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Ohlone leader Wounded Knee, left, prayed Tuesday for Zachary Running Wolf and other activists who are protesting plans to level a grove of oak trees to make way for a $125 million gym along the western wall of UC Berkeley’s Memorial Stadium. Photograph by Richard Brenneman.
Ohlone leader Wounded Knee, left, prayed Tuesday for Zachary Running Wolf and other activists who are protesting plans to level a grove of oak trees to make way for a $125 million gym along the western wall of UC Berkeley’s Memorial Stadium. Photograph by Richard Brenneman.
 

News

UC Announces Plans for Archaeological Survey

By Richard Brenneman
Friday February 23, 2007

UC Berkeley officials announced Thursday that they will conduct an archaeological survey at the site of the Memorial Stadium oak grove. 

The announcement came two days after Native American representatives gathered at the site to protest plans to build a $125 million gym next to the stadium—which sits directly atop the Bay Area’s most earthquake-prone fault. 

Marie Felde, the university’s executive director of media relations, said the university would conduct a survey at the grove, and at all other southeast campus locations where excavations are planned as part of a major new construction campaign. 

“The timing is not yet determined,” she said. 

Meanwhile, at the same time Felde was sending an email response to a reporter’s queries, campus police were conducting their second raid of the grove site, hauling off the personal belongings of the supporters of protesters who have taken to the trees in hopes of stopping the university’s plans to ax the stand. 

“It’s outrageous,” said Ayr, one of the activists who has been caring for the tree sitters ensconced in platforms high above the earth where tribal representatives said Tuesday that they believe some of the their dead ancestors may be buried. 

Police and campus grounds crew staff gathered all the protesters’ belongings both from locations within the grove and from the sidewalk along Gayley Road, where Ayr said protesters had been told previously that they could use as long as they didn’t block pedestrian traffic. 

“Right now, we’re doing a cleanup here at the oak grove,” said Sgt. David Roby. “We’re picking up everything on the ground.” 

No arrests had been made, and no citations had been served, he said. 

It was the second time campus police had made a clean sweep of the grounds, gathering up the gear of protest supporters and hauling it off in a dump truck. The first raid was made before dawn Jan. 12. Tuesday’s raid came in the early afternoon, four days after campus cops arrested Zachary Running Wolf Friday, the former Berkeley mayoral candidate who launched the arboreal protest Dec. 2 when he took up residence in a redwood on the morning of the annual Big Game with Stanford. 

According to the police website, he was picked up on a charge of failure to appear to answer charges of vandalism, but Running Wolf said Thursday the actual charge was probation violation. 

The activist had been arrested and charged earlier for defacing stop signs in the area by stencil-painting the word “driving” beneath the octagonal signs’ STOP. 

Though he had been served at the time of Friday’s arrest with an order to stay off campus for the next 14 days, Running Wolf returned for a press conference and ritual held at the grove with other Native Americans, including representatives of the Ohlone nation, who once lived along the East Bay. 

Wounded Knee, an Ohlone leader, began events with a prayer and call for the university to halt construction plans at the grove. “They are here,” he said. ”We know, the Indian people, that our ancestors are here.” 

Fred Short, an American Indian Movement activist, joined in the call, as did Ohlone activist Corrina Gould. 

Just how many burials may have been unearthed during the construction of the stadium remains an open questions. 

A university press release issued Monday said that, despite the “several” skeletons mentioned in a contemporary news account, they had records of only one burial found during construction of Memorial Stadium—and that they don’t known if the bones belonged to a Native American. 

In the prepared statement, unnamed “university officials” also said the discovery and the location weren’t included in environmental documents for stadium area construction because of a state guidelines barring disclosure of Native American burial and cultural sites. 

The statement said nothing about other burials discovered nearby during construction of the university’s Faculty Club in 1925 which were identified at the time as Native American by University of Washington archaeologist Leslie Spier, who had been called in to examine the remains by the university, according to an article in the June 21, 1925, San Francisco Examiner. 

Despite prior discovery of human remains, Monday’s statement did not call for an archaeological survey prior to construction—unlike the city, which did require a survey at 700 University Avenue prior to approval construction at that site. 

The statement did cite the project’s Environmental Impact Report, which called for a survey in the event any artifacts are discovered after construction commences. 

The release quoted Dr. Kent Lightfoot, curator of archaeology at the university’s Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology, who said a partial skeleton had been discovered during stadium excavations, though there “is no indication from the records that this isolated skeleton is part of a larger archaeological site.” 


OUSD Land Sale Deal Declared Dead

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday February 23, 2007

In a dramatic but not necessarily unexpected announcement, California Superintendent for Public Instruction Jack O’Connell said on Thursday that the proposed deal to sell more than eight acres of prime downtown Oakland Unified School District land to an east coast development team is dead, killed by overwhelming Oakland opposition. 

The proposed sale property included the district’s Paul Robeson Building administrative headquarters as well as five education institutions, including Dewey and MetWest high schools and La Escuelita Elementary and two child care centers, all of which sit near the soon-to-be-renovated Lake Merritt Channel. The developers had proposed putting up luxury high-rise condominium towers in their place. 

“Ultimately, Oakland community members made very clear that this project is not in line with their vision for their community, and I respect that point of view,” O’Connell said in a press release. “As a result, I have decided to end the discussion over the sale of this property.” 

O’Connell’s release said that the decision was made “by mutual agreement” between himself, the OUSD State Administrator, Kimberly aStatham, and the proposed buyers of the property, TerraMark/Urban America. 

Statham alerted OUSD Board President David Kakishiba about the decision on Wednesday night, and made the announcement herself on Thursday morning at a speech to the Oakland Chamber of Commerce. 

While the decision does not completely kill any chance that the OUSD properties will be sold off by the state, O’Connell’s press information officer said by telephone that “there is no consideration at this time to sell the property.” 

Authority allowing the state superintendent to sell OUSD land came in the State Senator Don Perata-authored legislation in 2003 that also authorized the state takeover of the Oakland public schools. 

In May 2006, the Planet broke the story that O’Connell was close to a deal on the sale of the property. Under the terms of the state takeover, O’Connell had sole authority to complete the sale on behalf of the Oakland school district. 

But led by parents from the five schools slated to be displaced by the sale, opposition in Oakland quickly jelled, leading to a rare show of political unity in which the newly-elected mayor, Ron Dellums, the incoming and outgoing assembly representatives, Sandré Swanson and Wilma Chan, the entire Oakland City Council and Peralta Community College District Board of Trustees, and the six of the seven members of the advisory OUSD Board of Trustees all either came out in opposition to the proposed land sale outright, or called for a slowdown in the sale negotiations. 

Last fall, Oakland trustees voted to recommend that instead of selling the property, a multi-grade educational center and new administration complex be built to replace the current five schools and aging administration building. 

OUSD Board President David Kakishiba says now that the TerraMark/Urban America deal is off the table, “it should clear the way toward building the new multi-school campus.” 

Kakishiba said that work to build community support for the educational center has been ongoing since trustees held public hearings on the proposed land sale last fall, and a March 1, 6:30 p.m. meeting with parents, community representatives, and local political leaders has been set for the Laney College Forum to discuss the education center proposal in detail.  

Kakishiba said that the decision to move forward with a community effort to support the education center proposal began in part with the Oakland Community Organizations (OCO) faith-based coalition, which Kakishiba said has “close ties” with MetWest High School “and wanted to conduct a listening campaign in the community to see what they wanted for the downtown land in place of the sale.” 

Kakishiba said that at the same time, he was meeting with parents of La Escuelita students following the public hearings on the land sale, telling them that “I’ve gone as far as I can on this issue as a board member, and if you want to save the school on this site, you are going to have to organize.” Kakishiba said to assist the organizing effort, he brought in the East Bay Asian Youth Center, where he works. The effort has also involved the school district’s Office of Community Accountability, which participated in the community survey and is helping to coordinate the March 1 Laney Forum meeting. 

Meanwhile, reaction to the decision to kill the TerraMark/Urban America deal was universally positive among Oakland political leaders who had been active in the fight against the land sale. 

Oakland attorney Dan Siegel, who served on the Oakland school board during the state takeover and chose not to run for re-election in last November’s election, said that “I’m glad [the sale] is not going forward. It was a terrible proposal that would have tied up the district’s land and resources.” 

Siegel credited the change in two political offices from last year to this—the 16th District Assembly seat from Wilma Chan to Sandré Swanson and the Oakland Mayor’s office from Jerry Brown to Ron Dellums—to helping kill the land deal. 

That was similar to comments by board member Greg Hodge, who credited the reversal on the sale “as a result of a lot of community pressure from political office-holders and the public, and just plain old good sense that led Jack O’Connell to actually make a good decision on this. Do I think [O’Connell’s] intentions were good? No. But I think it’s good for Oakland.” 

Both Siegel and Hodge said that they hoped that the land sale decision would help speed up the return to local control of the Oakland public schools. 

“One of the reasons many of us believed O’Connell was maintaining his authority over the Oakland schools was so that he could complete this land deal,” Siegel said, adding that O’Connell may be less enthusiastic on holding control over the Oakland schools now that the land deal is off the table. 

In a prepared statement, Assemblymember Swanson said, “I appreciate the Superintendent’s response to the Oakland community’s concern about the potential land sale of Oakland Unified School District property. I appreciate his acknowledgement of the importance of citizen participation in these very important decisions and the role that parents, teachers, and students play in developing a school environment where learning is in fact our top priority. I support the superintendent’s three goals [stated in O’Connell’s press statement announcing the end of the deal] of improving student achievement, developing sound financial systems for our district, and returning the district to local control as soon as possible. In that regard, I am moving forward with my legislation, AB45, which will begin an orderly transfer of educational responsibilities to the Oakland School Board in January of 2008.” 

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums was out of town on Thursday and unavailable for comment. 

A spokesperson in the office of State Senator Don Perata said, “The Senator did not make any statement when the initial land sale deal was proposed, and we probably won’t make any statement now.” 


High-Rise Tower Plan Proposed for Downtown

By Richard Brenneman
Friday February 23, 2007

Should downtown Berkeley sprout a highrise-studded skyline, complete with 14 new 16-story “point towers” as a solution to regional government demands that the city add new housing? 

That was one of the solutions offered by city planning staff at Wednesday night’s meeting of the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee. 

The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) has issued preliminary figures that will form the basis of a new mandate that would force the city to prepare the way to add 2,700 new housing units over the next seven years. 

Though the figure isn’t final and Planning Director Dan Marks said his staff is appealing the figure, ABAG has decreed a “smart growth” policy that mandates cities with major transportation facilities and job access to accommodate the lion’s share of regional development. 

Under the proposed guidelines, the city would have to prepare for a total of 5,450 new housing units by 2035. 

ABAG doesn’t require actual construction—only that the city be willing to accept the totals if developers are willing to build the new housing. Failure to comply could mean the loss of some state funding and programs. 

The high-rises—called “point towers” because they are set back from lower street-frontages—would each be as tall as the Wells Fargo Tower, one of two tallest buildings in downtown Berkeley. 

Located at the northwest corner of the intersection of Shattuck Avenue and Center Street, that tower faces across Center Street Berkeley’s currently tallest urban structure, the Great Western bank building, otherwise known as the Power Bar building, located at the southwest corner. 

A third, even taller building is planned for the northeast corner of the same intersection, the UC Berkeley-promoted Berkeley Charles hotel and conference center, which would feature 19 stories of hotel rooms and condos atop three floors of meeting and dining space. 

The high-rises were presented as one of two scenarios for land use and housing, a baseline scenario based on current zoning and policies and the tower-studded high-intensity model. 

The baseline model assumes development limited to four- and five-story projects, the heights determined by current zoning as well as cost-effective construction techniques. Both models include the university’s requirements for 800,000 square feet of new downtown uses as well as 1,000 new parking spaces. 

The baseline model would add 1,800 new housing units, compared to 3,000 for the high-intensity plan, with an 850-square-foot average unit size. 

A new plan was mandated in the settlement of the city’s lawsuit challenging environmental documents prepared for the university’s Long Range Development Plan covering the years through 2020. 

Looking at the point tower scenario, member and architect Jim Novosel said “density for density’s sake sucks,” agreeing with fellow member Juliet Lamont that any plans should include greenery. Winston Burton agreed, and stressed the need to include larger, three-bedroom units among the affordable housing to be created. 

Marks said one possible source of the scarce larger units might be incentives granted to enable construction of the high-rises. 

Dacey asked how high-rises would impact already challenged city sewers and other municipal services, especially when added to impacts of other growth planned by the university on the campus itself. Marks said he would check with city staff. 

Member and Planning Commissioner Helen Burke said she could never support the high-density alternative, “but I would be prepared to support a range of options.” 

All the schematics provided to members, except for the sketch of one point tower at the site of the McDonald’s eatery at University and Shattuck Avenues, were two-dimensional maps, so Wendy Alfsen asked Marks to provide skyline illustrations to show how the 14 towers might impact views of the hills from nearby residences. Marks said he doubted that staff would have time to prepare them.  

No decisions were reached, though a preliminary vote might come soon, said Matt Taecker, the city planner hired with university funds to help draft the new plan. DAPAC must finish its work by November. 

 

Another chair setback  

DAPAC was created to guide city staff in developing the new plan, though the final decisions on the plan rest with the Planning Commission and City Council. A recent coup on the planning commission ousted environmentalist Helen Burke as chair at the end of a one-year term, replacing her with the more developer-friendly David Stoloff. Traditionally, chairs had served for two successive terms. 

Stoloff, if elected for a second term, would be at the commission’s helm while the new downtown plan is being shaped.  

Burke has been part of the DAPAC majority which has repeatedly challenged decisions by Chair Will Travis. She led the successful fight, opposed by Travis, to form a subcommittee focusing on Center Street, the site of two key university-backed projects, the privately built hotel and the university new Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive complex. 

The committee also voted overwhelming to open up meetings of the joint city/university committee advising city planning staff on technical issues of planned university development in the downtown, overriding the wishes of Travis and the city planning department. 

Members also voted against Travis’s wishes to expand the committee on City Interests in University Properties from seven members to eleven.  

The committee handed their chair yet another defeat Wednesday night when they rejected one of his two proposed nominees to a joint committee mulling the role preservation will play in the future of downtown Berkeley. 

Members rejected Travis’s nomination of Planning Commissioner and architect James Samuels to serve on the joint DAPAC/Landmarks Preservation Commission subcommittee. 

The vote was advisory only, with the power to make the actual appointments reserved by the city council. 

While Travis had proposed Samuels and Novosel, members insisted on separate votes on the recommendation, with Novosel winning on a unanimous vote. After that vote, former City Councilmember Mim Hawley moved Samuels’ name. 

“No reflection on Jim, but he’s already on every subcommittee we have,” said Wendy Alfsen. “I really think everybody ought to have a chance to be on a committee, and nobody should serve on all three.” 

“I didn’t volunteer,” Samuels said. 

“Jim’s knowledge will be very helpful,” said retired UC Berkeley Assistant Vice Chancellor for Property Development Dorothy Walker. 

But the nomination failed on a five-six vote, with five members abstaining. 

Gene Poschman, a member of the planning commission, said that in conformity with the practice of other city commissions, the members ought to have a vote on subcommittee appointments. 

Patti Dacey, like Samuels a former member of the landmarks commission, then nominated Jesse Arreguin, and received a second from Lisa Stephens. 

Arreguin was approved by with 12 votes, with only Walker and former City Councilmember Mim Hawley in opposition. Samuels, Novosel and Jenny Wenk abstained. 

 

Photograph by Richard Brenneman. 

Planner Matt Taecker showed Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee members one possible example of a 16-story “point tower” on the northwest corner of Shattuck and University avenues, one of 14 that might be erected in downtown Berkeley if planners opt for a high-intensity development model. 


Joint Panel Readies Downtown Vision

By Richard Brenneman
Friday February 23, 2007

The downtown panel subcommittee exploring possibilities for joint city/UC Berkeley coordination on the university’s downtown expansion plans steamed full speed ahead Tuesday, pushing towards a quick wrap-up. 

The group also heard from Dena Belzer, an economic consultant hired by the Downtown Berkeley Association to prepare recommendations for revitalizing a city center plagued with more than its share of vacancies and ailing businesses. 

Subcommittee Chair Dorothy Walker, who served until her retirement in 1995 as Assistant Vice Chancellor for Property Development for the university, presented members with an eight-page 38-point draft report, setting a Saturday morning for submission of changes. 

The group Walker chairs is the Subcommittee on City Interests in University Properties, and is comprised of representatives of the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee (DAPAC) and from the university. 

The only mild dissent to Walker’s report came from Helen Burke, former chair of the planning commission, who asked for more discussion and point-by-point votes. 

The final report will be presented to DAPAC, which is formulating policies to be incorporated into the new plan for an expanded downtown area mandated in the settlement of a city lawsuit challenging the university’s Long Range Development Plan 2020. 

According to Walker’s draft, “Downtown will not become a prime retail destination” and the university and arts and entertainment will serve as the two key engines of the downtown’s future. 

Among other key points, the draft calls for: 

• Transforming Oxford Street into a streetscape “to knit the campus and Downtown together and to orient the University population to use the Downtown”; 

• Attracting more university students to the downtown to spur economic revitalization; 

• Construction of new housing for current and retired university faculty in the city center; 

• Allowing the university to replace the old Department of Health Services building north of University Avenue with a taller building than would normally be allowed downtown in exchange for allowing retail uses along the Shattuck Avenue frontage; 

• Adding more intensive development at the location of private developments along Shattuck Avenue north of University Avenue and on University between Milvia and Oxford streets; 

• Adding new green space along the Oxford Street right of way, along with more street trees and a possible redesign of the crescent-shaped entry lawn at the university’s western edge along Oxford; 

• Relocating 300 of the parking spaces planned for the 911-space underground lot western of Memorial Stadium to a downtown location.; 

• Creating a new city parking structure at the site of the city’s Berkeley Way parking lot; 

• A joint city/university grant application to seek funds to plan new joint parking facilities, organize coordinated parking and transit fees, creation of ride-share programs and transit subsidies, creation of new bike facilities, new shuttle services and reorganizing AC Transit service; 

• Relocating the Haas business school executive education program from its projected Bowles Hall location to the downtown. 

Members will take up the plan again when they meet next Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Avenue at Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

 

DBA consultant 

“Our work is really to do strategic thinking and not the number crunching,” said Belzer. 

“One of our first conclusions is that downtown Berkeley is too big to define as an area,” she said. Rather, downtown is better conceived as several areas, with he best known being the arts district with its theaters. 

“We are focusing on the areas where there are good buildings and other things which offer the potential to focus activities,” she said. 

One question both the DBA and DAPAC are confronting is the possibility of attracting major retailers to the downtown, in hopes they will act as spurs to promote the health of smaller businesses. 

Matt Taecker, the city planner assigned to work with DAPAC, said one possibility is so-called junior anchors such as Circuit City or Pottery Barn, rather than a major department store like a Nordstrom’s. 

Major anchors aren’t locating in city centers anymore, instead preferring to locate in shopping malls, he said. 

“An anchor for the downtown will come from a good synergism of a lot of different uses,” Belzer said. “We won’t have a department store downtown.” 

Belzer also urged the city not to mandate ground floor retail on all downtown buildings. “It won’t work, and there are other ways you can make a pleasant streetscape,” she said. 

“We also shouldn’t be focusing all our eggs on the Shattuck basket. We should also focus on the arterial” streets. 

Belzer urged the city to concentrate more on office uses, rather than solely on developing housing as a means of bring potential consumers to downtown shops. 

Some DAPAC members want the university to include space for a significantly sized retail store in their plans for the Department of Health Services site, but Kerry O’Banion, the university’s principal planner for downtown projects, said that the city would have to provide parking because the university wasn’t in a position to provide parking for a business. 

Without the assurance of parking, he said, the university would probably build smaller retail spaces along Shattuck, possibly for an optical shop and other uses that would fit in with community health services that may be located at the site. 


Urban Ore Proposes Zero Waste Transfer Station for City

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday February 23, 2007

The city of Berkeley could have a seven-acre zero waste transfer station at Second and Gilman Streets in the next three to five years. 

The plan—proposed by Berkeley-based Material Recovery Enterprise (MRE) Urban Ore founder and owner Dan Knapp—was presented to the Berkeley Zero Waste Commission at the current city-owned regional transfer station at Gilman Street on Tuesday. 

In 2006, the city hired the national firm Environmental Science Associates (ESA), who concluded that Berkeley’s transfer station complex on seven city-owned acres would need to be reorganized and rebuilt—an investment estimated at $20 to $30 million. 

“When the city adopted a zero waste goal, Urban Ore decided to step in and suggest a design for a zero waste transfer facility,” said Knapp. “We want to influence the design as much as possible. We have 25 years of experience starting at the Berkeley landfill. We want to make material recovery activity a Berkeley tradition. Our ultimate goal is to create a Zero Waste City. The new station will be efficient, easy, convenient, pleasing and sustainable.” 

Knapp also said that the remodel would boost cash flow. 

“Urban Ore’s move across town to a redesigned site dramatically helped our business after construction was completed in 2004,” he said. “Since this site will be far more efficient to use, profits should increase for all.” 

Urban Ore has invested $10,000 of its own money on architectural services to carry forward the city-sponsored contractor work that concluded over a year ago. 

Team members for the Berkeley Zero Waste Transfer Station, called BIZWITS, include Urban Ore operations manager and Knapp’s wife Mary Lou Van Deventer, renowned green architect Greg VanMechelen and architect Mark Gorrell. 

“We have done this kind of design work both for our own sites and for several dozens around USA and in Australia, New Zealand, and England. So why not do it for Berkeley?,” asked Van Deventer. 

“This is a flexible design for achieving zero waste and maximum community and city income,” she said. 

The proposal is currently at its public comment design stage. The Berkeley Zero Waste Commission is scheduled to take its plans for rebuilding the transfer station to the City Council in May. It will ask the city for resources and put forward a request for qualification (RFQ).  

“It will take time, but we are definitely going to do it,” said Zero Waste Commissioner Nashua Kalil. 

“We want to make this a silver LEED [leadership, energy and environmental design] facility, something that acts as a model for the rest of the country. The grants which will go into paying to rebuild this facility will be generating revenue for the entire community,” 

Currently, the city’s collection of discard-related businesses has an annual budget of about $26 million. It has seen a profit of around 15 percent for the last three or four years. 

“Just like any other big garbage company, the city makes a profit on its waste and recycling activities. This is both a problem and an opportunity,” said Knapp. “To get to zero waste requires weaning garbage companies from the garbage disposal dollar, and this is not easy even to think about, much less do.” 

Jeff Belchamber, general manager of Community Conservation Centers (CCC) —one of the three biggest MREs which serves as a contractor to the city for salvage and recycling services—told the Planet that Berkeley’s Multi-Material Recycling Center was in dire need of upgrades. 

“The city needs to spend some money on the dilapidated facilities here,” he said pointing at one of the sorting facilities on Tuesday. “We have really small containers for storing stuff. Bailors would make things more efficient. Hopefully with the new facility, we will be able to keep the quality and increase the tonnage.” 

CCC along with Urban Ore, Ecology Center and recovery contractors generates more than six million from the discard supply. 

VanMechelen told the commission that the design was primarily looking at better customer service and higher traffic capacity for increasing income. 

“What the customer needs is clarity, easy access and simple extensive parking,” he said. 

“At the same time materials such as paper, glass, ceramics and others get processed inside and then come out to be used by the community. Therein lies the theory of zero waste.” 

According to VanMechelen, an airport-style unloading facility would dramatically improve customer service. 

“The customer interface is eight times longer—800 linear feet compared to 100 linear feet. As a result there is speedier unloading and more traffic capacity.” 

The design calls for a single big building with 85,000 square feet instead of several buildings with less covered space and more roadways. It encourages coherent interactive operations with less site space required for traffic queues and circulation. 

“As an architect, safety is my number one concern, especially with the abundance of forklifts and shopping carts around. Also, Gilman Street is a very busy street. So the idea of having multiple driveways is dangerous,” said VanMechelen. 

Offices and education centers face Gilman Street in the conceptual plan, while an elevated observation walkway permits public and professional tours.  

“We want to educate the community about the natural environment, recycling and material flows, create more jobs and protect the creek area,” he said. 

Gorrell talked about a bioswale pond, a greenhouse, nature trails and picnic areas for children and community members. 

“The distinct areas in the proposed area provide separation for service providers, while the open structures allows flexibility as these services expand or contract. A continuous canopy above protects users from rain and is a platform for locally made artwork from recycled materials to be displayed,” he said. 

Both Knapp and Van Deventer maintain that Urban Ore’s proposed plan is cheaper than that of ESA. 

“There are only four exterior walls, not 16, and none are below grade. There is also no excavation and no ramps. Most of the services can stay on site during construction, with only the equipment moving off site. The ESA design provides no phasing, creates unnecessary logistical challenges and service confusion,” said Knapp. “Most importantly, the preliminary estimated cost is $18-$20 million without equipment, as compared to ESA’s $30 million.”


Berkeley High Beat: Free Breakfast Program Premieres at Berkeley High

By Rio Bauce
Friday February 23, 2007

Berkeley High School has partnered with Ann Cooper, Berkeley Unified School District director of nutrition services, to provide a free breakfast for all its students. Breakfast is served in the morning, from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.  

“We have a school menu,” says Cooper. “We take into consideration the quality of the food, the nutritional content, the affordability—and most importantly, we want the food to taste delicious to the kids.” 

Using all of these components, Cooper and her staff produced a breakfast menu that rotates every few weeks. The menu includes things such as hot/cold cereal and yogurt, muffins, scrambled eggs, frittatas, turkey bacon, etc. Additionally, the majority of the food is organically grown and some is even purchased at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market. 

Cooper reports that many kids have been taking advantage of the program. She estimates that the number of kids eating breakfast is between one hundred and one hundred and twenty-five each morning. The program is funded by the reimbursements that the school receives from the state for free or reduced-price lunch programs. 

“I really like the breakfast program,” said junior Keenan Nelson-Barer. “I don’t always have time in the morning to get a good breakfast, so it’s helpful to be able to get it at school for free before I go to class.” 

When asked what his favorite food item was, Nelson-Barer responded, “The scrambled eggs are really good.” 

BHS Principal Jim Slemp reported that he enjoyed the food as well, especially the oatmeal. District Public Information Officer Mark Coplan agreed with Slemp on the program. “It’s really great,” remarked Coplan. 

Cooper was hired by the district last year to help reform the food services in all of the Berkeley schools. The School Lunch Initiative, a group independent from the BUSD started by restaurateur Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, pays for her salary. 

When we asked Cooper what she would say to a BHS student to convince them to eat the breakfast, she responded, “It tastes good and you’ll feel better, think better, and learn better in class. It’s a win-win situation.” 

As for the lunch program, there is a variety of options in the food court. There is an American/Italian/Asian food bar, an organic salad bar, a wraps station (sushi, egg rolls, etc.), and a gourmet pizza bar. Starting March 1, BHS plans to open the court to outsider food, to serve items like Chicken Wings, Sloppy Joes and others. 

Students have been giving the cafeteria food mixed reviews. Some students found it “really good” and “better than it used to be,” while others found it “too healthy” or “pricey”. Breakfast is free, while lunch is $4 for students not receiving free or reduced lunch. 

“We’re working really hard on the food at Berkeley High,” Cooper said. “I’m really trying to get the kids to eat it.” 


Man Charged with Misdemeanors In Pacific Center Threats Case

By Judith Scherr
Friday February 23, 2007

A Clayton man was formally arraigned by the Alameda County District Attorney’s office Tuesday, charged with two misdemeanors: making criminal threats to staff at Pacific Center for Human Growth and vandalism at the agency, a support center for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. 

Berkeley police said they took Darren Scott, 32, into custody last Friday. He was turned over to them by Concord Police, who had picked the suspect up on unrelated charges. He is free on $12,500 bail. 

Over the past several weeks, the Pacific Center, located at 2712 Telegraph Ave., had received three death threats and experienced one instance of vandalism on Feb. 3, when a man, believed to be the same person making the threats, kicked in glass on the center’s front door. 

Center director Juan Barajas, who was not available for comment, said earlier that the suspect, believed to have been a client of the center in a Walnut Creek youth program, frightened staff because his e-mails targeted youth and referred to Columbine High School, where 12 young people were killed by two classmates in 1999. The suspect also made reference in e-mails to Matthew Shepard, a gay man brutally murdered in Wyoming in 1998, Barajas said. 

Galvan said Berkeley police originally arrested the suspect on felony threat charges, but on Tuesday, the district attorney charged him with misdemeanors. 

Scott will be back in court March 6.


Students and Alcohol Policy Group Debate Drinking Laws

By Judith Scherr
Friday February 23, 2007

There are laws on the books against underage drinking and loud parties, but they need more muscle, say advocates of two proposed ordinances that would crack down on adults who allow underage drinking and unruly parties on their premises. 

But students representing the Intra-Fraternity Council, the Associated Students of the University of California, the College Panhellenic Council and others say punishment is not the answer; in fact, it could discourage people from calling law enforcement when problems occur at private gatherings. Students can and do take responsibility through self-policing, they say. 

The City Council will hold a work session on the question on Feb. 27, 5 p.m., Old City Hall, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

At issue are two draft city ordinances, both supported by BAPAC, the Berkeley Alcohol Policy Advocacy Coalition, Students for a Safer Southside and UC Berkeley officials. 

One is a “social host” ordinance, designed to target adults responsible for hosting a gathering where minors consume alcohol. The threat of a fine will cause them to better regulate their parties, according to Elizabeth Van Dyke, a non-student and coordinator for Students for a Safer Southside. The council approved the social host ordinance on the first reading at the City Council’s Jan. 30 meeting, but Mayor Tom Bates removed the second reading from the Feb. 13 agenda, something Councilmember Darryl Moore, who sponsored the ordinances, said was a surprise, unilateral move. 

The “second response” ordinance was passed in concept by the City Council Jan. 30, strengthening a law already in place. It targets the person responsible for hosting an unruly or loud gathering, causing the location to be posted with an official warning after the first citation by police. Subsequent citations over a period of 180 days would cause the party host to be fined at $750, for the second citation, $1,500 for the third and $2,500 for all subsequent citations. The proposed law increased the fines and levied them over the period of 180 days, rather than the current 60-day period.  

The ASUC and fraternity groups say the 180-day period is unfair, given the frequent moves that students make from one living situation to another. 

The social host ordinance would impose fines of $250 for the first offense and increase penalties for subsequent offenses each time police are called and find underage drinking on the premises.  

Citing the difficulty of determining who is hosting the party, Nikhil Bhagat, president of the UC Berkeley Intra-Fraternity Council said that his organization would prefer that the city not enact a social host ordinance at all. But as a compromise, the students are calling for the inclusion in the ordinance of the phrase “knowingly and willingly” to underscore that it is the intent of the social host to serve minors.  

But Lori Lott, secretary of BAPAC said adding these words to the ordinance would “make it unenforceable—you’d have to prove there was intention,” she said.  

In support of the ordinances, John Cummins, UC Berkeley associate chancellor, wrote in a Feb. 22 letter to the City Council: “Research shows that strong local ordinances, consistent enforcement, and clear community expectations are vital in lowering the incidents of binge and underage drinking and the host of social problems that accompany those behaviors.” 

Underscoring that UC Berkeley does not have a greater drinking problem than many other universities, the chancellor cites the results of a study by Dr. Robert Saltz of the Berkeley-based Prevention Research Center that says a November 2006 study shows that: 

• 30 percent of the time students said they “drank enough to be drunk,” when attending parties at off-campus houses or apartments (a higher rate than at Greek parties or at local bars and restaurants), and  

• when asked about problems encountered due to other students’ drinking 11 percent reported they were ‘insulted or humiliated,’ and 8 percent reported being ‘pushed hit or assaulted.’ 

“Given that there are over 23,000 undergraduates at Berkeley, even modest percentages translate to hundreds, if not thousands of students whose lives and academic work are being affected [by alcohol] just in one semester,” Saltz concludes. 

Those opposed to the ordinances do not dispute that drinking is a problem, but they argue it should be approached in a way that puts the onus on the students. “The truth is that it actually takes away the responsibility of the underage drinker and focuses on the ‘host’ of the party,” writes Raza Campus Facilitator Daniel Montes in a Daily Cal op-ed. 

Bhagat points to ways the Intra-fraternity Council has begun to take responsibility for monitoring gatherings. A group that has a social event must notify police, the fire department and neighbors and provide its own security for the event. Students bring their own alcohol—limited to beer and wine—to the event and identification is checked at the door. The fraternities provide monitors who go out and make sure parties are under control. If violations are found, violators go before a student judicial council.  

While much of the discussion has been around the UC Berkeley student population, BAPAC’s Lott points out that the ordinance also will help curb problems associated with alcohol in all areas of the city. 

The City Council is yet to discuss other efforts to reduce alcohol abuse put forward in a report by the city Health and Human Services Department. 

 


Judge Denies Restraining Order in Woodfin Case

By Judith Scherr
Friday February 23, 2007

A judge turned down a Woodfin Suites Hotel application Wednesday for a temporary restraining order intended to prevent an Emeryville city councilmember and labor leaders from coming within 500 feet of the hotel. 

The Woodfin, at 5800 Shellmound St. in Emeryville, is embroiled in a labor dispute with its workers. 

In a two-paragraph decision, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Winifred Y. Smith agreed with attorneys for Emeryville City Councilmember John Fricke, Alameda County Building and Construction Trades Council Secretary-Treasurer Barry Luboviski, Alameda County Central Labor Council Coalition Director Wendall Chin and the pro-labor organization East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, affirming that the complaint “arises out of the ongoing labor dispute” between the hotel and the labor organizers and did not warrant a restraining order. 

“Despite the fact that I’m a lawyer, I have faith in the judicial system—I had confidence that the judge would do the right thing,” said Fricke by phone after the decision was rendered.  

Labor organizers have been supporting Woodfin workers’ efforts to have the hotel implement Measure C, a Living Wage law for hotel workers passed by Emeryville voters in 2005, requiring a minimum wage and limiting the square-footage that housekeepers clean each day before they are paid overtime.  

Woodfin management says it is implementing Measure C, while workers argue they are asked to clean more than the law allows without being paid overtime. 

In their application for the emergency TRO, hotel attorneys said Fricke and the labor representatives “entered the Woodfin Suites Hotel … and acted in a threatening and harassing manner toward several young employees of the Woodfin Suites Hotel.”  

Attorneys for Fricke, Luboviski, Chin and EBASE responded orally Wednesday in an unusual hallway hearing outside offices that serve Alameda Country Superior Court Department 31, located above the post office at Jackson and 13th streets in Oakland. 

Because the application was presented as an emergency measure, it was not on the regular court calendar: a research attorney took written and oral testimony in the hallway, consulted privately with the judge, then made the judge’s ruling public to the attorneys and press waiting in the hallway. None of the defendants attended the hearing. 

At issue was whether the defendants’ actions and hotel response were part of the ongoing labor dispute or separate from that. 

Attorneys for Fricke and the labor representatives argued that the hotel’s aim was to squelch the labor organizers’ right to free speech and prevent them from carrying out their efforts to support the workers.  

But Woodfin attorney Jeff Ames, of San Diego-based Shea Stokes said the TRO, unrelated to the labor strife, was necessary because the “threatening” behavior 

of Fricke and the others had disturbed hotel guests and frightened employees. 

In a phone interview Tuesday, Fricke described how he saw the incident that sparked the hotel’s TRO application. On Feb. 13 Fricke said he led a delegation of labor organizers – Luboviski and Chin – into the hotel, asked to see the manager and, when informed that the manager was not there, gave the front desk employees his card and said, “I hope as a hotel you will abide by Measure C” and left. 

“It astounds me that they are using the courts to try to curtail the effort to get them to comply with Measure C,” said Fricke, represented at the Wednesday hearing by attorney Ben Stock at the behest of the city of Emeryville.  

But Woodfin attorney Ames asserted that hotel employees found Fricke’s behavior threatening. “[The employees] were distressed; they were shocked,” he told the research attorney. 

“This is not a labor dispute,” Ames further argued. “We’re not seeking to quell free speech.” He said the picketers were free to demonstrate on Tuesday and Saturday as they did every week, but they were not free to intimidate hotel guests. “We seek to stop them from interfering with business,” he said. 

Speaking for defendants Chin and Luboviski, attorney Stewart Weinberg, of Weinberg, Roger & Rosenfeld, contended: “Mr. Chin and Mr. Luboviski were not accused of opening their mouths. They were just walking into the Woodfin.” What was really going on was an effort to target demonstrators, he said. “They want to keep the demonstrators a football field away from the Woodfin.” 

Speaking after the judge’s decision was rendered, Woodfin manager Hugh MacIntosh reiterated that the charges “had nothing to do with the labor dispute.” 

EBASE organizer Nikki Bas said that while she was happy with the ruling, she thought the TRO application was a waste of time and money: instead of hiring a communications firm (Woodfin engaged Schellhorn Communications to alert the press to the TRO application) and lawyers, “Woodfin should have spent the money paying the workers what they are owed,” she said. 

 


Oakland School for the Arts Undergoes Administrative Overhaul

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday February 23, 2007

Facing dropping student test scores and continued teacher turnover, Jerry Brown’s heavily-subsidized Oakland School For the Arts charter school has undergone an administrative overhaul in recent months. 

Gone is the longtime OSA Director Loni Berry, as well as the assistant director, Taura Musgrove. 

In their place in the position of “Head of School,” the OSA Board last November hired Boston native and Brandeis theater arts graduate Saul Drevitch.  

A press release on the OSA website says that Drevitch served as director of communications at Lawrence Academy in Groton, Mass., and spent nine years as the director of the Exploration Intermediate Program, which it says is the country’s premier summer academic enrichment program for middle school students, but does not give a date for that employment. A Saul Drevitch was listed as the head of school of Berkeley’s private Arrowsmith Academy which closed its doors last June, but it is unclear whether it is the same person as the new OSA head of school. 

The president of OSA’s board of directors, Dr. Bruce Lawrence, could not be reached for comment as to why the administrative change was made, and the OSA administration did not return a phone call in regard to this story. 

The Oakland School for the Arts, which began as a high school but expanded to include middle school students in 2005, currently holds classes in portables behind the Fox Oakland Theater in downtown Oakland. The school is slated to move into the refurbished Fox in 2008. 

Administration of the school has come under frequent criticism from parents attending OSA. In the parent comment section of the Great Schools network last fall, in the period just before Drevitch was hired, two parents praised OSA, but five others blasted the school’s administration. "This school isn't managed very well," one parent wrote, while another said, "This school is a total mess. It is organized poorly and the administration is at times unapproachable. The kids suffer." Another said that “there is no communication between anyone and the administration is ridiculous.” 

But another parent, writing last September, had nothing but praise, writing that “we will be eternally grateful for the opportunities she was given, the education she received and the care she got from the administration and staff. No high school is perfect, and a new one has a straight uphill challenge to establish itself. This school was exceptional for our family.” 

But alongside the administration, teacher turnover at OSA has been the most frequent target of parent criticism. 

Earlier this year, the Great Schools network reported that OSA rated poorly in teacher turnover when compared with other schools in the state. 32 percent of the OSA faculty were first-year teachers in the 2005-06 school year, as opposed to only 7 percent in the rest of the state. 

A review of the OSA list of faculty on its website confirms those statistics. 

Of the 26 faculty members listed on the OSA faculty in July 2005, only five now remain at the school. The turnover was most severe in the Science, Social Science, and Theater departments, where no faculty member is currently listed who was listed two years ago. 

And after several years of high academic achievement, OSA test scores dropped off dramatically last year in certain areas. Last summer, the Planet reported that OSA student scores dropped 17 percentage points in the California Standards Test (CST) in ninth-grade English Language Arts between 2005 and 2006, and 8 percentage points in ninth-grade Geometry. Overall, the Planet reported, OSA students tested weaker than the statewide average in math and science and stronger in English Language Arts in 2006. 


Police Blotter

By Richard Brenneman
Friday February 23, 2007

Aims, no shot 

A 23-year-old man was strolling near the corner of Shattuck Avenue and Channing Way Monday when a fellow approached, pointed a gun at him then jumped into a white windowless van and sped away headed south on Shattuck. 

No arrest has been made. 

 

Student robbed 

A pair of bandits, both packing pistols, robbed a 21-year-old Cal student of his valuables as he was walking along the 2200 block of Warring Street moments after midnight Saturday morning. 

The two suspects then fled on foot, heading northbound on Warring. Despite a search by both Berkeley and campus police, the duo affected an escape, reports UC Berkeley Police Chief Victoria L. Harrison 

 

Rape suspect caught 

Alerted by the sounds of a woman crying for help at 1:22 a.m. Saturday, Berkeley police spotted a 51-year-old man as he was sexually assaulting a woman in the 2200 block of College Avenue. 

Seeing the officers, the suspect fled on foot, and officers set out in pursuit. The suspect was arrested moments later near the corner of Dwight Way and Bowditch Street. 

The injured woman was taken to Summit Alta Bates Medical Center for treatment, and the suspect was taken to jail and booked on suspicion of rape.


Fire Log

By Richard Brenneman
Friday February 23, 2007

Valentine’s fire 

A wiring short appears to be the cause of the flames that damaged a home at 2014 Prince St. on Valentine’s Day, said Deputy Fire Chief David P. Orth. 

The fire was first reported at 9:11 p.m., and firefighters had finished their work by 10:34. 

Damage wasn’t extensive, reports an eyewitness, a certain Planet reporter who lives on the block. 

 

Too dry 

A clothes dryer in a residence at 2126 Haste St. got too hot for its own good Feb. 12, and managed to set itself on fire, reports Deputy Chief Orth. 

Residents had the blaze extinguished by the time firefighters arrived, and the crew aired hour the dwelling, took their report and departed.


An Open Letter to an Immigration Judge

By Margot Pepper
Friday February 23, 2007

February 14, 2007 

To: The Honorable Immigration Judge, 

 

I’m a 2nd-grade Two-Way Spanish Immersion (TWI) teacher at Rosa Parks school in Berkeley. Today is Valentine’s Day. It was my last day with one of my top students, Gerardo Espinoza. His father received an order of deportation and is moving the family to Mexico to comply with the law. Gerardo is a stunning seven-year old, with unusually wide, round brown eyes, a cute little nose, full lips and round pale baby cheeks—the kind of child that Japanese anime depict. He’s wedded to his knit cap. The behavior of Gerardo and his brother Felipe, whom I taught nearly a decade ago, has been an example to everyone, including myself. They are both reasons why I love my job. Whenever I had difficult students, I’d seat them in a group with Gerardo or Felipe for a month and their behavior would improve tremendously. I attribute the brothers’ outstanding comportment in large part to their close-knit family, especially the loving care of their mother, Norma, who spends every lunch time with Gerardo.  

Honorable Sir, I do not understand why Gerardo and José are being denied their rights as U.S. citizens to an education and parents, both; why, under the law, they are forced to choose. My colleagues and I envisioned their winning scholarships at U.C. Berkeley, eventually lifting them up to the middle class. Like their children, their parents are also model—I’d like to say citizens—but they’ve been denied this. Your honor is probably aware that their former attorney, Walter Pineda, was exposed on the news for defrauding immigrants and aiding in their deportation. He was disbarred on Nov. 1, 2006, State Bar No. 97293.  

Felipe Espinoza Senior has lived in the United States for 20 years. His wife Norma has lived here for 14. Felipe Sr. has worked five to six days a week in jobs from Skates by the Bay to a steel mill in Oakland. Today, when he dropped by for Gerardo’s farewell Valentine party, in which the other students read him their going away valentines, I commented that I hadn’t seen him since Felipe Jr.’s conference a decade ago. Felipe Senior still looked about the same: like a well-groomed, dignified banker or professional. “I’ve been working,” he said, which I knew was an understatement. He is the sole provider for a family of five, six if we include his former exorbitant lawyer, Pineda. 

Felipe Senior has always done everything by the book. He has always paid his taxes, car registration and insurance. He followed the letter of the law to apply for citizenship. And this, your honor is what I don’t understand. According to the SF Weekly (”The Asylum Trap” by Eliza Strickland, May 10, 2006,) immigrants are more likely to slip through the eye of a needle than they are to receive asylum or residency. Only 34 asylum applications were granted to Mexican immigrants nationwide. San Francisco Attorney Enrique Ramirez observes that immigrants can also apply for residency through work visas or petitions by family members who are residents. Mr. Espinoza was misled by Pineda, apparently like countless others, into falling for the “the ten-year pardon,” or cancellation of removal, though as you know less than 4,000 of these cases have been granted each year. Now I ask you, what is the goal of a system which punishes the vast majority of those who follow the letter of the law and which rewards those who manage to keep their identities off the books?  

The Espinozas met two of the three requirements needed for Mr. Espinoza’s cancellation of removal to Mexico:  

1.) 10 years of continuous presence in the U.S. and 2.) proof of “good moral character” including a clean police record. But Pineda didn’t bother to convince the judge that Felipe Espinoza ‘s deportation would cause 3.) “exceptional and extremely unusual hardship" to a spouse, parent, or child who is either a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident—namely Gerardo and his other son José.  

Immigrations lawyers have since informed me that Mr. Espinoza likely lost his appeal because Immigration judges believe Gerardo’s rights as a citizen are not being violated since he is free to stay in the country himself--in foster care. (His mother has never worked and his father would be unable to support them from Mexico.) The lawyers tell me that no immigration judge would recognize tearing a child away from his parents and placing him or her in foster care as an “exceptional and extremely unusual hardship.” Dear Honorable Sir, have you and your colleagues really become so hardened? Is the reason that you believe such a trauma is not “unusual” because you have caused such horrendous circumstances to become the norm among this population, rather than the exception?  

If so, dear Honorable Immigration Judge, my question to you is, how can I go on teaching about equal rights and freedom of speech and all the things our constitution is supposed to defend, and that the very name of our school is supposed to represent, when the father of my students is deported simply because his skin is darker? Both my Latino and white students are U.S. citizens. So how do I explain to the class that one has the right to a family in the United States and the other citizens do not? Do you think they’ll understand why Felipe and Gerardo’s parents cannot gain citizenship in a country in which they’ve lived for 20 years and in which their children were born, yet it is all right for U.S. citizens to buy up all the beach front property in the Espinozas’ motherland? Do you think such an incident is going to convince my students and their families that the United States is the compassionate model of democracy for the rest of the world?  

Dear Honorable Judge, I ask you, what are you and your colleagues doing to shatter or foment these dreams and ideals?  

The last time I saw Gerardo, I asked him to let me make a video so I could remember him. He stands below the letters that read Rosa Parks School and recites by heart our Rosa Parks School pledge, which he and I still believe:  

“To this day, I believe, we are here on this planet earth to live, grow up and do what we can to make this world a better place for ALL people to enjoy freedom.”  

I’d like to conclude with a poem Gerardo wrote for his parents for their Christmas present: 

 

WITHOUT YOU 

Oh Mamá and Papá, 

Without you,  

I’d never be able to  

cook or eat your enchiladas again; 

we wouldn’t play “trains” together anymore, 

or go to the park  

without you.  

 

Without you,  

I wouldn’t be able to have any fun; 

I wouldn’t be able to feel even the breeze anymore, 

or love; 

I wouldn’t have anyone to play with 

Without you. 

 

Without you, I’d be as lonely as a baby abandoned  

and left to cry alone in a house, 

As sad as a little bird  

that can no longer sing. 

 

Happy Valentine’s Day, 

Margot Pepper 

 

 

Margot Pepper is a journalist and author whose work has been published internationally by the Utne Reader, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, City Lights, Monthly Review, Hampton Brown and others. Her memoir, Through the Wall: A Year in Havana, was a top nomination for the 2006 American Book Award. 

 

 

 


News Analysis: New Cold War With Russia Brewing Over Oil and Gas

By Paolo Pontoniere, New America Media
Friday February 23, 2007

A new Cold War is under way, but unlike the conflict of the Reagan era it is not a fight for military supremacy but rather for gaining control, directly or through commercial proxy, of energy resources. 

At the heart of this new conflict are Western attempts to diffuse Russian President Vladimir Putin's drive to transform his country into a new oil and gas superpower with vast bargaining power with the European Community. Russia is already the world's eighth largest producer of crude oil and the first of natural gas. 

Most recently, UK authorities blamed Russian intelligence for the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB spy, who had accused Vladimir Putin of leading an autocratic, murderous and corrupt government. Litvinenko was a figure in the struggle between the Putin government and Russian oligarchs (whom Western powers favor) for the country's most prized possessions—the oil and gas fields controlled by the Russian oil companies, the state-controlled Gazprom and the privately held Yukos. 

Litvinenko's assassination nearly coincided with the signing of a commercial agreement between Gazprom and ENI-Italy's largest energy conglomerate—for the distribution of natural gas to Western Europe. The first of its kind, the agreement would allow Gazprom to operate independently under the supervision of the Italian partner, which would be tantamount to the Russian giant selling its product directly to consumers in Western Europe, bypassing EU's regulatory constraints. 

Western powers have come to despise what they see as Russia's heavy-handed form of capitalism, as in the case of mining rights to the Arctic sea floor, which is believed to hold vast oil reserves. According to Moscow, under the newly operating United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, more than 50 percent of those submerged resources belong to Russia. This assertion has compelled other powers -- such as Denmark, Norway, Canada and Iceland—to stake their own claims to some of the same underwater territories. The controversy is leading to an increased militarization of the Arctic, with Russian battleships often confronting the vessels of oil developers and Western navies. 

“Putin has decided to make a huge energy superpower out of Russia and there's almost nothing that can stop him,” says Robert Hueber, an analyst at the Centre for Security and International Studies. “Unless something slows him down, there's no way for the West to prevent him from putting his hands on some of the most prized resources of the planet.” 

Although China's higher profile in Africa is providing cause for concern to the United States and its allies, it is Russia that generates their strongest reactions. They believe Russia is using its energy clout for geopolitical gains, especially in the regions that were once under the Soviet control but are now independent countries. 

Western powers have been vehemently denouncing Russia for last year's rows with Ukraine and Belarus over the price of gas. Russia temporarily shut down its gas and oil shipments to these countries as a result of the quarrel. The action in turn caused great worry and anger in Western Europe, which imports respectively 30 percent of its oil and 40 percent of its gas from Russia. 

In some countries like Poland, Finland and Slovakia, imports account for more than 70 percent of consumption, and in Hungary the percentage soars above 89 percent. Reacting to the shutdown, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel said Russia had lost its credibility as an energy partner. 

Western analysts have also accused Moscow of conspiring to turn the Shanghai Cooperation Organization—an intergovernmental body composed of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, with India, Pakistan and Iran as invited observers, meant to foster good neighborly relations and deal with issues of Central Asian security—into a sort of “OPEC with nuclear weapons,” as described by Simon Sweeney, director of the International Studies Programme of York St. John University College in the United Kingdom. 

Not all analysts, however, are convinced that Russia wants to wage a New Cold War with the West and in particular with the United States. 

“Someone is still fighting the Cold War, but it isn't Russia,” Mark Almond, a professor of modern history at Oriel College, Oxford, wrote in The Guardian. “The chill is still coming from the West.” 

Thomas Friedman, a devout pro-West observer, agrees. Should Moscow, he writes, really decide to leverage its energy resources to subjugate the international community, it would have other, sharper arrows in its quiver. 

Russia could, as many of its hardliners have suggested, ban products from Moldova and Georgia or block the transit of their unemployed jobseekers to Russia, thus causing these countries' economic collapse. Moscow could also destabilize Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova and Kazakhstan and then agree to annex—as these populations have requested—their pro-Russian minorities living near the borders of the old Motherland. 

In the case of Georgia and Kazakhstan, destabilization could be extremely hard on the United States and its Western allies, as it would totally compromise direct access to the immense oil resources of the Caspian region—on which the West is greatly reliant—and their transfer to Western ports. 

Thus, for now, and short of an all-out confrontation with the Old Bear, the Western powers can only lash out at the feared expansionism of the New Oil Czar by accusing Moscow of renewed charges of murderous plots and dark conspiracies. 

 

Paolo Pontoniere is a New America Media European commentator. 


Oak Grove May Be Native American Burial Site

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday February 20, 2007

Rediscovered evidence of Native American burials at the site of UC Berkeley’s Memorial Stadium—omitted in university environmental documents—raises new questions about the future of the oak grove beside the stadium where the university is planning a massive building project. 

Despite evidence in the university’s files of the burial site, key environmental documents were adopted by the UC Regents for the project without the archaeological survey which appears to be required by the California Environmental Quality Act when human remains have been found on a building site. 

“I’m quite concerned about this apparent whitewash of what could be a significant environmental resource,” said Stephan Volker, an attorney for one of the plaintiff groups now challenging university plans in court. “This appears to be a critical omission in the university’s environmental review.” 

Zachary Running Wolf, the former Berkeley mayoral candidate and Native American activist who began the ongoing tree-sitting protest in a grove of coastal live oaks at the site of a planned high-tech gym immediately west of the stadium, agreed. 

Running Wolf was arrested by university police Friday on suspicion of vandalism within hours of turning a copy of a record of the presence of human remains on the site over to the Daily Planet. He was served with an order to remain off-campus for 14 days, then released on $3,000 bail. 

“I am going back into the tree,” he said after his release. “I told them that if they go into the tree after me, I will see it as a threat and respond accordingly. If they attack me, they are attacking my entire community.” 

The record he obtained comes from the university’s Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology. a single sheet of paper he said was provided “by someone at the university with a conscience.” It reports the discovery of “burials removed during the building of the U.C. stadium.” 

The activist described the discovery of the burials records as “very important for our people. I had always suspected there might be burials here,” he said. 

University officials were unavailable for comment Monday because of the Presidents Day holiday. 

Discovery of evidence of burials at the site could throw more complications into the university’s plans, bringing into play sections of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) regulating treatment of religious and burial sites as well as other provisions of state law. 

 

Site records 

The document, an archaeological site survey record for what was then the University of California Museum of Anthropology, identified the site as Ala-23, “beneath the present University of California stadium.” 

The document is the record of one artifact taken from the burials, a “coin from Sonora, Mexico (dating in second quarter of 19th Century.” (sic) The university’s accession (acquisition) number for the coin is 12-3490. 

The record cites a clipping from the June 21, 1925, San Francisco Examiner which noted the stadium burials as well as a second site, Ala-308, at the location of the university’s Faculty Club, then under construction. 

A microfilm copy of the newspaper, available at the San Francisco Public Library, features an article on page eight with the headline “Third Skeleton Found in Grove on U.C. Campus.” 

The skeletons cited in the headline were discovered during excavation for the Faculty Club, Assistant Professor of Anthropology Leslie Spier told the Examiner. 

“In addition to the three skeletons found on the clubhouse site, several more were found during the building of the stadium, a short distance away,” the article continues. 

Neither burial site is mentioned in either the draft environmental impact report (EIR) nor the final EIR on the Southeast Campus Integrated Projects (SCIP), the planning document for the university’s plans for building more than 300,000 square feet of new construction at and near the stadium. 

The closest the documents come to acknowledging the prior discovery of any archaeological remains at the site is a single sentence: “Cultural remains may have been impacted by prior construction.” 

A check with the university’s own museum would have revealed the discovery of burials at the heart of the immediate construction area. 

The EIR recommends—but does not require—an archaeological survey prior to construction, but does require work to be stopped if remains are discovered “until impacts to the sites can be mitigated.” 

“It appears that the university’s own records belie its EIR,” Volker said. “I will be filing a California Public Records Act request with the university for their files on any past and current archaeological resources at this location.” 

 

Regulations 

Native burials are cited in numerous section of California law, with the most significant references in CEQA sections 21083.2 and 21804.1. 

According to CEQA guidelines published by the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, if the presence of unique archaeological sites is likely, “the lead agency should require a field survey by a qualified professional archaeologist in order to assess the significance of the resource.” 

No such survey was undertaken for the EIR, which was produced by a Berkeley consulting firm, David C. Early’s Design Community Environment (DCE), under contract with the university. The same firm produced the EIR for the university’s Long Range Development Plan 2020. 

While the state Public Resources Code created and empowered the Native American Heritage Commission and empowered it to regulate all native religious and burial sites in the state, government properties are exempted from commission oversight. 

Other section of the same code may apply, including the sections governing the State Historic Resources Commission, which is charged, among other things, with regulating state and nationally designated sites. The stadium and its surroundings were added to the National Register of Historic Places last year, a listing that includes the site in the commission’s purview. 

Another resources code specifically grants the state Department of Parks and Recreation oversight of archaeological resources on projects on public lands, including university property. The California Government Code also gives the state attorney general power to intervene in cases where native burials are threatened.  

 

SCIP projects 

The most controversial of the SCIP projects is the 142,000-square-foot Student Athlete High Performance planned along the stadium’s western wall. 

That site houses the grove now occupied by Running Wolf and the other protesters who have built platforms high in the branches, where they are supported by a crew of volunteers. 

The SCIP projects are currently the subject of legal challenges filed by four plaintiffs, including the City of Berkeley. Volker’s suit, filed on behalf of the California Oaks Foundation, specifically targets the grove. The other actions, while mentioning the trees, are focused more broadly on the impact of the SCIP projects on the city and surrounding neighborhoods. 

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara J. Miller has granted an injunction pending the outcome of a full hearing on the issues several months hence. That decision effectively blocked any construction plans for this year. 

According to final project EIR—the document now being contested in Judge Miller’s court—the total amount of new construction planned under SCIP totals 451,000 square feet. 


Oakland’s Inclusionary Housing Commission Under Fire

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday February 20, 2007

Four months after it was formed by the Oakland City Council to make recommendations for a comprehensive inclusionary zoning ordinance for the city and two weeks after its final report was supposed to be due, members of the City of Oakland Inclusionary Housing Blue Rib-bon Commission met for the first time Thursday evening under attack from tenant advocates and under pressure from councilmembers to complete an ambitious agenda before the summer council break. 

The 17-member commission was born in considerable controversy last October when an unlikely council alliance headed by City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente and Councilmem-ber Desley Brooks—who are often at odds with each other—successfully blocked passage of an inclusionary zoning ordinance co-sponsored by councilmembers Jane Brunner and Jean Quan. 

If the Brunner-Quan inclusionary zoning ordinance had passed, residential developers would have been required to make a percentage of their housing units affordable for low and extremely low income renters. Many cities in the Bay Area, including Berkeley, already have such inclusionary zoning ordinances. 

“People are really being pushed out of this city,” the Oakland Tribune quoted Brunner as saying during last fall’s debate on the ordinance. “It’s time for the developers to do their share.” 

But with Brooks saying that the council “need[s] to be more thoughtful” about its low-income housing policies, councilmembers split 4-4 on Brooks’ proposal to establish the Blue Ribbon Commission to study inclusionary zoning. Two weeks later, outgoing Mayor Jerry Brown broke the tie by voting to create the Commission. 

But even before the commission could be established, its mandate was considerably widened. 

Last December, the council was prepared to vote on Brooks’ proposed ordinance to change Oakland’s condominium conversion law, which Brooks had hoped would make it easier for low-income buyers to purchase homes in the city, but which tenant advocates said would be a boon to developers and lead to increased gentrification in Oakland. 

Facing a possible defeat on the measure, Brooks recommended that the condominium conversion issue become part of the Blue Ribbon Commission’s charge as well. The council agreed, voting last December that “the scope of the Commission’s task is broadened to include the development of a comprehensive housing strategy to ensure that housing, be it rental or ownership, is affordable to all income levels within the city. Principles of Inclusionary Zoning and Condo Conversion will be considered.” 

At its first meeting in a second-floor City Hall hearing room last Thursday, the commission came under sharp criticism from tenant activists for the small number of tenant representatives in its ranks. 

As called for in the original ordinance last October, three of the members were appointed by outgoing Mayor Jerry Brown and four by incoming Mayor Ron Dellums, and one each by City Administrator Deborah Edgerly, City Attorney John Russo, and each member of the City Council. 

When tenant organizer Eddie Ytuarte of the Oakland Tenants Union asked for a show of hands among commissioners as to their housing and income status, one indicated he was currently a tenant, and none claimed to have an income of under $20,000 a year. 

“Why is the Council comfortable with this group setting policy for tenants?” William Chorneau of Oakland ACORN asked. 

But several of the commission members said that while they were currently homeowners, they had previously been tenants. And Commissioner Joseph Perkins, president of the Homebuilders Association of Northern California, said he rejected the idea that non-tenants could not represent tenant interests, “just as I reject the fact that as a man I couldn’t represent women’s interests.” 

At the same time, the commission found itself under conflicting pressures from two of the Councilmembers whose proposed measures they are considering. 

Brunner, who appointed her chief of staff, Justin Horner, as her representative on the commission, wants the commission to make a recommendation on inclusionary zoning in time for the council to vote on a measure before the summer Council break begins in July. 

Horner asked fellow commissioners to limit the scope of its affordable housing inquiry, recommending that “by the end of the next meeting, we close the door on any new items to be considered. Otherwise, there will be no answer on any issue, and this Commission could go on and on forever and ever.” 

But speaking from the audience, Brooks urged commissioners to undertake a broader discussion, asking them to “go beyond the buzzwords of inclusionary zoning and affordable housing” and pointing out the charge to the commission by the council to discuss a “comprehensive affordable housing strategy.”  

When one Commissioner said that this had not been the charge given to her by her appointing Councilmember, Brooks said, “I don’t care what you were told in private conversation with your Councilmember. They didn’t write the measure that the Council passed [that created the Commission]. I did. And you’re charged with following the language that the Council actually passed.” 

City Administrator Deborah Edgerly told the Commissioners that while the Commission “absolutely [has] a mandate to address” the two issues of inclusionary zoning and condo conversion, she said the Commission’s charge “is not limited to those issues. Your charge is to discuss a comprehensive affordable housing policy.” 

Edgerly also said that while the commission had already passed its January 31 conclusion deadline even before it held its first meeting, she said that was staff’s fault, “not yours. I’ll stand up and take the hit for that.” 

Commissioners discussed but did not decide upon a work schedule and a final deadline, but scheduled a second meeting for March 1 at City Hall for further discussion. 

Commissioners also elected as its chairperson the one tenant represented, Dellums appointee Joaquin Turner-Lloveras, and former Alameda County Planning Commissioner Earl Hamlin, Russo’s appointee, as its vice chair. 

 

 

Members of the City of Oakland Blue Ribbon Affordable Housing Commission 

[Note: this list was updated on Feb. 27, 2007] 

 

 

Outgoing Mayor Jerry Brown appointees (3) 

 

Joseph Perkins (President, Homebuilders Association of Northern California) 

 

Deborah Castles (Vice President of McGrath Properties developers, Project Manager of the MacArthur BART Transit Village) 

 

Benjamin Powell (Professor of Economics at San Jose State University specializing in inclusionary zoning) 

 

Mayor Ron Dellums appointees (4) 

 

Joaquin Turner-Lloveras (tenant, student counselor in East Oakland) 

 

Lynette Jung Lee (Executive Director of Oakland, California's East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation) 

 

Ray Carlisle (founder of NID-HCA Housing Counseling Agency) 

 

Katherine Kasch (Oakland Community Housing, Inc. Board President, community-based affordable housing developers) 

 

Councilmember appointees (1 each) 

 

Marcus Johnson (West Oakland small business owner; former Acorn Housing Project Tenant) [Larry Reid] 

 

Blair Miller (worker for San Francisco-based housing developer) [Pat Kernighan] 

 

Carl Chan (real estate broker, board member of Asian Health Services and the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce) [Henry Chang] 

 

Alan Yee (attorney) [Jean Quan] 

 

Michael Rawson (homeowner, attorney at public interest law firm specializing in housing policy) [Nancy Nadel] 

 

Justin Horner (Councilmember Jane Brunner's Chief of Staff) [Jane Brunner] 

 

David Glover (Director of Oakland Citizens Committee for Urban Renewal) [Desley Brooks] 

 

Gregory McConnell, (head of the Better Housing Coalition real estate developers group) [Ignacio De La Fuente] 

 

 

 

City Department head appointees (1 each) 

 

Earl Hamlin (investment banker, former Alameda County Planning Commissioner) [City Attorney John Russo] 

 

Claudia Cappio (Oakland City Planning Director) [City Administrator Deborah Edgerly] 

 

 


Sustainable Berkeley Contract Questioned

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday February 20, 2007

Next week is Timothy Burroughs’ last week as program officer for a nonprofit that works with cities to address global warming. March 5 will be his first day with Sustainable Berkeley, a collaboration among the city, university, nonprofits and business groups aimed at “keep[ing] Berkeley a national environmental leader.” 

While the City Council is not slated to vote on the $100,000 to fund the project until Feb. 27, the Sustainable Berkeley steering committee has already hired Burroughs, a program officer for ICLEI (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, now known by its initials) for two years. 

 

Community concerns 

On Feb. 27, the council will be asked to approve a sole-source contract—one with no competitive bidding—with Sustainable Berkeley. Details of what is to be expected will come later.  

“Was this grant open to competitive bidding? If not, why not? If so, who were the other applicants, what were their qualifications, and why was SB chosen?” asked community watchdog Sharon Hudson in a Feb. 18 letter to the mayor and City Council. 

One could also ask why Burroughs was tapped by mayoral aide Cisco DeVries for the position, which was apparently was not open to others. While city of Berkeley employees’ salary ranges are posted on the Internet, Burroughs’ salary is not public and he declined to divulge the salary he was offered. 

Few contest Mayor Tom Bates’ commitment to the environment—his role as assemblymember in creating the Eastshore State Park along Berkeley’s shoreline is well known, and more recently, the mayor has focused his attention on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, known to affect global warming.  

But that’s not enough, said Councilmember Dona Spring. “This seems to be a vehicle for Tom to have another private task force, like his health group.” (In addition to the Health Commis-sion, Bates has his own health task force.) “Now he’s got some real dollars, but no budget and not a clear explanation about what this group’s about,” Spring said. 

Councilmember Kriss Worth-ington said Sustainable Berkeley meetings should be noticed to the public just as city commissions are. 

 

Burroughs responds 

In an interview Monday, in response to criticisms that Sustainable Berkeley would shut out the community, Burroughs said, “The reason [the position] is housed in Sustainable Berkeley is to address those concerns. We will make the process as inclusive as possible.”  

He added, “I think most of the meetings will be open to the public.”  

Councilmember Betty Olds told the Planet that, while she knows little about Sustainable Berkeley, she questioned why the city needs another plan at all with others on shelves collecting dust. “What bothers me [about the proposal to write a plan] is that there is so much talk,” she said, arguing that what is needed is action. 

Burroughs, whose expertise includes both community involvement and the technical side of global warming, said he understands that concern, but one needs a cost-benefit analysis to evaluuate what elements of emission reduction the city should tackle first. Burroughs said at this point he does not know how much money the city has to implement the plan he will spend almost a year writing. 

 

Bates Supports People’s Will 

In his public statements, Bates says he is following the will of the people in putting forward this initiative: the Berkeley electorate went to the polls in November and voted by 81 percent to set a community goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050. More specifically, the measure was to “advise the mayor to work with the community to develop a plan for council adoption in 2007, which sets a ten year emissions reduction target.”  

“The ballot measure was advisory, but I will act as though it is legally binding,” Bates said in his Feb. 13 state of the city address  

Also at the Feb. 13 meeting, the city manager made a number of recommendations on how to spend $3.3 million in above-anticipated revenues. Some councilmembers demanded details: Councilmember Linda Maio asked to see a plan before she approved the $500,000 recommended for economic development and Councilmember Laurie Capitelli said he did not want to commit new funds to Telegraph Avenue until he saw a report on how city funds had been expended in the area. 

The council was silent at that time around the $100,000 recommended for Sustainable Berkeley.  

 

Sustainable Berkeley Explained 

The funds will not go directly to Sustainable Berkeley, which is not a nonprofit corporation. 

They will go to the group’s fiscal sponsor, the Community Energy Services Corporation, a nonprofit created by the city, whose board of directors is the city’s Energy Commission. The CESC will charge a fee as the fiscal agent for the project. 

When the Daily Planet first looked at the steering committee Friday morning, there were 10 members, but by the afternoon, there were eight. One member is a CESC representative, two are from UC Berkeley—one from the business school and one from Capital Projects—and there are one each from the Ecology center, Teleosis, a “green” healthcare agency and Livable Berkeley. Another is described on the website as a “trancendentist,” and a former employee of the city’s Division of Energy and Sustainable Development, now turned consultant, is also on the steering committee.  

There had been two steering committee members who still work in the Energy Division, but after a reporter made requests for previous Sustainable Berkeley contracts and follow-up documents, both city employees stepped down from the steering committee and their names disappeared from the Sustainable Berkeley web site. According to Billi Romain of the City’s Energy and Sustainability division, she and the other city employee in the division, Jennifer Cogley, decided that they should resign, given that it could appear a conflict for them to serve on the steering committee. 

In fact, Romain told the Daily Planet, oversight for contracts to Sustainable Berkeley is in the hands of the Energy division. Romain is the person who verifies execution of the contracts. 

Sustainable Berkeley’s first contract with the city was approved by the City Council July 18, 2006. The $133,000 Sustainable Berkeley contract established the entity described in a staff report written by Housing Director Steve Barton, as “a multi-stakeholder partnership between the city, business, civic and education institutions…[to leverage] resources and improve coordination among Berkeley’s sustainability efforts, and to implement the [2004] Sustainable Business Action Plan.”  

The July single source contract to Sustainable Berkeley was accompanied by specific goals that include: greenhouse gas reduction goals for businesses by sectors, an outreach and marketing plan, linking 100 businesses to food waste recycling services, creating “stakeholder coordinating councils,” and “Develop[ing] a five-year strategic plan that draws upon the mayor’s sustainability working group’s Action Plan and existing resources.” 

Asked for documentation showing whether Sustainable Berkeley had met its goals, Romain said, in actuality, the contract had not been signed until November and that there were a few invoices, but no actual report on the goals. She said it is not unusual for a contract to begin execution several months after its original approval. 

Another question Hudson had asked in her Feb. 18 letter was: “Why cannot our green plan be researched and written by our own city staff under the direction of existing city commissions and the council?” 

Tim Hansen, a member of the Energy Commission, answered the question when he told the Planet that the complexity of the task Sustainable Berkeley would be undertaking was beyond the scope of the work being done by the Energy Commission 

“The energy commission has a whole lot on its plate,” he said. “When things are broken down to smaller bits, the public is more willing to participate.” 

Similarly, James Kibbey, chair of the Community Environmental Advisory Commission, said it would not be wise for the commissions to take on the task of reducing greenhouse gases. “Nonprofits are more flexible” and can hire people with the expertise to write a report, he said.  

Many people are enthusiastic about the initiative, including bicycle activist Jason Meggs who in a phone message, called the initiative “very exciting” and said “I hope this will make the city a paradise for bicycling, walking and transit.” 

Meggs was among the some 30 people who came to an invitation-only Sustainable Berkeley meeting last week. (Bates’ aide Cisco DeVries, who will work 50 percent time with the initiative through the mayor’s office, said he did not have time to put out the notice of the event publicly.)  

Transportation Commissioner Rob Wrenn, initially skeptical of giving Sustainable Berkeley the contract because transportation experts are absent from the steering committee, said he was satisfied that these issues would be addressed. “I have a feeling they understand the importance of transportation.”  

Noting, however, the plans that have not been implemented, such as developer fees to fund public transportation and trip reduction, he asked, “Will the city have the political will to follow through?” 

 

 


DAPAC Tackles High-Rise Buildings, Parking

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday February 20, 2007

Talk of “opportunity sites,” parking spaces and height limits occupied Tuesday’s meeting of a subcommittee hammering out what may become key elements of Berkeley’s plans for the downtown’s future. 

Members also heard the latest news about what may become a signature building for the city center—the new Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA). 

The Subcommittee on City Interests in UC Properties held the fourth in a planned series of six meetings to offer input on how the town and gown might cooperate in developing the 800,000 square feet of new office and administrative space the university plans to add off-campus in the city’s heart. 

The group is drawn from members of the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee, which must present the city a new downtown plan by the end of November. 

In addition to the office space, the university also needs nearly 1,000 new parking spaces, though just how many will be sited downtown remains an open question. 

Most of the projects are aligned along the western edge of the campus along Fulton/Oxford Street (Fulton becomes Oxford at Allston Way). 

 

BAM/PFA 

The museum and theater building will dominate the eastern end of Center Street and will occupy much of the northern end of the block bounded by Center, Addi-son, Oxford and Shattuck. 

Executive Director Kevin Consey said the plans being prepared for the museum and film archive building by renowned Japanese architect Toyo Ito call for a four-story structure reaching 82 feet in height designed in the form of what he called “a distorted grid.” 

The building will be partly transparent, so that someone near the northeast corner would be able to see through the structure to the southwest. A similar avenue of transparency will follow the line of the lobby, which will open on Center Street and be flanked by a restaurant to the west and the museum shop on the east. 

A key reason for the focus on Center Street, Consey said, is pedestrian traffic. “There are between 12 and 15 pedestrians on Center for every one on Addison. You might improve the ratio to 15-3 or 15-4, but where you put your retail operations is where the people area.” 

A second entrance will be on Oxford, Consey said, and visitors will be directed to exit through the underground parking area, which is now planned to accommodate 100 vehicles. 

Addison will offer entry to the underground parking and the museum’s loading dock as well as to the loading dock of the university-supported private hotel project at the western end of the block. 

When committee members suggested that Addison might attract art galleries or a multiplex cinema, Consey said the presence of gallery-intensive San Francisco is a key reason “there aren’t any viable East Bay galleries.” Multiplexes also aren’t faring well, he said, noting the decline in the number of film screens in Berkeley in recent years. 

 

Heights, locations 

Matt Taecker, the planner hired with university funds to prepare the planning documents, presented the committee with a series of maps depicting key development sites and possible projects. 

The list begins with the Department of Health Services building, the highrise that occupies much of the extended block bounded by Berkeley Way on the south, Hearst Avenue on the North, Oxford Street on the east and Shattuck Avenue on the west. 

“We need to look seriously at the height of buildings,” said subcommittee Chair Dorothy Walker, a retired UC Berkeley administrator. She also suggested that the city should give less emphasis to requiring retail spaces on the ground floors of new buildings and encouraged first floor residences instead—except for street corners, where retail would be encouraged. 

UC Planner Kerry O’Banion, the university’s lead planner for downtown projects, suggested slightly elevated residential frontages mimicking those of New York City brownstones. 

Members also debated whether or not to require retail frontages for whatever structure the university decides to building at the location of the Tang Center, with the evident preference being for residences along the Durant Avenue side and the greatest density concentrated along Bancroft Way.  

Taecker’s conceptual sketches depicted high-rise towers rising from the mass of several of the proposed opportunity buildings, including one on each end of the structure that would replace the old health services high-rise. 

Members seemed to agree that towers should be set back from a lower-rise street frontage, a concept already broached in sketches for the hotel and conference center planned at the intersection of Shattuck and Center. 

Other ideas included making Hearst Avenue more attractive as a bicycle and pedestrian thoroughfare, including the addition of more street trees, a suggestion of DAPAC Chair Will Travis. 

 

Parking, transit 

Parking will become a critical issue, said O’Banion, with the museum complex displacing 250 parking spaces while adding only 100. “So we’re still 150 down, and that will require replacing them somewhere else.” 

Museum construction would mean demolition of the university’s lot at the southwest corner of Oxford and Addison streets, which has been available to the public in the evenings. 

“Parking is a critical issue,” Consey added. “Freight & Salvage Co. will be expanding downtown, but parking won’t be.” The popular night spot is moving into new quarters on Addison Street a half-block south of Shattuck Avenue. Their new quarters offer no parking spaces of their own. 

One possibility raised by subcommittee and Planning Commission member James Samuels was Berkeley Way, where a city lot already serves the downtown arts district. 

Mass transit discussion including the possible addition of more shuttles, including runs to serve businesses in the downtown. 

Jennifer MacDougall, another UC planner assigned to the subcommittee, said the city and university had prepared a joint transportation management plan published in 2000 which included the creation of joint initiatives to serve both the downtown and the south of campus area. 

Lack of funds to hire the requisite employees stalled implementation, she said. 

Another subcommittee which is comprised of members of DAPAC and the city’s Transportation Commission has been addressing the same themes. Travis suggested applying for Bay Area Air Quality Management District funds available for transit-oriented development planning.  

 

Meetings ahead  

The subcommittee meets again tonight (Tuesday) at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. at Martin Luther King Jr. Way. The full DAPAC will meet at the center Wednesday night at 7 p.m. to consider downtown housing needs and scenario for the plan’s land use elements.


Berkeley High School Mourns denise brown at Memorial

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday February 20, 2007

Smiles and tears marked the memorial of Berkeley High School Vice Principal denise brown at the Berkeley Community Theater Thursday. 

Students, teachers and community members walked into a performance of Tchaikovsky’s “Elegie” by the BHS Orchestra and shared memories of brown, whose life was an inspiration for thousands in the school district and beyond. 

The vice principal and dean of discipline, who wrote her initials in lower case letters, died Feb. 2 at Summit Medical Center in Oakland following complications from knee surgery that sent the Berkeley Unified School District community into a state of shock. 

“We grieve her loss but we also celebrate her life today. denise brown was one of those rare people who was a hero to our community,” said Berkeley High principal Jim Slemp. “Her life was about making the world a better place to  

live in.” 

While friends marveled how brown had a knack from making friends with people from all walks of life, students spoke of how they made up excuses to “go and chill with db,” as she was known, in her classroom. 

“Kids fell sick so that they could be hugged by her, teachers made up assignments so that they could walk into denise’s office and get her signature,” said Kalima Rose, a longtime friend of brown’s. “People wanted to gather and linger in her presence. She recognized every person for who he or she was.” 

Rose spoke about brown’s ability to write plays that celebrated everything from racial diversity to unpopular vegetables. 

“Ms. brown helped us to find creativity. To find ourselves,” said a Berkeley High senior who was going to pursue acting in New York. “It was Ms. brown’s after-school drama class and her production of The Wizard of Bezerkeley that inspired me and hundreds of other kids to perform. We were always awed by her ability to write a new play every year. Her long dresses and headscarves made her look like an African goddess. She treated us like equals and yet indulged in frivolous girl talk with us at any given moment.” 

At times when a somber mood descended upon the auditorium, the Rev. Dwight Webster called upon the audience to “loosen up a little.” 

“That was what denise would have wanted. That was the kind of person denise was. Firm yet gentle and fun. A real life Nanny McPhee,” Webster said, referring to the fictitious nanny who with discipline and a little magic transforms the lives of the children. 

“There is an old African proverb which says that it takes a village to raise a child. denise brown was that village,” said longtime friend Anne Wagley, who works for the Planet, at the memorial. 

The purple hues in the auditorium paid tribute to brown not just as an influential teacher and administrator, but also as a mother. 

Bay Area dancer Maia Siani performed with the Berkeley High Dance Troop to Stevie Wonder’s “Lately,” a tribute brown’s daughter Sarah Real had choreographed. 

Berkeley High has set up a scholarship fund for Sarah, a senior at Berkeley High, to help her through college. 

Both Le Conte Elementary School, where brown taught kindergarten, first and fourth grades for over a decade, and Berkeley High’s Arts and Humanities Academy (AHA), where brown was vice principal, are in the process of setting up a joint fine arts scholarship program in her honor. 

Michele McGee, a sophomore at AHA, spoke about how brown had changed her life. 

“She was tough on me,” she said. “But it was only after I got out of trouble that I realized why she had been that way. Ms. brown helped me to become a better person and for that I will be forever grateful.” 

brown received proclamations from the City of Berkeley, the County Board of Education, the County Board of Supervisors, the State Assembly and Senate. Feb. 15 was declared denise brown Day in Berkeley. 

“The City of Berkeley was very fortunate to have denise at Berkeley High,” said Julie Sinai, senior aide to Mayor Tom Bates. “We could always count on her for not just a straight answer, but also one that was compassionate and caring. This proclamation honors her creativity, accountability, reliability and passion. She was a role model for parents and children and was visible and accessible on campus at all times of the day.” 

“She reached out to parents and students in ways most of us can’t,” said county schools Supervisor Sheila Jordan. “Alameda County honors this great leader today and pledges to continue her work.”  

The resolution from California state senator Don Perata described brown as a person who “lived life to the fullest” and praised her for her work with at-risk children, the Berkeley High Youth Court and the small schools. 

The California State Assembly was adjourned in denise brown’s honor on Friday.


School Board to Review Homeless Youth Program

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday February 20, 2007

The Berkeley school board will meet Wednesday to approve a resolution honoring Berkeley Vice Principal denise brown and declaring Feb. 15 as denise brown day. brown died Feb. 2 following complications from knee surgery.  

The board will also approve a resolution proclaiming the first week of March 2007 as Week of the School Administrator. 

The board will also approve the memoranda of understanding between the Berkeley Unified School District and organizations supporting the district’s McKinney-Vento Homeless Children and Youth Program. 

This is the annual renewal of funds for the staff person who administers the program as well as the program itself. The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act requires the school district to provide enrollment and access to public education to homeless children. 

This program helps homeless children take advantage of services such as registering, Medicaid, bus passes, backpacks and book supplies. 

The board will also approve the budget modifications to the Grant Award for Integrating Schools and Mental Health Systems. The existing pact BUSD has with the City of Berkeley and the Alameda County Department of Mental Health provides mental health services to all students. 

A report on the district’s mental health plan, which will provide an update on how the partnership is working, will be presented to the board.  

Board members will also receive the school accountability report cards for 2005-06 which will show the progress of each school at the state and federal level tests and outline the standards for those. The reports are based on a number of requirements from the No Child Left Behind Act, and the cost of producing them this year was $20,000. 

The board will receive the preliminary 2007-08 student enrollment projections from Francisco Martinez, BUSD manager of admissions and enrollment. This report, based on previous and current enrollment records, helps the school district to plan its budget for the next school year as well as in the assignment of teachers.


Forum Planned for Reuse of UC Extension on Laguna St.

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday February 20, 2007

A documentary film and public forum on the history and reuse of the 5.8-acre historic UC Berkeley Extension campus at 55 Laguna St. in San Francisco will be held on Saturday.  

Director Eliza Hemenway’s documentary Uncommon Knowledge: Closing the Books at UC Berkeley Extension provides a haunting journey inside the historic San Francisco campus, as plans are laid out to convert it into a private development featuring a high- density housing and shopping center. 

The proposed project has received protests from several neighborhood groups who want the land to serve the community.  

In a letter to the Planet in November 2006, Ruthy T. Bennett, Vice President, AF Evans Development, the firm in charge of the project, wrote that “more than 400 letters of support for the project have been sent to the Board of Supervisors.” 

The UC Berkeley Extension Laguna Street campus has over 150-year history of public use and has always been used for educational purposes. 

The proposed development is currently under review by the San Francisco Planning department. The university is seeking to rezone the campus, which if approved, will bring an end to its history of public use. 

A public hearing on the draft environmental impact report (EIR) titled “55 Laguna Mixed Use Project,” which is the only public process planned regarding the re-zoning of the campus, has been set for March 8 at the San Francisco Planning Department. 

The San Francisco-based non-profit Friends of 1800, who are sponsoring the program along with Trinity Productions, has nominated the UC Berkeley Extension Laguna Street Campus to the National Register of Historic Places.  

A group called Save the UCBE Laguna Street Campus is working to establish a Citizens Advisory Committee to determine the highest and best use of the campus and to promote the preservation of its historic and public resources.  

The film screening will be followed by a Q & A session with the filmmaker and a public forum which will present information on the historic and planning issues related to the reuse of the campus. 

The panel will include: Charles Chase, executive director, San Francisco Architectural Heritage; Mark Paez, urban planner and co-chair of Friends of 1800; Warren Dewar, attorney and board member, Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association (HVNA); and Tamara Colby, urban planner and co-chair of Save the UCBE Laguna Street Campus. 

 

UNCOMMON KNOWLEDGE 

A free screening of Uncommon Knowledge: Closing the Books at UC Berkeley Extension is planned for Saturday, 4-5:30 p.m. at the San Francisco Public Library, 100 Larkin St. (at Grove), Koret Auditorium. For more information on the film visit www. hemenwaydocs.co. For information on the project visit www.55laguna.com.


City Planners to Review LBNL Long Range Growth Plans

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday February 20, 2007

Planning commissioners last week heard Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s (LBNL) plans for long-range growth and amended the city’s controversial soft-story ordinance. 

During the meeting that saw the ouster of Chair Helen Burke on a 5-4 vote, members voted 8-1 to approve staff recommendations for the soft story ordinance, which mandates engineering reports for earthquake-vulnerable multi-unit housing. 

The changes will make it easier and cheaper for owners to get the needed city permits to retrofit their buildings. 

James Krupnick, LBNL project manager for the institution’s Long Range Development Plan 2025, said construction plans call for 980,000 square feet of new construction as well as demolition of 320,000 square feet of existing buildings—a net increase of 660,000 square feet. 

Plans also call for the addition of 375 parking spaces. 

“Three programs are driving the new building,” Krupnick said, with one, the Helios Project, funded from the $500 million grant recently announced by BP, the former British Petroleum. 

That project is designed to turn engineered super-grasses into ethanol with the help of engineered bacteria derived from the microbes that inhabit the digestive tracks of termites.  

A second project, the Advanced Light Source, currently serves 2,000 users annually, including Stanford University’s Roger D. Kornberg who used the facility for the research that won him the 2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  

The third project, the Computational Research and Theory Building, will house the university’s supercomputer, now located in Oakland. Projects include research on global warming, the design of new levies for the Gulf Coast and the development of more efficient internal combustion engines. 

City commissions will get their chance to comment on the project’s Draft Environmental Impact Report on March 14. That session, which will be held in the South Berkeley Senior Center starting at 6 p.m., will include members of the Planning, Transportation, Landmarks Preservation and Community Health commissions—perhaps a record for the largest number of city bodies to meet simultaneously in the same place. 

Commissioners also voted to adopt recommendations of the planning staff for minor alterations to the city’s soft story ordinance, which requires owners of affected rental housing to obtain engineering reports that would address seismic weaknesses in their buildings along with possible fixes. 

Soft story structures were identified as a major problem in California following the 1994 Northridge earthquake, which resulted in deaths and serious injuries in the collapse of apartment buildings constructed over ground floor parking. 

The city ordinance requires only reports at this point, though the eventual goal is to mandate repairs for all soft story structures housing five or more residential units. 

The city has identified 649 structures, all built before the 1997 building code update of seismic standards. 

The commission approved amendments easing restrictions on permits allowing for yard setbacks, height restrictions, the amount of lot area a building can occupy, reduction in parking spaces and design review when changes are required to meet seismic safety standards. 

Gene Poschman cast the sole dissenting vote. Commissioners voted unanimously to adopt the second ordinance brought before them, a measure clarifying the legal definition of a dormer and clarifying calculations used to determine the average height of a building.


Emeryville Council Finishes Hotel Worker Regulations

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday February 20, 2007

While Emeryville voters passed Measure C—the living wage ordinance for hotel workers—in November 2005 the City Council didn’t write the final regulations until last week, when they put into place rules on worker complaints. 

This was important to the 21 workers who had been terminated by the Woodfin Suites Hotel, then temporarily reinstated by a judge on Jan. 23. The injunction prevents the hotel from firing the workers for 90 days, while the city investigates the complaints. 

Now that the new regulations are in place, the 21 workers have filed formal complaints with the city under Measure C, according to Brooke Anderson, an organizer with the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy.  

In December the 21 workers were told to leave and not return to their jobs unless they could produce new Social Security numbers. While the hotel said it was obligated to make that demand on the workers, EBASE said the move was retaliation against the workers who had been picketing and protesting the Woodfin’s refusal to comply with Measure C. (The Woodfin says they do comply with the measure.) 

Workers argue that the hotel needs to provide them with permanent job security and $160,000 in back wages—pay for cleaning extra rooms, as mandated by Measure C. 

Workers and community continue twice-weekly pickets at the hotel, Tuesdays, 4:30-7 p.m. and Saturdays 7-11 a.m. 


ZAB Looks at Mental Health Services, Berkeley Iceland

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday February 20, 2007

The Zoning Adjustments Board will hear the request for a use permit modification by the City of Berkeley Mental Health and Human Services to change the hours of operation of the Health and Human Services mobile crisis team at 2433 Channing Way from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. to 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. 

The board first approved the mobile crisis team, located within the Sather Gate Mall, on Nov. 27, 2006. 

Berkeley Iceland has withdrawn its application for an appeal of the temporary administrative use permit to install a temporary outdoor refrigeration system on the southern side of the property for the existing ice skating rink at 2727 Milvia St. 

Berkeley Iceland announced last month that it would be closing its doors in March because of poor profits. It is currently up for sale for $6.45 million. The group SaveBerkeleyIceland.org is rallying to save the historic rink from being closed.  

 

Other matters 

Applicant Bruce Kelly is requesting a use permit to construct a new two-story single-family dwelling with 1,460 square feet of floor area, two parking spaces, at an average height of 24 feet, on a 3,295 square foot vacant lot at 161 Panoramic Way. 

ZAB has received eleven letters from area residents so far expressing concern related to fire hazard and parking. 

Neighbors are also worried about building on such a steep slope which ranges from approximately 30 to 45 degrees.  

ZAB will hear the request of Michael Nilmeyer of Nilmeyer/Nilmeyer Associates for a use permit to construct a 7,245 square foot concrete block warehouse building with associated office space at 1230 Fifth St.  

The property currently houses a fire- damaged building with no parking. 

The board will hear a request by Christopher Witherspoon to convert a daycare center back to a single-family residence on a 6,105 square foot lot at 1226 Rose St. that already contains a single-family residence. 

The board will hear a request for an administrative use permit by Lise Mathews to extend the second floor building mass on the south side at 1838 San Juan, two feet and 10 inches towards the rear property line. The staff report recommends denying the request. 

The board will hear a request by Ken Renworth and Catherine Crowley for a use permit to construct a new three-story single family home with 2,880 square feet of floor area and a detached hot tub at 43 Senior Ave.


Opinion

Editorials

Editorial: Oxford/Brower Brouhaha Turns Ugly at the Market

By Becky O’Malley
Friday February 23, 2007

Going to the Tuesday Farmer’s Market is usually a pleasure, but this last Tuesday it was more than a chore, it was an annoyance. It’s become the battleground of choice for those who have differing views about the soon-to-be-launched Brower Center and Oxford Plaza projects. Only the Planet’s opinion pages (see today’s) and the flamemail circuit have seen more skirmishes. 

First shot was fired at the entrance by a pair of eager beavers (“we’re just volunteers”) handing out a yellow sheet signed by no one in particular, heavy on all caps, exclamation points and underlining: “PLEASE DO NOT SIGN THE REFERENDUM PETITION!” 

Irritant number one was the subhead: “Opponents of affordable housing….”  

Well, no. It just muddies the waters to charge that all or even the majority of those who have doubts about the wisdom of this particular enterprise are opposed to affordable housing in general. In fact, several of them have said privately that what worries them is that Berkeley is putting all of its housing trust fund money into this one leaky bucket. But such sentiments are rarely expressed in public because progressives who have such worries are afraid of being—the sixties’ term was mau-maued, but that must be politically incorrect by now—castigated by their friends with whom they disagree.  

Next annoyance, and here we certainly get into the realm of the politically incorrect, is the new catchphrase “workforce housing.” 

We’ve already learned that “affordable” housing can easily be priced in such a way as to exclude all but the comfortably employed lower middle classes, while leaving the genuinely poor and homeless out in the cold.  

“Workforce” housing is a phrase I first heard in affluent Aspen Colorado, where it most often referred to dormitories for the young skiers who wait on rich seasonal tourists. But in Berkeley our biggest ill-paid workforce is the service workers at the University of California, and the real scandal is that despite the workers’ vigorous organizing efforts the Big U still won’t pay them enough to afford decent local housing for their families. If this project works out, the 97 units (not all family-size, however) will help, but the Oxford Plaza will house very few UC workers as compared to the real need. This can’t be blamed on either the pro or the con faction, of course. But some might say that workers should be paid properly and that public dollars should go first to homes for those families who lack a breadwinner for some reason. 

Irritant number three is this sentence, which manages to contain offensive characterizations made by both camps: “They falsely claim the project is a bad deal for the city, saying the ‘City Council give a piece of land worth at least $5,700,000 to developers for $1.’” 

The most obvious problem here is that project opponents have foolishly fixated on the common real estate contract convention of using a $1 valuation for what is actually a swap. This mistake only serves to distract someone who actually wants to understand the deal. 

The value received, in the eyes of the proponents, is the garage, with the Brower Center office building and the apartment building as added sweeteners. But the real question is still outstanding: is it a “bad deal” as claimed by the referendum people, or a “good deal” as per the flyer?  

The financial impact is mighty hard for the average citizen to figure out. The letter sent to the council on November 9 by the city’s longtime financial consultant Christine Carr was worrisome, however. No matter how desirable these buildings might be, are they worth putting the city’s finances at the serious risk Carr foresaw?  

Her letter said, in part, “While there are two developers and two separate buildings, the project is interdependent from the city perspective and the [David Brower Center] could not be developed without the housing and the shared parking under both. The money the city is putting into the project as a whole is considerable, more than the city has ever expended on a site in the past. There is $4MM in Housing Trust funds which include past and future commitments precluding other affordable housing from being built for several years in Berkeley. There is also the BEDI grant of $1.7MM and the $4MM HUD 108 loan. In addition, if there are cost overruns on the housing or parking, the city, most likely, will be required to fill any gaps. The city’s total commitment is $9.7MM, without cost overruns.” Carr’s letter recommended that the city require the DBC promoters to guarantee more than the $1 million they’ve offered, but that hasn’t happened. 

Which brings us to the next concern the flyer raises: The DBC is described as “a cutting edge building with the latest in green design.” If new buildings are really needed, they should of course be designed according to the best environmental principles. But “re-use” is the mostly highly rated of the long established environmental principles, with “recycle” coming not far behind. Why do environmental organizations need a brand-new cutting edge building? I’ve worked in many a non-profit in my day, and they’ve always been housed in re-used older buildings which were not stylish but very functional. Fort Mason is a good example.  

Adapting old buildings for re-use generally employs more local workers and returns more money to the local economy than showcase new projects. There are many current vacancies in existing buildings in the downtown area. Rents are high, but what’s the per square foot cost as compared with updated DBC cost projections? 

The flyer says that the project is endorsed by Loni Hancock, Tom Bates and Linda Maio. Hancock, Bates and Maio have become notorious in recent years for never seeing a building project they didn’t like, leading the suspicious citizen to wonder if this might not be just another sop to their friends in the construction industry. Dona Spring and Kriss Worthington, the city’s last two consistently progressive councilmembers, have also voted for this project in the past, but their names were left off this particular piece. Is that significant? Who knows? 

All this angst, and we hadn’t even gotten past the market entrance yet. Further inside a table with referendum petitions on it was being maintained by two or three tired-looking project opponents, and there were many more yellow-sheet distributors trying to steer citizens away from it. I heard one middle-aged woman discussing the referendum with a perky young thing who was trying to talk her out of signing to put the question on the ballot. “Why not let the voters decide?” the older woman said. “Are you opposed to affordable housing?” the young woman asked her. “Of course not, I’ve supported it all my life,” the other said indignantly. “Well, this is Berkeley’s last chance to get affordable housing,” the younger woman said. The older woman shook her head as she walked away. 

The truly cynical say that if this project fails the city will sell the land to UC to use as office space for its new greenwashing contract with BP. One friend, a long time housing activist herself, says ruefully that all she can do at this point is stand back and watch the opposing camps fight it out. On any given day, she says, she’s likely to feel like agreeing with either side or to think that they’re both wrong.  

That’s how I felt at the Farmers’ Market on Tuesday. I’ve always supported affordable housing for families, but is this particular project the best way to get it? It’s one of those Cassandra moments. Is it the impending financial disaster that some predict, or just creative financing that will get the right results for everyone? Only time will tell. 


Editorial: One More Time: Who Is My Neighbor?

By Becky O’Malley
Tuesday February 20, 2007

So you look out your kitchen window, and in the yard next door the two brothers who live there seem to be fighting. You notice that they’ve got knives and that one of them seems to be bleeding a bit. What do you do? Go over there and stand between them? Call the police? Yell out the window to them, “Cut it out, right now!” Perhaps? Or do you pull down your shades and go on making  

dinner? 

Of all the above answers, the normal person with good intentions would say that the last option is the wrong one for sure. Which of the other three to choose is problematic, but it’s human nature, thank goodness, for most of us to want to try to do something to keep our neighbors from killing one another.  

That’s why no one should be surprised that some of us who are neither Jewish nor Moslem, neither Arab nor Israeli, people like Jimmy Carter and Kofi Annan and (not to claim any right to be in such distinguished company) the management of this publication feel that it’s our duty to continue to address, from time to time, the ongoing controversies in what used to be called the Holy Land. A Jewish correspondent directed our attention to Secretary General Annan’s wise words, which appear on the opposite page, saying that they expressed his own whole opinion on the topic, and we agree with him.  

The excellent Cal English department introduced me to John Donne’s powerful meditation on our relationships with one another: “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were. Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind….”  

The spectacle of Donne’s religious descendants, today’s Episcopalians and other Anglicans, slicing and dicing one another around the world must be causing him to turn over in his grave. Many will say that Christians have always quarreled with one another, but that doesn’t make it right. And is it any business of those who are post-Christian, or who never were Christian, to scold them for it? Possibly. 

In the forties, fifties and sixties Southern whites used to warn the few Jews in their towns, many of whom had the bad habit of speaking up for the civil rights of local African-Americans, that segregation was none of their business, that they were outsiders who just didn’t understand the relationship of blacks and whites. The course of history might well have been different if they hadn’t ignored that advice and spoken up anyway. 

In the recent past all sorts of people in the United States and in Europe who have expressed opinions about the ongoing Israel/Palestine troubles have faced pressure to be silent from some who think of themselves as friends of Israel. Very recently the recipients of such pressure have found the courage to speak up about it, to say that it does more harm than good.  

Stories about attempts to silence critics of Israel have now appeared in The Guardian in England, in the New York Review of Books and in the Jewish Forward, among others. Just last weekend there was a story about it on NPR’s excellent On the Media program, with the Forward’s editor as guest. The top cover story in this month’s Harpers Magazine, about democratic trends within Islam, by Ken Silverstein, incidentally recounts the efforts of a parade of editors at the Los Angeles Times to gut a story he did on Hezbollah “for fear of offending supporters of Israel.” Reading between the lines, that’s probably why Silverstein no longer works for the Times.  

One of Christianity’s central stories, the parable of the good Samaritan, was told by Jesus to a lawyer who asked, “Who is my neighbor?” when he was reminded that religious law commanded him to love his neighbor. The meaning of the story has often been discussed and often disputed because it’s hard for people to accept the message that they should get involved in the problems of all kinds of others, not just of people in their own group, friends or family. It becomes even more relevant in today’s world of air travel and mass communications when we have all become neighbors whether we like it or not. 

But we sympathize with the complaints of our Berkeley readers who are more than tired of hearing about Israel and Palestine. This includes those who have personal reasons for caring about what happens there and for whom the subject is just too painful, those who don’t regard people across the globe as their neighbors, those who think local topics are more important, and even those who just think that local papers ought to focus on more pleasant topics. (One correspondent even suggested that we should ban the topic from our op-ed pages because an increasingly large percentage of Berkeley’s population is Jewish, a logic hard to follow.)  

We still have a backlog of letters elicited by Matthew Taylor’s eloquent defense of Jimmy Carter’s new book, but our sense is that once again our readers have had enough for a while. We agree with Taylor that Carter is a brave man whose work has been unfairly maligned, but a lot of space in major media has now been devoted to the same opinion. The book is still high on the best-seller lists, so perhaps it doesn’t need any more comments in these pages for a while. We’ll probably get around to putting the remaining letters on the Internet eventually, but we’re going to give us all a break by giving up printing any more of them, at least for Lent. 


Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Friday February 23, 2007

FACELIFT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was so pleased to hear that the North Shattuck area was getting a facelift to include a plaza of some sort, so I attended my first meeting last Wednesday night. I was shocked to see the meeting literally overtaken, then shut down by a group of very angry, domineering few who seemed to be opposed to the plaza or at least the process. The lack of civility and outright rage sent the many “innocent” homeowners who populate the back of the room scurrying for cover, and wondering if we had entered a parallel universe. 

I am thrilled at the idea of beautiful improvements to that area, and hope the city allows the process to continue. Please keep in mind that there are hundreds of us who have heard about the project and are quietly happy about it but don’t have the time to attend meetings or plot shutdown strategies. Please don’t let the loud voices of a few stop this progress. Our neighborhood needs that plaza! 

Robin Galer 

 

• 

HUMAN CARING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Last week I was traveling on the bus and I noticed four commuters in dire need of medical attention. I felt helpless. I didn’t have a car. I didn’t have much money. To whom could I turn and say, “Please help me get these people to a doctor?” If we lose a sense of human caring—a sense of human responsibility—for the needy person next to us, what good is it if we bring democracy to the wider world? 

Romila Khanna 

 

• 

FLOODING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Underground parking structures at the proposed Brower Center and Oxford Plaza apartments would not be at risk of flooding, nor would they interfere with Strawberry Creek. Except for occasional localized debris blockages, the storm drainage system in Berkeley has adequate capacity, in fact better than was projected by analysis in the city’s 1994 Storm Drainage Master Plan. 

There has never been an overflow event at the inlet to the Strawberry Creek culvert one block north of the Brower Center site, and local runoff from streets and rooftops in that area is adequately handled by gutters and drop inlets to the storm drain system. 

The geotechnical study of the site (http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/planning/landuse/2200Oxford/2200_Oxford_geotech_report_feb_05.pdf) encountered the water table at a depth of about 16 feet. 

If the underground parking garage will extend below that depth, the report prescribes appropriate, standard construction methods (sealing of the garage building envelope and/or installation of an interceptor drain and sump pump). Thus, groundwater would not cause “flooding” of the proposed buildings. Excavation on the Brower Center site would be no closer than 60-100 feet from the existing Strawberry Creek culvert (which passes diagonally beneath the buildings on the opposite side of Allston Street) and would pose no structural threat to the culvert. 

The bottom of the culvert is above the water table, so groundwater does not contribute to flow along that reach of the culvert. 

Gus Yates, PG, CHg 

Professional Hydrogeologist 

Berkeley, CA 

 

• 

OBFUSCATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

“The city’s housing trust fund contribution is lower on a per-unit basis that is the case for contributions by other cities to similar affordable housing projects in the East Bay in the current environment of rapidly rising construction costs. The city is getting a good deal.” (Rob Wrenn, Daily Planet 2-20-07) 

You don’t have to do any math to figure out what’s wrong with a fishy-sounding paragraph like this one.  

Rob Wrenn singles his Brower building opponents out by name for personal attack, but breezes by the issue of the dubious use of the Housing Trust Fund for this expensive, showcase “green” building, an absurd way to capitalize on an environmentalist’s legacy.  

No one who looked at the pretty plans for this building during the planning process was given a chance to choose an alternative use for the Housing Trust Fund money, which years ago would never have been used for a project like this, which benefits well-connected politicians and political groups more than the poor.  

Rehabilitating run-down rental units in dire need of retro-fitting or asbestos removal is not nearly as sexy as this showcase “green technology” monstrosity, but none of the boosters for the building are willing to weigh the human impact of wresting priorities away from obvious community needs, preferring the name-in-lights architectural prizes waiting at the other end of construction.  

Rob Wrenn’s inelegant celebration of the “per-unit basis” cost of the Brower building is absurd, considering the hundreds of low-income renters whose soft-story units will not survive the next earthquake, only some of which are noted on an official city map.  

These people are already here, already paying taxes, already hoping that city officials and planners have better sense than to drain the Housing Trust Fund for political purposes.  

Carol Denney 

 

• 

RATES OF RETURN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The opposition to Berkeley's Brower Center ("Referendum Drive Seeks to Halt Brower Center Project", 02-09-07) is disingenuous in the extreme. Far from losing out by transferring the City-owned parking lot over to the Center, the City is getting for one dollar an underground garage worth $2 million more than the land value. Not a bad rate of return. The insinuation that local environmental groups aren't going to move into the building is ludicrous. My own non-profit, International Rivers Network, is looking forward very much to moving into what will be one of the greenest buildings in the US, and an exciting community center for Berkeley's environmentalists. Many other organizations are not as lucky and have had to be turned away for lack of space. 

But worst of all is that the Brower Center's misguided opponents are trying to stop construction of 96 units of desperately needed housing for low income working families. 

The developers of the Brower Center fully deserve the support the City Council has given them, and the support of all who live and work in Berkeley. 

 

Patrick McCully 

Executive Director 

International Rivers Network 

 

 

I am writing to urge Berkeley citizens to refrain from signing the petition being circulated by a few opponents of affordable housing to reverse the Berkeley City Council’s repeated approval of the David Brower Center/Oxford Plaza.  

The organization of which I am executive director, the Center for Ecoliteracy, has been deeply involved in education and environmental work in Berkeley over the last decade, including providing funding and support for many organizations and schools in Berkeley. We are strong supporters of the David Brower Center/Oxford Plaza. We believe that the project will make a vital contribution to maintaining Berkeley's position as a leader in worldwide efforts to create environmentally and economically sustainable communities. The Brower Center/Oxford Plaza will create a Berkeley-based home for the environmental movement, while demonstrating the potential for environmentally sensitive development that combines office space for nongovernmental agencies with retail commerce, restaurants, and affordable housing for downtown workers.  

This project will be a model for environmental, commercial, and civic cooperation that will also generate long-term revenue to the City and vitalize the downtown business district. It represents a multi-million dollar investment in downtown Berkeley that will ensure revenue to the City, increase the viability of the business district, and attract visitors to environmental conferences and events that will expand Berkeley's national and international position as a leading center for environmental thinking.  

 

 

Sincerely, 

 

Zenobia Barlow 

Executive Director  

Center for Ecoliteracy 

 

 

JOURNALISTIC  

REPORTING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I’m probably not the only Planet reader who deplores its continuing erosion of the traditional distinction between journalistic reporting and editorial opinion. But it’s still important to document when that deliberate policy takes another step toward all-editorial-all-the-time, as we have been seeing lately. Two patterns are worth noting: 

1. One-sided “news.” The stories about the new UC-BP research relationship—especially in the Feb. 17 issue—were notable in quoting only opponents of the arrangement. Traditional responsible journalism seeks out and publishes a diversity of opinion, so that readers can reach conclusions on their own. One-sided stories presume that conclusion and insult the intelligence of readers who rightly expect to hear multiple views.  

2. “Concerns” become the story—even the headline about the story. It seems that whenever anything new is “reported”—especially anything that has to do with potential positive change or development in Berkeley—the Planet story is not about the content of the proposal but primarily about the “concerns” some citizens have with it. With that cheap trick, nothing new can gain a fair hearing or any legitimacy in the public realm: one citizen with a “concern” is made more important than any dozen finding favor with an innovative idea. 

I have no problem with the Planet publishing anything it chooses to as clearly-labeled editorial opinion. But let’s not forget that actual news reporting is supposed to be its reason for existence—the objective reporting of factual occurrences along with comments about them that reflect a diversity of views. Failure to meet that standard means we need pay even less attention to a source that fails to serve the whole community. 

Alan Tobey 

 

• 

HUMANS OVER  

VEGETABLES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The University needs to be defended against the irresponsible attacks by the motley cabal of superannuated hippies and others who value vegetables over humans. The well known fact is that Indians never buried bodies in groves of oak trees because they considered them sacred. Actually, the University’s scientific researchers in the Athletic Department have determined that native Americans never lived in the East Bay. If you look at the university’s research conducted by the UC President, there really never were any native Americans who lived anywhere in California. As a matter of scientific fact, well established by the architects planning the new athletic complex, North America was completely uninhabited before Columbus, except for a handful of Vikings living in Minnesota who invented the modern game of football and the University of Minnesota fight song. Thus, if one looks at this situation in a truly scientific way, the rooting out of useless trees and the construction of an athletic complex is a continuation of one of the oldest of American-Aryan traditions. The university bases its reputation on it. 

Carl Strand 

 

• 

IRAN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I would like to call attention to the Name Withheld letter in your last edition from the correspondent who called attention to the Anjomane Padeshahi organization which is calling for the overthrow of the present Iranian government. Although the present Iranian government is awful and treats its people badly and its women worse, the Anjomane Padeshahi organization itself is a front for a group of rich exiles who want to put the Shah back into power in Iran. Do we need another dictatorship to replace the one that is already there?  

John Parman 

Washington DC ( & Berkeley) 

 

• 

HELEN BURKE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Defending David Stoloff’s sleazy election as chair of the planning commission, planning commissioner Harry Pollack asserts that the 2006 election of ousted chair Helen Burke violated a commission tradition of making the vice chair the next chair. “‘The last time she benefited’ from breaking tradition,’ he said,” referring to the fact that Burke had not previously served as vice chair. “‘This time she didn’t.’” (Daily Planet, Feb. 16).  

In fact, the planning commission has no such tradition. I was vice chair before I became planning commission chair in 2002. But the previous chair, Rob Wrenn, did not move up from vice chair, and neither did my successor, Harry Pollack! If in 2004 Pollack had practiced what he is now preaching, he should have supported then-vice chair Gene Poschman for chair. Instead, he cast the decisive fifth vote for himself.  

On the other hand, the commission has customarily allowed each chair to serve out a two-year term. Thanks to Stoloff’s deceitful machinations, Burke is the first chair to be denied a full term in recent memory.  

Who’s chair is important; the chair sets the commission’s agenda. Disturbingly, David Stoloff’s standard operating procedure seems to be the backroom deal. Indeed, it appears that to get elected vice chair in 2004, he had someone manipulate ailing councilmember Margaret Breland into abruptly removing her then-planning commissioner, John Curl (who also planned to run for vice chair), the day before the election of commission officers.  

Curl recounted the sordid affair in “An Open Letter from John Curl to Mayor Bates,” (Daily Planet, March 16, 2004). He addressed the mayor because Stoloff was and is Bates’ planning commissioner. Curl reported that after being ousted, he was called by Bates, who said that he had not been involved. “I believe you,” Curl wrote. But he also emphasized that the mayor was responsible for and implicated by his appointee’s undemocratic tactics. “The manipulation of a councilmember and the abrupt termination of a commission member because of a vote for a vice-chair is reprehensible….Are you going to shrug and do nothing” about your commissioner’s “sleazy manipulation”? he asked. 

In 2004 the mayor did shrug off Stoloff’s chicanery. So far he has issued no public statement about his planning commissioner’s latest subterfuge.  

“If this is what the future holds for Berkeley,” wrote Curl, “I shudder for the fate of my city.” 

Isn’t it time we all shuddered? 

Zelda Bronstein 

 

• 

NATION OF TORTURERS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I visited the art gallery on UC campus where the work of Fernando Bolero is on display. His work shows Iraqis are being tortured by the American soldiers. It is quite shocking. Thanks to Botero who has created these paintings to show the atrocities and crimes committed by the United States in Iraq. Of course, it is not only in Iraq, it is global now. 

I was thinking who these American soldiers are who have been committing these crimes. Whose sons and daughters are these soldiers who happily torture innocent Iraqis? Do you remember the photo of the female American soldier wearing a blue latex glove who was gleefully making a thumb up on the body of an Iraqi who had died under torture? It was all over the Internet two years ago. Whose daughter or wife is this American woman? Is she a mother?  

These folks are monsters in disguise of humans. I wonder what they do when they come back home. Do they bring photos of tortured Iraqis and share them with their relatives and neighbors for a laugh? How do the relatives and neighbors of these soldiers receive them? Are they proud to know these monsters? Do they care if one of these monsters is their neighbor? 

It does not end there. Americans are torturing people in the infamous secret torture flights. They kidnap people in Europe. Recently, an Italian court ordered the arrest of some 13 American kidnappers. A German citizen was kidnapped and tortured sometime back, gang rape of an Iraqi teenage girl by the US Marines and murdering her and her entire family, etc., etc. It is too many to mention. It stinks. What America has become? A nation of torturers? We even have a professor of law who justifies all this: John Yoo. 

Last week, a proud American was questioning where was Mr. Botero to make paintings of those being tortured by Saddam Hussein? Saddam Hussein was a dictator. Americans are the ones who claim they are bringing freedom, democracy, and justice to Iraqis and the entire world. But, yet they commit the most heinous crimes. This is exactly where Botero, Harold Pinter, and many others come in to reveal what the United States is doing. As we have been witnessing, Americans have been very quiet about this war and the media is even cheering. I believe that Americans should seriously look into themselves. 

Mina Davenport


Commentary: North Shattuck Plaza, Inc.

By Daniel Caraco
Friday February 23, 2007

On the surface, the fuss over a plaza on Shattuck Avenue between Vine and Rose Streets seems silly. Asphalt abounds, the parking and circulation patterns in the area are chaotic, there is interest, and green is in. Beneath the surface, however, lies a cautionary tale about privatizing the development of public assets and resources. What happens when the City entrusts its development agenda to intermediaries? Does this represent a new way of doing business in Berkeley? If so, is it widespread? And, does this practice promote or retard the prospects for good governance?  

In 2001, the City Council passed Resolution #60,911-N-S approving “in concept” a plan for the reconfiguration of North Shattuck. Subsequently, The North Shattuck Association Business Improvement District (NSA/BID) was formed and became the fiscal agent for the project. In 2005, the Council reaffirmed its commitment to the 2001 plan. In May of 2006 it blessed a union between the BID and North Shattuck Plaza Inc. (NSP Inc.) which had been formed to secure funds to design, plan, and fund the initial concept plan.  

It appears that NSP Inc., a completely private entity, took the permission granted in a sense that the Council did not intend. Contrary to the Council’s intent, NSP Inc. used the BID’s money and totally redesigned the project. Moreover, it did so without much, if any, thought about the necessity for widespread inclusion and participation by the merchants and neighborhoods that would be affected. NSP Inc. seems to have assumed that the new plan would be received with such acclaim that any procedural missteps would be ignored and the decision making bodies on which its members sit would, if the project went to full review, approve its new plan over any objections.  

It is important to note that NSP Inc.’s Board Members, and principal project boosters, include former and current Council Members Mim Hawley and Laurie Capitelli; and, David Stoloff, the newly elected Chair of the Planning Commission. It seems that the Council dealt its own members and appointees the right to redevelop a public right of way while they also sit on the decision making bodies that will rule in its favor. Okay, we’re not talking Haliburton. Still, the presence of City government insiders coveys the inevitable perception that the “fix is in.”  

The sheer arrogance of NSP Inc. replacing the plan approved “in concept” by the Council with one approved only by themselves is bad enough. But the inability to listen, the lack of competence and meeting skills displayed by David Stoloff ( NSP Inc.’s chair) when he tried to sell the new plan to the public, and the fact that NSP Inc. used the BID’s money to design a plan that had to be abandoned all strain credulity. The fact that the BID went along with NSP Inc. in this endeavor raises questions about its own awareness of the capacities that need to be in place in order to partner with others. Considering the importance of safeguarding the integrity of the decision making process, one has to wonder how the City Attorney approved this arrangement in the first place.  

While the Council reserved the right to review and approve the final plan, it is not clear that full public review was contemplated. In January, Jill Martinucci (Council Member Capitelli’s aide) offered her perception that the plan was on a fast track to the City Council. On February 17th, however, Laurie Capitelli said that the project had gone “awry” and that he would now insist that the project be vetted through a full process of public comment and review. Further, he added the condition that his support would be granted only to a project that had secured the “consensus” of all of the stakeholders.  

But if “consensus” is now an additional requirement and outcome, people are needed who really understand what consensus means—not the sort of facilitation that transpired on February 7th, where the managers of NSP Inc.’s meeting failed to acknowledge the difficulties that had brought the project to a logjam and, instead of recognizing the lack of consensus, attempted to vote the meeting into agreement.  

The first step on the road to fairness is for the Council to withdraw the authority that it granted to NSP Inc. Clearly, NSP Inc. assumed permission it did not have, and Commissioner Stoloff’s leadership in this affair has undermined the legitimacy of this project along with that of the Planning Commission. He should resign from both positions.  

Accountability does not stop with Commissioner Stoloff and Council Member Capitelli. The Council’s ability and willingness to suspend its oversight responsibilities in favor of the pet projects of its members and appointees needs to be examined. The stewardship of public assets and resources is too important to be contracted out to the spontaneous and haphazard creations of public officials and others. The opportunities to make mischief abound and one has to wonder if this practice widespread. 

All of this reminds me of Prof. Robert Reich's remarks at Berkeley City College a few weeks ago. (Robert Reich was the Secretary of Labor in the Clinton Administration and now teaches at UCB). He was asked to speak about the future of the City of Berkeley and how to get there. At one point he demonstrated his political adroitness when, after commending Mayor Bates on his leadership, he spoke about the critical need for Berkeley to find the voice of its “WE” as a City. As an example, he observed that the new apartments all over town were “ugly,” and asked why the profession of architecture had been left out of their design! Why, indeed, has there been a pattern of decision making where the concerns of so many are dismissed in favor of the interests of so few?  

Welcome to Berkeley Citizen Reich. Any ideas about how Berkeley can walk its talk of “good governance?”  

 

Daniel Caraco lives in Berkeley.


Commentary; Stadium Stories Paint Sinister Picture

By Vince Tancreto
Friday February 23, 2007

I guess by now I shouldn’t be surprised by every slanted article written about the UC Stadium Project. Your Feb. 20, 2007 article (“Oak Grove May Be Native American Burial Site”) was no exception in the continued disingenuous anti-stadium project rhetoric and misinformation campaign using the BPD as their mouthpiece. Basing this article on the biased opinions of a plaintiff lawyer and an “activist” with obvious agendas presents only the story you apparently want your readers to hear. 

Your article paints the usual sinister picture of the UC and this project. However, several statements in your own article actually paint a different picture, one that you apparently don’t want to include or never bothered to verify. The EIR correctly states that “Cultural remains may have been impacted by prior construction”. How was that omitted from documents as you claim if it was in the EIR? Per your article, the EIR goes on to include the language “but does require work to be stopped if remains are discovered until impacts to the sites can be mitigated. Mr. Brenneman, that IS “standard operating procedure” today and the EIR meets the full disclosure requirement. An “archaeological survey” is impossible to do at a site such as the stadium because it has been a highly disturbed site for many years. You only do such surveys on virgin ground. Maybe the city of Berkeley operates in a different manner (which wouldn’t surprise anyone at this point), but that’s how it works everywhere else in the state. You refer to CEQA and several other codes and regulations as maybe applying, but only under circumstances not discovered in this “finding” if you read the text without adding your own interpretations.  

I previously used the word “disingenuous” to describe the anti-stadium project effort. With the possible exception of the California Oaks Association who at least started with a semi-coherent purpose (no longer), the other plaintiffs continue to hide their true intentions behind other “concerns.” I won’t even talk about the Tightwad Hill group since their issues are ludicrous. 

The city of Berkeley seems to be looking for a payoff based on the mayor’s implications that the city is still “willing to negotiate.” 

Is he kidding? Berkeley would be nothing without the university, and the university obviously puts far more money into city coffers than used in city services. The Panoramic Hill Association talks “safety,” but can’t seem to bring themselves to just come out and fully admit that they really prefer that the stadium just disappear in its entirety because they consider it a nuisance. Members of the association have stated this numerous times in the past. 

And if this is really about safety as they argue, when do these residents plan to move off the hill since their homes are in as much, and potentially more danger from natural threats than the stadium? Seems a little hypocritical, don’t you think? Not to mention that pictures from the 1920s show that very few homes even existed in the area at the time that the stadium was built. Seems to me that they all knew a stadium was there when they purchased.  

With regard to our Native American “activist” buddy, Mr. Running Wolf, can you ask him more about his heritage the next time you go to him for quotes?  

“Running Wolf” is a decidedly non- 

California Native American name so I was surprised to hear that “our” people could be in this supposed burial site. Or was he referring to Native Americans in general? Isn’t it odd that this “important archaeological discovery” was hidden for 80 years and suddenly comes up now? What timing! 

And Mr. Running Wolf suspected that this site existed all along but never bothered to check out his vastly important hunch. It’s also amazing that this took place with the world-renowned UC Berkeley Archaeological Department located right down the street no less. You’d think that they would have known about this site long ago, archives or not, if something truly remarkable had been there.  

Just more smoke for the smokescreen. 

 

 

Vince Tancreto probably doesn’t live in Berkeley.


Commentary: The Oxford/Brower Bait and Switch

By Barbara Gilbert
Friday February 23, 2007

The Oxford/Brower Project is not only about affordable housing and a green center for environmental activists. It is also about municipal fiscal responsibility, sound downtown economic development, crucial downtown parking, respect for the taxpayer, and honest accounting on the part of public officials. 

I have been following this project for several years and, yes, I did speak out about my increasing concerns, as did many other persons, including Former Mayor Dean, Councilmember Olds, even other councilmembers (who however, subsequently fell into line with the bosses). These concerns fell mostly on deaf ears, as the political powers-that-be and their temporary progressive allies were determined to shepherd this trophy project to completion—no matter the cost or complexity or risk. Arguably a plausible project at its inception, the Oxford/Brower Project has grown into the biggest boondoggle and public giveaway in city history, and has become a real estate transaction so malleable and so stupefyingly complex that I dare our mayor or any councilmember or any ardent proponent to accurately describe its legal and financial structure.  

 

The Bait and Switch 

Following are just some of the changes between the project’s inception (2003-2004) and the project’s fruition (2005-2007). 

THEN, the project was to cost $43.7M, with a $6M city subsidy. NOW, the cost is $70M and rising, and the city subsidy is more than $25M (details below). THEN, there were to be 150 replacement public parking spaces, NOW there are 97. THEN, any risks associated with the project were to be borne mostly by the developer and a “guarantor”, while NOW most of the risk is borne by the city, and the multimillionaire Mill Valley guarantor is resisting any substantial commitment to shortfalls. THEN, there were purported lease commitments from several environmental nonprofits, eco-retailer Patagonia, and for an Alice Waters-assisted eco-restaurant. NOW, there are no known lessees (and hence no known cash flow), and a strong likelihood that our prime downtown space will be occupied by UC. THEN, Housing Director Barton said “the project is feasible and realistic”. NOW, he is hedging and hawing and protecting himself, and talking about the huge risks to the city. As late as December 2006, Mr. Barton said “the staff does not yet have clarity on all potential costs and risks”. As with the ill-fated Brower Spaceship Earth sculpture, Mayor Bates (along with his new progressive allies) is determined to make this flashy project happen. Luckily, Spaceship Earth exploded elsewhere, but, unluckily, the Oxford/Brower Project will explode right here! 

Let’s get to the nitty-gritty—the true cost of the project. Note that a full tally of these costs has never been presented to our City Council or to the public by Mr. Barton or by our city manager or by the project proponents. All numbers are approximate, based on reasonable interpretation of conflicting, confusing and changing data, and reasonable speculation as to future potential costs. 

Total one-time city costs range from $19.8M to $29M (if CDBG collateral and cost overrun coverage required) and more if other worst-case scenarios materialize. Ongoing city opportunity costs are also in the multi-millions of dollars. 

 

One-time Costs to City 

Housing Trust Fund $4.7M 

Berkeley Redevelopment Agency $1.5M 

(monies primarily intended for West Berkeley) 

General Fund $1.5M 

City Staff and Consultants $2.0M 

Lost Parking Revenue (2.5 years) $1.36M 

(based on 11/16/04 Council Report on  

Oxford Lot Receipts of $545K annually) 

Lost Sales Tax Revenue (2.5 years) $500K 

(due to disruption of local business dependent  

on Oxford Lot parking 

Public Land Donation $8M 

(appraised for $7M in 2005) 

Ongoing 

Annual interest on $11.6M above $690K  

(excluding land)  

 

Additional One-time City Money  

Unlikely to Be Recovered 

Community Development Block Grant $4M 

(pledged as collateral)  

Liability for Cost Overruns $5M  

Liability for Underground Garage $Unknown 

Construction Maintenance/Leakage Problems  

 

Opportunity Costs of Not Selling Property to For-Profit Developer  

 

One Time  

Transfer Tax on Land (1.5% of $8M) $120K  

 

Ongoing 

City Share of Annual Property Taxes $500K  

on $100M project  

Annual Business License and $500K 

Sales Tax Revenue from New Uses  

 

Nonmonetary Opportunity Costs 

Creation of more appropriate use for prime downtown real estate.  

Availability of millions more dollars for affordable housing at less expensive site(s).  

Locating Oxford/Brower type project in area more in need of this type of revitalization. 

 

 

Several concerned residents, including me, are circulating a referendum petition that might cause this project to be reconsidered. I hope that we are successful and that our City officials respect the referendum process. Even if the petition fails to get the required signatures, the numbers should give serious pause to our officials, who may want to reconsider the huge financial commitment and lost opportunities. It is not at all a sure thing that our highly-taxed populace will approve the any new taxes to make up for the Oxford/Brower expenditure, the $10-15M in free services to UC, and any compensation increases for City employees. And if new taxes should be approved, Berkeley’s dwindling middle-class homeowning population will further dwindle away. 

 

 

Barbara Gilbert is active in several Berkeley citizen organizations and follows local government more closely than is good for her mental health.


Commentary: Oxford/Brower Is a Good Investment

By Marcy Greenhut
Friday February 23, 2007

The David Brower Center and Oxford Plaza Housing www.browercenter. org/ is quite possibly the best land use project proposed in Berkeley in this generation. It will serve as a model for other developers and cities who are considering building green; the way forward in building sustainably. 

Affordable housing for families in the downtown means less vehicle miles traveled to the downtown. This means less traffic congestion. Back to the more sustainable “old” days, when all our needs were within walking distance, sometimes called infill development, or smart growth. The point is to stop the unsustainable sprawl, where families can only afford to live far away from basic amenities, and therefore create a reliance on the fossil-fueled, air-polluting vehicle. 

A LEED-Platinum certified building is the current industry-acknowledged pinnacle of sustainable building, especially in an urban setting. LEED-certified buildings are environmentally responsible, profitable AND a healthy place to live and work. Imagine having this model building in Berkeley. The David Brower Center will be such a building. Anyone wishing to learn more about this new standard, can read about it at: www.leedbuilding.org/  

So, it was dismaying to me that anyone would be protesting this project. I began to notice petition-signature-gathering at the Farmers Markets. I asked why the protest? 

Here’s what the signature gatherers told me: 

I was told that the city “sold” the property for $1. But the parking under the property will revert to city ownership once the parking structure is complete. The city will resume parking income. The statement that the city sold the property for $1 is a misrepresentation of the facts.  

I was told that all the city’s “affordable housing money for two years” will be expended on this project. Well, considering what the city and it’s citizens are getting, isn’t this a good investment? Isn’t real estate one of the best investments anyone can make? 

I was told that an environmental impact report (EIR) wasn’t done. Was one needed I asked? Yes, because of the project proximity to Strawberry Creek, I was told. The only part of the project that is close to the creek is the awning created to hold solar panels, and the solar panels themselves. This is allowable under the Creeks Ordinance. Strawberry Creek is considered for daylighting on Center St., but even this consideration isn’t jeopardized by the Oxford/David Brower project. 

A negative declaration was issued, meaning it was determined that an EIR was not necessary for this project. See this report for details: www.ci.berkeley. ca.us/planning/landuse/2200Oxford/2200_Oxford_IS_20050606.pdf 

I was told there would be maintenance issues related to the creek. The project includes a retaining wall at least 30 feet from the culverted creek (the creek itself doesn’t flow freely, but is encased in a concrete culvert as it travels from campus through downtown), there has never been an overflow problem with the creek, and a hydrologist has determined the structure poses no threat, nor would flooding be likely.  

I was told that staff of the non-profit manager of the project, Resources Community and Development, were being paid high salaries, as a reason for the project proposal, support and approval. Does the opposition prefer a FOR-profit developer? Would the opposition like to report, publicly, what the salaries are for those who have worked hard to walk this project through years of public process and all necessary levels of government? The opposition had no factual information to provide on this point. 

One more thing the opposition to this project told me: That there is vacant, affordable housing all over Berkeley and we don’t need any more. I would like anyone who has been searching for affordable housing for their family to comment on this. I am not a realtor, landlord, nor have I been searching. However, the point in this instance is that the affordable, family housing will be downtown. 

A flat piece of asphalt currently in use as a surface parking lot will be turned into a state-of-the-art green demonstration project, office rental for environmental groups and others, retail, affordable family housing, AND a new city-owned parking structure and I’m telling you, the opposition doesn’t have a good enough reason to collect one signature.  

While at the Farmers Market, one woman told me she had the opposition remove her name from their petition because, she said, they aren’t “saying anything.” Their argument is devoid of reason.  

I have listened to both sides. I did my own research. This project will demonstrate the way forward. In all aspects of our lives, we must learn and figure out ways to counter global warming.  

The Sierra Club, Mayor Tom Bates, City Councilmembers Linda Maio, Darryl Moore, Max Anderson, Dona Spring and Kriss Worthington support the project and urge everyone NOT to sign the petition.  

The only thing I can’t understand is why Gale Garcia and others are standing in the way of our society’s fight against global warming.  

 

 

 

Marcy Greenhut is a Berkeley resident.


Commentary: Opponents Concerns Unfounded

By Kirstin Miller
Friday February 23, 2007

In an eleventh hour attempt to derail Berkeley’s first ever downtown affordable family housing project and “green” nonprofit office and meeting facility, signature gatherers appearing at Berkeley Farmer’s Markets are telling people that the David Brower Center’s underground parking facility would likely flood during a storm event or as a result of culvert failure due to its proximity to the Strawberry Creek underground culvert and that that is a reason to oppose the project. A few people have also expressed concernthat the Brower Center would make future creek restoration more difficult. 

In actuality, the likelihood of Straw-berry Creek flooding the proposed garage (the creek now flows underground down Allston Way from campus) is extremely low. In addition, the garage construction includes an underground retaining wall about 30 feet from the centerline of the culvert. So chances for flooding at that particular location are already slim and are going to be much less than the many other buildings along the culvert’s pathway that don’t have underground reinforcement like the Brower Center garage will have. 

For those concerned about creek restoration potential, there is a plan under discussion that would daylight that portion of Strawberry Creek on Center Street between Oxford and Shattuck Avenue as part of a beautiful public plaza. It’s a vision that is getting increasing support within the current Downtown Area Planning Advisory Committee (DAPAC). The proposal to daylight Strawberry Creek on Center Street, not Allston Way, follows the conclusions and recommendations of the ‘999 City Council funded study on creek daylighting in downtown. In a current plan being submitted by Citizens for a Strawberry Creek Plaza, the above ground channel on Center Street would be sized to carry the full flow, but initially, overflows would still go down the Allston Way main culvert. However, it is a big step in the direction of being able to abandon that portion of the Allston underground culvert altogether in exchange for a beautiful partial creek restoration and plaza in the heart of downtown, there for everyone’s enjoyment. 

People who are considering signing a petition against the Brower Center project because they are worried about flooding or the project blocking future creek restoration can rest assured that neither are valid reasons to sign. In addition, the project finally brings affordable family housing to downtown, instead of the usual student sized units. We in Ecocity Builders would have preferred that the building have a view and orientation to the Berkeley Hills and the redwood tree on Haste Street that David Brower planted as a child. But overall, the benefits of the Brower Center are significant, and should garner public support, not opposition. 

 

Kirstin Miller is the Executive Director of 

Ecocity Builders.


Commentary: Big Projects Need Environmental Impact Reports

By Barry Wofsy
Friday February 23, 2007

It is shocking that the massive Brower development, which includes approximately 18 commercial businesses accompanied by approximately 100 housing units, is not being required to have an environmental impact report (EIR).  

An EIR protects the community by pointing out problems such as parking, traffic, and flooding. An EIR must be done so that these impacts can be mitigated or corrected. 

The Tom Bates and Loni Hancock machine has arbitrarily decided that massive projects in Berkeley should not be made to give the same environmental protections that other cities give to their citizens. This allows the developer to maximize his profit and to create the most massive development possible and at the same time save all the money that would be needed to correct the problems that it causes for the city of Berkeley and its citizens.  

It’s obvious that this project will cause severe parking problems for the city of Berkeley that will not be corrected. You should also know that the underground parking that will be put at this site will be much smaller than the current parking and will be built very close to underground creeks and susceptible to flooding.  

Both the housing and the commercial units at the massive Brower project are being subsidized by the citizens of Berkeley. I believe that when all is said and done, the new underground parking will also be subsidized by the city of Berkeley and will be primarily for the use of those commercial and residential units. The city has already paid about two million dollars into this project. The city of Berkeley has also guaranteed approximately ten million dollars in loan guarantees for this project.  

In addition, I believe that the giving away of this property costs the citizens of this city approximately seventeen million dollars. I base this last number on the fact the city currently receives approximately $850,000 on the income from this one acre site of parking. Once the city gives this property away to the developer, they will in effect lose income of $850,000 per year. 

The City of Berkeley would need to have 17 million in bonds or cd’s in order to generate that same $850,000 per year of income.  

Who decides that an EIR is not needed? The high-level Berkeley city staff decides. These people make $160,000-$200,000 per year in salary plus benefits, each one of them. They, of course, agreed with the Bates and Loni Hancock machine that no mitigations should be considered for the community. 

This is not the only massive project that is being pushed by the high-priced staff and the Bates-Loni Hancock machine at this moment. You have probably also heard about the massive proposed project at the corner of University Avenue and MLK, Jr. Way. This enormous project will have approximately 130 housing units plus a very large Trader Joe’s. Trader Joe’s itself will cause massive traffic problems on both University Avenue and MLK, if it goes in at this spot.  

Unfortunately, this development also will not have an EIR and, therefore, will not be asked to mitigate the huge traffic and parking problems that it creates. This project is also being pushed by the very expensive Berkeley city bureaucrats and the Tom Bates-Loni Hancock machine. For your information, the owner of Trader Joe’s is a billionaire German industrialist who owns it outright. He will not be asked to pay for his environmental impacts on the city of Berkeley and its citizens.  

Citizens of Berkeley, you only have one week left to sign or circulate the petitions to allow the city of Berkeley to simply vote on whether or not this is wise development for this city. True environmentalism embraces an honest look at the environmental impacts of any development scheme and tries to address these impacts. This project does not do this. 

 

 

Barry Wofsy is a Berkeley resident.


Commentary: Attack on Referendum Supporter Was Unfair

By Peter Teichner
Friday February 23, 2007

In his op-ed promoting the Brower Center (Feb 20-22), Rob Wrenn makes such a concerted, personal attack on Gale Garcia and her efforts to expose and oppose the foolhardiness of the City’s giveaway of the proposed Brower Center land that one has to consider what might be his interest in this venture and whether he’s actually a shill for Mayor Bates and the developers. 

Mr. Wrenn asserts that to do a full Environmental Impact Report for a project of this size in this location would be a waste of resources. Oh, really? Whose resources? If not an EIR for this, one of the larger projects in recent Berkeley history, then what size development, if any in his mind would necessitate one? He claims that various studies have separately addressed all the issues that would have been addressed in an EIR. Perhaps…but not likely. 

An EIR gives the public the right to be involved in questioning the efficacy of all aspects of the project and the requirement to have those questions satisfactorily answered—before approval. Mr. Wrenn’s scattershot method of addressing relevant issues undermines the publics right-to-know by compartmentalizing issues and forcing citizens to expend much more time and effort going to sundry meetings and reviewing disparate documents in hopes of discovering and questioning details of the proposal before approval. Even then there is/was no requirement to have answers to legitimate concerns. 

For instance, Ms. Garcia has raised an engineering issue which hasn’t been adequately addressed. What about Strawberry Creek running very near and perhaps, in an extremely wet winter, under the property? Given the site is a seismic liquefaction zone just how will such a challenging engineering problem be addressed to ensure that the subterranean garage remain free of flooding? Or that the building will withstand the expected major Hayward Fault quake given these conditions? And what is the financial risk to the City if the engineering doesn’t work? 

I also notice that Mr. Wrenn in his zeal to promote the ‘affordable’ housing component of the project provides a projection figure for household income considered adequate for market rate housing (“at least $70,000 to $95,000”). However, he does not show the numbers for the so called ‘affordable’ Brower Center units. Could it be that the figure would reveal these units are hardly affordable for truly low income families in need of housing? 

There are just a few Berkeley citizens left who have the inclination to keep up the good fight to keep Berkeley from becoming the urban tenement, shadow filled nightmare it is fast becoming. Recently completed Library Gardens is a fine example of that dark vision. In all of her efforts to preserve what little remains of Berkeley’s charm and livability, I consider Gale Garcia a champion of, and for, the citizens of Berkeley. I’ve signed the petition and urge all Berkeley residents to do same. In these strained fiscal times, it is not prudent for the City Council to be giving away 6 million of our hard earned tax dollars - and potentially risking much more. 

 

Peter Teichner is a Berkeley resident. 


Molly Ivins Tribute: The Pelosi Revolution

By Phil McArdle
Friday February 23, 2007

Before November’s election it was impossible to imagine the current debate in the House and the Senate. Nancy Pelosi supervised the creation of an outstanding resolution on Iraq for the House of Representatives. For those who have not yet seen it, the text reads:  

“Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), that— 

(1) Congress and the American people will continue to support and protect the members of the United States Armed Forces who are serving or who have served bravely and honorably in Iraq; and  

(2) Congress disapproves of the decision of President George W. Bush announced on Jan. 10 to deploy more than 20,000 additional United States combat troops to Iraq.”  

The pledge in clause (1) stands in complete opposition to the record of this incompetent and cruel administration. John Murtha, acting in accord with it, has promised to attach amendments to military funding bills to specify that no unit can be “deployed to Iraq until it is fully trained and equipped with all the latest armor and other measures designed” to neutralize roadside bombs. This will be real “protection and support” for the troops—or, at least, for those the legislation covers before they are sent overseas.  

I don’t think there can be any question as to whether the administration knows that some of the units it is sending are inadequately trained and under-equipped; i.e., intrinsically unable to accomplish the mission. It must also know that these units will suffer inordinately high casualty rates.  

When I was in the service, I always thought it quite possible that I would be killed or wounded. Consequently, to me “support” for the troops always includes their medical care as well as their equipment. Today's troops will be incurring real injuries, and in too many cases these will last throughout their lives. This administration has made several attempts to reduce funding for the Veterans hospitals. On its record, the Bush administration can not be counted on to meet its obligation to these men and women.  

Of course, only someone who deliberately blinds himself to reality could imagine that a few thousand under-trained, under-equipped soldiers will be able to reverse the outcome of a war we have already lost. A couple of years ago I wrote that when Bush defends his policy and tries to convince us we’re winning in Iraq, he looks like a mortuary make-up artist trying to give the illusion of life to a corpse. He still does. But we’ve gone beyond that. Clause (2) of the Pelosi resolution puts the House on record publicly in opposition to Bush's delusional policy. It is the beginning of the end of the war.  

But there is a long road ahead, and it won't be easy. It is worth remembering some words from Molly Ivins’ last column: “We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war.”  

But even as we continue our efforts, we must begin looking to the future. It is not too soon to begin defining the lessons of this war. Here are some that occur to me:  

1. The armed forces are our armed forces. They belong to us collectively—not to the President or to the Republican Party or to the right wing. We have a duty—a responsibility—to see that they are used correctly.  

2. We need to make real estimates of the dangers facing our country. The fighting in Iraq has not (as the President says) kept “them” from “coming over here after us.” They’ve already been here: where is New York City? What happened there on 9/11/02?  

3. Even though many of us have religious beliefs, we operate as a secular people. We have to realize that Saddam Hussain was also a secular person. We may believe the Muslim religion is nonsense, but we have to recognize that, along with Saddam, we have given secularism a bad name in the Middle East.  

4. We need to look at historical failures as well as successes. We are overextended militarily and economically, and we are involved in commitments that are not in our national interest. We have a lot of military bases scattered around the world that we don't really need. Have we begun to resemble the Spanish empire when it ruined itself by engaging in unnecessary and destructive religious wars? Could we be risking the same kind of spectacular collapse?  

5. We need to reexamine the idea of national interest. Not every foreign intervention has merit, and even those that seem compelling may be beyond our abilities. Shouldn't we give deep consideration to what we can do and what we can't?  

So, in addition to ending this war, we need to learn from it. That includes looking back at how we got into this mess and forward to our real responsibilities. It may take awhile to work it all out.


Letters to the Editor

Tuesday February 20, 2007

OPEN LETTER TO CAL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am an avid Cal Fan. My great-grandfather played halfback and his brother quarterback on some of the first teams at Cal. I think there is no reason, however, to sacrifice irreplaceable natural resources for a mere building. There are many other suitable sites and solutions available and I urge you to turn to these solutions.  

Foresight, planning and engineering sustainable human use of our world is the highest form of intellectual behavior. Cal has always been considered a great forum for developing mind and body. But what kind of “highperformance” is it that foregoes the best, most sustainable solution to the pragmatics of timetables or cutting corners? Isn’t it about time that “planning” includes more permanent and sustainable solutions that magnify the grace and beauty of our natural world rather than the “cleverness” of quick solutions that have to be undone later. Unfortunately in this case, there will be no ability to undo the destruction that will be done.  

Please show me that Cal gives a damn about the planet instead of economic pragmatics. Maybe if the Regents returned some of their outrageous salary thefts to the university, an appropriate alternative could be built on time and within budget as well as save our environment. 

While we are at it, why not restore the waterfalls that used to exist in the gully behind the stadium? In fact, why not think about incorporating natural restoration of the surrounding environment as part of every project at Cal? You could have the various departments build student teams to plan, develop and build the projects that would achieve these sustainable projects, thereby placing the university at the cutting edge of education promoting a sane coexistence with earth. 

I love Cal athletics and attend all the Bear football games. I can, but do not want, this pleasurable activity compromised by the knowledge that we are sacrificing a sustainable relationship with Earth! 

And please don’t send me a reply that tries to say that what I have said here is somehow mistaken or try to prove there is any rationalization for destroying the Old Oak Grove! Please! 

Sandy Sanders 

• 

ATTACKING IRAN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was horrified to learn that the president is thinking of attacking Iran. The result would be huge chaos and human suffering, large additional U.S. troops in the Middle East, and increased world anger at and dislike of the United States. 

U.S. citizens need to do all they can to let members of the House know how strongly we oppose such an attack. Our local congressperson, Barbara Lee, was the first to oppose Bush’s ability to go to war (on Afghanistan I think). It would be good to call or e-mail her. However, the best thing people could do is to e-mail or call friends or relatives in other states, and encourage those friends and relatives to tell their congresspeople how much they oppose a war on Iran. If your friend or relative does not know the name of his or her congressperson, tell your friend or relative to call the nearest public library. 

Julia Craig 

 

• 

COMMUNITY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was disappointed to see the  

petitions being circulated to stop the affordable housing project proposed for downtown Berkeley as part of the David Brower Center and Oxford Plaza. In the interest of full disclosure, Resources for Community Development (RCD) helped us with a small affordable housing project several years ago for children and young people with developmental disabilities, the BUiLD house. (This letter represents my own views and not necessarily those of BUiLD, Inc.) RCD staff took the time and devoted the resources necessary to help us navigate the process of providing housing and services for this underserved group of Berkeley residents. I’m certain they will take the time and effort to produce a quality project for downtown Berkeley. 

I’m sure we all know hard-working people with non-profit or other lower wage jobs who struggle each month to afford a decent place to live while providing for the other needs of their children and families. Many of us longtime residents—30 years in my case—who bought our homes years ago would be hard pressed to buy in today’s housing market or maybe even to find a decent place to rent. To argue, as the circulators of the petition do, that the city of Berkeley “gave away” land to RCD is to obscure the fact that RCD is a nonprofit organization that will use the land to provide affordable housing for our fellow city residents. I hope that those of us who live in relative comfort in Berkeley have big enough hearts to want to extend the same opportunity to others who aren’t so fortunate. 

Stephen Rosenbaum 

 

• 

BUSES  

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Perhaps I am still young enough to be considered a “younger rider” of AC Transit but I suspect I have fallen out of that category. However, I enjoy riding the Van Hool buses; in fact I get excited when I see one of them approaching over the other buses in the fleet. I’m a stay-at-home mom and ride the bus several times a week with my young son. Van Hool’s make it so easy to get a stroller on and off the bus. The other buses have narrow aisles and multiple stairs that make it much harder to take a stroller on our journeys. If I knew I would be picked up by a Van Hool every time, I would not have to think twice about taking the stroller.  

I think we neglect to remember that the vast majority of individuals that turn out to public meetings dislike an item on the agenda, while those who are not against it are perfectly content and stay home. How can people be so upset about a type of bus? Why not focus on buses keeping their schedule, adding more routes to underserved communities, increasing the frequency of service, or having bus drivers that don’t endanger your life by talking on the phone or wearing headphones. These seem to be issues that would better serve our community, not outcry over the type of bus that picks us up each day.  

K. Karver 

 

• 

PLANNING COMMISSION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Helen Burke and I have sometimes found ourselves on opposite sides of political debate in Berkeley, but I have always recognized her as a person of integrity. Now, serving with Helen on the DAPAC, I have come to appreciate how extraordinarily effective she is in shepherding her green and sustainable vision for Berkeley into reality. I believe it is precisely Helen’s efficacy as an environmental leader that was being targeted in the recent shabby machinations at the Planning Commission when Helen was ousted and David Stoloff, a former UC planner, installed as chair, with Jim Samuels, his pro-developer colleague, promoted to vice-chair. 

The Downtown Area Plan developed by the DAPAC will be submitted to the Planning Commission for action at the end of the year. This coup places development interests firmly in the driver’s seat when this happens. As Stoloff is Mayor Bates’ appointee to Planning, the question arises if Bates is truly committed to a sustainable Berkeley. How he handles this situation will give an important clue as to whether the mayor actually believes in a green future for Berkeley or is merely engaged in politically motivated greenwashing.  

Whatever happens, this nastiness should act as a flashing red light to those analyzing the pros and cons of Stoloff’s plans for North Shattuck. If we have learned any one thing from this sorry affair, it is that David Stoloff will lie to get what he wants. 

Patti Dacey  

 

• 

HELEN BURKE 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Although tradition suggests that commission chairs serve for two one-year terms, no one has a right to automatic election to a second term. As past chair of two commissions myself, I know that re-election is something that must be earned. It is because Helen Burke has so clearly paid her dues, and provided inspiration to so many in the East Bay, that I am surprised and disappointed with the action taken by the majority of the Planning Commission. 

Helen looms large as a presence in the Berkeley environmental community due to her past positions as an elected member of the EBMUD board and on the staff of the regional U.S. EPA, as well as her decades of Sierra Club activism. As a fellow member of the DAPAC and in many other ways over the years, I have worked closely with Helen. She is creative, well-informed, a proven leader, and entirely dedicated to the community. We are lucky to have her help while Berkeley strives to define its future during a time of university expansion. I hope that the new chair thinks about what he has done and decides to step aside just for 12 whole months to allow Helen to finish her work. He will probably have other chances to be chair.  

Steven Weissman 

 

• 

UNBELIEVABLE  

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I find it absolutely unbelievable that a building named after dedicated environmentalist David Brower has been allowed by the city to go ahead without an environmental impact report.  

I find it astonishing that the city of Berkeley plans to hand over to developers one of the last parking lots in the downtown for one dollar when the land is appraised at $5.7 million.  

I find it beyond credulity that the city is willing to invest $10 million in this building and guarantee millions more when it has been saying for years that it doesn’t have enough money keep fire stations open full time. 

I wonder how already stressed downtown businesses will survive with the removal of 135 parking spaces from the lot being given away to developers and the proposed closing of Center Street to parking and cars. 

I know Tom Bates, the developer/ mayor, started his working life in the real estate business but I hadn’t realized he was intent on re-enacting the Dick Cheney-Halliburton scenario from City Hall. 

Art Goldberg 

 

• 

BUSH’S END-GAME 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Bush’s Iraqi end game for Iraq is as rational as the lunacy in Vietnam where a village had to be destroyed to save it. Bush will have his “surge” and thus have more killing and dying to prevent more killing and dying. At least until he can declare “mission accomplished,” blame the Iraqis, and hand the lingering mess over to the next administration. 

When destruction is salvation, there is little rational need to bother differentiating between failure and success. But the game played by the self-righteous right is to place the blame for their failures onto unworthy others. This is well reflected by one of Bush’s sideline cheerleader in the words that compared the necessity of prevailing in Iraq to the outcome of the conflict in Vietnam.  

“Had we never gotten in, and the same sort of thing happened in the end, it would have been all Southeast Asia’s problem. However, once we committed ourselves, we had a duty to ourselves and to them to conclude it successfully.” 

Sam Osborne 

 

• 

WHO USES THE PARK? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Last issue, Sabrina Kabella wrote of her alarm that there are homeless people in Willard Park, imploring others to press civic authorities and not allow “the city to ignore this problem.” But—what problem is that? The problem that these people don’t have homes? Or that they are in “her” park? 

I could tell that Sabrina and I may not be in especial accord or understanding when she wondered what possible use anyone might have for a park at 10 p.m., if not playing basketball or tennis. But if she has no use for the park then, just what is her outrage about others using it? 

Christopher Kohler 

Oakland 

 

• 

ANOTHER  

MODEST PROPOSAL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Another Modest Proposal: Rising tides? Flooded cities? Not just Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and world tsunamis and flooding. 

On February 18, 2007, Bay Conservation and Development Commission maps and details were published by the San Francisco Chronicle that showed destructive impacts of a potential one-meter rise in sea level that would raise San Francisco Bay and flood bayside cities. 

A proposal: Governments, citizens, and experts should gather together to openly develop a Bay Area flood protection program. Options to consider could include relocating low-lying structures, barricading threatened sites, and studying feasibility of an environmentally sensitive, adjustable dike-lock system, possibly near the bridges and comparable to sophisticated systems in London, Holland, Japan, and elsewhere.  

Flood protection might also include an early warning system to help protect the Bay Area from tsunamis, which have hit the West Coast for millenia. 

We still must stop poisonous pollution which scientists say is also causing global warming and projected rising of sea levels. However, as we struggle to stop pollution and global warming, protecting cities and millions of people from flooding would help protect against disaster. We have earthquakes, we do not need floods. 

Patrick T. Keilch,  

Retired Deputy Director of Public Works/Energy Officer, City of Berkeley 

 

• 

IRAN 

I am writing in order to draw your attention to the Anjomane Padeshahi Iran or the Kingdom Assembly of Iran under the leadership of Dr. Frood Fouladvand. He is a prominent historian and political researcher who speaks several languages including Arabic and who has many followers in Iran and around the world. 

Mr. Fouladvand, after months of unjustly being denied his travel documents, which were seized in a raid by the British MI5 forces on the eve of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s presidential elections, has through the help of an Iranian lawyer in London been able to retrieve his travel documents. He is now journeying to Iran where he will join forces with members of Anjomane Padeshahi in Iran at an undisclosed date. He currently delivers short messages which are broadcasted on Anjomane Padeshahi Iran’s International television channel, which is solely dedicated to the overthrow of the Islamic Republic of Iran. 

Anjomane Padeshahi Iran has set out on the last stages of Operation Tondar (Thunder), which it hopes will achieve the “Liberation of Iran” and other nations from terrorist regime of Islamic Republic of Iran before the Iranian New Year, Norooz (March 21, 2007). 

I would like you to pay attention to Dr. Fouladvand’s endeavor, which is very important for the world’s peace. 

Name Withheld


Commentary: Kofi Annan’s Last Speech at UN Security Council

By Kofi Annan
Tuesday February 20, 2007

The following is an excerpt from Kofi Annan’s final address to the UN Security Council on the Middle East, on December 12, 2006. It appeared in this form in the New York Review of Books for February 15, 2007. 

 

One of the most frustrating aspects of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the apparent inability of many people on both sides to understand the position of the other, and the unwillingness of some to even try. As a true friend and supporter of both sides, I would like to address frank messages to each. 

It is completely right and understandable that Israel and its supporters should seek to ensure its security by persuading Palestinians, and Arabs and Muslims more broadly, to alter their attitude and behavior toward Israel. But they are not likely to succeed unless they themselves grasp and acknowledge the fundamental Palestinian grievance—namely, that the establishment of the State of Israel involved the dispossession of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian families, turning them into refugees, and was followed nineteen years later by a military occupation that brought hundreds of thousands more Palestinians under Israeli rule. 

Israel is justifiably proud of its democracy and its efforts to build a society based on respect for the rule of law. But Israel’s democracy can thrive only if the occupation over another people ends. Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon acknowledged as much. Israel has undergone a major cultural shift since the days of Oslo: all of Israel’s major political parties now acknowledge that Israel needs to end the occupation, for its own sake, and for the sake of its own security. 

... 

Yet thousands of Israelis still live in territories occupied in 1967—and more than one thousand more are added every month. As Palestinians watch this activity, they also see a barrier being built through their land in contravention of the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice, as well as more than five hundred checkpoints to control their movement, and the heavy presence of the Israeli Defense Forces. Their despair at the occupation only grows, as does their determination to resist it. As a result, some tend to invest much of their trust in those who pursue the armed struggle rather than a peace process that does not seem to yield the coveted goal of an independent state. 

I agree with Israel and its supporters that there is a difference—moral as well as legal—between terrorists, who deliberately target civilians, and regular soldiers who, in the course of military operations, unintentionally kill or wound civilians despite efforts to avoid such casualties. But the larger the number of civilian casualties and wounded during these operations, and the more perfunctory the precautions taken to avoid such losses, the more this difference is diminished. The use of military force in densely populated civilian areas is a blunt instrument that only produces more death, destruction, recrimination, and vengeance. And as we have seen, it does little to achieve the desired goal of stopping terrorist attacks. Israelis may reply that they are merely protecting themselves from terrorism, which they have every right to do. But that argument will carry less weight as long as the occupation in the West Bank becomes more burdensome and the settlement expansion continues. Israel will receive more understanding if its actions were clearly designed to help end an occupation rather than to entrench it. 

We should all work with Israel to move beyond the unhappy status quo and reach a negotiated end to the occupation based on the principle of land for peace.... 

... 

It is completely right and understandable to support the Palestinian people, who have suffered so much. But Palestinians and their supporters will never be truly effective if they focus solely on Israel’s transgressions, without conceding any justice or legitimacy to Israel’s own concerns, and without being willing to admit that Israel’s opponents have themselves committed appalling and inexcusable crimes. No resistance to occupation can justify terrorism. We should all be united in our unequivocal rejection of terror as a political instrument.... 

Some may feel satisfaction at repeatedly passing General Assembly resolutions or holding conferences that condemn Israel’s behavior. But one should also ask whether such steps bring any tangible relief or benefit to the Palestinians. There have been decades of resolutions. There has been a proliferation of special committees, sessions, and Secretariat divisions and units. Has any of this had an effect on Israel’s policies, other than to strengthen the belief in Israel, and among many of its supporters, that this great organization is too one-sided to be allowed a significant role in the Middle East peace process? 

Even worse, some of the rhetoric used in connection with the issue implies a refusal to concede the very legitimacy of Israel’s existence, let alone the validity of its security concerns. We must never forget that Jews have very good historical reasons for taking seriously any threat to Israel’s existence. What was done to Jews and others by the Nazis remains an undeniable tragedy, unique in human history. Today, Israelis are often confronted with words and actions that seem to confirm their fear that the goal of their adversaries is to extinguish their existence as a state, and as a people. 

Therefore, those who want to be heard on Palestine should not deny or minimize that history, or the connection many Jews feel for their historic homeland. Rather, they should acknowledge Israel’s security concerns, and make clear that their criticism is rooted not in hatred or intolerance, but in a desire for justice, self-determination, and peaceful coexistence.


Commentary: Brower/Oxford Development Was Well Reviewed and Is Needed

By Rob Wrenn
Tuesday February 20, 2007

The David Brower Center/Oxford Plaza project, which is two months away from breaking ground in downtown Berkeley, is an excellent project despite the misleading claims being made by opponents of affordable housing who are trying to derail the project. 

No project in recent memory has undergone more extensive public review. The project was reviewed not only by the Zoning Adjustments Board and the Design Review Committee, but also by the Planning Commission, the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the Housing Advisory Commission and the Transporta-tion Commission.  

Extensive outreach was done. The developers talked with and provided information to businesses in the vicinity and met with the Downtown Berkeley Association. There were ample opportunities for members of the public to register their opinions about this project, more opportunities than has been the case for other projects. 

Opponents claim that the city is giving away the site, but this is misleading. 

Currently, what does the city get out of the site? It gets a supply of parking for downtown visitors and it gets the revenues from that parking. 

What will the city get after the project is built? It will keep and will continue to own the parking, which will be moved underground. Revenues from that parking will increase because demand for the parking, which is not fully utilized at present, will increase according to the Traffic Impact Analysis and Parking Study that was done for the project. So the city will continue to get what it gets now from the site. 

In addition to parking revenues, the city will also get additional tax revenues from the taxable portions of the project. And residents of the Oxford Plaza housing units will spend money in local supermarkets, restaurants and retail businesses. The people who work for the non-profit environmental groups who will occupy the David Brower Center office building will also spend money, giving a boost to local restaurants and retail businesses. 

The Brower Center will include a 170-seat theater, an art gallery, a cafe and meeting rooms. Visitors will also spend money in downtown. In short, the city keeps the parking revenue and gets additional sales tax revenue. And local merchants get additional business. 

But despite the financial benefits to the city, this project is not primarily about money. The primary thing the city will gain is 97 units of affordable housing, something that private for-profit developers have not been able to provide. Two-bedroom apartments in new market-rate housing projects downtown tend to rent for between $2,100 and $2,900 a month. Using federal affordability standards, these units are only affordable to households with incomes of at least $70,000 to $95,000. Some more-affordable inclusionary units have been built, but none is like the family-sized units planned for Oxford Plaza. 

The city’s housing trust fund contribution is lower on a per-unit basis that is the case for contributions by other cities to similar affordable housing projects in the East Bay in the current environment of rapidly rising construction costs. The city is getting a good deal.  

The city will also gain the David Brower Center, its first LEED platinum, green building. Berkeley voters overwhelmingly supported Measure G, which calls for the city to develop a plan to reduce greenhouse emissions by 80% by 2050. To achieve this goal, new buildings will have to consume much less energy than they do now. The Brower Center will lead the way. 

Berkeley has historically been a center of environmental activism and it's entirely fitting to have a center for environmental groups, including the Earth Island Institute, which David Brower founded.  

The project being built on the Oxford parking lot exemplifies the use of public land for public good. 

Opponents point out that the land is worth by $5.7 million. That means that if it were sold to the University of California or to a private developer, the city would get a one-time windfall of $5.7 million, but it would lose all the parking revenue that it gets now and could end up with less parking. The developers are spending almost $8 million on the parking at the site, parking which the city will keep; no private developer will do that if they have to spend $5.7 million to acquire the land. The owners of the privately owned HInks Garage replaced only a fraction of the parking when they developed that site. 

Who is opposing this project? The primary opponent is Gale Garcia. She is known to readers of the Planet letters and opinion page as someone who has claimed that Berkeley has a glut of housing and that its population is not growing, both claims that have no factual basis. It's pretty widely known, and can be easily documented, that Berkeley is part of one of the most expensive housing markets in the United States. 

Garcia wants the Oxford parking lot left exactly as it is (Planet, Feb. 13-15), despite the clear financial, social and environmental benefits that will come from developing the site.  

Garcia says there should have been a full environmental impact report. The fact is that the project underwent environmental review. An initial study was done in June 2005. That study determined that there were four areas of potentially significant impacts. These impacts, related to noise; transportation/traffic; historic resources; and hazards and hazardous materials, were addressed with specific mitigations and by additional studies.  

A Historic Resource Analysis was prepared to the project's impact on historic resources in its vicinity. A geotechnical study was done to obtain information on subsurface conditions at the site. And as already noted above, a Traffic Impact Analysis and Parking Study was done. Doing a full EIR would have been a waste of resources for a project of this size and type at its specific location. 

All the reports related to the project are available online on the City's Web site under planning/landuse: http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/planning/landuse/2200Oxford/ 

Garcia had numerous opportunities to voice her opinion about this project. She could have challenged the City Council's decision to building affordable housing on the site back in 2001. She could have appealed the Zoning Board's granting of a use permit to the City Council. She could have voiced her opinions at any of the numerous commission meetings and Council meetings where the project was discussed. Instead, she is taking the irresponsible and destructive approach of trying to derail a project that has obtained all the approvals it needs.  

Hundreds of thousands of dollars have already been spent on the project. The City's housing trust fund contribution has leveraged an additional $32.6 million in funds from non-City sources for the Oxford Plaza housing component of the project. The David Brower Center is being financed with $28 million from private sources. Delays brought on by Gale Garcia's misguided efforts will only add to the final cost of the project. 

Don’t buy the misinformation opponents are peddling and don’t sign their petitions. 

 

Rob Wrenn chaired the Planning Commission's Oxford Parking Lot subcommittee in 2001 and is currently a member of the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee.


Commentary: Section 8 Rent Hikes Threaten Disabled and Elderly

By Berkeley Citizens for Fair Housing
Tuesday February 20, 2007

Former Clinton Secretary of State Robert Reich has recently deplored Berkeley’s housing gentrification rush and its unfortunate, un-Berkeley like homogenizing effects (Jan. 30, “The Private Eye”). 

This comes in the wake of the worst case of housing discrimination in Berkeley’s history.  

In March Berkeley will begin to take the Section 8 Housing Vouchers away from (mainly) the disabled—including veterans—and poor elderly. This the city will do by jacking up the rents of only Section 8 studios and one bedrooms, the vouchers developers covet the most. (Rent raises will be $35 and $45 per month, plus higher utility burdens.)  

The backroom scheme seems to go like this:  

If developers and their cronies on the Berkley City Council can call a developer’s building “partially affordable” (an “affordable” apartment renter’s salary in Berkeley is $60,000 per year) and include some Section 8 units, using HUD budget cuts as an excuse, they can violate city building codes by cramming more units into taller buildings and wipe out Berkeley’s housing fund. This money should go instead to current Berkeley tenants who will otherwise be forced onto the streets. 

Recently, the new U.S. Congress voted to reinstate much of the HUD-cut funding, which the City Council will include in its corporate schemes if it doesn’t vote on February 27 to restore needed funding to its current HUD tenants. 

Robert Reich remarks: “My impression is that Berkeley building is pretty dense already. Do we want to create more ugly apartment complexes? I don’t think so. I don’t know how they get away with what they get away with.” 

Recent arrival Reich also states that Berkeley wants a city that “keeps its unique charm from turning into high-end chic.” But once the developers have contracts, they have proved resistant to keeping their promises, if any. The troubled black-hole Brower developers’ project has decimated Berkeley’s housing fund and shows no signs of stopping there. The once highly touted Gaia building doesn’t seem able to keep its Section 8 apartments up to health codes, and instead of renting just to promised environmental and nonprofits, it has installed a loud jazz club. The building development on Sacramento and Dwight has made some trapped disabled people ill with their over-abundant use of toxins.  

Do we want our remaining disabled folk warehoused and ghettoized? Do we want to proudly say that Berkeley managed the homeless problem by increasing the burden on health clinics, police, fire and other tightly stretched community resources? 

Reich maintains that Berkeley’s success is not just a function of its economic vitality, but also reflects it social capital: how much people care about and are willing to do for the community. 

Some of the people who will be “cleansed” from Berkeley are its former architects and leaders, civil rights heroes, healers, artists, progressives, eccentrics, and a few lonely conservatives. They are part of the political watchdog force that tries to keep justice regardless of race, age, disability or economic disadvantage. They are human beings who, according to Berkeley’s 1990 Human Rights Ordinance, have the right to fair housing like everyone else who pays Berkeley sales tax, eats Berkeley food, wears Berkeley clothes, and thus creates Berkeley jobs. 

The housing discrimination against Berkeley’s disabled and elderly is so blatant and egregious that Berkeley should not be surprised if, as with LA and Oakland, Berkeley and its officials get sued. After all, these are some of those irritating folks who brought you the Free Speech Movement. 

Berkeley Citizens for Fair Housing (at) Yahoo.com 

Endorsed by the Gray Panthers


The Theater: Pinter’s ‘The Birthday Party’ at Aurora

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Tuesday February 20, 2007

In the parlor/dining room of a sleazy boardinghouse, two patterns of wallpaper at war with each other, the day’s just beginning with a husband’s diffidence over a tabloid and a wife’s incessant, skewed platitudes (almost malapropisms) from the Pullman kitchen: is the news good, is the weather nice?  

And the audience at the Aurora laughs at the banalities, even as an unnoticed but felt darkness begins leaking out, like gas, from between the comic mislocutions of Harold Pinter’s perfect rendition of small talk; the laughter at moments almost as if by compulsion: laugh, or have your teeth set on edge. 

That uncanny, exquisitely painful comic sense Pinter has absolutely mastered, his characters eking out their lines like fingernails scratching a windowpane. “It’s an old cliche’ that novelists and playwrights evesdrop in tearooms for their dialogue,” said Pinter’s first publisher, John Calder, “but that’s precisely what Harold did.” And recalling a visit to another of his authors, Calder gave Samuel Beckett’s ribbing of the manuscript his friend Pinter just sent: “You know Harold. Always the same: Menace in a room!” 

Pinter’s genius is boldly apparent from the start, as the Aurora’s exceptional production of The Birthday Party, the Nobel laureate’s first full-length play, readily shows. By the time the sole boarder, a dishevelled and haunted former piano player, descends the stairs with the demeanor of a castaway, the unseen machinery of that menace has begun to turn, as surely as the wheel of fate in classic tragedy.  

Learning that two gentlemen have inquired of the man of the house if there’s a room to let, Stan the ex-pianist mutters: “Why are they coming now? Why not yesterday?” A young woman enters with a big package, alternately flirting with and rebuffing Stan. And finally the expected pair arrive, an ebullient Goldberg and dour McCann, nice cop and tough cop to the ever more paralysed Stan, a wildebeest frozen with foreboding. 

It’s Stan’s birthday, the landlady declares, and this curious, quickly-assembled menage makes ready to celebrate—all except Stan, who denies it’s his birthday, that he’s the man the visitors must think he is, that the home they’re in is a boarding house. The party proceeds with off-kilter toasts, and fun and games reminiscent of air raid drills, or the brash hazing techniques of interrogators. 

Aurora’s artistic director Tom Ross has directed the work of the extraordinary ensemble assembled to bring these strange, ghostly echoes, like a dimly remembered dream, to life onstage. A few of them are familiar faces, and these old troupers of the Bay Area theater scene are at the top of their game, even exceeding themselves. Phoebe Moyer plays landlady Meg, an oversold ingenue, with a vengeance, making her the ultimate comically effete meddler in a long line descending from Elizabethan and Restoration comedies. 

Emily Jordan is a pert, seemingly selfaware Lulu, caught up short in the serious play of make-believe loving, a decoy of sorts. Julian Lopez-Morillas chimes in as hail-fellow Goldberg, ready to toll a dirge in an instant, jangling his pleasantries with mordant, barely concealed threats. Michael Ray Wisely enacts the bushy-browed, lurking McCann, moving crabwise across the parlor, whose “Na?” signifies the constantly negative: “Isn’t it so?”  

James Carpenter as Stan makes a phenomenal turn out of stasis, rigidity, becoming at one briefly violent moment a mere suit of clothes hanging on McCann’s fist, like on a line in the wind. And Chris Ayles is the deadpan Petey, seemingly remote man of the house, yet salt of the earth, whose admonition, “Stan, don’t let them tell you what to do!” is the one straight-forward bit of human communication in this harrowing charade. 

All play the tightly constructed text like a perfectly rehearsed chamber group, making music together--immediacy out of an intricate score printed on the page. 

Pinter’s tragicomedies stem from Strindberg’s eerie anatomies of guilt and intention, a technique of musing monologues addressed to an unspeaking other, syncopated by dialogue voiced in the veiled language of power. 

Touched with farce, and the post-surrealism of the Absurd, his plays come on the heels of the so-called Angry Young Men, describing the sordid post-Suez English scene with immediate language, as John Osbourne (another Strindbergian) did, but with an indirect, impersonal approach, a kind of unrhapsodic prosody from an unerring ear for the kind of speech that goes overlooked, peopled with the same recognizable types, unexalted blue collar countenances that simultaneously reveal and conceal themselves with the common coin of careless words, the jagged pattern of dissociated actions. 

 

 

The Birthday Party 

Aurora Theatre 

Wed.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 and 7 p.m. 

2081 Addison St. 

through March 11 

Tickets $38 

843-4822, www.auroratheatre.org 

 

Photograph by David Allen 

James Carpenter, Phoebe Moyer, and Chris Ayles in The Birthday Party. 

 

 


Columns

Column: Undercurrents: Some Thoughts on Sen. Barack Obama’s Presidential Run

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday February 23, 2007

The serious presidential run of Senator Barack Obama—son of a Kenyan father and white American mother—has given the country an opportunity to hold an adult discussion on the issue of race. Here’s hoping. 

A major portion of that discussion has quickly begun to settle on the question of whether or not African-Americans consider—or should consider—Mr. Obama to be one of our own, considering that what African-Americans have meant, historically, when we call somebody “African-American” is somewhat different than the offspring of an African and an American couple. 

Some of that debate has occurred between and among African-Americans ourselves, in many cases using the mainstream press as a vehicle. And so, on the one hand, Roland S. Martin, the executive editor of the African-American newspaper The Chicago Defender, recently used his column in the non-African-American Detroit News to note that ‘because [Obama’s] mother is white and his father is Kenyan, and because he grew up in Hawaii (that's still the United States for the map-challenged folks) and Indonesia, his blackness is somehow under review.” Mr. Martin goes on to conclude flatly that “this is offensive because anyone who has ever sat down and listened to Obama can tell that he fully understands what it means to be African American—because he is!” 

The opposite position, however, has been taken by conservative black columnist Stanley Crouch. In a column written for the New York Daily News last November entitled “What Obama Isn't: Black Like Me,” Mr. Crouch writes, in part, that “when black Americans refer to Obama as ‘one of us,’ I do not know what they are talking about. In his new book, The Audacity of Hope, Obama makes it clear that, while he has experienced some light versions of typical racial stereotypes, he cannot claim those problems as his own—nor has he lived the life of a black American.” Writing a couple of months before Mr. Obama formally decided to enter the presidential race, Mr. Crouch concluded that, “if [Obama] throws his hat in the ring, he will have to run as the son of a white woman and an African immigrant. If we then end up with him as our first black President, he will have come into the White House through a side door—which might, at this point, be the only one that's open.” 

In the past, such a debate would have worked its way out within the African-American community as an entirely African-American discussion, through the pages of the black press, or on stoops or porches in black neighborhoods, in bars, or barbershops, or out in the yard following church services. But America has opened up a bit since the days of segregation, and so the African-American discussion to define and determine what is African-American has quickly been picked up in the non-African-American press. 

Most recently, this week in the San Francisco Chronicle, staff writer Leslie Fulbright writes in an article “Obama's Candidacy Sparks Debates On Race—Is he African American If His Roots Don’t Include slavery?” that “people across the political and racial spectrums started discussing presidential candidate and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's race after he spoke at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Some insist he is not African American and is unsuited to be a black candidate, because he is not a direct descendant of slaves and hasn't had what they see as an authentic African American experience.” One can only assume that the “some” refers to African-Americans. Ms. Fulbright, who writes on general topics for the paper but often focuses on African-American issues, does a credible job on the subject, drawing on a wide variety of African-American voices from activist leaders to politicians to college professors whose focus in Black Studies. 

And there is great temptation to join that debate within this column. I’ll resist that temptation, however, for the reason that while I understand that at least insofar as it determines whether or not African-Americans embrace the Obama candidacy, the greater nation has a great stake in how African-Americans define what it is to be African-American, to paraphrase the old Bessie Smith song, it really ‘tain’t nobody else’s business how we do it. 

That’s how we treat other races and ethnicities, after all. 

Scattered throughout the multi-cultural milieu that is Oakland, there are large numbers of ethnically-based community centers: Chinese, Vietnamese, Pacific Islander, Latino. How do the people who run these centers determine who is eligible, and who is not, to partake of their services? Is it based upon a level of percentage of ethnic heritage? Is it based upon appearance? Self-identification? Or are these centers open on a whomsoever-shall-let-them-come basis, on the theory that there will be so many Chinese-Americans at the Chinese Community Center, for example, that the few non-Chinese won’t matter or make a dent. I have no idea, because those types of discussions, which certainly must take place, take place out of the eye of the general public. 

Meanwhile my Jewish friends, for a couple of millennium or more, have been hotly debating the issue of who is a Jew and who is not, without asking for or needing our help in drawing their conclusion. It is right and proper for them to do so. 

Sadly, however, leaving the business of self-determination up to those particular selves to do the determining only seems to become an issue when it involves African-Americans. 

There is a sordid history to this. The first national discussions on what we would now call the “African-American question” involved the issue of slavery, and in that debate those most affected—the enslaved Africans and their free brethren—were uninvited bystanders. None of us were asked to come to Philadelphia in the summer of 1787 to speak to the assembled delegates when the Constitution was hammered out, and with it the decision made both to let slavery remain “Constitutional” and the Congressional voice and vote of the slavemasters bolstered by counting their disenfranchised bondsmen in the apportionment.  

During some of the later national debate over slavery, even some of the staunchest opponents of slavery did not think the enslaved themselves were capable of speaking or deciding for themselves. The great abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison was happy to have Frederick Douglass—escaped from slavery—speak against the institution at gatherings, but fell out with Douglass when Douglass decided that he wanted to get out his ideas, unfiltered, in his own newspaper, The North Star. 

While all of this was going on, however, African-Americans were busy, on our own, defining and deciding the meaning of who we were. Logic easily tells us that there was no such thing as “African-American” before the first enslaved black folk were brought here, but it is not generally understood that at the time of the beginning of the slave trade, there was no such people as “Africans,” either, if by that we mean people who self-identified in that way. At the time of the slave trade, those who were stolen into slavery identified themselves not as one people—Africans—but as members of the various kingdoms and tribes and kinship groups from which they came. Most were purposely divided and separated by the slavetraders on the slave ships during the Middle Passage, so that few of the black captives in the passage-groups even spoke the same language, and most came from different cultures and religious beliefs. It is out of this diverse, boiling pot into which black captives were dumped that what we now know as African-Americans was forged, not at the dictates of the slavemasters, but almost entirely by the decisions and practices of the enslaved themselves. 

One of the first great debates in the slaverytime Quarters—the cabin communities where the enslaved Africans lived—was how to treat the children of enslaved African women and the white slavemasters. Thomas Jefferson represented the overwhelming slavemasters’ opinions and actions by adamantly and consistently refusing to acknowledge his children by Sally Hemings (a refusal immortalized in Gore Vidal’s novel “Burr,” in which Mr. Vidal has Mr. Jefferson pointedly deny one of his own grandchildren, remarking that “that is a child of the place. A Hemings, I believe.”)  

Though there was considerable disagreement within the Quarters on this issue, leading to class and color distinctions the echoes of which exist down to this day, the captive African communities eventually accepted the children of these white-black unions and made them their own, for the most part, so that the color and features of those considered by African-Americans to be African-American now range from Scotch-Irish-white on the one end of the spectrum to Congolese-black on the other. 

And while Ms. Fulbright in her Chronicle article includes the paraphrased opinion of an Assistant University of Maryland African American Studies professor that “a personal connection to slavery and Jim Crow laws is still a common measure of who is and who isn't African American,” the fact is that the self-definition of African-American has always included numbers of blacks who came to the Northeast as free people, and were never put into slavery. 

My guess is that, left to our own devices, African-Americans will make a similar inclusive decision about people whose ancestry resembles that of Barack Obama, bringing them into the fold and expanding the meaning of African-American. But that is not guaranteed and it is, after all, and respectfully, our decision to make. 

Meanwhile, I do have some thoughts as to why Mr. Obama’s candidacy is playing so well among the white brethren, and if you’re interested, I will be glad to share them. But that will have to wait for another column. 


Neighbors Riled About Plans to Develop Spring Mansion

By Dave Weinstein, Special to the Planet
Friday February 23, 2007

When the Spring Mansion first appeared in the nearly tree-less Berkeley Hills, almost 100 years ago, it was more than a home for one of the East Bay’s most successful real estate speculators, the man behind Thousand Oaks, the Claremont Hotel, and the town of Albany. It was a gleaming white advertisement for John Hopkins Spring’s newest suburban development, which surrounded the house. And it could be seen from San Francisco. 

But when architect Glen Jarvis recently visited, he says, “I thought it looked like an abandoned school building.” 

The John Hopkins Spring Mansion, built from 1912-1914, with its 12,000 square feet of interior space surrounded by sprawling terraces on just over three acres, is one of Berkeley’s largest residential properties, and one of the city’s legends. Its future is also in play.  

Its owner, John Park of Monument Properties, hopes to subdivide the site, build a cluster of five new houses, provide lots that could handle two more new houses, and rip down several outbuildings, including a gym. The plan also calls for remodeling a former carriage house for residential use, and for renovating the mansion itself.  

Monument is based in Monterey Park, in Los Angeles. Park formerly lived in the Berkeley Hills. 

Both mansion and carriage house were designed by a man equally as renowned as Spring—John Hudson Thomas.  

The Spring Mansion might, at a glance, resemble the White House. But to Thomas’s many fans, his hand is evident: fat columns; endearing, decorative buttresses shaped like scrolls; terraces and exterior walls that project the house into the landscape; a combination of irony and bombast; a sense of strength married to whimsy; and his signature motif of four little squares placed on walls, at corners, and by doorways both inside and out. 

Inside, living areas and bedrooms surround a skylight-topped, two-story atrium and a grand oak staircase. Walls are lined with original damask and tapestries. 

“For years people have talked about the mansion being a white elephant,” says Jarvis, who is working for Monument. “We’re trying to bring it out of that category.” Jarvis is an experienced historic architect who has worked on homes by Thomas, Julia Morgan, and Bernard Maybeck. He also designs new houses, often in a Craftsman mode. 

“We’re trying to bring this house and the grounds around it up to the standards of a mansion,” Jarvis says. “We’re trying to make it attractive for some high-end buyer to buy it, and feel good about the place.” 

Jarvis says the project would preserve the most important architectural and historical elements of the site. 

The plan would rehabilitate the mansion for use by a single family, says Paul Pohlman, real estate development manager for Monument. It would add an entrance canopy and remodel Thomas’s carriage house, which years ago received an unsympathetic second story addition. The carriage house would be remodeled into a single-family home and retain the existing Thomas-designed exterior features. 

The façade of the mansion would be retained, and a damaged porte-cochere would be restored, Pohlman says. Thomas’s terraces would be restored. One fountain that was added years later would be removed, and so would one pool that was part of Thomas’s original design. A new trellised carport would be added to improve access to the front of the house. 

The mansion is at 1960 San Antonio Avenue. The carriage house is just beyond, at 1984 San Antonio. The gym is at 639 the Arlington. A building once used as a dorm, Farley Hall, is at 641 Arlington. 

Neighbors who oppose the development argue that their concern is less with traffic impacts, crowds, and other standard neighborhood issues than with something more important—preserving one of Berkeley’s landmarks. Surrounding the mansion with smaller houses, reducing the size of its lot, and removing trees will alter its relation with its site, thus diminishing its impact. 

“Our single biggest objection is that we’re taking this magnificent historical property that has history in the people who designed and built it and the people who lived there, and we’re squeezing it in,” says Bruce Clymer, head of the group Friends of the Spring Mansion. “Squeezing it in is going to ruin it.” 

“The grandeur of the house,” says Larry Gray, also a member of Friends, “deserves some space around it.” Opponents are also afraid the developer may change the mansion’s façade. Pohlman says they may add a door to allow easier access to the terraces. The developer had discussed modifying the porte-cochere, but that probably won’t happen, he says. 

The mansion, its landscaping, boulders that dot the site, and some of the outbuildings were declared Berkeley landmarks in 2000. Included as land-marked elements were one fountain the developer plans to remove, and the gymnasium. 

Clymer, who lives next door to the mansion, is a builder who has restored and renovated many historic houses in the city, Marin and the Peninsula by such architects as Albert Farr and Carr Jones. 

He says the Monument plan is opposed by the 65-member Friends and by neighbors who make up the 28-home San Luis Court Homes Association, whose subcommittee on the mansion he heads. 

Spring (1862-1933), whose marriage collapsed shortly after he moved into the mansion, moved out around 1915. The mansion was soon operating as the Cora Williams Institute of Creative Development. It again became a private residence around 1975. 

Monument’s plan call for removing all evidence of the Cora Williams’ era—not because the developer wants to erase the memory of what Clymer calls “the first New Age Institute,” but because it deems the structures—Farley Hall, the gym/dance studio, and several smaller buildings, too dilapidated to repair.  

The tennis court next to the gym is slated for demolition. A room added by Cora Williams beneath the mansion’s terrace would also go. Neither are land-marked, nor is Farley Hall. 

A cluster of five new houses with “a lot of John Hudson Thomas appearance to them,” Jarvis says, will replace the tennis court and gym, and reach Arlington via a C-shaped driveway.  

The plan also calls for another residential lot to be created next to the carriage house, but doesn’t call for house to be built there now. An existing residential lot – between the mansion’s new parking lot and Clymer’s house – would eventually be home to a new house, Pohlman says. The lot currently houses the derelict “music building” from the Cora Williams days. 

None of this pleases the neighbors, Clymer says. He would rather see no new housing, and no property subdivision. “We would like to see the whole thing restored,” Clymer says, and preserved as one single-family lot. “The gym could be rebuilt and be spectacular,” he says 

Friends of the Mansion is also concerned about losing evidence of the Cora Williams era, Clymer says, arguing that it was an important Berkeley educational and cultural institution, and that many prominent people taught or lectured there, including dancer Isadora Duncan and psychiatrist Alfred Adler. In making the property a landmark, the city cited the property’s connection to the institute as providing “historical and cultural value.” 

Besides their interest in preserving history, Clymer says, neighbors are concerned about traffic on Arlington and on narrow San Antonio Avenue, part of which is private and owned by the association. They argue that a new driveway needed for five houses clustered beneath the mansion would be steep and dangerous, and that too many trees would need to be removed to make way for new homes. 

They are also worried that the development would remove trees that provide privacy for a park owned by the San Luis Association, a lovely hillside of oaks and boulders, picnic tables, a tennis court, and a small swimming shaped like the map of California. The private gated park was originally part of the Spring estate.  

“I don’t want to come off sounding elitist,” Gray says, “but this is a very special place.”  

So far, discussions between the developer and neighbors have been relatively cordial. But neighbors remain suspicious. They’re not convinced, for example, that Monument Properties plans to retain the mansion as a single-family residence. The developers say that is their intention, and the property is zoned for single family. 

But why is the proposed parking lot so large and institutional looking? Clymer wonders. Pohlman counters that the four new covered parking spaces “are what houses of that size demand.” Some existing pavement used for sparking will be removed, he adds. 

And some neighbors note that Park owns a company that provides services to the gambling industry. 

Neighborhood rumors have suggested that the developer plans to turn the mansion into a casino. But Friends of the Mansion has not been making that argument. And Pohlman says that’s not in the cards. “There is no way to put anything on that site except residential,” he says. “There’s never been talk of turning that thing into a casino or card room.” 


John Hudson Thomas’ Legacy

By Dave Weinstein, Special to the Planet
Friday February 23, 2007

Unlike many of his contemporaries, the architect John Hudson Thomas has not been forgotten—at least not completely. He has fans who compile lists of his houses, which liberally dot the Berkeley Hills, are also common in Oakland and Piedmont, and can be found as far afield as Los Gatos and Woodland, in the Sacramento Valley. 

Perhaps most tellingly, whenever one of his homes comes onto the market, realtors brag that it’s by Thomas. 

Nonetheless, when I put together my book, Signature Architects of the San Francisco Bay Area, about residential architects who are too little known, Thomas made the cut. In fact, I concluded, there are only two Bay Area architects who escape that fate—Bernard Maybeck and Julia Morgan. 

My thinking was: Could the average, well-educated Bay Area person, the sort who knows about novelists and artists, recognize the name of a given architect, or tell you anything about his or her architecture? This was excluding, of course, other architects, architectural historians and fans, and real estate brokers who focus on fine architects.  

There were people who told me that Thomas was simply too famous for my series. But is he really? 

The more I looked into his life and career, in fact, the more mysterious he grew. What do we really know about Thomas (1878–1945), besides the basics? Born in Nevada, an undergraduate at Yale, studying architecture at UC Berkeley with John Galen Howard and Maybeck, designing houses first as part of a partnership, then on his own, marrying the daughter of


Quake Tip of the Week

By Larry Guillot
Friday February 23, 2007

Alert To Renters & Landlords 

 

I’ve done earthquake consults for folks who are renting their homes/apartments, and had them tell me they knew the house’s retrofit was not adequate, but what could they do: they don’t own the place.  

Don’t landlords want to protect their investment? Like so many others, most landlords are living with a false sense of security: “I’ve seen some bolts, so it looks okay.”  

Talk to your landlord about having the retrofit evaluated: about 80 percent of them are wrong or incomplete. And what about an automatic gas shut-off valve? It’s the cheapest insurance around, giving protection and peace of mind both to you and your landlord.  

 

 

Larry Guillot is owner of QuakePrepare, an earthquake consulting, securing, and kit supply service. Call him at 558-3299, or visit www.quakeprepare.com.


Column: The Public Eye: ‘Just Say No’ Is Just Wrong

By Bob Burnett
Tuesday February 20, 2007

There’s new evidence that the Bush Administration’s “abstinence only” approach to sex education is not proving effective at preventing unwanted pregnancies or the spread of sexually transmitted disease. 

Many Americans wonder why the White House promotes “Just Say No” programs when they don’t work. The answer is simple and disturbing: George Bush is a dogmatic ultra-conservative; he believes that the maxim, “just say no,” solves a variety of social problems ranging from pre-marital sex to terrorism. 

Beginning in the Reagan administration, conservatives attacked a so-called “culture of permissiveness” they claimed had been unleashed by the social events of the sixties. They accused liberals of espousing sixties values: “if it feels good, do it.” Conservatives declared that a mythical liberal attack on traditional values produced many of America’s problems such as poverty, promiscuity, and drug use.  

In 1993, conservative scholar Myron Magnet produced the seminal expression of this philosophy, The Dream and the Nightmare: The Sixties Legacy to the Underclass. Magnet argued that liberal ideology promoted a culture of victimization that held “the poor back from advancement by robbing them of responsibility for their fate and thus further squelching their initiative and energy.” The Dream and the Nightmare influenced many conservatives: among them a Texas gubernatorial candidate and his campaign manager. George W. Bush , “told the Wall Street Journal that it was the most important book he’d ever read after the Bible. [Furthermore] Bush strategist Karl Rove call[ed] The Dream and the Nightmare a roadmap to the president’s ‘compassionate conservatism.’” 

The Bush-Rove brand of ultra-conservatism--their belief that liberalism has fostered a culture of victimization--strongly influenced this Administration’s domestic and foreign policy. Combined with the naive belief that the free market will inevitably solve most social problems, Bush’s conservatism produced a potpourri of aberrant social policies: Don’t give poor children free lunches or special tutoring because that will enhance their sense of being victims. Don’t teach teenagers about birth control because that will cause them to become promiscuous. Don’t provide clean needles for drug users because that will legitimize their behavior. And so forth. 

In response to every American social problem, the Bush Administration relied upon a simple maxim: individual behavior equates to individual responsibility. Therefore, they argued that Government programs are unnecessary because behavior change requires only willpower; all individuals need to do is to just say no and pull themselves up by the bootstraps. The free market provides unlimited opportunity for those who choose to take advantage of it. 

The problem with this prescription is behavior change is not that simple. It’s hard, if not impossible, for a poor child to pull him or herself up by the bootstraps when they don’t have enough food to eat and live in circumstances with deplorable education, housing, and medical care. Furthermore, the market isn’t an equal opportunity employer; increasingly, there is a marked absence of good jobs for willing workers. Beyond these practical considerations, there are ethical problems with Bush’s just say no philosophy. It represents a repudiation of the Golden Rule: in place of “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” Bush conservatism substitutes, “You are on your own.” 

Many critics failed to note the impact Bush’s mean-spirited ideology had on US foreign policy. The President believes in American exceptionalism: the notion that the United States has a unique moral status in the world and, therefore, a responsibility to spread democracy everywhere--in particular, the Middle East. However, the White House couples its moral imperialism with an unwillingness to engage in programs that combat poverty or build the infrastructure of civil society; the Administration declines to engage in substantive “nation building” because of the belief that this would promote a culture of victimization. As a result, the President’s conception of what is necessary to promote democracy is remarkably narrow: domestic “security” enforced by the presence of US troops, a simulacrum of free elections, and an unfettered marketplace. This flimsy model failed in Afghanistan and is failing again in Iraq. 

Internationally, Bush’s “Just say no” response to terrorism mirrors his domestic policy on sex-education. He views the decision to join with terrorists, or to engage in pre-marital sex, in simplistic moral terms: a contest between good and evil; a choice that an individual makes regardless of the social context. This seems bizarre unless one understands that in Bush conservatism there is no social context except for the marketplace that, in the President’s mind, always rewards heroic individual action. 

George W. Bush is a true believer. Only he’s not a devotee of mainstream Christianity, but rather of an ultra-conservative social philosophy that believes the best form of sex education is simply not to talk about it, to chant, “just say no” and hope for the best. An extreme ideology that believes the best way to eradicate terrorism is to kill everyone who might be a terrorist and, in the process, ignore the root causes of their violent extremism; to respond to the anger on the Arab street with a simple mantra: “just say no.” 

 

Bob Burnett is a Berkeley writer. He can be reached at bobburnett@comcast.net 

 

 


Column: Why Visit India When You Live in Paradise?

By Susan Parker
Tuesday February 20, 2007

Friends invited me to go to India with them and I gave their offer serious consideration. They’re experienced travelers, spending five to six weeks a year on foreign soil, often in places off the beaten track, difficult, and obscure. But at the last minute I opted to stay home. Running around the subcontinent, though no doubt fun, would be fiscally irresponsible. I’ve got new priorities and responsibilities, bills pending and not much income. I need time to adjust to this weird, wretched state of widowhood.  

So, while my friends were trekking from Kalindi Khal to Badrinath, I began my own little explorations, inner and outer, around town, and across the bridge.  

On Sunday I went to the Temescal Farmers Market (located in the Claremont Avenue DMV parking lot), and to a neighbor’s photo exhibit at Nomad Café (Joe Robinson’s Fathers of Color, hanging through Feb. 28). On Monday I took a rainy hike in Redwood Park, looked for jobs on craigslist (so easy!), then checked out the traditional Irish dance and celli music at the Starry Plough (free!). On Tuesday I applied for a few positions, (so simple!), attended an abs strengthening class led by John Downey, and taught a writing workshop in a cramped, funky basement in Bernal Heights. On Wednesday I whipped off resumes to more postings on craigslist (so busy!), then took a run along Big Trees Trail in Joaquin Miller Park. I celebrated the end of Valentine’s Day by watching a Korean movie described as “Romantic! Political! Arty! and Edgy!,” but it looked just like porn to me.  

On Thursday I applied for more jobs (so ambitious!), and rode my bicycle up Tunnel Road and down Claremont Canyon. I took BART over to the Mission District, and drank a strong, reasonably priced martini at The Latin American Club, (3286 22nd St,), then attended Dan Hoyle’s Tings Day Happen at the Marsh (extended through March 31). On Friday I had my first job interview (so fun!), participated in an Iyengar-based yoga class at Ironworks, walked up Claremont Canyon with my friend Meredith, went to Ashkenaz to hear a swing dance lecture given by 92-year-old living legend Frankie Manning, choreographer of the first Lindy Airstep. 

Frankie entertained the standing room only crowd with stories about the Alhambra, Renaissance and Savoy ballrooms, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Billy Holiday, Spike Lee, Denzel Washington, and everyone who has had anything to do with Swing. He showed film clips from his early Hollywood movies, including Manhattan Merry-Go-Round, (1937), Jittering Jitterbugs (1938), and Hellzappop’ (1941).  

I stayed to watch Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers play their first set, watched Lindy Hoppers of all ages, ethnicities, and skill bend, dip, twist, wiggle, swivel, and slide, then dragged myself home and got into bed.  

On Saturday morning I helped paddle a dragon boat around the Berkeley Marina and beyond, (www.dragonmax.org). Afterwards I stopped at the South Berkeley Senior Center and viewed Jesse Graham’s pen and ink Black History Month mural (http://jessegrahamart.com). I rode my bike to downtown Oakland and saw a photo exhibit at Chachie's Coffee Shop (1768 Broadway, up until Feb. 28.). Before returning home, I paused at The Beach Impeach Project (3208 Grand Ave.), and picked up promotional materials from organizer Brad Newsham, including a flyer on the Setting the Table For Impeachment event happening this Thursday at the Grand Lake Theater (http://impeachbush-cheney.com/).  

I ended the day with my own private screening of Half Nelson, an indie film that made me glad my addictions gravitated toward frenetic busyness and not illegal drugs.  

Now it’s time to reflect upon what I’ve learned and accomplished. I’m glad I didn’t go to India. I don’t recommend renting Jang Sun-Woo's “Lies.” An hour and a half on a Dragon Boat is exhausting. It’s easy to apply for jobs posted on craigslist, but I really don’t have the time. And although no one asked me to dance at Ashkenaz, I’m not afraid to give it another try.  

 

 

 

 

 


Green Neighbors: Winter Native Flowers: Silk-Tassel and Leatherwood

By Joe Eaton
Tuesday February 20, 2007

Along with all the flowering plums, acacias, and magnolias, a few native trees and shrubs are late-winter bloomers. Most, like the manzanitas and flowering currants, are on the shrubby side. But coast or wavyleaf silk-tassel (Garrya elliptica) is a bona fide tree up to 30 feet high, showy in its own way, and amenable to planting as an ornamental. There’s a particularly handsome silk-tassel specimen on the University Avenue median strip. 

It’s pretty obvious why they’re called that. Both male and female flowers are borne in catkinlike inflorescences. In the coast silk-tassel the gray-green male catkins may be up to a foot long (in the cultivar ‘James Roof’); the silvery female inflorescences are much shorter. Like similar flowers in other groups of plants, they’re wind-pollinated. The leaves are somewhat manzanita-like but are paired and have wavy margins. The fruit grows in clusters, like grapes. 

The genus Garrya has 14 or 15 species, ranging from Washington State to Panama; 6 are native to California. David Douglas first described it in 1826, naming it for Nicholas Garry, a Hudson Bay Company administrator. Their family, Garryaceae, is said to be one of only four plant families endemic to North America. That was from a Stanford site, though, so I wouldn’t take it as gospel; another source includes the Asian genus Aucuba in the family. Garryaceae in turn is the only family in the order Garryales. 

That’s this week, at least: plant taxonomy is very much in flux these days, with new genetic studies changing a lot of the old relationships that were based on flower structure. They broke up the lilies a couple of years ago, and I just learned yesterday that the water lotus (Nelumbo) turns out to be related not to other water lilies, but to proteas and sycamores. So if silk-tassels get reassigned, don’t be too surprised. 

Silk-tassels are chaparral plants, sometimes associated with conifers. Although their glossy green leaves feel leathery, they’re browsed by mule deer and bighorn. Native Americans treated fever, colds, digestive difficulties, and gonorrhea with extracts from the bark; the active ingredient is an alkaloid, garryine, whose bitter taste has inspired the name “quinine bush.” Stem extracts were widely used against diarrhea in rural Mexico. The natural rubber gutta-percha, used for temporary dental fillings, has been obtained from two Arizona species.  

Garryas were introduced into cultivation sometime in the last half of the nineteenth century, and three species are popular as ornamentals. They’ve also been planted for erosion control. Propagation can be either by seeds or cuttings. Drought-resistant coast silk-tassel does best in well-drained soil and open sunny or semi-shady locations.  

You can see several species of silk-tassel in the Regional Parks Botanic Garden, or the coast species growing wild in Huckleberry Preserve in the East Bay hills. Huckleberry, as well as Tilden and Redwood parks, is also home to another noteworthy winter-bloomer, western leatherwood (Dirca occidentalis), with yellow bell-shaped flowers. The blossoms are followed by pale green elliptical leaves. The name comes from the flexible twigs, so pliable you can tie them in knots. Thoreau called the eastern leatherwood species “the Indian’s rope.” It’s also known as moosewood or wicopy. 

Western leatherwood is California’s only member of the daphne family, Thymeleaceae. It’s restricted to the Bay Area, growing on wet slopes where soft chaparral meets mixed evergreen forest in association with buckeye, madrone, and coast live oak. Asa Gray, Darwin’s correspondent and ally, described D. occidentalis from a specimen collected in Oakland. Recent studies by Bill Graves of Iowa State University show that East Bay leatherwoods are genetically distinct from North Bay and Peninsula populations. Graves has also been looking at leatherwood’s reproductive strategies, which include asexual spread through rhizomes. The conspicuous yellow flowers are serviced by hummingbirds. 

Eastern leatherwood has been in cultivation since 1750; I’m not sure about our local species. One source says it likes a moist humus-rich limy soil; another recommends shade and plenty of winter moisture. You might be able to find a specimen at a specialized nursery or native-plant sale. Silk-tassel, more of a known quantity horticulturally, should be more widely available.  

 

 

Ron Sullivan, who writes the Green Neighbors column, is on vacation. Joe Eaton, who writes the Wild Neighbors column on alternate Tuesdays, is filling in for her this week.


Arts & Events

Arts Calendar

Friday February 23, 2007

FRIDAY, FEB. 23 

THEATER 

Altarena Playhouse “Not a Genuine Black Man” with Brian Copeland, Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at 1409 High St., Alameda. Tickets are $35-$45. 800-838-3006. 

Aurora Theatre Company “The Birthday Party” Wed. - Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m. at 2081 Addison St., through March 11. Tickets are $38. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org 

Berkeley Rep “The Pillowman” at 8 p.m. at the Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St., through March 11. Tickets are $33-$61. 647-2949. 

Black Repertory Group “Phyllis” Fri. and Sat. at at 3201 Adeline St. Tickets are $10. 652-2120. 

Central Works Theater Ensemble “Lola Montez” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. through March 25. Tickets are $9-$25. 558-1381. www.centralworks.org 

Contra Costa Civic Theater “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at 951 Pomona Ave., at Moeser, El Cerrito., through March 3. Tickets are $15-$24. 524-9132. www.ccct.org 

Impact Theatre “Cartoon” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid, through March 10. Tickets are $10-$15. www.impacttheatre.com 

The Marsh “Shopping for God” Thurs.-Sat. at 7 p.m. at 2120 Allston Way, through March 3. Tickets are $15-$22. 1-800-838-5750.  

Masquers Playhouse “Arsenic and Old Lace” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., though Feb. 24, at 105 Park Playhouse, Point Richmond. Tickets are $15. 232-4031. 

Ragged Wing Ensemble “The Tempest” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at The Metal Shop Theater, 2425 Stuart St., behind Willard Middle School. Runs through Feb. 24. Tickets are $15-$25. 800-838-3006. www.raggedwing.org 

TheatreFirst “Nathan the Wise” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 3 p.m. at Old Oakland Theater, 481 Ninth St. at Broadway, Oakland, through March 4. Tickets are $21-$25. 436-5085. www.theatrefirst.com 

Travelling Jewish Theater, “Rose” at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Asby Ave., through Feb. 25. For ticket information call 415-522-0786. 

EXHIBITIONS 

Tony Bellaver “Interventions” Performance art from 1 to 4 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. Donations accepted. 644-6893.  

FILM 

“Who is Bozo Texino?” The Secret History of Hobo and Railworker Graffiti. Film Screening with film-maker, Bill Daniel at 7 p.m. at AK Press Warehouse, 674A 23rd St., Oakland Cost is $5, no one turned away. 

Human Rights Watch Film Festival “Total Denial” at 7 p.m. and “Black Gold” at 8:50 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ishmael Beah describes “A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier” at 7 p.m. at the First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Suggested donation $10, benefits Human Rights Watch. 559-9500. 

Amy Besa and Romy Dorotan describe “Memories of Philippine Kitchens” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“The Forsythe Company” the West Coast premiere of the ballet “Three Atmospheric Studies” at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32-$58. 642-9988.  

Oakland East Bay Symphony premieres Pierre Jalbert’s ”Fire and Ice” at 8 p.m. at Paramount Theater, 2025 Broadway, Oakland. Pre-concert lecture at 7 p.m.. Tickets are $15-$62. 652-8497. www.oebs.org 

The Kymata Band, songs of Greece at 7:30 p.m. at Pro Arts Gallery, 550 Second St. Tickets are $10-$15. 868-0695. www.bayareabach.org 

Amina Figarova Group at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $15. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

La Muñeca y Los Muertos, Latin ska/punk, at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Jai Uttal & The Pagan Love Orchestra at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15-$18. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Martine Locke, singer/songwriter at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

The Junius Courtney Band, swing jazz, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Sara & Swingtime at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Robin Galante, Mario De Sio and Mary Elizabeth Beckman at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Wil Blades vs. Scott Amendola, Jessica Lurie Ensemble at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Ceremony, Verse, Allegiance, Internal Affairs at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

Sinclair at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Radio Suicide, Broken October at 8:30 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. All ages. Cost is $10. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

Gris Gris, Restaurant, Oh Sees, indie rock, at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is TBA. 451-8100. www.uptownnightclub.com 

George Duke at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $22-$26. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, FEB. 24 

CHILDREN  

“Dragonwings” An Active Arts Theater production for ages 7-14, Sat. at 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. and Sun. at 2 p.m. at Julia Morgan Theater for the Arts, 2640 College Ave, through Feb. 25. Tickets are $14 children, $18 adults. 925-798-1300. 

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Abby and the Pipsqueaks at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

“All Heart” A collaborative show with Children’s Hospital Oakland and Art For Life Foundation. Afternoon tea at 3 p.m. at Expressions Gallery, 2035 Ashby Ave. Runs through March 9. 644-4930. 

Photographs by Hilary Marckx “50-Year Retrospective” a conversation with the photographer at 4 p.m. at the Pacific School of Religion’s Bade Museum, 1798 Scenic Ave. 849-8239.  

Berkeley City College Digital Arts Show Photographs on display at 1947 Center St., Lobby Gallery, through May 1. 981-7533. 

THEATER 

“Touch” a gospel music play on a young woman’s battle with breast cancer, at 7 p.m. at Scottish Rite Theater, 1547 Lakeside Dr., Oakland. Tickets are $25-$35. 466-5987. www.totallyled.org 

FILM 

LGBT Film Festival from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the César Chávez Branch, Oakland Public Library, 3301 East 12th St. 535-5620. www.oaklandlibrary.org 

Human Rights Watch Film Festival “The Camden 28” at 6:30 p.m. and “My Country, My Country” at 8:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Flight Out of Time” Gallery talk on the exhibition of contemporary prints by Barbara Foster, Jimin Lee and Tadayoshi Nakabayashi at 2 p.m. at Kala Art Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977. www.kala.org 

California West Coast Blues Summit and Seminar in celebration of Black History Month, from 1 to 6 p.m. at 554 Grand Ave., 2nd flr. Cost is $5. 836-2227. 

Poetry Flash with Rick Barot and Paisley Rekdal at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Woodruff Minor presents a slideshow on “The Architecture of Ratcliff” at 4 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Oakland Bay Area Community Chorus in celebration of Black History Month at 3 p.m. at the African American Museum and Library, 659 154th St., Oakland. 637-0200. 

Life is Grand Oakland performers including music and dance from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Paramount Theater, 2025 Broadway, Oakland.  

Lizzy and the Redbirds A concert of the music of Laura Nyro at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. 549-3864 www.trinitychamberconcerts.com 

Susie Laraine and the Jazz Express at 8 p.m. at The Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave., behind Peet’s. 848-1228. 

Rhythm & Muse open mic series features Boundless Gratitude’s CD release party, at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St., between Eunice and Rose. 644-6893. 

The Hot Club, gypsy jazz, at 2 p.m. at Downhome Music, 10341 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito. 525-2129. 

Karen Horner and Friends at noon at Cafe Zeste, 1250 Addison St. at Bonar, in the Strawberry Creek Park complex. 704-9378. 

Seth Montfort and Thomas Penders, piano, at 5:30 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. 848-1228. 

Ballet Flamenco Sara Baras, premiere of “Sabores” at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $28-$56. 642-9988. 

Conjunto Karabali, salsa, at 9:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Medea Sinkas at 8:30 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. All ages. Cost is $10. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

San Francisco’s Summer of Love Revue at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $14. 451-8100. www.uptownnightclub.com 

Frankye Kelly & Her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Tom Rigney & Flambeau at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Rich Hubbard and Serenity FIsher at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Cost is $32.50-$33.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Eric Swinderman Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Tim Duarte, Latin jazz, at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $5. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Moh Allieche, world, folk, at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 558-0881. 

Johnny Dilks & his Country Soul Brothers, 77 El Deora, Gerard Landry & the CA Cajuns at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. All ages show. Cost is $7. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Go it Alone, Killing the Dream, Internal Affairs, The First Step at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

George Duke at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $22-$26. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SUNDAY, FEB. 25 

EXHIBITIONS 

“A Rose Has No Teeth: Bruce Nauman in the 1960s” Guided tour at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. 

THEATER 

“Touch” a gospel music play on a young woman’s battle with breast cancer, at 8 p.m. at Scottish Rite Theater, 1547 Lakeside Dr., Oakland. Tickets are $25-$35. 466-5987. www.totallyled.org 

FILM 

Human Rights Watch Film Festival “KZ” at 3:30 p.m. and “Source” at 5:20 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Jubilee Singers and the Rebirth of the Negro Spirituals” educational forum with Dr. Sandra Graham, musicologist and Assistant Professor of Music at UC Davis at 3:30 p.m. at West Oakland Senior Center, 1724 Adeline St., Oakland. Sponsored by Friends of Negro Spirituals. 869-4359. 

Bilingual Mushaira, South Asian spoken-word poetry performance at 3 p.m. at Berkeley Montessori School, 1310 University Ave. Sponsored by the Center for the Art of Translation. 415-512-8812. 

Diane Wolf reads from “Beyond Anne Frank” at 3:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Scott Rosenberg describes “Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4,732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software” at 5 p.m. at the Hillside Club, Cedar St. Sponsored by Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Rudolf Buchbinder, piano, at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $42. 642-9988. 

Ballet Flamenco Sara Baras at 7 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $28-$56. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

“Songs We Love To Sing” Gospel concert with Bobby Hall & Friends at 7 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 201 Martina St., corner W. Richmond Ave., Point Richmond. 236-0527. 

Cantare Chamber Ensemble “My God is a Rock” Spirituals by African-American composers, at 3 p.m. at Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church, 3534 Lakeshore Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $10-$20. 836-0789. 

Jack Gates Ensemble at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. Cost is $10. 644-6893. 

Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Cost is $32.50-$33.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Olivia Corson “Whale Tales” improv movement, at 7 p.m. at Western Sky Studio, 2525 8th St. Cost is $10-$20 sliding scale. 649-1791. 

Brazilian Soul at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $9. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Sara Ayala and Riquezas, flamenco, at 7:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  

Evelie Posch and Brook Schoenfield at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

MONDAY, FEB. 26 

THEATER 

Shakespeare Intensive “As You Like It” staged reading at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Unitarian Fellowship, Fireside Room, 1925 Cedar at Bonita. Cost is $5. 276-3871. 

Woman’s Will 24-hour Playfest Playwrights, directors and actors write, rehearse, memorize and perform seven new plays in 24 hours. Performance is at 8 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $10-$25 sliding scale. 420-0813. www.womanswill.org 

FILM 

“Jazz on a Monday Afternoon” Films and discussion on the Jazz Age and the Harlem Renaissance at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St., 3rd flr. 981-6100. 

“Brotherly Jazz: The Heath Brothers” A screening of the documentary followed by a discussion with the porducer at 7 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 524-3043. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Caille Millner describes “The Golden Road: Notes on my Gentrification” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Floyd Salas and Reginald Lockett, poets, at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Poetry Express with Damnyo with open mic theme “when I was a teenager” at 7 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. 644-3977. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Ed Neff and Friends, bluegrass, at 7 p.m. at Le Bateau Ivre, 2629 Telegraph Ave. 849-1100. www.lebateauivre.net 

Musica ha Disconnesso, traditional Italian music, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Blue Monday Jam at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100. www.uptownnightclub.com 

West Coast Songwriters Showcase at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $5. 548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.org 

CSU East Bay Jazz Ensembles at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$25. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, FEB. 27 

CHILDREN 

Introduction to Musical Instruments with musical storyteller Deborah Bonet at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. For age 3 and up. 524-3043. 

THEATER 

“Civil Rights Tales” A Black History Month celebration with Stagebridge at 1:15 p.m. at North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 981-5190. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“New Work” Paintings and intaglio prints by Carol Dalton and Seiko Tachibana opens at the Cecile Moochnek Gallery, 1809-D Fourth St. and runs though March 31. 549-1018. 

FILM 

Alternative Visions “Pine Flat” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Leonard Susskind, Stanford physicist, talks about “The Cosmic Landscape: String Theory and the Illusion of Intelligent Design” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

ProArts Juried Annual Artists’ talk at 1 p.m. at 550 Second St., Oakland. 763-9425. www.proartsgallery.org 

Christopher Phillips introduces “Socrates in Love: Philosophy for a Passionate Heart” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Motordude Zydeco at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun/ 

Zydeco dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

 

 

 

 

 

Singers’ Open Mic with Ellen Hoffman at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

The David Munnelly Band at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Randy Craig Trio at 7:30 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Myra Melford & Be Bread at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$14. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 28 

THEATER 

Berkeley Rep “To the Lighthouse” opens at the Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. and runs through March 25. Tickets are $45-$61. 647-2917. 

FILM 

History of Cinema “Sunset Blvd.” at 3 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Jewish Science Fiction and Fantasy” A conversation with Grania Davis at the JCC of the East Bay, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $10-$20. Sponsored by Aquarian Minyan. 465-3935. 

Yael Hedaya, Israeli journalist, reads from her novel “Accidents” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

China Miéville introduces “Un Lun Dun” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Ann Hood reads from her new novel “The Knitting Circle” at 3 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

Bayswater Book Club meets to discuss “I’m OK, You’re OK” by Thomas Harris at 6:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble, El Cerrito. 433-2911. 

Freight and Salvage Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $4.50-$5.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

“Writing Teachers Write” monthly student/teacher readings at 5 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus, through March 4. Tickets are $32-$56. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Music for the Spirit Music celebrating African-American composers at 12:15 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, 2619 Broadway. 444-3555. 

UC Jazz Ensembles at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $6. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Tamsen Donner Band at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. West Coast Swing dance lesson at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Orquestra Candela at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Salsa dance lessons at 8 p.m. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Charley Baker at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100. www.uptownnightclub.com 

Beckett’s Family Reunion with Nicole and the Sisters in Soul at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Willie Jones III Trio at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, MARCH 1 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Through Women’s Eyes” featuring works by Frances Catlett opens at the Prescott Joseph Center for Community Enhancement, 920 Peralta St., Oakland, and runs through May 3. 835-8683. www.rescottjoseph.org 

“Gossamer Worlds & Quilted Quandries” Mixed media works by Patricia Gillespie, Bethany Ayres and Hillary Kantmann on display at Esteban Sabar Gallery, 480 23rd St. at Telegraph to April 2. 444-7411. 

“A Rose Has No Teeth: Bruce Nauman in the 1960s” Guided tour at 12:15 and 5:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. 

FILM 

“Las Madres: The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo” with filmmakers Susana Muñoz and Lourdes Portillo at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Free screening. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Lunch Poems with Myung Mi Kim at 12:10 p.m. in the Morrison Library, in the Doe Library, UC Campus. http://lunchpoems.berkeley.edu 

Elmaz Abinadar and Suheir Hammad, Arab-American spoken word, at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Anne Barrows reads from her new poetry at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

Stuart Skorman on “Confessions of a Serial Entrepreneur: Why I Can’t Stop Starting Over” at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Len Lyons talks about “The Ethiopian Jews of Israel: Personal Stories of Life in the Promised Land” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

The Uptones, ska, at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Mary Youngblood & the Sisters of the Earth at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Bob Kenmotsu Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Elise Lebec, solo piano, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Or, the Whale, at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Tourettes with Regrets at 8:30 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $8. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

Kurt Elling at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$20. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Headnodic & Raashan Ahmad at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $5. 548-1159.  

 


Arts and Entertainment Around the East Bay

Friday February 23, 2007

OEBS PREMIERE OF ‘FIRE AND ICE’ 

 

The Oakland East Bay Symphony presents the world premiere of “Fire and Ice,” the next Magnum Opus commission by Pierre Jalbert on Friday at 8 p.m. at the Paramount Theater, 2025 Broadway, Oakland, with a preconcert lecture at 7 p.m. Jalbert has been awarded two BMI and three ASCAP Foundation prizes, a Guggenheim fellowship, and the coveted Rome Prize in composition. Several years ago, he was the Young Composer-in-Residence with the California Symphony. In addition, this concert will showcase the winner of this year’s Young Artist Competition, violinist Margot Schwartz. Tickets are $15-$62. For details, 652-8497,www.oebs.org. 

 

PHOTOGRAPHING  

CALIFORNIA, 50 YEARS 

 

 

The Pacific School of Religion’s Bade Museum, 1798 Scenic Ave., presents a ‘50-year retrospective’ conversation with the California photographer Hilary Marckx, who has photographed the state’s varied terrain and topography for the past half century, on Saturday at 4 p.m. Marckx approaches his photographs as prayers and contends that his images gather divinity as they gather the reflected light that transforms film into photography, producing focal points for deep contemplation. For details, 849-8239, hilaryfmarckx.com. 

 

RALPH STANLEY 

 

Bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys come to St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave, on Sat. and Sun at 8 p.m. Berkeley High alum Laurie Lewis & the Right Hands open the show. Tickets $32.50-$33.50. For more information, 548-1761 or www.frieghtandsalvage.


The Theater: ‘Sweeny Todd’ at Contra Costa Civic Theatre

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Friday February 23, 2007

“A barber had a wife—and she was beautiful!” So sings Sweeney Todd at the start of the eponymous musical by Sondheim, in its last two weekends at Contra Costa Civic Theater in El Cerrito. 

The unlikely lyric from a weary traveler is addressed to a friendly sailor on Todd’s arrival at the London Docks—the sailor unaware that he’s returning under a pseudonym after being transported Down Under. And back with a vengeance, to settle with those he blames for his misery. 

But the audience is in the know, thanks to the remarkable chorus that frames the show right from the start, declaiming Sweeney’s bloody reign o’er the barber chair, seething behind the many enclosures of the splendid set, flowing around the audience with song, or sprawling in the beer garden of Mrs. Lovett’s, clamoring for more of the toothsome, fleshly meat pies they just can’t get enough of. 

Sondheim’s great hit (which many consider his magnum opus) seemed an unlikely one, but the black humor of a vengeful barber whose bile engulfs all humanity, and the baker-manque he goes into business with in order to stuff her pies with his victims (‘farci’—or sick farce?) is leavened with a love story of the sailor with the lovely ward of a lewd judge--the magistrate Todd’s object of wrath and the girl his absconded daughter. 

Sondheim clearly is setting himself up to go head-to-head with that other great, dark crowdpleaser set in the underbelly of old London--and set to modern dissonance and sonorities—Brecht and Weill’s Threepenny Opera and its spinoff, Happy End. Sondheim’s entry didn’t attain to the subversive subtlety of its predecessor, but shows considerable mastery of the idiom, especially in its first half, as well as many little touches which the CCCT production catch very well. It set the standard for years afterwards, influencing the many musicals that aimed at a kind of epic theater, if not a Brechtian one. 

Derrick Silva and Anna Albanese are well-cast as dour Todd and his cheery helpmeet; Jennifer Stark as the ever-recurrent Beggar Woman is a strong presence with an interesting voice, though always seen and heard in quick sallies onstage and off. Eric Neiman and Allison Ward as Anthony Hope the sailor and his love Johanna put on an attractive show as ingenues amidst all the squalor and evil--the evil well-turned out by Ray Christensen as Judge Turpin and Steve Yates as Beadle Branford. There’s even a nice cameo for CCCT’s founder, 85 year-old Louis Flynn as the birdseller who blinds his birds so they sing night and day. 

CCCT runs a tight ship, from the cheerful, efficient house management to Daren A. C. Carollo’s stage direction (and set design) and the hard-working cast of 21, of which 12 serve in the dynamic chorus. 

It’s hard to catch a better local production of Sweeny (and Silva, as well as other cast members, has light opera experience). Sometimes higher registers lose comprehensibility, the lyrics lost up in the flies--a problem the management’s aware of and working to correct. 

But the solid technical quality of the show, its fine musicians (musical director Michael O’Dell and three others) and the choreography by Sharnee Nichols—as well as Adam Fry’s lighting and Michael A. Berg’s costumes—make this Sweeny Todd an entertainment which amuses the audience with its outrageous, off-kilter story and lyrics while massaging its sensibilties with Sondheim’s adventuresome—if, like the celebrated meat pies, sometimes gamey—score. 

 

Sweeny Todd 

Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m. 

Contra Costa Civic Theatre 

951 Pomona Ave., El Cerrito 

through March 3 

524-9132, www.ccct.org 


The Theater: ‘Cartoon’ Comes to Life at La Val’s

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Friday February 23, 2007

Asleep in a heap under blue skies with fleecy clouds, the cast of Cartoon is jangled awake and into manic song and dance by an alarm clock, squelched by a mallet-wielding gal, who turns out to be the dictator of the grinning, ‘toonish clan. 

The play by Steven Yockey is onstage down under LaVal’s in the Subterranean Theater Impact has for its home. Not exactly a musical, Cartoon is full of songs, some reprised from familiar sources, though there are long, untuneful stretches dedicated to the Cartoon form of character development, usually tongue-in-cheek. The cast is wired, and works hard under Mark Routhier ’s direction to achieve something akin to one of the side effects of Who Killed Roger Rabbit of yore—that is, exploit the irritating, even frightening aspect of Looney Tunes-type moving caricatures for dramatic purposes. 

It’s successful in spurts, rushes of nonsensical activity, or sometimes in quiet humor, as when the strange, strutting, roaring character with feathery arms and talons, known as Rockstar, who the twin dolly schoolgirls swoon over, seriously explains why he seldom utters a single sound besides his variously-nuanced "grawr!’ 

Other times, it’s just a bit too schematic, a symbolic equation with adolescent or post-adolescent life in a security state, losing its cartoonish quality for the texture of the news, or a taste of the soaps. 

But watching Damsel, the wind-up doll heroine, with meticulous clockwork movements, in a constantly frustrated courtship, initiated by Suitor, who presents her with a bouquet of dynamite sticks and other Warner Bros. gestures of tendresse, only to be blown away by a .45 when he finally overcomes his gaucherie and does the right thing with a bunch of roses, it’s possible to see where this exercise might have gone if the playwright had been consistent with the two-dimensional hysteria of his smiley brood.  

Perhaps some of the rolling gait of that big band jazz that used to accompany Mickey Mouse & co. would give a little more of the eyeball-rolling, toothily grinning schizophrenia that seems to be missing from these frames out of a little controlled universe. Maybe it’s the soundtrack, but the show, despite a lot of gratuitous hard work, needs something more. 

 

Cartoon 

La Val’s Subterranean Theater 

1834 Euclid Ave. 

through March 10 

Thu.-Sat. 8 p.m. 

Tickets $15 general/$10 students, seniors 

www.impacttheatre.com


Neighbors Riled About Plans to Develop Spring Mansion

By Dave Weinstein, Special to the Planet
Friday February 23, 2007

When the Spring Mansion first appeared in the nearly tree-less Berkeley Hills, almost 100 years ago, it was more than a home for one of the East Bay’s most successful real estate speculators, the man behind Thousand Oaks, the Claremont Hotel, and the town of Albany. It was a gleaming white advertisement for John Hopkins Spring’s newest suburban development, which surrounded the house. And it could be seen from San Francisco. 

But when architect Glen Jarvis recently visited, he says, “I thought it looked like an abandoned school building.” 

The John Hopkins Spring Mansion, built from 1912-1914, with its 12,000 square feet of interior space surrounded by sprawling terraces on just over three acres, is one of Berkeley’s largest residential properties, and one of the city’s legends. Its future is also in play.  

Its owner, John Park of Monument Properties, hopes to subdivide the site, build a cluster of five new houses, provide lots that could handle two more new houses, and rip down several outbuildings, including a gym. The plan also calls for remodeling a former carriage house for residential use, and for renovating the mansion itself.  

Monument is based in Monterey Park, in Los Angeles. Park formerly lived in the Berkeley Hills. 

Both mansion and carriage house were designed by a man equally as renowned as Spring—John Hudson Thomas.  

The Spring Mansion might, at a glance, resemble the White House. But to Thomas’s many fans, his hand is evident: fat columns; endearing, decorative buttresses shaped like scrolls; terraces and exterior walls that project the house into the landscape; a combination of irony and bombast; a sense of strength married to whimsy; and his signature motif of four little squares placed on walls, at corners, and by doorways both inside and out. 

Inside, living areas and bedrooms surround a skylight-topped, two-story atrium and a grand oak staircase. Walls are lined with original damask and tapestries. 

“For years people have talked about the mansion being a white elephant,” says Jarvis, who is working for Monument. “We’re trying to bring it out of that category.” Jarvis is an experienced historic architect who has worked on homes by Thomas, Julia Morgan, and Bernard Maybeck. He also designs new houses, often in a Craftsman mode. 

“We’re trying to bring this house and the grounds around it up to the standards of a mansion,” Jarvis says. “We’re trying to make it attractive for some high-end buyer to buy it, and feel good about the place.” 

Jarvis says the project would preserve the most important architectural and historical elements of the site. 

The plan would rehabilitate the mansion for use by a single family, says Paul Pohlman, real estate development manager for Monument. It would add an entrance canopy and remodel Thomas’s carriage house, which years ago received an unsympathetic second story addition. The carriage house would be remodeled into a single-family home and retain the existing Thomas-designed exterior features. 

The façade of the mansion would be retained, and a damaged porte-cochere would be restored, Pohlman says. Thomas’s terraces would be restored. One fountain that was added years later would be removed, and so would one pool that was part of Thomas’s original design. A new trellised carport would be added to improve access to the front of the house. 

The mansion is at 1960 San Antonio Avenue. The carriage house is just beyond, at 1984 San Antonio. The gym is at 639 the Arlington. A building once used as a dorm, Farley Hall, is at 641 Arlington. 

Neighbors who oppose the development argue that their concern is less with traffic impacts, crowds, and other standard neighborhood issues than with something more important—preserving one of Berkeley’s landmarks. Surrounding the mansion with smaller houses, reducing the size of its lot, and removing trees will alter its relation with its site, thus diminishing its impact. 

“Our single biggest objection is that we’re taking this magnificent historical property that has history in the people who designed and built it and the people who lived there, and we’re squeezing it in,” says Bruce Clymer, head of the group Friends of the Spring Mansion. “Squeezing it in is going to ruin it.” 

“The grandeur of the house,” says Larry Gray, also a member of Friends, “deserves some space around it.” Opponents are also afraid the developer may change the mansion’s façade. Pohlman says they may add a door to allow easier access to the terraces. The developer had discussed modifying the porte-cochere, but that probably won’t happen, he says. 

The mansion, its landscaping, boulders that dot the site, and some of the outbuildings were declared Berkeley landmarks in 2000. Included as land-marked elements were one fountain the developer plans to remove, and the gymnasium. 

Clymer, who lives next door to the mansion, is a builder who has restored and renovated many historic houses in the city, Marin and the Peninsula by such architects as Albert Farr and Carr Jones. 

He says the Monument plan is opposed by the 65-member Friends and by neighbors who make up the 28-home San Luis Court Homes Association, whose subcommittee on the mansion he heads. 

Spring (1862-1933), whose marriage collapsed shortly after he moved into the mansion, moved out around 1915. The mansion was soon operating as the Cora Williams Institute of Creative Development. It again became a private residence around 1975. 

Monument’s plan call for removing all evidence of the Cora Williams’ era—not because the developer wants to erase the memory of what Clymer calls “the first New Age Institute,” but because it deems the structures—Farley Hall, the gym/dance studio, and several smaller buildings, too dilapidated to repair.  

The tennis court next to the gym is slated for demolition. A room added by Cora Williams beneath the mansion’s terrace would also go. Neither are land-marked, nor is Farley Hall. 

A cluster of five new houses with “a lot of John Hudson Thomas appearance to them,” Jarvis says, will replace the tennis court and gym, and reach Arlington via a C-shaped driveway.  

The plan also calls for another residential lot to be created next to the carriage house, but doesn’t call for house to be built there now. An existing residential lot – between the mansion’s new parking lot and Clymer’s house – would eventually be home to a new house, Pohlman says. The lot currently houses the derelict “music building” from the Cora Williams days. 

None of this pleases the neighbors, Clymer says. He would rather see no new housing, and no property subdivision. “We would like to see the whole thing restored,” Clymer says, and preserved as one single-family lot. “The gym could be rebuilt and be spectacular,” he says 

Friends of the Mansion is also concerned about losing evidence of the Cora Williams era, Clymer says, arguing that it was an important Berkeley educational and cultural institution, and that many prominent people taught or lectured there, including dancer Isadora Duncan and psychiatrist Alfred Adler. In making the property a landmark, the city cited the property’s connection to the institute as providing “historical and cultural value.” 

Besides their interest in preserving history, Clymer says, neighbors are concerned about traffic on Arlington and on narrow San Antonio Avenue, part of which is private and owned by the association. They argue that a new driveway needed for five houses clustered beneath the mansion would be steep and dangerous, and that too many trees would need to be removed to make way for new homes. 

They are also worried that the development would remove trees that provide privacy for a park owned by the San Luis Association, a lovely hillside of oaks and boulders, picnic tables, a tennis court, and a small swimming shaped like the map of California. The private gated park was originally part of the Spring estate.  

“I don’t want to come off sounding elitist,” Gray says, “but this is a very special place.”  

So far, discussions between the developer and neighbors have been relatively cordial. But neighbors remain suspicious. They’re not convinced, for example, that Monument Properties plans to retain the mansion as a single-family residence. The developers say that is their intention, and the property is zoned for single family. 

But why is the proposed parking lot so large and institutional looking? Clymer wonders. Pohlman counters that the four new covered parking spaces “are what houses of that size demand.” Some existing pavement used for sparking will be removed, he adds. 

And some neighbors note that Park owns a company that provides services to the gambling industry. 

Neighborhood rumors have suggested that the developer plans to turn the mansion into a casino. But Friends of the Mansion has not been making that argument. And Pohlman says that’s not in the cards. “There is no way to put anything on that site except residential,” he says. “There’s never been talk of turning that thing into a casino or card room.” 


John Hudson Thomas’ Legacy

By Dave Weinstein, Special to the Planet
Friday February 23, 2007

Unlike many of his contemporaries, the architect John Hudson Thomas has not been forgotten—at least not completely. He has fans who compile lists of his houses, which liberally dot the Berkeley Hills, are also common in Oakland and Piedmont, and can be found as far afield as Los Gatos and Woodland, in the Sacramento Valley. 

Perhaps most tellingly, whenever one of his homes comes onto the market, realtors brag that it’s by Thomas. 

Nonetheless, when I put together my book, Signature Architects of the San Francisco Bay Area, about residential architects who are too little known, Thomas made the cut. In fact, I concluded, there are only two Bay Area architects who escape that fate—Bernard Maybeck and Julia Morgan. 

My thinking was: Could the average, well-educated Bay Area person, the sort who knows about novelists and artists, recognize the name of a given architect, or tell you anything about his or her architecture? This was excluding, of course, other architects, architectural historians and fans, and real estate brokers who focus on fine architects.  

There were people who told me that Thomas was simply too famous for my series. But is he really? 

The more I looked into his life and career, in fact, the more mysterious he grew. What do we really know about Thomas (1878–1945), besides the basics? Born in Nevada, an undergraduate at Yale, studying architecture at UC Berkeley with John Galen Howard and Maybeck, designing houses first as part of a partnership, then on his own, marrying the daughter of


Quake Tip of the Week

By Larry Guillot
Friday February 23, 2007

Alert To Renters & Landlords 

 

I’ve done earthquake consults for folks who are renting their homes/apartments, and had them tell me they knew the house’s retrofit was not adequate, but what could they do: they don’t own the place.  

Don’t landlords want to protect their investment? Like so many others, most landlords are living with a false sense of security: “I’ve seen some bolts, so it looks okay.”  

Talk to your landlord about having the retrofit evaluated: about 80 percent of them are wrong or incomplete. And what about an automatic gas shut-off valve? It’s the cheapest insurance around, giving protection and peace of mind both to you and your landlord.  

 

 

Larry Guillot is owner of QuakePrepare, an earthquake consulting, securing, and kit supply service. Call him at 558-3299, or visit www.quakeprepare.com.


Berkeley This Week

Friday February 23, 2007

FRIDAY, FEB. 23 

Impeachment Banner Fridays at 6:45 to 8 a.m. on the Berkeley Pedestrian bridge between Seabreeze Market and the Berkeley Aquatic Park, ongoing on Fridays until impeachment is realized. www. Impeachbush-cheney.com 

Free Compost for Berkeley Residents First priority is given to Berkeley Unified School District and Berkeley Community Gardens. Self-serve for the general public from 11:45 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. at Berkeley Marina Maintenance Yard, 201 University Ave. 644-6566. 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Frayda Bruton on “Elder Options.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $14, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For reservations call 526-2925.  

Chinese New Year Celebration at 1:15 p.m. at North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 981-5190. 

“Jews and Arabs: Past, Present and Future” a weekend seminar led by Rabbi Sherwin T. Wine at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. To register call 415-543-4595. www.kolhadash.org 

Circle Dancing in El Cerrito, beginners welcome. Potluck supper at 7 p.m., followed by dancing, at the Hillside Community Church, 1422 Navellier St.El Cerrito. 528-4253.  

Kol Hadash Humanistic Judaism Family Pot Luck Shabbat at 6 p.m. at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. Please bring dinner food appropriate for children, and non-perishable food for the needy. 428-1492. 

SATURDAY, FEB. 24 

“New Era/New Politics” A walking tour of Oakland which highlights African-American leaders who have made their mark on Oakland. Meet at 10 a.m. and the African American Museum and Library at 659 14th St. 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

“Cerrito Creek Work Party” Join Friends of Five Creeks to help remove invasive weeds to restore a creekside willow grove. Wear shoes with good traction and clothes that can get dirty. Meet at 10 a.m. at Creekside Park, south end of Santa Clara Ave., El Cerrito. 848-9358. www.fivecreeks.org 

Mt. Wanda Bird Walk Join Park Ranger Cheryl Abel for a walk up Mt. Wanda. The terrain is steep, so wear comfortable clothing and walking shoes. Bring water and binoculars. Meet at 8:30 a.m. at the Park and Ride lot at the corner of Alhambra Ave. and Franklin Canyon Rd., Martinez. 925-228-8860. 

David Seaborg, environmental leader and son of Nobel Laureate and UC Chancellor Glenn Seaborg will be at the Memorial Oak Grove at 2:30 p.m. to present copies of the “Earth’s Ten Commandments” to a delegation of local leaders and children. www.saveoaks.com 

Recycled Art Reuse some of your regular throwaways to make birdhouses, collages, masks, and more during this “open art”opportunity. All ages welcome. From 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

War Tax Resistance Workshops More than half of our federal income taxes are used to wage war. Come find out about your options for conscientious objection from 2 to 4:30 p.m. at 3122 Shattuck Ave. 843-9877.  

African American Quilters’ Workshop from noon to 3 p.m. at the West Oakland Branch Library, 1801 Adeline St. Free. For information call 238-7352. 

LGBT Film Festival from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the César Chávez Branch, Oakland Public Library, 3301 East 12th St. 535-5620. www.oaklandlibrary.org 

Know Your Rights Training from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at CopWatch, 2022 Blake St. For information call 548-0425. 

Tea Tasting Learn about the horticultural and cultural history of tea from 2 to 5 p.m. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $12-$15. Registration required. 643-2755. 

Lead-Safety for Remodeling, repair and painting of older homes. HUD & EPA approved class held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Alameda County Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, 2000 Embarcadero, #300, Oakland. 567-8280.  

Write for Your Life A workshop from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, One Lawson Rd., Kensington. Suggested donation $40. 524-2858.  

Music and Sacred Space from 1 to 3 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, One Lawson Rd., Kensington. Suggested donation $10. 236-0376.  

“Jews and Arabs: Past, Present and Future” A Kol Hadash Scholar-in-Residence Seminar with Rabbi Sherwin Wine, Sat. and Sun. at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. For registration information, visit www.kolhadash.org 543-4595. 

Picket at Woodfin Suites from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., 5800 Shellmound, Emeryville. 548-9334. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden Sat. and Sun. at 2 pm. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Call to confirm. 841-8732.  

Around the World Tour of Plants at 1:30 p.m., Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. 643-2755.  

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

SUNDAY, FEB. 25 

Tour of EcoHouse’s Greywater System Learn how to use waste water from your bathroom sink, shower and washing machine to safely irrigate your garden. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Berkeley EcoHouse, 1305 Hopkins St. Cost is $15 sliding scale, no one turned away. 548-2220 ext. 242. 

Hoot with Winter Owls Learn the night-time calls of owls that inhabit Tilden's forests and discover fact, fiction and fables about owls at 11 a.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org  

“Open Garden” Join the Little Farm gardener for composting, planting, watering and reaping the rewards of our work, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. Cancelled only by heavy rain. 525-2233.  

French Broom Removal Lend a hand pulling out exotic broom plants so our native grasses and shrubs have a fighting chance. Bring gloves. We’ll provide hand tools and refreshments. From 1:30 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. 525-2233.  

Seed Propagation and Sustainable Gardening from noon to 3:30 p.m. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $40. Registration required. 643-7265. 

Berkeley City Club Tour of the “Lilttle Castle” designed by Julia Morgan at 1:15, 2:15 and 3:15 p.m. at 2315 Durant Ave. 883-9710. 

Hypertension Sunday Free Blood Pressure Screenings at churches and senior centers in Alameda County. For times and locations call 869-6763. 

“Karma: Do We Have Control Over Our Destiny?” Meditation and talk with Elizabeth Diamond at 12:30 p.m. at 7th Heaven Yoga Studio, 2820 Seventh St. 

Spartacist Forum: Black Liberation Through Socialist Revolution at 2 p.m. at 213 Wheeler Hall, UC Campus. 839-0851. 

“Duality and Non-Duality: Liberation” with Alex Pappas at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, One Lawson Rd., Kensington. 535-0302, ext. 306.  

Tibetan Buddhism with Mark Henderson on “The Nyingma Mandala: A Dynamic Meditation for Peace” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812.  

MONDAY, FEB. 26 

Lawrence Berkeley Lab Expansion Plans Public Hearing at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. A CD version of the Long Range Development Plans is available. Call 486-4181. 

Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s State of the District Address at 6 p.m. at the Ron Dellums Federal Building Auditorium, 2nd floor, 1301 Clay St., Oakland. 763-0370.  

“Jazz on a Monday Afternoon” Films and discussion on the Jazz Age and the Harlem Renaissance at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St., 3rd flr. 981-6100. 

“Brotherly Jazz: The Heath Brothers” A screening of the documentary followed by a discussion with the producer at 7 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, FEB. 27 

“Civil Rights Tales” A Black History Month celebration with Stagebridge at 1:15 p.m. at North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 981-5190. 

Community Celebration for Black History Month at 6:30 p.m. at James Kenney Recreation Center, 1720 Eighth St. 981-5158. 

Holocaust Remembrance Day Planning Meeting at noon at 2180 Milvia St., 5th Floor Redbud Room. Come help plan for Berkeley’s 5th Annual Holocaust Remembrance Day. 981-7170. 

“Project Censored” with Peter Phillips on how and why the mainstream corporate media make decisions about which stories to cover, at 7:30 p.m. at the mmeting af the El Cerrito Democratic Club, Northminster Presbyterian Church, 545 Asbury Ave., El Cerrito. 835-2727. 

Alaska’s Wilderness Rivers A slide show with Oliver Steinfels on rafting the Tatshenshini and Alsek rivers at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Free Eating Disorders Screening from 10:00 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, Herrick Campus, CC Conference Room (Level A), 2001 Dwight Way. 204-4580. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Join a few slowpoke seniors at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm for an hour or two walk. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. 848-1704.  

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991.  

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 28 

Teach-In and Vigil Against American Torture every Wed. at noon at Boalt Hall, Bancroft Way at College Ave.  

Disaster Preparedness for Seniors: Lessons from Katrina at 1:30 p.m. at North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst. 548-9696. 

“What’s at Stake in the Ecology of Berkeley’s Strawberry Canyon” A walk at 5 p.m. every Wed. with Ignacio Chapela and expert guests Gray Brechin, Robert Hass, Brock Dolman, Gary-Paul Nabhan, Dan Siegel, Joe McBride and more to discuss what is at stake in the next proposed steps for the filling of the Canyon by the UC-LBL Rad-Labs, and now British Petroleum. http://canyonwalks.blogspot.com/  

“Immigration Reform: Problems and Prospects for the Community” a panel discussion from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Richmond Public Library’s Madeline F. Whittlesey Community Room, 325 Civic Center Plaza in central Richmond. 620-6561. 

Progressive Democrats of the East Bay meets at 7 p.m. at Spud’s Pizza, 3290 Adeline, to discuss against the war, electoral reform, and other issues in California and local politics. 636-4149. www.pdeastbay.org 

“Sustainability Education for Inspired Lives and Healthy Communities” with Trathen Heckman at 1 p.m. at Wurster Hall, 315A, UC Campus. Part of the Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Colloquium. http://laep.ced.berkeley.edu/events/colloquium 

Live Free Box Clothing Swap from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave. 540-0751. 

Exploring Jewish Responses to Big Questions at 6:45 at JGate near El Cerrito Plaza and BART station. Suggested donation of $5. Call for reservation and address. 559-8140. 

Berkeley School Volunteers Training workshop for volunteers interested in helping the public schools, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

El Grupito, a group for practicing and maintaining Spanish skills, meets at 7:30 p.m. at Diesel Books, 5433 College Ave., Oakland. 653-9965. 

WriterCoach Connection seeks volunteers to help students improve their writing and thinking skills. Training from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. 524-2319.  

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Heavy rain cancels. 548-9840. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil e at 6:30 p.m. at the Berkeley BART Station followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www. 

geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, MARCH 1 

“Feminism Transcends Borders” A panel discussion for Women’s History Month with Paola Bacchetta, Purnima Madhivanan and Beatríz Pesquera at 6 p.m. at the Free Speech Movement Cafe, UC Campus. 643-6445. 

What to Eat with Marion Nestle at 5 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

Teen Book Club meets to discuss wordy books at 4:30 p.m. at the Claremont Branch Library, 2940 Benvenue at Ashby. Bring a book to share. 981-6107. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from noon to 6 p.m. at Unit 4 Dorms, UC Campus. To schedule an appointment go to www.BeADonor.com (code UCB) 

World of Plants Tours Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at 1:30 p.m. at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $5. 643-2755.  

Avatar Metaphysical Toastmasters Club meets at 6:45 p.m. at Spud’s Pizza, 3290 Adeline. 

CITY MEETINGS 

Zero Waste Commission Mon., Feb. 26, at 7 p.m., at 1201 Second St. 981-6368.  

City Council meets Tues., Feb. 27, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Energy Commission meets Wed., Feb. 28, at 6:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5434.  

Planning Commission meets Wed., Feb. 28, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7484.  

Police Review Commission meets Wed., Feb. 28, at 7:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-4950.


Arts Calendar

Tuesday February 20, 2007

TUESDAY, FEB. 20 

EXHIBITIONS 

“What Becomes of a Broken Soul” Letters from Prison, America’s New Plantations. Exhibition opening at noon at the African American Museum and Library, 659 14th St., Oakland. 637-0200. 

FILM 

Alternative Visions “v.o.” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“P’ungmul: South Korean Drumming and Dance” with author Nathan Hesselink a 4 p.m. at IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton St., 6th Flr. 642-2809. 

Vincent Katz and Cedar Sigo read at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Jean Davison, anthropologist, discusses “The Ostrich Wakes: Struggles for Change in Highland Kenya” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Paul Barrett on “American Islam, The Struggle for the Soul of a Religion” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Mardi Gras Celebration with The Joyfull Noise Brass Band and Blue Roots at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Line dance lesson at 8:30 p.m. Cost is $12. 525-5054. 

Singers’ Open Mic with Ellen Hoffman at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $5.841-JAZZ.  

Beppe Gambetta with David Grisman at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $24.50-$25.50. 548-1761.  

Rebecca Griffin at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Don Byron Plays Junior Walker at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $12-$20. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 21 

FILM 

“Sophie Scholl: The Final Days” on the anti-Nazi White Rose student movement, at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Gary Panthers, 1403 Addison St. 548-9696. 

History of Cinema “Singin’ in the Rain” at 3 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Roger Rappoport shows film footage and talks about his biography of Michael Moore “Citizen Moore” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Floyd Salas and Reginald Lockett read at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Bich Minh Nguyen describes growing up as a Vietnamese immigrant in America’s heartland in “Stealing Buddha’s Dinner” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Music for the Spirit Music celebrating African-American composers at 12:15 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, 2619 Broadway. 444-3555. 

Whiskey Brothers Old Time and Bluegrass at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Terrence Brewer Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $9. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Orquestra La Verdad at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Salsa dance lessons at 8 p.m. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Charley Baker, guitar, at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100. 

Mickie Lee and Amber at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

Mike Marshall & Hamilton de Holanda at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761.  

George Duke at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $22-$26. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com  

THURSDAY, FEB. 22 

CHILDREN 

“We Are Africa and Africa Is Us” with storyteller Marijo at 10 and 11:30 a.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St. 238-2000. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Flight Out of Time” Exhibition of contemporary prints by Barbara Foster, Jimin Lee and Tadayoshi Nakabayashi. Reception ofr the artists at 6 p.m. at Kala Art Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. to March 17. 549-2977.  

“Paintings of Abu Ghraib” by Fernando Botero at 190 Doe Library, UC Campus, through March 23. 643-5651. www.clas.berkeley.edu 

“A Rose Has No Teeth: Bruce Nauman in the 1960s” Guided tour at 12:15 and 5:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. 

“Used and Re-Used: decorative objects made from utilitarian materials” at the The Ames Gallery, 2661 Cedar St. through March 31. 845-4949.  

Michael Howerton “Portraits” at Chachie’s Coffee Shop, 1768 Broadway at 19th St., Oakland. Exhibition runs though Feb. 28. www.howertonphoto.blogspot.com 

“100 Families in Oakland: Art & Social Change” at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts.. Oakland, through April 22. 238-2200. 

“Transforming Vision: The Wood Sculpture of William Hunter, 1970-2005” at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts.. Oakland, through March 18. 238-2200. 

“Fire in the Heart” Paintings by Foad Satterfield influenced by African art at the Community Gallery, Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, 2450 Ashby Ave., through March 2. 204-1667. 

“Berkeley: 75 Years Ago” at the Berkeley History Center, Veterans Memorial Building, 1931 Center St. Hours are Thurs.-Sat., 1 to 4 p.m. Exhibit runs through March. 848-0181. 

“Street Portraiture” Photographs by Tom Stone at The LightRoom Gallery, 2263 Fifth St., through Feb. 28. 649-8111. 

“Obsession” Works of Fire and Passion Group Show at ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave., and runs to March 3. 843-2527. www.accigallery.com 

Paintings by Allan Reynolds at the Joseph P. Bort MetroCenter, 3rfd flr., 101 Eighth St., Oakland. Exhibition runs through March. 817-5773. 

“Art of Living Black” at the Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Ave., Richmond, and runs through March 16. 620-6772. www.richmondartcenter.org 

“African Art” by Okaybabs, Yinka Adeyemi, Adeyinka Fashokun, honoring Black History Month at the LuchStop Cafe, Joseph P. Bort MetroCenter, 101 Eighth St., Oakland. Exhibit runs to March 30. 817-5773. 

Oakland Art Association Juried Show at the MTC Offices, Bort MetroCenter, 3rd floor, 101 Eighth St., Oakland. Exhibition runs to March 30. 817-5773. 

THEATER 

“The Other Side of the Mirror” Stories written and performed by Lynn Ruth Miller at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza Parlor, 3290 Adeline. For all ages. Tickets are $10 at the door. 558-0881. 

FILM 

Film Series with David Thomson “Bonnie and Clyde” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Alex Espinoza reads from his novel “Still Water Saints” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Nona Caspers, Toni Milsevich and Barbara Tomash read from their new short stories at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Nomad Spoken Word Night at 7 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“The Forsythe Company” the West Coast premiere of the ballet “Three Atmospheric Studies” at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32-$58. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Aux Cajunals, Cajun music, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

John Gordon Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Mamadou & Vanessa, Mali blues, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Angry John, Dead Ringers, Isabellas at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com  

Headnodic & Raashan Ahmad at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $5. 548-1159.  

Buck Shot Boays, Jack Spade Band, Stigmata 13 at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is TBA. 451-8100. www.uptownnightclub.com 

FRIDAY, FEB. 23 

THEATER 

Altarena Playhouse “Not a Genuine Black Man” with Brian Copeland, Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at 1409 High St., Alameda. Tickets are $35-$45. 800-838-3006. 

Aurora Theatre Company “The Birthday Party” Wed. - Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m. at 2081 Addison St., through March 11. Tickets are $38. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org 

Berkeley Rep “The Pillowman” at 8 p.m. at the Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St., through March 11. Tickets are $33-$61. 647-2949. 

Black Repertory Group “Phyllis” Fri. and Sat. at at 3201 Adeline St. Tickets are $10. 652-2120. 

Contra Costa Civic Theater “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at 951 Pomona Ave., at Moeser, El Cerrito., through March 3. Tickets are $15-$24. 524-9132. www.ccct.org 

Impact Theatre “Cartoon” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid, through March 10. Tickets are $10-$15. www.impacttheatre.com 

The Marsh “Shopping for God” Thurs.-Sat. at 7 p.m. at 2120 Allston Way, through March 3. Tickets are $15-$22. 1-800-838-5750. www.themarsh.org 

Masquers Playhouse “Arsenic and Old Lace” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., though Feb. 24, at 105 Park Playhouse, Point Richmond. Tickets are $15. 232-4031. 

Ragged Wing Ensemble “The Tempest” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at The Metal Shop Theater, 2425 Stuart St., behind Willard Middle School. Runs through Feb. 24. Tickets are $15-$25. 800-838-3006. www.raggedwing.org 

TheatreFirst “Nathan the Wise” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 3 p.m. at Old Oakland Theater, 481 Ninth St. at Broadway, Oakland, through March 4. Tickets are $21-$25. 436-5085. www.theatrefirst.com 

Travelling Jewish Theater, “Rose” at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Asby Ave., through Feb. 25. For ticket information call 415-522-0786. 

EXHIBITIONS 

Tony Bellaver “Interventions” Performance art from 1 to 4 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. Donations accepted. 644-6893.  

FILM 

“Who is Bozo Texino?” The Secret History of Hobo and Railworker Graffiti. Film Screening with film-maker, Bill Daniel at 7 p.m. at AK Press Warehouse, 674A 23rd St., Oakland Cost is $5, no one turned away. 

Human Rights Watch Film Festival “Total Denial” at 7 p.m. and “Black Gold” at 8:50 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ishmael Beah describes “A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier” at 7 p.m. at the First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Suggested donation $10, benefits Human Rights Watch. 559-9500. 

Amy Besa and Romy Dorotan describe “Memories of Philippine Kitchens” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“The Forsythe Company” the West Coast premiere of the ballet “Three Atmospheric Studies” at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32-$58. 642-9988.  

Oakland East Bay Symphony premieres Pierre Jalbert’s ”Fire and Ice” at 8 p.m. at Paramount Theater, 2025 Broadway, Oakland. Pre-concert lecture at 7 p.m.. Tickets are $15-$62. 652-8497. www.oebs.org 

The Kymata Band, songs of Greece at 7:30 p.m. at Pro Arts Gallery, 550 Second St. Tickets are $10-$15. 868-0695. www.bayareabach.org 

Amina Figarova Group at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $15. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

La Muñeca y Los Muertos, Latin ska/punk, at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Jai Uttal & The Pagan Love Orchestra at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15-$18. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Martine Locke, singer/songwriter at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

The Junius Courtney Band, swing jazz, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Sara & Swingtime at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Robin Galante, Mario De Sio and Mary Elizabeth Beckman at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Wil Blades vs. Scott Amendola, Jessica Lurie Ensemble at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Ceremony, Verse, Allegiance, Internal Affairs at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

Sinclair at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Radio Suicide, Broken October at 8:30 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. All ages. Cost is $10. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

Gris Gris, Restaurant, Oh Sees, indie rock, at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is TBA. 451-8100. www.uptownnightclub.com 

George Duke at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $22-$26. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, FEB. 24 

CHILDREN  

“Dragonwings” An Active Arts Theater production for ages 7-14, Sat. at 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. and Sun. at 2 p.m. at Julia Morgan Theater for the Arts, 2640 College Ave, through Feb. 25. Tickets are $14 children, $18 adults. 925-798-1300. 

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Abby and the Pipsqueaks at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

“All Heart” A collaborative show with Children’s Hospital Oakland and Art For Life Foundation. Afternoon tea at 3 p.m. at Expressions Gallery, 2035 Ashby Ave. Runs through March 9. 644-4930. 

Photographs by Hilary Marckx “50-Year Retrospective” a converstation with the photographer at 4 p.m. at the Pacific School of Religion’s Bade Museum, 1798 Scenic Ave. 849-8239.  

Berkeley City College Digital Arts Show Photographs on display at 1947 Center St., Lobby Gallery, through May 1. 981-7533. 

THEATER 

“Touch” a gospel music play on a young woman’s battle with breast concer, at 7 p.m. at Scottish Rite Theater, 1547 Lakeside Dr., Oakland. Tickets are $25-$35. 466-5987. www.totallyled.org 

FILM 

LGBT Film Festival from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the César Chávez Branch, Oakland Public Library, 3301 East 12th St. 535-5620. www.oaklandlibrary.org 

Human Rights Watch Film Festival “The Camden 28” at 6:30 p.m. and “My Country, My Country” at 8:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Flight Out of Time” Gallery talk on the exhibition of contemporary prints by Barbara Foster, Jimin Lee and Tadayoshi Nakabayashi at 2 p.m. at Kala Art Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977. www.kala.org 

California West Coast Blues Summit and Seminar in celebration of Black History Month, from 1 to 6 p.m. at 554 Grand Ave., 2nd flr. Cost is $5. 836-2227. 

Poetry Flash with Rick Barot and Paisley Rekdal at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Woodruff Minor presents a slideshow on “The Architecture of Ratcliff” at 4 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Oakland Bay Area Community Chorus in celebration of Black History Month at 3 p.m. at the African American Museum and Library, 659 154th St., Oakland. 637-0200. 

Life is Grand Oakland performers including music and dance from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Paramount Theater, 2025 Broadway, Oakland.  

Lizzy and the Redbirds A concert of the music of Laura Nyro at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. 549-3864 www.trinitychamberconcerts.com 

Susie Laraine and the Jazz Express at 8 p.m. at The Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave., behind Peet’s. 848-1228. 

Rhythm & Muse open mic series features Boundless Gratitude’s CD release party, at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St., between Eunice and Rose. 644-6893. 

The Hot Club, gypsy jazz, at 2 p.m. at Downhome Music, 10341 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito. 525-2129. 

Karen Horner and Friends at noon at Cafe Zeste, 1250 Addison St. at Bonar, in the Strawberry Creek Park complex. 704-9378. 

Seth Montfort and Thomas Penders, piano, at 5:30 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. 848-1228. 

Ballet Flamenco Sara Baras, premiere of “Sabores” at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $28-$56. 642-9988. 

Conjunto Karabali, salsa, at 9:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Medea Sinkas at 8:30 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. All ages. Cost is $10. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

San Francisco’s Summer of Love Revue at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $14. 451-8100. www.uptownnightclub.com 

Frankye Kelly & Her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Tom Rigney & Flambeau at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Rich Hubbard and Serenity FIsher at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Cost is $32.50-$33.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Eric Swinderman Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Tim Duarte, Latin jazz, at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $5. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Moh Allieche, world, folk, at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 558-0881. 

Johnny Dilks & his Country Soul Brothers, 77 El Deora, Gerard Landry & the CA Cajuns at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. All ages show. Cost is $7. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Go it Alone, Killing the Dream, Internal Affairs, The First Step at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

George Duke at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $22-$26. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SUNDAY, FEB. 25 

EXHIBITIONS 

“A Rose Has No Teeth: Bruce Nauman in the 1960s” Guided tour at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. 

THEATER 

“Touch” a gospel music play on a young woman’s battle with breast concer, at 8 p.m. at Scottish Rite Theater, 1547 Lakeside Dr., Oakland. Tickets are $25-$35. 466-5987. www.totallyled.org 

FILM 

Human Rights Watch Film Festival “KZ” at 3:30 p.m. and “Source” at 5:20 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Jubilee Singers and the Rebirth of the Negro Spirituals” educational forum with Dr. Sandra Graham, musicologist and Assistant Professor of Music at UC Davis at 3:30 p.m. at West Oakland Senior Center, 1724 Adeline St., Oakland. Sponsored by Friends of Negro Spirituals. 869-4359. 

Bilingual Mushaira, South Asian spoken-word poetry performance at 3 p.m. at Berkeley Montessori School, 1310 University Ave. Sponsored by the Center for the Art of Translation. 415-512-8812. 

Diane Wolf reads from “Beyond Anne Frank” at 3:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Scott Rosenberg describes “Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4,732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software” at 5 p.m. at the Hillside Club, Cedar St. Sponsored by Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Rudolf Buchbinder, piano, at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $42. 642-9988.Ballet Flamenco Sara Baras at 7 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $28-$56. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

“Songs We Love To Sing” Gospel concert with Bobby Hall & Friends at 7 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 201 Martina St., corner W. Richmond Ave., Point Richmond. 236-0527. 

Cantare Chamber Ensemble “My God is a Rock” Spirituals by African-American composers, at 3 p.m. at Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church, 3534 Lakeshore Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $10-$20. 836-0789. 

Jack Gates Ensemble at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. Cost is $10. 644-6893. 

Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Cost is $32.50-$33.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Olivia Corson “Whale Tales” improv movement, at 7 p.m. at Western Sky Studio, 2525 8th St. Cost is $10-$20 sliding scale. 649-1791. 

Brazilian Soul at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $9. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Sara Ayala and Riquezas, flamenco, at 7:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Evelie Posch and Brook Schoenfield at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

MONDAY, FEB. 26 

THEATER 

Shakespeare Intensive “As You Like It” staged reading at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Unitarian Fellowship, Fireside Room, 1925 Cedar at Bonita. Cost is $5. 276-3871. 

Woman’s Will 24-hour Playfest Playwrights, directors and actors write, rehearse, memorize and perform seven new plays in 24 hours. Performance is at 8 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $10-$25 sliding scale. 420-0813. www.woman’swill.org 

FILM 

“Jazz on a Monday Afternoon” Films and discussion on the Jazz Age and the Harlem Renaissance at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St., 3rd flr. 981-6100. 

“Brotherly Jazz: The Heath Brothers” A screening of the documentary followed by a discussion with the porducer at 7 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 524-3043. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Caille Millner describes “The Golden Road: Notes on my Gentrification” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Floyd Salas and Reginald Lockett, poets, at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Poetry Express with Damnyo with open mic theme “when I was a teenager” at 7 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. 644-3977. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Ed Neff and Friends, bluegrass, at 7 p.m. at Le Bateau Ivre, 2629 Telegraph Ave. 849-1100. www.lebateauivre.net 

Musica ha Disconnesso, traditional Italian music, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Blue Monday Jam at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100. www.uptownnightclub.com 

West Coast Songwriters Showcase at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $5. 548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.org 

CSU East Bay Jazz Ensembles at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$25. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 


Arts and Entertainment Around the East Bay

Tuesday February 20, 2007

‘FLIGHT OUT OF TIME’ RECEPTION AT KALA 

 

The Kala Gallery, 1060 Heinz Ave., is hosting a reception Thursday at 6 p.m. for the artists of “Flight Out of Time,” an exhibition of contemporary prints by Barbara Foster, Jimin Lee and Japanese “Living Treasure” artist Tadayoshi Nakabayashi. The work of these master printmakers spans cultural and generational boundaries with visually compelling observations of the natural world, the passing of time and simple aspects of domestic life. The exhibit continues until March 17. For more information, 549-2977, www.kala.org. 

 

OEBS PREMIERE OF ‘FIRE AND ICE’ 

 

The Oakland East Bay Symphony presents the world premiere of the next Magnum Opus commission “Fire and Ice,” by Pierre Jalbert on Friday at 8 p.m. at the Paramount Theater, 2025 Broadway, Oakland. Jalbert has been awarded two BMI and three ASCAP Foundation prizes, a Guggenheim fellowship, and the coveted Rome Prize in composition. In addition, this concert will showcase the winner of this year’s Young Artist Competition, violinist Margot Schwartz. Tickets are $15-$62. For more information, 652-8497, www.oebs.org. 

 

‘NATHAN THE WISE’ 

 

TheatreFIRST brings Nathan the Wise to the Old Oakland Threater, 481 Ninth St. This small, game troupe with high production standards and an ambitious, socially aware repertoire based on an internationalist perspective, have come close to outdoing themselves with this outstanding show, through March 4 in Oakland. Thurs.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 3 p.m. Tickets $21-$25. For details, 436-5085, www.theatrefirst.org.


Green Neighbors: Winter Native Flowers: Silk-Tassel and Leatherwood

By Joe Eaton
Tuesday February 20, 2007

Along with all the flowering plums, acacias, and magnolias, a few native trees and shrubs are late-winter bloomers. Most, like the manzanitas and flowering currants, are on the shrubby side. But coast or wavyleaf silk-tassel (Garrya elliptica) is a bona fide tree up to 30 feet high, showy in its own way, and amenable to planting as an ornamental. There’s a particularly handsome silk-tassel specimen on the University Avenue median strip. 

It’s pretty obvious why they’re called that. Both male and female flowers are borne in catkinlike inflorescences. In the coast silk-tassel the gray-green male catkins may be up to a foot long (in the cultivar ‘James Roof’); the silvery female inflorescences are much shorter. Like similar flowers in other groups of plants, they’re wind-pollinated. The leaves are somewhat manzanita-like but are paired and have wavy margins. The fruit grows in clusters, like grapes. 

The genus Garrya has 14 or 15 species, ranging from Washington State to Panama; 6 are native to California. David Douglas first described it in 1826, naming it for Nicholas Garry, a Hudson Bay Company administrator. Their family, Garryaceae, is said to be one of only four plant families endemic to North America. That was from a Stanford site, though, so I wouldn’t take it as gospel; another source includes the Asian genus Aucuba in the family. Garryaceae in turn is the only family in the order Garryales. 

That’s this week, at least: plant taxonomy is very much in flux these days, with new genetic studies changing a lot of the old relationships that were based on flower structure. They broke up the lilies a couple of years ago, and I just learned yesterday that the water lotus (Nelumbo) turns out to be related not to other water lilies, but to proteas and sycamores. So if silk-tassels get reassigned, don’t be too surprised. 

Silk-tassels are chaparral plants, sometimes associated with conifers. Although their glossy green leaves feel leathery, they’re browsed by mule deer and bighorn. Native Americans treated fever, colds, digestive difficulties, and gonorrhea with extracts from the bark; the active ingredient is an alkaloid, garryine, whose bitter taste has inspired the name “quinine bush.” Stem extracts were widely used against diarrhea in rural Mexico. The natural rubber gutta-percha, used for temporary dental fillings, has been obtained from two Arizona species.  

Garryas were introduced into cultivation sometime in the last half of the nineteenth century, and three species are popular as ornamentals. They’ve also been planted for erosion control. Propagation can be either by seeds or cuttings. Drought-resistant coast silk-tassel does best in well-drained soil and open sunny or semi-shady locations.  

You can see several species of silk-tassel in the Regional Parks Botanic Garden, or the coast species growing wild in Huckleberry Preserve in the East Bay hills. Huckleberry, as well as Tilden and Redwood parks, is also home to another noteworthy winter-bloomer, western leatherwood (Dirca occidentalis), with yellow bell-shaped flowers. The blossoms are followed by pale green elliptical leaves. The name comes from the flexible twigs, so pliable you can tie them in knots. Thoreau called the eastern leatherwood species “the Indian’s rope.” It’s also known as moosewood or wicopy. 

Western leatherwood is California’s only member of the daphne family, Thymeleaceae. It’s restricted to the Bay Area, growing on wet slopes where soft chaparral meets mixed evergreen forest in association with buckeye, madrone, and coast live oak. Asa Gray, Darwin’s correspondent and ally, described D. occidentalis from a specimen collected in Oakland. Recent studies by Bill Graves of Iowa State University show that East Bay leatherwoods are genetically distinct from North Bay and Peninsula populations. Graves has also been looking at leatherwood’s reproductive strategies, which include asexual spread through rhizomes. The conspicuous yellow flowers are serviced by hummingbirds. 

Eastern leatherwood has been in cultivation since 1750; I’m not sure about our local species. One source says it likes a moist humus-rich limy soil; another recommends shade and plenty of winter moisture. You might be able to find a specimen at a specialized nursery or native-plant sale. Silk-tassel, more of a known quantity horticulturally, should be more widely available.  

 

 

Ron Sullivan, who writes the Green Neighbors column, is on vacation. Joe Eaton, who writes the Wild Neighbors column on alternate Tuesdays, is filling in for her this week.


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday February 20, 2007

TUESDAY, FEB. 20 

The Berkeley Garden Club meets at 2 p.m. at Epworth Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St. The topic will be “National Trust Gardens of England” presented by Carole Austin. 845-4482. 

Woodfin Town Hall Meeting in support of immigrant and worker rights at 7 p.m at Emeryville Senior Center, 4321 Salem St., Emeryville. 893-7106, ext. 27. www.democracyinaction.org 

“Hiking the Pacific Coast Trail” A slide show with Scott Williamson at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Animal Communication Consultations from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at RabbitEars, 303 Arlington Ave., Kensington. For appointment call 525-6255. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Join a few slowpoke seniors at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm for an hour or two walk. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

Family Storytime at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

Discussion Salon on Changing Religion at 7 p.m. at JCC, 1414 Walnut.  

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. Sponsored by the Ecology Center’s Farm Fresh Choice. 848-1704. www.ecologycenter.org 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 21 

Cynthia McKinney, Voting Rights and the American Blackout with at screening of the documentary 7 p.m. at Grand Lake Theatre, 3200 Grand Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $12-$15 at independent bookstores. 415-255-7296 ext. 253. www.globalexchange.org/ 

mckinneyevent 

A Plan for North Shattuck? Contribute ideas on what, if anything, should change on N. Shattuck at 7:30 p.m. at Live Oak Park Recreation Center. Sponsored by the Live Oak Coordinices Creek Neighborhood Association.  

Teach-In and Vigil Against American Torture every Wed. at noon at Boalt Hall, Bancroft Way at College Ave.  

Robert Reich on “The Four Narratives of American Public Life” at 5 p.m. in Room 315, Wheeler Hall, UC Campus. 

“Sophie Scholl: The Final Days” a film on the anti-Nazi White Rose student movement, at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Gary Panthers, 1403 Addison St. 548-9696. 

“Contemplation and Education” a conversation on the contemplative practice in different religions at 7 p.m. at Pacific School of Religion Chapel, 1798 Scenic Ave. 

“Terrestrial Laser Scanning in Landscape Architecture” with Toby Minear at 1 p.m. at Wurster Hall, 315A, UC Campus. http://laep.ced.berkeley.edu/ 

events/colloquium 

Albany Library Evening Book Club meets to discuss “The Namesake” by Jhumpa Lahiri at 7 p.m. at The Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720. 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. 548-9840. 

Stitch ‘n Bitch at 6:30 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

THURSDAY, FEB. 22 

“Preserving the Past and Embracing the Future” with Byron C. Williams in celebration of Black History Month at 6 p.m. at Martin Luther King Jr. Youth Services Center, 1730 Oregon St. 981-5158. 

“Sankofa” A celebration in honor of Black History Month at 6:30 p.m. at the Frances Albrier Community Center, 2800 Park St. 981-5158. 

“Seafood Watch” Learn about the status of the oceans and how you can make sustainable seafood choices, at 5 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. Registration required. 636-1684. www.ebparks.org 

“Insects Make the Green World Go Round” A presentation on conserving invertebrate biodiversity with entomologist Leslie Saul-Gershenz and special insect guests at 7 p.m. at the Oakland Zoo, 9777 Golf Links Rd., Oakland. Donation $12-$20. 632-9525 ext.122.  

Setting the Table for Impeachment Panel discussion with Larry Everest and Dr. Peter Phillips and screening of “High Crimes” by Jacob Clapsadle at 7 p.m. at Grand Lake Theater, Oakland. Tickets are $10-$15. 845-4154.  

Berkeley School Volunteers Training workshop for volunteers interested in helping the public schools, from noon to 1 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

“Sacred Hospitality between the Religions” a lecture by Fr. Pierre-François de Béthune at 7:30 p.m. at Pacific School of Religion Chapel, 1798 Scenic Ave. Free. 848-9788.  

Family Story Time for children ages 3-7 at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, North Branch, 1170 The Alameda, at Hopkins. 981-6107. 

FRIDAY, FEB. 23 

Impeachment Banner Fridays at 6:45 to 8 a.m. on the Berkeley Pedestrian bridge between Seabreeze Market and the Berkeley Aquatic Park, ongoing on Fridays until impeachment is realized. www. Impeachbush-cheney.com 

Free Compost for Berkeley Residents First priority is given to Berkeley Unified School District and Berkeley Community Gardens. Self-serve for the general public from 11:45 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. at Berkeley Marina Maintenance Yard, 201 University Ave. 644-6566. 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Frayda Bruton on “Elder Options.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $14, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925.  

Chinese New Year Celebration at 1:15 p.m. at North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 981-5190. 

“Jews and Arabs: Past, Present and Future” a weekend seminar led by Rabbi Sherwin T. Wine at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. To register call 415-543-4595. www.kolhadash.org 

Circle Dancing in El Cerrito, beginners welcome. Potluck supper at 7 p.m., followed by dancing, at the Hillside Community Church, 1422 Navellier St.El Cerrito. 528-4253. www.circledancing.com 

Kol Hadash Humanistic Judaism Family Pot Luck Shabbat at 6 p.m. at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. Please bring dinner food appropriate for children, and non-perishable food for the needy. 428-1492. 

SATURDAY, FEB. 24 

“New Era/New Politics” A walking tour of Oakland which highlights African-American leaders who have made their mark on Oakland. Meet at 10 a.m. and the African American Museum and Library at 659 14th St. 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

“Cerrito Creek Work Party” Join Friends of Five Creeks to help remove invasive weeds to restore a creekside willow grove. Wear shoes with good traction and clothes that can get dirty. Meet at 10 a.m. at Creekside Park, south end of Santa Clara Ave., El Cerrito. 848-9358. www.fivecreeks.org 

Mt. Wanda Bird Walk Join Park Ranger Cheryl Abel for a walk up Mt. Wanda. The terrain is steep, so wear comfortable clothing and walking shoes. Bring water and binoculars. Meet at 8:30 a.m. at the Park and Ride lot at the corner of Alhambra Ave. and Franklin Canyon Rd., Martinez. 925-228-8860. 

Recycled Art Reuse some of your regular throwaways to make birdhouses, collages, masks, and more during this “open art”opportunity. All ages welcome. From 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

War Tax Resistance Workshops More than half of our federal income taxes are used to wage war. Come find out about your options for conscientious objection from 2 to 4:30 p.m. at 3122 Shattuck Ave. 843-9877.  

African American Quilters’ Workshop from noon to 3 p.m. at the West Oakland Branch Library, 1801 Adeline St. Free. For information call 238-7352. 

LGBT Film Festival from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the César Chávez Branch, Oakland Public Library, 3301 East 12th St. 535-5620. www.oaklandlibrary.org 

Know Your Rights Training from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at CopWatch, 2022 Blake St. For information call 548-0425. 

Tea Tasting Learn about the horticultural and cultural history of tea from 2 to 5 p.m. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $12-$15. Registration required. 643-2755. 

Lead-Safety for Remodeling, repair and painting of older homes. HUD & EPA approved class held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Alameda County Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, 2000 Embarcadero, #300, Oakland. 567-8280.  

Write for Your Life A workshop from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, One Lawson Rd., Kensington. Suggested donation $40. 524-2858.  

Music and Sacred Space from 1 to 3 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, One Lawson Rd., Kensington. Suggested donation $10. 236-0376.  

“Jews and Arabs: Past, Present and Future” A Kol Hadash Scholar-in-Residence Seminar with Rabbi Sherwin Wine, Sat. and Sun. at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. For registration information, visit www.kolhadash.org 543-4595. 

Picket at Woodfin Suites from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., 5800 Shellmound, Emeryville. 548-9334. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden Sat. and Sun. at 2 pm. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Call to confirm. 841-8732.  

Around the World Tour of Plants at 1:30 p.m., Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. 643-2755.  

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

SUNDAY, FEB. 25 

Tour of EcoHouse’s Greywater System Learn how to use waste water from your bathroom sink, shower and washing machine to safely irrigate your garden. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Berkeley EcoHouse, 1305 Hopkins St. Cost is $15 sliding scale, no one turned away. 548-2220 ext. 242. 

Hoot with Winter Owls Learn the night-time calls of owls that inhabit Tilden's forests and discover fact, fiction and fables about owls at 11 a.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org  

“Open Garden” Join the Little Farm gardener for composting, planting, watering and reaping the rewards of our work, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. Cancelled only by heavy rain. 525-2233.  

French Broom Removal Lend a hand pulling out exotic broom plants so our native grasses and shrubs have a fighting chance. Bring gloves. We’ll provide hand tools and refreshments. From 1:30 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. 525-2233.  

Seed Propagation and Sustainable Gardening from noon to 3:30 p.m. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $40. Registration required. 643-7265. 

Berkeley City Club Tour of the “Lilttle Castle” designed by Julia Morgan at 1:15, 2:15 and 3:15 p.m. at 2315 Durant Ave. 883-9710. 

Hypertension Sunday Free Blood Pressure Screenings at churches and senior centers in Alameda County. For times and locations call 869-6763. 

“Karma: Do We Have Control Over Our Destiny?” Meditation and talk with Elizabeth Diamond at 12:30 p.m. at 7th Heaven Yoga Studio, 2820 Seventh St. 

Spartacist Forum: Black Liberation Through Socialist Revolution at 2 p.m. at 213 Wheeler Hall, UC Campus. 839-0851. 

“Duality and Non-Duality: Liberation” with Alex Pappas at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, One Lawson Rd., Kensington. 535-0302, ext. 306.  

Tibetan Buddhism with Mark Henderson on “The Nyingma Mandala: A Dynamic Meditation for Peace” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812.  

MONDAY, FEB. 26 

Lawrence Berkeley Lab Expansion Plans Public Hearing at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. A CD version of the Long Range Development Plans is available. Call 486-4181. 

Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s State of the District Address at 6 p.m. at the Ron Dellums Federal Building Auditorium, 2nd floor, 1301 Clay St., Oakland. 763-0370. http//lee.house.gov 

“Jazz on a Monday Afternoon” Films and discussion on the Jazz Age and the Harlem Renaissance at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St., 3rd flr. 981-6100. 

“Brotherly Jazz: The Heath Brothers” A screening of the documentary followed by a discussion with the producer at 7 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 524-3043. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. 548-0425 

CITY MEETINGS 

Citizens Humane Commission meets Wed., Feb. 21, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-6601.  

Downtown Area Plan Advisory Commission meets Wed. Feb. 21, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7487. 

Homeless Commission meets Wed., Feb. 21, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5426.  

Library Board of Trustees meets Wed., Feb. 21, at 7 p.m. at South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-6195.  

Mental Health Commission meets Thurs., Feb. 22, at 6:30 p.m. at 2640 MLK Jr. Way, at Derby. 981-5213. 

West Berkeley Project Area Commission meets with the Transportation and Planning Commissions Thurs., Feb. 22, at 7 p.m., at the West Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7520.  

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., Feb. 22, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410.