The Week

A campus police officer warns Miguel Altieri, center, to step back after the professor and BP agreement critic challenged the need to detain one of the two UC Berkeley students handcuffed after they dumped molasses in front of California Hall. A second student, Ali Tonack, was booked into Berkeley city jail. Photo by Richard Brenneman.
A campus police officer warns Miguel Altieri, center, to step back after the professor and BP agreement critic challenged the need to detain one of the two UC Berkeley students handcuffed after they dumped molasses in front of California Hall. A second student, Ali Tonack, was booked into Berkeley city jail. Photo by Richard Brenneman.
 

News

Week of Arrests, Protests Challenges UC/BP Accord

By Richard Brenneman
Friday March 02, 2007

The firestorm of controversy over the $500 million pact tying UC Berkeley to one of the world biggest and most criticized oil giants intensified this week, with a teach-in, a demonstration, a pointed exchange between students and a key administrator and at least one arrest. -more-


Correction: No BP/UC discussion on Monday

Friday March 02, 2007

The proposed agreement between a British oil company and UC Berkeley won't be discussed Monday during a presentation at the Berkeley Repertory Theater, as had been reported in Friday's paper. -more-


Filmmakers Say Wareham Rent Hikes May Destroy Community

By Judith Scherr
Friday March 02, 2007

More than four dozen writers, independent filmmakers, radio producers and technicians who tenant the seven-story tower at 10th and Parker streets are facing hefty rent hikes that could squeeze them out of Berkeley, said screenwriter Karen Folger Jacobs, an 18-year tenant at the Saul Zaentz Media Center, the only renter among several contacted by the Daily Planet willing to allow her name to be used for this story. -more-


After Dissent, Panel Adopts UC/City Downtown Plan

By Richard Brenneman
Friday March 02, 2007

With little dissent, the joint town/gown subcommittee charged with finding ways the city can capitalize on UC Berkeley’s massive downtown expansion adopted guidelines Tuesday that members hope will become part of the new downtown plan. -more-


Riders Knock New Van Hool Buses at MTC Meeting

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday March 02, 2007

A small but spirited group of AC Transit bus riders brought their case against the contract for new Van Hool buses to the Metropolitan Transit Commission this week, and got what they called a “surprisingly” more attentive and favorable hearing than they expected. -more-


Alleged Problem Cops Leave BPD

By Judith Scherr
Friday March 02, 2007

Two problem cops, apparently friends, have left the Berkeley Police Department. -more-


Berkeley City Council Spends $3.3 Million Windfall

By Judith Scherr
Friday March 02, 2007

Among the decisions the Berkeley City Council made Tuesday night was to spend a $3.3 million windfall from unexpected revenues from investments and parking fines. -more-


Independent Body to Govern Housing Authority

By Judith Scherr
Friday March 02, 2007

City councilmembers voted themselves out of the job of running the Berkeley Housing Authority on Tuesday when they approved a new governance structure expected to be in place by July. -more-


State Administrator Agrees to Close East Oakland High

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday March 02, 2007

Despite protests and pleas from students, teachers, and parents who marched eight miles from the East Oakland Community High School in the Oakland hills to the Oakland Unified School District Administrative headquarters Wednesday afternoon, OUSD State Administrator Kimberly Statham ruled Wednesday night that she was following her staff’s recommendation to close the school. -more-


Berkeley School District Sued Over Warm Water Pool EIR

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday March 02, 2007

The Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) was sued by Friends Protecting Berkeley's Resources (FPBR) Friday for an inadequate environmental impact report (EIR) on the demolition of the gymnasium and warm water pool within its Berkeley High School South of Bancroft Master Plan. -more-


Local Booksellers Cheer Barnes & Noble’s Demise

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday March 02, 2007

The Barnes & Noble bookstore located in downtown Berkeley will close May 31, a piece of news that has left local independent booksellers ecstatic. -more-


Planners Look at Telegraph, LBNL Plans

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday March 02, 2007

The Berkeley Planning Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to increase the hours of operation to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday and midnight Sunday through Thursday for businesses on Telegraph Avenue that do not involve alcohol sales. These hours may be exceeded with a city administrative use permit. -more-


Flash: Bad Cops Out

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday February 27, 2007

Two problem cops have left the Berkeley Police Department, Chief Doug Hambleton told the Daily Planet Tuesday. -more-


BHS Basketball Coach Retires

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday February 27, 2007

As the Donahue Gym at Berkeley High School exploded in thunderous applause during the host school’s 63-14 win over El Cerrito High on Feb. 16, it was not the game that was the center of everyone’s attention, but the man who helped win it. -more-


Students Protest Controversial BP-Cal Accord

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday February 27, 2007

Two protests—one Monday and another this Thursday—are adding new fuel to the growing controversy over the proposed $500 million pact between a British oil company, UC Berkeley and the University of Illinois. -more-


Tables Seized At Oak Grove; Running Wolf Jailed

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday February 27, 2007

Zachary Running Wolf, the activist who launched the tree-sit at UC Berkeley’s Memorial Stadium, spent the weekend in jail, charged with threatening campus police. -more-


Telegraph Has Improved, But Could Be Better, Report Says

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday February 27, 2007

Making Telegraph Avenue work for business owners and those who own the buildings the merchants rent, as well as for shoppers, students, street vendors, residents and folks who hang out in the area is a jigsaw puzzle whose odd-size pieces the City Council and the city’s various departments are constantly trying to make fit. -more-


Council Considers Sustainable Berkeley, Fire Department Funding

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday February 27, 2007

While most of the city’s budget questions are being referred to the months-long budget process that will end in June or July, the City Council will vote tonight (Tuesday) on disbursing a $3.3 million windfall. -more-


Zoning Board Studies Panoramic Hill Development Proposal

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday February 27, 2007

A group of neighbors vociferously opposed the construction of a proposed new two-story single-family dwelling at 161 Panoramic Way during the Zoning Adjustments Board meeting Thursday. -more-


Review Board Backs Chase Law Changes

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday February 27, 2007

In the wake of several citizen complaints about crashes resulting from high-speed Oakland police chases, the Oakland Citizens’ Police Review Board has recommended changes to the city’s police vehicle pursuit policy and has set up a multi-agency task force to make further refinements. -more-


Priano Family Continues Fight for Chase Limits

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday February 27, 2007

One of the most active campaigns in both California and the nation to put stricter limits on high-speed police pursuits is being conducted by the mother of Kristie Priano, the 15-year-old Chico girl who was killed when the Priano family van was struck by a 15-year-old girl who was being chased by police for taking her mother’s car without permission. -more-


Seleznow to Retire As Parks Dept. Chief

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday February 27, 2007

City Manager Phil Kamlarz announced Monday the retirement of Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Director Marc Seleznow, who has been in the position for four years. -more-


UC Berkeley’s Lease of SF Extension Subject of March 8 Hearing

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday February 27, 2007

The public hearing for UC Berkeley’s controversial plans to convert its historic six-acre Laguna Street Extension campus in San Francisco into a private rental-housing development is set for March 8. -more-


Association of Bay Area Governments Helps Fund Pentagon Program

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday February 27, 2007

Why did a state-mandated alliance of Bay Area governments lend $12 million to a secretive military think tank to expand its facilities in San Diego? -more-


University Projects, Iceland Top Land Use Agendas

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday February 27, 2007

How can the city and UC Berkeley cooperate in planning uses in the university’s major downtown expansion plans that will benefit both town and gown? -more-


BUSD Addresses Homeless Youth Programs in Schools

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday February 27, 2007

The Berkeley school board voted last week to approve a resolution to honor Berkeley High Vice Principal denise brown and declared Feb. 15 as denise brown day. Brown died Feb. 2 following complications from knee surgery. -more-


News Anaysis: Campaign Fights for Japanese American WWII Vets

By Caroline Aoyagi-Stom, New America Media
Tuesday February 27, 2007

Before you lick your next postage stamp onto the electricity bill or a postcard from the latest family vacation, take a look at the variety of commemorative stamp choices you will have this year. -more-


Opinion

Editorials

Editorial: It Looks Like They Plan to Bomb Iran

By Becky O’Malley
Friday March 02, 2007

Sometimes it’s hard to keep your eyes on the big picture. Sy Hersh was on Terry Gross’s Fresh Air radio program, which ran twice on Tuesday, and both times I managed to listen only to the first half. He was pumping his latest New Yorker piece, which explains one more time and in even greater detail how mad dogs at the top of the current national administration, notably Dick Cheney and Elliott Abrams, really are planning to bomb Iran. Since he’s predicted this at least twice before, he knows that some are going to regard him as more Chicken Little than Paul Revere, but he convinced me. -more-


Editorial: How About Some Density in the ‘Burbs?

By Becky O’Malley
Tuesday February 27, 2007

It happened that last weekend we had two excursions which took us out of the Berkeley Bubble and into the genuine suburbs, in fact into the old established bridge-and-tunnel suburbs, over a bridge to the Peninsula and through the tunnel to Lamorinda. On Saturday night in Palo Alto we were lucky enough to see two fine singers with local connections, Berkeley-born Alaine Rodin and current resident Kathleen Moss, in the West Bay Opera’s stunning production of Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades, which demonstrated conclusively that culture is alive and well outside the urban bay area. The Lafayette trip on Sunday was for a sadder purpose, a memorial for a friend who had died suddenly. -more-


Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Friday March 02, 2007

WAGES IN EL CERRITO -more-


Commentary: Zero Waste: Easier Said Than Done

By Arthur R. Boone
Friday March 02, 2007

I thank the Daily Planet for providing such extensive coverage of the zero waste transfer station plan now seeking public attention. As the rhetoric about zero waste reaches forward to the “put up or shut up” phase, a few concerns rise to the surface. -more-


Commentary: By Definition, Downtowns are Populous

By Erin Bradner
Friday March 02, 2007

I typically find the critical coverage of Berkeley development and city planning issues reported by the Daily Planet polemical yet comforting since this type of in-depth coverage of planning issues reassures me that our community is taking a critical and balanced look at growth in our unique city. -more-


Commentary: Fix Van Hool Busses and Improve Service, Too

By Steve Geller
Friday March 02, 2007

The AC Transit General Manager says the Van Hools are the best bus we’ve ever had. But some riders are calling these nice new buses “Van Hell.” -more-


Commentary: Democracy in North Shattuck Planning

By Helene Vilett
Friday March 02, 2007

Your recent article on the North Shattuck Plaza Forum left out many supportive statements made at the workshop, and seemed to emphasize the negative ones, many based on misrepresentations that need correction. -more-


Letters to the Editor

Tuesday February 27, 2007

A FEW ERRORS -more-


Commentary: Notes on Derby Street Field And School Board Committees

By Mark A. Coplan
Tuesday February 27, 2007

We use many forms of communication to reach the parents, students and staff of the Berkeley schools, but when it comes to communicating with the larger Berkeley community, the one vehicle that reaches so many households and gets people’s attention, is the commentary and letters section of our local newspaper. Honestly, how many of you turned to this section immediately after scanning the front page? I have a couple of important updates for the community that I want to share with you here, because it is information that I think is important to everyone. -more-


Commentary: Capturing the True Spirit of Berkeley for Tomorrow

By Dan Sawislak
Tuesday February 27, 2007

The Oxford Plaza / David Brower Center is a wonderful example of environmentally sound planning and responsible development that captures the best of Berkeley’s heritage and future. Together, the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum-standard environmental conference center and office building plus 97 units of much-needed affordable housing comprise this visionary project that honors Berkeley’s own David Brower, a pioneer in the Green movement. -more-


Commentary: Environmental Study Needed for Brower Site

By Gale Garcia
Tuesday February 27, 2007

The referendum against giving away the Oxford Parking lot for the “Brower Center” has certainly gotten some attention. A venomous disinformation campaign is being waged against the people involved in the referendum (well, mainly against me). -more-


Commentary: AC Transit’s Obsession With Van Hool Busses

By Joyce Roy
Tuesday February 27, 2007

The Special AC Transit board meeting J. Douglas Allen-Taylor reported on (Feb. 9) was practically a secret meeting. Luckily, two reporters came. The other one, Erik Nelson, from ANG Newspapers, has a blog: www.ibabuzz.com/transportation. He says on his blog, “Van Hool, where have you been all my life (or short career as a blogger)? This hitherto ignored issue has become the biggest thing to hit the blog since its inception!” You can make it even bigger by logging on. -more-


Commentary: Proposal Extends Economic Benefit, Safety And Convenience of Telegraph Avenue

By Igor Tregub
Tuesday February 27, 2007

Telegraph just ain’t what it used to be. Once a beacon of a tolerance, hope, and historic significance that drew tourists from all over the world to the little city we all call home, it has more recently been victimized by a perception of decline, blight, and depravity—sometimes not fully deserved, but adverse to its image nonetheless. Almost a dozen reports, millions of dollars in studies, and hundreds of hours of discussion have been invested into addressing the causes at the heart of this avenue’s tarnished image, and yet few proposals have actually seen the light of day. -more-


Commentary: 10 Reasons Why Congress Should Back a Reparations Commission

By Earl Ofari Hutchinson, New America Media
Tuesday February 27, 2007

A reparations bill currently floating around Congress and being debated in the House Judiciary Committee may, for the first time since it was hatched two decades ago, actually have a chance at passing. The idea to establish a reparations commission is the brainchild of Michigan Democrat John Conyers. It has been kicked around Congress since 1989, but supporters are optimistic that it will pass since Democrats now have control of the House. Several cities, including Chicago and New York, have passed resolutions in support of the bill. Los Angeles City Council vote on a resolution Tuesday. -more-


Columns

Column: Dispatches From the Edge: The Strategy of Destruction

By Conn Hallinan
Friday March 02, 2007

“The Supreme Lord said: I am death, the mighty destroyer of the world, out to destroy.” -more-


Column: Undercurrents: Oakland School District Land Sale Plans and Local Control

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday March 02, 2007

Given the almost universal community and political opposition inside Oakland to the proposed deal between State Superintendent Jack O’Connell and a group of east coast developers for the sale of the Lake Merritt-area Oakland school properties, it shouldn’t be surprising that there was almost universal relief expressed in Oakland with the announcement last week that the deal had been killed. -more-


East Bay Then and Now: Maybeck’s First House Was a Design Laboratory

By Daniella Thompson
Friday March 02, 2007

In March 1933, the Long Beach Earthquake destroyed 70 schools, and another 120 suffered major structural damage. The Great Depression was at its height, leaving 25 percent of the nation’s work force unemployed. Things couldn’t have looked grimmer, but one creative mind was busily churning out solutions. -more-


About the House: Confessions of a House Inspector

By Matt Cantor
Friday March 02, 2007

I have a terrible confession to make. I feel really bad about it, but it’s probably not going to change any time soon. I don’t care if your roof leaks. O.K., I know that I’m supposed to make a big deal about this sort of thing but I’m not going to. There, I said it and I feel a whole lot better. -more-


Column: The Public Eye: The Privatization of Berkeley Government

By Zelda Bronstein
Tuesday February 27, 2007

It was just over a year ago that neighbors of Ashby BART rose up in protest against plans to put a 300-unit “transit village” on the station’s west parking lot. At stake in the ensuing, nearly yearlong struggle was something more basic than land use, namely citizens’ right to have a meaningful say in the public decisions that affect their lives. -more-


Column: Get a La-Z-Boy and Write a How To Manual

By Susan Parker
Tuesday February 27, 2007

People keep giving me advice. It is useful and appreciated. (Well, maybe I exaggerate just a little, but I’m in a charitable mood.) -more-


Wild Neighbors: Chemical Weapons: Skin of Newt and Liver of Snakes

By Joe Eaton
Tuesday February 27, 2007

A few columns back I touched on the chemical arms race between newts and garter snakes: the newts loaded with a fugu-like toxin to which the snakes have evolved resistance. Well, there are complexities to that story that I wasn’t aware of, some of which are described in a 2004 Journal of Chemical Ecology article entitled “A Resistant Predator and its Toxic Prey: Persistence of Newt Toxin Leads to Poisonous (Not Venomous) Snakes.” The lead author, Becky Williams, is a UC Berkeley graduate student; she collaborated with Edmund Brodie, Jr. of Utah State University and Edmund Brodie III, now at the University of Virginia. -more-


Arts & Events

Arts Calendar

Friday March 02, 2007

FRIDAY, MARCH 2 -more-


Arts and Entertainment Around the East Bay

Friday March 02, 2007

PFA HOSTS ANTONIONI RETROSPECTIVE -more-


Le Bateau Ivre Celebrates 35 Years

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Friday March 02, 2007

Le Bateau Ivre—“The Drunken Boat”—that unique coffee house, restaurant and bar will celebrate its 35th anniversary Monday with a special musical program in the recently inaugurated (and very eclectic) Monday night art performance series: Dazzling Divas, operatic arias and duets by Verdi, Puccini, Mozart, Bizet, Charpentier and others, sung by Bay Area favorites Pamela Marie Connelly, Tara Generalovich, Kathleen Moss, Eliza O’Malley and MaryAnne Stanislaw, accompanied by Jonathan Alford, piano. Admission is free. -more-


The Theater: Jackson’s ‘American $uicide at SF’s Thick House

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Friday March 02, 2007

Mark Jackson’s new play, American $uicide, now playing at the Thick House on San Francisco’s Potrero Hill, locks horns with the old saw that it’s lonely at the top. Instead, the message seems to be that when you’re scaling the heights, everybody else is yelling, “Jump!” -more-


Moving Pictures: Killing Spree’s Aftermath Takes its Toll in ‘Zodiac’

By Justin DeFreitas
Friday March 02, 2007

Few crime stories have captured the public imagination like the Zodiac murders that terrorized the Bay Area in the late ’60s and early ’70s. The case has become part of local folklore, transforming the mysterious killer who targeted couples in remote lovers’ lanes and threatened to bomb school buses into the de facto bogeyman for a generation of Bay Area children who came of age in the following decade. -more-


East Bay Then and Now: Maybeck’s First House Was a Design Laboratory

By Daniella Thompson
Friday March 02, 2007

In March 1933, the Long Beach Earthquake destroyed 70 schools, and another 120 suffered major structural damage. The Great Depression was at its height, leaving 25 percent of the nation’s work force unemployed. Things couldn’t have looked grimmer, but one creative mind was busily churning out solutions. -more-


About the House: Confessions of a House Inspector

By Matt Cantor
Friday March 02, 2007

I have a terrible confession to make. I feel really bad about it, but it’s probably not going to change any time soon. I don’t care if your roof leaks. O.K., I know that I’m supposed to make a big deal about this sort of thing but I’m not going to. There, I said it and I feel a whole lot better. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Friday March 02, 2007

FRIDAY, MARCH 2 -more-


Arts Calendar

Tuesday February 27, 2007

TUESDAY, FEB. 27 -more-


Arts and Entertainment Around the East Bay

Tuesday February 27, 2007

MYUNG MI KIM AT UC’S DOE LIBRARY -more-


The Theater: Central Works Stages ‘Lola Montez’

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Tuesday February 27, 2007

It’s tough being king ... Ludwig of Bavaria is a proactive, very public monarch. Nothing, whether extensive engineering projects such as roads and canals, or grandiose museums and other monuments to the arts, is too good for his people, and the exchequer be damned. He’ll find a way to make Munich the envy of even Paris and Vienna. -more-


Books: Author Commentary: Elephant, Reel Founder Tells How He Did It

By Stuart Skorman, Special to the Planet
Tuesday February 27, 2007

Berkeley has long been famous for starting revolutions—especially revolutions that come from the political left. The purpose of this editorial is to make the heretical proposal that Berkeley launch a revolution from the right—a revolution drawn from the heart of the free-enterprise system. -more-


Wild Neighbors: Chemical Weapons: Skin of Newt and Liver of Snakes

By Joe Eaton
Tuesday February 27, 2007

A few columns back I touched on the chemical arms race between newts and garter snakes: the newts loaded with a fugu-like toxin to which the snakes have evolved resistance. Well, there are complexities to that story that I wasn’t aware of, some of which are described in a 2004 Journal of Chemical Ecology article entitled “A Resistant Predator and its Toxic Prey: Persistence of Newt Toxin Leads to Poisonous (Not Venomous) Snakes.” The lead author, Becky Williams, is a UC Berkeley graduate student; she collaborated with Edmund Brodie, Jr. of Utah State University and Edmund Brodie III, now at the University of Virginia. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday February 27, 2007

TUESDAY, FEB. 27 -more-


Correction

Tuesday February 27, 2007

• The Feb. 9 story “Peralta Trustee Questions Financial Priorities of District, Debate Grows over Bond Funds” misquoted Peralta Trustee Abel Guillen following last week’s trustee meeting. Guillen said his vote against the audio visual contract for the renovation of the Peralta Administration Building boardroom was “on principle,” not “symbolic,” as was reported. -more-