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Opening Day for Berkeley City College 
          Karen Cotton, left, helps students register for classes at Berkeley City College (formerly Vista College) on Friday afternoon. The official ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the new campus at 2050 Center St. is scheduled for 10 a.m. today (Tuesday). Photograph by Riya Battacharjee
Opening Day for Berkeley City College Karen Cotton, left, helps students register for classes at Berkeley City College (formerly Vista College) on Friday afternoon. The official ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the new campus at 2050 Center St. is scheduled for 10 a.m. today (Tuesday). Photograph by Riya Battacharjee
 

News

Chan Calls for Delay Of OUSD Land Sale

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday August 22, 2006

State Assemblymember Wilma Chan, who co-sponsored legislation that led to the state takeover of the Oakland Unified School District in 2003, says that contract negotiations to sell Oakland Unified School District Lake Merritt-area property that were authorized in that legislation “should be slowed down” until more information can be obtained about the controversial deal. 

Saying in a telephone interview this week that “we are getting conflicting information” about the details of the proposed contract between state Superintendent Jack O’Connell and east coast developers TerraMark/ UrbanAmerica, Chan (D-Oakland) stated that she believes the negotiations should be extended beyond the current Sept. 15 deadline called for in the negotiating agreement between the state and the developers. 

Chan co-sponsored the 2003 OUSD takeover legislation with state Senate President Don Perata (D-Oakland). 

Under the proposed contract being negotiated, TerraMark/ UrbanAmerica would purchase 8.25 acres of OUSD property that sits on land near the Lake Merritt Channel, which connects Lake Merritt with the Oakland Estuary, with the developers planning to build five high-rise, luxury residential towers on the site. 

The OUSD administrative offices, three schools, and two early childhood development centers currently sit on the property. Originally, the TerraMark/Urban America proposal called for all of the OUSD programs to be moved from the site, but, under pressure from parent groups, the developers recently changed their proposal to allow MetWest High School and La Escuelita Elementary School to remain. 

All eight members of the Oakland City Council have already come out in opposition to the deal, and the OUSD board of trustees is preparing to vote next month on a proposal that would substitute a multi-grade educational center and a new administration building for the condominiums. 

In her telephone interview this week, Chan said, “If the deal doesn’t pan out economically, or if it causes too much disruption for the students whose schools are slated to be moved [under the proposed contract], I won’t support the deal.” 

Chan said that she has asked for more information on the deal from O’Connell’s office, and is planning a meeting with school board members in early September. 

Chan’s call for a delay in the OUSD property negotiations stands in contrast to Perata, who has gone no further than to say that he is “troubled that the vast majority of Oakland residents and elected officials have concerns about the current [OUSD property sale] proposal.” 

Perata made that statement in an Aug. 16 letter to State Superintendent O’Connell, sent after members of the Ad Hoc Committee to Restore Local Control/Governance to the Oakland Schools gave him that deadline to make a public statement on the proposed sale. 

In his letter, Perata told O’Connell that “I continue my request that you cultivate and heed community comment before making any final decisions on this property … Responding to their input is a necessity in the planning process.” 

In his letter to O’Connell, Perata reiterated his claim that the provision to allow for the sale of OUSD properties to help pay off the loan to the state was made “at the specific request of the Oakland Unified School Board.” 

Perata wrote that “it was also my intention that any plan for such a sale be appropriately reviewed and approved by the public and their elected representatives.” 

In March 2003, in the resolution that requested the state loan and triggered the state takeover of the Oakland schools, OUSD trustees included a provision that read “On or before June 30, 2004, the District be allowed to declare as surplus property and sell or lease such property on or before June 30, 2004, and use the proceeds from any such sale or lease to reduce or retire the State loan …” 

The provision is identical to the language Perata introduced into SB39, the OUSD state takeover legislation. 

However, three trustees who were on the board during the time of the takeover—Dan Siegel, David Kakashiba, and Gary Yee—could not recall who actually wrote the land sale/lease provision in the March 2003 board resolution and whether it was put in at the specific request of board members or was simply part of the language drafted by OUSD staff members. 

In addition, the portion of the state legislation that allowed OUSD land to be leased and the proceeds used to pay off the debt were later taken out of the bill in the Assembly Appropriations Committee before the bill was passed by the full legislature and signed by the governor into law. The move was significant because it left the state superintendent only with the option to sell district property to help pay off OUSD’s state debt. 

In a telephone interview this week, Assemblymember Chan said she had no idea how the lease provision was taken out of the takeover bill. “I wasn’t even aware that it had been taken out,” Chan said, adding that “all options for the use of the property should be made available to the district.”


Father of Army Officer Resisting War Speaks Out

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday August 22, 2006

When Ehren Watada signed up for the army, he thought he was being patriotic. But after talking to veterans returning from Iraq and studying documents that showed Bush had lied about weapons of mass destruction there, the 28-year-old lieutenant became convinced that the patriotic position was to refuse deployment to Iraq. 

Preliminarily charged with contempt toward President George W. Bush, conduct unbecoming an officer and missing a movement, Watada faces the possibility of a court-martial and more than seven years in prison. 

“After 9/11, he wanted to do something to serve the community, to serve the country,” said his father, Bob Watada, over coffee Monday morning in a South Berkeley café. The elder Watada is in the Bay Area this week speaking at more than a dozen events from Santa Cruz to Santa Rosa in an effort to bring pressure from “the court of public opinion” to bear on the military. 

“I’m trying to publicize my son’s cause and publicize what’s going on in Iraq,” Watada said. 

Lt. Ehren Watada was not a young rebel, his father said. Growing up, he was an “A” student and an Eagle Scout. He graduated with a degree in business from Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu. 

When the twin towers fell, he was studying at the university and working at Federal Express. “The media was telling us that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and that Saddam Hussein was a tyrant,” Watada said. “There was a build up of fear and paranoia.” 

Ehren Watada joined the military in 2003. 

“I wasn’t too keen on it,” said his father, who opposed the Vietnam war and avoided serving in it by joining the Peace Corps, then going to graduate school. “But it was important for Ehren to make his own decision.” 

During basic training Ehren was selected to go to officers’ school, then served a year in Korea, after which he volunteered to go to Iraq, believing, at the time, that the war was just. 

An artillery officer stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash., he was told, however, that he would have to wait for a year to be deployed. During that time the lieutenant began talking to veterans returning from Iraq and reading documents such as the Downing Street memos and reports about the tens of thousands of Iraqis the Americans had killed. 

He also learned about the brutality the United States inflicted on the people of Felluja and the torture committed by his fellow soldiers. He began to see “how Bush had lied and violated the constitution,” Watada said. 

In the latter part of 2005, Lt. Watada started talking to his superiors about the fact that he did not want to go to Iraq. He did not ask for conscientious objector status, believing that not all wars are unjust. At that point, he was told, “’We’ll put you in the Green Zone and you can do paper work,’” Watada said, adding that the military did not understand that his son was saying that he did not want to participate in any way in a war he saw as illegal. 

Lt. Watada then asked to resign from the army, something that officers are permitted to do in times of peace. They refused, Watada said, noting, “The military is short of officers,” 

At that point Lt. Watada got in touch with Honolulu-based attorney Eric Seitz to help him get out of the military. (Seitz, partly raised in Berkeley, is the son of the late political activist Jules Seitz.) 

“He thought he could get out quietly and not embarrass the military,” Watada said. 

June 7, Lt. Watada went public, declaring in a press conference that he would not serve in Iraq: “My participation would make me party to war crimes ... As the order to take part in an illegal act is ultimately unlawful as well, I must as an officer of honor and integrity refuse that order.” 

On June 22, when his unit was deployed, Lt. Watada refused to board the airplane, thus becoming the first commissioned officer to publicly refuse to fight in Iraq. 

Lt. Watada continues to perform deskwork on the base in Fort Lewis, where the reaction to his refusal has been mixed, ranging from thanks and support to death threats, Watada said. 

Last week the army held an Article 32 hearing to decide if the military will court-martial Lt. Watada and what the charges will be. Recommendations coming out of the hearing will be released in a few days. 

“We appreciated the opportunity to lay the groundwork to prove that the war in Iraq is illegal and that Lt. Watada, coming to this conclusion after much research, was duty bound to refuse to participate,” said attorney Seitz in an Aug. 17 press statement. 

Asked whether he wanted to put the Iraq War on trial during an eventual court-martial, Seitz, in a quick phone interview from Honolulu, said, “That is our intent.” 

He added that he hoped the judge would allow the defense the freedom to speak to the illegalities of the war as they had in the Article 32 hearing. “That’s our defense,” he said. 

 

 

Bob Watada, father of war resistor Lt. Ehren Watada, will be speaking in Berkeley this week at the following locations: 

• Wednesday, 10:30 a.m., Room 242, Cesar Chavez Student Center, UC Berkeley, 812-8026 

• Wednesday, noon, Sproul Plaza, UC Berkeley, 579-2711 

• Friday, 10 a.m., Northern California Japanese Christian Theological Forum, Berkeley Methodist United Church, 1710 Carleton St., 548-3614 

• Saturday: 7-9 p.m. Berkeley Friends Church, 1600 Sacramento St. 

For other events call 528-7288 


New Test Scores Show Trouble For Jerry Brown’s Charter Schools

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday August 22, 2006

Student test scores at Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown’s Oakland School for the Arts (OSA) charter school dropped significantly in two key areas from last year to this, according to a report on the California Standards Test (CST) recently released by the California Department of Education. 

Meanwhile, students at the mayor’s Oakland Military Institute College Preparatory Academy (OMI) continued to test at the lower end of the scale.  

The drop in test scores at OSA and the continued low test scores at OMI put both of Mayor Brown’s charter schools at risk for being placed on the No Child Left Behind “school watch list” when the NCLB Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) report comes out later this month. 

Both OSA and OMI failed to meet its AYP goals mandated by the federal law last year. A school receiving Title I money begins facing escalating consequences if it fails to meet AYP goals for two consecutive years. 

OMI operates at the old Oakland Army Base through a charter issued by the Oakland Unified School District, while OSA operates in temporary quarters near its proposed new headquarters—the Fox Oakland Building—under a charter issued by the State Board of Education. The arts school charter was turned down by both the OUSD board and the Alameda County Board of Education in 2003. 

A year ago, Mayor Brown was highlighting the academic achievement at his Oakland School for the Arts in his now defunct weblog, writing, “The Oakland School for the Arts (OSA), a public charter school I founded in 2002, scored a 9 out of 10 possible points on the Academic Performance Index (API).” 

When compared to other schools with similar demographics across the state, OSA scored a “similar schools” rank of 10. The nearest score attained by any other Oakland high school was a 4.” 

Brown also quoted a spring, 2005 Oakland Tribune article that “the arts high school opened by Mayor Jerry Brown in downtown Oakland 2.5 years ago is now officially one of the best schools in California, at least according to the latest rankings assigned to all public schools by the state.” 

In the same blog entry, Brown wrote that the Oakland Military Institute “uses ceremony, military courtesy and discipline to create a focused academic environment.” 

Two months later, another Brown blog entry said that “the mission of OMI is to provide a disciplined and inspiring framework so that students master college prep courses. The school aims to foster good character and leadership. Success is measured by how many students qualify for four-year colleges.” 

But the latest test scores provide a less enthusiastic picture of the mayor’s two charter schools in the past year. 

OSA student scores dropped 17 percentage points in ninth-grade English Language Arts (from 73 percent to 56 percent at or above proficient) and 8 percentage points in ninth-grade Geometry (from 42 percent to 34 percent at or above proficient) in the CST between 2005 and 2006.  

At the same time, OSA 11th-grade students made significant gains in English Language Arts testing between 2005 and 2006 (from 46 percent to 57 percent at or above proficient) and held virtually even in 10th-grade English Language Arts testing from last year to this. 

Overall, OSA students tested weaker than the statewide average in math and science stronger in English Language Arts this year. In 9th grade Geometry, OSA students tested 11 percentage points below the statewide average with OSA students at 34 percent at or above proficient to 45 percent statewide. OSA students tested below the statewide average in 10th grade Algebra and Geometry and 11th grade Chemistry as well. OSA students tested 24 and 21 percentage points above the statewide average in 10th and 11th grade English Language Arts, though the OSA testing advantage in the same subject dropped to 8 percentage points in among 9th grade students.  

Only in 10th grade Science did OSA students hold even with the statewide average in non-English courses, testing at 38 percent proficient or above to 35 percent statewide. 

The drop in OSA testing is reflected in a growing dissatisfaction with the staff and administration at the school posted by parents at the GreatSchools.com website. Great Schools is an independent national rating and evaluation website for K-12 schools. Parents are allowed to post anonymous evaluations. 

In March of this year, one parent wrote that “teacher and student turnover is extremely high. Our experience has been that the director and the board only want to showcase the ‘best of breed’ in order to raise funds for the school without regard to the artistic development of all the students.” 

In May, one parent wrote, “There is a lack of communication between parents and staff,” with another adding “Oakland School for the Arts may ‘seem’ like a good school, but it really isn’t. The administration does not like to keep the lines of communication open between themselves, the parents, and the staff. Forty nine teachers have left the school so far between one year.” 

In July, another parent wrote that while their son “loves the school … he has been disappointed in some of the staff being let go. … I wanted to take my child out because I am unhappy with the way the school operates but my son does not want to leave. … He is a visual art student and is willing to put up with all the problems in order to accomplish his goal.” 

Meanwhile, test scores at Mayor Brown’s Oakland Military Institute remained low, with sixth-grade students testing 14 points below the statewide average in English Language Arts and 11 points below in math, seventh-grade students testing 30 percentage points below the statewide average in English Language Arts and 20 percentage points below in math, eight-grade students testing 17 points below the average in General Mathematics, 10 points below the average in English Language Arts, 18 points below the average in Algebra, and 21 points below the average in Geometry, ninth-grade students testing 6 percentage points below the statewide average in General Mathematics, 8 points below the average in English Language Arts, and 38 points below the average in Geometry, and 10th-grade students testing 9 points below the statewide average in Algebra, 15 points below the average in Science, and 23 points below the average in Chemistry. 

OMI students tested better than the average in one area, with eighth-grade students beating the state average by 14 percentage points in Science. 10th-grade OMI students tested at exactly the statewide average in English Language Arts. 

 


Bayer Grant Gets Students Working in Biotechnology

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday August 22, 2006

Biotech Partners, formerly Berkeley Biotechnology Education, Inc/BBEI, received a surprise $150,000 grant from the Bayer Foundation on Wednesday, which reaffirmed Bayer Corporation’s commitment to the model biotechnology school-to-career program that the company established with the city of Berkeley 13 years ago. 

The grant was announced at Posters 2006, Biotech Partners’ annual event which highlights the achievements of 33 students from Berkeley High School and Oakland’s Life Academy of Health and Bioscience after they conclude their first summer internships in the biotechnology industry. 

Students have an opportunity to intern at leading biotech companies such as Bayer, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Kaiser Permanente, among others. 

The event, which included a poster presentation of displays of work completed in the students’ internship program, was attended by State Superintendent Jack O’Connell.  

Dr. Mae C. Jemison, the country’s first African-American female astronaut, was the keynote speaker.  

The grant will go on to help Biotech Partners build up its educational services to local high school and community college students. As the Bay Area’s only non-profit organization providing a “comprehensive and innovative hands-on, bioscience education and job training program” for students who are underrepresented in the sciences, Biotech Partners has achieved tremendous success and national recognition since its inception in 1993. 

“The grant is indicative of Bayer’s continued support to fund students who are economically backward,” said Deborah Bellush, Executive Director of Biotech Partners. “We hope others will take this as an example of how companies can partner with us to contribute towards education as well as the community and in the process have a pool of work-ready skilled employees to hire.” 

Bellush added that when Bayer founded the 30-year development agreement with the city in 1993 to set up the biotech facility, the community had wanted to know what the city would get from this partnership. 

“Bayer being a German Company emphasized the hands-on training that students would get out of this program,” she said. “They especially wanted to target a certain population, such as students who are not on the four-year college track, students of color and also women. What was developed was a curriculum in high school and community college which would provide hands-on on-the-job training as well as a paid summer internship for those who were eligible for it.” 

Students from Berkeley High School and Oakland’s Life Academy are recruited by Biotech Staff in their sophomore year. 

“We visit English classes, science classes, talk to counselors and parents at Berkeley High School,” Bellush said. “A lot of students get to know about this program through word of mouth. At the Life Academy, students who join our program are mostly those who are interested in health sciences.” 

Bellush added that after completing high school, students who were enrolled in the program could go on to a four-year college, a community college or attend the Bio-Science Career Institute at Laney college that is part of the program. 

High school students are also placed in eight-week paid summer internships, and freshmen-year community college students in one-year paid co-op worker positions at local biotech companies, healthcare institutions and research laboratories. 

Berkeley High’s student body president Tarissa Waldemar, who interned at Bayer Laboratories in Berkeley this summer, described the experience as “life changing.”  

“I learned so many new technologies, practices and met so many interesting and intelligent people at the electrophoresis lab at Bayer,” said the 17-year-old who will be a senior this fall. “I always knew I wanted to major in the sciences in college but now I know I want to go in particularly for biochemistry. It’s really amazing how so many other doors open up through this internship. I would definitely recommend it to students who are interested in a career in the health sciences.” 

Rebecca Lucore, spokesperson for the Bayer Foundation, told the Planet that the program’s success rate helped to win this additional grant. 

“Biotech Partners usually receives $25,000 to $30,000 annually from Bayer as part of the development agreement,” she said. “However, the program has grown so much and done so much for the community that the Board of Directors at the Bayer Foundation wanted to step it up and award them a separate grant. This $150,000 is separate from the development agreement and will be used over a three-year period.” 

Lucore added that the board was very impressed with the successful graduation rates in the program, which was one of the factors that decided the awarding of this grant. 

“Students who have joined the program in the eleventh grade have enjoyed a 98 percent graduation rate as compared to the 70 percent state average,” Lucore said. 

Crystal Simon, a 2002 graduate of Biotech Partners, said the program helped her to obtain the kind of skills she needed to get a job in the heath care industry. She landed her job in the Department of Purification at Bayer Pharmaceuticals in Berkeley right after graduating from high school. 

“The program helped with tutoring, with providing night classes and lots of hands-on training,” Simon said. “On the whole, it helped me to get to where I am today.” 

 

Photograph by Mark Coplan 

Summer intern and BHS student body president Tarissa Waldemar explains her project to State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell.


UC Custodians Call for Fair Wages as Term Opens

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday August 22, 2006

UC Berkeley custodians welcomed students moving into southside dormitories with an informational picket line on Sunday, calling on the administration to give them fair wages. 

“What we want is pay equity,” said William Schlitz, spokesperson for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, which represents the custodians. 

A UC Berkeley custodian with five years seniority earns $12 an hour, he said; a five-year custodian at the Peralta Colleges earns $18.30 an hour. 

Schlitz pointed to a recent study by the California Budget Project that shows that in Alameda County single people need an hourly wage of at least $13.41 to support themselves. 

“And most of the folks have families,” he said, pointing to the “pay excesses” of UC executives that have been well publicized this year. 

“And they can’t find the money?” he asked rhetorically. 

Schlitz, who spoke to the Planet on Monday, said the Sunday picket went well. “We educated a lot of students and their parents,” he said. 

The custodians’ contract comes up next year, but Schlitz said the university could negotiate earlier if they wanted to. 

“We’ve been talking with UC about pay equity issues for 14 or 15 months,” he said. 

Marie Felde, spokesperson on UC Berkeley administrative matters, was not available for comment before deadline.


Finance Department Head Resigns, Takes Hayward Post

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday August 22, 2006

After more than a decade crunching numbers as the head of Berkeley’s Finance Department, E. Frances David will be making a shift south to become assistant city manager in Hayward. 

Her resignation follows a few other notable departures of city staff in recent weeks. Earlier this summer, City Clerk Sara Cox resigned to become Napa’s city clerk, and Tom Myers, acting economic development manager, tendered his resignation last month. 

David’s last day in Berkeley is Sept. 15; she will begin her job in Hayward 10 days later. During her time off, David said she’ll be celebrating her mother’s 100th birthday. 

David came to the city as assistant to the city manager in the Planning Department in 1993 and transferred to finance as acting director in 1996. Before working in Berkeley, David was chief of staff for Oakland Councilmember Dezie Woods-Jones. 

Calling her new position an “opportunity,” David said during her time in Berkeley, she’s been able to “grow and learn.” 

Among its duties, the Finance Department is charged with providing information to city government on accounting, investing and debt financing. It oversees procurement and parking citations. 

Deputy City Manager Lisa Caronna, acting as city manager while Phil Kamlarz is on vacation, credited David with the re-organization of her department and providing accurate revenue projections. She said David was responsible for centralizing purchasing and creating savings in that division. 

Caronna said that the city always looks at a change of management as an opportunity to make changes. She noted, however, that it was too early to comment on what those changes might be. She also could not say who would take over as acting manager. 

City Councilmember Kriss Worthington said he hoped the city would find a manager who would upgrade the city’s on-line possibilities, including the ability to fight parking tickets on line. 

Calling David a “good manager,” community activist Barbara Allen of Budget Watch commented: “Fran David followed through and always got back to us with information.”


Pacific Steel Report on Health Risk from Emissions Past Due

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday August 22, 2006

Pacific Steel Casting Corporation will hand over their health risk assessment report to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) in the first week of September, according to Elizabeth Jewel of Aroner, Jewel & Ellis Partners, the company’s public relations consultants.  

Pacific Steel, located on Second Street in West Berkeley, was sued by the air district on Aug. 14 for “failure to meet statutory deadlines for reporting emissions, and for violating the schedule contained in a 2005 Settlement Agreement designed to resolve an ongoing series of air quality complaints.” 

BAAQMD has also ordered the court to fine the company $10,000 for every day that it fails to submit the emissions inventory report, which has already been delayed by two months. 

The City of Berkeley and neighborhood groups are also waiting to get their hands on this report. The city and the public will have access to the report only after the BAAQMD receives it. 

Communities for Better Environment, an environmental watchdog group, filed a motion for a preliminary injunction on Thursday and asked the court to order Pacific Steel to stop violating their 2.5-ton emission limit from source 14, which is reportedly one of the main sources for the facility’s emission production. 

Neighborhood groups such as Cleanaircoalition.net have planned to get together with Green Action for Health and Environmental Justice and other environmentalists on Sept. 16 for a Pacific Steel protest march to demand the release of the heath impact emission reports.


Testers Posing as Katrina Survivors Encounter ‘Linguistic Profiling’

Lorinda M. Bullock, New American Media
Tuesday August 22, 2006

As the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches on Aug. 29, displaced Americans from Louisiana and the Gulf Coast have been slowly rebuilding their lives and looking for a place to call home.  

While Katrina’s black victims shop the housing market, calling realtors and potential landlords, one thing may be standing between them and their new homes even before an appointment is made or paperwork filled out—their voice. 

It’s called linguistic profiling.  

A study of five states done by the National Fair Housing Alliance and linguistics expert John Baugh revealed in 66 percent of phone tests administered by white and black testers inquiring about housing as Katrina survivors, “white callers were favored over African-American callers,” the report said.  

“Yes, people do use the telephone as a screening device in many, many businesses,” Baugh said.  

Shanna Smith, president and CEO of the Washington-based NFHA, said the organization’s report on “Housing Discrimination Against Hurricane Katrina Survivors” showed repeated bias in a number of areas, including black testers not getting return phone calls, and being quoted higher rent prices and security deposits.  

“In Birmingham, a white tester was told that a $150 security deposit and $25 per adult application fee would be waived for her as a Hurricane Katrina victim. She was also told she needed to make 2.5 times the rent to qualify for the apartment. The African-American tester was told that she would have to pay $150 for the security deposit and a $25 application fee for each applicant. The African-American hurricane survivor was also told that she would have to make three times the rent to qualify for the apartment,” the report stated. 

The testing took place in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas, and showed instances of white testers being offered free televisions and partially refunded security deposits. But those offers were not extended to black testers, who were often saddled with additional administrative fees that were non-refundable.  

“It’s a different kind of behavior in discrimination from the ‘70s until now where they would just simply say we don’t have anything available. Now they try not to trigger suspicion so they may say, when do you need it or I won’t know until the end of the month, when in fact, they may have three or four apartments available right now. But if you’re the caller that sounds reasonable,” Smith said.  

Smith, whose organization has worked with Baugh since the early 1990s, said another tactic that is used is asking a potential renter or buyer for their name to be put on a waiting list and “Names that didn’t sound middle America White, they didn’t get the return emails about availability.”  

The current trend happening with the Katrina victims is no surprise to either Smith or Baugh.  

Baugh has logged thousands of calls, since 1987, using testers of different races and backgrounds, including himself.  

Baugh, an African-American man, started studying the practice of linguistic profiling after his own personal experience when he was looking for an apartment in the San Francisco Bay Area.  

“I was calling various landlords to go look at apartments and in about two or three cases, I got there and they told me there had been some mistake and the apartments had already been rented. And it just didn’t seem right to me and I speculated that they didn’t realize I was African-American when they made the appointment with me. But once they saw me in person they came up with some excuse. They didn’t say, ‘No, we don’t rent to Black people’ but they came up with some ‘unquote’ legitimate excuse,” Baugh said.  

He found the questions from the landlords varied, depending on the voice they heard, but Baugh, who flawlessly uses three different voices—a “Latino rendition, modified African-American rendition and standard English”—always kept the opening line the same, “Hello, I’m calling about the apartment you have advertised in the paper,” he would say.  

“It’s exactly the same phrase. The only thing I’ve done there is modify the intonation. So it isn’t like I used the word ain’t or be or anything. Even if you use a certain kind of intonation, it is possible that somebody might discriminate against you just based on the sound of your voice over the telephone,” Baugh said.  

Baugh who just finished a five-year study with the Ford Foundation looking at the issue in the United States, has started a new two-year project with the Ford Foundation. This time, he’s examining linguistic profiling globally, for people of African descent in places like South Africa, Brazil and France. 

Baugh has also used his expertise in civil and criminal court cases. Many of the civil cases dealing with linguistic profiling have settled out of court. As for the criminal cases, he is developing ear-witness testimony in hopes of having a similar impact of DNA testing used to exonerate the innocent and solidify proof against the guilty.  

While Baugh says Black and Hispanic people in the United States are discriminated against heavily because of their voice, he also makes it very clear that linguistic profiling is not even limited to just those groups. 

“They (southern Whites) think they need to show up in person so the people there don’t think they’re Black. Even within any racial group, there is enough linguistic diversity you get different prejudicial issues coming up,” he said.  

But even Whites seeking diversity find that realtors and landlords are drawing the lines deciding where clients should live despite their wishes, said Smith, who is White.  

“As White people we get those direct comments made to us. I’ve been doing testing where people say, you’re going to like it here. We don’t rent to Blacks. I’ve been told when I’ve asked for housing in interracial neighborhoods, real estate agents will say, ‘well who will your kids date?’ It’s not going to be safe for you. It’s going to be better for you to move here. White people hear this all the time. The problem is they don’t know they can do something about it.” 

Smith said the Fair Housing Act strictly states that truthful information must be given to everyone who calls. 

If people feel they are getting different treatment, Smith suggested they can call one of the 100 fair housing centers in the country or the national office in Washington. The fair housing centers can have a White tester call in as little as 30 minutes and will compare the results. Both Smith and Baugh suggest keeping detailed notes of the experience.  

“We estimate there are close to 4 million instances of discrimination that occurs annually in the U.S. My members only report about 18,000 a year. HUD only gets around 3,000 complaints a year,” she said.  

But the reported numbers are so low because there are only 100 centers and states like California, Ohio and Michigan have multiple centers leaving other states without centers at all. “So you have thousands of cities that don’t have a private fair housing center,” she said.  

While everyone “accommodates linguistically” depending on the situation, be it a job interview or joking with friends, Baugh said people should not have to hide who they are but shouldn’t be naive to society’s biases either.  

“People should not feel they need to mask their linguistic background,” he said. “The United States should be the most linguistically tolerant nation on the face of the earth because our citizens come from everywhere. And because of the fact that all of our ancestors had to go through a transition where English was not their mother tongue … You should be free to speak in whatever way is comfortable for you and your fellow citizens don’t misjudge you.” 

 

 

 

 

 


A Few Questions for Berkeley High Principal Jim Slemp

By Rio Bauce, Special to the Planet
Tuesday August 22, 2006

Berkeley High School Principal Jim Slemp took some time off from his busy schedule recently to answer a few questions as he begins his fourth year as principal at BHS. 

 

Where did you work before you were at Berkeley High School? Did your original expectations of BHS turn out the way you that they would? 

Jim Slemp: Before I came here, I was deputy superintendent at Eugene, Ore. There were 24,000 students. I deliberately wanted to come to Berkeley High School, because I wanted to be principal of a large school. I love it. I absolutely love it. Probably the biggest thing is the students. We have amazing students. It brings me joy everyday. It’s one thing that I don’t like about summer. I just miss being around high school students.  

 

What was your high school experience like, and has this shaped how you view your job as principal? 

Slemp: I loved high school. I had a good time. I was involved in athletics. The longest time I was in one place was two years, which wasn’t very hard for me but was for my sister. It affects me in that I know how hard the transitions that kids make are. 

 

What are three of the biggest problems at BHS? 

Slemp: I guess first is that we have an achievement gap that falls along racial lines, particularly African-American males and Latino males. I think we have some things in place to help with that and we’re making progress. But it’s not fast enough for me.  

Second is that not all students are leaving here ready to go to a four-year college or university. I think that it is our job to get students there. 

Third would be attendance, because it relates to the other two. 

What are three of your goals for the coming year? 

Slemp: First, we have a new governance model that involves more students and parents on our school governance council, a combination of the School Site Council and the Shared Governance Committee. That’s kind of exciting for me, because it really distributes leadership and involves people more in the leadership process.  

Second would be implementing the international high school, because I think that this is a good thing.  

Third would be that we will have a school-wide advisory program a year from now, where all students have an advisor. The advisor will build relationships, monitor attendance, and help students be successful. 

 

Could you elaborate on your ideas for the International High School program? Is it a new small school?  

Slemp: No. It is a program like Academic Choice. And beginning with this year’s ninth-graders, students have six choices: four small schools (Communication Arts Sciences, Computer Partnerships Academy, School of Social Justice and Ecology, Art and Humanities) and two programs within the comprehensive school (Academic Choice, International High School). So there is no more straight comprehensive school. 

 

What are your plans regarding small schools at BHS? Is your idea that every student should be in a small school? 

Slemp: No. I don’t think that every student should be in a small school. I think that a school of 3,200 kids is too large. Part of the research around why some students aren’t successful is that they don’t have any connection—their school is too big, they are too hard to monitor and to be helpful to students. I don’t think that everyone should be in a small school. That’s the reason that I like that we have more than one option or one way to go. 

 

Has Berkeley High’s truancy problem improved over the past year? 

Slemp: It has improved a little, but not enough. There are two concerns. Concern number one is that [truancy] is the number one reason students, who fail, are failing. There are students who don’t go to class and know how to get by, that are successful. A lot of students can’t miss class. It leads to students not doing homework and then they fail the class.  

Second is that we lose money. That’s secondary on my mind. Obviously the superintendent and the school board would have a different view. It’s just how do we help all students to be successful. 

 

Are there going to be any new policy changes at Berkeley High this year? What is the new AP class switch-out policy? What is the reasoning behind the teacher rotation for AP classes? 

Slemp: There is no teacher rotation policy. The only thing is that teachers must have gone to AP training to teach the class. The AP policy has not changed. It has been that way for three years. It basically says that if you’re in an AP class, you need to take the test to get AP credit. If you don’t take the test, you still get credit for the class but just not the AP credit. You don’t have to pass the AP test; you just have to take it. Are there any new policy changes? Not that I remember at the moment. 

 

There have been rumors that if kids don’t return their books or replace them by the beginning of the school year that they won’t receive their schedules. Is that true? Are there other repercussions? 

Slemp: That is true and the purpose is that each of our textbooks costs about $100. They need to return it or pay for it. Then they can receive their schedules. 

 

What happens at orientation days next week? Are they important? What if a student is absent when their scheduled orientation day takes place? 

Slemp: They can come to attend another day. Orientation days are important in that you get your ID, get your pictures taken, get your locker, get textbooks (which we have not done before), and get your schedule. It’s kind of all that “get ready for school” stuff. If you don’t get it any of those days, or the Monday or Tuesday of the following week, you end up waiting all day, or half of the day, on the first day of school. It’s a pain and it’s boring. 

 

Describe one of your favorite moments at Berkeley High. 

Slemp: I like graduation, because it kind of culminates things. Watching seniors in that life-changing event is inspiring, seeing the quality of students that we have. 

 

Describe one of your least favorite moments at Berkeley High. 

Slemp: I suppose it is when we there are fights, and we don’t have too many fights, but when we do there are these masses of students racing after it. I find that very sad, because it is demeaning to other human beings. It’s one that gets to me the most. I have no particular solution to it, but it bothers me. 

 

There used to be school gardens down at the G and H-building. What happened to those garden programs? 

Slemp: They are still here. Actually the AP Environmental Science classes still keep them up. The other garden is the flower garden, which is kept up by the special education students. They are still there and looking pretty good really. 

 

Are there any plans to add any cooking programs at BHS? 

Slemp: No. Not at this point. We had one when I first arrived, but it was a joke.


Oakland School District Trustees Release Counterproposal to Downtown Property Sale

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday August 18, 2006

Oakland Unified School District trustees dramatically changed the debate over the district’s downtown properties this week, introducing a proposal to build a “new, permanent, state of the art education center” on the 8.25-acre property currently occupied by the district’s administration building and five educational facilities. Under a resolution drafted by veteran school board trustee Noel Gallo, the new facilities would house a kindergarten through high school program, the two early childhood development centers currently on the property, and the district administrative offices. 

Meanwhile, Oakland residents continued to criticize the original proposal by an east coast development partnership to buy the properties and put up high-rise condominiums, with Oakland attorney Barbara Ginsberg telling board members at a public hearing this week that “We’re like the cellphone commercial; citizens of Oakland are standing behind you in opposition to this sale.” 

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell is currently in negotiations to sell the OUSD downtown property to east coast developers TerraMark/UrbanAmerica, who plan to put five high-rise luxury condominium towers on the site along with commercial facilities. O’Connell has the authority to sell the school under the 2003 state legislation that authorized the state takeover of the Oakland Unified School District. Under that legislation, the Oakland school board has no legal power to halt the sale. 

Sale of the Oakland school properties to TerraMark/Urban America has generated opposition from several organizations and leaders in Oakland, including six of the seven OUSD trustees and all eight members of the Oakland City Council. 

On a motion by trustee Gary Yee during a hearing Wednesday night on the proposed OUSD property sale, trustees tabled Gallo’s proposal until the third and last property sale hearing on Sept. 6. Yee said following the meeting that he requested putting off a vote on the proposal for procedural reasons. “We promised at the beginning of the property sale hearing procedure that board would make its recommendation at the close of the third hearing, so it was premature for us to take a position before that,” Yee said. In addition, Yee requested that Gallo’s proposal be posted on OUSD’s website “so that other groups around the city can read it, comment on it, and consider it for adoption themselves.” 

Gallo’s proposal also included a resolution putting the board formally on record opposing the property sale, citing the facts that there is currently no appraisal of the fair market value of the downtown properties, replacement costs of the schools and administration building currently on the property would have to be borne by the district and not the developers, and that expanded school facilities are needed in the area due to projected population increases. Gallo said that the construction would be eligible for funds under Measure B bond funds recently passed by Oakland voters, with La Escuelita already approved for $22 million in construction money from the earlier-passed Measure C construction bond. 

The board proposal came only days after TerraMark/UrbanAmerica proposed modifying their original development proposal to include space for Met West High School and La Escuelita Elementary School, which are currently located on the downtown properties. 

Under TerraMark/UrbanAmerica’s original plans, Met West and La Escuelita would have had to relocate their facilities, along with Dewey High School and the Yuk-Yau and Centro Infantil early childhood development centers. Met West and La Escuelita supporters packed the first public hearing on the property sale last month, arguing that the two schools should not be moved from the downtown site. OUSD interim administrator Kimberly Statham, who replaced the departed Randolph Ward this week, said that the developers “made significant changes in their plan as a response to comments at the first hearing.” 

Under that proposal, TerraMark/UrbanAmerica would still purchase the entire 8.25-acre parcel, but would lease an acre back to the district at $1 per year for the purpose of housing the two schools. 

At Wednesday night’s hearing, board trustees and members of the public said that the developers’ concessions were not enough. Representatives of the developers attended last month’s public hearings on the proposed sale, but were not in attendance at Wednesday’s hearing. 

Trustee Alice Spearman called it “disturbing that there was no other option than for Dewey to be relocated.” Spearman said that the sites where the district is considering relocating Dewey “would not be accessible to students from deep East Oakland. It would not be accessible to students who look like me. Most students at Dewey look like me.” Spearman is African-American. Dewey, an alternative high school of 280 students, has a student population that is 65 percent African-American. 

Dewey principal Hattie Tate told trustees that “Dewey should be centrally located,” and added that “like other taxpayers, I am appalled that we would destroy an $8 million school in less than five years to give developers a chance to build more empty nest condominiums.” 

Dewey’s current campus on the downtown site was completed in 2005 with Measure C bond money. 

TerraMark/UrbanAmerica’s concession to retain Met West and La Escuelita on the property also drew fire from speakers at Wednesday’s meeting, with trustees Dan Siegel—who opposes the sale—and Terry Hammil—the lone trustee supporting it—both saying that one acre was not enough for the two schools to operate on. 

And Leslie Santiago, a senior at Met West, told trustees “this is our land. The little that we have left is our land. Why should we have to go and find more land for our school? It’s clear that these developers don’t have any idea what is good for Oakland. We shouldn’t have to get the little scraps that are left from their proposal.” 

Another speaker, La Escuelita adult volunteer Grace Cooper, said that La Escuelita deserved more attention in the proposal. “We don’t want our children to be an afterthought,” Cooper said. 


State Regulators Sue Pacific Steel Casting

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday August 18, 2006

State regulators have sued Berkeley’s Pacific Steel Casting Company (PSC), demanding either an accurate, up-to-date emissions list or a $10,000-a-day fine. 

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (AQMD) filed suit Monday, demanding that the firm comply within 30 days or start coughing up the fines. 

The action filed in Alameda County Superior Court charges PSC with “failure to meet statutory deadlines for reporting air emissions, and for violating the schedule contained in a recent settlement agreement designed to resolve an ongoing series of air quality complaints.”  

“We have been working with Pacific Steel Casting for more than a year to address air quality concerns, culminating in last year’s settlement agreement,” said AQMD Executive Officer Jack P. Broadbent in a statement Monday. 

“Unfortunately, PSC’s inability to meet their agreed-upon deadlines forces us to take this measure,” he said. 

The suit seeks civil penalties of up to $10,000 for each day that the emissions inventory is not submitted and an order requiring PSC to install a carbon absorption filtering system at Plant 3 as originally scheduled. 

The agency has identified Plant 3 as the source of the maximum complaints that have led neighbors to make repeated calls for tighter regulation of the facility. 

“PSC is already running late by two months. We are in the litigation phase now and they have to respond within 30 days,” said AQMD spokesperson Darrell Waller. “We hope that PSC will take their responsibility to protect the well-being of the community seriously.” 

Elizabeth Jewel of Aroner, Jewel & Ellis Partners, the company’s public relations consultants, said Wednesday that PSC hadn’t seen the AQMD’s complaint. “It is very difficult to say something about a lawsuit we haven’t seen yet,” she said. 

The action alleges that “PSC failed to obtain timely governmental approvals from the City of Berkeley and the district for installation of the odor abatement system as called for in the settlement agreement.”  

The system, officials said, “is expected to significantly reduce odors” from the plant. 

The suit also charges PSC with “failure to meet its May deadline under the state Air Toxics ‘Hot Spots’ Act of 1987 for submitting an updated emissions inventory report,” delaying a planned health risk assessment “intended to identify potential localized health impacts from toxic air emissions at the facility.” 

“We are sorry that it had to come to this,” said Nabil al-Hadithy, the City of Berkeley’s hazardous materials manager and secretary for the Community Environmental Advisory Commission. 

“However, it is totally within the rights of AQMD to demand the inventory report and we support their action. We hope Pacific Steel will comply.” 

Hadithy said that the city has hired TetraTech, a private firm, to oversee all aspects of the actual data collection and health risk assessment at PSC’s expense. 

He said that it had been a complete waste of time for them to go down to Bay Area AQMD to start the process because there had been insufficient data from BAAQMD. 

“We are very concerned with every aspect of why they are withholding the emission reports. I have asked Elizabeth Jewel for a reason for why PSC is doing this. She has yet to come back to me with an explanation,” he said. 

Hadithy said he had “heard, but cannot confirm that PSC’s lawyer Mr. Rubin, has asked his client not to hand over the emissions report because they want to review it for quality, completion and what have you.” 

“That’s incredible,” said Willi Paul, director of Cleanaircoalition.net, a neighborhood watchdog group which—along with other environmentalists—has repeatedly demanded the report’s release. 

“This is empowering news for the many sick and tired West Berkeley, El Cerrito and Albany neighborhoods under constant attack by the dirty profits and choking black air from PSC,” he said. 

“Perhaps now the community can get to the truth concerning the emissions pouring down our streets and toxifying our lives day and night,” he said. 

Steve Ingraham, a long-time Berkeley clean air activist and alliance member, agreed. “This is the type of regulatory action the air district should have been doing all along. We hope this will turn the heat on PSC.” 

Paul and Ingraham are joining with Bradley Angel, executive director of Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice, and other neighborhood groups for a PSC Protest March Sept. 16 to demand the immediate release of the heath impact emission reports. 

Communities for Better Environment, another community watchdog group, filed a motion for a preliminary injunction on Thursday, asking the court to order PSC to stop violating their 2.5 ton emission limit for source 14. “Source 14 is one of the main sources for the facility in terms of producing emissions,” said Adrienne Bloch, senior attorney for the organization. “We have also asked that the court to order PSC to report the emission tests immediately,” she said..


Alta Bates Construction Draws Ire From Neighbors

By Rio Bauce and Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday August 18, 2006

Neighbors of Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley are irked by very loud construction noise at the hospital site, which they say has been going on for the last two weeks or more. 

Community members have bombarded the city manager’s office with e-mails and phone calls for the last week, that complain about what they call a violation of the construction permit that Alta Bates had applied for and the lack of neighborhood input on the matter. 

In an e-mail to Deputy City Manager Lisa Coronna, Councilmember Kriss Worthington, whose district Alta Bates is located in, outlined the following five neighborhood complaints: 

(1) Very loud construction activity by East Bay Municipal Utility District for Alta Bates until 5 am; 

(2) Construction activity by Alta Bates contractor on days not permitted in permit; 

(3) Plans by the contractor to do additional work on days or times not permitted by the permit; 

(4) Loud beeping sounds for hours on end by trucks backing up; and 

(5) Ongoing loud noise on a daily basis, possibly from new equipment. 

“The project is late [being finished] and they are working at weird hours,” said Worthington. “On many days, there is nobody working between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Why can’t they work from 9 to 5 rather than at night and on weekends?” 

Susan Fuentes, project manager for the construction, apologized for the violations that have occurred at the hospital. 

“[It is] correct that running a compressor beyond the approved weekend work hours is not acceptable,” said Fuentes in an e-mail to neighbors. “We apologize for any inconveniences this has caused the neighborhood … In the future, we will insure better communication among the team to make sure this won’t happen again.” 

Carolyn North, nearby resident of twenty years, describes the irreversible impacts on her health and well-being caused cumulatively by construction at Alta Bates over the years.  

“One thing I have learned is that [the construction noise] destroys your adrenal system,” she said. “I’m sort of amazed that western medicine doesn’t realize the effects of noise pollution on the human body. Adrenals go through an alarm state, after being subjected to so much noise, and your body flushes itself with adrenaline. When the situation is over, they go back to normal. But when this happens on an ongoing basis, the adrenals empty and can no longer function. This is what happened to me. All the muscles in my stomach contracted and stayed contracted. I went to Kaiser [hospital] in a state of shock. They were ready to lose me.” 

North said that she is especially concerned about children in the neighborhood. 

She said, “We have a bunch of small babies in the neighborhood and it has an effect on them whether you know it or not … we have a park by the hospital. I want to go and say to the parents of the children, ‘don’t let them play here. Play elsewhere.’ This is serious. The irony is that this is a hospital.” 

Peter Shelton, a resident of Prince Street, said that he’s worried about the noise as well as the flooding that the construction is causing. “The permit requires that the city clean up the dirt on a daily basis, but they are not doing so. As a result we have our kids playing with the muddy water whenever we take them to visit the nearby park.” 

On Wednesday afternoon, City of Berkeley Deputy Planning Director Wendy Cosin discussed with city staff the city’s response to these egregious violations. 

“I am writing a letter to Alta Bates to notify them that they violated their use permit,” said Cosin. “There aren’t going to be any fines imposed on the hospital now. If there are any more noise violations, we will likely fine.” 

Worthington commented, “I am concerned that the neighbors aren’t being treated reasonably. I appreciate the fact that the city is stepping up to the plate … the city needs to pressure them to finish the project. I am grateful to the city for sending them a warning letter.” 

Alta Bates has a history of disputes with its neighbors over construction. In 1983, the Bateman/Willard/Fairview Park Neighborhoods sued Alta Bates over some construction that the hospital had done. 

“The hospital created a lot of noise and gobbled up 34 houses,” said Julie Shearer, a long term resident of the neighborhood. “In order to expand their center, twenty-three residential houses were removed for the hospital and eleven for subsequent medical buildings … The settlement allowed Alta Bates to expand and mandated street closures in exchange for building two street parks and provided other things to the community.” 

According to Shearer, the neighbors heard that construction was going on once again in 1997. “Kriss Worthington had just been elected to the City Council at that point and he wanted to meet with the hospital to get acquainted. Much to his surprise, he discovered illegal demolition and construction. Alta Bates was forced to pay $87,000 when the city investigators found illegal demolition and construction had occurred then. When will they ever learn?” 

Worthington concurred,”Hopefully the city’s warning letter will wake up the project manager, and we won’t have neighbors getting woken up nights and weekends anymore.”


5 Candidates Compete For 3 School Board Seats

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday August 18, 2006

The Nov. 7 local office elections will see five candidates competing for three open seats on the five-member Berkeley Board of Education. 

First time candidates David Baggins and Norma Harrison are up against incumbent School Board directors Nancy Riddle and Shirley Issel and challenger Karen Hemphill, who previously lost a bid for the board in 2004. Issel is finishing her second four-year term, while Director Nancy Riddle is finishing her first. 

Baggins, a professor of political science at California State University, East Bay, announced his candidacy Aug. 10. He holds a doctorate in public administration, a Juris Doctorate, and has authored three books, including Drug Hate and the Corruption of American Justice and The Question of Privacy in Public Policy. 

“I made the decision to run at the last minute because I want to bring up issues that I feel are not being addressed enough in the elections,” Baggins said. “The heart of my campaign is a call to keep what’s wonderful about Berkeley schools while admitting honestly what is not. I particularly hope to address the issues of violence in the schools, the problem of historic under-enforcement of residency for registration, and the need to help low-performing students without holding back the other bright and inquisitive youths of Berkeley.” Baggins’ campaign slogan reads “The Best Schools for Berkeley’s Kids.” 

Baggins’ goal is to engage the community in a discussion about the potential to make Berkeley’s schools as fine a place as the city itself.  

He says Berkeley’s registration system has serious flaws which need to be corrected. “Berkeley cannot credibly claim to be an example to the nation in governance until it achieves safe and excellent schools,” he said in a press release. “As a city we are generous to our children, matching state funds with local money. However ignoring the failure of the registration process undermines this generosity and threatens the schools. We cannot be the alternative choice available to the East Bay through ineffective registration. At a sum over $65,000 local taxpayer money per pupil (K-12) this is not a trivial concern.” 

Baggins also wants to address how expensive it is for teachers to live in Berkeley. He says the city needs to develop moderately priced public housing for the teachers so that they are able to live where they work.  

“While Berkeley is asking itself what kind of public housing it wants,” Baggins said, “I think we should pursue the idea of a teachers’ village, where we give them modest rent.” 

Baggins’ wife Teddi is a volunteer with WriterCoach Connection at Martin Luther King Middle School and also serves on the Board of Citizens for East Shore Parks. Their two children are currently enrolled in Berkeley public schools. 

Norma Harrison, 71, is a self-employed realtor and former public school teacher who has never run for public office.  

“I want to make available a discussion to try and determine why we don’t like schools and to determine what we want,” Harrison said. “I want to understand how we want to live here and enjoy it.” 

Harrison added that the root of the word “education” is “educere” which means to bring forward ideas from people and to encourage “forward thinking.” 

“Children come to schools as vessels to be filled,” Harrison told the Daily Planet. The board so far has addressed only structural matters and the PTA is also very stymied. I want to create a forum for discussion where we can learn how to enjoy our learning instead of commodifying it.” 

Karen Hemphill, an assistant to the city manager in Emeryville, will become Berkeley’s first new African-American School Board director in years if she goes on to win one of the three open seats. Hemphill has previously held posts on the City of Berkeley’s Civic Arts Commission and the City of Berkeley’s Committee on the Status of Women. 

As a parent of two sons in Berkeley schools, Hemphill wants to see BUSD grow into a model urban district that uses community resources to prepare its students for the 21st Century.  

“I want to develop my knowledge of organizational development and budgeting to ensure that the student achievement plan is tied to a sound fiscal plan—a plan that includes partnerships with government, private foundations, and other such organizations,” she said. 

Hemphill’s biggest priority is to try and deepen the school district’s relationship with the community. “The school district does not have a district- wide student achievement plan based upon data. This creates a negative impact on students of color. I want to address this issue in particular.” 

Shirley Issel, a clinical social worker, has served on the School Board for the last eight years. “I pledge to continue using my skills as a professional social worker and educational reformer to build on the progress we have made and to critically improve teaching and learning,” she said. 

Issel also wants to improve support for students with learning barriers and to train staff to measure student progress. 

Nancy Riddle, chief financial officer for Monster Cable Products, is currently finishing her first term. She seeks to continue working to remove barriers in education and to bolster a transparent and open budget process that reflects the values of the Berkeley community. Riddle is currently away on vacation and was unavailable for comment. 

 

Tax measure renewal 

In other matters, the School Board’s tax measure renewal is also coming up in the November elections. These two existing special taxes which are up for renewal are altogether worth $19.5 million. Although the current tax measure expires in December, the money is carried through to June. 

“It is important to remember that this is not a new tax, but one that replaces the dollars that we get from BSEP of 1986 & 1994 and Measure B of 2004. They pay for almost one third of the teachers in the BUSD, most of the music program and our school libraries, both materials and staff, as well as other enrichment in the classrooms,” said BUSD spokesperson Mark Coplan.


Downtown Planning Panel Advises Council To Abide by City’s Landmarks Ordinance

By Richard Brenneman
Friday August 18, 2006

While the fate of Berkeley’s existing landmarks law remains an open question, a joint committee made it clear Tuesday night that they want to follow its criteria in the new downtown plan. 

The group, formed of four members each from the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee (DAPAC) and the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), will advise the full DAPAC on landmarks issues. 

One of the key elements of the plan, required by local policy and by the California Environmental Quality Act, is a survey of historic structures in the area.  

By the time the meeting had ended, many of the members had said they wanted the survey to follow the city’s current landmarks criteria, rather than following a staff suggestion to create new ones just for the task before them.  

The move toward a new downtown plan is a product of the city’s settlement of a lawsuit filed against the university that challenged the school’s Long Range Development Plan through the year 2020. 

The university plans 800,000 square feet of new projects in the expanded downtown area encompassed by the new plan, along with 1,000 new parking spaces. The plan was proposed to help shape the course of that development. 

The university owns several landmarked buildings downtown. One project now in the planning stages calls for demolition of the landmarked University of California Press Building at 2120 Oxford St. and its replacement by a complex featuring an art museum and the Pacific Film Archive. 

Tuesday’s meeting featured a presentation by the survey firm hired by the city, Architectural Resources Group (ARG) of San Francisco. The same firm is currently working on a restoration of Berkeley’s landmarked First Church of Christ, Scientist. 

Team leader and ARG senior associate Bridget Maley attended with colleagues Jody Stock and Lauren MacDonald. 

Under the terms of the city’s contract, the firm is to conduct a survey that will include preparation of detailed reports on 30 structures and which uses forms provided by the state Department of Parks and Recreation’s Office of Historic Preservation. 

The work will unfold in three stages, Maley said, starting with an initial reconnaissance phase, followed by detailed research examining individual buildings and their relationships, and culminating in a report that will examine the buildings in their detailed contexts. 

Matt Taecker, the city planner hired to prepare the plan, told the committee they would develop their own criteria to use in evaluating the structures—a remark that drew an immediate response from Jill Korte, one of the LPC representatives on the panel. 

“I am concerned,” she said, “because we already have an ordinance and there are criteria in that ordinance.” 

Korte said she was concerned because city staff had sent members a package listing criteria from other cities, “but we have our own local criteria. It’s a law here.” 

“I’m not sure that we have any other choice if something’s a law,” said Wendy Alfsen, a DAPAC member. 

“We have local criteria. It’s called the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance (LPO),” said retired planner John English, a preservationist and one of four audience members attending the gathering in the North Berkeley Senior Center. 

John McBride, secretary of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA), said the survey should also be mindful of the importance of the area’s mixture of architectural styles to the downtown’s overall character. 

Steven Winkel, vice chair of the LPC, said the survey should be extended to include structures on the opposite sides of boundary streets—one example being Berkeley’s Old City Hall. 

Other questions focused on whether the survey would note whether some already modified buildings had the potential to be restored, and just what level of alteration could disqualify a structure from consideration. 

The plan will also consider so-called opportunity sites suitable for new developments. 

Members and the public participants discussed the breadth of issues to be considered in the survey, and added several categories to those suggested by the ARG consultants—including the relationships of structures to their surroundings, the entries for historical and cultural associations of the buildings and assemblages of buildings, and a list of outstanding or unique features. 

Patti Dacey, a DAPAC member recently ousted from the LPC by City Councilmember Max Anderson, said she was concerned about whose interests the consultants would serve. 

“I’ve been very questioning of the DAPAC process and I feel the client is the city staff who want to upzone and tear down. I want the client to be DAPAC,” Dacey said. 

“Our client is the city as a whole,” said Maley, “not the staff, the mayor or the council.” 

The joint committee will hold its next meeting on Sept. 13 from 7 to 10 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center. 

Their work is being conducted during a period in which the city’s existing landmarks law is facing both a possible major revision at the hands of the city council and a November ballot initiative. 

The electoral measure was drafted by supporters of the current law, with revisions they say answer any legal timeline problems with the existing law as raised by the city attorney’s office. 

The rival measure, a new ordinance that passed the city council on first reading in July, also makes timing changes and creates a two-year exemption period during which property would be exempt from landmarking efforts unless preservationists acted quickly after the exemption was requested. 

Mayor Tom Bates, principal advocate of the council proposal, pulled the measure pending the outcome of the November vote on the ballot initiative. 

If voters nix that measure, the council could make the new ordinance law by voting yes on a second reading.


Call for Guard to Come Home Fails in State Committee

By Judith Scherr
Friday August 18, 2006

Despite best efforts of activists and legislators, California Coast Guard troops serving in Iraq won’t be heading home to resume stateside duties.  

Legislation authored by Assemblymember Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley and supported by Code Pink, the American Friends Service Committee, Veteran’s for Peace, Gold Star Families Speak Out and others, died in the Veteran’s Affairs Committee meeting Wednesday, in a 3-3 vote, with three committee members absent. 

The nonbinding measure would have called “upon the Governor to ensure that the president and congress take immediate steps to initiate the return of California National Guard troops to the state.” Voting in favor were committee Chair Joe Nation, D-Marin; Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa and Lori Saldaña, D-Dan Diego; voting in opposition were Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine; Bob Huff, R-Dimond Bar and Sharon Runner, R-Lancaster; absent were Joe Canciamilla. D-Martinez; Ed Chavez, D-City of Industry and Jenny Oropeza, D-Carson. 

Passage of the non-binding resolution would have been “a way for the California legislature to stand with the people of California, to send a message to the Congress and president …that we want (the Guard) home,” Hancock said in a phone interview after the vote. “Many of us are heartsick as we continue in this quagmire,” she added. 

Nadia McCaffrey’s son Patrick, a 34-year-old father of two, was a California Guardsman killed in Iraq two years ago. A member of Gold Star Families Speak Out and Tracy resident, McCaffrey went to Sacramento Wednesday to lobby for the resolution. She spoke to the Daily Planet on Thursday.  

“Patrick enlisted after 9/11. He thought he would be helpful to the state,” McCaffrey said. “If he had wanted to fight, he would have joined the Marines or the Army.” She further noted that, as a guardsman, her son rode around in vehicles with sandbags and plywood rather than armor. He even had to buy his own boots, she said. 

Major General Paul Monroe (ret.), who headed the California National Guard from 1999 to 2004, argues that the United States should not be fighting in Iraq at all. “There was no reason to start a war in Iraq,” he said. 

Historically, there was a reason to deploy the California Guard. “In World War I and World War II the country was at war,” he said. “The country is not at war today. The military is at war.”  

Monroe, who was born in Berkeley and has resided here most of his life, has another reason to question the policy of “federalizing” the California guard: his son, a father of two, has been deployed to Iraq twice.  

Anxious for his son to come home next month from Iraq, where he’s been for almost a year, Monroe is also acutely aware of the difficulty military people have re-entering day-to-day life after deployment. “They are nervous being in vehicles; they don’t like being in crowds,” he said. 

Another “big problem” Monroe pointed to is that the Guard leaves its equipment, such as helicopters and trucks, in Iraq. “They can’t be used for emergencies here,” he said. 

In an interview before the committee vote, Monroe said he supported the concept of Hancock’s resolution, but given its nonbonding nature, “I don’t think it will go anywhere,” he said. 

Had the resolution passed, it likely would have been disregarded by the governor, according to Bill Maile, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s deputy press secretary. “The governor does not take a position on measures which do not require him to act,” Maile said in an email. “However, the governor cares deeply about all of California’s sons and daughters fighting in the war on terror and prays for their safe return as soon as possible.”  

Major Daniel Markert, spokesperson for the California Coast Guard, who was deployed in Iraq, argues that people join the Guard with full knowledge that they will become reserve military personnel. In fact, he said, “Some join specifically to go to Iraq.” 

According to Markert, there are 2,000 federalized California Coast Guard troops in Iraq and Afghanistan—down from 6,000 last year. He said that the deployment does not affect local operations such as fighting wild fires, or stepping in during other local emergencies such as earthquakes. 

Twenty-one California Guardsmen have been killed since 2003 in Iraq, he said. “Every one is very personal,” he said. “All are very precious; all are very painful.” 

Meanwhile, Corinne Goldstick of Code Pink, who helped organize the 50 or so people who attended the committee meeting, argued: “The Coast Guard was sent there illegally. There was no emergency in Iraq. They signed up to look after us here in California. They should come home.”  

In September, the Berkeley City Council unanimously passed a resolution calling for the president and congress to “take immediate steps to withdraw the California National Guard troops from Iraq now.” 

 

Photograph by Judith Scherr 

Catherine Orozco and Corrine Goldstick embarked Wednesday morning for Sacramento, where they unsuccessfully lobbied the Veterans Affairs Committee.


2.9 Earthquake Delivers Early Morning Wakeup Call

By Richard Brenneman
Friday August 18, 2006

A magnitude 2.9 earthquake jostled some Berkeley residents awake at 5:58 Thursday morning—a short, sharp reminder of the presence of the Hayward Fault’s fitful presence. 

According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the temblor occurred 4.5 miles beneath Wildcat Creek and just six tenths of a mile east of Grizzly Peak Boulevard and directly beneath the Tilden Park Gold Course. 

Within hours of the quake, 1,048 users had reported their own experiences of the quake on the USGS web site, with reports coming from as far away as Pacifica and Petaluma. 

For quake buffs, the USGS site offers links to maps, seismograph recordings and event reports. The Bay Area map is located at http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/ Maps/122-38.html. 

A second, smaller tremor—technically a microquake—followed at 9:05 a.m., but the 1.5 event didn’t merit a reporting page of its own. 

Earthquake experts have predicted that the Hayward fault—which runs directly beneath Memorial Stadium on the UC Berkeley campus—is the fissure most likely to spawn a major Bay Area earthquake in the next two decades.


Committee Issues Wellstone Endorsement Recommendations

By Judith Scherr
Friday August 18, 2006

The Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club’s electoral committee heard from a host of candidates Wednesday night and recommended that the full club endorse Andy Katz for East Bay Municipal Utilities District, Nancy Skinner for the East Bay Regional Parks Board, Anne Marie Hogan for Berkeley auditor, Dave Blake for Berkeley Rent Board, and Jason Overman over Gordon Wozniak for Berkeley District 8 City Council.  

The committee also voted to oppose the Condominium Conversion Initiative. 

The full club endorsements are slated to take place Sept. 7. 

Katz, Hogan and the rent board slate, which, in addition to Blake, includes Lisa Anne Stephens, Howard Chong, Chris Kavanagh and Pam Webster, are running unopposed. The Wellstone Club was unable to endorse the full Rent Stabilization Board slate because Stephens, Chong, Kavanagh and Webster all are members of the Green Party. Democratic Clubs are prohibited by Democratic Party rules from endorsing Greens. 

Skinner is running against E. J. Shalaby of Richmond, who did not attend the meeting.  

 

District 8 

The District 8 candidates made presentations and fielded questions, although, following the club’s format, they did not appear together. Both Overman and Wozniak claimed progressive credentials, with Wozniak reminding the audience that he had helped found the April Coalition in 1971 and the Berkeley Citizens Action group which grew out of it. He also touted endorsements from Mayor Tom Bates and Bates’s spouse Assemblymember Loni Hancock. He is also endorsed by state Sen. Don Perata.  

Saying, “I am proud to be the only progressive running for this seat,” Overman pointed to his newly-won Alameda County Central Labor Committee endorsement, and noted that Wozniak had not supported the Claremont Hotel workers’ demands for a union contract.  

Contending that he is “a strong advocate for affordable housing,” Overman, who is a UC Berkeley student and a Rent Stabilization Board member, attacked Wozniak for his uneven low-income housing support.  

Wozniak explained in his presentation, however, that the housing projects he had not supported were not cost effective. “I voted against Brower,” he said, pointing to the $350,000 price tag for the low-income units that will be built at Oxford Street and Allston Way. 

Asked if he supported the Condominium Conversion Initiative that will be on the November ballot, Wozniak said he hadn’t taken a position. “I don’t think it’s good to legislate by initiative,” he said, adding, however, that he doesn’t like the city’s current Condominium Conversion Ordinance because it doesn’t help people buy the unit they’re living in.  

Wozniak said that he hoped to increase home ownership by going back to an earlier council policy of subsidizing the down payment on housing units for moderate-income people. He also said he’d like to see the city’s Housing Trust Fund monies used to purchase older buildings and remodel them, rather than subsidizing new construction. 

Listing his accomplishments over the last four years in office, Wozniak pointed to his demand for accountability that includes a quarterly report by police on crime statistics and quarterly reports on employee accidents. The incumbent did not mention his opponent during his presentation. 

Overman, on the other hand, didn’t point to his record on the Rent Stabilization Board but criticized Wozniak on several counts. He argued that Wozniak did not appoint students and people of color to commissions and he opposed Wozniak’s vote against public financing of Berkeley elections.  

“We need ‘clean money’ now,” Overman said.  

 

Berkeley City Auditor 

Running unopposed, Ann-Marie Hogan was first elected auditor in 1994. An active member of the National Women’s Political Caucus, Hogan said she first got involved in politics through the anti-Vietnam War movement. “I believed in non-violent direct action, not electoral politics,” she said. That changed over time. 

Rather than campaigning, Hogan spent her time explaining to club members what an auditor does. “We do performance auditing,” she said; she gave as an example looking at police staffing—why does the department use a sworn officer rather than a civilian in a particular position? 

Hogan’s audits are varied: a recent one looked at why patches were failing in utility trenches. The auditor’s reports can be viewed at www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/auditor. 

 

East Bay Municipal Utilities District Board 

Andy Katz, who campaigned unsuccessfully for the District 8 seat four years ago, is running unopposed to fill the Ward No. 4 seat now occupied by David Richardson, who is not seeking re-election. Ward No. 4 includes Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, El Cerrito and Kensington and a small part of Oakland.  

Katz preached water conservation, use of home graywater (reusing shower water, for example) and toilets whose water use can be varied, as well as the increased use of solar energy. He promised to give up some of his activities—his position on the Zoning Adjustments Board and the Sierra Club board of directors. 

The EBMUD board is often a springboard to higher office. Oakland Councilmember Nancy Nadel and former Councilmember Danny Wan both served on the EBMUD board. 

 

East Bay Regional Parks District 

Nancy Skinner, once a Berkeley City Council member, was appointed to fill a vacant position on the East Bay Regional Parks District Board in March and is now running for the seat. She talked about balancing needs in the parks, such as places for dogs and for nesting birds. She applauded the use of park land at the foot of Gilman Street for playing fields, saying that it will bring more people to the park.


Clifton the Only Peralta Trustee To Face Challenge In November

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday August 18, 2006

There will be no more massive turnovers in the Peralta Community College District Board of Trustees, at least for now. 

Two years ago, four incumbent trustees chose not to run for re-election, leading to a majority of the board as first term members after the November, 2004 elections. 

This November, however, two of three of the remaining incumbents will be unopposed, with no one filing against trustee Bill Riley in Area 5 or Linda Handy in Area 3. In Area 7, two-term incumbent Alona Clifton is being challenged by educational consultant Abel Guillen. 

Clifton said in a telephone interview that among her major concerns “is being able to increase diversity among the faculty and classified staff and in our contracts; that’s one of my mainstays.” Clifton said that she will be “looking into how we might be most effective in use of the [recently passed] Measure A bond money to improve the educational environment at the Peralta Colleges. That will be really exciting. But the area that concerns most of us is insuring that we have student success. That means making sure students have adequate access to classes and facilities. Retention of existing students is also a big issue, probably more so with community college students. They are more challenged because many of them are working or have children, along with their student responsibilities.” 

Meanwhile, Clifton’s opponent, Abel Guillen, got a boost this week with endorsements from both the Peralta Federation of Teachers PAC and the Peralta Chapter of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 790.  

Saying that “we need Peralta,” Peralta Federation of Teachers PAC Secretary Helene Maxwell said in a prepared statement that “Abel is smart and progressive [and] has a clear vision of how the Peralta Colleges can better serve students and our community. We are confident that, if elected, Abel will use his considerable skill and experience to help steer Peralta in a more positive direction.”


Security Experts’ ‘Suicides’ Called Into Question

By Jeffrey Klein and Paolo Pontoniere, New America Media
Friday August 18, 2006

European Media Probe Dangers of Secret  

Surveillance Systems 

 

Just after noon on Friday, July 21, Adamo Bove—head of security at Telecom Italia, the country’s largest telecommunications firm—told his wife he had some errands to run as he left their Naples apartment. Hours later, police found his car parked atop a freeway overpass. Bove’s body lay on the pavement some 100 feet below.  

Bove was a master at detecting hidden phone networks. Recently, at the direction of Milan prosecutors, he’d used mobile phone records to trace how a “Special Removal Unit” composed of CIA and SISMI (the Italian CIA) agents abducted Abu Omar, an Egyptian cleric, and flew him to Cairo where he was tortured. The Omar kidnapping and the alleged involvement of 26 CIA agents, whom prosecutors seek to arrest and extradite, electrified Italian media. U.S. media noted the story, then dropped it.  

The first Italian press reports after Bove’s death said the 42-year-old had committed suicide. Bove, according to unnamed sources, was depressed about his imminent indictment by Milan prosecutors. But prosecutors immediately, and uncharacteristically, set the record straight: Bove was not a target; in fact, he was prosecutors’ chief source. Bove, prosecutors said, was helping them investigate his own bosses, who were orchestrating an illegal wiretapping bureau and the destruction of incriminating digital evidence. One Telecom executive had already been forced out when he was caught conducting these illicit operations, as well as selling intercepted information to a business intelligence firm.  

About 16 months earlier, in March of 2005, Costas Tsalikidis, a 38-year-old software engineer for Vodaphone in Greece had just discovered a highly sophisticated bug embedded in the company’s mobile network. The spyware eavesdropped on the prime minister’s and other top officials’ cell phone calls; it even monitored the car phone of Greece’s secret service chief. Others bugged included civil rights activists, the head of Greece’s “Stop the War” coalition, journalists and Arab businessmen based in Athens. All the wiretapping began about two months before the Olympics were hosted by Greece in August 2004, according to a subsequent investigation by the Greek authorities.  

Tsalikidis, according to friends and family, was excited about his work and was looking forward to marrying his longtime girlfriend. But on March 9, 2005, his elderly mother found him hanging from a white rope tied to pipes outside of his apartment bathroom. His limp feet dangled a mere three inches above the floor. His death was ruled a suicide; he, like Adamo Bove, left no suicide note.  

The next day, Vodaphone’s top executive in Greece reported to the prime minister that unknown outsiders had illicitly eavesdropped on top government officials. Before making his report, however, the CEO had the spyware destroyed, even though this destroyed the evidence as well.  

Investigations into the alleged suicides of both Adamo Bove and Costas Tsalikidis raise questions about more than the suspicious circumstances of their deaths. They point to politicized, illegal intelligence structures that rely upon cooperative business executives. European prosecutors and journalists probing these spying networks have revealed that:  

• The Vodaphone eavesdropping was transmitted in real time via four antennae located near the U.S. embassy in Athens, according to an 11-month Greek government investigation. Some of these transmissions were sent to a phone in Laurel, Md., near America’s National Security Agency.  

• According to Ta Nea, a Greek newspaper, Vodaphone’s CEO privately told the Greek government that the bugging culprits were “U.S. agents.” Because Greece’s prime minister feared domestic protests and a diplomatic war with the United States, he ordered the Vodafone CEO to withhold this conclusion from his own authorities investigating the case.  

• In both the Italian and Greek cases, the spyware was much more deeply embedded and clever than anything either phone company had seen before. Its creation required highly experienced engineers and expensive laboratories where the software could be subjected to the stresses of a national telephone system. Greek investigators concluded that the Vodaphone spyware was created outside of Greece.  

• Once placed, the spyware could have vast reach since most host companies are merging their Internet, mobile telephone and fixed-line operations onto a single platform.  

• Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service, BND, recently snooped on investigative journalists. According to parliamentary investigations, the spying may have been carried out using the United States’s secretive Bad Aibling base in the Bavarian Alps, which houses the American global eavesdropping program dubbed Echelon.  

Were the two alleged suicides more than an eerie coincidence? A few media in Italy—La Stampa, Dagospia and Feltrinelli, among others—have noted the unsettling parallels. But so far no journalists have been able to overcome the investigative hurdles posed by two entirely different criminal inquiry systems united only by two prime ministers not eager to provoke the White House’s wrath. In the United States, where massive eavesdropping programs have operated since 9/11, investigators, reporters and members of Congress have not explored whether those responsible for these spying operations may be using them for partisan purposes or economic gain. As more troubling revelations come out of Europe, it may become more difficult to ignore how easily spying programs can be hijacked for illegitimate purposes. The brave soul who pursues this line of inquiry, however, should fear for his or her life. 

 

Jeffrey Klein, a founding editor of Mother Jones, recently received a Loeb, journalism’s top award for business reporting. Paolo Pontoniere is a New America Media European commentator. 

 


Italy a Special Place in the Heart of the Dirty War

By Jeffrey Klein and Paolo Pontoniere
Friday August 18, 2006

As the investigation into covert CIA’s and local rogue intelligence operatives in Europe expands across the continent, Italy’s emerges as the thinking head of a hydra whose tentacles reach far into worldwide communication net and backward into the history of international conspiracies. 

Because of its unique politically hybrid nature—Italy contains both a strong Christian Democrat constituency as well as the largest Communist Party of a Western country—the nation has as been at the crossroads of political exchanges between East and West. This has been true since the end World War II and remained so until the fall of the Berlin Wall. The crossroads was economic, too; affinities between Christian Democrats, Italian Socialists and Communists and political parties and leaders in the Middle East and the socialist countries made it easy for Italy to win strategically important contracts in the field of energy, construction and telecommunications.  

Some of those contracts are still operative, like those international telecommunications routing through Italian networks coming from North Africa, the Middle East and some of the world’s remaining Communist countries. Telecommunications apparatus that formerly belonged to STET, the Italian state-owned telephone company, today are owned by Telecom Italia.  

Italy is not new to convoluted networks that bind security and military elites to conservative business leaders in long-term secret pacts to carry out subversive activities. Historically such networks have morphed into massive bribing machines.  

The Masonic Loggia P2 and Gladio are just two examples. The first, a network comprised of about 2,000 military officers, public servants, bankers, journalists and business-people, operated between the 1970s and the ’80s, some say in concert with the CIA. Its secret goal was to keep Italy solidly in the hands of center-right administrations. The P2 network is reputed to have begun the “Strategia della Tensione,” a concoction of terrorist attacks, political unrest and economic crises that created a feeling of uncertainty among Italians, which in turn led them to vote for centrist administrations.  

In the case of Gladio, a much wider intelligence and military net was created to prevent the rise to power of the Communist and Socialist Parties in Italy. Although supposedly disbanded at the beginning of the 1990s, this network is said to have transformed into the Department of Anti-terrorism Strategic Studies, a neo-fascist organization that in 2004, to benefit economically from funding made available to fight al-Qaeda, didn’t hesitate to disseminate false information about an impending attack on Milan’s Linate International Airport and on the city’s historical Duomo. 

Some European prosecutors and journalists are now trying to discern how today’s covert intelligence networks altered political discourse on the continent. 


A Few Good Restaurants For Health-Conscious Diners

By Rio Bauce
Friday August 18, 2006

Are you trying to eat better? Do you describe yourself as a vegetarian, a vegan, or a raw-foodist? Have you had trouble finding good healthy food for a reasonable price? Here are a few local restaurants to get you started. 

 

Manzanita Restaurant and Bakery 

4001 Linden St. at 40th Street, Oakland. 985-8386. 

Located in the old Macrobiotic Center in Oakland, Manzanita is an all organic, vegan, and macrobiotic restaurant. Macrobiotic cuisine is a plant-based diet centered on whole grains, beans and vegetables. A typical dinner is creamy onion shitake soup, brown rice, black-eyed peas with kombu, sweet potato and kabocha squash casserole with walnuts, steamed greens with sesame-arame topping, and a salad with mustard-tahini dressing. This place is a must-eat for anyone trying to eat healthier food. 

Open everyday, 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.-9:00 p.m. Weekend brunch 11:30 am-2:30 p.m.  

Daily menu posted at: www.manzanitarestaurant.com. 

 

Razan’s Organic Kitchen 

2119 Kittredge St., Berkeley. 486-0449. 

Razan’s Organic Kitchen has stood at 2119 Kittredge St. for the past eight years as one of the only 100 percent percent organic restaurants in the area. Owner Shihadeh Kitami named this all-organic restaurant after his daughter Razan. They use only the freshest organic vegetables, wild fish, and free-range meats. Items such as the Mediterranean plate and super nachos are favorites. This place is usually pretty clean, but can get quite loud at certain times. The prices range from as little as $3.95 for corn chips and guacamole to as much as $16 for a red snapper plate. 

Open 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Saturday. 

 

Cha-Ya 

1686 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. 981-1213. 

When you are walking down Shattuck Avenue in North Berkeley, you might notice a line down the street, leading to a restaurant. Chances are that this is Cha-Ya. Cha-Ya is the hippest vegan Japanese restaurant in town. Known for its appeal to even non-vegans, Cha-Ya serves soups, salads, rice bowls, noodle bowls, sushi, and many specials. It is one of the few restaurants in Berkeley that also offers brown rice. Many rave about the tempura sushi (it’s just like it sounds) and the senroppen salad (with carrots, daikon, pine nuts, tofu, etc.). 

Open for lunch noon-2 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday; open for dinner 5 p.m.-9:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5 p.m. to 10p.m. Friday and Saturday. 

 

Café Gratitude 

1730 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. (415) 824-4652.  

The new raw food revolution has hit big in the Bay Area and there is no place better to take part than than Café Gratitude. Located in North Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto on Shattuck Avenue north of University, this restaurant’s atmosphere beats all others. The menu is full of raw food items, along with a few cooked items. They have a huge list of drinks and deserts. Additionally, there are raw food products and ecological items in the front of the restaurant, such as Nutiva’s raw extra-virgin coconut oil and a Café Gratitude t-shirt. Big hits are things such as the “I Am Bountiful,” a bruschetta topped with fresh tomatoes, basil, garlic, stone ground olive oil and brazil nut parmesan, and also the “I Am Flourishing,” a Mediterranean plate of walnut-almond falafels served with sprouted almond-sesame seed hummus, spicy olive tapenade, seasoned almond toast and cucumber tzatziki salad. Café Gratitude is the haven for raw-foodists, or people who just want to give it a try. 

Menu available at www.withthecurrent.com/menu.html. 

Open 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday through Saturday; 10 a.m.-3 p.m. for Sunday brunch. 

 

Thai Delight 

1700 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. 549-0611. 

This family-owned Thai restaurant has graced Berkeley for many years. It is the one of the few Thai places that offers a selection of organic food, with free-range meats and organic, fresh vegetables in a comfortable atmosphere. There is a large selection of vegetarian and vegan options, and the restaurant proprietors and workers try their best to please their customers. Conveniently enough for Berkeley customers, if your order is over $25, they deliver the food right to your door.  

Menu available at www.shopinberkeley.com/t/thaidelightcuisine/index.php. 

Open 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. every day. 


Police Blotter

By Richard Brenneman
Friday August 18, 2006

Hoodied heisters 

Two teens clad in the traditional black hoodies and packing a matching pistol robbed a 21-year-old man of his wallet and two cell phones as he walked on Emerson Street near the Shattuck Avenue intersection just before 11 p.m. on Aug. 3. 

 

Grill robbery 

No, it wasn’t the cooking kind that was stolen, but the fancy gold gear that slips over front teeth. 

A 17-year-old Berkeley fellow was relieved of his dental accouterment as well as his cell phone and a small amount of cash by a rat pack of four or five young fellows who punched him in the head as an inducement to cough up the goodies. 

The crime went down just after 6 p.m. on Aug. 4 near the corner of Adeline Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way, said Berkeley police spokesperson Officer Ed Galvan.


Opinion

Editorials

Editorial: It’s Time for a Meeting

By Becky O'Malley
Tuesday August 22, 2006

Over the weekend we received the e-mail reprinted [below]. Evidently the signers of the letter have been misinformed by someone for some reason. They say that “we recently requested a meeting with the Daily Planet Executive Editor Becky O’Malley. Ms. O’Malley refused to meet, stating ‘you won’t convince me of your position.’” 

That’s just not true. I don’t know who the “we” in this letter refers to. I have never met or spoken to a single one of the signers regarding the paper’s publishing of the letter in question. As far as I know, I have seen only one of them, Rabbi Raj, years ago when he appeared before city boards and commissions regarding his congregation’s building project. I might have met some of the other clergy at weddings or bat mitzvahs I’ve attended for members of their congregations, but if so I don’t remember it.  

About a year ago I exchanged e-mail with Rabbi Litman when John Gertz and other individuals were attempting to force the paper to apologize for printing a cartoon they didn’t like. She and others asked me to meet at that time with some people described as leaders of the Jewish community, and I readily agreed to meet with them, with the proviso that it be a public meeting—I don’t like to be bullied, which is less likely in public. I did meet with Gertz over lunch, but for some reason they were never able to get a larger public meeting together on their end.  

Perhaps the source of the signers’ confusion is that I did take a phone call about the Arianpour letter from one person not a signer, a woman who identified herself as “Tami from ADL.” I described the conversation at length in my editorial of Aug. 11. I didn’t refuse to meet her in person once my deadline was over, I just thought she might be wasting her time and mine, and I told her so. I offered her the alternate opportunity to make her point in print—she took me up on it, and I assumed that was the end of it. She never said she represented 23 “leaders of the Jewish community.” But maybe I should have realized I was being set up. 

My offer is still open. I will meet anywhere at any time with any of the signers of this letter, all 23 of them at once if they wish, as long as it’s an open public meeting. They can bring any other leaders of the Jewish community that they want to bring. Perhaps in return they might consider apologizing to me for circulating a letter saying that I refused to meet with them, which is not true. While they’re at it, they might also apologize for saying that “you have attempted to disrupt the harmony we all enjoy here in Berkeley,” a viciously unkind accusation.  

Friends have suggested that when the paper publishes letters from writers with whom the editors disagree, they should add a comment indicating their disagreement. The former editor of the Anderson Valley Advertiser used to do this in a very caustic vein, and it made for an entertaining paper. The problem is that on any given day I’m likely to disagree with about half of the letters and commentary we publish, which would make for a very lengthy paper.  

In this case, however, let me stipulate for the record that in my personal opinion the letter from the Iranian fellow was indeed very nasty, and I think that his comments about the history and motivations of the Jewish people amounted to untrue racist generalizations of the worst sort. But I still don’t think that keeping sentiments like this out of the Daily Planet will make him or people like him go away. The Middle East is full of anger, more now than a month ago. 

We do get and print nasty letters on other topics from outside the Berkeley Bubble. For example, in this issue there’s a letter that came in this week from a guy named Norm Grudman in New York about a Latina woman in Chicago who’s trying to escape deportation by seeking shelter in a Catholic church. (Just for the record, let me stipulate that I think that assuming all priests are pederasts is also bigotry.) 

We have printed several letters contradicting the Iranian correspondent’s point of view, and will undoubtedly print more. We still believe, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, that the best remedy for speech you don’t like is more speech.  

I understand that it’s painful for signers of the open letter to hear that people like Kurosh Arianpour have transferred their disagreement with Israel’s foreign policy to animosity toward all things Jewish. I’m sympathetic to their desire to share their feelings at a meeting. But I don’t think that denying Arianpour and people like him a forum will make anyone safer. After all, the Seattle incident was a week before his letter and half a world away from him. 

As I’m finishing this comment, I’ve just learned that Rabbi Raj has seen fit to corral a number of political allies to support his point of view, on the basis of the untrue statement that I refused to meet with “leaders.” Their letter is also in this issue. I’m sorry they neglected to check their facts before sending it. 

So now’s the time for all the signatories to all the letters in today’s paper, politicos included, to put up or shut up. Where and when would they like to have this meeting? Perhaps Mayor Bates would like to offer the Berkeley Community Theater, because I’m sure a lot of Berkeleyans would like to attend. 

 

 

Dear Sir or Madam,  

Following please find the text for a letter to the editor of your paper. Please note that the letter is signed by several leaders of Berkeley’s Jewish community. If you have any questions or if I can be of assitance, please don’t hesistate to contact me. Every good wish,  

Rabbi James Brandt 

Berkeley 

 

On behalf of the Berkeley Jewish community, we are writing to express our pain and disappointment at your use of your newspaper as a forum for promoting hatred against Jews. A commentary by Kurosh Arianpour, which you printed on August 8, was intended to antagonize and intimidate Jewish readers and to stir up animosity toward them. Our only solace is that we have heard from many Berkeley citizens who were as offended as we were by your decision to provide a platform for this bigotry. 

In his commentary, Arianpour claims that Jews were enslaved by the Egyptians and Babylonians (sic) and persecuted and murdered by the Nazis because “they do wrong to other people to the point that others turn against them...” A week before this letter appeared, a gunman broke into a Jewish institution in Seattle, killing one person and severely injuring several others. The next day, the white supremacist organization Stormfront posted on its website: “Jews deserve everything they get...we should support all of our friends who shoot/kill Jews!” 

Arianpour’s message is not only hurtful and hateful, but dangerous. Throughout our history we have seen how similarly despicable words can create a climate that leads to hateful and violent actions. It is bad enough to read such a message on the website of an extremist group; it is a serious breach of public trust to read it in a paper that professes to support the community. In order to share our feelings, we recently requested a meeting with the Daily Planet Executive Editor Becky O’Malley. Ms. O’Malley refused to meet, stating “you won’t convince me of your position.” Our “position” is that a Berkeley newspaper is no place for hate commentaries and that it should be a place for respectful dialogue. 

Our city has always prided itself on its commitment to promoting an open, accepting environment where people from all backgrounds feel welcome and included. We believe you have attempted to disrupt the harmony we all enjoy here in Berkeley. You owe us and the rest of the community an apology. 

 

Loren Basch, CEO, Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay 

Rabbi Andrea Berlin, President, East Bay Council of Rabbis 

Jonathan Bernstein, Executive Director, Anti-Defamation League, 

Central Pacific Region 

Rabbi James Brandt, Executive Director, Center for Jewish Living and Learning, East Bay 

Donald Brody, President, Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay 

Rabbi Yonatan Cohen, incoming rabbi, Congregation Beth Israel, Berkeley 

Rabbi David J. Cooper, Kehilla Community Synagogue 

Carol Cunradi, President, Congregation Netivot Shalom, Berkeley 

Sandra Curtis, Regional Board Member, New Israel Fund 

Myrna David, East Bay Regional Director, Jewish Community Relations Council 

Sanne DeWitt, Chair, Israel Action Committee of the East Bay 

Rabbi Stuart Kelman, Congregation Netivot Shalom, Berkeley 

Julie Kennedy, President, Congregation Beth El, Berkeley 

Hilda and Seymour Kessler, Founders, Bridges to Israel-Berkeley 

Rabbi Jane Litman, Rabbi-Educator, Congregation Beth El, Berkeley 

Rabbi Harry A. Manhoff, PhD , President, Board of Rabbis of Northern California 

Rabbi Ferenc Raj, Congregation Beth El, Berkeley 

Avi Rose, Executive Director, Jewish Family & Children’s Services of 

the East Bay 

Rabbi Yair Silverman, Congregation Beth Israel, Berkeley 

Beth Sirull, President, Jewish Community Center of the East Bay 

Leslie Valas, President, Congregation Beth Israel, Berkeley 

Ernest H. Weiner, Executive Director, American Jewish Committee, Bay Area Chapter 

Adam Weisberg, Executive Director, Berkeley Hillel 

 


Editorial: Can Oakland Re-Think Oak to 9th?

By Becky O'Malley
Friday August 18, 2006

Sunday morning we enjoyed a visit to the DMV offices on Claremont Avenue in Oakland. That’s a first—when has anyone ever enjoyed a DMV trip? The reason it was a pleasure is that we weren’t actually visiting the DMV, but were taking advantage of Oakland’s newest urban amenity, the Sunday farmers’ market which has set up shop in the parking lot there, just blocks from our home on the Berkeley border. It’s a tasty mixture of organic produce, booths for specialty cooking and a rotating roster of craftspeople and selected musicians.  

This week the market also hosted an act in the liveliest ongoing series of political psychodramas: The People Try To Take Back Their Cities from The Evil Planners. Petition gatherers for the referendum opposing the project plan which the Oakland City Council majority has approved for Oakland’s huge “Oak to Ninth” waterfront area were much in evidence, along with men handing out fliers urging shoppers not to sign the petitions. As non-residents, we couldn’t sign the petitions, but that didn’t stop the antis from tackling us. I bearded one of them, trying to find out a bit about why he was so anxious to keep the referendum from getting on the ballot. 

He started out by saying that “the circulators are all paid.” Well, I happened to recognize one of them, Oakland architect James Vann, an active volunteer with the Oak to Ninth Referendum Committee, who works for the Pyatok firm in Oakland, well-known for its affordable housing project designs, so he lost me on that one, as well on his second claim that affordable housing proponents all support the project. Another reason he wanted to keep the referendum off the ballot, he said, is that the project as approved would provide jobs. Well, yes, but for whom? I asked. Construction workers, he said. Like you? I asked. He (a middle-aged white guy) allowed as how he was a sheet metal worker. Where did he live? I asked. Martinez, he said. I suggested that projects which simply brought established white workers into Oakland from their rural homes might not be the kind of job creation Oaklanders need, and that their auto commuting to the job site would be a net loss for the environment. But perhaps they’re planning to take transit to work? In any event, he disengaged from the conversation pretty quickly after that, so I didn’t find out. 

I learned later that referendum circulators had been having run-ins with opponents who were not nearly as polite as the guy I talked to on Sunday. They’d sent a letter to the Oakland City Council on Saturday night complaining about it:  

Today, at various locations around the city, many petition circulators were harassed and interfered with by a groups of unnamed individuals. We were able to ascertain that at least some of the harassers were from a Sacramento labor union group. At each of the locations where harassment occurred, the same leaflet was being handed out. The leaflet did not identify any organization and gave no contact information. When asked, the circulators provided vague responses, if any, about who they were, or where from, or who ordered the interfering harassment. It seemed apparent to our circulators that the groups that appeared today had been hired by, and/or directed by someone. 

Their e-mail asked the City Council and/or the police to do something about it, since such harassment is illegal. That’s probably what produced the relatively civil exchanges I saw on Sunday. But League of Women Voters member Helen Hutchison told me that she’d received a call on her cell phone Saturday night from an official of the Central Labor Council calling her e-mail “scurrilous and libelous.” Not good PR for the unions, that’s for sure. 

Yesterday (Thursday) the Referendum Committee sent out a triumphal press release announcing that 30,000 signatures had been collected for submission, when fewer than 19,000 are needed. This brings the curtain down on Act I in this particular drama. Now it’s up to the Oakland City Council to decide whether to withdraw their approval of the project as it stands and try again, or to place it on the ballot as-is for a popular vote up or down.  

Things have changed somewhat in Oakland since a divided council first approved the plans. They were influenced, perhaps unduly, by an early stampede of some of the “good guy” groups to endorse what turns out to be a pretty poor deal for the public interest. The Greenbelt Alliance, for example, green-stamped the project early on, though the more judicious Sierra Club is now supporting the referendum. Greenbelters don’t seem to understand that protecting the environment means more than a green ring around increasingly crowded and unpleasant acres of urban concrete.  

And the promised “jobs” offer no more than 6 or 7 percent to local workers, as contrasted with, for example, the 40-50 percent local hiring developer Phil Tagami promises for his rehab of the Fox Oakland theater. Even the affordable housing promises are sketchy—the vast majority of buyers in the proposed project will just be newbies using its pricey condos as stepping stones to suburban McMansions.  

Berkeley’s sister drama, the initiative to save its Landmarks Preservation Ordinance from developer-driven emasculation, is definitely on the ballot for November. Berkeley council members have missed their chance to avoid a confrontation over that one. But Oakland’s new mayor, Ron Dellums, is well-positioned to give Oakland a second look at a bad deal. If he wants to get his term off to a positive start, he would be well-advised to bring all parties back to the drawing board to see if they can’t do a lot better by what everyone agrees is a world-class opportunity. It’s such a good site that it merits a seriously big-time international design competition, instead of just another routine Big Ugly Box condo development on steroids. 

 

 


Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Tuesday August 22, 2006

ALCOHOL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The blitz is on! On Thursday, Aug.17, Berkeley police cited one of our waitstaff for serving alcohol to a minor. Our written policies and training prescribe that our waitstaff ask for ID for all guests, regardless of appearance, that request alcohol, to eliminate errors in judgment of age. There is no excuse for this employee’s mistake. We are reviewing our practices to ensure that this first infraction is our last, and we continue to abide by the rules that accompany the privilege of our Beer & Wine license. 

Please allow me to take this opportunity to remind Berkeley parents that the development of responsible attitudes towards alcohol consumption begins at home. Spread the word. 

David Howard 

Co-Owner, The Caribbean Cove 

 

• 

HALLINAN’S COLUMN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Good column by Conn Hallinan (Aug. 18)! I like how he said that if the British can negotiate with Sinn Fein and the IRA then Israel can negotiate with Hezbollah and Hamas. The British for years said that they would not deal with terrorists. Well now they’re in a devolved government in the north with two Sinn Fein MP’s who are former commanders of the IRA as well as current members of the IRA Army Council even though the IRA has called an end to their armed campaign. 

The IRA had to bomb Great Britain for 30 years in order for the British to sit down and negotiate with them. That was their goal and it worked. As a result, some of those former IRA bombers are now politicians with Sinn Fein in the Northern Ireland Assembly. 

P. Hanavan 

 

• 

CHILDREN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It is important that a child remains stress-free while growing up. Parents and teachers should be calm and gentle. Even when things go wrong or are difficult, they should deal with the child in a peaceful manner. Dealing peacefully with children, even in stressful situations, will improve their behavior. This will inspire them to do as well as they can do. It may require a lot of awareness and thought on the part of teachers and parents to be good examples for children, but the results will be very fruitful. Children of today will be leaders of tomorrow, so any extra effort is worthwhile. The child’s environment itself, be it home or classroom, may be a source of stress for children. Children deserve the best we can provide in their formative years. They need routines and limits to grow without stress. They must have role models at home and in the school or daycare setting who make their space meaningful to them: a space where calm and security prevails and children feel that their curious and active minds can get all they need. These days, the jet fast pace of life around the children is making them worried and as a result they are not able to focus to learn and engage in positive social interaction. 

I like to introduce vocal music, dance, movement, acting and gardening to help the children be stress-free. When children get sufficient opportunities to interact as a group without holding anything back, it seems to curb behavior problems. 

No child should feel stressed growing up. It should be a top priority for parents and caretakers to help children stay stress-free. 

Romila Khanna 

Albany 

• 

ILLEGALS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

We used to be a country of laws. Now we have an administration that wants exceptions to illegal actions. Laws are what keep us civilized. Without law, there would be anarchy. If the INS does not go in and get her, there will be 12 million more illegals looking for churches. As for the illegal immigrant taking sanctuary in a church with her young son, I wish her luck. I think she has a bigger problem—her son alone with the priest. 

Norm Grudman 

Mattituck, New York 

 

• 

PACIFIC STEEL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

For several years in the early 1990s two of my grandsons attended a nursery school in West Berkeley. The overpowering, foul smells from Pacific Steel Casting were always present. The fumes are still there and so is the nursery school. It’s impossible to believe that such fumes are not harmful to all human beings, especially very young ones. 

Let’s hope that finally something will be done about it. 

Nancy Ward 

 

• 

SCHOOL BOARD ELECTION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I read with great interest the article that several people are running for the BUSD School Board, including my colleague David Baggins. I am happy that we are going to have some informed discussion and meaningful choices in this election. 

As a parent of a BUSD student, I have become very aware that our district needs someone on the board that will ask tough questions and hold the district administration accountable for poor decisionmaking. 

James Forsher 

Associate Professor and Director, Broadcast Production Program 

California State University East Bay 

Department of Communication 

Hayward 

 

• 

CLIF BAR’S DEPARTURE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

When asked recently how he felt about Cliff Bar’s decision to move to Alameda, Mayor Bates commented rather naively that businesses come and go in Berkeley. Bates seemed satisfied that Walgreen’s has announced another store and that Peet’s will add another location in Berkeley. I do not feel the same comfort and complacency voiced by the mayor.  

Cliff Bar has 150 employees, many of whom are young professional people that have created a remarkably well run and environmentally conscious company. Walgreen’s is a drug store chain. I would enjoy playing poker with Bates as it appears he doesn’t know the difference between aces and deuces.  

Bates also was quoted as saying that it’s “Berkeley’s fate to nurture innovative businesses that finally outgrow us and have to move somewhere else.” “Have to move” Mr. Mayor? You are kidding us, right? Are you saying that you cannot do anything? How about nurturing and supporting innovative businesses so they do not want to relocate? In fact, the history of innovative businesses leaving Berkeley is explained mostly by city neglect and complacency from the Mayor’s office, not because they have grown up.  

Bob Archibald 

 

• 

NIMBYISM 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Sharon Hudson’s recent series “Notes on NIMBYism” contained some important points that should be considered by all those who seek to find a balance between preserving what we cherish about Berkeley and promoting new development that meets current and future community goals. I’m afraid, however, that many independent-minded folks (among which I count myself) will be so turned off by her over-the-top hyperbole and mis-characterizations that they will dismiss those points. 

Here’s one example: 

“Berkeley “environmentalists” would never advocate marginal, artificial environments for other species, but for humans they propose an unpleasant and inhumane urban environment, devoid of aesthetic and spiritual sustenance and often even the basic requirements of good health.” 

I’d be surprised if there is anyone in the local environmental community who remotely fits this description. Urban ecology as a planning paradigm seeks to promote the very opposite. No one in the discussion over development in Berkeley is proposing that Berkeley become like New York (which some find quite humane, of course!). In general, Ms. Hudson greatly overstates the degree to which the push for higher density in Berkeley (“smart growth”) is motivated by a desire to sacrifice quality of life in Berkeley for the sake of larger environmental goals. Urban ecology as a planning paradigm seeks to improve the urban fabric (attending to environmental as well as social concerns) and to support larger goals. Higher density, if designed with care and sensitivity for the affected neighborhoods, can help accomplish that. 

I know as a writer that it feels good (righteous) to pen prose like the above. The “choir” we usually preach to loves it. But more often than not, it’s counterproductive. Sharon, keep making your points about the unfairness of the outcome of much of the development we’ve seen of late. Give some consideration to realistic ways of dealing with this problem. But tone down the hyperbole and rhetoric if you want those outside your camp to listen. 

Steve Meyers 

 

• 

NEW LIGHT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It was sad to read that New Light Senior Citizen Center, created by the people in the South Berkeley community in 1968 is ending in this way with a debt of $40,000. The South Berkeley YMCA, known as the Y, (now the YMCA Learning Academy) was also a product of community commitment and foresight. New Light was one of many organizations, groups, clubs, etc., that met at the Y. The New Light Board of Directors and roster of members reads like a “who’s who” of the Berkeley/Oakland neighborhood and the many activities in those days reflected their interests and did benefit the community. The original name for the program is the South Berkeley New Light Senior Citizen Center. 

New Light was the name chosen to describe beginning and change and it was embraced by all who came for its “down home” friendliness and organized activities and pride in working together for success. New Light was all business from the start, whether on the sick, the program or fundraising committees, the knowledge and suggestions of the various members was welcomed and used. The records of the minutes show that in those days the board of directors, the director, by-laws rules committee, the officers’ positions, the membership rolls, and the various sub-committees were filled by active, volunteer participants. (Only the board of directors and the position of director is restricted to Berkeley residents). 

The first Berkeley senior center was in North Berkeley on University Avenue. New Light was the second. Maudelle Shirek was involved from the beginning. When my mother Lena Holland, called some friends and suggested a senior organization at the Y, Maudelle Shirek was the person who took both my parents to Sacramento, California and the New Light Senior Citizen Center was incorporated. The incorporation papers are faded but the evidence of accomplishment is there. 

During these years, Maudelle remained in a consultant position but she was available to New Light when needed, even though her neighborhood and world-wide commitment to people caused her to have a busy schedule. A few years ago, Maudelle was at the West Berkeley Senior Citizens and her balanced menu was not well received there. It was at that time, when she was still active and fulfilling her city council/vice mayor slot, that Maudelle slowed her pace and she came to New Light with her healthy meals. She bought the foods and supervised the preparation and with her reputation for good nutrition and her community and political comment, she was welcomed at New Light full time. 

As the years aged the original New Light people, the program changed. After the stable administration through the many years, there was constant turnover of directors and about five years ago, the program slowed to simply one hour, three days a week, and food only. The many services have deceased to in-home meals, three days a week for those who are shut-in. 

And, as New Light changed, the Y did too. They started as a church on an empty lot, progressed to a USO, then to the South Berkeley YMCA, and today, is a successful YMCA Learning Academy. My father, Kemper Holland, was part of that YMCA process and those memories in photos and written documents are also in my possession. 

Today the history of New Light is blurred with the use of the New Light name by some churches. Not everyone knows how the community came together with little resources, a lot of determination and loyal commitment and few people today were fortunate enough to experience the good times like those that were at the South Berkeley YMCA New Light Senior Center. 

Joy Holland 

 

 

A SIMPLE STATEMENT  

Editors, Daily Planet: 

To blame Jews for their own enslavement, and for the Holocaust, just isn’t right; the fact that this kind of anti-Semitism rears its ugly head in Berkeley is particularly distressing. 

To say that Jews were oppressed by Babylonians, Egyptians, and Germans because of “their racist attitude that they are the chosen people” (Arianpour’s Aug. 8 commentary) offends, outrages, and disgusts me. Some might say those were just words on a page and free speech and free press protect the right to espouse this hatred. But while we protect the right of a free press to print stupid statements we also have an obligation to respond vigorously against harmful, hateful misinformation. 

Many religions believe in their own uniqueness or connectedness to the Creator, so Jews should not be singled out and castigated for their faith. One of the great strengths of our country is the goal of acceptance of many faiths co-existing. Please do not join in perpetuating the denial of the Holocaust, or in this case, blaming Jews for the Holocaust. The blame lies squarely on the narrow-minded prejudice of that time, which still survives today. I strenuously reject this attempt to blame the victim. Berkeley has had far too many cases of attacks on the Hillel, on the Jewish fraternity, and hate crimes against individual Jews, for us to close our eyes to the rhetoric which is the breeding ground of hatred, prejudice, discrimination and violence. 

I know the paper is “taking a break from Middle East letters,” but I hope that this letter is treated as a statement against anti-Semitism, not a statement on the Middle East. This letter that insults Jews and the Jewish religion disgusts me so much that I feel that I must respond. 

Whenever we read such garbage, let us re-dedicate ourselves to educating ourselves, and our society that victims are not to blame, and commit ourselves to speaking out against all forms of racism, sexism, ageism, anti-Semitism, and hatred and prejudice. 

Kriss Worthington 

Councilmember, District 7 

Founder, City of Berkeley Holocaust  

Remembrance Day 

 

• 

MESSAGE TO THE COMMUNITY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was asked by the signers to forward this letter to you. 

Rabbi Ferenc Raj, PhD 

Congregation Beth El 

 

Free speech is a cornerstone of our society. Editors edit, however, and not every racist diatribe gets “airtime.” Unfortunately, the Berkeley Daily Planet helped to fuel ethnic hatred when it decided to print an explicitly anti-Jewish commentary by Kurosh Arianpour on Aug. 8. 

In Berkeley we are familiar with strongly worded opinion pieces that criticize the policies and actions of particular individuals, groups and nations. Arianpour’s commentary, however, crossed the line into a racist attack on all people of Jewish descent when he asserted that Jews have been the cause of every tragedy that has befallen them—from slavery in Egypt to the Holocaust. 

We are not surprised when hate-mongers make such statements or when neo-Nazi publications print them. Vulgar and hate-filled statements are written all the time—editors choose whether or not to publish them. We were, however, surprised to find them in a Berkeley “community” newspaper since racism of any kind violates all that our city and region stands for. 

We are also concerned to hear that the editor of the Daily Planet has refused to meet with representatives of the Jewish community to discuss their concerns. 

Surely the Daily Planet would never consider publishing an analogous commentary blaming any other racial or ethnic group for its suffering throughout history. And if such a commentary did somehow make its way into the paper, we wonder if the editor would turn down a request to talk with the offended group. 

Thus, we are deeply distressed that Ms. O’Malley found Arianpour’s hateful and all-encompassing opinions about all Jews acceptable to publish, and that she refuses to discuss it. This can only add to the anger and divisions in our immediate community and in the world. It pollutes the fragile reservoirs of goodwill upon which peace depends. 

We therefore call on Ms. O’Malley to apologize to the community. 

State Senator Don Perata, Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, Mayor of Oakland Jerry Brown, Mayor of Berkeley Tom Bates, Mayor of Emeryville Ruth Atkin, Berkeley City Council Members Laurie Capitelli, Darryl Moore, Betty Olds, Gordon Wozniak 


Commentary: Clif Bar Loss Indicative of City’s Out-of-Date Policies

By Steven Donaldson
Tuesday August 22, 2006

Berkeley is now seeing the loss of yet another world-class business. Clif Bar is moving to the City of Alameda. Clif Bar, with it’s great all-natural organic nutritional bars. A green business, with a commitment to employees, customers and the community, is leaving what should be its natural “ideological” home for the City of Alameda. 

How can this happen, you may ask? It’s again an issue of an inflexible, complex system, out-of-date zoning and an inability of the city to act quickly when faced with other more competitive choices from other nearby cities. I don’t fault the staff or the elected officials who, I know, wanted to keep Clif Bar. I fault our highly restrictive, convoluted zoning and approval process, that puts Berkeley at an immediate disadvantage to neighboring communities. 

Clif Bar wanted to expand and keep its headquarters in West Berkeley but the sites Clif Bar reviewed were zoned for manufacturing, which Clif Bar no longer does in Berkeley. Unfortunately this was incompatible with the city’s West Berkeley Plan. City officials where willing to make zoning changes but this requires hearings, review with the planning commission and there’s no guarantee this could be done in a reasonable time frame. I am sure this influenced Clif Bar to open up to other proposals in the Bay Area. 

I do not think Clif Bar was unwilling to stay. They just could not wait, like Berkeley Bowl did, going through the protracted and unpredictable, drawn-out approval process to build a new grocery store and warehouse in West Berkeley. Over three years went by to get this project approved. The West Berkeley Bowl drama only exemplified how difficult it is for any business to get something done in Berkeley when they face the hurdles of a zoning change, an environmental impact report and multiple commission reviews. Should it take three years to approve a grocery store, one that’s home-grown and being built on a vacant parcel of land? It really begs the question: What’s the real purpose of this process? And what do you think it said to Clif Bar who was, I am sure, very carefully looking at how long and convoluted this was? There is no way most businesses can deal with a lengthy review and approval system when facing highly competitive and dynamic marketing challenges.  

The loss of Clif Bar, the type of business the city touts and claims it wants, just shows the conflict between our ideals and the realities of business and economics in the 21st century. The 300-plus acres of land in West Berkeley zoned for industrial, manufacturing and warehousing uses reflects a bygone era. The need to adapt, to be more flexible and to take a longer-range view that acknowledges the evolution of business and manufacturing is necessary (would someone please talk to a real economist—or look at the most recent trends from the Bay Area Council?). No one can convince me we are going to get another large-scale manufacturer of anything taking 100,000 square feet of space in West Berkeley. Those days are long gone. The cost of doing business here on such a scale is prohibitive—those kinds of companies will choose lower-cost locations. 

New types of zoning are needed that take into account the realities of changing local and global markets, not old, fixed designations for industrial and warehousing uses which are no longer relevant. We need to have a vision towards the future that make sense reflecting current assets in our East Bay community like the University of California, Bayer Corporation, Chiron, Pixar and others that draw talent and expertise to this area. These trends show the realities of changing demands in our local market. 

Berkeley elected officials need to be aware of the fact the vocal minority who shows up to fight these projects, sends a message to all business, eco-friendly or not, to be prepared to jump through many expensive and time-consuming hurdles to get anything approved. Is this what we want for our city as we continue to lose much-needed tax revenue? 

Berkeley is not an isolated hamlet, a world apart from the intertwined economics of its neighboring cities, the Bay Area, the state and the world. We need to get on with a truly progressive and innovative re-invention of our zoning and approval process, with a clear plan on how the community and businesses can actually work together for positive, timely change. 

My big question is where’s the vision, the leadership and the understanding of economic change that will take us to a viable mix of business to support the services that everyone wants in the City of Berkeley? 

Remember the reality and demands of the marketplace speak much louder than the rhetoric and opposition to change: business just goes somewhere else. 

 

Steven Donaldson is a Berkeley  

resident. 


Commentary: I Will Put an End to Fake Democracy in Berkeley

By Christian Pecaut
Tuesday August 22, 2006

The last refuge of scoundrels is their long record of public service. Tom Bates long ago voided not only his 30 years of public office, but also whatever dignity and respect he had accrued prior to 1972. Such is the inevitable effect of consciously choosing to deceive those with less power than you have. So disastrous are these deliberate misreports of perception and understanding by more powerful people, that almost the entire ability for below figures to sort out what is accurate/inaccurate is destroyed. 

Tom and his supporter, Jack Kurzweil, have “learned” that if you call covert agendas “democratic process” then you can fool people long enough to trick them into consenting to your secret plans. Then, afterwards, whenever anyone protests, you can point to their “vote” and say, “Look! You chose these secret plans. I’m just going along with what the people want.” 

“Works like a charm!” they cackle, all the way to the bank, or the South Berkeley Neighborhood Development Corporation (Tom Bates), as the case may be. 

When I see bullying, and glimpse an opportunity to educate the general public, I will denounce the violation of public trust in sharp, accurate, unequivocal words. Such is the first and foremost duty of a mayor, who guards our city democracy. And, while I do sometimes make mistakes, I admit them and learn from the error. You see, one who knows, and can acknowledge when they’re wrong, is always right; one who does not know, or refuses to acknowledge when they’re wrong, is always wrong. 

And while unprincipled men may consider the successful manipulation of public forums just some “funny thing about democracy” (Letters, Aug. 11), I know too clearly the long-term, deadly consequences of such schemes. I wonder if Jack, Matthew, and Tom shrugged their shoulders and dismissed the murder of our progressive leader, Sen. Wellstone, just 10 days before election night in 2002, as just another “funny thing about democracy” in this country. 

Now we touch on a larger problem than just one rigged forum: the political failure that is “activism.” Here you incessantly “investigate” the largest and most obvious crimes, take weak political positions based on uncertainty, and finally, when you fail to obtain any victories, hide this fact behind a curtain of endless “education” and “outreach.” Another pertinent example of this destructive approach appeared at the Berkeley Progressive Platform Convention, back in June. You will also recognize the anti-democratic tactics demonstrated at the Wellstone candidates forum. The creators and enforcers of this problem control politics in this city.  

On the first day of the convention, I proposed an amendment to the preamble of the Fair Elections Platform that read: “In light of the recent stolen presidential elections, the theft of untold more Federal, state and local elections, and in the face of the purchasing of public offices across the United States by corporate and monied interests, we demand,” followed by the plank’s more specific points. The motion passed unanimously. 

By the time the second platform convention rolled around, a couple of weeks later, some mis-leaders of the “progressive community” in Berkeley had decided that they didn’t like the formulation I had proposed and the convention attendees had passed. Too volatile, too speculative, it would alienate people we are trying to “get on board,” and a host of other excuses, Laurence Schectman mumbled out at the start of the meeting. I’m fine with people having opinions and feelings about any political matter, especially the most important ones, but what did the leadership decide to do? They spent the entire first hour of the forum coming up with more “acceptable” “wording,” and then manufactured even more empty excuses for why they had to reverse the people’s unanimous decision. All to please unspecified, unaccountable outside parties who had met in secret, and decided that the convention participants’ unanimous vote be damned, we have to change the platform, no matter how anti-democratic we must be. The final not-unanimous “vote” decided on the following replacement: “In light of serious concerns about the legitimacy or recent elections, and in light of undue corrosive influence of corporate and monied interests, we demand.” I ask the reader the judge for themselves which version is more accurate and progressive. 

Here’s one example of the accumulated consequences of such deception. When people ask me, “Why are you running for mayor of Berkeley?”, I often say that Berkeley is the most progressive city in the United States, and I want to make sure it stays that way. Many, many people, especially those who respect and intimately participate in the current government and its supporting organizations, reply, “Really? We’re all just a bunch of hypocrites anyway! Haven’t you learned?” and then laugh smugly. 

That is one “lesson” I will never “learn.” Such statements reveal a deadly irresponsibility and ignorance at the highest levels of our city government. What I do know is that the vast majority of the people of Berkeley are not proud of the hypocrisy that infests their government, wastes their hard earned tax money, and lies to them with a deliberate, coordinated shamelessness. 

I ask the membership of the Wellstone Democratic Club, the Progressive Convention and all citizens of Berkeley to carefully weigh what is right and what is wrong when choosing who to endorse and who to entrust with your vote. I strive to the limits of my powers and courage to provide every in person in Berkeley with an accurate understanding of our shared political reality—and with that understanding firmly in grasp, I know that together we can transform Berkeley into the honest, solving democracy that we need. 

(For a comprehensive explanation of how I will make harmful deception impossible in Berkeley, please visit www.BerkeleyMayor.org, and read or listen to “Jettison Sequence,” which explains, in explicit detail, in six hours, exactly how everyone (especially young people) is forced to lie and forced to accept lying as an everyday rule, alongside a description of how to stop this process permanently, and return our society to the principled truth-finding and caretaking that we were all born to enact in the world.) 

 

Christian Pecaut is a candidate for mayor of Berkeley. 

 


Letters to the Editor

Friday August 18, 2006

RENT CONTROL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In his Aug. 11 commentary assailing, once again, Berkeley’s voter-approved Rent Stabilization Ordinance, John Koenigshofer conveniently ignores rent control’s central, fundamental purpose: to protect renters from unwarranted, unanticipated, arbitrary rent level increases.  

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, for example, Bay Area rent levels increased dramatically—and unexpectedly—as a consequence of the 1979 Iranian Revolution and subsequent crude oil price shock. In addition, state Proposition 13, passed in 1978, slashed rental property owners’ taxes by 75 percent or more.  

In response, scores of California municipalities, including Berkeley, Oakland, San Jose and San Francisco, passed local rent control measures to protect renters from these unanticipated, egregious rent increases at the time. 

Again, during the dot-com economic surge between 1998 and 2001, Bay Area rent levels jumped dramatically and unexpectedly. Fortunately, hundreds of thousands of Bay Area renter households were shielded from these rent increases because of existing local rent control ordinances.  

Currently in San Francisco, average rent levels have increased by 15 percent since January 2006 for new renters moving into units. Existing tenants in San Francisco’s 200,000 rent-controlled units, however, have remained protected from these steep—and ongoing—increases. 

Without Berkeley’s 1980 Rent Stabilization Ordinance, the city’s unique, colorful character and low- to middle-income renter population would most likely have disappeared long ago. 

Chris Kavanagh  

 

• 

CONDO CONVERSION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Nancy Friedberg (Letters, Aug. 11), didn’t much grasp my concern about the Condo Conversion Initiative on the November ballot, which would denude Berkeley of a vast amount of rent-stabilized tenant housing. 

The present law, written by the City Council, maintains the rights of existing tenants while allowing for the annual conversion of 100 units into condominiums. The ballot initiative instead proposes to convert 500 units a year while giving tenants only 30 days to come up with the wherewithal to buy their residences at market price. Tenants who can’t buy can instead accept a 2 percent-of-sale-price immediate move-out inducement. This carrot-and-stick approach in essence amounts to eviction, since condos are largely exempt from rent stabilization and tenants who stay face the escalation of their rents to an uncontrolled level. 

The gulf between market price and stabilized rent price that’s arisen in the last six years of the heated Bay Area real estate market represents a potential conversion windfall that will instigate a rush of conversions. Duplexes, triplexes and quadriplexes, which contain about 5,000 of our rental units, are the most homey units; they also house the most longer-term tenants (and therefore offer the greatest potential windfall for their owners) and those tenants will be forced out first. The tenant population of our flatlands neighborhoods will mostly evaporate inside the next seven years if the initiative passes. As social policy the eviction-by-condo initiative is a near-perfect embodiment of the Bush administration housing goal of creating a “nation of homeowners” by studiously sacrificing everyone else’s housing interests. 

I hope to serve for the next four years on the Rent Board, but I also hope we won’t be facing a rental market whose supply is rapidly shrinking. Our existing rental stock is a blessing both for our tenants and our diversity, and should be preserved. 

Dave Blake 

 

• 

TABLOID TRASH 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I like to think that I’m intelligent, well-educated and fairly sophisticated—certainly not one to be attracted by the lurid tabloids to be found at the check-out stand at supermarkets. I wouldn’t be caught dead buying one. However, last weekend while in line at Safeway, my eye fell on two of these sleazy publications, which I’ll not name. One magazine blazoned the bold title, “Bush and Condoleezza to Wed!” The other tersely stated, “Bush Divorce—Laura Wins.” 

Now this was hot stuff! Glancing around to be sure I wasn’t observed, I snatched up the two offending rags (no way was I going to fork over hard-earned money for such trash), and moved my basket to the longest line in the store. There I devoured the sensational allegations, chortling with glee. Normally I wouldn’t place much credence in these stories, but I was willing to make an exception in this case. 

Bush and Condoleezaa! My joy knew no bounds! Were ever two people more deserving of each other? 

Laura, honey—don’t fight it. Let go, Sweetheart! If these rumors prove to be true, consider yourself blessed. 

Dorothy Snodgrass 

 

• 

LET’S HEAR IT FOR EVASION! 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

TV and print agencies deliver news that is crafted mainly to advertise, entertain or persuade, rarely to inform. Example: The media showered General Abizaid, our military man in Iraq, with praise for his forthright responses before a Senate committee last week. Journalists unanimously agreed that his was the voice of a capable leader willing to face unpleasant realities.  

However, the general’s answer to Chairman Warner about whether the killings in Iraq constitute a civil war contains three evasive, non-forthright qualifiers. 

He said, “If not stopped Iraq could move toward a civil war.” I have underlined the words signaling the qualifiers. 

Why not simply declare that Iraq is engaged in a “low intensity” civil war?  

The reason the general does not want to admit that there is civil war in Iraq is that it would necessitate a new Congressional resolution—resolutions being the de facto manner that has come to replace the de jure constitutional way of declaring war.  

As Senator Warner implied, Congress might demand assurances that civil war referee is the last formulation in the series of reasons—WMDs, Liberation, Democracy—for expending vast amounts of treasure, human and fiscal, over there.  

Marvin Chachere 

San Pablo 

 

• 

NOTES ON NIMBYISM 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The recent pieces by Sharon Hudson made more sense to me than anything I have read in a long time. 

Erica Cleary 

 

• 

BERKELEY SCHOOLS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In response to Julie Holcomb’s letter defending our public school district, the data is irrefutable that despite the large amount of local tax money we pump into our schools, achievement lags in Berkeley, and the achievement gap in Berkeley is huge and inexcusable. 

Berkeley High School’s dropout rate of almost 14 percent is higher than the county average of 10.3 percent. Pacific Islanders have a whopping 33 percent dropout rate at Berkeley High, compared to an 11 percent dropout rate county wide. For Hispanic students, the dropout rate is just as alarming: 26.3 percent versus a county average of 13.8 percent. And even for white students, Berkeley High’s dropout rate is higher than the county average (9 percent versus 6 percent). 

People like to hem and haw and say that Berkeley’s numbers are because Berkeley is a “diverse, urban area.” This is a poor excuse for low achievement. I support children, and I support public school education but simply giving more tax money to BUSD without requiring quality performance from the school district is not the answer. BUSD needs performance auditing so it can explain to taxpayers, why student achievement is not commensurate with the spending.  

If studies show that the most important factor in student learning is the classroom teacher, what is BUSD doing to improve teaching? Why are Berkeley teacher salaries significantly lower than other school district’s? Palo Alto’s starting teacher salary is $45,000. Berkeley’s starting teacher salary is only $33,800. How can we attract the qualified teachers needed to produce excellent schools with a starting salary of $33,800?  

What is BUSD doing to control expenses? Why does Berkeley spend almost a quarter of a million dollars more than Palo Alto for its superintendent and board, even though Palo Alto has 18 percent more students than Berkeley? Think of what the music program, or libraries, or the garden programs could do with an extra quarter of a million dollars. Berkeley’s school board and superintendent cry poor, but is it really poor or just not well managed? Let’s look at the data some more. 

Yolanda Huang 

 

• 

MISHEARD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Driving around the Northwest this morn, I was happily tuned to the Stephanie Miller political satire show on Air America Radio, as is my traveling wont. One of her Eric Idlers was parodying Dubya spokesjoke Ken Melman and his insistence on “Stay the Course.” I heard it as “Save the Corpse!!” 

Arnie Passman 

 

• 

PLANETARY CONCERNS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

If Pluto is not a planet, then how can the Berkeley Daily—which, despite its name, has a multiple-day orbit—be one? On the other hand, if all of Pluto, Ceres, Charon and Xena are planets, anything that goes around comes around, and I say somebody back when neglected to plan it. 

Ray Chamberlain 

 

• 

UC AND DEMOCRACY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

While UC Berkeley’s Chancellor’s Community Partnership Fund grants may be a thankful welcome to some important community groups, it is really not the way a democracy should function. If Tom Bates hadn’t sold out the city of Berkeley by settling with UC we probably would be getting a more fair share of payment from the University to the city for all the services they use. Then the City of Berkeley, using our democratic method would decide where it would spend our money. UC is not democratically run. The citizens of Berkeley have no power in deciding how this grant money will be allocated. And given UC’s past contempt for the history and democratic decisions of our city it is frankly frightful to hand over the allocation of what should be city funds to the chancellor. 

Cyndi Johnson 

 


Commentary: Inconvenient Truths From Berkeley’s First Native American Mayoral Candidate

By Zachary Running Wolf
Friday August 18, 2006

A nation that loses its cherished freedom and protections will often discover that it has been a victim of spin and counter spin. This is not difficult to understand when we consider that a significant majority of our citizens still believe that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. The truth of the matter is that it is difficult for humans to accept that they are continually being brainwashed. 

It is for the explicit purposes of addressing our conditioned state of mind and reclaiming our values and freedom—both environmental and political—that I, Zachary Running Wolf, a Native American leader and elder, is seeking the position of mayor for the city of Berkeley. You may wonder what a mayor can do to influence national and local policy. Simply stated, my native background, which is steeped in fundamental fairness towards all people and my concern for the protection of my land, gives me the courage to take on anyone—dictator or political terrorist to remedy the situation.  

In the 1960s and ’70s Berkeley was the epicenter for the movement to end the Vietnam War. Then in the ’80s, Berkeley residents and students led the march to divestment in South Africa. Out of concern for our planet, we then initiated curbside recycling. Today we are the home base for Cindy Sheehan in her campaign to end an unnecessary war. Now, I see clearly that Berkeley can be the leader in the much needed effort to curtail global warming. I draw my inspiration from the wisdom of my Native American ancestors whose teachings demand that before anyone of us makes a decision we should first consider how it will affect the next seven generations.  

Firstly, I will demand that solar panels be placed on all city-owned buildings. I also plan to initiate a solar bonds measure so that we can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Clearly, it is high time for all of us to adopt a more reasonable way of harnessing energy from nature. We cannot afford to have another mayor who cancels programs which reduce greenhouse gases. The truth of the matter is that global warming is a reality and we must remove those who pretend that it is not.  

Another thing we can do about global warming is to protect our trees. When Tom Bates ran for mayor he promised to protect our trees but, contrary to his promise, he opposed an initiative to create a tree ordinance. The failure to protect our trees is exacerbated by the fact that Bates is promoting inappropriate mega-development plans that encroach up on the property line. This is a major problem because it reduces sidewalk space which could otherwise be used for planting trees. As your mayor I will insist that all developments should somehow add to the number of trees in our city.  

Mayor Bates unmistakably stands for the elimination of open spaces. In a city that desperately needs parks and trees, Bates has led an effort to reduce open space by putting condos in the Ashby BART parking area. Clearly, this measure denies hard working merchants an opportunity to make a cultural and spiritual contribution to the area.  

Upon taking office Bates created an Agenda Committee, which was originally so extreme that even the city attorney labeled it as “illegal.” Bates’ explicit intent in creating secretive committees was to keep important items off the City Council agenda. This smacks of the very actions that are being instituted by the Bush administration. I am advocating a strong sunshine ordinance which encourages every resident to participate in open government. 

After curtailing City Council debate, Bates next sought to silence city commissions by creating hand-picked task forces. These task forces were designed to circumvent important city issues. Bates began to impose such a practice when he abolished the budget commission after they rejected his proposed tax increases as unnecessary. Clearly, we can no longer tolerate officials who want this country to be without free speech and balance. 

Furthermore, Bates has made it more difficult for citizens to challenge incumbents by failing to institute that Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) Act and the Clean Elections Amendment which were designed to make each candidate operate on a level playing field. It is merely an excuse to state that implementation was a problem.  

By far, what should be very troubling to the residents of Berkeley is the secret settlement that the Bates had reached with UC Berkeley. The agreement gives control to the university over the downtown development. Consequently, the university now retains power to build downtown even if the facilities have nothing to do with UC Berkeley’s educational mission. One consequence of such a deal is that UCB does not have to pay local property taxes. This loss of tax revenue will have to be subsidized by Berkeley home owners while the UCB Board of Directors receive pay hikes—uup to $300 million in perks alone! 

Additionally, as a Native American leader and elder, I understand the importance of sovereignty. People as well as nations (in this case city) have the right to control their land. That is why the mayor’s Downtown Plan is patently deplorable. Fortunately Anne Wagley and some other brave citizens have filed suit against Mayor Bates to save our city from this nightmare. I will use the opportunity offered by that lawsuit to settle the case. This will involve rescinding the UC agreement signed behind closed doors and without Berkeley’s residents’ voice.  

You should know that in Zachary Running Wolf, you will not find statements are akin to empty promises. Nay, I plan to bring a new way of doing politics in this great city. This will inevitably require public participation in the highest degree. It will also involve honesty and integrity. I realize that it is the people who can make this happen. So I appeal to the residents of Berkeley: Help me get elected and I will help this city to become what you alone want it to be—a decent home for all of us to live peacefully. 

 

Zachary Running Wolf is a candidate for mayor of Berkeley. www.runningwolformayor.org.


Commentary: Musings on an Identity Crisis

By Joan Levinson
Friday August 18, 2006

By JOAN LEVINSON 

 

I’m having an identity crisis as I sort out how to think about our political world. I’ve always thought of myself as a progressive lefty. At this moment I am becoming an anachronism. Not a vibrant label. 

Being a progressive means, for me, an adherent of bedrock American values—equal rights for everyone, legal justice and fairness, a continuous if zigzag march toward ever wider distribution of the national wealth. Government has been the main artery for facilitating that progress. Portions of that wealth have traditionally been dedicated to projects for the common good. Basic tenets of the U.S.A., right? Lately—wrong.  

The tide has turned, and the business of life is now slanted in one direction only. That other early goal—individual wealth—has moved to center stage. We’re finding ourselves in one of those recurrent cycles of “grab all you can get and get it now.”  

Money uber alles. 

But not for all of us. Just those who are economically well placed and have a head start—selective individualism writ large. Gone is the concern for others—whether American others or Afghan others. Where has all our concern for humans gone? 

It’s almost getting hard to remember that so recently so many of us were members of the brigades of change. We worked on many fronts right here in town—ending the Vietnam war, poverty, health, women’s equality, schools, elders, employment fairness, inclusiveness. We believed in the changes we were making and the process of making them. The moment was propitious. The culture had, unexpectedly, become expansive, experimental, full of hope. There was movement because of the multiple “movements” that had broken ground for change; “Here Comes the Sun” was the theme music.  

And it was fun too, even getting laws passed, partly because we were working together in truly cooperative ways pooling our knowedge and skills. There was minimal competition because, for the moment, the hoped for result was far more important to us than our individual egos. Many of us were thoroughly and deeply ‘at home’ in trying to make changes. And the parties, the music that helped to fuel us, the late night dancing into the dawn ... the feeling of being joyous AND doing good in our small world. 

We can’t bring back the spirit of the sixties and seventies which we found so morally “right.” It was a good run. Nobody could have imagined such a moment coming out of the grim realities of the Vietnam war, the uphill battle of the long civil rights movement, the narrow conformity of the 1950’s. 

That was then, and this is now. All such periods of intense excitement and change—a wider way of thinking and being —are short-lived. They are a true ‘high’ and the intoxication of those who help create them or even just live through them neither lasts nor disappears.  

So we in Berkeley are living in a deep deep post-high nostalgia which we love and nourish and want to talk about in order to preserve it if only in words.  

We don’t want our physical/psychic landscape to alter, so against all odds we resist. We try to save our cityscape of two-story houses, book stores, green spaces, historical places, artists’ space, small post offices. We point to hazards like radioactivity in Strawberry Creek, in our library books and cell phone towers, industrial smoke stink. Once in a while we have a victory—sometimes it’s real, sometimes it isn’t. 

We write heated letters to the editor, we picket unfair labor practices, we badger city commissions, we shout indignantly at City Council meetings. We listen to Dylan and Judy and Joan and Mick albums to remind us it was all real. Disheartened, we predict Doom. 

Our previously progressive politicos make alliances with builders throwing up too tall, too ugly, too expensive apartment buildings on every bit of open ground. Or they form public relations businesses and serve as skilled spokesmen for industry or institutional bureaucracies. Who can judge them? That’s where the action is-- and the money. There’s no immediate livelihood in having their too liberal ideas and trying to change the world. 

From the fifites’ civil rights movement to the anti-apartheid campaign of the eighties the quest for human betterment drove the engine of change. Like the train that goes backward in the railyard, the mean mood in the country is rapidly narrowing our scope of action. We try to shore up the remnants of what was good. Small fingers in large dykes.  

So my identity has become Conserver. I have become a true conservative—save the good parts. Work around current reality. Look for cracks in the walls. 

 

Joan Levinson is a sporadic activist.


Commentary: Too Little Green, Too Far in the Red

By Michael Katz
Friday August 18, 2006

A few points about Peter Buckley’s Aug. 15 response to my May 26 commentary on the proposed David Brower Center/Oxford Plaza megastructure: 

As for environmental leader David Brower’s feelings toward his namesake development, I’ll readily defer to those who had the privilege of knowing him. As for the high environmental and housing-equity intentions of the project’s designers, I acknowledged these upfront. Not at length, though, because the Brower Center project has never lacked good PR. What it has lacked is serious scrutiny. 

There are no “greedy developers” here. Quite the opposite: virtuous, underfunded, nonprofit developers. These are exactly the kinds of partners the city should choose for most development projects. 

But here, my concern is that the Brower/Oxford project has been designed beyond these nonprofits’ financing capabilities, and beyond the city’s ability to bail them out. And if we keep diverting city housing funds to a project that ultimately gets significantly downsized or canceled, the real cost will be the viable affordable-housing units that won’t get built elsewhere. 

Many people—including past Brower/Oxford supporters—have told me I got this point exactly right. Then there’s the George Orwell factor. 

If one chooses to build a new structure to honor an environmentalist of David Brower’s stature, it seems fair to expect a few basic things. First, kill no trees. (But this project would destroy several mature, graceful eucalyptuses of a locally rare species.) 

Second, ensure that the new office space is really needed, and really goes to effective environmental groups. (But this project’s cost overruns have already tacitly evicted those intended tenants. The office space, you see, is already being shopped to UC.) 

Third, make sure the building is wisely sited, through integrated planning. And make sure it’s designed to respect its neighbors—including, in this case, the campus’ adjacent green edge. 

Not the Brower project. Its website (www.browercenter.org/index_building.cfm) celebrates a promised “170-seat theater, an art gallery, various meeting rooms, and a café,” together creating a “cultural and educational gathering place for visitors.” All these visitors would descend on a structure providing no new public parking for them. 

That theater would be nearly PFA-sized, but would sit just a block from where UC proposes to destroy a landmark building in order to relocate PFA itself. It would be within another few blocks from three existing movie theaters that have gone dark. Huh? Could town and gown perhaps coordinate on building—or better still, reusing—a single theater that would be viable? 

The site shows a chunk of Brooklyn (the brick housing block) beside a flying wedge of West Hollywood (the Brower tower). The latter is a tall structure with no setback for its aggressive Allston Way facade. Its top few floors would actually overhang Allston Way, blocking neighbors’ solar access. 

Is this really the way to memorialize David Brower? 

This project’s defenders keep pointing to its intended (until the money runs out) “green design” standards. These are certainly better than conventional—brown?—construction practices. But all new construction has huge environmental impacts, embedded both in its materials and in the building process. 

After living in a construction zone for 10 years, I can testify that buildings aren’t erected by magic elves who ride public transit to work. Nor do construction tradespeople typically carpool, or creep up in Priuses. It’s their culture to each drive alone—in the biggest honking pickup truck they can finance, even if its cargo bed is basically empty 360 days a year. 

One construction overseer told me recently, “The ‘greenest’ option is to build nothing”—and to adaptively reuse existing structures where possible. Now with vacant commercial space glaring up and down University and Shattuck avenues, can anyone seriously argue that environmental groups are suffocating for lack of a new four-story office complex? Whose rent they won’t even be able to afford? 

When I worked for David Brower’s Friends of the Earth—yes, I’ve paid some dues to the Archdruid—we operated quite efficiently out of a Washington, D.C., commercial storefront. 

In retrospect, my May 26 piece stated a few things more caustically than it needed to. I didn’t mean to imply that anyone was acting out of anything but the best of intentions. Good intentions abound among the Brower Center’s champions. That’s the whole problem. 

Good intentions are what produced a David Brower “tribute” sculpture too monumental and ugly to site anywhere in Berkeley. It’s hard to find the right scale to take the measure of a giant. 

Couldn’t we just name a redwood grove (or other existing green space) after the Archdruid, and forever forbid development there? Trees rarely embarrass their sponsors or honorees. Save the trees. 

I wanted to get a discussion going about the proposed Brower Center’s real viability and impacts. And it seems I have. I’ll be delighted to be proved wrong about any of my warnings. 

 

Michael Katz compiles the annual list of Berkeley’s worst-dressed buildings. 


Columns

Column: The Public Eye: Notes on NIMBYism Part IV: The NIMBY Manifesto

By Sharon Hudson
Tuesday August 22, 2006

In 1990, 60 percent of New Yorkers said they would live somewhere else if they could, and in 2000, 70 percent of urbanites in Britain felt the same way. Many suburbanites commute hours every day just to have “a home, a bit of private space, and fresh air.” But unfortunately, running off to suburbia or to the wilderness to find contentment is becoming environmentally and economically unviable.  

We must draw people back into relatively compact urban areas. Showcase cities that have managed to attract would-be suburbanites into increased core densities have done so through neighborhood revitalization and by giving priority to quality of life, not density. This is the opposite of what Berkeley is doing.  

Berkeley is making three serious mistakes. First, we are deliberately and unnecessarily increasing income-based inequities in quality of life. Second, we are moving toward an urban environment where man is disconnected from (his) nature. And third, we are creating an urban environment that undermines our cultural values and individual potentialities.  

First, as discussed in Part II of this series (“Density, Equity, and the Urban NIMBY,” Aug. 11), we should not continue to enshrine poor and unequal quality of life in our land use policies and zoning decisions. Livability standards are most important, but least applied and enforced, in high-density areas. Renters and other high-density residents are expected to do without adequate living space, greenspace, quiet, and cars; and without cars, they lack the freedom, pleasure, and mobility taken for granted by average Americans. This is ethically unacceptable. 

Second, our urban rights must include the right to a “minimum daily requirement” of nature, as discussed in Part III of this series (“A NIMBY Confronts Environmental Dualism,” Aug. 15). Most urban poor never leave the ghetto; most car-free Manhattanites rarely leave New York City. The only nature they experience has to be in their own neighborhoods. Good urban design creates space to experience a diversity of nature on a daily basis.  

Finally, we need to design urban spaces to enhance quality of life, cultural richness, and personal fulfillment. The Centers for Disease Control defines quality of life as “an overall sense of well-being . . . including] all aspects of community life that [influence] the physical and mental health of its members.” The World Health Organization states that “health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being . . .” The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adds: “Everyone . . . has the right to . . . the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.”  

What kinds of spaces are required to express our dignity and personality? Americans, Californians, and Berkeleyans must examine our own values and decide which ones to make space for. We cannot take land use examples from other cultures. Berkeleyans are not Parisians, nor Brazilians, nor even New Yorkers. I once asked a friend from Hong Kong what he did outside of work. He said: “Nothing, really. In Hong Kong we didn’t have any room for hobbies. I don’t know how to do anything or build anything. All I know how to do is go to work.” Lack of space for personal development makes Hong Kong a capitalist dream but a cultural wasteland. American values are different. We like private space for hobbies and recreation, and if the city doesn’t provide it, Americans will simply continue their urban exodus.  

We cannot let planners and developers decide what we will do with our lives. I never hear planners discussing psychological health and cultural values. Planners have a different approach. As one Berkeley planner told me, no matter what they build, eventually those who can or must tolerate the new, worse environment will replace those who can’t. As this happens, resistance to further degradation lessens. But I reject this “race to the bottom.” And with enough time, planners and developers could also train Americans to live like drones in anthills—but why let them?  

The reason Berkeley is making these three mistakes is that we have fallen under the control of developers and extremists, instead of implementing real smart growth. Accepted smart growth urban infill guidelines recommend more open space, more parking, smaller buildings, and greater housing variety than is called for by Berkeley’s current plans, codes, decision makers, false “smart growth” advocates, and, of course, developers. Real smart growth approximates what most of Berkeley looks like right now—two-story single-family homes with small yards, two- and three-story multi-unit buildings, somewhat taller buildings in mixed-use areas, plenty of greenery, adequate but not excessive parking, and attractive, walkable downtowns based largely on the preservation of historic buildings. This is what makes urban living humane, attractive, healthy, and sustainable. And it’s exactly what most Berkeley NIMBYs support.  

Human beings can survive in environments of unbelievable degradation. People can adapt to horrors so well that they soon fail to perceive them as horrible. Thus it is important to remind ourselves of what is good before we become too accustomed to what is bad. 

Simply stated, urban residents have a civil right to good quality of life. So I now propose an “Urban Bill of Rights,” a.k.a “The NIMBY Manifesto.”  

 

The Urban Bill of Rights 

1. The right to see significant greenery, the sky, and the sun from within one’s home. 

2. The right to natural cross ventilation in one’s home. 

3. The right to enjoy peace and quiet within one’s home with windows open. 

4. The right to sleep at night without excessive artificial ambient light. 

5. The right to be free in one’s neighborhood from pollution of air, water, soil, and plant life. 

6. The right to be free from undesirable local environmental change caused by poor urban design, such as wind, shadow and noise canyons, excess heat caused by overpaving, etc. 

7. The right to adequate space for storage, hobbies, and other personal activities in and around each dwelling unit, including play space for children in family housing. 

8. The right to mobility, regardless of income. If automobile use is discouraged by prohibitive pricing, public transit must be adequate and low cost.  

9. The right to parking space for each household. 

10. The right of convenient access, on foot if possible, to basic daily needs, such as good quality food at reasonable prices, daily household and medical supplies, laundry facilities, etc. 

11. The right of convenient access, by foot, private vehicle, or transit, to places of employment. 

12. The right of equal access to the commons and to taxpayer-funded and other public facilities, such as government buildings, libraries, museums, bridges, and roadways. 

13. The right of access within walking distance to nature, recreation, outdoor exercise, and discovery, including parks, open space, and areas inhabited by wildlife. 

14. The right to equal and adequate police, fire, and emergency services, which shall not be infringed on the basis of income or neighborhood character. 

15. The right to participate in and guide, through equitable, representative, democratic processes, land use decisions that affect oneself, one’s neighborhood, and one’s community. 

 

This list can be refined through public discussion. Once accepted, urban rights would be delimited by the courts just like our other rights. Many of them are inexpensive and easy to implement, and all should be goals of good urban planning. I challenge our planning staff, land use and housing commissions, city council, and organizations pretending to advocate “livability” in Berkeley to think about these ideas in all their housing and land use decisions.


Column: The Public Eye: Toward a New Liberal Foreign Policy

By Bob Burnett
Tuesday August 22, 2006

Conservative foreign policy has failed and taken with it their dream of a new American empire. Unfortunately, in the course of its jingoistic pursuit of global supremacy, conservatism undermined the international institutions that both Democratic and Republican presidents struggled to strengthen, before the disastrous reign of George W. Bush. 

As a result, conservatism has accomplished an ignominious “twofer.” It’s made the United States less safe and mocked the cooperation and collaboration required to deal with the world’s problems. It’s time to ask: What does liberalism suggest? 

Unlike conservatives, liberals willingly acknowledge that there are issues facing the world that must be solved by cooperation between nations and creation of international laws and institutions. Liberals don’t believe the United States can achieve world peace solely through military might. They take diplomacy seriously. 

The new liberal ideology sees the United States and other nations cooperating to solve the common problems facing humankind: global climate change, poverty, terrorism, and WMDs, among others. Liberals understand that this means empowering the United Nations and other international organizations. It also suggests that the United States has to acquire some humility; acknowledge that it cannot go it alone. Americans have to quit acting like the do-good bullies of the world. 

International organizations deal with three classes of problems: military, economic, and social. While the United States is the world’s dominant military power, there are international military dilemmas that cannot be solved by American unilateralism. Iraq is a prime example of this reality; among other reasons that the occupation of Iraq failed was the unwillingness of the United States to form a substantial international partnership. 

Liberalism supports multilateral efforts to deal with issues such as the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the arms trade, in general. Liberals argue that the United States cannot simultaneously push for a reduction of global arms trafficking and continue to be the world’s largest weapons trader. The United States must reduce its weapons production as part of a worldwide disarmament initiative. 

The new liberal ideology acknowledges the obvious: The interests of Israel are not synonymous with the interests of the United States. The United States will remain an ally of Israel, and defend it’s right to exist, but this is not equivalent to giving the government of Israel carte blanche. On July 14, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican secretary of state, said that Israel’s right to self-defense “does not exempt it from respecting the norms of international law, especially as regards the protection of civilian populations.” 

Liberalism will return the United States its historic diplomatic position of evenhandedness and regard for international law. America will work with the U.N. to defuse the deteriorating situation between Israel and its neighbors, because only multilateralism can solve the problems in the Middle East. Only multilateralism will provide real security for America and the world. 

Americans believe that democracy is the best form of government, one that should be encouraged throughout the world. Unlike conservatives, liberals believe that democracy involves more than the mechanics of fair elections. Liberals believe in “civil society,” a concept that is notably absent in conservative literature and foreign policy. 

Liberalism knows that a strong civil society is a prerequisite for democracy, that there are a variety of public and non-governmental institutions that must function before there can be an effective voting process: schools, courts and other institutions that protect human rights. Civil society is the glue that holds democratic societies together. Liberals do not share the confidence of conservatives that “the market” enables civil society; they believe that government must be held responsible for ensuring human rights. 

The new liberal ideology understands that democracy and capitalism are not synonymous. Many liberals believe that “level playing field” capitalism is the best economic system, but they understand that other economic forms-such as social democracy-may be acceptable as an emerging nation begins to build democratic institutions. The consequence of this pragmatism is that liberalism knows that critical social and economic problems cannot be left to the whims of the global marketplace. The market doesn’t care about many of these, such as poverty. 

Furthermore, an unfettered market is destructive. Many environmental problems, such as global climate change, result from businesses using the environment as a free resource, ignoring the long-term consequences of actions such as clear-cutting forests or belching noxious chemicals into the atmosphere. The international community must regulate multinational capitalism. 

A new liberal foreign policy has far reaching implications: It declares that the United States will abandon its self-centered conduct in the world community and embrace cooperation. It argues there must be major changes in the way internal U.S. politics are conducted: the military will no longer be treated as sacrosanct; efforts will be redoubled to diminish America’s role as a weapons manufacturer; the political power of corporations will be reduced; and environmental and worker-protection laws will be strengthened. 

The failure of conservatism has brought the United States and the world to the edge of World War III and planetary catastrophe. The good news is that this dire situation has opened the eyes of Americans to alternative views of the world, made them amenable to a radically different foreign policy-the new liberalism. 

 

Bob Burnett is a Berkeley writer. He can be reached at bobburnett@comcast.net. 


Column: Horse and Cart, Write and Attend

By Susan Parker
Tuesday August 22, 2006

I should have knocked on wood last week when I said I often use Kaiser’s Emergency Room as an office in which to get some writing done. As I e-mailed the essay to the Daily Planet, Ralph’s health took an unexpected and rapid slide downhill. I drove him to ER. I took a pen and notebook with me, but because his vital signs were alarmingly weak, he was rushed through triage and put in a room for patients who need immediate attention.  

Still in his wheelchair, and dehydrated from weeks of unusually hot weather, Ralph was quickly hooked to an IV and pumped full of fluids. He began to recover. A battery of tests was administered, x-rays were taken and blood samples collected. An exploratory camera attached to the end of a long tube was prescribed for insertion up Ralph’s nose and down his throat. But the machine the camera was to be attached to wasn’t available. The attending nurse wanted to insert the tube immediately. She said Ralph might be “a little uncomfortable, but he’d be ready once she could get at the machine.” 

I balked at her suggestion. “Why cause him discomfort while he waits?” I asked.  

“Priorities,” she explained. “I can do it now. Later, I may not have the time.” 

“No,” I said. “We’ll wait. Let’s not get the cart before we have the horse.” 

I could tell she was unhappy with my decision, but I’d observed this procedure during a previous visit to ER. It had been painful.  

Two hours went by. The IV bags drained and emptied. The staff changed, and a new nurse arrived, replacing the one who was angry with me. “I’ve been told you refused to allow the esophagus tube to be inserted,” she said. She held a clipboard in one hand and a pencil in the other.  

“Yes,” I answered. “We’re trying to get within reach of the machine. I don’t see the point in causing Ralph pain while he waits for it to become available.” 

“I understand,” said the new nurse.  

And then we waited some more.  

Eleven hours later and all the tests finally completed, a bed was found for Ralph on the eighth floor of the hospital. An around-the-clock staff of seemingly hundreds of people watched over him as he recuperated. A nutritionist stopped by to monitor his meals, doctors assessed his progress, nurses checked his vital signs, assistants turned his body to the left, and then to the right. 

Technicians collected blood samples, measured urine output, took bedside sonograms. Someone unhooked all the machines and pushed the bed, with Ralph in it, into the hallway and through the corridor to the service elevator. Ralph was wheeled inside and sent downstairs to get additional x-rays and sonograms. While he was gone, a janitor mopped the floor of Room 821.  

Finally, after five days, Ralph was returned home with additional medications, a special ointment for his bedsores, and a PIC line inserted within the vein of his right arm. I was taught how to administer antibiotics intravenously three times a day, at eight-hour intervals. A home health nurse was assigned to visit several times a week to monitor my work.  

I never had time to write while Ralph was hospitalized. I was too busy running back and forth to his room, and taking care of all the things that needed to be done before he could return home. And now I understand why the ER nurse wanted to insert that exploratory esophagus tube up Ralph’s nose while she had a spare moment even though the machine it had to be attached to wasn’t available. Forget the horse and cart thing, it’s all about time management.  

I wish Kaiser had sent Ralph home with more than just five new medications, miles of rubber tubing, and an IV pole. I wish they’d returned him with a team of doctors, nurses, assistants, technicians, someone to move his bed and manage the antibiotics, and a janitor to take out the trash.


The Tree of Many Names Scents Our Woodlands

By Ron Sullivan, Special to the Planet
Tuesday August 22, 2006

Up in the hills, in the parks and in the places next to them, are Monterey pines—imported from Monterey, and many now old and ill and tottering—and native trees: redwoods, the odd Douglas fir, oaks, and a tree of many names, its official binomial being quite a melodious mouthful, Umbellularia californica.  

It’s confusing to talk about sometimes, because it’s known in English as California bay laurel here and Oregon myrtle in Oregon. Or Coos Bay laurel, probably a mash of the first two names.  

Or California bay or California laurel (but there’s an unrelated and non-similar big shrub/small tree by that name too) or bay, bay laurel (but there’s another tree by that name too, of course), baytree, black myrtle, cinnamon bush, laurel (lots of things get called that), mountain laurel (more often used for a gorgeous eastern North American shrub), myrtle (lots of unrelated plants go by that name), myrtletree, myrtlewood, Pacific myrtle, pepperwood, spice-tree, white myrtle, or yellow myrtle.  

It’s also called “headache tree,” either because inhaling its scent too long can allegedly give you headaches (I’ve never experienced this myself) or because the local pre-Columbian folks used a decoction of some part of it to cure headaches. Maybe both; who knows?  

It’s easier to learn to pronounce “Umbellularia.”  

Umbellularia gives our local woodlands a big component of their characteristic spicy scent, mostly from the carpet of its leaves underfoot. The dried leaves have a scent rather different from the green ones on the trees: more mellow, more complex. It rises to meet you as you walk under the arching trees, and intensifies when you step on the leaves. It’s spicy with a hint of camphor up front and something brown and tobaccolike at base.  

But don’t take my attempt at description as gospel; go on up to Tilden and walk under the (uh-oh, whatsitsname?) Californibays on, say, the Caves Trail. Wait, I think they’re calling that the Wildcat Creek Trail lately. This nominative confusion must be contagious.  

On that trail as in other places umbellulaurel grows en masse, you’ll see scant understory, and often no other tree species. That’s partly because those nifty scents it makes are accompanied by water-soluble compounds that leach into the soil to inhibit root elongation in other plants, and of course because a closed forest canopy in a dry place tends to shut other plants out.  

But there are coral-root orchids along that Tilden trail, and I’ve found thimbleberries and flowering currants, trilliums and tanoaks and sword ferns among others growing under umbellularibays. Old stands—more or less what naturalists call “climax forests”—can be pretty exclusive, but Califoregon baytles thrive in mixed woods along with redwoods, live and deciduous oaks, madrones, tanoaks, chinquapins, Douglas fir, and whatever else their range offers for companionship.  

Peppermyrtlaurels resprout readily after fires, and evidently also after other catastrophes too. You can find magnificently gnarled, sculptured, hollowed-out semicircles of trunks rising from a single vast volcano-shaped trunk mass in forests that have survived fires, and growing alone in meadows, like the one in the photo near the Bear Valley visitors’ center in Point Reyes National Seashore.  

Whiteyellowblack myrtle has an interesting little fruit that looks rather like a miniature smooth-skinned avocado. Squirrels and other wildlife eat it, and it’s edible for us too. I’ve heard differing opinions on how palatable the fatty flesh around it is, but the pre-Columbians roasted the seed inside and ate it plain or ground it up and made meal for sun-dried cakes to store for later.  

When you take the road north and cross the Oregon border, you find souvenir stands selling stuff from buttons to bowls carved from Oregoos Baylaumyrtle. They’re pretty; the wood has rich yellow-to-red tones and an interesting grain, and makes swirly burls. A carpenter friend of mine once warned me that it tends to dry out and split, though, so if you buy or make such an item, be sure to keep it oiled and don’t put it in a sunny window.  

A local outfit named Juniper Ridge makes assorted things from Western scented plants, and its California Bay Laurel soap captures the fragrance pretty well. You can find it at farmers’ markets, places like The Gardener, and (best price I’ve seen) the Berkeley Bowl. It’s a good trip down Memory Trail if you like to walk the woods, but be aware that a few people find the oils to be a skin irritant. I’m allergic to an annoying number of things and it hasn’t bothered me, but I know someone who got a short-lived rash from it. Try it on the inside of your elbow first. If you can’t use it for soap, it makes an inspiring room scent.  

 

 

Photograph by Ron Sullivan 

This Umbellularia californica shelters some of the deer, squirrels, birds, and lizards of Point Reyes National Seashore.


Column: Dispatches From the Edge: The Deadly Tales We Tell Ourselves

By Conn Hallinan
Friday August 18, 2006

History is the story we tell ourselves in the present about the past, but how we punctuate the story, where we put the periods, the commas and the ellipses, depends not on everything that happened, but on who is telling the story, where we stand in the narrative, and what outcome we want. 

Tel Aviv. An Israeli patrol was ambushed July 12 by Hezbollah terrorists near the Lebanese border. Three solders were killed and two others kidnapped. Israel launched a counterattack in an effort to retrieve them. This is the story Israel and the United States tell about the incident that touched off the Lebanon war. But Hezbollah also has a story, though the punctuation is different. 

Beirut. Resistance fighters captured two members of the Israeli Defense Force July 12 in order to exchange them for three Hezbollah soldiers Israel has held since 2000. The operation was also part of efforts to expel Israel from the Lebanese territory of Shebaa Farm. 

There is a counter for both of these stories: Hezbollah’s rockets threaten Israeli sovereignty; rockets were fired only after Israel bombed and shelled Lebanon. Hezbollah is ignoring United Nations Resolution 1559 to disarm. Israel has ignored at least five UN resolutions to withdraw from the West Bank and the Golan Heights. What about the Holocaust? What about the Crusades? Yahweh gave us this ground; Allah gave us this land.  

People punctuate stories so as to establish causality and to assure themselves that they stand with the angels. But such stories can kill, because when they reinforce narratives of victimization, they may perpetuate endless cycles of righteousness and revenge.  

Is humanity then locked into a world of subjective point and counterpoint? Doomed, like Sisyphus, to neverending efforts? By no means, but when it comes to solutions, it may be necessary to edit our stories even if they are true.  

There is at least one historical example that suggests there is a way to short-circuit the narrative loop. 

For just under 837 years, the English and the Irish have warred against one another. Terrible things have been done in those long centuries and the Irish have endless stories about them. They know when it began: On Aug. 23, 1170, Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke waded ashore with 200 Norman knights and 1,000 of men-at-arms near Waterford on Ireland’s southeast coast.  

Thus began the longest war in European history. For more than 40 generations the Irish seethed at the occupation, rising up time and again to fling themselves in bloody rage at armies they could not hope to defeat.  

The Irish call it “the long sorrow,” and they can recite it with the precision of a rosary.  

The stories, poems and songs that the Irish wrote about these events taught each generation about courage and resistance, but also about hatred, tribalism, and a certain kind of suicidal madness the poet William Butler Yeats called “an excess of love.”  

What are the stories Hezbollah will tell about Bint Jbail, which the most powerful army in the Middle East never fully secured? Like the English did to Dublin in 1916, the Israelis flattened the place with artillery and bombs, but that will not extinguish the narrative that Hezbollah held out against the mighty Golani Brigade. 

What are the stories the Israelis will tell about life in the shelters and the scores of dead and wounded civilians? Will they conjure up the spirit of Masada? Will they tell themselves that once again tiny Israel is beset by enemies on all sides? 

Both of these narratives will end up with a lot of people dead and homeless, econ-omies derailed, infrastructures shattered, while pumping up a tribalism that says, “We are special, we are better, we are owed this, and the wrongs we do to others are canceled out by the wrongs others have done to us.” 

History does not mark all roads, and all analogies are fraught with danger. Like the Oracle of Delphi, it many times predicts what we want it to predict. But the recent history of Ireland is worth some study. 

Starting in 1992, the principal antagonists in Northern Ireland began to talk with one another, in large part because majorities in both communities were fed up with the sectarian violence. It was not easy, but the talks led to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which has kept the peace for the most part between warring Catholics and Protestants. It was a process the United States helped along, unlike the role the United States is playing in the current Middle East crisis. To reach an agreement, the parties had to get past a series of myths. 

The first myth is that force will get people to do what you want them to do. It never did, it never will. If Qassams and Katyuschas have not caused the Israelis to throw in the towel, why would Israel think that bombs and artillery would force Hezbollah or Hamas to give up? To suggest that Arabs will react any differently to violence than the Jews or the Irish is simply racist.  

The second myth is that that you can design someone else’s country. You cannot tell the Lebanese what their internal politics should be, nor the Palestinians that they can have a nation but only if it is riddled with Jewish settlements and surrounded by a wall. Such a Palestinian state is not a country but an open-air prison, much like Gaza is today.  

All the settlements will have to go, the borders returned to the 1967 Green Line, and Jerusalem will have to be shared. The occupation is illegal, immoral, and clearly not in Israel’s interest, despite being of its making. No one listened to David Ben-Gurion when he urged Israel to withdraw from the lands conquered in 1967. 

In return, the Palestinians will have to abandon the right of return and accept a deal that compensates them for the lands they lost in 1948. Regardless of the injustice behind the original expulsions, asking Israel to unilaterally dismantle itself is a non-starter. Israel is a country, if for no other reason than the Holocaust made it so.  

But Israel cannot continue to hide behind the argument that it won’t negotiate with “terrorists.” If England could talk to Sinn Fein and the Irish Republican Army, Israel can to talk to Hezbollah and Hamas. Israel recently held a two-day seminar on the 60th anniversary of the bombing of the King David Hotel by the Jewish resistance. The blast killed 92 people. One person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter.  

There are those in the Middle East who will resist such a settlement, just as there are hardliners in the Catholic and Protestant communities in Northern Ireland who reject the Good Friday Agreement. But in Northern Ireland those forces have been increasingly marginalized, and for all its fragility, the pact is generally holding.  

The world does not need more tribal allegiances and stories that tell us it is all right to blow up pizza parlors in Israel or flatten towns in Southern Lebanon. It needs solutions anchored in the real world, and a moral order that says there is no difference between a dead Jewish child and a dead Arab child. The living weep for them equally and no pain is greater or less because of the weight of history.


Column: Undercurrents: Keeping Watch Over Oakland’s Schools Was Not for Brown

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday August 18, 2006

When I was coming up, I used to attend Vacation Bible School, and faithfully study my daily passages, and then ask many questions that often seemed to annoy the teacher in charge of the class. 

One such passage was the parable of the responsible shepherd. “If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray,” Jesus is supposed to have told his disciples, “doth he not leave the 90 and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?” 

“What makes the shepherd in this parable so good,” our Sunday School teacher explained, triumphantly, “is that he cares so much for each of his sheep, he will not abandon even one if that one is in trouble.” 

That was a puzzlement for me. “But what if some wolves attack his flock and kill the rest of the sheep while he’s off looking for the one?” I asked. “Don’t that make him a really bad shepherd?” 

I never got an answer. And I must confess that reading Chip Johnson’s recent San Chronicle column on Aimee Allison, Jerry Brown, and Mr. Brown’s Oakland Military Academy, I still don’t get the point. 

OMI, in case you have forgotten, was one of the two charter schools (the other was the Oakland School For The Arts) Mr. Brown tried to get authorized by the Oakland Unified School District board early in his first term. 

In his August 15 column “Anti-war City Council candidate up in arms over Oakland Military Institute,” Mr. Johnson writes that Ms. Allison, who is in a runoff for Oakland’s Second District City Council seat, “worries that, like other military high schools, the Oakland school will funnel students toward military careers. … As a council member, she would ask that the school’s continued operations be the subject of discussion with the Oakland school board.” Mr. Johnson adds that “the board, you may recall, balked at the idea [of the Oakland military charter school] when Brown proposed it in 1999, for some of the same reasons that Allison opposes it.” 

Actually, that’s not what I recall from the meetings in which the Oakland school board considered Mr. Brown’s military school proposal. Although most of the board trustees expressed uneasiness about the military aspect of the school, their main complaint was that the charter school proposal was all over the map, with city staff members presenting the plan for Mr. Brown unable to decide whether they were organizing an elite, college-prep school for Oakland’s top students, or a no-nonsense academy where students having trouble in other public schools could transfer and learn discipline. Another source of board concern was that the school made the state mandated pupil-teacher ratio by relying heavily on volunteer class supervisors sent over by the California National Guard. That proved a valid concern because the Guard, you may remember, ended up having other concerns than classroom duties a few years later, with the invasion of Iraq. 

Eventually, the deciding vote on the OUSD board against authorizing Mr. Brown’s military school came from one of Mr. Brown’s appointees to the board, Wilda White, a self-described “army brat” who said her father had been a career military man while she was growing up, and who was careful to explain that her opposition to the Oakland Military Institute charter did not reflect an opposition to the military itself, but only perceived flaws in the proposal. 

But misunderstanding the history of the opposition to Mr. Brown’s military charter school is not the main problem with Mr. Johnson’s August 15th column—it is his assertion that the issue of the military school is really one of having more choices in Oakland education. He writes that “Bruce Holaday, the [OMI] superintendent, said [the] military school certainly isn’t for every Oakland student and simply represents another option for Oakland students.” And then Mr. Johnson quotes Mr. Brown as saying that the military school “is a very high-quality, academic environment, and if people want this choice, why can’t they decide for themselves? OMI is a college-prep school that’s grown from zero to 500 kids at the same time the public schools are losing 1,500 students a year, and it’s unconscionable for an Oakland politician to take away an educational opportunity that parents want.” 

But what about the choices for the rest of Oakland’s public school students? 

A year after his election to his first term as Oakland mayor, Mr. Brown convinced Oakland voters to pass Measure D, giving him the power to appoint three additional members to the seven-member Oakland school board (Wilda White, who later voted against Mr. Brown’s military charter school, was one of those appointees). 

In his ballot argument asking for the school board appointment power, Mr. Brown wrote that “Everyone knows that the Oakland public school system is in crisis. … Families by the thousands have fled Oakland because they could not get the kind of education they believe their children deserved. Less than a third of our elementary school students read and solve math problems at grade level. In the higher grades, it is worse. … Vote YES on Measure D and create the mandate for dramatic public school improvement in Oakland. By authorizing the Mayor to appoint three at-large members of the school board, you will inject a new dynamic into the governing of our schools. You will signal that the status quo is unacceptable and that the time for dramatic change has arrived.” 

Voters who approved Mr. Brown’s request understandably believed that he would follow through on his promise for “dramatic public school improvement in Oakland,” expecting that Mr. Brown would spend considerable time and energy in reforming the public school system. 

Instead, Mr. Brown appeared to lose interest in the public school system once Measure D was adopted, focusing instead on trying to get his two charter schools approved. No one knows the amount of staff hours the City Manager’s office put into the approval process, but it was massive. 

The diversion of city staff members to Jerry Brown charter school duty did not end with the approval process. Once the OMI was approved and opened, City Manager’s office employee Simon Bryce moved his offices from City Hall to the OMI headquarters at the Oakland Army Base, working on the city payroll but spending much of his time coordinating OMI activities. Imagine if Mr. Brown’s office had put as much effort trying to help OUSD get out of state receivership? The City of Emeryville did, ending up in an innovative—and perfect legal—transfer of money to Emery Unified that allowed the school district to pay off their state loan. 

But Mr. Bobb and Mr. Bryce were not the only city employees working extensively on Mr. Brown’s private charter school on city time. So was Mr. Brown himself. 

On five separate days in July and August of 2005, for example, Mr. Brown’s official schedule shows entries of between three and five hours of something called, simply, “OSA Phoning with Marianne,” all taking place in the middle of the work week. On July 28th and 29th he is listed as working at this OSA phoning business for two straight days, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursday, and again from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday. I have no idea who Marianne is or why they needed to take up the bulk of the mayor’s working time, but you are free to make your own guesses. No other single activity took up as much of Mr. Brown’s time during the period of January 2005 through April 2006, the period in which UnderCurrents received copies of the mayor’s schedule. 

Meanwhile, Mr. Brown did list a meeting with OUSD State Administrator Randolph Ward during that period, but the subject of that meeting was not the problems in the Oakland schools, but, rather, “OMI Facility.” 

Could Mr. Brown have helped make “dramatic public school improvement”—as he promised in 2000’s Measure D—if he had put his full attention to solving Oakland’s school problems? It’s impossible to say. 

All we know is that while Mr. Brown was putting much of his time into his two charter schools, Oakland’s public schools were going into state receivership, with children sometimes vainly trying to learn amidst continuing chaos. For most Oakland students, there is no choice. Divorcing himself from the problems he said he was going to solve might make Mr. Brown a clever politician, and perhaps the next California Attorney General. But it also makes him a piss-poor shepherd. 

Thus endeth today’s lesson. 

 


Impressionism 101: Start in San Francisco

By Marta Yamamoto, Special to the Planet
Friday August 18, 2006

Radicals of the 1860s, they broke the rules and moved out of their studios. Away from poised portraits and still lives, they painted open-air scenes meant to capture everyday subjects in a passing moment. They painted with un-mixed vibrant colors in broad and daubed brushstrokes creating shimmering canvases bathed in light. The Impressionists turned their backs on academic painting, commanded attention and revolutionized the world of art. 

Claude Monet has been called the father of Impressionism. A collection of his paintings from Normandy is now on exhibit at the Legion of Honor. This exquisite body of work will whet your appetite for more, requiring a slightly longer field trip. Across the Atlantic, in Paris’ Musee D’Orsay, the artists of Impressionism offer a window on the evolution of a movement that spread beyond France and beyond visual art into music and literature. 

“Monet in Normandy” is the first exhibit highlighting Monet’s relationship with the area in which he spent much of his life. Its natural beauty—craggy limestone cliffs, crashing waves, seaside villages and harbors, quiet riverbanks—supplied inspiration for a lifetime of painting. In Normandy, Monet studied the light, atmosphere and nuances of season. 

Representing a span of over sixty years, fifty-three paintings reflect the stages of Monet’s life and career. In the 1860s the north coast featured prominently and The Garden at Sainte-Adresse is one of his most important seaside landscapes. The colors are bold and vivid with glittering sunshine on the sand and water. As with most of Monet’s work the perspective changes as the viewer moves back watching the scene shift. 

In 1870 Monet married and The Honeymoon at Trouville, along with several others, documents his honeymoon. Here, and in his Seaside Campaigns of the 1880s, the daubing technique becomes evident. In three weeks Monet created twenty paintings of the sea where swirling brushstrokes of purple, blue, green and white sequined power to the waves. 

As Monet’s relation with nature intensified he returned to the coast, focusing on landscapes and a recurring motif, the stone cottage. It was only when he needed money for his growing family that Monet added figures, creating paintings more saleable to his Paris clients. These landscapes, so reminiscent of our north coast, are my favorites. Bright sweeps of fields I ‘see’ as wildflowers, on closer examination, are mere daubs of paint, as are the figures themselves. 

Etretat, one of Normandy’s coastal treasures, was already a popular resort when Monet arrived. His solution was to select new, more challenging vantage points from which to capture the natural forms. In The Manneport and The Cliff, Monet’s geometric format brought order to a wild landscape; with his brushwork he created a mood of light and shadow.  

In 1883 Monet moved his family to Giverny and turned his attention to the surrounding countryside, the Seine, and his famous gardens. Twenty-five canvases were devoted to grainstacks with the light as much a subject as the stacks themselves, both infused with bands of soft pastels. 

A radical depiction of a religious icon sealed Monet’s reputation as an abstract artist. In Rouen, the capital of Normandy, Monet painted the cathedral repeatedly, from different angles and at different times of day, focusing on subtle changes in light. His Morning Effect canvas in soft toned blues that appear to be melting downward seemed to some viewers to be profane, making an integral part of history appear to dissolve. 

As the new century emerged the Giverny water gardens drove Monet. Inspired by the Japanese, the water, air and plant life combined into pattern, light and color, the culmination of Monet’s intimacy with nature. Canvases became larger as in the abstract Wisteria, with ribbons of color anchoring the composition, and Water Lilies, colors richly blending to create an overall mood of warmth and richness. 

In truth, Monet in Normandy was for me a very special encore, the main performance having taken place earlier during my stay in Paris. Touring the Musee D’Orsay, I feasted on the structure itself and its collection of 19th century French paintings. 

A reincarnation of the Gare d’Orsay, the Musee’s cathedral-like dimensions soar into a framework of glass and iron topped by a wonderful vaulted ceiling and two magnificent clocks. As I walked among the collections of fine arts, it was hard to imagine trains rumbling beneath my feet. 

Even if you’re there for the paintings, touring the ground floor sculpture promenade is a must. It’s here that you feel the full impact of the architecture while admiring the conservative slant of 19th century statuary. Balanced poses with perfect anatomy and curving lines in gleaming white stone are represented in La Source, Carpeaux and Lion Assis. On the mezzanine, Ours blanc resembles the Pepsi Polar bear, with simple lines and gentle face. 

A special vignette was my glimpse of future art enthusiasts. A group of French school children was seated before a marble sculpture, listening intently, occasionally jotting facts in a notebook, as the museum guide described the work and the artist. Later the scene was repeated before a display case of Degas sculptures. 

Away from architectural distractions, on the upper level, I toured galleries housing the museum’s collection of paintings. Never before had I encountered entire rooms devoted to the work of one artist, never before had I seen sufficient works to trace the evolution of a movement. Here I reveled in both. 

The Impressionist canvases of Renoir, Degas and Monet illustrate the birth of the movement: Renoir searching for the ideal in Bladu Moulin de la Galette, a waltzing blur of bright yellows; Degas’ interplay of realism and art in Au Cafe; Monet’s Coquelicots and Nympheas blue, flowers seeming adrift in field and pond. 

The paintings of Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cezanne carried me toward Post-Impressionism, emphasizing structure and subject. In Van Gogh’s Self Portrait and La Meridienne the colors and swirling, curving brushstrokes hold strong emotion, even inanimate objects are infused with life. Cezanne’s canvases appear more impersonal, his still life edges more defined and the composition of greater importance than the subject matter. 

Toulouse-Lautrec, Seurat and Gauguin moved further from the Impressionist ideal. Painting Montmartre’s underworld of outcasts, Toulouse-Lautrec caught his models in candid poses as in Jane Avril dansant. In Le Cirque, Neo-impressionist Seurat’s controlled daubs developed into pointillism, maximizing the luminous quality. Away from France, Gauguin painted his South Seas’ Eden using bright pure colors and simple flat images defined in black. The children in Le repas ou les bananes evoke the richness of their environment. 

Though continents apart, both exhibits were a feast for the eyes and soul. Art movements may come and go, the Impressionists transcend time and place. As close as San Francisco, as far as Paris, get lost in their color and form, applaud their courage and be thankful that museums exist to share these wonders. 

 

 

MONET IN NORMANDY  

Through Sept.17 at the Legion of Honor. 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Adults, $15; 13-17 years, $11; 12 and under, free. Lincoln Park, 34th and Clement, San Francisco, (415) 863-3330. www.thinker.org/legion.  

 

Smooth stone benches below an ornate ceiling seem the perfect spot to draw scuptures in the messanine of the Musée D’Orsay. Photograph by Marta Yamamoto.


About the House: A Few Tips on the Dangers of Excess Water Pressure

By Matt Cantor
Friday August 18, 2006

Pressurizing the entire municipal water system is not an easy matter. I’m sure glad I don’t have to do it. Everyone’s bound to be unhappy. If you’re down in the flats or close to a pumping station, you’re pressure is going to be very high. If you’re waaaaay up at the top of the hills, it’s going to be much lower. We pump up the system to a pressure that will make sure that the person furthest from the pump will still have enough pressure to get a decent shower, even when her darned husband flushes the toilet (If I’ve told that man one time, I’ve told him…). 

Given this scenario, it’s inevitable that some of us are going to end up with very high pressure in the interest of other getting enough (like the rich guy at the top of the hill!). One of the reasons that this is such an important issue for homeowners is that high pressure leads to leaks and these can be major. One of the most common leaks occurs at washing machine hoses. According to one source, washing machine hose breakages cause over $100 million worth of damage each year. Coming home to a flood in your home caused by the breakage in a $10 part is both unnecessary and traumatic. I’m no statistician but I’ve personally met a few people who this has happened to. My friend John just told me last week that this happened to his house a few weeks ago while he was out of town and it’s been devastating. If the leak occurs in the upstairs of a two- or three-story house, it can do a tremendous amount of damage. 

An easy way to help prevent this tragedy is to install metal-woven “no-burst” hoses on the back of your washing machine. They can manage much higher pressure and are far less likely to burst in response to high pressure.  

One can also use these same metal-jacketed hoses on the hose connections below fixtures such as toilets and sinks. Many of these are currently made of plastic with machine-crimped metal fittings at either end. A man named “Jonny” makes these for you and usually starts getting primed for partyin’ (if you catch my drift) early on Friday to get in the mood for his big night out. He runs the crimping machine and he’s probably made a few of those hoses for your house. Jonny’s hoses are cheaper, but I’m going for the metal ones. 

Just in case the higher pressure decides to cause a leak inside the washing machine or the water heater, I’d suggest adding a pan with a drain below these devices, especially if they’re higher up than the basement. I’ve mentioned these before in a different context but it bears repeating. 

Another thing that can be done to decrease the likelihood of leakage in the case of higher pressure is to install a pressure reducing valve on the entire house. This is particularly important if the pressure at your house is above 100 pounds per square inch (PSI). I’ve seen houses where the pressure was as high as 160 PSI and the likelihood of leakage is far higher in such cases because the water is pressing so hard on every hose and length of pipe and inside every appliance that it’s just a matter of time before something bursts. Even when pipes don’t burst, slow leaks are more common and more copious. A device of this kind cost around $100 and can be in the realm of $300-$500 to install if access isn’t too bad. 

These aren’t the only things that happen when the water pressure is high in your home. Another thing is that valves are harder to operate and quicker to wear out. This applies to all sorts of valves. 

Let’s take manual spigots for starts. When the pressure is high, it’s harder to turn the water all the way off and harder to adjust it to the pressure to the specific level that suits you. You’ll tend to wear washers out faster since you’re grinding them harshly in order to turn the water all the way off. You may find yourself replacing washers every few years in such a setting.  

Several types of machines, including dishwashers and clothes washers, have automatic electrically controlled water valves that operate several times during every wash cycle. When the pressure is very high, these tend to slam open every time they’re operated, gradually wearing them out and making quite a bit of noise. On occasion, I’ve been in a house and hear the bang of the washing machine every time a cycle started and then discovered that the pressure was quite high. A whole-house pressure-reducing valve is the solution in these cases and might help save your machines from costly repairs or premature replacement due to high water pressure. 

Beyond that noise maker, there is the very common water hammering that we’ve all heard. This is most commonly heard when a faucet is shut off. This sounds like the pipes are banging against something and can be quite noisy and unpleasant, especially if it’s the middle of the night and someone’s trying to sleep. 

Water hammering can be lessened by lowering house pressure but can also be addressed in a couple of other ways. One way is to install air chambers on the top ends of two or more pipes so that air becomes trapped at the top of these lengths of piping. The air is more easily compressed than water (lower density) and acts as a spring or cushion every time the pressure in the pipe changes rapidly (when you open, or more likely, shut a valve rapidly). There are also fancier ones available that can be pumped up with air from a compressor. Water hammering can also be lessened by the installation of an adequate number of pipe straps. When piping isn’t adequately strapped in place, it’s more free to jump around as pressures change (again, mostly from rapidly turning off the water). It’s easy to add straps wherever there is access to the pipes, such as in a basement so this is a good place to begin. 

Some final thoughts on this issue should be devoted to old vs. new piping. If you have really old and obstructed piping, it may be the high pressure that’s making a shower possible. So this issue, like many is more complex than first meets the eye. Nonetheless, I don’t really recommend this set of choices. If you’ve been coping with old galvanized piping that’s so filled in with mineral encrustment that it take 20 minutes for the toilet to refill, you may want to replace that old piping with copper. If you have copper, don’t be afraid of much lower pressures. I swear that I’ve measured houses at less than 30 PSI and found the showers to just gush, even when a toilet was flushed. Higher pressure isn’t the answer to adequate flow, pipe volume is. Nonetheless, if you’re coping with very old and sluggish piping, keep in mind that despite the poor flow, high pressure can still cause leaks and floods. 

Now this is not a dangerous matter and we’re just talking about money, comfort and possible water damage but, hey, if you can afford it, reducing the effects of high water pressure might offer you a better night’s sleep in more ways than one. 


Garden Variety: Work All Day? Plant a Night Garden to Welcome You Home

By Ron Sullivan
Friday August 18, 2006

Being a night person gives you a different look at things. Strolling at night or commuting to a night shift, especially when the moon’s out, you get to see gardens that no one else sees, even their owners. Silver leaves glow at night, and reshape a garden’s contours. White-flowered groundcovers make a garden float, changing perspectives and lifting a viewer off her own feet. Noises are damped, and what you hear is framed and given significance. There’s a feeling of privilege, of witnessing what mortals routinely miss. I can see where the stories of fairies in the bottom of the garden come from.  

We don’t usually get to visit nurseries at night, so choosing a night garden’s plants takes some thought. There are useful books, including Barbara Damrosch’s Theme Gardens which includes the lovely conceit of a crescent-shaped “moon garden.” Check out restaurant courtyards and take evening walks; quick photos or sketches help remember the plants you like.  

In our climate, a night garden needs shelter from cold fog and wind. You might be able to locate it in a convenient nook east or south of your house, or of the house next door. Otherwise, a planted or constructed screen of some sort is practically essential. If you can’t shelter your whole garden, give yourself a warm place in which to sit and watch it.  

You don’t want day-bright lighting; shadows and inference and leaving lots to the imagination give you a second garden, entirely different from the day’s scene. Most of us already have plenty of light, from streetlights and security lights and tall neighboring buildings. You might even want to plant a trellised vine or set up a bamboo screen to fend off the light from next door.  

You’ll need to light steps and hazards. Strings of tiny white bulbs, a couple of candles, luminaria, or a tiki torch can illuminate garden parties. Uplighting a dramatic tree is a common strategy because it works in any season, and might be the only light you need.  

Plants that are drought-adapted often have gray or silvery leaves. With good drainage, our native artemisia sages and their relatives like wormwood are tough and handsome. A cluster of these, with an echo of white blossoms at another strategic point, can be enough to reshape the perception of a small garden entirely.  

White flowers look good as a mass, or salted among other plants. An entirely white-blooming garden is automatically night-friendly. (If you use flowers for highlights, research your species to be sure they don’t, like white varieties of California poppy, close up after sunset.) Silver proteas are striking by day, otherworldly by night, and so are brugmansias. Clematis’ moplike seedheads catch light shining behind them; don’t overlook seedheads in general, especially the fluffy windborne kind, for late-season interest.  

Brugmansia, nicotiana, and other bat- and moth-pollinated flowers also reserve their fragrance for night, and so does night jessamine. Give that last some space; it can be overwhelming. It has white berries, too, and so does native snowberry bush; mockingbirds love both, and a bachelor mockingbird might sing all night in your garden. 

 

 

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 Daily Planet.  


Quake Tip of the Week

By Larry Guillot
Friday August 18, 2006

Will Uncle Sam Save Us? 

Many people wrongly believe that the U.S. government will rescue them financially if they suffer losses in an earthquake. The truth is that federal disaster assistance is only available when the president formally declares a disaster. Even if you do get disaster assistance, it is usually a loan that must be repaid with interest.  

Grants may be available, but are designed to meet only your most immediate needs, not to replace your losses. The average FEMA grant is less than $15,000—not nearly enough to rebuild a damaged home.  

The bottom line: As the folks in New Orleans sadly learned, you can’t count on any level of government to provide timely or significant help. Prepare yourself and your home, and start by having your home retrofitted, or have your existing retrofit evaluated. 

 

Larry Guillot is owner of QuakePrepare, an earthquake consulting, securing, and kit supply service. Call him at 558-3299, or visit www.quakeprepare.com.


Arts & Events

Arts Calendar

Tuesday August 22, 2006

TUESDAY, AUGUST 22 

FILM 

Screenagers “Seventeen” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

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 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Uzodinma Iweala introduces “Beasts of No Nation” at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Sauce Piquante at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Beep at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Jane Bunnett & Radio Guantanamo featuring Kevin Breit at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$20. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays, a weekly showcase of up-and-coming ensembles from Berkeley Jazzschool at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Visions of the Builtscape” Paintings of urban landscapes by Scott Courtnay-Smith. Reception at 7 p.m. at Artbeat Salon and Gallery, 1887 Solano Ave. Exhibtion runs to Oct. 22. 527-3100. 

FILM 

Frank Borzage “Moonrise” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Berkeley Treasures Series A conversation with Richard Whittaker at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. in Live Oak Park. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

“Writing Teachers Write” with special guest Jane Juska at 5 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Tucker Malarkey reads from his new novel “Resurrection” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Jewish Writers in the Bay Area with Reuven Goldfarb on “Baseball Kabbalah” and “Sane Terrain”at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley-Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. 465-3935. 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Terrance Brewer Quintet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Roy Zimmerman in “Faulty Intelligence” An evening of satirical songs, at 8 p.m. at The Marsh Berkeley, 2118 Allston Way, through Aug. 24. 800-838-3006. www.themarsh.org  

Japanther, This Bike is a Pipe Boms, KIT, and others in a benefit concert for the Prisoners Literature Project and Berkeley Liberation Radio at 7 p.m. at Lobot Gallery, 1800 Campbell St. and 18th, Oakland. Donation $7-$20. 290-81512. 

Partyin’ with “Patrice”/Batya, a memorial benefit, at 6 p.m. at La Peña. Donation $10-$25.  

The Hooks, Fetish, Stone Cutter, Mike Rogers at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886.  

Orquestra Candela at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Jean Fineberg & Saxophunk at 5 p.m., and Mingus Amungus at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Michael Coleman Trio Jazz Jam at 8:30 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Bring your instrument. 451-8100. w 

Jane Bunnett & Radio Guantanamo featuring Kevin Breit at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$20. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, AUGUST 24 

FILM 

Beyond Bollywood “Masala” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ray LeMoine and Jeff Neuman describe their travels to “Babylon by Bus” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Summer Noon Concert with United Capoeira Association at the Downtown Berkeley BART station. Free. www.downtownberkeley.org 

18th Annual Annual Freight Fiddle Festival at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $24.50-$25.50. 548-1761.  

Sara & Swingtime at 6 p.m. at La Note, 2377 Shattuck Ave. 526-6080. www.lanoterestaurant.com 

Mo’ Rockin Project at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Girl Talk at 5 p.m. at Ristorante Raphael, 2132 Center St. 644-9500. www.ristoranteraphael.com 

Tom Duarte at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Free Peoples, Phoeniz & Afterbuffalo at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

Laurie Antonioli & Zilberella at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Kenny Washington Trio at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

David Weckl Band at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $15-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

CV1 at 8 p.m. and Black Edgars Musicbox at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

FRIDAY, AUGUST 25 

THEATER 

California Shakespeare Theater “The Merchant of Venice” 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 Sept. 3. Tickets are $15 and up. 548-9666. www.calshakes.org 

Encore Theatre Company and Shotgun Players “The Typographer’s Dream” at 8 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., through Sept. 3. Tickets are $15-$30. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.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 “Dairy of a Scoundrel” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. and Sun. at 2:30 p.m. at 105 Park Place, Point Richmond across from the Hotel Mac. Through Sept. 30. Tickets are $15. 232-4031. 

FILM 

Kenji Mizoguchi “Street of Shame” at 7 p.m. and “Sansho the Bailiff” at 8:50 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Robert E. Bowman in a classical piano recital, at 8 p.m. at The Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. 845-1350. 

Trumpet Supergroup at noon at the Downtown Berkeley BART. 845-5373.  

“Jazz & Poetry” with David Meltzer, Genny Lim, Kit Robinson and others at 7 p.m. at Half Price Books, 2036 Shattuck Ave. 526-6080. 

Quartet San Francisco at 8 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. Free. 981-6241. 

Otro Mundo at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12, children 12 and under, free. 849-2568.  

Julian Pollack & Taylor Eigsti at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373.  

Zoe Ellis Band with guest Dave Ellis at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. 

Sister Carol with The Yellow Wall Dub Squad, reggae, at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $17-$20. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Meli, Latin vocalist, at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

John Stowell at 5 p.m. at Ristorante Raphael, 2132 Center St. 644-9500. www.ristoranteraphael.com 

Tera Johnson Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Ira Marlowe and Mario DeSio at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Trailer Park rangers, Eddie Rivers and the Flood at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. 

Thought Riot, Scare, Goddamn Wolves at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Realistic Orchestra at 10 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $10. 548-1159.  

Eddie Marshall and Holy Mischief at 8 p.m. and John Schott’s Dream Kitchen at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

David Weckl Band at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $15-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, AUGUST 26 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Video Work by Bill Viola” An installation with continuous loops of the videographer’s works from 1977-1994, opens at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

“Horses in the Trees” works by Mark P. Fisher. Reception at 2 p.m. at Alta Gallery, 2980 College Ave. #1. Exhibition runs to Oct. 7. 421-1255. 

THEATER 

San Francisco Mime Troupe “Godfellas” Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m. at Willard Park, Hillegass & Derby. 415-285-1717. 

San Francisco Shakespeare “The Tempest” Free Sharespeare in the park at 4 p.m. at Lakeside Park at Lake Merritt, corner of Perkins and Bellevue, Oakland. Sat. and Sun. through Aug. 27. 415-865-4434. 

Shotgun Players “Ragnarok: Doom of the Gods” Sat. and Sun. at 4 p.m. at John Hinkle Park, through Sept. 10. Free, with pass the hat donation after the show. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

Jump! written and performed by Shanique S. Scott at 8 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $10-$15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

The Great Night of Soul Poetry at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Co-sponsored by Dan and Dale Zola and Black Oak Books. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

John Canemaker “Marching to a Different Tune” at 5 p.m. and “Winsor McCay: His Life and Art” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Rhythm & Muse features poet Jeanne Lupton at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. 527-9753. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Old Puppy at 10 a.m. at Nabalom Bakery, 2708 Russell St. 845-BAKE. 

Jazzschool Ensembles at 10:30 a.m. at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market, Center St. at MLK. 845-5373. 

Ambrose Akinmusire at noon at the Downtown Berkeley BART. 845-5373. 

George Brooks Summit at 2 p.m. at the Downtown Berkeley BART. 845-5373. 

Royal Society Jazz Orchestra at 4:30 p.m. at the Downtown Berkeley BART. 845-5373. 

Jaya Lakshmi, Indian devotional music at 8 p.m. at Studio Rasa, 933 Parker St. Cost is $16-$18. 843-2787. www.studiorasa.org 

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Kotoja, Afrobeat dance party, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $12-$15. 525-5054.  

John Bruce and Derek See at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

The People, Bayonics at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886.  

Terry Riley at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. 845-5373.  

“Jazz & Poetry” with Adam David Miller & Pam Johnson, Al Young, and others at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6241. 

Rhonda Benin Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Kai Eckhardt’s Area 61, at 9 p.m. at Capoeira Arts Cafe, 2062 Addison St. Cost is $10. 666-1255. 

The Whoreshoes, Meat Purveyors, Pickin’Trix at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. All ages show. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Will Blades Duo at noon, Sarah Manning Trio at 5 p.m. and Disappear Incompletely at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Charm, UG Man, Lewd Acts at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, AUGUST 27 

FILM 

Kenji Mizoguchi “The Life of Oharu” at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Elizabeth Wagele talks about “The Happy Introvert: A WIld and Crazy Guide for Celebrating Your True Self” at 6:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Linda Moyers, poetry reading, at 4 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloway’s Literary and Garden Arts, 2904 College Ave. www.mrsdalloways.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Benefit Concert for the Animals, featuring flautist Carol Alban, cellist Suellen Primost, and others at 3 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. Suggested donation $10. 595-9009. 

Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble of San Francisco at noon at the Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza, 845-5373.  

Art Song of Debussy, Duparc, Vaughan Williams, Beethoven and more with Dorothy Isaacson Read, mezzo soprano and Kristin Pankonin, piano at 4 p.m. at Chamber Arts House, 2924 Ashby Ave. Suggested donation $5-$10.  

John Santos & Machete Ensemble at 2 p.m. at the Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza, 845-5373. 

Bob Marley Ensemble at 5 p.m. at the Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza, 845-5373.  

Vicki Randle with Nina Gerber & Bonnie Hayes at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Ray Obiedo’s Mambo Caribe with Pete Escovedo at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Will Bernard Trio at noon, Americana Unplugged with Feed and Seed at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 655-5715. 

Girl Talk at 5 p.m. at Ristoprante Raphael, 2137 Center St. 644-9500. 

Natasha Miller and Bobby Sharp at 4:30 p.m. and Kasey Knudsen Sextet at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$15. 845-5373.  

Bigger Olsen at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. t 

The Hot Club of San Francisco at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

MONDAY, AUGUST 28 

CHILDREN 

Rafa Cano, Spanish sing-along for children, at 10:30 a.m. at PriPri Cafe, 1309 Solano Ave., Albany. Free. 528-7002. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Lucy Jane Bledsoe presents “Ice Cave: A Woman’s Adventures from the Mojave to the Antarctic” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

David Abel and Stephen Vincent read at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Poetry Express theme night on “pet peeves” at 7 p.m. at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Steve Lucky & The Rhumba Bums, with Ms. Carmen Getit at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Swing dance lesson at 8:30 p.m. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054.  

Gina Leishman at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Nika Rejto at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $12. 238-9200.


Arts: Dream Kitchen Kicks Off Downtown Jazz Festival

By Ira Steingroot, Special to the Planet
Tuesday August 22, 2006

The ambitious second annual Downtown Berkeley Jazz Festival, produced by the Jazzschool, begins this Wednesday. Over the course of five days, 45 musical events will be presented at 15 venues all over downtown Berkeley. 

Besides every genre of jazz, there will be films at the Gaia Arts Center and poetry at the Berkeley Public Library and Half Price Books. Many of these events are free and provide an opportunity to check out the great cuisine of Berkeley’s restaurants, read the poems inscribed in the sidewalk on Addison Street and find out what kind of jazz is being played locally and what kind you like. 

One of the best groups being featured at the Festival is John Schott’s Dream Kitchen. 

I first became aware of John Schott while trying to fill holes in my collection of pre-Louis Armstrong recordings by African-Americans. Someone at Down Home Records told me he would be helpful and knowledgeable. That was an understatement. His way of learning about a subject is both broad and deep, scholarly, yet passionate, and he is obsessive about getting the details right. He is also generous in sharing the results of his research. 

Far from being theoretical though, his scholarly approach is eminently practical. The 40-year-old Schott not only knows the early compositions and recordings of Scott Joplin, W.C. Handy, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Fats Waller and Bix Beiderbecke, but makes them the repertoire of his trio, Dream Kitchen. The trio will be playing some of these pieces at a free performance this Friday evening at Jupiter as part of the Downtown Berkeley Jazz Fest.  

If you know the originals, do not be surprised if Dream Kitchen’s versions approach them in an oblique manner, at once original yet uncannily familiar. Schott brushes this material against the grain to reveal the inner strength of the compositions as compositions. He knows that this is early American chamber music that has not yet exhausted its potential for freeing the imagination. 

He puts it well when he describes the music as, “Blues, stomps and hot jazz from the ‘20s played like it was written last week.”  

Schott’s musical taste and interests do not stop with early jazz though. He is equally at home with the work of Billie Holiday and Lester Young, beboppers Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell and Tad Dameron, and avant gardists Cecil Taylor and Ornette Coleman. He likes blues players from Robert Johnson through Muddy Waters to B.B. King. 

His classical interests range from Rubinstein’s recordings of Chopin’s Nocturnes to Arnold Schoenberg, Elliot Carter and John Cage. In fact, part of his reason for leaving Seattle and moving to Berkeley in 1988 was to hear all of the Bay Area concerts celebrating Carter’s music around his 80th birthday. 

He has played in Western swing groups; was one of the three guitarists, along with Charlie Hunter and Will Bernard, in the jazz-funk band T.J. Kirk; recorded post-modern klezmer albums on John Zorn’s Tsadik label; worked with the Rova Saxophone Quartet to create musical backgrounds for the underground films of Stan Brakhage; and written music to accompany the poetry of Dahlia Ravikovitch. 

One of the more interesting projects Schott has conceived was a marathon guitar performance last year from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. on the Jewish pilgrimage festival of Shavuot (Festival of Weeks, Pentecost or Whitsunday to gentiles). There is a tradition of staying up all night and studying until sunrise. Often the beginning and ending passages of every portion of the Torah, opening passages of every book of the rest of the Bible, and the opening of each of the 63 tractates of the Mishnah, along with passages from the Kabbalistic masterwork, the Zohar, are read during the night as a way of contemplating, celebrating and encompassing the vastness of Jewish studies. Schott transformed this into an eight hour meditative guitar piece. 

Dream Kitchen brings that same kind of intensity, lateral thinking and freshness to the brilliant compositions of early ragtime and jazz.


Arts: ‘House of Lucky’ At La Vals

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Tuesday August 22, 2006

After the heavy metal overture screeches to a halt, both Frank Wortham and his one-man show, House of Lucky (ending its run this weekend), put on by Impact Theater at La Val’s Subterranean, come on with a bang. 

When the lights come up, the sole performer and author is standing onstage, bleary eyed but volatile, pouring out a salty diatribe about sex on stage, leading to an apocalypse, a national mass turn-on, “a tidal wave of pleasure, and America would come together!” 

This is followed by a dialogue out of the corners of his mouth, a new harangue against domesticity, until it becomes clear that the haranguer is the crank and booze-drenched roommate of the protagonist, a protagonist with the euphonious name of Harper Jones, on his way from The Haight to work at Baby Travel in North Beach, a post-hippie bus “experience.” 

Wortham’s more monologist than raconteur, and his spiel is narratively clear, though its route is as Byzantine as the streets of San Francisco that he verbally travels, back and forth. Besides his speed freak would-be playwright roomie (and school buddy), his tale’s decorated with characters such as his boss, Buddy Morrow, “a visionary hippie capitalist;” his ex-girlfriend Sequoia; his rock ‘n roller paramour (more power mower), femme fatale Beth Lipstick, and her evil twin trannie husband, who doses hapless Harper at the Cafe Du Chien, downstairs on Market.  

Perhaps the centerpiece of Wortham’s ramble is his drop-in at a poetry slam, featuring a snide hipster of an m.c. and Sharkey Laguna, louche reciter of “Pride Like A Lion,” whom Harper must face off with in a sudden death imprompteau haiku run-off. 

As Wortham’s material is taken from his own book, the ensuing sub-literary brouhaha is a sharp satire of what must have been his own introduction to facing down an audience bent on devouring whomever it focuses its attention on. 

That’s not the case here, as the personable performer demonstrates accomplished audience contact, ringing through the changes of scene and character in his two-day tale of losing and finding it again. There’s the requisite sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll, and plenty of post-adolescent angst, portrayed, but Wortham has the easy going grace to keep it light-hearted, humorous and fun—in a word, entertaining. 

Whether clueless or remorseful, self-derogatory or just dosed, dreadlocked or shorn, Frank Wortham’s right on top of the beat, which he syncopates engagingly. 

 

HOUSE OF LUCKY 

Presented by Impact Theatre. 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave., Berkeley. $10-$15. For more information, call 464-4468. 


Arts: SF Shakespeare Presents ‘The Tempest’

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Tuesday August 22, 2006

Summer is almost gone, at least that official version that stretches between Memorial and Labor Days, but it’s still possible to catch that theatrical hallmark of the season, Free Shakespeare in the Park. 

And there’s a particularly good production of The Bard’s last great play, the work some consider his valedictory piece, at Lakeside Park in Oakland, ending its brief local run this weekend. 

To say there’s a tempest on Lake Merritt sounds a little like Katrina in a teacup, but The Tempest plays beautifully on the shores of the lake, its castaways, spirits, aboriginal man-monster, magician, lovers and rustic clowns in their element under oak boughs near the waters. 

Kenneth Kelleher has outdone himself as director in putting together a production for San Francisco Shakespeare that is an original staging that plays very well outdoors.  

Facing the lake is a sea-green set (Richard Ortenblad’s design) with jagged walls inscribed by text—is it magic formulae, or pages from Renaissance notebooks?—a Leonardo drawing and an astrolabe are among the figures. 

Doors open and close with sudden comings and goings, as if out of thin air. There’s a throne elevated on a ladder. Prospero (a magisterial Julian Lopez-Morillas) is occasionally seen hovering in a doorway, sitting on the throne, always watching unseen. And the action is vigorous, overlapping the natural and supernal. 

Prospero, deposed as Duke of Milan by his brother Antonio, is in exile on a tropical island (some say Bermuda was the model). Having studied magic, he conjures up the storm of the title to shipwreak his brother and party, which include Alonzo, the King of Naples (Lewis Sims) and his son, Ferdinand (Daveed Diggs). 

All this he explains to his daughter, Miranda (girlish Julia Moytika), as the spirits who attend on him (Brian Levy, Adam Kenyon Venker and Shannon Preto) move rhytmically, rocking a skeletal model ship. 

In aquamarine jumpsuits, faces obscured by colored mesh (Todd Roehrman’s costumes) the spirits are like artists’ mannequins grown life-size, well-choreographed, like all the cast (by Mary Beth Cavanaugh) to anthropomorphize the magic, or flop like spent ragdolls around the set when unused. 

The castaways, passing ‘round a flask, are clad in baggy, quilted mock conquistador garb, and are visited by Prospero’s familiar spirit, Ariel (also a flighty Motyka, just one of the innovative double roles), who makes them sleep (“What a strange drowsiness arrests them!”) and wake (“I heard a humming, and a strange one too, that did awake me.”), and sings to them (including the exquisite “Full Fathom Five/Thy Father Lies.” 

Julia sings them well, to the tune of harp or lutes, with Chris Houston’s soundtrack wafting up into the trees and out over the lake. 

Ferdinand and Miranda fall in love at first sight, and, though outwardly stern, Prospero confides to the audience, “It works!” His magic has other purposes than revenge. 

There are wonderful scenes, as when two shipwrecked (and hilarious) clowns, Trinculo (Brian Herndon, who also plays Alonzo’s morally equivocal brother Sebastian), a jester, and Stephano (Michael Ray Wisely, also Prospero’s usurping brother Antonio), a drunken butler discover each other (“What have we here? A man or a fish? Dead or alive?”), and also Caliban (a fine Daveed Diggs again), Prospero’s unsettling halfbreed slave, himself discovering their hootch, thinks them gods. 

A very funny moment in all this is also the origin of the famous line, “Misery makes strange bedfellows.” 

This small and talented crew (which includes excellent Gary S. Martinez as Gonzalo) keeps the audience, sprawled out on the grass, rapt with enchantment, as a couple late summer hours float away by the shores of Lake Merritt. 

 

THE TEMPEST 

Presented by San Francisco Shakespeare at 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Lakeside Park, Lake Merritt (corner of Perkins and Bellvue streets), Oakland. Admission is free. For more information, call (415) 865-4434. 

 


The Tree of Many Names Scents Our Woodlands

By Ron Sullivan, Special to the Planet
Tuesday August 22, 2006

Up in the hills, in the parks and in the places next to them, are Monterey pines—imported from Monterey, and many now old and ill and tottering—and native trees: redwoods, the odd Douglas fir, oaks, and a tree of many names, its official binomial being quite a melodious mouthful, Umbellularia californica.  

It’s confusing to talk about sometimes, because it’s known in English as California bay laurel here and Oregon myrtle in Oregon. Or Coos Bay laurel, probably a mash of the first two names.  

Or California bay or California laurel (but there’s an unrelated and non-similar big shrub/small tree by that name too) or bay, bay laurel (but there’s another tree by that name too, of course), baytree, black myrtle, cinnamon bush, laurel (lots of things get called that), mountain laurel (more often used for a gorgeous eastern North American shrub), myrtle (lots of unrelated plants go by that name), myrtletree, myrtlewood, Pacific myrtle, pepperwood, spice-tree, white myrtle, or yellow myrtle.  

It’s also called “headache tree,” either because inhaling its scent too long can allegedly give you headaches (I’ve never experienced this myself) or because the local pre-Columbian folks used a decoction of some part of it to cure headaches. Maybe both; who knows?  

It’s easier to learn to pronounce “Umbellularia.”  

Umbellularia gives our local woodlands a big component of their characteristic spicy scent, mostly from the carpet of its leaves underfoot. The dried leaves have a scent rather different from the green ones on the trees: more mellow, more complex. It rises to meet you as you walk under the arching trees, and intensifies when you step on the leaves. It’s spicy with a hint of camphor up front and something brown and tobaccolike at base.  

But don’t take my attempt at description as gospel; go on up to Tilden and walk under the (uh-oh, whatsitsname?) Californibays on, say, the Caves Trail. Wait, I think they’re calling that the Wildcat Creek Trail lately. This nominative confusion must be contagious.  

On that trail as in other places umbellulaurel grows en masse, you’ll see scant understory, and often no other tree species. That’s partly because those nifty scents it makes are accompanied by water-soluble compounds that leach into the soil to inhibit root elongation in other plants, and of course because a closed forest canopy in a dry place tends to shut other plants out.  

But there are coral-root orchids along that Tilden trail, and I’ve found thimbleberries and flowering currants, trilliums and tanoaks and sword ferns among others growing under umbellularibays. Old stands—more or less what naturalists call “climax forests”—can be pretty exclusive, but Califoregon baytles thrive in mixed woods along with redwoods, live and deciduous oaks, madrones, tanoaks, chinquapins, Douglas fir, and whatever else their range offers for companionship.  

Peppermyrtlaurels resprout readily after fires, and evidently also after other catastrophes too. You can find magnificently gnarled, sculptured, hollowed-out semicircles of trunks rising from a single vast volcano-shaped trunk mass in forests that have survived fires, and growing alone in meadows, like the one in the photo near the Bear Valley visitors’ center in Point Reyes National Seashore.  

Whiteyellowblack myrtle has an interesting little fruit that looks rather like a miniature smooth-skinned avocado. Squirrels and other wildlife eat it, and it’s edible for us too. I’ve heard differing opinions on how palatable the fatty flesh around it is, but the pre-Columbians roasted the seed inside and ate it plain or ground it up and made meal for sun-dried cakes to store for later.  

When you take the road north and cross the Oregon border, you find souvenir stands selling stuff from buttons to bowls carved from Oregoos Baylaumyrtle. They’re pretty; the wood has rich yellow-to-red tones and an interesting grain, and makes swirly burls. A carpenter friend of mine once warned me that it tends to dry out and split, though, so if you buy or make such an item, be sure to keep it oiled and don’t put it in a sunny window.  

A local outfit named Juniper Ridge makes assorted things from Western scented plants, and its California Bay Laurel soap captures the fragrance pretty well. You can find it at farmers’ markets, places like The Gardener, and (best price I’ve seen) the Berkeley Bowl. It’s a good trip down Memory Trail if you like to walk the woods, but be aware that a few people find the oils to be a skin irritant. I’m allergic to an annoying number of things and it hasn’t bothered me, but I know someone who got a short-lived rash from it. Try it on the inside of your elbow first. If you can’t use it for soap, it makes an inspiring room scent.  

 

 

Photograph by Ron Sullivan 

This Umbellularia californica shelters some of the deer, squirrels, birds, and lizards of Point Reyes National Seashore.


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday August 22, 2006

TUESDAY, AUGUST 22 

Tuesday is for the Birds A tranquil early morning walk. Bring water, sunscreen, binoculars and a snack. Call for meeting place. 525-2233. 

Tomato Tastings from 2 to 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market, Derby St. at MLK, Jr. Way. 548-2220. 

Tilden Tots Join a nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! Meet at 10 a.m. at the Regional Parks Botanic Garden to look for reptiles. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Raging Grannies of the East Bay invites new folks to join us the 2nd and 4th Tues, of each month, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. to sing (any voice will do), help plan our next gig, at Berkeley Gray Panthers office, 1403 Addison St. 548-9696. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your digital images, slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. We always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23 

Benefit for Lebanese Refugees, hosted by Dar Al Amal and Amnesty International at 6 p.m. at Youth Radio Café, 1801 University of Grant. Donation $12 and up. 499-9402. 

Disaster Preparedness for Your Pet presented by Noah’s Wish, an organization which provided shelter for animals after Hurricane Katrina, at 6:30 p.m. at the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society, 2700 Ninth St. at Carleton. Donation of $10 requested. Seating limited. 845-7735, ext. 22. www.berkeleyhumane.org 

Conversation with Bob Watada, father of Lt. Ehren Watada, first U.S. Military officer to publicly resist illegal war and occupation of Iraq, at 10:30 a.m. in Heller Lounge, Student Union Building, UC Campus. ninakfallenbaum@hotmail.com 

Making Another World Possible: Beyond Debt Cancellation, Who Owes Whom? at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1606 Bonita near Cedar. 527-3917. 

Celebrate Women’s Sufferage with the film “Iron Jawed Angels” at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Cost is $5.  

Berkeley Adult School Open House for Career and Technical Education programs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at 1701 San Pablo Ave. at Virginia. 644-8973.  

Tilden Tots Join a nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! Meet at 10 a.m. at the Regional Parks Botanic Garden to look for reptiles. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Walking Tour of Old Oakland around the restored 1870s business district. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of G.B. Ratto’s at 827 Washington St. For reservations call 238-3234.  

“Farenheit 451” a film based on the novel by Ray Bradbury on Cold War fears, at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donation $5. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction Wed. and Sat. at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

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. 

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. 848-1704.  

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at 6:30 p.m. at the downtoen berkeley BART. www.geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, AUGUST 24 

Symposium on Employment Conditions for College and University Teachers with union representatives and Joe Berry, author of “Reclaiming the Ivory Tower: Organizing Adjuncts to Change Higher Education” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

“Nurses vs. Arnold” A new Robert Greenwald documentary premieres at 7 p.m. at the Grand Lake Theater, 3200 Grand Ave., Oakland. www.Yes on89.org 

Berkeley Community Gardening Collective Potluck at 6 p.m. at the Malcom X School Garden, Ellis St. and Ashby Ave. The speaker will be Melanie Okamoto of the California Nutrition Network. 883-9096. 

Family Fun Night at Point Pinole Regional Shoreline at 6 p.m., includes presentations by naturalists and arts and crafts projects for the whole family. 525-2233. 

“Making Another World Possible” A discussion with women who lead resistance movements around the globe, at 7 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way, entrance on Dana. Cost is $10-$20. 533-7583. www.ctwo.org  

League of Women Voters Community Luncheon, with Christopher Edley, Jr., Dean of Boalt Hall School of Law, at 11:30 a.m. at Hs Lordships at the Berkeley Marina. Cost is $75. 843-8828. 

Ecovillages Presentation Find out what an ecovillage is and how the ecovillage movement affects the environment, the economy, and social justice issues at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220. 

Easy Does It Disability Assistance Board of Directors’ Meeting at 6:30 p.m. at 1744A University Ave. All welcome. 845-5513. 

ACCI Seconds Sale from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Sun. at 1652 Shattuck Ave. 843-2527. 

Clothing Swap and Silkscreening Workshop, at 6:30 p.m. at Nabolom Bakery, 2708 Russell St. 845-BAKE. 

FRIDAY, AUGUST 25 

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 

Activist Series featuring Nadia Mcaffrey, Gold Star Families Speak Out, and Dewaybe Hunn, Director of the People’s Lobby & World Service Corp. whose son was killed in Iraq, at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists’ Hall, 1924 Cedar at Bonita. Donations welcome. 528-5403.  

Red Cross Blood Drive from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Oakland Children’s Hospital, Outpatient Building Basement, 747 52nd St., Oakland. For an appointment call 1-800 GIVE-LIFE. 

Ballroom Dancing every Friday at 8 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Building, 200 Grand Ave., Oakland. Live band and refreshments. Cost is $10. 925-934-9129. 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 8 p.m. at the East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St. Players at all levels are welcome. 845-1041. 

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. wibberkeley@yahoo.com 548-6310, 845-1143. 

Kol Hadash Humanistic Shabbat at 7:30 p.m. at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. Please bring finger dessert to share, and non-perishable food for the needy. Free and open to all.  

SATURDAY, AUGUST 26 

Trails Challenge: Traversing Tilden’s Trails Meet at 8 a.m. at the Lone Oak Staging Area to cover to park’s varied ecosystems. Bring water, sunscreen, layered clothing and lunch. 525-2233. 

Berkeley Rocks A walk to explore seven rock parks in Berkeley, along with paths, historic homes and great views. Meet at 10 a.m. at the northeast corner of Solano Ave. and the Alameda, by Indian Rock Path. Bring lunch and liquids for this 4-5 mile walk with significant uphills. 528-3355. www.berkeleypaths.org  

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. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

Oakland Heritage Walking Tour of Philbrick Boat Works at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Cost is $5-$15. Reservations required. 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

A Conversation with Bob Watada, father of L. Ehren Watada, first U.S. Military officer to publicly resist illegal war and occupation of Iraq, at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Friends Church, 1800 Sacramento St. 684-0239. 

Muir Heritage Ranch Day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the John Muir National Historical Site in Martinez. Entertainment, demonstrations, games and food. 925-639-7562. www.JohnMuirAssociation.org 

Oakland Chinatown StreetFest Sat. and Sun. from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Franklin St. from 7th to 11th, and 8th and 9th Sts., from Broadway to Harrison. 893-8979. 

ActivSpace Arts and Crafts Fair Sat. and Sun. from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 2703 Seventh St. 845-5000. 

“I Love Bugs!” Day at Habitot Children's Museum from 10 am to 5 pm 2065 Kittredge St. 647-1111. 

Urban Releaf Tree Tour of Oakland and workshops in urban forestry that teach tree planting, maintenance, GIS/GPS systems, and community advocacy. For information call 601-9062. www.urbanreleaf.org 

ACCI Seconds Sale from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Sun. at 1652 Shattuck Ave. 843-2527. 

PR/Marketing Workshop for Musicians at 11 a.m. at Freight & Salvage Coffee House, 1111 Addison St. Cost is $45-$49. 548-1761.  

Red Cross Blood Drive from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at East Bay Bible Church, 11200 Golf Links Rd., Oakland. For an appointment call 1-800 GIVE-LIFE. 

SHAC 7 Benefit Vegan food and films, sponsored by East Bay Animal Advocates at 6 p.m. at AK Press, 674-A 23rd St, Oakland. Cost is $5-$15, sliding scale. shac7benefit@yahoo.com 

Heart Health Fair Sponsored by the Association of Black Cardiologists from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Eastmont Town Center, 7200 Bancroft Ave., Oakland. Free blood pressure screenings, and presentations on strokes and heart disease. 632-1131. www.abcario.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. www.nativeplants.org 

Around the World Tour of Plants at 1:30 p.m., Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

Spiritwalking: Aqua Chi(TM) at 10 a.m. at the Berkeley High Warm Pool. Cost is $5.50, $3.50 seniors & disabled. Bring your own towels. 526-0312. 

Yoga for Peace at 9:30 a.m. at Ohlone Park, MLK at Hearst. Bring a yoga mat, warm blanket, and peace sign.  

Adult Fast Pitch Softball at noon. For location call 204-9500.  

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, AUGUST 27 

Oakland Heritage Walking Tour of West Oakland’s “Big One” from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Meet at 14th St. and Nelson Mandela Parkway. Cost is $5-$15. 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

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  

Name That Snake An introduction to the snakes that live in our backyards and local parks, at 11 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Cattail Capers We’ll explore the local ponds with dip-nets and magnifiers. Meet at 2 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Dress to get wet. 525-2233. 

Oakland Chinatown StreetFest from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Franklin St. from 7th to 11th, and 8th and 9th Sts., from Boadway to Harrison. 893-8979. 

Garden Party at Salem Lutheran Home with entertainment by the Puppets of Praise, from 2 to 4 p.m. at 2361 East 29th St., Oakland. 434-2828. 

Summer Sunday Forum with Katherine Burroughs on elder abuse 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. For group reservations or more information, call 848-7800 or 883-9710. 

Kickabout at Codornices Park Soccer for all, skill and talent not required. For more information contact cambour@hotmail.com  

Balinese Dance Class with Tjokorda Istri Putra Padmini at 11 a.m. at Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 237-6849. 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace Peace walk around the lake every Sun. Meet at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712. lmno4p.org 

Tibetan Buddhism with Robin Caton on “Meditation: Patience and Ease” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812.  

MONDAY, AUGUST 28 

“The Man Behind the Marquee” An evening with Grand Lake Theater owner Allen Michaan. Hear what events compelled this voting-rights activist to seek unique expression of his right to free speech and to provide venue for others to speak out as well. Sponsored by The Paul Robeson Chapter of the ACLU at 7:30 p.m. at “Theatre By The Bay,” 2700 Saratoga, Alameda Point, Alameda, former Naval Air Station. 596-2580. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. 548-0425. 

Stress Less Seminar at 6:30 p.m. at Piedmont Branch Library, 160 41st St., Oakland. Free, but registration required. 465-2524. 

 


Correction

Tuesday August 22, 2006

In the Aug. 15 story “Incumbents Hit Filing Deadline,” the Planet reporter Richard Brenneman wrote that “Challenger Howard Chong has filed his papers for the Rent Board . . .” Howard Chong is not a challenger, however, but the current chair of the Board.  

The story failed to mention that Chris Kavanagh, another incumbent, also filed his papers last Friday.


Arts Calendar

Friday August 18, 2006

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18 

THEATER 

California Shakespeare Theater “The Merchant of Venice” 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 Sept. 3. Tickets are $15 and up. 548-9666. www.calshakes.org 

Encore Theatre Company and Shotgun Players “The Typographer’s Dream” at 8 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., through Sept. 3. Tickets are $15-$30. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.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. 

FILM 

Kenji Mizoguchi “Osaka Elegy” at 7 p.m. and “Ugetsu” at 8:35 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Friends of African Film Mama Africa Series will show three films of modern Africa by women film makers at 7:30 p.m. at 464 Van Buren, at Euclid, Oakland. friendsofafricanfilm@yahoo.com 

“Darshan: The Embrace” a documentary on Amma, “The Hugging Saint” opens at Elmwood Theater, 2966 College Ave. Cost is $5-$8. 649-0530. 

EXHIBITIONS 

Bronzes Sculptures by Rey Hernandez Artist reception at 5:30 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. Gallery hours Tues. - Sun. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. 848-1228. 

“My Life in FLamenco” Flamenco dance paintings by Roberto Zamora opens at 6:30 p.m. at Temescal Cafe, Telegraph Ave. at 51st. 595-4102. 

“Blue Side of Town” New Orleans art by Craig Fairburn at Julie’s Garden, 1223 Park St., Alameda, through Aug. 30. 865-2385. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Impeachapalooza Open Mic at 7 p.m. at Mediterraneum Cafe, 2475 Telegraph. Donation $5-$20, no one turned away. RSVP to nfoster@alamedanet.net  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Vladimir Vukanovich, Peruvian guitarist, at 8:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $15. 849-2568.  

Ben Harper After Party at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886.  

Aaron Bahr Jazz Quintet at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10. 845-5373.  

Bruce & Lloyd’s Tri Tip Trio Binghi Ghost with Donny Dread & Nubian Natty, reggae, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Mamadou and Vanessa, Mali blues, at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

“Secret Life of Banjos” with Jody Stecher and Bill Evans at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Doug Arrington Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Splintered Tree and Sean Brooks at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

20 Minute Loop, Memoir at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082.  

Tenebre, The Martyr Index, Holy Ghost Circuit, at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Atman Roots, from New Orleans, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Lee Ritenour with special guests Dave Grusin & Friends at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s. Cost is $15-$26. 238-9200.  

SATURDAY, AUGUST 19 

THEATER 

San Francisco Shakespeare “The Tempest” Free Shakespeare in the park at 4 p.m. at Lakeside Park at Lake Merritt, corner of Perkins and Bellevue, Oakland. Sat. and Sun. through Aug. 27. 415-865-4434. 

Shotgun Players “Ragnarok: Doom of the Gods” Sat. and Sun. at 4 p.m. at John Hinkle Park, through Sept. 10. Free, with pass the hat donation after the show. 841-6500.  

EXHIBITIONS 

“deja vu” Photography and sculpture by Janeyce Ouellette and Kelly Steinauer. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at 1091 Calcot Place, Unit # 116, located in the front of the historic cotton mill studios, Oakland. 535-1702. 

FILM 

Frank Borzage “Three Comrades” at 6:30 p.m. and “The Mortal Storm” at 8:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

Old Oakland Outdoor Cinema “The Joy Luck Club” at dusk on Ninth St., between Broadway and Washington. Limited seating, bring your own chair or blanket. Free. 238-4734. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

BHS Jazz Qurtet at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10. 845-5373.  

Old Puppy at 10 a.m. at Nabalom Bakery, 2708 Russell St. 845-BAKE. 

Junius Courtney Big Band, featuring Denise Perrier, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12-$14. 849-2568.  

Big Business, Replicator, The Ettes at 8:30 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $8. 451-8100.  

Audrey Auld Mezera and Tamra Engle at 8 p.m. at Left Coast Cyclery, 2928 Domingo Ave. Donation $15. 204-8550. 

Candido Oye-Oba, West African, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054.  

Danny Allen and Val Esway at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Oak, Ash & Thorn at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Ben Harper After Party at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886.  

Gaucho at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473.  

Dave Matthews BLUES Band at 4 p.m. on the stage at Harbor & MacDonald Ave., Richmond. 236-4050. www.richmondmainstreet.org 

Gram Rabbit, 86, Luca at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. All ages show. Cost is $7. 841-2082.  

The Regiment at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

S.M.D., Weekend Nachos, Until the Fall at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, AUGUST 20 

FILM 

Frank Borzage “Desire” at 5:20 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Judy Stone reads from “Not Quite a Memoir: Of Films, Books, the World” at 6:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Abby Wasserman on “Tosca’s Paris Adventure” at 4 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloway’s Literary and Garden Arts, 2904 College Ave.  

Elmaz Abinader, Lebanese poet, reads at 3 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Songs & Stories from the ‘20s & ‘30s, featuring Dave Shank on the piano at 5 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 201 Martina St., Point Richmond. Suggested donation $10. 236-0527. 

Tryte, Duct Tape Mafia at 7 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $8. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Mark Spoelstra at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Americana Unplugged with The Donner Mountain Bluegrass Band at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 655-5715. 

Claudia Calderón and the Piano Llanero at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $8-$10. 849-2568.  

Philips Marine Duo at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

MONDAY, AUGUST 21 

CHILDREN 

Rafa Cano, Spanish sing-along for children, at 10:30 a.m. at PriPri Cafe, 1309 Solano Ave., Albany. Free. 528-7002. 

FLILM 

Beat Back Bush Workout dance video at 8 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Donation $5-$10. www.bbbwork.net 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry Express with Julia Vinograd at 7 p.m. at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Trovatore, traditional Italian music, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Anton Schwartz at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com  

TUESDAY, AUGUST 22 

FILM 

Screenagers “Seventeen” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

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 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Uzodinma Iweala introduces “Beasts of No Nation” at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Sauce Piquante at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Beep at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Jane Bunnett & Radio Guantanamo featuring Kevin Breit at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$20. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays, a weekly showcase of up-and-coming ensembles from Berkeley Jazzschool at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23 

FILM 

Frank Borzage “Moonrise” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Berkeley Treasures Series A conversation with Richard Whittaker at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. in Live Oak Park. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

“Writing Teachers Write” with special guest Jane Juska at 5 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Tucker Malarkey reads from his new novel “Resurrection” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Jewish Writers in the Bay Area with Reuven Goldfarb on “Baseball Kabbalah” and “Sane Terrain”at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley-Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. 465-3935. 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Terrance Brewer Quintet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Roy Zimmerman in “Faulty Intelligence” An evening of satirical songs, at 8 p.m. at The Marsh Berkeley, 2118 Allston Way, through Aug. 24. 800-838-3006. www.themarsh.org  

Japanther, This Bike is a Pipe Boms, KIT, and others in a benefit concert for the Prisoners Literature Project and Berkeley Liberation Radio at 7 p.m. at Lobot Gallery, 1800 Campbell St. and 18th, Oakland. Donation $7-$20. 290-81512. 

The Hooks, Fetish, Stone Cutter, Mike Rogers at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Orquestra Candela at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Salsa lessons at 8 p.m. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Jean Fineberg & Saxophunk at 5 p.m., and Mingus Amungus at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Michael Coleman Trio Jazz Jam at 8:30 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Bring your instrument. 451-8100. www.uptownnightclub.com 

Jane Bunnett & Radio Guantanamo featuring Kevin Breit at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$20. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, AUGUST 24 

FILM 

Beyond Bollywood “Masala” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ray LeMoine and Jeff Neuman describe their travels to “Babylon by Bus” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Summer Noon Concert with United Capoeira Association at the Downtown Berkeley BART station. Free. www.downtownberkeley.org 

18th Annual Annual Freight Fiddle Festival at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $24.50-$25.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Sara & Swingtime at 6 p.m. at La Note, 2377 Shattuck Ave. 526-6080. www.lanoterestaurant.com 

Mo’ Rockin Project at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Girl Talk at 5 p.m. at Ristorante Raphael, 2132 Center St. 644-9500. www.ristoranteraphael.com 

Tom Duarte at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Free Peoples, Phoeniz & Afterbuffalo at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

Laurie Antonioli & Zilberella at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Kenny Washington Trio at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

David Weckl Band at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $15-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

CV1 at 8 p.m. and Black Edgars Musicbox at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

 


CalShakes Brings ‘Merchant of Venice’ to Orinda Stage

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Friday August 18, 2006

At outdoor cafe tables topped with Cinzano umbrellas the actors loll, idly watching video screens arranged around an open-work structure’s beams like townhall clocks at the points of the compass, facing the audience. Watching as a platinum-bewigged young woman, dolled up in loud fashion but draped in a sleek tawny fur with beige boots, flops into a chair, pushes back her sunglasses, reaches for her bag as if a beached globe-trotter, and impatiently tosses wads of play money onto the stage ... Watching as a bearded financier doffs “the badge” of his “Jewish gabardine” to bathe in cash as he reclines in a dumpster ... Watching as a suitor woos his intended by hefting a black plastic garbage bag of loot to throw his hat in the ring. 

Actors laconically watching these vignettes, while smoking, drinking and chit-chatting in blank verse: this is The Merchant of Venice, as conceived by Daniel Fish for CalShakes in Orinda, a play about money and fashion. 

The Bard certainly meant his comedy of love to be centered around allegories of lending and borrowing, and of reclaiming forfeited debts, with adroit business surrounding the choosing of metal coffers—here, shiny carrying cases—for a betrothal, the giving—and furtive giving again—of rings as tokens of endless love, and the bonding of a debt, meant to finance another’s offer of a bride-price, with a pound of flesh close to the heart. This is shown with all the trappings of ultra-contemporary fashion—“bravery,” as The Bard would put it—to dress up the intrigues and counter-plots of a chatty menage that ends up together at the end on a deflating air bed, a polymorphous perverse wedding night to end a romantic comedy hinging on a cross-dressed Humanist scholar finely parsing a point  

of law. 

This production has the virtue of being able to play self-consciously with its many conceits, matching its sometimes astringent, sometimes tongue-in-cheek air of world-weariness with a careless (if not exactly carefree) sense of tossing off the most elaborate lines and situations of the original with the more elaborated fixings of Fish’s conception. But the results are mixed. At times streamlined and clear, at others bogged down by too many asides and interruptions in the guise of business, the offhand quality of the actors (best represented by Jenny Bacon as Portia, watching the dialogues of her fellows on the big screen with drooping eyes and acerbic smile like a distracted traveler in an airport, or lipsync’ing a movie version of Merchant on her laptop, which we see above the stage) reduces the moments of engagement to events to be idly watched. It’s a kind of feed-back that can make the actors come on a bit soap opera-ish when it’s finally their turn to deliver, playing scales or hitting a single whole note instead of sounding the semitones of a developing character. 

The trouble lies with the often clever direction, which succeeds in outwitting itself. The cast is quite capable, with CalShakes regulars like Delia MacDougall (always a trouper), staunch Andy Murray, sly Danny Sheie and T. Edward Webster joined by Bacon, David Chandler (a business-like Shylock, who moonlights as a Jewish stand-up comedian at intermission’s close), Andrew Weems (a fine Antonio), Nick Westrate (who plays the other suitors as well as golden boy Bassanio), Max Gordon Moore and new face Elvy Yost (who in a good bit as Shylock’s daughter Jessica converted to Christianity, sings an old Sunday School number: “Jesus Loves Me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so!"). And the staging, with all its consumer gimmicks, proceeds from modern dramaturgy.  

But it becomes Modern Theater Lite: despite fitful flashes of illumination, with all the “events” (or “attractions” as they were called on the Russian experimental stage) the self-distancing gets too involved—with itself. All the sense of an incestuous milieu fizzles into mere self-consciousness and tricked-up fun instead of reflection—or even refraction. With all its twists and turns, the angle isn’t acute. It’s as straight as a suburban boulevard, suitable for commuting or cruising, but in any case a drive through, with too few points of interest to take attention away from the distraction of the accessories, the “optional features.” 


Summer Outdoor Cinema Series Features Classic Film, Live Music

by Justin DeFreitas
Friday August 18, 2006

Pyramid Alehouse kicks off its annual Outdoor Cinema series this Saturday with a screening of the 1969 Robert Redford-Paul Newman classic Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.  

Each year Pyramid selects a nonprofit to co-host the series and take home the profits. This year, Pyramid General Manager Jeffery Crane has selected Epic Arts Studio, the South Berkeley cultural center, and they’ll be adding their own twist to the proceedings: Each screening will feature live music, thematically tied to the movie it will precede. 

Crane first came in contact with Epic Arts when Epic took over the How Berkeley Can You Be? Parade. Epic has co-produced the September parade for three years, but this year they will take full control, renaming it the How Berkeley!? Festival. Pyramid and Epic worked together on one of the features of this year’s event—a focus on local breweries—so when Pyramid went looking for a nonprofit to host this year’s film series, Epic came to mind and proved itself a perfect fit. All proceeds from admission and food and beer sales will benefit Epic’s ongoing arts programming. 

Epic Arts Program Director Justin Katz oversaw the band selection process for the Outdoor Cinema series, in some cases booking the bands himself, in other cases turning the evening over to a particular producer. The Sept. 23 screening of This is Spinal Tap allowed Katz a nostalgic indulgence: The movie will be preceded by a live performance by the Rocket Queens, a cover band with a very specific repertoire—they only cover Guns ’n’ Roses, and only the band’s debut album, Appetite for Destruction, complete with hair and clothes circa 1987. 

Apparently the Rocket Queens bring back fond memories of high school for Katz. 

“I’ve been dying to book this band for a long time,” Katz says. 

Another example demonstrates the care and creativity that went into linking the performances with the films: The Aug. 26 screening of Young Frankenstein posed an interesting set of creative challenges, requiring Katz and his colleagues to find a band that could somehow complement the humor of Mel Brooks and a plot centering on a homemade monster pieced together from disparate elements. The result was that Epic booked Baseline Dada, a band with highly literate lyrics and a hilarious live act that cobbles together household objects as instruments in the creation of a sound Katz characterizes as “politically charged grammarian funk.” 

For this week’s showing of Butch Cassidy, Epic Arts has enlisted the production talents of Twang Cafe impresario Tom Wegner to find just the right countrified down-home tone for the event. Wegner’s Twang Cafe, a monthly series held every first Sunday night at Epic Arts, features local country, folk, bluegrass and Americana musicians performing in Epic’s small, intimate Ashby Avenue studio. For the Outdoor Cinema show he has managed to lure two well-known local acts: J. J. Schultz and the JewGrass Boys. 

J. J. Schultz hails from Wegner’s own Wisconsin, and seeks to capture the essence of rural Midwest life in his music. The JewGrass Boys fuse a number of styles and sounds into their music, blending the rootsy sound of Kentucky bluegrass with “the semitic assimilation into and appropriation of America’s cultural heritage,” according to the band’s website. 

“Schultz is a great songwriter with a distinctive voice,” says Wegner, “and he’ll be performing with a full band, including slide guitar and upright bass. The JewGrass Boys are a lot of fun. They play high-tempo bluegrass and really know how to rev up an audience.” 

The series runs every Saturday through Sept. 30 (with the exception of Sept. 2) and features classics and cult classics projected on a large screen in the brewery’s parking lot at Gilman and Eighth streets. Pyramid encourages people to bring their own seating; folding chairs are most common, but in past years audience members have shown up with sofas, beds, patio furniture—even a canoe. Gates open at 7 p.m., with shows scheduled to start at 7:30. 

Other films in the series include Planet of the Apes, The Seven Year Itch and Hitchcock’s Notorious. 

 

PYRAMID BREWERY’S  

OUTDOOR CINEMA SERIES 

901 Gilman St. 

www.epicarts.org/cinema 

Doors open at 7 p.m.; show at 7:30 p.m. $5 suggested donation.  

All ages welcome. 

 

Aug. 19: Butch Cassidy and the  

Sundance Kid 

Music by the JewGrass Boys and the JJ Schultz Band, presented by the Twang Cafe 

 

Aug. 26: Young Frankenstein 

Baseline Dada 

 

Sept. 2: no show 

 

Sept. 9: Notorious  

Music by Loretta Lynch 

 

Sept. 16: Planet of the Apes  

Music by Inspector Double Negative 

 

Sept. 23: This is Spinal Tap  

Music by the Rocket Queens 

 

Sept. 30: The Seven Year Itch  

Music by Project Pimento


Impressionism 101: Start in San Francisco

By Marta Yamamoto, Special to the Planet
Friday August 18, 2006

Radicals of the 1860s, they broke the rules and moved out of their studios. Away from poised portraits and still lives, they painted open-air scenes meant to capture everyday subjects in a passing moment. They painted with un-mixed vibrant colors in broad and daubed brushstrokes creating shimmering canvases bathed in light. The Impressionists turned their backs on academic painting, commanded attention and revolutionized the world of art. 

Claude Monet has been called the father of Impressionism. A collection of his paintings from Normandy is now on exhibit at the Legion of Honor. This exquisite body of work will whet your appetite for more, requiring a slightly longer field trip. Across the Atlantic, in Paris’ Musee D’Orsay, the artists of Impressionism offer a window on the evolution of a movement that spread beyond France and beyond visual art into music and literature. 

“Monet in Normandy” is the first exhibit highlighting Monet’s relationship with the area in which he spent much of his life. Its natural beauty—craggy limestone cliffs, crashing waves, seaside villages and harbors, quiet riverbanks—supplied inspiration for a lifetime of painting. In Normandy, Monet studied the light, atmosphere and nuances of season. 

Representing a span of over sixty years, fifty-three paintings reflect the stages of Monet’s life and career. In the 1860s the north coast featured prominently and The Garden at Sainte-Adresse is one of his most important seaside landscapes. The colors are bold and vivid with glittering sunshine on the sand and water. As with most of Monet’s work the perspective changes as the viewer moves back watching the scene shift. 

In 1870 Monet married and The Honeymoon at Trouville, along with several others, documents his honeymoon. Here, and in his Seaside Campaigns of the 1880s, the daubing technique becomes evident. In three weeks Monet created twenty paintings of the sea where swirling brushstrokes of purple, blue, green and white sequined power to the waves. 

As Monet’s relation with nature intensified he returned to the coast, focusing on landscapes and a recurring motif, the stone cottage. It was only when he needed money for his growing family that Monet added figures, creating paintings more saleable to his Paris clients. These landscapes, so reminiscent of our north coast, are my favorites. Bright sweeps of fields I ‘see’ as wildflowers, on closer examination, are mere daubs of paint, as are the figures themselves. 

Etretat, one of Normandy’s coastal treasures, was already a popular resort when Monet arrived. His solution was to select new, more challenging vantage points from which to capture the natural forms. In The Manneport and The Cliff, Monet’s geometric format brought order to a wild landscape; with his brushwork he created a mood of light and shadow.  

In 1883 Monet moved his family to Giverny and turned his attention to the surrounding countryside, the Seine, and his famous gardens. Twenty-five canvases were devoted to grainstacks with the light as much a subject as the stacks themselves, both infused with bands of soft pastels. 

A radical depiction of a religious icon sealed Monet’s reputation as an abstract artist. In Rouen, the capital of Normandy, Monet painted the cathedral repeatedly, from different angles and at different times of day, focusing on subtle changes in light. His Morning Effect canvas in soft toned blues that appear to be melting downward seemed to some viewers to be profane, making an integral part of history appear to dissolve. 

As the new century emerged the Giverny water gardens drove Monet. Inspired by the Japanese, the water, air and plant life combined into pattern, light and color, the culmination of Monet’s intimacy with nature. Canvases became larger as in the abstract Wisteria, with ribbons of color anchoring the composition, and Water Lilies, colors richly blending to create an overall mood of warmth and richness. 

In truth, Monet in Normandy was for me a very special encore, the main performance having taken place earlier during my stay in Paris. Touring the Musee D’Orsay, I feasted on the structure itself and its collection of 19th century French paintings. 

A reincarnation of the Gare d’Orsay, the Musee’s cathedral-like dimensions soar into a framework of glass and iron topped by a wonderful vaulted ceiling and two magnificent clocks. As I walked among the collections of fine arts, it was hard to imagine trains rumbling beneath my feet. 

Even if you’re there for the paintings, touring the ground floor sculpture promenade is a must. It’s here that you feel the full impact of the architecture while admiring the conservative slant of 19th century statuary. Balanced poses with perfect anatomy and curving lines in gleaming white stone are represented in La Source, Carpeaux and Lion Assis. On the mezzanine, Ours blanc resembles the Pepsi Polar bear, with simple lines and gentle face. 

A special vignette was my glimpse of future art enthusiasts. A group of French school children was seated before a marble sculpture, listening intently, occasionally jotting facts in a notebook, as the museum guide described the work and the artist. Later the scene was repeated before a display case of Degas sculptures. 

Away from architectural distractions, on the upper level, I toured galleries housing the museum’s collection of paintings. Never before had I encountered entire rooms devoted to the work of one artist, never before had I seen sufficient works to trace the evolution of a movement. Here I reveled in both. 

The Impressionist canvases of Renoir, Degas and Monet illustrate the birth of the movement: Renoir searching for the ideal in Bladu Moulin de la Galette, a waltzing blur of bright yellows; Degas’ interplay of realism and art in Au Cafe; Monet’s Coquelicots and Nympheas blue, flowers seeming adrift in field and pond. 

The paintings of Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cezanne carried me toward Post-Impressionism, emphasizing structure and subject. In Van Gogh’s Self Portrait and La Meridienne the colors and swirling, curving brushstrokes hold strong emotion, even inanimate objects are infused with life. Cezanne’s canvases appear more impersonal, his still life edges more defined and the composition of greater importance than the subject matter. 

Toulouse-Lautrec, Seurat and Gauguin moved further from the Impressionist ideal. Painting Montmartre’s underworld of outcasts, Toulouse-Lautrec caught his models in candid poses as in Jane Avril dansant. In Le Cirque, Neo-impressionist Seurat’s controlled daubs developed into pointillism, maximizing the luminous quality. Away from France, Gauguin painted his South Seas’ Eden using bright pure colors and simple flat images defined in black. The children in Le repas ou les bananes evoke the richness of their environment. 

Though continents apart, both exhibits were a feast for the eyes and soul. Art movements may come and go, the Impressionists transcend time and place. As close as San Francisco, as far as Paris, get lost in their color and form, applaud their courage and be thankful that museums exist to share these wonders. 

 

 

MONET IN NORMANDY  

Through Sept.17 at the Legion of Honor. 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Adults, $15; 13-17 years, $11; 12 and under, free. Lincoln Park, 34th and Clement, San Francisco, (415) 863-3330. www.thinker.org/legion.  

 

Smooth stone benches below an ornate ceiling seem the perfect spot to draw scuptures in the messanine of the Musée D’Orsay. Photograph by Marta Yamamoto.


About the House: A Few Tips on the Dangers of Excess Water Pressure

By Matt Cantor
Friday August 18, 2006

Pressurizing the entire municipal water system is not an easy matter. I’m sure glad I don’t have to do it. Everyone’s bound to be unhappy. If you’re down in the flats or close to a pumping station, you’re pressure is going to be very high. If you’re waaaaay up at the top of the hills, it’s going to be much lower. We pump up the system to a pressure that will make sure that the person furthest from the pump will still have enough pressure to get a decent shower, even when her darned husband flushes the toilet (If I’ve told that man one time, I’ve told him…). 

Given this scenario, it’s inevitable that some of us are going to end up with very high pressure in the interest of other getting enough (like the rich guy at the top of the hill!). One of the reasons that this is such an important issue for homeowners is that high pressure leads to leaks and these can be major. One of the most common leaks occurs at washing machine hoses. According to one source, washing machine hose breakages cause over $100 million worth of damage each year. Coming home to a flood in your home caused by the breakage in a $10 part is both unnecessary and traumatic. I’m no statistician but I’ve personally met a few people who this has happened to. My friend John just told me last week that this happened to his house a few weeks ago while he was out of town and it’s been devastating. If the leak occurs in the upstairs of a two- or three-story house, it can do a tremendous amount of damage. 

An easy way to help prevent this tragedy is to install metal-woven “no-burst” hoses on the back of your washing machine. They can manage much higher pressure and are far less likely to burst in response to high pressure.  

One can also use these same metal-jacketed hoses on the hose connections below fixtures such as toilets and sinks. Many of these are currently made of plastic with machine-crimped metal fittings at either end. A man named “Jonny” makes these for you and usually starts getting primed for partyin’ (if you catch my drift) early on Friday to get in the mood for his big night out. He runs the crimping machine and he’s probably made a few of those hoses for your house. Jonny’s hoses are cheaper, but I’m going for the metal ones. 

Just in case the higher pressure decides to cause a leak inside the washing machine or the water heater, I’d suggest adding a pan with a drain below these devices, especially if they’re higher up than the basement. I’ve mentioned these before in a different context but it bears repeating. 

Another thing that can be done to decrease the likelihood of leakage in the case of higher pressure is to install a pressure reducing valve on the entire house. This is particularly important if the pressure at your house is above 100 pounds per square inch (PSI). I’ve seen houses where the pressure was as high as 160 PSI and the likelihood of leakage is far higher in such cases because the water is pressing so hard on every hose and length of pipe and inside every appliance that it’s just a matter of time before something bursts. Even when pipes don’t burst, slow leaks are more common and more copious. A device of this kind cost around $100 and can be in the realm of $300-$500 to install if access isn’t too bad. 

These aren’t the only things that happen when the water pressure is high in your home. Another thing is that valves are harder to operate and quicker to wear out. This applies to all sorts of valves. 

Let’s take manual spigots for starts. When the pressure is high, it’s harder to turn the water all the way off and harder to adjust it to the pressure to the specific level that suits you. You’ll tend to wear washers out faster since you’re grinding them harshly in order to turn the water all the way off. You may find yourself replacing washers every few years in such a setting.  

Several types of machines, including dishwashers and clothes washers, have automatic electrically controlled water valves that operate several times during every wash cycle. When the pressure is very high, these tend to slam open every time they’re operated, gradually wearing them out and making quite a bit of noise. On occasion, I’ve been in a house and hear the bang of the washing machine every time a cycle started and then discovered that the pressure was quite high. A whole-house pressure-reducing valve is the solution in these cases and might help save your machines from costly repairs or premature replacement due to high water pressure. 

Beyond that noise maker, there is the very common water hammering that we’ve all heard. This is most commonly heard when a faucet is shut off. This sounds like the pipes are banging against something and can be quite noisy and unpleasant, especially if it’s the middle of the night and someone’s trying to sleep. 

Water hammering can be lessened by lowering house pressure but can also be addressed in a couple of other ways. One way is to install air chambers on the top ends of two or more pipes so that air becomes trapped at the top of these lengths of piping. The air is more easily compressed than water (lower density) and acts as a spring or cushion every time the pressure in the pipe changes rapidly (when you open, or more likely, shut a valve rapidly). There are also fancier ones available that can be pumped up with air from a compressor. Water hammering can also be lessened by the installation of an adequate number of pipe straps. When piping isn’t adequately strapped in place, it’s more free to jump around as pressures change (again, mostly from rapidly turning off the water). It’s easy to add straps wherever there is access to the pipes, such as in a basement so this is a good place to begin. 

Some final thoughts on this issue should be devoted to old vs. new piping. If you have really old and obstructed piping, it may be the high pressure that’s making a shower possible. So this issue, like many is more complex than first meets the eye. Nonetheless, I don’t really recommend this set of choices. If you’ve been coping with old galvanized piping that’s so filled in with mineral encrustment that it take 20 minutes for the toilet to refill, you may want to replace that old piping with copper. If you have copper, don’t be afraid of much lower pressures. I swear that I’ve measured houses at less than 30 PSI and found the showers to just gush, even when a toilet was flushed. Higher pressure isn’t the answer to adequate flow, pipe volume is. Nonetheless, if you’re coping with very old and sluggish piping, keep in mind that despite the poor flow, high pressure can still cause leaks and floods. 

Now this is not a dangerous matter and we’re just talking about money, comfort and possible water damage but, hey, if you can afford it, reducing the effects of high water pressure might offer you a better night’s sleep in more ways than one. 


Garden Variety: Work All Day? Plant a Night Garden to Welcome You Home

By Ron Sullivan
Friday August 18, 2006

Being a night person gives you a different look at things. Strolling at night or commuting to a night shift, especially when the moon’s out, you get to see gardens that no one else sees, even their owners. Silver leaves glow at night, and reshape a garden’s contours. White-flowered groundcovers make a garden float, changing perspectives and lifting a viewer off her own feet. Noises are damped, and what you hear is framed and given significance. There’s a feeling of privilege, of witnessing what mortals routinely miss. I can see where the stories of fairies in the bottom of the garden come from.  

We don’t usually get to visit nurseries at night, so choosing a night garden’s plants takes some thought. There are useful books, including Barbara Damrosch’s Theme Gardens which includes the lovely conceit of a crescent-shaped “moon garden.” Check out restaurant courtyards and take evening walks; quick photos or sketches help remember the plants you like.  

In our climate, a night garden needs shelter from cold fog and wind. You might be able to locate it in a convenient nook east or south of your house, or of the house next door. Otherwise, a planted or constructed screen of some sort is practically essential. If you can’t shelter your whole garden, give yourself a warm place in which to sit and watch it.  

You don’t want day-bright lighting; shadows and inference and leaving lots to the imagination give you a second garden, entirely different from the day’s scene. Most of us already have plenty of light, from streetlights and security lights and tall neighboring buildings. You might even want to plant a trellised vine or set up a bamboo screen to fend off the light from next door.  

You’ll need to light steps and hazards. Strings of tiny white bulbs, a couple of candles, luminaria, or a tiki torch can illuminate garden parties. Uplighting a dramatic tree is a common strategy because it works in any season, and might be the only light you need.  

Plants that are drought-adapted often have gray or silvery leaves. With good drainage, our native artemisia sages and their relatives like wormwood are tough and handsome. A cluster of these, with an echo of white blossoms at another strategic point, can be enough to reshape the perception of a small garden entirely.  

White flowers look good as a mass, or salted among other plants. An entirely white-blooming garden is automatically night-friendly. (If you use flowers for highlights, research your species to be sure they don’t, like white varieties of California poppy, close up after sunset.) Silver proteas are striking by day, otherworldly by night, and so are brugmansias. Clematis’ moplike seedheads catch light shining behind them; don’t overlook seedheads in general, especially the fluffy windborne kind, for late-season interest.  

Brugmansia, nicotiana, and other bat- and moth-pollinated flowers also reserve their fragrance for night, and so does night jessamine. Give that last some space; it can be overwhelming. It has white berries, too, and so does native snowberry bush; mockingbirds love both, and a bachelor mockingbird might sing all night in your garden. 

 

 

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 Daily Planet.  


Quake Tip of the Week

By Larry Guillot
Friday August 18, 2006

Will Uncle Sam Save Us? 

Many people wrongly believe that the U.S. government will rescue them financially if they suffer losses in an earthquake. The truth is that federal disaster assistance is only available when the president formally declares a disaster. Even if you do get disaster assistance, it is usually a loan that must be repaid with interest.  

Grants may be available, but are designed to meet only your most immediate needs, not to replace your losses. The average FEMA grant is less than $15,000—not nearly enough to rebuild a damaged home.  

The bottom line: As the folks in New Orleans sadly learned, you can’t count on any level of government to provide timely or significant help. Prepare yourself and your home, and start by having your home retrofitted, or have your existing retrofit evaluated. 

 

Larry Guillot is owner of QuakePrepare, an earthquake consulting, securing, and kit supply service. Call him at 558-3299, or visit www.quakeprepare.com.


Berkeley This Week

Friday August 18, 2006

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18 

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 

Friends of African Film Mama Africa Series will show three films of modern Africa by women film makers at 7:30 p.m. at 464 Van Buren, at Euclid, Oakland. friendsofafricanfilm@yahoo.com 

Conscientious Projector Series “A Case of Reasonable Doubt” on Mumia Abu- Jamal, capital punishment and the prison-industrial complex at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists’ Hall, 1924 Cedar at Bonita. Donations welcome. 528-5403 

Impeachapalooza Open Mic at 7 p.m. at Mediterraneum Cafe, 2475 Telegraph. Donation $5-$20, no one turned away. RSVP to nfoster@alamedanet.net  

“Be Wise: Prevent Scams, Fraud and Identity Theft” a presentation by Elder Financial Protection Network and SAIF and Assemblymember Loni Hancock at 11 a..m. at Richmond Annex Senior Center, 5801 Huntington Ave, Richmond. RSVP to 559-1406. 

Urban Renaissance High School Open House from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at 967 Stanford Ave., Oakland. 302-9199. www.envisionschools.org  

Circle Dancing Simple folkdancing in a circle, beginners welcome, at 8 p.m. at Finnish Brotherhood Hall, 1970 Chestnut St. at University. Donation $5. 528-4253. 

Berkeley Folk Dancers Community Classes and Teacher Workshop, for ages 8 and up, at 7:45 p.m. at Live Oak Park, 1301 Shattuck. Cost is $5. 

Ballroom Dancing at 8 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Building, 200 Grand Ave., Oakland. Live band and refreshments. Cost is $10. 925-934-9129. 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 8 p.m. at the East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St. 845-1041. 

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. 845-1143. 

SATURDAY, AUGUST 19 

Ohlone Dog Park Cleanup at 10 a.m. on Hearst between MLK Jr. Way and Grant. www.phlonedogpark.org 

Saturday Stories Listen to nature inspired stories in an outdoor setting at 10 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

“Hizbollah, Syria and Iran: Partnership and Rivalry in a Dangerous Neighborhood” with author and professor Fred H. Lawson, at 7 p.m. at the Home of Truth Center, 1300 Grand St., Alameda. Sponsored by the Alameda Public Affairs Forum. www.alamedaforum.org 

Vegetarian Cooking Class: Hearty Italian Cuisine 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. Registration required. 531-COOK.  

Hunt for Bugs on Cerrito Creek Discover interesting bugs, learn how to photograph them, and learn which ones are useful in the garden. From 10:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Cerrito Creek at the foot of Albany Hill. All ages welcome, younger children must be accompanied by an adult. If you have them, bring a camera, hand lens, clear plastic container or net. Registration required. Donation of $2-$5 requested. 848-9358. 

Butterflies, Birds and Bees Search for winged pollinators on an easy 3-mile walk for the entire family. Meet at 2 p.m. at the Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Plant Parenthood Party Volunteers needed to prepare seedlings for local restoration projects in Stege Marsh. From 9 a.m. to noon at 1327 South 46th St., Richmond. 665-3689. 

Historical and Botanical Walking Tour at 10 a.m. at the Chapel of the Chimes 4499 Piedmont Ave, Oakland. Free 228-3207. 

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. 

Tomato Tastings from 10 am. to 3 p.m. at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market, Center St. at MLK, Jr. Way. Cooking demonstration at 11 a.m. 548-2220. 

Oakland Heritage Walking Tour of Inner Elmhurst from 10 a.m. to noon. Meet at Arroya Viejo Recreation Center, 7701 Krause Ave., at 77th St. Cost is $5-$15. 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

Walking Tour of Oakland Chinatown Meet at 10 a.m. at the courtyard fountain in the Pacific Renaissance Plaza at 388 Ninth St. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. 

Urban Releaf Tree Tour of Oakland and workshops in urban forestry that teach tree planting, maintenance, GIS/GPS systems, and community advocacy. For information call 601-9062. www.urbanreleaf.org  

Old Oakland Outdoor Cinema “The Joy Luck Club” at dusk on Ninth St., between Broadway and Washington. Limited seating, bring your own chair or blanket. Free. 238-4734. 

Produce Stand at Spiral Gardens Food Security Project from 1 to 6 p.m. at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon St. 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden Sat. and Sun. at 2 pm. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

Around the World Tour of Plants at 1:30 p.m., Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

Spiritwalking: Aqua Chi(TM) at 10 a.m. at the Berkeley High Warm Pool. Cost is $5.50, $3.50 seniors & disabled. Bring your own towels. 526-0312. 

Yoga for Peace at 9:30 a.m. at Ohlone Park, MLK at Hearst. Bring a yoga mat, warm blanket, and peace sign.  

Adult Fast Pitch Softball at noon. For location call 204-9500.  

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

SUNDAY, AUGUST 20 

Streamside Saunter An easy 3 mile walk along shady Wildcat and Laurel Creeks to discover diverse plant and animal communities. Meet at 10 a.m. at the Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Oakland Heritage Walking Tour of Fruitvale “Mushroom City” from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Meet at the Fruitvale Hotel, 3221 San Leandro St. Cost is $5-$15. 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

Bike Tour of Oakland A leisurely two-hour trip covering about 5 miles, led by museum docents. Meet at 10 a.m. at the 10th St. entrance of the Oakland Museum of California. Reservations required. 238-3514. 

Solo Sierrans Bike Ride from Emeryville to Berkeley Marina Waterfront. Meet at 3 p.m. in front of the Watergate Clipper Club, 6 Captain Drive, Emeryville. Registration required. 923-1094. 

“The Human and Legal Issues Surrounding Immigration” with a screening of “Dying to Live,” on the plight of migrants from Mexico and Central America crossing the Arizona desert, at 4 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship Hall, 1924 Cedar St. Sponsored by Progressive Democrats of the East Bay. 636-4149. 

Community Labyrinth Peace Walk at 3 p.m., at Willard Middle School, Telegraph Ave. between Derby & Stuart. Everyone welcome. Wheelchair accessible. 526-7377. 

Summer Reading Celebration with crafts, stories and music with Gary Laplow, from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Oakland Museum, 1000 Oak St. Free to children who completed the Summer Reading Program.  

Free Hands-on Bicycle Clinic Learn how to repair flats from 10 to 11 a.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Healthy Home An introduction to sustainable living at noon at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

Summer Sunday Forum with Dr. Chris O’Sulivan on the Middle East at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302, ext. 306. 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712.  

Tibetan Buddhism with Erika Rosenberg on “Opening to Feeling” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812.  

MONDAY, AUGUST 21 

Summer Science Week for ages 9 to 12, covering biology and other natural science topics from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mon. - Fri. in Tilden Park. Cost is $160. Registration required. 636-1684.  

Community Conversations on the Crisis in the Middle East with Yitzhak Santis of Jewish Community Relations Council at 7:30 p.m. at JGate in El Cerrito, near El Cerrito Plaza and BART. 559-8140.  

Beat Back Bush Workout dance video at 8 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Donation $5-$10. www.bbbwork.net 

“Discuss Your Values to Find Your Passion” monthly discussion group at 6:45 p.m. at Heartwalker Studio, 4920 Telegraph Ave. at 49th. Donation $15. 415-839-1074.  

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, AUGUST 22 

Tuesday is for the Birds A tranquil early morning walk. Bring water, sunscreen, binoculars and a snack. Call for meeting place. 525-2233. 

Tomato Tastings from 2 to 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market, Derby St. at MLK, Jr. Way. 548-2220. 

Tilden Tots Join a nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! Meet at 10 a.m. at the Regional Parks Botanic Garden to look for reptiles. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Raging Grannies of the East Bay invites new folks to join us the 2nd and 4th Tues, of each month, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. to sing (any voice will do), help plan our next gig, at Berkeley Gray Panthers office, 1403 Addison St. 548-9696. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your digital images, slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. We always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23 

Benefit for Lebanese Refugees, hosted by Dar Al Amal and Amnesty International at 6 p.m. at Youth Radio Café, 1801 University of Grant. Donation $12 and up. 499-9402. 

Disaster Preparedness for Your Pet presented by Noah’s Wish, an organization which provided shelter for animals after Hurricane Katrina, at 6:30 p.m. at the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society, 2700 Ninth St. at Carleton. Donation of $10 requested. Seating limited. 845-7735, ext. 22. www.berkeleyhumane.org 

Conversation with Bob Watada, father of Lt. Ehren Watada, first U.S. Military officer to publicly resist illegal war and occupation of Iraq, at 10:30 a.m. in Heller Lounge, Student Union Building, UC Campus. ninakfallenbaum@hotmail.com 

Making Another World Possible: Beyond Debt Cancellation, Who Owes Whom? at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1606 Bonita near Cedar. 527-3917. 

Berkeley Adult School Open House for Career and Technical Education programs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at 1701 San Pablo Ave. at Virginia. 644-8973.  

Tilden Tots Join a nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! Meet at 10 a.m. at the Regional Parks Botanic Garden to look for reptiles. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Walking Tour of Old Oakland around the restored 1870s business district. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of G.B. Ratto’s at 827 Washington St. For reservations call 238-3234.  

“Farenheit 451” a film based on the novel by Ray Bradbury on Cold War fears, at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donation $5. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction Wed. and Sat. at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

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. 

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. 848-1704. www.ecologycenter.org 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at 6:30 p.m. at the downtoen berkeley BART. www.geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, AUGUST 24 

Symposium on Employment Conditions for College and University Teachers with union representatives and Joe Berry, author of “Reclaiming the Ivory Tower: Organizing Adjuncts to Change Higher Education” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

“Nurses vs. Arnold” A new Robert Greenwald documentary premieres at 7 p.m. at the Grand Lake Theater, 3200 Grand Ave., Oakland. www.Yes on89.org 

Berkeley Community Gardening Collective Potluck at 6 p.m. at the Malcom X School Garden, Ellis St. and Ashby Ave. The speaker will be Melanie Okamoto of the California Nutrition Network. 883-9096. 

Family Fun Night at Point Pinole Regional Shoreline at 6 p.m., includes presentations by naturalists and arts and crafts projects for the whole family. 525-2233. 

League of Women Voters Community Luncheon, with Christopher Edley, Jr., Dean of Boalt Hall School of Law, at 11:30 a.m. at Hs Lordships at the Berkeley Marina. Cost is $75. 843-8828. 

Ecovillages Presentation Find out what an ecovillage is and how the ecovillage movement affects the environment, the economy, and social justice issues at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220. 

Easy Does It Disability Assistance Board of Directors’ Meeting at 6:30 p.m. at 1744A University Ave. All welcome. 845-5513. 

ACCI Seconds Sale from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Sun. at 1652 Shattuck Ave. 843-2527. 

Clothing Swap and Silkscreening Workshop, at 6:30 p.m. at Nabolom Bakery, 2708 Russell St. 845-BAKE. 


Corrections

Friday August 18, 2006

The names of two candidates were incorrectly reported in the Aug. 15 story “Incumbents Hit Filing Deadline.” 

The correct names of the candidates are Pam Webster, a Berkeley Rent Stablization Board candidate, and Caryl O’Keefe, who is running for Albany City Council.