Last Friday, when most of their friends were hanging out somewhere enjoying the Caesar Chavez holiday break from school, a group of mostly Latino Oakland middle school students were sitting in a classroom at Havenscourt Middle, taking in lessons. The subject? Gang Awareness. The teachers: high school students from an East Oakland youth advocacy group called Teens on Target (TNT) sponsored by the Youth Alive! anti-violence, youth leadership organization. 

The hope was that the middle school students would be more likely listen to an anti-gang message coming from fellow students only a few years older than they would from teachers or other adults. 

It was difficult to determine how successfully the message got through. Most of the issues were presented in black-and-white, right-and-wrong tones, with an emphasis on reinforcing the message over and over, by rote. In an adult crowd, it would have quickly grown boring. But perhaps this is the best way to present things to middle school students, giving them information in healthy overdose, so that it will be available later on when the students come across situations in the street, or when they grow old enough to be able to make independent evaluations. 

Again and again, the message was that while gangs may have some positive aspects, joining them leads irrevocably on a downward path. 

“I had a friend who I went with to last year’s Caesar Chavez celebration,” one workshop leader said. “He was dancing around. He was cool. Then he got shot. This year, on Caesar Chavez Day, he was in a wheelchair. He couldn’t do nothing. It’s crazy out there.” 

And Danny, a teacher and adult coordinator with TNT and an Oakland Tech graduate, talked about his background “banging” in the streets of Oakland. “A lot of the gangs started out righteous, but then they turn out all bad,” he said. “They used to unite the community, but now they only divide us.” Talking about how the gangs get youth in trouble but their families end up having to bail them out, Danny said, “it takes only 33 cents to buy a bullet, but if you get shot with it, it costs $40,000 for the hospital to take it out. Who do you think is going to pay for that? Your gang homies? No, it’s your family who is going to pay.” 

The only issue Danny wouldn’t discuss is what gang he used to bang with. Asked by a student, he said, “I don’t get into that.” 

Writing on the blackboard, workshop leaders asked their younger counterparts to call out positive aspects of gang membership, with answers ranging from money and access to drugs and ladies. On the opposite side of the blackboard, the TNT students then wrote down a list of negative results of gang membership, drawing lines from the second list to the first to show how the bad things negated the good. 

“If you get jumped, they’ll take your guns, and your money, and your drugs, so you won’t have any of that,” one of the TNT workshop leaders explained. “And if you’re a guy and you get put in jail, there go the ladies, ‘cause you won’t have any ladies when you’re in jail. And death cancels out everything.” 

TNT leaders also asked the middle school students to call out descriptions of first gang members and then teachers, showing how each group is stereotyped. 

The TNT anti-gang workshop was part of an all-day “Si Se Puede! Peace And Unity in Our Barrios” event at the East Oakland Middle School sponsored by Por La Paz Network, a coalition of individuals and organizations organized to stop youth violence in Oakland’s Latino community (“si se puede,” one of the slogans of Chavez’ United Farmworkers organization, roughly translates to “yes, we can”). Billed as a peace summit, the event held separate hour-long workshop sessions all day for parents and students. Parent sessions focused on such topics as Promoting The Inclusiveness of Men in the Prevention of Community Violence, Immigration Options, Children and Sexuality, and the Juvenile Probation Process. Youth workshops were held on such topics as Making Graffiti Political, The True Essence of Hip Hop, STDs and STD Prevention, and Parents Have My Back (“an honest conversation about our relationship with our parents”). At lunch, participants sat on the lawn at Havenscourt’s inner circle and listened to local Latino rap and hip hop groups spit and sing out anti-violence and community pride messages. 

More than 200 people participated. 

Event organizers said that much of the coordination of the day’s activities was done by the youth themselves. 

Angela Gallegos-Castillo, one of the adult coordinators of the event and recently hired as assistant to the Berkeley city manager, said the Por La Paz Network is a loosely based coalition made up of more than 15 community-based organizations, representatives from county and city governments, and the Latino Advisory Committee on Crime, an advisory group to the Oakland Police Department. Working under the overall coordination of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, the group is being funded in part by a five-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control. 

“The purpose of the network is to develop a continuing conversation around violence prevention in Oakland in the Latino community,” Gallegos-Castillo said. “We’re developing a cadre of parents and youth to provide community leadership and to take action against violence that can be sustained over the long run.” 

She said that the group was not merely providing an anti-violence message, but was looking to build positive community development as well. 

When EBMUD director Andy Katz spoke to the City Council early in the year, he urged councilmembers and residents to conserve water, given the East Bay Municipal Utility District pipeline retrofit that affected the amount of available water from December through the end of February.  

Katz’ presentation was brief and no action was asked of the council. Around that time, residents got postcards and robo-calls from EBMUD reminding them to refrain from watering lawns or washing cars 

And last week, Associated Press reported that the Sierra snow pack is at its lowest level in nearly two decades. Fearing drought, Santa Cruz is restricting water use beginning May 1. EBMUD will likely ask for residents’ conservation efforts again. 

A large piece left out of the water conservation effort, however, appears to be the city itself, with its 52 parks and miles of median strips.  

For example, with a rainstorm forecast for Monday March 26 and dark clouds hanging over the city, the Planet observed on March 25 that there was water spilling over the curb and rushing west on Center Street next to the grassy strip near the city administration building. The water was first observed around noon; the water continued to roll down the street without letup when it was observed for the second time the same day about 1:30 p.m.  

Another spot to observe wayward watering is along the Sacramento Street medians.  

Was the city asked to conserve water during the retrofit? Why do sprinklers regularly flood the streets and sidewalks and why is watering done at all when rain is predicted?  

In the absence of the Parks and Recreation Department director—out of the office on both Friday and Monday—the Planet contacted Maron, landscape supervisor in Mobile Unit 2.  

Maron said EBMUD never asked the city to conserve water during the retrofit. This was confirmed by EBMUD spokesperson Charles Hardy, who said he recalled that EBMUD worked with the university and with the Berkeley School District, but he did not recall hearing of special efforts to get the city to conserve during that time. 

“We’re very concerned about saving water in a low-water year,” Maron told the Planet Friday. The small crew watches the weather and tries to turn off the automatic clocks, he said, acknowledging that it does not always happen.  

Water flows into the streets and onto the sidewalks when a sprinkler head gets turned around, he said. “Sometimes it gets hit by an edger. The only way we find out is when people call to complain,” he said, adding that there is a very small staff to take care of all the parks and medians in the city. 

Berkeley taxpayers pay for landscaping—that includes water use on landscape, Maron said.  

Councilmember Dona Spring, acting mayor while Mayor Tom Bates is on vacation, said she would ask the city manager for a recalibration of the sprinklers so that over-watering does not continue. 

To report city water usage problems, call Maron at 644-6566 ext. 5. (That is the same number one calls to volunteer in the parks, Maron said.)

After years of struggle, work began Monday at the site of what will become the city’s largest low-income housing structure and the home for a collection of cutting-edge environmental groups. 

“It feels amazing,” said Dan Sawislak, executive director of Resources for Community Development (RCD), developers of the 97-unit Oxford Plaza apartment complex. 

“We’re on our way,” said Amy Tobin, executive director of the David Brower Center, the companion office building, which will break new ground as an environmentally friendly structure. 

While Oxford Plaza has raised all the $40 million in loans and guarantees—with much of the latter provided by the City of Berkeley—needed to complete their project, the Brower Center is still raising funds for the center. 

A new fence is be the first sign of construction at the city’s now-closed Oxford parking lot, which occupies the eastern end of the block bordered on the north and south by Kittredge Street and Allston Way. 

Tobin said the fence will be the first stage in preparation of the site for construction that will formally commence in mid-May with a yet-to-be-scheduled groundbreaking ceremony. 

The first phase of construction will be excavation of the site’s underground parking lot, created to replace many—but not all—of the surface spaces on the city lot the structures will cover. 

The site will house both the center, an office building which honors Berkeley’s most famous environmentalist, and Oxford Plaza, which will provide apartments for low-income residents and families. Construction is expected to be completed in time for an opening in early 2009. 

“The general contractor will be mobilizing on the site in the next few weeks,” said Tobin, “which means that they are getting everything set up for construction.” 

The Berkeley City Council gave the project a final green light Jan. 30, though the road to construction proved a bit bumpy. Most recently a campaign by opponents who wanted a public referendum to let voters turn thumbs up or down on the project delayed movement for a month, while backers tried and failed to get the requisite number of signatures to put the measure on the ballot. 

Formal transfer of the land from the city to the new owners occurred Friday, Sawislak said. 

Critics like Jesse Arreguin, while praising the new low-income housing, have questioned the commitment of the city’s entire Housing Trust Fund budget to the project, rather than using it to fund less-expensive housing by rehabilitating old buildings. 

Reduced funding forced developers of the six-story, 55,000-square-foot apartment building to downscale that building’s finish, and they lost their anchor commercial tenant when eco-friendly outdoor gear supplier Patagonia backed out of their planned lease for the 8,500-square-foot retail space. 

“We’re just getting started looking for a new tenant,” Sawislak said, adding that he hopes to enlist the support of some of the planned tenants at the Brower Center to find an environmentally friendly retailer to take the space. 

A search for tenants for the new apartments won’t begin until about six months before the building is completed, or sometime next summer, he said. 

Funding 

Most of the $29 million needed for the Brower Center has been raised. The majority of funding—$17.5 million—has been raised through tax-credit financing and low-interest loans, while an additional $9.1 million has come from pledges and contributions—leaving $2.4 million yet to be raised, Tobin said. 

“Fund-raising should be a lot easier once construction begins,” she said.  

The building will offer 31,700 square feet of office space, a 7,000-square-foot conference center and space for a restaurant. 

The two buildings are legally separate projects and will be built by two separate construction companies, with Cahill Construction handling the housing component and Swinerton Building—a firm with experience in green building techniques—building the Brower Center. 

Swinerton, which has offices from Denver to Honolulu, will be creating a building designed to meet the highest, Platinum, ranking of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. 

Building features for the center include solar panels, light-conducting materials to bring daylight into the interior, extensive use of recycled materials and other eco-friendly materials and techniques.  

While the housing complex is still looking for a commercial tenant, Tobin said the Brower Center “has a waiting list for tenants, and the challenge will be to find the right mix.” 

Anchor tenants for the center are expected to be Earth Island Institute, which was founded by the center’s namesake, and the Center for Ecoliteracy. 

Lots and cars 

The Oxford Street lot has now closed for public parking, the second lot serving Berkeley’s downtown film theaters to close in the last three years.  

A two-story, 362-space parking structure west of the Berkeley Public Library was demolished to make way for the Library Gardens apartments, with only 130 of the spaces replaced in the complex’s new underground lot. 

More than two-thirds of the Oxford lot’s public surface spaces lost to the new buildings will be replaced in an underground level beneath the site—97 of the existing 132 surface spaces. 

Still, the combined figures for both projects reveal a decline of public, off-street spaces in the two sites most convenient to Berkeley film-goers from the previous 494 spaces to the projected 227 when the new underground lot opens at the Oxford site. 

No parking spaces are being allotted for the David Brower Center in light of the environmental beliefs of its namesake and the expected tenants, while only 41 spaces are allotted for Oxford Plaza. 

Strawberries marked Cesar Chavez’s 80th birthday at Malcolm X Elementary School Friday.  

Students watered week-old strawberry seedlings in the school garden and planted new ones, all the while telling each other stories about the famous Mexican American civil rights activist who had fought for the rights of strawberry farmers and farm laborers. 

“We have been doing this since the garden broke ground in 2000,” said Rivka Mason, who has been teaching gardening to Malcolm X students for the last thirteen years. 

“We get a lot of holidays in the Berkeley schools. I am not saying that we shouldn’t get a day off on Cesar Chavez Day, but I wonder how many people will actually do anything at home to remember him. I think it’s more important to have a service learning program instead.” 

Rivka said that planting strawberries taught the kids about what a back-breaking process strawberry harvesting actually was. 

“The Mexicans named it La Fruita Del Diablo, or ‘the Fruit of the Devil’ because of how low they had to stoop to pick it. This little exercise teaches the children self-reliance and self-respect. It teaches them to nurture Mother Earth and to take care of each other.” 

Schools all over the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) remained open on Friday to celebrate Cesar Chavez Day. 

While Rosa Parks Elementary School held a special assembly, Thousand Oaks brought in Latino community leaders to give talks. Students also drew murals representing peace and justice themes and created flags resembling those of the United Farm Workers, the labor union co-founded by Chavez.  

Members of the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action & Integration And Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) had picketed the school board on March 14, demanding that Berkeley schools remain closed on Cesar Chavez Day. 

In an interview with the Planet in March, Eyvette Felarca, West Coast co-ordinator for BAMN, said that they would urge school students to boycott school on March 30 to honor Cesar Chavez.  

“BUSD honors Martin Luther King’s and Malcolm X’s birthdays along with all the other national holidays. But it does not honor the Cesar Chavez holiday, which is state law in California,” she said. 

Currently Oakland Unified and San Francisco Unified are closed for Cesar Chavez Day.  

BUSD spokesperson Mark Coplan told the Planet that no student from the Berkeley public schools had boycotted school Friday. 

“This is an effort by BAMN to use our students and the kids have realized that,” he said. “They asked the kids at Berkeley High to walk out but no one did. Instead the Barbecue Club at BHS came together with the La Raza Student Union to make fajitas.” 

Coplan added that asking high schoolers to walk out of school was dangerous. “There’s a real concern about student safety when that happens,” he said. 

“Besides, schools are not places that harbor racism, they are places where kids learn to stand up for their rights.” 

Rio Bauce, chair of the Berkeley Youth Commission and a Berkeley High student (and Daily Planet contributor), said that it is important to celebrate Cesar Chavez Day. 

“I think it’s a good idea to teach kids about him,” he said. “At the same time, since we honor Malcolm X and Martin Luther King by keeping our schools closed, we should do the same for Cesar Chavez.” 

However, Malcolm X fourth-grader Helena Noriega said she wanted to come to school on Cesar Chavez Day. 

“It’s possible to learn a little more about Cesar Chavez when you are at school,” Helena said. 

“Since he worked on a farm, I like being surrounded by fruits and vegetables in a garden on his birthday.” 

Ten-year-old Laila Aldabashi, who was helping her water the strawberry patch, nodded in agreement. 

“I want to learn a lot more about him, especially about where he came from,” she piped in. 

As Mason helped the first graders to plant strawberry seedlings in recycled milk cartons, tiny hands shot up to answer questions about Cesar Chavez. 

“I know he went to thirty schools,” offered Ronnie Tolliver, a first-grader. “He made farmers’ lives better,” said his friend Roan. 

Kai Shen, first-grade teacher at Malcolm X, said that state curriculum made it mandatory to teach school children about Cesar Chavez. 

“I read out a story on the life of Cesar Chavez to the kids today and they play acted scenes from it,” she said. 

“I think it’s important that his name is remembered by future generations. He deserves a day that is a holiday in its own right, but I wouldn’t really put that in place of what we are doing in class now. They were groaning and moaning about how hot it is today. Now they know what farm workers face when they pick strawberries and grapes in the sun all day.” 

Photograph by Riya Bhattacharjee 

First-graders at Malcolm X Elementary School learn how to plant strawberry seedlings in their school garden on Cesar Chavez Day. 

It’s more than just a house on a hill. For 76 years International House at UC Berkeley has been a second home to more than 60,000 scholars from around the world—a place where Palestinians have dialogues with Israelis, Christians share meals with Muslims and, most recently, an Iraqi made his first Iranian friend. 

“Our purpose is to foster intercultural respect and understanding, lifelong friendships and leadership skills for the promotion of a more tolerant and peaceful world,” said I-House executive director Joseph Lurie who has served in this role for almost two decades. 

Lurie retires from I-House in June but leaves behind a legacy that has created a stronger I-House. What started out as an ambitious campaign on January 1, 2003, to honor the 2005-06 75th anniversary of International House concluded March 1, 2007, with the successful raising of $10.6 million to support building renovations, scholarship funds, intercultural programs and technology. 

The campaign helped the I-House to get the largest foundation grant in its history—a prestigious $500,000 challenge grant from the Kresge Foundation. 

“It occurred to me that 75 is a number that deserves celebration,” said Lurie, speaking to the Planet about the origin of the campaign. 

“When you have a birthday there are always gifts. This campaign is a gift for the future well-being of the I-House. At first our goal was to raise $7.5 million, consistent with the 75 years. But with so many alumni who are passionate about our purpose—and one which is still as important in today’s world as ever—we stretched to increase the goal.” 

Lurie stressed that the millions in funds from endowments would provide financial aid to students who couldn’t afford to live at the I-House without assistance. 

“We have both geographic and socio-economic diversity at the House. Currently, we have nearly 600 students from eighty countries and twenty-five American states. Since I-House is a self-supporting non-profit organization, gifts in support of our mission are key to our operations and fulfilling our mission,” he said. 

Student scholarships garnered a total of $3.4 million in support, in large part thanks to a unique partnership with the UC Berkeley Graduate Division. 

“Eleven ‘Gateway’ fellowships were created that provide entering first year Ph.D. students with I-House room and board, which is then matched courtesy of UC Berkeley’s Graduate Division with tuition, fees, and a $5,000 stipend,” said Lurie. 

Tuition and fees currently exceed $25,000 per year for overseas and out-of-state students, often closing the gateway to UC Berkeley for many. Private room and board costs for a single room at I-House alone are in the range of $11,500 annually. 

“Even with different scholarships, it’s kind of expensive to live here,” said Qian Liu, a fourth year Ph.D. student who resides at the I-House with the help of a scholarship from Uppsala University in Sweden. 

“But the international experience really helps,” she continued. “I really love it here. There’s so much going on all the time that you never get bored. I enjoy the interaction, the excitement of the different cultures.” 

A melange of events—including “Sunday Suppers,” discussion groups, and festivals—have dotted the I-House landscape since it officially opened on August 18, 1930. 

The first coeducational, inter-racial residence west of New York, the intercultural housing facility attracted controversy and raised fears in the community about “mixed marriages” in the ‘30s. 

“John D. Rockefeller Jr., whose gift of $1,800,000 to the University of California established the I-House, wanted it to be a laboratory for a new kind of experiment—‘the day-to-day practice of international fellowship among men and women,’” said Lurie. 

“Since then, the House has made every attempt to integrate the human race. What is the point of coming to the United States of America if you are going to live on an island?” 

Behind much of I-House’s success is its strong Board of Directors and alumni, who contributed generously toward the campaign. 

“We wouldn’t have been able to be successful in raising funds if it hadn’t been for the 3,000 donors who contributed nearly 5,500 gifts. A lot of these came from alumni,” said Shanti Corrigan, director of development and alumni relations at the I-House. 

“We were also inspired by the challenge from the Kresge Foundation, which said that if we raised $9.5 million, they would give $500,000.” 

A total of $3.5 million—including the Kresge Foundation grant—was raised toward improving the historic Spanish Moorish building at Piedmont Avenue. 

“We really needed to renovate the 75- year-old plumbing infrastructure in the 55 bathrooms at the I-House and improve our amenities and access for persons with disabilities,” said Lurie. 

Any dollar that came in between January 1, 2003, and March 1, 2007, went toward the 75th anniversary campaign, said Corrigan, who also spoke of new naming opportunities the campaign launched, including allowing former residents to name their rooms and the Buy-A-Brick Program that inspired 250 alumni and friends to make $500 gifts and inscribe personal messages on patio bricks outside the International House Café. 

“A lot of those people who bought bricks were among nearly 1,000 couples who met at I-House and went on to get married. There are wonderful sentiments shared there that celebrate the love and friendship that I-House has seeded over the decades,” she said. 

“We were fortunate that so many people stepped forward to help us. For us, the challenge was to make sure that we were as inclusive as possible in engaging as many I-House alumni from around the world in both the celebration and campaign over the world. We wanted this campaign to contribute to the future success of the I-House.” 

According to Corrigan, the campaign reached out extensively through community events, alumni reunions and even the Internet. 

“We held reunions in London, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Paris, New York, Melbourne and Milan and several events at the House to make sure we maximized participation,” she said. 

A Campaign Leadership Committee headed by Peter J. Robertson, Vice-Chairman President of Chevron, helped guide campaign outreach. 

As part of the campaign and in tribute to Joe Lurie, the board also launched the beginnings of another scholarship. Lurie is currently trying to create another “Gateway” scholarship, this time for returning Peace Corps volunteers pursuing Ph.D. studies at UC Berkeley. 

“Our campus has more Peace Corps volunteers than any college campus in the United States, and yet we don’t offer them any scholarship assistance,” he said. “I’m delighted this effort is under way and will likely gain momentum at our 19th Annual I-House Celebration and Awards Gala.”  

Patricia Garamendi, former Associate Director of the Peace Corps, will provide a keynote address at the May 3 event. 

For more information about I-House, its housing opportunities, its many public programs, public dining services, café, and financial aid offerings visit ihouse.berkeley.edu.  

Photograph by Riya Bhattacharjee 

International House Executive Director Joe Lurie talks with fourth-year Ph.D. student Qian Liu over lunch at the I-House dining room, which is also open to the public.

While Iceland shuttered its doors Saturday, supporters are marshaling their efforts to save the facility—including a hearing Wednesday before the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC). 

Berkeley’s now missing rink is one of two beloved recreational facilities on the LPC agenda as potential landmarks. The second structure is the old Berkeley High School Gymnasium, home of the warm water pool so highly valued by the East Bay’s disabled community. 

Backing the application to landmark the skating rink at 2727 Milvia St. is a coalition of supporters who have told the commission the facility has a cherished place in skating history, both as the home of Olympic medalists and as the first competition rink built west of the Mississippi River. 

The application to landmark the rink was filed by supporters who hope to raise the funds needed to buy the rink. 

After opening in 1940, the rink became a major venue, hosting the U.S. National Figure Skating Championships in 1947, 1957 and 1966, as well as the games of UC Berkeley’s hockey team for training sessions for the U.S. Olympic skating teams. 

An Art Deco building, the structure is virtually pristine. 

Problems arose after a leak from the system’s ammonia-based cooling system led to a city order to replace the refrigeration on the grounds that fumes from a leak could endanger the lives of occupants and neighbors. 

A temporary system was brought in, but the owners said costs were too high to continue operation, leading to the shutdown. 

The building is owned by a corporation held by the Zamboni family of Southern California, manufacturers of the streetsweeper-like machines used to maintain the surface of ice in skating rinks. 

LPC members repeatedly delayed acting on the application at the request of attorney Rena Rickles, who represents the Zambonis, and real estate broker John Gordon. 

A subcommittee of LPC members worked on the language of the proposed Notice of Decision, the formal document landmarking the structure, which will be presented to the commission Thursday night. 

“We received a copy Friday, and it looks quite good,” said Elizabeth Grassetti, one of the applicants and a member of Save Berkeley Iceland, the group of skating enthusiasts which has been working to raise funds to buy the rink. 

Gym application 

The move to landmark the old high school gym came from the commission itself. 

The 1922 structure at 1920 Allston Way has been earmarked for demolition by the Berkeley Unified School District, although the environmental impact report adopted by the school board in January has been challenged in a lawsuit filed March 3 by a group called Friends Protecting Berkeley's Resources. 

The pool has strong advocates from the disabled community, who are able to perform exercises in the pool’s heated waters that would be otherwise impossible for them to perform.  

The building, called an architectural gem by LPC members Carrie Olson and Lesley Emmington, was designed by architects Walter H. Ratcliff Jr. and William C. Hays. 

Ratcliff, the founder of the Bay Area’s oldest surviving architectural firm, designed several other Berkeley buildings designated city landmarks by the LPC, including the Fidelity Savings building at 2323 Shattuck Ave. LPC members reviewed plans to restore that building during their March meeting. 

Other items on the agenda for Thursday’s meeting, which begins at 7:30 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave., include: 

• Proposed alterations to the landmark Southern Pacific Railroad station at 700 University Ave., which needs minor modifications to accommodate a new tenant, Brennan’s Irish Pub, which will be moving from its current location on the eastern end of the same block to make way for a new housing and commercial development. 

• An application from the owner for Structure of Merit status for a residence at 2611 Ashby Ave. 

• Applications for minor alterations to previously designated buildings a 1770 La Loma Ave. and 2555 Rose Walk.

The plan for a possible local takeover of energy decision-making is moving forward, albeit at a slower pace than the City Council had projected—and much too slowly for Paul Fenn, who wrote the legislation making possible local takeover of energy decisions. 

At issue is whether Berkeley will join with Oakland and Emeryville to establish a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA), an entity that would replace PG&E as the utility that purchases energy for local consumption. PG&E would continue to own the transmission wires. 

Supporters say a CCA would be able to better pursue the goal of purchasing renewable energy than PG&E now does. And with bond financing, it could begin to produce its own “green” energy. 

Along with Emeryville and Oakland, Berkeley hired Navigant Consulting, Inc. to do a preliminary study that was completed in April 2005. Based on that, the three cities decided to move to the next step and requested a business plan from Navigant. A draft has been completed and is being peer-reviewed.  

The Navigant report, slated to go to the City Council early this year, won’t be discussed by the council until a financial and legal analysis of the report is completed and the three cities review information on costs provided by companies that provide energy services.  

Once studies are complete, the Energy Commission will hold public hearings on the CCA and then take the report to the council in November, according to Neal De Snoo, the city’s energy officer. At that point the council will decide whether it should send the concept of creating a CCA to an advisory vote in 2008. (If the city decides to establish a CCA, individual PG&E customers can opt to stay with PG&E.) 

Fenn, of Oakland-based Local Power, consults on energy matters and co-authored AB117, the 2002 legislation allowing municipalities to choose alternative power suppliers.  

In an interview with the Planet on Friday, Fenn said Berkeley should be moving much more rapidly to creating a CCA. After adoption of an implementation plan, there should be negotiations with energy suppliers and then approval of contracts, he said. A popular vote is unnecessary. (The Oakland City Council has not discussed putting the matter before its voters.) 

“If the city is serious, it should take one year,” Fenn said. “There’s a difference between talking and doing.” 

He warned that as the city goes through its lengthy review process, PG&E is building new gas-fired power plants in Antioch and Hayward.  

“PG&E says it is green, but it is not green,” Feen said, adding, PG&E is “greenwashing” its image while “upgrading its nuclear power plant.” While PG&E has a 20 percent goal of renewables by 2017, the CCA could have 51 percent, Fenn said. 

But, speaking in an interview with the Planet on Monday, De Snoo called for caution. Creating a CCA is “a big decision,” he said. “We should put a lot of thought into it before deciding to jump in with both feet.” 

One of the questions to ask is whether the power provided by the CCA would actually be greener than the PG&E power. “PG&E’s a pretty enlightened utility,” De Snoo told the Energy Commission last week. “The challenge is to do better.” 

De Snoo also cautioned the commission: “The city’s cost and liability for startup is unknown.” 

In an interview Friday, Jerry Miller, chair of the Energy Commission, pointed out that in the beginning the CCA could be in competition with PG&E for limited green resources.  

“Maybe in the beginning, we can’t be as green as we would want,” he said, noting there are other considerations, such as the nuclear energy question. 

“Do we want to buy nuclear?” he asked. 

For more information on CCA, see www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/sustainable/government/communitychoice/FAQ.CCA.html. 

DAPAC Chair Will Travis insists that a scenario for creating a new downtown Berkeley landscape studded with high-rise, apartment-filled “point towers” is solely for modeling purposes. 

During a recent meeting of the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee, Travis made a point of stressing this to a reporter covering the session. 

But city planning staff members have told the committee—charged with drafting a new plan by November—that they see the high-rises as a plausible way of accommodating the potential density mandated by the state and its regional arm, the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), in the city center. 

Putting it anywhere else, except on properties lining the city’s major transportation corridors, would meet with potentially insurmountable neighborhood opposition, city Planning Director Dan Marks has told the committee. 

The tower-studded high-density model, which will be presented to members Wednesday night, is one of two alternatives that will be used to craft the final model for DAPAC’s use in drafting a new downtown plan for Berkeley and for the preparation of environmental documents, which will be legally required before the ultimate version of the plan can be adopted by the City Council. 

DAPAC members will devote another session to discussion of the models on Wednesday, when they gather at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. at Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

The towers, projected at 16 stories, would rise to the height of one of the downtown’s two existing high-rises, the Wells Fargo building at the northwest corner of the University Avenue/Center Street intersection. 

It’s not that the housing will actually be built; that’s something that only the market can decide. ABAG’s mandate requires the city to be willing to accommodate the growth if and when investors are ready to back the digging of foundations and the pouring of concrete. 

Implementation of the high-density model would require major revisions to the city’s existing zoning ordinance, which theoretically limits buildings downtown to a maximum of seven stories—though Marks and downtown planner Matt Taecker say the practicalities of construction technology and costs limit heights to five stories. 

(Existing ordinances under the alternative “baseline” scenario are still loose enough that city housing staff was able to decide that developers of the mid-rise condo complex now nearing construction just across Center Street from the new Berkeley City College building were legally entitled to 14 stories—though the plans now being completed call for nine and a half floors, with an additional loft level on the penthouse level.)  

The second version, dubbed the “baseline scenario,” projects a continuation of existing city codes and policies, with the exception of the controversial “cultural bonus,” which in any case, Marks said, will die with the adoption of any new plan. 

Both models include the construction that is the reason a new plan is being created, the 800,000 square feet of new buildings and 1,000 parking spaces dictated in UC Berkeley’s Long Range Development Plan 2020. 

It was a lawsuit over the impacts of that plan that led to the university-funded planning effort, which will end with a new city plan for an expanded downtown area which encompasses the school’s ambitious expansion program. 

The Planning Commission will have its own go at the plan once DAPAC winds up by the end of November. 

The committee will also look at transportation scenarios which include alternatives for Shattuck Avenue, the downtown’s primary north/south corridor. All of the models include dedicated lanes for AC Transit’s developing Bus Rapid Transit program (BRT). 

Four models are proposed, three leaving the existing four lanes of car traffic: 

• One car lane in either direction, with parallel BRT lanes adjacent to the center dividers. 

• Two models leave the existing passenger car lanes, differing only because one has the BRT lanes adjacent to the median and the other has the BRT lanes closest to the dividers separating traffic from parking areas. 

• A fourth model with four car lanes and one northbound BRT lane that would loop east on University Avenue, then head south on Oxford/Fulton Street. In the three other models, northbound buses would loop around Shattuck Square to University Avenue before returning to the southbound Shattuck lanes. 

Also on the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting is a draft chapter of the plan’s Housing and Community Services element prepared by Marks, Taecker and Steve Barton and Jane Micallef of the city’s Housing Department.

Members of the St. Joseph the Worker Social Action Committee will join the Ecumenical Peace Institute, Seminarians to End War, Tri-Valley Cares and others at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory for the annual Good Friday protest April 6. 

This year is particularly significant, given the role the labs are slated to play in the Rehabilitate Replacement Program, the replacement of the older nuclear weapons with new ones, Bill Joyce of the St. Joseph Committee told the Planet. 

Peace activist Rev. Michael Yoshi, of the Buena Vista United Methodist Church in Alameda, active in the support for war resister Lt. Ehren Watada, will address the gathering.  

“Ehren Watada has been very clear on his own decision not to go to Iraq,” Yoshi told the Daily Planet on Monday. “He was a clear prophetic voice not just for himself, but for others [saying that] we should not have been there in the first place.” 

“It is a time for peace,” Yoshi added. 

People will gather at 6:45 a.m. at the Corner of Vasco and Patterson Pass Road in Livermore. They will hold a worship service at 7 a.m. and then walk to the gates of the lab where organizers say, “there will be an opportunity for civil disobedience.”  

At 10 a.m., people will regroup at the Community Center at 5720 East Ave., Livermore, for discussion and refreshments. 

Code Pink celebrates Easter at Camp Pelosi 

On Sunday, Code Pink and supporters will walk across the Golden Gate Bridge, then return to the home of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, 2640 Broadway in Pacific Heights, San Francisco, which the organization has dubbed Camp Pelosi.  

The group is meeting both on the San Rafael and San Francisco sides of the bridge at noon, coming together at the center, then walking back to Pelosi’s house in San Francisco. 

Organizers ask participants to bring eggs decorated or filled with peace and impeachment messages for an Easter egg hunt.  

For more information, contact: cynthia_papermaster@yahoo.com. 

In a revival of the sharp fiscal debate that often took place two years ago when newly elected board members sought to establish stricter fiscal controls on the district, Peralta trustees rejected a staff recommendation last week for a one-year renewal of a contract with ePaperless consultants for computer hardware work, agreeing instead to a month-to-month renewal until the scope of the contract work can be evaluated. 

The vote on the month-to-month contract renewal was 4-2-1, with trustees Bill Riley and Cy Gulassa voting nay, and Nicky Gonzalez Yuen abstaining. 

Staff is expected to report back at the next trustee meeting with a full evaluation of past work with the district by ePaperless, along with details on what will be expected from a full year's contract. 

ePaperless, a one-consultant company with a website at http://epaperless.com/ that provides little information on the company background and no contact number, was originally signed to a one-year contract to provide technical advice to Peralta's Information Technology Department in 2003. That contract has expanded into a four year deal as the district grappled with its transfer over to the PeopleSoft computer system to run its operations. 

But last Wednesday, Peralta trustees balked when district Chief Information Officer Gary Perkins requested a one year contract extension for ePaperless to work on the district's transfer over to PeopleSoft's Student Administration system later this year. The SA system, which will allow students to register online, is scheduled to be in place in November, with hardware ready for testing in July. 

Perkins said the goal of the ePaperless contract "is to turn some of the issues in the IT Department around and get them in a more positive direction." He described ePaperless's work as the hardware architect setting up the system, and said the consultant's work would not be needed once the PeopleSoft conversion is completed. 

But after newly elected trustee Abel Guillen asked if there had been an evaluation of ePaperless' work on the original contract and Perkins answered "I can't answer that from a year ago prior to my hiring; I've asked [the contractor] to submit monthly reports since then," veteran trustee Linda Handy, chair of the board's IT committee, introduced a motion to set the contract on a month-to-month basis "so that evaluation questions can be answered." 

Handy said that the original ePaperless contract “was rolled over from a one-year to a two-year deal, without evaluation, after the consultant was in place for only one or two months.” The trustee added that “we need to determine what our needs are before putting out another contract.” Describing ePaperless as “essentially an employee acting as a consultant,” she added that “he didn't have PeopleSoft skills when he was originally retained, so that if he does now, then we've paid $230,000 for someone on a learning curve.” Handy added that “being rushed into this right now. I feel we are being locked into something which may not fit our needs six months from now.” 

Handy and Peralta Chancellor Elihu Harris differed over whether or not it would be difficult to find another consultant to do the work if ePaperless decided not to accept a month-to-month contract. Harris said that “there aren’t that many competent consultants out there. We’re having a hard time securing consultants for our contracts.” But Handy countered that there were plenty of competent technology people available, noting that when Peralta searched for its Chief Information Officer prior to hiring Perkins, the district received 110 applications. 

Even trustees who did not support changing the contract from one year to month-to-month criticized the deal. Yuen, who abstained, complained that last week was the last board meeting before the original contract is due to run out. “I’m uncomfortable with being presented with a contract at the last minute,” he said. “On principle, that’s not the way we should be doing business.” 

And Gulassa, who voted against the change, said that “we’ve had a sad history, a rather chaotic history in our IT Department. There has been a lot of concern, anger, and resentment over how PeopleSoft was brought in.” But while Gulassa said he was respectful of Handy’s concerns, he said that he had confidence in Perkins’ ability to make the right choice in selecting a consultant. 

In other action at last week’s board meeting, trustees approved League of Women Voters Berkeley Albany Emeryville member Polly Amrein to represent senior citizens on the Bond Measure A Oversight Committee. Amrein is the sixth member to be chosen for the seven-member committee, which according to the bond measure language was supposed to be formed last summer, but has yet to meet. Peralta staff members said early in February that former Assemblymember Wilma Chan had tentatively agreed to serve on the committee, but Peralta Chief Financial Officer Tom Smith said last week that Chan had not yet confirmed that appointment. 

The Peralta Community College District, which has gotten generally poor marks for the quality of its website, took a leap forward last week with board approval of a $55,000 three-year contract with Granicus, Inc. of San Francisco to provide web-based streaming videos of district board meetings. The contract provides for a setup fee and an $11,640 yearly charge for which Granicus will provide storage of Peralta’s video archives. 

Granicus currently provides a similar service to the Berkeley City Council (at www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil/agendaindex.htm#current) and to other governmental bodies in the Bay Area. Public Relations and Communications Executive Director Jeff Heyman says that Peralta is the first community college in California to provide such streaming video board meeting service. 

Under the service, which Heyman said would be online within a few weeks, the public will be able to view Peralta board meetings live on their home computers through Peralta’s website, as well as access videos of past board meeting. Currently, Peralta board meetings are only available for viewing on Peralta’s cable television network. 

For PC users, the Granicus service allows viewers to access a menu in which they can jump to specific agenda items, as well as access to the backup public documents associated with that agenda item. Granicus’ service is more limited for Mac users, however, providing only the video itself and not the agenda menu or access to backup documents.

UC recycling center demolished in blaze 

A pre-dawn two-alarm fire Monday destroyed the Albany offices of UC Berkeley’s Campus Recycling and Refuse Services. 

Firefighters from Berkeley joined crews from Albany in battling the blaze, which destroyed the small frame structure known as Building 11, said Berkeley Fire Marshal and Assistant Fire Chief Gil Dong. 

The building was located near the corner of San Pablo and Marin avenues, said UC Berkeley spokesperson Sarah Yang, who said the 800-square-foot building contained offices housing eight program employees. 

The fire also damaged the roof of a nearby building and caused heat damage to the exteriors of three rooms. “It looks like we may have to replace the roof,” Yang said.  

“There were no injuries,” she said, adding that at most 3,000 square feet of building space had been put out of commission. 

In addition to units from Berkeley and Albany, Richmond and El Cerrito firefighters also assisted, and a second Berkeley company was dispatched to Albany to cover the city in the event of other emergencies. 

Berkeley firefighters were at the fire scene within moments of the time the fire was first reported at 3 a.m. and stayed until after it was fully controlled, leaving at 7:10, Dong said. 

None of the university housing in the Gill Tract was endangered by the blaze, and there were no injuries. 

Yang said the displaced workers are being relocated to space in Edwards Stadium until a permanent home can be found. 

Because the recycling program affects primarily the main campus, Yang said the City of Berkeley “is cooperating wonderfully in serving the campus until we can recover. There’s no interruption of service.”

The union made some big wins at Berkeley High on Tuesday. Except that the students were acting as both management and labor and the cash was just play money. 

Juniors and seniors got together in the school library for a crash course in negotiation—courtesy the California Federa-tion of Teachers (CFT). 

The day-long session was part of CFT’s Collective Bargaining Education Project (CBEP), which was held for the first time at the BHS campus. Based on the popular education techniques of Paolo Freire, the CBEP provides students with a range of labor history and contemporary union organizing and collective bargaining role-plays for the high school classroom. 

“It’s a way of teaching them conflict resolution in the workplace. In this case, we have picked a hospital,” said Fred Glass, communications director for CFT. 

“We took kids from a couple of classes and divided them into two teams—the management, which represented the hospital administration, and the labor, which represented the hospital workers. The issues in the negotiations are wages, medical benefits, health and safety, seniority and child care. The smaller teams are having caucuses—they are either talking about labor or management.” 

Barry Fike, president of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers (BFT), was heading one of the management caucuses. 

“It feels good to be on the other side of the table for once,” said Fike smiling. 

Glass told the Planet that the high school curriculum did not have extensive information on unions. “We feel it is important to fill the gap in educating our children. They need to know that unions provide protection. If it wasn’t for the union, we wouldn’t have things like minimum wage, a 40-hour work week or even a weekend. And yet very little of those are actually reflected in history books.” 

As the students grappled with their fact sheets and figure charts, Fike pointed out that this lesson was helping them use their math skills. 

“I am also a teacher,” he said, “and it gives me great pleasure to see the kids learning through real life experience. The project started off slow. It took the kids some time to understand the dynamics of the issue. This is the best kind of learning, except it’s close to the real world.” 

As negotiations were brought to the table, future leaders unfolded. Breanna Cantwell—a Berkeley High senior who looked confident enough to argue on Donald Trump’s reality TV show The Apprentice—emerged as the toughest negotiator on Fike’s management team. 

“She asked the most questions. She wanted to know what the union would do with the money,” quipped Zoe Adkins, another senior. 

“This project taught me that you can’t manage a company on your own. You have to give and take. You have to think of both sides,” Zoe said. 

“There should be no room for ambiguity. If you are not specific with how you will spend your money then people start getting suspicious of your motives,” said Breanna. 

The project coincided with the current curriculum of the high schoolers, said BHS English teacher Alan Miller.  

“They are learning about the Great Depression. That’s where the minimum wage and other little things we take for granted today come from. It’s also great because it teaches them argumentation and evidence gathering techniques. They are reading Machiavelli’s The Prince to see what it is like to apply those principles in real life,” he said. 

Mark Greenside, a teacher at Merritt College, told the groups that every relationship involved negotiations. 

“It just doesn’t apply to work, but also to life. Who gets the best office, the best typewriter ... who gets to take out the trash, walk the dog. The list is endless.” 

As the negotiations were completed, the teams led by Fike and Mark Leach, who was representing the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), congratulated the students on the results. 

Both sides agreed to a 5.5 percent wage increase, 100 percent medical benefits and partial childcare. 

The most difficult issue, members of the labor team said, had been chasing the medical benefits. 

“It was difficult for the management because they had to fit it into a budget. It was difficult for us because we wanted more money,” said twelfth grader Will Henderson. Henderson is hoping to study film at San Francisco State University in fall. 

“One question you want to think about is whether the people you are representing at the table are going to be happy with the results or not,” were Leach’s parting words of advice to the group. 

“In collective bargaining if the union membership say no, then you come back to the table.”

Rich Robbins of Wareham Development, Inc. has a vision for the seven-story West Berkeley building he recently bought for around $20 million.  

Robbins is doing work to the tower at 10th and Parker streets, known best as the Fantasy Building—improving the lobby, adding a fountain, upgrading the heating system and more. “He’s going to turn that building into a world class media center,” Robbins’ representative Darrell de Tienne told the City Council at a special council session that followed the regular Tuesday meeting, called to address Wareham’s steep rent hikes that tenants say will destroy their arts community. 

The 50 or so mostly filmmakers and their supporters were asking for council help negotiating what filmmaker Ashley James called “a stay of execution” of rent hikes of 40-to-100 percent over three years and the immediate eviction of a few. They are already a world-class community of award-winning artists and don’t need the extraneous upgrades they have to pay for, the artists told the council. 

After listening to the filmmakers, their supporters and the developer’s representative, the council decided to pursue negotiations with the developer. 

Eric Hayashi, executive director of the San Francisco-based Film Arts Foundation, told the council that it was no accident that there had been 13 Academy award nominees from that one building. “It’s not 13 in the state; it’s not 13 in the Bay Area, it’s not 13 in Berkeley. It’s 13 companies in one building … It’s independent filmmakers relying on each other, building something greater than themselves,” he said. 

Speaking to the council as a representative of the community, Ashley James of Searchlight Films, a tenant in the building since 1995, said that the filmmaker community has “supported, sustained and, at times, employed us.”  

While James thanked Mayor Tom Bates for his efforts to talk to Robbins, he said there ought to have been representatives of the artist community participating in the discussions. “You were in there alone with Wareham,” he said, “What we want, what we need and what we deserve is a reasonable negotiating period to work on basic terms of the leases.” 

Filmmaker Rick Goldsmith told the council that Wareham’s claim that the artists are not now paying market rents is false. Rents were raised from around $2 per square foot to $3 or $3.25 per square foot in 2005 and now Wareham is asking for $4-to-$6 per square foot, he said. “West Berkeley rental levels are not more than $2 per square foot,” he added.  

Wareham spokesperson Tim Gallen did not dispute that the rents were high, but underscored in an earlier interview with the Planet that the rent hike was due to the amenities, such as the two small theaters at the site undergoing renovation and views of the Golden Gate Bridge from some  

studios. 

While the artists said Robbins’ insistence that they negotiate one-on-one and not collectively was a divide and conquer technique, Wareham representative de Tienne addressed the issue: “You’re going to have to negotiate one-on-one. I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s just that simple. Being a business and being an artist you still have the responsibility to stand up and talk for yourself and do what you need to do,” said de Tienne, adding that he is an artist himself. 

When Councilmember Linda Maio tried to ask de Tienne why the artists had different rates for similar studios, he cut her off: “Let me stop you. This life is not egalitarian,” he said. The audience groaned.  

Representing West Berkeley Artisans & Industrial Companies, woodworker John Curl told councilmembers that they should play hardball with the developer. 

“Council should tell the building owner in no uncertain terms that he must treat these tenants in a decent and responsible manner,” Curl said, reading from a prepared text. “Tell him that that is a price of doing business in Berkeley. This landlord depends heavily on the city being cooperative with his projects and developments. Tell him that, if he expects the city to cooperate with him, he needs to cooperate for the betterment of the city.” 

In fact, Robbins has at least one project under consideration in the city—the Garr building at 740 Heinz Ave. in West Berkeley—and has talked to various city staff about another he says he wants to build on the parking lot at the Fantasy Building. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington addressed the issue: “If the developer wants to get something done, it’s far better to get out on the table what you want to do and work things out,” he said, adding, “This type of greed is not acceptable.” 

Counclmember Dona Spring argued that the West Berkeley Plan protects artists, but Land Use Manager Mark Rhodes countered that the space is protected as arts space, but the individual artist is not protected. Lower income filmmakers could be forced out and replaced by those who can pay the higher rents—“There’s no commercial rent control,” Rhodes said. 

In a separate interview with the Planet, Jed Riffe of Jed Riffe Films said that the loss of the artist community is more than a loss of creativity to Berkeley. Riffe said he just finished a documentary for which he spent $1 million in Berkeley. That included renting equipment, hiring a local editor and crew, copying costs, and “feeding a small army of people,” he said. 

Berkeley Arts Festival Director Bonnie Hughes had her own take on the situation, telling the council that unless they act, history books will say Berkeley was once known as “the home of free speech and artistic innovation until it was invaded by greedy hordes of carpetbaggers.” 

Hughes laid out the dilemma: “Carpetbaggers come to make millions; artists come to make art; to whom will you dedicate our city?” 

Photograph by Judith Scherr 

Filmmakers working in the Fantasy Building ask the City Council Tuesday to help them in negotiations with new landlord Wareham Development, Inc. In the front row are (l - r) Wareham tenants Jeb Riffe, Susan Starr and Rick Goldsmith.

A $100,000 process to write a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, approved by the City Council in February, will be carried out inside city government—with staff hired for the purpose—and not outsourced to Sustain-able Berkeley, as the Council directed last month. 

“There are some legal questions [on the relationship] between Sustainable Berkeley and CESC [the Community Energy Services Corporation],” Neal De Snoo, energy officer in the city’s Energy and Sustainable Development Division, told the Energy Commission at its meeting Wednesday evening. “The implementation is on hold until there is a legal interpretation,” he said. 

However on Thursday, City Manager Assistant Arrietta Chakos told the Planet the city “would be taking a look at Measure G [the voter-approved advisory initiative asking the mayor to work with the community to develop a greenhouse gas emissions reduction plan] programs across department lines.” Chakos called back to say a person hired for a new position in the city’s energy division would be working on the plan. 

Sustainable Berkeley is an organization whose steering committee is made up of nonprofit corporations, healthcare professionals, UC Berkeley staff and consultants. It is not incorporated. The organization’s fiscal agent is CESC, a nonprofit that partners with PG&E and other entities and was created by the city. Its board of directors is the Energy Commission, selected by the councilmembers and mayor. Commissioners (and therefore board members) serve at the pleasure of appointing councilmembers. 

The new interim executive director of Sustainable Berkeley is Catherine Squire, who moved from the Sustainable Berkeley executive committee into the position of interim executive director. She is a recent employee in the city’s energy division. While affirming that the position is salaried, Joel Kreisberg, Sustainable Berkeley chair, declined to disclose Squire’s rate of pay. “Kate is working on a grant to make this thing go,” he said. 

Kreisberg is the executive director of Teleosis, which describes itself on its website as “A leadership training program guiding health professionals towards greater sustainability in their health care practice.”  

Writing the Measure G plan will no longer be under Sustainable Berkeley auspices because the organization is still “building its infrastructure and capacity,” Kreisberg said. 

One of the questions that the community and the Daily Planet had asked those involved with Sustainable Berkeley was about the degree to which the organization, most of whose meetings are closed to the public, would be transparent. The questions were raised because writing the plan to implement Measure G, authorized by council and funded by the city, would have been executed behind closed doors with staff hired without a search process. 

“We’d like to be transparent,” Kreisberg said. “We’re trying to get ourselves organized.” 

Sustainable Berkeley never got the $100,000 that was originally to have been directed toward it (through its fiscal agent) to write the plan. Still, the group hired Timothy Burroughs to begin work getting community input on the plan, the Daily Planet was told at the time. Since the contract was never executed, Burroughs has been doing other work with Sustainable Berkeley, Kreisberg said. 

Among the questions that had been raised was the appointment of Burroughs to the post without an open process. “Timothy Burroughs was hired by Sustainable Berkeley without a recruitment process since he is a nationally recognized expert in GHG [greenhouse gas] Reduction and the position is temporary through December 2007,” Kreisberg said in a letter to the Daily Planet published on March 16. 

The city will release a job description today (Friday) for a person who will execute the plan, Chakos said. The job description forwarded to the Planet is vague, however, saying that the six-month temporary position is for an “Associate Management Analyst” in the energy division. It says nothing about the candidate having special expertise in greenhouse gas reduction—or even about the need for training in environmental questions. 

The city’s new Public Information Officer Mary Kay Clunies-Ross told the Planet that according to City Manager Phil Kamlarz, it will not be necessary for the council to execute a new vote to have the $100,000 redirected to the new city position, rather than the Sustainable Berkeley position.  

“The council does not have to act separately,” she said. In April, staff will go to the council and inform them of the change, she said.

The Berkeley Board of Education voted to eliminate sixth grade from Berkeley Arts Magnet (BAM) Wednesday. BAM was the only elementary school in the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) that offered sixth grade to its students. 

A group of current and former parents of BAM students requested that the board not eliminate the sixth grade, saying that it provided a smoother transition to students specializing in the arts. 

“The sixth grade at BAM has several advantages,” said David Schweidel, a Berkeley resident. “The sixth graders often act as mentors to the younger children; they are a model of mastery. Also, many children are not ready to go on to the middle school level from fifth grade.” 

Diane Douglas, a parent who has had two sixth graders at BAM, said that the permanent loss of the sixth grade would not have a positive impact on the school. 

“BAM has been recognized several times for its various arts programs,” she said. “Careful consideration should be given before we dismantle some of these important programs and take away the sixth grade.” 

School Board Vice President John Selawsky told the group that the decision to eliminate the sixth grade from BAM was not something the district was doing “gladly or happily.” 

“It has been several years in the making. There has been a decline in the number of students picking the sixth grade at BAM over the last three or four years,” he said. “This is not something I relish doing.” 

According to a staff report, the number of students requesting the sixth grade at BAM has fallen from twenty-two (43 percent) in 2003 to six (12 percent) in 2007. The school had fifty-one fifth graders in 2003; the current number is 50. 

“There is need for the school to come together to look at what BAM is,” said School Board Director Karen Hemphill. “I would urge the parents to come together to look at what Arts Magnet would look like without a sixth grade and develop a curriculum. More of a community feeling would help the school evolve toward a successful future.” 

Superintendent Michele Lawrence said that students needed to have a variety of exposure at the sixth grade level. 

“When students are eleven years old they need exposure to different kinds of arts. It’s not in their best interest to choose a part of the program,” said assistant superintendent Neil Smith. 

Students who chose to stay at BAM for the sixth grade have been offered spaces at Longfellow or their respective zone middle school. 

Architect Approved for King CDC, FPN 

The board approved the hiring of WLC Architects—one of the four firms in Berkeley Unified’s architect pool—at a cost of $500,000 for remodeling the King Child Development Center (CDC) and Franklin Parent Nursery (FPN). 

Temporary classrooms throughout the district have been planned and staff have supported the idea, despite the fact that they will be displaced for over a year. 

The board also approved advertisements to solicit bids for the King dining equipment; modernization of the King Gym; heating, ventilation and air conditioning at Oxford and Berkeley Arts Magnet (BAM) Elementary schools and Jefferson kitchen phase II.  

The King Gym modernization project is part of BUSD’s Long Range Development Plan. The campus itself was recently remodeled for $20 million. 

Peanut Policy 

The board unanimously approved its policy on Peanuts/Nuts/Nut-Derivative Products in School Lunch Menus at Elementary, Middle Schools and High School. 

The new policy states that “there will be no nuts or nut-derivative products in any of the food items prepared or available in any form at the elementary school level. Nuts or nut-derivatives will not be used in menu items at middle or high school unless they are clearly labeled and students are informed of the ingredients in such dishes. Peanuts may be available in vending machines or sold as packaged, separate items.” 

Lawrence added that although peanut/ nut products would not be included in the school menus, parents whose children had nut allergies had to be educated about it for awareness outside school. 

Re-enrollment 

The board took a first look at a proposal to re-enroll Berkeley Unified students at the sixth and ninth grade levels. 

The recent board elections and the parcel tax campaign led to an increase in discussions about out-of-district students who enroll in Berkeley schools illegally. 

A committee comprising central office administrators and secondary level school staff met to address the logistics, implications, and feasibility of re-registering all or specific grade levels of students to give further verification of residency. 

“The current policy states that a student is returned to his/her district of residency if it is determined that the parent has submitted false information of residency. That’s pretty harsh and in practice not enforced,” said director Shirley Issel. 

“This is primarily because we like our kids and our inclination is to work with our kids. We should offer amnesty to those who are willing to ’fess up and provide them with ample opportunity to provide the correct information. As long as we have room in our schools, we want to welcome everybody.” 

Lawrence suggested that a change of policy would require extensive parent outreach which would need a minimum of a year. 

“We give careful consideration to each case. We do not follow up on anonymous phone calls. We are not the immigration office,” she said. 

“We consider the grade level and the time of the school year. To remove a student in the middle of the school year is outrageous. We then give the student a permit and evaluate their behavior. If attendance and grades are satisfactory they are automatically granted a chance to remain.” 

The board decided that more work was needed to improve the report and sent to the policy subcommittee for review. 

Grant approval 

The board approved the Adult Education Grant which consists of the Workforce Investment Act, Adult Education and Family Literacy funds. They also approved the participation in the NSF Grant on Teaching Energy in grade 4-8 Science, the 21st Century Grants ($1,245,000 per year for five years)—which provide funds for after-school programs—and the Neil Soto Grant ($7,500 per year for 2007-08 and 2008-09) which provides funds for parent/teacher involvement. 

Deferred Maintenance Plan 

The board voted to approve the Five-year Deferred Maintenance Plan in order to be eligible for deferred maintenance funds from the state. This year, slightly over $400,000 was allocated by the State and $400,000 was allocated from the Bond for the fund. Carryover funds also exist.

Student assignments are in. Parents suffering from sleepless nights and frenzied nerves over their toddler’s kindergarten placement were finally able to rest in peace when the last of the 560 school assignment letters were mailed out from Berkeley Unified’s Office of Admissions and Attendance earlier this month. 

Some, such as incoming Rosa Parks parent Lori Opal, were even able to enjoy a birthday party. “Everyone at the party was talking about their child’s kindergarten assignment. And not everyone was elated,” she told the Planet on Wednesday. 

“Some had gotten their second or third choices and that made me really nervous. I kept calling my husband to see if our mail had arrived. Thankfully I got the news that we had got Rosa Parks, our first choice. Everything was great after that.”  

Opal, like a lot of other parents, had chosen Rosa Parks because of its excellent Spanish Immersion Program.  

At a “coffee, tea and treats” get-together hosted by Rosa Parks PTA president Tracy Hollander on Sunday, incoming parents got to ask questions. 

“Sometimes non-Spanish speaking parents are concerned about the logistics of the Immersion Program. Talking to parents who have experienced that with their children in the past helps a lot,” Hollander said. 

She added that there were also parents who had not listed Rosa Parks as a first choice. 

“There are always disappointments, but the job of the PTA is to help parents get over those and to have as smooth a transition to kindergarten as possible.” 

Robin Gadient, parent of a kindergartner at Rosa Parks, had listed the school as a third choice last year. 

“We had wanted Thousand Oaks or Jefferson,” she said. “We don’t hang out in the area where Rosa Parks is located. But we were seventh on the waiting list for Thousand Oaks and way down on the list for Jefferson. That was definitely disappointing.” 

A year later, Gadient has no complaints. “Everything changed when we got to meet our child’s excellent kindergarten teacher, Tracy Iglehart. She’s an environmentalist and a literacy specialist,” she said. “I just love the vibrant and amazing community at Rosa Parks. I am glad I stayed on.” 

A small section of parents were not happy with their kindergarten assignment this year, said Francisco Martinez, manager of attendance and admissions for BUSD. 

“I have met with the families and heard their concerns. I have asked them to get in touch with the teachers and principals at the respective schools and to not make a decision based on urban myth,” he said.  

If families aren’t happy with their child’s placement then they can have the child’s name added to the waiting list of the school they desire. “If they don’t register their students in a school between April 10 and May 10,” he continued, “then their [original] assignments are taken away and they are given a chance from the waiting list” of the school they hope to enroll in. 

Thousand Oaks Elementary School—which has the most number of spaces with four classrooms—saw an enrollment of 72 students this year. Rosa Parks, which has three and a half classrooms, was assigned close to 70. 

Emerson, John Muir, Oxford and Jefferson—which have two classrooms per school—took in forty students each. 

The assignment system lets parents put their first, second and third school choices and then the computer runs a lottery to give the final placement. 

“The chances of getting a school out of your zone is very slim,” said BUSD spokesperson Mark Coplan. The lottery takes into account factors such as race, ethnicity, student background and parental income and education. 

“People often don’t want to put a certain school as their first choice. Ironically one of the biggest places we used to see that was Rosa Parks,” he said. 

“Rosa Parks was quite a distance away from where most families lived and it was falling behind state standards in the past. It has been a Program Improvement School for the last five years. But we have put huge resources into making it better and I am proud to say that more parents want to put their kids into Rosa Parks today.” 

Shana Rocklin, who had applied for the Immersion Program at Rosa Parks said that although there had been hesitancy about the history of the school, their doubts were cleared after extensive discussion with other parents. 

“My son is coming home speaking sentences in Spanish and we are learning from him as well,” she said excitedly. 

Hollander attributes the success of the school to its principal, Pat Saddler. “She is ‘Berkeley’s Best,’ and knows every child by name.” she said. “I could not be more happy with the education my first grader is receiving. It’s a positive learning environment for both the children and the community,” she said proudly.

Finally, the Berkeley Planning Commission has elected a new chair, though the last one still fumed that Wednesday’s election wasn’t needed. 

It was the panel’s third election in two months, and the man who provoked it all—David Stoloff—cast the sole dissenting vote against revoking the last election. The end result was the same, with the election of James Samuels and Larry Gurley as chair and vice-chair. 

The outcome leaves the developer-friendly five-member majority in charge, as demonstrated by the next vote, a measure that eases changes of use for Telegraph Avenue’s commercial properties and may spell the beginning of the end for Berkeley’s business quotas.  

The vote followed the five-four split that has pitted Samuels, Gurley, Susan Wengraf, Harry Pollack and Stoloff against Helen Burke, Roia Ferrazares, Gene Poschman and Mike Sheen. 

If Stoloff has his way, the action will be the first step in eliminating any quotas on the types of enterprises allowed in the city’s three business improvement districts. 

Dave Fogarty of the city’s Office of Economic Development, told commissioners that the Telegraph Avenue district was created in 1985 after state legislators voided the city’s commercial rent and eviction control ordinances, with the Telegraph Avenue quota system created effective January 1, 1988. 

While the first ordinance—a city-wide measure passed in 1978 which expired in 1980—was prompted by rent hikes that threatened the beloved Ozzie’s soda fountain in the Elmwood, the Telegraph Avenue measure was prompted by controversy over the pending demise of Espresso Roma, a very popular coffee house run by two students. 

Fogarty said the owners had done such a good job running the business—“they were making money hand over fist”—that the building owners had decided to force them out at the end of their lease and take over the business. 

While creation of the Telegraph Avenue ordinance in 1985 temporarily saved the business with its provision barring evictions for subsequent occupancy by a building’s owner, Fogarty said the landlord went to the Legislature and succeeded in winning passage of an ordinance striking down the law effective Jan. 1, 1988. 

The ban also ended rent control in  

the Elmwood district, which had  

been implemented three years before the Telegraph Avenue ordinance was passed. 

Quota history 

The Berkeley City Council responded by passing amendments creating a quota system for Telegraph Avenue businesses, the system that the commission modified Wednesday. 

Similar systems exist for the Elmwood, North Shattuck Avenue and Solano Avenue, and merchants on Euclid Street north of the UC Berkeley campus are asking for a similar quota program. 

The Telegraph Commercial District runs along the avenue from Parker Street to Bancroft Way, and along Durant Avenue to the Bowditch Street intersection and along Bancroft from just east of Dana Street to the Bowditch intersection. 

The existing code sets limits on the number of barber and beauty shops (10) and three types of eateries: carry-out service (19), quick serve (30) and full service (29), and limits the sizes of quick-serve restaurants to 1,500 square feet. While there is no quota number for gift and novelty shops, they are limited to 3,000 square feet. 

Some business types are over their quota numbers, either because they were grandfathered in when the law was created or because the Zoning Adjustments Board allowed use permits with variances. 

The two quota-busters are barber/ beauty shops, which total 11, and quick-serve restaurants, now numbering 43. 

Two quick-serve establishments have been added to Telegraph Avenue recently, a Peet’s coffee shop at the southeast corner of Dwight Way and a Smart Alec’s at the northwest corner of Durant Avenue. 

The existing law required the Zoning Adjustments Board find that variances were merited by unique physical circumstances of the property, Fogarty said, which could lead to somewhat laborious justifications. 

To award the variance to Peet’s, which wanted seating that would have been otherwise prohibited, the board found their way to granting a variance by declaring the use justified because it helped preserve a landmark building, and in the case of Smart Alec’s, the board held that the eatery would discourage drug dealers and other reprobates who congregated under the building’s overhang. 

Backed by Fogarty, Planning Manager Mark Rhoades and Telegraph Avenue Association Executive Director Roland Peterson, the revisions would dramatically ease the requirements for exceeding the numerical limits by requiring only that ZAB determine that the new use would “result in positive enhancement” to the district without causing parking and transportation problems that couldn’t be mitigated. 

Fast dollars 

Quick-serve restaurants are the most financially profitable uses on Telegraph for the city, said Fogarty, pointing to  

a staff report from his boss, Michael Caplan, showing that they generated annual taxable sales of $5,473  

per square foot, compared to $233 for  

full-service restaurants and $255  

for retailers. 

While total sales tax revenues on the Avenue have basically remained flat since 1990, once inflation is taken into account, the total has fallen in terms of 1990 dollars from $1.4 million a year to less than $1 million. 

In the two years between the third quarters of 2004 and 2006, the only significant rise in tax revenues has been from restaurants, followed by a lower increase from clothing stores. Retail in general has fallen.  

But Gene Poschman said he worried that making use changes easier would drive other retailers off the avenue. 

“Look at the five retailers. The question is, which one do we want to lose to a restaurant?” he said. “We should also look at the language being proposed” for the findings, he said, and suggested something might be adopted closer to what is required for variances in the Elmwood, where neighborhood residents’ and merchants’ support and marketing surveys are needed as justification, or other information that showed nearby residents would patronize the new businesses. 

“I don’t believe quotas serve any purpose,” said Stoloff, who said that the lack of any public speakers in opposition showed no support for continuing the ordinance in its present form.  

It was only after passing the proposal as written following the now typical 5-4 vote that Pollack and Wengraf indicated they might be willing to reconsider the findings. 

As a compromise, the board voted unanimously to hold more discussion on the findings at their only meeting in April—the board having voted to cancel their scheduled meeting on April 11 because many members will be out of town. 

Barring any more changes, the amendments will head back to the City Council, the source of impetus for the change. 

The one point of agreement was that the city could do little to halt chains that want to move in, especially when they fit an approved use. 

Rhoades cited the case of the application for something called “the Red Cafe, a very Berkeley-sounding name.” Soon after the approval, calls began coming in to report that deliveries to the store at 1600 Shattuck Ave. bore the dreaded Starbuck’s logo, and sure enough, it was a green logo, and not a red one, that ended up on the coffee shop. 

Wengraf, for one, doesn’t mind. “I find it to be a real asset to the community,” she said.  

Last election? 

Wednesday also witnessed what should be the commission’s third and final election for the year, though Stoloff remained adamant that none was needed. 

Stoloff, who had been elected chair last month in another 5-4 vote that denied then-Chair Helen Burke the customary second of two one-year terms usually handed to chairs, had resigned after the coup stirred bad feelings. 

Vice chair James Samuels had been elected to fill the post, and Gurley was elected vice chair, despite protests from Poschman and Mike Sheen that the meeting hadn’t been properly noticed. Though Planning Manager Mark Rhoades had sided with Stoloff, City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque later intervened, forcing another election Wednesday. 

Before the vote for what was a foregone conclusion, the commission first had to formally rescind the earlier vote. 

“Point of order,” declared Stoloff as Samuels called for a vote. “I don’t understand the action being suggested by the City Attorney and the reasons put forward.” He then recited from Robert’s Rules of Order, a document that doesn’t deal with the legal public notice requirements imposed on civic body elections by the California Open Meetings Act. 

“David, I think the City Attorney has ruled against your interpretation,” said Burke, who said the commission needed to vacate the earlier vote. 

“So I’m vacating my resignation, too?” he replied. 

“I really want to sympathize with David,” said Poschman, declaring that he found it odd to be agreeing with Albuquerque for once. 

Stoloff cast the only vote opposing the measure to rescind the earlier election, and following that vote, Samuels was again elected on a 6-0-3 vote, with Poschman, Sheen and Burke abstaining. 

Susan Wengraf nominated Gurley as vice chair, and called for the question before Roia Ferrazares could nominate Sheen. The vote went 5-4.

Over objections raised by the city’s police union, the City Council voted 8-0 at its meeting Tuesday to add its support to Assemblymember Mark Leno’s bill, AB1648, which would re-open police complaint procedures statewide. Councilmember Gordon Wozniak was absent. 

The council also approved sports fields at the Eastshore Park and heard a report saying the Oxford Plaza project is on track. 

Council supports open police hearings 

Complaint procedures were closed to the public in some jurisdictions and suspended completely in Berkeley after the state Supreme Court ruling in Copley Press v. San Diego led to the conclusion that police discipline is a personnel concern and therefore private. 

“Unlike all other public employees, the public is prevented by state law from learning about serious police misconduct and any discipline that came as a result of misconduct,” wrote Councilmember Laurie Capitelli, who introduced the resolution.  

“This prevents the public from learning about the extent to which problems exist within the Police Department [and] also from learning about how management addresses misconduct when it occurs,” Capitelli wrote. 

Addressing the council in favor of the item, Michael Diehl, chair of the city’s Mental Health Commission, said, “We need to protect the rights of those that are basically powerless.”  

Mark Schlosberg, police practices policy director for the Northern California American Civil Liberties Union and former PRC commissioner wrote in an e-mail to the Daily Planet: “Berkeley’s Police Review Commission is the longest continually functioning civilian review board in the country. The public should not be closed out of this important process.” 

Sports fields 

The council unanimously approved a sports complex 25-year lease from the East Bay Regional Parks District for sports fields that will be built on Eastshore Park land at the foot of Gilman Street. 

Berkeley is the lead agency in the five-city group that will lease the sports fields. Albany, El Cerrito, Emeryville and Richmond are also participating. The project is funded with $5 million in state grants and $2 million from an agreement with an outdoor billboard company. 

Last week hundreds of parents and their youngsters paraded through the council chambers calling for council support of the deal. 

Discussion of the project took place only after Councilmember Kriss Worthington pointed out that the council had just received the previous day the 149-page contract, not available when the council received its background reports the previous week and that council rules call for special council approvals before discussing late items. All councilmembers present voted to go forward with the item. 

Appeal for 2701 Shattuck Ave.  

The council voted unanimously to hold a hearing to appeal the Zoning Adjustments Board’s approval of a five-story project at 2701 Shattuck Ave.  

Before the hearing, however, Councilmember Max Anderson will work with the developer, Rev. Gordon Choyce and the project’s neighbors, who say the building will overshadow their residences. 

Oxford Plaza/Brower Center OK 

Housing Director Steve Barton gave a presentation to the council on the Oxford Plaza/Brower Center housing and environmental nonprofit complex slated for Oxford Street and Allston Way, saying that the project “has met the preconditions you set.” 

City Manager Phil Kamlarz added a caveat, saying, “There are still a few loose ends.” 

Mayor Tom Bates commented that the project, which has taken some seven years to get all the various funding and approvals needed, is “the most complicated project in the history of the city.”

AC Transit bus riders and drivers seeking to halt the Transit District’s purchase of more Van Hool buses got a distinctly chillier reception this week from the Metropolitan Transit Commission than they did when they first brought the issue to the MTC earlier this month. 

San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano, who two weeks ago expressed concern over the purchase, said Wednesday “it sounds like AC Transit is taking the complaints seriously. Any effort the district makes to improve the situation, I will appreciate, and I will be satisfied.” 

And Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty, who had earlier said that he was not in favor of purchasing from the Belgian-based Van Hool when there was an American bus manufacturer—Gillig—headquarterd in Hayward, sharply lectured the AC Transit dissenters that their proper forum was not the MTC, but the AC Transit Board of Directors. 

“We don’t control the bus routes, and we don’t control AC Transit,” Haggerty said. “I hope these people are as engaged with the AC Transit Board as they are with us. That’s where the decisions are made. Those are your elected representatives. Because AC Transit is in the district I represent, I almost feel like I have to apologize to my fellowing commissioners for having to deal with issues that should properly be before AC Transit.” 

That was a far cry from the March 2 MTC meeting, when Van Hool dissenters said they were surprised by the favorable commission reception to their concerns. 

“The commissioners chickened out,” Oakland architect and citizen activist Joyce Roy said following the meeting. Roy is one of the leaders of the ad hoc group protesting the Van Hool purchase. 

After the March 2 meeting, MTC commissioners put the AC Transit bus purchase on Wednesday’s agenda so that the transit district could have the opportunity to respond in writing to the complaints. 

AC Transit has already signed a contract with the Belgian-based Van Hool company to purchase 50 new 40-foot buses and last week the AC Transit Board of Directors approved a staff request to trade in 10 of the district’s currently operating buses five years ahead of their scheduled retirement date in order to purchase 10 more Van Hools. The new buses, which will be modified versions of the 40-foot Van Hools currently operated by AC Transit, are still being built in prototype. 

Because of a complicated funding formula for the buses involving switching federal and local money, the purchase must be approved by the Metropolitan Transit Commission. 

The MTC plans and coordinates transit policy in nine counties surrounding the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as funnelling state and federal money to the transit districts within their area. The 19-member governing commission is made up of members representing various governing bodies within the nine county area. Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty represents Alameda County and serves as vice chair. Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates represents the cities of Alameda County. 

A small group of AC Transit riders—many of them elderly or disabled—and company drivers are seeking to stop the Van Hool purchase, saying that the current Van Hools are unacceptable, and the improvements in the newly designed buses will not make them much better. 

This week, AC Transit General Manager Rick Fernandez wrote the MTC saying that the concerns over the Van Hools expressed at the MTC meeting earlier this month “have been expressed by most of these same people to the AC Transit Board of Directors and to AC Transit staff. As a result of these complaints and more than four years of experience in operating these buses, modifications in the design of the buses have been made that address the specific complaints made before your commission.” 

Fernandez listed what he said were five design modifications in the new Van Hool purchase that will address rider and driver complaints, including having fewer seats that require a step-up from the floor platform, widening the front door entry “by several inches,” adding grab handles and handholds for passengers who have to stand, and adding more stop-request buttons. 

The AC Transit General Manager listed rear-facing seats in its list of design modifications, but from Fernandez’ letter, the district does not appear to have made any modifications to the several seats in the Van Hools that face away from the direction the buses are traveling, with some in a four-seat cluster that face each other. Instead, Fernandez wrote that “it is true some passengers do no like rear-facing seats; it is also true that there are many who do like them. These seats allow us to maximize the seating on the bus. Facing seats are liked by many people, especially those traveling in groups, especially parents with small children.” 

AC Transit officials maintain that the Van Hool buses are generally liked by AC Transit riders. 

And Jaimie Levin, AC Transit Director of Marketing and Alternative Fuels Policy, told commissioners that “we put a tremendous amount of work into the Van Hool buses. These are the best buses AC Transit has purchased in its history. We do not bury our heads in the sand. We’ve heard the issues raised. And future buses will have more of these issues addressed.” 

At Wednesday’s meeting, AC Transit made two of the existing Van Hools available outside the MTC headquarters near the Lake Merritt BART station in Oakland for Commissioners to inspect. But during her testimony before the Commission, Roy complained that “somehow AC Transit managed not to bring their low-floor [American-made] NABI buses, which we think are good, so that you can see the difference.” Roy added that better buses than the European-made Van Hools are available from American manufacturers. “American-made buses are what the European bus makers are copying,” she said. “We are the leaders.” 

Roy said her loosely-organized group would continue to monitor and oppose the Van Hool purchase.

With no opposition and support from the Oakland Police Department and the offices of Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and Oakland City Council Public Safety Chairperson Larry Reid, the California State Senate Public Safety Committee unanimously approved this week a bill that would reinstate the 30-day confiscation of cars who police say are involved in Oakland sideshows. 

One committee member, Sen. Gilbert Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) said that the penalties should be more severe. Citing the fact that police can currently impound a car for 30 days if it is driven by an illegal immigrant, Cedillo said, “I’m not sure 30 days is appropriate for the sort of offenses described” in Perata’s sideshow car impoundment bill. “Maybe it should be a total seizure.” 

While some Oakland activists and public officials have expressed opposition to the sideshow car seizure law, none came to the Senate Public Safety Committee hearing to express it. Perata’s office has said that they have received no correspondence in opposition to the bill. 

Existing California law allows California police to seize the cars driven in a “motor vehicle speed contest” and hold them for 30 days, without a hearing and solely on the word of the police officer that the car was involved in a street race, with the registered owner of the vehicle responsible for the towing and storage fees. 

The car owners can challenge the seizure and get their cars back early and without charges if they can prove they were not responsible for the car being in the street race, when the hearings are held before hearing officers who are employees of the cities who confiscated the cars, rather than before state-paid judges in civil or criminal courts. 

In 2002, under a bill sponsored by State Senator Don Perata (D-Oakland), the 30-day car impoundment law was expanded to include “reckless driving on a highway” and “reckless driving in an offstreet parking lot,” offenses which both Perata and Oakland police and city officials said was designed to apply to Oakland’s illegal street sideshows. 

Perata’s 2002 bill had a five-year “sunset” provision attached, with Oakland officials required to come back to the Legislature during the 2006 session to justify its continued use if they wanted it to be extended beyond the scheduled January 1, 2007 ending date for its application to sideshow activities. But both Oakland officials and Senator Perata’s office failed to renew the sideshow car confiscation provisions in 2006, and they lapsed. In January, Perata introduced new legislation, SB67, to renew the provisions, asking that the law be reinstated on an “urgency basis” “in order to protect the public from the consequences of reckless driving on a highway or in an off-street parking facility and exhibitions of speed on a highway at the earliest possible time.” 

Because the bill is being moved on an expedited urgency basis, a two-thirds vote is required for passage in both the Senate and the Assembly. 

On Tuesday, OPD Captain David Kozicki, who oversaw Oakland’s sideshow crackdown for most of its years, told Senate Public Safety Committee members that the renewal of the law was necessary as a deterrent. “The law hasn’t been used that much in Oakland,” Kozicki said. “Maybe 25 times since it was passed. But people know that the law is there, and that stops many of them from participating in sideshows in Oakland.” While Kozicki said that the sideshow problem “hasn’t been significant in Oakland lately,” he cited an incident a week ago in Oakland where he witnessed a driver “spinning his car in the intersection of Foothill and Seminary while he was standing on the running board steering and the passenger was stepping on the gas. A small group of people were on the sidewalk, watching.” Kozicki said that the van had already been impounded by Oakland police a week before that, but police could not hold the vehicle because the sideshow car seizure law had expired. “We could have taken the vehicle off the street if the law had been in effect,” Kozicki said. 

Jennifer Thompson, who said she was appearing on behalf of the administration of Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, said in a brief, one-line statement that Dellums supported SB67 “because he believes it has a great deterrent effect.” 

Also speaking in behalf of Perata’s SB67 was 2002 Skyline High School graduate Sean Conner, former student body president at Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka, Alaska, who said that although he was away at college he was aware of the sideshow problem in Oakland, linking sideshows to drug use and sexual assaults. “Homicides have resulted, as well.” 

Oakland City Council Public Safety Chairperson Larry Reid, a vocal opponent of sideshows and a supporter of Perata’s original 2002 bill, was represented at the hearing by his chief of staff, who read a letter from Reid urging senators to pass the renewal bill. 

The bill now goes to the Senate Appropriations Committee, where it is scheduled for an April 16 hearing. If passed, the bill will go to the full Senate and then to the Assembly

NEW YORK—The recent scandal involving the firing of eight U.S. attorneys by U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has yielded mostly silence from the country’s pre-eminent Latino organizations. 

Gonzales is the first Latino Attorney General in U.S. history and many of those same Latino organizations heavily endorsed him when he was up for confirmation. 

The silence among the mostly Washington, D.C.-based organizations contrasts strikingly with testimony in Senate hearings, press conferences and other public statements in support of Gonzales when he was nominated by President Bush in 2005. 

“We have not taken a public position on the firing controversy,” said Lisa Navarrete, vice president of the Office of Public Information at the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the largest Latino advocacy group in the country.  

But during his confirmation hearings, NCLR President and CEO Janet Murguía wrote in a letter to then Senate Judiciary Chair Arlen Specter: “Not only is Judge Gonzales a compelling American success story, it is also clear that few candidates for this post have been as well qualified.” 

During the same hearing, Ray Velarde, then national legal advisor to the League of United Latin American Citizens, one of the oldest Latino civil rights organizations in the country, stated that, “there is no question that he (Gonzales) is as eminently qualified, balanced and principled a nominee as the Senate is likely to see.” 

But when contacted this week, Lizette Olmos, communications director with the League said that her organization had, “not taken a position on the [controversy], but will discuss it at a board meeting.”  

Dallin Lykins, communications specialist with the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which represents more than two million Latino-owned businesses in the United States, said, “At this time we really don’t have comments to make about that issue.”  

During his confirmation hearings, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s then-president and CEO, Armando Ojeda, praised Gonzales as an “inspirational example of what is possible to achieve in this great country.”  

During the recent controversy, the Chamber released a statement asking Congress not to rush to the judgment of Gonzales, praising him for “his patriotic and devout service to justice, legal equality and the administration of our laws.” Calls to the Latino Coalition, a conservative Latino civil rights organization, went without response as did calls to the National Hispanic Bar Association. 

The silence on the part of major Latino organizations with regard to Gonzales’ scandal is a “sad comment on national Latino leadership,” says Antonio Gonzalez, President of the William C. Velásquez Institute, a research and public policy organization focusing on Latino leadership.  

The Institute has come out in support of further investigation into the recent allegations around the firing of the prosecutors. “We have to have a standard that applies to Latinos and non-Latinos, one that’s rooted in ideals like constitutionality, justice, equality and freedom. If, in fact, these allegations are true, then he needs to resign,” says Gonzalez, whose organization remained neutral on the Attorney General nomination because of “concerns about the allegations involving the (legal) facilitation of torture.”  

The one national Latino organization that didn’t support Alberto Gonzales before or after the current controversy, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, was unavailable for official response. 

“We can’t just celebrate the good times,” Gonzalez says. “We also have to be willing to speak when things are bad.” Despite the lack of response from Latino leaders around the calls for the Attorney General’s resignation, Gonzalez of the Velázquez Institute believes that it’s not too late. “I call on my colleagues to take a position. They need to take their heads out of the sand. I’m confident that they eventually will.”

There is a special force that appears from time to time and steers imminent harm or danger away from me, like a proverbial guardian angel. I’ve never seen this force, and I cannot count on it coming, but it has happened too often for me to ignore it.  

Even though some people imagine that the force is visible—with embroidered wings and a soft touch—I can only see its presence in the effect it has. The force seems to reveal itself at the moment it acts, and then it instantly disappears. It’s certainly tempting to attribute it to magic or supernatural powers.  

Many cultures and religious traditions have their own “savior,” which can serve as defender, protector, guide. In German folklore, the mountain spirit Rübezahl keeps children lost in the woods safe from harm. Robin Hood, Zorro, and the Lone Ranger represent such a protective being, though not a supernatural one. Caped superheroes serve a similar function in popular culture, along with teenaged wizards. Today’s larger-than-life wizards—high profile, high tech, and comfortable with high finance—may appear as Bill and Melinda Gates or Oprah. Other “angels,” from Doctors without Borders to rescue dogs, wear any sort of attire. 

Biblical stories are replete with the notion of angels. It seems that in the distant past the Lord made appearances and discussed things with humans, much more frequently than is now the case. The child Moses was tested by Pharaoh’s magicians. His life was spared when he chose red hot coals over gold—guided, so the story goes, by a guardian angel. When Abraham was ordered by God to sacrifice his son Isaac, an angel intervened. And there are plenty of stories where a religious symbol protects the wearer from a bullet or some other assault, thereby contributing to a supernatural expectation.  

Many of us have had health scares that we’ve managed to survive (until, of course, we don’t). Some of us have had frightening experiences while flying. Most of us have also had at least one close call when driving. Once I was riding in a car when the driver dozed off just before a sharp curve in the Berkeley hills. I felt the wheels losing ground, and we faced the prospect of a freefall into a deep ravine. Suddenly the driver woke up, in time to sharply turn the wheel. We seemed to float over the canyon for a moment and then all the wheels hit the ground. To me it was clear that an extraordinary force—a guardian angel, if you will—prompted the driver to make the correction when it was critical.  

As a child growing up in the foothills of the Carpathian mountains during World War II, I was personally rescued on more than one occasion. Because of the resourcefulness of my mother, we arrived five minutes late for the transport that was to take us to the concentration camp. The German officer in charge of the train depot was apparently so indignant we were late that he forbade us to board the train. He ordered us to pay the Romanian bus driver for gasoline and to ride the same bus home. 

Near the end of the war, neighbors gathered in a cellar hideout, justifiably fearful. We sat there in total darkness silently clutching our belongings and each other. Heavy boots approached. The trap door to the basement opened. Two German soldiers in combat uniform, holding submachine guns and flashlights, came down the steps. They were very young with pale pink cheeks. I sensed a catastrophe only a trigger finger away. Even the babies seemed to know the danger and kept quiet. The soldiers could easily have shot us all, and it would have been just another nameless incident, but they pushed the trap door open and left. No one said a word until first light when, dazed, we all climbed out of the cellar.  

I have not forgotten those two young soldiers, and I will never know exactly what happened that night, why we survived.  

Some might say that a supernatural entity comes to the rescue. A more mundane explanation is the well-known fight-or-flight response. When something threatens or attacks, we call forth a strength, a certain agility that we didn’t know we possessed—and don’t, except in an emergency. Every muscle, every function of the body is mobilized and synchronized, and we’re capable of feats unimaginable without that added thrust. We can reach a little higher, run a little faster, shout a little louder than we had previously thought possible.  

It may be more satisfying to have been rescued by a special being with ornate wings than to be saved through a physiological process. But whether we are rescued as a result of prayer or meditation, by intense psychic concentration, purely by chance, or by mustering all our resources, it is reassuring to know that we possess a power that can be called forth to provide a protective shield, defy the odds, do the “impossible.”  

I myself have benefited from the actions of a “guardian angel” more than my share, and for that I am grateful. When any of us has a close call and then gets a reprieve, it compels at least a moment of thankfulness, an assessment of priorities, a peek into our “soul.”

Monday’s big news was that Apple might finally be making the Beatles music the company has purchased available to iPod users. Speculation was that there would even be a “Yellow Submarine” iPod which would come pre-loaded with Beatles tunes. This all sounds like a successful money-making plan, but I’d like to give Apple, absolutely free of charge, some marketing advice which they’re going to need if they go ahead. 

We’ve owned not one but two iPods for at least two years. One was a gift, the other we purchased. One member of the household has a Ph.D. in computer science and had a long successful career in the software industry. The other one once passed the California Bar exam (admittedly a few years ago) and also worked in a high-tech business. But it’s taken us all this time to get the durn devices loaded with a few “songs” (Apple-speak for music of all kinds) and “podcasts” (Apple-speak for, among other things, recorded radio programs). Why? There are a lot of reasons, being too busy high on the list, but number one is a common trial of modern life: small print. 

Small print? Yes. In order to get the gadgets working, there’s a point at which you have to register the serial number on the portable device (about as long as my index finger and as wide as my thumb) over the Internet via your desktop computer. We won’t ask what Apple does with this information, which is probably nothing good. But it turns out that the serial number is engraved, in mini-micro-print, on the shiny metal plate on the back, completely impossible to read with my naked eye and also long enough that it’s hard to remember if I could read it.  

Each of us over the two years has started the installation, gotten to the place where one must find and type the serial number, and given up because we absolutely could not see it, even with the aid of our excellent reading glasses. We don’t have unusually bad eyesight, just the usual middle-aged pattern of needing first off-the-shelf readers and ultimately more powerful ones from the optometrist. 

We finally achieved our goal over the weekend by using a very bright light and a powerful magnifying glass in addition to glasses—one person squinted at the number and read it aloud while the other typed it in. Such contortions should not be necessary. 

Here’s some news for the Apple marketeers: many, many Beatle fans are now over 40. This is not just the original generation which we’re a part of. It includes many of our children, who grew up singing “Yellow Submarine.” You know you’re getting on in years when even your kids need reading glasses, but it’s a reality. They’re just going to have to make those serial numbers much much bigger for all of us. 

The teeny-weeny print problem is not just Apple’s, to be fair, and it’s not just the deliberately deceptive small print in airline ads and on credit cart applications. I got some over-the-counter generic ear drops recommended by my doctor, and the only word I can read on the label, even with my glasses on, is WARNING. Since I can’t figure out what I’m being warned about, I haven’t used them yet.  

There’s a bigger marketing lesson here too, a demographic primer. When the baby boom generation was young, mass marketeers assumed that their biggest efforts should be directed at the 18-35 market segment. But the elephant is moving through the python, so to speak, and now the big bulge is soon to be over 60, if it’s not there already.  

People who were youthful fans of the super-loud have gone on to become jazz aficionados, even when they still like the Beatles. What a friend’s father used to call “tootsie shoes” are yielding shelf space to two-inch heels and walking shoes in many successful stores. The alternative papers of the ’60s and ’70s became entertainment weeklies in the ’80s and ’90s, subsisting on ads for night clubs and sex, and now the chains which swallowed them are losing money as the old boomers stay home and watch videos or go to exercise classes.  

Since this is the editorial page and not the business or lifestyle section, a few political morals should be drawn here as well. It’s apparent that many of our leaders, for better or worse, are getting older: just look at the Berkeley and Oakland mayors, though not of course San Francisco’s. Right now the brightest star in the Washington firmament is Grandma Nancy, who was born before the baby boom took hold. This phenomenon would argue against Barack Obama’s staying in the presidential race until the bitter end. It’s true that John Kennedy was even younger, but he was riding the crest of the boom, and he made a few youthful mistakes before his tragic end. Obama’s time will certainly come, but perhaps not yet. 

On the other hand many aging boomers still cherish the image of their youthful selves, which might draw them into the Obama camp, since he’s the youngest candidate. Many boomer liberals also believe that the signal accomplishment of their generation was the end of government-enforced segregation, if not of racism, which gives Obama traction as the sentimental favorite for those who would really like to see an African-American, even a non-traditional one, as president. 

Older boomer-generation Democrats who are pulling out of the pack include John Edwards, about 54, and Hillary Clinton, about 60. Each has pluses and minuses, but both are in the big demographic pool along with George W. Bush. Of the Republicans who have been discussed as candidates, Mitt Romney is about the same age as Hillary, Rudy Guiliani is four years older. It looks like John McCain might be out of the picture, but in any event he’s considerably older than the boomers at 71 or so.  

There’s still one Democrat who might be able to have it all. That’s Al Gore, who’s managed to capture the one issue which has gotten the attention of today’s young, global climate change, while still maintaining credibility with his own numerous generation. He continues to say that he’s not running, but if the others end up cancelling each other out, he might just make himself available. 

Well, it’s “whither journalism” time again. Straws in the wind: Thursday’s Chronicle, with the top story, over the fold, complete with big picture, about our friend Jane Stillwater, whose comments sometimes appear in these pages. Jane’s off to Iraq, trying to get herself embedded in an army unit, and her saga will undoubtedly be reported in exquisite detail on her blog, as are other events in her never-dull daily life. The jump headline says it all: “64-YEAR-OLD BERKELEY BLOGGER OFF FOR IRAQ.” This story has everything: “elderly party still full of beans,” “beloved-tho-quirky Berzerkly hasn’t changed,” “elderly newspaper HAS changed: now it reads blogs” and “foreign news is OK if it has a local angle.” More power to Jane for capturing the zeitgeist, perhaps finally getting the attention of anyone who doesn’t already know that there’s a mess over there. Maybe a 64-year-old Berkeley blogger can clean it all up. Or if not, at least it makes entertaining copy for the Comical. 

And on the back page of the Chron’s diminished Datebook section, often transplanted inside to make way for a big ad, Jon Carroll and Leah Garchik, two intelligent and thoughtful people, try to hang in there. On Tuesday Garchik inserted a poignant reflection on the Iraq insanity into what is supposed to be a gossip column. On Thursday Carroll abandoned his recent jolly-grampa posture for an incisive reminder that even when Bush is gone the damage he’s done will linger. Both of them deserve thanks and praise for keeping their eyes on the prize in difficult circumstances. It’s not that readers don’t enjoy chit-chat and schmalz occasionally, but it’s too bad that these have become the staple offerings in the only big paper in the Bay Area not controlled by Media News. 

Plus ça change, plus la même chose. The more things change, the more they’re the same. That staple proverb, remembered from the dictation exercises in my high school French class, never leaves my mind. (In fact, when I Googled it to get the accents right, one of the first hits was one of my own editorials of a couple of years ago.) That’s what Carroll’s column was exploring: even if Bush goes, will anything change? 

And the corollary question du jour is whether print newspapers make a difference anymore. Does telling people the truth make them free?  

We recently had a visit from a bright young cousin, the object of a bidding war among top graduate chemistry programs around the country and also politically admirable (she runs a soup kitchen for homeless people in her spare time). She’s been in school in St. Louis, the home of what was once one of the great papers, the Post-Dispatch. We asked what paper she reads. Well, she said, she’s busy, but she occasionally skims the New York Times on the web. That’s it.  

And no, she wouldn’t read a print paper more often if it featured ever-larger pictures of celebrities and more human interest stories on the front page. Intelligent young people like her are not looking for dumbed-down papers, contrary to urban legends, nor do they watch much broadcast television. If anything, she said, the reason she avoids the local metro daily is because of how much junk and how many ads she’d have to wade through to find the tiny bit of news still left. 

Markets are not always as wise as some economists would have you believe, but they’re speaking clearly now on what’s happening to newspapers. According to a Bloomberg report yesterday, a rich developer’s recent takeover bid to buy the Tribune Company (owner of the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times) shows that investors’ view of the value of newspaper shares is dropping. The buyout offer on the table for Tribune is equal to 9.2 times the company’s 2006 earnings, while newspaper companies sold for 11.5 times to 13.5 times earnings between 1995 and 2005. Mind you, that’s not a bad return on investment, but it’s down. Still, we should be so lucky.  

Share prices of course tell us nothing about whether the truth will make us free. It’s the Joshua question that matters: If we sound the trumpet, will the walls come tumbling down? Recently the media in all its manifestations has been trying harder to sound the trumpet about the disasters now besetting this nation, but the Washington Follies continue. 

Here at the Planet we continue to sound the truth trumpet as often as we can. We’re proud that we’ve been the first paper to report on many significant stories which were then copied by big media: the push to build casinos on the Richmond shore, concealed toxic threats on building sites, plans to sell off Oakland School District property to developers, the secret sweetheart settlement of the city of Berkeley’s lawsuit against UC, the downside of the university’s deal with British Petroleum and more. We’ve reported the local stories too, like the recent attempts by Berkeley’s Mayor Bates and Councilmember Capitelli to purge dissident commissioners. (That one has stalled for now, but the targets shouldn’t be complacent.) 

What’s sometimes discouraging is what doesn’t change, despite exposure. When the latest crusade against street beggars was announced at City Hall, a friend unearthed the clippings from the previous round, now 13 years ago, including a handsome full-page ad which ran in the newspapers, back in the bad old days before the Planet when you had to pay money to express your opinion. Signers warned that the city of Berkeley’s proposed course of action was unconstitutional, but Then-and-Now City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque forged ahead at taxpayers’ enormous expense until a federal judge set her straight. And now she and Mayor Bates want to do it all over again. When will they ever learn? Will having a free public forum make a difference? One would hope so, but probably not. 

Many in the Berkeley Bubble still manage to ignore the news, even when the Planet presents it to them on a silver platter absolutely free of charge. Citizens caught up in one of the now-inevitable struggles with a Berkeley city administration in thrall to developers always seem shocked to learn that it’s happened before. Case in point: The Fantasy tenants, intelligent persons all, appeared not to know that the West Berkeley Plan, designed to protect people like them, is under siege, and that it’s the city that leading the charge.  

Coming up on Sunday is the fourth anniversary of this endeavor. Every year at this time a variant of J. Alfred Prufrock’s question comes to mind: Will it have been worth it after all? If the clever young no longer read newspapers, do they still read T.S. Eliot? Late in life, he described what we’ve tried to do here: 

...Trying to use words, and every attempt 

Is a wholly new start, and a different kind of failure 

Because one has only learnt to get the better of words 

For the thing one no longer has to say, or the way in which 

One is no longer disposed to say it. And so each venture 

Is a new beginning, a raid on the inarticulate 

With shabby equipment always deteriorating... 

Have we accomplished anything? Have any walls come tumbling down? Who knows? Eliot’s answer:  

For us, there is only the trying. 

BERKELEY ARTS MAGNET 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It was sad to see the Berkeley Unified School District crash and burn the arts program at Berkeley Arts Magnet (BAM). As an East Coast native, it truly shocked me to see that BUSD integrates sixth graders with the middle school system. This is may be a cliche, but cliches are born for a reason—middle school is where all the bad stuff starts gaining traction. I never saw a cigarette or a bottle of booze until I started attending seventh grade in New York. The alley behind the school was full of my former elementary school classmates and I was thinking, “Huh? When did that start up?” When I asked the previous principal why BAM had a sixth grade she said, “When I talk to sixth grade teachers at King about recess, they say the kids just hang out. At BAM they still play. They are also at an age where they want to and can mentor younger children. They put on shows—Halloween haunted houses etc. It’s great!” So, on that level, BUSD has made an error by consolidating sixth graders with teen/preteens. 

On the next level, as BUSD chases state and federal money by score grubbing, kids that otherwise would have had a concentrated outlet for creativity, now have to march in order like BORG androids to the bare minimal curriculum. I hate to say this, but when I look at my daughter’s kindergarten class activities it looks pretty boring to me. Let’s not get into why my kindergartener has to be at a level of achievement that would have sufficed for first grade 20 years ago... 

Not all of us want to be software engineers and lawyers when we grow up. I had an extensive music and arts education in elementary school up to sixth grade and beyond. It didn’t make me a flakey artist. I work at a successful start-up in the Silicon Valley where, ironically, creativity and good design is essential to good software. Well-rounded people usually make productive, well-adjusted people—a fact that George Bush, the Feds, the state and now BUSD just don’t get. The decision was made to make BUSD and its bureaucrats’ lives easier, not to make a better school. The sixth grade BAM arts program was one of the main reasons why I chose this school for my daughter. Now what do we call this place? BAM, Berkeley Arts Magnet? I guess it’s back to the future with Whittier.  

Justin Lee 

• 

SUNSHINE IN BERKELEY? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Could it be that Berkeley, bestowed with a reputation of progressivism and democracy, has a governing body, the City Council, which does not encourage open government? How else can we explain holding the March 20 Sunshine Ordinance Workshop with only 20 minutes for Public Comment and at 5 p.m. when most working people could not attend? There also were not sufficient copies for members of the public of materials given by panel speakers to councilmembers. Furthermore, unbeknownst to most, the matter was continued for action to that evening’s City Council meeting and addressed last around 10 p.m. when no more than a half dozen members of the public remained in the council chambers.  

The capping climax was Mayor Bates’ failure to call for Public Comment on the Sunshine Ordinance item before recognizing a councilmember’s motion. This flagrant violation of the Brown Act, which mandates Public Comment before or during discussion of an agenda item, was called to the mayor’s attention. Then three members of the public were allowed to speak before action was taken to refer the Sunshine Ordinance item to the mayor and city manager to submit recommendations to proceed on April 24.  

Mark this council date on your calendar and attend the council meeting to call for a truly open government Sunshine Ordinance! 

Gene Bernardi 

• 

SCHOOL VOLUNTEERS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Berkeley School Volunteers would like to thank you for your front-page coverage of the 14th annual (Drop Everything and Read Day (DEAR) in your March 16 edition. The event was a huge success, with 165 volunteers reading to over 3,600 students in Berkeley’s public elementary and preschools. There are many groups we would like to thank who participated including Bayer Healthcare, Berkeley Rotary, Berkeley Public Library, the City of Berkeley, the Berkeley Police and Fire Departments, and the University of California, Berkeley. We have had overwhelmingly positive feedback from the teachers, readers, and the community at large. Many people have asked if there are other ways they can be involved as volunteers in the schools. The answer is yes! We have a wide array of volunteer opportunities in every grade level from preschool through high school. Our volunteers work in a variety of settings: classrooms, after-school programs, playgrounds, and even school gardens. For more information, please call our office at 644-8833, e-mail us at bsv@berkeley.k12.ca.us, or visit our website, www.bpef-online.org. On the website you will also find information about the Berkeley Public Education Foundation, which provides financial support for Berkeley School Volunteers and works in partnership with the BUSD on many other initiatives to support our schools. 

Thank you again, and we look forward to bringing the Berkeley community closer to our schools. 

Michelle Khazai,  

Director, Berkeley School Volunteers 

• 

TRANSIT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

While reading my paper aboard one of AC Transit’s fine old NABI buses, I had a transit-oriented epiphany. It was set off by the Planet’s articles about the Trans-Bay Ferry and about AC Transit buying more Van Hool buses. My epiphany was to realize that public policy favors toys, not transit. We buy big beautiful Belgian buses and fast ferries, but have little concern for the comfort, convenience and security of current bus riders, or for making more bus riders out of car drivers. MTC makes policy based on counting the movement of cars, not people. The ferry plans call for a large waterfront parking lot. We know that cars cause greenhouse gas, yet we let policy promote cars. When I think of the ferry, I see cold-started engines spreading fumes over the bay, and the warming sea rising to cover the bayside parking lot. We really don’t need that ferry if it’s for car drivers. We have an opportunity to follow other great cities and put Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) on Telegraph Avenue, but a lot of us don’t see the BRT moving people; instead we see street parking being removed and car traffic diverted into neighborhoods. By getting 60 cars off the road per BRT busload, we’d eliminate a lot of greenhouse gas. We really need the BRT, not more parking. As I emerged from my epiphany, I saw great transportation elements for the Berkeley Downtown Area Plan: 

• Discourage downtown workers from parking all day; put priority on short-term parking (as TDM study recommended back in 2000). 

• Establish a city-run agency to help businesses provide transit passes to employees. 

• Deploy the BRT on Telegraph; give it priority over car traffic so that people will flock to ride it instead of drive. 

• Encourage specialized shuttle services, like the Alta Bates bus, between major employment centers and BART stations. 

• Set up incentives for car-free leases of downtown apartments. 

• Encourage parking for car-share close to apartment buildings. 

• Encourage the Trans-Bay Ferry, but board it from a bus stop, not a parking lot. 

Steve Geller 

• 

SMOKING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Smokers are still lighting up in public spaces including bus stops, rehab centers and sidewalks, which makes me think that non-smokers don’t have the right to enjoy living a healthy life. I believe we are capable of restraining this unmindful act of hurting others by making the air everyone breathes more toxic. We need air without any extra carbon monoxide and nicotine added in, especially in public areas frequented by old and infirm neighbors. Who would want non-smokers to suffer from asthma simply because they spend hours waiting for buses at bus stops where smokers gather? What steps can city, county or state government take to protect non-smokers from second hand smoke?  

Can we keep the cigarette business from flourishing in residential areas or close to the dorms of college students? I urge health policy administrators to look to this public problem. 

Romila Khanna 

• 

CELL PHONES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The time has come. No putting it off. To preserve my sanity, or what’s left of it, I’m looking into one of those anger management classes we hear so much about of late. What, you may ask, is the reason for my anger? I can sum it up in two words: cell phones. Or, put more succinctly, “those damn cell phones!” 

I believe I can state in all honesty, that I’ve always had a fairly even temperament. No built-up resentment, no flying off the handle, definitely no road rage. One might even say I possess a decidedly sunny nature. But in recent years all that has changed. All because of cell phones. I often question just why it is that I harbor such ill feelings for this innocent, non-threatening object that has now become an accepted part of our society. I can only rationalize that my hostility comes from the fact that I’m up to here with people all around me spouting off, at the top of their lungs, matters in which I have absolutely no interest. Sitting on Bart or AC Transit, I really don’t need to hear about peoples’ love lives, their financial problems, their in-laws, their hiatus hernias, or their political views. When dining in a restaurant, I don’t appreciate a man sitting at the next table dictating a memo to his secretary. Walking down the street, I do a slow burn when the blonde bimbo behind me describes in great detail a fight she had with her boyfriend. Needless to say, drivers who talk on their cell phones when making a left turn at a busy intersection during rush hours should be lined up at dawn before a firing squad! 

Lately, while strolling through the UC campus, I’ve been doing a count of students talking into their beloved cell phones and iPods. Talk, talk, talk—that’s all they do. The thought occurs to me, will the next generation enter this world with cell phone appendages to their ears? And I feel a sense of sadness. Why this great need for incessant talking? Don’t people think anymore? As they hurry to their destination, do they never meditate, gaze admiringly at the lovely spring flowers and blue sky, or dream of what they hope to do with their lives? Could it be that this world of ours is in such a troubled, chaotic state that young people prefer not to contemplate a future they perceive as ominous and threatening? 

There’s no denying that cell phones serve a very useful purpose in our daily lives when instant communication is sometimes necessary. But to me there’s almost a surreal atmosphere in a society where people everywhere are obsessed with a need for constant conversation on cell phones. But then, I have my own obsessions, don’t I? That being my hatred for this instrument of the devil! 

Dorothy Snodgrass 

• 

FANTASY BUILDING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thank you for calling attention to what’s happening with the Fantasy Building. It appears that the issues surrounding this building capsulize the limitations of a market economy as we’ve constructed it and as it is deconstructing us. The developer in wanting to upgrade his building and charge higher rents is forcing out the very tenants whose hard work and inspiration brought value to his property to begin with. Furthermore, his actions will tear apart a community of artists who have built collaborative relationships over decades.  

Of course this is the same tactic that our corporations are permitted, and even encouraged, to use. They take advantage of tax breaks, research subsidies, educational infrastructures, transportation infrastructures, the sacrifices of their employees and their communities, and then claim all the credit, and often significant profit, for what was a collaborative achievement. Then they run to the next town, state, country, often abandoning those they should be responsible to and start the cycle of exploitation all over again leaving devastation in their wake. If this kind of uncompromising self-interest and associated egotistical preening is a good idea it is lost on me. I hope we are reaching the end of the line for this particular form of hubris and greed and deception. 

Berkeley has an opportunity with the Fantasy Building for setting yet another meaningful precedent...for finding a solution that satisfies all interests and that deeply considers the context and the people that have created a thriving artistic environment through their own hard work and sacrifice and the support of their community. The developer’s interest and needs deserve consideration, they are just not more important than the needs of his tenants, or the broader community that those tenants inspire and educate through their work. 

It’s time we put a stake through the heart of the free market monster before it eats us all. We can start with a Fantasy and perhaps end with a dream...an economic model that is thoughtfully considerate and not rapacious. 

James Cisney 

• 

NUMBER II 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Number II is out of control. George W. Bush wasn’t kidding when he took on the name “The War President.” Bush II says he will veto any measure that brings his war to a close. Continuing to use the “troops” as a crutch, W keeps funding flowing to his disaster in the desert. How many more people will have die in the Iraqi war games before the American people say enough is enough.  

Ron Lowe  

Grass Valley 

• 

KUWAIT CHOW HALL:  

WOULD MICHELIN GIVE IT THREE STARS? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I’m at an unnamed U.S. airbase in Kuwait and getting ready to fly out to Baghdad tonight. But first things first. I mean visiting combat zones is nice and all that but did your mother teach you ANYTHING? Nothing is more important than food! First let’s talk about food.  

My first impression upon walking into the airbase commissary tent was, “Wow!” They handed me a plate and then served me one-fourth of a chicken, broccoli, mashed potatoes and green beans. High-end cafeteria food but tasty and lots of it. I heaped up on that. Mama, I’m home! Vitamins. High fiber. Anti-oxidants. Fruit. Eat your vegetables, troops! 

Then I discovered the salad bar. And the coffee bar. And the juice bar. And the soda bar and the cold bottled water. “But Jane,” I asked myself. “What about dessert?” 

Chocolate pudding and ice cream bars. Not Chez Panisse or nothing but good. And the ambiance was great. For an Army canteen, it was like Better Homes and Gardens—red table cloths and silken flowers tastefully arranged in ceramic vases. Plus lots of really hot dudes dressed in khaki and camo walking around with automatic weapons slung over their shoulders. 

I was about to give this place a whole bunch of Michelin stars for sure—but when I finally sat down at my tastefully-decorated table and started to eat, I discovered that every wall in the chow hall had at least two giant plasma TVs nailed up next to the air conditioners and every single one of them was turned to Fox News! Eeuuww.  

Watching Bill O’Reilly interviewing some lady from the Heritage Foundation while eating? That’s just gross! Two big thumbs down. 

But then the place almost kinda redeemed itself because when I was about to walk out, I noticed that I had missed something hidden over by the exit door—the dessert bar! Four flavors of cheesecake, tubs full of all kinds of ice cream, a frozen smoothie machine including toppings and cones, three kinds of chocolate cake and my all-time favorite —PUMPKIN PIE! Dump that loser O’Reilly and this place would definitely get two thumbs up from me! 

Jane Stillwater 

EDITOR’S NOTE: Berkeley resident Jane Stillwater is blogging during her trip to Iraq at http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com. This is her first dispatch from her travels in the Middle East. 

Mayor Bates recently introduced at City Council an initiative to improve the quality of life for all Berkeley residents and visitors. He named this “Public Commons for Everyone” initiative. If one only listened to a few critics, one would think that this is some sort of absurd assault on the homeless. Rather, all one needs to do to realize the absurdity of that exaggeration is to read the initiative. Note the following: 

First, the text of the initiative never uses the word “homeless” or any other word which is the equivalent of it. This initiative attempts to address anti-social problematic behavior. Homelessness is simply a description of residential status, not remotely any description or predictor of behavior. Just as there are many wealthy, well-housed individuals who behave badly, so there are many homeless who are well-behaved. It is behavior that this addresses, not residential status. 

Second, critics who deride this initiative impose a double standard that if used differently they would deplore. The published and verbal critics of this seem to all state that this targets the “homeless” and therefore is unfair. So, to follow this distortion of logic, the “homeless” presumably are afforded a different standard of conduct than the regular population. Is it correct that when the “homeless” may behave badly, we are to be tolerant, but others may not behave equally badly? I could give two simple examples to show how absurd this logic is.  

Some homeless live in their cars. All drivers of motor vehicles are required by law to have a driver’s license and obey all traffic laws. By this logic, if a homeless person drives his/her vehicle at an unsafe, excessive speed, then it could be excused because of their homeless status. Of course, virtually everyone would say no, that excessive speed endangers the health and safety of the broader community. But if a homeless person is acting in a threatening behavior, these critics suggest it should be tolerated. 

An even more insidious example of this would be unequal laws pertaining to race, gender, disability, or sexual orientation. As a community, we would all strongly object to this, but somehow the blinders are on when it comes to the “homeless.” Again, the point is to address problematic behavior while turning a truly blind eye to residential status. 

Other critics suggest that adequate laws already exist. Other than in the most obvious extreme cases such as murder, assault, robbery, rape, and so forth, the critics can’t prove such. However, on the contrary, the City Council has passed policies requiring the police to issue warnings that the city attorney has ruled are site-specific. This has the practical effect of eliminating the laws altogether because the laws could never be enforced. Therefore, it would be appropriate to suggest that the supporters of the warnings are the same persons who really wish to abolish these laws but don’t have the courage to do so openly. 

Third, the initiative calls for those who are detained for threatening behavior to be brought into services. This is a compassionate and appropriate response. Note that the goal is services, not incarceration. Note that the goal is wholeness, not a criminal record. The community is effectively saying, “We don’t want you to live in this sort of degraded manner, and we don’t want a degraded city. We have pride in our city. We respect you as an individual so much that we won’t tolerate overt self-destruction.” One council critic of this initiative suggested that if it passed, he would mobilize people of conscience and the faith community to overturn it by referendum. How absurd!! Is it not a matter of conscience and an affirmation of the worth of the human being as fashioned by a Higher Power to insist on wholeness and health, and not degradation and depravity? Is it not immoral to insist on maintaining that the most helpless, addicted, and mentally ill must remain in their misery and not be helped?  

Fourth, some critics argue that this is somehow flawed because it is supported by the business community because it applies to commercial areas. Some of these critics go a step further and claim that it is for increased profits. So what?! Increased profits mean principally two things for Berkeley—more jobs and more revenue for the city. Are floundering businesses somehow better for the city than successful ones? Many have noted the obvious—shoppers vote with their dollars, and the dollars are going out of Berkeley. Shoppers, including thousands of Berkeley residents, unquestionably want better shopping districts in Berkeley. 

Again, critics resort to hyperbole here by suggesting that this won’t solve the underperformance of some of Berkeley’s shopping districts. In a sense, they are right. By itself it won’t, but it is one necessary step among many. 

Lastly, critics have already condemned a bill that hasn’t even been written. The only thing the City Council accomplished was to direct city staff and commissions to discuss this and make recommendations. We hope that this will cause many in this city to take an honest, realistic look at a situation that is overdue for addressing. I am sure that privately almost every service provider, police officer, and mental health worker in this city would support this initiative in principle. (I say “in principle” only because it hasn’t been written yet.) Few are willing to publicly engage in the controversy. However, a small number of people are and they are speaking. They thank Mayor Bates for taking the lead. Together with the silent majority, we ask the council to act with conscience and common sense, move forward, pass this bill when it is finally written, stand in solidarity with the afflicted and suffering, and move this city toward wholeness and health. Passing this will be a positive act of conscience and honor to the Creator and our fellow man and woman. 

Roland Peterson is executive director of the Telegraph Business Improvement District and chairman of the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce. Both organizations support the views expressed here. 

It is unfortunate, but not surprising, that Oakland City Attorney John Russo, in the pages of the Montclarion and the Oakland Tribune, has chosen to blame the Oak to Ninth Referendum Committee for the problems he has with the referendum petition. Shifting the blame to someone else is a common political ploy to avoid taking responsibility for one’s mistakes; and mistakes by city staff and Mr. Russo’s own office are the real culprit behind the objections Russo has raised to the petition. 

Mr. Russo complains that the version of the ordinance circulated in the petition was not the final version approved by the City Council. He’s half right. It certainly was not the final version of the ordinance that now sits in the City Clerk’s files, but it was the version of the ordinance presented to and given final approval by the City Council on July 18, 2006.  

The basic problem here stems from Russo allowing the City Council to consider and purportedly approve an ordinance that was not, in fact, ready for prime time. For whatever reason, city staff pushed through the City Council an ordinance that was still in draft form and under revision by staff. As presented to the council on first reading on June 20, the ordinance did not even have its associated development agreement attached to it. Bear in mind that this was at the public hearing on the ordinance—where the public was expected to understand and comment on the development agreement and its terms. Even at the second reading of the ordinance on July 18, Mr. Russo admits that the development agreement was still in draft form, and some exhibits had apparently not yet even been completed. Nevertheless, Mr. Russo allowed the council to consider and purportedly give final approval to the ordinance. 

What the referendum petition presented to Oakland voters was exactly what staff presented to the Oakland City Council (and the public) on July 18. After that meeting, city staff, apparently including Mr. Russo’s office, continued to modify the documents to come up with a “final” version, but by the city clerk’s own admission, that version was not even submitted to her office until July 27— nine days after it had supposedly been approved by the council. No wonder the referendum committee used the earlier version. If they had waited for the final version to appear in the city clerk’s office, their 30-day circulation period would have been cut by a third! 

Mr. Russo now proposes a “legislative fix” to protect petition circulators from losing time due to such delays. The Committee would suggest that a different, and less complicated, solution is in order. The City Council should not be considering legislation until it is ready for all to see in final form. That is what’s really needed to preserve honesty and transparency in government, and to protect the citizens’ right of referendum. 

Stuart Flashman is an Oakland attorney. He represents the Oak to Ninth Referendum Committee in its lawsuit challenging the City of Oakland’s rejection of the referendum petition. 

The second court-martial of Lt. Ehren Watada is set for July. This brave officer who refused deployment to Iraq faces six years in prison on three charges: “missing movement,” “conduct unbecoming an officer,” and “use of contemptuous words for the president.” 

In two eloquent speeches, Watada questioned the legality of the war in Iraq and denounced the mendacity of the Bush administration. 

Ordinarily the truth of a claim is a good defense against any charge of defamation. Not in the Army. In the pre-trial hearings, the judge ruled that the truthfulness of Watada’s speech is irrelevant; that treaties and international law are irrelevant; that a soldier’s only duty is to follow orders, regardless of their legality! What kind of trial is it where truth and law are inadmisible! It’s a sad day in American jurisprudence when a soldier of conscience is court-martialed, not for lying, but for telling the truth; not for breaking a covenant with the military, but for upholding the rule of law in wartime. 

The prosecution claims that Watada has no right to question authority because he volunteered to serve. Let’s set the record straight. Watada only volunteered to follow legal orders, to participate in legal wars, and he is willing to risk his life to defend his country from a real, imminent attack. But he also took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution. And he has kept his promise.  

Watada never volunteered—no soldier volunteers—to violate human rights, to violate American treaties, to destroy the sovereignty of nations, to participate in aggression. A contract to break the law has no legal standing.  

Watada is right. Except for U.N.-sanctioned intervention, defensive necessity is the sole basis for legal war. The U.N. Charter explicitly outlaws preemptive war, a war of choice. And the U.S. Constitution is unambiguous. Article VI states: “All Treaties, made or which shall be made, are part of the supreme law of the land, and are binding.” Our soldiers deserve protection of the law, the social contracts for which they risk their lives. 

It is true all militaries operate through a chain of command, and soldiers are expected to follow orders. But the authority of command depends on the legality of the orders. That is Watada’s point. The legal status of a war makes all the difference.  

The real issue is not the so-called voluntary nature of the enlistment contract, but the bait-and-switch tactics of the military. Our youth enlist in good faith to defend the country from foreign attack, only to be transformed—involuntarily—into perpetrators and pawns of empire. It’s the government, not war resisters, that is responsible for a breach of contract.  

No soldier should give a life, or take a life, for a lie. There are many kinds of betrayal in human affairs, but in military affairs of state, there is no greater act of disloyalty than to send young men and women to their death on the basis of fraud. An enlistment contract based on fraudulent claims is null and void. 

The great Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson explained Watada’s point at Nuremberg: “Any resort to war—to any kind of war—is a resort to means that are inherently criminal. War inevitably is a course of killings, assaults, deprivations of liberty, and destruction of property. An honestly defensive war is, of course, legal and saves those lawfully conducting it from criminality. But inherently criminal acts cannot be defended by showing that those who committed them were engaged in a war, when the war itself is illegal.” 

Jackson’s point is profound. The law protects our soldiers from criminality. Efface the distinction between a lawful and unlawful war, as the Army is trying to do today, and all descends into mere power and greed. The Army ceases to be our noble defender of democracy; it becomes a menace to our institutions.  

All the major issues of imperial occupation—the fraudulent basis for the war, the absence of a formal declaration from Congress, the flagrant violations of international treaties like the U.N. Charter—are coming to a head in this historic battle between a soldier of conscience and an Army that has yet to prosecute a single top official for Abu Ghraib.  

Watada also calls attention to systematic war crimes on the battlefield. Official crimes of policy and command. The forcible transfer of populations, the wanton destruction of towns and villages by 500-pound bombs; the use of cluster bombs in populated areas; the use of heinous weapons like white phosphorous; the ongoing checkpoint massacres; the widespread use of torture and rendition—because of these policies of command, resistance is justified. 

When the Army operates beyond the law, the duty to follow orders is dissolved. Thomas Jefferson once wrote: 

“Whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force.” Resistance is justified. 

The Watada case is heading for the highest court of appeal: the people themselves. People power is greater than military power. The spirit of non-violent resistance is greater than man’s inhumane technology. And history will vindicate the courage of Lt. Ehren Watada, and your own activism for peace will not be forgotten. 

Paul Rockwell is an Oakland resident. The above text is derived from a speech he delivered at the Starve War, Feed Peace Rally in Walnut Creek on March 17.

GROCERY BAGS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I never cease to be amazed at how many presumably environmentally conscious people at places like Monterey Market and the Berkeley Bowl I see put two onions into a plastic bag, or three potatoes or other small amounts of items which obviously do not need them, the whole mess goes into more plastic or paper or both. I take a cardboard box. Everything goes into the box which rests in the trunk without danger of falling over or sliding. Do so many people really not care? 

Then there is the matter of so many people gullibly and glibly buying water in endless cases of plastic bottles. Do they have any idea of the toll on the environment the manufacture of these bottles takes, along with disposing of them (Nestle being the biggest producer)? The water from my tap is more thoroughly tested while blind taste tests show that most people can’t tell the difference, and if they can detect a difference they tend to prefer tap water. Ask Alice Waters if the water she serves is inferior to the silly costly bottled water! 

SL Rennacker 

• 

RESPONSE TO DAVIDSON 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Lynn Davidson’s March 23 letter supporting taxpayer financing of political campaign propaganda and junk mail as the only way to fight political corruption and enact single payer health insurance makes no more sense than did invading Iraq to fight al Qaeda. 

Her contention that the lack of an “affordable, universal health care system” is evidence of political corruption in California is much less plausible the two alternative explanations: potentially huge cost overruns, and the complications from overlapping federal programs (e.g. ERISA, Medicare, Medicaid, etc.).  

Ironically, it seems that Ms. Davidson and Assemblywoman Hancock want to corrupt the democratic process themselves by reviving AB 583 in the Legislature, giving legislators another chance to use taxes to pay for their reelection campaigns. Voters rejected this legislation’s twin, Prop. 89, by a 3-to-1 margin, in last November’s election.  

Let me suggest an alternative means of financing political campaigns that may not be as objectionable to the voters. Suppose candidates for a particular office were required to pay a fee equivalent to at least half of the expenditures they made in excess of a specified limit, based on the number of registered voters eligible to vote for them. This fee would be redistributed equally to all political candidates for that office. This alternative financing mechanism would avoid involuntary financing by taxpayers since only candidates and their donors would end up paying for it. It would help level the political campaign playing field. And last, but not least, it would provide an incentive for candidates to reduce their expenditures, to avoid contributing to their rivals’ campaigns. Your readers who like this idea should e-mail Ms. Hancock and let her know she needs to change her course of action.  

Keith Winnard 

• 

UC-BP 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I find it interesting that Cal is the proposed recipient of this great new project with BP for alternative fuels since it appears Cal does not understand the importance of preserving one of the only living things that uses carbon dioxide—their stand of oak trees near the athletic field. One would think some of the great Nobel scientists up there on the hill would speak up. While it may appear to be a bunch of “nuts” sitting in those trees, the loss of those trees will affect quality of life in Berkeley. Those people care. I cannot personally estimate how much CO2 the leaves of those trees use, but when they are gone, I do know that the CO2 in that area will hang in the air for the students to breathe. Geez, don’t they get it either? 

Jackie Fay 

• 

BERKELEY ICELAND 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I’m writing to make sure the public knows about the efforts to save historic Berkeley Iceland, due to close after 67 years at the end of the month. This is a beloved community resource for recreation and socializing used by every type of Bay Area citizen, literally generations of children, teens and adults of all ages from young to seniors. Most of the press seems to have Iceland dead and buried without a mention of how much people care or even that there is any sort of effort to save it (on-going even after the 31st). Iceland is a very special place and it would be a true shame if the community permanently lost this unique and irreplaceable treasure. Here is the website to find out more: www.saveberkeleyiceland.org. 

M.J. Bernal 

• 

JFK’S LEGACY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

A recent letter criticizing the Iraq war mentioned that President Kennedy used good judgment and patience in successfully handling the Cuban Missile Crisis. That is ridiculous. Kennedy CAUSED the Cuban Missile Crisis. His very presence caused it. The Soviets regarded him as a light-weight nobody and immediately took steps to move their agenda. In 1961 they built the Berlin Wall. No reaction. JFK proved them right again by mishandling the Bay of Pigs fiasco. They confidently followed by putting missiles in Cuba. They withdrew them but at a great price, including our removal of similar missiles in Europe and our agreement to allow the cancerous communist infestation in Cuba to remain on our doorstep where it distributes its venom in Latin America to this day. A miffed JFK, out to show the communists they could not push him around, quickly put 16,000 troops in Vietnam thereby getting us into that stupid war. In summary: the Bay of Pigs fiasco, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War and the Berlin Wall are the true legacy of JFK. None of them would have occurred if Eisenhower had remained president.  

John Locke  

• 

LOOKING FOR RELATIVES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I would like to get in touch with my cousins and their families in Berkeley. All I know of my Uncle Cyril Gray is that he emigrated to California in the 1930s and took American citizenship. He died in the 1960s. His wife Elizabeth was a Scotswoman. I last heard from her in 1985, when she was living in Berkeley. Cyril and Elizabeth Gray had two sons, Donald and Peter who were born in the 1930s. I believe that my cousins both had sons. 

I have been doing some family history on the Gray family and would be pleased to share it. If anyone reading this knows where my cousins are then please could you get in touch with me at 4 Aylestone Road Cambridge CB4 1HF England. 

Joan Gray 

• 

THE MYTH OF API SCORES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Sometimes the lumbering train of bureaucracy runs into the brick wall of human nature. Such, I fear, is the saga of API scores. These are the scores, based on standardized tests, that determine if a school has succeeded or failed. They have again been made public, reminding the schools of how they rank. 

We believe all students can do well, that they are all basically smart. They are. There are, however, different nuances of smart. All students have basic smarts, sometimes known as “street smarts.” Using these smarts, students conclude that these tests don’t affect their individual grades, that it has something to do with the school, the state, and the feds. 

Some students in high achieving schools have been made to understand the ramifications of their school coming out on top. There’s perhaps a bit of the competitive thing going on, along with the knowledge that success comes with money for the school. These smarts may prompt them to try a bit harder on these tests. 

At other schools that level subtlety may not be completely understood. There are few things more boring than sitting around, bubbling in answer sheets, particularly when the questions are dull and unconnected with your own life. Add to this that some students are not fluent in English and have to work harder to understand the questions. Now, going back to the knowledge that these scores don’t determine if you pass English or Math, why rack your brain trying to do a good job. Why not bubble in any answer, turn the miserable test in, and get it over with? When you’ve seen answer sheets with bubbles tracing a regular zig zag pattern down the page, you know that this really does happen. After all, these kids are smart enough to know they’ll never compete with the uptown kids who have two professional, well educated parents and their own college fund at age 10. This is the human nature brick wall. 

Naturally, a whole industry has built up around creating these tests, norming them, printing them, giving them, scoring them, and plotting the results. Then there are the people who use them to decide who gets money. This is the lumbering train of bureaucracy. In any collision involving enough mass, inertia and force, something gets vaporized. In this case it may well be the true spirit of education. 

Meade Fischer 

• 

CALL IT WHAT IT IS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

My dictionary tells me treason is an action against one’s country but it doesn’t help me decide whether a program against one’s country is also treason.  

The program I have in mind looks like politics as usual, that old “king of the mountain” game. The Republican Party, while representing a minority of voters, leaped into the majority in the 1994 Congressional elections. This stunning victory sprang from a comprehensive political statement titled “Contract with America” followed shortly by “The K Street Project,” a clever solidarity game plan that secured power atop the mountain. Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay shared MVP honors but they couldn’t have won without star players Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, and others.  

After Bush was appointed, the Republican Party sought ways to make its power permanent and seized upon the confusion and fear following 9/11 as an opportunity to do whatever it wanted. Often it pushed reality aside and created a reality of its own which it did with superb theatrical flair on May Day, 2003 with “Mission Accomplished,” a drama starring Bush II as Viking co-pilot Commander-in-Chief. Following that high jinks the Republican majority stumbled and began a bumpy downhill slide prompting it to react with crude and illegal defensive measures—manipulating the press, punishing critics, wire-tapping, suspending habeas corpus, skipping due process, dis-ing allies, disregarding international conventions and trampling on human rights.  

Today, Party leaders struggle to survive a relatively minor miscue involving the firing of eight pesky uncooperative federal prosecutors.  

Therefore, to make their power permanent the Republican program ignored checks and balances, blurred the separation of powers and invested the president with wartime powers based on a bloody and costly military action that can be called war only in the metaphorical sense because the deadly un-uniformed enemy has no chain of command and carries no flag. Thus, these actions are, collectively, a program against constitutionally established government.  

Call it what it is. Treason!  

Marvin Chachere 

San Pablo 

• 

ANNA NICOLE SMITH’S 

AUTOPSY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The list of drugs found in Anna Nicole Smith’s body during her autopsy is awe-fully sad: anti-anxieties, pain relievers, muscle relaxants, sleeping pills, and anti-smoking medications. Apparently, she was wracked by pain, anxiety, tension, nervousness, and disease. Beautiful, rich and famous, Anna seems to have found no happiness, just increasing pain. The need for buzzing paparazzi, to always wear a public face, the desire for expensive gee-gaws, surrounding attendants and supplicants that comprise such a “lifestyle” cost her an awful toll to maintain.  

What does her death tell us about our ideal of “celebrity?” What are the personal characteristics, acquisitions, and achievements that we “celebrate?” 

Perhaps the satisfactions of being present in each moment, of being authentic in relationship with others, and of caring for and repairing our world are more celebratory. 

Bruce Joffe 

Piedmont 

• 

MITT ROMNEY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Has Mitt Romney, GOP presidential contender for 2008, sold his soul to gain the support of conservative activists and religious right-wingers? Romney is sporting a new anti-abortion look, has shifted his language on gay rights and has become less green. Why do all Republican presidential hopefuls have to pass a fundamentalist litmus test? 

Ron Lowe  

Grass Valley 

Recent Daily Planet stories on Association of Bay Area Governments housing quotas, transit-oriented developments, so-called “affordable housing,” “inclusionary housing,” and, most egregious of all, “Sustainable Berkeley” are all just local manifestations of the Agenda 21 policy document. Agenda 21 was adopted at the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development, by more than 170 nations in 1992. President Clinton implemented this document in the United States by executive order with no congressional debate or involvement. Since the adoption of this policy, all across the country’s local councils, “visioning councils,” “working groups,” “charrettes,” et al have been set up with no voter input and have been given the power to transform communities using “smart growth,” transit-oriented developments (TOD), “transit villages,” “urban growth boundaries,” “traffic calming,” and “pack ‘em and stack ‘em” government housing projects which are built by private developers who get preferential development agreements with local government subsidized by your tax dollars.  

The overriding principles are that single family homes and the automobile are to be slowly eliminated and urban living near to mass transit is to become the norm—nothing more, nothing less than the “Europization” of America. Only the most wealthy elite will be able to have homes with any surrounding land and private property will eventually become a thing of the past as it, as the automobile, is deemed “unsustainable.” In the past, high density “affordable” (government) housing” has been built in New York, Chicago and other large cities and become the ghettoes of today; many of these “projects” have been torn down due to crime and uninhabitable living conditions. 

“Central planning,” our controllers of today, claim that the public consensus is that land use should be controlled. They use scare tactics and phony population projections to justify their unconstitutional power over our lives and ability to own and use private property. The Bay Area’s regional government entity, ABAG relies on population projections from their own hired consultants to justify the housing quotas they impose on local communities. Patti Dacey’s recent letter to your paper entitled “Housing Quotas” rightly states “ABAG’s manipulations of these civic virtues [to build “affordable housing and provide decent public transportation] to demand the degradation of our quality of life is reprehensible.” Ms. Dacey is correct but there is little that can be done because local elected government is fast becoming a thing of the past and is being replaced by unelected appointed regional government bodies and councils that have vast power over the way we live. As with Sustainable Berkeley, the average citizen will be completely shut out of the process and large amounts of grant money will be spent for vague and high sounding purposes with no accountability to the citizenry. 

In his piece entitled “Agenda 21 and the United Nations,” Henry Lamb, writer and executive vice president of Eco-Logic states: 

“Agenda 21 is a 300-page, 40-chapter, ‘soft-law’ policy document adopted by the delegates to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The document is not legally binding; it is a set of policy recommendations designed to reorganize global society around the principles of environmental protection, social equity, and what is called “sustainable” economic development. At the heart of the concept of sustainable development, is the assumption that government must manage society to ensure that human activity conforms to these principles.” 

Some excellent downloadable pamphlets on the benign sounding concept of “sustainable development” can be found at the Freedom 21 Santa Cruz website, www.f21sc.net. These pamphlets should be given to every public official to alert them to the overriding schemes they are implementing or to—at the very least—let them know you are on to what they are up to. 

“Sustainability” as mandated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is based on their stated belief that: “Humanity’s collective imperative now is to shift modern society rapidly onto a sustainable path or have it dissolve of its own ecologically unsustainable doings." In fact, the concept of “sustainability” rests on the false belief that the world is on the fast track to destruction and will soon run out of non “renewable” resources. In his excellent book entitled A Poverty of Reason: Sustainable Development and Economic Growth,” author Wilfred Beckerman of the Independent Institute in Oakland refutes the concept of sustainable development and demonstrates that government interference actually creates the problems it purports to solve.  

Redevelopment is another tool used by planners to usurp local land use authority. In my small unincorporated community of El Sobrante I became aware of the virtual takeover of the major corridors—by a large redevelopment plan including the power of eminent domain—when I was elected to the Municipal Advisory Council in 2002. Massive public opposition has so far caused Contra Costa County officials to back off of their original plan, but now they are “updating the general plan” of the same area included in the El Sobrante redevelopment plan. This is nothing more than an end run around redevelopment and will result in the same tightly controlled land use policies that would have come about had the original redevelopment plan been implemented. 

I urge the citizens of Berkeley to hang tough and oppose “transit villages,” “affordable housing” projects, and small business-busting, planning monstrosities such as the “North Berkeley Plaza.” Try to attend the “Sustainable Berkeley” meetings and hold the bureaucrats accountable for their plans for your city. 

Marilynne Mellander is a 37-year resident of El Sobrante, and is the coordinator of saveelsobrante.com, a property rights activist, and a member of Municipal Officials for Redevelopment Reform (MORR).

In response to the March 23 letter from Shirley Douglas of the Water Transit Authority: It is very encouraging to read that the two new 25-knot 149-passenger ferries on order for the Water Transit Authority (at $8 million each) are not intended for the Berkeley/Albany route. These vessels are unnecessarily fast, high-powered and expensive for the 5.6 mile distance from the Berkeley Marina to San Francisco. It is also good to learn that WTA has reversed its early decision to comply with the IMO High Speed code, and instead is going to stay with the much more appropriate 46 CFR Subchapter T regulations. 

The underlying problem that remains, however, is that the consultants evaluating the four candidate terminal sites are only looking at half of the system: Optimal site selection is intimately tied to vessel design—or at least it should be. 

WTA claims that the Berkeley Ferry has not been designed, and that the two ferries on order are spares. Yet when asked at the scoping session how deep the channel would need to be, the reply was definite: The ferry will draw six feet if water. If the Berkeley ferry has not been designed yet, how do they know the draft? 

This is more than a fine point. The “spare” catamaran ferries may draw six feet, but if anyone is to make a rational decision about terminal location in areas surrounded by shallow water, then vessel draft must be considered as one of the critical variables. A terminal site that requires transiting shallow water dictates different design priorities. For example, a shallow-bottom monohull propelled by surface-piercing propellers or waterjets might only need three feet of water. It could be built for no more expense, and probably significantly less, than the catamarans now on order. The cost of dredging and maintaining a channel would be dramatically reduced and an otherwise infeasible site might become the optimal choice. 

But if this design parameter is arbitrarily fixed early in the process, then the terminal siting decision faces an unnecessary constraint and the wrong site might be chosen for the wrong reasons. 

This is an example of the penalty we pay for failure to use the “whole systems” approach to the new ferry service. 

Design speed is another important variable. The 25-knot boats have far more power and speed than needed for the short Berkeley run, apparently because they are designed to serve longer and less economically viable ferry routes in other parts of the Bay. 

We also have to ask why WTA believes it is necessary to add substantial cost, weight and complexity in order to exceed the new EPA emissions standards by 85%. The Bay is traversed daily by many thousands of marine horsepower with no emissions controls at all. It would seem to be a much more cost-effective public policy to begin to bring all the existing fish boats and commercial vessels into compliance with current EPA standards, rather than spend public money to exceed these standards by such a wide margin on only two new vessels. 

Again, designing for a slower speed appropriate for the shorter route is a better way to build a cleaner ferry. But the consultants working on the site selection study can’t put the proper value on minimizing the route distance unless they know the true cost of speed in terms of dollars, efficiency and emissions. If we arbitrarily insist on “85 percent better than required” instead of actually looking at the amount of pollution produced as a function of route length and speed, then part of the cost of speed is hidden and we are likely to end up with the wrong terminal location for the wrong reasons, and maybe even more pollution than if speed and power had been allowed as a site selection variable. 

In defense of WTA, it has to be recognized that public transportation agencies always have and always will have a very hard time doing things right. Perhaps we are expecting too much, considering the many unseen constraints they are under. Given this reality, what this all points to is a strong incentive to minimize risk. The new terminal should be sited where it costs the least, makes the most use of existing infrastructure and requires the lowest operating subsidy. 

The Doubletree Hotel location inside the Marina, where we already have a ferry terminal serving several large Hornblower vessels, is the only candidate site that meets these requirements. This is an inevitable result of WTA’s cart-before-the-horse ferry acquisition strategy; All we know for certain about the new ferry service is that WTA is likely to get some of it wrong. 

If we are serious about making the ferry a permanent amenity, then we have to keep the initial investment in the terminal small enough so that we can fix the mistakes after we find out the hard way what they are. 

Paul Kamen is a naval architect who serves on the Berkeley Waterfront Commission. 

Dear Senator Boxer, 

I am writing to you in your capacity as chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. I am a retired resident of Berkeley. I live at Strawberry Creek Lodge, named for the creek which flows through the University of California Berkeley campus and also through our back garden. 

Recently our local paper, the Daily Planet, has been reporting on a proposed deal between the university and BP, formerly known as British Petroleum. The oil company will give the university $500 million. The university is to build a laboratory (in Strawberry Creek Canyon) where university scientists and BP researchers will work on developing biofuels from biomass—probably using an Asian grass. The process will use genetically modified organisms, both to promote the growth of the biomass and to turn it into fuel. 

The concerns with this deal are threefold: 1) GMOs—genetically modified organisms—are a threat to the natural web of life that sustains us all. The fear is that by altering the DNA of plants and animals, we risk poisoning our food supply, inviting plagues of biological pests and upsetting natural balances we do not fully understand. 2) a more immediate threat is that by accepting the money, UCB will distort its own mission. Previous deals between research universities, including this one, and giant corporations have led to a curtailing of free inquiry and outright corruption. The terms of the BP deal would have BP scientists working side-by-side with university researchers, with only a shadowy line on an organization chart and a two-sided floor plan in the physical plant to protect the traditional community of scholars from becoming part of a corporation with a reputation for ruthless pursuit of profit. 3) Strawberry Canyon is a scenic area, with wildlife and air-cleansing forest. It is used by many for recreation. Strawberry Creek flows through it. Putting a large building, a parking lot and utilities into it will decrease its natural and recreational value, and will make run-off problems in the creek worse.  

On Thursday evening, March 21, the Sierra Club sponsored a forum on the BP-UCB deal. The speakers included Professor Ignacio Chapela, who became a hero to many on campus when he survived an attempt to deny him tenure because he exposed an earlier UCB deal with Monsanto that promoted research into GMOs for big agriculture at the expense of research into sustainable and organic farming. Chapela, in the brief time allowed him at the forum, demonstrated that the production of fuel from biomass is inherently inefficient, and also showed that the process would necessarily spell further disaster for rural people in Indonesia and the Amazon, where forests would be cut to grow the grass the project anticipates using. Already these people are being driven to suicide by the destruction of their farms and forests, as Chapela’s slides showed.  

This is an issue that may seem remote from our concerns at the Lodge. But we are downstream from the proposed project—literally in the case of Strawberry Creek. Our food supply is threatened by the spread of GMO technology. We are also endangered because the BP-UCB approach to the energy crisis and global warming pre-empts the sort of research and action that is needed. It is essentially a business-as-usual approach which tries to solve the problems of the oil companies while ignoring the imperative need to learn how to live in harmony with the earth, its natural processes, and the other people who live on it. We need more than a nice attitude toward nature, we need to change the way we live and the way decisions are made. If our hope is that the intellectual power of the university will be brought to bear on this problem, the Sierra Club forum raised a huge doubt that the current UCB administration can be trusted to do the right thing. 

I am writing to you in the hope that you will find a way to influence the university not to accept the BP deal. Understandably, the dean who represented the university at the forum described above was delighted with the money it promises, and was ready with organization charts that did little to allay fears that the university researchers will be, in effect, employees of BP. The influence of corporation money within the university is already a problem. We need the university to research real solutions to the problems of global warming and energy. The BP deal will create a focus exclusively on solutions that benefit BP, to the detriment of objective research. Also, the BP approach threatens the livelihood of farmers wherever it is used, making more enemies for the US worldwide. 

I realize that this is far afield from your main responsibilities, but I think it is of far reaching importance and I hope that you will be able to bring some pressure to bear on the university not to sell out the public interest in this critical area. 

Sincerely, 

Jane Eiseley  

Regarding the draft environmental impact report for UC Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and its Long-Range Development Plan: The plans are not right or honest in presenting the whole of your intentions and impacts. 

Here is a short list of suggestions re obvious problems with the plans:  

• We must not venture into new planet-endangering projects like this “Bio-energy Research.” Especially not one like this biofuels project which is gigantic and rushing in disastrous directions for profit, politics, and growth, and which uses concepts that have already brought us to the edge of extinction. We must all begin to do everything we can to ameliorate damage to our planet and to heal and protect our natural environment to stop destroying our earth. We must clean up our act. 

• The original charter for the UC Labs was for research in electricity and energy efficiency. This relatively benign research has been wonderful and seemed safe enough to conduct near the university and our dense population. But radiation, nanotech, synthetic biology research and so forth, should not occur near the university or in populated areas. On an earthquake fault zone is unbelievable. 

• It is time for “Less is More!” Time to downsize. We can’t be planning to grow corporations, universities, or populations. That is madness, selfishness, and greed. But we can clean up our act and there is huge profit in it! And brilliance, benevolence, survival, and Nobel Prizes too! 

• The Helios Computer should stay in Oakland where it is wanted and needed. Moving it to Strawberry Canyon will pollute the air with diesel and other toxic particulates while moving, demolishing, and redeveloping. Moving it to Berkeley would pollute the university’s own nest. The move would pave the earth in a delicate environmentally sensitive zone, and deforest in a wooded canyon at a time when our earth needs the cooling effects of every tree. 

• The UC Lawrence Berkeley Labs should not do this BP/ DOE, Synthetic Biology / commercial venture in Strawberry Canyon or any populated or large-scale area. Yet the planning is already underway for huge wet labs, dry labs, and offices all over Berkeley, and beyond! It is wrong to completely overwhelm a small city like this, and unbelievably wrong for powerful people with shortsighted plans to be fiddling with nature when they know our planet is beginning to burn.  

Merrilie Mitchell is a community watchdog and former candidate for City Council. 

When Mayor Bates ran for re-election last year, he said the protection of West Berkeley artists and artisans was one of his top priorities. But when confronted with appeals for help from real, beleaguered artists and artisans, the mayor and his allies, who make up the current council majority, merely wring their hands and shed copious crocodile tears, if that. In 2005 the city did nothing to halt the destruction of the live-work artists’ community at the Drayage, nor did it help the evicted tenants find new space. In 2006 the Bates council ignored the artists evicted from the now-defunct Nexus Institute.  

This year it’s the Fantasy filmmakers’ turn. Last Tuesday evening 40-plus artists from the big building at Tenth and Parker showed up in the council chambers to ask the city to persuade their new landlord, Wareham Development’s notorious Rich Robbins, to back off his 40-100 percent rent hikes for six months—long enough for them to find new space that can accommodate their working community.  

The mayor’s response showed his true colors. First he defended Robbins’s so-called concessions—free parking space, and air conditioning during working hours. That drew cries of protest from the crowd. Next Mr. Bates tried to wriggle off the committee that was to negotiate with Wareham in the few days that remained before Sunday, April 1, the date that the Fantasy rents were scheduled to go up. “We’re going East on Saturday for Easter,” he said. “We already have tickets.” At this point, Councilmember Linda Maio decided to intervene. “Doesn’t everyone here,” she asked, “want the mayor to serve on this committee?” The response to this query was underwhelming. Nevertheless, Mr. Bates ended up staying on the committee, to which he had added Councilmembers Max Anderson and Laurie Capitelli. The latter issued the customary plea of official impotence: “We don’t have the resources.” 

True, the city cannot compel commercial landlords to lower their rents. But it could help artists and artisans in other ways. Last Tuesday, the mayor could have said: “I pledge to do everything I can to help the Fantasy filmmakers and our city’s other artists stay in town and prosper. I’m asking our Office of Economic Development to scour the city for properties and landlords who can provide workspace that’s affordable to artists and artisans. A few weeks ago, I announced that I am joining with other Berkeley notables to raise $35 million to renovate the Maudelle Shirek Building, formerly Old City Hall. Tonight I pledge to help create a public-private partnership that will find the funds to purchase permanently affordable workspace for our artists and artisans. And, most important, the city, including my own office, will start upholding the industrial zoning that has kept West Berkeley affordable to manufacturing and the arts.” 

By contrast, in his recent State of the City address Mr. Bates averred that industry is finished in Berkeley. He went on to point with pride to Bayer’s current expansion. In fact, Bayer is expanding its clinical manufacturing facility. The company chose to stay here only because the city agreed to the long-term zoning protections it needs. Just so, artists and artisans are leaving West Berkeley because the city has been dismantling their zoning protections.  

In this regard, the Bates council made a signal decision last June when it voted to change the zoning of the future West Berkeley Bowl site from Mixed-Use/Light Industry to Commercial. WeBAIC (West Berkeley Artisanal and Industrial Companies) had asked the city to approve a grocery store but to deny the zoning change and instead give the applicant, Bowl owner Glen Yasuda, a variance. At the June meeting, not a single councilmember addressed the zoning issue. Yasuda got the change he sought (but did not need) and with it, a windfall worth millions of dollars. With this decision, the Bates administration indicated that it was ready to roll over for big developers, abandon the industrial zoning mandated by the West Berkeley Plan and accelerate the area’s gentrification.  

Up to now, it’s been well-nigh impossible to get the public at large to realize what’s going on. That’s partly due to the arcane nature of zoning. Unless you are a policy wonk or personally affected (and even then), land use regulation is an eye-glazing subject. But the gentrifying aims of the Bates administration have also been intentionally obscured by stealth planning.  

Take the $85,000 that the council allocated on Feb. 27 for a senior planner to spend six months doing “Planned Unit Development Zoning” for West Berkeley. The goal here, Office of Economic Development Director Michael Caplan told the council, is “to do green development, to facilitate long-term affordable housing for artists, and to protect small light industry that is in danger of being priced out of the market” through “Limited Flexibility Zoning” in West Berkeley.  

Sounds great. Unfortunately, it’s Orwellian doublespeak. Caplan said as much when he commented that the new policy should really be called “Flexible Zoning.” What he didn’t say was that it’s the city’s “flexibility” that threatens to destroy the very things that the new policy is supposed to protect. What “Limited Flexibility Zoning” would enable is the likes of Doug Herst’s plans for the Peerless Lighting site: a seven-story condominium building, a huge corporate headquarters and what amounts to a petting farm for artists. Last Wednesday planning staff told the Planning Commission that their top priority for fiscal year 2007-2008 is “Limited Flexibility Zoning” for West Berkeley.  

If there’s a silver lining here, it’s that the stature of the Fantasy filmmakers, who include 13 Oscar nominees, will finally get the Berkeley public to recognize the damage that the Bates administration is doing to the cultural economy of this city and to demand a change of course.  

In hopes of spurring such an outcry, I’ve done a little moviemaking myself. Last year I teamed up with two veteran Berkeley filmmakers, Witt Monts and Paul Shain, to produce a five-minute video, “Made in Berkeley” that features artists, artisans and manufacturers of West Berkeley. It can be viewed online at www.madeinberkeleymovie.com.  

Zelda Bronstein is a former candidate for mayor and a former chair of the Berkeley Planning Commission. 

Thursday’s Senate vote on funding for Iraq sets the stage for an epic battle between Congress and President Bush; a struggle with the dramatic elements of a Shakespeare play: a headstrong emperor who claims God gave him absolute power battling a stalwart band of democratic solons. 

The Senate action followed the House adoption of H.R.1591, The U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Health and Iraq Accountability Act, that places restrictions on Bush’s conduct of the war in Iraq. These bills force a critical confrontation on the limits of presidential power. 

On one side are those who argue America is at war and, therefore, the president’s power must be broad. This camp, mostly Republicans, bemoans Democratic intent to place limits on Bush’s authority as commander-in-chief and restrict his ability to dump more troops and money into Iraq. In the name of national security, many Republicans seem determined to turn the United States into an autocracy where presidential power is unchallenged by Congress or the courts. They believe Bush should conduct his “war on terror” as he sees fit: For example, declare anyone he believes to be a threat to the United States an “enemy combatant” and deny them fundamental rights. 

In this political climate, where the White House and a frighteningly large number of Republicans appear determined to undermine American democracy, it’s responsible for Democratic leaders to force a debate about the limits of presidential power. Bush’s conflict with Congress will bring the administration’s war on the Constitution into the open and, hopefully, provoke national discussion. 

While there are numerous examples where President Bush grossly exceeded his lawful authority, the likely grounds for the pivotal confrontation is the occupation: Did Congress hand Bush a blank check to do whatever he wants in Iraq? This is the key issue because while a strong majority of Americans has turned against this war, Bush continues to ignore public sentiment and pursue his “stay until we win” strategy. 

H.R. 1591 places common-sense restrictions on the president’s authority in Iraq. He must certify U.S. troops are adequately prepared and the Iraqi government is keeping its commitments, and begin troop withdrawal no later than March 1, 2008. The White House refuses to accept these restrictions and bristles at any suggestion Bush is an inadequate commander-in-chief. In response to H.R. 1591, the administration message machine charges the congressional majority with “micro-managing” the Iraq campaign and “bleeding” away support for our troops. In truth, Congress is—finally—exercising its constitutionally mandated oversight responsibility. And, it is the administration, not Congress, that is guilty of “bleeding” the troops. It was this White House that rushed them into battle with inadequate training and supplies, this president who ignored sage counsel about the probability of civil war and didn’t send a large enough force, this commander-in-chief who didn’t plan for an occupation and ignored evidence that a malevolent insurgency was building, and this administration that failed to provide enough medical support for America’s wounded. George Bush has been bleeding American troops for four years and bleeding the American people, as well. 

On March 24, Vice President Cheney decried congressional intent to set limits on presidential power: “[H.R. 1591] will hamper the war effort and interfere with the operational authority of the president with our military commanders... we will not stand by and let it happen.” The president promises to veto the blended House and Senate bills. He’ll start a game of chicken: say to Congress: “give me what I want or I’ll accuse you of voting against the troops.” 

Because most Republicans blindly support the president, Congress will not have enough votes to override Bush’s veto of Congress’s appropriations bill. Faced with the necessity of supporting our troops, Democratic leaders will have three choices: continue to send Bush essentially the same bill and, if he vetoes it, blame him for bleeding the troops; cave in and give the president the neutered bill he wants; or, do something creative. 

Congress must not capitulate to Bush. While the war in Iraq is the most important U.S. policy issue, the president’s power grab is the pivotal process issue because it threatens our democracy; the constitutional system of checks and balances must be restored. Whatever strategy they finally adopt, the congressional majority must take their case to the public. Democratic leaders should point out they’ve tried to work with Bush but he remains obdurate, refuses to abide by the will of the people. Democrats might hold a national plebiscite on Bush’s conduct of the war: ask the public, do you want the president to continue to have a blank check on Iraq? This process could serve as the basis for a national debate about presidential power in general. Given Bush’s low approval rating, it’s unlikely he would prevail in the court of public opinion. 

Congress must confront President Bush and challenge his usurpation of power. Bush can’t be trusted with a blank check on Iraq or any other national security issue. Congress needs to restore the constitutionally mandated balance of powers. This is the time to take a stand in the matter of Bush vs. America. 

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

A couple of years ago (have I really been doing this for a couple of years?) I wrote about the sneaky reproductive tactics of the brown-headed cowbird, one of a handful of bird species that are brood parasites. Instead of building their own nests and raising their own young, they dump their eggs in the nest of a host and go away. Apart from the New World cowbirds, avian brood parasites include Old World cuckoos, some African finches, African and Asian honeyguides, and the South American black-headed duck. Opportunistic egg-dumping occurs among swallows, waterfowl, and others, but these guys are pros.  

Well, it appears now that the female cowbirds don’t just go away. They stick around and monitor the fate of their egg. Some host birds will incubate the alien egg and feed the resulting chick like one of their own. Others toss it out of the nest, build over it (and any of their own eggs), or pick up and move. There’s variation within a host species, but general trends are known. Some species—robins, kingbirds, waxwings, orioles—reject cowbird eggs almost 90 percent of the time. Acceptor species have much lower rejection rates, 20 percent or below. Although they may succeed in rearing some chicks, they run the risk of the larger and faster-growing cowbirds starving out their own biological offspring. 

Recently published research by Jeff Hoover at the Florida Museum of Natural History at Gainesville shows that some cowbird populations will return and trash the nests of rejectors, destroying the host’s own eggs. It’s essentially a protection racket—Hoover calls it “mafia tactics.” 

Hoover and the museum’s natural history chair Scott Robinson did their fieldwork in the bottomland swamps along the Cache River in southern Illinois, using an acceptor species, the prothonotary warbler. The prothonotary, known to some as the golden swamp warbler, figured briefly in the Alger Hiss perjury trial—the prosecution, as I recall, using a birding recollection by Whittaker Chambers to impeach Hiss’s credibility. Stray prothonotaries sometimes reach California during migration, and they’re worth seeking out. 

Over four breeding seasons, Hoover and Robinson experimentally removed cowbird eggs from warbler nests and monitored what happened next. When cowbirds were allowed access, 56 percent of the host nests were ransacked. With access denied, none were. (Six percent of nests where the intruders’ eggs were not removed and cowbirds could get at the nest were trashed. Since all the study nests were supposedly predator-proofed, I’m not sure what to make of that datum. Maybe it reflects competition among cowbirds—a rival muscling in.) 

The cowbirds’ mafia tactics could work on two levels. In the short term, the owners of the ransacked nests may respond by leaving the cowbird eggs alone on their next attempt—either a same-year renest or the following year’s nest. But destroying the eggs of rejectors would also have the effect of reducing the frequency of rejector genes in the warbler population. In a sense, the cowbirds would be selectively breeding their hosts. 

Hoover also says he found other evidence for “farming” behavior: 20 percent of prothonotary warbler nests that had never been parasitized were still trashed, presumably by cowbirds. When these warblers renested, 85% were cowbird victims. The cowbirds appeared to be inducing the host to lay a new clutch of eggs so they could add their own. 

I’d like to see a California study along these lines. Cowbirds arrived here from the Great Plains around the end of the 19th century, finding a population of naïve hosts. They’ve wreaked havoc with species like the yellow warbler, least Bell’s vireo, and southwestern willow flycatcher. Retaliating against the minority of rejectors in those species would be a preemptive strike against the evolution of rejecting behavior. After all, the environment within which a species evolves isn’t just food and weather: it’s a bunch of other species—parasites, hosts, predators, prey, and symbiotes of all degrees—as well.  

Joe Eaton’s “Wild Neighbors” column appears every other Tuesday in the Berkeley Daily Planet, alternating with Ron Sullivan’s “Green Neighbors” column on East Bay trees. 

Photograph by Ron Storey 

A male brown-headed cowbird, guilty by association.

EDITOR’S NOTE 

Pepper Spray Times, which ordinarily runs in the first Tuesday edition of the month, will instead run next Tuesday.  

CORRECTIONS 

Due to an error in page layout, a line of Ken Bullock’s Clown Bible review in the March 20 edition was omitted. The complete text is available on our website, www.berkeleydailyplanet.com.  

Due to a copyediting error, a word in the title of Paul Kamen’s March 30 commentary was misspelled. We are in fact aware that the word “Ferry” does not contain a tripple-R. We regret the error. Mr. Kamen is absolutely innocent in this matter.

When the Bush administration recently unveiled its new African military command—AFRICOM— Deputy Assistant Sec. of Defense Teresa Whalen said that the initiative was aimed at “promoting security, to build African capacity to build their own environments and not be subject to the instability that has toppled governments and caused so much pain on the continent.”  

And yet hardly was the announcement made when the Bush administration organized the overthrow of the first stable government Somalia has had since 1991, stirring up a hornet’s nest of regional rivalries in the strategic Horn of Africa. 

When the Ethiopian Army stormed across the border in late December to support the besieged and isolated Transitional Federal Government (TFG), it was accompanied by U.S. Special Forces. The United States also provided the Ethiopians with “up-to date intelligence on the military positions of the Islamic figures in Somalia,” Pentagon and counterterrorism officials told the New York Times.  

The target of the invasion was the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), which over the past year had brought a modicum of peace to the warlord-riven country. Since the poorly armed ICU militias were routed, fighting in the capital, Mogadishu, has sharply escalated. 

The situation here [Mogadishu] is out of control,” Ali Said Omar, chair of the Center for Peace and Democracy, told the Guardian.  

The ostensible reason for U.S. participation in the invasion was the ICU’s supposed association with al Qaeda, a charge that has never been substantiated. United States warplanes and ships shelled and rocketed parts of southern Somalia where, according to Oxfam and the UN Refugee Center, 70 civilians died and more than 100 were wounded.  

But the White House’s plans for Africa reach far beyond the Horn, and are part of a general militarization of U.S. foreign policy. A recent Congressional report found that “some embassies have effectively become command posts, with military personnel in those countries all but supplanting the role of ambassadors in conducting American foreign policy.”  

The U.S. is already pouring $500 million into its Trans-Sahel Counterterrorism Initiative that embraces Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria in North Africa, and nations boarding the Sahara including Mauritania, Niger, Mali, Mauritania, Chad and Senegal. The United States currently has a major base in Djibouti that houses some 1,800 troops and which played an important role in the Somalian invasion.  

A major focus of AFRICOM will be the Gulf of Guinea, with its enormous oil reserves in Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Angola and the Congo Republic. It is estimated that by 2015, Africa will provide a quarter of all U.S. oil imports.  

Some of those countries are plagued by exactly the kind of “instability” that AFRICOM was created to deal with. A year ago, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) shut down one fifth of Nigeria’s oil production through a series of attacks on pumping stations and oil rigs.  

“Though all the eyes of the public seem focused on the atomic ambitions of Iran, Nigeria is at the greatest risk of oil disruption today,” Peter Tertzakian, chief energy at ARC Financial Corporation told the Financial Times. Nigeria is the world’s eighth largest oil exporter. 

General James L. Jones, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) supreme commander, says the U.S.-dominated military alliance is “talking” about using its forces to protect oil tankers off the west coast of Africa and to provide security, according to the Associated Press, for “storage and production facilities in areas such as the oil-rich Niger Delta.”  

NATO is doing more than talking. In June of last year, NATO troops stormed ashore at Vila Dos Espargos on the Cape Verde Islands. The war game modeled intervening in a civil war over energy resources.  

If NATO were to “provide security” in the strategic Niger Delta, it would find itself in the middle of an enormously complex political situation that pits local people fighting for a bigger slice of the resource pie against corrupt elites allied with transnational oil giants like ExxonMobile, Chevron, Shell, France’s Total, and Italy’s ENI. 

A spokesman for MEND, Jomo Gbomo, charged that “oil is the key concern of the United States in establishing its African command,” and warned “we will fight everyone who goes on the side of the Nigerian government, regardless of who.” 

While the United States says its focus is on “terrorism,” Nicole Lee of TransAfrica, the leading African American organization focusing on Africa, says “This [AFRICOM] is nothing short of a sovereignty and resource grab.” 

It’s also about the new energy-hungry kids on the block. China has invested $4 billion in the Nigerian oil infrastructure and is pouring money into Gabon, Angola and Chad. India, Malaysia and South Korea have also joined the oil rush, along with competing for copper from Zambia, platinum from Zimbabwe, timber from the Congo, and iron ore from South Africa. In a strange reversal of the 19th century, former colonies are going head to head with their old masters in the race for raw materials. 

The Bush administration has long considered the control of resources like oil to be a strategic issue. In 2001, Vice President Dick Cheney’s National Energy Policy Development Group recommended that the administration “make energy security a priority of our trade and foreign policy,” a blueprint the White House has religiously followed.  

In 2002, the administration also rolled out its “West Point Doctrine,” which in essence said that the United States would not permit the development of a major economic, political or military competitor. 

Both of these policies are increasingly running up against China, the fourth largest economy in the world. When the United States pressured the International Monetary Fund to withhold loans to Angola, the Chinese stepped in with $2 billion. When the United States ringed the Sudan with sanctions over the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, China invested $4 billion in the East African country’s oil industry. Sudan may have the largest untapped reserves in Africa and exports about 200,000 barrels a day to China.  

The Sudan is one of those places where the good guys and the bad guys seemed clearly etched. But up close, things are considerably more complex. The tragedy unfolding in Darfur is fueled in part by competition between nomads and agriculturalists. But it is also a proxy war between Sudanese elites in Khartoum as well as an arena for regional competition between Sudan, Chad, and Niger. Lost in the images we have of burned villages and destitute refugees is the issue of oil. 

The vast bulk of Sudan’s oil is in its south, where a long-running civil war is currently dormant. But in 2011 the south will hold a referendum to decide whether it will remain part of Sudan or become independent. Will western oil companies that pulled up stakes in the 1980s and decamped to Chad push southerners to vote for independence so they can move back in? Will Khartoum really accept a breakup of the country? 

The bottom line is that Sudan, like Somalia, Nigeria, and most African countries, are complex places, where military solutions are likely to cause problems, not solve them. There is also fear, according to Nigerian journalist Dulue Mbachu, “that increased U.S. military presence in Africa may simply serve to protect unpopular regimes that are friendly to its interests, as was the case during the Cold War, while Africa slips further into poverty.” 

“There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house,” Lewis Carroll writes in Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, “and the March Hare and the Hatter were having tea in it; a Dormouse was sitting between them… The table was a large one, but the three were all crowded together at one corner of it. … Alice … sat down in a large arm-chair at one end of the table. … ‘I want a clean cup,’ interrupted the Hatter [after they had eaten for a while]: ‘let’s all move one place on.’ He moved on as he spoke, and the Dormouse followed him: the March Hare moved into the Dormouse’s place, and Alice rather unwillingly took the place of the March Hare. The Hatter was the only one who got any advantage from the change; and Alice was a good deal worse off than before, as the March Hare had just upset the milk-jug into his plate.” 

And so Jerry Brown, our particular version of the Mad Hatter, has moved on from his previous job as Mayor of Oakland to a new “clean spot” in the state attorney general’s office, while we who remain behind must straighten up the mess he has left in his wake. 

In the last few days comes news of two more such political brownfields left by Mr. Brown, one whose effects will be felt immediately, one whose residue will linger throughout the ages. 

First, the immediate mess. 

In a March 23 article in the Oakland Tribune, reporter Heather MacDonald writes that “less than a year after reveling in a $16 million surplus, the City Council must grapple with a projected budget deficit of nearly $13.5million.” 

The article’s headline says that the projected $13.5 million deficit is for the next fiscal year; it’s actually projected for the next budget cycle, which is for a two-year period. Still, that’s a lot of money to be in the hole, even over a two-year period, and a big swing from the surplus fiscal year 2005-07 budget. And, in fact, there are rumors circulating around Oakland City Hall that the actual budget shortfall—rather than the one reported to City Council and the mayor’s office by the city administrator’s office—could be considerably higher, a nasty surprise given to the incoming Dellums Administration in its first days in office. But that’s a story for another time. 

As for the official $13.5 million two-year budget deficit, how did the city get so deep in the hole so quickly? 

The Tribune’s Ms. MacDonald speculates it is City Council’s fault, writing in her second paragraph that “the council spent the surplus on a host of programs, including tree-trimming and roof repairs. In addition, each council member got $250,000 to spend as they wished on projects and programs in their districts.” 

Even if that explains how the surplus got eaten up—and we’re not yet sure it does—it doesn’t reveal why the city has failed to take in the tax and fee revenue that it was raking in only a year ago. Ms. MacDonald moves on to that issue in the next paragraph of her story, where she writes that Oakland’s tax base withered with the cooling off of the housing market. “Because Oakland has few shops and stores,” she says, “the city’s budget relies heavily on property and real estate transfer taxes, leaving it vulnerable to the highs and lows of the housing market. Most large cities in California get a much larger percentage of their total revenue from sales tax than Oakland does, officials said.”  

Actually, the way city tax revenue is structured by law in the post-Prop 13 era is that cities make money on retail, and lose money on housing. That’s why California cities are always battling over new retail development. Only Oakland, in its strange wisdom, seems to be giving gobs of subsidies away to attract housing developers. 

Meanwhile, in her article on Oakland’s budget dilemma, Ms. MacDonald goes on to quote or refer to several city officials and citizens in her article: Councilmembers Nancy Nadel and Pat Kernighan, Mayor Ron Dellums, Mr. Dellums’ Budget and Policy Director Dan Lindheim, even Budget Advisory Committee member Mike Petouhoff, all of whom talked about how the potential budget deficit can be closed. But one name left conspicuously out of the article is probably the one person whose policies are most responsible for that gap: Jerry Brown. 

We’ve walked this particular ground several times before, so it is remarkable how quickly this is forgotten. 

Mr. Brown swept into the mayor’s office in 1998 in part on his dazzling 10k plan promise to revitalize Oakland’s downtown retail core. The plan was always thin on the endgame details—Mr. Brown always said, for example, that retail would build in downtown once the 10,000 new residents moved in, but we were always expected to take that on faith rather than being shown a plan or solid commitments on paper. Meanwhile, 10k was such a catchy phrase, and poor Oakland, like the actress Sally Fields at the Academy Awards, was so starved for someone from the outside who actually acted like they liked us, that the skeptics and our doubts were swept away in the general euphoria and fits of expectation that Mr. Brown was going to “put Oakland on the map.” 

Mr. Brown has come and gone, his 10,000 people are either already living in downtown Oakland or soon to be here, the retail has not yet followed, and the map of the Bay Area looks pretty much the way it did eight years ago. We are told that the Forest City uptown project will be the answer, and the commercial revenues will come flowing as soon as that project is completed. But we’ve been told a lot of things before, and while construction is booming in the uptown area, a single quarter has yet to be dropped into a store cash register as a result of that development. So we will wait and see. 

But budget shortfalls come and go, and Oakland will get through this one, as we have gotten through all the others. The second revealed mess we recently learned Mr. Brown left behind will not be so easily cleaned up, however. That would be the discovery that on his way out the door at Frank Ogawa Plaza, Mr. Brown’s staff either took or destroyed some amount of office records from his two four-year terms. Nobody outside of Brown’s staff knows which records, or how many, although only a handful have reportedly been discovered and recovered, so far. 

“We got rid of all the stuff that we thought was electronically backed up,” the Tribune reported one of Mr. Brown’s former aides as saying. “A lot of things were thrown away, Raiders documents, things like that.” 

And according to the Tribune, a current Brown aid in the Attorney General’s office, Nathan Barankin, “said Brown is a notoriously poor record-keeper, that he didn’t generate many records to begin with and that copies of any destroyed documents were likely available elsewhere in city government. Barankin, who did not work for Brown in Oakland, said that after looking into the issue for several days he believed that no crime occurred. ‘Copies are around. It ought to be all findable,’ he said. ‘No records were improperly disposed of.’” So says Mr. Barankin. 

But why were records from Mr. Brown’s terms as mayor disposed of at all? Two possible reasons might be suggested. 

The first is that Mr. Brown was being tidy, and wanted to leave a neat, clean office for the new occupant. Only Lewis Carroll, at his best absurdity, would try to assert that this was the case, however. 

The second possible reason for the wholesale records disposal is that there was something in the records that Mr. Brown did not want us to see, either documents which show something which he did, or documents which demonstrate how little he did on Oakland business while he was in office. Perhaps both. Public records requests stemming from the time before the documents turned up missing, for example, showed that Mr. Brown spent considerable time raising money for his private schools, when we were paying him to work on city business. 

And some people wonder why I keep writing about Jerry Brown. 

But this is speculation, why the mayoral records were taken or destroyed, and in the end, this is a point-story, and that is not the point. The records of a mayor are the property of the citizens of the city and taking them or destroying them is a criminal act, in the same way that embezzling city money would be a criminal act, or chipping out some of the marble from the City Hall stairway on your way out the door and slipping it into your pocket. It robs Oakland of its history, and cripples our ability to document the actions of our city government over the past eight years, actions for which we paid with our tax money. In lawsuits and the confusions generated by our inability to understand the roots of various city policies generated during Mr. Brown’s terms, we will probably continue to pay, many times over, for many years to come. 

Part of the lost records, for example, might explain how Oakland went from a budget surplus to a budget deficit in the last year of Mr. Brown’s second term. Who knows? 

In Alice In Wonderland, Alice walks away from the Mad Hatter’s tea party in disgust, leaving the Hatter and his friends to their madness. In real life, it has been the opposite, with the Hatter himself—Mr. Brown—walking away from the mess. But there is an irony to the Oakland situation that Mr. Carroll—the master of political absurdity—would have appreciated. If anyone wants to determine whether the former mayor of Oakland committed a crime in disposing of city records on his way out the door, whose office do you suppose would be the logical stop for such a legal determination? If you guessed the office of the California Attorney General, where Mr. Brown now sits, you win a prize.  

On February 23, 1924, the weekly newspaper The Courier announced that the rapidly expanding American Bank, headquartered at 16th Street and San Pablo Avenue in Oakland, had purchased the College National Bank of Berkeley. American Bank was headed by Phillip E. Bowles, a University of California alumnus and regent from 1911 to 1922. Bowles Hall, UC’s first student residence hall, would be endowed by his widow in his name. 

Bowles’ equivalent at College National Bank was Frank Ernest Heath (1866–1951), the leading dairyman in these parts. Having begun as a cable-car gripman and streetcar conductor in San Francisco, Heath bought a small Alameda dairy in 1900. After acquiring several Oakland dairies, in 1906 Heath purchased Berkeley Farm Creamery on Allston Way, current site of the Gaia Building. 

Initially a small plant, Berkeley Farm Creamery was transformed by Heath into one of the largest in the west, with seven hundred milk cows producing 8,000 gallons a day and gross sales of $2,750,000 in 1927. 

The College National Bank was organized in 1919 under charter No. 11495. Like hundreds of other small California banks, it printed its own national currency banknotes. By 1923, the bank had expanded to such an extent that it was able to construct its own building on the northwest corner of Shattuck Avenue and Addison Street in downtown Berkeley. 

The site where the new bank building was to be erected was not empty. For several decades, it had been occupied by a three-story building with window bays along its two facades. Topped by a conical witch’s hat, its round corner turret served as companion to the corresponding domed turret on the Francis K. Shattuck Building across Addison Street. On the ground floor, this building contained three storefronts that varied over the years from picture-framing and paint stores to a candy factory. Upstairs there were offices and rooms.  

In January 1923, the Courier announced the completion of the wrecking of the site for the College National Bank, and excavation for the new building began the following month. 

The new edifice, opened in December 1923, was a temple of commerce in appearance as well as in function. It was designed by Oakland architect Charles W. McCall, who had built the Mission Revival Webb Block on the corner of Ashby and Adeline in 1905. This time, McCall used a hybrid modernist-Greek Revival style, executed in concrete. The traditional Greek triangular pediment was replaced by a flat parapet, and the Addison Street facade featured seven two-story-high windows separated by plain concrete columns. Along the Shattuck Ave. facade, four Doric columns stood guard over the recessed entrance. 

The building may have been designed to last forever, but its life was remarkably short. Possibly as a result of the Great Depression, College National Bank vacated its home. In December 1931, the Berkeley Daily Gazette reported that the Berkeley Municipal Christmas Tree Committee had opened temporary quarters in the vacant building in order to collect shoes, stockings, and warm underwear gifts for underprivileged children and needy elderly folk. 

Enter Samuel Henry Kress (1863–1955) and his five-and-dime empire. Established in 1896, S.H. Kress & Company is described in the Kress Foundation’s history as having “operated a chain of distinctive, elegant buildings purveying cheerful, low-priced notions and durable household wares. Designed to exacting company standards, the handsome Kress stores were cherished no less as prominent local landmarks than for their quality merchandise. In an age of civic boosterism, the downtown ‘Kress’s’ were celebrated beacons of prosperity and progress, exemplars of urban art, and magnets of municipal pride.” 

Alone among the five-and-dime chains that clustered on America’s Main Streets, Kress began building its own stores in 1909, relying on an in-house architectural division that employed at its peak nearly 100 architects and designers. 

In 1931, Kress announced that it was going to build in the new style and modernize Main Street. Two years earlier, the company had hired Brooklyn-born Edward Frederick Sibbert, Jr. (1899–1982), who would become Kress’s chief architect and design more than 50 stores in 25 years. 

Fortunately for Berkeley, Kress decided to build here when Sibbert was already on board. His Art Deco buildings are the most distinctive and the best remembered of the Kress stores. 

Kress apparently acquired the College National Bank site in 1932. In July of that year, The Architect & Engineer announced plans for a new three-story, $100,000 building, but two months later the Berkeley Progress reported that the company was planning to remodel the existing bank building. The decision was finally made to build from scratch. In May 1933, the Berkeley Progress reported that the new two-story-plus-basement building would be erected by Dinwiddie Construction Co. at a cost of approximately $100,000, that it would have a steel frame, with a frontage of 55 feet on Shattuck Avenue and 150 feet on Addison Street, and that the walls would be of concrete faced with pressed brick and a brick veneer. The building was being constructed with foundations that could carry additional stories when needed. 

The building permit issued in June 1933 was for a two-story, four-room, $55,000 store measuring 55 feet by 100 feet, with a height of 52 feet. Like many other Sibbert-designed Kress stores, it is sleekly fashioned in the Zigzag Moderne style, with strong verticals and vaguely Mayan terracotta ornaments. Even the fire escape on the Addison Street side is patterned in Art Deco style. 

Curved glass display windows led the shopper through heavy bronze doors into a long, elegant sales floor offering thousands of inexpensive items. The salesladies’ tan and ivory uniforms blended with the pale walls. 

In 1964, S. H. Kress & Co. was bought by Genesco, Inc., which began closing down the stores in 1980. About one hundred of the Kress buildings survive and are treasured for their beauty. Many have been designated landmarks and adapted to other uses. The Berkeley store, designated a city landmark in 1981, is currently home to Half Price Books, the Jazz School, and the Aurora Theatre Company. 

In 1997, the National Building Museum mounted the exhibition “Main Street Five-and-Dime: The Architectural Heritage of S. H. Kress & Co.” The announcement card and the exhibition brochure featured a 1933 photograph of the Berkeley store. 

Daniella Thompson publishes berkeleyheritage.com for the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA). 

Photograph by Daniella Thompson 

The Kress Building is the third major commercial structure built at the northeast corner of Shattuck Avenue and Addison Street. 

Having had the unhappy occasion to take an airline flight recently, I got to feast my jaded eyes on something called “Skymall.” This is a catalogue one finds stuffed along with the airline’s house magazine and a leftover napkin into the pocket of the seat ahead, pressing on one’s sore knees even if one is, as I am, built like a fireplug.  

The catalogue encompasses offerings from a number of companies, including the likes of Sharper Image and Hammacher Schlemmer. One can expect gadgets from such sources that push the limits of ingenuity well into the territory of weirdness. One can still be surprised.  

Presumably, somewhere in the world (or perhaps just above it) people are buying travel toothbrush sanitizers, license plate frames with scrolling customizable LED-lettered messages, motorized tie racks, and pop-up hotdog cookers. Whatever else the late-capitalist era is, it’s entertaining—rather like California elections.  

There are garden tchotchkes in the catalogue too, if you really want a glass-topped table with a “resin” (i.e. plastic) base in the shape of a sumo wrestler, a really dumb face to nail to an innocent tree, or a radio-controlled swimming robot shark for your koi pond. Wait, that looks pretty cool; maybe I want one.  

But gardeners have a longstanding tradition of spending winter evenings curled up with seed and bulb catalogues, where we find ingenuity and weirdness of a different sort. These are so entertaining, we don’t need to confine them to being winter wishbooks; I picked up a few at the San Francisco Garden Show just to keep track of what’s new—and what’s old. 

My favorite comes in the mail, because I’m a member of Native Seeds/SEARCH. That Tucson-based nonprofit sends a holiday catalogue that emphasizes NS/S’s other offerings—great nonstandard culinary chiles, chile powders, beans, and other foodstuffs; basketry and carved implements; books and clothing.  

The spring seedlisting is for the optimistic few in the fog zone, or for those of us with reliable sun and heat, mostly east of the hills. NS/S gathers and grows out rare varieties of such desert staples as beans and peas, melons, corn, squash, chilipeppers, gourds, okra, onions, amaranth and sorghum, tomatoes, greens, and tobacco. 

More locally, Annie’s Annuals has a colorful and jolly catalogue, and the two Annies and their confederates certainly come up with new and gorgeous flowering plants, natives, exotics, and hybrids. Their catalogue includes the dates of the nursery’s several annual parties—the next one’s April 13, 14, and 15—and some good garden advice too. 

You can find Kitazawa seeds on the racks in garden shops and places like the Berkeley Bowl, but the company catalogue has more varieties in it than any display can hold, and recipes too. Kitazawa, based in the Bay Area, started out selling vegetable seeds to a largely Japanese-American clientele, seeds of goods like daikon and pak choi that they couldn’t easily find in the markets 90 years ago.  

The current expanded inventory includes all that and seven Thai basil varieties, tomatoes including the sweet ‘Odoriko’ variety, Armenian cucumbers, and Egyptian molokhia.  

Order these catalogues and see other offerings at www.nativeseeds.org, www.anniesannuals.com and www.kitazawaseed.com.  

Ron Sullivan is a former professional gardener and arborist. Her “Garden Variety” column appears every Friday in the Daily Planet’s East Bay Home & Real Estate section. “Green Neighbors,” her column on East Bay trees, appears every other Tuesday in the Daily Planet.

I recently visited Tokyo. What a wonderful experience in so many ways. Too many to touch on in a single article, but one thing that did strike me again and again was the use of and respect for space. Japanese people tend to live in much smaller spaces than we take for granted and they endeavor to use each space as efficiently and richly as possible. It alters the aesthetic. Also, there’s no shame in packing things in to these tight spaces. On the contrary, I think that the Japanese view a waste of space or living in unnecessarily large quarters as egregious misconduct. 

Given the cost of homes today, this sensibility regarding space seems to be growing among us as well. Perhaps we’re all turning Japanese in a small way and I think it’s a good thing. There are few things that bother me more than seeing a family of two living in a 4,000-square-foot house. Waste is unattractive and small is nice, smart and respectful. I also see more and more people taking an interest in developing their attics, as an alternative to either moving or building on. While sensible, in the use of space, attics do pose some issues which must be considered prior to a serious emotional or physical commitment (this sounds like a column for the lovelorn). 

Attics are not generally built for living. They are lacking in features that modern building concepts demand for living space but these need not always be major impediments. Nonetheless, they should be given due consideration. 

Let’s start with ingress and egress, the construction words for stairways and other means of escape. Stairs are really, really, important. They provide safe travel between levels and should accommodate physical disability and instability. When looking at stairs and railings I like to imagine a drunken woman in heels (or a drunken man in heels if you prefer). Stairs are treacherous, as any ER doctor can tell you, and we should do all we can to control their perils. 

Developed attics often rely on ladders of various kinds and these almost never meet modern building standards and are genuinely dangerous. Some attic development projects become prohibitively complex or expensive when stairs are taken into the equation, but from my own experience I’d say that safe stairways are the baseline criterion for attic habitability. Stairs take up quite a bit of space and require roughly 9-10-inch treads and no more than about 8 inches on risers (codes vary but his is a good rough picture). Stairs also need to be 3 feet wide, although my own perspective is that this is a bit stringent and I’d like to see the codes loosen up to allow some stairways to be narrower than this. 

Here come more difficulties. If an attic is to function as a living space, the floors need to meet some minimum “live load” requirements and many do not. Most attics are framed to support the weight of the ceiling below and end up far too slender to adequately support active bodies and furnishings. Of course, this is based on our western concept of inflexible floors and not on the ability of the floor to bear weight. A floor of 2x4s can generally bear the weight of a small office and a couple of occupants but modern codes demand much greater rigidity that generally demand the use of 2x8s or 2x10s for floor joisting. A 2x4 floor can be augmented in strength but this will usually require removal of everything above it and sometimes the ceiling below. This also bites into the total remaining ceiling height, which can be a serious matter when we’re wrestling for inches. 

If the ceiling can be made sufficiently rigid and a stairway and landing can be installed to meet modern standards, you’re well on your way. I do see a few old houses that already look like this and if you’re lucky, your attic may be ready for you and the baby grand. 

Next is the issue of ceiling height. To take my tiny pulpit for just a minute, I want to say that the presence of rules regarding ceiling heights in the code is just plain silly and a needless waste of governance and money. If I want to build a house with 5-foot ceilings and live in it, it ain’t nobody’s business but mine. If I want to build a house for a couple who are both under 5 feet in height, there is no reason to build it to suit people who are 6-foot-4. If you go shopping for houses and see one that’s too short inside, you won’t buy it, right?  

There is one exception that I agree with and that is doorways and stairways where people tend to get smacked. Setting some minimum heights is not a bad idea to prevent harm but I still think that there are many items far more critical and deserving of code enforcement that ceiling heights. That said, your city official will want you to have a ceiling that is substantially 7-foot-6. There are exceptions that allow for sloped or beamed ceiling and one can get away with 7-foot ceilings for at least a part of most attics. The formulas are too complex to present here and codes and local enforcement varies quite a bit so let’s leave it a little vague. If you’re trying to tackle this issue, take a sketch to your local building department and talk it over with them. If you’re afraid of getting caught, talk to an architect. 

Although attics often have wonderful and useable wedges of space right down to the eaves, they don’t count as living space when calculating minimum room dimensions. A room, if it is to function as a bedroom, has to be at least 70 square feet with neither dimension less than 7 feet. Now remember that this is allowing for at least 7 feet on a sloping ceiling. Now balance this cup on your nose and grab these pliers with your teeth and stand on this ball. Tough, eh? Yes, this is not simple but to meet code requirements you’ll have to somehow figure this stuff out. But wait, we’re not done. There’s plenty more. 

Backing up to structural issues for a moment, I’ll throw you a real doozy. It’s the foundation. Many building departments consider the legal development of the attic as the addition of another floor (at least partially so). This can mean, if they choose to enforce it, that your foundation now needs to meet a higher standard and may need to be either replaced or at least modified to carry the extra weight of people and furnishings on this newly anointed level. While this may be a relatively minor issue for a small room, it’s definitely a serious issue for large attic conversions that add a suit of rooms. 

So now we’ve hit stairways, floor strength, ceiling height and possible foundation issues. These are the big and complex ones that end up nixing so many remodeling jobs and if you’ve tackled these you’re basically there. There are, however, some niggling issues that are worth a mention. Having a second means of escape is required in most cities but a window can usually suffice. This means that at least one window has to open to some minimum size. Usually 20 inches wide and 24 inches tall, but, again, check with your local official. This window can also provide required ventilation and light for the space (both are code requirement and both make sense, although a skylight can substitute for these.  

Heat is also required for all living spaces and while this does make sense, I would lobby for attic living spaces to be exempt on the basis of physics. Since heat rises, attic rooms are rarely the coldest and often the warmest. This means that it makes a lot of sense to insulate as much of the attic ceiling as possible. Attic floors are often insulated in undeveloped spaces and, while that’s still fine for your developed attic, the ceiling of the attic should be insulated if you’ve made this into a practical living space. 

There’s a lot more to say about attic conversion as well as the removal of ceiling and inclusion of the attic space in the volume of living space below, so watch this spot. I’ll devote another column to this soon. 

Attic conversions are complex and anticipating all the issues that can arise in this sort of project is trying. If you venture this way, get good advice from contractors and architects before you invest money in actual remodeling and expect people to be wrong and to make mistakes. The Japanese would say: Saru mo ki kara ochiru—even monkeys can fall from trees. I think they mean “fall from attics,” but hey, I don’t speak Japanese.

TUESDAY, APRIL 3 

FILM 

Anthology FIlm Archives: Recent Preservations with archivist Andrew Lampert at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Arlene Blum on “Breaking Trail: A Climbing Life” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Saxophone Quartet at 8 p.m. ath Berkeley City Club. 2315 Durant Ave. Cost is $20. 525-5211. 

Ellen Hoffman and Singers’ Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Rebecca Griffin at 7:30 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Thomas Mapfumo at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays, a weekly showcase of up-and-coming ensembles from Berkeley Jazzschool at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Along the Five” Works by Tyrell Collins and others opens at Cecile Moochnek Gallery, 1809-D Fourth St., and runs through May 13. 549-1018. 

THEATER 

Opera Piccola’s ArtGate Program “365 Days/365 Plays” at 7 p.m. at Oakland Metro Theater, 201 Broadway. Pay what you can. 658-0967. www.opera-piccola.org 

FILM 

Film 50: History of Cinema “Cléofrom 5 to 7” at 3 p.m. with a lecture by Marilyn Fabe at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

“The Private Archives of Pablo Escobar” Documentary film screening followed by discussion with Columbian Journalist Daniel Coronell at 7 p.m. at 160 Kroeber Hall, UC Campus. 642-2088. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ken Kuhlken, mystery writer, introduces his new novel “The Do-Re-Mi” at 6:30 p.m. at Oakland Public Library, Main Library, 125 14th St., Oakland. 238-3134. 

Erika Mailman reads from her historical novel “Woman of Ill Fame” about a Gold Rush prostitute, at 7 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Brad Buethe Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Bandworks Concert at 7:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $5, children under 12 free. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Julio Bravo at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Salsa lessons at 8 p.m. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Kurt Ribak Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Uday Bhawalker with Manik Munde at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Noah Grant at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

Gonzalo Rubalcaba Group at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $10-$20. 238-9200.  

THURSDAY, APRIL 5 

EXHIBITIONS 

“ultra deepfield” Bay Area artists look at urban locations in transition. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Kala Art Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. Exhitition runs to May 12. 549-2977. www.kala.org 

“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 

“Antonini: The Vision That Changed the Cinema” at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Free First Thursday. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Lunch Poems with Joanne Kyger at 12:10 p.m. in the Morrison Library, in the Doe Library, UC Campus. http://lunchpoems.berkeley.edu 

Seth Lerer on “Inventing English: A Portable History of the Language” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Jane Ganahl reads from her new book on mid-life dating, “Naked on the Page” at 7:30 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

Tourettes without Regrets at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $8. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Richard Shindell at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Betty Fu & Ben Stolorow Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Plum Crazy, Trevor Garrod at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

La Vendi, The New Up at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

Martin Locke, singer/songwriter, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Mike Lee and Amber at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

FRIDAY, APRIL 6 

THEATER 

“Clown Bible” acrobatic theater based on man’s relationship with God, Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at Willard Middle School Metal Shop Theater, 2425 Stuart St., through April 14. Tickets are $15-$20. www.brownpapertickets.com 

Masquers Playhouse “She Loves Me” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Masquers Playhouse, 105 Park Place, Point Richmond. Tickets are $12. 232-4031. www.masquers.org  

Shotgun Players “Blood Wedding” Thurs.-Sun. at 8 p.m. at the Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., through April 29. Tickets are $17-$25. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

Marga Gomez “Laugh Baby Laugh” at 8 p.m. at La Lesbian @ La Peña, Tickets are $20. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

“City of Walls, City of People” The urban experience in Oakland, CA, and Venice, Italy, a collaboration with California College of the Arts, and Istituto Universitario di Architettura, Design e Arti, in Venice. Reception at 6 p.m. at Pro Arts, 550 Second St., Oakland. 763-9425. 

“New Works by Judith Hoersting and Judi Miller” Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Mercury 20 Gallery, 25 Grand Ave. at Broadway. Exibition runs to April 28. mercurytwenty@gmail.com 

“Collaboration of Poetry and Painting” Works by Louis Delsarte and Ntozake Shange opens with a reception at 6 p.m. at Joyce Gordon Gallery, 406 14th St., Oakland. Exhibition runs through April 30. 465-8928. www.joycegordongallery.com 

“Jarring Realities” Paintings and sculptures by Scott Hove, Donna Mendes and Marty McCorkle opens at the Esteban Sabar Gallery, 480 23rd St., and runs through April 30. 444-7411. www.estebansabar.com 

David Gentry: Conserved Constructs featuring mixed-media sculptures. Reception at 6 p.m. at Pro Arts, 550 Second St., Oakland. 763-9425. 

FILM 

“Tropical Malady: Shot-by-Shot” with Director Apichatpong Weerasethakul at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Sadiya Hartman introduces “Lose Your Mother: A Journey Across the Atlantic Slave Route” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com  

John Moir describes “Return of the Condor: The Race to Save Our Largest Bird from Extinction” at 7 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak St., Oakland. 238-2200. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Free Jazz Fridays with Woman's Worth, Sword & Sandals, Vholtz at 8 p.m. at 1510 Eighth St. Performance Space, Oakland. Cost is $5-$15 sliding scale. 415-846-9432. 

Resmiranda Vocal Ensemble at 7:30 p.m. at Northbrae Community Church, 941 the Alameda. Tickets are $20-$25 at the door. 

Michael Zilber Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Caribbean Allstars, Kalbass at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054.  

Jack Gates Ensemble, Latin jazz, at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Marley’s Ghost at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

The Ravines and Tamra Engle at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Pat Johnson & The New Sheiks, Penelope Houston, Julia Dawn at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Cabrillo Beach Boys, Dirty Looks, Neverending Party at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Dave Stein Hub-Bub at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

Les Nubians at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $25. 548-1159.  

The Sonando Project “Musica de su Mente” The Latin Side of Stevie Wonder at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Tommy Gun and the Bullets, Lincolms at 8:30 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $6. 451-8100. www.uptownnightclub.com 

Gonzalo Rubalcaba Group at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $10-$20. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, APRIL 7 

CHILDREN  

“The Story of Norooz” A children’s theatre production in celebration of the Persian New Year at 2 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marina Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with The Crosspulse Rhythm Duo at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

THEATER 

Marga Gomez “Laugh Baby Laugh” at 8 p.m. at La Lesbian @ La Peña, Tickets are $20. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

FILM 

“Blissfuly Yours” with Director Apichatpong Weerasethakul at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Bay Area Poets Coalition holds an open reading, from 3 to 5 p.m., at Strawberry Creek Lodge, 1320 Addison St. Park on the street, not in Lodge parking lot. 527-9905. poetalk@aol.com 

Dave Bunnell, founder of the Long Life Club reads from his new book “Count Down Your Age” at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Public Central Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6142.  

Rafaela Castro reads from “Provocaciones: Letters from the Prettiest Girl in Arvin” stories about growing up Latina in California, at 6 p.m. at the Oakland Public Library, César Chávez Branch, 3301 East 12th St., Oakland. 535-5620. 

Ana-Maurine Lara, AfroDominican American lesbian writer and organizer reads from her new novel “Erzulie’s Skirt” at 2 p.m. at Women’s Cancer Resource Center, 5741 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. RSVP to margo@wcrc.org 601-4040. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Sarah Chang, violin, Ashley Wass, piano, at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $36-$68. 642-9988. 

Mark Growden, Knees and Elbows at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $10. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

Gary Wade, blues guitar and vocals at noon at Cafe Zeste, 1250 Addison St. at Bonar, in the Strawberry Creek Park complex. 704-9378. 

Yancie Taylor Jazztet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Tito y su Son de Cuba at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cuban dance lesson at 8:30 p.m. Cost is $15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Sotaque Baino, Brazilian music at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159. www.shattuckdownlow.com 

Heather Frederick and Jamie Jenkins at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Lost Weekend at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jarrett Cherner Quartet at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Nicole McRory at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

The Ravines at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 558-0881. 

Woven Hand, Pelusa, Scott Simon at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $10. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Terrence Brewer Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Dekapitator, Menacer, Hatchet, Fog of War 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. 

SUNDAY, APRIL 8 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“Just April” concert with April Wright at 6 p.m. at St. Paul AME Church, 2024 Ashby Ave. 697-8302. 

Jeremy Taylor at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Robert Stewart Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ.  

Taurus Reggae Bash at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. 525-5054.  

Second Opinion, S.B.V., Punch at 5 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Asunder, Laudanum, Malefica at 6 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $6. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

MONDAY, APRIL 9 

EXHIBITIONS 

“2 of a Kind” Prints by artists from the California Society of Printmakers and the NIAD Center for Art and Disabilities opens at 551 23rd St., Richmond, and runs through June 15. 620-0290. 

FILM 

“Jazz on a Monday Afternoon” Films and discussion on The Swing Era at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St., 3rd flr. 981-6100. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Art in the “Athens of the West” with Gray Brechin at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6150.  

A.C.T.’s “After the War” Panel Discussion with Philip Kan Gotanda, playwright at 5 p.m. in the Maude Fife Room, 315 Wheeler Hall, UC Campus. 643-9670. 

“Actors Reading Writers “Teachers & Students” at 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. 932-0214. 

Anastasia Goodstein describes “Totally Wired: What Teens and Tweens are Really Doing Online” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Page to Stage Delroy Lindo interviewed by Belva Davis at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Rep, 2025 Addison St. 647-2949. 

Poetry Express with Selene Steese and Michael C. Ford at 7 p.m. at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Tangria Jazz Group at 12:15 p.m. in the Elkus Room, 125 Morrison Hall, UC Campus. 

Fishtank Ensemble & Luminescent Orchestrii at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $5. 548-1761.  

Parlor Tango at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

I.C.P. Orchestra 40th Anniversary Tour at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com  

YOUTH PERFORM ‘365 DAYS / 365 PLAYS’ 

Opera Piccola’s ArtGate program presents students from EOSA and Oakland Tech High schools in a performance of Suzan-Lori Parks’ 365 Days/365 Plays, Wednesday, April 4, at 7 p.m. at the Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway in Jack London Square. Admission is pay-what-you-can, no one turned away for lack of funds. 658-0967. www.opera-piccola.org. 

‘ULTRA DEEPFIELD’ AT KALA ART INSTITUTE 

Michael Damm, Mayumi Hamanaka and Apollonia Morrill explore often forgettable urban places, empty spaces, and space in transition in new works in photography and video in Kala Art Insititute’s “ultra deepfield” exhibition. Opening reception at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 5 at 1060 Heinz Ave. Exhibition runs to May 12. Gallery hours are noon-5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and noon to 4:30 p.m. Saturday. 549-2977. www.kala.org. 

‘JAZZ ON A MONDAY AFTERNOON’ 

Dr. Dee Spencer continues her her presentations on the history of jazz with film and discussion of the Swing Era at 2 p.m. Monday, April 9 the Berkeley Pubbc Library. Spencer combines archival footage of great performances with lectures and discussion of the music and its creators. The series has been popular, so expect to arrive early to get a seat. 2090 Kittredge St., Third Floor. 981-6100. 

AVANT-GARDE FILMS FROM THE ‘60s AND ’70S 

Andrew Lampert, an archivist and programmer at New York’s Anthology Film Archives, will screen and discuss a series recently preserved classic avant-garde films from the 1960s and ’70s at 7:30 p.m. today (Tuesday) at Pacific Film Archive. $4-$8. 2575 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu.

On a blood-red tile floor stained with the sepia of age, rust or dried blood, before a great stucco arch which later becomes the outline of a full moon, The Mother (Scarlett Hepworth) puts a knife which her son The Groom (Ryan O’Donnell) has handed to her on an empty chair in front of the one in which she sits. She stares at it mournfully: “How can it be that something as small as a pistol or a knife can kill a man?”  

So one passion, the unrelenting memory of a blood feud, becomes the dark undertow in the seeming happiness of The Groom’s announcement of his engagement. And there is another passion, another unforgotten memory: the secret and thwarted love between The Bride (Erin Gilley) from a remote farm, and hard-riding, ne’er-do-well, brooding Leonardo (John-Paul Goorjian): “To keep still when you’re on fire is the worst punishment we can inflict on ourselves.” Leonardo, the only one in the play with a proper name, is doubly fated, as scion to the family mortally locked in feuding with The Groom’s. 

Garcia Lorca’s Blood Wedding, staged by Shotgun on Kate Boyd’s great set in a new translation (Michael Dewell and Carmen Zapata), begins with discordant notes sounded in The Mother’s complaints, in the gossip of neighbors (“What would he [Leonardo] be doing in that desert? ... they say the horse was drowned in sweat!”), in rumor and in the voiceless attitudes of oppression and hysteria that foreshadow the crisis, though not the manner of its unfolding onstage. 

Director Evrin Odcikin has added the guitar (and, for one number, the singing, the heart of the form) of David McLean and the choreography of Yaelisa (daughter to the late singer Isa Mura), who together are credited with the music. Especially since Carlos Saura’s film of a dress run-through of Antonio Gades’ textless dance drama of the story, it’s become something of a cliche to make Blood Wedding into a full-blown flamenco show (an exception being Theatre of Yugen’s Kabuki-Flamenco fusion adaptation a few years back). But here, the music underscores certain moods and moments nicely, coming into its own at the wedding party, with the charming dances of the two Girls (Anna Ishida and Jessica Kitchens), who otherwise tease and attend The Bride and later sing and wind yarn in the wake of tragedy. 

The bare plot would seem merely melodramatic, but Garcia Lorca’s poetic text concentrates on the sacramental, liturgical quality of his stylization of the folk speech of his native Andalusia, qualities often ascribed to cante flamenco as well. And the plot breaks, the story opens up to the fantastic, in a nocturnal world of fugitives in the shadow, branches in moonlight. The director credits Kate Boyd with the fine idea of having the cast face away from the audience. They stand on the chairs they sat in upstage, where they reacted to the action earlier like a flamenco chorus, and now they become trees with upraised, gesturing hands as branches which Woodcutters (John Mercer and Baruch Porras-Hernandez) talk of cutting down, so The Moon (a fabulous Dawn Scott, also Leonardo’s Wife) can “shine on the buttons that open the vest” to knife-thrusts as The Beggar (Patricia Miller, also The Bride’s Nurse) demands. “I am the false dawn in the treetops,” says The Moon, entering, “They will not get away!” 

In the program and in interviews, the director—who speaks charmingly of seeing Blood Wedding performed as a boy in his native Istanbul, and of the first time he saw Yaelisa dance—talks about the importance of Duende, that relative of Socrates’ Daemon and the Islamic Baraka as well as of Poe’s Imp of the Perverse, which brings a vertigo of mortal anguish to life and art. He also mentions the reservations audiences seem to have about Lorca’s “old-fashioned dialogue.” 

But the dialogue is the heart of this poet’s play, a timeless sense of repetition, underpinned by an echoless yet pregnant silence, delivered with a stark, insinuating finality. Just as the contrast between the blinding light of the south, plunged into the darkness of the night, with the seductive flicker of moonlight, defines the play’s setting, so the rhetoric of the dialogue is the very life of its characters, all folk types. 

Mistaking decorative stylizations, like stamping, or choral reactions to certain lines, for the real, poetic thing, here the delivery of the text ends up lacking gravity, and is self-consciously thrown away. And the Duende that’s been extolled is passed over at its real, crucial moment by having The Groom and Leonardo fight onstage (choreographed well enough, but in imitation of Gades’ dancers shot in slow motion by Saura), later returning as spectres to present their bloody sashes. The playwright explicitly sets the fight offstage, punctuated by screams, then silence—and irremediable absence. 

Most stagings in English of Lorca’s plays (and translations of his poetry, though Samuel Beckett’s friend Thomas McGreevy and Berkeley’s own Jaime De Angulo came up with rare exceptions) dwell on his supposed imagistic and surrealistic qualities. That’s something Bay Area poet Jack Spicer saw through, saying in his book After Lorca, addressing the dead Andalusian: “We have both tried to be independent of images ... to make things visible rather than to make pictures of them ... Things do not connect; they correspond.” That points to the Symbolist aesthetic—“Not the thing itself, but its effect”—from which Lorca innovated a complex, delicate style. Besides the elaborations of folk speech by poet Rosalia Castro and playwright Ramon del Valle-Inclan (both Galicians) another Celtic folk element comes into the origins of Blood Wedding: its inspiration from Riders to the Sea, by John Synge, Irish author of The Playboy of the Western World, close to W. B. Yeats and Dublin’s Abbey Theatre and to Maurice Maeterlinck and the Symbolist stage of Paris. It’s no mistake that James Graham-Lujan, Lorca’s friend and the first (and still finest) translator of his plays into English, used Synge’s tragedy as model for his version of Blood Wedding. 

Shotgun’s production reaches out for some interesting effects that prove merely ornamental, making Blood Wedding into a vaguely Expressionistic potboiler. To paraphrase a critic of Alexander Pope’s translation of Homer’s epics, “Very pretty; not Lorca.” 

Photograph by Howard Gerstein 

Ryan O’Donnell, Erin Gilley and John-Paul Goorjian in Shotgun’s Blood Wedding.

I first met Tiny when she came to my law office to talk about working off her parking tickets. She had pink hair spiking off in various directions and was dressed in a biker punk combination of clashing prints and colors. I remember thinking she looked awfully young, but then again, something about her contradicted that youthful impression. Now reading her extraordinary memoir I understand the reason for the double image. 

When she was 11 years old, Tiny became her disabled mother’s sole support and caregiver. She was for all practical purposes her mother’s mother. Their joint struggle for survival is at the core of this book. 

In the opening chapters of her book, Criminal Poverty: Growing Up Homeless in America, Tiny sketches her mother-line of abused and poverty-stricken women stretching back generations to the Irish slums of Liverpool. Tiny’s grandmother, Helen Jo, sailed to New York alone and practically penniless when she was 15. Her hopes of becoming an actress expired in an abusive marriage which lasted long enough for her to give birth to three children. When her husband smacked her one too many times she knocked him unconscious with a frying pan and walked out, leaving the children behind. Boarding a bus to Philadelphia, she met the man who would become Tiny’s grandfather. He was “tall and thin, with kinky black-brown hair, dark skin, and eyes like smooth pieces of brown suede.” He told her she was pretty, said he was a singer, and promised to take care of her. They lived together in the dark corner room of a downtown hotel. She became pregnant. When Dee, Tiny’s mother, was born, the man with the brown suede eyes offered to marry Helen Jo. When she refused he left. Abandoned, unable to work and care for her baby, she made the fateful decision to give Dee away to a foster home, the first of a series in which Dee was repeatedly sexually, physically and emotionally abused.  

Dee emerged from foster care emotionally scarred but with a fierce will to survive. She met Tiny’s father while she was still in high school. He was white, wealthy and privileged and found her exotic. They married and moved to Camarillo, where Tiny was born. After finishing medical school, he began to fall apart. He didn’t really want to be a doctor. The marriage unraveled. Violently. When he broke her arm, Dee took Tiny and left. Thrown back into poverty, she struggled to stay afloat. She managed to get a masters degree in social work from Fresno State and for two and a half years held a job as a case worker in a Catholic group home. She was laid off when the funding got cut. It was to be her last job. She had a complete psychological and physical breakdown.  

From then on it was up to Tiny to keep herself and her mother alive. She learned to forage and scheme and pretend to be older than she was. She dressed up in her “rent-starter” outfit to beg landlords to rent them a place with no credit and the promise that a check was in the mail. Eviction followed eviction. They moved from Los Angeles, to Mexico, to Santa Monica, to Venice Beach. 

In Venice Beach they screened Teddy bears on T-shirts and hawked them on the boardwalk. A month of rain killed their profits. Evicted one more time, they packed all their possessions in an old clunker and drove north to Berkeley. In Berkeley they sold their Teddy bear shirts on Telegraph Avenue and lived for a time in their car. It was cold. “Blankets on top of Goodwill-purchased blankets were piled on our already overdressed bodies, crunched behind protruding steering wheel, gear stick and dashboard and still, minute corners of inexplicably exposed skin would catch the icy drifts of air from the black California nights.” It’s illegal to “inhabit a house car” in Berkeley, and in no time Tiny and Dee had amassed a huge number of tickets for what Tiny calls “DWP”—driving while poor. Warrants were issued. Tiny was picked up, put in jail and got sentenced to do gazillion hours of community service. More evictions followed.  

In adversity the bond between mother and daughter grew fierce and unbreakable. Love does not adequately describe their relationship. There was too much need and dependency. It was almost as if the umbilical cord that once united mother and daughter had never been cut. Tiny fiercely rejects the assumption that the child’s passage to adulthood must involve her differentiating herself from her mother and she would fiercely reject the suggestion that life flowed in only one direction through the cord that bound them together. She would not, could not abandon her mother, “without whom,” as she writes, “there would be no me.” She credits her indomitable will to her mother:  

My mother . . .taught me that nothing was ever too hard to do when it came to people, community and advocacy; as a matter of fact nothing was ever too hard to do in life. Period. If it had to be done then it must be done, unless you are deathly ill and even then it was somehow accomplished. This unrelenting work ethic and refusal to accept defeat or failure was one of the crazy wonderful things that my mother infused into me. Survival was just something you always did, no matter what. 

I have a homeless friend, Jimbow the Hobow, who’s lived out on the Albany landfill. He’ll relate to me a litany of his latest woes, but invariably conclude “I'm not trying to sell you a snivel sheet.” Tiny’s memoir is not a snivel sheet. At times she imagined suicide. At other times, the childish demanding, complaining, indomitable mother and her adultish, resourceful daughter would collapse in laughter, reimagining their lives as a living theater of the absurd, finding common ground in fantasy.  

On the Venice Boardwalk they sat on folding chairs next to a cardboard “Depressed Box.” “Give us a dollar,” they announced to passersby, “and we’ll tell you how depressed we are.” In Berkeley they transformed the windows of a squatted storefront into a series of art installations. “The Phobia Support Group” was a collection of cut-out cartoon characters who all suffered from severe phobias and met on a 24-7 basis around a table in the window. “Fear of the Marketplace” was a collection of haphazard items for sale with a sign “Throw in your money and we will throw out the product.”  

Dee was born Mary Jo and Tiny had been Lisa, but on their drive north from Venice Beach they abandoned their given names “and the myth of Dee and Tiny was born in what seemed to be a journey of life-imitating-art-imitating-life, tragedy-be-coming-reality-becoming some kind of strange performance art piece. . . . or maybe it was just a really long and miserable drive.” The myth of their lives, punctured and battered by reality, sustained them. Art had far more to do with their survival than charity and social services. 

Tiny did more than survive. She proudly and rightly proclaims: “Mine is not only a story of survival, but of triumph.” Having taken up residence in the Bay Area, Dee and Tiny began auditing classes at San Francisco State. They had the good fortune to meet extraordinary teachers. In Mina Caulfield’s anthropology class they learned about the resistance of colonized people to their oppression. Tiny came to see the impossible life she and her mother were living in the context of the issues facing poor people around the world. Theirs was not just a struggle for survival. It was a battle for justice.  

Newly energized, Tiny turned all the skills she learned keeping herself and her mother alive to founding a series of extraordinary community enterprises. A powerful organizer was born. She began with Poor, a glossy full color magazine, intended to be the voice of the poor as Fortune is the voice of the rich. With Dee at her side, she started Poor News Network, and the Po’ Poets Project, and a job training program for media activists, and a radio program, all devoted to the proposition that poor people are the experts on their own lives. Tiny believes they should be respected as “poverty scholars” and she aims to let their voices be heard.  

Criminal of Poverty is by turns funny and heart-rending. It should be required reading for anyone even thinking about passing new laws criminalizing the homeless. Ross MacDonald famously described Raymond Chandler as writing about the “sun-blinded streets” of Los Angeles “like a slumming angel.” Tiny, whose formal education ended with the sixth grade, writes like an angel. But she’s not slumming.  

Full disclosure: Tiny mentions Osha Neumann in her acknowledgements, and devotes a chapter to their meeting. Neumann is on the Board of Poor Magazine.  

CRIMINAL OF POVERTY: GROWING UP HOMELESS IN AMERICA 

By Tiny,  

aka Lisa Gray-Garcia.  

City Lights  

Foundation.  

$15.95.

A couple of years ago (have I really been doing this for a couple of years?) I wrote about the sneaky reproductive tactics of the brown-headed cowbird, one of a handful of bird species that are brood parasites. Instead of building their own nests and raising their own young, they dump their eggs in the nest of a host and go away. Apart from the New World cowbirds, avian brood parasites include Old World cuckoos, some African finches, African and Asian honeyguides, and the South American black-headed duck. Opportunistic egg-dumping occurs among swallows, waterfowl, and others, but these guys are pros.  

Well, it appears now that the female cowbirds don’t just go away. They stick around and monitor the fate of their egg. Some host birds will incubate the alien egg and feed the resulting chick like one of their own. Others toss it out of the nest, build over it (and any of their own eggs), or pick up and move. There’s variation within a host species, but general trends are known. Some species—robins, kingbirds, waxwings, orioles—reject cowbird eggs almost 90 percent of the time. Acceptor species have much lower rejection rates, 20 percent or below. Although they may succeed in rearing some chicks, they run the risk of the larger and faster-growing cowbirds starving out their own biological offspring. 

Recently published research by Jeff Hoover at the Florida Museum of Natural History at Gainesville shows that some cowbird populations will return and trash the nests of rejectors, destroying the host’s own eggs. It’s essentially a protection racket—Hoover calls it “mafia tactics.” 

Hoover and the museum’s natural history chair Scott Robinson did their fieldwork in the bottomland swamps along the Cache River in southern Illinois, using an acceptor species, the prothonotary warbler. The prothonotary, known to some as the golden swamp warbler, figured briefly in the Alger Hiss perjury trial—the prosecution, as I recall, using a birding recollection by Whittaker Chambers to impeach Hiss’s credibility. Stray prothonotaries sometimes reach California during migration, and they’re worth seeking out. 

Over four breeding seasons, Hoover and Robinson experimentally removed cowbird eggs from warbler nests and monitored what happened next. When cowbirds were allowed access, 56 percent of the host nests were ransacked. With access denied, none were. (Six percent of nests where the intruders’ eggs were not removed and cowbirds could get at the nest were trashed. Since all the study nests were supposedly predator-proofed, I’m not sure what to make of that datum. Maybe it reflects competition among cowbirds—a rival muscling in.) 

The cowbirds’ mafia tactics could work on two levels. In the short term, the owners of the ransacked nests may respond by leaving the cowbird eggs alone on their next attempt—either a same-year renest or the following year’s nest. But destroying the eggs of rejectors would also have the effect of reducing the frequency of rejector genes in the warbler population. In a sense, the cowbirds would be selectively breeding their hosts. 

Hoover also says he found other evidence for “farming” behavior: 20 percent of prothonotary warbler nests that had never been parasitized were still trashed, presumably by cowbirds. When these warblers renested, 85% were cowbird victims. The cowbirds appeared to be inducing the host to lay a new clutch of eggs so they could add their own. 

I’d like to see a California study along these lines. Cowbirds arrived here from the Great Plains around the end of the 19th century, finding a population of naïve hosts. They’ve wreaked havoc with species like the yellow warbler, least Bell’s vireo, and southwestern willow flycatcher. Retaliating against the minority of rejectors in those species would be a preemptive strike against the evolution of rejecting behavior. After all, the environment within which a species evolves isn’t just food and weather: it’s a bunch of other species—parasites, hosts, predators, prey, and symbiotes of all degrees—as well.  

Joe Eaton’s “Wild Neighbors” column appears every other Tuesday in the Berkeley Daily Planet, alternating with Ron Sullivan’s “Green Neighbors” column on East Bay trees. 

Photograph by Ron Storey 

A male brown-headed cowbird, guilty by association.

EDITOR’S NOTE 

Pepper Spray Times, which ordinarily runs in the first Tuesday edition of the month, will instead run next Tuesday.  

CORRECTIONS 

Due to an error in page layout, a line of Ken Bullock’s Clown Bible review in the March 20 edition was omitted. The complete text is available on our website, www.berkeleydailyplanet.com.  

Due to a copyediting error, a word in the title of Paul Kamen’s March 30 commentary was misspelled. We are in fact aware that the word “Ferry” does not contain a tripple-R. We regret the error. Mr. Kamen is absolutely innocent in this matter.

TUESDAY, APRIL 3 

“Housing the Homeless and Low Income in Berkeley” with Stephen Barton, City of Berkeley Housing Director, brown bag lunch from noon to 2 p.m. at the Albany Library. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters. 843-8824. 

“Health and Stress” with Dr. Jay Sordean, Oriental Medical Doctor at 7 p.m. at the El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Ave., El Cerrito. 526-7512. 

Free Legal Assistance the first Tues. of the month at 6 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. Advance registration required. 526-3720, ext. 5. 

Discussion Salon on Incarceration vs Education 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. 848-1704. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your digital images, slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. 548-3991.  

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4 

Teach-In and Vigil Against American Torture every Wed. at noon at Boalt Hall, Bancroft Way at College Ave.  

Walk, Talk, Buck the Fence 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 to discuss what is at stake in the proposed steps for the filling of the Canyon by the UC-LBL Rad-Labs, and now British Petroleum. http://canyonwalks.blogspot.com  

Volunteer at the Native Nursery in Oakland in plant propagation and transplanting, watering, and other maintenance associated with growing native wetland plants. From 1 to 3 p.m. at Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline, Oakland. RSVP to 452-9261. 

Oakland Public Library Book Sale at The Bookmark, 721 Washington St., Oakland, through April 7. Benefits Friends of the Oakland Public Library. 444-0473. 

ReelVenezuela, Venezuelan films at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $7-$9. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

“Arctic Warming” with author and filmmaker Jonathan Waterman at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Forum on the Solutions to Math and Science Education Lag at 5 p.m. at Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, 17 Gauss Way. Sponsored by the East Bay Community Foundation. 836-3223. 

New to DVD: “Volver” at 7 p.m. at JCCEB, 1414 Walnut St. Discussion follows. 848-0237. 

American Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation from 10 a.m. to noon at 6230 Claremont Ave., Oakland Advanced sign-up is required; phone Anne at 594-5165.  

“Avalokitesvara is Everybody: Disguise As Skillful Means in Sanskrit Mahayana” with Dr. Will Tuladhar-Douglas at 6:30 p.m. at Jodo Shinshu Center, 2140 Durant Ave. Sponsored by the The Institute of Buddhist Studies. RSVP Requested 809-1444. 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes. 548-9840. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at 6:30 p.m. at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center.www.geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil 

Stitch ‘n Bitch at 6:30 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

THURSDAY, APRIL 5 

ReelVenezuela, Venezuelan films at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $7-$9. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

“Finding Inspiration from Wild Places for Your Native Garden” A presentation by Pete Veilleux, of the native landscape firm “East Bay Wilds” at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220 ext. 233. 

“Darfur Diaries: A Message from Home” at 7 p.m. at 2050 Valley Life Sciences Bldg, UC Campus. http://stopgenocidenoeworg 

Free Diabetes Screening from 8:15 to 11 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Do not eat or drink anything for 8 hours beforehand. 981-5332. 

Alcohol Screening from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Options Recovery Services, 1919 Addison St. #204. No appointment necessary. 666-9900. 

“The Eight-Circuit Brain in Theory and Practice” with Antero Alli at 8 p.m. at the Finnish Brotherhood Hall, 1970 Chestnut St., near University. Cos tis $8. 464-4640. 

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. namaste@avatar.freetoasthost.info  

FRIDAY, APRIL 6 

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 

“Dismantling Empire: Creating a Culture of Peace” St. Joseph the Worker Good Friday Service with Rev. Michael Yoshii at 7 a.m. at Livermore Labs, intersection of Vasco and Patterson Pass Rd. 482-1062. 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Claudine Torfs on “The Epidemiology of Birth Defects” 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.  

Berkeley Public Library 5th Birthday Party for its new Renovated Central Library from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. with music and a cake. 981-6107. www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org  

“Return of the Condor: The Race to Sve Our Largest Bird from Extinction” with John Moir at 7 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak St., Oakland. 238-2200. 

“Mardi Gras: Made in China” a documentary on the women workers making beads at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., midtown Oakland. Donation $5. www.HumanistHall.net 

Movies That Matter “The Motorcycle Diaries” at 6:30 p.m. at the Neumayer Residence, 565 Bellevue St. at Perkins, Oakland. 451-3009. 

Circle Dancing, simple folk dancing with instruction at 7:30 p.m. at Finnish Brotherhood Hall, 1970 Chestnut St at University. Donation of $5 requested. 528-4253. www.circledancing.com 

SATURDAY, APRIL 7 

City Of Berkeley City-Wide Easter Egg Hunt from 9:15 to 11:30 a.m. at Willard Park, 2730 Hillegass Ave. Activities include carnival games, face painting, picture with bunnies, goodie bags, egg hunt and treasure hunts. Check in at 9:15 a.m. to register for the hunt. Cost is $5. 981-6678. 

Eggster Egghunt and Learning Festival with educational activities for children and their families from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in front of the Valey Life Sciences Bldg., UC Campus. 204-4613. www.eggster.org 

Berkeley History Center Walking Tour “UC Memorial Stadium, Sports Hall of Fame and Live Oak Trees” led by Bruce Goodell at 10 a.m. Cost is $8-$10. For information on meeting place and to register call 848-0181. 

Mt. Wanda Wildflower Walk Join a Park Ranger for a walk in the hills where John Muir took his daughters. Terrain is steep, wear walking shoes and bring water. Rain cancels. Meet at 9 a.m. at the Cal-Trans Park and Ride lot at the corner of Alhambra Ave. and Franklin Canyon Rd., Martinez. 925-228-8860. 

“Count Down Your Age” Tips on reversing the aging process with Dave Brunell of the Longlife Club, at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. Sponsored by Friends of the Berkeley Public Library. 981-6107. 

38th Annual UC Open Taekwondo Championship, beginning at 8:30 a.m. and running though out the day, at the Haas Pavilion 2301 Bancroft Way. Cost is $3-$8. 642-3268. www.ucmap.org 

Extra Dimensions and String Theory: Physics of the Future or Pure Mathematics? with Professor Lawrence M. Krauss and Professor John Terning from 1 to 4 p.m. at Lawrence Hall of Science www.multiversaljourneys.org 

“Lead-Safe Painting and Remodeling” Learn how to detect and remedy lead hazards and conduct lead-safe renovations for your older home. Sponsored by the Alameda County Lead Poisoning Prevention Program. From 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Cesar E. Chavez Branch Library, 3301 E. 12th Street, Suite 271, Oakland. Free. 567-8280. www.aclppp.org 

Help Tutor Teens Training session for new volunteers in the Homework Assistance Program from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Oakland Public Library, Rockridge Branch, 5366 College Ave., Oakland. 238-7233. 

Common Agenda Regional Network General Meeting to discuss Iraq War responses, Pelosi Lobby project, and other progressive concerns at 2 p.m. at the Peace Action office, 2800 Adeline.  

Hopalong Animal Rescue Come meet your new best dog friend from noon to 3 p.m. at Pet Food Express Rockridge, 5144 Broadway, Oakland. 267-1915, ext. 500. www.hopalong.org  

Hopalong Animal Rescue Come meet your furry new best cat friend from noon to 3 p.m. at 2940 College Ave. 267-1915, ext. 500. www.hopalong.org  

Petite Pooches Playgroup for small dogs from 10:30 11:30 a.m., one block north of Solano on Ensenada at Talbot. 524-2459. 

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, APRIL 8 

Architecture Tour of the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak St., designed by Kevin Roche. Meet at 1 p.m. at the koi pond, first level. Free. 238-2200. 

Easter Egg Hunt from 1 to 2 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

Meet the Bunnies: Adopt, Don’t Breed from 2 to 4 p.m. at RabbitEars, 303 Arlington Ave., Kensington, behind Ace Hardware. 525-6155. 

Easter at the Kensington Farmer’s Market from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 303 Arlington Ave., Kensington, behind Ace Hardware. 525-7232. 

Free Sailboat Rides from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Cal Sailing Club, Berkeley Marina. Wear warm, waterproof clothing and bring a change of clothes in case you get wet. www.cal-sailing.org 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace Peace walk around the lake every Sun. Meet at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712. lmno4p.org 

Tibetan Buddhism with Bob Russo in “Peace through Understanding: Meditation in Action” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, APRIL 9 

Cancer Prevention and Survival Cooking Class at 6:30 p.m. at Keller Williams, 4341 Piedmont Ave., 2nd Flr., Oakland. To register call Lori at 531-2665. 

“Different Approaches to Healing Stress” with Dr. Jay Sordean, LAc, OMD, ND, at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 524-3043. 

Teen Wild Guide Training at the Oakland Zoo Teen volunteers are needed to assist in the new Valley Children’s Zoo. Training from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Oakland Zoo. For information call 632-9525. www.oaklandzoo.org 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at East Pauley Ballroom, MLK Student Union. To schedule an appointment call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE or go to www.BeADonor.com Code: UCB. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

ONGOING 

Tax Help at the Berkeley Public Library Sat. from 11:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the South Branch. Call for appointment. 981-6260. Also every Tues. and Thurs. at the West Branch from 12:15 to 3:15 p.m. Call for appointment. 981-6270. 

Berkeley Youth Alternatives Girls Basketball Age 15 and under league begins April 11 and 18 and under begins April 13. From 5:30 to 8:30 at Emery High School, 1100 47th St. Emeryville. Cost is $175 per team. 845-9066.  

CITY MEETINGS 

Commission on the Status of Women meets Wed., April 4, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Tasha Tervelon, 981-5190.  

Downtown Area Plan Advisory Commission meets Wed., April 4, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7487. 

Housing Advisory Commission meets Thurs., April 5, at 7:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5400. 

Landmarks Preservation Commission meets Thurs., April 5, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Gisele Sorensen, 981-7419.  

Public Works Commission meets Thurs., April 5, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Jeff Egeberg, 981-6406.

FRIDAY, MARCH 30 

THEATER 

Altarena Playhouse “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” Fri and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at 1409 High St., Alameda, through April 1. Tickets are $17-$20. 523-1553.  

“Clown Bible” acrobatic theater based on man’s relationship with God, Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Willard Middle School Metal Shop Theater, 2425 Stuart St. Tickets are $15-$20. www.brownpapertickets.com 

Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company “unconditional” A movement/theater piece Fri. and Sat. at 7:30 p.m., Sun. at 3 p.m. at Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, 1428 Alice St., Oakland. Tickets are $12-$20 sliding scale for adults and $6 for youth under 18. 597-1619. www.destinyarts.org 

Masquers Playhouse “She Loves Me” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Masquers Playhouse, 105 Park Place, Point Richmond. Tickets are $12. 232-4031. www.masquers.org  

Shotgun Players “Blood Wedding” Thurs.-Sun. at 8 p.m. at the Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., through April 29. Tickets are $17-$25. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

Virago Theatre “Orphans” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at BridgeHead Studio, 2516 Blanding Ave, Alameda, through March 31. Tickets are $10-$15. 415-439-2456.  

EXHIBITIONS 

“Bridal Fantasies: The Fashion of Dreams” Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Lacis Museum of Lace and Textiles, 2982 Adeline St., through August 4. Open Mon.-Sat. noon to 6 p.m. 843-7178.  

“Memories in Beads” Beaded garments, handbags and decorative pieces on display at Lacis Museum of Lace and Textiles. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at 2982 Adeline St. 843-7178.  

FILM 

“The Greater Circulation” A film by Antero Alli at 8 p.m. at Grace North Church, 2138 Cedar St. Cost is $6 .464-4640. www.verticalpool.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Chris Hedges talks about “American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America” at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. 559-9500.  

Steven Hockensmith reads from “On the Wrong Track” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com  

African Alkhemic Spoken Word at 7 p.m. at Black New World, 836 Pine St., West Oakland. Tickets are $25. For reservations call 444-2907. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Li Chiao-Ping Dance “Home Works” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $10-$15. 925-798-1300. 

Phoenix Rising: A Piano and Flute Duo at 7:30 p.m. at Pro Arts, 550 Second St., Oakland. Tickets are $10-$15. 868-0695. www.bayareabach.org 

Different Strokes Jazz Duo with Yehudit Lieberman, 5 string violin and Beth Snellings, 'cello at 8 p.m. at the Giorgi Gallery 2911 Claremont Ave. Tickets are $112-$15. 848-1228. 

Carmen Prieto and Lichi Fuentes, original and traditional Latin American songs, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $15-$18. 849-2568.  

“Almost Famous” jazz musical performed by Cathi Walkup and Shana Carlson at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Cost is $10-$15. www.hillsideclub.org 

Rhonda Benin & Soulful Strut at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ.  

Stompy Jones at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. East Coast swing dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $13. 525-5054.  

Jill Knight, singer/songwriter, at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Chookasian Ensemble at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $20.50-$21.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Ira Marlowe and Stevie Barsotti at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

The Panhandle, 86, The Shut-ins at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

The Locust, Daughters 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. 

Blackberry Soup at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

Will Bernard/Will Blades Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Roy Hargrove Quintet at 8 and 10 p.m. through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $18-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, MARCH 31 

CHILDREN  

East Bay Children’s Theater “Rumplestiltskin” at 10:30 a.m. and 1 pm. at James Moore Theater, Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St. Tickets are $7, children under 2 free. 655-7285. 

Farmyard Stories and Songs with Tara Reinertson at 11 a.m. at the Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Amy Myer at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Ravioli the Clown celebrates National Reading Month Sat. and Sun. at 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. at Children’s Fairyland, 699 Bellevue Ave., Oakland. 452-2259. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Botanicals and Beasties” Photographs and drawings by Neil Tierney. Reception at 2 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

“88 Pieces of Me” A photo memoire by Keba Armand Konte. Catalogue signing at 5 p.m. at Guerilla Cafe, 1620 Shattuck Ave. 845-2233. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company “unconditional” A movement/theater piece at 7:30 p.m., Sun. at 3 p.m. at Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, 1428 Alice St., Oakland. Tickets are $12-$20 sliding scale for adults and $6 for youth under 18. 597-1619. www.destinyarts.org 

Inti-Illimani at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $20-$32. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Li Chiao-Ping Dance “Home Works” at 8 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $10-$15. 925-798-1300. 

Puerto Rican Women “La Bomba es nuestra” at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568.  

Mal Sharpe Quintet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Celu with Molly Thomas and Friends at noon at Cafe Zeste, 1250 Addison St. at Bonar, in the Strawberry Creek Park complex. 704-9378. 

Dave Lionelli and Nomi at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Women in Song “Local Treasures” with Beth Robinson, Audrey Auld Mezera, Elaine Dempsey, Megan McLaughlin Patty Espeseth at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

The Acid Reggae Xperience at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$15. 845-5373.  

Kurt Ribak Jazz Group at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $5. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Nicole McRory at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

Greg & Esperanza Pratt, folk and swing, at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 558-0881. 

The Highway Robbers, Blue Mire, Carrie Clark & the Lonesome Lovers at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082.  

David Jeffrey’s Fourtet at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Forced March, Absolute Rulers 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. 

SUNDAY, APRIL 1 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Line Drawings of Oakland Landmarks” by Daniel Ling at . at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave., through April 30. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

“A Gathering of Greatness" Allegorical photographs of famous people in the Pere-Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, by Dorothy Levitt Mayers. Reception at 1 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. 228-3207. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

DuEwa M. Frazier, Aimee Suzara and Ellen Hagan read their poetry at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $8. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Poetry Flash presents Betsey Andrews reading from “New Jersey” and Brian Teare reading from “The Room Where I Was Born” at 7 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Measha Brueggergosman, soprano at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $42. 642-9988.  

Twang Cafe presents a night of all bluegrass with The Mountain Boys, 5 Dollar Suit, Wagon at 7 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $10. www.twangcafe.com 

“Highland, Heath and Holler” Celtic music’s voyage to Appalachia at 7 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $20-$32. 642-9988.  

Bandworks Concert at noon at Ashkenaz. Cost is $5, children under 12 free. 525-5054.  

Reptet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ.  

Conflict, Scarred for Life, Anima Mundi and others at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $10. 763-1146. 

Philips Marine Duo at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Antelope, Black Fiction at 8:30 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100.  

MONDAY, APRIL 2 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Bridal Fantasies: The Fashion of Dreams” at Lacis Museum of Lace and Textiles, 2982 Adeline St., through August 4. Open Mon.-Sat. noon to 6 p.m. 843-7178.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Clemens Stark reads at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Poetry Express with California Poet Laureate Al Young at 7 p.m. at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Contemporary Chamber Players “Berkeley New Music Project” at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $4-$12. 642-9988. 

Happy Trails Benefit for the Halleck Creek Riding Club for the Disabled at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Smyrna Time Machine at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Balkan dance lesson at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  

Conflict, Scarred for Life, Anima Mundi and others at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $10. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

Tito Y Su Son De Cuba at 8 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$15. 238-9200. 

TUESDAY, APRIL 3 

FILM 

Anthology FIlm Archives: Recent Preservations with archivist Andrew Lampert at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Arlene Blum on “Breaking Trail: A Climbing Life” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Ellen Hoffman and Singers’ Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Rebecca Griffin at 7:30 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Thomas Mapfumo at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays, a weekly showcase of up-and-coming ensembles from Berkeley Jazzschool at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Along the Five” Works by Tyrell Collins and others opens at Cecile Moochnek Gallery, 1809-D Fourth St., and runs through May 13. 549-1018. 

THEATER 

Opera Piccola’s ArtGate Program “365 Days/365 Plays” at 7 p.m. at Oakland Metro Theater, 201 Broadway. Pay what you can. 658-0967. www.opera-piccola.org 

FILM 

Film 50: History of Cinema “Cléofrom 5 to 7” at 3 p.m. with a lecture by Marilyn Fabe at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ken Kuhlken, mystery writer, introduces his new novel “The Do-Re-Mi” at 6:30 p.m. at Oakland Public Library, Main Library, 125 14th St., Oakland. 238-3134. 

Erika Mailman reads from her historical novel “Woman of Ill Fame” about a Gold Rush prostitute, at 7 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Brad Buethe Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Bandworks Concert at 7:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $5, children under 12 free. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Julio Bravo at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Salsa lessons at 8 p.m. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Kurt Ribak Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Uday Bhawalker with Manik Munde at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Noah Grant at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Gonzalo Rubalcaba Group at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $10-$20. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, APRIL 5 

EXHIBITIONS 

“ultra deepfield” Bay Area artists look at urban locations in transition. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Kala Art Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. Exhitition runs to May 12. 549-2977. www.kala.org 

“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 

“Antonini: The Vision That Changed the Cinema” at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Free First Thursday. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Lunch Poems with Joanne Kyger at 12:10 p.m. in the Morrison Library, in the Doe Library, UC Campus. http://lunchpoems.berkeley.edu 

Seth Lerer on “Inventing English: A Portable History of the Language” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Tourettes without Regrets at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $8. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Richard Shindell at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Betty Fu & Ben Stolorow Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Plum Crazy, Trevor Garrod at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Martin Locke, singer/songwriter, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Mike Lee and Amber at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

FRIDAY, APRIL 6 

THEATER 

“Clown Bible” acrobatic theater based on man’s relationship with God, Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at Willard Middle School Metal Shop Theater, 2425 Stuart St., through April 14. Tickets are $15-$20. www.brownpapertickets.com 

Masquers Playhouse “She Loves Me” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Masquers Playhouse, 105 Park Place, Point Richmond. Tickets are $12. 232-4031. www.masquers.org  

Shotgun Players “Blood Wedding” Thurs.-Sun. at 8 p.m. at the Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., through April 29. Tickets are $17-$25. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

Marga Gomez “Laugh Baby Laugh” at 8 p.m. at La Lesbian @ La Peña, Tickets are $20. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

“City of Walls, City of People” The urban experience in Oakland, CA, and Venice, Italy, a collaboration with California College of the Arts, and Istituto Universitario di Architettura, Design e Arti, in Venice. Reception at 6 p.m. at Pro Arts, 550 Second St., Oakland. 763-9425. 

“New Works by Judith Hoersting and Judi Miller” Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Mercury 20 Gallery, 25 Grand Ave. at Broadway. Exibition runs to April 28. mercurytwenty@gmail.com 

“Collaboration of Poetry and Painting” Works by Louis Delsarte and Ntozake Shange opens with a reception at 6 p.m. at Joyce Gordon Gallery, 406 14th St., Oakland. Exhibition runs through April 30. 465-8928. www.joycegordongallery.com 

“Jarring Realities” Paintings and sculptures by Scott Hove, Donna Mendes and Marty McCorkle opens at the Esteban Sabar Gallery, 480 23rd St., and runs through April 30. 444-7411. www.estebansabar.com 

David Gentry: Conserved Constructs featuring mixed-media sculptures. Reception at 6 p.m. at Pro Arts, 550 Second St., Oakland. 763-9425. 

FILM 

“Tropical Malady: Shot-by-Shot” with Director Apichatpong Weerasethakul at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Sadiya Hartman introduces “Lose Your Mother: A Journey Across the Atlantic Slave Route” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com  

John Moir describes “Return of the Condor: The Race to Sve Our Largest Bird from Extinction” at 7 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak St., Oakland. 238-2200. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Free Jazz Fridays with Woman's Worth, Sword & Sandals, Vholtz at 8 p.m. at 1510 Eighth St. Performance Space, Oakland. Cost is $5-$15 sliding scale. 415-846-9432. 

Resmiranda Vocal Ensemble at 7:30 p.m. at Northbrae Community Church, 941 the Alameda. Tickets are $20-$25 at the door. 

Michael Zilber Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Caribbean Allstars, Kalbass at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Jack Gates Ensemble, Latin jazz, at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Marley’s Ghost at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

The Ravines and Tamra Engle at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Pat Johnson & The New Sheiks, Penelope Houston, Julia Dawn at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Cabrillo Beach Boys, Dirty Looks, Neverending Party at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Dave Stein Hub-Bub at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Les Nubians at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $25. 548-1159.  

The Sonando Project “Musica de su Mente” The Latin Side of Stevie Wonder at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Tommy Gun and the Bullets, Lincolms at 8:30 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $6. 451-8100. www.uptownnightclub.com 

Gonzalo Rubalcaba Group at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $10-$20. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

ADVENTURES OF THE YOUNG CESAR CHAVEZ 

Manzi: The Adventures of the Young Cesar Chavez, a play for children age 5 and over, will be performed by Active Arts Theatre for Young Audiences on Chavez’s birthday this Saturday, March 31, at 11:30 am, at the Cesar Chavez Branch of the Oakland Public Library, as well as Tuesday, April 3 at 2 p.m. at the Central Berkeley Public Library (free admission), before beginning a run April 14-15 and 21-22 at the Julia Morgan Center on College Avenue. Directed by Dina Martinez, familiar to theatergoers from El Teatro Campesino and the San Francisco Mime Troupe, Active Arts is a very active company indeed, specializing in socially aware theater for young people. www.activeartstheatre.org. 

‘MEMORIES IN BEADS’ AT LACIS MUSEUM 

“Memories in Beads,” an exhibit of beaded garments, handbags and decorative pieces reflecting the exuberance of the 1920s are on display at Lacis Museum of Lace and Textiles, 2982 Adeline St., together with an exhibit of historical bridal laces, satins and tulles. An opening reception for both exhibits will be held at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 30. The museum is open from noon to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. 843-7178. 

PFA SCREENS  

ANTONIONI CLASSICS 

Pacific Film Archive continues its series of films by Michelangelo Antonioni with Blow Up at 7 p.m. Friday, one of the seminal films of the 1960s, followed at 6:30 p.m. Saturday of Le amiche, one of the director’s earlier films. At 2 p.m. Sunday PFA will screen the first of two programs of Antonioni’s short films, made betweeen 1943 and 1965, followed by I vinti at 3:45. $4-$8. 2575 Bancroft Way. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu.

In the Beginning—of the Clown Bible, at least, according to Ten Red Hen at Willard Metalshop Theater—God Herself was inscribed in silhouette in a circle of light above the stage. She seemed to be cooking up something—though was that a music box being cranked over the pot, not a peppergrinder? Cut to past the seventh day or so, when a shy, polite Adam and Eve plucked red noses, not the usual Forbidden Fruit, from the boughs above, carelessly putting them on ... God cried out through a bullhorn, like a surly ringmaster, and the newly-minted clowns were afraid—and hid themselves. 

Such is the Genesis of a creation which, like its real-life model, is hopefully still a work-in-progress, worthy of more revelations, as the Ten Red Hen tribe literally renders scripture into an unauthorized but inspired version that is Fundamentally Clown. Though there’s no apparent reformer’s zeal to the artful slapstick of the exegesis, it’s not really so far from Erasmus of Rotterdam’s “Praise of Folly,” that humane screed of the Renaissance that put what mankind has made of religion into the mouth of the Biblical Fool, leaving it to foolish human beings to sort out that which is Caesar’s from that which is the Lord’s—or, for Erasmus, the Son of Man. 

What’s more, the plucky little Hens not only translate The Word into the flesh of physical comedy, but gather it up into a musical comedy revue. Alongside Erasmus, George M. Cohen, a progenitor of both the revue and burlesque melodrama, must be looking on in eternity with astonishment—and amusement.  

With a bright little orchestra (under the baton of composer Dave Malloy, who—doubling as Job—acts out his own Sorrows: his piano, then accordions, finally a pitchpipe taken from him) cooking away alongside the familiar tableaux of the recalcitrantly naughty generations of our race, the audience—or are we a flock, a congregation?—witnesses Laughing Sarah (Alexis Wong) inflated by God with a bicycle pump to give birth to the generations of the Israelite Clown Nation that wiggle and crawl forth; a tap-dancing, stammering Moses (Issabella Shields), working overtime to please God and curb the appetites of her people; a wide-eyed, grinning action hero of the Israelites (Will Howard, singing “I’m Samson; I’m crazy ... Get out of my way, so I can do my hair!”) vamped by a kitschy femme fatale, the Philistine Delilah (Shields again); a mute Saul (Ned Bauer) trying to act out the verses which finally condemn him, as recited over a Walkman, later soothed by David’s music (Andre Nigoghossian, strolling over from the orchestra with his guitar); Solomon (George Michael Chan) with a banjo, explaining in an intimate sing-a-long how he got wise, then asking in song: “Where’s my cubit stick?” to build a temple resembling a gazebo of milkcrates, lit up by Xmas tree lights, only to strip it for love of a not-so-kosher pole-worshipping Queen of Sheba (Kazumi Kusano) ... 

In one of the few truly apocryphal passages, a ticked-off Job takes a swing at the Lord, descended from shadowplay heaven to confront him, furiously face-to-face, thus somehow provoking the Incarnation: the jealous, vengeful, self-justifying “I Am That I Am” God sent sprawling into a creche scene as a bawling babe—both persons of godhead played with brilliant intensity, physical and vocal, by the divine Jane Chen. 

The ensemble itself is due full, heartfelt praise as well, as is Ten Red Hen founder Maya Gurantz, for a truly collaborative show that brings out each red-schnozzed player (including the other actor-musicians: Daniel Bruno, Sig Hafstrom and Conrad Seto) polyphonically, contributing to the unique style and flavor of this bravura piece that wends its own way through the desert of so much stale theatrical pacing--a veritable tabernacle of prat-fall praise to the greater glories of the Theater of the World (amen). 

Clown Bible doesn’t degrade scripture, but elevates the quietly sad or manically grinning countenance of the clown, as did the medieval Miracle Plays and strangely humorous decor of cathedrals, where sacred stories seem to get sent up on sacred occasions and in sacred places. Following that more modern, secular phenomenon, The Bible-As-Literature, Ten Red Hen has taken the next step in vaudevillizing these stories anew that have languished, relatively humorless, for centuries in the public domain. As a friend said when told of the play’s premise, “The Marx Bros. had to come from somewhere!” 

Ten Red Hen, as fishers of Man’s Folly, has ventured out, aboard the ship of fools, on the uncharted waters of White Humor. In contradistinction to more celebrated Black Humor, which overinflates the strange, the scary, the shocking to the breaking point of explosive laughter, its polar opposite (and complement) plays the humor of the ordinary off a spectacular rhetoric, spotlighting in bold onstage little, quirky details, until spasms of laughter are replaced by a smile of wonder at the ineffability of the ordinary. Its exemplars include Erasmus’ contemporary, Rabelais, and the idol of both from antiquity, Lucian; Tristram Shandy; Erik Satie (of whom poet Cesar Vallejo said, “He makes Music itself clown around!”) and Buster Keaton, whose Three Ages spoofed the scriptural cadences of D. W. Griffith’s Intolerance. 

Clown Bible may not be an eschatological event, but it is a theatrical one, of real magnitude. So I exhort you: follow that gold gummed star, which you should be placing on your calendar, to the Willard Metalshop, apt manger for the epiphany of The Son of Clown. 

CLOWN BIBLE 

Presented by Ten Red Hen at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays through April 14 at Willard Middle School Metal Shop  

Theater, 2425 Stuart St. $15-$20.  

www.brownpapertickets.com.

With The Grbavica: Land of My Dreams, director Jasmila Zbanic has fashioned a thoughtful and moving film about characters defined by the past while yearning to break free from it.  

Esma, a single mother, works two jobs while struggling to raise her 13-year-old daughter Sara amid the ruins and wreckage of Sarajevo’s Grbavica neighborhood, an area that functioned as a death camp during the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. The understated photography and camerawork emphasize the battered and worn buildings and streets. Like the people who inhabit it, Grbavica is a work in progress, a neighborhood in ruins awaiting reconstruction.  

Mass graves are unearthed on a seemingly regular basis, and Esma is among the survivors who venture each week to the coroner’s office in an effort to identify the remains of lost loved ones in hopes of finding closure. This is a community of survivors still stunned by the enormity of the tragedy they have suffered; they cling to the past yet are eager to move on, to make sense of what remains.  

Actress Mirjana Karanovic, as Esma, has the ability to convey a wealth of emotions with just a glance. Her face is haunted and weary, struggling in vain to mask the pain and anxiety that shapes her daily life. She’s not sure she can trust people, and she has even less faith in her own ability to judge them. In every interaction Esma seems to be running through myriad interpretations of every word and gesture; she is not able to simply have a conversation, but instead weighs and measures the significance of every nuance before embarking on a reaction, a reaction which isn’t natural or instinctive but rather an only partially convincing re-creation of a natural reaction. 

Esma is defined by her experiences during the war, yet she keeps her painful memories bottled up, as though hoping that by denying them she may one day come to believe they never happened. She is not in therapy; she’s not ready for that yet. She only turns up for support group meetings once a month, when government checks are doled out.  

Her daughter Sara, meanwhile, has problems of her own. Luna Mijovic portrays the budding teenager as a tomboy, aggressive, moody and mean. The absence of a father and the increasing strain on her mother and thus their home life only compound her troubles. She too looks to the past to shape her identity, taking great pride in her status as the daughter of a shaheed, a war martyr, using this knowledge as both a badge of honor as well as a convenient excuse for bad behavior when she finds herself facing discipline at school. Sara’s identity depends on a past that precedes her birth, and when, eventually, doubt is cast on that narrative, she reacts swiftly and angrily.  

But this very revelation, the exposure of lies devised as protection for both daughter and mother, brings with it a new and perhaps more powerful narrative of the past, one that grants the mother the overdue credit of a survivor—credit she has long denied herself—and that grants the daughter perhaps, in a curious way, an even more exalted status. For she can now take pride not in the vague tales of a long-lost heroic father, but in the everyday reality of being the strong, blossoming, fierce daughter of a living, breathing—and ultimately heroic—mother, a survivor of war and its depravities, a woman whose strength is all the more admirable and dignified for the fact that it endures.  

Both women have seen their lives turned inside out not so much by tragedy as by the deceptions used to conceal that tragedy. And when a bit of truth manages to break through those barriers, they find themselves at long last on the road to recovery.  

GRBAVICA: THE LAND OF MY DREAMS 

Written and directed by Jasmila Zbanic. Starring Mirjana Karanovic and Luna Mijovic. 90 minutes. Not Rated. Playing at Shattuck Cinemas.

Forbidden Hollywood, a new three-disc DVD set from Turner Classic Movies, sheds light on one of the most fascinating eras of film history.  

The Pre-Code era, running roughly between 1930 and 1934, saw American filmmaking venture into frank and sometimes scurrilous examinations of the shadier side of life. They pushed the envelope, a bit too far in fact, causing the Hays Office to finally begin enforcing the Code Hollywood had thus far managed to evade. 

Red-Headed Woman (1932) is a fairly wild tale, featuring Jean Harlow as a ruthless gold digger and home-wrecker who will stop at nothing to get what she wants. The film would likely go over well today in a theater with a live audience, but on video it seems to lack what many films of the early 1930s lack: a sophisticated use of sound. Without effective music and rhythmic editing, long silences between lines of dialogue appear awkward and strained.  

Also included on the set is director James Whale’s version of Waterloo Bridge (1931), the story of a down-and-out showgirl in war-torn France who is forced to turn to prostitution to make ends meet. It’s a sympathetic portrayal of a prostitute, a plotline the Code would later render impossible on the screen, even if she does come to a tragic end. 

The film features Mae Clark and Douglass Montgomery as star-crossed lovers who find each other amid the air raids and destruction of World War I. The performances are strong and the special effects, though rudimentary, manage to lend an element of stirring if surreal tragedy to the proceedings despite the transparency of the techniques.  

But the real value of this set is the inclusion of not one but two versions of Baby Face (1933), probably the most notorious and best of the Pre-Code classics. The film was released just as the Code came into full effect, and thus it was heavily edited, and for 70 years the original, uncensored version was thought lost. However, a print was finally discovered a few years ago and toured the country in theatrical release (see review, Daily Planet, May 26, 2006).  

The film is one of the most gleefully salacious of the era, following Barbara Stanwyck as Lilly Powers as she sleeps her way to the top, literally floor by floor up the ranks of a New York bank.  

The Turner release allows viewers to see both versions side by side, revealing that the attempts to tone down the film were more varied, more numerous and more hilariously inept than previously thought. The print that circulated last year was accompanied by a few additional scenes after the closing credits to give a sense of some of the changes made to the film, but the DVD release reveals much more. There must be more than a dozen edits in the first 20 minutes alone: excised words and lines, trimmed shots that jump awkwardly from one to the next, clumsy inserts covering other deletions. It’s like trimming every other word from a Lenny Bruce monologue, or removing all the innuendo from a Groucho Marx routine—take out a few pieces and the whole structure falls apart.  

The cover labels this as the just the first volume in a series of Pre-Code releases from Turner, though no word yet as to what lies in store. The project promises to shed much-needed light on one the most fascinating eras of American filmmaking, when an industry found that its morals and mores were greatly at odds with a puritan government. 

FORBIDDEN HOLLYWOOD 

Red-Headed Woman (1932), Waterloo Bridge (1931), Baby Face (1933).  

TCM Archives. $39.98.

On February 23, 1924, the weekly newspaper The Courier announced that the rapidly expanding American Bank, headquartered at 16th Street and San Pablo Avenue in Oakland, had purchased the College National Bank of Berkeley. American Bank was headed by Phillip E. Bowles, a University of California alumnus and regent from 1911 to 1922. Bowles Hall, UC’s first student residence hall, would be endowed by his widow in his name. 

Bowles’ equivalent at College National Bank was Frank Ernest Heath (1866–1951), the leading dairyman in these parts. Having begun as a cable-car gripman and streetcar conductor in San Francisco, Heath bought a small Alameda dairy in 1900. After acquiring several Oakland dairies, in 1906 Heath purchased Berkeley Farm Creamery on Allston Way, current site of the Gaia Building. 

Initially a small plant, Berkeley Farm Creamery was transformed by Heath into one of the largest in the west, with seven hundred milk cows producing 8,000 gallons a day and gross sales of $2,750,000 in 1927. 

The College National Bank was organized in 1919 under charter No. 11495. Like hundreds of other small California banks, it printed its own national currency banknotes. By 1923, the bank had expanded to such an extent that it was able to construct its own building on the northwest corner of Shattuck Avenue and Addison Street in downtown Berkeley. 

The site where the new bank building was to be erected was not empty. For several decades, it had been occupied by a three-story building with window bays along its two facades. Topped by a conical witch’s hat, its round corner turret served as companion to the corresponding domed turret on the Francis K. Shattuck Building across Addison Street. On the ground floor, this building contained three storefronts that varied over the years from picture-framing and paint stores to a candy factory. Upstairs there were offices and rooms.  

In January 1923, the Courier announced the completion of the wrecking of the site for the College National Bank, and excavation for the new building began the following month. 

The new edifice, opened in December 1923, was a temple of commerce in appearance as well as in function. It was designed by Oakland architect Charles W. McCall, who had built the Mission Revival Webb Block on the corner of Ashby and Adeline in 1905. This time, McCall used a hybrid modernist-Greek Revival style, executed in concrete. The traditional Greek triangular pediment was replaced by a flat parapet, and the Addison Street facade featured seven two-story-high windows separated by plain concrete columns. Along the Shattuck Ave. facade, four Doric columns stood guard over the recessed entrance. 

The building may have been designed to last forever, but its life was remarkably short. Possibly as a result of the Great Depression, College National Bank vacated its home. In December 1931, the Berkeley Daily Gazette reported that the Berkeley Municipal Christmas Tree Committee had opened temporary quarters in the vacant building in order to collect shoes, stockings, and warm underwear gifts for underprivileged children and needy elderly folk. 

Enter Samuel Henry Kress (1863–1955) and his five-and-dime empire. Established in 1896, S.H. Kress & Company is described in the Kress Foundation’s history as having “operated a chain of distinctive, elegant buildings purveying cheerful, low-priced notions and durable household wares. Designed to exacting company standards, the handsome Kress stores were cherished no less as prominent local landmarks than for their quality merchandise. In an age of civic boosterism, the downtown ‘Kress’s’ were celebrated beacons of prosperity and progress, exemplars of urban art, and magnets of municipal pride.” 

Alone among the five-and-dime chains that clustered on America’s Main Streets, Kress began building its own stores in 1909, relying on an in-house architectural division that employed at its peak nearly 100 architects and designers. 

In 1931, Kress announced that it was going to build in the new style and modernize Main Street. Two years earlier, the company had hired Brooklyn-born Edward Frederick Sibbert, Jr. (1899–1982), who would become Kress’s chief architect and design more than 50 stores in 25 years. 

Fortunately for Berkeley, Kress decided to build here when Sibbert was already on board. His Art Deco buildings are the most distinctive and the best remembered of the Kress stores. 

Kress apparently acquired the College National Bank site in 1932. In July of that year, The Architect & Engineer announced plans for a new three-story, $100,000 building, but two months later the Berkeley Progress reported that the company was planning to remodel the existing bank building. The decision was finally made to build from scratch. In May 1933, the Berkeley Progress reported that the new two-story-plus-basement building would be erected by Dinwiddie Construction Co. at a cost of approximately $100,000, that it would have a steel frame, with a frontage of 55 feet on Shattuck Avenue and 150 feet on Addison Street, and that the walls would be of concrete faced with pressed brick and a brick veneer. The building was being constructed with foundations that could carry additional stories when needed. 

The building permit issued in June 1933 was for a two-story, four-room, $55,000 store measuring 55 feet by 100 feet, with a height of 52 feet. Like many other Sibbert-designed Kress stores, it is sleekly fashioned in the Zigzag Moderne style, with strong verticals and vaguely Mayan terracotta ornaments. Even the fire escape on the Addison Street side is patterned in Art Deco style. 

Curved glass display windows led the shopper through heavy bronze doors into a long, elegant sales floor offering thousands of inexpensive items. The salesladies’ tan and ivory uniforms blended with the pale walls. 

In 1964, S. H. Kress & Co. was bought by Genesco, Inc., which began closing down the stores in 1980. About one hundred of the Kress buildings survive and are treasured for their beauty. Many have been designated landmarks and adapted to other uses. The Berkeley store, designated a city landmark in 1981, is currently home to Half Price Books, the Jazz School, and the Aurora Theatre Company. 

In 1997, the National Building Museum mounted the exhibition “Main Street Five-and-Dime: The Architectural Heritage of S. H. Kress & Co.” The announcement card and the exhibition brochure featured a 1933 photograph of the Berkeley store. 

Daniella Thompson publishes berkeleyheritage.com for the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA). 

Photograph by Daniella Thompson 

The Kress Building is the third major commercial structure built at the northeast corner of Shattuck Avenue and Addison Street. 

Having had the unhappy occasion to take an airline flight recently, I got to feast my jaded eyes on something called “Skymall.” This is a catalogue one finds stuffed along with the airline’s house magazine and a leftover napkin into the pocket of the seat ahead, pressing on one’s sore knees even if one is, as I am, built like a fireplug.  

The catalogue encompasses offerings from a number of companies, including the likes of Sharper Image and Hammacher Schlemmer. One can expect gadgets from such sources that push the limits of ingenuity well into the territory of weirdness. One can still be surprised.  

Presumably, somewhere in the world (or perhaps just above it) people are buying travel toothbrush sanitizers, license plate frames with scrolling customizable LED-lettered messages, motorized tie racks, and pop-up hotdog cookers. Whatever else the late-capitalist era is, it’s entertaining—rather like California elections.  

There are garden tchotchkes in the catalogue too, if you really want a glass-topped table with a “resin” (i.e. plastic) base in the shape of a sumo wrestler, a really dumb face to nail to an innocent tree, or a radio-controlled swimming robot shark for your koi pond. Wait, that looks pretty cool; maybe I want one.  

But gardeners have a longstanding tradition of spending winter evenings curled up with seed and bulb catalogues, where we find ingenuity and weirdness of a different sort. These are so entertaining, we don’t need to confine them to being winter wishbooks; I picked up a few at the San Francisco Garden Show just to keep track of what’s new—and what’s old. 

My favorite comes in the mail, because I’m a member of Native Seeds/SEARCH. That Tucson-based nonprofit sends a holiday catalogue that emphasizes NS/S’s other offerings—great nonstandard culinary chiles, chile powders, beans, and other foodstuffs; basketry and carved implements; books and clothing.  

The spring seedlisting is for the optimistic few in the fog zone, or for those of us with reliable sun and heat, mostly east of the hills. NS/S gathers and grows out rare varieties of such desert staples as beans and peas, melons, corn, squash, chilipeppers, gourds, okra, onions, amaranth and sorghum, tomatoes, greens, and tobacco. 

More locally, Annie’s Annuals has a colorful and jolly catalogue, and the two Annies and their confederates certainly come up with new and gorgeous flowering plants, natives, exotics, and hybrids. Their catalogue includes the dates of the nursery’s several annual parties—the next one’s April 13, 14, and 15—and some good garden advice too. 

You can find Kitazawa seeds on the racks in garden shops and places like the Berkeley Bowl, but the company catalogue has more varieties in it than any display can hold, and recipes too. Kitazawa, based in the Bay Area, started out selling vegetable seeds to a largely Japanese-American clientele, seeds of goods like daikon and pak choi that they couldn’t easily find in the markets 90 years ago.  

The current expanded inventory includes all that and seven Thai basil varieties, tomatoes including the sweet ‘Odoriko’ variety, Armenian cucumbers, and Egyptian molokhia.  

Order these catalogues and see other offerings at www.nativeseeds.org, www.anniesannuals.com and www.kitazawaseed.com.  

Ron Sullivan is a former professional gardener and arborist. Her “Garden Variety” column appears every Friday in the Daily Planet’s East Bay Home & Real Estate section. “Green Neighbors,” her column on East Bay trees, appears every other Tuesday in the Daily Planet.

I recently visited Tokyo. What a wonderful experience in so many ways. Too many to touch on in a single article, but one thing that did strike me again and again was the use of and respect for space. Japanese people tend to live in much smaller spaces than we take for granted and they endeavor to use each space as efficiently and richly as possible. It alters the aesthetic. Also, there’s no shame in packing things in to these tight spaces. On the contrary, I think that the Japanese view a waste of space or living in unnecessarily large quarters as egregious misconduct. 

Given the cost of homes today, this sensibility regarding space seems to be growing among us as well. Perhaps we’re all turning Japanese in a small way and I think it’s a good thing. There are few things that bother me more than seeing a family of two living in a 4,000-square-foot house. Waste is unattractive and small is nice, smart and respectful. I also see more and more people taking an interest in developing their attics, as an alternative to either moving or building on. While sensible, in the use of space, attics do pose some issues which must be considered prior to a serious emotional or physical commitment (this sounds like a column for the lovelorn). 

Attics are not generally built for living. They are lacking in features that modern building concepts demand for living space but these need not always be major impediments. Nonetheless, they should be given due consideration. 

Let’s start with ingress and egress, the construction words for stairways and other means of escape. Stairs are really, really, important. They provide safe travel between levels and should accommodate physical disability and instability. When looking at stairs and railings I like to imagine a drunken woman in heels (or a drunken man in heels if you prefer). Stairs are treacherous, as any ER doctor can tell you, and we should do all we can to control their perils. 

Developed attics often rely on ladders of various kinds and these almost never meet modern building standards and are genuinely dangerous. Some attic development projects become prohibitively complex or expensive when stairs are taken into the equation, but from my own experience I’d say that safe stairways are the baseline criterion for attic habitability. Stairs take up quite a bit of space and require roughly 9-10-inch treads and no more than about 8 inches on risers (codes vary but his is a good rough picture). Stairs also need to be 3 feet wide, although my own perspective is that this is a bit stringent and I’d like to see the codes loosen up to allow some stairways to be narrower than this. 

Here come more difficulties. If an attic is to function as a living space, the floors need to meet some minimum “live load” requirements and many do not. Most attics are framed to support the weight of the ceiling below and end up far too slender to adequately support active bodies and furnishings. Of course, this is based on our western concept of inflexible floors and not on the ability of the floor to bear weight. A floor of 2x4s can generally bear the weight of a small office and a couple of occupants but modern codes demand much greater rigidity that generally demand the use of 2x8s or 2x10s for floor joisting. A 2x4 floor can be augmented in strength but this will usually require removal of everything above it and sometimes the ceiling below. This also bites into the total remaining ceiling height, which can be a serious matter when we’re wrestling for inches. 

If the ceiling can be made sufficiently rigid and a stairway and landing can be installed to meet modern standards, you’re well on your way. I do see a few old houses that already look like this and if you’re lucky, your attic may be ready for you and the baby grand. 

Next is the issue of ceiling height. To take my tiny pulpit for just a minute, I want to say that the presence of rules regarding ceiling heights in the code is just plain silly and a needless waste of governance and money. If I want to build a house with 5-foot ceilings and live in it, it ain’t nobody’s business but mine. If I want to build a house for a couple who are both under 5 feet in height, there is no reason to build it to suit people who are 6-foot-4. If you go shopping for houses and see one that’s too short inside, you won’t buy it, right?  

There is one exception that I agree with and that is doorways and stairways where people tend to get smacked. Setting some minimum heights is not a bad idea to prevent harm but I still think that there are many items far more critical and deserving of code enforcement that ceiling heights. That said, your city official will want you to have a ceiling that is substantially 7-foot-6. There are exceptions that allow for sloped or beamed ceiling and one can get away with 7-foot ceilings for at least a part of most attics. The formulas are too complex to present here and codes and local enforcement varies quite a bit so let’s leave it a little vague. If you’re trying to tackle this issue, take a sketch to your local building department and talk it over with them. If you’re afraid of getting caught, talk to an architect. 

Although attics often have wonderful and useable wedges of space right down to the eaves, they don’t count as living space when calculating minimum room dimensions. A room, if it is to function as a bedroom, has to be at least 70 square feet with neither dimension less than 7 feet. Now remember that this is allowing for at least 7 feet on a sloping ceiling. Now balance this cup on your nose and grab these pliers with your teeth and stand on this ball. Tough, eh? Yes, this is not simple but to meet code requirements you’ll have to somehow figure this stuff out. But wait, we’re not done. There’s plenty more. 

Backing up to structural issues for a moment, I’ll throw you a real doozy. It’s the foundation. Many building departments consider the legal development of the attic as the addition of another floor (at least partially so). This can mean, if they choose to enforce it, that your foundation now needs to meet a higher standard and may need to be either replaced or at least modified to carry the extra weight of people and furnishings on this newly anointed level. While this may be a relatively minor issue for a small room, it’s definitely a serious issue for large attic conversions that add a suit of rooms. 

So now we’ve hit stairways, floor strength, ceiling height and possible foundation issues. These are the big and complex ones that end up nixing so many remodeling jobs and if you’ve tackled these you’re basically there. There are, however, some niggling issues that are worth a mention. Having a second means of escape is required in most cities but a window can usually suffice. This means that at least one window has to open to some minimum size. Usually 20 inches wide and 24 inches tall, but, again, check with your local official. This window can also provide required ventilation and light for the space (both are code requirement and both make sense, although a skylight can substitute for these.  

Heat is also required for all living spaces and while this does make sense, I would lobby for attic living spaces to be exempt on the basis of physics. Since heat rises, attic rooms are rarely the coldest and often the warmest. This means that it makes a lot of sense to insulate as much of the attic ceiling as possible. Attic floors are often insulated in undeveloped spaces and, while that’s still fine for your developed attic, the ceiling of the attic should be insulated if you’ve made this into a practical living space. 

There’s a lot more to say about attic conversion as well as the removal of ceiling and inclusion of the attic space in the volume of living space below, so watch this spot. I’ll devote another column to this soon. 

Attic conversions are complex and anticipating all the issues that can arise in this sort of project is trying. If you venture this way, get good advice from contractors and architects before you invest money in actual remodeling and expect people to be wrong and to make mistakes. The Japanese would say: Saru mo ki kara ochiru—even monkeys can fall from trees. I think they mean “fall from attics,” but hey, I don’t speak Japanese.

FRIDAY, MARCH 30 

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 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Ismail Khaldi, Deputy Consul General of Israel in SF on “Pluralism in Israel Today” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $14, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. 526-2925.  

What is Wheat Gluten in our Foods Doing to Us and our children if it is killing cats and dogs? Free documentary screening by Ann Marks at 1 p.m. at Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 528-6267. 

“This Black Soil” a film about the struggles of an impoverished community in Virginia, at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., midtown Oakland. Donation $5. www.HumanistHall.net 

“Finding Your Roots on the Web” a class on genealogy research at 11 a.m. in the Berkeley History Room, Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. To register call 981-6148. 

Oaxaca & Chiapas Report Back at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists 1924 Cedar St. Donations accepted. 528-5403. 

Circle Dancing, simple folk dancing with instruction at 8 p.m. at Hillside Coommunity Church, 1422 Navellier St., El Cerrito. Potluck supper at 7 p.m.. Donation of $5 requested. 528-4253. www.circledancing.com 

Introduction to Meditation at 7 p.m. at New Dahrma Meditation Center, 1056 60th St., Emeryville. Cost is $15-$25, no one turned away. 547-3733. 

SATURDAY, MARCH 31 

“The Art of Beekeeping in Your Backyard” A presentation by the Alameda County Beekeepers Association at 10 a.m. at 2418 California St. Cost is $10, reservations required, call Jim at 845-2419 or Heiko at 549-3377. 

Berkeley Youth Alternatives Community Barbeque and Orchard Tree Planting from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 1255 Allston Way. 845-9010. 

Farmyard Stories and Songs with Tara Reinertson at 11 a.m. at the Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

“Native Plants, Native Americans and the Spanish” A walk and discussion of the encounter between the two cultures from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Peralta Hacienda Historical Park, 2465 34th Ave., Oakland. 532-9142. 

Outdoor Gardening with Cacti and Succulents from 9 a.m. to noon at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $25-$30. Registration required. 643-2755, ext. 03. 

Solo Sierrans Walk in Codornices Park Meet at 3:30 p.m. at the top of the Berkeley Rose Garden on Euclid Ave. Walk lasts about 1.5 hours and includes some steps. Rain cancels. 647-3513. 

Mt. Wanda Wildflower Walk Join a Park Ranger for a walk in the hills where John Muir took his daughters. Terrain is steep, wear walking shoes and bring water. Rain cancels. Meet at 9 a.m. at the Cal-Trans Park and Ride lot at the corner of Alhambra Ave. and Franklin Canyon Rd., Martinez. 925-228-8860. 

Alameda County Commission on the Status of Women Summit with Congresswomen Barbara Lee and Nancy Pelosi and workshops on domestic violence, breast health, and women in politics. From 1 to 6 p.m. at the Fremont Marriott, 46100 Landing Parkway, Admission is free, but registration required. 259-3871. 

Zoo Ambassador Training Orientation The Oakland Zoo is looking for volunteers to help teach visitors about the zoo and the animals. Training from 9 to 1 p.m. at the Oakland Zoo. For information call 632-9525. 

CopWatch Know Your Rights Training Movie Night Learn your rights with the police and police observation from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Grassroots House, 2022 Blake St. 548-0425. 

Understanding Chronic Fatigue at 11:30 a.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

“Preserving Home Ownership Forum” Learn how to avoid defaults, forclosures and protect your credit at 9:30 a.m. at Preservation Park, Ginn House Meeting Room, 660 13th St., Oakland. Sponsored by the California Association of Mortgage Brokers. 339-2121. 

Petite Pooches Playgroup for small dogs from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., one block north of Solano on Ensenada at Talbot. 524-2459. 

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, APRIL 1 

Specialty Nursery Plant Sale, sponsored by California Horticultural Society, with thousands of rare and unique plants, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Lakeside Garden Center, 666 Bellevue Ave., Oakland, off Grand Ave., beside Lake Merritt. Cost is $3 for park entrance, free admission to plant sale. www.calhortsociety.org 

Family Exploration Day at the Oakland Museum of California with information on the peregrine falcon recovery efforts and special family tours of the Bringing the Condors Home exhibition, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Oak and 10th St., Oakland. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2200. 

Cancer Prevention and Survival Cooking Class from 1 to 3 p.m. at the First Congregational Church of Oakland, 2501 Harrison St., Oakland. Free, but registration required. 444-8511. 

“Creating Collaborative Resistance to the Israeli Occupation” with Dr. Dalit Baum, Israeli peace activist, at 2:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Public LIbrary, Third Flr Community Meeting Room, 2090 Kittredge St. Suggested donation $10, no one turned away. www.bayareawomeninblack.org 

“How Can We Get the Health Care We Need?” A Peace and Freedom Party forum on competing plans for health care and health “coverage,” with presentations and discussion, from 5 to 8 p.m. at Spud's Pizza, corner of Alcatraz and Adeline. 845-4360. 

Health Care Reform: Acts for Justice as a Spiritual Practice Soup supper at 5:30 p.m., program at 6:15 p.m. at Epworth United Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins. Sponsored by Berkeley Organizing Congregations for Action. Free, but RSVP requested. 267-7131. 

Holistic Pet Evaluation from 1 to 4 p.m. at RabbitEars, 303 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Free, appointments required. 525-6155. 

Easter Egg Painting from 2 to 3 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

Free Hands-on Bicycle Clinic Learn how to keep your bike in excellent working condition through safety inspections, from 10 to 11 a.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace Peace walk around the lake every Sun. Meet at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712. lmno4p.org 

Tibetan Buddhism with Santosh Philip on “Advanced Kum Nye: The Joy of Being” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812.  

MONDAY, APRIL 2  

Help with the Frog Survey Learn to recognize frog calls and help with Friends of Five Creeks’ every-other-year frog survey, at 7 p.m. at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin, Albany. For information call 848 9358. www.fivecreeks.org 

Cancer Prevention and Survival Cooking Class at 6:30 p.m. at Keller Williams, 4341 Piedmont Ave., 2nd Flr., Oakland. To register call Lori at 531-2665. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from noon to 6 p.m. at East Pauley Ballroom, MLK Student Union, UC Campus. To schedule an appointment go to www.BeADonor.com (code UCB) 

TUESDAY, APRIL 3 

“Housing the Homeless and Low Income in Berkeley” with Stephen Barton, City of Berkeley Housing Director, brown bag lunch from noon to 2 p.m. at the Albany Library. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters. 843-8824. 

“Health and Stress” with Dr. Jay Sordean, Oriental Medical Doctor at 7 p.m. at the El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Ave., El Cerrito. 526-7512. 

Free Legal Assistance the first Tues. of the month at 6 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. Advance registration required. 526-3720, ext. 5. 

Discussion Salon on Incarceration vs Education 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. 848-1704. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your digital images, slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. 548-3991.  

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4 

Teach-In and Vigil Against American Torture every Wed. at noon at Boalt Hall, Bancroft Way at College Ave.  

Walk, Talk, Buck the Fence 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 to discuss what is at stake in the proposed steps for the filling of the Canyon by the UC-LBL Rad-Labs, and now British Petroleum. http://canyonwalks.blogspot.com  

Volunteer at the Native Nursery in Oakland in plant propagation and transplanting, watering, and other maintenance associated with growing native wetland plants. From 1 to 3 p.m. at Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline, Oakland. RSVP to 452-9261. 

Oakland Public Library Book Sale at The Bookmark, 721 Washington St., Oakland, through April 7. Benefits Friends of the Oakland Public Library. 444-0473. 

ReelVenezuela, Venezuelan films at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $7-$9. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

“Arctic Warming” with author and filmmaker Jonathan Waterman at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Forum on the Solutions to Math and Science Education Lag at 5 p.m. at Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, 17 Gauss Way. Sponsored by the East Bay Community Foundation. 836-3223. 

New to DVD: “Volver” at 7 p.m. at JCCEB, 1414 Walnut St. Discussion follows. 848-0237. 

American Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation from 10 a.m. to noon at 6230 Claremont Ave., Oakland Advanced sign-up is required; phone Anne at 594-5165.  

“Avalokitesvara is Everybody: Disguise As Skillful Means in Sanskrit Mahayana” with Dr. Will Tuladhar-Douglas at 6:30 p.m. at Jodo Shinshu Center, 2140 Durant Ave. Sponsored by the The Institute of Buddhist Studies. RSVP Requested 809-1444. 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. 548-9840. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at 6:30 p.m. at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center.www.geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil 

Stitch ‘n Bitch at 6:30 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

THURSDAY, APRIL 5 

ReelVenezuela, Venezuelan films at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $7-$9. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

“Finding Inspiration from Wild Places for Your Native Garden” A presentation by Pete Veilleux, of the native landscape firm “East Bay Wilds” at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220 ext. 233. 

Free Diabetes Screening from 8:15 to 11 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Do not eat or drink anything for 8 hours beforehand. 981-5332. 

“The Eight-Circuit Brain in Theory and Practice” with Antero Alli at 8 p.m. at the Finnish Brotherhood Hall, 1970 Chestnut St., near University. Cos tis $8. 464-4640. 

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. namaste@avatar.freetoasthost.info  

ONGOING 

Tax Help at the Berkeley Public Library Sat. from 11:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the South Branch. Call for appointment. 981-6260. Also every Tues. and Thurs. at the West Branch from 12:15 to 3:15 p.m. Call for appointment. 981-6270. 

Berkeley Youth Alternatives Girls Basketball Age 15 and under league begins April 11 and 18 and under begins April 13. From 5:30 to 8:30 at Emery High School, 1100 47th St. Emeryville. Cost is $175 per team. 845-9066.  

CITY MEETINGS 

Commission on the Status of Women meets Wed., April 4, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Tasha Tervelon, 981-5190.  

Downtown Area Plan Advisory Commission meets Wed., April 4, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7487. 

Housing Advisory Commission meets Thurs., April 5, at 7:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5400. 

Landmarks Preservation Commission meets Thurs., April 5, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Gisele Sorensen, 981-7419.  

Public Works Commission meets Thurs., April 5, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Jeff Egeberg, 981-6406.