Tuesday morning Berkeley met the man who will help transform the face of downtown. -more-
The Daily Planet will not publish on Tuesday, Dec. 26, but will be back on Friday, Dec. 29, with the annual holiday readers’ contribution issue. Thank you to all who sent in material for the issue. -more-
Raked by a legal broadside, the University of California beat a temporary retreat Wednesday, agreeing to halt development at Memorial Stadium pending a hearing in Alameda County Superior Court. -more-
There were no big surprises in the way that Berkeley voters cast their votes this year. As usual, Berkeley led the state in opposition to Republican candidates while showing continued support for abortion rights, public education, the environment and affordable housing. -more-
With the November 2006 elections recently certified, candidates are already pushing at the gate for 2008. -more-
While preservationists worry that a new downtown plan could give short shrift to landmark buildings in the city center, the planner hired to draft the document says not to worry. -more-
To some—especially incumbent Councilmember Dona Spring who clobbered him in a nasty District 4 race in November—Raudel Wilson looks like a carpetbagger. The 30-year-old banker moved to Berkeley just two years ago and now, after being shut out by Spring’s win with 71 percent of the vote, has moved out of town. -more-
As was expected, a California Superior Court judge dismissed the City of Oakland’s early attempt to throw out the Oak To Ninth referendum lawsuit late last week, with both sides downplaying the significance of the judge’s ruling. -more-
Earlier this fall, in compliance with a provision of the national No Child Left Behind Act, the Oakland Unified School District sent out some 13,000 letters informing parents of the names of teachers who do not meet the “highly qualified” standards required by the act. -more-
A study released Wednesday asserts that Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission funding policies maintain “separate and unequal” transit systems. -more-
’Tis the weekend before giftmas -more-
1. Where were you born and where did you grow up, and how does that affect how you regard the issues in Berkeley and in your district? -more-
Each of us approaches the idea of gift-giving according to our own set of standards. We consider needs, desires, cost and degree of closeness. For family we solicit suggestions, for friends we debate possibilities, for “duty” gifts we head to Sees or BevMo. We purchase, wrap and present our offerings, awaiting response. In this sense we have given a bit of ourselves. -more-
Though the thermometer hovered in the upper 40s and seemed even cooler beneath a mantle of oak leaves and an overcast sky, the crowd that gathered near Memorial Stadium Saturday was anything but cold. -more-
Rejecting the pleas of angry neighbors and threats of a lawsuit, the Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) voted 5-3 early Friday to approve the “Trader Joe’s Building.” -more-
A marathon Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) session Thursday ended with approvals for two major housing projects, new bus yard, a new home for Freight & Salvage and demolition of the Drayage. -more-
Oakland’s newly elected state assemblymember, Sandré Swanson, has proposed setting up a Select Assembly Committee to investigate state takeovers of California schools, and the idea has already gotten support from key legislators from the affected districts. -more-
Freelance journalist Sarah Olson does not want to testify at First Lt. Ehren Watada’s court marshal in February. At around 8:45 a.m. on Thursday, she received a subpoena from the U.S. Army telling her to do so. -more-
Woodfin Suites housekeeper Alma Cruz has spoken out at City Council meetings, walked picket lines and talked to co-workers about the need for Emeryville’s Living Wage Law for hotel workers to be enforced. Voters approved the law—Measure C—in November 2005. -more-
The former bond counsel to the Peralta Community College District says that the list of projects in the Peralta’s troubled Measure A bond ballot statement last June may not be specific enough to have qualified the measure under the Proposition 39 requirements under which it was passed. -more-
2007 marks 10 years since the passing of baseball legend Curt Flood. Many of today’s sports enthusiasts, including those who follow baseball, have little sense of the man and his contributions to the sport of baseball. -more-
Immigrants whose lives are upended by unfair rules and arbitrary law enforcers should thank the day electrical engineer Jayashri Srikantiah decided to leave Intel to become a lawyer. -more-
Peace on earth. People talk it up at this time of year, but what’s being done to make it a reality? Quite a lot, and not nearly enough. -more-
Over the weekend, talk at parties was how the project now known as Trader Joe’s got the green light from Berkeley’s Zoning Adjustments Board to set up shop on University Avenue, accompanied by several stories of market-rate condos-in-waiting and a big parking garage. One Berkeley-reared guest at Saturday night’s event thought Trader Joe’s was a nice addition to Berkeley because it’s owned by a southern California family, and expands by bootstrapping, one store at a time. Well, no, we said. Since 1979 it’s been part of a German billion-dollar conglomerate, though the whole empire is indeed owned by two German brothers in a family trust. She seemed shocked, almost disbelieving, so cleverly has TJ’s (as it’s called by its devotees) marketed its downhome image. Founder Joe is long gone. But it treats its employees very well, she said. Well, yes, as long as they don’t try to organize a union, we said. That also seemed to surprise her. -more-
This year’s Nobel Peace prize has been awarded to Dr. Mohammad Yunus (economist, Ph.D from an American university) and to Grameen Bank, an institution he founded. His concept of micro-credit has received international recognition after 30 years of dedicated service. It is a story of giving shape to a dream. -more-
Facing a barrage of advertising and marketing ploys, adults may exhibit some childish behavior when looking for kids’ toys. Have you ever been in a stampede for this year’s must-have game or plaything? With great places to find the right toys like—The Ark Toy Store, Sweet Dreams or Mr. Mopps, the challenge of finding the right toy is much simpler to solve for Berkeley residents. -more-
Now that the City Council has passed its community-compromise LPO, after more than six years of stalling and resistance by the hyper-preservationist community who brought us Measure J, we’re faced with the bad dream of a referendum campaign and up to 23 more months of additional delay. And for what? Basically, it comes down to objection to the “request for determination” provision of the new law. So let’s look at RFD and its alleged dangers: -more-
The 2006 elections are over, and the 2008 presidential race has begun. Most news coverage will focus on personalities, and once in a while on issues. What will go mostly unreported is the fact that we have a serious structural flaw in the presidential selection process that renders the issues and personalities almost superfluous. The “inconvenient truth” is that the primary/caucus system is an unfolding disaster, a bad process that produces presidential nominees who are less than America’s best. -more-
The holiday season seems to open the flood gates of compassion, with volunteers and resources pouring in during the one time of the year the less fortunate are fed, clothed, and remembered. Meanwhile economists monitor the sales temperature, hoping feverish shoppers will exceed the boiling point and consumerism will bring balance to a system delicately suspended by a few coins in either direction. -more-
Spy vs. spy, the gang that couldn’t poison straight, or welcome to the new Cold War? -more-
I waited a bit to comment on comedian Michael Richards’ comedy club “nigger” meltdown, in part because there were other more pressing things to write about, in part because the use of the word “nigger” in American life is a serious, long-term discussion that need not rise to the surface only when it has become the talk-show, blogsphere fad of the moment. I’ve written on the subject before, at length, and expect to do it again, from time to time. -more-
The practice of home inspection is tied, to a surprising degree, to a study of history. Some of that history is ancient and broad and some of it is as diaphanous as the study of the last five presidencies. -more-
Uh-oh. It’s the 22nd. Last-minute gift shopping! If you celebrate Solstice, you’re late already. No matter. ’Tis the season on some calendar or other, and there’s a good chance you’ve forgotten someone, maybe or the quasi-mail service lost that perfect present you found in the Fussbudgets International catalogue. You’ve just now fished it out of your spamtrap, the email notice about the Christmas party at the executive director’s husbands’ brother-in-law’s stepdaughters’ new club, and you know that if you don’t show up you’ll be nominated to that Interminable Search Committee again. And you’re the Human Resources Director’s Secret Santa, oh joy. -more-
Friday, 4:30 p.m.: Arrive at Oakland International Airport with sister-in-law, one four-year-old and one two-year-old. Stand in line to check in bags. Stand in line to pass through security. Stand in line to view flight schedule. Learn that all Southwest Airline flights to Las Vegas are delayed by at least two hours due to bad weather in the Pacific Northwest. Stand in line at gate to see if tickets can be changed to fly out on 4 p.m. flight that is now leaving at 6 p.m. -more-
I’ll admit that I don’t have much of an ear for the language of crows. Ron says they have a specific call that means “Raven!,” uttered when the crows are harassing one of their larger relatives or escorting it out of the neighborhood. This wouldn’t surprise me at all, since they do have an extensive vocal repertoire. -more-
A CELEBRATION OF THE WINTER SOLSTICE -more-
Words of My Perfect Teacher, opening today at the Elmwood Theater, begins with a dose of comedy, a sequence of close-ups of two men, both seemingly deep in thought. We are meant to interpret this as some sort of Buddhist exercise, the teacher perhaps leading the student in a form of meditation. But then the camera pulls back, the soundtrack kicks in, and we see instead that the two men are engrossed in a televised soccer match. -more-
“I’m a doctor,” said Dr. Samba, aka Molly Shannon, as she passed out paper napkins for kleenex to a family suffering from little sniffly noses while waiting for Circus Finelli’s Holiday Extravaganza at the Julia Morgan Center on College Avenue. “I have these things under control.” -more-
The practice of home inspection is tied, to a surprising degree, to a study of history. Some of that history is ancient and broad and some of it is as diaphanous as the study of the last five presidencies. -more-
Uh-oh. It’s the 22nd. Last-minute gift shopping! If you celebrate Solstice, you’re late already. No matter. ’Tis the season on some calendar or other, and there’s a good chance you’ve forgotten someone, maybe or the quasi-mail service lost that perfect present you found in the Fussbudgets International catalogue. You’ve just now fished it out of your spamtrap, the email notice about the Christmas party at the executive director’s husbands’ brother-in-law’s stepdaughters’ new club, and you know that if you don’t show up you’ll be nominated to that Interminable Search Committee again. And you’re the Human Resources Director’s Secret Santa, oh joy. -more-
“Both a little naughty and a little nice” is the apt description for husband and wife cabaret team Billy Philadelphia and Meg Mackay’s holiday season show, A Little Cole in Your Stocking, featuring hits and rarities from Cole Porter’s songbook (as well as a few “traditional and non-traditional holiday songs”), playing evenings at 8 p.m., Dec. 20-23 and 27-30, at the Aurora Theatre, where it debuted last year. -more-
A 16th-century Russian conspiracy swept Boyars and Old Believers last Friday night into the First Congregational Church at Dana and Durant, where they put on a private show of Modest Mussorgsky’s opera, Khovanchina, for an audience of friends and family. -more-
I’ll admit that I don’t have much of an ear for the language of crows. Ron says they have a specific call that means “Raven!,” uttered when the crows are harassing one of their larger relatives or escorting it out of the neighborhood. This wouldn’t surprise me at all, since they do have an extensive vocal repertoire. -more-
