Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Friday January 12, 2007

BROWER CENTER 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The sound of the Brower Center sucking more and more money from the city should come as no surprise since the City Council signed a blank check when they approved the project. The least the council can do is change the name of the project to the Black Hole Center. 

Frank Greenspan 

 

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FREE-BOXES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Riya Bhattacharjee’s lovely “Local Davids Battled Goliaths in 2006” erred in one small respect: the “Wishing Well” free-box is not the only one in Berkeley. There are two currently on Monterey, another one behind the Monterey Market, another near the tunnel on Henry, and several along San Pablo Avenue. Many neighborhoods use this innocent, practical method of exchange. The University of California’s effort to erase this tradition in People’s Park is quite comic in contrast. 

Carol Denney 

 

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RESPONSE 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Kris Martinsen says “the state itself is the most conservative, unproductive, and parasitic fossil in existence,” a claim that in my opinion places him firmly into the ranks of the reactionaries. Then he calls my distinction between reactionary and conservative “absurd,” while preferring to call himself a libertarian. Libertarians, he states, “do not want to conserve the New Dealish status quo.” 

My Illustrated Oxford Dictionary says reactionaries “oppose change and advocate return to a former system.” My American Heritage Dictionary says reactionaries “oppose progress or liberalism.” These conceptual shoes seem to fit Mr. Martinsen’s sentiments pretty well, so why not wear the label? 

Interestingly, his phrasing betrays a dislike of conservatives, too. This animus bordering on contempt by reactionaries toward conservatives was part of the point I made in response to Bob Burnett’s column on how it’s time for victorious liberals to “kill conservatism.” That point was: far from killing conservatism, liberals should help conservatives shuck off the reactionaries who have taken over their party. Then both liberals and conservatives should go back to the business of creating an enjoyable, just, inclusive, and sustainable culture here on earth, giving our young’uns a platform from which they can go off and explore the galaxies together.  

Liberals need conservatives like a car needs brakes. Reactionaries can probably be useful someplace, but not in the drivers’ seat. 

Dan Knapp 

Richmond 

 

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QUARTZITE MINING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In response to the article about the Spaceship Earth statue (“Brower Sculpture Comes to Ignominious End,” Jan. 9) I would like to point out that while not environmentally sustainable yet, quartzite mining is not the worst kind of dig in Brazil. For one, the quartzite is not extracted from the rainforests as the article quoted as “fact.” Quartzite, regardless of color, is gleaned either from alpine deposits or cavernous areas. It’s a metamorphic rock, and as such can be found where high temperatures and pressure meet (e.g. volcanoes, mountain ranges, magma tunnels, etc.). Secondly, shallow tin and gold mining, along with petroleum, represent more of a problem than the 30 or so stone and tile companies currently digging in Brazil. 

Matthew Mitschang 

 

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LANDMARKS ORDINANCE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Richard Brenneman’s story on the anti-LPO referendum petition shows precisely why it is misguided: “Critics like Bright, one of the two sponsors of Measure J, said the council ordinance could allow for a massive wave of new development that would destroy the character of the neighborhoods, especially in the Berkeley flats.” While the nature and quantity of future new development is a very relevant question for the city, that is not a question that the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance—either the old or the newly passed version—addresses. The LPO only allows the Landmarks Preservation Commission to decide if nominated properties meet specific defined criteria for designation as landmarks or structures of merit, and allows the LPC to control the alteration or demolition of established historic resources. The LPO does not allow the LPC to consider the relative merits of a proposed project vs. an existing property it would replace—only the merits of that property on its own.  

Development policy, in general and in specific, is governed by the General Plan, administered by the Planning Commission and City Council. Opponents of further development in Berkeley, however, have long seized on the current LPO as a last-ditch weapon—contrary to its intention and its actual provisions—to increase the cost of some proposed projects by injecting months or years of delay into the permitting process. The fact that they now admit to doing so at least clarifies their motivations. The referendum simply continues a years-long anti-democratic effort by a fanatical band of hyper-preservationists to deny the will of the City Council and the vote of the people in favor of an appropriately updated new ordinance. The much-feared “request for determination” provision of the new law presents a danger not to preservation but only to the misuse of the LPO for unintended anti-growth purposes; we should look forward to its enactment. 

Alan Tobey 

 

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CELL PHONE  

TOWER GRIEF 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Patrick Kennedy claims in Making Waves (East Bay Daily News, Friday, Jan. 5) that he has “gotten nothing but grief from neighbors.” His proposed installation of 18 cell phone antennas 500 feet from my home on top of his newly acquired U.C. Storage building has given me nothing but grief as well. 

Ever since I heard about the project, I have been doing research on the issue. It is not a pretty picture. Epidemiological studies indicate clusters of childhood leukemia, as well as other forms of cancer, found around cell phone towers. Scientific studies done in reputable research facilities in Europe show cell damage and carcinogenic effects in mice when exposed to radio-frequency (RF) emissions. Rather than debunking health concerns, these studies raise a red flag. Studies conducted by the Food and Drug Administration conclude that low frequency, non-thermal, cumulative, radio frequency emissions are carcinogenic. Now add anger to my grief and fear. Ponder these facts: South Berkeley already has 15 locations with an unknown number of antennas at each one, all emitting RF radiation continuously, whereas North Berkeley has only two and the Berkeley hills have none. Is this the zoning practice of a city committed to equity? I hope Mr. Kennedy is sleeping better than I am. I am up into the wee hours worrying about my son who grew up in South Berkeley, worrying about my neighbors and their children, worrying about the youth pressing cell phones up against their heads hour upon hour. 

Grief is arguing with my husband about moving before our property value deteriorates, knowing it will break our hearts to leave the home we have ever-so slowly fixed up, closet by closet, window by window, tree by tree, over the last 22 years. Grief is knowing that although the humane path is precaution, we continually come up against industry-driven laws and developers who profit as we suffer the health consequences. Kennedy goes home each night to his house in Piedmont, where I would wager, there are no cell phone antennas radiating his home and family or blocking his view with ugly towers or adding new industrial noise into the peace and quiet of his environment. The Berkeley Neighborhood Antenna Free Union (BNAFU) is calling for: 

1) A renewed moratorium on cell phone antennas. 

2) Measurements of emissions from operating antennas to determine safe setbacks. 

3) A rational plan for placement of antennas in Berkeley away from places where people live and work. 

4) A city-initiated forum to study and discuss health issues related to wireless technology. 

Laurie Baumgarten 

 

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BUSH’S WORDS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

“Surge” is another word for “escalation.” “Iraq” is another word for “Vietnam.” After successfully invading Iraq, the incompetent Bush-Cheney administration has botched winning the peace for four years. Every opportunity for success has been squandered; unrepairable damage to our cause has been self-inflicted, repetitively. Bush’s so-called “new strategy” is more of the same. Compulsive denial has blinded their ability to make rational correction. This is the last-ditch desperate act of an obsessive gambler. The stakes are more American lives; yet, since Abu Ghraib, the game has already been lost. There are no aces in the hole; no magic bullets; only delusion. 

For four years, the Republican-led Congress failed to oversee and prevent this catastrophe. To be fair, it took time for the depth of incompetence to become fully apprehended. Now, Democrats have Congress and the opportunity to restrain further madness. 

Bruce Joffe 

Piedmont 

 

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PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Since when has election season become a year-round event? Sen. Joe Biden says he will run for president; Sen. John McCain stakes his 2008 presidential bid on a buildup of more troops in Iraq (Bush lite). Obama and Hillary are in the hunt and there all those wannabees tossing their hats in the ring. 

I like a good political tyrst as well as the next person but we’ve just finished the 2006 midterm elections. It’s not even spring of 2007 and these political jockeys are at it again. 

Ron Lowe 

Grass Valley