Mayor Plays Firefighter
              Mayor Tom Bates opened up a fire hose Saturday during Fire Operations 101, an event sponsored by the Berkeley Firefighters Association. Councilmembers and high-ranking city staff suited up to operate chain saws to hack through roofs, use the Jaws of Life to open crashed cars and walk through a burning training trailer.   Photograph by Dave Sprague.
Mayor Plays Firefighter Mayor Tom Bates opened up a fire hose Saturday during Fire Operations 101, an event sponsored by the Berkeley Firefighters Association. Councilmembers and high-ranking city staff suited up to operate chain saws to hack through roofs, use the Jaws of Life to open crashed cars and walk through a burning training trailer. Photograph by Dave Sprague.

Page One

Telegraph Peet’s Wins Approval at ZAB

By Suzanne La Barre
Tuesday July 18, 2006

Three days after one Berkeley institution closed its doors on Telegraph Avenue another won overwhelming approval to open. -more-



Office Depot Beats Out Local Vendors for City Contract

By Suzanne La Barre
Tuesday July 18, 2006

A multi-year, $1.65-million contract for city office supplies will go to Office Depot, pending approval by the City Council tonight (Tuesday). -more-



Ward Leaves OUSD with Far-Reaching Changes

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday July 18, 2006

With Oakland education leaders traveling to Sacramento this week to lobby for a return to local control of the Oakland Unified School District, OUSD documents reveal that the real power over the future direction of Oakland’s public schools may lie with private foundations. -more-



Youth Program Ordered Off Toxic Site

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday July 18, 2006

State officials have ordered a popular after-school tutoring program to leave Richmond’s contaminated Campus Bay after officials and citizens spotted children playing in a toxic off-limits area. -more-



Council Looks at Condo Issues, Alcohol Problems

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday July 18, 2006

Berkeley Councilmembers Kriss Worthington and Max Anderson are proposing amendments to the city’s condominium conversion ordinance that would prevent condo conversion for 20 years from the date a landlord has quit the rental business for that particular property and would prevent condo conversion for 10 years from the time the owner has enacted an owner move-in eviction. -more-



Features

Developer Fee Would Replace Inclusionary Unit Requirement

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday July 18, 2006

In an effort to keep people with a variety of income levels in Berkeley, the city instituted its “inclusionary” housing ordinance in 1986, which mandates that developers reserve one-fifth of new housing units for people earning 80 percent of area median income. -more-


Overman Tapped to Challenge Wozniak for District 8 Seat

By Rio Bauce, Special to the Planet
Tuesday July 18, 2006

Following a Sunday afternoon town hall meeting at Redwood Gardens that attracted 61 Berkeley residents in search of a “progressive” candidate to take on District 8 incumbent Gordon Wozniak in November, a vote of attendees supported Jason Overman, a city rent board commissioner and UC Berkeley student. -more-


Residents Appeal Mixed-Use Development on San Pablo

By Suzanne La Barre
Tuesday July 18, 2006

A dozen residents have appealed plans for a five-story, mixed-use building on San Pablo Avenue, a project once described by a neighbor as “bursting at the seams.” -more-


New Planning Process for South and West Berkeley

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday July 18, 2006

As the city prepares to fund one planning process in South Berkeley, the county and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) are launching another on Thursday night. -more-


Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Tuesday July 18, 2006

Web-Only Letters to the Editor

Tuesday July 18, 2006

-more-


Commentary: Analyzing the Revised Landmarks Ordinance

By John English
Tuesday July 18, 2006

On July 11 Berkeley’s City Council by a 6-2-1 vote took the first reading on repealing the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance and reenacting it with extensive changes. Presumably it will take the second reading on July 18. This article analyzes key differences between the “old LPO” (originally adopted in 1974 and amended later in the 1970s and 1980s) and the “revised LPO” (the version that at this moment the City Council seems poised to adopt). -more-


Commentary: Affordable Housing And the Redistribution Of Wealth in America

By Frances Hailman
Tuesday July 18, 2006

The redistribution of wealth upward is proceeding apace in the Bush/neo-con America. What has been a lower class, is rapidly transforming into an under class, while the middle class is becoming the lower class. -more-


Editorial

Warm Water Pool Funding Back Before Councilmembers

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday July 18, 2006

Warm-pool users met over the weekend to organize themselves to converge on today’s (Tuesday) City Council meeting to support Dona Spring’s proposal to put a measure on the November ballot to fund the pool used mostly by disabled and elderly people. -more-


Columns

Column: Lame, Crippled, Insensitive And Politically Incorrect

By Susan Parker
Tuesday July 18, 2006

I was criticized by letter writers in the last three issues of the Daily Planet for stating that my husband Ralph is confined to a wheelchair. Brian Hill of Albany said he didn’t “mind being called crippled or lame” but “confined to a wheelchair” implied Ralph was “chained to it, with padlocks.” Ann Sieck seconded Brian’s opinion and said she, too, was “good and crippled.” Ruthanne Shpiner stated, “Language and its use or misuse is critical in forming how the public perceives everyone. Such terminology as ‘confined to a wheelchair’ is not only inaccurate, it is offensive.” -more-


Red Alert Issued for The Yellow Dodder

By Ron Sullivan, Special to the Planet
Tuesday July 18, 2006

One more scary invasive exotic plant has shown up in the East Bay. Susan Schwartz of Friends of Five Creeks issued a bulletin: -more-


Arts Listings

Arts Calendar

Tuesday July 18, 2006

250 Years Old and Still Full of Surprises

By Ira Steingroot, Special to the Planet
Tuesday July 18, 2006

‘Girl of the Golden West’

By Jaime Robles, Special to the Planet
Tuesday July 18, 2006

Events Listings

Berkeley This Week

Tuesday July 18, 2006

Back Stories

Opinion

Editorials

Warm Water Pool Funding Back Before Councilmembers 07-18-2006

Editorial: Getting WMD’d in Berkeley 07-14-2006

Public Comment

Letters to the Editor 07-18-2006

Web-Only Letters to the Editor 07-18-2006

Commentary: Analyzing the Revised Landmarks Ordinance By John English 07-18-2006

Commentary: Affordable Housing And the Redistribution Of Wealth in America By Frances Hailman 07-18-2006

Letters to the Editor 07-14-2006

More Letters to the Editor 07-14-2006

Commentary: Berkeley’s Image After Forty Years By Krishna P. Bhattacharjee 07-14-2006

Commentary: Let Them Eat Bush! By Barbara Gilbert 07-14-2006

News

Telegraph Peet’s Wins Approval at ZAB By Suzanne La Barre 07-18-2006

Office Depot Beats Out Local Vendors for City Contract By Suzanne La Barre 07-18-2006

Ward Leaves OUSD with Far-Reaching Changes By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 07-18-2006

Youth Program Ordered Off Toxic Site By Richard Brenneman 07-18-2006

Council Looks at Condo Issues, Alcohol Problems By Judith Scherr 07-18-2006

Developer Fee Would Replace Inclusionary Unit Requirement By Judith Scherr 07-18-2006

Overman Tapped to Challenge Wozniak for District 8 Seat By Rio Bauce, Special to the Planet 07-18-2006

Residents Appeal Mixed-Use Development on San Pablo By Suzanne La Barre 07-18-2006

New Planning Process for South and West Berkeley By Richard Brenneman 07-18-2006

Citizens Rally for Ailing City Housing Authority By Suzanne La Barre 07-14-2006

Council Approves Mayor’s New LPO By Richard Brenneman 07-14-2006

OUSD Could Make Less Than Planned in Land Sale By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 07-14-2006

Post Office Might Close In Elmwood District By Richard Brenneman 07-14-2006

Warm Pool Measure Wins Approval, Then Postponed By Judith Scherr 07-14-2006

Vandals Strike Warm Water Pool By Judith Scherr 07-14-2006

Sea Scouts Appeal Berkeley Case to Supreme Court By Judith Scherr 07-14-2006

City Council Kills ‘Clean Money’ Ballot Proposal By Judith Scherr 07-14-2006

Berkeley Schools’ Achievement Gap Is Widest in County By Suzanne La Barre 07-14-2006

Local Agencies, Cities Make Preparations for Coming Bird Flu By Riya Bhattacharjee 07-14-2006

Details of Proposed Land Deal Differ From Initial Proposal By J. Douglas Allen-Taylo 07-14-2006

Police Blotter By Richard Brenneman 07-14-2006

Lopez Obrador Wins California Cities in Symbolic Vote By Stan Oklobdzija, New American Media 07-14-2006

Democracy a Buzzword After Failed Taiwan Recall of Chen By Eugenia Chien, New American Media 07-14-2006

News Analysis: The Mexico Election: Obrador is No Gore By Ted Vincent, Special to the Planet 07-14-2006

First Person: The Trick of Knowing How to Keep the ‘Stupids’ at Bay By Marta Yamamoto, Special to the Planet 07-14-2006

Columns

Column: Lame, Crippled, Insensitive And Politically Incorrect By Susan Parker 07-18-2006

Red Alert Issued for The Yellow Dodder By Ron Sullivan, Special to the Planet 07-18-2006

Column: Undercurrents: What Did Ward Accomplish in the Oakland Schools? By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 07-14-2006

First Tibs: Exploring Ethiopian Food at Finfine By B. J. Calurus, Special to the Planet 07-14-2006

About the House: How Trees Do and Do Not Impact Structures By Matt Cantor 07-14-2006

Getting the Real Dirt on Smuggled Plants and Seeds By Ron Sullivan 07-14-2006

Quake Tip of the Week By Larry Guillot 07-14-2006

Arts & Events

Arts Calendar 07-18-2006

250 Years Old and Still Full of Surprises By Ira Steingroot, Special to the Planet 07-18-2006

‘Girl of the Golden West’ By Jaime Robles, Special to the Planet 07-18-2006

Red Alert Issued for The Yellow Dodder By Ron Sullivan, Special to the Planet 07-18-2006

Berkeley This Week 07-18-2006

Arts Calendar 07-14-2006

‘As You Like It’ in Neo-Classical Garb By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet 07-14-2006

Staging the Life of Billie Holiday By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet 07-14-2006

Moving Pictures: Lost Treasures Recovered and Restored By Justin DeFreitas 07-14-2006

First Tibs: Exploring Ethiopian Food at Finfine By B. J. Calurus, Special to the Planet 07-14-2006

About the House: How Trees Do and Do Not Impact Structures By Matt Cantor 07-14-2006

Getting the Real Dirt on Smuggled Plants and Seeds By Ron Sullivan 07-14-2006

Quake Tip of the Week By Larry Guillot 07-14-2006

Berkeley This Week 07-14-2006

Correction 07-14-2006