Planning commissioners will be juggling political hot potatoes Wednesday night, ranging from condos to landmarks and Telegraph Avenue. -more-
The deadline for the embattled Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) to correct a laundry list of managerial deficiencies is fast approaching. -more-
A Trader Joe’s in downtown Berkeley is one step closer to reality, following a vote by the Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) Thursday. -more-
“I have heard again and again that the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance (LPO) is being used to stop development, though it was never meant to,” said Patti Dacey Thursday. “That’s not true.” -more-
Despite the city attorney’s reluctance, the Fair Campaign Practices Commission voted 7-1 Thursday to ask the Berkeley City Council to put a measure before the voters in November that would support public financing for council and mayoral elections. -more-
A California bill designed to inform high school students and their parents of their right to withhold contact information from military recruiters won Republican support in the state legislature last week but not nearly enough to survive a possible gubernatorial veto. -more-
While City Manager Phil Kamlarz has detailed a $220,000 six-month Telegraph Avenue area improvement plan as part of his $300 million mostly fixed-cost budget that goes before the Berkeley City Council tonight (Tuesday), Councilmember Kriss Worthington will ask his colleagues to approve the funds but hold off on the plan specifics. -more-
In Monday morning’s bright sunlight, a front-end loader busily growled through the dwindling piles of rubble that are the last remnants of three Center Street buildings. -more-
Representatives of the hospital workers union which successfully lobbied county supervisors to provide an $8 million budget bailout for the Alameda County Medical Center say they will continue to monitor the situation to make sure that the center incurs no new round of layoffs. -more-
A speaker’s comments disparaging homosexuality cast a cloud over an informal high school graduation ceremony earlier this month. -more-
When the mayor’s proposed Compromise Landmarks Preservation Ordinance got before the council at around 12:20 a.m. Wednesday morning, Councilmember Laurie Capitelli balked. -more-
Two days after releasing details on a proposed downtown properties land sale that is supposed to help pay off $65 million already owed by the Oakland Unified School District to the State of California, the state-appointed OUSD administrator has proposed putting the district $35 million more in debt. -more-
For almost half a century now, Mario’s on Telegraph Aveue has built up a reputation for a lot more than its chile verde and grilled burritos. -more-
Library Gardens—the apartment complex nearing completion behind the Berkeley Public Library—is going condo, if the Berkeley Planning Commission approves. -more-
The draft budget Mayor Tom Bates presented to the council on Tuesday picked up only $900,000 worth of council and community wishes, leaving much of the rest of the $4.4 million potentially available—beyond approximately $300,000 in fixed costs for parks, police, planning and the like—to the city manager’s plan to allocate the funds to street and storm-drain repair. -more-
More than 50 supporters of the Wishing Well came to Tuesday’s City Council meeting to request the city save the 35-year-old recycling box on the sidewalk median strip of the 1700 block of Channing Way. -more-
Former City Clerk Sara Cox wasn’t in her office when the Daily Planet went there to speak to her on Wednesday. -more-
The Berkeley teachers’ union is urging the school district to apologize for threatening to dock the pay of teachers who skipped school last month to attend protests. -more-
The Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) has hired a new assistant superintendent of human resources, a district spokesperson announced last Thursday. -more-
In a 22-0 vote last week, workers at the Landmark Theater-owned Shattuck Cinemas won their union. -more-
The sign Ramzi Obeid carried Tuesday afternoon at the downtown Berkeley BART station demonstration read: “Killing and destruction in Gaza—paid for by our taxes.” -more-
Le Conte neighborhood residents have raised several concerns to the city of Berkeley about the storage facility on 2721 Shattuck Ave. They claim that since developer Patrick Kennedy bought the property in January the building has been undergoing construction non-stop without adequate permits. -more-
The future of the Ashby BART Task Force remains an open question, itself comprised of a host of lesser questions, ranging from the geographic to the mundane, says Co-chair John Selawsky. -more-
A Marin County judge Wednesday endorsed claims by environmentalists and the East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD) that the city of Richmond violated environmental law in its sale of Point Molate to casino developers. -more-
The city’s downtown planning committee flexed its muscles Wednesday, demanding access to a previously closed tax force. -more-
The Doubletree Hotel at the Marina, in the process of being sold to Canadian buyers, has raised hotel workers’ concern. -more-
The opinion editors of this publication have lately been badgered by several people who claim a divine right to pop off repeatedly at any length they choose and as often as they choose in these pages. Regular readers can attest, undoubtedly with some annoyance, that we have often indulged such writers and published them again and again. -more-
The Berkeley City Council has just asked the Arts Commission to “review and update the definition of ‘arts and crafts’ as referred to in the West Berkeley zoning, which will enable an inventory of such space to go forward and ensure that the space is protected, as stipulated in the West Berkeley Plan and the zoning.” So far, great: protecting arts/crafts space is essential. But if you read on, another agenda appears: “The commission will no doubt struggle with what constitutes arts and crafts as their practice has been modified by the advent of computers and advanced technology.” -more-
The City of Berkeley spends $89,000 annually to purchase goods that facilitate an efficient infrastructure and continued service. Police uniforms, computers for city offices, and accounting supplies are generally ordered from private vendors, who contract companies from across the world to manufacture the starting materials. -more-
Regarding UCB’s draft enviornmental impact report (DEIR) for the Southeast Campus Integrated Projects (SCIP), which include retrofitting Memorial stadium, a new Student Athlete High Performance Center (SAHPC), new parking garage, and other improvements, John Galen Howard was right. -more-
As she prepares to take to the stage at the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura for the world premiere of Open Secrets, I thought your readers may be interested to learn how Berkeley’s famous daughter Karen Grassle saved my life almost 30 years ago when she was at the height of her fame, playing Caroline Ingalls in “Little House on the Prairie.” -more-
“Redevelopment should be pursued primarily for the benefit of the community as a whole and of the people who live in the ... area; not for the redeveloper or his eventual tenants.” Herbert J. Gans, The Urban Villagers, 1962. -more-
Last Saturday I attended the “Visioning” meeting of the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee (DAPAC). It is hard to find much to recommend about the usual “going through the motions of community input” workshop. But the upbeat attitude of the sub-group in which I participated made it enjoyable. Rather than the usual listing of problems, we started by listing the strong points of downtown Berkeley. So I came away with my own list of downtown’s assets and a renewed sense of regret at the threat posed to our city center by the mayor’s deal with the university. -more-
Voters will determine 33 Senate seats in 2006. According to veteran D.C. prognosticator Charlie Cook, 16 incumbent senators are all but guaranteed reelection. In order to regain control of the Senate, Democrats will have to win at least six of the eight Republican seats that are in play and retain all nine of the contested Democratic seats. Here are the ten most interesting senatorial races: -more-
Joe and I spent a couple of days up in Humboldt County among the really big trees last week. We stayed in a motel on the Avenue of the Giants among the old redwoods, where we could sit on the front porch in the evening and listen to the Mozartian aria of hermit thrush and the haunting, minimalist song of varied thrush, a bird has perfected wabi-sabi. -more-
Last Saturday, the public finally got to speak at length to the city’s seven-month-old Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee (or DAPAC—the only acronym you’ll need to read this column). One unexpected event at this “workshop” was that the inmates promptly took over the asylum. -more-
While the Israeli military is denying it had anything to do with the deaths of eight Palestinian civilians at Beit Lahia beach in the Gaza Strip, June 10, a former Pentagon battle damage expert says “all the evidence points” to an artillery shell fired by Israel. -more-
This is a time of euphoria for progressive Oakland—that small, special period between the promise and the practical reality of the Ron Dellums administration, a dizzy, giddy, magnificent time when hopes soar, the world appears as an incredible place, and all things suddenly seem possible. -more-
Morning dawns on a Berkeley summer day. Gray light filters into bungalow-style rooms, a shawl of mist moistens stately plane trees and palettes of roses. Knowing the sun will soon make its presence felt, this is a good time to set out with a plan for the day. Within walking distance are specialty food shops, cozy eateries, an inspiring nursery, a comfortable park and a wonderful neighborhood library. Welcome to Northbrae. -more-
When Maurice Strelinger, aka M.B. Curtis, built the fabulous Peralta Park Hotel, he envisioned it as a hostelry for theatrical companies passing through San Francisco. This dream never came to pass, but Curtis did manage to lure at least one stage star to his new subdivision. -more-
In my job, I’m often asked to estimate what a particular job might cost. Mrs. Jones wants to know how much a new furnace might cost, or perhaps a roof. These aren’t too hard to roughly gauge and costs won’t vary by 100 percent (most of the time). -more-
We old coots play a game, based on how long we’ve been in Berkeley: You Shoulda Been Here When. In my circle it runs heavily to vertical samplings of bird populations, politics, public venues: often the interesting little store that filled a niche, got big, got bought, got corporatized, got bland. -more-
Clad in his mayoral uniform of velour sweats, Anton (Christopher Herold), CEO of gated Safe Harbor on the Mendocino coast, gazes out the window through binoculars, “looking out for people—my job.” To the tune of “The Very Model Of A Modern Major General,” he practices his putting, humming along and wincing extravagantly at each miss. He greets his bubbly wife, Anna (Deborah Fink), and they prepare to celebrate another property sold, with squeals, glib cliches and funny poses. -more-
On the day in 1980 when Czeslaw Milosz (1911-2004) received the Nobel Prize for literature most people in Berkeley had never heard of him. When we went to the bookstores looking for his work, we were disappointed. What little there was sold out before noon. But when the stores restocked and newly published books by him became available, we discovered he was a prolific writer. And one of extraordinary stature. -more-
Joe and I spent a couple of days up in Humboldt County among the really big trees last week. We stayed in a motel on the Avenue of the Giants among the old redwoods, where we could sit on the front porch in the evening and listen to the Mozartian aria of hermit thrush and the haunting, minimalist song of varied thrush, a bird has perfected wabi-sabi. -more-
Al Gore may be soaking up the spotlight with his doc du jour An Inconvenient Truth, but The Road to Guantanamo, opening today (Friday) at Shattuck Cinemas, is a far more incendiary film and one that many Americans would do well to see. -more-
Over 40 local poets—including Ntozake Shange, Floyd Salas, Avotcja, Gerald Nicosia, Tennessee Reed and Reginald Lockett—will read to benefit the Hurricane Katrina victims of Mississippi, and to celebrate the self-publication of a book of poems on Katrina, Words Upon the Waters, this Sunday, 3 p.m., at Anna’s Jazz Island. -more-
Morning dawns on a Berkeley summer day. Gray light filters into bungalow-style rooms, a shawl of mist moistens stately plane trees and palettes of roses. Knowing the sun will soon make its presence felt, this is a good time to set out with a plan for the day. Within walking distance are specialty food shops, cozy eateries, an inspiring nursery, a comfortable park and a wonderful neighborhood library. Welcome to Northbrae. -more-
When Maurice Strelinger, aka M.B. Curtis, built the fabulous Peralta Park Hotel, he envisioned it as a hostelry for theatrical companies passing through San Francisco. This dream never came to pass, but Curtis did manage to lure at least one stage star to his new subdivision. -more-
In my job, I’m often asked to estimate what a particular job might cost. Mrs. Jones wants to know how much a new furnace might cost, or perhaps a roof. These aren’t too hard to roughly gauge and costs won’t vary by 100 percent (most of the time). -more-
We old coots play a game, based on how long we’ve been in Berkeley: You Shoulda Been Here When. In my circle it runs heavily to vertical samplings of bird populations, politics, public venues: often the interesting little store that filled a niche, got big, got bought, got corporatized, got bland. -more-
