EDC Parent Floriana Santos talks with Monique Moss and her daughter Alliya, a student in the program, in front of the former home of the program last week. The site is now being renovated for use by Berkeley High students, leaving the day care program to share space with Washington Elementary School. Photograph by Riya Bhattacharjee.
EDC Parent Floriana Santos talks with Monique Moss and her daughter Alliya, a student in the program, in front of the former home of the program last week. The site is now being renovated for use by Berkeley High students, leaving the day care program to share space with Washington Elementary School. Photograph by Riya Bhattacharjee.

Page One

Classroom Shuffle Outrages Parents

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday August 29, 2006

Parents of students attending the Extended Day Care (EDC) program at Washington Elementary School in Berkeley are furious that their children had to sit outside in the cold last week because of a mix-up over moving to a new space. -more-



Landmarks Measure Gets Day in Court

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday August 29, 2006

A Superior Court hearing on the ballot language for Berkeley’s landmark preservation initiative Measure J will be held on an expedited basis Sept. 5 for a decision to be made by the Sept. 7 deadline for finalizing the November ballot. -more-



Alta Bates Neighbors Complain Of Traffic, Construction Noise

By Rio Bauce
Tuesday August 29, 2006

On Friday, the Inter-Neighborhood Hospital Review Committee (IHRC) met with Alta Bates administrators and city officials, regarding traffic issues, construction, and the Bateman Mall. -more-



Disabled Sue Caltrans Over Dangerous Highways

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday August 29, 2006

Whenever Mark Hendrix, who lives near Telegraph Avenue and uses a wheelchair to get around, wants to go down Ashby Avenue to browse at Urban Ore on Seventh Street, he takes the bus. -more-



City Officials Take Blame for Housing Authority Mess

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday August 29, 2006

Members of the Save Berkeley Housing Authority (Save BHA), low-income Berkeley residents and city officials got together at the South Berkeley Senior Center on Saturday to discuss the future of public housing and the Section 8 program in Berkeley. -more-



Clifton Files Tardy Financial Disclosure

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday August 29, 2006

Peralta Community College District Trustee Alona Clifton moved to diffuse a potentially embarrassing campaign issue this week, filing a year’s worth of delinquent, semi-annual campaign finance disclosure reports with the Alameda County Registrar’s Office only days after a newly-formed citizens group had filed a complaint over the issue with the California Fair Political Practices Commission. -more-



Features

First Human Death from West Nile in Contra Costa County

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday August 29, 2006

An elderly woman died Thursday in central Contra Costa County from West Nile virus, a mosquito-borne disease transmitted to humans and animals through mosquito bites. -more-


Gates Foundation Taps Local Entrepreneur

Tuesday August 29, 2006

Fay Twersky was not looking to leave BTW informing change, the West Berkeley consulting firm she co-founded eight years ago. But in a June meeting with her staff, she surprised them—and, to some extent, herself—with unexpected news: In September she would be packing up and moving to Seattle to join the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. -more-


In Brazil, Lula’s Supporters Find an End to Absolutes

By Marlene Nadle, New America Media
Tuesday August 29, 2006

RIO DE JANEIRO—In dingy Brazilian offices and outdoor cafes, President Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva’s disappointed supporters are huddling around their moment of truth. People are trying to figure out how to relate to a man and political party that were supposed to represent them but have failed to do so on many levels. Conversations often begin, but do not end, with the question of whether to vote for Lula again in October. -more-


Contra Costa County Candidates Nights

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday August 29, 2006

The following is a list of upcoming meetings with candidates for various public offices in Contra Costa County. -more-


Police Blotter

By Rio Bauce
Tuesday August 29, 2006

Larceny -more-


Public Comment

Letters to the Editor: What Opinions Belong in an Open Press?

Tuesday August 29, 2006

EDITOR’S NOTE: We got a lot of letters about our decision to print an anti-Jewish letter on our opinion pages, and about the letters we ran last Tuesday from some Jewish leaders and some politicians denouncing that decision. Many of our readers are tired of hearing about this topic and would like us to get back to other matters. In these pages we attempt to run most of the comments which came in before our deadline at one time and be done with it. We’re holding letters on other matters until Friday to make space. -more-


Commentary: The University of Oakland: An Impossible Dream?

By Joanne Kowalski
Tuesday August 29, 2006

“Oakland Unified School District trustees ... introduc(ed) a proposal to build a ‘new, permanent, state of the art education center’ on the 8.25-acre property ... (that) would house a kindergarten through high school program, the two early childhood development centers ... and the district administrative office.” -more-


Commentary: Really Being Green, Not Just Whistling Yourself Green

By Willi Paul
Tuesday August 29, 2006

We got a thousand points of light, For the homeless man -more-


Editorial

Editorial: Is ‘Berkeley for the Berkeleyans’ Good Public Policy?

By Becky O’Malley
Friday August 25, 2006

The ever-estimable Nation magazine’s latest issue highlights, among other things, what the cover calls “the new nativism”—the most recent episode in the “America for the Americans” tendency that has been with this nation since its founding. One article traces its historic roots: all the way from Ben Franklin in the 18th century inveighing against German immigrants to Pennsylvania (now the belovedly quaint Pennsylvania “Dutch”) through anti-Irish riots at the beginning of the 19th century at the time of the Potato Famine immigration, on to the Chinese exclusion advocated by the Irish-American Dennis Kearney’s Workingmen’s Party in the West during the last part of that century, culminating in the 20th century charge against “hyphenated-Americans” led first by Theodore Roosevelt, followed by the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. The 1965 immigration law reform was supposed to have put an end to national-origins quotas, but now all over the U.S. there’s a revival of crusades against Spanish-speaking immigrants both legal and undocumented. Xenophobia—the pathological distrust of outsiders—in other words is as American as cherry pie, as Stokely Carmichael was once castigated for saying about violence. -more-


Columns

Column: Fleas, Flies, Frank And the Almost Failed

By Susan Parker
Tuesday August 29, 2006

Over the summer we halted a flea invasion by taking the dog to the vet and hiring an exterminator. We removed the rodent population by cutting down a vine and carefully placing poison in humanly inaccessible places. We foiled a fly infestation by discovering the source, removing it, and scouring the house. We survived a trip to the emergency room and the follow-up recovery by administering antibiotics through a PIC line at home. We thwarted the return from jail of an unwanted visitor by calling the cops and taking out a restraining order. -more-


The Rise and Fall Of the City of Paper

By Joe Eaton, Special to the Planet
Tuesday August 29, 2006

It was an impressive object: somewhere between soccer ball- and basketball-sized, hanging just above eye level in a tanoak tree. A couple of its inhabitants, big black wasps with white markings, were at work on its outer surface. They were white-faced or bald-faced hornets, and the corrugated gray spheroid was their nest. -more-


Arts Listings

Arts Calendar

Tuesday August 29, 2006

The Berkeley Book Tribe

By Dorothy Bryant, Special to the Planet
Tuesday August 29, 2006

Events Listings

Berkeley This Week

Tuesday August 29, 2006

Back Stories

Opinion

Editorials

Editorial: Is ‘Berkeley for the Berkeleyans’ Good Public Policy? 08-25-2006

Public Comment

Letters to the Editor: What Opinions Belong in an Open Press? 08-29-2006

Commentary: The University of Oakland: An Impossible Dream? By Joanne Kowalski 08-29-2006

Commentary: Really Being Green, Not Just Whistling Yourself Green By Willi Paul 08-29-2006

Letters to the Editor 08-25-2006

Commentary: Rolling Out Berkeley’s Green Carpet By Mayor Tom Bates 08-25-2006

Commentary: LBNL: 75 Years of Science, 75 Years of Pollution By L A Wood 08-25-2006

News

Classroom Shuffle Outrages Parents By Riya Bhattacharjee 08-29-2006

Landmarks Measure Gets Day in Court By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 08-29-2006

Alta Bates Neighbors Complain Of Traffic, Construction Noise By Rio Bauce 08-29-2006

Disabled Sue Caltrans Over Dangerous Highways By Judith Scherr 08-29-2006

City Officials Take Blame for Housing Authority Mess By Riya Bhattacharjee 08-29-2006

Clifton Files Tardy Financial Disclosure By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 08-29-2006

First Human Death from West Nile in Contra Costa County By Judith Scherr 08-29-2006

Gates Foundation Taps Local Entrepreneur 08-29-2006

In Brazil, Lula’s Supporters Find an End to Absolutes By Marlene Nadle, New America Media 08-29-2006

Contra Costa County Candidates Nights By Judith Scherr 08-29-2006

Police Blotter By Rio Bauce 08-29-2006

Angelides Woos Berkeley In Backyard Pow-Wow By Judith Scherr 08-25-2006

Maio Faces Mitchell In District 1 Race By Judith Scherr 08-25-2006

Book Alleges Mob Ties to Jerry Brown By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 08-25-2006

School Board Gets Back to Work After Summer Recess By Riya Bhattacharjee 08-25-2006

Incoming Freshman Take First Look at BHS By Riya Bhattacharjee 08-25-2006

Berkeley City College Opens, Ready or Not By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 08-25-2006

Equity and Inclusion Chancellor Post Created for UC By Riya Bhattacharjee 08-25-2006

Democratic Clubs Debate Over a Place for Greens By Judith Scherr 08-25-2006

Upcoming Political Candidate Events 08-25-2006

Column: Undercurrents: ‘Sydewayz’ Video Celebrates Sideshow Culture By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 08-25-2006

Ethnic Media Share Survival Stories One Year after Katrina By Donal Brown, New America Media 08-25-2006

Back to Berkeley: East Bay Celebrates Diversity With Festivals, Fairs, Parades By Joe Eaton, Special to the Planet 08-25-2006

Columns

Column: Fleas, Flies, Frank And the Almost Failed By Susan Parker 08-29-2006

The Rise and Fall Of the City of Paper By Joe Eaton, Special to the Planet 08-29-2006

Central Oregon Coast: Uncrowded Beaches, Spectacular Ocean Vistas, Bargain Prices and 3 Skate Parks By Carole Terwilliger Meyers 08-25-2006

East Bay Then and Now: SBCC: A Grand Building On a Modest Scale By Daniella Thompson 08-25-2006

About the House: New Houses Aren’t Quite as Trouble-Free as They Seem By Matt Cantor 08-25-2006

Garden Variety: Selecting Plants with Natural Scents in Mind By Ron Sullivan 08-25-2006

Arts & Events

Arts Calendar 08-29-2006

The Berkeley Book Tribe By Dorothy Bryant, Special to the Planet 08-29-2006

The Rise and Fall Of the City of Paper By Joe Eaton, Special to the Planet 08-29-2006

Berkeley This Week 08-29-2006

Arts Calendar 08-25-2006

Sankofa Institute Presents Charlie Parker Symposium By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet 08-25-2006

Moving Pictures: The Birth of Animation By Justin DeFreitas 08-25-2006

Central Oregon Coast: Uncrowded Beaches, Spectacular Ocean Vistas, Bargain Prices and 3 Skate Parks By Carole Terwilliger Meyers 08-25-2006

East Bay Then and Now: SBCC: A Grand Building On a Modest Scale By Daniella Thompson 08-25-2006

About the House: New Houses Aren’t Quite as Trouble-Free as They Seem By Matt Cantor 08-25-2006

Garden Variety: Selecting Plants with Natural Scents in Mind By Ron Sullivan 08-25-2006

Berkeley This Week 08-25-2006