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

The Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) unanimously approved plans to establish a Peet’s Coffee and Tea at the corner of Telegraph and Dwight Way Thursday, just a block from where Cody’s Books, a Telegraph Avenue fixture for nearly half a century, stands empty as of last Monday. 

Despite calls from city planning staff to deny the project—the project requires building permits typically tough to obtain—ZAB members voted their support, sans debate or hesitation.  

“The fifth block (of Telegraph) needs a shot in the arm,” said board member Andy Katz. “There’s a chance for this to give Telegraph a big boost.” 

Pending final ZAB approval next week, Peet’s will move into a vacant 1,710-square-foot retail space at 2501 Telegraph Ave. The corner storefront, formerly occupied by Krishna Copy, is part of the historic Mrs. Edmund P. King Building, a two-story Colonial Revival structure that includes Sharks vintage clothing and four residential units. 

Property owners John Gordon and Janis Mitchell expect to expend $270,000 renovating the storefront. Peet’s will open by November, Mitchell said.  

“We’re excited, we’re happy, we’re all great Peet’s fans,” Mitchell said after the meeting Thursday.  

A handful of Telegraph area shopkeepers and residents shared her sentiment. 

“As you all know, Telegraph Avenue is a blighted area,” said Doris Moskowitz of Moe’s Books on Telegraph, between Dwight and Haste Street. “The idea (that) Peet’s would come there is the best we’ve heard of in a long time … Here we have an opportunity to bring a really good business to a street that really needs it.” 

Sales tax revenue along Telegraph Avenue has declined since 1992, according to city Community Development Coordinator Dave Fogarty. Peet’s won’t necessarily fatten the city’s sales tax coffers, he said. It will, however, attract shoppers who don’t typically frequent Telegraph Avenue. 

“I think it’s important to have a Peet’s, but not for sales tax revenue,” Fogarty said in a phone interview last week. “It upgrades the whole image of the area. Peet’s is a very prestigious company.” 

Peet’s, a Berkeley-based company now headquartered in Emeryville, operates 120 stores nationwide—including five in Berkeley—and boasts more than $175 million in annual revenues. 

“This is not a faceless corporation,” Doug Welsh, vice president of the Peet’s coffee division, told the board Thursday. He underscored that he and many of his Peet’s colleagues are longtime Berkeley residents with children in Berkeley’s public schools. 

Opposition to the proposed project came primarily from owners of two existing quick-serve restaurants on Telegraph Avenue, wary of competition.  

“We have had a difficult time in the last 20 years,” said Dari Shamtoob, who manages Bayking Doughnuts and Pastries on Telegraph, flanked by Moe’s and the former Cody’s storefront. “Cody’s closing will only make it more difficult for us. If Peet’s comes, that’s one more business that will go.” 

But his voice was by-and-large drowned out by Peet’s supporters.  

“For us, it is not just the opening of another coffee shop,” said Marlon Maus, the president of a homeowners’ association on the 2600 block of Telegraph Avenue. “It really is a symbol of something much more important … People do need clean, safe, attractive places where they can congregate. Right now there are none.” 

Maus said, “This may be a sign Telegraph is not in a freefall, but turning around for the better. We hope this will encourage others to invest in our neighborhood.”

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

Beating out four office suppliers—including two local vendors—Office Depot has won a bid to provide the city with recycled paper and miscellaneous office products, at $550,000 a year over three years. If approved, the contract takes effect, retroactively, July 1. 

Office Depot was “the lowest bid, and we also require being able to order our stuff online. Anybody that had that we considered,” said Fran David, city director of finance. 

The next lowest bidder, Office Max, came in about $35,000 higher than Office Depot. Corporate Express, Alko and Radstons, whose Berkeley store closed Saturday, also submitted bids. Alko, located on Shattuck Avenue, was the only company that did not offer sufficient online ordering, David said. 

The city spends an average of $537,000 a year on office products. The cost of paper and supplies has increased by 6.8 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively, over the last year, according to a staff report.  

This is the first time in nine years the city initiated its own competitive bid process for office supplies, David said. Until recently, the city had to piggyback on contracts of other municipalities because it lacked the staff to generate requests-for-proposals, she said.  

The process affords local companies the opportunity to vie for the city’s patronage, the staff report says. In 1983, the City Council adopted a resolution that gives preference to local businesses for city purchases between $100 and $10,000 (now $25,000). 

Over that amount, though, “we can’t give any preference for local business, because it’s not legal,” David said. 

Office Depot distributed most of the city’s office supplies from 1999 to 2005. Last year, the city reallocated the bulk of its business to Corporate Express, also an international company, because Office Depot failed to offer recycled processed chlorine-free (PCF) paper. (Office Depot now offers PCF paper.) 

Office Depot, a Florida-based conglomerate that operates in 23 countries, generates more than $14 billion a year in sales. The company has a storefront in Berkeley and donates 5 percent of its annual city taxes to the Berkeley Unified School District, the staff report says. A company representative could not be reached to comment by press time.  

Local suppliers who bid on the contract have expressed frustration at losing out to a major corporation.  

“I think it’s stupid they don’t consider the value of keeping resources at home,” said Gary Shows, owner of Alko, a Berkeley business for 35 years. “I think it’s wrong.” 

The city contracted with Alko about 10 years ago but withdrew its support when Office Depot entered the scene, Shows said. City dollars earmarked to Alko have steadily declined over the years, down from about $15,000 in 2003 to $7,000 last year. 

Radstons Owner Diane Griffin told the Daily Planet last month she was hopeful of securing the three-year contract. Griffin had just announced that the company, a Berkeley institution since 1908, would lay off workers and close its downtown storefront in July, due to financial hardships. (Radstons has a distribution center and retail complex in Hercules.) 

“In my situation, I’m letting my employees go, and this would have salvaged two of my longtime employees,” Griffin said in a phone interview Friday. “If they understood the impact of buying from a local vendor, they would understand the impact of where the money goes and where the money stays.” 

Radstons contracts with other municipalities and city departments including the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, Oakland Housing, UC Berkeley and the city of Richmond, Griffin said. Radstons was equipped to supply the city of Berkeley with the gamut of its office needs, she said. 

“I’m disappointed, safe to say,” she said.  

The contract is up for approval on the City Council’s consent agenda tonight. The council meets at 7 p.m., at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

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.  

Documents authorizing last year’s much-publicized $10 million Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant to OUSD’s Expect Success! reorganization mandate that the Gates Foundation can withhold the funds or terminate the funding agreement if the foundation does not approve of “significant leadership changes” within OUSD. The district has also received a $6 million grant from the Broad Foundation, which works with urban school districts. 

In addition, the May 2005 district-written proposal requesting the funds from the Gates Foundation indicates district administrator Randolph Ward’s intention that the massive Expect Success! school district reorganization now under way would be put in place in such a way that it would be a permanent fixture of the Oakland schools that could not be overturned by OUSD’s elected school board even after the anticipated return to local control. 

According to the OUSD funding proposal, a “major risk is that, once Oakland makes the return to local control, … the local school board could attempt to dismantle the reform.” The funding document concludes that Expect Success! organizers “expect to complete the [Expect Success!] change process while the district is under state control, and it will be difficult to dismantle the new design completely.” 

In addition, the Expect Success! funding proposal worried that unions representing Oakland Unified workers would fight the reforms called for in the proposal, calling those unions “another area of risk.” 

One portion of the Expect Success! proposal appears to call directly for the replacement of unionized workers, indicating that one of the areas of the project “focuses on service areas with high potential cost savings, yet which face potential union and legal challenges: Custodial, Building & Grounds and Food Services. All three areas generally demonstrate poor cost performance and provide low to moderate quality service. External service providers are also strong options for all three areas…” 

Read that portion of the proposal over the telephone, newly-installed Oakland Education Association teachers union president Betty Olson-Jones, who said she had not previously seen the proposal, said “Oh, my God!,” adding that the proposal’s provisions were openly calling for “busting the unions” by “outsourcing” district jobs and services currently being held by unionized employees. 

OUSD Board President David Kakishiba said by telephone that “the way Expect Success! has been rolled out has not been healthy for the district. The ideal time for them to do this is while the district is under state receivership, so that they can do it under absolute authority. They don’t have to deal with an elected board and, by extension, they don’t have to deal with labor.” 

Kakishiba, who says he supports some of the goals of Expect Success! but says he has “some disagreements with some of the aspects of the program and some of its fundamental assumptions,” said he believes “some of the program’s supporters are running scared right now. They banked on Ward being here for five years and now that he is going, they are worried about the new regime” to be selected by State Superintendent O’Connell to run Oakland’s schools. 

“They’re as afraid of what the new administrator might do as they are of an elected school board,” he said 

Jointly managed by the OUSD state administrator’s office and the private nonprofit, Oakland-based Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools (BayCES), Expect Success! is a three-year, $43.3 million project which the project proposal’s Executive Summary says is intended “to create a new organization rather than improve the existing one,” and is designed to create what OUSD officials call a “performance management culture” in the district. Among the components of that culture listed in the proposal are “a lean central office; market-driven services; [and] Results-Based Budgeting.” 

Critics of the program say it is an attempt to reshape the public school system on an untested and inappropriate corporate model. 

“I have a lot of suspicions about something that puts so much emphasis on systems and loses track of the actual teaching of children, ” OEA President Olson-Jones said. 

He added that “I don’t even see that they have plans for great new systems, just new jargon. They say that they are going to deliver certain services to ‘customers,’ and when you ask them what they mean by ‘customers,’ it’s the teachers and principals. My big concern is that it’s a kind of a front for the business model of school operation that Eli Broad is committed to.” 

The Broad Foundation, which advertises that its mission is “to dramatically improve K-12 urban public education through better governance, management, labor relations and competition,” has committed a $6 million grant to the OUSD Expect Success! project. In addition, in 2003 outgoing OUSD administrator Ward was trained in the foundation’s Broad Center for Superintendents training program. 

Board President Kakishiba said that the district personnel putting Expect Success! in place “must be high” if they “expect completion of the entire program in 2008.” 

“I don’t have deep faith in our leadership when they talk like this,” he said. “I’m looking at a 10 year program to completely change the management culture in the Oakland Unified School District. Am I against a complete overhaul of the district system? No. Do I understand what is presently going on in this overhaul? No. Would it be better if we involved the key stakeholders in the implementation of this overhaul, even if it took longer to implement? Yes.” 

Kakishiba said that he sees two “bad cultural assumptions” about the Expect Success! implementation. 

“There is an assumption among the people putting this together that the school district is thoroughly rotten, the people working in the district are rotten, and in order to reform the district we have to shut it down completely and grow a new school district,” he said. “I don’t agree with that.” 

Kakishiba said one of the problems with that assumption is that it has resulted in wholesale firings of district personnel. 

“You start seeing purges of whole groups of people,” he said. “You look at the central administrative offices and it’s hard to find many people who were there even three years ago. We’ve lost a lot of institutional memory. We’ve driven out a lot of talent.” 

The board president said that his second concern about the program’s implementation is that “it’s based on the notion that real change cannot occur with democratic participation. That’s counter-intuitive to the type of system we are trying to create. It’s saying that the paid personnel know the answers and they have to be given time to embed these things in the system before we go back to normal operation.” 

But asked if Expect Success! was a good idea, Trustee Greg Hodge said “generally speaking, yes. It pulls together various initiatives that were being discussed during Dennis’ time [former OUSD Superintendent Dennis Chaconas]: small schools, results-based budgeting, evaluation of teacher performance, and better deliverance of service to sites. The idea of a reorganization of the central office is radical, but people have been asking for that for years. We need a central office that is responsive, nimble, and not so top-heavy. A lot of the people criticizing Expect Success! are doing so just because it started under Randy [Ward] and BayCES.” 

Hodge said he took a seat on BayCES’ board of directors so that he could have a voice with OUSD administrator Ward “in a way that wasn’t happening in my role as a school board member” following the state takeover.  

The main problem with Expect Success! is that Randy didn’t use his people skills to try to convince people about the merits of the program. He tried to force it down people’s throats,” Hodge said. “I told them that they could do it that way, but they would pay for it on the back end. Now is the moment of truth, when the board and the community will have to come together and discuss this and see if they can accept it. We need to have a public debate on the program.”  

The Oakland Unified School District has been run through the office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell since a 2003 budget crisis forced the Oakland public schools into state receivership. 

With the elected OUSD school board acting in an advisory capacity only, O’Connell has run the Oakland schools for the past three years through state administrator Randolph Ward. Ward recently resigned his OUSD post to take the job of San Diego County Superintendent of Schools. 

O’Connell is currently conducting what his office is calling a “nationwide search” to find a replacement for Ward. A spokesperson in O’Connell’s office said that “until we have an announcement to make about the actual appointment, our office will not be releasing any details about the search process.” 

Kakishiba and board Vice President Kerry Hammill have a meeting scheduled with O’Connell on Wednesday to discuss the board’s recent proposal to return OUSD to local control by the summer of 2007. Kakishiba said that while discussion of Ward’s replacement is “not on the agenda,” he would “certainly be willing” to talk about the subject if O’Connell brings it up. 

While the O’Connell-Kakishiba-Hammill meeting will be a private affair, members of the newly-formed Ad Hoc Committee to Restore Local Control/Governance to Oakland Schools say they plan to travel to Sacramento on Wednesday to attempt to meet with local legislators, including State Senator Don Perata (D-Oakland), and State Assemblymembers Wilma Chan (D-Oakland) and Lonnie Hancock (D-Berkeley). 

The organization has released what it is called three “points of unity,” including: Immediately restore the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) to local control/governance, so that we, the people of Oakland, can make the decisions about our school district; immediately freeze the sale of all OUSD property until local control/governance has been restored; and immediately freeze spending the last $35 million from the state loan until return of local control/governance. 

The coalition has been meeting at the OUSD downtown headquarters, and consists of local educational activists, teachers, political leaders, and several school board members. 

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. 

The state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) ordered Making Waves to end programs at Building 240 by July 28, with adult staff to vacate on Sept. 1. 

That program offers tutoring and other educational support to children drawn primarily from 20 elementary schools in Richmond and seven others in San Francisco. 

The decision satisfies calls by anti-pollution activists and the DTSC’s own Community Advisory Group (CAG), a citizen group created to offer input on the cleanup effort. 

CAG members had voted on Jan. 4 to ask the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board to enforce an April 28, 2004, deed restriction that banned day care centers, schools and hospitals from operating on the 86-acre site. 

Their request was denied, after both state officials and Contra Costa County Public Health Director Wendel Brunner said that tests showed no significant risks to students at the facility. 

But those tests were confined to the building housing the program and an adjacent parking lot—not the decontamination site at the rear of the building where trucks had been sprayed down to remove dust generated in the excavation of contaminated soil. 

It was in that area that several children were observed playing—including one who was lying down on the dusty pavement—during a June 4 site visit by state officials, a developer and a citizens’ advisory group. 

That discovery occurred as CAG members, DTSC officials and Doug Moesteller of developer Cherokee Simeon were touring the site in a chartered bus. 

“From the front to the back, there was an audible gasp that spread through the bus,” said Sherry Padgett, Bay Area Residents for Responsible Development’s (BARRD) spokesperson and a CAG member, describing the moment tour members spotted the youths. 

“They were goofing around,” said Richmond City Councilmember Gayle McLaughlin, herself a CAG member. 

“One kid kicked another one, and he fell down in the dirt,” said CAG members Simms Thompson. “It goes to show the state should’ve been monitoring them on a continuous basis.” 

Lynn Nakashima, a DTSC official, ran from the bus and ordered the children back into the building. Repeated calls to Making Waves were not returned. 

Troubled history 

Campus Bay is the name created for a site that from 1897 to 1997 housed a massive chemical manufacturing complex which produced a small ocean of sulfuric acid and a host of other compounds including pesticides and herbicides. 

The deed restriction, filed by Cherokee Simeon Venture LLC with the Contra Costa County Recorder’s Office, was filed as part of a cleanup undertaken during the water board’s oversight. 

The water board had regulatory oversight of the property during the cleanup that followed the plant’s closure, until activists and, ultimately, the Richmond City Council asked for a DTSC takeover. 

The water board had approved a plan, much criticized by activists, that permitted 350,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil and iron pyrite cinders to be buried in a 20-acre covered pit on the site. 

Since the DTSC takeover, more contaminants have been identified at the site, and records have been located indicating that still others may lurk within the bayside earth and the waters that flow through it. 

Cherokee Simeon planned a 1,331-unit high-rise condo and apartment complex for the main part of the site. Simeon Properties, one-half of the partnership, had already developed a corporate office park on the inshore portion of the site. 

Special fans and open ventilation were planned beneath the buildings to prevent the building up of noxious vapors escaping from the soil, and gardens and the consumption of plant foods grown on the site were banned. 

The developer put those plans on hold, pending the outcome of the regulatory change and new cleanup efforts. 

Shutdown 

While no one has questioned the value of the Making Waves program, the same activists who fought for the regulatory change also sought to have the program removed from the property—citing their concerns about potential toxic exposure to its more than 200 young participants. 

Board chair is John Scully, an investment banker (SPO Partners & Company) who is also a principal partner in the San Francisco Giants, the largest investor in Pier 39. 

According to the program’s web site, major donors include the Giants, Pier 39, the Overa Family Group Charitable Trust, the ChevronTexaco Refinery and the law firm of Morrison & Foerster. 

Making Waves Foundation board member Ron Nahas, a real estate developer and the principal of a firm with properties in Richmond and Idaho, told the CAG on Jan. 4 that Campus Bay “was the only place that could accommodate our students.” 

Nahas had come to the meeting after the CAG had voted a month earlier to asked the water board to enforce the deed restriction that would otherwise have barred Making Waves from Campus Bay. 

Brunner, the county public health director, told the CAG at the same meeting that soil gases in the building used by Making Waves showed the presence of vapors of two noxious chemicals, benzene and tolunene—but at levels below the threshold of concern. 

Benzene, the one substance linked to cancer, was found at levels where the future risk of developing cancer was rated at 7.6 in 100 million, he said.  

After the January meeting, Cherokee Simeon officials sent letters to local media, charging that the CAG and the activists of BARRD with neglecting scientific evidence to “insist that the kids of Making Waves would be better off on the street.” 

Two days later, CAG members sent a written complaint to DTSC Regional Branch Chief Barbara Cook. The four-page document was signed by CAG Chair Whitney Dotson, who had also been on the tour with his sister, Ethel. The Dotsons were raised in Seaport Village, a vanished apartment complex not far from Campus Bay. 

DTSC responded on June 22, with a letter to Making Waves Executive Director Glenn W. Holsclaw. 

After noting that the agency’s restrictions barred students from all but the building and front parking lot, the DTSC’s Barbara J. Cook said, “We were disappointed to see that the conditions were not being enforced and followed ... Because DTSC cannot guarantee that an incident of this type will not occur in the future, we regret to inform you that we have determined that the use of Building 240” is “no longer an acceptable use of the facility.”  

“This is a major victory for the CAG because we finally got them to act on our request,” said McLaughlin after Thursday’s CAG meeting. 

But the impact on Making Waves may be minimal. In January, Nahas told the CAG that the program planned to leave the site at the end of the summer if construction of a new facility at 860 Harbor Way South was completed on time. 

Photograph by Tarnel Abbot 

Boys from the Making Waves tutoring program play in a forbidden area on the Campus Bay ramp where trucks with contaminated soil had been sprayed with water to keep down the dust.

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. 

Under the proposal, when a vacant unit is to be converted, the owner cannot convert the apartment for five years when there has been a wrongful eviction from the apartment. 

“We’re trying to add tenant protection that is not in existing law,” said Rent Board Commissioner Jason Overman, who helped craft the ordinance.  

A separate proposal by Councilmember Dona Spring would put these protections before the voters in the form of a ballot measure. 

Public hearings 

Several public hearings are on the council agenda including one that would allow developers to pay fees instead of providing 20 percent inclusionary housing and one on transportation services fees, which are levied for new vehicle trips generated by new construction or by a change of use at an existing property. 

Among the 22 items the council will consider on its consent calendar tonight (Tuesday) is an informational report on drug and alcohol abuse, with recommendations by the city’s Health and Human Services Department to create a plan to address the problem.  

Last week the council looked at a plan written by a nonprofit group, the Alcohol Policy Advisory Coalition(APAC), that targets criminal behavior associated with alcohol abuse.  

The city report on this week’s agenda includes several recommendations similar to the APAC report, with respect to the education of bartenders and regulating nuisance alcohol outlets, but this report adds treatment to the mix, particularly specialized treatment for youth, older adults, pregnant and parenting women and dual-diagnosed persons.  

Barbara Coleman, alcohol and other drugs coordinator for the city, said that even though Berkeley has a reputation for tolerating drugs and alcohol dating back to the 1960s, changes must be made. 

Underscoring that the report was written with input from service providers as well as city staff from various departments, Coleman said she hopes for council input to finalize her recommendations. 

Also on the consent calendar 

• The second reading of the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance. 

• A $49,970 contract with Lynn Suter & Associates as a lobbyist for the city in Sacramento. 

• An off-street parking ordinance, already conceptually approved by the City Council. Today, the council will be asked to approve the ordinance that allows one new parking space in side yards. An administrative use permit would be required for new uncovered parking spaces in front and rear yards. 

• Leases for city-owed shops beneath the Telegraph-Channing garage for a dollar store and a shoe-repair shop. 

• Reducing the speed limit on part of Frontage Road from 40 mph to 35 mph and on Claremont Avenue between Ashby Avenue and the Oakland border from 30 mph to 25 mph. 

Preceding the council meeting, a 6 p.m. workshop will be held to advise the council of a new law concerning councilmember expenses.

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. 

(For a family of three the income range for an inclusionary unit, according to city staff, is $42,794-$60,230.) 

The city’s housing director is proposing a variation of the inclusionary option for condominium developers, allowing them to pay a fee, called an “in-lieu fee,” rather than providing an actual unit. This alternative would be voluntary. 

An inclusionary condominium is supposed to be priced at three times the income of the eligible family. So, for a family of three, the top allowable sales price would be $181,000. (The unit size is estimated at 850-999 square feet and the sales price is based on that.) 

The City Council will hold a public hearing on this issue today (Tuesday). 

The housing staff is proposing the following formula to determine in-lieu fees for inclusionary housing: the “affordability” rate (e.g., $181,000) is subtracted from the market condominium sales price (e.g., $500,000). The developer pays the city fees of 62.5 percent of the difference ($199,375), which would go into the city’s Housing Trust Fund.  

At last week’s council meeting, Councilmember Max Anderson pointed out that inclusionary housing units increase the mix of people of different economic levels in an area and the elimination of inclusionary units would exacerbate the geographic concentration of low-income people. 

“We can overcome these issues,” Housing Director Steve Barton responded. “Nonprofit developers need to look throughout the city for sites.” 

The up side, Barton said, is that the fees the city collects can be leveraged with other low-income housing money. 

“Staff estimates that the fees will bring in sufficient funds to create from two to four permanently affordable units for every inclusionary unit given up,” he said in a July 18 staff report. 

To date, the city has created 150 inclusionary rental units, of which 61 are priced for very low income (50 percent of area median income) residents and 40 inclusionary condominium units. In new projects, half of the inclusionary units must be rented to persons with “very low income.” 

Rental units are monitored to ascertain that the renters have not changed their income status, Barton said. Incomes of owners of inclusionary condominium units can increase—since the unit belongs to them—but if they sell the unit, it must be priced at the “affordable” rate to a qualifying individual. 

With more money in the Housing Trust Fund from in-lieu fees, Councilmember Dona Spring said she hopes the city will help build Limited Equity Co-ops, where all units belong to individuals who can sell them at the rate they bought them, plus interest, but cannot sell them at market rate. 

Mayor Tom Bates said he hoped the city would use the increased housing funds to purchase existing housing units.

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. 

“We need a more open process,” said Overman, following the vote. “I am so glad that all of you have participated here today.” 

The meeting was co-sponsored by Eleanor Walden, Jesse Arreguin, Chris Kavanagh, Anne Wagley, and Overman. The moderators of the discussion were Nicholas Smith and Walden. Attendees were invited to introduce themselves and say one thing that they dislike about Wozniak or one thing they’d like to see their councilmember do. 

Overman said, “One of the most outrageous things that Gordon did was saying in response to the question of why he didn’t appoint students to commission posts is that ‘students aren’t qualified.’ I think it’s important that students not be left out of the process. We need to bring positive communication to the groups.” 

“Gordon did one progressive thing,” said Wagley, who is the calendar and arts editor of the Planet. “He appointed me to the Housing Advisory Commission. And then he fired me after I sued him.” (Wagley filed suit against Wozniak and Mayor Tom Bates over the council’s settlement with UC over the university’s Long Range Development Plan.) 

Many people brought up issues that they wanted their candidate to fight for in District 8. Examples included the implementation of instant runoff voting, affordable housing, diversity on city commissions, services for the disabled, traffic issues, and the injustice of the “backroom UC Berkeley settlement agreement with the city.” 

“I recently moved into District 8,” Arreguin said. “Gordon is not representative of our issues. The worst thing he has done was on the UC Berkeley secret agreement.” 

Attendees nominated four people to challenge Wozniak: Arreguin, Kavanagh, Overman, and Wagley. Overman quickly emerged as the only candidate who wanted to run against the incumbent. 

Out of 39 people voting, 22 of the votes went to Overman, nine went to Wagley, and eight went to Arreguin. Kavanagh, prior to the vote, had asked for his name to be removed from the ballot. 

Wagley said, “I am really pleased to see that Jason’s statement was articulate ... and that we have a great start for a progressive coalition in District 8.” 

“It was a pretty good turnout for a beautiful Sunday afternoon,” School Board Director John Selawsky said. “There were some good discussions and the issues were laid out. I think that there should’ve been more discussion of what a successful campaign might be like ... and who a serious candidate might be. The important thing is that there was a consensus and a candidate who wanted to run. I’m glad somebody is running ... and I do believe that Gordon is vulnerable.” 

“Sunday was a historic day—where students, homeowners, environmentalists, and all different groups came together,” Overman said in an interview following the event. “That is something that hasn’t happened for a long time in this city. I know that if we had had that four years ago, we wouldn’t have given Wozniak the opportunity to be the worst member of the City Council. We have a lot of momentum and overwhelming community-based support.”

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.” 

The project, a 29,665-square-foot residential and commercial structure at 1201 San Pablo Ave., at Harrison Street, won the approval of the Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) in April, despite pleas from residents, who complain the building is out-of-scale with the rest of the neighborhood.  

“It’s just too big for the lot they want to put it on and too big to be immediately adjacent to this residential neighborhood of small homes,” said Erika Lamm, a neighbor. 

The proposed location, a vacant lot formerly used to sell Christmas trees, borders an autoshop, apartments, and one- and two-story residential properties. The site is zoned for commercial use. 

Some say the project will open the floodgates for developers to build additional multistory structures along San Pablo. The closest mixed-use development, currently under construction at 1406 San Pablo, is three stories tall. 

“It’s the first project of this size on San Pablo,” said Prakash Pinto, a neighbor and architect by profession. “This is going to be setting a precedent for future buildings.” 

Pinto said he does not oppose development at the site but would prefer that the developer erect a four-story building.  

Developer Jim Hart, who has constructed several work/live spaces in Berkeley, says a smaller structure isn’t financially feasible. 

“It had been suggested to me by others in the development community that you always go into a city with a bigger project than you intend to build, so neighbors feel like they won something,” he said Monday. “But we went in in a more straightforward way. We weren’t going to make a mega building in the first place. If we’re going to have smart growth and create friendly retail space, it seems to me this is in keeping with that sort of projection.”  

Neighbors filed the appeal May 1 on technical grounds related to state density bonus law, inclusionary units, setbacks and traffic reporting. 

Planning staff maintain the feasibility of the project and have recommended that the City Council uphold ZAB’s decision. 

The Berkeley City Council is scheduled to hear the appeal tonight (Tuesday). The council meets at 7 p.m., at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

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. 

Meanwhile, participants in a third planning process—the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee—will be meeting Wednesday night. 

While the dust is still rising from the battle over the future of the Ashby BART station, the MTC and the Alameda County Congestion Management Agency (ACCMA) are launching a plan of their own. 

As one of 25 community-based transportation plans proposed by the MTC for the Bay Area, the effort to be launched Thursday will focus on the lower-income areas of South and West Berkeley, said MTC spokesperson John Goodwin. 

The Berkeley plan will encompass a large L-shaped area of the city, from the Albany border along the shoreline south to the Oakland border, with the east border running along San Pablo Avenue south to Dwight Way, then east to Fulton Street and then south to Oakland. 

ACCMA Senior Transportation Planner Diane Stark said the plan could include transit-oriented development (TOD) at the Ashby BART site—“which is already a TOD site because of the Ed Roberts Center.” 

That center—which will provide offices and other facilities for organizations serving the disabled community—is planned for the station’s eastern parking lot. 

A city request for state funds to plan a housing and commercial development on the main, or western, lot was denied, but the City Council has reserved $40,000 for developing a plan in the immediate area. 

The fight over plans for the site—at one time listed as the proposed home of more than 300 condo units and a shopping complex—provoked a battle with worried local residents and Berkeley Flea Market merchants. 

Neighbors feared increased congestion whereas the vendors feared the loss of the parking lot where they have sold their wares for decades. 

The new so-called South/West Berkeley Plan will be developed under the direction of a Berkeley firm, Design, Community, and Environment (DCE), working with Nelson\Nygaard, a San Francisco-based transportation planning firm. 

DCE was the firm hired by UC Berkeley to prepare the 2020 Long Range Development Plan, and the firm crafted the West Campus Plan for the Berkeley Unified School District—a document subsequently discarded by the school board. It is headed by David Early, founder of Livable Berkeley, a group that supports infill development in the city. 

The $60,000 cost of the project is being funded by the MTC, which has allocated $1.2 million to prepare a total of 25 such plans in the Bay Area, Goodwin said. 

Plans typically take between nine months and a year to complete, he said. 

“The plans identify needs, what they cost and possible funding sources,” said Stark. 

While transit-oriented development could be one focus of the planning process, she said, a wide range of issues will be examined, ranging from pedestrian travel and stoplights to bicycling and BART. 

“Typical goals could take from three to 20 years to complete,” she said, noting that a recently completed plan for West Oakland called for undergrounding BART in that community. 

Early will be present for Thursday night’s inaugural session, said Ted Heyd, a DCE planner who will also be working on the plan. Stark said Principal Transportation Planner Matt Nichols will represent the city. 

The meeting is being conducted as part of the regular meeting of the city’s Transportation Commission. Among the topics to be discussed are BART access, AC Transit bus schedules and pedestrian safety. 

“This is really an opportunity for people who live in the community to address the transportation concerns,” Goodwin said. 

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. in the South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

DAPAC meet  

Members of the panel working on the new downtown plan—a process created in the wake of a lawsuit filed by the city over DCE’s plan for the university—will meet Wednesday night to share their own visions for the future of the city center. 

DAPAC members will also look at the existing downtown plan, which was created in 1990. The new plan will encompass a larger area than the earlier plan. 

Their meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave., at Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

A rally to save Berkeley’s troubled Housing Authority drew about two-dozen supporters Tuesday. 

Public housing tenants and advocates gathered at the steps of Old City Hall to call for the preservation of the Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA), the city agency under pressure to mend a number of administrative and managerial problems which have put it at risk of dissolution or restructuring. 

“Hey, hey, what do you say? We’ve got to save BHA,” chanted the protesters, many whom held signs, some of which read “Save your own housing,” and “Heart is where the home is. Keep BHA at home.” 

The Housing Authority owns 75 units of affordable housing in Berkeley and locally administers multiple public housing programs, including about 1,800 Section 8 vouchers. 

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued the authority a June 30 deadline to correct a list of deficiencies, among them: miscalculated rents, incomplete inspections and re-evaluations, and problems with housing quality standards. 

HUD, which gives about $27.4 million a year to the Berkeley agency, is expected to evaluate results by fall. 

“There are management problems that need to be fixed,” said City Councilmember Kriss Worthington to the crowd Tuesday. “We need to put pressure on those officials to make sure it’s an effective agency.” 

A handful of speakers, determined to save the authority, detailed their success stories in public housing. 

Nasira S. Abdul-Aleem said Section 8 allowed her to get through graduate school without the fear that she might not be able to pay her rent. Joyce Hawkins, a Section 8 tenant who is disabled, said because of subsidized housing, she was able to stay home to raise her children.  

“It’s possible, by having the Housing Authority, [that] we’re able to access all the services Berkeley has available to us disabled people,” she said, adding, “Poor people can’t afford to take the bus to Hayward.”  

If the Berkeley Housing Authority fails to meet HUD’s standards, the agency could fold into another authority, like that of Oakland or Alameda County, which is located in Hayward. 

The Housing Authority of the County of Alameda is listed as a high-performing agency, though it has faced many of the same setbacks as Berkeley: declining funding, management turnover and the whims of federal administrators. 

According to county Executive Director Chris Gouig the formula for a functional agency is labor-intensive, but was doable. She said, “It’s a lot of record-keeping, doing it correctly and doing it on time.” 

Gouig said she has not been contacted by the city of Berkeley about a possible consolidation. 

Contrary to the fears of many Section 8 recipients, county control would not spell the end of assisted housing for current tenants, said City Manager Phil Kamlarz. However, voucher payment standards vary between authorities, and Berkeley’s are among the highest. 

In Berkeley, landlords receive as much as $1,150 in Section 8 money for a one-bedroom apartment; a comparable unit in Oakland would bring up to $1,090. 

One fear in losing the authority, says Stephen Barton, the city’s Housing Department director, is that Berkeley landlords may not accept lower payments from Section 8 tenants.  

HUD could also opt to send the authority into receivership, shut it down altogether or mandate new governance.  

Barton has attributed the authority’s pervasive problems to inconsistent management (city staff is currently looking for the agency’s fourth manager in four years), staff shortages, and shaky federal support. 

HUD is slashing funds to local housing authorities across the country; in Berkeley, this has resulted in an estimated $285,000 shortage over the last two years. Federal support for administrative costs is expected to decrease by an additional 8 percent this year, Barton said. 

Several speakers Tuesday faulted President Bush for the demise of the Housing Authority.  

“We’re losing our housing because that is the Bush administration’s agenda,” Frances Hailman called out to cheering protesters. “The word(s) ‘affordable housing’ (have) been redefined. (They) now mean housing we can’t afford.”  

A representative from the San Francisco HUD Regional Director’s Office did not return a call to comment. 

Some tenants and landlords have recently expressed less support for the Berkeley Housing Authority. Surendra Barot, who owns an apartment complex on Russell Street, told the Daily Planet in June that he was opting out of Section 8 because the bureaucracy’s inefficiency is interminable. A resident of his building also complained bitterly about the agency’s lack of responsiveness to tenant needs. 

Following Tuesday’s rally, public housing advocates crowded into Council Chambers, where they competed for the council’s ear with warm pool users, clean money proponents, landmarks preservationists and others peddling their respective causes. The Housing Authority was not on the agenda--July 25 is the next meeting of the 11-member Berkeley Housing Authority Board--but protesters were intent on voicing their concerns. 

“If I lose Section 8, I will be on the street,” said Berkeley resident Ann Maux. “The Berkeley Housing Authority—taking it out of Berkeley makes no sense at all. It’s the Berkeley Housing Authority and it should stay in Berkeley.” 

By a 6-3 vote, the Berkeley City Council passed the mayor’s controversial new Landmarks Preservation Ordinance (LPO) Tuesday, setting the stage for a November confrontation at the ballot box. 

Spurring the push for passage was City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque, who said she needed the council to pass the ordinance so that she could write a ballot analysis comparing the new ordinance with the rival measure voters will face in November. 

Passage came after the 5-3-1 defeat of a proposed compromise by Councilmember Kriss Worthington that would have eliminated the new law’s most controversial provision, the Request for Determination (RFD). 

“It’s not a good idea,” said Mayor Tom Bates of the Worthington amendment, and the council majority agreed. 

Voting for the amendment and against the ordinance in its latest draft were Worthington, Dona Spring and Betty Olds. Max Anderson abstained on the amendment vote but joined the majority in passing the ordinance. 

The council vote marks the end of what may be the penultimate battle in a political war that has been raging for more than six years. 

That struggle has pitted architectural and neighborhood preservationists against developers and, increasingly, city staff and the council. The law passed by the council Tuesday night contains one sop to preservationists, retaining the structure of merit designation for certain kinds of historic resources, but it gives developers their desideratum—the RFD and the two-year ban on designation it bestows. 

The pitch 

Three current members of the Landmarks Preservation Commission—the city panel charged with designating and preserving the city’s architectural legacy—appeared to testify for the law, flanked by city Planning and Development Director Dan Marks and Deputy City Attorney Zac Cowan. 

Marks traced the history of the latest version of the ordinance, drafted at the direction of the mayor and Councilmember Laurie Capitelli, and outlined its key features. 

Among its features, the new ordinance: 

• Creates two parallel review processes, landmarking and the RFD, with rules for applying each both when a development project is planned and when no project is planned; 

• Gives the LPC a new power, to deny demolitions, although its decision can be overturned by the city council. 

• Increases the age of non-residential buildings which must be automatically submitted to the LPC for demolition review from 40 years to 50. 

• Preserves the structure of merit designation under certain circumstances. 

• Requires the commission to apply a standard of architectural integrity for historic resources which is the same as that mandated by the state Office of Historic Preservation. 

The vote was preceded by comments from city staff, LPC commissioners, and members of the public, including some former commissioners.  

“The RFD track is a property owner-driven process,” said LPC member Steven Winkel, comparing the process to an environmental impact review, which developers hire consultants from an approved list to perform. 

Under the new RFD process, a property owner will hire a historical consultant from a list to be approved by the LPC in a process yet to be determined. The hired consultant will then conduct a review of the property’s architecture and history. After getting the consultant’s report, the LPC will have two meetings, or 60 days, to move to designate the structure. If the LPC fails to act, members of the public will have an additional 21 days to collect signatures and file a petition for designation. 

If no action is taken by the commission or the public, designation is thenceforth banned during a two-year “safe harbor.” 

The developer can file for a building permit the day after the deadline passes, so project opponents cannot use a landmark application to delay or prevent demolition and construction. 

“This is going to be a very good ordinance for the city and our commission,” said LPC member Carrie Olson, who abandoned her earlier opposition to the RFD because she said she had “come to recognize there was a will in the city and our commission for the RFD process.” 

History 

On Sept. 13, 1999, the LPC set up a subcommittee to “examine the Permit Streamlining Act (PSA) and its effect on how projects and applications are deemed complete.” That law sets limits on the time local government can take to process development applications. 

Former Mayor Shirley Dean, under whose tenure the two-commission LPO review was initiated, said during the public hearing that what the council had wanted then “was a clarification,” not a revision. She spoke against the new version as unnecessary. 

On July 27, 2000 the City Council directed the LPC and Planning Commission to revise the landmarks ordinance to ensure compliance with the PSA, and the LPC completed its first draft of a revised ordinance in mid-2002. 

It was the Planning Commission, regarded by preservationists as more developer-friendly, who added the proposal for the RFD, previously rejected by the LPC when it was proposed by the city attorney, to a draft sent to the city council on May 25, 2005. Their version also eliminated the structure of merit category, considered by developers as little more than a last-ditch means to obstruct their projects. 

Public response 

First up during the public testimony phase of the hearing was Roger Marquis, the preservationist co-sponsor of the ballot measure that has already qualified for the November election. 

Created in response to the mayor’s ordinance, that initiative basically preserves the existing ordinance while making the small changes supporters say will meet all PSA requirements. 

Volunteers who gathered signatures of the initiative “encountered almost no opposition,” Marquis said, and found strong support “for the ordinance that makes Berkeley one of the nicest places to live in our state.” 

“The RFD won’t fly,” said initiative co-sponsor Laurie Bright, president of the Council of Neighborhood Associations and a former LPC member.  

“People believe our mayor is obsessively preoccupied with development,” said Martha Nicoloff, who said the resulting projects “are not architecture but giant cash registers—ka-ching, ka-ching.” 

Berkeley Architectural Heritage board member (and Planet calendar editor) Anne Wagley read from a letter written at BAHA’s request by environmental attorney Susan Brandt-Hawley. 

Brandt-Hawley said “the proposed new LPO needlessly focuses on PSA issues in a manner that overshadows and defeats the very goals of its landmarks program.” 

She noted that it made changes substantial enough to require an environmental impact report because of its significant adverse effects on Berkeley’s historic resources. The initiative version would meet all PSA requirements, she wrote. 

“You are being WMD’d by your staff,” said former LPC Commissioner (and Planet Executive Editor) Becky O’Malley. She agreed with Brandt-Hawley that “there is no conflict between the PSA and the current Landmarks Preservation ordinance,” and said that the council was “being asked to invade” the LPO to “find non-existent” threats, an implicit comparison to the use of weapons of mass destruction as an excuse for invading Iraq. 

Another former LPC member, the recently-ousted Patti Dacey, described the RFD as the “Neighborhood Condo Pop-up Act,” and said it would “grease the skids for inappropriate development and take away one of the last tools to protect our neighborhoods.” 

Olson spoke again, this time reading a supporting letter from former commissioner Susan Cerny. Their commission colleague Lesley Emmington disagreed: “The mayor’s ordinance destroys something essential,” she said, “that is, that we respect each other in all the different neighborhoods” of the city. 

Rena Rickles, an Oakland attorney who often represents developers, said “too much was given away” in the latest version of the ordinance—especially the resurrected Structure of Merit. Rickles has contested LPC structure of merit designations initiated by neighbors after developers filed for building permits, though each was subsequently overturned by the City Council. 

Alan Tobey, a member of the board of Livable Berkeley, an infill development advocacy group, called the ordinance “a benefit for preservation and not an enemy of it.” 

Council decision 

The council battle lines were clear from the outset and didn’t change during a brief discussion despite the audience’s vocal opposition and applause for the three councilmembers who supported their opinion. 

Olds said she had great respect for Brandt-Hawley as an attorney and wanted more time to consider the arguments raised. She was concerned about the 21-day limit on citizen landmarking efforts if the LPC failed to act on a Request for Determination referral. 

“I could live with six weeks,” she said. 

Marks said the public actually had 81 days, since they could begin initiation at any time during the 60-day LPC review period. 

Though an ordinance supporter, Capitelli said he wondered if that wasn’t asking neighbors “to jump the gun by anticipating the LPC won’t initiate.” 

They have 21 days to get 25 signatures, Marks said. 

When Worthington said he agreed with Olds that the council needed more time to consider the measure, which it had just received, City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque made a new argument for immediate passage. 

“We need you to act,” she said, so her office could analyze the new law and compare it with the ballot initiative in order to prepare a statement for the November election voter’s guide. 

Worthington asked how she could do that when the law requires such a comparison to be made with the law that is in effect when the analysis is written. Council ordinances ordinarily don’t take effect until 30 days after passage, and the analysis has to be sent to the Registrar of Voters by July 25, well before the new law would take effect under the usual rules if the new ordinance is voted for final adoption at the council’s next meeting on the July 18. 

When Worthington suggested that she draft a comparison that included all three ordinances—the old, the new and the initiative—Albuquerque said that wasn’t possible.  

He then raised another possibility, that opponents would referend the ordinance—a process in which petitioners collect enough signatures to put the council’s ordinance on the ballot to give voters a chance to defeat it.  

If enough signatures are gathered and filed before an ordinance takes effect, it is then suspended until the next election. Because it’s too late for a referendum on the new LPO to qualify for the November ballot, that would mean in this case that the council would have to hold a special election next year or wait until the 2008 elections. 

Until then, the essential elements of the old law would remain in force unless it was replaced by voter approval of the November initiative. Worthington asked that the RFD provision be deleted in order to forestall a referendum, but his motion lost, and the council majority passed the new ordinance. 

The Oakland Unified School District held the first of three public hearings Wednesday night on the proposed sale of 8.25 acres of OUSD Lake Merritt-area properties, but a key component of the proposal was only available to those who later followed a trustee’s suggestion to look up the actual development proposal on the district website. 

As a component of the OUSD development, New York-based TerraMark’s original proposal indicates that a least as soon as a year ago, it was receiving “positive feedback from City of Oakland officials” about a proposal for a long-term lease of the Kaiser Convention Center, located close to the OUSD properties. 

That information was not revealed at the public hearing, and the proposal was only revealed after Trustee Gary Yee directed audience members to OUSD’s website so that they could see the full proposal for themselves. 

TerraMark officials were not available following the meeting, and it is not clear if negotiations with the city for the Convention Center are still going on. 

Meanwhile, an OUSD facilities staff analysis showed that if the entire parcel is sold to TerraMark developers of New York, the district could net as little as $25 million on the deal, even if the full $60 million pricetag is reached. The TerraMark deal is based on several contingencies that could significantly lower the price it would eventually pay to the district. 

On Wednesday night, TerraMark officials told OUSD State Administrator Randolph Ward, OUSD Trustee Advisory Board members, and a packed auditorium of skeptical citizens that it is proposing five high-rise luxury towers for the OUSD properties in a mixed residential-commercial development. 

This was the first of three proposed public hearings to be held by mid September when State Superintendent Jack O’Connell—who operates the Oakland schools under a 2003 state takeover—must decide whether to accept the TerraMark proposal. 

Wednesday’s hearing was also the only hearing which will be attended by current state-appointed OUSD administrator Randolph Ward. Ward is scheduled to take his new job in mid-August as superintendent of the San Diego County Office of Education, and said that either an interim or a full-time successor appointed by O’Connell will advise the State Superintendent on the proposed sale. 

On Wednesday, TerraMark Chief Executive Officer Paul Bucha told OUSD officials, “We wanted to develop something in Oakland that would make people walk by and say ‘Oh, wow.’” 

But as Bucha showed a PowerPoint presentation that swirled around enormous 27 to 37 floor high-rise towers that would dominate the Lake Merritt and Oakland Estuary skylines, several people sitting in the OUSD audience could be heard saying “Oh, Christ!” 

Bucha got a similar reaction when he told of TerraMark’s plans to put an “80 foot by 50 foot waterfall cascading over the parking garage” planned for the five-tower facility. 

“We believe people will come from all over to walk by this waterfall, just to see it,” Bucha said. 

Several public speakers referred disparagingly to the proposed waterfall portion of the project, with one student—a recent graduate of the MetWest High School which may be displaced by the TerraMark development—breaking down in tears as she asked how the district could consider replacing her school with a waterfall. 

As part of the deal to purchase the OUSD Administration Building and five adjacent school sites, the website-posted full proposal reveals that New York-based TerraMark developers once negotiated with the City of Oakland for the long-term lease of the Kaiser Convention Center. Proposed for the Convention Center are a hotel “that could inaugurate a West Coast branch of the Heisman Trophy Museum and newly branded Heisman Steak House.”  

In its 2005 proposal, TerraMark said it had “received positive feedback from City of Oakland officials” concerning the Convention Center lease. The proposal said that “a copy of that written reply” from Oakland City officials would be included in the proposal index, but no such letter was included with the proposal posted on the OUSD website. 

TerraMark calls the proposed joint Kaiser Convention Center and OUSD properties development “the Trophy.” 

Inspired by the OUSD property’s proximity to the Laney College Athletic Field where the Oakland Raiders first played in 1960, TerraMark says it wants to “dedicate the residential project to those Oakland Raiders who had won Heisman awards.”  

At Wednesday night’s OUSD hearing, reaction to the TerraMark proposal was similar to what Oaklanders now think of the original Raiders deal. 

OUSD Trustee Board President David Kakishiba charged that while trustees originally agreed in early 2005 to put out an RFP for the possible sale or lease of the Lake Merritt-area properties, “the conditions of the RFP were changed [by State Superintendent Jack O’Connell’s office] in Sacramento” without the knowledge or consent of OUSD Trustees. Kakishiba said that the “intent of the [original] RFP was to look at rebuilding” La Escuelita Elementary “and to reduce the debt.” 

Kakishiba did not give details on how he believed the original RFP was changed by O’Connell’s office. 

The trustee president added that he was “stunned” by the information provided by OUSD staff at the hearing that relocating the five schools from the property site could cost the district as much as $35 million out of the deal’s proceeds. “That would take away 50 percent of those revenues,” Kakishiba said. “That’s stunning. We would lose the largest acreage in this area to build a school. At this point, it doesn’t look like a good business deal.” 

Trustee Noel Gallo said that the proposal “hasn’t been properly explained to us. What are we doing, and why do we have to do it?” Gallo said that the TerraMark proposal “doesn’t make good business sense and it doesn’t follow good education practice.” 

And trustee Greg Hodge added that “if Jack O’Connell wants to sell this building, he should come through the people of Oakland to do it. He should be invited to attend the next hearing.” 

And repeating her earlier-stated position that even if the deal is approved by O’Connell “it still has to go through the city approval process,” Oakland City Councilmember Pat Kerningham, who represents the district where the OUSD property is located, said in public comment session that “I’m not in favor of selling all the” OUSD property, “particularly the part of the property on which the schools sit.” 

Assistant Superintendent for Facilities Tim White told trustees that a requested independent appraisal of the proposed sale properties, as well as an enrollment projection report to tell how many classrooms will be needed in the East Lake/Chinatown area in the coming years, will not be available until the last public hearing in September, shortly before the Board and the new state administrator will make their recommendations to O’Connell about the sale of the properties. 

While Berkeley’s Elmwood district gained one landmark last week, it may be about to lose another community mainstay—it’s post office at 2705 Webster St. at College Avenue. 

While facts may be few, the rumors are rampant as a September lease renewal draws nearer without an agreement to renew the lease. 

“As far as I know, we are still in negotiations,” said Mercer Jones, a consumer representative for the main post office in Berkeley. 

“We don’t want to move, and that’s the only alternative,” he said. “I’m sure the owners don’t want the building vacant either.” 

Negotiations are being handled out the post office’s South San Francisco service center, Jones said, and the officer who is handling the matter is unavailable this week.  

For Tad Laird, owner of the just-landmarked Bolfing’s Elmwood Hardware building at 2947-93 College Ave., that’s not necessarily a bad thing. 

“If they go, I will be a tiny, tiny bit sad,” said Laird. “It’s a nice service to have in the neighborhood.” 

But for Laird, who lives just a few doors up from the post office on Webster, the facility is a mixed blessing. 

As a neighbor he’s bothered by the 40 or so postal service vehicles he says regularly double-park or occupy neighborhood red zones, as well as the cars of carriers and other employees that take up parking spaces on the street that could be used by customers for Elmwood businesses. 

“When people hear ‘post office,’ they think, ‘What’s the problem?’” Laird said. “But think ‘freight forwarding facility’ instead.” 

“I’d hate to see it go,” said John Moriarty, president of the Elmwood Merchants Association and the proprietor of 14 Karats Jewelry at 2910 College Ave. 

One problem might be the high cost of leasing in the Elmwood, where retail rents top $3 a square foot. “I’m sure that’s part of the problem,” Moriarty said. 

Moriarty agreed with Jones that the current location is the only available site that would meet the agency’s needs. “It’s either that building, or they have to leave the area.”  

But Moriarty also acknowledged the vehicle problem, and shared Laird’s concern that postal employees who work in the main post office downtown leave their cars in the Elmwood. 

City Councilmember Gordon Wozniak, who represents the Elmwood district, said that the last update he had on the issue was that the property owners—the White Family Trust—were still negotiating with the post office with the lease due to expire in September. 

An email sent to Earl J. March, the Stockton man who represents the trust, was not returned by deadline Thursday. 

While Wozniak said the original intent was to have a new lease in place in April or May, “the last we heard they were still in negotiations.” 

He said one concern of residents and the postal service is the need for repairs and renovation, with the need to new paint and the repair of graffiti on the front of the building and facade restoration needed in the rear. 

“We’ve heard that they’re not amenable to making the repairs until the lease is renewed,” Wozniak said. 

Warm-water pool users cheered as the Berkeley City Council, its chambers packed wheelchair to walker, voted 6-3 to place a referendum before the voters asking for approval of a $4.5 million bond to complete funding for a new warm pool.  

The elation, however, was short lived.  

The pool, located at Berkeley High, is used especially by disabled and elderly people. 

Although he had voted in favor of the measure, Mayor Tom Bates, responding to the city manager’s insistence that his staff would be unable to prepare the referendum before the council recess at the end of the month, called for revisiting the issue at next week’s meeting.  

“It’s grasping defeat from the jaws of victory,” quipped Councilmember Kriss Worthington, during a break in the meeting. 

Opposing the placement of the measure on the November ballot were Councilmembers Linda Maio, Laurie Capitelli, and Gordon Wozniak. 

The aging pool is to be demolished within the next two years, according to the school district plan to rebuild the sports facility where the pool is located. 

As part of the South Campus Plan, the district has offered to allow the city to construct a new warm pool east of Milvia Street. 

The offer, however, will not be finalized until the district completes an environmental impact report that will include a number of projects in the vicinity of the warm pool, according to Lew Jones, Berkeley Unified School District facilities director. 

In 2000, before the decision to demolish the pool, voters approved a $3.2 million bond measure to rehab the pool and the building that houses it. 

Plans to demolish the pool have stalled the project, to which the City Council has added $1 million. New funding of $4.5 million is needed to build a new facility. 

Kept at 92 degrees with access facilitated by a chair lift, the pool is a lifeline, pool users told the council. 

“I stand before you tonight as a result of the warm pool,” said Ann Marx, who credited use of the warm pool for her recovery from a recent injury. 

“One day, anyone in this room may need to come to the warm pool,” she said. 

Rolling up to the microphone in his electric wheelchair, pool-user Daniel Rudman told the council that disabled people from toddlers to 88-year-olds use the pool. “It gives them back their lives,” he said. 

“Imagine you couldn’t do any exercise until you got into the warm water,” said Councilmember Dona Spring, urging the council to approve placing the bond before the voters. 

Fearing the bond measure would not be ready for the ballot in time, the councilmembers took three other votes: to fund the pool with certificates of participation (COP), to hold a special election for the bond measure and to bring the issue back next week. 

COPs are a funding mechanism that cities can use to borrow funds for capital projects. The loan is paid back out of the general fund; no citizen approval is mandated. Use of COPs to fund the pool went down to defeat 4-4-1. 

“It’s a question of priorities,” said City Manager Phil Kamlarz, who estimated that the cost to the city for COPs would be around $300,000 annually. “Something else gets knocked out.”  

Bates and Councilmembers Darryl Moore, Max Anderson and Betty Olds voted to oppose the use of COPs; Wozniak abstained. 

Kamlarz suggested a third option: the city would hold a special election on the use of bond money for the pool. In an 8-0-1 vote, the council asked staff to look at that possibility and come back with an analysis. Spring abstained on the resolution. 

Then the council voted 6-3 on Bates’ proposal to revisit the just approved bond measure next week, with Spring, Olds and Worthington in opposition. 

The warm-pool users group will meet at the pool at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday.

Warm-pool users, already reeling from the fear that their only source of exercise will be demolished without a replacement—the school district plans to remove the pool and the city may not come up with funds to build a new one—discovered Wednesday the pool had been vandalized. 

“I saw wheelchairs dumped to the bottom of the pool,” said Susie Bluestone, who arrived for her regular swim on Wednesday afternoon and found the pool closed, with clean-up underway. Bluestone told the Daily Planet she saw a whiskey bottle floating in the water and a calculator nearby; there was broken glass on the deck.  

“Who in the world would do that?” she asked, underscoring the importance of the pool in the lives of people with permanent disabilities and temporary injuries.  

“They made a mess of the place,” said Berkeley Police Spokesperson Ed Galvan, who said the vandals came in through an open window. None of the damage is permanent or costly, Galvan said. 

Pool staff declined comment saying they were not allowed to speak to the press. A sign at the pool said it will open today (Friday).

The Pacific Legal Foundation filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court this week aimed at reversing the California Supreme Court’s unanimous March decision that upheld Berkeley’s refusal to subsidize the Sea Scout’s fees at the Berkeley Marina because of the group’s affiliation with the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), which denies membership to gays and atheists. 

The children are “victims of ideological grandstanding at City Hall,” said PLF attorney Harold Johnson, in a phone interview Wednesday. “Kids are the ones who are suffering.”  

Because the scouts lost the free berth, poor children whom the scouts once subsidized have had to leave scouting, he said. 

“The human angle gets missed,” Johnson said. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington responded, “The issue is that local government shall not be forced to subsidize groups that have policies that discriminate.” 

The city attorney was not available for comment.  

At issue is Berkeley’s policy of providing marina berths at no cost to nonprofit organizations. The Sea Scouts used marina space without charge for almost seven decades. 

But in 1998, according to council minutes quoted in court documents, the City Council voted to disqualify the scouts, “due to [BSA’s] discriminatory policies against gays and atheists.” 

Like the appeal it lost to the California Supreme Court, the PLF appeal to the Supreme Court is based on the First and Fourteenth Amendments, which guarantee free speech and equal protection. 

In its appeal to the Supreme Court, PLF argues that the California courts disregarded a Supreme Court ruling that the First Amendment “right to freedom of association is a necessary correlate to the constitutionally protected freedom of speech.” 

The appeal also argues that Berkeley’s denial of subsidies was “intended to punish the Sea Scouts … solely because of their association with the BSA.” 

Worthington said he expects, if the case goes to the Supreme Court, the court will uphold the California Supreme Court ruling which said: “We agree with Berkeley and the Court of Appeal that a government entity may constitutionally require a recipient of funding or subsidy to provide written, unambiguous assurances of compliance with a generally applicable nondiscrimination policy.” 

Johnson said he believes the Supreme Court will hear the case because courts in other jurisdictions have come to different conclusions on similar issues. The court will likely decide mid-fall if it will hear the case, he said.

Claiming there was no time, no local need and insufficient public interest, the City Council killed a proposal Tuesday to put public financing of city elections on the November ballot. 

“I simply cannot do it,” said City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque, who would have had the job of preparing the Berkeley measure for a final council vote by July 25, the council’s last session before its summer recess. 

A similar state-wide measure to finance elections with public money, however, has qualified for the November ballot. 

Casting his vote to oppose the measure, Mayor Tom Bates, who had consistently voted in favor of public financing for the mayor’s race—and had helped write Measure H, the 2004 ballot measure in favor of publicly-financed elections—agreed it would be “physically impossible” for the city attorney to get the job done. 

Also voting in opposition were Councilmembers Laurie Capitelli, Betty Olds and Gordon Wozniak. Councilmemnber Linda Maio abstained. 

In a phone interview Thursday, Fair Campaign Practices Commissioner Stephen Bedrick called Bates’ vote “bizarre.” The commission had endorsed putting the referendum on the ballot by a 7-1 margin. 

“Tom Bates has been a major supporter [of publicly financed elections] over the years,” he said, arguing that the city attorney could get the measure written in a timely way—she would simply need to rewrite parts of the measure placed on the ballot two years earlier.  

“I don’t think the public is going to buy the mayor’s explanation,” he said, noting Albuquerque had already argued that she hadn’t time to do the work, when Bates voted in support of the measure, which had come to the council two weeks before. [It was voted down at the time, but brought back to council Tuesday by Councilmembers Kriss Worthington and Darryl Moore.} 

“The public needs an explanation from the mayor,” Bedrick said. 

Reached by phone on Thursday, Bates said there was more to his “no” vote than simply believing there wasn’t enough time to prepare the referendum.  

“I felt the ingredients for a campaign to come together were not there,” he said. 

With the state vote planned on the question, “we have an opportunity to see how well Berkeley does,” he said. 

If it looks like there is support, Bates said he would campaign for the measure to go on the 2008 ballot. 

Professing her support for the concept, Maio abstained, saying, in a brief interview after the council meeting, that she thought placing the measure on the Berkeley ballot would cause voters to be confused between the local and state measures and, in the end, hurt the state public financing initiative. 

Capitelli said his concern was the expense the measure would incur. Public funding for the mayor’s race alone would cost the city about $300,000 annually. 

Calling the suggestion that there’s influence peddling in Berkeley “a lot of hooey,” Councilmember Betty Olds, said “crooks” are found on the state and national levels, but not in Berkeley.  

“If you can be bought for $250, you’re a cheapy,” she said, referring to the city’s $250 campaign contribution limit. 

But Moore argued that “there’s a perception in the city that some people are influenced by contributions of $250. {The measure] would help clean up that perception.” 

Speaking before the council in favor of the measure, Bedrick argued that publicity for the state “clean money” measure would, in fact, help the passage of Berkeley’s referendum. 

Delayed business  

With lengthy discussion on the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance and warm water pool (see related articles), the council delayed some of its scheduled business: 

• A public hearing on transportation fees—fees that developers would have to pay when they develop new housing and businesses to mitigate new traffic—was technically opened, although the public did not speak to the issue during the regular council meeting. The public hearing and council vote are scheduled for July 18. 

• The question of support for union organizing at the West Berkeley Bowl was put off until July 25. 

Alcohol policy reform 

A presentation by the Berkeley Alcohol Policy Advocacy Coalition, a group that targets negative behavior that results from drinking and alcohol sales, pointed to a number of problems in Berkeley. 

The group tied criminal behavior to the location of alcohol retailers, especially where there is a concentration of these outlets. 

They also detailed problems among those under 21-years of age: alcohol sales without checking IDs, binge-drinking, serious personal problems when drinking (sexual assault, thoughts of suicide) and more. 

In the fall, the council will address the coalition’s proposals to regulate alcohol beverage delivery. 

These proposals include training alcoholic beverage servers to perform their jobs responsibly; making the party host responsible where underage drinking is permitted; making it more difficult to obtain permits for alcohol retail establishments and instituting an annual fee for staff to do the outreach, education, monitoring and enforcement required.

Berkeley’s African-American students earned the second lowest standardized test scores in the county, whereas Berkeley’s white students laid claim to some of the highest, according to United In Action, a local minority student advocacy group. 

Data from the 2005 Academic Performance Index (API), a statewide indicator of student achievement, confirmed that African-American students in Berkeley performed worse than African-American students in all other Alameda County school districts except Oakland. 

By comparison, Berkeley’s white students performed better than white students in other school districts, save Albany and Piedmont. That gives Berkeley the widest black-white achievement gap of any district in Alameda County with statistically significant minority student populations. 

“It’s something we should be ashamed of in Berkeley,” said Karen Hemphill, a member of United In Action, and candidate for the upcoming school board election. 

API scores, on a scale of 200 to 1,000, are based on students’ standardized test scores. Schools strive to achieve 800. Last year, white students in the Berkeley Unified School District surpassed the 800-mark by 84 points; their African-American counterparts missed that level by 290 points on average. 

The district has seen a 19-point deepening of the separation since 2002. While both white and African-American students have improved over the years, white students have improved more, a trend mirrored in districts throughout the county, state and nation. 

BUSD also has the second largest achievement gap in the county when comparing whites to Latinos, United In Action says. 

Superintendent Michele Lawrence says the gamut of the district’s initiatives—school site plans, addressing social and emotional issues, staff development, breaking up the high school into smaller schools, the school lunch initiative and others—attempt to narrow disparities. 

“Almost the entire work we do is to try to address equity and achievement,” she said. “There isn’t a single answer to this. You cannot put in a program and expect the achievement gap to disappear overnight.” 

Hemphill said the educational system in Berkeley, with emphases on independence and personal choice, doesn’t bode well for some students of color.  

“There are things about Berkeley schools—they’re not necessarily bad things—but there are consequences that play out (differently) for certain groups,” she said. 

Berkeley teachers may be more inclined to simultaneously assume “friend” and “authority” roles, for example, sending mixed messages to some black students, who come from families with traditional modes of authority, she said. 

BUSD needs more teachers of color, she said. About 70 percent of Berkeley’s teachers are white, according to the Education Data Partnership.  

Annie Johnston, a teacher at Community Partnerships Academy (CPA), a small school within Berkeley High School, attributes BUSD’s achievement gap to the difficulty of educating a diverse student body. About a third of the population is African-American, 28 percent is white, 16 percent is Latino and 7 percent is Asian.  

“Being as diverse as we are, you have kids whose parents are determined to get them into ivy leagues and kids whose parents are determined to get them into a school that won’t fail them,” she said. “I don’t think it’s because Berkeley does a worse job (than other school districts). I just think it’s because Berkeley hangs on to that diverse spectrum of students.” 

The push for small schools within the larger high school was, in part, an effort to shrink the achievement gap. An analysis of 103 research documents, conducted by The Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, shows poor and minority students perform as well in small schools as in large schools, if not better. 

At CPA, which just completed its second year as a small school—though it was a program at Berkeley High for 15 years—and where about 60 percent of the students are African-American, efforts are underway to narrow the gap, said Johnston. The school stresses a strong student support system, focused on marshalling parents, teachers and peers behind each student’s education, and tamps down inequities by standardizing curricula, she said. 

Data on whether those initiatives—and others at Berkeley’s small schools—are working are inconclusive, however.  

Washington Elementary School is also taking steps toward reducing inequities. The school has hired consultants to train classroom teachers in diversity and equity, and has set up cultural parent organizations, Hemphill said, whose daughter attended Washington. 

Individual pockets notwithstanding, the district is failing to address the problem as a whole, said Antonio Cebiel, a United In Action member and Berkeley resident.  

“You could call it ironic, because Berkeley considers itself a progressive city and was the first to desegregate schools,” he said. “You have all the kids in there together, but with this huge gap.” 

Cebiel, a former deputy superintendent for the Boston public schools, is now principal at Emery Secondary School in Emeryville. 

“Clearly there’s an issue of will,” he continued. “In Berkeley, it doesn’t rise to the top of the priority list. People pay lip service to all students achieving, but there is not a real strategy for doing that.” 

Other districts have implemented “Education 101 type things that Berkeley has not gotten on the ball (about),” Cebiel said, such as benchmark testing that supplements state-mandated exams, teacher training programs and aligning curricula. 

The recent strategy laid out by the Bush Administration to prepare for a possible bird flu pandemic in the United States is one which the administration hopes it will never need.  

In case of an outbreak, it has been predicted that two million Americans will die, 50 million will be infected, and 40 percent of American workers will be off their jobs. 

Development of a new vaccine specific to a human flu strain, stockpiling vaccines, quarantining infected individuals, minimizing human contact, liberal leave policies, and even bringing in the National Guard are some of the 300 recommendations included in the May 2006 “National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza” implementation plan that both government and non-government agencies are being asked to consider by the Bush Administration.  

The latest flu plan outlined by the U.S. government however makes it clear that there will be a limited federal role. The White House stressed the fact that although federal aid will be available in the form of 75 million doses of stockpiled antiviral drugs and 20 million doses of vaccine, local governments will have to take on maximum responsibility in fighting the flu pandemic when it does hit the United States. 

Julie Sinai, senior aid to Mayor Tom Bates, City of Berkeley, said that it was important not to work in isolation when it came to pandemic preparedness. 

“Although we are lucky to have our own public health office, we need to involve the county and the state at the planning level,” she said. 

Sinai also added that the mayor holds frequent breakfast meetings at which emergency preparedness methods for the pandemic flu are discussed. 

“The mayor has agreed to have a meeting similar to the one on earthquake preparedness with officials from the state and county level to discuss the pandemic,” she said. “Citizens need to know that in case of an outbreak they need to stay home.” 

But as some officials emphasize the need to coordinate a response the threat, others suspect that a major outbreak of the flu will turn each community into its own island. 

“We can no longer be in denial that we will be on our own,” said Dr. Wendell Bruner, Contra Costa County Public Health Officer. 

“We have to plan for the worst and hope for the best,” he said. “According to the federal plan, localities will be on their own.” 

Highlighting the fact that counties will need to fall back on their own resources, Bruner painted a grim picture in the case of a possible pandemic in Contra Costa County. 

“5,000 or more will die, tens of thousands will be infected, 20,000 or more will need hospital beds,” he said. “There are presently 1,500 hospital beds in the county which are mostly already filled up ... There will be no mass vaccinations as there is no vaccine available. We are not even in the capacity to produce this vaccine at the moment.” 

And Bruner said the danger might have already arrived. 

“Bird flu will be in the Bay Area this year, but by that we mean that it will come to the birds,” he said. “It does not necessarily mean that the H5N1 flu strain that will infect birds will infect humans as well.” 

Bruner said that some have said it is unlikely that the bird flu pandemic will move on to humans. “But there will definitely be a flu pandemic sometime and when it does occur it will prove fatal,” he said. 

Of the three influenza pandemics that have occurred in the last century, the 1918 pandemic—sometimes referred to as the “Spanish Flu”—wiped out 500,000 Americans and more than 20 million people worldwide. It infected one-third of the U.S. population and average life expectancy was reduced by 13 years. 

The 1957 and 1968 pandemics killed tens of thousands of Americans and millions across the world. According to the National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza, scientists believe that viruses from birds played a role in each of these outbreaks. 

Bruner also said that surveillance played an important role in combating the pandemic and that World Health Organization always remains on the lookout to try and stamp out any new flu strains before it gets started.  

Contra Costa County recently carried out the strategic national stockpile drill at Moffett Field as part of a mock Northern California drug receiving and distributing exercise. 

Dr. Tony Iton, Alameda County public health officer, told The Planet that the county’s plan to combat pandemic flu outbreak was recently revised. 

“Our plan to combat the pandemic has four different phases,” Iton said. “These are surveillance, disease control, communication and resource coordination.” 

Surveillance would include monitoring whether the virus has already entered Alameda County in which case quarantining people would be of no use, he said. 

“We would also look out for reported cases of influenza, test cases in labs, and work along with the county hospitals in order to spot unusual trends,” Iton said. “People who have traveled to any country with the H5N1 strain would also be closely monitored. The state veterinary and agricultural organizations will be on the lookout for H1N5 cases in immigratory and wild birds and their deaths.” 

Disease control would include isolating and quarantining people on a voluntary basis and to cancel schools and public gatherings.  

“Hospitals would be very quickly filled up and all health care professionals will have to be on board at all times,” Iton said. 

Iton added that communication and planning was just as important. 

“We are working with BART and BUSD to discuss preparedness plans,” he said. “Thirty-five to 40 percent of workforces will be effected. The death rate is going to be under 2 percent and 35 percent of the population will be made ill.” 

Young adults will be the most effected in the pandemic. 

Dr. Tomas Aragon, director of The Center for Infectious Disease Preparedness in Berkeley, said that if waterfowl in California were to be tested for influenza at this very moment, test results would likely be positive. 

“Bird flu will spread the way regular flu does but there will be more cases of pneumonia and more deaths,” he said. 

Aragon also added that there had been a summer program in Berkeley last year to train public health professionals for a pandemic outbreak but this year the focus would be on earthquake preparedness. 

Linda Rudolph, Berkeley public health officer, said that the city public health office was preparing the same way every other health department was.  

“The two key messages we want to send out to the people of Berkeley is that the pandemic influenza threat is real and everyone needs to work with the public health office and the city to combat it,” she said. 

Rudolph also added that in the first phase of the pandemic there won’t be any vaccines or anti-virals available and that the current anti-virals available are not that effective.  

“We are working with the county health department to develop a system and to get medical volunteers,” she said. “Hospitals and health care providers will be inundated. Businesses and government offices will need to figure out a plan on how to keep functioning because a lot of people will be falling sick.” 

In May of 2005, TerraMark proposed a development on the OUSD Lake Merritt properties which it called “The Trophy.” 

Details of the original proposal differ in some ways from the final Letter of Intent signed between TerraMark, State Superintendent Jack O’Connell, and State Administrator Randolph Ward in June of 2006. 

Terramark proposed a “mixed-use community that would include residential towers, retail space, visually unobtrusive parking” and open landscaped areas. 

The development would consist of four towers with approximately 1,000 total dwelling units (in the final Letter of Intent, the development was changed to consist of five high-rise towers with a minimum of 1,000 units and a maximum of 1,388 units). 

Of the original four towers, two were planned to reach a height of 37 floors, the third would have 28 floors, and the fourth would have 27. 

The retail component would include 75,000 square feet of retail/commercial space. 

“Of that,” TerraMark wrote in its proposal, “25,000 square feet is designated as a health club or cultural/entertainment venue and the other 50,000 square feet for appropriate service-oriented retail establishments. 

Physically, the retail establishments are to be located on the lobby floors of the residential towers and in a separate low rise dome-shaped structure. … Anticipated retailers include restaurants and cafes such as Starbucks, drugstores, cleaners and other service oriented businesses.” In addition, “a significant amount of above and below ground space has been allotted for a structured parking deck.” 

In its presentation to the OUSD Board of Trustees this week, TerraMark officials said that the parking garage would include a waterfall cascading down one side of the building as a tourist attraction. 

As an aide to OUSD’s students, TerraMark’s original proposal included a contribution of “15 state-of-the-art computers to the OUSD for every condominium unit sold” TerraMark estimated the cash market value of this “contribution” at $10 million. 

Mention of the computer contribution does not appear in the final Letter of Intent. 

TerraMark is also proposing that “the regulation-sized swimming pool in the health club” of the complex “could be made available for OUSD students for scheduled competitions.” 

In its original proposal, TerraMark offered a flat sum of $25 million for the 8.25 acre OUSD parcels “and an additional sum of $10 million which the OUSD can use to procure a new off-site academic campus, bringing the total offer to $35 million.” 

In addition, TerraMark proposed “in order to assure the OUSD to receive an income stream in perpetuity, the developer will guarantee the District an annual sum of $500,000, with revenue being derived from a permanent annual assessment on the condominium homeowners’ association as well as on the owner of the retail condominium unit.” 

An ongoing revenue stream from the property was one of the requests made by the OUSD Board of Trustees in its original Request For Proposals. 

In the final Letter of Intent, the perpetual revenue stream was eliminated, and TerraMark promised a “tentative” base price of $60 million for the property. 

That $60 million base price could be lowered significantly if certain conditions outlined in the Letter of Intent are not met, so that the final actual price offered by TerraMark for the property is not yet known.

Short blotter 

If the Police Blotter has been on the skimpy side of late, blame Community Crime View, the new online software that Berkeley Police are counting on to provide information to the community and themselves. 

As of Thursday afternoon, the site hadn’t been updated since July 2, and police spokesperson Office Ed Galvan said the department’s techies are working on the problem. 

Car hits cyclist 

Galvan said a Berkeley man sustained severe jaw injuries as well as lacerations when he was struck by a car as he biked along Euclid Avenue Tuesday night. 

Galvan said the man, who in his late 20s, was struck by a car that struck him as the driver turned onto Euclid from Hilgard Avenue. 

The injured man was rushed to an emergency room for treatment. 

“At this point it looks like the driver of the car was at fault,” said Galvan, adding that the incident is still under investigation. 

The officer said the car was driven by a Berkeley woman in her 50s. 

The cyclist was not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash. Galvan said. His bicycle was equipped with the required lights that were functioning at the time of the accident. 

Campus assault 

A 33-year-old man sustained a broken tooth when an unknown assailant punched him with a fist or an elbow as he walked through the ASUC breezeway at Sproul Plaza on the UC Berkeley campus at 10:02 p.m. Tuesday. 

According to a crime bulletin released by UC Berkeley Police Chief Victoria L. Harrison, the attacker came running down the steps connecting the plaza’s upper and lower levels, landed his blow, then fled westbound on Grinnell pathway. 

He was gone by the time officers arrived on the scene.

Mexican presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador might have had a better showing if the polls in the Mexican cities of Saltillo and Durango were moved to the California cities of Stockton, Sacramento, and Fresno. 

A symbolic vote held in California’s Northern Central Valley on July 2 saw López Obrador beat out his conservative competitor Felipe Calderón of the Partido Accion Nacional (PAN). 

Organized in part by Stockton farmworker activist Luis Magaña, the vote was meant to give those feeling left out of the July 2 Mexican elections a chance to voice their opinion, Magaña said. 

An overly complex registration system for Mexicans living abroad coupled with a cultural aversion to voting by mail was responsible for the low voter turnout among Mexicans in the United States, according to Magaña. About 730 people turned out to several polling stations located outside Catholic churches, soccer fields, cultural centers and private homes in the area.  

López Obrador was the strong favorite with 349 votes, according to the group’s data. Coming in second was Calderón with 240, followed by PRI candidate Roberto Madrazo with 114. The rest of the votes were split among lesser-known candidates such as Patricia Mercado Castro and Roberto Campa Cifrián. 

“This is the beginning of the struggle for 2012,” said Magaña, referring to the year of the next Mexican presidential elections. “There should be ballot boxes for voters here.” 

Alex Garza, who helped with the symbolic vote, said he felt the same way.  

“I feel really disappointed,” he said. “I couldn’t vote, just like hundred of thousands of Mexicans here.” 

The vote’s organizers said they tried to present the ballots to the Mexican consulate in Sacramento, but they were refused.  

Consulate spokesperson Iván Sierra said this was due to a constitutional separation between the Mexican government and the country’s Federal Electoral Institute (IFE). 

“In Mexico, we have a constitutional separation of the electoral authorities,” Sierra said. “Our constitution specifically forbids us to take part in any elections.” 

However, because 2006 was the first time Mexicans abroad could vote, Sierra said that special considerations were made to allow consulates and embassies to offer voter registration assistance to Mexicans overseas. This included making announcements in the Spanish-language media as well as briefing consulate staff to answer any questions citizens abroad might have, he said.  

As for turning consulates into polling centers for the 2012 election, Sierra said it was anyone’s guess.  

“Maybe in the future, the new congress will analyze further options,” he said.  

Across the United States, fewer than 57,000 Mexicans requested absentee ballots, election officials said. Many of the estimated 4 million registered Mexican voters living in this country were upset about having to return to Mexico in order to obtain a ballot. Because many are undocumented, they risked a dangerous crossing and smuggler fees of up to $2,000 in order to get back over the border.  

It’s estimated that the Mexican government spent about $26 million on the absentee ballot program.  

Magaña said an aversion to voting by mail also played a part in the low turnout.  

“The people have a culture of putting their vote directly in the ballot box,” Magaña said. “(The absentee ballots) were something Mexico experimented with on those outside the country—with the least informed people having to go through a very complicated process.” 

With this election the closest in Mexican history, Magaña said votes from abroad would have been decisive.  

“Right now, with this tie, it could have been the difference,” he said. 

In voting organized by Leonel Flores and the Union of Ex Braceros and Immigrants (UNEI), López Obrador captured the majority of the votes, but not by much. 

After ballots from Fresno, Delano, Madera and Sanger were tallied, López Obrador had 221 votes to 221 for Calderón. In Mendota, 105 votes went for the PAN candidate, while López Obrador got only four votes. 

Six years ago, Vicente Fox captured an overwhelming majority of the symbolic vote in the Fresno area, far outdistancing the PRI candidate, 1,194 votes to 553. 

“We had more voting booths six years ago,” said Flores, explaining the decrease in area votes. 

Stan Oklobdzija is a reporter for Vida en el Valle, a member of New American Media. 

Politicians and observers in Taiwan and the Chinese community are using the unsuccessful recall motion to unseat Taiwan President Chen Shui Bian as an opportunity to discuss democracy, according to the Chinese-language press.  

The first-ever parliamentary vote to unseat a president in Taiwan did not receive the 148 votes needed to pass, leaving Chen to finish the remaining two years of his second term. A total of 119 lawmakers voted to recall Chen, 14 cast null ballots, and the 86 lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party boycotted the vote.  

Some 3,000 people from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party, which brought forward the recall motion, gathered outside the legislature on the morning of the vote. The Democratic Progressive Party, which tends to favor independence from China, reported that 100,000 of their supporters gathered on the street to support Chen. Chen’s aides and the first family had been investigated for scandals such as insider trading, but Chen himself had not been charged of any crime.  

In a report in the Chinese-language World Journal on June 27, a People’s First Party representative, Pong Zhong- Ming said that the process of the recall motion, rather than the result, is more important because it illustrates the democratic process in Taiwan. Pong said that the recall motion represents the democratic right of every citizen to know what Chen has accomplished in his six years of office. Pong said that the recall motion also signals a need to investigate for corruption in government.  

The People’s First Party is a part of a coalition that, along with the Chinese Nationalist (KMT) party, wanted to oust Chen. Both the People’s First Party and the KMT party favor eventual reunification with China.  

In a World Journal report by Nancy Kao, a board member of the Monte Jade Science and Technology Association in San Jose, who wished to withhold his name, reminded the reporter that former California Gov. Gray Davis was recalled from his office and that whether Chen has done any wrong doing, the people has the right to decide whether he should step down. “We should give the power of right and wrong to the 23 million people of Taiwan,” he said. 

The failed recall motion was expected by political watchers. Analysts Hsu Yung-Ming at the Academia Sinica told the Taipei Times that the recall campaign would be unlikely to succeed. Hsu also said however that Chen would benefit from reorganizing his inner circle to improve his image and credibility. 

The recall motion “should serve as a lesson and reminder for President Chen Shui-Bian of the need to improve his administration in the last two years of his presidency,” according to an editorial in the Taipei Times on June 28. Chen’s popularity has dropped in recent years, and infighting within the party has worsened.  

Auditors are investigating Chen’s presidential office at the request of the KMT party, which has alleged that receipts produced by the office to prove no wrong doing were fake. The People First Party is seeking to dissolve the cabinet or launch another recall motion. 

However, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Michel Lu said that as long as the recall vote and the demonstrations ended peacefully, it would prove Taiwan’s democracy was still strong. 

Eugenia Chien is a reporter for the Sing Tao Daily, a member of New American Media.

The July 2 elections in Mexico saw the Partido Revolucionario Democratico (PRD) poll 35.31 percent of the announced presidential votes, a rise for this moderately left “BCA del Sur” from 17 percent in the 2000 contest. 

PRD candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador believed his party came out on top in the five way race, but Felipe Calderon Hinojosa of the ruling Partido Accion National (PAN) took 35.89 percent, or so the tallies said. 

The media has called Calderon the winner. If so, it is a victory for a Harvard educated adherent to the International Monetary Fund and the North American Free Trade Agreement. 

Confident supporters of AMLO, as Obrador is known for his initials, flocked on election night to the Zocalo square in the capital for a victory celebration, which turned into a rally at which their candidate demanded that all votes be recounted, not by computer, nor by tally sheets of the precincts, but by hand. 

In the dim midnight light AMLO called for a mass Saturday rally in the Zocalo to protest the announced results. 

An hour before the Saturday event the Zocalo was packed and “rivers of people” still trudged toward the square. The METRO (BART) announced, on the streaming internet of El Universal, that the Zocalo station platform was dangerously packed with people exiting and riders were urged to exit at earlier stations.  

By the time Lopez Obrador spoke, most streets in the historic central district were jammed. An estimated 250,000 people had gathered, according to Mexico City sources, although the San Francisco Chronicle said 100,000. 

Lopez Obrador was barely heard by many in the noisy audience. 

He declared Wednesday would see a protest march on the capital from cities across the nation to demand a recount and to bring the evidence of “fraud,” such as AMLO ballots found in garbage cans, precincts in strongly PAN districts with more voters than people on the rolls, and purchasing of votes and ballot stuffing—incidents of the latter two actions being caught on tape by AMLO supporters. 

A suspicious vote count trend was noted by PRD computer techs. Calderon had an early 7 point lead (as in elections everywhere the upper class precincts are early). 

Obrador cut it to 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, then less than a point, at which he stopped gaining. AMLO flatlined with a third of the votes still out—many being in his capital city barrios. His supporters spoke of the 1988 election. 

A computer crash in that presidential contest occurred just as PRD candidate Cuauhtemoc Cardenas appeared to have won, but when the computers came back online ten days later Cardenas was second. 

Conservative pundants argue that 2006 can’t repeat 1988 because elections have been cleansed, and they point to the PAN presidential victory in 2000. But that election lacked left vs. right tension. 

It featured an all out effort by a wide swath of the Mexican people to end the 71-year rule of the corrupt Partido Revolucionario Institutional. Until 2000, PAN was a joke. It was “the car party” of the minority that owned cars. Its rallies were parades of cars rather than people. But a rally for PAN witnessed in Cuernavaca in 2000 featured a parade of cars alongside of which marched thousands of people—such was the desire to get rid of PRI. 

From first hand observations of the 1994 and 2000 presidential elections and a number of state contests over the past decade, it can be said that when elections are stolen in Mexico the method is much the same as it is in Florida and Ohio. Many tricks are involved. Which explains why Lopez Obrador insisted upon a “vote by vote” recount that involved the precinct tally sheet. 

While observing the closing of a precinct in a Veracruz governor’s race, I heard a man announce five votes for a small splinter party; and the official with the tally sheet marked “05.” The PRI won this precinct with 132, noted as “132.” Another small party had 7 votes, noted as “07.” Then came the PRD count. It received 92. The official wrote “02,” and put a tiny tail on the 0. I spoke up and asked if the “9” didn’t deserve a longer tail. The official put a tiny bit more tail on his 0, then motioned to two nasty looking hombres who glared at me, and I decided to go for coffee. 

Critics call the mass rallies orchestrated by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador rabble rousing. His defenders say they are needed when the media is against you, and small gatherings of the party are hard to hold peacefully. 

“How dare you be against our government!” shouted thugs slugging people at a PRD rally a few years ago in Acapulco.  

Across Mexico over 400 activists of the party of Lopez Obrador have been assassinated, or died mysterious deaths since the late 1980s. Two poll workers for the Party were added to the victims list this past July 2. 

The intimidation factor facing the PRD was apparent in my drive through 17 Mexican states prior to the 1994 presidential election. PRI propaganda was common on roadside homes and businesses, and a few upscale neighborhoods had PAN signs, but PRD was virtually invisible outside of the capital. 

One exception was the PRD-plastered town of Cuajinicuilapa in Guerrero. Locals explained that they broke with the old ruling party after discovery that PRI officials had stolen for their own homes a large allotment of government cement, intended for public works. The town elected a PRD legislator in 1999, and a PRD congressperson on July 2. 

The 52-year-old Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has been building his party with rallies since his years of activism in his home state of Tabasco, which was solidly PRD on July 2. Mexico City demonstrations are credited with helping him become city mayor. Between 2000 and 2006 the PRD upped its number of federal deputies from 68 to 158 (preliminary count). 

The Partido Revolucionaro Democratico is now the second biggest party in congress, behind PAN (209) and ahead of the declining PRI (112). The Senate is similarily proportioned. 

A worry for Mexico is that both PRD and PAN are narrowly based geographically. The PRD stronghold is the Districto Federal and 6 southern states, where deputies (excluding seats by proportional representation) are: PRD 81, PAN 20, PRI 9. But across 15 northern states the count is PRD 3, PAN 88, PRI 23. 

AMLO’s national protest march is a reaching out to the north, which includes the six states bordering the United States. 

The PRD didn’t win a singe deputy post in this area where enforcers against labor organizers in the factories quash left politics as well. 

It may appear that Mexico mirrors the United States in having regions of Red and Blue states but the parties attached to the colors in Mexico represent much greater political differences. 

Stupid is not a nice word. When applied to others it’s neither kind nor p.c., even when deserved. When applied to oneself, stupid is often the only term that fits. Sadly, I use this term in personal reference more often than I’d like, sometimes several times a week. In fact, after a stellar stupid, I might greet the day with “Okay, what stupid thing are you going to do today?” 

How many times have I roamed the house looking for the glasses I had with me five minutes ago? I walk from room to room, searching. Recently, after several circuits, I remembered putting towels in the bathroom cabinet. Sure enough, that’s where I had set them down. Now I talk to myself as I go, “You’re putting your glasses on the table.”  

One repeat offense is forgetting to check pants’ pockets (inevitably mine) for tissue before adding them to the wash. Being greeted by bits of fluff clinging to every family garment, on a regular basis, causes the question what happened to my fine analytical mind. 

Luckily I have back up. On a shopping trip to Trader Joe’s I loaded bags into the trunk, threw my purse in for good measure and slammed down the lid, instantly realizing that my keys were in my purse, along with my cell phone. A few months later I did the exact same thing, again at Trader Joe’s. I was smart enough to save this trick for times that my husband was at home and was gracious enough to come down and rescue me. 

My only consolation is that I’m not alone in my affliction. “Something stupid,” answers Maxie McNabb to “What did you do,” in Sue Henry’s latest mystery, The Tooth of Time. Her dog’s been kidnapped and she kicks a door in anger, almost breaking her toe. Later in the story, Maxie knocks her iced tea glass over. Realizing the tea was poisoned; as she’s passing into unconsciousness, Maxie laments, “How could I have been so stupid?”  

“I can’t believe I did that! How could I be so stupid?” I had to chuckle overhearing a seatmate mutter these words at Gate 6 of the Bob Hope Airport. She’d left her boarding pass in the bathroom. As we spoke she also admitted taking thirty-six shots of her grandson without putting film in her camera. When I assured her it could happen to anyone, she admitted it was the second time she’d performed this sad act. 

The Bob Hope Airport hadn’t figured too well in my fetes of brainpower either. Somehow the act of picking up a rental car threw me off—twice. Upon arrival I, with the help of the attendant, spent several minutes looking for my glasses, in the shuttle, the rental car, the ground. Finally he mentioned, “You’re not looking for the glasses you’re wearing, are you?” I’d had them on all the time. Before boarding my return flight to Oakland, I treated myself to two round trips on the airport shuttle, having dropped my jacket in the car rental office. 

Travel seems ripe for bringing on a case of the “stupids,” even more so when exploring new territory. This summer I have planned a trip to France, where I will attempt to make my way using extremely limited language skills. Even though I will join a group I have to get there on my own. My mission impossible includes finding my way from Charles De Gaulle Airport to the village of Les Eyzies utilizing the Reseau Express Regional, the Metro, one train to Agen and a second to Les Eyzies. After two air flights and approximately thirty hours of travel, my chances of arriving stupid-less are slim. 

A serious game plan seems to be my only chance for survival. I considered preparing Destination Flashcards like the ones I used in school, one for each step of the journey. Card 1: arrive at San Francisco Airport by 6 a.m. Card 2: locate the check-in for US Airways. By Card 10 I should be in France: Ou se trouve le Gard du Nord? Card 13: Est-ce que ce train s’arrete a les Eyzies? Hopefully I’ll reach the ultimate card: get on the hotel shuttle in Les Eyzies. 

I shudder remembering the travel times I’ve been convinced that my passport, boarding pass or luggage claim ticket has disappeared, finding the missing document only after frantically going through pockets, pouches and compartments. This time I traveled light—not only luggage-wise but also in my travel pack. All necessary papers in just one location. Right. 

Even though I will be on my own I will still be talking—to myself. This will help me focus and stay grounded. Thanks to advances in cell phone technology I won’t even stand out much. 

Regardless of the success, or lack thereof, of my trip, the “stupids” will likely follow me home. Since I’m realizing that this is fairly widespread, the answer seems to lie in devising a multi-step plan for keeping them at bay. 

Step 1 has to be to acknowledge the problem. Sooner or later, something stupid will be done. Step 2 is to have in place personal aids in counteracting my slips. Talking helps, post-its might work, as would back-up keys, glasses, etc. Step 3 should be sharing my affliction with loved ones. Coming out, so to say. Face it, family, I’m going to do some stupid things and I need your support. Step 4 is to keep my faculties as sharp as possible. I’ll keep busy with reading, crosswords, and solving everyday problems like “Where did I put my glasses?”

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.  

“We’re going to keep up the pressure,” said Daniel Rudman, a regular pool user who attended the meeting. “There’s a lot of good energy.” 

While the council passed, in concept, the placement of a bond measure on the November ballot to complete financing a new warm pool, that decision appears problematic, according to City Manager Phil Kamlarz, interviewed by phone on Monday. 

The city cannot ask voters to complete funding for the pool because there have been changes in the project, Kamlarz said, explaining: “We need a whole new bond issue.”  

In 2000, voters approved funding to rehab the warm pool, located in the Berkeley High School gym. But the school district has since made tentative plans to demolish the pool and the building that houses it and rebuild on the site. There are also tentative plans to allow the city to construct a new warm pool and lockers on a site across Milvia Street from the current warm pool. 

The plans will not be approved by the school board until the environmental impact report, now in progress, is complete, according to School Board Member John Selawsky. 

That makes it difficult to ask voters to approve a bond for the project, Kamlarz said, noting, moreover, that the cost of the new project is in question. It’s estimated at $8 million but “that’s a rough estimate,” Kamlarz said. 

“We need a real estimate of costs. We need to do it right,” he added. There is not enough information to put the measure on the November ballot, he said. 

At last week’s council meeting, Kamlarz suggested that the council explore putting a bond measure on a special election ballot, which could be conducted by mail at a later date. But on Monday he said he subsequently learned that it may not be legal to hold a special election for a bond measure. He said he would know more about this by tonight’s council meeting.  

Another possibility is using certificates of participation (COPs) to fund the pool—that is borrowing the funds which the city would pay back. The problem is that the city would have to own the property to issue COPs and that presents even more complexities, said School Board Member John Selawsky. The school board has not discussed the sale or a gift of the tentative pool site to the city, Selawsky said.

In the go-go era in Silicon Valley in the 1980s, we used to have a saying: “If you look around the table and don’t know who the sucker is, it’s you.” This has never been more apparent than in the outcome of the protracted discussions over the development industry’s long struggle to de-fang Berkeley’s hallowed Landmarks Preservation Ordinance, which appears, temporarily at least, to be successful.  

You have to admire Mayor Tom Bates’ Sacramento-honed skill at the old shell game. Spectators at Tuesday’s City Council meeting got a preview of it when he managed to sequentially vote first to put funding for a new warm pool on the November ballot and then to take it off again before pool users knew what had hit them. And the way he ended up with a new LPO draft which does exactly what his developer cronies have demanded for six years was quite impressive. 

He (and his minions Cisco de Vries and Calvin Fong, personal political staff paid out of the city budget) used the tried and true maxim of the Roman Empire, divide et impera, divide and conquer, further perfected by the British Raj. A few self-identified preservationists were invited to go mano-a-mano in the mayor’s office for a series of “I feel your pain” sessions. Notably excluded was Landmarks Preservation Commissioner Patti Dacey, whose legal training makes her too clever by half to believe the spin which routinely emanates from city staff. (And just to make it more emphatic, the mayor’s buddy Max Anderson, his partner in the sleazy Ashby BART condo proposal, dumped Dacey from the commission.)  

Flattery will, of course, get you everywhere. The selectees soon succumbed to the Stockholm Syndrome, swallowing the city attorney’s thoroughly bogus legal premise that there’s some kind of unbridgeable conflict between Berkeley’s existing LPO, the Permit Streamlining Act, and the California Environmental Quality Act.  

This theory is the Weapons of Mass Destruction of the LPO controversy: a phony excuse for turning the whole law upside down and starting over again, even though it’s been shown time and again not to be true. The two lawyers on the LPC in recent memory, Dacey and myself, have been saying for years that it’s a fake, and it’s now been demolished once and for all by a thorough discussion in a new (2006) Continuing Education of the Bar handbook on land use, cited by famed environmental attorney Susan Brandt Hawley in a letter read at Tuesday’s council meeting. And the poor preservationists who were suckered into making their deal with Bates are playing Congress’ role vis a vis the WMD story: “We didn’t knew it wasn’t true when we supported the invasion.”  

From day one of this long process, the developers have only wanted one thing: a “safe harbor” for their demolition desires. They’ve gotten it in this new draft: There’s a two-year period after a building has been evaluated when it can be demolished on demand—slam, bam, thank-you-ma’am—even if new evidence about its historic significance comes to light. There are a lot of other bad features of the new law, but this is the worst. It’s the pea under the shells, and the negotiators missed it as Bates’ et al did their sleight-of-hand.  

The self-designated preservationists who allowed their good names to be used supporting the Bates ordinance perhaps will defend themselves saying that they did not understand the proposal. But it’s not a coincidence that in the hardy band of 30 or 40 jeering opponents in the back of the council chamber as the deal went down on Tuesday were at least six who had passed either the New York or the California Bar. They at least understood full well that the new law is a dirty deal. Shakespeare’s villains famously said “First, let’s kill all the lawyers”—if you’re up to no good lawyers have a nasty habit of getting in the way.  

One of them offered this analogy: First, you propose a law saying, for example, let’s kill all the vegetarians. Then after, a protracted period of negotiation when all the liberals are listened to sympathetically, you agree simply to put vegetarians in jail for life. It’s “a compromise” for sure. But is it a victory for vegetarians? Not exactly.  

The principal harm which this new law will do is in Berkeley’s flatlands neighborhoods. No one is yet proposing to demolish old houses in upscale hill neighborhoods to build Condo Pop-ups, but if you live in the flats, one may be coming soon to a property near you—ask the people on Otis Street or the neighbors of the infamous South Berkeley Flying Cottage. People in the flats don’t have many architect-designed landmarks in their neighborhoods, but they love their funky little Victorian “structures of merit” anyhow.  

That’s why Dacey (an old tenants’ rights veteran, Maudelle Shirek appointee and now co-owner of a flatlands Victorian) objected so strongly to the new law when she was on the Landmarks Preservation Commission. But now the LPC has been packed with pro-developer appointees, and right on cue it voted last week to support the new draft. 

Jill Korte, Dona Spring’s appointee and the only flatlands dweller on the commission, voted no. But Max Anderson replaced Dacey, just in time for the vote, with patrician architect Burton Edwards, who owns an elegant John Galen Howard home in the Claremont Park district. Three more of the eight current LPC commissioners live within blocks of Edwards in upscale parts of District 8. Their homes are not threatened in any way by the Big Ugly Building boom. Four of the eight current commissioners make their living in the building industry: three architects and realtor-developer Miriam Ng, recently appointed by Councilmember Darryl Moore although she doesn’t live in his flatlands district.  

What can be done now? Well, an initiative re-enacting the old pro-neighborhood LPO is on the ballot for November. For belt-and-suspenders protection, it would also be possible to put a referendum repealing the new law on a later ballot if enough signatures can be collected soon. But in both cases there’s no legal limit on developer campaign contributions, so a lot of guaranteed Dirty Money is sure to be involved. 

ACHIEVEMENT GAP 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

When Berkeley public schools are discussed without acknowledgment of the basic policies that create both the achievement gap and the high violence rate it is necessary to correct the record. Of course African American students in Berkeley reflect Oakland under-achievement rates. They are, as anyone who observes after school traffic knows, substantially from Oakland. Berkeley is 13 percent African American. Berkeley schools climb to one-third African American substantially because of the unique BUSD policy of not enforcing legal residency. To some this unique policy is an extension of Berkeley’s quest for social change. To others it is yet another local government betrayal of the taxpayers and residential quality of life. Either way to word this unprecedented generosity as a curricular indictment is simply wrong. 

David Baggins 

• 

RUNNINGWOLF 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Zachary RunningWolf is the only mayoral candidate reminding us of an inconvenient truth: the human race is facing an imminent environmental and economic catastrophe. The “Stop Driving” campaign for which you hold him responsible (DeFreitas cartoon, July 11) might seem a juvenile and comic message to many job-holding, tax-paying, car- and house-owning citizens, but make no mistake, it’s a wake-up call. 

What is truly a juvenile (tragic) comedy is that we are the frogs in the quickly heating water, blithely driving to work, school and shops while hoping and pretending that nothing “bad” will happen for 50 more years. Meanwhile, daily the planet’s inhabitants suffer the consequences of our greedy, selfish, destructive behavior. Soon the waves of discontent will be lapping at your doorstep. If you have eyes to see and ears to hear, heed the warnings. Make peace with the Creator. For no one knows the day nor the hour. 

Zachary G Wilson 

• 

IMPEACHMENT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Yes, Tom Bates originally opposed the Peace and Justice Commission resolution urging congress to impeach Bush. Sure, putting it on the ballot now is a cynical ploy to win votes, and yes, the City Council disregards communities to accommodate greedy developers. But the City Council’s miserable performance is no justification for Ms. Gilbert’s deplorable and reactionary opposition to the Bush-Cheney impeachment measure. 

Considering that generating national dialogue is the reason for placing impeachment on the ballot, our usually wasteful City Council has, for once, has gotten their money’s worth. The publicity generated to date, including a full-page essay in Time Magazine, already exceeds the amount of TV time and print space that could be purchased for the $10,000 it cost to place the measure on the ballot. 

Ideas have power. When Berkeley proposed divestment from South Africa we were ridiculed, but a few years later Berkeley’s idea became national policy. National discussion of impeachment, regardless of whether or not impeachment succeeds, will weaken Bush, hopefully to the point Bush lacks the political support to start another war, drill for oil in environmentally sensitive areas or further shred our Constitution. Allowing legitimate anger over City Council favoritism to degenerate into reactionary politics is stupid. Filing lawsuits, running opposition candidates, and using initiatives and referenda to control government is the responsible way to fight back. Let’s speak truth to power by voting constructively, using our First Amendment right to vote in favor of impeachment, and our power as voters to pass a citizen landmarks initiative. That’s the conscientious way to rebuke the council for adopting bad land-use law that will obliterate our landmarks. 

Hundreds of small town governments are in the pockets of developers. Sadly enough, that includes Berkeley’s municipal government. I, and many other who will vote for the impeachment are outspoken in our opposition to the council’s pro-development bias. But it is wrong to become so obsessively focused on these flaws that we lose sight of what makes Berkeley special and unique: We are a candle in the darkness and a ray of hope. Think of it: Berkeley will be the first city in the nation whose voters, I predict, will overwhelmingly vote to “Impeach Bush.” That could generate a national debate on impeachment. That’s worth every cent of the ten thousand dollars. That is the kind of thing that makes many of us so proud to be from Berkeley. 

Elliot Cohen 

• 

ELMWOOD POST OFFICE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I want to assure the Postal Service of Berkeley that there are probably hundreds (perhaps thousands) of households in the District Eight quadrant who want the Elmwood Post Office to remain at the corner of College and Webster, where it has been for many years. I suspect that reporter Richard Brenneman was under a time restraint when working on his article (“Post Office Might Close in Elmwood District,” July 14). I have no doubt he has thought of interviewing the vast majority of residents who have depended on and continue to depend on that wonderful Branch Post Office. I and my wife have lived on Prince Street since 1971, when the branch post office was on College and Russell. Over the years we have enjoyed immensely the convenience of being able to walk to our neighborhood post office. All Brenneman needs do is interview the folks who are in their 60s, 70s, and 80s, and live within walking distance. I would urge the editor of the Daily Planet make that his next assignment. Such a negative article about the branch is really a disservice to all of us who treasure the Elmwood Post Office. Its employees are always helpful and patient, everyday and on holidays.  

What is puzzling about the article is the complaint by one proprietor whose store is on a different street in the district. Also puzzling is the statement that postal employees who work at the Main Post Office opposite the downtown YMCA leave their cars in Elmwood. Those employees hike it up to Elmwood after work to get their cars? Can anyone follow this logic? College Avenue has timed meters all around the district. In addition, for anyone who has eyes, there is a parking lot for post office customers. I also find the complaint about postal service vehicles disingenuous. Nothing is said about the numerous delivery trucks that clog College Avenue as they deliver their wares to all those businesses, including that of the shop owners who are critical in this article. Perhaps Councilmember Wozniak should inform his constituents about the “need for repairs and renovation.” In any case, that is a red herring if repairs would be made once the “lease is renewed.” It is only further garbage to reinforce the negative tone of this story.  

Obviously, the shop owners talk about their own priorities. Yet, it is clear to us who depend on the United States Postal Service that those postal trucks have a much higher priority and serve a greater good. Perhaps the respect I raised my children to have for postal workers, whose jobs have always been demanding, is not a universal one. However, my hunch is that most Berkeleyans harbor that respect. 

Neighbors, we need to send a clear message that the Elmwood Post Office is appreciated and urge the postmaster of Berkeley to remain on College and Webster! 

R.J. Schwendinger 

P.S.: With the pressure by developers and chain stores to build or alter the nature of the Elmwood, the following scenario is a strong possibility: the post office lease renewal is turned down by the landlord, who razes the current building and builds a three-or-more story condominium apartment building or commercial building. That in turn will increase the number of automobiles owned by new occupants, who will use the adjacent streets as permanent parkers, not as fluent and fleeting as postal vehicles currently. The shopkeeper who is critical of the post office operation knows the ropes of applying for height variances, and he could be of aid to a developer seeking same. Would the neighbors residing near the Elmwood Post Office welcome such a development? 

• 

AGENDA COMMITTEE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Mayor Tom Bates’ creation, the Agenda Committee (meets Mondays at 2:30 p.m., Sixth Floor Conference Room, 2180 Milvia) was presumably set up to determine the agendas for meetings of the City Council and the Housing Authority. Now it is expanding its mission by including substantive issues of City Council business.  

The committee is composed of four. The mayor and his appointees, councilmembers Linda Maio and Gordon Wozniak, are permanent members. Another councilmember fills the fourth seat on a rotating basis. 

The agendas for July 10 and July 17 included an item, “Review of Council Procedures regarding Public Comment....” Incredibly, at their June 27th meeting, the City Council allowed this issue to be referred to the Agenda Committee for recommendations as to changes in the council’s procedures for public comment. In other words, the Agenda Committee is functioning as a subcommittee on public comment, concurrently with its agenda-building function . 

The impropriety and irony of this situation is glaring. Deliberations over changing public comment procedures—possibly to include greater public participation—are buried in the Agenda Committee’s afternoon meetings. How many people know this is happening and/or can attend at that time? Exceptions would be the mayor’s invitees, such as a particular representative from the League of Women Voters. 

The council’s interest in public comment has been spurred by the possibility of legal action. SuperBOLD has given notice that it may file a suit to enforce the Brown Act by ending the council’s lottery system for public comment. This lottery currently denies many people the opportunity to speak on vital community issues. 

Gene Bernardi 

• 

ALBANY CONCERNS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

They’re back. The same cast of characters who brought us Concerned Albany Citizens in 2004 has returned this year as Concerned Albany Neighbors (CAN). Concerned Albany Citizens was a political committee formed for the sole purpose of distributing an attack letter (rather vicious I might add) against two anti-mall Albany City Council candidates in 2004. Concerned Albany Neighbors was formed for the purpose of attacking the Albany Waterfront Protection Initiative and supporting City Council candidates who also oppose it. Whatever the name, the message is the same: Disinformation. Ask the members of CAN who among them hasn’t hosted a Caruso coffee in their home or spoken publicly in favor of waterfront development. 

If they were truly Concerned Albany Neighbors, they would honor the wishes of their 2,400 neighbors who asked to have the Initiative placed on the ballot. Maybe next year they’ll return with a more fitting name, like CAMP, Concerned Albany Mall Proponents, or perhaps SOLD, Stop Opposition from Limiting Development. 

Cheryl Taubenfeld 

Albany  

• 

LAND USE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I’m a flatlands Berkeley homeowner who is a relative newcomer to land-use issues, and after reading about possible changes in Berkeley’s Landmarks Protection Ordinance in recent issues of the Daily Planet I find myself with a couple of questions. 

The LPO, obviously, provides a legal basis for opposing demolition of an existing structure when it can be shown to meet certain criteria. But a good many of the remarks about the LPO which have appeared in the Planet lately seem to be more about blocking certain kinds of development than about actual preservation of what already exists. Can we have an op-ed from a preservationist or two outlining the basic philosophy behind historical landmark preservation? What is it for, how does it work, what’s its value, how can it be balanced with competing interests, like landowners’ needs/rights to use their property for their own purposes? More about that, and less about how much we need it to keep the likes of Patrick Kennedy in check, would be welcome. I don’t think blocking development is the intended purpose of a historic preservation law—let’s talk about what it is supposed to accomplish, and whether the old LPO or the new one or some other one would be best for that. Also about how it affects small property owners, as well as how it works for big developers. 

I like the idea of landmark preservation, but I doubt that the LPO is the right tool for blocking undesired development, and I am afraid that in the long term using it for that will discredit the preservation effort. Things like Julia Morgan’s churches and Bernard Maybeck’s houses need to be protected, but not necessarily every old shingle house—after all, nice looking new buildings that fit into their surroundings are not categorically impossible, and could even be an improvement on old, shabby buildings that have outlived their usefulness. Why can’t we separate the issue of whether to tear down the old from the question of what to erect in its place? 

David Coolidge 

• 

CORRECTION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Daniella Thompson is not correct about the history of the building at 2747 San Pablo Ave. (“Mel’s Drive-In Saw Birth of Civil Rights Movement,” July 7). No Mel’s ever occupied the building at 2747 San Pablo in Berkeley, and no civil rights actions are known to have taken place there. The stories she tells about Mel’s Drive-In and the Civil Rights Movement are compelling, important, and passionate but do not apply to the building in question. 

It appears her mistake comes from an error on the BAHA website. Our research in city building permits, county assessor’s records, Sanborn maps, telephone directories, and in conversations with the architect shows that the building was designed by William Henry Wisheropp, Jr. as an automobile sales office and body repair shop. It was built under a permit issued Nov. 29, 1952 by George Schmidt and W.H. Wisheropp, Sr., builders and developers of commercial property in the east bay, for Joe Donham, a car dealer in Oakland and Berkeley from 1930 to the late 1950s. The building was a car dealership from 1952 to 1956. It was used by the Ridley Company (tool sales) from 1957 to 1962. From 1965 to 1972, it was the Hadnot Liquor Store. From 1973 to 2000, it was Berkeley Equipment Rental. From 2000 to current 2747 San Pablo Avenue is occupied by the Berkeley Patients Group. 

Meanwhile, the first Mel’s Drive-In listed in East Bay telephone books was at 2399 Shattuck Ave. in 1954. In 1955, a second East Bay Mel’s was listed at 1701 San Pablo Ave. in Oakland. In 1962, a third East Bay Mel’s was listed at 501 Park in Alameda. These three locations were the only Mel’s in the East Bay during the 1960s when the civil rights actions took place. 

It is unfortunate that Daniella Thompson used erroneous information to suggest that the city is ignoring a landmark and created concern over history and events that never took place at 2747 San Pablo Ave. For the record, the current proposal for the site is a green mixed-use housing development on a major transit corridor in Berkeley, seeking Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification through the U.S. Green Building Council. This could be the first LEED-certified multifamily residential building in Berkeley—itself something for the history books. 

David M. Mayeri 

Owner/Developer of 2747 San Pablo 

Laura Billings 

Project Manager 

• 

BRONSTEIN’S RESPONSE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In her attack (Letters, July 14) on my “Pro-Business, Pro-Berkeley Agenda” (Commentary, June 30), Mim Hawley writes: “[Zelda’s] rigid guardianship of business quotas has brought sky-high prices for properties holding permits for business that are in high demand, such as restaurants,” thereby “creating the conditions that allow only chains to thrive” in Berkeley.  

Believe me, if I had that kind of power, I wouldn’t bother running for mayor. I do support limits on restaurants in some commercial districts. But, it appears, so did Hawley when she was on the City Council: Twice she joined the current mayor and the rest of the council in unanimously asking the Planning Commission to establish or consider establishing a food service quota system in the Northside commercial district similar to the systems on Solano, College and Telegraph Avenues.  

The council’s nods toward restaurant quotas came in response to the pleas of Northside business owners who were concerned about the proliferation of restaurants in their area. A similar situation led the Solano Avenue Association, the Thousand Oaks Neighborhood Association (TONA) and Berkeley city staff to create the Solano Avenue Commercial Ordinance, approved by the council in 1982. In another wild claim, Hawley says that I “was instrumental” in putting the Solano Avenue law in place. In fact, I had no hand whatsoever in crafting or enacting the ordinance. Indeed, in 1982 I wasn’t even living in Berkeley. 

Here’s why merchants and residents have sought quotas on food services: Commercial landlords prefer restaurant tenants, because restaurants yield higher rents than other sorts of retail. If you want diversified, neighborhood-serving commerce, you need to limit the number of food services permitted in an area. A business can always apply for a variance. If conditions change, the numbers can and should be re-calculated accordingly.  

Finally, contrary to Hawley’s claim, the public record shows that TONA did not oppose La Farine’s application for a food service use permit, either at the Zoning Adjustments Board or at the City Council. The TONA Board only asked that the city enforce the terms of the Solano Avenue ordinance for reasons that, I hope, the above discussion begins to make clear.  

Zelda Bronstein 

• 

WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The recent Israeli military actions in Lebanon are a grossly disproportionate response to the capture of two Israeli soldiers. While the capture of the soldiers was indeed worthy of condemnation, killing scores of innocent Lebanese civilians and destroying critical civilian infrastructure is a completely unjustified and immoral act. As one of Israel’s long time allies and staunchest supporters, I believe the United States has an obligation to speak out about these atrocities. The United States should demand that Israel stop this violent response, and should withdraw our support for the Israeli government should the persist. 

Mr. James von Behren 

EDITOR’S NOTE: We received a number of letters similar to this one. More are on our website. 

• 

CLEAN MONEY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The mayor and four of the city councilmembers betrayed us voters Tuesday night when they voted to not put the Berkeley Clean Money measure on November’s ballot. The clean money organizers, including the League of Women Voters, weren’t asking the City Council to make any tough decisions about clean money. We were asking the council to allow the voters to make the decision—basically, allowing the council to punt.  

I want to congratulate Councilmembers Max Anderson, Darryl Moore, Dona Spring, and Kriss Worthington for voting to give us voters the choice of whether to support clean money in Berkeley this November. By doing so, they stood up for a cleaner local political scene. As Councilmember Moore said during the meeting, the perception of corruption is just as damaging to public decision-making as actual corruption. And ensuring that elected officials are financially beholden solely to the little people who elect them instead of the rich and powerful means that our local democracy will serve us, the people, instead of their largest donors.  

One quick note: Councilmember Olds ridiculed the idea that one $250 contribution from a single big business donor could “buy” a councilmember. Of course, she neglected to mention that the $250 donation is matched by a $250 donation from the donor’s spouse, adult children, business associates, employees, and so on, until that one $250 donation represents thousands of dollars. When Councilmember Capitelli can win an election with $27,000, ten $250 donations suddenly becomes 10 percent of his entire campaign fund. As a former candidate, I know first-hand how relieved I would have been if I had been able to collect 10 percent of my total from one donor! 

Jesse Townley 

• 

MORE ON CLEAN MONEY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

After the City Council again refused last week to place the so-called “Clean Money” initiative on the ballot, we hope public campaign financing is dead for good in Berkeley. It is one of the most wasteful means of reducing the improper impact of money on politics there is. And in an attempt to reduce corruption in elections, public campaign financing only adds to it by using taxes to pay for political campaign publicity that is biased and may be deceptive or even completely false.  

There are other simpler, much more effective, and much less expensive ways of reducing the improper impact of money on local and state politics. That is why we have formed a citizens’ group supporting these more cost-effective alternative reforms and opposing Proposition 89, the public campaign financing initiative on the California ballot this November. We do not accept money from any source, and are not affiliated with any other organizations. We believe good ideas sell themselves. 

We support the following reforms to state and local politics: 

1. Make it illegal for any elected official to take official action specifically affecting any of their large campaign contributors. It should make no difference whether this action is taken before or after the contributions are made, or if the contributions are monetary or in-kind. 

2. Lower campaign contribution limits. 

3. Require all candidates for state and local offices to present their qualifications and positions in a uniform format to voters in the voters’ guides printed and distributed by the Secretary of State and County Registrar of Voters. 

The first two reforms above would cost taxpayers nothing, and would reduce or perhaps eliminate “pay to play” politics.  

The third reform would provide a “level political playing field,” reducing the impact of political advertising by giving voters a more complete and balanced source of information about candidates than is currently available. The cost to the taxpayer depends on how much of the costs of these guides will be paid for by the candidates. In any case, the cost to the candidates will probably be less than they would have to pay for their own publicity in the absence of such guides.  

For a complete statement of our position, and our reasons for opposing Proposition 89, visit our web log at noprop89.blogspot.com. Then please let us know if you support our position by e-mailing us at www.cfspr2006@yahoo.com We promise we will never ask you for money. And we will not put you on a periodic e-mail list or reveal your identity to anyone else without your permission. 

Keith Winnard 

• 

OUT TO LUNCH 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Barbara Gilbert’s op-ed opposing Bush’s impeachment is out to lunch. She revealingly writes that it is “not doable or justifiable.” Excuse me, not justifiable? Bush has gotten us into a bloody, interminable war in Iraq that has made us less safe and has routinely given Israel blank checks to do whatever it pleases, as the current military assault on Lebanon demonstrates.  

I’m sorry, Gilbert, but your crappy local planning issues pale in comparison to the ongoing crimes, foreign and domestic, of the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld axis of evil. If that landmark preservation ordinance hadn’t been so grossly abused they wouldn’t have had to change it.  

Here in Oakland we have the opposite extreme—a development driven mania orchestrated out of City Hall that is now condoizing everything in sight, and this in an already oversaturated market! Our trouble is that we have too many of these “sensible” Perata Machine “centrist” Dummycrats who can’t see beyond their noses, or is it wallets? Hopefully, our incoming Mayor will start to reverse the disastrous policies of Jerry Brown, who is thankfully preparing to leave Oakland. Goodbye and good riddance! Impeach Bush should be on every city council agenda in the U.S.A. 

Michael Hardesty 

Oakland 

• 

DIVORCE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Many young children face the hard consequences of homes broken as a result of divorce or separation. They feel emotionally insecure. They have suddenly lost a space where they are cared for by both parents.  

Young children feel love and warmth for both parents. They don’t understand the reasons for the absence of one parent. When their parents separate many children lose the power to focus and concentrate. They often imitate the insulting language and rough behavior of their fighting parents. They become sad and full of anger. 

In our culture we emphasize fulfillment for the individual partners in a marriage but we do not emphasize the need young children have for a pleasant, peaceful, secure and loving environment. We do not teach partners in a marriage ways of resolving conflicts so that children can continue to count on safety at home.  

Let us parents learn the healthy ways of compromise. Let us learn non-violent ways of resolving differences. Let us bring down the divorce rate for the United States.  

Speaking as a provider of early childhood education I want to say: a divorce or separation is disastrous for children. Young children should be made happy at home. In order to serve the development of children, we should try to educate the parents about the benefit of togetherness and love. 

Romila Khanna 

Albany 

• 

CUT THEM OFF 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Israel is receiving nearly 3 billion of our dollars a year to fund their military. Look what they are doing with it. Israel is using it for airstrikes and targeting civilians!  

Cut them off!  

This raw aggression is inexcusable.  

Cut them off! 

We are paying for these atrocities in more ways than one. I am heartsick by the death of innocent civilians, innocent families, women, children—and I am indirectly funding this? I am outraged! Sickened! 

There IS something that we can do. Cut them off! 

Maybe this will open your ears: There are innocent Americans stuck there who can’t get out—children who’ve never heard bombs before in their life, in fear of their own lives now who can’t get back home. 

This loathsome Administration could care less. 

Congress has the power to stop the flow of money funding this nightmare. 

Cut them off! 

Mrs. Jennifer Brass 

• 

AGRESSION OR TERRORISM? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Hezbollah is not the nation of Lebanon or the Lebanese people, just as the terrorists who orchestrated and executed 9/11 were not the nation of Afghanistan or the nation of Iraq. However, it seems, after an attack, both the United States and Israel, who have the most powerful armies in the world, can blindly “counterattack” whomever they want to, violate UN treaties and not give a damn about civilians. It’s amazing how much U.S. and Israeli aggression parallels terrorism. 

Wendianne Eller 

Oakland 

• 

A GROSSLY  

DISPROPORTIONATE RESPONSE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The recent Israeli military actions in Lebanon are a grossly disproportionate response to the capture of two Israeli soldiers. While the capture of the soldiers was indeed worthy of condemnation, killing scores of innocent Lebanese civilians and destroying critical civilian infrastructure is a completely unjustified and immoral act. 

As one of Israel’s long-time allies and staunchest supporters, I believe the United States has an obligation to speak out about these atrocities. The United States should demand that Israel stop this violent response, and should withdraw its support for the Israeli government should they persist. 

James von Behren 

• 

GENOCIDAL CAMPAIGN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Stop Israel genocidal campaign in the Middle East. This “God-chosen” people have become, with the help of our tax money, their own worst enemy. 

Stop the Bush administration support and perpetration of genocide in the Arab world now. 

Peace, 

Jose Francos 

Oakland 

• 

IT NEEDS TO BE STOPPED 

The Israeli government has totally given more punishment than the kidnapping warranted. Israel’s policy seems to be to kill all Arabs, including women and children, that live anywhere near their borders. This needs to be stopped!! 

Dan Regan 

Alameda 

• 

STOP THE WAR THERE AND HERE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Please call or write Congress immediately and demand that we do something non-violent and peaceful to stop Israel’s bombing of civilians!  

We need to demand that Israel and all other aggressors stop bombing now or else we will cut off all military aid to Israel. Our tax dollars and suicidal governmental policies are responsible for feeding Israel’s giant military machine.  

Please note, that there are many Israeli, as well as Palestinians and many others, who are sick and tired of this war, and desire only peace. We might as well end the Israel vs. Palestine war in these Berkeley Daily Planet op-ed pages, too! 

Linda Smith

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). 

I should mention that for years I’ve been actively participating—through countless memos and otherwise—in the extremely tortuous process through which citizens and city agencies have been debating how, and whether, the LPO should be changed.  

Deadlines for landmarking where there’s a pending project 

Scrutiny of the LPO started back in 2000 when then-City Manager James Keene proposed a batch of changes touted mostly as removing alleged conflicts with the Permit Streamlining Act (PSA) and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in situations where an application is filed for development on a property that hasn’t been landmarked. 

For such purported conflicts, the remedy now before the council involves what the staff calls “front-loading” and the imposition of deadlines for any initiation of the affected property. (“Initiation” is done by citizen or owner petition or by resolution of the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) or other authorized city body and merely commences a formal process through which the LPC decides whether to actually landmark a property.) Imposing these deadlines for initiation represents a major change from the old LPO. 

The revised LPO says that upon filing of any application for a use permit, administrative use permit, variance, or staff-level design review—and without waiting for the application to be “complete”—notice of it must be placed on the agenda of the LPC’s first regular meeting that occurs at least 21 days after the filing. Either at that meeting or its next regular one, the LPC can initiate the property. Citizens can initiate it by petition only till 21 days after the second meeting. Then what the staff has called a “safe harbor” period begins during which initiating is prohibited. This ban lasts until the project application is withdrawn or denied, the project permit is issued but later ceases to have effect, or (if earlier) two years have gone by.  

Staff and other advocates of the deadlines have argued that CEQA requires determining a project’s level of environmental review (exempt vs. negative declaration vs. environmental impact report) within 30 days after the project application is complete; that potential impact on a historic resource is critical to this determination; and that if redetermining is needed because such an impact gets implied through a landmarking initiation late in the game, this could cause the city to violate the Permit Streamlining Act. But preservationists have responded that the PSA’s timelines only begin when relevant CEQA determinations are made and that CEQA is flexible enough to let those determinations be changed if necessary. They’ve also pointed out that because in practice some applications aren’t technically complete till many months after filing, the deadlines for initiating could actually fall well before the above-mentioned 30-day period within which the level of environmental review must be determined under CEQA. 

Staff have contended that even if neither the LPC nor anyone else has initiated a property by the deadline, people could still influence the CEQA determination by later bringing up new information showing potential impact on a historic resource. But people trying to do so could find the deck stacked against them. Preservationists have argued that initiation of landmarking is citizens’ best shot at influencing the level of environmental review.  

“Request for Determination” 

Another highly controversial feature of the revised LPO is its brand-new “Request for Determination” (RFD) procedure whereby an owner or agent thereof can ask the LPC to decide whether or not a property should be initiated. This apparently involves paying the city either for a city-selected qualified consultant to prepare a report or for such a consultant to review the owner or agent’s own report. The LPC must hold an extensively noticed public hearing at its first regular meeting that occurs at least 21 days after the complete RFD is submitted. The LPC can initiate the property either at that meeting or the next one. Citizens can initiate it only till 30 days after the second meeting (or 21 days in cases where a development project is pending). If nobody does, then initiation is banned for at least two years.  

Though some procedural details vary depending on whether or not there’s also a pending project, most RFDs will likely be submitted and processed in advance of any project application. It can also be assumed that most owners who invoke this procedure won’t want their properties to get landmarked. 

Advocates of the RFD concept have argued that it lets owners find out whether or not their properties are historic before they decide to develop and to pay architects to draw up plans. They’ve also claimed that the procedure will help channel development away from historic sites, or at least give citizens an advance warning of where development may occur. But preservationists have called the RFD highly insidious because it exploits the reality that people usually don’t rally to defend a historic resource unless there’s a tangible development proposal threatening it. They’ve argued that where there’s no pending project, the early deadline for initiating is quite unnecessary. And they fear that neighborhood residents and lay preservationists will be severely disadvantaged by the combination of that deadline and the potentially arduous task of rebutting conclusions of the paid consultants that the procedure emphasizes. 

Structures of merit — and historic integrity 

Although the LPO’s present “structure of merit” category has been under heavy attack during the last couple of years, it has survived largely intact. 

The most notable change is that the revised LPO specifically says that structures of merit must have historic “integrity.” It also requires this for its “landmarks” category. Advocates of requiring integrity have said that doing so is consistent with standard preservation practice and that the concept itself is flexible enough to accept buildings that have to a reasonable degree been altered. But some preservationists fear that an unnecessarily pristine intactness may come to be demanded. They’ve suggested that at least for structures of merit, “local” standards of integrity should suffice. While one sentence in the revised LPO seems to imply that such local standards may be desirable, establishing them would require a future ordinance amendment.  

Landmark demolitions and alterations  

The old LPO authorizes the LPC to “suspend” for certain periods a proposed demolition of a designated property but not to actually deny such demolition. In contrast the revised LPO omits the authority to suspend but firmly gives the LPC power to deny demolition.  

The revised LPO’s criteria for reviewing proposed demolitions or alterations of a designated property involve a reorganizing and restatement of the old LPO’s criteria. On balance, the result is somewhat more protective of historic resources. This April, preservationists were alarmed by a proposal that any demolition or alteration could be OK’d if “The proposed project is necessary to achieve an important public policy and the expected benefit of the project to the public substantially outweighs” the impact on the historic resource. But that sweeping recommendation was later withdrawn. There can still be some weighing against a project’s “public benefits” but only in the presumably rare cases where a property’s historic or similar significance “has been severely reduced due to physical change on it occurring since the property was designated.”  

Miscellaneous changes 

The revised LPO adds provisions about environmental review. Where the Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) has regulatory power over a project, the LPC may recommend to ZAB what the project’s level of environmental review should be—in which event ZAB must either accept the LPC’s recommendation or make written findings supporting its decision not to. 

The revised LPO makes numerous other, mostly technical or noncontroversial changes. One of them is prescribing qualifications for LPC members. Another is reducing from 50 to 25 the required number of names on a citizens’ petition to initiate landmarking.  

Environmental review of the LPO 

revision itself 

Contending that none of the proposed ordinance changes could have a significant environmental impact, the staff issued this spring a draft negative declaration on the proposed LPO revision. Though some of the then-proposed specifics have subsequently changed, staff claims that the negative declaration was broad enough to cover them. However, many preservationists and others strongly disagree. They believe that the LPO revision could indeed substantially impact historic resources—and therefore requires an environmental impact report.  

Long-time Berkeley resident John English is an ardent aficionado of planning and preservation.  

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. 

Through the nationwide action of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in this Bush era, the standards for low-income housing are changing accordingly, so that soon the lower class will be too poor to be eligible for “affordable housing.” This will create more available housing for the crumbling middle class, which they certainly deserve.  

But has anyone asked what happens to the lower ranks that are being pushed off the totem pole entirely? Does anyone seriously challenge the super rich at the other end of the spectrum and their hiding and hoarding of the nation’s wealth? 

Recently the mayor of my city is said to have commented that the neighborhood I live in is “blighted” and therefore subject to radical transformation, including the powers of eminent domain, to support the slipping middle class and provide them a safety net. But I have heard no plan whatsoever for the displaced persons who will thereby lose their housing—the former lower class now going under. 

I was walking the other day in a richer part of my city. It was lovely. There were big beautiful houses everywhere. Suddenly I wondered, how many people live in those big houses? How many empty rooms are rattling around up there unused? Is this not also a kind of blight? An unwise non-use of resources? 

Here, on one end, people are being shoved into some urban hinterland, dirty, dangerous, undignified. And on the other end, people have wealth that is basically superfluous. 

Remember that old concept of humankind—human kindness and compassion? Are we not still on this strange and mysterious home Planet Earth together? Are we not all equally her children? Are we not all equal at heart? What happened to noblesse oblige? Do we not have a simple ethical obligation to include everyone in our purview, in our planning? 

Being myself part of this lower class rapidly going under, I am not personally asking for untold wealth. I am not asking for three mansions on three continents. I just want an adequate living space in a safe and decent environment. 

The American medical system is already all but lost in this mad chaos of redistribution of wealth upward. If you take our housing too, small and shabby though some of it might be, we won’t even have a place where we can go to rest and heal, 

For city planners to plunge into fancy strategies for increasing the tax base without raiseing taxes on the mega-rich is insanity pure and simple. It necessarily demands exiling the lower classes. Demonize them first, call their neighborhoods “blighted,” and chase them off. But off to where? That’s the big question no one is asking. Where is this new underclass supposed to go?  

Frances Hailman, Ph.D, is a Berkeley resident.

ARTISTS’ RETREAT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thanks to John Parman for his July 11 reply to my July 7 letter on West Berkeley artists/artisans. But I’m just a gadfly, not an organizer. I can, however, offer a possible suggestion for anyone who might have state connections (Loni Hancock?) and an interest in the issue. In my hikes around Angel Island I have often thought that the clusters of residential housing that appear to be kept in good repair could be refurbished and made quake-safe as retreats for artists or writers who need low-cost seclusion. If someone can make this happen, I’ll add my $500 to the pot.  

Jerry Landis 

• 

CODY’S 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Upper Telegraph belongs to the students. Is it possible Cody’s closed because the students are not interested? Can’t Cody’s “bemoaners” now go to Fourth Street? Maybe that’s the rub! Are the old guard Cody folks less bothered by street people than by looking at themselves reflected in the windows of affluence? 

Jim Hite 

Point Richmond 

• 

OTHER LANDMARKS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Landmarks, community landmarks, about which I have heard decades of well-reasoned and supportive comment, are not all visual. 

Some are activities, like the friendly, vivid, social mixtures around food markets, children trudging or scampering to school, the endlessly renewed display of expert basketball at Live Oak Park, or—this is Berkeley—the topical exchanges in coffeeshops on divorce or Sanskrit. 

Some are sounds. The noon whistle, the campanile bells, and preeminently, the sonorous, melancholy, beautifully modulated “whistle” of the passing train. All over the world this same, dynamic, resonant emergence, presence, dwindling away, fitting metaphor for a journey—anywhere. Unchanging, literally, for centuries. And incidentally, the safest, cheapest, least destructive instrument of collective transit yet devised. 

A quarter near the railroad yards became a fashionable neighborhood in London.  

Living on a car-choked street or busy highway is next to intolerable. 

Viva trains! Viva the wondrous landmark of the train: its whistle! 

Ariel Parkinson 

• 

SECOND-HAND SMOKE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I notice that members of the Health Care staff as well as visitors and delivery people light up right outside the Rehab Center in Berkeley. All of us know that second hand smoke is bad for our vital organs, especially for those of us who are ailing and elderly. The ailing are at the Rehab Center to heal. It is surprising to me that various workers and visitors at the facility forget to be generous to the ailing people. I would like to know how the spirit of caring for others can reach those who are addicted to cigarette smoking.  

Romila Khanna 

Albany 

• 

UNIONS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Poor Dave Blake (Commentary, June 13)! 

He wants us to face up to the dreadful fact that our beloved Berkeley Bowl is not a pro-union business. He seems to assume that to be a Bowl lover somehow makes one a union lover!? Many people in Berkeley who both eat, drink, and shop at the Bowl couldn’t care less about unions or even loathe them and would never consider joining or supporting one! More later on my brief membership in the railroad workers union.  

Both Whole Foods and McDonald’s and I think lots of other folks in the food business in Berkeley are quite opposed to union and have fought them off. Seems to me that the Bowl should be allowed to relate to unions free of local city interference. Let the unions battle Wal-Mart and Whole Foods, etc. and leave single excellent stores the hell alone—especially those that pay better than union wages.  

This somehow reminds me of my student days in Berkeley when the Sandal Shop on Telegraph Avenue was picketed and it had two employees. At this time I was working part-time for the Santa Fe Railroad in Richmond which was a very benevolent employer with a huge work force it didn’t need and was also Jim Crow all the way. I was fired because I used the black guys’ restroom and ate lunch with them twice. I wonder if Dave Blake was picketing the sandal shop? The year was 1961, I think.  

Over to you, Dave! 

Phil Wood 

• 

ALLSTON HOUSE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I’d like to add some perspective to Suzanne La Barre’s article about Allston House. While the author did provide a few balancing quotes, she unfairly depicted Affordable Housing Associates as the source of the problems at the apartment building, rather than an organization working towards solutions. No one who has spent any substantial amount of time with AHA staff members can doubt that they are caring, competent, and dedicated to improving the lives of their tenants. During my graduate fellowship with AHA, I heard several conversations about Allston House—staff members knew they faced an uphill battle in renovating a building that had suffered from years of neglect under previous ownership, but they were committed to making things better. AHA further showed its commitment to tenant safety and satisfaction by commissioning me to do an objective resident survey and learn what was working and what could be improved. I surveyed more than 80 households and personally interviewed 16 families living in AHA-managed properties (including Shattuck Senior Homes, mentioned in the article). Of course there were concerns about maintenance and safety—I can’t imagine that any urban apartment building is completely free of such issues. But for the most part, tenant complaints were focused on problems largely out of the property manager’s control and were outweighed by their overall satisfaction. The great majority of residents who gave me feedback were pleased with their apartments and AHA’s management. 

Allston House tenants’ legitimate concerns should of course be heard and addressed by AHA and the city. But to focus on AHA’s management as the primary problem does a disservice to all of the organizations that, with limited resources and staff, work to alleviate the affordable housing crisis in the Bay Area. One reason that affordable housing is so difficult to build in Berkeley is because NIMBY neighbors believe it will be poorly managed or will drive down property values. In most cases, this is simply a stereotype—one only has to pass by AHA’s renovated properties along Ashby Avenue or its new buildings in central Berkeley and Oakland to see how affordable housing enhances the neighborhood. I was disappointed that La Barre used her story to make AHA’s job harder, rather than making the important point that non-profit developers need more support, and that broader efforts in community improvement and crime reduction must go hand-in-hand with housing development.  

Gloria Bruce 

Oakland 

• 

ALLSTON HOUSE  

MAINTENANCE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As the maintenance staff of Allston House, I need to respond to the article “Allston House Tenants Object To Foul Living Conditions.” The article suggests that new paint and carpet as mentioned in the article published in the San Francisco Chronicle last October was not present in the units inhabited by the families displaced by the hurricanes. It goes on, calling into question the whether the building is being maintained properly, citing instances of typical maintenance issues that would occur in a forty year old building, incidences of crime, and general upkeep. Left to the imagination of the reader, one might believe that the residents at Allston House Apartments are living in a rat and sewage infested tenement with drug dealers at every corner. 

Being responsible for the maintenance at Allston House, it is my integrity that is being called into question here, so let me set the record straight. Upon taking over the maintenance of Allston House in February of 2005, there have been substantial changes to the upkeep of the property. I have installed security lighting around the entire perimeter, secured and re-keyed the entry gates twice over the past year. The property has been cited and posted as private property making it easier to enforce trespassing. In conjunction with security cameras, the criminal activity at Allston House has declined in comparison to the past several years. As an editor I trust you would call these stats into question before printing it. 

Of the eight units rehabilitated for hurricane evacuees, seven were given new carpet. All of the units received new paint. Four received granite countertops, kitchen sinks and fixtures. Most received brand new appliances, the ones that didn’t, had appliances that were in excellent condition. In addition, our partners at Rebuilding Together and Prospect Sierra also provided beautiful furniture and households items for all the families. 

Of the 14 houses that surround Allston House, I see comments from only one to support your articles claims of increased crime. Could you not get comments from the other thirteen, many of whom I know have witness a positive change? You quote one tenant saying, “There need to be more security cameras, more vigilance with known drug dealers, better locks, better gates and brighter lights.” There is a security camera at every entrance to the building. No one come or goes without our ability to see who it is. There is a point when security cameras become an infringement to our personal privacy, must we take it there? Furthermore, the reporter came to the property, in no instance does she site proof the claims of poor security, or presence of drug dealers. 

It is true, Allston House has been plagued with many problems. However today, most of those problems no longer exist. The ones that do, are either being addressed in the rehabilitation beginning this summer, or are a bigger problem of the community within the surrounding neighborhood. For the record, I am proud of the work that I have done, alongside my co-workers at AHA to dramatically and continuously improve the conditions at Allston House. 

Edward Grylich 

Affordable Housing Associates  

Maintenance Staff 

• 

AHA’S ROLE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As the executive director of Affordable Housing Associates (AHA), I wanted to take this opportunity to provide your readers with more detailed information and some additional context about AHA‘s role with Allston House. 

AHA took over the management of the property in October 2004. Many of the problems that were discussed in your article were the result of over 20 years of mismanagement or neglect by the previous landlords. When approached to lease, manage and eventually own the property, AHA saw the potential to improve the lives of the residents and neighbors of the property. Our staff has worked tirelessly over the past year and half to dramatically improve both the physical conditions as well as the security of the building. 

In general, the article cites two major problems with AHA’s management: maintenance problems and crime. On maintenance—AHA staff takes our job very seriously and has very clear policies and procedures in place to handle all repair issues. As stated in the article, we have already invested over $120,000 in repairing and maintaining the building and have a comprehensive rehabilitation scope planned and funded to begin in the fall. While Ms. LaBarre found two tenants who were unsatisfied with our maintenance work, had she asked any of the other 46 families, she would have had to write a different article. All of the repair issues she describes in her article (sewer problems, back up kitchen sink) were regular maintenance issues which were handled promptly and effectively by our skilled maintenance staff. 

On security, Ms. LaBarre chooses not to interview the many residents, community members who have joined together with AHA to improve the safety and security of the building. She chose not to include in her article that the three households causing the majority of the security problems have been removed from the building as a result of AHA’s management. She chose not to mention that prior to AHAs’ management, there were no security cameras or other security measures. She also chose to dismiss the police officer’s positive testimony because they did not have supporting data at the time she called. 

AHA is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating affordable housing opportunities for low-income community members. Our staff takes their responsibilities seriously and come to their jobs each day with the purpose of improving people’s lives. 

Susan Friedland 

Executive Director 

Affordable Housing Associates 

• 

IN FAVOR OF PEET’S 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

We are writing on behalf of the staff at Moe’s Books, located half a block away from the proposed location of a new Peet’s coffee shop at Dwight and Telegraph Avenue. We would like unanimously, unequivocally, and uproariously to voice in support of Peet’s. Whoever opposes the Peet’s application has no idea about the extremity of the deteriorating conditions of Telegraph Avenue, which a Peet’s could only benefit. A new Peet’s in this vicinity would help in the following ways: 

1) It would encourage walking traffic, which typically peters out at Telegraph and Haste, to continue on to Dwight Avenue, directly past Moe’s and Shakespeare and Co., the two remaining bookstores on Telegraph in Berkeley.  

2) It would enliven this neighborhood in a more general way, encouraging students and others to hang out in a safer environment. 

3) It could entice other vibrant businesses into the area. 

4) It would provide shoppers a favorite place to buy their coffee. People love Peet’s coffee, including us! The two other nearby coffee places do not sell their coffee in bulk; indeed, one is primarily a restaurant, and the other is a place no student has stepped foot into in the past two decades. Which reminds us, because Peet’s sells bags of coffee and coffee merchandise, it is absurd to call it a “fast-food establishment,” as some people seem to think it represents. 

5) Lastly but crucially, Peet’s is a successful homegrown Berkeley business, a critical point to make two days after Cody’s has closed its Telegraph doors for good. 

We encourage those opposed to putting a Peet’s here to come spend a few hours on our block. The experience could only change their minds. 

Sincerely, 

Moe’s Staff 

EDITOR’S NOTE: We received two more letters from Telegraph Avenue business owners in support of Peet’s. To read letters from Reprint Mint and Annapurna, see our website: www.berkeleydailyplanet.com. 

• 

OUT WITH MAIO 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Linda Maio needs to be voted out of office this fall.  

We need to find a clean, green candidate to replace a woman who just can’t seem to get environmental justice for her own district. We need a candidate that isn’t pandering to the dirty union hands at Pacific Steel Casting—and asleep at the pro-development wheel with old man Bates. We need Linda out.  

I will give my time and money to such a vision and campaign but it won’t be easy. Maio has a head-lock on all of the players in West Berkeley—even environmental groups, like the Sierra Club, think she’s doing a great job. Did you know that Maio is priming for mayor already? What a thought!  

John Hawkridge is lamenting about his toxic life from Hopkins Street these days. He’s complained, written to newspapers, written to Maio, Mayors Dean and Bates (who never acknowledged any of his e-mails), the EPA (who pointed him back to BAAQMD). Nothing has been done. Nothing is being done. The smells are getting much, much worse. 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Nothing is done. He says that his lungs feel like they are coated with this stuff. The smell soaks into his furniture and curtains and hangs in his home. Something needs to be done immediately. This 24/7 destruction of our health and environment is just not acceptable.  

He is not alone. 

Are you gonna run against this madness for John? For the children choking on PSC asthma? Or just sit on your couch and wonder what silly corporate-fueled agenda Linda Maio is (still) pushing on us now?  

Run for District 1 City Council. Most of us are ripe for the strike. 

Willi Paul 

• 

BRONSTEIN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Although I dislike prolonging the Zelda controversies, I want to point out that Zelda Bronstein’s commentary “A Pro-Business, Pro-Berkeley Agenda,” and the letter she wrote in self-support, prove she has a remarkable facility for scatter-shot, fact-free, history-defying attacks on anyone caught in the glare of her displeasure. 

It’s useful to look at the real-life results of the policies Ms. Bronstein promotes. For instance, her rigid guardianship of business quotas has brought sky-high prices for properties holding permits for business that are in high demand, such as restaurants. The result? Only prosperous chains can afford to open businesses in many locations in Berkeley. Zelda, of course, does not favor chains, but she’s creating the conditions that allow only chains to thrive. And she’s laying the groundwork for future controversies that will guarantee that her name will continue in the news. 

The strict business quotas Zelda was instrumental in placing into law for Solano Avenue kept La Farine from opening there for weeks and months. Most people in the Thousand Oaks neighborhood which Zelda, as chair of the neighborhood association claimed to represent, were told at Association meetings: “Oh, we don’t vote here,” by the authoritarian chair. But in the face of a noisy revolt, members were allowed a vote and the policy of opposition La Farine was voted down. The result? Zelda continued to assert that the neighborhood association opposed the opening of La Farine. The lesson? One shouldn’t expect “open government” with Ms. Bronstein at the helm.  

The moral of the story, for me, is that a vote for Tom Bates will be a vote for a continued search for inclusiveness, for thoughtful consideration of all facets of proposed policies, and for a determination to address the needs of all of Berkeley residents. An added plus—he favors the right to vote.  

Mim Hawley 

• 

YMCA 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thank you for Riya Bahattacharjee’s excellent May 30 article on the problems at the downtown Berkeley YMCA. I’m a disabled man who was a member there for over three years, until March 15 this year. I was then “priced out” of the YMCA; the reduced rate offered me by the Financial Assistance Department was more than I could afford on a “poverty level” Social Security check.  

Like Kate Bernd Barnett, another disabled YMCA member mentioned in the article, I encountered many problems at the YMCA. May Cotton, a former lifeguard at the YMCA, who was very helpful to me and other disabled members, suggested I join the Facilities Committee to advocate for disability issues. 

I asked YMCA director, Peter Chong, if I could join the Facilities Committee. Mr. Chong’s response to me was similar to his response to Ms. Barnett. She wanted to form a committee of disabled members to advocates for disability issues, and was told she could only make suggestions. Mr. Chong said I should write him if I has disability problems. 

But I wrote three letters on disability problems to him this year, and got no response whatsoever. To Mr. Chong’s credit, he was sympathetic and helpful to me when a husky 6’3” man harassed me because of my disability in the locker room, 

In contrast, former director Fran Gallatti implemented several of my suggestions, especially the designation of one convenient areas of the Men’s Locker Room as a priority space for people with disabilities. 

My biggest problem with the YMCA is the lack of “pay-per-visit” type of membership. I am a wheelchair user with multiple disabilities, and cancer. My disabilities are such that I can only get to the YMCA once or twice an month, or three times a month at most. 

An able-bodied member of the YMCA coming three ties a week for standard dues of $62, would only pay about $4.75 per visit. The financial assistance staff offered me reduced dues of $36.58 per month. Coming three times a month, for reduced dues of $36.58, I would pay $12.19 per visit. 

As a person with disabilities, I would pay almost three times as much per visit as an able-bodied person. That’s very unfair. I consider that a violation of the Federal Americans with Disabilities Act. 

Many people can come more often than three times a week. Front desk personnel at the YMCA have told me that membership fees assume that a person could come to the YMCA every day of the month. A person coming every day would pay about $2 per visit. 

In December, 2005, I did not make it to the YMCA one single time. YMCA dues are non-refundable, so my “dues” were actually a “charitable contribution” to the YMCA. Despite shortcomings of the YMCA, I think the YMCA is basically a good institution. On a “poverty level” income I cannot afford to pay for something I don’t get. 

When Mr. Chong phoned me about my harassment incident, I told him I couldn’t afford the rate offered by the Financial Assistance Department. He said he would review my financial assistance application, but again Mr. Chong made no response. 

The Berkeley Downtown YMCA seems to ignore issues of discrimination against people with disabilities. 

Tom Ross 

• 

LANDMARKS ORDINANCE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

During the “building” of the new landmarks ordinance that will soon be adopted by the City Council, some preservationist concern focused on one innovation: the proposed “request for determination” (RFD) process by which a property owner can obtain a neutral landmarks evaluation from the LPC without first filing a building permit application. Though the outcome of that process could be designation of the property as a landmark or structure of merit, in almost all cases an RFD applicant will be supporting a case that the property does not qualify for designation—and if the LPC agrees gaining a two year “safe harbor” period during which landmarking could not be revisited. This would allow the owner time to decide if any development project should be undertaken—more likely if the property is found not to qualify for historic status—and to develop and file actual plans. The advance knowledge gained by an RFC would prevent some permit applications involving newly-designated properties—saving property owners the expense of developing a more questionable application and saving preservationists the grief of having to oppose an unwanted project. 

Given the owner’s motivation, however, preservation activists were concerned that an applicant could simply “low ball” the application—intentionally submit less than complete information and require neighbors to take on an unfair burden to do independent research on the property. That potential loophole has, we hope, been closed in the last iteration by requiring an RFD applicant to pay for the city to obtain an “expert assessment” by a pre-approved consultant—much like an EIR is developed today. And one likely change in the often-bitter developer-vs-neighbor dynamic has gotten little attention. Property owners who decide to go the RFD route will be “sticking their heads up”—giving the neighborhood an early warning that some project may later be contemplated for the site. Since neighbors and owners will likely meet during the RFD process before the Landmarks Preservation Commission, that creates an incentive to start a neighborhood dialog very early in the potential development process, rather than meeting more confrontationally only after a permit application is filed. Such early discussions are likely to generate projects more in keeping with neighborhood sensitivities, and perhaps even to forestall some genuinely negative developments. 

Though it’s taken the city over six years to get here, the new LPO now contains several such hard-won compromises between the interests of property owners and the interests of neighbors and ardent preservationists. The new law should encourage more LPC neutrality on the desirability of development in general, less politicizing of the designation process, and—we all now hope—greater success in preserving our important historic resources. 

Alan Tobey 

• 

RON SULLIVAN 

Just a note to let you know how thoroughly I enjoy Ron Sullivan’s gardening and nature articles. Not only is the content invariably interesting, her prose is outstanding—always gracefully literate, sometimes clever and amusing, often verging on the poetic (examples of all are in the Douglas-fir article in the June 27 edition). I often find myself wondering how she can write so well so consistently with such obviously tight deadlines. By the way, I went back and re-read her series of articles on the best, most useful gardening tools available, and as I, too, have purchased many such tools at Hida Japanese Tools on San Pablo, I think her characterization of some of their wonderful tools as “esoteric, obscure, clever, or kinky” is perfectly fair, not racist, as a previous letter writer claimed. Bottom line, did it offend the Hida owners or staff? As for cleaning and polishing my tools in a bucket of oily sand as she suggests, it sounds like a great idea, but I probably won’t get around to it. When I lived in Japan there was a saying, “Dirt is the mark of your love of the tool,” and while I know that doesn’t mean you ought to let them rust, I do use it to sooth myself in the face of congenital procrastination and inevitable wear and tear. Anyway, thanks for giving us the opportunity to regularly read Ron Sullivan’s entertaining, informative and ecologically sound articles.  

Jessie West 

• 

PACIFIC STEEL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thank you for your continued coverage of the Pacific Steel Casting Company issue. With regard to the sustained letter-writing in your paper concerning Pacific Steel, the West Berkeley Alliance for Clean Air and Safe Jobs reiterates three important points that seem to get lost in the discussion:  

• Pacific Steel can and should begin comprehensive Toxic Use Reduction (TUR) of all toxics and allow installation of publicly readable Continuous Emissions Monitoring (CEM) technology that shows exactly what comes out of the facility.  

• Pacific Steel’s union jobs are important in west Berkeley and should not be endangered. 

• Pacific Steel is responsible for protecting both its workers’ health and the community’s air quality and health. A few letter writers seem unaware of the possibility that Pacific Steel could use TUR and CEM solutions. The same writers, who are justifiably frustrated, have suggested that the foundry be driven out of town or shut down. These extreme suggestions are destructive to our local industrial economy, would export the pollution production to another unsuspecting community (likely a poor community), and would target many working class people of color with the loss of union jobs. Berkeley’s dedication to social justice should restrain such extreme action. 

There is still the potential for maintaining local union jobs and cleaning the air. Pacific Steel’s owners have failed to adopt adequate measures to insure clean air and safe jobs. With sufficient pressure from government and a change in Pacific Steel’s policy, workers, residents, schoolchildren, pregnant women, babies, elders, environmentally sensitive folks and visitors in affected areas of the East Bay could enjoy clean air and safe jobs. The Alliance is distressed because, without sufficient and immediate reduction of pollution (both odorous and toxic) Pacific Steel, the City of Berkeley, and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District will provoke more frustrated community members to push for the relocation or closure of Pacific Steel. 

Janice Schroeder 

West Berkeley Alliance for Clean Air and Safe Jobs 

• 

DADDY PAYS THE BILLS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Guess who’s going to pay the cost of rebuilding the Gaza electricity plant that the Israelis bombed? We, the U.S. taxpayers, will be paying it because the power station was insured by a U.S. government agency, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz (July 2, 2006). Well, that’s what daddies are for—to pay the bill when junior goes out and breaks windows. Or, maybe it’s about time we Americans wake up to the fact that we’re supporting a full blown, hardcore juvenile delinquent. 

Daniel Borgström 

Oakland 

• 

PET PEEVE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Here’s a raging pet peeve ive had for years now. When people on TV or radio say: “ya-know,” or “youknowwhatimsayin’,” it indicates that they are confessing to being incapable of expressing what they mean. Therefore, we should respond loudly: No, we dont know! Tell us or quit talking until you can!” It’s all part of the insidious (I’m exagerating) plan to dumb down American.....ya-knowwhatimsayin’?  

Robert Blau  

GAIA BUILDING SAGA 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was particularly troubled with one paragraph of the article written about the Gaia Building, where behavior is incorrectly attributed to me. The article states at the last paragraph on the first page: “Kennedy, the owners of the catering company and de Leon were able to craft the uneasy compromise that exists today, with de Leon in control of part of the ground floor and Glass Onion catering owners Gloria and Tom Atherstone in control of the two-floor cultural space.” This so-called “compromise” is utter fabrication. I have never crafted anything with Mr. Kennedy. His attorney crafted the lease which I modified and we both signed in January of 2004. I am a tenant of Panoramic Interests, paying market rent. My business comprises only 15 percent of the Gaia commercial space. 

Almost four years ago, when I was introduced to the owners of the Glass Onion by Mr. Kennedy, at a meeting that included Reed Martin, a co-owner of the Gaia, I made clear my unwillingness to form any agreement with them within a half-hour and left. A few days after the meeting, I brought them a copy of the Gaia Use Permit describing the necessity for cultural use in the belief that they might be unaware of the central condition of the use of the ground floors. Mr. Kennedy informed me in July 2005 that Glass Onion Catering had become the other commercial tenant in the Gaia Building about two months after I had already opened for business. 

I first complained about their sales of alcoholic beverages in the fall of 2005 since they did not have and still do not have a license to sell and people holding glasses of wine have come into my space. A check with the public records of the ABC website can confirm their lack of license. My central complaint centers around their primary use of the facility as a private dining hall/party venue rather than as the cultural facility for which Mr. Kennedy was given the two extra floors of revenue producing apartments. 

Clarification regarding cultural use: The Marsh Theater would be a perfect tenant for the theater space, especially since Mr. Kennedy, in his use permit application letter, promised the city a theater tenant with weekend use. Instead, he has rented the theater and mezzanine to a catering company which allows the Marsh only Wednesday and Thursday use, and one month of weekends a year. The Marsh has informed both the city and Mr. Kennedy, in writing, that they want to rent the space to use the theater for all weekends so they can mount a genuine theater season. They have made clear that only Wednesdays and Thursdays, with only a few weekends, is unworkable. Thus far, Mr. Kennedy will not lease the theater to the Marsh. A catering company, with high end private parties, is more profitable for him. If the City Council does not now simply require the cultural use the Use Permit requires, they will have effectively evicted the Marsh. 

Anna de Leon 

Anna’s Jazz Island

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following letters appear only on our website. 

• 

IN FAVOR OF PEET’S  

ON TELEGRAPH 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As the owner and managers of the Reprint Mint, a business that has shared the same block of Telegraph for over 40 years with Moe’s and the late lamented Cody’s, we wish to voice our strong support for a Peet’s Coffee at the corner of Dwight and Telegraph. 

Peet’s is a well-run, established, local company with a large following and would immediately attract customers to the Avenue. The economic benefits would start the day it opened. With any luck it could anchor our end of Telegraph and help fill the void left by the loss of Cody’s. 

The proposed site size seems appropriate when retail sales of coffee beans, ground coffee and tea as well as related accessories are taken into account. The special circumstances necessary to warrant a zoning variance might well be reversing a very real downward spiral on Telegraph. 

While the zoning quotas are well intentioned, the reality is that they have led to a proliferation of tattoo parlors, schlock-shops and many empty store fronts. 

We strongly advocate and support Peets on Telegraph at Dwight. 

Craig Altes, owner 

Sabina McMurtry, manager 

Lisa VonStauffenberg, manager 

Reprint Mint 

2484 Telegraph Ave. 

• 

ALSO IN FAVOR OF PEET’S  

ON TELEGRAPH 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

We totally endorse this new business getting permit approval.  

It will be a great addition improving the image of the Telegraph area substantially. I believe It will attract many new patrons to this very depressed shopping district with its great following and the fact it is a business that has it roots in North Berkeley.  

This is a special situation in that Peet’s brand and quality will bring the upscale customers to help Telegraph’s recovery in a way other quick service restaurants could not. 

Al Geyer 

Annapurna 

2416 Telegraph Ave. 

• 

THE CLOSURE OF  

CODY’S BOOKS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

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

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

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

Much has been made of blaming the street people for the myriad of Telegraph Avenue woes. There’s no question that there are some obnoxious, dysfunctional, and even dangerous street people up there (I’ve probably been one of them on a bad day, what the fuck). But I think this has been way over-blown, simply because the streets of Telegraph are packed with more people than ever these days. And most of them aren’t street people (come up and count them some time if you don’t believe me). The customers are there: They just don’t have much money to spend anymore. 

At any rate, we wish Cody’s Books the best of luck in all their future endeavors. As Andy Ross said: Cody’s Books isn’t real estate, it’s an idea.” Its just a damn shame that that idea will no longer be part of the Telegraph Avenue real estate. We will all be poorer for it. All the best. 

Ace Backwards,  

B.N. Duncan 

• 

UC PAY CONTROVERSY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The recent reports of UC misuse of funds are eye opening but not surprising. To think that administrators/chancellors, who are already paid more than adequately, receive additional money is an insult to the thousands of UC employees who work diligently every day to serve the real needs of students, and to the taxpayers who help pay the bills. 

In 2004 the university abruptly closed the English Language Program run through UC Extension. It made a considerable profit for the university (it was a fee-based program) and had established an outstanding reputation over its 30-year history. According to colleagues who had worked for many years in that program, the administration refused to explain the reason for such action and attempted to evade full payment of contracts to its instructors. These were people who were earning far, far less than the well-paid executives who have received the largesse of UC president Dynes and his predecessors. And I am certain that other faculties and support staff members at UC have many similar stories. 

That UC could nickel-and-dime hard-working faculty while at the same time bestowing excessive stipends, unapproved monetary grants, and illegal housing subsidies demands more than the resignation of UC President Dynes. The legislature needs to look at the ways in which members of the Board of Regents are appointed and administrative decisions are made so that the corporation now known as UC returns to its mission of educating our future generations. 

Vera Stanley 

• 

BUSH ADMINISTRATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Recent attacks on the media by the president for the exposure of the international bank transfer spying program serve two purposes for the Bush regime. First, they are an attempt to intimidate the media into silence about the regime’s crimes. Second, they are meant to shift the discussion about the illegality of these actions to a discussion of what should be done to media outlets that dare to report them. 

Weeks ago, Attorney General Gonzales floated the idea of prosecuting the New York Times under the ‘97 Espionage Act for exposing the regime’s wiretap program. Now the president and VP have joined the attack on freedom of the press. The media is the last check on this imperial presidency. Congress caved in long ago and the regime largely bypasses the courts when it ignores the fourth amendment protection against illegal searches. Congressional Rep. Pete King has asked the Justice Department to open an investigation of the Times. The magic phrase “national security” is enough to keep most members of Congress quiet when it comes to the administration’s actions. While the Democrats occasionally make noises of protest, they rarely take any serious actions to impede the regime. 

It is important to understand why the Bush regime is launching these attacks. It is not operating from a position of strength despite appearances. It really fears exposure of its illegal actions. It knows if most people are aware of what is being done to our freedoms under the guise of “protecting us” that these actions will not be accepted by the vast majority. Like rats hiding in the dark, the regime can not stand light. Therefore it is doing everything possible to keep the media quiet and acquiescent. This is a continuation of other actions such as the attacks on Joseph Wilson and his wife when he exposed the lie about Iraq obtaining uranium with his op-ed in the Times.  

The media must not be quelled by these political attacks. It must continue to expose all infringements on our freedom and all lies of the Bush regime while we still have some freedom to protect. The Bush regime will only be driven from power if people are aware of what it is doing.  

Kenneth J. Theisen 

Oakland 

• 

CLEAN WATER 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Preserving clean water is a health issue for many Americans. Unfortunately, President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress have let the oil companies pollute the waters in every part of the country. Whether it is in the lakes, rivers, or oceans, oil companies cause damage to the waters. 

This president and the Congress can care less about the health of the American people who might be exposed to dirty waters created by the oil companies. For example, recently the House of Representatives passed a bill that will allow offshore drilling in U.S. coastal areas. The oil companies who already drill offshore in the Gulf of Mexico will do so again in some other coastal areas. 

People who are concerned about preserving clean water, free from off-shore drilling, should fight Congress either by writing letters of voting the Republican-controlled Congress out of office in November. 

Billy Trice, Jr. 

Oakland 

• 

BERKELEY  

POLICE DEPARTMENT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Under the auspices of law enforcement and the civil responsibilities that a Police Department has, and is engaged in, I find the mission statement of Berkeley Police Department has changed somewhat. When I was a boy riding my bicycle around Berkeley 35 years ago, we knew almost every officer by name—and could count on them for ensuring our safety whenever possible. That is what they do in all wishful societies around the world. 

I am not opposed to the police to enforce the law—but the manner in which they serve is not exactly justice—it’s more like robbery...and we have plenty of that here! 

In Berkeley—maybe elsewhere too—this mission statement has changed, and for the worse! A stop sign violation 20 years ago was probably $20, but now it is $146! The police in Berkeley wait at these “pumpkin patches,” as they refer to them, and collect fees for Berkeley—fees prohibitively high for many—so I believe they need to change their mission statement from “Preserve and Protect” to “Preserve and Collect”—at least then we Berkeley citizens know what to expect and how much it is going to cost us! 

Mark Bayless 

• 

A RESPONSE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The following observations are a response to “Intellectual Laziness,” Michael Duenes’ June 30 letter. 

First, there are at least three collections of books that are commonly published with the title The (Holy) Bible or The Holy Scriptures: the collection Protestants use, the collection Roman Catholics use (which includes more books,) and the collection Jews use (which includes quite a few less books.) The difference between these three collections is the result of differing opinions about whether or not certain books ought to be considered “scripture,” i.e., that their origin was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 

Second, all the books rejected from the Biblical canon by Jews (often referred to as The New Testament) are written in Koine Greek. As I understand it, the reason for this is that Greek was a language many people could be expected to understand--as, for example, the English language is today. The reason Greek was widely understood is that Greek Civilization had been in full flower in the relatively recent past.  

In Part Two of his book Through the Looking Glass, psychologist Richard Idemon describes the part homosexuality had played in Greek culture. “In ancient Greece...it was the father of the young boy who often took it upon himself to pick the eratos, the older male lover who would educate the boy to take his place in the state’s political system. This was considered a natural part of growing up.”  

Our present day society (most gay people included) would regard this as sexual child abuse, and it probably caused boys who had no innate disposition toward homosexuality to grow into men who were sexually attracted to men. When Paul of Tarsus referred to “men who love men,” he may well have had this kind of cultural pattern in mind. And he may well have been familiar with no other pattern.  

Paul also felt that the only excuse single heterosexuals had for getting married was lack of self-control. If you just couldn’t control your burning lust, it was “better to marry than to burn.” 

He felt that married people experienced the desire to please their mates as a distraction from love of the Lord. That married love can enhance the relationship of both spouses to the Lord (a perspective that was the norm in Judaism) is a sentiment quite foreign to Paul’s thought.  

This is often explained as the result of Paul’s belief that the world would soon end. His sense of urgency, in light of this belief, led him to feel that the spreading of the gospel was a crisis situation--no time to get married. But while this sense of urgency puts Paul’s attitude toward marriage in perspective, it also clearly indicates something else about Paul. He could be wrong.  

He was not a divinely-inspired robot whose every word can be taken out of historical context as though it had been written by God in stone. There is good reason to regard the phenomenon of inspiration by the Holy Spirit as one which is conditioned by the personality and the social and historical context of the person inspired.  

To get a sense of the contemporary American historical context of attitudes about homosexuality, reading Paula Gunn Allen’s book The Sacred Hoop, especially the chapter titled “How the West was Really Won,” is instructive. Another book I would recommend to those whose aspire to transcend “intellectual laziness” is Another Mother Tongue by Judy Grahn, especially chapter Three, “Gay is Very American.” 

Up until the recent past, gay marriage was accepted as a normal part of the social order almost everywhere on this continent, and gay people were more often than not accorded great respect--not, so far as I can tell, because of sexual child abuse, but because the original societies here respected the nature with which each human being was created.  

Chadidjah McFall 

I visited the city of Berkeley and the campus of the University of California after a period of forty years, on my way back from participating at the U.N. World Urban Forum conference held during June 19 to 24, 2006 in Vancouver, Canada. 

I am a former graduate student of UC Berkeley; and by profession, an architect, city planner, former professor in architecture and a freelance writer & author, based in Calcutta. I worked as a professional in San Francisco and Oakland for a couple of years prior to returning to India. 

It was a great experience to re-visit Berkeley, a friendly city and known throughout the world for the famous university around which the city has grown and developed. The institutional buildings abutting Bancroft Avenue, the Student Union building, Sproul Hall, the Law building and the recently developed Museum complex have remained intact. Many new buildings have been added beyond Sather Gate; however, there is no dramatic change in campus landscape. 

The city of Berkeley has changed, but it was difficult to judge whether the city has changed to provide better living conditions along with access to basic amenities, such as housing, green open space, schools and social facilities, commercial and services at an affordable price. On the other hand, it is to be seen whether the city is being driven by the commercial forces. 

During a walk down Bancroft Way, Telegraph, Durant, and the surrounding blocks, and having talked to some local shop keepers and local residents, I discovered that rent for shops and commercial establishments is going up fast; the old small shop owners are moving out. This has happened to the camera shop (which I found had closed on June 26, 2006) located opposite to Rexall Drugstore on Telegraph Avenue. Other well-known shops have closed too: recently, Cody’s bookstore. Cal Book store at the corner of Telegraph and Bancroft closed long ago; it was a landmark for the students. Back in the late ’60s there was a restaurant and coffee shop on Telegraph (opposite Rexall drugstore), where the film “The Graduate” was shot and Dustin Hoffman acted; the place was a landmark; it does not exist any more. It is indeed sad that these prominent landmarks do not exist anymore. 

What is a city without landmarks and historical buildings? Image of cities have close relationship with landmarks, historical buildings and a vibrant living environment.  

A city must preserve its historical buildings and landmarks to provide an exciting living environment. These issues have been stressed by well-known author, architect and planner Jane Jacob, who taught at Berkeley and who described her vision of a living city in her book Death and Life of Great American Cities. 

She championed her cause for preserving the quality of neighborhood by preserving the stores and popular coffee shops/eateries, museums, cultural centers and even historical buildings where people frequently visit, and remembering the city with those images. For this she was honored this past June 19 at the World Urban Forum in Vancouver, Canada. 

Canadian by birth, she is now an icon in Canada for her determination to create livable cities where people get preference over commercialization and competition. 

Kevin Lynch in his book Image of the Cities lays stress on preserving landmarks, monuments, parks and playgrounds to have a clearer view of the city; as these objects are easily remembered by citizens. Berkeley’s citizens and local authority must come forward to preserve its landmarks and monuments as well as its green spaces. 

At this year’s World Urban Forum in Vancouver, Prof. John Friedman, City Planner, who taught for many years in University of Southern California, delivered a special lecture on the “Wealth of Cities” in which he echoed the thoughts of Jane Jacob and Kevin Lynch and at the same time talked about the development of infrastructure and services for expansion of airports and new information technology based industries. He also highlighted that utmost attention be directed towards the people of the city and the living environment.  

It is indeed heartening to read the Letters to the Editors of Berkeley Daily Planet (June 20-22), where George Beier has written on “A 12 Point Plan for Revitalizing Telegraph,” which includes some positive steps for the city, such as: establishing a Telegraph Avenue Commission; completely re-thinking the quota system; maintaining a close relationship between the city and the university; building long term affordable housing and condominiums; preserving the parks and increase their usage; considering the Free Speech Trail. 

The Commentary article titled “How to create a Lively ‘Green’ Oasis in Downtown” by Kirstin Miller (April 28-May 1, 2006) makes positive suggestions on how to provide a large green space within the heart of Berkeley, so that “within this green urban oasis, human voices and sound of running water and singing birds would come alive without the usual competition from cars and traffic. It would be a beautiful downtown center celebrating Berkeley’s natural and architectural past while demonstrating a commitment to the sustainable future.” Such green oases exists on both sides of Orchard Street in Singapore and that is why the city is evergreen and people from around the world love to go there and walk and sit within the green spaces. 

It’s disturbing to hear news that a strained relationship between the city and the UC Berkeley has been brewing for some time; this must come to a peaceful end through discussions and consensus. A symbiotic relationship must exist between the city and the university as they are complementary to each other. The sooner this is achieved the better it will be for the city and the university. Former residents of Berkeley, like myself, would like to return to the city again and remember it as a friendly and vibrant city preserving historical buildings, shops, cultural centers and neighborhood parks and green spaces. 

Let’s make it a sustainable green city (it may be the first of its kind). To achieve this, recycling of waste is essential; moreover, due consideration should be given to generating power from non-conventional energy, so that less harmful greenhouse gases are emitted, and the city can preserve its green character. 

Krishna P. Bhattacharjee is an architect and city planner living in Calcutta, India.

To paraphrase a famous ruler dealing with citizen discontent, “Let them eat Bush.” 

On June 27, 2006, the Berkeley City Council, in its infinite wisdom and guile, passed a crowd-pleasing measure guaranteed to distract Berkeley voters from local woes, divert press coverage away from local candidates and issues, bring forth a larger number of machine-oriented voters than might otherwise be motivated, and forge a righteous and self-righteous sense of togetherness and Berkeley boosterism despite the sorry state of the Berkeley  

polity. 

So our wise councilors decided, against the advice of our sometimes-sensible City Manager, to oh-so-fearlessly and bravely promote the impeachment of President Bush and to be the first American city to put it on the ballot. Profiles in courage! 

Will Berkeley voters and the press rally around this red herring, let our city dog be wagged by its tail, hitch their wagons to this falling star, scape this goat, and fall for all the other clichéd aspects of this unanimous City Council policy breakthrough? 

In the excitement and press coverage of the Bush Bash, I hope that our voters do not forget about the secret settlement/sellout to UC and the loss of Downtown planning control and of maybe about $15M annually in UC reimbursement for City services. 

I hope that our voters and press do not forget about the secret deal to remake the Ashby/Adeline area into a high-density transit village without so much as a by-your-leave from the local residents and institutions. 

I hope that our voters and press do not forget about the multimillion dollar boondoggle known as the Brower Center/ Oxford Plaza, cleverly designed to bring yet more non-taxpaying residents, buildings, and institutions into our deteriorating Downtown and to do away with a major Downtown parking lot for several years.  

I hope that our voters and press do not forget about Berkeley’s extremely high crime rate. 

I hope that our voters and press do not forget about the sorry state of the City’s Housing Authority/Department, which is on HUD’s list of extremely troubled and incompetent agencies, in the midst of a fraud investigation, and once again asking for million dollar bailouts from the City’s General Fund. 

I hope that our voters and press do not forget that our City has the highest number of employees per resident, that City employees get 53% in benefits on top of their high salaries, that Berkeley’s local tax/fee burden is the highest in the state, and that the average Berkeley homeowning taxpayer household has an income of under $100,000.  

I hope that our voters and press do not forget that our once-beautiful foliaged City is being transformed into high-rise heaven filled with rabbit-warren apartments and paved-over side yards, and that the only real plutocrats in Berkeley are (mostly Democratic) developer high-rollers. And our venerable landmark preservation/ neighborhood preservation protections will be lost unless Berkeley voters remember that there is more on the ballot than Bush. 

I hope that our voters and press do not forget that Cody’s, Radston’s, Ifshin’s, Habitot Children’s Museum,Tupper and Reed, ActI/Act II Theatre, and many many other venerable institutions and people are getting out of Dodge despite the fact that the City has a multimillion dollar economic development program and staff. Hello? 

I hope that all of our elderly, disabled and family-possessing residents understand that they are ignominious gas-guzzlers and polluters because they stubbornly refuse to get with the program by biking around town with the more physically-abled and waiting for transit on dark crime-ridden streetcorners with the more fearless of our denizens. 

Enough diatribe. You get the point. I admit that like other centrist and sensible Democrats, I believe that impeachment is a distraction, not doable or justifiable, and not a substitute for sound national policy alternatives and good electoral politics. REGARDLESS, BASHING BUSH IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR LOCAL POLICY AND POLITICS. 

As a protest against this distracting measure, I intend to abstain on it in November. I hope that many other Berkeleyans will do the same or at least just quickly check a box and quickly move on to more immediate local matters and candidates. 

Barbara Gilbert was a District 5 Council candidate in 2004 and is active in many Berkeley civic organizations.

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.”  

I’m surprised she didn’t find the terminology lame and crippled politically incorrect, but it doesn’t matter. I can easily substitute the word “uses” for “confined to.” Ralph uses an electric wheelchair. In order to do so his attendant and I empty his leg bag, pull down the sheets and blankets on his bed, put on his slacks, slip the catheter tube into a makeshift hole in his pant leg, stuff a sling underneath him, attach the sling to a Hoyer lift, crank him out of bed, roll socks onto his feet, swing him into his wheelchair, detach the sling from the lift, wrestle a shirt over his head and tuck it into the elastic waistband of his pants, secure a seatbelt around his belly and a chest belt across his chest, lock a tray in place over the armrests, place his hands on the tray, Velcro plastic protectors onto his feet, place his feet on the footrests, pull the joy stick over his head and adjust it around his neck, tilt the headrest behind his head, comb his hair, put on his glasses, turn the wheelchair on, put it into gear, open the back door and the gate, help him navigate down the ramp. We pull the van lift down, help him wheel into the car, lock the chair into the floor, turn the chair off, and drive him to his appointments.  

When we return home, we reverse the process: take his clothes off, raise him out of the wheelchair with the Hoyer lift, haul him over to his bed, place him on the mattress, cover him with sheets and blankets, re-situate the hospital tray and the computer screen in front of him, place his mouthstick in his mouth, turn on his computer and the TV. We put the bars up on the bed so he won’t fall out, give him his medications as needed, make and serve dinner, brush and floss his teeth, readjust his body, flush his catheter, turn off the television and the computer when he is ready for sleep.  

In the morning we give him additional medications and breakfast, floss his teeth, clean his ears, help him blow his nose, re-flush the catheter. If the next day is a bowel program, we hook him to an oxygen machine and insert suppositories. In the morning we put him in a sling, attach the sling to the Hoyer lift, and assist him with the bowel movement. Then we lower him into the shower chair, push him into the bathroom, rinse him off, wash his hair, dry and powder him, return him to the living room, put clean linens on the bed, reattach the sling to the Hoyer lift, crank him out of the shower chair, place him into bed, roll him over to remove the sling, and get him ready for the rest of his day.  

So, yes, Ralph isn’t confined to a wheelchair. He’s not confined to a bed. He’s not confined to a shower chair, and he’s not confined to the house as long as he has help.  

I remember when, before his accident, he was the most unconfined man in the world, able to do whatever he wanted to do whenever he wanted to do it. Now there are limits. But I won’t use the word confined in this column again, I promise, unless it’s referring to me.

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

I’m hoping you will help look for the bright-yellow, leafless, parasitic vine shown in the attached photo. If you find it, please inform Vince Guise of the Alameda/Contra Costa Weed Management Area (vguis@ag.cccounty.us) and me [F5creeks@aol.com]. California has many dodders, but no other forms these bright yellow tangles in broad-leaved trees. 

This plant is Japanese dodder, Cuscuta japonica. It is a new invader in California—our restoration site at Adams Street on Cerrito Creek is apparently only the third reported instance. But the second was at an apartment building in San Pablo, so there may well be others. That is why I’m asking your help. 

This parasite can infest a wide variety of trees. At Cerrito Creek, it’s on willow, plum, and elderberry; at San Pablo it infested pittosporum. It spreads by seed and vegetatively, by bits and pieces—the long, succulent tendrils break off easily. Once it finds a host, it sends root-like structures called hausatoria into limbs, sucking the host plant’s water and nutrients. It forms dense tangles and weakens or eventually kills the tree or bush. 

The plant has herbal uses in Asia and may be being brought in for that reason. There is a Department of Agriculture quarantine, but those are often ineffectual. Like many invasives, it has the potential to spread rapidly and widely in wild lands, gardens, and orchards.  

Department of Agriculture advice is to inform them rather than try to eradicate it yourself. If you do try, their advice is to remove the entire tree or bush down to the ground, double-bag everything down to small fragments, and make sure the bags are deeply buried in landfill (that is, do not compost). 

The usual sort of dodder is easy enough to see now, especially in pickleweed salt marshes along the bay. It looks like a big skein of orange thread, tangled in the succulent marsh plants. Dodders, native or imported, are officially agricultural pests: as parasites, they reduce crop size and health. The new one is attacking gardens, too—pittosporum is a genus of commonly used ornamental shrubs and small trees. In wildlands, the nutrient balance can be even more precarious than a small farmer’s financial balance, so the imported species wouldn’t exactly be welcome there either. 

This new one is not just any wildland invader; healthy trees have had to be destroyed to get rid of it— it spreads fast, as Schwartz notes above, and can make a whole stand of trees sicken and die, if such harsh measures aren’t taken. You can imagine how this affects creek restoration and flood control efforts—kill the trees and the banks erode and the winter floods wash away our wild neighbors’ homes along with ours—and breaks the hearts of the people, many of them volunteers, who are actually getting out there and sweating on those efforts.  

Lots of restoration work, especially along creeks, involves the hard, repeated, sometimes years-long labor of removing Algerian ivy. You can tell that from English ivy—which is a wildlands pest too—by Algerian’s bigger leaves and red petioles (leaf stalks). It’s more vigorous than English ivy, and it’s been planted as a droughty, cheap, low-maintenance ground cover for years.  

It’s going out of style lately, thank Flora, for several reasons. A big one is that it harbors rats—Norway rats, roof rats, the kind you’d really rather not have close to home. One ivy-killing project I know of involved cooperative neighbors, some of whom were alarmed at the apparent influx of rats in their yards. Of course, it wasn’t that the newly bare spaces were attracting rats; it was that the rats that had been there along were suddenly visible.  

Ivy of all sorts can climb, smother, strangle, and kill trees, even though it’s not a parasite. Sometimes it’s like a local version of kudzu. It’s a skin irritant, especially its juices; for some of us it’s a serious allergen. (Me, for example.)  

If you have some, get rid of it before it murders you in your bed. At least cut off the mature parts, where the berries grow, before it gets spread farther in birds’ droppings. Plant some snowberry for the birds instead.  

And if you see yellow dodder, e-mail the addresses above or call the county weed control folks fast! 

Photograph courtesy of Freinds of Five Creeks

As far back as the spring of 2005, when State Superintendent Jack O’Connell was forced to come to Oakland Technical High School and release his legally required but long-delayed Fiscal Recovery Plan for the Oakland Unified School District, a group of Oakland educators and activists—led by Board of Trustees President Gary Yee—had been saying that the legal requirements had either been met or were close to being met for a return to local control of the Oakland schools. 

That local control movement slowly grew over the next year, gained considerable momentum after state officials released the letter of intent to sell OUSD’s administration building and five Lake Merritt-area schools, and has now kicked into high gear with the announcement of state administrator Randolph Ward’s pending departure from OUSD. 

With the escalation of the drive to put Oakland schools back into Oakland control has come the inevitable counterrevolution—those who argue that the State of California should continue to run the Oakland public schools, at least for the forseeable future, or, like Bro’ Rabbit’s tarbaby, they are ready to turn us go. 

The latest in this line of “keep them under control” advocates comes in a recent San Francisco Chronicle op-ed by Mills College professor and former state superintendent Delain Eastin, bless her heart. According to Ms. Eastin, Oakland Unified was “quite dysfunctional” before Mr. Ward arrived, Mr. Ward “dramatically” turned the district around educationally, administratively, and fiscally in three years, and Oakland needs “another strong leader” sent down from the state to keep us from “becom[ing] a failing school district again.” 

One hopes it is not history that Ms. Eastin is teaching to the young ladies up at Mills, since she either misunderstands or understands but misstates the actual facts of the Oakland school takeover. 

Ms. Eastin begins by announcing that prior to the state takeover “those in charge [of Oakland Unified] had been running the district for the benefit of the grownups—not the students.” This is one of those lines guaranteed to get long applause at a community meeting, but in the absence of supporting detail (what exactly was done by whom to benefit the adults and not the students?) it is a pretty useless assertion. If Ms. Eastin has such details, she carefully hides them from us in her op-ed. 

Continuing, Ms. Eastin gets more specific, charging that prior to the state takeover, Oakland Unified “ran up a $100 million budget deficit.”  

She’s about $35 million to $43 million off. 

There has always been some disagreement about the actual size of the budget deficit that led to the 2003 state takeover. Recently Trustee Greg Hodge, who was president of the school board at the time of the takeover, said that the 2003 deficit was originally $57 million, but had actually been cut down considerably by the board by the time the state moved in. SB39, the state legislation that authorized the takeover, granted a $100 million line of credit to Oakland Unified, but up until last month, only $65 million of that amount had actually been borrowed from the state. It is fair, then, to say that Oakland Unified was somewhere between $57 million and $65 million out of balance at the time of the state began debating the takeover, but perhaps Ms. Eastin gets confused between what the state authorized and what Oakland actually needed. Anyways, we’ll return to that $100 million figure in a moment, since it is important. 

Ms. Eastin then paints a glowing picture of the work of Randolph Ward as he tramps through the Oakland vineyards, stating that he “dramatically improved academic instruction and student achievement. Between 2004 and 2005, OUSD reported one of the largest achievement increases of a large urban school district in California… Ward recruited and hired more fully credentialed teachers… Ward dramatically reduced administrative overhead and improved school operations.” 

All of this is true, though a little heavy on the “dramatic,” but needs some explanation to put it in context. 

Mr. Ward was hired in the fall of 2003. If he were to achieve such “dramatic” student achievement increases in a year and a half, all on his own and from scratch, he indeed would be supersuperintendent, and worthy of great praise. In the real world, however, jumping student achievement that far from a standing start is virtually impossible to achieve. In fact and instead, the OUSD student accomplishments that became evident in 2005 began during the administration of former Superintendent Dennis Chaconas, and were a result of a districtwide push that began even before Mr. Chaconas’ hiring in 2000. Whatever Mr. Ward did was built on what was already there. 

The reason Mr. Ward was able to recruit and hire more fully credentialed teachers? It was in large part because of the 24 percent teacher pay hike authorized by Mr. Chaconas, the pay hike that, according to the Associated Press in 2003 “put starting teacher pay at $38,000, bringing [Oakland Unified] up to the top third in the state and helping solve a pressing shortage of teachers.” It was also, ironically, the same pay raise that broke the OUSD budget, and put it into state control.  

Mr. Ward’s “dramatic” reduction of administrative overhead described by Ms. Eastin was also built on the foundation laid down by Mr. Chaconas. “Chaconas demonstrated the teeth in his reform plan this summer by firing several Oakland principals and shuffling many more,” the conservative Pacific Research Institute noted in an October 2000 report on Oakland Unified. “He has also reduced staff at the district level, cutting back on the bureaucracy.”  

All of these reform efforts under Mr. Chaconas were what prompted state legislators, in the SB39 state takeover legislation, to write in 2003 that “the Oakland Unified School District has made demonstrable academic improvements over the last years, witnessed by test score improvements, with more fully credentialed teachers in Oakland classrooms, and increased parental and community involvement.” 

Meanwhile, ignoring the good, Ms. Eastin chooses to emphasize the bad that Mr. Ward encountered on entering Oakland. Mr. Ward “discovered, for example,” she writes, “that hundreds of employees had district-issued cell phones with no justifiable need for them. He shut them off.” 

Perhaps. But Ms. Eastin fails to talk about what new and interesting expenditures Mr. Ward has authorized during his three-year tenure with the money he has “saved” us on such unjustifiable things. Earlier this month, we discover that Mr. Ward approved an amendment to the “Protective Services Agreement with the California Highway Patrol, for the latter to provide protective and transportation services for State Administrator.” The cost? $94,000 in overtime costs added to the original $173,308 base pay budgeted to provide Mr. Ward with a personal Highway Patrol driver and bodyguard for the period January 2004 through June 2005. That amendment brought the total cost to the district for the year-and-a-half period to more than a quarter of a million dollars. Is it “justifiable” for Oakland citizens to be paying more than $200,000 a year to have a bodyguard drive Mr. Ward around and sit in the next office while the state administrator works all day? Since Mr. Ward approves the district budget on his own and does not have to explain himself to the Oakland taxpayers who actually pay the bill, we can’t say for sure. 

Similar in the lack of full explanation is the revelation that one day before OUSD access to the $100 million state line of credit ran out, Mr. Ward borrowed the remaining $35 million for what the Oakland Tribune said was “to improve its computer finance program, bankroll moving the administration headquarters to a middle school campus and to create a reserve fund for unexpected costs.” 

According to Ms. Eastin, Mr. Ward “put Oakland’s fiscal house in order.” By putting us $35 million more in debt than when he was appointed by State Superintendent Jack O’Connell? Wasn’t running up a $57 million to $65 million debt the reason Oakland was placed in state receivership in the first place? Either Ms. Eastin has a different definition than I do of “in order” or she applies different standards to Mr. Ward’s activities than she does to Oakland. 

In fact, in her conclusion, Ms. Eastin lectures that “people in Oakland” need to “speak honestly” about why, in her opinion, we needed and continue to need a state administrator rather than local control over the Oakland schools. “The consequences of spending beyond your means needs to be driven home,” she scolds us. 

Myself, I think all of the events surrounding the Oakland school takeover only demonstrates the “Golden Rule” as they used to talk about it in the old comic strip, “The Wizard Of Id.” What was Id’s “Golden Rule?” Whoever has the gold, makes the rules. Oakland, not having control over the gold, in this case, watches the rules and standards change in breathtaking fashion, depending on whose actions are being described. 

With all the Ethiopian and Eritrean restaurants in Berkeley and Oakland, it took me a while to get around to Finfine. My loss. 

My dining companion and I went there on a tip from a dental hygienist with Ethiopian roots. Commenting on another well-regarded venue, she said that was mainly where her fellow expats went to hang out and drink coffee, although the food was passable. For Ethiopian cuisine with the freshest ingredients, she recommended Finfine.  

Well, she was right. After a couple of visits, I’m prepared to put this place, downstairs in The Village at Telegraph and Blake, at or near the top of the local rankings. The ingredients are indeed fresh, and handled with a light touch, a refinement, that’s exceptional. And you’ll find dishes that go well beyond the Horn-of-Africa standards. 

On our first foray, we were accompanied by a vegetarian (and occasionally piscivorous) friend. One of the things I’ve always liked about Ethiopian restaurants is that they’re great places to take visiting vegetarians. 

The Coptic Church to which most Amharic- and Tigre-speaking Ethiopians belong has 208 meatless days on its calendar. Of necessity, Coptic Ethiopians developed a rich and varied vegetarian cuisine, based on several kinds of lentils, chickpeas, and collard greens, and augmented in the last few centuries by potatoes, tomatoes, and peppers. There’s even a “mock meat” tradition, with chickpea flour molded into fish shapes and fried. 

So we ordered the vegetarian combination, and a sea-bass dish, goord-asa tibs, that sounded promising. Finfine’s menu is unusual for its depth in fish. As the restaurant’s helpful web site explains, anything called “tibs” is going to be stir-fried; “wat” denotes a stew. And both the fish and vegetables were splendid. I could have used more collards, but that’s just me. The green beans were just on the tender side of crunchy; the lentils were subtly seasoned. 

“The ingredients aren’t cooked down as much as in other places,” our friend said appreciatively. The bass—a generous serving—had been marinated, then sautéed with onions and peppers; it was tangy and succulent. 

In both fish and vegetables, the spices—including the traditionally popular chilicentric mix called berbere—had been used with a light hand. I’ve had Ethiopian fare that would cauterize the taste buds; at Finfine, the seasoning complemented but didn’t overwhelm the other flavors. 

For anyone new to the whole concept of Ethiopian food, I should explain injera. It’s a spongy flatbread that serves as both plate and utensil; you tear off a piece, wrap it around a morsel, and pop it into your mouth, or your companion’s mouth (a custom called goorsha). 

Injera is made from tef (Eragrostis tef), a grain endemic to the Ethiopian highlands, which may have been one of several parts of the world where people independently came up with the idea of agriculture. Tef seeds are pinhead-sized and the seed heads are prone to shattering, so harvesting the stuff is labor-intensive. But it’s high in iron, resistant to disease and pests, and doesn’t require irrigation—virtues that have kept it in cultivation for millennia. 

Injera typically arrives at the table rolled up and stacked in a basket; it looks rather like a stash of Ace bandages. Tastes much better, though. And here’s a culinary secret known to (and needed by) few: it doesn’t stick to orthodontic braces. There is culinary salvation for adolescents! 

With an Ethiopian-brewed Hakim Stout—a wonderfully smoky, substantial beer—the fish-and-vegetable meal was a success. There was an odd moment when our waiter, asked about the creamy white cheese that had come with the assortment, tried to convince us it wasn’t cheese at all, but processed chickpeas. 

He may have assumed we were upset about dairy products mingling with our vegetables, although I don’t know how he would have accounted for the fish. Or maybe the kitchen had just subbed the cheese for the chickpeas—we’d devoured it all by the time we asked. But it was all satisfying, and we decided to return with a couple of omnivores and try the meat dishes. 

Mad cow phobia notwithstanding, all four of us agreed to sample the kitfo, Ethiopia’s answer to steak tartare: raw minced beef mixed with niter kebbe—clarified butter spiced with cardamom, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, onion and garlic—and mit’mit’a, a blend of chilies. (Finfine will cook the beef on request.) 

As with the sea bass, there was almost too much to finish. The kitfo was complicated—with a dominant note of cardamom and a lively fresh tone from the ginger, but much else going on—and, unlike others I’ve had, not overpoweringly hot. The cheese, ayib, made a nice foil for the richness. 

Our other meat entrée, ye-beg wat, was more of a mixed bag: chunks of lamb in a thick berbere-laden sauce like a good Oaxacan mole. Warning: all the chunks contained bits of neckbone, and dealing with the bones and the injera required considerable juggling; not to mention winding up with this little pyramid of bones that you don’t want to put back on the injera. 

We repeated the goord-asa tibs, the vegetarian combination, and the Hakim Stout, and one of us ordered a glass of tej, Ethiopian honey wine. Another pleasant surprise: light, fruity but not cloying, reminiscent of a really good mead (and yes, such a thing exists, at least in the subculture of home brewing).  

So I have to give proper credit to our tipster: this place is a cut above the competition, and I speak from a lot of injera mileage. 

It’s a pleasant spot, with traditional art and musical instruments on the walls, and wonderfully idiosyncratic Ethiopian pop music on the sound system (Did anyone else catch Aster Aweke at the late lamented Festival at the Lake?) 

Entrees top out at $12.95; a glass of tej is $4.50, as is the beer. There are lots of intriguing menu options we didn’t get to, including chicken dishes and a fish version of kitfo. Whether you’re new to Ethiopian foodways or an old hand, Finfine—named for a spring of legendary purity near Addis Ababa—is a worthy exponent of an ancient and distinctive culinary tradition.  

FINFINE 

Open 5-10 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, noon-10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 5-10 p.m. Monday. Closed Tuesday. Credit cards accepted. 2556 Telegraph Ave., 883-0167, www.finfine.com. 

Your Honor, does this lovely Liquid Amber appear capable of doing harm to anything, let alone Mr. Filbert’s 1926 Craftsman bungalow? No, I tell you, it’s a lie, a myth, a hit and a myth! 

My friends the trees have been sorely abused. And it’s all based on false information and a general lack of understanding about how they grow and what they do to the foundations of houses. Although I’ve read tracts by engineers and other experts on the dangers of trees, I’m here to tell you that it just ain’t so. 

You know how the nurse often has better info than the doctor, especially the one in the clinic that sees the same rash a thousand times and the doctor has to check the Merck manual to confirm her findings? Well, in some respects, I’m that nurse. 

I’ve been in the field, seen a lot of houses and have never, ever seen a tree that was overturning a foundation. I expect to see it one day but it won’t be for the reasons that are commonly attributed to trees and I’ll explain why. 

First let’s start with the things that trees do destroy and then we’ll move on to houses and we’ll see a very startling difference that only took me about 1,000 houses to figure out. 

Trees really wreck havoc with sidewalks. This the place we see the most mayhem wrought by our leafy friends. Every year, thousands of linear feet of city sidewalk get slated for replacement due to the formidable tripping hazard that trees create. 

They seem to be completely unaware of the presence of sidewalks, driveways (less than sidewalks), patios and concrete pathways as they toss them, albeit glacially, this way and that. 

That’s the key, they’re unaware and the reason they are is that concrete (I only learned this a few years ago and was shocked to say the least) weighs about the same as soil (given a specific volume, of course). 

So what this means is that a tree will treat a sidewalk the same as any patch of ground, although it may be somewhat more cohesive and a bit rocky. Since the breakages we see happen over long periods of time and as a function of the slow growth of a root, it’s really no great task to break up a three-inch thick skin of low strength concrete that has also been provided with some deep control grooves designed to ease breakage.  

Now again, in the examination of thousands of homes over the last 20 years, why haven’t I seen this happening to houses? Tree roots are certainly capable of doing enormous damage to house foundations and, over time, to entire structures. 

Trees are located right near houses in a large percentage of the homes I see. Well here’s the difference. 

As noted above, concrete doesn’t weigh more than earth and so a skin of concrete over a small area isn’t going to pose any significant resistance to the advancement of a tree root. But a house is a different kettle of bricks, right? A house has real and substantial weight pressing down upon the footing of the house and the earth below 24/7. 

In other words, the tree can actually feel the weight compressing the soils below the footing and can choose a less resistant path. This isn’t to say that there will be no growth below a foundation but I believe that trees will choose, like all of us, the path of least resistance as they grow and that means staying out from under the 80 tons of a house. 

Again, a sidewalk is just too light to feel, weighing roughly the same as soil. Now, I’ll make one amendment. 

I do believe that trees are less likely to break up large heavy and well built pads of concrete because they have some cohesive strength that soil will not exhibit and that slows the advancement of large roots growing near the surface. However, this is, perhaps, putting too fine a point on my argument.  

There is one type of structure that I do see trees destroy and that’s retaining walls. These are also lacking in the load provided by the weight of a house but seem so much more sturdy than sidewalks. Well, they are, but they’re still vulnerable, especially when they lack some sort of foot that resists overturning. 

When they’re just a wall coming up out of the soil and holding back a body of soil on one side, there isn’t that much resistance to leaning. 

If a tree is planted nearby on the uphill side, the roots have little choice but to crowd the space behind the wall and eventually push the thing over. 

Since there can be a moderate amount of designed resistance in better retaining walls, I have no doubt that trees try to send their roots away to easier digs (get it, digs, I sure crack myself up) but the unstoppable growth of the root system of a tree isn’t something you can send just anywhere. Like a woman who’s just broken water, it’s just going to happen … right here and right now.  

I want to wrap up a line that I opened up near the start of this column regarding the damage to a foundation I expected to someday see caused by a tree. Trees aren’t perfect things, sometimes they die and fall over, sometimes they grow in response to the light and become imbalanced and more than a few are gradually being tipped over by landsliding (you can see whole groves of them in the East Bay hills if you look for them). 

So I expect one day to see a tree root ball levering up the corner of a foundation as it falls the opposite way due to one of the above conditions, most likely earth-movement. 

I’m sure that the Animists and the Cartesians are going to line up on either side of this argument but I don’t think I’m imbuing our leafy friends with too much intellect in this theorem. I’m sure you could get a Planarian to do the same thing.  

Nonetheless, I choose to see this as a kind and stewardly act on the part of the arboreal world. But that’s just me. 

Got a question about home repairs and inspections? Send them to Matt Cantor, in care of East Bay Real Estate, at realestate@berkeleydailyplanet.com.

So you don’t wear sweatshop clothes or eat veal or plant invasive exotics. Now that the bulb and seed catalogues are starting to come in the email, there’s one more ethical matter to consider. 

The trade in smuggled plants is at least as dangerous to conservation as the trade in smuggled parrots. Even some legal trade is imperiling species. 

Every plant is native somewhere. Somewhere in the world, those daffs and lilies and snowdrops and tulips just pop out of the ground with no help from anyone. Some are too gorgeous for their own good. 

It’s a good thing to want a piece of wild beauty where we can see it every day. 

That impulse gives rise to learning and research and exploration, all great things. It gives rise to some of our best aesthetics: bonsai, for example.  

Bonsai can epitomize the problem with this trait. I have heard and read and felt objections to taking bonsai subjects from the wild. 

The practice risks the life of the tree, and what perverse practice endangers a creature precisely because we admire it? Trophy hunting comes to mind.  

Gardeners have the advantage of being able to reproduce our favorites, not just harvest or hunt them. 

We can boast that we’re preserving a genome, as with Franklinia alatamaha; that lovely tree exists only in cultivation, and only because a few were collected before the wild population vanished. 

The problem is that we’re also removing our prizes from their species’ gene pool by growing them miles or continents away. That limits the value of piecemeal preservation.  

There are ways to stay virtuous. The first is not to collect from the wild. There are always exceptions, but it’s a good thing to be conservative about.  

Another is to find out where the plants we buy come from. A surprising number of plants, especially bulbs, still originate in the wild; it’s still cheaper to pay a gatherer than to propagate them. 

Often these are plants that mature slowly, especially from seed. Greenhouse space is expensive, and slow turnaround of stock requires financial investment and gambles on fashion changes, new regulations, and disease.  

The Netherlands remains foremost in the flower-bulb industry, though too often as a broker for wild-collected plants.  

Such collecting has rendered, for example, Cyclamen mirabile officially endangered in its native Turkey, though bulbs are still being exported. Stricter standards are being imposed and treaties like the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) slow down dubious trade. Indigenous propagation projects are blooming in many places, too.  

Read labels carefully. Nina T. Marshall’s The Gardener’s Guide to Plant Conservation warns against “ambiguous phrases, such as ‘nursery grown’” that can just mean that the wild-collected plant has done time in a greenhouse before hitting the retailer. 

We can question bargains, and deal with reputable sources who in turn deal with other reputable sources, like native plant societies.  

The best thing is to learn, learn, learn about the plants we love. That will give us tools to figure out how not to love them to death. 

Ron Sullivan is a former professional gardener and arborist. Her “Garden Variety” column appears every Friday in East Bay Home & Real Estate. Her column on East Bay trees appears every other Tuesday in the Berkeley Daily Planet.

The Quake Hits—Now What? 

A major earthquake will cause violent ground shaking and it may be impossible to stand up. Most injuries result from falling or flying objects. At the first sign of shaking, take cover and protect yourself from falling objects.  

If you want to know more about retrofits and how they work, there is a free earthquake retrofitting & home safety seminar this Saturday morning, July 15, from 10 a.m.-noon at the South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St., at Ashby Avenue. 

This free seminar describes the three main elements of an effective retrofit, tells how to evaluate an existing retrofit, describes retrofitting hillside homes, and will have community safety exhibits. It will cover the basics and make you knowledgeable about choosing a retrofit contractor.  

Larry Guillot is owner of QuakePrepare, an earthquake consulting, securing, and kit supply service in the East Bay.  

558-3299, www.quakeprepare.com.

TUESDAY, JULY 18 

CHILDREN 

Kathleen Rushing of Bingo Schmingo, interactive songs and stories, suitable for the entire family at 7 p.m. at The Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

FILM 

Nicaraguan Film Festival at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5. 849-2568.  

Screenagers: Documents from the Teenage Years “Thirteen” at at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

John Hamamura introduces his novel “Color of the Sea” on the Japanese-American experience at 7 p.m. at El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Ave. 526-7512. 

Bruce Jenkins introduces his biography “Goodbye: In Search of Gordon Jenkins” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

T. C. Boyle introduces his new novel “Talk Talk” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Cecil Brown introduces his new novel “I, Stagolee” at 7 p.m. at Rountrees, 2618 San Pablo Ave.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Bruce & Lloyd’s Tri Tip Trio at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054.  

Gjallarhorn, Nordic sounds, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Ellen Hoffman Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ.  

Kim Nalley at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200.  

Jazz Fourtet at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Jazzschool Tuesdays at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 19 

FILM 

Nicaraguan Film Festival at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5. 849-2568.  

Labor Fest: Four Short Films at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donations of $5 accepted. 

Global Rhythms on Screen “Ombres” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Blood on the Border Readings Commemorating the Sandinista Revolution at 7 p.m. at Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 595-7417. 

Café Poetry hosted by Paradise at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Donation $2. 849-2568.  

George Lakoff discusses “Whose Freedom? The Battle Over America’s Most Important Idea” at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way at Dana. Donation of $10 suggested. 559-9500. 

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 

Berkeley Opera “The Girl of the Golden West” at 7:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $15-$40, available from 925-798-1300.  

Roy Zimmerman in “Faulty Intelligence” satirical songs, Wed.-Fri. at 8 p.m. at The Marsh Berkeley, 2118 Allston Way, through July 27. 800-838-3006.  

Calvin Keys Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $6. 841-JAZZ.  

Whisky Brothers at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473.  

Orquestra La Verdad, salsa, at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Rachel Efron at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Kapakahi, Crash Landing, Cold hot Crash at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8. 848-0886.  

Tish Hinojosa at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Tiempo Libre at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200.  

THURSDAY, JULY 20 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Chukes-Sculptor” Opening reception at 5:30 p.m. at Joyce Gordon Gallery, 406 14th St., Oakland. Exhibition runs to Aug. 26th. 465-8928. 

Paintings by George Long Reception at 5 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. at Ashby. Exhibition runs to July 30. 848-1228. 

FILM 

Nicaraguan Film Festival at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5. 849-2568.  

Beond Bollywood: “Palace of the Winds” with neo-Benshi performance by Summi Kaipa at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Jane Powell introduces “Bungalow Details: Interior” at 7:30 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloway’s Literary and Garden Arts, 2904 College Ave. www.mrsdalloways.com 

“Jewish Artists and Their Role in Mid-Century Abstract Art” at 6:30 p.m. at the Magnes Museum. Cost is $6-$8. Reservations encouraged. 549-6950, ext. 345. 

Robert Scheer on “Playing President: My Close Encounters with Nixon, Carter, Bush I, Reagan, and Clinton and How They Did Not Prepare Me for George W. Bush” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Joseph Barry Gurdin reads from his memoir “Border of Lilies and Maples” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Elline Lipkin and Sandra Lim, poets, at 7:30 p.m. at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

Word Beat Reading Series with Jan Steckel and Diane Frank at 7 p.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985. 

COMEDY 

Bay Area Comedy Festival with The Un-Scripted Theater at 8 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Cost is $15. Three-day pass is $35. 595-5597. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Summer Noon Concert with Upside Down and Backwards at the Downtown Berkeley BART station. Free.  

Big Lou’s Polka Casserole at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054.  

Leni Stern at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Bob Kenmotsu Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ.  

Travis Jones & Friends at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

The Prids, Sueco at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082.  

Bobby Hutcherson with Miguel Zenon, Renee Rosnes at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s, through Sun. Cost is $16-$26. 238-9200.  

Femi, Fiyahwata, Fanatix at 10 p.m. at The Ivy Room, 858 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $7. 524-9220. 

Wayward Monks at 8:30 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100. 

FRIDAY, JULY 21 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley “Night of the Iguana” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave. at Berryman, through Aug. 12. Tickets are $12. 649-5999.  

Ambitious Theatre Company “As You Like It” Fri.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at Altarena Playhouse, Alameda. Tickets are $8-$15. 800-838-3006.  

Aurora Theatre “Permanent Collection” Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m. at 2081 Addison St., through July 30. Tickets are $28-$45. 843-4822. 

Berkeley Rep “Ennio” A comedy written and performed by Ennio Marchetto, at 2015 Addison St. Tickets are $20-$45. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

California Shakespeare Theater “Restoration Comedy” 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 July 30. Tickets are $15 and up. 548-9666. www.calshakes.org 

Central Works “The Inspector General” a new comedy, Thurs., Fri., and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., through July 30. Tickets are $9-$25. 558-1381. 

Contra Costa Civic Theater “Footloose” the musical based on the 1984 film at 8 p.m. Fri. and Sat., and Sun. at 2 p.m. at Contra Costa Civic Theater, 951 Pomona Ave., El Cerrito, through August 5. Tickets are $12-$20. 524-9132. www.ccct.org 

Impact Theatre “House of Lucky” Written and performed by Frank Wortham, Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave., through Aug. 26. Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468. 

Masquers Playhouse “The Fantasticks” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at 105 Park Place, Point Richmond, through July 22. Tickets are $18. 232-4031.  

COMEDY 

Bay Area Comedy Festival with Free Hooch Comedy Troupe at 8 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Cost is $15. 595-5597. 

FILM 

Nicaraguan Film Festival at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5. 849-2568.  

Friends of African Film “State of Denial” A film on living in South Africa with HIV, at 7:30 p.m. at 464 Van Buren at Euclid, Oakland. www.friendsofafricanfilm.com 

Janet Gaynor: A Centennial Celebration “Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans’” at 7 p.m. and “7th Heaven” at 9 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Opera “The Girl of the Golden West” at 8 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $15-$40, available from 925-798-1300. 

Alameda Civic Light Opera “Jesus Christ Superstar” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at Kofman Auditorium, 2200 Central Ave., Alameda. Tickets are $27-$31. 864-2256.  

Steve Oda and Anubrata Chatterjee North Indian music at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Cost is $10-$15. 845-1350. 

Bullet in Your Head, Re Ignition at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $10. 848-0886. 

Kathy Walkup & her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ.  

The Chant Down Band, roots, dub and dancehall reggae, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $12. 525-5054.  

Pam & Jeri Show at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Golden Bough, Celtic-American, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. 

Loosewig: the Ben Fajen Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

The Ross Hammond Trio and Regina Pontillo, jazz, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe. 595-5344.  

Jerry Hannon, The Jitters, Dao Strom at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082.  

Capitalist Casualties, Skarp, Voetsek at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

Boca do Rio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Her Grace the Dutchess Tom Jonesing at 8:30 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph. Cost is $10. 451-8100.  

Bobby Hutcherson, Miguel Zenon, Renee Rosnes, and Rufus Reid at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s. Cost is $16-$26. 238-9200.  

SATURDAY, JULY 22 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Man’s Best Friend” Opening reception for the artists at 3 p.m. at Montclair Gallery, 1986 Mountain Blvd., Oakland. Your well-socialized canine friend is welcome to attend. 339-4286. 

THEATER 

Everyday Theatre “Dreaming in a Firestorm” by Tim Barsky at 8 p.m. at 2232 MLK, Oakland. Tickets are $12-$20. 644-2204. www.everdaytheatre.org 

Shotgun Players “Ragnarok: The Doom of the Gods” Sat. and Sun. at noon at John Hinkle Park. Free, with pass the hat donation after the show. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

Women’s Will “Twelfth Night” at 1 p.m. at Mosswood Park, Oakland. Free. 420-0813.  

COMEDY 

Bay Area Comedy Festival with Kasper Hauser and Ali Wong at 8 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Cost is $15. 595-5597. 

FILM 

Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum “The Train Wrecker,” “Big Moments from Little Pictures” at 7:30 p.m. at 37417 Niles Blvd., Fremont. Cost $5. 494-1411.  

Janet Gaynor: A Centennial Celebration “Sweet Angel” at 6:30 p.m. and “Lucky Star” at 8:50 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Rhythm & Muse with Juan Sequeira & Maria Chavez at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. 644-6893. 

Storytelling Swap, hosted by Kathy Dana, at 7:30 p.m. at the Frank Bette Center, 1601 Paru, Alameda. Free, donations accepted. 523-6957. 

Poems About Alameda, open reading hosted by Mary Rudge, Poet Laureate of Almada at 2 p.m. at Aroma Restaurant, 2337 Blanding Ave., Alameda. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Starlight Circle Players at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship, 1924 Cedar St. at Bonita. Donation $5-$20. 841-4824. 

Manuel Suarez and Manny y Mano de Orula at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12-$15. 849-2568.  

Full on Flyhead, The Animal Underground at 8:30 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $10. 451-8100.  

Tom Rigney & Flambeau at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Stuart Rosh and John Craigie, singer song-writers, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Austin Lounge Lizards at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. 

Sir Juette, Nasty Breeze at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886.  

Danny Lubin-Laden & Brama Sukarma at 8 p.m. at the Jazz- 

school. Cost is $10. 845-5373.  

Caroline Chung Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Gaucho at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473.  

October Allied, The Jimmys, The 500’s at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. All ages show. Cost is $5. 841-2082.  

CJ Boyd Sexxxtet at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Eskapo, Deathtoll, Worhorse at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, JULY 23 

EXHIBITIONS 

Berkeley Art Center Annual National Juried Exhibition Opening reception and awards at 2 p.m. at 1275 Walnut St. Exhibition runs to Aug. 26. 644-6893.  

THEATER 

Women’s Will “Twelfth Night” at 1 p.m. at Dimond Park, Oakland. Free. 420-0813.  

FILM 

Janet Gaynor: A Centennial Celebration “Tess of the Storm Country” at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Edge of Desire: Recent Art in India” Guided tour at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. 

UC Extension Student Reading at 4 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Opera “The Girl of the Golden West” at 2 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $15-$40, available from 925-798-1300.  

Midsummer Mozart Festival Program 1, at 7 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way at Dana. Tickets are $30-$60. 415-627-9145.  

“Pins and Needles” a concert version of the 1937 musical, with Laborfest and Opera Non Troppo at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. 849-2568.  

“In Celebration of Swimming” with Agua String Quartet and others at 7 p.m. at Live Oak Park Community Center, 1301 Shattuck St, near Eunice. Doantion $10, benefits city pool passes for homeless youth. 548-9050. 

Starlight Circle Players at 4 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship, 1924 Cedar St. at Bonita. Donation $5-$20. 841-4824. 

Sourdough Slim at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Tango Number 9 at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ.  

Americana Unplugged: Dark Hollow Band at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 655-5715. 

Wailing Junk Symphony for the Most High, Brazilian-West African Gospel Junk-Jazz at 4 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $12, $8 for teens and musicians with proof of instrument. 525-5054.  

MONDAY, JULY 24 

CHILDREN 

Yolanda Rhodes, multicultural tales with music and movement at 7 p.m. at the Temescal Branch of the Oakland Public Library, 5205 Telegraph Ave. 597-5049. 

Rafa Cano, Spanish sing-along for children, at 10:30 a.m. at PriPri Cafe, 1309 Solano Ave., Albany. Free. 528-7002. 

THEATER 

Everyday Theatre “Dreaming in a Firestorm” by Tim Barsky at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway at 2nd St. Tickets are $12-$20. 644-2204.  

EXHIBITIONS 

“Black and White Editorial Portraits” by Phyllis Christopher. Artist reception at 6:30 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, Central Catalog Lobby, 2090 Kittredge St. Exhibition runs through Aug. 27. 981-6241. 

“Creation Ground,” paintings by Diane Williams and Chuck Potter, sculpture by Ari Lyckberg Reception at 3 p.m. at the Community Art Gallery, Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, 2450 Ashby Ave. 204-1667.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Michael Spiro introduces his new book “The Conga Drummer’s Guidebook” at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $10. Demonstration at 4 p.m. 849-2568.  

Scott Nadelson reads from his collection of stories “The Cantor’s Daughter” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Richard Hooper on “The Crucifixion of Mary Magdalene – The Historical Tradition of the First Apostle, and the Ancient Church’s Campaign to Suppress It” at 7 p.m. at Barnes & Noble, 2352 Shattuck Ave. 644-3635. 

Poetry Express with Pablo Rosales at 7 p.m. at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Blue Monday Jam at 7:30 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100.  

Musica ha Disconnesso, acoustic Italian music, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Bill Bell and the Jazz Connection at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s. Cost is $10. 238-9200.  

Now that Mozart has turned 250, you would think that not much more could be discovered about the world’s most popular and most scrutinized composer. Then, along comes Austrian musicologist Michael Lorenz to dismiss a few old and new Mozartean myths. 

This year he, along with Agnes Selby, the author of Constanze, Mozart’s Beloved, burst the bubble on the possibility that a daguerreotype of Swiss composer Max Keller and his family included a 78-year-old Constanze Weber Mozart Nissen, Mozart’s widow. After being touted as such by the BBC and New York Times, Lorenz revealed that it was a hoax. 

Although Lorenz crushed our hopes for the authenticity of the photo, he had us rejoicing three years ago when he dispelled the long-held belief that Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 in E flat major was called Jeunehomme by Mozart. It turns out that some early 20th century scholars gave it this name by garbling what Mozart had said in a letter to his father. Far from being written for a woman named Jeunehomme, the piece was written for Louise Victoire Noverre Jenamy—and so we finally have the correct name for this piano concerto. 

Mozart had known the dancing master Jean George Noverre in Vienna. Later, in Paris in 1778, he would write the ballet music for Noverre’s Les Petits Riens, which was beautifully performed as part of last season’s Midsummer Mozart Festival. When Noverre’s daughter, Madame Jenamy, was in Vienna in 1776, she commissioned Mozart to write a piano concerto for her. The result was, which Mozart completed in Salzburg in January, 1777, and which is now newly and correctly named Jenamy. 

To celebrate this discovery, this year’s Midsummer Mozart Festival will feature Piano Concerto No. 9, with the great André Watts at the keyboard, as the centerpiece of its first program. No excuse is needed though since, beyond any trivial or biographical interest, No. 9 is actually one of Mozart’s earliest masterpieces, a groundbreaking work that was not to be matched by any composer until Beethoven’s last piano concertos. 

Although he was only 21 when he composed it, Mozart already reveals his genius for psychology, for hearing the instruments as individual voices as if they were characters in an opera. The variety of harmonies and oppositions between the soloist and the ensemble is both technically breathtaking as well as lyrically and emotionally ravishing. This concerto stands at the beginning of a long line of concertos that does not falter through Mozart’s last, No. 27. 

The program will begin with the Serenade in D major, along with the two marches traditionally linked to this “Posthorn” Serenade. This seven movement work was the Finalmusik for 1779, that is, music to be performed outdoors in celebration of the end of the university year in Salzburg. Do not expect some slight incidental music, though. 

Besides the beautiful solo in the second minuet for the rarely used posthorn, there is also a gorgeous sinfonia concertante for wind instruments in the third and fourth movements, a kind of pocket concerto. Throughout, the writing is delightful, usually upbeat but with those occasional peeks into the abyss that give Mozart’s work a deeper edge.  

The second program of this year’s Midsummer Mozart Festival gives us the rare opportunity to hear all three of Mozart’s final symphonies in one evening. The three symphonies, Symphony No. 39 in E flat major, Symphony No. 40 in G minor, and Symphony No. 41, the great Jupiter, were written during a six week period in the summer of 1788. Mozart entered the opening bars of these three works into his Verzeichnis aller meiner Werke, his autograph thematic catalogue of his compositions, between June 26 and Aug. 10 of 1788.  

In other words, during a six week period, after the failure of Don Giovanni in Vienna, during the time that his infant daughter died, while composing half a dozen other pieces, he carried these three symphonies around in his head and then wrote them down one after the other in fully orchestrated versions. Not only would that be difficult in itself, but these are the greatest symphonies of the 18th century and among the greatest pieces of music ever composed.  

The contrapuntal final movement of the Jupiter is usually singled out for particular excellence, but all three symphonies are magnificent from beginning to end. No. 40’s first movement, for example, begins with an insistent, dark, minor theme that pushes everything before it as it rushes to its inexorable fate, a musical correlative to Marvell’s, “But at my back I always hear Time’s winged chariot hurrying near.” 

Among other aspects, the three together encapsulate the progression from the full flowering of the classical to the first seeds of the romantic, whose ripened ears were to be reaped by Beethoven. Listening to them in sequence is like hearing Charlie Parker’s passage from swing to bop on his Jazz at the Philharmonic recording of “Lady Be Good.” 

Compositions though, no matter how great, are just marks on paper. The other half of the equation is performance and Maestro George Cleve and his Midsummer Mozart Festival Orchestra are more than equal to the task of interpreting these classics afresh. 

In fact, a Cleve performance always provides access to something surprising, new and revelatory in this music. Given the inspired programming, the excellence of the ensemble, the stellar Andre Watts as guest artist and Mr. Cleve wielding the baton, this promises to be another surpassing season for the Midsummer Mozart Festival. 

MIDSUMMER MOZART FESTIVAL 

Program 1: 7:30 p.m. July 20 at Mission Santa Clara, campus of Santa Clara University; 8 p.m. July 21 at Herbst Theatre, San Francisco; 6:30 p.m. July 22 at Gundlach Bundschu Winery, Sonoma; and 7 p.m. July 23 at First Congregational Church in Berkeley. 

Program 2: 7:30 p.m. July 27 at Mission Santa Clara; 8 p.m. July 28 at Herbst Theatre; 6:30 p.m. July 29 at Gundlach Bundschu Winery; 7 p.m. July 30 at First Congregational Church. 

For tickets and information about the programs call (415) 627-9145 or see to www.midsummermozart.org.

To a Californian, there has to be something charming about an opera in which the mysterious stranger who wins the heroine’s heart is a man named Johnson from Sacramento. The Berkeley Opera makes full use of this charm in its production of Puccini’s The Girl of the Golden West, which opened Saturday, with a new English adaptation by David Scott Marley. 

The original opera, La Fanciula del West, was based on a 1905 play by David Belasco, who had also written the one-act that was the basis for Madama Butterfly. Puccini saw Belasco’s play in New York in 1907 and fell in love with it, despite, or perhaps because of, his rather poor English. What he had especially loved was the play’s setting—the Wild West. 

La Fanciula premiered at the Met in New York on Dec. 10, 1910, directed by Arturo Toscanini and with Enrico Caruso as Johnson. Following La Bohème and Madama Butterfly, the opera was more modern in its musical approach. Although the play was well received, one New York critic wrote that he missed “clearly defined melodic luster, outline, point and fluency.” Moreover, he could hear the influence of Debussy. Horrors. 

In fact, the opera has very few of the kind of arias that we associate with late 19th century Italian operas—the lyric and melodic solos that soar through a range of emotional intensities. Rather, the libretto is speech like, almost conversational, with short phrases exchanged, often between a number of singers.  

Underneath those lyrics, the music is continuously flowing, impressionistic and atmospheric; the orchestration complex. It’s well suited to an opera whose composer was fascinated by a frontier setting with blizzards and vast stretches of wilderness. 

The three-act opera begins in the mining camp of Cloudy Mountain, in the Polka Saloon, where a group of rowdy miners entertain each other with dancing, drinking and gambling amid laughter, loneliness and violence. 

All of this is tamed by Minnie, the Girl, who appears to be the only woman in camp and who is the vessel for the men’s longing, as she enacts for them the role of sister, mother and friend. It is around Minnie (Jillian Khuner) that the expectations, intentions and actions of the play revolve.  

Minnie, like most of the characters, resembles one of the stock characters of melodrama: the prostitute, or in this case, the saloonkeeper, with a heart of gold. For Minnie’s goal is to “be decent” in the midst of the impure turmoil that is the frontier. 

Two men are in love with Minnie. The tolerant and upright Sheriff Rance (Joe Kinyon), who has been pursuing her for some years, and a mysterious stranger Johnson (Pedro Rodelas), newly arrived at the Polka Saloon, who is the disguised outlaw Ramerrez. It’s not hard to figure out which one Minnie will fall in love with. 

As predictable as all of this seems, none of the characters turns out to be as black and white as classic melodrama would have them be. Neither man is who he seems: there’s something rancid about the sheriff when he offers Minnie a fortune in the form of a wad of bills “for just one kiss.” On the other hand, in his confession to Minnie, we discover Ramerrez has become an outlaw under a vow of revenge for his ill-used father.  

And Minnie, the girl who reads Bible stories to the miners and urges them to “hope for love and fergiveness,” boldly lies and cheats to save the man she loves from the law. For Minnie, despite her humility and craving for decency, carries deep and desperate passions within her. 

Part of the challenge in staging this opera has to be to provide enough balance to the sentimentality and stereotypes of the now 100-year-old original. Berkeley Opera has chosen to do this by providing a new libretto and by adding video projection to the scenic design.  

The projections proceed, end and act as entreacts to the opera, and are placed to resemble a silent film with newsreels. Beginning the opera as a silent film, complete with imitative typography and explanatory history, signals the story is from a definite milieu while putting a lighter spin on the cornier aspects of the western melodrama; it also allows us to give the artistic director some credit for wit. 

Everyone puts in an admirable performance in the production. Jillian Khuner is sweet without being cloying and carries both her character’s modesty and passions with grace, blending good acting with accomplished singing.  

Despite some wavering in the upper register, Pedro Rodelas has a lovely tenor voice, with the warmth and sweetness favored by northern Hispanic voices and made large by bel canto singing.  

There are two casts: with changes for Minnie—Jillian Khuner (July 21) and Paula Goodman Wilder (July 19 and 23) and Sheriff Rance—Joe Kinyon (July 21) and Torlef Borsting (July 19 and 23).  

THE GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST 

7:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 19; 8 p.m. Friday July 21; 2 p.m Sunday, July 23. Julia Morgan Theatre, 2640 College Ave. (925) 798-1300.

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

I’m hoping you will help look for the bright-yellow, leafless, parasitic vine shown in the attached photo. If you find it, please inform Vince Guise of the Alameda/Contra Costa Weed Management Area (vguis@ag.cccounty.us) and me [F5creeks@aol.com]. California has many dodders, but no other forms these bright yellow tangles in broad-leaved trees. 

This plant is Japanese dodder, Cuscuta japonica. It is a new invader in California—our restoration site at Adams Street on Cerrito Creek is apparently only the third reported instance. But the second was at an apartment building in San Pablo, so there may well be others. That is why I’m asking your help. 

This parasite can infest a wide variety of trees. At Cerrito Creek, it’s on willow, plum, and elderberry; at San Pablo it infested pittosporum. It spreads by seed and vegetatively, by bits and pieces—the long, succulent tendrils break off easily. Once it finds a host, it sends root-like structures called hausatoria into limbs, sucking the host plant’s water and nutrients. It forms dense tangles and weakens or eventually kills the tree or bush. 

The plant has herbal uses in Asia and may be being brought in for that reason. There is a Department of Agriculture quarantine, but those are often ineffectual. Like many invasives, it has the potential to spread rapidly and widely in wild lands, gardens, and orchards.  

Department of Agriculture advice is to inform them rather than try to eradicate it yourself. If you do try, their advice is to remove the entire tree or bush down to the ground, double-bag everything down to small fragments, and make sure the bags are deeply buried in landfill (that is, do not compost). 

The usual sort of dodder is easy enough to see now, especially in pickleweed salt marshes along the bay. It looks like a big skein of orange thread, tangled in the succulent marsh plants. Dodders, native or imported, are officially agricultural pests: as parasites, they reduce crop size and health. The new one is attacking gardens, too—pittosporum is a genus of commonly used ornamental shrubs and small trees. In wildlands, the nutrient balance can be even more precarious than a small farmer’s financial balance, so the imported species wouldn’t exactly be welcome there either. 

This new one is not just any wildland invader; healthy trees have had to be destroyed to get rid of it— it spreads fast, as Schwartz notes above, and can make a whole stand of trees sicken and die, if such harsh measures aren’t taken. You can imagine how this affects creek restoration and flood control efforts—kill the trees and the banks erode and the winter floods wash away our wild neighbors’ homes along with ours—and breaks the hearts of the people, many of them volunteers, who are actually getting out there and sweating on those efforts.  

Lots of restoration work, especially along creeks, involves the hard, repeated, sometimes years-long labor of removing Algerian ivy. You can tell that from English ivy—which is a wildlands pest too—by Algerian’s bigger leaves and red petioles (leaf stalks). It’s more vigorous than English ivy, and it’s been planted as a droughty, cheap, low-maintenance ground cover for years.  

It’s going out of style lately, thank Flora, for several reasons. A big one is that it harbors rats—Norway rats, roof rats, the kind you’d really rather not have close to home. One ivy-killing project I know of involved cooperative neighbors, some of whom were alarmed at the apparent influx of rats in their yards. Of course, it wasn’t that the newly bare spaces were attracting rats; it was that the rats that had been there along were suddenly visible.  

Ivy of all sorts can climb, smother, strangle, and kill trees, even though it’s not a parasite. Sometimes it’s like a local version of kudzu. It’s a skin irritant, especially its juices; for some of us it’s a serious allergen. (Me, for example.)  

If you have some, get rid of it before it murders you in your bed. At least cut off the mature parts, where the berries grow, before it gets spread farther in birds’ droppings. Plant some snowberry for the birds instead.  

And if you see yellow dodder, e-mail the addresses above or call the county weed control folks fast! 

Photograph courtesy of Freinds of Five Creeks

TUESDAY, JULY 18 

Angels in the Wilderness with author and wilderness survivor Amy Racina at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140.  

American Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation at 6 p.m. For information call 594-5165.  

“Long-Term Health Care Insurance” with Phil Epstein from HICAP at 1 p.m. at North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5190. 

“Trigger Point, Spray and Stretch Therapies” a video at noon at the Maffley Auditorium, Herrick Campus, Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, 2001 Dwight Way. 644-3273. 

Family Storytime at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

Discussion Salon on Global Warming: Have We Passed the Tipping Point Or Will Technology Save Us At The Last Minute? at 7 p.m. at 1414 Walnut by Rose. 

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.  

WEDNESDAY, JULY 19  

Walking Tour of Old Oakland “New Era/New Politics” highlights African-American leaders who have made their mark on Oakland. Meet at 10 a.m. at the African American Museum and Library at 659 14th St. 238-3234.  

Blood on the Border Readings Commemorating the Sandinista Revolution at 7 p.m. at Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 595-7417. 

Spanish Revolution Anniversary Celebration at 7 p.m. at AK Press Warehouse, 674-A 23rd. St., Oakland. 208-1700. 

Labor Fest: Four Short Films on unions around the world at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donation $5.  

Read with Berkeley Free copies of “Funny in Farsi” by Firoozeh Dumas will be given away at 1 p.m. at Berkeley Public Libraries, for a community reading project. First come, first served. 981-6139. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at BART/MTC Metro Center Auditorium, 101 Eighth St., Oakland. To make an appointment call 464-6237. 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome. 548-9840. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

JumpStart Networking Share information with other entrepreneurs at 8 p.m. at A’Cuppa Tea, 3202 College Ave. at Alcatraz. Cos tis $10. 652-4532. 

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. 848-1704.  

THURSDAY, JULY 20 

Family Fun in the Garden for ages 5 and up accompanied by an adult, from 10:30 a.m. to noon at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $14-$18 for one adult and child. Registration required. 643-2755. 

Transportation Needs in South/West Berkeley Community meeting to identify priority needs at 7 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 981-5170. 

The MGO Democratic Club will discuss the possible sale of OUSD property and future governance of the District after the departure of State Administrator Randolph Ward at 7 p.m. at 110 41st St., Oakland. 531-6843. www.mgoclub.org 

Teen Science Fiction/Fantasy Book Club will discuss the role of food in Brian Jacques’ Redwall series, at 4 p.m. at Claremont Branch Library, 2940 Benvenue. 981-6133. 

“Wanki Lupia Nani: The Children of the River” A documentary on Nicaragua, 1985-1988, at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. 

Simplicty Forum with Alex Goldman on “Focusing First on the Inside” at 6:30 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, Claremont Branch, 2940 Benvenue Ave. 

“Full Moon Feast” with food activist Jessica Parker at 7:30 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

Avatar Metaphysical Toastmasters Club meets at 6:45 p.m. at Spud’s Pizza, 3290 Adeline at Alcatraz. Free, all are welcome. jstansby@yahoo.com 

World of Plants Tours Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at 1:30 p.m. at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $5. 643-2755. 

FRIDAY, JULY 21 

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 

Sydney B. Mitchell Iris Society Annual Bearded Iris Rhixome Auction at 7:30 p.m. at 666 Bellevue Ave., Lakeside Park, Oakland. 277-4200. 

“Venezuela Rising” A documentary at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists’ Hall, 1924 Cedar St. at Bonita. Donation$10. 528-5403. 

“State of Denial” A film on living in South Africa with HIV, at 7:30 p.m. at 464 Van Buren at Euclid, Oakland. Sponsored by Friends of African Film. www.friendsofafricanfilm.com 

Berkeley Folk Dancers Community Classes and Teacher Workshop, ages 8 and up, Fridays through Aug. 18 at 7:45 p.m. at Live Oak Park, 1301 ShattuckAve. Cost is $10-$15 for five classes, $5 drop-in.  

Stagebridge Story Workshop with local storytellers from 10 a.m. to noon at Arts First Oakland Center, 2501 Harrison St., Oakland. Bring a bag lunch. Cost is $10. 444-4755. www.stagebridge.org 

Women in Black Vigil noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. 845-1143. 

SATURDAY, JULY 22 

Sassafras Shotgun Players Annual Silent Auction Fundraiser at 6 p.m. at The Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Tickets are $40 and include dinner. 841-6500. 

Sydney B. Mitchell Iris Society Bearded Iris Rhixome Sale From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Rockridge Mall, Broadway at Pleasant Valley Rd., Oakland. Free growing instruction and advice from the experts. 277-4200. 

Butterfly Bonanza Work Party Join us to create an new pathway in the butterfly garden at the Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park, from 10 a.m. to noon. Dress for sun and dirt. 525-2233. 

Peach Tastings and Cooking Demonstrations from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m at the Saturday Berkeley Farmer’s Market, Center St., at MLK, Jr. Way. 548-3333. 

Wonders of Watersheds Learn about the waterways in our community from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Striding into the Sunset An evening hike in Miller Knox from 7 to 9 p.m. on a 2.5 mile loop over varied terrain to see great views. Bring a snack to share. Call for meeting place 525-2233. 

Canoe and Kayak Race for the Treasure beginning at 8 a.m. at Jack London Aquatic Square, Oakland. Registration is $32-$40 for adults, $15 for teens. For registration forms please visit www. 

calkayak.com/events.cfm#998. 893-7833.  

60th Anniversary of the 1946 Oakland General Strike Commemoration at 6 p.m. at the Oakland YMCA, 1515 Webster St., at 15th St., with Evelyn and Val Schaaf and Earl Watkins, who participated in the strike; Gifford Hartman’s multi media presentation and a documentary. 415-751-1572. 

Oakland Heritage Walking Tour of the Waterfront Warehouse District from 10 a.m. to noon. Meet at the intersection of 3rd and Franklin Sts. Cost is $5-$15. 763-9218.  

Walking Tour of Old Oakland Uptown to the Lake to discover Art Deco landmarks. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of the Paramount Theater at 2025 Broadway. For reservations call 238-3234. 

Greenway Getaway A moderate hike along the Ohlone Greenway in El Cerrito, from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Sponsored by the Greenbelt Alliance. Reservations required. 415-255-3233. www.greenbelt.org 

“Lift Off” Emeryville Picnic Celebrating Schools & Community at noon at Emery Secondary School Athletic Field, 4727 San Pablo Ave. www.emeryusd.k12.ca.us 

El Cerrito Historical Society Annual Potluck Picnic at Huber Park at noon. All welcome to attend. Please bring a main course, salad, or dessert. 526-7507, 525-1730. 

37th Anniversary of the Flight of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission on the USS Hornet. Family activities and ship tours will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visitors will have the opportunity to participate in mission briefings, see airplanes lifted to the flight deck, and sit in a fighter jet cockpit. Pier 3, 707 W. Hornet Avenue, Alameda. Cost is $6-$14. www.uss-hornet.org 

“The United States and Iran: Nuclear Proliferation, Terrorism, and Regime Change” with Prof. Stephen Zunes, USF, at 7 p.m. at Home of Tuth Center, 1300 Grand St., Alameda. Sponsored by the Alameda Public Affairs Forum. Donations accepted. www.alamedaforum.org 

“The Code and the Challenge of Learning to Read It” a multimedia presentation on the reading crisis in our country from 9 a.m. to noon at Laney College Theater, 900 Fallon, Oakland. To register call 685-0186. www.childrenofthecode.org/oakland 

Berkeley Higashi Honganji Buddhist Temple Summer Bazaar, Sat. from 4 to 8 p.m. and Sun. from noon to 6 p.m. at 1524 Oregon St. at Sacramento. Japanese food, children’s games and homemade crafts. 843-6933. 

Support Shattuck Cinema Workers as they rally for a fair contract at 2 p.m. in front of Shattuck Cinemas. www.iww.org 

Oakland Zoomobile Meet some wild animals at 2 p.m. at the Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

Berkeley History Center Walking Tour: “Explore the New Berkeley City College Building” is postponed to August. 848-0181. www.cityofberkeley.info/histsoc 

Vegetarian Cooking Class: Burgers and Backyard Bites from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at First Unitarian Church of Oakland, 685 14th St. at Castro. Cost is $45 plus $5 food/materials fee. Registation required. 531-COOK.  

Produce Stand at Spiral Gardens Food Security Project from 1 to 6 p.m. at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon St. 

Writing for Personal (R)evolution a workshop with Aimee Suzara at 10 a.m. at Epic Arts Studios, 1923 Ashby Ave. For ages 17 and up. Cost is $25-$50 sliding scale. 520-2486. 

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, JULY 23 

Bay to Barkers Dog Walk and Festival from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Cesar Chavez Park at the Berkeley Marina. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. and costs $25 in advance or $30 on day of event. Benefits the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society. 845-7735, ext. 13. www.berkeleyhumane.org 

Ridgeline Ramble on Sobrante Ridge A 3.5 mile hike up and down through oak and bay woodland, chaparral and grassland habitats, from 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the Coach Drive Staging Area. 525-2233. 

Brooks Island Voyage Paddle the rising tide across the Richmond Harbor Channel to Brooks Island from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. For experienced boaters who can provide their own canoe or kayak and safety gear. For ages 14 and up with parent participation. Cost is $20-$22. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Help Restore Cerrito Creek from 10 a.m. to noon. Wear shoes with good traction, long pants and sleeves. Meet at Creekside Park, south end of Santa Clara St., El Cerrito, just north of Albany Hill. 848 9358. www.fivecreeks.org 

Oakland General Strike Walk Meet at 2 p.m. at the fountain at Latham Square, where Broadway & Telegraph converge. The walk will revisit the sites that sparked the “Work Holiday” that shut the East Bay down. Co-sponsored by Laney College Labor Studies and the Flying Picket Historical Society. 464-3210. 

Oakland Heritage Walking Tour of Rockridge Arts and Crafts from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Meet at the pillars on the corner of Broadway and Rockridge Blvd. Cost is $5-$15. 763-9218.  

Progressive Democrats of the East Bay Potluck BBQ from noon to 4 p.m. at Codornices Park, Euclid Ave. at Eunice St., across from the Berkeley Rose Garden. We’ll bring the drinks and charcoal. Please bring something for the grill or something to share. 636-4149. 

“Diamonds are for Africa Forever!” a documentary about the local poverty in Sierra Leone at 2 p.m. at Parkway Theater, 1834 Park Blvd., Oakland. 625-1106.www.apscuhuru.org 

New Farmers’ Market in Kensington, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the parking lot behind ACE Hardware at 303 Arlington Ave. at Amherst. 528-4346 

Writers’ Workshop on “Yoga and the Art of Making Your Words Come Alive” with Gail Sher at 5 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Free Hands-on Bicycle Clinic Learn how to repair flats from 10 to 11 a.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Free Sailboat Rides from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Cal Sailing Club in the Berkeley Marina. Bring change of clothes, windbreaker, sneakers. For ages 5 and up. cal-sailing.org  

“Local Medicinal Herbs and Your Health” Workshop with local herbalist Joshua Muscat, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Berkeley Eco-House, 1305 Hopkins St. Bring small pots and hand shovels. Cost is $15 sliding scale. 547-8715. 

Summer Sunday Forum: Peaceable Kingdom a video on animals at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302, ext. 306. 

Berkeley City Club free tour from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tours are sponsored by the Berkeley City Club and the Landmark Heritage Foundation. Donations welcome. The Berkeley City Club is located at 2315 Durant Ave. 848-7800 or 883-9710. 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace Peace walk at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712.  

Tibetan Buddhism “Opening to the Dharma: What We are Learning” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812.  

MONDAY, JULY 24 

“Conflict Resolution: Parents and Teens” with Susan Frankel, MFT and Jan McClain at 2:30 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

“For Teens: No Pressure!” with Joan Hitlin, MFA at 7 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

Stress Less Seminar at 7 p.m. at New Moon Opportunities, 378 Jayne Ave., Oakland. Free, but registration required. 465-2524. 

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group for people 60+ years old at 10:15 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. Cost is $3. 524-9122.  

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. 548-0425. 

ONGOING 

Energy Saving Program for Residents CYES is running its 7th annual summer program, providing direct-installation of CFLs, retractable clotheslines, showerheads, and more. Services available in Berkeley, Oakland, Richmond. Free. 665-1501. 

CITY MEETINGS 

City Council meets Tues., July 18, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Berkeley Public Library Board of Library Trustees meets Wed. July 19 at 7 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 981-6111.  

Citizens Humane Commission meets Wed., July 19, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-6601.  

Commission on Aging meets Wed., July 19, at 1:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. William Rogers, 981-5344.  

Commission on Labor meets Wed., July 19, at 6:45 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Delfina M. Geiken, 981-7550.  

Downtown Area Plan Advisory Commission meets Wed., July 19, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7487. 

Human Welfare and Community Action Commission meets Wed., July 19, at 7 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Kristen Lee, 981-5427.  

Human Welfare and Community Action Commission meets Wed., July 19, at 7 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Kristen Lee, 981-5427.  

Design Review Committee meets Thurs., July 20, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Anne Burns, 981-7415.  

Transportation Commission meets Thurs., July 20, at 7 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Peter Hillier, 981-7000.  

School Board meets Wed., June 21, at 7:30 p.m., in the City Council Chambers. 644-6320.

FRIDAY, JULY 14 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley “Night of the Iguana” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave. at Berryman, through Aug. 12. Tickets are $12. 649-5999. www.aeofberkeley.org 

Ambitious Theatre Company “As You Like It” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. and Sun. at 2 p.m. at Altarena Playhouse, Alameda. Tickets are $8-$15. 800-838-3006. www.altarena.org 

Aurora Theatre “Permanent Collection” Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m. at 2081 Addison St., through July 30. Tickets are $28-$45. 843-4822. www.auroratheatere.org 

Berkeley Rep “Ennio” A comedy written and performed by Ennio Marchetto through July 21 at 2015 Addison St. Tickets are $20-$45. 647-2949.  

California Shakespeare Theater “Restoration Comedy” 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 July 30. Tickets are $15 and up. 548-9666. www.calshakes.org 

Central Works “The Inspector General” a new comedy, Thurs., Fri., and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., through July 30. Tickets are $9-$25. 558-1381. 

Contra Costa Civic Theater “Footloose” at 8 p.m. Fri. and Sat., and Sun. at 2 p.m. at Contra Costa Civic Theater, 951 Pomona Ave., El Cerrito, through August 5. Tickets are $12-$20. 524-9132. www.ccct.org 

Crowded Fire Theater Company “We Are Not These Hands” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 7 p.m. through July 16 at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Tickets are $10- $20. www.crowdedfire.org 

Kids Take the Stage “Annie” Fri. at 7:30 p.m., Sat. at 2 and 7:30 p.m., Sun. at 7:30 p.m. at Chabot College Arts Center, 25555 Hesperian Blvd., Hayward. Tickets are $10-$20. 864-7061. 

Masquers Playhouse “The Fantasticks” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2:30 p.m. at 105 Park Place, Point Richmond, through July 22. Tickets are $18. 232-4031.  

Pinole Community Players “Oliver!” the musical, Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., at the Community Playhouse, 601 Tennent Ave., Pinole, through July 15. Tickets are $14-$17. 724-3669.  

Woodminster Summer Musicals “Ragtime” Fri.-Sun. at 8 p.m. at Woodminster Amphitheater in Joaquin Miller Park, 3300 Joaquin Miller Rd., through July 16. Tickets are $21.50-$34.50. 531-9597.  

EXHIBITIONS 

“The Light and the Dark” Group photography show. Reception at 6 p.m. at ACCI Gallery, at 1652 Shattuck Ave. Show runs to Aug. 19. 843-2527. www.accigallery.com 

FILM 

A Theater Near You “The Death of Mr. Lazarescu” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Gautam Malkani introduces his new novel “Londonstani” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

John Curl and Matundu Makalani read their poems at 7 p.m. at the Frank Bette Center, 1601 Paru, Alameda. Free, donations accepted. 523-6957. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

The Crucible Fire Arts Festival “Twisted Fiery Circus” performances and installation art at 8 p.m. at 1260 7th St., Cost is $25-$30. Oakland. 444-0919. www.thecrucible.org 

Alameda Civic Light Opera “Jesus Christ Superstar” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Kofman Auditorium, 2200 Central Ave., Alameda. Tickets are $27-$31. 864-2256. www.aclo.com 

Bastille Day Ball with Baguette Quartette at 9 p.m. at International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave. Waltz classes at 7 p.m. Cost is $10-$20. www.baguettequartette.org 

Son De Madera at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12-$15. 849-2568. 

Sublime Remembered at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $10. 848-0886.  

Cressman-Stinnet Quintet at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10. 845-5373.  

Frankye Kelly & her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ.  

Minkus, Minus Vince, Speakeasy, Protocol at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054.  

Atmos Trio at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Sisters Morales at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Yaelisa & Caminos Flamencos at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

The Nomadics, jazz, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Culann’s Hounds, The Trespassers at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082.  

Walken, Ragweed, A Sleeping Irony, 100 Suns at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Bay Balasters at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $7. 548-1159.  

Flux, Al Howard and the K23 Orchestra at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $9. 451-8100. 

Zoe Ellis, soul, funk, jazz, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Hiroshima at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s, through Sun. Cost is $20-24. 238-9200.  

SATURDAY, JULY 15 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Bay Area Hot Spots” Representations of Bay Area experiences and locations by a variety of artists. Reception at 7 p.m. at Fourth Street Studio, 1717-D Fourth St. 527-0600. 

THEATER 

Everyday Theatre “Dreaming in a Firestorm” by Tim Barsky at 8 p.m. at 2232 MLK, Oakland. Tickets are $12-$20. 644-2204. www.everdaytheatre.org 

Women’s Will “Twelfth Night” Sat. and Sun. at 1 p.m. at John Hinkle Park. Free. 420-0813. www.womanswill.org 

FILM 

A Theater Near You “Antonio Gaudí” at 6:30 p.m. “The Passenger” at 8:10 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Future Tense” Gallery Talk by Taro Hattori, Kathryn Kenworth Srdjan Loncar, and Daniel Ross at 2 p.m. at Kala Art Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977. www.kala.org 

Robert L. Allen will lead a panel discussion on “The Port Chicago Mutiny” followed by a performance of the “Port Chicago” jazz suite by the Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra, at 4:30 p.m. at Pittsburg High School, Creative Arts Building, Little Theater, 250 School St., Pittsburg. For tickets call 925-642-7321. 

Thomas Crum and BJ Gallagher read at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Rachel McGee Beck reads from her latest poems at 2 p.m. at Oakland Public Library, Lakeview Branch, 550 El Embarcadero. 238-7344. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Opera “The Girl of the Golden West” at 8 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $15-$40, available from 925-798-1300.  

The Crucible Fire Arts Festival “High Voltage Chaos” performances and installation art at 8 p.m. at 1260 7th St., Oakland. Cost is $25-$30. 444-0919. www.thecrucible.org 

From Pa to the Bay at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $7-$10. 849-2568.  

Robin Gregory & her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ.  

West African Highlife Band with the Shumba Marimba Youth Ensemble at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15. 525-5054. 

Jane Lui and Linh Nguyen at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. 

Laura Love Duo with Jen Todd, Afro-Celtic, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Three the Hard Way, Opio, Scarub at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $12-$15. 848-0886. 

Danny Mertens Trio at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Nick Brown, classical guitar, at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. All ages. Cost is $7-$10. 558-0881. 

Ron Thompson & the Resistors at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $10. 451-8100.  

Open Space Project, Plum Crazy, 7th Direction at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

CV1 at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Lights Out, Ceremony, Short Fuse, Phantom Pains at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, JULY 16 

CHILDREN 

Classic Shorts for Children “The Red Balloon,” “The White Seal” and “A Cricket in Times Square” at 11 a.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Donation $5.  

THEATER 

San Francisco Mime Troupe “Godfellas” at 2 p.m. at Lakeside Park, Lakeside Drive at Lake Merrit, Oakland. www.sfmt.org 

FILM 

A Theater Near You “The Death of Mr. Lazarescu” at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Susan Dinkelspiel Cerny on Berkeley’s architectural heritage, at 4 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloway’s, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

“Bancroft Library at 100” Gallery talk at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. 

Poetry Flash with Mark Turpin at 3 p.m. at Diesel, 5433 College Ave. 653-9965. 

Norma Barzman reads from “The End of Romance: A Memoir of Love, Sex, and the Mystery of the Violin” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Island Literary Series with poet Miguel Algarin at 3 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $3. 841-JAZZ. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Oakland Jazz Choir at 2 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $35, includes reception following concert. 228-3207. 

John Renbourn, folk-baroque guitar, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761.  

Americana Unplugged, Rita Hosking, bluegrass and oldtime showcase, at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 655-5715. 

La Nueva Trova Alterlatina, at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5. 849-2568.  

Frederick Hodges, international café music, at 2 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Adrian West at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

MONDAY, JULY 17 

CHILDREN 

Rafa Cano, Spanish sing-along for children at 10:30 a.m. at PriPri Cafe, 1309 Solano Ave., Albany. Free. 528-7002. 

Willy Claflin and Friends with storytelling, music and puppets at 7 p.m. at the Rockridge Public Library, 5366 College Ave. 597-5017. 

Juggler Marcus Raymond with magic and fun at 7 p.m. at the Temescal Branch of the Oakland Public Library, 5202 Telegraph Ave. 597-5049. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Geoffrey Nunberg explains “Talking Right: How the Right Turned Liberalism into a Tax-Raising, Latte-Drinking, Sushi-Eating, Volvo-Driving, New York Times-Reading, Body-Piercing, Hollywood-Loving, Left Wing Freak Show” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Story Tells, a storytelling swap, with Ed Silberman at 7 p.m. at Barnes and Noble, Jack London Square, Oakland. 238-8585. 

Poetry Express with Linda Zeiser, editor of the East Bay lesbian anthology “What We Want From You” at 7 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Tommy Emmanuel at 8 p.m. at the Roda Theater. Cost is $22.50-$23-50. 548-1761.  

Blue Monday Jam at 7:30 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100.  

9th Annual East Bay Blues Review at 7:30 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $20. 238-9200. 

TUESDAY, JULY 18 

CHILDREN 

Kathleen Rushing of Bingo Schmingo, interactive songs and stories, suitable for the entire family at 7 p.m. at The Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

FILM 

Nicaraguan Film Festival at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5. 849-2568.  

Screenagers: Documents from the Teenage Years “Thirteen” at at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

John Hamamura introduces his novel “Color of the Sea” on the Japanese-American experience at 7 p.m. at El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Ave. 526-7512. 

Bruce Jenkins introduces his biography “Goodbye: In Search of Gordon Jenkins” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

T. C. Boyle introduces his new novel “Talk Talk” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Cecil Brown introduces his new novel “I, Stagolee” at 7 p.m. at Rountrees, 2618 San Pablo Ave.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Bruce & Lloyd’s Tri Tip Trio at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054.  

Gjallarhorn, innovative Nordic sounds, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Ellen Hoffman Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ.  

Kim Nalley at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200.  

Jazz Fourtet at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Jazzschool Tuesdays at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 19 

FILM 

Nicaraguan Film Festival at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5. 849-2568.  

Labor Fest: Four Short Films on unions around the world at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donations of $5 accepted. 

Global Rhythms on Screen “Ombres” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Blood on the Border Readings Commemorating the Sandinista Revolution at 7 p.m. at Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 595-7417. 

Café Poetry hosted by Paradise at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Donation $2. 849-2568.  

George Lakoff discusses “Whose Freedom? The Battle Over America’s Most Important Idea” at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way at Dana. Donation of $10 suggested. 559-9500. 

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 

Berkeley Opera “The Girl of the Golden West” at 7:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $15-$40, available from 925-798-1300.  

Roy Zimmerman in “Faulty Intelligence” satirical songs, Wed.-Fri. at 8 p.m. at The Marsh Berkeley, 2118 Allston Way, through July 27. 800-838-3006.  

Calvin Keys Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $6. 841-JAZZ.  

Whisky Brothers at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473.  

Orquestra La Verdad, salsa, at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Rachel Efron at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Kapakahi, Crash Landing, Cold hot Crash at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8. 848-0886.  

Tish Hinojosa at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Tiempo Libre at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200.  

THURSDAY, JULY 20 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Chukes-Sculptor” Opening reception at 5:30 p.m. at Joyce Gordon Gallery, 406 14th St., Oakland. Exhibition runs to Aug. 26th. 465-8928. 

FILM 

Nicaraguan Film Festival at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5. 849-2568.  

Beond Bollywood: “Palace of the Winds” with neo-Benshi performance by Summi Kaipa at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Jane Powell introduces “Bungalow Details: Interior” at 7:30 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloway’s Literary and Garden Arts, 2904 College Ave. www.mrsdalloways.com 

“Jewish Artists and Their Role in Mid-Century Abstract Art” at 6:30 p.m. at the Magnes Museum. Cost is $6-$8. Reservations encouraged. 549-6950, ext. 345. 

Robert Scheer on “Playing President: My Close Encounters with Nixon, Carter, Bush I, Reagan, and Clinton and How They Did Not Prepare Me for George W. Bush” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Joseph Barry Gurdin reads from his memoir “Border of Lilies and Maples” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Elline Lipkin and Sandra Lim, poets, at 7:30 p.m. at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

Word Beat Reading Series with Jan Steckel and Diane Frank at 7 p.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985. 

COMEDY 

Bay Area Comedy Festival with The Un-Scripted Theater at 8 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Cost is $15. Three-day pass is $35. 595-5597. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Summer Noon Concert with Upside Down and Backwards at the Downtown Berkeley BART station. Free.  

Big Lou’s Polka Casserole at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054.  

Leni Stern at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Bob Kenmotsu Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ.  

Travis Jones & Friends at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

The Prids, Sueco at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082.  

Bobby Hutcherson with Miguel Zenon, Renee Rosnes, and Rufus Reid at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s, through Sun. Cost is $16-$26. 238-9200.  

Femi, Fiyahwata, Fanatix at 10 p.m. at The Ivy Room, 858 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $7. 524-9220. 

Wayward Monks at 8:30 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100. 

Summer is the time for Shakespeare in America, and, whether outdoors or in, The Bard’s elusive sense combines best with the fragrance of the season in the comedies. 

Arclight, a new theater company, has given that combination a new spin with a staging of As You Like It in a French Neo-Classical setting that adds the light touch of a Watteau landscape, peopled with courtiers and clowns. 

Directed by founder David Koppel, himself an actor who’s been seen with TheatreFIRST and in Altarena’s fine Death of a Salesman last winter, this is Arclight’s first sally onstage, and, surprisingly, the first production of Shakespeare at Altarena in its venerable seven decades of diverse productions. 

In this comedy of exile healed by love, a verbal sleight of hand renders the Forest of Arden, where the deposed Duke (David C. McGaffney) makes his primitive refuge into a rustic utopia with his faithful entourage, into Ardennes, where the disaffected go to make merry in the perverse freedom of their displacement. 

Arriving in disguise, are the sister-like pair Rosalind (Shannon Nicholson) and Celia (Amy Wares), daughter of the deposed Duke and her friendly cousin, whose father, the usurper, has banished Rosalind. They are accompanied by truant court fool, Touchstone (Mike Nebecker). 

Their transition from playful, fairy-like ladies of the court in powdered wig and gown to lowly attire is one of the magic touches of this play, and this production.  

Unknown to them, a lad dispossessed by his older brother, Orlando (Jeremy Forbing), who attracted Rosalind’s passion in a brief glimpse during a wrestling match at court, has also fled to the forest, attacking the Duke’s camp for food only to find it freely given. 

Orlando becomes Ganymede’s student in love, after he papers the trees of the forest with extravagant verses to Rosalind. 

Among the Duke’s companions is melancholy Jaques (excellently played by James Hiser), who laughs dryly and well at all he perceives. 

Adding to the diverse (and whimsical) sensibilities of the forest creatures is the constant flow of music, both from a hidden ensemble above, led by Adrienne Chambers, playing French 18th century airs on strings, flute and French horn and the fine voice of Maureen Quintana as Amiens (and a Courtier), singing the great, evanescent songs The Bard has made the soul of the play. The songs are the play’s very meaning, along with the acid and ironic truths about life and love his clowns have license to utter playfully amid the romantic fervor of the principals. 

This cast of 14, many of them young players, is very game and sprightly, complemented by the designers (Hilma Kargoll for sets, Robert Anderson for lighting, Maya Attai and Noor Manteghi for the sumptuous costumes). 

Scene and costume changes from court to forest are made in full view of the audience, another magic touch, as the shadows of the leaves seem to turn in the light to music, and pillars become tree trunks, courtiers rustics—and, as Jaques so famously declaims, “All the world’s a stage.” 

AS YOU LIKE IT 

Through July 23 at the Altarena Playhouse. $8-$15. For more information, call (800) 838-3006, or see www.altarena.org. 1409 High St., Alameda.

“Them that’s got will get/Them that’s not will lose ...” Billie Holiday in all her lyric glory, and all her degradation, has been subject for more than a few portrayals over the years. 

The movies she was in herself and performance footage can be compared to any, including the most widely seen, and off-key, Diana Ross vehicle, Lady Sings the Blues (better for Richard Prior’s portrayal of her accompanist). 

But, whether on screen or live onstage, each show faces the same problem: how to portray Holiday’s inimitable voice and manner, as well as how to present her sad, scandal-ridden life. 

Lady Day in Love, C. J. Verburg’s play presented by the Fellowship Theater Guild at the Fellowship Church in San Francisco, neatly skirts the moralisms that start piling up at any survey of Holiday’s history by referring to incident and anecdote mainly to place the characters in their setting, to give a touch of backstory. All the action takes place at a rehearsal in New York sometime in the ‘40s, and at a club date a few years later. 

And the difficulty of portraying Billie the singer and the woman has been taken solved by the presence of vocalist Kim Nalley (who’s also proprietor of Jazz At Pearl’s in North Beach), who not only sings 15 of Lady Day’s numbers wonderfully, but manages to convey something of the sense of her character, by turns demure and tough, as much through suggestion as through any kind of overly studied scheme.  

This kind of Impressionism lends a subtle radiance to a play of vignettes, involving just three dramatic characters, directed by Courtney Brown. The truly original hook is to have the action (Billie’s romantic attachment to Harlem-to-Paris wandering club promoter Jimmy Monroe, ably portrayed by Ed L. Gillies III) framed by her mother, Sadie Fagan (played wonderfully by Lady SunRise, “The Jazz Angel”), who’s skeptical about Jimmy’s intentions, due to her own failed marriage to a roving jazzman—a good part of the cause of her daughter’s woes. 

“My, oh my, we had some good times in Baltimore!” Sadie enthuses. 

“And some bad times,” counters Billie. “They sent me to the reformatory. I got raped.” 

Sadie, dubbed The Duchess by tenor titan Lester Young, as he named Billie Lady Day (and Billie called him Prez, president of the saxophone), introduces herself by the title to Jimmy when he shows at Billie’s rehearsal: “She’s a Lady, so I got to be a Duchess. That’s what Lester Young say.” 

And so Jimmy kisses her hand and gives his name as Winston Churchill. Back in the Big Apple since the War cut short his self-lauded Paris peregrination, he’s pursuing Billie despite The Duchess’  

motherly meddling. 

Sadie’s not exactly a welcome stage mother or moralizer. 

“She might be a Catholic, but she sure as hell ain’t no saint,” her daughter informs Jimmy on the sly. Jimmy makes it a point to charm The Duchess; a high point of the play’s reached when Kim belts out “Give me a pigfoot/And a bottle of beer” as Jimmy and Sadie dance, arm in arm, then facing each other and getting down, while Billie struts, flanking them. 

The second act, in the club, is introduced by Sadie, speaking to the audience, resplendent in silver lame’ turban and pearl gray gown. It gradually comes out she’s speaking from the other world. When Billie comes onstage, a little bit unsteadily, she tells the audience she still keeps a table reserved for her mother. Sadie’s told the audience of her slide with Jimmy into addiction. Jimmy, now her estranged husband, stumbles in, the only one who can see The Duchess, whom he accosts. 

“I can sing in Carnegie Hall. I can sing in a kid’s show. But I can’t sing where they serve juice. How ‘bout that?” Billie Holiday’s glory and decline have seldom been shown so directly or with as much humanity. 

It’s a straightforward show with as many twists and turns as Billie’s tragic life. And then there are the songs. Kim Nalley shows Billie’s range, as well as her own (and she’ll be singing Nina Simone’s music soon at Yoshi’s). 

The other stars of the show have few lines, but underpin the heart of the play: Kim’s own faithful accompanist, T. Hall, playing Billie’s pianist Bobby, and, in the club scenes, Ned Boynton (oft of Downtown Restaurant) on guitar and bassist Dana Stevens sitting in. 

There are more than a few moments it’s easy to see why, according to Randy Weston, that the only ornament in Thelonious Monk’s spartan practice room was a photo of Lady Day on the ceiling, where he could look up to her as he played.  

LADY DAY IN LOVE 

8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays through Aug. 12. $33. For tickets, call (866) 811-4111.  

Fellowship Theater Guild, 2041 Larkin St., San Francisco. For more information, call (415) 305-3243.

To be a silent movie fan is to live with a mixture of excitement and despair. It is estimated that more than 80 percent of all films from the silent era are lost, either destroyed by Hollywood studios during the transition to talkies or simply lost to the ravages of time. Original negatives and nitrate prints eventually succumb to chemical decomposition, disintegrating into piles of dust. And what has been lost is not limited to Hollywood movies; documentaries, social films, political films, home movies—a vast trove of footage documenting our social history has simply vanished. 

The pain of the loss is often compounded by the fact that sometimes a tiny fragment of a film survives, a shred of footage just long enough to hint at the treasures that have disappeared. Sometimes a single reel of a six-reel feature; sometimes a trailer or even just a fragment of a trailer; sometimes still photos, either from the set or from a publicity campaign; and sometimes just a press release or a review, or maybe just an entry in a studio logbook.  

But now and then a discovery is made and a film is miraculously found again, having been mislabeled in a studio vault, in the archives of a private collector, or tucked away in some musty basement or in the dark corner of a forgotten storage closet. These are hardly optimal conditions for the storage of such fragile cultural documents; nitrate requires strict climate control in order to ensure its preservation. But sometimes a miracle occurs and a long-forgotten movie survives in remarkable condition. 

And so it is with two new DVD releases from Milestone Film and Video: Beyond the Rocks and Electric Edwardians.  

Beyond the Rocks is one of the most sought-after of lost silent-era movies, not so much because of its quality as the simple fact that it featured two of the biggest stars of the day: Gloria Swanson and Rudolph Valentino. It was rare for two such prominent actors to appear in the same film; the logic at the time was that either one could draw a huge audience, so why waste the money on two astronomical salaries when just one would suffice? 

A minute-long fragment survived to taunt historians for nearly eight decades, with hope of its recovery fading with each passing year. And then one day it appeared. 

An eccentric Dutch collector passed away in 2000, and among the assorted artifacts he kept in several storage facilities were dozens of rusted film canisters. The films were donated to the Netherlands Film Museum, and there archivists began sorting through the cans to see what they contained. Eventually a reel of Beyond the Rocks was discovered, and, some time later, another reel, until, in 2004, the complete movie was finally pieced together. 

The film was restored and released in 2005, making its way from Holland to New York, to Los Angeles, and finally, in November, to the Castro Theater, where it was screened as a special presentation of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. (The festival runs today through Sunday at the Castro and was previewed in this space last Tuesday).  

The movie is, for the most part, a light and silly entertainment, a nonsensical Hollywood blockbuster that places its glamorous stars in a series of melodramatic situations in exotic locales. The screenplay is the work of Elinor Glyn, a popular novelist of the day. It was Glyn who wrote the book It and, in a brilliant cross-marketing campaign, proclaimed starlet Clara Bow the embodiment of the sexual allure referred to as “It,” sending both Bow and the ensuing movie into the box office stratosphere. 

Though the discovery and restoration of Beyond the Rocks is good news, its significance pales in comparison to the recent discovery of the work of Sagar Mitchell and James Kenyon, released under the title Electric Edwardians.  

Mitchell and Kenyon were filmmakers in early 20th century Britain, contracted by traveling showmen to film everyday folks in small towns and cities in anticipation of a fair or circus coming to town. Advertisements would be posted informing the locals that, for just a few pence, they could come to the fair and see themselves and their friends and neighbors on the screen.  

To Mitchell and Kenyon, and to their employers, these were throwaway films. They were simply part of a marketing gimmick, a way to lure paying customers. But a few years ago, several drums filled with film canisters were discovered in a basement due for demolition, and in those cans were the original negatives of several dozen Mitchell and Kenyon films.  

One commentator on the DVD describes the films as containing “infinite surprises in a finite space.” It is an apt description, for these films are not polished productions, but are simply snapshots of an era, with the camera merely catching a glimpse of the passing parade of everyday life. A fictional character only exists insofar as he is on the screen; he ceases to exist once he moves beyond the frame. But the Mitchell and Kenyon films feature real people; they are not posing for posterity, they are simply going about their lives, and those lives do not end once they pass through and beyond the frame. Watching these films is like cupping your hands in a rushing stream and capturing just a small sample, just a fleeting glimpse, of the life rushing by.  

The faces are both mysterious and familiar: workers, athletes, children and adults. We see children who will one day become parents and then grandparents and great-grandparents, who will one day be remembered only as faded, foreign photographs in a dusty, dog-eared album; we see men flooding out of factories; we see merchants sweeping the sidewalk; we see regiments of uniformed young boys marching in parades, boys who, in just a few short years, will likely be sent to the battlefields of the Great War. Thousands of faces pass before us, anonymous lives lived and forgotten. But here in the films of Mitchell and Kenyon they live and breathe; they smile, wave, grimace, and walk on by, some curious, some indifferent, some silly, some sober. 

All of these films have their particular charms, from the hundreds of faces pouring out of a factory, to the faces of curious children gaping or grinning at the sight of the camera, to the pensive faces of spectators at a soccer match, to the quaint entertainments of long-forgotten performers. But among the most fascinating films are the ones shot from streetcars, with Mitchell and Kenyon and their camera passing unnoticed through cities and towns, capturing footage of quiet, everyday moments: a man walking alone along the sidewalk; women stopping to chat on a street corner; horse-drawn carriages navigating traffic at an intersection.  

Eighty-five minutes worth can be a lot for one sitting, but select one among the several categories of films and give it your full attention. It’s a rewarding time capsule; the flood of images, accompanied by poignant scores by In the Nursery, provide a genuinely moving experience. 

With all the Ethiopian and Eritrean restaurants in Berkeley and Oakland, it took me a while to get around to Finfine. My loss. 

My dining companion and I went there on a tip from a dental hygienist with Ethiopian roots. Commenting on another well-regarded venue, she said that was mainly where her fellow expats went to hang out and drink coffee, although the food was passable. For Ethiopian cuisine with the freshest ingredients, she recommended Finfine.  

Well, she was right. After a couple of visits, I’m prepared to put this place, downstairs in The Village at Telegraph and Blake, at or near the top of the local rankings. The ingredients are indeed fresh, and handled with a light touch, a refinement, that’s exceptional. And you’ll find dishes that go well beyond the Horn-of-Africa standards. 

On our first foray, we were accompanied by a vegetarian (and occasionally piscivorous) friend. One of the things I’ve always liked about Ethiopian restaurants is that they’re great places to take visiting vegetarians. 

The Coptic Church to which most Amharic- and Tigre-speaking Ethiopians belong has 208 meatless days on its calendar. Of necessity, Coptic Ethiopians developed a rich and varied vegetarian cuisine, based on several kinds of lentils, chickpeas, and collard greens, and augmented in the last few centuries by potatoes, tomatoes, and peppers. There’s even a “mock meat” tradition, with chickpea flour molded into fish shapes and fried. 

So we ordered the vegetarian combination, and a sea-bass dish, goord-asa tibs, that sounded promising. Finfine’s menu is unusual for its depth in fish. As the restaurant’s helpful web site explains, anything called “tibs” is going to be stir-fried; “wat” denotes a stew. And both the fish and vegetables were splendid. I could have used more collards, but that’s just me. The green beans were just on the tender side of crunchy; the lentils were subtly seasoned. 

“The ingredients aren’t cooked down as much as in other places,” our friend said appreciatively. The bass—a generous serving—had been marinated, then sautéed with onions and peppers; it was tangy and succulent. 

In both fish and vegetables, the spices—including the traditionally popular chilicentric mix called berbere—had been used with a light hand. I’ve had Ethiopian fare that would cauterize the taste buds; at Finfine, the seasoning complemented but didn’t overwhelm the other flavors. 

For anyone new to the whole concept of Ethiopian food, I should explain injera. It’s a spongy flatbread that serves as both plate and utensil; you tear off a piece, wrap it around a morsel, and pop it into your mouth, or your companion’s mouth (a custom called goorsha). 

Injera is made from tef (Eragrostis tef), a grain endemic to the Ethiopian highlands, which may have been one of several parts of the world where people independently came up with the idea of agriculture. Tef seeds are pinhead-sized and the seed heads are prone to shattering, so harvesting the stuff is labor-intensive. But it’s high in iron, resistant to disease and pests, and doesn’t require irrigation—virtues that have kept it in cultivation for millennia. 

Injera typically arrives at the table rolled up and stacked in a basket; it looks rather like a stash of Ace bandages. Tastes much better, though. And here’s a culinary secret known to (and needed by) few: it doesn’t stick to orthodontic braces. There is culinary salvation for adolescents! 

With an Ethiopian-brewed Hakim Stout—a wonderfully smoky, substantial beer—the fish-and-vegetable meal was a success. There was an odd moment when our waiter, asked about the creamy white cheese that had come with the assortment, tried to convince us it wasn’t cheese at all, but processed chickpeas. 

He may have assumed we were upset about dairy products mingling with our vegetables, although I don’t know how he would have accounted for the fish. Or maybe the kitchen had just subbed the cheese for the chickpeas—we’d devoured it all by the time we asked. But it was all satisfying, and we decided to return with a couple of omnivores and try the meat dishes. 

Mad cow phobia notwithstanding, all four of us agreed to sample the kitfo, Ethiopia’s answer to steak tartare: raw minced beef mixed with niter kebbe—clarified butter spiced with cardamom, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, onion and garlic—and mit’mit’a, a blend of chilies. (Finfine will cook the beef on request.) 

As with the sea bass, there was almost too much to finish. The kitfo was complicated—with a dominant note of cardamom and a lively fresh tone from the ginger, but much else going on—and, unlike others I’ve had, not overpoweringly hot. The cheese, ayib, made a nice foil for the richness. 

Our other meat entrée, ye-beg wat, was more of a mixed bag: chunks of lamb in a thick berbere-laden sauce like a good Oaxacan mole. Warning: all the chunks contained bits of neckbone, and dealing with the bones and the injera required considerable juggling; not to mention winding up with this little pyramid of bones that you don’t want to put back on the injera. 

We repeated the goord-asa tibs, the vegetarian combination, and the Hakim Stout, and one of us ordered a glass of tej, Ethiopian honey wine. Another pleasant surprise: light, fruity but not cloying, reminiscent of a really good mead (and yes, such a thing exists, at least in the subculture of home brewing).  

So I have to give proper credit to our tipster: this place is a cut above the competition, and I speak from a lot of injera mileage. 

It’s a pleasant spot, with traditional art and musical instruments on the walls, and wonderfully idiosyncratic Ethiopian pop music on the sound system (Did anyone else catch Aster Aweke at the late lamented Festival at the Lake?) 

Entrees top out at $12.95; a glass of tej is $4.50, as is the beer. There are lots of intriguing menu options we didn’t get to, including chicken dishes and a fish version of kitfo. Whether you’re new to Ethiopian foodways or an old hand, Finfine—named for a spring of legendary purity near Addis Ababa—is a worthy exponent of an ancient and distinctive culinary tradition.  

FINFINE 

Open 5-10 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, noon-10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 5-10 p.m. Monday. Closed Tuesday. Credit cards accepted. 2556 Telegraph Ave., 883-0167, www.finfine.com. 

Your Honor, does this lovely Liquid Amber appear capable of doing harm to anything, let alone Mr. Filbert’s 1926 Craftsman bungalow? No, I tell you, it’s a lie, a myth, a hit and a myth! 

My friends the trees have been sorely abused. And it’s all based on false information and a general lack of understanding about how they grow and what they do to the foundations of houses. Although I’ve read tracts by engineers and other experts on the dangers of trees, I’m here to tell you that it just ain’t so. 

You know how the nurse often has better info than the doctor, especially the one in the clinic that sees the same rash a thousand times and the doctor has to check the Merck manual to confirm her findings? Well, in some respects, I’m that nurse. 

I’ve been in the field, seen a lot of houses and have never, ever seen a tree that was overturning a foundation. I expect to see it one day but it won’t be for the reasons that are commonly attributed to trees and I’ll explain why. 

First let’s start with the things that trees do destroy and then we’ll move on to houses and we’ll see a very startling difference that only took me about 1,000 houses to figure out. 

Trees really wreck havoc with sidewalks. This the place we see the most mayhem wrought by our leafy friends. Every year, thousands of linear feet of city sidewalk get slated for replacement due to the formidable tripping hazard that trees create. 

They seem to be completely unaware of the presence of sidewalks, driveways (less than sidewalks), patios and concrete pathways as they toss them, albeit glacially, this way and that. 

That’s the key, they’re unaware and the reason they are is that concrete (I only learned this a few years ago and was shocked to say the least) weighs about the same as soil (given a specific volume, of course). 

So what this means is that a tree will treat a sidewalk the same as any patch of ground, although it may be somewhat more cohesive and a bit rocky. Since the breakages we see happen over long periods of time and as a function of the slow growth of a root, it’s really no great task to break up a three-inch thick skin of low strength concrete that has also been provided with some deep control grooves designed to ease breakage.  

Now again, in the examination of thousands of homes over the last 20 years, why haven’t I seen this happening to houses? Tree roots are certainly capable of doing enormous damage to house foundations and, over time, to entire structures. 

Trees are located right near houses in a large percentage of the homes I see. Well here’s the difference. 

As noted above, concrete doesn’t weigh more than earth and so a skin of concrete over a small area isn’t going to pose any significant resistance to the advancement of a tree root. But a house is a different kettle of bricks, right? A house has real and substantial weight pressing down upon the footing of the house and the earth below 24/7. 

In other words, the tree can actually feel the weight compressing the soils below the footing and can choose a less resistant path. This isn’t to say that there will be no growth below a foundation but I believe that trees will choose, like all of us, the path of least resistance as they grow and that means staying out from under the 80 tons of a house. 

Again, a sidewalk is just too light to feel, weighing roughly the same as soil. Now, I’ll make one amendment. 

I do believe that trees are less likely to break up large heavy and well built pads of concrete because they have some cohesive strength that soil will not exhibit and that slows the advancement of large roots growing near the surface. However, this is, perhaps, putting too fine a point on my argument.  

There is one type of structure that I do see trees destroy and that’s retaining walls. These are also lacking in the load provided by the weight of a house but seem so much more sturdy than sidewalks. Well, they are, but they’re still vulnerable, especially when they lack some sort of foot that resists overturning. 

When they’re just a wall coming up out of the soil and holding back a body of soil on one side, there isn’t that much resistance to leaning. 

If a tree is planted nearby on the uphill side, the roots have little choice but to crowd the space behind the wall and eventually push the thing over. 

Since there can be a moderate amount of designed resistance in better retaining walls, I have no doubt that trees try to send their roots away to easier digs (get it, digs, I sure crack myself up) but the unstoppable growth of the root system of a tree isn’t something you can send just anywhere. Like a woman who’s just broken water, it’s just going to happen … right here and right now.  

I want to wrap up a line that I opened up near the start of this column regarding the damage to a foundation I expected to someday see caused by a tree. Trees aren’t perfect things, sometimes they die and fall over, sometimes they grow in response to the light and become imbalanced and more than a few are gradually being tipped over by landsliding (you can see whole groves of them in the East Bay hills if you look for them). 

So I expect one day to see a tree root ball levering up the corner of a foundation as it falls the opposite way due to one of the above conditions, most likely earth-movement. 

I’m sure that the Animists and the Cartesians are going to line up on either side of this argument but I don’t think I’m imbuing our leafy friends with too much intellect in this theorem. I’m sure you could get a Planarian to do the same thing.  

Nonetheless, I choose to see this as a kind and stewardly act on the part of the arboreal world. But that’s just me. 

Got a question about home repairs and inspections? Send them to Matt Cantor, in care of East Bay Real Estate, at realestate@berkeleydailyplanet.com.

So you don’t wear sweatshop clothes or eat veal or plant invasive exotics. Now that the bulb and seed catalogues are starting to come in the email, there’s one more ethical matter to consider. 

The trade in smuggled plants is at least as dangerous to conservation as the trade in smuggled parrots. Even some legal trade is imperiling species. 

Every plant is native somewhere. Somewhere in the world, those daffs and lilies and snowdrops and tulips just pop out of the ground with no help from anyone. Some are too gorgeous for their own good. 

It’s a good thing to want a piece of wild beauty where we can see it every day. 

That impulse gives rise to learning and research and exploration, all great things. It gives rise to some of our best aesthetics: bonsai, for example.  

Bonsai can epitomize the problem with this trait. I have heard and read and felt objections to taking bonsai subjects from the wild. 

The practice risks the life of the tree, and what perverse practice endangers a creature precisely because we admire it? Trophy hunting comes to mind.  

Gardeners have the advantage of being able to reproduce our favorites, not just harvest or hunt them. 

We can boast that we’re preserving a genome, as with Franklinia alatamaha; that lovely tree exists only in cultivation, and only because a few were collected before the wild population vanished. 

The problem is that we’re also removing our prizes from their species’ gene pool by growing them miles or continents away. That limits the value of piecemeal preservation.  

There are ways to stay virtuous. The first is not to collect from the wild. There are always exceptions, but it’s a good thing to be conservative about.  

Another is to find out where the plants we buy come from. A surprising number of plants, especially bulbs, still originate in the wild; it’s still cheaper to pay a gatherer than to propagate them. 

Often these are plants that mature slowly, especially from seed. Greenhouse space is expensive, and slow turnaround of stock requires financial investment and gambles on fashion changes, new regulations, and disease.  

The Netherlands remains foremost in the flower-bulb industry, though too often as a broker for wild-collected plants.  

Such collecting has rendered, for example, Cyclamen mirabile officially endangered in its native Turkey, though bulbs are still being exported. Stricter standards are being imposed and treaties like the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) slow down dubious trade. Indigenous propagation projects are blooming in many places, too.  

Read labels carefully. Nina T. Marshall’s The Gardener’s Guide to Plant Conservation warns against “ambiguous phrases, such as ‘nursery grown’” that can just mean that the wild-collected plant has done time in a greenhouse before hitting the retailer. 

We can question bargains, and deal with reputable sources who in turn deal with other reputable sources, like native plant societies.  

The best thing is to learn, learn, learn about the plants we love. That will give us tools to figure out how not to love them to death. 

Ron Sullivan is a former professional gardener and arborist. Her “Garden Variety” column appears every Friday in East Bay Home & Real Estate. Her column on East Bay trees appears every other Tuesday in the Berkeley Daily Planet.

The Quake Hits—Now What? 

A major earthquake will cause violent ground shaking and it may be impossible to stand up. Most injuries result from falling or flying objects. At the first sign of shaking, take cover and protect yourself from falling objects.  

If you want to know more about retrofits and how they work, there is a free earthquake retrofitting & home safety seminar this Saturday morning, July 15, from 10 a.m.-noon at the South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St., at Ashby Avenue. 

This free seminar describes the three main elements of an effective retrofit, tells how to evaluate an existing retrofit, describes retrofitting hillside homes, and will have community safety exhibits. It will cover the basics and make you knowledgeable about choosing a retrofit contractor.  

Larry Guillot is owner of QuakePrepare, an earthquake consulting, securing, and kit supply service in the East Bay.  

558-3299, www.quakeprepare.com.

FRIDAY, JULY 14 

Impeachment Banner Fridays at 6:45 to 8 a.m. on the Berkeley Pedestrian bridge between Seabreeze Market and the Berkeley Aquatic Park, ongoing until impeachment is realized. www. Impeachbush-cheney.com 

Tilden Tots A nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! We will study buterflies from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Bastille Day Ball with Baguette Quartette at 9 p.m. at International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave. Waltz classes at 7 p.m. Cost is $10-$20. www.baguettequartette.org 

Bastille Day for Children with stories and activities celebrating French Independence Day from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Habitot Children’s Museum, 2065 Kittredge St. Free. 647-1111. 

Stagebridge Story Workshop with local storytellers on Fridays in July from 10 a.m. to noon at Arts First Oakland Center, 2501 Harrison St., Oakland. Bring a bag lunch. Cost is $10 per workshop, or $25 for the series. 444-4755. www.stagebridge.org 

Kol Hadash Family Pot Luck at 6 p.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. RSVP with food choice to info@kolhadash.org 

SATURDAY, JULY 15 

César Chávez Celebration with cultural performances, speakers and informational tables, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market, Center St. at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way. 548-3333.  

Fire Operations 101 The public is invited to observe Fire Dept. trainings from 1 to 4:30 p.m. across from the Double Tree, 200 Marina Blvd., Berkeley Marina. 

Fresh Tracks: Natural and Cultural History of Tilden Park Walk the watershed from creek to ridge, on a sometimes steep 2.5 mile loop hike, followed by lunch provided by Wente Restaurant. Cost is $20-$32. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Help Restore Cerrito Creek from 10 a.m. to noon. Wear shoes with good traction and clothes that can get dirty. Meet at Creekside Park, south end of Santa Clara St., El Cerrito, just north of Albany Hill. All ages welcome; light or heavy tasks. 848-9358. www.fivecreeks.org 

Wetlands Restoration in Oakland Volunteers needed to tend to the native wetland plants by removing non-native plants, collecting native plant seeds and helping with site monitoring and continuing shoreline clean-up, from 9 a.m. to noon at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline, Oakland. RSVP to 452-9261 ext. 109.  

California Historical Radio Society “Live! At KRE” from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the grounds of the old KRE radio station building near Aquatic Park. Cost is $5, children under 12, free. For directions see www. 

CaliforniaHistoricalRadio.com 415-821-9800.  

62nd Anniversary of the Port Chicago Explosion Ceremony at 10 a.m. at the Concord Naval Weapons Station. RSVP required for shuttle service leaving at 9 a.m. from the parking lot by the Weapons Station’s main gate on Port Chicago Hwy. 925-838-0249. 

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. 

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. For reservations, call 238-3234.  

Oakland Heritage Walking Tour of Uptown Art Deco from 1 to 3 p.m. Meet in from of the Mary Bowles building, 1718 Telegraph Ave. Cost is $5-$15. 763-9218.  

Friends of the Albany Library Book Sale including children’s books, magazines, records, DVDs and a special “treasure hunt” section, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at 1247 Marin Ave., Albany. For more information, or to volunteer for the sale, call 526-3720, ext. 16. 

Building Healthy Communities Through Food A community workshop on increasing access to healthy foods and making change in our communities, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at EcoVillage Farm Learning Center, 21 Laurel Lane, Richmond. For directions see www.ecovillagefarm.org/directions.htm 310-822-5410.  

Produce Stand at Spiral Gardens Food Security Project from 1 to 6 p.m. at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon St. 

Non-Ansethetic Teeth Cleaning for Dogs and Cats from noon to 4 p.m. at RabbitEARS, 303 Arlington Ave. behind ACE Hardware. For an appointment call 525-6155.  

Create Habitat By the Bay Join our restoration project on the south Richmond shoreline near the Bay Trail, from 9 a.m. to noon. Tools, gloves, and light refreshments are provided. Youth under 18 need signed permission from a parent or guardian. To register call 665-3689.  

Bay Street Arts and Music Festival Sat. and Sun. from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Bay Street, Emeryville. www.baystreetemeryville.com 

“California Wild” An introduction to wild animals for children at 10:15 a.m. at the Golden Gate Branch of the Oakland Public Library, 5606 San Pablo Ave. 597-5023. 

Seminar on C.S. Lewis’s “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” Envisioning Christian Concepts from the Novel with Margaret McBride Horwitz, Professor of Literature, New College, Berkeley, from 9 a.m.to 1 p.m. at First Covenant Church, 4000 Redwood Rd., Room 103, Oakland. www.lewissociety.org 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden Sat. and Sun. at 2 pm. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Call to confirm. 841-8732.  

Around the World Tour of Plants at 1:30 p.m., Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. 643-2755. 

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, JULY 16 

Breakfast Aboard the Red Oak Victory Ship from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Berth 6, 1337 Canal Blvd., Richmond. Cost is $6, children under 6 free. 237-2933. 

San Francisco Mime Troupe “Godfellas” at 2 p.m. at Lakeside Park, Lakeside Drive at Lake Merrit, Oakland. www.sfmt.org 

Community Labyrinth Peace Walk at 3 p.m. at Willard Middle School, on Telegraph Ave. between Derby and Stuart. Everyone welcome. Wheelchair accessible. 526-7377. 

Dynamite History Walk in Point Pinole Discover the park preserved by dynamite on a flat easy-paced 3 mile walk from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Registration required. 525-2233. 

Bike Tour of Oakland Explore Oakland on a leisurely two-hour tour. Meet at 10 a.m. at the 10th St. entrance of the Oakland Museum of California. Participants must be over twelve years old and provide their own bikes, helmets and repair kits. Free, but reservations required. 238-3514. 

Oakland Heritage Walking Tour of Oakland’s Cable Railways from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Meet at the former Cox Cadillac Showroom, 2500 Harrison St. at Bay Place. Cost is $5-$15. 763-9218. 

East Bay Atheists with David Seaborg on “Global Warming: The Most Important Issue of the 21st Century” at 1:30 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, 3rd flr meeting room, 2090 Kittredge St. 222-7580. 

Health Care for All Californians A presentation on SB 840 by Karen Arnstead at 1 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. http://healthcareforall.org 

Pool Party Open House with free swimming, live music, and demonstrations of synchronized swimming, diving and stroke techniques, and a pot luck BBQ, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the King School, Hopkins and Colusa. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley and United Pool Council. 548-9050. 

New Farmers’ Market in Kensington, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the parking lot behind ACE Hardware at 303 Arlington Ave. at Amherst. 528-4346. 

Summer Sunday Forum: Millenium Development Group of the UN Association with Enra Rahmanoie at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302, ext. 306. 

Treating Allergies Naturally at noon at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace Meet at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712. lmno4p.org 

Tibetan Buddhism with Joleen Vries on “The Nyingma Mandala in the West” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812.  

MONDAY, JULY 17 

“Access is Everything: If it is public information, why can’t we get to it?” with Dan Noyes, Center for Investigative Reporting, Barbara Newcombe, author of Paper Trails, and Barbara Snider, Santa Cruz Public Libraries, at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6107, 548-1240 (TTY). 

Center for Independent Living Relationship Workshop on family planning for disabled youth age 14-22 at 3 p.m. at 2539 Telegraph Ave. Registration required. 841-4776 ext. 128 or email movingon@cilberkeley.org 

East Bay Vivarium An introduction to insects, lizards, amphibians and reptiles at 7 p.m. at the Golden Gate Branch of the Oakland Public Library, 5606 San Pablo Ave. 597-5023. 

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 $3. 524-9122. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Tilden Room, MLK Student Union, UC Campus. To make an appointment call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE.  

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

Stress Less Seminar at 7 p.m. at New Moon Opportunities, 378 Jayne Ave., Oakland. Free, but registration required. 465-2524. 

TUESDAY, JULY 18 

Angels in the Wilderness with author and wilderness survivor Amy Racina at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140.  

American Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation at 6 p.m. For information call 594-5165.  

“Long-Term Health Care Insurance” with Phil Epstein from HICAP at 1 p.m. at North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5190. 

“Trigger Point, Spray and Stretch Therapies” a video at noon at the Maffley Auditorium, Herrick Campus, Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, 2001 Dwight Way. 644-3273. 

Family Storytime at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

Discussion Salon on Global Warming: Have We Passed the Tipping Point Or Will Technology Save Us At The Last Minute? at 7 p.m. at 1414 Walnut by Rose. 

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 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 19  

Walking Tour of Old Oakland “New Era/New Politics” highlights African-American leaders who have made their mark on Oakland. Meet at 10 a.m. at the African American Museum and Library at 659 14th St. 238-3234.  

Blood on the Border Readings Commemorating the Sandinista Revolution at 7 p.m. at Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 595-7417. 

Spanish Revolution Anniversary Celebration at 7 p.m. at AK Press Warehouse, 674-A 23rd. St., Oakland. 208-1700. 

Labor Fest: Four Short Films on unions around the world at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donation $5.  

Read with Berkeley Free copies of “Funny in Farsi” by Firoozeh Dumas will be given away at 1 p.m. at Berkeley Public Libraries, for a community reading project. First come, first served. 981-6139. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at BART/MTC Metro Center Auditorium, 101 Eighth St., Oakland. To make an appointment call 464-6237. 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome. 548-9840. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

Sleep Seminar at 7 p.m. at New Moon Opportunities, 378 Jayne Ave., Oakland. Free, but registration required. 465-2524. 

JumpStart Networking Share information with other entrepreneurs at 8 p.m. at A’Cuppa Tea, 3202 College Ave. at Alcatraz. Cos tis $10. 652-4532. 

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. 848-1704.  

THURSDAY, JULY 20 

Family Fun in the Garden for ages 5 and up accompanied by an adult, from 10:30 a.m. to noon at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $14-$18 for one adult and child. Registration required. 643-2755. 

Transportation Needs in South/West Berkeley Community meeting to identify priority needs at 7 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 981-5170. 

The MGO Democratic Club will discuss the possible sale of OUSD property and future governance of the District after the departure of State Administrator Randolph Ward at 7 p.m. at 110 41st St., Oakland. 531-6843. www.mgoclub.org 

Teen Science Fiction/Fantasy Book Club will discuss the role of food in Brian Jacques’ Redwall series, at 4 p.m. at Claremont Branch Library, 2940 Benvenue. 981-6133. 

“Wanki Lupia Nani: The Children of the River” A documentary on Nicaragua, 1985-1988, at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. 

Simplicty Forum with Alex Goldman on “Focusing First on the Inside” at 6:30 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, Claremont Branch, 2940 Benvenue Ave. 

“Full Moon Feast” with food activist Jessica Parker at 7:30 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

Avatar Metaphysical Toastmasters Club meets at 6:45 p.m. at Spud’s Pizza, 3290 Adeline at Alcatraz. Free, all are welcome. jstansby@yahoo.com 

World of Plants Tours Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at 1:30 p.m. at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $5. 643-2755. 

ONGOING 

Energy Saving Program for Residents CYES is running its 7th annual summer program, providing direct-installation of CFLs, retractable clotheslines, showerheads, and more. This year they have also received funding to provide attic insulation at approximately 75% off the retail price. Services available in Berkeley, Oakland, Richmond. Free. 665-1501. 

Medical Care for Your Pet at the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society low-cost veterinary clinic. 2700 Ninth St. For appointments call 845-3633.  

CITY MEETINGS 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board meets Mon., July 17, at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, Pam Wyche, 644-6128 ext. 113.  

City Council meets Tues., July 18, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Citizens Humane Commission meets Wed., July 19, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Katherine O’Connor, 981-6601.  

Commission on Aging meets Wed., July 19, at 1:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. William Rogers, 981-5344.  

Commission on Labor meets Wed.,July 19, at 6:45 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Delfina M. Geiken, 981-7550.  

Design Review Committee meets Thurs., July 20, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Anne Burns, 981-7415.  

Downtown Area Plan Advisory Commission meets Wed., July 19, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7487. 

Human Welfare and Community Action Commission meets Wed., July 19, at 7 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Kristen Lee, 981-5427.  

Human Welfare and Community Action Commission meets Wed., July 19, at 7 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Kristen Lee, 981-5427.  

Transportation Commission meets Thurs., July 20, at 7 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Peter Hillier, 981-7000.  

School Board meets Wed., June 21, at 7:30 p.m., in the City Council Chambers. 644-6320.

An article in the June 30 Berkeley Daily Planet incorrectly stated the name of the president of the Berkeley Property Owners Association as Michael Wilson. The correct name is David Wilson.