The Week

Superintendent Michele Lawrence introduces herself to new first-grade parent Lucia Sayre while first-grader Henry Sayre examines his new backpack. Photgraph by Mark Coplan.
Superintendent Michele Lawrence introduces herself to new first-grade parent Lucia Sayre while first-grader Henry Sayre examines his new backpack. Photgraph by Mark Coplan.
 

News

Rosa Parks Welcomes New Families

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday September 01, 2006

For 6-year-old Eli Lebowitz, going to school on Monday evening was exciting because he got to attend a barbecue, meet all his friends before starting school on Wednesday and even receive a brand new backpack full of school supplies. -more-


Katrina Refugees Settle in East Bay

By Judith Scherr
Friday September 01, 2006

When Jackie Tolbert sang “Amazing Grace” at the corner of Twelfth Street and Broadway in downtown Oakland on Tuesday, the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, tears welled in the eyes of several of the listeners from her hometown—New Orleans. -more-


Bail Release Granted For Video Journalist

Bay City News
Friday September 01, 2006

A freelance journalist who has spent a month in prison was granted release on bail by a federal appeals court in San Francisco today while he appeals a subpoena requiring him to give a videotape of a demonstration to a U.S. grand jury. -more-


Labor Collective Fights KPFA Ban

By Judith Scherr
Friday September 01, 2006

The name of its parent foundation is Pacifica. Nonetheless, during the more-than-half-century of progressive radio programming, KPFA has often been home to interpersonal tensions that periodically boil over into public view. -more-


Oakland Schools Test Scores on the Rise, Some Drop

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday September 01, 2006

Total Academic Performance Index (API) scores for the Oakland Unified School District rose 19 points from 634 to 653 in scores released this week by the California Department of Education. -more-


SUV Collides with Berkeley School Bus, Minor Injuries

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday September 01, 2006

A Mercedes Sport Utility Vehicle rammed into a Berkeley school bus stopped at a red light on Sacramento Street Wednesday afternoon. -more-


Condo Conversion Language Goes Before Judge

By Judith Scherr
Friday September 01, 2006

The question of changes to the law regulating condominium conversion is supposed to go before the voters in November. But Measure I is taking a detour to court today (Friday). -more-


DAPAC Forms Group to Study Hotel Plan

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday September 01, 2006

The Downtown Area Planning Committee (DAPAC) voted on Wednesday to form a subcommittee that would deal specifically with issues related to Center Street and the new hotel planned for the intersection of Shattuck Avenue. -more-


‘Green Machines’ Arrive to Clean-Up Telegraph

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday September 01, 2006

Green Machines, cleaner sidewalks, brighter lights, bicycle cops, and a brand new website are just some of the changes Berkeley has initiated to kick off the $360,000 Telegraph Avenue revitalization campaign. -more-


First Person: Lamenting the Loss of The Telegraph of Old

By Phil McArdle
Friday September 01, 2006

Telegraph Avenue has been our Broadway, our Hollywood and Vine, our street of dreams, our own theater of excess. Is it still? Perhaps for some. Maybe for newcomers. It isn’t for me, not any more, even though I go there every once in awhile. It is where I shop for books or CDs I can’t find anywhere else. For me, the street doesn’t have its old aura. It doesn’t promise exciting developments in the arts or politics. I no longer expect anything of it except new chain stores and trouble. -more-


Back to Berkeley: The Independent Bookstore Scene Is Alive and Well

By Joe Eaton, Special to the Planet
Friday September 01, 2006

Yes, we miss Cody’s on Telegraph. Its closing was like a death in the family. But contrary to the East Bay Express’ predictably snarky cover story, the independent bookstore scene is alive and well in the Bay Area. Bookbuyers are still holding out against the blandishments of Barnes & Noble and Borders, and the online convenience of Amazon. Berkeley is home to a whole constellation of bookstores, generalist and specialist, used and new, with something for just about everyone—and then there’s Oakland and San Francisco. -more-


Back to Berkeley: A Guide to Bay Area Outdoor Theater Festivals

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Friday September 01, 2006

Though summer’s waning, one of its staples of performance spills over into the fall—outdoor theater. Traditionally, September and October feature the best weather of the year for coast and Bayside communities, the summer fog replaced by mellow warmth. -more-


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-


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-


Opinion

Editorials

Possible Extension for OUSD Land Sale Talks

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday September 01, 2006

With Oakland Unified School District officials confirming a report that an extension is being considered on a deadline to reach a contract agreement over the sale of OUSD downtown properties, local activists continue to escalate activities to stop the sale altogether. -more-


Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Friday September 01, 2006

BROWER CENTER -more-


Commentary: Yes, Berkeley Schools Are for Local Kids

By David Baggins
Friday September 01, 2006

Local public schools, well supported and integral to the community, are at the heart of the progressive tradition. Perhaps only in Berkeley is this a controversial statement. When I decided just weeks ago to campaign for School Board service I did so with a sense that a whole election season would otherwise go by without discussion of the meaningful issues that affect the schools. -more-


Commentary: The Future of Zero Waste is Here

By Arthur Boone
Friday September 01, 2006

Recently, and without much fanfare, the cities of Berkeley and Oakland adopted zero waste policy statements and have begun the long task of designing programs to implement that policy; Palo Alto, about to close its local dump, is a year ahead of them. As these local policies slipped through the decision-making process with little acrimony, it’s appropriate to look at the roots of these actions. -more-


Commentary: Your Own Personal Carbon Credits

By Hank Chapot
Friday September 01, 2006

Local papers are reporting that Burning Man is addressing its energy usage in a scheme called Cooling Man (coolingman.org) wherein Burners can pay for their energy usage by purchasing “carbon offsets” and reduce the festival’s global warming impacts. A fine idea, but the claim that participants will “offset” their global warming impact “the same way as a large corporations do” by investing in clean energy projects is not exactly correct. It hides the larger problem of current free-market answers to global warming. -more-


Commentary: Local Residents Benefit from Oak to 9th Plan

By Gabriel de Leon and Howard Greenwich
Friday September 01, 2006

Opponents of the Oak to 9th development project in Oakland have made one thing clear—they can make their voices heard (“Can Oakland Re-Think Oak to 9th?” Editorial, Daily Planet, Aug. 18). However, being vocal is not the same thing as being accurate. -more-


Commentary: My Uncle’s ‘Accident’—Pride and Shame in Little Kabul

By Mahtab Shabzad, New America Media
Friday September 01, 2006

UNION CITY—“He got into an accident. That will be our story,” my father said to me. “You can’t tell anyone what really happened. It will shame our family. Your uncle was a coward. He didn’t think of anyone but himself. But he was sick, I suppose. He had to have been to have done what he did.” -more-


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-


Columns

Column: Dispatches From the Edge: The Aftermath of Lebanon: Myths and Dark Plans

By Conn Hallinan
Friday September 01, 2006

The Middle East has always been a place where illusion paves the road to disaster. -more-


Column: Undercurrents: Solving Oakland’s Crime: Staying for the Whole Play

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday September 01, 2006

Some years ago, when I lived in South Carolina, two black men reportedly got into a fight on someone’s front porch over who had eaten the largest portion of a watermelon they were supposed to be sharing, the result being that one of the men went into the house and got his pistol and shot the other one to death. This being South Carolina, there were a lot of sniggering comments in some circles about “Well, you know, you can’t mess with a black man’s watermelon,” the incident passing on into story and legend as “the time the man got shot over a watermelon.” -more-


Berkeley’s Best Unkept Secrets

By Marta Yamamoto, Special to the Planet
Friday September 01, 2006

Feeling at home in a new location requires time, effort and a little luck. Where to go for quality foods, reasonable eats and outdoor pursuits? To minimize time and effort and maximize pleasure, take the advice of every travel guide writer and look for the locals. Patrons eagerly waiting for doors to open, long lines and a mixed bag of clientele are sure signs that Berkeley’s favorites are poorly kept secrets. -more-


About the House; Checking Out Your Furnace for the Winter

By Matt Cantor
Friday September 01, 2006

This is a good time of year to take a look at our furnaces. One reason is that that’s true is that servicing can lead to repairs (or, Oh No, replacement) and this can take your furnace off line for some days and it’s better to face such an eventuality when it’s sunny and warm than when you really need the heat. Also, the best service folks (HVAC or Heating Ventilation & Air Conditioning technicians) are busy when the winter hits and everyone’s turned on their furnace for the first time only to discover something that’s gone awry. In fact, you’ll have your pick of the best HVAC folks if you get them at this time of year. -more-


Scents in the Garden Come From More Than Flowers

By Ron Sullivan
Friday September 01, 2006

Flowers are the most obvious way to scent a garden, but they have lots of company. Fragrance in other plant parts is generally a side effect of strategies for things other than reproduction: water conservation, pest protection, even fire resistance. -more-


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 & Events

Arts Calendar

Friday September 01, 2006

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 -more-


Moving Pictures: Pacific Film Archive Examines ‘The Mechanical Age’

By Justin DeFreitas
Friday September 01, 2006

Pacific Film Archive is taking a look back at the mechanical age from the vantage point of the digital age, screening films that in one way or another exemplify cinematic obsessions with machines. The films range from the silent era—including works by Fritz Lang and comedians Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin—to more recent fare such as Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands (1990) and David Cronenberg’s Crash (1996). -more-


‘Diary of a Scoundrel’ at Masquers

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Friday September 01, 2006

By Ken Bullock -more-


Berkeley’s Best Unkept Secrets

By Marta Yamamoto, Special to the Planet
Friday September 01, 2006

Feeling at home in a new location requires time, effort and a little luck. Where to go for quality foods, reasonable eats and outdoor pursuits? To minimize time and effort and maximize pleasure, take the advice of every travel guide writer and look for the locals. Patrons eagerly waiting for doors to open, long lines and a mixed bag of clientele are sure signs that Berkeley’s favorites are poorly kept secrets. -more-


About the House; Checking Out Your Furnace for the Winter

By Matt Cantor
Friday September 01, 2006

This is a good time of year to take a look at our furnaces. One reason is that that’s true is that servicing can lead to repairs (or, Oh No, replacement) and this can take your furnace off line for some days and it’s better to face such an eventuality when it’s sunny and warm than when you really need the heat. Also, the best service folks (HVAC or Heating Ventilation & Air Conditioning technicians) are busy when the winter hits and everyone’s turned on their furnace for the first time only to discover something that’s gone awry. In fact, you’ll have your pick of the best HVAC folks if you get them at this time of year. -more-


Scents in the Garden Come From More Than Flowers

By Ron Sullivan
Friday September 01, 2006

Flowers are the most obvious way to scent a garden, but they have lots of company. Fragrance in other plant parts is generally a side effect of strategies for things other than reproduction: water conservation, pest protection, even fire resistance. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Friday September 01, 2006

FRIDAY, SEPT. 1 -more-


Arts Calendar

Tuesday August 29, 2006

TUESDAY, AUGUST 29 -more-


The Berkeley Book Tribe

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

If you are new to Berkeley, chances are that up to now you’ve done your book shopping online or at a giant chain store in the nearest mall. -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-


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday August 29, 2006

TUESDAY, AUGUST 29 -more-