 

Leonard Pitt talks about “Walks Through Lost Paris: A Journey Into the Heart of Historic Paris” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Peter Hallifax and Julie Jeffrey, viols. The Complete Published Works of Forqueray, one suite each morning for five days, through Fri. at 11 a.m. at Loper Chapel, Dana at Durant. TIckets are $7-$10, $25-$35 for the series. 220-1195. 

North Oakland Community Charter School Spring Concert at 6:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Free. www.juliamorgan.org  

The Sitka Trio at 1 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana. Tickets are $15. 559-4670. 

Longy School of Music at 4 p.m. at St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel, 2316 Bowditch Ave. Tickets are $10-$15. 978-853-2700. 

Coro Ciconia “What is a Motet?” Learn as you sing at 5:30 p.m. at Loper Chapel, Dana and Durant. Tickets are $12. 843-0450.  

La Foolia “The History of Western Music” at 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Piano Club, 2724 Haste St. Tickets are $15. 601-9631.  

DeLaMuse Songs of Dowland, Sances, Monteverdi & Caccini at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $10-$15. 831-566-3207.  

Blue Monday Jam, NC Connection at 8 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100.  

Yoshida Brothers at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $20. 238-9200. 

TUESDAY, JUNE 6 

FILM 

Against Indifference: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski Early Works: Program 1 at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“A Celebration of Jaime de Angulo” presented by Malcom Margolin, Stefan Hyner, and Steve Dickison at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Linda Donn reads from “The Little Ballonist” at 7 p.m at Mrs. Dalloway’s, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Oakland Opera “X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X” at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro Opera House, 201 Broadway. Tickets are $32-$36. 763-1146. 

Artists’ Vocal Ensemble, “Music of the Apocalypse” at 5:30 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft at Ellsworth. Tickets are $10-$20 at the door. 717-9422. 

Ensemble Cerumina “Music across the Alps” at 8 p.m. at St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel, 2316 Bowditch Ave. Donations appreciated. 459-1582. 

Alta Sonora and Women’s Antique Vocal Ensemble “Viaggio: a Musical Tour of Renaissance Italy” at 8 p.m. at International House, Bancroft and Piedmont. Tickets are $10-$15. 233-0868.  

Singer’s Open Mic with Ellen Hoffman at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

PhilipsMarine, jazz, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Yoshida Brothers at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $20. 238-9200.  

Michael Coleman Trio Jazz Jam at 8 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Bring your instrument. 451-8100.  

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7 

EXHIBITIONS 

"Stitches in Time I: Food and Identity" Textile and multi-media works about food and cultural identity. Reception at 1:30 p.m. at Richmond Health Center, 100 38th St., enter at 39th and Bissell, Richmond. 231-1348. www.artschange.org 

FILM 

Against Indifference: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski Early Works: Program 2 at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ivan Doig reads from his new novel “The Whistling Season” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. 

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 

Oakland Opera “X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X” at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro Opera House, 201 Broadway. Tickets are $32-$36. 763-1146. 

Berkeley Baroque Players at 8 p.m. Pre-concert talk at 7 p.m. at International House Auditorium, 2299 Piedmont Ave. Tickets are $10-$15. 272-9147. 

Vox Populi Vocal Ensemble “Sacred music of Guillaume Dufay” at 6 p.m. at Chapel of St. Joseph of Arimathea, 2316 Bowditch St. Tickets are $10-$12. 843-3608.  

Bay Area Classical Harmonies Music for the Dead from Bach to Byzantine Chant at 6 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. Tickets are $12-$18. 868-0695  

Carol Denney at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Calvin Keys Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

Whiskey Brothers, old time and bluegrass, at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473.  

Home at Last Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Juio Bravo, salsa, at 8 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Grant Geissman at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $10-$18. 238-9200.  

THURSDAY, JUNE 8 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Future Tense” sculpture installations, constructions and mixed-media works by four artists opens at 6 p.m. at Kala Art Insitute, 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977. www.kala.org 

FILM 

“New Orleans Music in Exile” a film by Robert Mugge at 2 and 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 3rd Flr. Community Room, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6233. 

Against Indifference: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski “The Double Life of Véronique” at 7 p.m. and “Blind Chance” at 9 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Michael Pollan reads from “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” at 7 p.m at Mrs. Dalloway’s Literary and Garden Arts, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

Harlyn Aizley talks about “Confessions of the Other Mother: Non-Biological Lesbian Mothers Tell All” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Ramor Ryan introduces his new book “Clandestines: The Pirate Journals of an Irish Exile” at 7:30 pm. at AK Press Warehouse, 674-A 23rd St., Oakland. 208-1700. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Ensemble Vermillian Seventeenth Century Italian Chamber Music at noon at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $15. 559-4670. 

The Golden Age of Spain with Karol Steadman soprano, at 1 p.m. at St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel, Bowditch at Durant. Tickets are $10-$15. 805-773-1057. 

Mahan Esfahani, harpsichord, at 2 p.m. at Loper Chapel, Dana and Durant. Tickets are $10-$20. 240-418-9585. 

Pedro Jesús Gómez, lute and vihuela “The Lyre of Orpheus” at 5 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $10-$15. 549-3864.  

The Albany Consort Great Concertos and Cantatas at 6:15 at University Lutheran Chapel, 2425 College at Haste. Tickets are $15. 408-773-0375. www.albanyconsort.com 

Howard Kadis, lutenist, at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, Dana and Durant. Tickets are $10-$15.  

De Profundis Low Sounds Only at 7 p.m. at St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel, Bowditch at Durant. Tickets are $10. 459-7462. 

Baroque Cabaret with Sheli Nan and the Musicians Angelic at 8 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. TIckets are $20-$25. 919-4493. www.shelinan.com 

The Klez-X at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Steve Gannon Monday Blues Band at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Be Brave Bold Robot, Dustin Aaron, Drunken Boat at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

Hwy 42, Cult of Sue Todd, Toofless Sean Corkery at 8 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100. www.uptownnightclub.com 

Gary Burton Quartet Revisited at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$65. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com

The Berkeley World Music Weekend is this weekend, Sat. and Sun., from noon-9 p.m., on Telegraph Avenue from Bancroft Way to Parker St., with over two dozen performances, all free. 

The festival “is music for everyone ... not only showcasing the variety of traditional and contemporary music in the Bay Area ... but with many glimpses into the often-unseen sides of the Telegraph neighborhood, a vibrant part of the community that exemplifies what Berkeley is,” said Gianna Ranuzzi, the event’s organizer. 

Picking up a schedule at the information table in front of Cody’s Books, at Telegraph at the corner of Haste, gives an idea of the great spectrum of sounds and where to find them as the Weekend unfolds. 

Events kick off Saturday at noon at outdoor and indoor venues turned into music cafes, as well as on street corners and in People’s Park.  

Remencier’s “Radtrad” Celtic music, with Laurie Chastain, Ed Sherry and Tris King, leads off at Cafe Med on Saturday. Other delights along the avenue include The State of Gujarat’s Indian folk music with vocals, The Spirit of ‘29 playing Dixieland and Klezmer, and The Smyrna Time Machine with the “Greek Blues” of Rebetika as well as the dance music of the Aegean. There will also be Arabic, Andalusian, Reggae, Latin and more (and jazzier) Irish music. 

In People’s Park from 1-5 p.m., there’ll be “the first outdoor musical event of Amoeba Music,” an All-African mini-event, with Dijaly Kunda Kouyata (Senegalese), Markus James and the Wassonrai with Stephen Kent on didjeridu, playing and singing “Blues from Mali,” and the West African Highlife Band.  

From 1-3 p.m. on Saturday, Mario Tejada will open his rarely seen banquet room at La Fiesta, next to Amoeba Music, for Parlor Tango. “So there’ll be dancing, inside and out, all afternoon,” said Ranuzzi, “and the walls at La Fiesta are thick; other sounds from the park won’t intrude.” 

Sunday will open up with Sean Smith’s acoustic steel guitar at Ann’s Kitchen, with Unity Nguyen playing Vietnamese music at The Med while Pete Olson’s Trio comes across with cajun and Country Stomp at the Durant Food Court, from 12:30-2 p.m. 

Rafael Manriquez’s Chilean sounds will overlap with Orquesta D’Sol’s salsa and funk at Cody’s and on the veranda of the Beau Sky Hotel, respectively. Other Latin flavors will be presented by Quijerema’s “New Latino Americana,” on Saturday and by the Mauro Correa Quartette with Brazilian Chorro Sunday, both at Raleigh’s Pub.  

After an arc of sounds—from Jeff Whittier on classic Indian flute to Kaila Flexner and Gari Hegedus’ New Balkan sounds, from Moh Alileche’s Amazighe Berber music and song to John Waller’s Psychedelic Funk—the weekend ends with the trio of Stephen Kent, Geoffrey Gordon and Peter Valsamis going “beyond World Music” with didjeridu and electronic trance grooves in the Festival Finale, 7-9 p.m. at The Village. 

One act deserves a special mention: Vukani Mawethu, a nonprofit multiracial choir singing South African freedom songs in Zulu, Xhosa, Sethu and English, were originally formed in 1986 by the late choirmaster James Madhlope Phillips for just one concert at Zellerbach Hall. They have performed on the same stage as Nelson Mandela and have toured the cities and townships of South Africa in 1997. Vukani Mawethu will present their choral harmonies at Cody’s, 3-4 p.m. on Sunday. 

The Berkeley World Music Weekend plays at various locations around Telegraph Avenue, Sat.-Sun., June 3-4, noon-9 p.m. For more information see www.telegraphberkeley.com.  

Contributed photo  

Markus James & the Wassonrai will perform Mali Blues during Berkeley  

World Music Weekend's all West African concert at People's Park Saturday 1-5 p.m. 

Barbara Cushman is an artist to the very tips of her fingers. The form of her artistry has varied widely and wildly, ranging from cuisine and salad dressing to pottery, jewelry and collage. The key to her successes, however, has always been inventiveness. Having envisioned what she wants to do, she finds a way to achieve it. “Experience has always been my teacher,” she says. As much could be said of her life.  

After a year at Barnard College, Barbara, eager to live as an adult, dropped into the turmoil of the 1960s and Manhattan’s vie de bohème. She had jobs with publishing companies, including as an executive secretary, lived in her own apartment and studied pottery at the Brooklyn Museum Art School. Feeling that she would never be a success as a potter, however, she moved in May 1972 to San Francisco, where “always learning from experience” she engaged in a variety of enterprises, such as restaurants south of Market (using her own recipes), a cheese shop, a crafts shop (where she worked with beads) and then returned to food work.  

To meet Barbara, who was born in Brooklyn, is to encounter a New York presence—a perceptiveness, a strength of character, a generosity, and, yes, a graciousness that are the better qualities of that city as a bastion of traditional liberalism. To visit her loft in West Oakland is quasi-magically to enter a New York environment, such as you would find in Chelsea and Greenwich Village: a very large, regular space in what was formerly an industrial building where working and living areas meld into one another to create an organic entity. Daylight illuminates the far end of the space from the entrance where most of her living is done. Her possessions include numerous works of art acquired from friends such as the renowned painter Ray Saunders and the neurologically challenged clients of Oakland’s famed studio, Creative Growth.  

“I will not throw anything away,” Barbara boasts. Anything may be just what she needs to finish a work-in-progress or the stimulus for a new series of works. Works-in-progress, works finished but not yet sold, and works that are not for sale seem to cover all surfaces and fill all drawers. 

Like most artists in America, Barbara has had to work part-time at a non-art activity to sustain life so that she might sustain her creativity. Thousands of Bay Areans recognize her as the attractive, mature cheese consultant at the Rockridge Market Hall Pasta Shop, where she has worked since 1992. A streak of tint in her hair, often red, an immaculate apron and necklaces of her own making identify her visually immediately. Her connoisseurship identifies her as an authentic fromagère.  

At present, Cushman is working with collage, artists’ stamps, mail art, and custom-made cards. Her materials are borrowed images, glue, thread, photo-sensitive and fine papers, found objects, used postage stamps, textiles, etc., etc., etc. Her tools are, most importantly, her imagination, her eyes and her hands—then photo-copying machines, a sewing machine, scissors, an antique perforation press, and whatever else will obtain the results that she desires. Her most proximate antecedents are artists who use appropriation, assemblage, collage, or are practitioners of Dada, Funk, Kitsch, naïve art, Pop, Surrealism and especially Fluxus for the pioneering of mail- and rubber-stamp art. People who acquire Cushman’s works often frame them, despite their ostensible informality, to protect them as objects that contribute beauty and meaning to their lives.  

Cushman’s production, which she labels a “cottage industry,” is valiantly labor intensive. She makes works in a series by hand, often individualizing them by a small component such as a used postage stamp or the impression of an inked rubber stamp. For example, the collage “Faces of Love: Angie & Xavier” (2006; 5 x 7 inches overall), although specifically a tribute to personal friends, is, more generally, an homage in diptych form to love in bloom. Through successive layerings and printings, Cushman, using a photocopier, has on the left created a heart-shaped image of a woman’s blue eyes and red lips on top of flowers in a glass vase, while on the right she has printed the image in profile of a 1920s swain within a heart, on which are printed the much reduced images of a French postage stamp, distinguished by a Gallic cock, and a calendar for the month of February having the 14th, marked in red. 

An authentic, used 10-centime postage stamp with the traditional, striding figure of the République française completes the inner composition. Red pinked edges enclose the images, which are framed by grids of red dots; decorative piercing one-fourth-inch from the edge of the picture plane finishes the surface. Inside, above the message space, is the rubber-stamped image of a woman’s hands embracing the back of a man’s neck. On the very back of the work another rubber-stamped image appears: a man and a woman embracing in a heart-shaped profile. (Cushman provides appropriate first-class postage on the envelopes of some works, if their designs are compatible.)  

More often than not, the messages that the artist conveys relate to the pleasures of love, both physical and spiritual. Gridded formats include images: in “Royalty,” of multicultural expressions of love; in “Baby I’m Yours,” of mothers and their children; in “Kiss & Tell,” of lips and couples kissing; and in “Dance With Me,” of couples dancing “from Brueghel’s peasants to courtly aristocrats to aficionados of tango to athletic modernists, among others. Cushman’s “Happy Hanukkah” card includes images of the tablets, men blowing shofars, menorahs, and so forth.  

Many images from Barbara Cushman’s cards are also available in a 17 x 11-inch format suitable for framing. Her works are available at the Barbara Anderson Gallery, 2243 5th Street in Berkeley, and the Creative Growth Art Center, 355 24th Street in Oakland.  

Photograph: Barbara Cushman’s “Faces of Love: Amgie & Xavier” (2006), a tribute to friends, is, more generally, an homage in diptych form to love in bloom.

It never ceases to amaze me what madness the media and the legal community have created out of a little thing like mold. 

It happened with asbestos about 25 years ago and, although that has calmed down a great deal, there are still companies making millions removing what is most likely not going to hurt you if you leave it where it is. 

These are, of course, hot button issues because for every 1,000 cases of not mattering very much, you can always find one that might be a real case. And so we all suffer for a lack of understanding and good shared knowledge about the subject. 

Molds are funguses. They are part of our world, they’re literally everywhere we go and on almost every surface in nature. They are part of what makes the biosphere operate. Without funguses, bacteria and insects (FBI), we would have no breakdown of organic matter and no transformation into new life (including the produce at the store, the fish in the sea, you and me). 

Molds are also part of our intimate world. They’re not just outside the door, they’re in the pizza, the brie and some less common foods like tempeh and the meat substitute quorn. 

Without mold, there’s no penicillin. In short, we eat mold, we breath it and it lives in our shower. Additionally, mold’s first cousin, the mushroom, is on the diet for most folks and, if properly chosen, proves quite safe. 

For most of us and under the majority of conditions, molds do very little harm to us. When we take a walk in the woods we are surrounded by molds which are releasing their spores (to give birth to more of the little wonders) into the air. 

The problem with mold in the home is almost (I said almost) entirely a matter of moisture. For homes that have moisture problems, mold is a real issue. But, then again, moisture would be a problem if there were no molds at all. 

If you have high humidity in your home a wide range of funguses, including those that have no interest in human beings, can do quite a bit of damage to the wooden (and wood pulp) parts of your home. 

Those oft-seen pest reports are, locally, mostly about fungal damage and usually not so much about the work of insects. Again, this is invariably about water or elevated humidity levels in the home. 

There is one fabulous exception to this that we’re not seeing too much in this area but has done some major damage to houses in Southern California. That would be poria incrassata which brings it’s own water with it (eek) and can, thereby, consume lots of wood when no leaks exist to wet the wood. We don’t have much of it up here so don’t freak. 

But back to the main point; that molds (again, a subset of the funguses) are rarely found in large growing colonies except where a good source of moisture is present. In other words, when the inside of the house is leaking. There are mold problems in houses that have competent roofs and walls but which have basements which flood or weep copiously. 

There are houses that have mold in closets because the overall humidity in the house is high. There are houses where mold is growing in lots of places because it’s either raining inside the walls or the roof. Or when there is a source of water below and very low porosity through the structure. The last case is more common in newer homes than in old ones. 

We’ve begun, in recent years, to build houses that are so tight that they’re literally pressure tested before they can pass muster. Our local housing stock is mostly very porous and so we lose lots of heat and pay high bills. But, we also don’t have the same kind of problems with fungi.  

I’ve been in a few houses that clearly had serious mold/fungus problems and they were invariably ones that had a moisture problem that would require addressing even if there were no concern about the dreaded M-word. It’s not OK to have the inside of the house be damp, is it? Well, I suppose if you’re Newt-Man it would be a good thing but I don’t have a big N on my spandex wrapped chest and so, like most folks I will call for help if the inside of the house gets wet. 

Here are a few things you can do if you believe you have mold in your home. First, if you’re getting sick, talk to a doctor. If you have good reason to believe it has to do with where you’re living, get out. This will do two things. 

First, it may help you get better, and second, it will act as a control in an experiment, helping you to understand what may be making you ill. You’ll have eliminated one variable from the equation and can run the experiment again (i.e. stay alive). 

Second thing. Find and address sources of wetness. Molds and funguses are found in homes as a result of leaks or of elevated humidity due to inadequate isolation or ventilation of moisture sources, such as wet crawlspaces, basement or gas appliances (gas appliances give off huge amount of water vapor).  

Some of the simple things that CAN but do not always work to address the latter include: the use of vapor barriers (plastic sheeting over damp soil), sump pumps, drainage systems, diverting gutter downspout water away from the house and increased crawlspace ventilation (which allows moisture to reach equilibrium with the outdoors through evaporation). 

For many houses I see, a vapor barrier combined with a small amount of ventilation (1 square foot per 1,500 square feet) should be sufficient, although I prefer to see 5-10 times this amount of ventilation. One square foot per 150 square feet of crawlspace is the basic code requirement and I virtually never see it met. I also see quite a few houses that clearly have elevated moisture levels. 

A hygrometer can be bought from any cigar store (I’ve gotten them on ebay) and can be hung inside the house to monitor moisture levels. The only problem with this method is that various molds and fungi propagate at a wide range of moisture levels (some only grow at 100 percent!) so once again, we’re back to basics. 

Keep the house as dry as possible and if you have allergies, try to keep it bone dry. If you have significant allergies to mold, my person feeling is that you should never try to live in an environment that has any significant moisture level and that will exclude many places. 

I, for example, don’t eat any dairy. Life’s throws us all curve balls but I’m a happier guy when I don’t eat cheese. So I’d suggest that you grin and bear it and stay away from clammy housing if you know you react poorly to mold. 

If your landlord has a damp house and you have good reason to believe you’re getting sick from it, move out. If you’re child seems to be getting sick from your damp rental, move out and if it’s your house, well, it’s time to find the window leak, the roof leak or the moisture in the basement.  

The important thing is to keep everything as dry as possible, starting with your sense of humor. 

Got a question about home repairs and inspections? Send them to Matt Cantor, in care of East Bay Real Estate, at realestate@berkeleydailyplanet.com.

One of my favorite places to look for—or just look at—esoteric, obscure, clever, or kinky garden tools is Hida Japanese Tools on San Pablo, across from REI and a few doors down from Ashkenaz. 

Hida started as a woodworkers’ tool shop with some bonsai wares, than branched out into other pruning and gardening tools; it’s where I got my brace of hori-horis. (By the way, I was wrong last week when I said they all have full tangs. They don’t, but the tangs are long and the tools are tough enough to stand on.)  

I used to buy stuff from them on a regular basis when I was a pro, and still allow myself to be tempted. For one thing, I made more money gardening than I do writing, and I could tell myself that whatever odd marvel I went home with was part of the job.  

They were, still are, a lot cheaper and more reliable than the average computer accessory.  

I bought my extension pruner there, when they had two models and $50 was a lot to pay. Since then, Hida’s added to the long-reach line and now there are, oh, about a dozen kinds including telescoping and two-handed shear models, and pole saws with those wonderful (and replaceable) Japanese blades. 

I still like the one I have, and Hida still sells it. It’s about five feet long, very lightweight, and has a pistol grip; I can control my cuts with it almost as well as I can with my Felcos. Don’t confuse this with the average pole pruner, which I’ve always found clumsy. Don’t underrate the value of a good controlled cut either, as a tool that lets you make one will maintain even the monetary value of the tree you keep healthy and don’t mutilate.  

Don’t need a long reach? Hida’s still the best place for saws. A good Silky or similar pruning saw cuts through branches like butter. Learn to make a jump cut and, unless you cut a lot of Hollywood junipers, you won’t need a chainsaw. (Those abominable little chainsaws on poles I see in magazine ads shouldn’t be sold without a permit and proof of expertise. Better to buy a three-year-old a pistol. Ugh.)  

Hida’s branched out into kitchen knives and grooming scissors and other tempting cutlery. There are more and better bonsai tools, and oddments like the long, flexible, leaf-shaped knife I find perfect for getting plants out of pots. 

If you absolutely must have a pink trowel, this is where to find it—along with its less colorful brethren in half a dozen useful shapes and sizes. Since I don’t read Japanese, there’s at least one tool there I still don’t know the use of, despite a helpful diagram.  

On the other hand, there are implements there that say, “Take me home!” just by the way they fit and balance when I pick them up, and are eloquently enough made to speak their usefulness immediately. For tools you didn’t know you needed, look into Hida.  

Another hot tip 

The Berkeley Garden Club will hold its annual plant sale at 547 Grizzly Boulevard (at Euclid) from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturday, June 17.  

Hida Tool  

1333 San Pablo Ave. 

524-3700, www.hidatool.com. 

Monday-Saturday 9 a.m.–5 p.m.

FRIDAY, JUNE 2 

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 Kim Marienthal Realtor and Board Member of “Liveable Berkeley.” 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.  

Red Cross Blood Drive from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Tilden Room, MLK Student Union, 5rd floor, UC Campus. To make an appointment call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE. www.BeADonor.com  

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. 548-6310, 845-1143. 

SATURDAY, JUNE 3 

Spring Faire at Washington Elementary School with face painting, boat races, obstacle course, Indian floor art, book exchange, food and performan- 

ces, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 2300 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, enter on McKinley. 486-1742.  

“Inspect-the-Paths Day” Berkeley Path Wanderers Association needs current information about every path in Berkeley to pinpoint those most in need of cleaning, weeding, or repairs. Volunteers will get a list of paths to survey and inspection sheets to fill out. Meet at 1 p.m. by the Rose Garden sign on Euclid. Bring a BPWA map, a pen and clipboard (or something to write on), and, optionally, a digital camera and a tape measure. 540-7223. 

National Trails Service Day with REI from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Tilden Park. Children 14 and older welcome, but must be accompanied by an adult if under 18. Pre-registration required. 527-4140. 

Berkeley History Center Walking Tour: “The Lorin: Kindred Spirit or Conquest?” led by Dale Smith, from 10 a.m. to noon. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0181.  

Walking Tour of Old Oakland around the restored 1870s business district. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of G.B. Ratto’s at 827 Washington St. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market’s Family Fun Festival from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Saturday Berkeley Farmers’ Market, Civic Center Park, Center St. at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way. Performances, information and activity booths. 548-2220, ext. 227. 

“Gardening to Manage Pests Naturally” A workshop to learn how to attract beneficial insects to your garden and to discover least-toxic methods for managing common garden pests, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Peralta Community Garden, 1400 Peralta Ave., near Hopkins. 444-7645. www.bayfriendly.org 

People’s Park Community Garden Tour Learn about native and edible plants as we tour with long time gardener, Terri Compost. Meet at 2 p.m. at the south west corner. Free. 658-9178. 

Berkeley Progressives Platform Meeting on City Planning, Labor, Health, and Housing, at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. 704-0803. 

Emergency Preparedness Class on Disaster First Aid from 9 a.m. to noon at 997 Cedar St. Free, but registration required. 981-5506.  

E-Waste Recycling Sat. and Sun. from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the main parking lot of the El Cerrito City Hall. Accepted items: computers/computer components, televisions, VCR & DVD players, toner cartridges, printers, fax machines, copiers, telephone equipment, cell phones and MP3 players. Not accepted are: appliances, batteries, paints, pesticides, etc. 1-888-832-9839.  

Youth Empowerment Day to stop “Pushouts” from School into Prison with community leaders and entertainment at 6 p.m. at McClymonds Educational Complex, 2607 Myrtle St., West Oakland. 225-8491. 

Social Responsibility Summit & Community Microbusiness Fair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at International Community School, 2825 International Blvd. at 29th St., Oakland. 540-7785, ext. 314. 

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. 

Toddler Nature Walk for toddlers and their grown-up friends to look for reptiles, at 10:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. 636-1684. 

Summer Pond Exploration to capture and release dragonfly nymphs, mayfly niads and other aquatic wonders, from 2 to 3 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area. 636-1684. 

East Bay Atheists with a video of Richard Dawkins, Oxford University Professor of Evolutionary Biology, on ways to address the arguments of Creationists against evolution, at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 222-7580.  

California Writers Club with winners of the Fifth Grade Writing Contest at 10 a.m. at Barnes & Noble, Jack London Square. 272-0120.  

“Making Gardens Works of Art” at 3 p.m at Mrs. Dalloway’s Literary and Garden Arts, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

Adult Learning Festival with information on learning opportunities, performances and author readings and fun for the whole family, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Lakeside Park, Lake Merritt, Oakland. 879-8131. www.AdultLearningFestival.com 

Sick Plant Clinic UC plant pathologist Dr. Robert Raabe, UC entomologist Dr. Nick Mills, and their team of experts will diagnose what ails your plants from 9 a.m. to noon at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr. 643-2755.  

“In Service to the World” A talk with Peace Corps Volunteers at 2 p.m. at the Oakland Public Library, West Auditorium, 125 14th St. 238-3134. 

Pre-School Storytime for 3-5 year olds at 11 a.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

SUNDAY, JUNE 4 

“A Taste of Albany” tastes from menus from over 20 different restaurants on Solano Ave. in Albany, music by 20 jazz groups, cable car rides, children’s entertainment, and arts and crafts, from 1 to 6 p.m. Sponsored by the Albany Chamber of Commerce. 525-1771. tasteofalbany.com  

Informational Forum on Immigration from 1 to 3 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker School, 2125 Jefferson St. Sponsored by Berkeley Organizing Congregations for Action. www.berkeleyboca.org 

Beginning Biological Art and Illustration for Youth, ages 9 and older from 2 to 4 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. Reservations required. 238-3818. 

Welcome Home the Butterflies Help weed and plant the Butterfly Garden in Tilden Park from 1 to 3 p.m. Dress to get dirty and bring garden gloves if you have them. 525-2233. 

Build It Green Home Tour of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tour book costs $15. 845-0472.  

Alameda Architectural Society 2006 Preservation Awards with Woody Minor on “The History of Measure A” at 7 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, corner of Santa Clara Ave. and Chestnut St., Alameda. 986-9232. 

Free Hands-on Bicycle Clinic Learn how to keep your bike in excellent working condition through safety inspections, from 10 to 11 a.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

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 

Sunday Summer Forum: Towards a More Just World with Dr. Lola Vollen on her work with exonerated prisoners at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302, ext. 306. 

Tibetan Buddhism with Sylvia Gretchen on “The Art of Happiness” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812.  

MONDAY, JUNE 5 

Public Hearing on UC Berkeley’s Building Plans for the 451,000 gross square foot Southeast Campus Integrated Projects at 7 p.m. in the Anderson Auditorium, Haas School of Business, UC Campus. 642-7720. www.cp.berkeley.edu 

Art Making at Schoolhouse Creek Join Friends of Five Creeks and environmental artist Zach Pine to make ephemeral art using found materials at the mouth of Schoolhouse Creek, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Photographs of works will be exhibited as part of “Art to Action on Berkeley Creeks.” Free, but enrollment limited; register 708-5528. zpine@aol.com 

Kensington Library Knitting Club, the “Castoffs” meets at 7 p.m. at 61 Arlington Ave. All ages and levels of experience welcome. 524-3043. 

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group for people 60+ years old meets at 10:15 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. Cost is $2.50. 524-9122. 

McGee Avenue Toastmasters meets at 7:30 p.m. at McGee Ave Baptist Church, 1640 Stuart St.  

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, JUNE 6 

REMEMBER TO VOTE TODAY 

“Pack Light, Pack Right” Tips for comfort on the trail at 7 p.m. at from 10 to 11 a.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Join a few slowpoke seniors at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm for an hour or two walk. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

Berkeley Discussion Salon on “Travel and Favorite Vacations” at 7 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. at Rose.  

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7 

Walking Tour of Old Oakland around Preservation Park to see Victorian architecture. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of Preservation Park at 13th St. and MLK, Jr. Way. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

“Earthlings” a documentary on the industries which rely on animals for profit at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donations of $5 accepted. 

“Girl, I’ve Been Through A Lot ...” Poetry workshop for girls age 13 to 17 at 4 p.m. at Oakland Public Library, Room 219, 125 14th St. 238-3134. 

Classes in English and Citizenship offered by the Oakland Adult Education program Mon.-Fri. from 6 to 9 p.m. Free. Register at Lincoln Elementary School, 225 11th St., room 205. 879-8131. 

Environmental Health for Children Bring toys, pottery and lunch boxes from home and the Berkeley Public Health Dept. will test them for lead, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Habitot, 2065 Kittredge St. Cost is $5-$6. 647-1111. 

American Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation at 10 a.m. in Oakland. We need your help with blood drives all over the East Bay. 594-5165.  

Red Cross Blood Drive from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Oakland State Building, 2nd floor, 1515 Clay St. To make an appointment call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE.  

Swami Khecaranatha Kundalini Yoga Talk at 7 p.m. at Sacred Space Yoga Sanctuary, 816 Bancroft at 6th. Free. 486-8700.  

“Organizing Your Time and Energy” at 6 p.m. at The Breema Clinic, 6201 Florio St., Oakland. 428-1234.  

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. 848-1704.  

THURSDAY, JUNE 8 

Save Telegraph A community meeting with Pat Cody, Andy Ross, neighbors, business people, shoppers, authors, street artists and students at 7 p.m. at Trinity United Methodist Church, 2362 Bancroft Way. For more information call City Councilmember Kriss Worthington at 981-7170. 

Tilden Tots Join a nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! We’ll explore the nature area ponds from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Tilden Explorers An after-school nature adventure program for 5-7 year olds, who may be accompanied by an adult. We will explore the ponds and learn about aquatic insects from 3:15 to 4:45 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8, registration required. 636-1684. 

Alternatives to War Through Education A project of Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors at 7:30 p.m. at the Niebyl Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. The speaker will be Eduardo Cohen on “The Selling of War and US Foreign Policy: Propaganda, Racism and News Media Complicity.” 649-1696. 

“The Sociology of African American Language” Prof. Charles DeBose reads from and discusses his new book at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 654-9587. 

East Bay Mac Users Group presents QuickBooks/Quicken at 6 p.m. at Expression College for Digital Arts, 6601 Shellmound St., Emeryville. http://ebmug.org 

An Evening of Chocolate, demonstration class, with Alice Medrich at 7 p.m. at Epicurious Garden, 1511 Shattuck Ave. Tickets are $100. All proceeds support the Berkeley High School Development Group. 464-1181. 

FRIDAY, JUNE 9 

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 Breda Courtney on “Why the World Celebrates James Joyce on Bloomsday” 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.  

Berkeley Critical Mass Bike Ride meets at the Berkeley BART the second Friday of every month at 5:30 p.m.  

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. 548-6310. 

SATURDAY, JUNE 10 

Live Oak Park Fair Sat. and Sun. from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. featuring 125 artists and craftspeople. Free. Free shuttles provided from the North Berkeley BART Station to the park. 898-3282. www.liveoakparkfair.com 

Repainting Willard Community Peace Labyrinth from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Willard Middle School, Telegraph Ave. between Derby and Stuart. Volunteers needed. 526-7377. 

Walk on the Wild Side A 5.5 mile hike over varied terrain to investigate wildlife, wildflowers and a wild watershed. Meet at 9 p.m. at the Wildcat/Alvarado staging are in Tilden Park. Bring a sack lunch, water and sunscreen. 525-2233. 

“Backyard Habitat” a workshop to learn about the wildlife native to the area, what they need to secure food and shelter from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at De Anza High School, 5000 Valley View Road, Richmond. Free. 665-3538. www.spawners.net 

Full Moon Walk at John Muir National Historic Site A walk to the top of Mt. Wanda, in Martinez, to see the full moon, and nocturnal animal life along the way. Free, but reservations required. 925-228-8860. 

Mini-Farmers in Tilden A farm exploration program, from 10 to 11 a.m. for ages 4-6 years, accompanied by an adult. We will explore the Little Farm, care for animals, do crafts and farm chores. Wear boots and dress to get dirty! Fee is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Cerrito Creek Work Party Meet at at 10 a.m. at the end of Adams St., one block west of San Pablo, to remove invasives. 848-9358. www.fivecreeks.org 

La Pena's 31st Birthday A celebration with an open house and performances by artists and groups who have had long association with La Peña, at 6 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Free. 654-9587. 

Jeremy’s One Man Show with giant transforming origami, juggling, magic, comedy, unicycling, at noon at El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Ave., El Cerrito. Free for all teens in grades 6 through 12. 526-7512.  

Emergency Preparedness Class on Light Search & Rescue from 9 a.m. to noon at 997 Cedar St. Free, but registration required. 981-5506.  

Berkeley History Center Walking Tour: “Explore the New Berkeley City College Building” from 11 a.m. to noon. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0181.  

Walking Tour of Jack London Waterfront Meet at 10 a.m. at the corner of Broadway and Embarcadero. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234.  

East Bay Baby Fair Resources for pregnancy, birth and parenting from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 540-7210. 

Vegetarian Cooking Class on Breakfast and Brunch from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at First Unitarian Church of Oakland, 685 14th St. Cost is $45. 531-2665.  

Cooking the African Way A demonstration on how to make nutritious Nigerian Yoruban food at 1 p.m. at Oakland Public Library, Martin Luther King jr. Branch, 6833 International Blvd. 615-5728. 

New Business Startup Expo Meet new local entrepreneurs and learn how to start your own business, from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland CIty Hall. 879-4020. 

Learn to Row Day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at The Jack London Aquatic Center, 115 Embarcadero, Oakland. 208-6067. 

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. 

CITY MEETINGS 

Creeks Task Force meets Mon. June 5, at 7 p.m. the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7410.  

Council Agenda Committee meets Mon. June 5, at 2:30 p.m., at 2180 Milvia St. 981-6900. 

Peace and Justice Commission meets Mon., June 5, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Manuel Hector, 981-5510.  

Commission on the Status of Women meets Wed., June 7, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5190.  

School Board meets Wed. June 7, at 7:30 p.m., in the City Council Chambers. 644-6147. 

Community Health Commission meets Thurs., June 8, at 6:45 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5356.  

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., June 8, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410.