While the voting tally isn’t final and her opponent won’t concede, Gayle McLaughlin is confident she’ll be the new mayor of Richmond. -more-
Builders of the hotel planned for the heart of downtown Berkeley want to build a 19-story building that at 205 feet would tower above the current reigning monarchs of the urban skyline, the Power Bar and Wells Fargo buildings. -more-
The Richmond City Council voted Nov. 14 to drop its membership in the Richmond Chamber of Commerce “to avoid potential civil or criminal penalties for using public resources to pay for memberships in organizations that participate in local political activities,” according to an e-mail from Richmond City Council-member Tom Butt. -more-
Despite promised lawsuits by the City of Berkeley and project neighbors, UC Regents voted Tuesday to approve a massive athletic training center along the western wall of Memorial Stadium. -more-
With the failure of Berkeley’s Measure I in this month’s general election, the East Bay battleground over the hotly-contested issue of condominium conversions shifts across the border into Oakland, and the attempt by a coalition of three councilmembers to change some of the provisions of that city’s condo law. -more-
Berkeley’s 30-year-old public police complaint process hung in the balance Tuesday as the city squared off against its police union in an Oakland courtroom. -more-
Four finalists have been named for the position of Berkeley’s director of Library Services, according to a Berkeley Public Library press statement. -more-
Community members and users of People’s Park are organizing a meeting on Sunday to plan how to defend the bulldozing of the berms, or mounds, on both ends of the Community Garden in the park. -more-
Late Tuesday night, after two years of contentious meetings in which environmentalists often clashed with property owners, the Berkeley City Council approved revisions to the Creeks Ordinance, 6-2-1, aimed at safeguarding the city’s many open and culverted waterways. -more-
On Thursday night Councilmember Laurie Capitelli sent a letter to the Planet regarding the just-passed Creeks ordinance which came too late to be added to this issue in full. -more-
The city’s short-term fiscal health—with about $800,000 more in anticipated annual revenue than forecast—and a possible long-term structural deficit were highlighted at a City Council workshop Tuesday. -more-
When Jannat Muhammad’s 7-year-old grandniece developed asthma back in 2000, Muhammad was pained but not surprised. After all, many of the child’s schoolmates at Verde Elementary in North Richmond were succumbing to the disease with numbing regulatory. -more-
Students, parents, educators and city officials gathered at Old City Hall Wednesday to bid farewell to School Board President Terry Doran, who is retiring after eight years on the board. -more-
The Berkeley Unified School District thanked parents, teachers, students and community members for supporting Measure A at the School Board meeting on Wednesday. -more-
The UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive received a $300,000 National Leadership grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) on Tuesday, which will help connect high school and college students to CineFiles, BAM/PFA's online database with thousands of historical documents related to film. -more-
Partisan politics is standing in the way of progress in California, according to new research released this week on the heels of startling Census numbers showing a deepening racial divide. -more-
As Democrats recaptured control of the House and Senate last week, Black Democrats won more than half of the 13 statewide offices they competed for while Black Republicans won none, debunking what the GOP had billed as “the year of the Black Republican.” -more-
After two years of meetings and hearings in which property owners often clashed with environmentalists, the Berkeley City Council approved a revised Creeks Ordinance (6-2-1) late Tuesday night aimed at safeguarding the city’s many open and culverted waterways. -more-
Despite promised lawsuits by the City of Berkeley and project neighbors, UC Regents voted Tuesday to approve a massive athletic training center along the western wall of Memorial Stadium. -more-
Gas masks, air filters and angry posters marked the Pacific Steel Casting protest rally on Saturday, which drew more than 250 protesters. -more-
UC Regents are scheduled to decide this morning (Tuesday) whether or not to approve the $112 million Student Athlete High Performance Center, a 142,000-square-foot building along the western wall of UC Berkeley’s Memorial Stadium. -more-
With the lion’s share of votes counted, Kriss Worthington has slightly widened his lead in the squeaker Berkeley City Council District 7 race, according to the Alameda County registrar of voters. In fact, all the winners increased their winning margins. -more-
The question for Alameda County election officials in the next few months is like a paraphrase of the old O’Jays song: “Now that we’ve got IRV, what are we gonna’ do with it?” -more-
Supporters and opponents of the proposed 148-unit Trader Joe’s Building on 1885 University Ave. turned out in full force at the Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) meeting on Thursday. -more-
Councilmember Dona Spring quotes from an old Joni Mitchell song: -more-
Community members will have one more chance to weigh in at a public hearing tonight (Tuesday) on a proposed city law some praise for protecting creeks but one that others say would be costly to homeowners and restrict the use of their property. -more-
The Peralta Community College District will spend Measure A bond money on any of the broad range of projects that appeared on last June’s ballot, not just on the line item “Measure A Capital Projects” list, which currently appears on the district’s Department of General Services website. -more-
Loni Hancock came to Richmond Thursday night to visit the citizen panel she helped to create. -more-
Waskar Ari Chachaki is an ill-fated victim of the War on Terror. Born in the remote Andean highlands of Bolivia, by age 42 he had earned a Ph.D. from prestigious Georgetown University. Ari, the first member of the pre-Incan Aymara tribe with a doctorate in history from the United States, also helped establish eight indigenous organizations in Bolivia and Peru. He’s an expert in indigenous history, culture and political movements. -more-
Call her Madam. Madam Speaker, that is. -more-
Editor’s note: This article was published in the Nov. 10 issue, but did not run in its entirety. This is the complete article with updated vote totals. -more-
Berkeley School Board president Terry Doran will be retiring at the end of the BUSD meeting on Wednesday evening. -more-
It’s back to the vision thing Wednesday night for the citizens panel helping formulate a new plan for downtown Berkeley. -more-
The cities of Berkeley and Oakland teamed up Monday to host a one-stop service fair called Project Homeless Connect. -more-
SAN ELIZARIO, Texas—Residents of this hardscrabble town on the Mexican border are feeling jumpy and under siege. Since 9/11, border immigration enforcement and drug interdiction have been swept into the war on terror, with chilling effects. -more-
We’ve gotten communications from a couple of supporters of winning candidates in the recent election who claim to be shocked at the decision of the Planet’s publishers to print extra copies of our record 44-page pre-election issue and distribute them door-to-door instead of just placing them in boxes for reader pickup. Both letter writers seemed to be charging that this distribution was part of a management plot to enhance the fortunes of particular candidates. There are a number of responses which should be made to such assertions—we’ll take them in no particular order. -more-
The Zoning Adjustments Board denied the expansion of the South Berkeley Police Substation for employee lockers and vehicle storage on Thursday. -more-
Will operation of the Berkeley Public Library (BPL) be outsourced to a private, for-profit agency? Will the next library director be another pro-RFID autocrat with little respect for staff and the public? The signs for a good outcome look cloudy, because the Board of Library Trustees (BOLT) search for a new director is using a bad process, the wrong people, and a search firm whose principals are active advocates of outsourcing library operations from top to bottom. -more-
Pleased as I am with Ms. Pelosi’s accession to power and gratified as I am by her warm ties to the Jewish community, as reported recently in your newspaper, I am less encouraged by her obeisance to the Israel-right-or-wrong stance of AIPAC. -more-
“The past is prologue,” wrote William Shakespeare. -more-
The university recently unveiled its plan to bulldoze the berms (mounds) on either side of the Community Garden in People’s Park. In an effort to allow police to see through the park without getting out of their cars, they want to sacrifice the natural boundary that separates the park from traffic and city bustle. People’s Park, already much less green space than we need in such a populated area, is an important refuge for our collective psyches to reconnect with nature. -more-
“We need to wait until after election time to see if we can get any changes to the law, meanwhile, we will do what we can under existing conditions.” -more-
On Monday, Nov. 6, I witnessed an encounter between a Berkeley policeman and two women that culminated in what I considered unnecessary and brutal violence. This encounter demonstrated very rapidly how the thin veneer of civilized behavior that we are all so dependent on can disappear so quickly, that we are left with a sense of helplessness and impotence. -more-
Those of us who live on Southside of the UC campus see what being homeless is at first hand, every day. We may walk by and look elsewhere; sometimes we become involved. Always we know that official and private poses of indifference are symptoms of something terribly wrong with our society. -more-
On Sept. 6 I boarded the No. 51 AC Transit bus in Alameda and, after putting in money, was told that the transfer machine was not working. The driver subsequently gave me an expired transfer card on which he’d written that the transfer machine was broken and signed his employee number. He instructed me to give this to the next driver. -more-
I am a student of violence. There is, to consider, the actual explosion of rage, when flesh collides with flesh. I have been at the wrong end of two encounters, I have seen it happen to another, and have heard, sometimes within minutes, of many others. But I am even more interested in the moments before the eruption—the thickening of the voice, the ape-like bulking of the shoulders, the trembling of the cheekbones, the reek of flammable testosterone. I’m crackingly alert to the warning signs that scream: MOVE! What is my line of work? Parking enforcement for the City of Berkeley. -more-
I can’t say I was surprised when I awoke early on Nov. 8 to find Pat Kernighan the declared winner of Oakland’s competitive District 2 City Council race. -more-
It’s convenient, of course—and not entirely wrong—to blame the 57-43 defeat of Measure J on greedy developers, conservative businesspeople and negative campaign mailers. But Measure J proponents also need to look in the mirror. Not only were they weakened by others, they contributed to losing the race all on their own. -more-
It would be easy for Democrats to become a bit heady what with the newly won House and Senate seats and all. But before getting too carried away, I would suggest that the “Blue” party take stock and ask themselves some serious questions, namely; who are we and what are we doing here? -more-
Three years ago, when the United States invaded Iraq, I put up a map of that country on my wall—as the old-timers used to do in other wars—so I could follow the course of the battles. I also bought two or three Middle Eastern history books, so that I might have a better knowledge of that part of the world, and a better understanding of the ancient racial, ethnic, and religious conflicts that we—America—had now thrust ourselves into. -more-
Editor’s note: This article appeared on openDemocracy.net prior to Thursday’s vote in the House for majority leader -more-
The Church of the Good Shepherd, situated on the corner of Ninth Street and Hearst Avenue, was one of the first nine structures designated City of Berkeley Landmarks on Dec. 15, 1975. It is the oldest church building standing in Berkeley, as well as the oldest in continuous use by its founding congregation in the entire East Bay. -more-
I thrashed myself but good last weekend, just doing a little lightweight gardening. -more-
Before I ever look for a single foundation bolt there are a always a few other questions I always have about the building I’m looking at. Of course, I’m talking about earthquake readiness or seismic stability or whatever term-du-jour we’re currently using. -more-
As the dust settles from the tumultuous 2006 mid-term elections, let’s consider the big political winners and losers: -more-
I lost my husband and acquired a teenager. It’s not much of a deal. I still have to clean and shop, and carry out the trash. I still have to water the plants, pay the bills, and turn down the volume on the television. -more-
Down a tree-canopied lane bordered by lush fields of lettuce, corn and pumpkin. Through a filigreed iron gate and white picket fence. Past goldenrod Arden Station where Tucker waits to pull a visitor-laden rail car to Deer Park Station. Drop out of the frenzied pace of modern life. Get lost in the country estate of a wealthy 20th century farmer, a place caught in time. Visit Ardenwood Farm. -more-
Before it got drafted to be an allegedly “heathier” substitute for chocolate, carob was a dietary staple of poor folks and a treat even for the wealthy. Ceratonia siliqua is a handsome, tough, warm-climate tree that grows long, thick, flat brown pods to cradle its seeds. -more-
PHOTOGRAPHING THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT -more-
The San Francisco Symphony is taking a lighter turn for the Thanksgiving holiday, presenting guest conductor David Robertson leading the orchestra in a performance of Charlie Chaplin’s score to his 1931 film City Lights. -more-
In Ice Glen, Joan Ackerman’s play in its West Coast premiere at Aurora Theatre, the eccentric inhabitants of a country estate in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, circa 1919, are disturbed in the pursuit of their various autumnal tasks by the unannounced visit of a Boston editor, seeking to publish the poems of one of the denizens—who doesn’t want her poems published, or even memorized, by a stranger. -more-
Steve Anderson’s new documentary Fuck takes a thorough look at the most multi-faceted of expletives—at its murky, myth-laden origins, its many conjugations, its cathartic, emotive power as well as its power to offend. -more-
The films of Agnes Varda and her husband Jacques Demy could not be more different. -more-
The Church of the Good Shepherd, situated on the corner of Ninth Street and Hearst Avenue, was one of the first nine structures designated City of Berkeley Landmarks on Dec. 15, 1975. It is the oldest church building standing in Berkeley, as well as the oldest in continuous use by its founding congregation in the entire East Bay. -more-
I thrashed myself but good last weekend, just doing a little lightweight gardening. -more-
Before I ever look for a single foundation bolt there are a always a few other questions I always have about the building I’m looking at. Of course, I’m talking about earthquake readiness or seismic stability or whatever term-du-jour we’re currently using. -more-
The visitor from New York, who wandered into the Gaia Building lobby by mistake, caught a glimpse of the program for Azeem’s solo show at The Marsh, and said as he left, “I get enough ‘Rude Boy’ at home!” -more-
Down a tree-canopied lane bordered by lush fields of lettuce, corn and pumpkin. Through a filigreed iron gate and white picket fence. Past goldenrod Arden Station where Tucker waits to pull a visitor-laden rail car to Deer Park Station. Drop out of the frenzied pace of modern life. Get lost in the country estate of a wealthy 20th century farmer, a place caught in time. Visit Ardenwood Farm. -more-
Before it got drafted to be an allegedly “heathier” substitute for chocolate, carob was a dietary staple of poor folks and a treat even for the wealthy. Ceratonia siliqua is a handsome, tough, warm-climate tree that grows long, thick, flat brown pods to cradle its seeds. -more-
