Rob Wrenn points out election results Tuesday night as Councilmember Kriss Worthington looks over his shoulder at the Telegraph Avenue headquarters. James Marshall, right, looks on. The results were close, but Worthington had edged ahead by 1 a.m. Photograph by Ted Overman / Progressive MediaWorks
Rob Wrenn points out election results Tuesday night as Councilmember Kriss Worthington looks over his shoulder at the Telegraph Avenue headquarters. James Marshall, right, looks on. The results were close, but Worthington had edged ahead by 1 a.m. Photograph by Ted Overman / Progressive MediaWorks

Page One

Back to the Future for the Berkeley City Council

By Judith Scherr
Friday November 10, 2006

More than half a million dollars and piles of glossy mailers later, campaign weary incumbent mayoral and council candidates—Mayor Tom Bates and Council-members Gordon Wozniak, Kriss Worthington, Dona Spring and Linda Maio—will retake their old seats on the familiar council dais. -more-



Measure J Defeated, Supporters Vow Fight

By Richard Brenneman
Friday November 10, 2006

Though Berkeley voters rejected Measure J Tuesday, backers say they’ll go back to the electorate if city councilmembers adopt the new landmarks ordinance they passed on first reading in July. -more-



Mixed Results for Sequoia Voting System

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday November 10, 2006

With Alameda County operating its new Sequoia voting system for the first time in last Tuesday’s general election, the county experienced its share of opening -more-



Riddle, Issel and Hemphill Win BUSD Seats

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday November 10, 2006

Incumbents Nancy Riddle, Shirley Issel and challenger Karen Hemphill have won the three open seats on the five-member Berkeley Board of Education. -more-



Anti-Mall Duo Win in Albany; Green Candidate Claims Richmond Victory

By Richard Brenneman
Friday November 10, 2006

While Albany’s going to pot, Richmond may be getting a new mayor and El Cerrito is in for the same old, same old. -more-



Features

Berkeley Condo Conversion Fails, Measure H and G Pass

By Judith Scherr
Friday November 10, 2006

The defeat of Measure I, a property-owner-backed measure that would have eased conversion of rental units to condominiums, was much easier than No on I coordinator Jesse Arreguin had anticipated. -more-


Kernighan Reelected, Guillen Wins Peralta Seat, Ruby New Oakland Auditor

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday November 10, 2006

In the three major contests in this week’s election for positions in Oakland-area government, voters split the difference, with two incumbents turned out and one incumbent re-elected. -more-


Search Begins for Next Berkeley Library Director

By Judith Scherr
Friday November 10, 2006

A search for a new Berkeley Library director has begun. -more-


Pamyla Means Nominated To Fill City Clerk Post

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday November 10, 2006

City Manager Phil Kamlarz will be asking the Berkeley City Council in closed session on Monday to approve the appointment of Pamyla C. Means as City Clerk. -more-


Caplan Named City Finance Head

By Richard Brenneman
Friday November 10, 2006

One of Berkeley’s neighborhood services liaisons, Michael Caplan, got a new job Thursday when he was named acting manager of the city’s Office of Economic Development. -more-


Veterans Day Celebrated Saturday

By Richard Brenneman
Friday November 10, 2006

Saturday, 88 years after the guns went silent in Europe at the end of World War I, Berkeley will celebrate Veterans Day with a flag ceremony at Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park. -more-


Planning Commission Toasts Proposition 90’s Defeat

By Richard Brenneman
Friday November 10, 2006

There was at least one post-election celebration in Berkeley that brought together Bates and Bronstein backers and Measure J fans and foes in a common spirit of -more-


LeConte Students Conduct Exit Poll

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday November 10, 2006

Third- and fourth-graders at LeConte Elementary School skipped their science, math and writing classes on Tuesday for a hands-on lesson in civic participation. -more-


Groups Plan Protest Against Pacific Steel

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday November 10, 2006

West Berkeley residents will join environmental justice groups and community members on Saturday in a rally against the toxic pollution and noxious odors emanating from Pacific Steel Casting. -more-


News Analysis: Immigration Reform Surprise: Hard Liners Lost

By Frank Sharry, New America Media
Friday November 10, 2006

In the months leading up to Tuesday’s election, the conventional wisdom in Washington, D.C., was that immigration would be a powerful wedge issue that would help the Republicans either limit their losses or even retain control of the House of Representatives. -more-


The Public Demands Solutions

By Frank Sharry, New America Media
Friday November 10, 2006

Two polls, one on the eve of the election, the other through the media’s exit polling, confirmed earlier independent polls that the public wants a solution and wants that solution to be comprehensive. -more-


Asians in Eight States Favored Democrats in Election

New America Media
Friday November 10, 2006

Asian American voters in eight states continued a decade-long shift towards Democratic candidates, with 79 percent of those polled favoring Democrats in Tuesday’s congressional and state elections. They also rejected an affirmative action ban that won in Michigan. -more-


News Analysis: GOP Could Learn From Arnold’s Effect on Black Voters for ‘08

By Earl Ofari Hutchinson, New America Media
Friday November 10, 2006

The Arnold Effect was on awesome display Tuesday. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger trounced his hapless and ineffectual Democratic opponent and nearly pulled a few Republicans along with him into other state offices. -more-


Election Section

News Analysis: Blacks Play for High Stakes In Mid-Term Elections

By E.R. Shipp, New American Media
Friday November 10, 2006

In 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Plessy vs. Ferguson that Jim Crow laws mandating various forms of segregation were OK and that if Blacks had a problem with that “badge of inferiority” it was “solely because the colored race chooses to put that construction upon it.” -more-


Berkeley Sea Scouts Defend Their Program

By Rio Bauce, Special to the Planet
Friday November 10, 2006

After their appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court failed, several Berkeley Sea Scouts (BSS) have tried to make the public understand the service they offer. The BSS have been under pressure because the City of Berkeley has accused them of operating under the discriminatory policy against gays and atheists of the Boy Scouts of America. For this reason the city took away their previously free use of the dock at the Berkeley Marina, sparking the court case. -more-


Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Friday November 10, 2006

A CLARIFICATION -more-


Commentary: Another Berkeley Neighborhood Sacrificed for Greed

By Regan Richardson
Friday November 10, 2006

Halloween may have come and gone, but the sadly misconceived project at 1885 University Ave. still begs the question, Trick, or Treat? The answer, of course, is both. The supposed Treat? Trader Joe’s. The Trick? Trader Joe’s with a four-story, 148-unit apartment building looming menacingly above it, The Hudson-McDonald Tower of Horrors. -more-


Commentary: Berkeley Needs Copwatch to Track Police Conduct

By Jonathan Huang
Friday November 10, 2006

Recently, an attorney for the Berkeley Police Association, Harry Stern, disparaged Berkeley Copwatch for its service to the community. Those remarks were absolutely unwarranted, shameful, and insulting to the citizens of Berkeley. -more-


Commentary: How the Oakland Chamber of Commerce Destroyed an Election

By Paul Rockwell
Friday November 10, 2006

When the people of Oakland enacted the Campaign Reform Act of 2000, they wanted to make sure that non-affluent voters had an equal voice in the political life of the city. The preamble states: “The integrity of the governmental process, the competitiveness of campaigns and public confidence in local officials are all diminishing.” The high cost of elections “gives incumbents an overwhelming and patently unfair advantage.” -more-


Commentary: Bias Against Minorities in Math and Science Continues

By Jonathan David Farley
Friday November 10, 2006

It was a Cold War love story. Julia Robinson had never met the man she was writing. He was from Leningrad; she was from Berkeley. And yet they did one of the most precious things a man and a woman can do together. They did mathematics. And they did that beautifully, solving one of the twentieth century’s greatest conundrums, Hilbert’s “Tenth Problem.” -more-


Commentary: It Was 20 Years Ago Today...

By Toni Mester
Friday November 10, 2006

“The past is prologue” wrote Shakespeare, and it was 20 years ago that several key events predicted the future of Berkeley and framed our present. -more-


Editorial

Editorial: Cleaning House and Making Lemonade

By Becky O’Malley
Friday November 10, 2006

Let’s hear it for Grandma! Grandmothers all over the country, including this one, are delighted that one of their own has taken on the job of cleaning up the House—the House of Representatives, that is. Losing no time, Berkeley’s Grandmothers for Peace planned to rally Thursday at Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco office to let her know that they would support her in an effort to extricate the country from the mess in Iraq left behind by her Republican predecessors (with more than a little help from some misbehaving Democrats). -more-


Columns

Column: Dispatches From the Edge: Coming Home: War and Remembrance

By Conn Hallinan
Friday November 10, 2006

“It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell.” -more-


Column: The Public Eye: After the Celebration: The Democrats’ To-Do List

By Bob Burnett
Friday November 10, 2006

When Democrats quit celebrating their victory in the mid-term elections and begin to consider their priorities for the 110th Congress, they need look no further than Iraq. The basic issues that plague Iraq--security, infrastructure, and governance--are the same that beset the United States. Due to a devastating combination of managerial ineptitude and ideological inflexibility, the Bush administration has lost Iraq and severely damaged the United States. They couldn’t stop the looting there and refuse to stop the looting here. -more-


Column: Undercurrents: The Politics of Citizen Access in Oakland

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylo
Friday November 10, 2006

It’s doubtful that politics brings out more silliness in the human character than any other human endeavor—it just seems that politicians, and the people they employ, seem so much more intent than anyone else on broadcasting the odd things that are sometimes on their minds. -more-


About the House: Ask Matt: Addressing House Foundations, Shingle Roofs

By Matt Cantor
Friday November 10, 2006

Dear Matt, -more-


Garden Variety: Get Your Supplemental Sunshine on University Avenue

By Ron Sullivan
Friday November 10, 2006

I just had to ask. The charming young salesperson at Berkeley Indoor Garden did have list of what, other than the obvious, customers grow using B.I.G.’s wares: orchids and other tropicals, carnivorous plants, some rare and picky succulents, sometimes lettuce and herbs and baby greens just to have them handy. -more-


Quake Tip of the Week

By Larry Guillot
Friday November 10, 2006

Have You Met Your Neighbors? -more-


Arts Listings

Arts Calendar

Friday November 10, 2006


Exhibit, Book Capture 100 Years of the Bancroft

By Dorothy Bryant, Special to the Planet
Friday November 10, 2006



Events Listings

Berkeley This Week

Friday November 10, 2006

Back Stories

Opinion

Editorials

Editorial: Cleaning House and Making Lemonade 11-10-2006

Editorial: Election Proves Times Are A-Changin’ in Berkeley 11-07-2006

Public Comment

Letters to the Editor 11-10-2006

Commentary: Another Berkeley Neighborhood Sacrificed for Greed By Regan Richardson 11-10-2006

Commentary: Berkeley Needs Copwatch to Track Police Conduct By Jonathan Huang 11-10-2006

Commentary: How the Oakland Chamber of Commerce Destroyed an Election By Paul Rockwell 11-10-2006

Commentary: Bias Against Minorities in Math and Science Continues By Jonathan David Farley 11-10-2006

Commentary: It Was 20 Years Ago Today... By Toni Mester 11-10-2006

Letters to the Editor 11-07-2006

Commentary: Hurricane Katrina, the CNA and our Community College By Stephen Kessler 11-07-2006

Commentary: My Jail Term By Rob Browning 11-07-2006

Commentary: Will Our Votes Count? By Jinky Gardner, Helen Hutchison and Susan Schroeder 11-07-2006

Commentary: A Student For Beier By Evan Bloom 11-07-2006

Commentary: Prop. 89 a Chance for Clean Elections By Steve Koppman 11-07-2006

News

Back to the Future for the Berkeley City Council By Judith Scherr 11-10-2006

Measure J Defeated, Supporters Vow Fight By Richard Brenneman 11-10-2006

Mixed Results for Sequoia Voting System By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 11-10-2006

Riddle, Issel and Hemphill Win BUSD Seats By Riya Bhattacharjee 11-10-2006

Anti-Mall Duo Win in Albany; Green Candidate Claims Richmond Victory By Richard Brenneman 11-10-2006

Berkeley Condo Conversion Fails, Measure H and G Pass By Judith Scherr 11-10-2006

Kernighan Reelected, Guillen Wins Peralta Seat, Ruby New Oakland Auditor By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 11-10-2006

Search Begins for Next Berkeley Library Director By Judith Scherr 11-10-2006

Pamyla Means Nominated To Fill City Clerk Post By Riya Bhattacharjee 11-10-2006

Caplan Named City Finance Head By Richard Brenneman 11-10-2006

Veterans Day Celebrated Saturday By Richard Brenneman 11-10-2006

Planning Commission Toasts Proposition 90’s Defeat By Richard Brenneman 11-10-2006

LeConte Students Conduct Exit Poll By Riya Bhattacharjee 11-10-2006

Groups Plan Protest Against Pacific Steel By Riya Bhattacharjee 11-10-2006

News Analysis: Immigration Reform Surprise: Hard Liners Lost By Frank Sharry, New America Media 11-10-2006

The Public Demands Solutions By Frank Sharry, New America Media 11-10-2006

Asians in Eight States Favored Democrats in Election New America Media 11-10-2006

News Analysis: GOP Could Learn From Arnold’s Effect on Black Voters for ‘08 By Earl Ofari Hutchinson, New America Media 11-10-2006

News Analysis: Blacks Play for High Stakes In Mid-Term Elections By E.R. Shipp, New American Media 11-10-2006

Berkeley Sea Scouts Defend Their Program By Rio Bauce, Special to the Planet 11-10-2006

Flash: Hard Fought Berkeley Races End in Victory for Incumbents, Measure J Defeated By Judith Scherr 11-07-2006

Flash: Issel, Riddle, Hemphill Win School Board Seats, Measure A Approved By Huge Margin By Riya Bhattacharjee 11-07-2006

Richmond Recruits Youth to Help Restore Its Past Glories By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 11-07-2006

THE DAILY PLANET ENDORSES 11-07-2006

Campaign Cash Flowed As Election Approached By Judith Scherr 11-07-2006

PAC’s Last Postcard: SuperGeorge Licks Phantom Crime Wave By Judith Scherr 11-07-2006

Techie Innovations Draw Qualified Praise, Criticisms By Riya Bhattacharjee 11-07-2006

Commission Adds 2 Landmarks, Urges Preservation of BHS Gym By Richard Brenneman 11-07-2006

Downtown Area Committee Pauses For a Vision Check By Richard Brenneman 11-07-2006

Candidates Join Forces to Host Election Night Parties 11-07-2006

City Goes to Court to Re-Open Police Complaint Hearings By Judith Scherr 11-07-2006

Hudson-McDonald Presses ZAB For 148-Unit Trader Joe’s Building By Riya Bhattacharjee 11-07-2006

Berkeley School Board Reaffirms Commitment to Integration By Riya Bhattacharjee 11-07-2006

Planners to Ponder New Laws For Milo Foundation, Designs By Ron Sullivan 11-07-2006

Police Blotter By Richard Brenneman 11-07-2006

Immigration Trumps War for Many Ethnic Voters By Odette Alcazaren-Keeley, New America Media 11-07-2006

10 Questions for Councilmember Max Anderson By Jonathan Wafer, Special to the Planet 11-07-2006

First Person: The War on Ourselves By Winston Burton, Special to the Planet 11-07-2006

Columns

Column: Dispatches From the Edge: Coming Home: War and Remembrance By Conn Hallinan 11-10-2006

Column: The Public Eye: After the Celebration: The Democrats’ To-Do List By Bob Burnett 11-10-2006

Column: Undercurrents: The Politics of Citizen Access in Oakland By J. Douglas Allen-Taylo 11-10-2006

About the House: Ask Matt: Addressing House Foundations, Shingle Roofs By Matt Cantor 11-10-2006

Garden Variety: Get Your Supplemental Sunshine on University Avenue By Ron Sullivan 11-10-2006

Quake Tip of the Week By Larry Guillot 11-10-2006

Column: I am Thankful, I am Blessed, And You Are So Aloha By Susan Parker 11-07-2006

Coyote Point Museum Offers Rewarding Excursion By Steven Finacom, Special to the Daily Planet 11-07-2006

Tarantula Season: In Search of the Bay Area Blond By Joe Eaton, Special to the Planet 11-07-2006

Arts & Events

Arts Calendar 11-10-2006

Arts and Entertainment Around the East Bay 11-10-2006

Exhibit, Book Capture 100 Years of the Bancroft By Dorothy Bryant, Special to the Planet 11-10-2006

Moving Pictures: Buster Keaton’s ‘General’ Pulls In To PFA 11-10-2006

Moving Pictures: Iraq Documentary is Stirring, Poetic 11-10-2006

About the House: Ask Matt: Addressing House Foundations, Shingle Roofs By Matt Cantor 11-10-2006

Garden Variety: Get Your Supplemental Sunshine on University Avenue By Ron Sullivan 11-10-2006

Quake Tip of the Week By Larry Guillot 11-10-2006

Berkeley This Week 11-10-2006

Arts Calendar 11-07-2006

Around the East Bay 11-07-2006

Walton, Turre Team Up at Yoshi’s By Ira Steingroot, Special to the Planet 11-07-2006

The Theater: Masquers Brings ‘Company’ to Point Richmond By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet 11-07-2006

Coyote Point Museum Offers Rewarding Excursion By Steven Finacom, Special to the Daily Planet 11-07-2006

Tarantula Season: In Search of the Bay Area Blond By Joe Eaton, Special to the Planet 11-07-2006

Berkeley This Week 11-07-2006