Reflections on the Washington Peace March by Betty Medsger -more-

The message delivered by thousands of sign-bearing, chanting people at Saturday’s San Francisco march and rally was clear: U.S. out of Iraq. -more-

The Save-the-Oaks community celebrated victory Monday when Superior Court Judge Barbara Miller stopped the University of California from moving forward with its plans to chop down a grove of old oak trees and replace it with a training center for student athletes—atop what is quite possibly a fissure of an active earthquake fault. -more-

Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates and other city officials held a press conference Monday after the Alameda County Superior Court issued an injunction to stop UC Berkeley’s construction of the new Student Athlete High Performance Center (SAHPC) on the Memorial Stadium grounds. -more-

A jubilant group of south Berkeley residents left the Zoning Adjustments Board meeting at midnight on Thursday after the board voted 6-3 to deny the request of Verizon Wireless and Nextel Communications for a use permit to construct a new wireless telecommunications facility to host eighteen cell phone antennas and related equipment atop the UC Storage building at 2721 Shattuck Ave. -more-

In August, the City of Berkeley’s Landmarks Preservation Commission landmarked the site of the 180-foot diameter circular Bevatron building at 1 Cyclotron Road, but not the building itself, opening the door to its demolition by the University of California. -more-

For Bob Sayles, the awakening moment came in May 2005, “when we heard that Bowles Hall was to be for freshmen only.” -more-

In the contest between the interests of his college and his home for three years of college, one famous UC Berkeley alum comes down unequivocally on the side of Bowles Hall. -more-

With proposed high-rise building around the outskirts of Oakland’s Lake Merritt a growing concern among residents, two Oakland City Councilmembers are holding a public meeting this week to discuss the matter. -more-

The team of MKThink and Marta Fry Landscape Architects (both of San Francisco) have been selected by UC Berkeley, to guide a community planning process to help improve People’s Park in the coming months. -more-

The office of the Alameda County Registrar of Voters believes that implementation of Instant Runoff Voting in the county is on schedule for implementation in the fall elections of 2008 and expects software from vendor Sequoia Voting Systems to be delivered sometime this spring. -more-

Robert Reich, former secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton, had more questions than answers when he spoke Thursday afternoon in the new Berkeley City College auditorium, addressing the topic: “Berkeley’s Economic Future—How Can We Compete in the New Economy?” -more-

MEXICO CITY—Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s use of “oil diplomacy” to secure his position as the leading socialist voice in Latin America is upsetting relations with Mexico and threatening to unravel a decades-old Mexico-Venezuela foreign aid program to struggling neighbors. -more-

Berkeley fault lines—literal and legal—dominated long hours of argument Tuesday during an intense hearing in Judge Barbara J. Miller’s crowded Hayward courtroom. -more-

Neighbors of Alta Bates Medical Center denounced what they said was an effort on the part of the hospital on Wednesday to influence the results of a required parking and traffic survey by lowering the number of employees parking in the neighborhood on the days of the survey. -more-

It’s official. The Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Ordinance (LPO) is headed back to the ballot box. -more-

The Peralta Community College District’s conversion to running district operations through an information management system purchased from the former PeopleSoft company was hastily managed at the beginning, is two years behind its initial projected completion, and is costing the district millions of dollars in unanticipated consultant fees, according to a report given last week by the district’s information technology office to Peralta trustees. -more-

A massive dog with bared fangs stands atop the blindfolded half-naked man lying face down on the jail-cell floor; an unclothed hooded man is hoisted upside down by the rope tightly tied around his left ankle; a prison guard with large army boots beats and kicks a bound prisoner. -more-

The Berkeley Chamber of Commerce political action arm spent $100,000 in a much-publicized attempt to influence local November elections and to direct the path of economic development in the city. -more-

First you see them. Then you don’t. -more-

UC Berkeley’s building boom has chalked up plans for still more construction, with the unveiling this week of the final draft of another Long Range Development Plan (LRDP)—this one proposing to add nearly a million square feet of new construction by 2025. -more-

UC Berkeley is looking for a representative of the Berkeley community to fill a vacant position on the People’s Park Community Advisory Board. -more-

The city has removed median strips in the middle of Telegraph Avenue between Prince and Russell streets, alarming area residents about pedestrian safety. -more-

The Berkeley Planning Commission agreed to continue through February the public hearing for zoning changes on Telegraph Avenue designed to help businesses on the strip which has experienced an economic downturn according to the city. -more-

Victim clings to life -more-

The news over the weekend was not good. Molly Ivins, everyone’s favorite smart-mouth columnist, was back in the hospital for the third time, dealing with her raging cancer, which started in her breasts but now has spread throughout her body. Last fall, she was in San Francisco on a panel at a conference of journalism educators, and she didn’t look well then, wan, thin, wearing a bold hat to cover up the loss of most of her hair. Her tongue was as sharp as ever, of course, causing a roomful of ordinarily sincere and cautious academics to shriek with laughter before giving her a standing ovation. -more-

Much glee in the Planet newsroom this week over the flock of photos in the bigger papers of what I affectionately call “the old birds in the trees.” (You shouldn’t call them that if you’re under 60, but at my advanced age it shows no disrespect.) A colleague observed that the story was “the real Berkeley.” We were not at all miffed that other papers had finally gotten around to copying the story about the struggle to save the oak grove, which we’d been following for a long time, though we did think our front page photo was the best of the lot. That’s always been a core mission of this paper: to persuade other media to give up their standard knee-jerk “Beserkeley” coverage and acquire some real understanding of what this city is all about. It’s about people who often and vociferously disagree with one another, but who get together when it counts to stand up (or sit down) for basic beliefs that most of us share. Conservation of natural resources is one of those core Berkeley values. -more-

NANCY PELOSI -more-

Of all our hang-ups, American folly over spectator sport is one of the more pernicious. It is the lingua franca of social encounter, the club handshake. Along with the few who share the same celebrative awe and commingling techniques through opera, you have only to select some proper names from the rosters of football, past and present, basket or baseball—preferably accompanied by scores, injuries, and titles, to qualify for the brother-sisterhood of the “elect,” or at least “admitted.” -more-

EDITOR’S NOTE:This commentary was originally submitted to the Daily Californian in response to an editorial in that paper. The Daily Cal has not published it. -more-

SEEN ONE OAK... -more-

By Dan Knapp -more-

OAK GROVE -more-

There is no doubt that the present Bush administration has done serious damage to the image of the Republican Party. But as discredited as the Republican politicians may stand today, the Democrats could still lose the White House in 2008 if they choose the wrong flag bearer. -more-

The commentary in the Dec. 22 issue of the Daily Planet, while making some commendable points, fails to point out some of the problems and new twists to micro-lending. -more-

That any book should be so universally vilified, especially in these final days of George Bush’s America, suggests good reason to read it and take it seriously. -more-

As soon as I heard that Robert Reich would be speaking about our city’s economic future at Berkeley City College on Jan. 25, I knew I wanted to be there. It’s not often that you get a chance to hear a former secretary of labor/celebrated author/popular NPR commentator/ Goldman School of Public Policy professor hold forth on local affairs, with “a light lunch” thrown in for good measure, and for free yet. This bill of fare would have been more than enough to get me to immediately RSVP the event’s announced sponsor, the Office of the Mayor. -more-

On Sunday at noon my 16-year-old housemate finally rolled out of bed. “What’s to eat?” asked Jernae, peering over my shoulder as I typed on the computer. “And what’re we doin’ today?” -more-

First, my apologies for the last column’s headline, which I suspect was a spell check-inflicted error. “Scooter” is one of the surf scoter’s many vernacular names, along with “skunkhead coot,” “blossom bill,” “tar-bucket,” and several that involve distasteful ethnic references. But officially, it’s “scoter.” -more-

On Tuesday night, Jan. 23, the City of Alameda held an open house for citizens to meet the developers vying for status with the city as official “replacement master developer” for Alameda Point, the former naval air station. -more-

It is not at all unusual for newspapers, television and radio news outlets, and the various journalists who work for them to come away with a different story on the same event. Put five people in a room to witness the same event and, almost invariably, they will write five separate accounts of what happened—most often not because they are lying or because they are trying to cover something up, but because of differences in what they think is important, what they actually saw or heard, and what type of background they brought to the event that enhanced—or colored—their interpretation. Add to that the built-in biases of every news organization—what audiences they are aiming for and what areas of concern they are promoting—and you can easily see why a variety of news sources is necessary for an informed citizenry and a healthy democracy. If your news is coming from only one source, you will be almost as misinformed as if you got no news at all. It is only through sifting through several information outlets—looking at issues and events from several accounts and angles—that we can begin to discover what is fact, and what is truth. -more-

A lobbying group of 100 grandmothers from 20 states descended on Washington D.C. on Jan. 18, visiting all 100 senators and some representatives to protest the war in Iraq and to demand that American troops come home quickly. Four Berkeley/Oakland grandmothers were part of the contingent—Helen Isaacson, Marge Lasky, Renate Sadrozinski and myself. -more-

Ten days after I began a campaign to protest Amazon’s hostile presentation of former President Jimmy Carter’s book on Palestine, and a day after the petition with more than 16,000 signatures was delivered to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the company responded by revamping the page in a way that puts the book in a completely different light. -more-

The Save the Memorial Oak Grove tree sit-in is about to complete its second month. Among the campaign’s environmental supporters, which include the Native Plant Society and the Oak Foundation, the Sierra Club is the most powerful if not the most active. -more-

I am in love with old houses. When I get a chance to spend a few hours or a day in an older home that has been left unchanged over the decades, I’m really in something of a trance much of the time. -more-

We gardeners learn (or try to) that our work is worth doing despite disheartening setbacks. It’s the sort of nasty life lesson that somehow doesn’t stop hurting just as badly the tenth or hundredth time as it did the first. Still, we go on. -more-

It Won’t Be So Bad -more-

TUESDAY, JAN. 30 -more-

NEW TAPESTRY TO BE UNVEILED -more-

A rather involved tale of the appearance (and disappearance) of a boarder in a Parisian flat, a young woman from Marseille, studying acting ... but is she from Marseille? Or studying acting? Certainly she proves to be “enceinte”—and the effect of the ephemeral tenant on the family, narrated wistfully by Madame, especially after seeing her again, years later, for an instant in a commercial on TV, while the background of the 13ieme Arrondisement constantly changes as Asian immigrants move in ... -more-

TV news clips of a contrite James Frey being castigated by Oprah for adding fictional sins to his (until then) best-selling memoir “A Million Little Pieces,” reminded me of G. B. Shaw’s hilarious character “Rummy” in Major Barbara. (1905) Rummy is a regular at Salvation Army rallies, where he confesses long lists of imaginary sins, making good money in contributions for himself and for the charity. Probably our appetite for vicarious sin and redemption goes back even further than a century. -more-

First, my apologies for the last column’s headline, which I suspect was a spell check-inflicted error. “Scooter” is one of the surf scoter’s many vernacular names, along with “skunkhead coot,” “blossom bill,” “tar-bucket,” and several that involve distasteful ethnic references. But officially, it’s “scoter.” -more-

TUESDAY, JAN. 30 -more-

FRIDAY, JAN. 26 -more-

IRAQI LIFE IN A TIME OF WAR -more-

An anxious detainee faces two cops in traditional configuration, tough and charming, for questioning in a bureaucratically, old-fashioned high-ceiling office—where? Everything seems timeless, and foreboding. But of what? The police seem sure, as usual; the suspect puzzled. -more-

Pulitzer and MacArthur prizewinner Suzan-Lori Parks’ ongoing national dramatic marathon, 365 Days/365 Plays, for which Parks wrote a play a day for a year, is in its 11th week in the Bay Area theater round-robin, to be staged Sunday by 23 acting students of the Berkeley Rep’s theater school. -more-

Every few weeks a group of about 60 film lovers gather at 9:30 on a Sunday morning in the lobby of the Albany Twin on Solano Avenue, to sip hot beverages while waiting in anticipation for the day’s mystery movie. It’s a small room and it fills up quickly with people and chatter and the aromas of coffee and tea and bagels. Enthusiastic as the crowd may be, they’re in no hurry to enter the theater; it’s a Sunday morning, after all, and much too early to move at anything but a leisurely pace. So by the time 10 a.m. rolls around they almost have to be cajoled and herded into the theater. -more-

The Save the Memorial Oak Grove tree sit-in is about to complete its second month. Among the campaign’s environmental supporters, which include the Native Plant Society and the Oak Foundation, the Sierra Club is the most powerful if not the most active. -more-

I am in love with old houses. When I get a chance to spend a few hours or a day in an older home that has been left unchanged over the decades, I’m really in something of a trance much of the time. -more-

We gardeners learn (or try to) that our work is worth doing despite disheartening setbacks. It’s the sort of nasty life lesson that somehow doesn’t stop hurting just as badly the tenth or hundredth time as it did the first. Still, we go on. -more-

It Won’t Be So Bad -more-

FRIDAY, JAN. 26 -more-