Patrick Kennedy and David Teece—Berkeley’s biggest private landlords—are selling their seven signature apartment buildings to a Chicago-based corporation. 

“We hadn’t heard that,” said Calvin Fong, aide to Mayor Tom Bates, when a reporter told him of the sale Wednesday night. “The mayor will be delighted. Imagine the transfer tax! There go our city budget problems for the year!” 

“Wow,” said Dona Spring, the city councilmember whose district includes most of the affected buildings. “This is big news for Berkeley. The question is whether it’s good news or bad news.” 

“We knew (the buildings) were in play,” said city Planning Manager Mark Rhoades. “There have been people in the office for the last couple of months doing due diligence, but we hadn’t heard there was a sale and we  

didn’t know who the buyer was.”  

The buyer is Equity Residen-tial, a corporation that bills itself as the nation’s largest publicly traded owner of apartment buildings. 

According to the firm’s annual report filed with the Security and Exchange Commission on Feb. 28, the Chicago-based company owned 617 properties with a total of 165,716 units in 25 states and the District of Columbia as of Dec. 31.  

Prior to the Panoramic sale, Equity owned 100 properties in California, totaling 26,241 apartments. 

Diana Norbury, who will be managing the seven properties for Equity Residential, confirmed that the deal has been signed, with the final legal transfer expected to occur within two weeks. 

Included in the sale are buildings totaling 368 units, most rented to UC Berkeley students. They are: 

• The Gaia Building (2001), 2117 Allston Way, with 91 apartments, a ground-floor space that has sometimes been used as a theater, and Anna’s Jazz Island cafe. 

• The Fine Arts Building (2004), 2110 Haste St. at Shattuck Avenue, with 100 units and still vacant ground-floor commercial space. 

• The Bachenheimer Building (2004), 2119 University Ave., with 44 units and ground-floor commercial space. 

• The Berkeleyan Apartments (1998), 1910 Oxford St., with 56 units and commercial space. 

• Acton Courtyard (2003), 1370 University Ave., 71 units and ground-floor commercial space. 

• The Touriel Building (2004), 2004 University Ave., 35 units and ground-floor commercial space. 

• ARTech Building (2002), with 21 units and a small commercial space on the ground floor. 

While sale documents won’t be filed with the Alameda County Recorder’s office until the official closing, new limited partnerships were filed with the California Secretary of State on Feb. 28 that include the names of each of the buildings preceded by the initial EQR and listing as the entity’s address Two North Riverside Plaza in Chicago—Equity’s national headquarters.  

Kennedy retains his interest in the old Act I and Act II theater building on Center Street, which he plans to develop into a restaurant with offices above, and Norbury said she believes he intends to continue his involvement in development projects in the city. 

Hiring, lawsuits 

Norbury and a member of her staff were interviewed at a job fair they were holding in the seventh floor commons room of the crown jewel of the properties, the Gaia Building at 2114 Allston Way. 

“We gave offers to all the people who are currently working with Panoramic,” she said, “but we don’t know who’s staying.” 

Until the closing the properties are still technically owned by Panoramic Interests. Another Kennedy company manages the properties, and it is these employees Equity has offered to hire. 

In addition to the current complement of staff and a new assistant property manager, Norbury said Equity will also be hiring three maintenance workers, instead of contracting for the work as had been the practice during Kennedy’s ownership. 

Another one or two office workers may be hired, along with seasonal help, Norbury said. 

A native of Atlanta, Ga., Norbury comes to Berkeley from her most recent job with Equity in Palo Alto. She has also worked for the firm on assignments in Atlanta and Orlando, Fla. 

“I hope they will be a lot better for the tenants,” said Spring, who has been a frequent Kennedy critic. “There are several lawsuits pending.” 

One, by Gaia tenant Anna de Leon, owners of Anna’s Jazz Island, followed a long series of disputes among de Leon and Kennedy and the owners of Glass Onion Catering, which has controlled the remainder of the ground floor and mezzanine commercial space. 

Her suit targets the city and alleges that city officials failed to properly enforce conditions on the use of the lower two floors, which were supposed to have been dedicated to cultural uses, entitling the builders to add two more floors of apartments in compensation under the city’s cultural density bonus—a provision which city Planning and Development Director Dan Marks said Wednesday will not be included in the new downtown plan now being developed. 

Norbury said the firm was aware of the litigation. 

Other litigation stemmed from construction flaws that twice forced the owners to strip and replace most of the stucco encasing the building after water leaks intruded into apartments and spread mold within the walls. 

According to documentation filed with the suits, replacement costs exceeded the original price of the building. 

Following the second stripping, the building was resurfaced and coated with a synthetic waterproofing. The lawsuit was filed against the contractor, Kimes Morris, which inspired other litigation against subcontractors. 

Money matters 

The sale likely means a huge windfall for Kennedy and his principal partner, UC Berkeley Professor of Economics David Teece, a New Zealand native who has made millions from LECG, a consulting firm he built up, and from a business that sells rugby clothing in his homeland and Australia. One of his homes is a costly house in the Berkeley hills above the Claremont Hotel. 

Teece also serves as director of the Institute of Management, Innovation and Organization at the university’s Haas School of Business. 

All seven buildings in the sale were financed with bonds—largely tax exempt—authorized by the Association of Bay Area Governments, ABAG. 

Over the five years between 1998 and 2003, ABAG’s Finance Authority for Non-Profit Corporations agreed to underwrite $72,130,000 in mostly tax-exempt bonds for the Kennedy/Teece projects: 

• $6,000,000 on April 1, 1998, for The Berkeleyan. A loan agreement shows that Teece lent Kennedy $50,000 to initiate the project two years earlier. 

• $4 million on May 18, 1999, to fund the ARTech building. The corporate address for the limited liability corporation established to own the building was listed as the same Emeryville address that houses several Teece corporations. 

• $15,365,000 on July 25, 2000, for the Gaia building. Recorded documents list Kennedy, Teece and Reid Martin—former owner of the site—as principals. 

• $10,445,000 on April 4, 2002, for the Acton Courtyard Apartments. 

• $8,290,000 on May 1, 2003, to refinance The Berkeleyan, retiring the original issue of five years earlier. 

• $18,000,000 on Dec. 12, 2003, to fund the Fine Arts Building. 

• $6,210,000 on Dec. 12, 2003, to fund the Touriel Building. 

• $9,820,000 on Dec. 12, 2003, to fund the Bachenheimer Building. 

“We are aware that some of the Panoramic properites are for sale, but we are not aware of any changes in ownership status or in the status of ABAG funding,” said Leah Zippert, a communications officer for ABAG. 

After a few more calls, Zippert called back to report that “if the ownership changes, nothing has to happen to the bonds, nor do we expect anything to happen to them.” 

A new owner would be able to assume the bonds and the repayment obligations without affecting their status, presenting no obstruction to the sale.  

Kennedy, Teece and Marty McKenna, Equity Residential’s Chicago-based corporate spokesperson, did not return calls by deadline..

Berkeley is not invulnerable to virulent racist, anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic hate campaigns. 

That was brought home to John Weil who, while walking his dog in his quiet southeast Berkeley hills neighborhood about 5 p.m. on Monday, picked up a rolled-up newspaper from the sidewalk and opened it to find page after page of hate-filled articles peppered with racial epithets demeaning Jews and people of color and advertisements promoting swastika-bearing jewelry.  

“I was appalled when I realized these people were promoting hate,” Weil told the Daily Planet. “One might expect this in the backwoods of Ohio, but not in Berkeley.” 

The newspaper and two accompanying tracts were tossed from a slow-moving automobile and found on sidewalks along Hillcrest and Chabot roads and Claremont Avenue in southeast Berkeley, and a short distance northwest of that neighborhood, on Halcyon Court and nearby portions of Woolsey, Prince and Webster streets. Isolated copies of the newspaper were reported on North Shattuck Avenue and at San Pablo and University avenues, Eighth and Addison streets, and Eighth and Allston Way according to police spokesperson Ed Galvan. 

The paper distributed was a 28-page April 2006 edition of The Insurgent published by the White Aryan Resistance, associated with well-known white supremacist Tom Metzger, who calls himself “the voice of progressive racism.” (While an e-mail from Metzger said he would be available for a phone interview, he has not returned a call from the Daily Planet.) 

The Insurgent tagline says: “The Newspaper for discriminating white people! Tolerance is suicide.” One article in the edition distributed blames Jews for Aryans “losing their culture, their treasure, their homeland and their incomparable gene-pool.” Another article claims that African Americans have low intelligence. Other pieces say immigrants take resources from whites and condemn government as useless. 

Chip Berlet, senior researcher at Boston-based Political Research Associates, who specializes in analyzing right-wing movements, was not surprised that the paper was distributed in Berkeley. “Even in enclaves like Berkeley, people believe that people of color and immigrants steal jobs,” Berlet said in a phone interview, explaining that one motivation for the distribution is recruitment. 

Teenage boys are among the most susceptible to this recruiting tactic, as they might see this kind of organization as an avenue for rebellion, he said. 

Distribution such as this “is a common tactic employed over the last 10 years. It’s a weekly occurrence” taking place in various cities, he said. 

While the distribution may be done in order to publicize the organization, that’s not a reason to ignore it, Berlet said, noting that the best reaction is exposing such organizations. 

Amanda Bornstein, aide to south hills Councilmember Gordon Wozniak, who is out of town for four weeks, said she got calls from concerned constituents and reported them to Berkeley police. Councilmember Kriss Worthington, whose district includes the Halcyon Court area, said he got calls as well and also reported them to police and the city manager.  

Nancy Carleton is one of those who called Worthington. Co-chair of the Halcyon Neighborhood Association, Carleton said her well-organized neighborhood “will be tracking the issue to make sure that the hateful speech doesn’t turn into violence against neighbors.”  

Noting the racial, religious and ethnic diversity of the neighborhood, Carleton said, “We have to look out for each other.”  

In a phone interview Thursday morning City Manager Phil Kamlarz said he hadn’t yet seen the newspaper, but had discussed it with police. It sounds like “an ugly piece of information,” but protected by free speech and not something the city could stop from being disseminated, he said. 

Similarly, Alan L. Schlosser, legal director for the Northern California American Civil Liberties Union, said as long as such a newspaper is distributed in conformance with local laws, its circulation becomes an issue of free speech. 

“Even racist and highly offensive speech is protected by the Constitution,” Schlosser said, adding that the local distribution could be turned into a “teaching moment,” with “bad speech responded to by good speech—racist speech answered by anti-racist speech.” 

One southeast hills resident who asked not to be identified was less upbeat: “This is dangerous to all of us,” she said. “It makes me ashamed. We have learned nothing. It might as well be 1933.” 

The following Oakland-based organizations provide resources to fight bigotry: Ella Baker Center: 428-3939, www.ellabakercenter.org, Women of Color Resource Center: 444-2700, www.coloredgirls.org, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights: 465-1984, www.nnirr.org.

After declaring Hillside School to be surplus property, the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) is getting ready to give the same designation to the Berkeley High School tennis courts and property at West Campus and on Sixth Street. 

The BUSD Surplus Committee submitted the report to the School Board on Hillside School site earlier this year. The School Board will now decide whether they will sell the property or put it on a long-term lease. 

Six of the Surplus Committee members will continue their work on the committee and the board is looking for five new ones, said BUSD spokesperson Mark Coplan. 

“At this point it looks like a property management firm will be brought in to manage the Hillside property and set up a long term lease. The direction is definitely toward a long-term lease rather than selling,” said Coplan. 

The property—which is 2.85 acres—has a split-level three-story wood frame building and a portable. Designed by Walter Ratcliff and built in 1926, the main building of the Hillside property has been designated a city and state landmark. 

Hillside has housed BUSD students in the past. It can no longer do so because a trace of the Hayward Fault is located under the main building. 

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to sell school assets because you never know when you might need to use it in the future. However, in the case of the Hillside property, there is nothing that can be done with it. It has always been a problem because it’s an aging building and is located on a fault. Why maintain something if you are never going to use it?,” said School Board Vice President John Selawsky. 

Selawsky said that the first criterion that was considered before surplusing school board assets was to see if there was any current or future use of the property. 

“The second criteria is the ability to maintain the property. Maintenance alone is a huge cost,” he said. 

In the past, Coplan said, BUSD has declared several of its properties to be surplus, including Grizzly Peak School and Tilden Primary School near Tilden Park and a section of Jefferson Elementary School on Rose Street which now houses the Crowden School of Music. 

Selawsky also said that the board was looking for a possible site for shifting the BUSD headquarters from the Old City Hall building. “In a way it will be good to move out from there. The building is not retrofitted. We are ideally looking for something between 20,000-25,000 square feet, a place that will house offices and conference rooms,” he said.  

BUSD exchanged a part of its property on Sixth Street with the City of Berkeley for use of the Old City Hall building as part of a 20-year lease which runs out in 2009. 

“Part of the city’s health department moved into some of the BUSD property on Sixth Street. It is currently occupied by the Long Life Health Center. For Long Life to go on a long term lease, BUSD has to deem the property surplus,” said Selawsky. 

According to the district’s Facilities Construction Plan (2006), West Campus will be used as the district’s headquarters in the future. 

Currently, West Campus is comprised of nine buildings, several of which are connected. The administration, girls’ gymnasium, auditorium and classroom (Bonar Street) buildings are reinforced concrete construction while the library, cafeteria and shop building are wood frame construction. The boys’ gymnasium was constructed in 1930, the library was built in 1941, the auditorium and classroom buildings were built in 1953, and the administration, girls’ gymnasium, cafeteria and shop were constructed in 1967.  

“Another potentially surplus property involves some acreage on West Campus which the city and merchants would like to use for commercial development,” said Coplan. 

Some property on University Avenue which is part of West Campus is currently unused by the BUSD. 

The Berkeley High School Tennis Courts—a possible site for the relocation of the warm water pool—is also on the list of potential surplus sites. 

The current warm water pool, which is used by a large segment of the disabled community, is located in the Old Gym at Berkeley High. A lawsuit has been filed asking for a new environmental impact report on the district’s permit to demolish the building because the original environmental review did not adequately address the building’s historic status.  

The city is looking at the possibility of developing the tennis courts into a warm pool. 

“The city needs a resolution on that soon,” said Coplan. “The district is in a position to give up the property and the South of Bancroft master plan indicates the use of the tennis courts for a warm water pool already. It all depends on what kind of an agreement the city and the school board can come to.” 

Coplan said that another possible location for the warm water pool could be West Campus, and the property now occupied by Iceland has been suggested as another alternative. 

While Woodfin Suite Hotel workers are beefing up union and local support to get the hotel to comply with Measure C, Emeryville’s Living Wage Ordinance for hotel workers, the hotel is flexing its muscle in its own way. Last week the Woodfin filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court—for the second time—claiming the 2005 law passed by the city’s voters is unconstitu-tional. 

Attorneys at Shea Stokes, Alc. say Measure C compels the hotel “to continue employing undocumented workers in violation of express federal law prohibiting such employment.”  

The lawsuit also targets labor organizers: “Measure C is calculated primarily to tilt the economic playing field in favor of organized labor,” the complaint says. 

In a phone interview Thursday, Emeryville City Attorney Michael Biddle said while the city has received a copy of the lawsuit, it has not been formally served with it. He noted that it was filed just before the city is to go into mediation with the Woodfin in mid April over a number of issues related to the enforcement of Measure C. 

The lawsuit filed last week is similar to one the hotel filed in February 2006, which the hotel subsequently opted to dismiss, Biddle said. The judge approved the dismissal in January 2007 and ordered Woodfin to pay attorney’s fees of $10,000. 

“This left the challenge open,” Biddle said, adding that he hopes the two sides can resolve all the related issues through mediation. 

One of the issues is the attempted firing of some 21 workers whom the hotel said did not have proper social security numbers. Supporters of the Woodfin workers say that the firing was in fact retaliation for the workers’ attempt to get Measure C enforced. 

In response to the attempted firing, workers’ representatives and the city of Emeryville went to superior court on Dec. 21 and were granted a restraining order preventing the Woodfin from firing the workers. A few days later, the Emeryville City Council approved an emergency ordinance prohibiting hotels from firing workers who have filed Measure C complaints, or reducing their hours, during a 90-day investigation period. 

And in January Alameda County Superior Court Judge Bonnie Sabraw granted Woodfin workers an injunction through April 20, preventing the hotel from firing them while the city investigates the workers’ complaints that the hotel failed to comply with Measure C.  

The lawsuit “shows Woodfin is being very intransigent and unreasonable,” said Sara Norr, organizer with EBASE, East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, which has been supporting the workers. 

Meanwhile on April 4, the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, announced that it had called for a boycott of the Emeryville Woodfin Suite Hotel. 

And on Tuesday, 487 Emeryville residents went on record in support of the workers. Sandra Butler was one of the residents who presented a petition and signatures to the City Council on Tuesday urging elected officials to require the Woodfin to pay $160,000 in back pay owed to its workers and to guarantee the workers’ job security before issuing the Woodfin its annual operating permit. 

“What’s being asked is very straightforward,” Watergate complex resident Butler, a filmmaker, told the council. “We want you to support the workers in their fight for a living wage and make certain they have job security. When I went around to my neighbors to have them sign the petitions, some people expressed shock that we were still doing this type of work like this to get job security for workers. One neighbor asked what decade are we in? If nothing is done, 14 workers will get fired only because they asked for a living wage.” 

On Monday, the workers and their supporters will take to the streets of Emeryville in what EBASE organizers are calling a “march for justice.” It is likely to be the largest march in the history of Emeryville, they say.  

Marchers will gather at Emeryville City Hall, at 1330 Park Ave. at 5:30 p.m. and march to the Woodfin at 5800 Shellmound St. 

J. Douglas Allen-Taylor contributed to this article.

Berkeley High became the scene of a virtual battleground over spring break when the Berkeley Police Department SWAT team—known as the Barricaded Subject Hostage Negotiation Team (BSHNT)—descended on the campus Thursday.  

BSHNT was carrying out its annual exercise, Ed Galvan, public information officer for the BPD told the Daily Planet. 

Three negotiators from the FBI in San Francisco and a team from the University of California Berkeley Police Department (UCBPD) were also present during the training. 

“Every year we like to do one major exercise and we like to use a facility within the community which we would have to use in the future. This year we chose Berkeley High because we might have to be here in an emergency situation one day.” 

Galvan was role-playing as a Berkeley High chemistry teacher in an “active shooter situation.” “An ‘active shooter situation,’” he explained, “is when an unknown person comes into the building and starts shooting. In this case, the BSHNT team has to identify which building the shooter is in at Berkeley High and then come up with a plan of how to approach the problem. They can either negotiate with the shooter or try to apprehend him. After the end of the exercise we debrief and go over what went well and what needs improvement.” 

The exercise—which started at 1 p.m.—went on till 3 in the afternoon. Most of the action centered around the C Building which is attached to the G Building at Berkeley High. The eerie silence of the empty courtyard was periodically broken by activity inside the mobile stations and sporadic bursts of footsteps coming from different classrooms. 

“Given the rising tide of violence at school, we should always be ready to go,” said Officer Darrin Rafferty, who was acting as part of the training in terms of ensuring safety for the people involved. 

Rafferty—who is part of the Telegraph Avenue patrol team—said he faces different emergency situations during his beat everyday. 

“This kind of training helps us to be ready for any kind of situation. There’s quite a variety of people out there on the streets everyday,” he said.  

The BPD have used their BSHNT team on several occasions in the past, most recently during a shoot-out at a hip-hop party inside a warehouse at San Pablo Avenue. 

“We responded to the shooting but lost the person in the crowd. There was another incident back in 1990 at Henry’s Bar near the UCB campus. A heavily armed young man took 37 hostages and started shooting at them,” said Rafferty.  

Galvan added that the department had met with no trouble during spring break this year. “Everyone is well behaved,” he said smiling. “People usually don’t come to Berkeley. They go away to warmer climates or go home. As a result things have been good so far.” 

The BSHNT team also paid a visit to the Berkeley Community College and the  

City Hall at 2180 Milvia St. earlier in the  

morning. 

“BCC was also a shooter situation,” said Galvan. “Different modulations went on to identify where the shooting came from. It was like a real-life situation because business was open at the time. Negotiations with the suspect and use of force were both used.” 

The City Hall staff gave the team a tour of where all the elevators and stairs were, said Galvan. “It’s important to become familiar with the different levels and offices in case we need to go in there someday,” he said. 

Photograph by Riya Bhattacharjee 

The Berkeley Police Department SWAT Team descended upon Berkeley High School Thursday for its annual exercises.

California Assemblymember Sandré Swanson (D-Oakland) brought his Oakland Unified School District restoration of local control bill to the OUSD Board of Trustees Wednesday night, and, not surprisingly, trustees voted unanimously for a resolution in support. 

The vote was not a rubber stamp, however, and statements by both board members and Swanson showed how seriously both are taking an eventual return of power to the board four years after it was stripped away by the State of California. 

Swanson’s AB45, which he introduced on the first day he took office at the end of last year and calls his “top legislative priority,” would immediately restore full power to the School Board over the areas of community relations and government, facilities and personnel management and pupil achievement while retaining state control over financial management. The bill would also provide for a restoration of compensation to the elected School Board, which has been serving in an advisory capacity without pay since the state takeover.  

Swanson has already secured several assemblymember co-authors for his local control bill, including Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley), Assistant Speaker Pro Tempore Laura Richardson (D-Long Beach), Majority Leader Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) and Assistant Majority Whip Mary Hayashi (D-San Leandro). Other elected official supporters include Congressmember Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, and several members of the Oakland City Council and the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. 

Since 2003, the Oakland Unified School District has been run by a state administrator—first Randolph Ward and now Kimberly Stathan—hired by the state superintendent of education and answerable only to the superintendent. 

The first hearing on Swanson’s local control bill will be held at the state capitol in Sacramento on April 25 in the Assembly Education Committee. Lobbying for the bill has already begun, with a delegation of parents from Maxwell Park Elementary meeting in Sacramento on Wednesday with Assembly Education Committee members and representatives of the State Superintendent to secure their support. 

Swanson said on Wednesday that he has met with the governor’s office, State Superintendent of Education Jack O’Connell, OUSD State Administrator Kim Stathan, State Senator Don Perata (D-Oakland)—who authored the original OUSD state takeover legislation—and Assembly Education Committee Chair Gene Mullin (D-San Mateo) “telling them that it’s imperative that we pass this legislation. We’re going to great lengths to find out every objection and to encourage constructive changes. I don’t this to be just an exercise. I want a bill that’s passed and signed into law.” 

Swanson told board members that many legislators “are wondering whether you are ready to govern,” and has cited the fact that board members have voluntarily taken management training, “even though no one has required you to do so. Some of them have said that this board is probably more qualified than most boards to run a school district, since most School Board members around the state merely take office and start making decisions once they are elected, without any training at all.” Swanson also said that legislators were surprised to learn that with four of its seven members elected following the discovery of the budget shortfall that led to the state takeover, “it’s not the same board” that approved the policies and actions that led to that shortfall. 

And while OUSD board members unanimously supporting Swanson’s local control bill, with only board member Noel Gallo being absent, they gave differing reasons why. 

Board member Greg Hodge, who was board president during the takeover, said that in Oakland and other districts where the state has taken over local schools, “there is no evidence that academics have improved.” He said that he had pulled district reports going back to before the takeover, “and we are on the same academic trajectory now that we were before 2003.” 

Hodge defended the previous board’s actions in approving a teacher pay raise that inadvertently led to the budget shortfall, where an antiquated district computer system did not catch the problem until it was too late. “We overspent our checkbook without understanding what was in our register,” Hodge said. “But the money was well spent.” 

And Hodge said that in order to prevent such problems from happening in the future, he would like to see a restoration of the position of independent auditor “answerable to the board only, and independent of staff. That position was done away with by a previous board.” 

But Boardmember Gary Yee, who was elected in the tumultuous period shortly after the budget shortfall was discovered but before the state took over, said that it was declining enrollment rather than the teacher pay raise which caused OUSD’s budget crisis. 

“The enrollment decline was unforeseen,” Yee said. “I’ve told a lot of my colleagues in the California School Boards Association that they need to be mindful when they approve pay hikes and health packages. Their turn may come, too. Many of these problems cannot be predicted.” 

And Boardmember Kerry Hamill, who was serving on the board in 2003 when the state took over, said that while “obviously I support this legislation,” she did not view the board’s actions prior to 2003 in as favorable a light as Hodge. “I was one of the persons who thought we needed help,” Hamill said. “We almost defaulted on our payroll more than once prior to the budget shortfall. I don’t have a problem asking for help.”  

But Hamill was also sharply critical of the state administration of the Oakland schools since the takeover, saying that “every school takeover should have one focused year of real help, where resources are concentrated on the district, not just substituting one overworked administration for another.” 

Hamill said that with the district down 14,000 in student enrollment in recent years and with a projection of a loss of another 1800 students in the next five years, the district needed to hold onto as many students as possible in order to balance its finances. “We are fighting for our financial lives,” she noted. But instead of following that policy, Hamill said that the office of the OUSD state administrator “is exacerbating the problem with regard to the approval of charter schools. We have approved dozens and dozens of new charter schools in recent years, three in the last three months.” She said that the administrator was approving the charters “to take the pressure off and keep parents from questioning what is going on inside the district,” but that the policy will leave OUSD as “a shadow of itself. We’re in an emergency. I’d like power back so we can do the right things to correct this and get a grip on it.” 

Board member Alice Spearman, elected following the takeover, agreed with Hamill, saying that “Oakland has become a panacea for charter schools. They are coming here from hundreds of miles away to open them, many without regard for the needs of our children. There needs to be a moratorium on charter schools in Oakland.”  

Swanson also announced on Wednesday night that he has been selected by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez to chair a select committee on state school takeovers to investigate the effect such takeovers have had on local school districts throughout California. The ultimate result, Swanson said, would be recommendations on changes to the overall state legislation that governs school takeovers. Swanson said he plans to hold hearings in districts around the state where such school takeovers have taken place, including Oakland, Fresno, Compton, and Richmond, and is currently in the process of choosing committee members. He said that the OUSD local control bill is his priority, however. “I want to get this done first,” he said.

The ongoing battle between tree-sitter Zachary Running Wolf and UC Berkeley police took a new turn Friday when legendary Bay Area attorney Tony Serra agreed to represent the protester. 

Running Wolf, who led off the ongoing tree-sit in the grove at UC Berkeley’s Memorial Stadium by climbing into a redwood on Dec. 2, was arrested Feb. 23 and charged with threatening a police officer and resisting arrest. 

He was held in Alameda County Jail until Feb. 28. 

Serra recently finished a federal prison term after his conviction on charges of failure to pay income taxes. He has responded by suing the government for failure to pay prisoners adequately for work they perform for the prison system. 

During a pre-trial hearing today in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland, Running Wolf said the district attorney’s office offered to settle for a three-year probation and no additional jail time.  

“We turned down their offer,” he said. “They turned over an audio tape in which one of the officers said they weren’t afraid of me, and we have a videotape from Copwatch that shows me walking peacefully to their car in handcuffs,” he said. 

Running Wolf, who ran for mayor of Berkeley last November, was represented Thursday by Serra associate Omar Figueroa. 

“Tony said he will take the case personally and will be there for the hearing on April 18 when we’ll go for total dismissal,” said Running Wolf. “I will also be suing the university for malicious prosecution.” 

The hearing came one day after yet another raid by campus police at the grove. Officers seized equipment and bicycles belonging to members of the crew of volunteers who have been supporting protesters who are currently occupying six trees at the site. 

The arboreal occupation is being waged in opposition to university plans to level most of the grove to make way for a $125 million high-tech gymnasium at the site, part of a massive rebuilding plan that includes a nearby 911-space underground parking lot, a new building joining the offices of the university’s law and business schools, a major upgrade and retrofit to the stadium itself and work on the nearby streetscape at Gayley Road. 

An Alameda County Superior Court judge is currently weighing lawsuits that challenge the university’s environmental documents on the project.

Manager Scott Doddington and many of his fellow workers at the San Francisco Cody’s store will be out of their jobs effective April 20. 

“Cody’s didn’t perform as expected,” Doddington told the Daily Planet on Thursday.  

The Stockton Street store was opened 18 months ago with much fanfare by then-owner Andy Ross, who subsequently closed Cody’s on Telegraph Avenue and sold the remaining two stores to Yohan, Inc., a Japanese company.  

Cody’s store on Fourth Street in Berkeley is doing well and will remain open, Doddington said. Since the workforce is unionized, some of the senior San Francisco workers will be offered jobs in the Berkeley store.  

“We believed in our San Francisco store, we loved its space and stock and its employees and customers, but it simply has not attracted enough attention or enough customers. We cannot afford to keep it open. It’s heartbreaking to close a bookstore,” Ross said in a prepared statement. 

“Cody’s will continue to do business in Berkeley, focusing on its core elements: its Fourth Street store, its in-store author events, and its school, library, and corporate services, as well as continuing to do business servicing a wide variety of off-site events all around the Bay Area, including book fairs,” the statement said. 

Cody’s Books was founded about 50 years ago by Pat Cody and her late husband Fred Cody.

That baker’s dozen plus one of 16-story “point towers” sprouting like mushrooms after a spring rain in downtown Berkeley? Forget about it. 

Confronted with strong resistance from a majority of highly vocal members of the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee (DAPAC), city Planning and Development Director Dan Marks said he’d scale down the proposal.  

“Fourteen point towers is a non-starter,” he told DAPAC after breaking for a caucus with Planning Manager Mark Rhoades and city Housing Director Steve Barton. “I’ve always thought it was a non-starter. So forget that.”  

Matt Taecker, the city planner hired to help draft the new downtown plan, had proposed the towers as a means to accommodate a large share of the new housing density that regional government says the city must be willing to take in order to qualify for a crucial range of state and federal funds. 

“I still don’t understand the 14 towers,” said committee member Patti Dacey early in Wednesday’s meeting. 

Marks said the basis was to accommodate up to 3,000 new residents within walking distance of the downtown BART station. 

The presence of three heavy rail stations in the city is the primary reason the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) has required the city to make plans to accommodate more growth than many other East Bay communities. 

ABAG is a coalition of regional governments created as one of several similar agencies around the state to develop joint plans and policies. 

While Marks and other members of city staff have insisted the towers have only been suggested for the purposes of modeling transportation alternatives for the new plan DAPAC must have ready in November, committee members have been skeptical. “I’ve got severe problems with all aspects of this,” said Gene Poschman, a Planning Commission representative to the committee. 

“There’s going to be a lot of people who really don’t like that idea” of the forest of towers, said Juliet Lamont, an environmentalist and one of Mayor Tom Bates’s two appointees to DAPAC. “What about spreading the density throughout downtown?” 

Lamont suggested using a model that assumed five-story buildings throughout the planning area, but Marks said that assumption was behind the so-called “baseline” model that assumed 1,800 new residents rather than the 3,000 of the “high intensity” point tower version. 

“What about six or seven stories?” Lamont responded.  

“If point towers are a non-starter for this group, now is the time to say it,” said Marks. “That would preclude it from any future analysis.” 

The planning director said the only way to reach the 3,000 figure would be by including the towers: “If you said eight, 10 or 12 stories—something less than sixteen—we would have to come back to you with a new analysis.” 

While DAPAC member Victoria Eisen said she didn’t have a problem with the high figures for use in creating a range to bracket an analysis, Linda Jewell said, “I personally can’t support anything that would offer that many point towers downtown ... that would really change the character of the place.” 

“The group could say there could be a maximum of, say, six in the next 20 years,” said Marks. 

Mim Hawley asked if the staff could identify 14 potential sites, and the committee could then say as a matter of policy that no more than three or four would be built. 

Several members asked what would happen if the city simply opted not to lay plans to allow for the growth that ABAG said the polity needed to accommodate. 

The agency’s draft projections call for Berkeley to absorb 2,714 new units by 2014, while the new downtown plan’s scope is longer. City staff have said one reason for concentrating new development downtown is strong neighborhood opposition that such projects have encountered in other parts of the city. 

Dacey said she didn’t think building the proposed point towers would impact development along the city’s major transportation corridors. “If a person has a piece of land along a corridor, they’re going to build as big as they can regardless if there are point towers downtown,” she explained. Poschman agreed. 

Rob Wrenn, an environmentalist and transportation commissioner, said staff had misplaced their emphasis by weighting the model toward towers without considering whether or not tall structures were greener than possible alternatives. 

Lisa Stephens noted that two of the tower sites were located within two blocks of her home “and I would be opposed. Anywhere we put them, somebody will be impacted and they’ll be opposed.” 

While not objecting to increased density in the city center, Stephens said she would prefer a seven-story limit throughout rather than a concentration on towers. 

While staff members said the towers offered a way of creating density in a way that would fit the economic realities of construction, members asked to hear more from building professionals, including a Pacific Gas and Electric efficiency expert who had spoken at an earlier meeting. 

Marks said staff would present a panel of architects at an upcoming meeting to address the questions. 

Jenny Wenk was one of the few speakers who favored the towers, saying that by the time they were built, the infants soon to be born to mothers taking pre-natal classes at the Berkeley Y would be able to vote. Because the full impacts would be so far in the future, she said, why not call the high intensity model “the science fiction plan?” 

“Or The Blade Runner plan,” fired back Dacey, referring to the dystopian science fiction film. 

Wendy Alfsen raised another issue: If BART was ABAG’s primary reason for boosting the city’s quota, why not locate more density around the North Berkeley BART station, and around Ashby BART? 

Winston Burton said he didn’t object to towers if they led to more housing for low-income residents and families, “though 14-, 15-, 16-stories seems like overkill.” 

“The assumption is that the only way to get height is to give something back,” Marks said. Possibilities might be low-cost housing in the buildings or finding finances elsewhere through payments of in-lieu fees to the city’s housing trust fund. Other mitigations might be creating parks, open space and streetscape improvements. 

“Fourteen is too high,” Burton added. 

It was then that Marks broke off the discussion and held his caucus with fellow staff members. He returned minutes later to announce that staff would come back to an upcoming meeting with a scaled-down high-intensity model. 

Photograph by Richard Brenneman 

Wendy Alfsen reacts viscerally to the thought of high-rise “point towers” proposed for dowtown Berkeley and city Planning Manager Mark Rhoades listens during discussions at Wednesday night’s meeting of the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee.

The AC Transit District continued with its sudden premature replacement of its NABI bus fleet, with directors approving, on Wednesday afternoon, the request of General Manger Rick Fernandez to sell 10 more of the popular 40-foot buses five years before their scheduled retirement date and to replace them with buses from the Van Hool company. 

The sale price and terms were identical to the board’s previous approval of the sale of 10 NABI buses. Coupled with the previous sale, AC Transit has now approved the sale of half of its NABI fleet. 

The sale was opposed by Oakland  

community activist Joyce Roy, as were the previous Van Hool-related decisions. “At every meeting, are we going to be selling off buses that riders and drivers want, to buy buses they don’t want?” Roy asked directors during the public comment  

session. 

The vote at Wednesday’s meeting was 4-1-2, with Board President Greg Harper voting no and Board Vice President Rebecca Kaplan abstaining (as both did for the earlier sale), and board member Elsa Ortiz (Ward III-Alameda and portions of Oakland and San Leandro) also abstaining. Ortiz had been absent during last month’s vote on the previous transaction. Neither Kaplan nor Ortiz gave reasons for their abstentions.  

Harper said that with AC Transit considering moving from a policy of keeping buses for 12 years to keeping them for six years, he was still awaiting a staff report on the implications of that policy change. “I’m very excited about the change to a six-year bus cycle,” Harper said, “but I don’t want to back into that policy. I’m not comfortable with not having information about the six-year proposal, and what effect this sale will have on that. I’d like to see how this fits into our overall finances. That’s why I’m voting against the bus sale.”  

The buses are being purchased for $85,000 apiece by ABC Company, the United States distributor for the Belgian-based Van Hool, for resale for use in New Orleans by an unnamed company with a contract with the national Homeland Security Department. 

The 40-foot Van Hool replacement buses—identical to new model Van Hools that the district earlier ordered and are currently being built—will cost $400,000 per bus. The Metropolitan Transit Commission has agreed to AC Transit’s use of $260,000 per bus from the district’s share of federal funding towards the purchase. Fernandez said that the remaining $140,000 towards the total cost per bus will be funded, in part, by the $85,000 price tag for each NABI, with the remainder coming out of funds AC Transit has already set aside for the purchase of Van Hool buses.  

Fernandez told directors that retiring the seven-year-old NABI’s five years short of their scheduled 12-year use term will save the district money in expected heavier maintenance costs. Fernandez called that decision a “no-brainer.” 

But the general manager’s report to board directors failed to give figures showing what the premature retirement of the NABI buses will cost the district, including the projected maintenance costs of the NABI’s and how that will balance out with the purchase of the replacement Van Hools five years earlier than such a purchase was expected to take place.  

Fernandez’ original request called for the sale of six NABI buses. But Fernandez told directors that the night before the board meeting, he received a call from the owner of ABC Company “asking if we could make it 10. He said his client wants more.”

The People’s Park Advisory Committee will be announcing the names of Gianna Ranuzzi and Christine Dixon as its newest board members during a meeting Monday. 

Ranuzzi—who has served as board member and vice president of the Telegraph Area Association (TAA) through 2003—told the Planet that she was honored by the selection. 

She was also hired by TAA to organize special projects on Telegraph, the most recent being the hugely successful Berkeley World Music Festival. 

“Working with the community over the years has helped me learn a lot,” she said. “I am pleased to be on the board of People’s Park and hope I can be of service to Berkeley.” 

Ranuzzi and Dixon’s appointment to the board comes at an important juncture for the future of People’s Park.  

The board recently appointed San Francisco-based consultant MKThink for a community-based needs assessment plan to improve the park.  

MKThink is currently on its very first phase—“Discovery”—which involves exhaustive research into the history of the park, digging up relevant archives and newspaper clippings, interviewing park users and student groups and visiting the park itself. 

“The most important thing is to get people to frequent the park,” stressed Ranuzzi. “My duty is to get a comprehensive idea about what people want. I want different people to talk to me so that we can come up with the best solution. I want the best for MKThink.” 

Ranuzzi urged people to visit the World Music Festival, which would be held on the first weekend of June at People’s Park. 

“As a sneak preview, I want everyone to know about the excellent lineup we have for the Amoeba Music Presents concert. Brass Menazerie, a nine-piece Balkan brass band will be there, as will the Moroccan music of Yassir Chadley, the Congolese music of Samba Ngo and many, many others,” she said. “Music is something that brings people together, and I want people to come and enjoy this exciting array of music at People’s Park.” 

MKThink will also be presenting board members with an update on community outreach and needs assessment Monday. 

Joe Halperin, People’s Park advisory committee member, told the Planet that the firm was in the process of interviewing a lot of individuals. 

“The advisory board has created of list of stakeholders for the park from whom MKThink will get a broader input about what users or future users of the park want. I personally have no preconceived notions, I am waiting to hear what everybody wants.” 

Halperin said that most people wanted the park to change. “People want to feel comfortable using it,” he said. 

Park frequenters, such as mental health commissioner Michael Diehl and naturalist Terri Compost, had mixed responses toward the outreach process. 

While Diehl said he had been contacted for his opinion, Compost said she had no idea about what was happening with the outreach efforts. 

“MKThink is supposedly in their ‘discovery phase’ about the Park this spring but I haven’t heard a peep about any kind of public meeting or workshops,” she told the Planet in an e-mail. 

“I know there are many people concerned about the Park and rightfully suspicious of $100,000 architects and their distant planning. The firm’s rhetoric of trying to get broad input sounded good, but aside from speaking with a few individuals, I see no evidence of the work that would be required to create a forum that would allow all voices at the table, never mind what I was hoping for, which would be for them to facilitate a community process that would promote understanding and healing between differing opinions,” she wrote. 

Diehl told the Daily Planet that he preferred the park in its present stage. 

“I know a lot of people make it out to be a scary place, but it’s not really that bad right now,” he said over a telephone interview Wednesday.  

“I am sitting at the park right now and people are laughing out loud and having a good time. Last year there was some gang activity, but since people started responding to it, things are fine.” 

Diehl said that he wanted to see help in the form of needle-exchange boxes and healthcare for the homeless at the park. 

“I hope MKThink talks to the people for whom the park is a refuge—the one place where they can rest and get some peace. It’s important they be included in any discussion,” said advisory committee member Lydia Gans, who is also active with Food not Bombs, the group that provides fresh food to the park’s homeless population. 

“This planning process takes place every two years, but nothing really happens. I hope, for the sake of those to whom the park is a lifesaver, something positive happens this time. The university is trying to bring some diversity, which is good.” 

The discovery phase has been scheduled to last through May and MKThink is expected to wrap up its work in fall. 

Ionas Porges-Kiriakou, a UC Berkeley student who also serves as an advisory committee member, said that a mixed student body at UCB meant diverse opinions. 

“As far as I or my peers go, no one has been asked anything yet, but I am waiting to find out more at the next meeting,” he said. “I know that students would definitely like to see more students at the park. It would be nice if the history of the park and its actual state was presented to students. Otherwise, a lot of their feedback will be based on second-hand opinion.”

The use of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology at the Berkeley Public library has been a flashpoint since its inception more than two years ago, enraging some patrons, who say the identifiers allow “Big Brother” to track what people read and where they are if they’re carrying library books, and upsetting some library workers who say the system doesn’t work as it is supposed to and is devouring library funds better spent elsewhere. 

At the March Board of Library Trustees’ meeting, Lisa Hesselgesser, Service Employees International Union 535 shop steward, presented a list of 24 concerns library workers have about the technology. 

The system “is not working at all on CDs,” Hesselgesser told the Daily Planet in an interview on Tuesday. “It’s a scandal—the donut tags [used on CD cases] are really expensive.” 

Checking out books with the RFID system is mixed, she said. “Sometimes the tags fail; sometimes the equipment fails.” 

With the RFID system, a patron or a library staff member was supposed to be able to place a stack of books on the equipment and check the books out all at once. This would mean that a library worker would not have to pass one book at a time through the system all day long, thus reducing repetitive stress injuries to workers. Because the system does not consistently function properly, Hesselgesser said repetitive stress injuries are up, something of which Library Director Donna Corbeil says she is unaware. 

Tension between line staff and the previous director, who introduced RFID with little community input, was high, but Hesselgesser said under Corbeil’s leadership a task force has been set up to have “an open discussion on what’s not working” with respect to the RFID system. 

Still, Hesselgesser said she would like the Library Board of Trustees to do a formal study of the system, which, she said, cost the library $108,000 last year for supplies and equipment. 

In a phone interview Thursday, Corbeil told the Daily Planet that rather than undertaking a more formal study, she hopes to get the input she needs directly from the task force.  

“I think the system is generally working well,” she said. “Staff thinks some things need to be done for it to work better.” 

A solution, Hesselgesser said, would be to return to use of barcodes to check out books and use the funds spent on the RFID system on additional staff. 

“We had good technology that was working for us,” she said, noting that stress injuries using barcodes were reduced in 2004. 

A move away from the RFID system is a policy decision, Corbeil said. “Policy decisions are up to the board. I advise them—my job is to do the research,” she said. 

Susan Kupfer, chair of the Library Board of Trustees, did not return a Daily Planet call for comment, but Trustee Ying Lee said that she has observed that some library patrons like the RFID system, while others do not.  

“Some people like the human contact [of the old system] and others like to ‘zip-zip,’” she said, adding that she hopes the library will conduct a study to see whether the union concerns were valid. 

As for getting rid of the system altogether: “There aren’t the votes to cancel,” Lee said. 

In other library news, the Board of Trustee structure will be undergoing some scrutiny.  

Unlike most other boards and commissions in Berkeley, the library board is neither elected nor directly appointed by the City Council. It is composed of five members who traditionally name new members. The City Council, whose role it is to give final approval of new trustees, has traditionally rubberstamped the board’s selection.  

However, because of questions around the lack of community input into the RFID system and other concerns about board transparency, the directors and council have formed a task force to review library governance. Councilmembers Kriss Worthington and Betty Olds and Trustees Ying Lee and Susan Kupfer are on the task force. They have not met and have no meeting scheduled.

In many ways the Reference Department, as the disseminator of information about the world, is the heart of a library. At the downtown Central Library, reference librarians, sitting behind the green-topped counters, field questions both on the phone, on the computer and from the patrons who come into the library. 

And what kinds of questions? “Where’s a good place to meet a rich man?” Or “What does it mean when a bird flies into your house?” says Jane Scantlebury, a reference librarian for 20 years, remembering a few amusing examples of pre-Internet questions. “The questions we get today are apt to be more advanced,” Scantlebury continues. “People come in to see us when they need help with the next level of an Internet search. Sometimes they want to know how to use a periodical database, or which of our collection of reference books would be helpful? We love the challenge!” 

Each of the Berkeley Public Library’s four branches also has a reference librarian and a collection of resources.  

Bob Saunderson, who has been with the library for 30 years and is presently the acting head of the Reference Department, remembers many serious questions asked by patrons who may be looking for information about medical conditions, or how to find one’s birth mother, or how to create a good resume. “There’s no better reward than when a patron says, ‘You made my day,’ or even ‘You saved my life!’” says Saunderson. 

“We are in the business of not just handing out bits of information but empowering people to find the information for themselves,” adds Saunderson. “In our role as educators, we now offer a course in basic computer skills so people can have independent access to everything from genealogy to making travel plans to finding recipes,” he says. 

The physical reach of the Reference Department on the second floor at the Central Library is impressive. Behind the reference desks are the reference materials most often used by the librarians and the often-used clipping files from local newspapers. Across the hall is a large room of general reference books for library use only. If you need information on how to repair a 1970 Ford truck, you’ll find a manual on the back wall. In the next alcove is the business section with volumes on related subjects, as well as current business magazines and periodicals.  

Walk into the great hall known as the Reading Room and behind the stacks to the right are the elegant wood doors carved by Miles Karpilow that open to the Berkeley History Room. The collection was mostly put together by now-retired reference librarian Sayre Van Young, who prevailed upon members of the community to donate material. Members of the Reference Department staff the room during the hours when it’s open. It was in one of the early telephone books that a patron recently confirmed that her grandfather had lived in Berkeley in 1904.  

Librarian Bob Saunderson, using a grant given by the state library to digitize historical material, has put on the library’s website a group of fascinating Berkeley historical photos going back to the 19th century. Check it out. 

Much of the Reference Room collection, a veritable treasure trove of material, is stored in the basement of the library—periodicals going back to the 19th century, along with other material on microfilm. 

The Reference Library also has a long reach out into the community through BIN, the Berkeley Information Network, managed by librarian Jane Scantlebury. BIN offers information about job resources, where to donate items, where to find shelter, food, and showers, even one-on-one counseling on starting a small business. In the spring you’ll find information on kid’s summer camps. BIN was recently honored by the Berkeley City Council for its 25 years of service to the community. 

Though serving the public seems to be part of the job which the reference librarians find “immensely gratifying,” in the heart of a true librarian is “the love for making order out of chaos,” says Saunderson. 

“If one thinks of man’s knowledge as immense, complex, and chaotic—which it is,” continues Saunderson, “the librarian has the important and rewarding job of making that knowledge manageable and useable.” 

No story about the Reference Department—or the Berkeley Public Library—would be complete without Evelyn Gahtan’s story. She has been with the Reference Department for more than a half-century. Her longevity on the job is impressive enough, but she is also revered by her colleagues for her kindness and “her general goodness as a person.” And she is tenacious— “Evelyn always gets her answer!” 

After graduating from UCLA, I went to Library School at UC Berkeley known then as “Danton’s Inferno,” for J. Perian Danton who was the head of the Library School at that time. 

I’ve worked at the Berkeley Public Library for around 50 years with the exception of two years abroad with the Army Library Service in Germany and France. I missed reference work since the few reference questions dealt mainly with how to avoid court martial. 

The Berkeley Public Library was a much smaller operation when I first started in the Reference Department at Central—the building was smaller and the staff was smaller. Administration was composed only of the library director and her secretary. The reference staff was four librarians. The library hours were 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and we worked alone in the Reference Room from 6 to 9 p.m. It was very hard on the feet and involved carrying piles of books from “the cage,” a locked area holding the expensive books. 

We had the card catalog which listed the library’s holdings instead of an online computer catalog. We used carbon copies for duplication instead of copy machines, and print indexes such as Reader’s Guide to access magazine articles instead of an electronic database. 

And, of course, there was no Internet. The Internet has made reference work much easier in many ways and harder in others. It’s a great help especially for quick lookups of factual information, addresses, people etc, and I don’t know what we would do without it anymore. However, information on the Internet is sometimes suspect and we must determine which sites are reliable and accurate. 

Some reference questions are generally the same over the years—how to write a resume, a grant proposal, how to get a job, what to do if you’re made redundant, how to fix your car, build a bird house, find a recipe for goulash, a support group for bipolar people, how a certain Senator voted on a particular bill. etc.  

Now in addition, there are questions about websites and problems on our public computers which are located adjacent to the reference desk. If we’re busy at the reference desk, it’s difficult to deal with the questions so we’re very grateful to the volunteers who often help out as tech assistants. 

What I like about reference work is that you can really make a difference in people’s lives by showing them how to acquire the knowledge to solve both big and small problems, or accomplish something important to them. 

Photograph by Phila Rogers 

Reference librarian Evelyn Gahtan assists BHS student Ashley Duong.

With a crowd of TV cameras and adults with microphones towering over them, Adrian, Yadira and Adriana Ramirez—6, 10 and 12 years old—sat on a bench outside of First United Methodist Church in Palo Alto yesterday, and shyly told the news crews that though they wanted to stay at their home in Palo Alto, they would go to Mexico to be with their father, who was deported an hour after his arrest by Immigration Customs and Enforcement officers. 

The Ramirez children are among thousands of U.S. citizen children of undocumented parents who are facing deportation and have to decide whether to bring their children with them—taking them away from the educational opportunities they have a right to in the United States—or let them stay and be forced into foster care. 

But even at 12 Adrian knows that to be deported or stay in foster care isn’t a real choice. He said what he really wants “is to stay like a family and not be separated.” 

Adrian, a seventh-grader at Terman Middle School, speaks Spanish but can’t write in Spanish and can only read a little. He wants to stay at his school in Palo Alto. “If I go,” he said, “I’d leave my friends behind.” 

Yadira, a fifth-grader at Barron Park Elementary School, agreed. “We wanna study here.” 

ICE officers arrested their parents, Pedro Ramirez and Isabel Aguirre, as the couple walked to their car on the morning of Feb. 28. Ramirez, who has lived in the United States since 1985 and worked at Albertson’s supermarket for the past nine years, was deported before he could cash his last paycheck, and family friends report he arrived in Tijuana penniless and without a place to go. 

Aguirre is currently under house arrest with a monitoring bracelet and must leave the country by Friday, April 6. Community members have now raised enough money to help her buy plane tickets so she can bring her children with her—otherwise, the kids would have been placed in foster care. The press conference in Palo Alto was organized by American Muslim Voice in collaboration with a number of interfaith and community groups. 

Palo Alto Online News reports that the immigration attorney representing Ramirez and Aguirre, Miguel Gadda, failed to renew their work permits or submit their green card applications. Gadda has since been disbarred by the California State Bar Court for several counts of misconduct, including a number of cases that resulted in his clients being deported. 

Adrian said his older brother Pedro, named after his father, was too upset to attend the press conference. A sophomore at Henry M. Gunn High School, Pedro has changed from a sociable kid who does his work to a morose student who can’t concentrate in class, according to his math teacher Chris Schultz. 

According to Schultz, his Latino students are especially afraid, and the school has brought them together to discuss what’s happening. At the meeting, most students, regardless of their citizenship status, expressed some fear about going to school and for the safety of their families. 

“All I can do is tell them I support them and that [school] is a safe place,” Schultz said. 

“A family was suffering quietly in our own backyard since Feb. 28,” said Samina Faheem Sundas, the founding executive director of American Muslim Voice, who helped organize the press conference. 

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has arrested more than 18,000 people so far in nationwide immigration raids as part of its initiative begun last year, Operation Return to Sender. 

The raids are targeting the Latino community and circumventing due process, said Gloria Nieto, policy director for SIREN, and a speaker at the event. Nieto noted that for every person deported, a family and community is disrupted. 

“Imagine in Massachusetts the 600 agents used to pick up 300 people,” she adds. “That’s 300 stories.” 

When asked what advice he’d give other U.S. born children with undocumented parents facing a similar choice, for the first time in a confident voice, Adrian said to “stay strong and care about your family.”

In the backyard of President George Bush’s home state of Texas, a racist legacy continues. But Shaquanda Cotton, the 14-year-old black student who was convicted of shoving a hall monitor at a Paris high school in a dispute over entering the building before the school day had officially begun, was released by the Texas Youth Commission (TYC) on Saturday, March 31. She was detained at the Brownwood facility, where she was mandated to serve a seven-year prison term. 

Creola Cotton, who is reportedly thrilled to have her daughter home again, was not available for comment. 

State Rep. Harold Dutton (D-Houston) and State Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas) played key roles in obtaining Shaquanda’s release. 

Calls to both Dutton and West were unanswered by the AmNews’ press deadline. 

A week earlier, West and Duncan had asked TYC conservator Jay Kimbrough to review Cotton’s case and make a determination. It seems the scandal-ridden juvenile system recently was placed under conservative leadership, and a commission was formed to investigate more than 1,000 cases involving youth whose confinements had been extended by TYC staff. Gov. Rick Perry had appointed Kimbrough to investigate the agency accused of ignoring multiple allegations of sexual and physical abuse of young inmates. 

Allan Hubbard, the spokesperson for the county law office and district attorney, refused to give further comment to the AmNews, pointing only to his earlier comments reported in the Paris News. 

Aside from stating that Cotton reportedly had not made appropriate progress in behavioral and correctional therapy, Hubbard said, “We are glad she is getting out and are happy for her family, but we have concerns about the way it is happening. 

“We sincerely hope Shaquanda has learned her lesson, and we do not see her in the judicial system again,” Hubbard added. 

According to a source close to the family, “Shaquanda cried on the telephone to her mother after she learned she was going to get out.” 

Because of the Cotton case and others, Paris and Lamar County have been exposed to the hot glare of national scrutiny via the Internet and a wide array of media outlets. 

The AmNews previously reported that several of the most notorious public lynchings of black Americans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were staged at the Paris Fairgrounds, where thousands of white spectators would gather to watch and cheer as Black men were dragged onto a scaffold, scalded with hot irons and finally burned to death or hanged. 

Cotton had no prior arrest record, and the hall monitor—a 58-year-old teacher’s aide—was not seriously injured. Notwithstanding, Shaquanda was tried in March 2006 in the town’s juvenile court, convicted of “assault on a public servant” and sentenced by Lamar County Judge Chuck Superville to prison for up to seven years, until she turned 21. 

Most disturbing about Cotton’s case, is that three months earlier, the judge who sentenced Cotton had sentenced a white teenager convicted of burning down her family’s home to probation. 

This story first appeared in the Amsterdam News. 

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 law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread. 

—Anatole France 

At least one of our eagle-eyed readers has already spotted the similarity of the commentary published on Tuesday, from a writer who said he had the support of the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce and the Telegraph Business Improvement District, to this famous epigram. 

But the irony in the quote appears to be lost on the commentary author, whose paen in praise of Mayor Bates’ proposed “Public Commons for Everyone” initiative says that its point is “to address problematic behavior while turning a truly blind eye to residential status.” Evidently the housed as well as the homeless should be forbidden to sleep in their cars or on the street, to yell in the streets, to urinate in the bushes and to frighten the timid. How fair is that!  

More intelligent and enlightened cities, notably San Francisco and New York, are now dealing with the problems of people who live on the street with a Housing First approach. Here’s how it’s explained by the National Coalition to End Homelessness: “What differentiates a Housing First approach from traditional emergency shelter or housing transitional models is the immediate and primary focus on helping homeless people quickly access and then sustain housing—put simply, housing comes first, then services.” 

Turning a blind eye to residential status, as recommended by the mayor and his supporters on the City Council, simply hasn’t worked. Services, no matter well-meaning they might be, aren’t much use to people who are engaged in a daily struggle to find somewhere to sleep at night.  

The commentator claims that Bates et al. have the support of the “silent majority.” Perhaps he is not aware that this term was first used by Richard Nixon in 1969 to make the claim that most Americans supported the ongoing war in Vietnam. Some think Nixon was factually wrong in making that claim, even then, but many more, even many Berkeleyans today, think that even if most Americans did support the Vietnam war at that time, they were morally wrong to do so. The councilmembers who support cracking down on street behavior are all good Democrats, and linking them with Nixon’s famous “silent majority” probably makes them a tad uncomfortable, as it should. Their obligation is to do the right thing, not to carry out the will of some phantom majority. 

Then there’s the question of what the right thing to do might be. The Chamber’s commentator has no doubts on the matter: “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.’” This doesn’t seem to match the writer’s claim that only behavior, not status, is addressed.  

What exactly is “living in a degraded manner”? Is it being mentally ill? Is it being an alcoholic or a cocaine addict? If the “helpless, addicted, and mentally ill,” as the writer describes them, are lucky enough have homes, are they then not “living in a degraded manner”?  

The writer for some reason doubts that bad behavior on the streets is illegal: “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.” Of course they can! This is such obvious nonsense that we’ll just leave it to others more versed in the criminal code to provide the cites, but almost everything the Chamber and its allies complain about is already illegal, except perhaps “yelling,” which is probably protected by the First Amendment in most instances. 

Then there’s the question of God’s Will, appropriate for this week when two of the desert religions celebrate major holy days. Here’s the view from the Chamber: 

“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?” And there’s more: “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.” 

It’s been quite a few years since I studied the Christian Bible, but I seem to remember that Jesus hung out with prostitutes, thieves and crazy people. I don’t remember that he insisted on wholeness and health, or that he banished even the degraded and depraved from his presence. I do remember that he drove the money-changers out of the temple, and that he was quoted by Matthew as saying that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”  

Later generations of Christians bickered about the importance of the appearance of righteousness, but many would not agree with the characterization of a Higher Power who only loves the clean and sober. Some might identify the brand of evangelical Christianity favored by George Bush as the source of these ideas, but I’m not an expert on that theology. I haven’t studied the holy books of other religions much either, but I’ve gotten the general impression that many of them have more respect and compassion for the afflicted than for the comfortable.  

And many in Berkeley don’t form their consciences by appeals to any creator of any kind anyhow. It’s certainly not the responsibility of the elected city council to form its policies on the basis of the narrow judgmental moral view espoused by the commentary writer in the name of his particular religious beliefs.  

He further bolsters his argument with the shop-worn and unproven claim that new restrictions are necessary because they will be good for business: 

“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.”  

So what, indeed. The problems of Berkeley shopping districts, as we’ve discussed in this space many times before, are not primarily caused by the bad behavior of a few people on the street. One more time: there are plenty of beggars on Fourth Street and at the farmer’s markets, and plenty of customers there too. But it’s so much easier to blame beggars than to deal creatively with the merchandising challenges posed by the Internet and by malls with parking in front of the doors of the shops. It’s so much harder to come up with a lively advertising campaign than it is to write a check to a political campaign fund.  

The councilmembers who are the main backers of the PCEI are, not coincidentally, also the main beneficiaries of the Chamber of Commerce’s largesse in the November election, and now the Chamber seems to be calling in its chits. We appreciate the candor of Tuesday’s commentator and his patrons in acknowledging their role in producing this deeply flawed proposal. Now it’s up to the not-so-silent citizens to speak truth to power and tell the council to reject it. 

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. 

CITY RECEIVES ACCESS AWARD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Last week, Berkeley’s disability community celebrated the fact that Berkeley received the “Most Accessible City in the U.S.” award from the National Organization on Disability and UPS at a public reception. 

More than 150 people with disabilities came together to celebrate Berkeley’s receiving this prestigious award which is a major honor for the city. This wonderful event was covered by KQED and many local newspapers, yet the Planet did not mention the event. I cannot understand why the Daily Planet failed to cover so important an honor. 

Berkeley has had a significant impact on the lives of people with disabilities through the activism that started here. Susan O’Hara’s inspiring speech on the history of the Independent Living Movement chronicled the many accomplishments that people with disabilities have won in the Bay Area, and how those achievements have impacted people throughout the world. 

Being the birthplace of the Independent Living Movement is one of Berkeley’s proudest accomplishments and I hope we can count on the Planet’s recognition of our community’s future accomplishments in the days ahead. 

Dmitri Belser, Executive Director 

Center for Accessible Technology 

• 

RESTORATION OF MARIN FOUNTAIN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The California Park and Recreation Society’s District III Awards and Installation Banquet was held April 5 at Dublin Senior Center in Dublin. An award for Outstanding Volunteer in Parks and Recreation for the City of Berkeley was being presented to Sara Holmes. 

Sara was involved in fund-raising for the restoration of the fountain in the center of the Marin Circle. Since the dedication of the fountain in 1996, she has devoted much time to the maintenance of the fountain itself, the surrounding circle and Fountain Walk. As the coordinator of an enthusiastic group of volunteers, she oversees the monthly cleanup of weeds, leaves, debris, and graffiti. Always tactful and gracious, Sara has maintained cordial relations with homeowners in the area as well as with Marc Seleznow, Director of Parks, Recreation and Waterfront for the City of Berkeley, who nominated her for this recognition. 

Previous articles detailing Sara’s dedication have been written by Matthew Artz and published in the Berkeley Daily Planet on March 8, 2005, and August 5, 2005. These articles are available in the newspaper’s online archives. 

Working with Sara on the first Saturday of each month, the volunteer group is very appreciative of her ability to keep the group focused on necessary work while providing an opportunity for interaction amongst us all. Her attention to detail keeps the fountain an attractive asset for the neighborhood and for all the people who transit the Marin Circle every day. New volunteers are always welcome: call 526-5347. 

Cynthia Wantland 

Volunteer with Friends of the Fountain and Walk 

• 

TREATMENT OF THE POOR 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Mr. Roland Peterson takes half a page to assert/explain the good intentions of the merchants backing this initiative. For many years the Cheese Board, another Berkeley merchant, had a sign, a quote from an Anatole France, that said “The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to beg in the streets, steal bread, or sleep under bridges.” 

Mr. Peterson, Mr. Bates, members of the Chamber of Commerce and the Telegraph Business Improvement District, think about it.  

Teddy Knight 

P.S. I haven’t noticed the Telegraph Business Improvement District assessing itself to convert one of the vacant storefronts into a daytime drop-in center, which would get most of the problematic people off the street without the need to further criminalize eccentricity and increase our taxes city-wide to pay for the additional police presence this initiative will require.  

• 

MIDDLE SCHOOL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In regard to Justin Lee and his assertion that East Coast middle schools are just grades seven and eight: I was in the 1991 pilot sixth grade class with Mrs. Tanner and Mr. Silberg at King Jr. Middle School in Berkeley when it was started as a result of the conditions to the Franklin and Craigmont schools after the 1989 earthquake. The decision to bring in a small group of sixth graders was probably traumatic for all of us young people, but it was one that I imagine was done with a lot of interest in what was done on the east coast. As a resident now of Washington, D.C., I am situated near two middle schools. One, an arts magnet established in 1957 is for grades five through eight; the other, a public charter school founded in 2001, has grades six through eight. Perhaps things were different when many of the Bay Area’s transplanted East Coasters decided to come west, but as their children go east—often at parents’ behest—we learn many of the things “that never happened on the east coast...” are in fact happening every day. And to Mr. Lee’s lament that his daughter is not getting the kind of kindergarten education he received: A quick online search of “Kindergarten Berkeley, CA” revealed 43 public, private, and non-profit kindergarten options in Berkeley. The only question I’ll ask is does your daughter enjoy her class as much as you enjoy complaining about it? 

John E. Parman 

Washington, DC  

• 

ALAMEDA’S MEASURE A 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Last November, the citizens of Alameda elected a mayor who campaigned to “Protect Measure A.” The mayor told me that she told the Planning Board to stop using their office to overthrow Measure A.  

Last Monday the Planning Board appointed an ad hoc committee to set up forums to discuss overturning Measure A in all of Alameda.  

Last Thursday the Planning staff hired consultants using a grant from MTC to present a “convincing” case for overturning Measure A at Alameda Point. This charge was led by the senior planning staff and the vice president of the Planning Board.  

We were told by the Planning Board VP on Thursday that it was hard telling her daughter why she had to be there that evening. I should think it would be hard to tell your child that you have led the charge to overturn our density ordinance after 35 years of protecting our city from over-development. 

The mayor was quoted in the newspaper as having no objections to the Planning Board discussing Measure A in the “abstract.”  

Catellus has asked for the overthrow of Measure A in their proposal to be the developer at Alameda Point. If we can’t get a developer to make Measure A work then we should try one that can. The Preliminary Development plan is compliant with Measure A. 

The Water Transit Authority talked about service to the UCSF medical complex being built on Catellus land south of the Pac Bell Park. Their website shows that ferry going from Harbor Bay. 

AC Transit says that the percentage Alamedans who ride the bus is as high as any Bay Area community but the planning staff, not AC Transit, says that we need more density at Alameda Point. We have plenty of development on the West End to keep AC Transit happy. 

We are told that Chinatown wants more density at Alameda Point in the hopes of better transit. This is in conflict with that committee’s presentation to our City Council. 

Planning staff leaped at the opportunity posed by a member of the audience who proposed work-live for the existing BEQ and BOQ saying, “I can see a consensus building.”  

It is all outrageous. Planning has no business using MTC money (our taxpayer money) to campaign for the overthrow of Measure A. It was admitted by their own hired consultant that we will have sufficient density to support mass transit. 

Is all of this discussion in the realm of the abstract? 

Jean Sweeney 

• 

OAK-TO-NINTH REFERENDUM 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Is it a coincidence that a slick 12-page mailer from Signature Properties touting the Oak-to-Ninth project arrived in Oakland mailboxes the same week that a condescending commentary from John Russo attacking the Oak-to-Ninth Referendum Committee appeared in the Montclarion? Russo’s insistence that the committee did not use the right copy of the ordinance, and that therefore voters were misled and not given correct information is bogus. The ordinance exact ordinance the Council voted on. In addition, I challenge anyone reading this with this question—have you ever read the full text of an ordinance, a ballot proposition, or a petition you have signed? Unless you are a lawyer, or a staff member who gets paid to do so, I doubt you ever have. People signed the petitions because they wanted to vote on the project. Under Russo’s interpretation, the city clerk has no responsibility to provide a correct copy of the ordinance to the citizens, who apparently are supposed to keep a lawyer on call to make sure that city employees aren’t lying to them. And the city could pretty much make anything “referendum-proof” by simply making sure that there were so many attachments that the printing costs and weight of the petitions alone would make it impossible. If voters need to have all the information in order to make an “informed decision,” then maybe the petitions should have included information about how many dollars each of our council members has accepted in campaign donations from Signature, the text of all private meetings between city staff and the developer, not to mention what promises were made, in private, to the organizations cited in Signature’s slick brochure. 

If Mr. Russo is so concerned about transparency, why doesn’t he mention that he was asked by Signature that he was asked by Signature Properties’ lawyers to throw out the referendum, and that the reasons he states are the ones presented to him by Signature’s lawyers? The Referendum Committee are now being deposed by lawyers from firms that specialize in challenging citizen-initiated campaigns, paid for by the developer. It is ironic that Mr. Russo, the highest-paid official in the entire state, is backing a wealthy developer in an attempt to bankrupt citizens whose taxes pay his salary, then hiding behind buzzwords like “transparency.” It angers me that citizens are forced to spend their own money and give up their own time to fight a city government that WE are paying for, which seems hell-bent on selling every inch of this city to the lowest bidder. But don’t forget—David did beat Goliath. 

Jane Powell 

Oakland 

• 

iPODS AND THE BEATLES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Unfortunately there were a number of errors in the editorial provided by Becky O’Malley regarding the Apple iPod. First, the major Apple announcement on Monday was not regarding the Beatles. It focused on the major record label EMI Music providing songs through the iTunes Music Store that are free from Digital Rights Management (DRM). The first question reporters asked after the presentation on DRM was “When are the Beatles tracks going on and will they be DRM-free?” Steve Jobs answered “I wanna know that too.” That’s all that was mentioned about the Beatles during the complete press conference. There is no mention of the Beatles in the official press release on the Apple website.  

The “Yellow Submarine iPod” is purely a rumor that was propagated after some speculation from computer industry analysts on a podcast called Macbreak Weekly. This has never been confirmed either as official or unofficial from anyone at Apple.  

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m an Apple fan and therefore I pay more attention than the typical consumer. However, I think some basic reporting prowess would have lead Ms. O’Malley to discover the facts that she uses in the introduction to her article criticizing Apple.  

As for the serial number, Apple provides a very readable serial number on the box that the iPod came in. 

Dacoglu Douglas 

Oakland 

• 

FOUL JUSTICE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Our system of justice is often described as a duel before a referee called the judge and a jury responsible for choosing the winner. It may also be described as a struggle to determine which of several incompatible perceptions of a single event is the most accurate or compelling. Neither metaphor influenced Congress last fall when it legalized a special military tribunal to dispense justice among the detainees at Guantanamo Bay.  

Last week this shameful piece of legislation bearing the toothless title The Military Commissions Act of 2006 bore fruit. David Hicks, a 31-year-old Australian, was judged a “ war criminal” as a result of proceedings that the military boasted to be “fair, legitimate and transparent.”  

Overlook “legitimate and transparent” for the moment and, before considering “fair,” scan the funny side. There stood a prosecuting Lt. Colonel telling the court it was “… face to face with the enemy,” implying that young Hicks was Public Enemy Number One, whereas, in fact, the man was a high school dropout in search of adventure. We should fear those who, on our behalf, put Hicks in with the “worst of the worst” more than we fear Hicks and his ilk.  

To appreciate how “fair” turned out being “foul,” consider this tribunal in the context of the Declaration of Independence in which Jefferson invites us to have “…a decent respect for the opinions of mankind.”  

To be specific, Mr. Hicks was imprisoned without charge or counsel for 64 months and finally, last week, he was sentenced to nine months—less than 15 percent of time already spent in detention—and obliged to sign a statement that his jailers did not use excessive force and to promise he would not discuss their methods for one year.  

Other Guantanamo detainees will come before this foul tribunal which brings to mind another Jeffersonian quote, this one about an infinitely more abhorrent injustice: “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.” 

Marvin Chachere  

San Pablo

Looking upon his alma mater from his place in the heavens, Mario Savio would likely be filled with a mixture of confusion and disappointment. If he was lucky enough to peer onto the UC Berkeley campus on one of the few days each semester that students demonstrate, he would witness a small band of outspoken, ostracized activists struggling to be heard amid throngs of passing iPod enthusiasts, its message drowned out by cell phone conversations. 

Discouraged, perhaps he would turn his attention to his namesake Savio Steps, where 43 years ago he led thousands of Cal students in a sit-in to advocate free speech rights. He may be momentarily comforted by the shouting that often occurs near the steps, only to be ultimately disappointed upon learning it emanates from middle-aged Berkeleites of questionable mental health or LaRouchies of dubious provenience. 

And that is when the sad reality hits home. 

We live in a time when the most vocal student activists are rallying around the right to express their love for the Messiah through bong hits. I am relieved that the most sacred of college rituals has finally been united with the most sacred Son, but is this really the debate that is to challenge our civic institutions and define our generation? For Mario’s sake, I hope not. 

The rights and interests of students are compromised on a daily basis, at the whim of policymakers and with the compliance of those appointed and elected to protect us. The state government works hard to keep taxes low. But why not raise UC student fees and disregard the fundamental premise—and purpose—of public education? Who cares? 

Who cares that students and the university have worked hard to increase diversity through outreach programs only to face state funding cuts of over 50 percent in the coming year? Who cares? 

Students care. Students care, but have for too long been burdened by a student government (the Associated Students of the University of California, or ASUC) that has squandered opportunity after opportunity to stand up for student interests and articulate a strong, united voice to taxpayers and policymakers. Students deserve leaders who will proactively engage real issues like fees, diversity, and community relations, and who recognize that it is necessary to reach beyond the boundaries of campus to affect positive change. We must come to terms with the fact that UC policy has devolved into an elaborate game of tug-o-war, with all stakeholders pulling every which way—except students, whose end of the rope has been unmanned for quite some time. 

Make no mistake: when UC Berkeley students go to the polls April 11-13, we do not need to elect another player in the game, pulling his hardest while we all go nowhere. What we need is new era of student leadership. We need leaders that will reach out and engage all of these stakeholders—the Regents, the Governor, the Legislature, the administration, the business community, taxpayers, and of course, students—to work towards cooperative, sustainable solutions that achieve our common goals. And we need an ASUC that is accessible and transparent to its constituency, because student leaders should be just as accountable for their inactions as for their actions. 

Above all, we need ASUC leaders that are willing to look beyond themselves and their friends to truly represent the common interests of all students, in a professional manner befitting the greatest public university in the nation. 

The task before us may be daunting. But Mario Savio taught us that committed, articulate students can positively influence policy. As Californians and as Golden Bears, we cannot for a moment think that the fate of public university education is beyond our control. 

Eric Marshall is candidate for president of the Associated Students of the University of California. He can be contacted through his website, www.ericforpresident.org.

I share Steve Geller’s vision of prioritized bus rapid transit that moves faster than the cars on our major arterials. But the extent to which this will replace personal vehicles is an open issue, and I believe Steve is applying more wishful thinking than science when he asserts that “people will flock to ride it instead of drive.” 

From a purely utilitarian point of view, transportation subsidy dollars are far more effectively spent on busses than on ferries. However, Steve’s critique of the Berkeley ferry is based on some common misconceptions which need to be corrected. 

1) The Berkeley-San Francisco ferry service will not require a huge parking lot. We are only talking 149-passenger capacity times three or four commute-hour departures. There are 2,200 existing parking spaces at the Marina, mostly empty on weekdays. Nearly 1,000 spaces will be within a short walk of the ferry terminal at either of the two candidate sites. Weekday ferry parking will be efficient shared use of this resource. 

2) Yes, every car trip from the ferry terminal involves a cold start. Compare to the cold start from a parking garage in the City, followed by an hour of stop-and-go across the bridge. The ferry will not have the capacity to make a serious dent in congestion or air quality, but the marginal effect is clearly positive by turning long car trips into short ones. The important point here is that the ferry will not be a viable alternative to busses or BART - it will be an alternative to driving across the bridge in heavy traffic. It will attract riders who would not otherwise take public transit at all. 

3) There will be expanded bus service directly to the ferry terminal. This is an important part of the Water Transit Authority’s proposal. 

If I may confuse the issue with some facts, here are the actual efficiency numbers for various modes of transportation in terms of energy per passenger-mile: 

Single-occupancy car: 

7,000 BTU per passenger-mile (assuming 20 MPG) 

3,500 at 40 MPG 

1,167 at 40 MPG in carpool lane with three passengers 

AC Transit Bus: 

660 BTU/passenger-mile with 56 passengers 

1,320 at 50 percent passenger load 

New low-emissions 149-passenger ferry 

2,400 BTU/pax-mile, full passenger load 

4,800 at 50 percent passenger load 

Light Rail 

91 BTU/pax-mile, full passenger load 

182 at 50 percent passenger load. 

BART 

68 BTU/pax-mile, full passenger load 

136 at 50 percent passenger load 

The inconvenient truth here is that a modern high-mileage car with three passengers is delivering about the same fuel efficiency as a bus. BART is the hands-down winner, with light rail close behind. The small ferry uses about twice as much energy per passenger-mile as a bus, but is still much cleaner than a typical car with only one occupant. 

So why pour subsidy into ferries? Answer: Because people like ferries. The 2005 survey found that Berkeley residents favor establishing a new ferry service by an eight-to-one margin. It’s a quality of life thing, not a practical solution to traffic or air quality when we already have a bridge and a tunnel. We agree that we can’t justify a per-trip subsidy that’s any higher than the subsidy for BART or busses, so the ticket price should reflect actual costs. 

The actual cost to operate the service will probably be around $8.50 per one-way trip. This is what the privately operated Tiburon and Sausalito ferries now charge. If we keep the fare close to that level, the scale of service will remain appropriately small and stay within the capacity of the existing marina infrastructure. 

Elitist? Not compared to driving a single-occupancy vehicle across the bridge during peak congestion hours and parking it downtown for the day. Still, we need to avoid the public-policy trap of over-subsidizing those who can easily afford full fair. And we should also offer deep discounts to those arriving by bike or bus (similar in concept to the free crossing of the Bay Bridge offered to carpools). 

Actually, a passenger-only ferry service is a bus advocate’s dream: It forces people to use the bus for at least one end of their trip, even if they never would have considered taking the bus without the ferry ride as part of the deal. 

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

Nancy Keiler writes (Letters, March 27) castigating KPFA for not covering Barbara Lee-Ron Dellums-Sean Penn at Grand Lake Theater on Mar. 24. I sympathize with Kieler. The current lethargy in coverage of events—government hearings and such—by KPFA results from the tenacious battle that has been going on inside KPFA and Pacifica since listeners and staff defeated the self-perpetuating Pacifica National Board attempted coup under the infamous Civil Rights Commissioner Mary Frances Berry. Berry had every intention of moving the network away from its radical populist roots. Ironically she might still get her way, as the following memo attacking advocacy journalism reveals:  

To: Miguel Molina 

Re: Call to Action on Flashpoints 

While hosting Flashpoints on Thursday 3/15, you urged people to attend the rally scheduled for Sunday 3/18 at Civic Center Plaza by telling listeners to be there. 

Due to issues of liability, KPFA programmers are not permitted to urge listeners to attend an event. If damage suits stem from injuries suffered at an event, KPFA could be held liable for actively urging participation. Last Year, on March 22, following a remote broadcast from a rally in San Francisco, chief engineer Michael Yoshida sent a memo to you and the other producers of the rally asking you to be aware of and prevent such language in future broadcasts. This is a second notification. KPFA program hosts may not actively urge listeners to attend events. This is the case whether during a regular program or a special remote broadcast. Thank you for your cooperation, 

Sasha Lilley 

Interim Program Director 

If KPFA is renowned for anything it is its advocacy journalism—for its support of the rights of oppressed people. From the days of the broadcast of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, KPFA has set its sights on telling truth to power and advocating action by and in defense of the dispossessed and powerless. On a daily basis that advocacy involves urging people to become involved socially and politically in various movements. I listened to the Hard Knock program at 4 p.m. on March 28, and heard Davey D urge his audience to attend an event with Fred Hampton, Jr. the next evening, when Fred would talk about police brutality against the Black community, how the prison system is being used to abridge the rights of that community and other political rallying issues. It was righteous advocacy by Davey D who apparently had not been cautioned by the Interim Program Director.  

With new KPFA “management” targeting both advocacy and a key leftist producer, the internal struggle within KPFA has taken a dangerous turn. Molina was singled out. Equally important, the “rule” used against him, if enforced generally, will spell the end of KPFA. Its audience would dwindle. Yet, once applied to Molina, do the current managers think they can simply not apply it equally to all?  

Sasha Lilley, IPD, a staff Union Representative and activist member of the paid staffgroup has repeatedly ridiculed the elected station Board as nothing but a group of outside provocateurs. Meanwhile, she and her comrades perpetuate internal chaos at the station. In her world she is a staunch feminist, socialist and Marxist. We hear that her father was an English communist and I know her mother is a local activist. But in the sad world we all inhabit today Ms. Lilley is merely the agent of the wrong changes at KPFA: changes moving toward a purge of Flashpoints—one of the programs Molina is attached to—for its open advocacy of Palestinian, Haitian and undocumented rights—and perhaps purges of other radical activists who insist that advocacy is a necessary part of a station founded by people who preferred jail to collaboration with injustice.  

KPFA’s “interim” managers can ignore that Homeland Security is knocking on doors and tapping computers and raiding the homes of Latinos as they blanket attack each elected local station board. But they are playing with fire and with the lives of millions who depend upon KPFA to not back down from its mission to be a voice for the voiceless. The inside core staff controls management. The station board, even when it is united and collaborative, is largely powerless, despite new by-laws. Presently, core staff determines what you hear on the air—what programs get added or subtracted, what hearings, meetings and demonstrations do or don’t get covered.  

Sasha’s memo speaks to the hostile approach, the dominance approach, that could turn KPFA into a weak stepchild of the public broadcasting system. How could KPFA be a useful tool for the GI resisters’ movement, the immigrants’ rights and sanctuary movements, the prison reform and opposition movements, the new sds (already at160 chapters), the Single Payer health care movement, the anti-state torture and death penalty activists, if such edicts are upheld? And even the less provocative but no less important coverage of Congressional hearings, the Barbara Lee event, etc., is collapsing because the station and network are being mangled. Staff’s internal anarchy fronts itself as an internal core-unity protecting the cultural hearth from the ruthless barbarians. They should read J.M. Coetzee to understand themselves better. 

Two managers ago the paid staff obstructed Gus Newport. Faced with that hostility, Gus decided to back off and withdrew his support from a publicly popular minor change in programming that leftist staff and listeners had promoted (moving Amy Goodman’s outstanding “Democracy Now!” to 7 a.m. or 8 a.m. during prime drive time). When staff allies of Gus would not back off the reform at his request, he opted to resign. One manager ago paid staff united to launch a campaign of open defiance to authority six months after they themselves had supported Roy Campanella as the station manager. They blamed the listener majority on the station board for that crisis also. Then this past year the core staff went out and created their own slate of listener candidates for the station board (a clear violation of the intent of the by-laws won by the court case to which many thousands were a party) and succeeded in getting several candidates they endorsed elected. But that doesn’t address the issue of staff non-collaboration with listener communities of interest. Falling listenership will continue unless they begin to collaborate more broadly with radical activism. Nationally, the same kind of turmoil has beset the other Pacifica stations and the Pacifica national office, blocking national programming. It’s a pattern. But why? 

We should assume there are indeed COINTELPRO types operative in this environment. KPFA and Pacifica are the independent media with the biggest public reach in the United States. The more the corporate media is compelled by political crises and class divides to distort reality, the greater the threat independent media’s efforts at “truth telling” becomes. One need only read about the level of NYCPD infiltration of organizations all over the United States before the Republican Convention and the FBI’s thousands of unauthorized cases of spying to realize that there are paid provocateurs operative in every political environment these days.  

The problem we face with KPFA is that when people—both staff and those who are critics of KPFA management and staff behavior—behave provocatively and are unwilling to clarify and negotiate over their differences within the institution, this advances the surreptitious attack on KPFA. When Larry Bensky went live discussing KPFA-Pacifica problems on Sunday, March 25, he proclaimed that listener reps on the board know nothing about radio, or management, and do little or nothing to help support KPFA. Yet LaVarn Williams, a finance expert, was once KPFA’s leader in organizing the 50-year anniversary celebration and fundraising efforts. She sits on both the local board and the National Board and is a dissident. Willie Ratcliff publishes the Bay View Newspaper in Hunters point. Based in his own activism in the Black community and the paper, Radcliff is a highly respected leader. Willie is a moderate man but was often a dissident in the divide over staff intransigence. There are others as well who deserve respect, but who are always lumped together as obstructionists. It’s a travesty especially because one particular staff member representing paid staff on the Board has been the biggest obstacle to amicable collaboration, using destabilizing tactics to prevent open discussions.  

I don’t think our Bay Area community will let KPFA fall. The Bay Area is vibrant and politicized, in part due to KPFA. The listeners aren’t going away. People hostile to social and institutional advances have underestimated this public before and are doing so again. People—of any political persuasion—with an anti-democratic agenda eventually expose themselves as provocateurs and become ineffective. But do we have the time? Important communities and grassroots movements that I mentioned—and our democratic culture—are under attack. New movements from below need access to the public. KPFA is not broadly approaching these growing grassroots resistance movements and inviting them to become elements in regular programming so that advocacy is understood to be the hallmark of the station. Instead there is resistance to advocacy. The antidote is the reversal of Sasha’s warning. Managers who attack advocacy in programming should be replaced by staff—as a confidence-building measure—because KPFA needs to “belong” to its listeners and supporters in collaboration with the staff to weather storms ahead. If staff remains intransigent, they will precipitate a more divisive public response. 

Marc Sapir is executive director of  

Retro Poll.

Good grief! Iraq is just brimming with news. I don’t even know where to begin. At 4 am this morning, a huge armored vehicle moved us from the Baghdad airport to the Green Zone in a convoy composed of vehicles that looked like they had just came out of a Toys R Us catalog.  

Nobody in Iraq seems to need sleep. Not even me. But they don’t go without food. Did you know that the average American soldier in Iraq gains 26 pounds—while the average insurgent lives on rice and beans? If that doesn’t give our troops an edge here, then what will? If we are now entering the fourth year of this war and it still is bogged down even despite our tremendous Cheesecake advantage, the Bush guys are in big trouble. But I digress. 

I’ve been here in Iraq for three days and this is the first day I have even seen—let alone talked to—an Iraqi. So I started at the top and interviewed an Iraqi general. His basic message seems to be that the Iraqi army now has about 25 new ways to kill people and/or make them go to their rooms. “We have more troops, more joint security stations, more ammunition, more tips from informants, more security....” Then his translator went on and on about how the Iraqi army is eliminating tourists. Tourists? Oh, he meant Terrorists. My bad. 

Then I spoke with an American admiral who stated, “The people of Iraq need to be able to walk to the local coffee shop safely.” By this does he mean that after four whole years of occupation, people still can’t walk safely to the coffee shop—or does he mean that what Iraq needs today is more Starbucks? I’m confused. 

After that, you will never guess what happened next! I got to interview John McCain! Seriously. He was here. Right here in the press room. Which is fifty feet down the corridor and around the corner from the cot where I had dumped off all my stuff this morning and is now my new home. Sen. McCain, Sen. Graham, Rep. Pence and Rep. Renzi had put together what appeared to be the 2007 GOP Hype-the-War Tour. “Do you think that they will give us souvenir T-shirts of the tour,” I asked some guy from CNN. Probably not. 

Anyway, Sen. McCain and his backup singers were here and even though I don’t agree with them, I was glad that they came. It takes courage to come to Iraq.  

"Our new strategy is making progress,” said McCain. 

"We are doing things differently,” said Sen. Graham. “We cannot let suicide bombers set the pace. If we talk about leaving and losing, the car bombers win.” Then Graham talked about how the four of them went down to the Baghdad market today and it was perfectly safe. “We bargained and bought rugs.”  

Pence agreed about the safety of the market. Later, however, he added that they did have to travel there in Humvees and be escorted by soldiers and wear body armor—but other than that... 

Later I talked with an Iraqi reporter who said that the market they went to was the safest in the city and several American reporters added that walking around in Baghdad without troops backing you up was suicidal and anyone who did something like that had a death wish. 

Renzi then stated that, “We will not turn our backs on the Iraqi people,” and the other Dream Boys agreed. And apparently if the bill to end the war makes it through Congress, Bush will veto it. “The president [sic] will veto any bill that will cut the legs out from under the military,” added Graham.  

So far, the group had talked a lot about how to make the “war” policy regarding Iraq succeed, but none of them talked about the elephant in the living room—that the policy itself is fatally flawed. But I did! Shut up, Jane.  

Yes, even with all those Senators and reporters and everything there I still had to have my say. So. Exactly what DID I say to John McCain? Sorry but you’re gonna have to die of suspense a little bit longer. Someone just brought me some food! 

Fried chicken, meatloaf, honeyed carrots, mashed potatoes, green beans and cookies! Giant chocolate chip cookies, macadamia nut cookies, peanut butter cookies, chocolate fudge cookies. Hey! You forgot the cheesecake. 

So. What did I say to Sen. McCain? I gave him my famous “Light Brigade” speech. “I have been so completely impressed,” I began, “by the quality, training, competence and skill of our troops here. They represent yet another generation in a long line of competent and capable Americans.” McCain smiled and nodded his head, thinking I had finished my speech. Not.  

"But,” I continued, just getting warmed up, “our troops are also like the heroes of Lord Tennyson’s poem, ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade.’ They are fighting bravely and well in a situation caused by a blunder. So why should we senselessly continue to put our troops in harm’s way for a mistake?” Or in order to appease some greedy, immature Lord Nelson wannabe. It doesn’t make sense to destroy a whole generation of American soldiers just to support Bush and Cheney.  

Then I got down to the heart of my question. Giving McCain that special look that us moms usually reserve for recalcitrant children, I said, “And after this terrible blunder in Iraq, are you then going to go ahead and make that same horrible mistake in Iran?” 

McCain’s answer was brief. “No comment.”  

Berkeley resident Jane Stillwater is blogging about her trip to the Middle East. To read all her dispatches, visit her sponsoring newspaper, The Lone Star Iconoclast, at www.lonestaricon.com/2007/Archives/Stillwater/index.htm or visit Stillwater’s own website, http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com.

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.

And thus Captain Ahab shouted as he clung to the side of the great white whale in the midst of the sea, stabbing at it over and over with his harpoon: ‘I turn my body from the sun. … Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee. Sink all coffins and all hearses to one common pool! and since neither can be mine, let me then tow to pieces, while still chasing thee, though tied to thee, thou damned whale! THUS, I give up the spear!’ 

“… Next instant, the heavy eye-splice in the rope’s final end flew out of the stark-empty tub, knocked down an oarsman, and smiting the sea, disappeared in its depths. 

“For an instant, the tranced boat’s crew stood still; then turned. ‘The ship? Great God, where is the ship?’ Soon they through dim, bewildering mediums saw her sidelong fading phantom ... And now, concentric circles seized the lone boat itself, and all its crew, and each floating oar, and every lance-pole, and spinning, animate and inanimate, all round and round in one vortex, carried the smallest chip of the Pequod out of sight.” 

—Herman Melville, from the novel Moby Dick 

It would appear that America at war in Iraq has a madman like Captain Ahab at the helm of the ship of state and, like the officers of the ill-fated Pequod, the members of the United States Congress now have an enormous dilemma immediately facing them while they struggle to save that ship. 

Is George Bush actually a madman? Who knows what lurks within the hearts of such men? What we do know is that, bunkered down and entrenched in his insistence that we continue the war in Iraq at any cost to an end we cannot fathom, Mr. Bush may not be a madman, but he certainly is looking more and more like he is playing one, convincingly, on TV. And in the coming showdown over the funding of the Iraq war, events may overtake us so rapidly that it may be difficult to tell the difference between the reality and the pretense and the posturing of the man whom we call President, and by the time we figure it out, it may be too late. 

So, some thoughts and advice to our friends in the National Congress. 

It is said by those among us who are experts on the military that retreat under enemy fire—or withdrawal, if that term makes you feel more comfortable about discussing the subject—is probably the most difficult and dangerous maneuver an army can attempt. You do not have to be a military expert to understand why this would be so. Either entrenched or moving forward, an army’s eyes and weapons can be easily pointed to both the front and either side. But try walking backward, or walking forward while looking and pointing something menacing in your hands in the opposite direction, behind you, and you will quickly see that this is not a neat trick, even if no one is lobbing artillery shells and rockets and bullets your way. 

And thus, any withdrawal of American military forces from the front lines of the war in Iraq—either into fortress bases within that nation or to ring Iraq from surrounding Middle Eastern countries—would be a delicate and dangerous business calling, first, for careful, coordinated planning between the Defense and State Departments and the commanders and officers of both the American armed forces and the Iraqi Army which must, by necessity, take their places in the field. 

But while the Bush Administration has shown itself wondrously adept at scheming and political maneuvering, it has proven that long-range government planning is not its strong suit, even when it concerns issues about which it is enthusiastic and in which it believes it should play an active role. And leaving Iraq, we know, is not something it is especially enthusiastic about. 

If it were forced to abandon its commitment to continue the war in Iraq, one could argue that the Bush Administration would not deliberately sabotage the effort and precipitate a chaos in its wake in order to justify its dire predictions. But we can probably be assured that by reluctant foot-dragging coupled with its general incompetence, it could cause a result that would be virtually indistinguishable. 

And that is what leaves members of the United States Congress in a dilemma, particularly those who either feel that the United States never should have invaded Iraq, or, having failed in our mission, should now leave. 

These Congressional forces have coalesced to pass bills—slightly different in the Senate and the House—that grant continued money for the war effort only so long as it is coupled with a timetable for withdrawal. 

Mr. Bush has promised that he will veto the legislation, leaving war opponents with the choice of either introducing a new spending bill that funds the war effort without the withdrawal language—opting to fight that withdrawal battle at another time—or, alternatively, refusing to pass any new funding approval that does not include the withdrawal language, forcing the President to back off and sign, or else forcing a defacto withdrawal by leaving U.S. armed forces without food or bullets to shoot or gasoline to put in their humvees and helicopters. 

Most of my friends on the left—longtime opponents of the war—argue that Congress is obligated on moral grounds to draw a line in the sand, and draw it right now. The war is morally wrong, they say, and the funding should be withheld—not a dollar more for war—and if chaos ensues, so be it, since temporary chaos is preferable to continued killing. If one believes that the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq is morally wrong, it is difficult to argue with this position. 

But that does not ease the burden of decision for those in the Congress who believe the war should end. 

Anti-war members of Congress have a duty and obligation to end the U.S. occupation of Iraq as quickly as possible, but must do so—as much as possible—in a way that makes this a permanent military withdrawal, and not a prelude to U.S. military re-entry into a wider Middle East war. In this, the recent past is not a guide. There was virtually no chance that once out of Vietnam, the U.S. military would have been immediately re-introduced into another Southeast Asian war. The U.S. had geo-political interests in Southeast Asia as a battleground in the Cold War with Russia and China, but no vital economic interests beyond that. This is not the case with the Middle East, where the preservation of and access to vast oil reserves are currently in America’s national interest—much as the green among us are working to make it less so. 

There is currently a fragile anti-war majority in America, with most Americans feeling that the U.S. army should leave Iraq. This is what led to the overturn of the Republican majority in both houses of Congress in the last election. But that anti-war majority is tenuous, coming of age based more on the Bush Administration’s bungling of the war in Iraq than on widespread American war opposition in theory or in principle. Events following a U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq—such as a wider Middle Eastern war resulting in an immediate threat to the area’s oil reserves, for example, leading to gas rationing and $10 a gallon pump prices—could quickly make that majority turn to beating plowshares back into swords. 

So where does that leave us? 

Much as we would like them to move immediately, Congress must move cautiously on the war issue. Because the anti-war majority in the country has not yet hardened, this is not the time to test its resolve in a showdown with the President. If Mr. Bush vetoes the military spending bill because of its withdrawal language—as he has promised—Congress should give in, and pass legislation that leaves the withdrawal language out. A point will have been made, and in the next budget showdown—which will inevitably come—the anti-war members of Congress will have the stronger hand.  

Bush might blink in this first standoff, and sign a military funding bill with withdrawal language, but it is more likely that he will not. Like Captain Ahab, so consumed by his pursuit of Moby Dick that he failed to see the consequences to ship and crew, Mr. Bush may have lost sight of the dangers to the nation and the world in his pursuit of his aims, whatever they are. Congress has to be the more responsible party, with thoughts not only for today and tomorrow, but for the long term as well. 

Does this mean that the anti-war forces outside of Congress should lie down and be quiet in the interim? Absolutely not. National sentiment against the war in Iraq grew, in no small part, because of the protesters and public speakers and agitators who have consistently opposed the war, the people who wrote editorials and letters and commentary and spoke up wherever there was someone to listen, and that opposition should continue, and even escalate. Anti-war elements in the Congress will need that agitation and that push from the outside, perhaps more so, now, than ever. This is not a counsel for retreat. But like the tide coming up on the shore, sometimes things must be pulled back a bit, and gathered, before a final rush take the waves completely over the rocky barriers.

It’s one of those discussions that only Arts and Crafts people would have, because we’re weird. The basic question is, “What would Stickley do with a computer?” (Gustav Stickley, for those who don’t know, was a famous furniture designer and proponent of the Arts and Crafts movement during the first two decades of the 20th century.) There seem to be two points of view on the question: the “Oh, he’d just stick it out on a library table” camp and the “No, he would have designed a special piece of furniture for it” camp. 

In no way am I saying there’s a right answer to the question, but in many ways the struggle to have both technology AND art IS the central question of the original Movement as well as the Arts and Crafts Revival that has been going on for the last 30-odd years. And this being 2007, not 1907, we have to come up with our own answer, because some of the technology we have now is nothing Stickley could have even imagined.  

I myself tend toward the “special piece of furniture” camp, for a couple of reasons. One of them is the difference in attitudes toward utilitarian objects at the beginning of the 20th century compared to today. In the early 20th century, even functional objects like water heaters and furnaces were embellished. Many East Bay homes still retain their original Ruud instantaneous water heaters, complete with Art Nouveau ornamentation. And things back then were generally made of materials like metal and wood, not plastic. 

Another reason is that Arts and Crafts is not just a philosophy, it’s also an aesthetic, and while an iMac may be fine-looking, it doesn’t exactly have an Arts and Crafts aesthetic. But at least an iMac HAS an aesthetic. The design, if you could call it that, of most modern technology, could be summed up completely by the word “gray.” But the second reason is even more compelling—take a look at the tangle of wires on the back of your computer. A home office may still contain bookcases and a desk, but instead of the typewriter of 1907, there will be a computer, and that will entail at least a monitor, a CPU, a keyboard, a mouse, and a printer.  

But more likely it will also entail more than one printer, a notebook computer, a scanner, a copier, a fax machine, a cradle for the PDA and the iPod, a battery backup, a router, a USB hub, a cable modem or DSL connection, a webcam, speakers, surge protectors, a regular phone, a cordless phone, a lamp, a file cabinet, a Rolodex, etc. These things will require wires and power cords, and the dreaded transformers. And that’s why Stickley would have designed a special piece of furniture, because it just wouldn’t be very artful to put all that junk out on a library table. That’s why we of the 21st century have the computer desk and the computer armoire. 

Ah, you say, but I have gone wireless! I have a wireless keyboard and mouse! I have Blue Tooth! I take my laptop to Starbucks! I surf the Internet on my back porch! All well and good, but the wireless router still needs to be plugged in, as does the printer and most of the other stuff. 

There are certain parts of the house where the technology has changed more than it has in others. The dining room, for instance, is not much different now than it was then. Houses of the Arts and Crafts era WERE the first modern houses, as we would think of modern—they had electricity, central heat, and indoor plumbing. They had telephones and vacuum cleaners and sewing machines and other pieces of technology which we still have. 

For instance, bathrooms haven’t changed that much in a hundred years. I think everyone would agree that indoor plumbing is the very basis of modern civilization, and few of us would be willing to give it up. We might like to have two sinks, which is easy enough to do if there’s room. We might prefer to have mixing faucets instead of separate taps, which is easily done. Modern code requires a pressure balance valve, so you don’t get scalded when someone turns on the dishwasher while you’re taking a shower. They actually had these at the turn of the century, and you can still buy new ones that look old, or you can get one that is plumbed into the supply lines before they reach the shower. Reproduction low-flow toilets are now available that look like old ones, where the tank hangs on the wall instead of sitting on the back of the bowl. 

GFCI’s, which stands for ground fault circuit interrupter are now required in the bathroom. This is the plug that keeps you from being electrocuted should you be standing in a puddle of water when the hairdryer short circuits. It’s hard to make these look old. It is possible to install one upstream on the circuit, which then protects all the outlets downstream from it, or you can put a GFCI breaker at the main panel. 

In the early 20th century, the living room was to be the center of home life, with the family gathered around the hearth. They would play board games or parlor games, read, play musical instruments, women would do needlework. They might even listen to 78s on the gramophone, or listen to the radio. They would even, God forbid, talk to each other. We prefer to watch TV. In fact, it’s pretty much replaced the fireplace as the center of home life, whether you think that’s good or bad. But it’s not just the TV. It’s the VCR and the DVD player and the Tivo and the Wii, and the remote controls and joysticks and whatever that go with all of these. Often the stereo and a computer are hooked into it as well. And that, friends, is why the entertainment center was invented.  

The kitchen is far too complicated to go into here—I’ll save that for another article. 

If you look closely, you may be struck by just how ugly many of the elements of contemporary life really are, and how out of place they look in an Arts and Crafts interior. Beauty is not really part of the equation any more for most things. Certainly our lives have become very complex. Maybe we need to try to live a simpler existence in the face of cultural pressures, and to choose only the technology that is actually helpful to us.  

Much of the technology that has come about in the last century is useful- I certainly don’t intend to give up the computer that allowed me to rewrite this paragraph several times with ease. But I often think we have become enamored of bells and whistles for which we have no real use, and altered our houses, our lives, and even the outer environment in unfortunate ways in order to make room for them. It isn’t a new struggle. Oscar Wilde realized this in the 19th century, saying, “Do you think, for instance, that we object to machinery? I tell you we reverence it; we reverence it when it does its proper work, when it relieves man from ignoble and soulless labor, not when it seeks to do that which is valuable only when wrought by the hands and hearts of men. And let us not mistake the means of civilization for the end of civilization; steam-engine, telephone and the like, are all wonderful, but remember that their value depends entirely on the noble uses we make of them, on the noble spirit in which we employ them, not on the things themselves.” 

Jane Powell is the author of Bungalow Details: Interior and can be reached at janepowell@sbcglobal.net. 

Photograph: A custom armoire built by The Craftsman Home (3048 Claremont Ave.) allows these homeowners to keep their computer in the living room.

Everybody up and at ‘em! Shop till you drop! It’s time for spring plant sales! 

Various chapters of the California Native Plant Society are selling, big surprise, California native plants. Sometimes you can find species at CNPS sales that you haven’t seen for sale anywhere else, and there’s usually a handy plant maven hanging around to give you advice. Another thing I like about these sales is how CNPS propagators are generally persnickety and specific about where the plants came from; one might get a clue from that about where they’re likeliest to thrive, and the information is really useful to restoration gardeners.  

Marin Chapter California Native Plant Society 

30th annual Native Plant Sale 

Saturday, April 14  

9:30 a.m. -2 p.m. 

Tiburon Audubon Center and Wildlife Sanctuary, 376 Greenwood Beach Road, Tiburon. www.marin.cc.ca.us/cnps. 

Regional Parks Botanic Garden  

Saturday, April 21 

10 a.m. -3 p.m. 

Wildcat Canyon Road, Tilden Regional Park. www.nativeplants.org. 

Jepson CNPS Chapter Plant Sale 

May 5, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Benicia Community Garden 

Military East and E. Second Street, Benicia. www.cnpsjepsonchapter.org. 

Other sales might mix natives with exotic ornamentals and/or edible plants and fruit trees, or sell any or all in various combinations. And at least one local nursery throws a party every now and then.  

Annie’s Annuals  

Spring Party 10 a.m.–5 p.m.  

Friday through Sunday, April 13, 14, and 15  

Mother’s Day party 10 a.m.–5 p.m. 

Saturday and Sunday, May 12 and 13 

740 Market Ave., Richmond. 

I-80 east ; exit San Pablo Dam Rd., turn left at the light. Turn right at third light onto San Pablo Avenue; left at Church Lane, which becomes Market Avenue. Go 1.5 miles past two traffic lights and over two railroad tracks, look left for Annie’s green fence and sign, but no street number. 

www.anniesannuals.com. 

COPIA’s Big Spring Plant Sale 

Saturday, April 14, 10 a.m –4 p.m. 

Sunday April 15, 10 a.m.–4 pm 

500 First St., Napa 

Preview hour for members only, Saturday and Sunday 9–10 a.m. 

Padrone peppers, more than 80 varieties of tomatoes, assorted types of basil. Plants, seeds, garden products and tools, music and demonstrations. For your shopping pleasure, The Nurserymen will play Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m.–1 p.m. in the South Garden. Sale open to the public (does not include general admission to COPIA). Food, wine, and plants sold separately. (888) 512-6742. www.copia.org. 

Merritt College Landscape Horticulture Department Spring Plant Sale and Fair 

Saturday, April 28 

9 a.m.– 3 p.m. 

Merritt College, 12500 Campus Dr., off Redwood Road, Oakland 

Natives, edibles, weird and nifty plants; live music, food! Also good advice on design, plants, pruning, and life in general. 

www.merrittlandhort.com. 

It’s always a good idea to bring some sturdy boxes to a plant sale—those blue recycling bins are ideal—to tote your purchases. Do I really have to add that gardenworthy clothing and shoes are de rigeur?

The East Bay is a special place for so many reasons including architectural history. Now, I’m a technical guy (for a sensitive male) and the history that turns me on involves silly things like pipe threading and wire soldering. I love museums of mine shafts and light bulbs. I get no kick from champagne but a museum of science and industry makes my pulse race. In other words, I’m a geek. The one that all the girls moved away from at the junior high school dance and now, years later I can proudly come out of the closet, with my phaser held high and admit my affiliation with those who collect glass doorknobs and vacuum tube radios. 

So for me, architectural history is inextricably mingled with technical history and our local housing stock makes a marvelous display case for century-long evolution of the technical advances in building. To make this even more fun, the display case is neatly organized by community. Berkeley and Oakland begin with houses in the 1870s (and a very few that are earlier) and flow along to the north and south upward to the present as the rolling hills and bayside shoreline gothomorphed into its current urbanity. 

So let’s take a short technical trip from Old Oakland to 1960s Richmond and see how some elements of these houses evolved. 

It’s easy to see how foundations evolved from the oldest houses in Oakland and Berkeley to the modern ones we have today if we pick a handful of examples. Starting at an 1875 church in Berkeley we might find no foundation at all but instead a huge redwood mudsill. The mudsill is the bottom board of the house and is usually bolted to a concrete footing today but in our Oakland church and many early houses, it would have been a large wooden beam laid on its side made from old growth redwood. When I’ve seen these, they’re usually still in pretty good shape, owing to redwood’s high tannin content and its resultant pest resistance.  

Now let’s go to South Berkeley 1906. This house probably had a brick foundation and by today, these are mostly dissolving away. They’re also waiting for a 7.3 earthquake to finally turn them into a nice herringbone patio. 

By the time the 1920s houses of Berkeley were built, concrete foundations had become the common form, although these lacked reinforcing metal (rebar) and were quite small and laid in shallow trenches. Combined with poorly mixed concrete, these often fared poorly on the soft clay soils of Berkeley and many today are rocking and rolling like all good Boomers do. 

Albany, largely developed in the 1930s has almost exclusively concrete foundations and, again, most lack rebar. Nonetheless, these later concrete footings tend to be stronger since concrete mixing improved as the century matured. Bay-dredged sands gave way to mined sands from the Black Diamond mines of Mt. Diablo and concrete mixing became more science and less sport. 

By the time World War II arrived and Henry Kaiser’s shipyards in Richmond began producing a fleet, the hills of El Cerrito began to produce the humble and solid housing stock that would house a generation of G.I. and steelyard families (Many lived out their entire adult lives in these houses and a few are still there today). These foundations reflected the technical and engineering advancements that came with a war build-up. Concrete became prescriptive (mixed by formula) and these foundations are still hard as rock. They also began to use rebar and even employed this rebar to do what had, heretofore, not been done at all, connecting the foundation to the mudsill. Builders let short lengths of the rebar project up and out of the foundation. These stuck through the mudsill and were then hammered down to one side, holding the sill in place. Now this isn’t all that useful in a large quake but it shows the early glimmer of insight in these fabulous 1940s builders. By 1950 nearly all houses had some actual bolts doing the same thing. 

Sweeping north to Richmond, houses continue to advance through the ’50s into the ’60s and ’70s with foundations becoming still larger, deeper and wider at the base. During this time the inverted T shape become the standard form. We still do most foundations in the same manner today with just a little more rebar and a slightly stronger concrete. Nonetheless, foundations today are essentially the same as these ones with only a few exotic variations. Some hillside foundations built today are of a pier and gradebeam type that became popular in the 1960s and ’70s. 

Electrical systems advanced along the same stretch of shorefront with many Oakland and Berkeley houses having no electricity until the years following 1900. Many of these houses still have the plumbing for gas lighting running through the attics and walls. It’s still a thrill for me to come upon this in the attics of Victorians and other turn-of-the-century homes. Occasionally, I’ll even find a gas light still in use. Ooooo. Scary! 

As we move along to ’20s Berkeley houses and those ’30s Albany houses (thank you, Mr. MacGregor) the “knob and tube” wiring becomes more elaborate. Fuses move up from the crawlspace at the front of the house and into cabinets on the side where users are less likely to fry themselves while changing a fuse. The open knife switches (think Frankenstein) give way to fused disconnects. These early system have fuses on both “hots” and “neutrals” posing a serious threat to those trying test and repair these systems. By 1928, the “fused neutral” system gives way to hot-only fusing. We also move fuse panels out of wooden boxes (often lined with asbestos) and into metal enclosures. 

By the time we get to El Cerrito, we move from 120-volt to 240-volt systems that can accommodate more power and big users like ranges and A/C. Move along to Richmond and we find houses built with (good God!) breaker panels. 

Heating takes the same trip, as does plumbing and roofing. It’s pretty fun to see how faithfully the technology falls into line.  

As much as I enjoy the beauty of our old Berkeley houses, it’s always a relief to get the call to go inspect a 1942 El Cerrito, knowing that I’ll be getting a chance to inspect a modern house.  

Matt Cantor owns Cantor Inspections and lives in Berkeley. His column runs weekly. 

Copyright 2007 Matt Cantor

Run to a safe place? 

Here’s something we cover in my QuakeConsults: when a big quake hits, expect that the shaking will be so violent that you can’t stand up. Get on your hands and knees right away and crawl to the safest spot in the room you’re in (unless it’s the kitchen or a bathroom). 

Don’t try and get outside: moving around is how you can get hurt (you’ll be knocked down!), plus there are things outside that can fall on you.  

If you have a child in another room, be sure to drop and crawl – you won’t be much help to your child if you’re seriously injured.  

Speaking of being injured: have you secured your furniture yet? 

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

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.

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 

Wilde Irish Productions “The Cripple of Inishmaan” Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., through April 15. Tickets are $20-$25. 644-9940. 

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. 

“Chino Latino Meets the Angel Baby” Photographs by Robert Jew opens with a reception at 7 p.m. at the Front Gallery, 35 Grand Ave., Oakland. 444-2900. 

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.  

New Perspectives on East Asia Book Series Natsuo Kirino reads from “Grotesque” at noon in the Heyns Room, Faculty Club, UC Campus. 642-2809. 

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.  

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

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, Lincolns at 8:30 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $6. 451-8100. m 

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.  

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.  

Tucker Malarkey discusses “Resurrection” the discovery of 2,000-year-old Gnostic Gospels at Nag Hammadi, Egypt, shortly after the end of World War II, at 2 p.m. at at Borders Books,, 5800 Shellmound St. 415-250--4706. 

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.  

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

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.  

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. 

Ellen Spertus and other contributors discuss “She’s Such a Geek! Women Write About Science, Technology, & Other Nerdy Stuff" at 7 p.m. in the Bender Room, Mills College, 5000 Mac Arthur Blvd., Oakland. 430-2226. 

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. 

TUESDAY, APRIL 10 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Dirt Show” Ceramic sculpture from the Dept. of Art Practice opens with a reception at 4 p.m. at Worth Ryder Gallery 116 Kroeber Hall, UC Campus, corner of College and Bancroft.  

FILM 

“BB Optics” Optical printing and preservation work at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

A Week Without Racism Film Festival “Girl Trouble” at 5:30 p.m. at the YWCA, 2600 Bancroft Way. Free. www.ywca-berkeley.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ann-Maurine Lara reads from her novel about three generations of women in the Caribbean at 7:30 p.m. at Laurel Book Store, 4100 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland. 531-2073. 

Self-Preservation Workshop for Film and Video Makers with artist and preservationist Bill Brand at 6 p.m. in the PFA Theater. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

David Wallin describes “Attachment in Psychotherapy” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Tee Fee Swamp Boogie at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  

John Hammond at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761.  

Mwanza at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Larry Vuckovich Jazz/Latin Quartet at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$14. 238-9200.  

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11 

EXHIBITIONS 

‘eyecatchers” A group show by East Bay women artists at Royal Ground Gallery, 2058 Mountain Blvd., Oakland.  

FILM 

“The Purple Rose of Cairo” at 3 p.m. and “Zero for Conduct” at 8 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

A Week Without Racism Film Festival “When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in four Acts” the documentary by Spike Lee about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina at 5:30 p.m. at the YWCA, 2600 Bancroft Way. Free. www.ywca-berkeley.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Ira Nowinski’s San Francisco: Poets, Politics, and Divas” with Ira Nowinski at 10:30 a.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak St., Oakland. Cost is $12.50, students $5. 238-2200. 

Nomadic Rambles Storytelling with Ed Silberman at 7 p.m. at Nomad Cafe. 595-5344.  

Neil Fiore describes “The Now Habit: Overcoming Procrastination While Enjoying Guilt Free Play” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Whiskey Brothers Old Time and Bluegrass at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Left Turn, No Signal at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ.  

Bernard Anderson & The Old School Band at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz.Cost is $10. 525-5054.  

Stars Original at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Buxter Hoot’n at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Ron Carter Quartet at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square., through Sun. Cost is $14-$24. 238-9200.  

THURSDAY, APRIL 12 

THEATER 

Aurora Theatre “Private Jokes, Public Places” opens at 8 p.m. at 2081 Addison St. and runs through May 13. Tickets are $38. 843-4822. 

“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 

“My Brother Marvin By Zeola Gaye” which chronicles the life and demise of Marvin Gaye at 8 p.m. at the Paramount Theater, 2025 Broadway, Oakland, through April 15. Tickets are $38.50. 625-8497.  

EXHIBITIONS 

“A Rose Has No Teeth: Bruce Nauman in the 1960s” Guided tour at 5:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. 

FILM 

Film and Video Makers at Cal “Time After Time” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

A Week Without Racism Film Festival “In This World” a documentary on human trafficking at 5:30 p.m. at the YWCA, 2600 Bancroft Way.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Michael Pollan reads from “The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals” in celebration of National Library Week at 7 p.m. at the James Moore Theatre, Oakland Museum of California, 10th & Oak Streets. 

A Tribute to the Poetry of the Late Bert Meyers will be held at 7 p.m. at Black Oak Books, 1491 Shattuck Ave. 486-0698. 

“Bruce Nauman’s Sound and Video Work” A gallery talk with Anne Walsh at noon at Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. 

Daniel Mason reads from his new novel, “A Far Country” at 7:30 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

Dani Shapiro reads from her new novel about mothers and daughters “Black & White” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

New Century Chamber Orchestra performs Arvo Part, “Tabula Rasa” for string orchestra at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $28-$42. 415-357-1111. www.ncco.org 

Sun Quartet at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St., $10-15 at door. www.hillsideclub.org  

Breath & Movement Dance at 6 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant Ave. Cost is $5-$8. 981-1710. 

Mills College Graduate Dance Thesis Concert at 8 p.m. at Lisser Hall, Mills College, 5000 MacArthur Blvd, Oakland. Tickets are $8-$10 at the door. 430-2175. 

David Jacob-Strain at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. 

Ian Carey Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ.  

Noteworthy, a cappella, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Everest, The Crazies will Destroy You at 10 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082. 

Headnodic & Raashan Ahmad at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5. 548-1159.  

Mitch Marcus Quartet + 13 at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $10. 763-1146.  

Headshire Griddle, True Margrit, Blue Mire at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100.  

FAIRY TALE PROJECT AT ALBANY LIBRARY 

Golden Thread, which has staged some of the most interesting shows in the past few years of Bay Area theater, all around the theme of Middle Eastern cultures and identity, is bringing its Fairy Tale Project, a charming series of family shows, to the Albany Library at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 7. The performance will feature The Story of Norooz, the Persian New Year, which is being celebrated right now, wherever you find people originally from the Caucasus through Central Asia. 1247 Marina Ave. 526-3720 ext. 17, or goldenthread.org. 

‘STRANGE BEDFELLOWS: ART AND PUBLIC POLICY’ 

A series of seven lectures with guest speakers, sponsored by Berkeley City College Professor Chuck Wollenberg, begins April 9 with Gray Brechin, author and reserach geographer at UC Berkeley, speaking on art in the “Athens of the West” at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. On April 16 artists David Goines and Eduardo Pineda will speak on the art of politics. For information on the series, call 981-6150.  

FREE JAZZ FRIDAYS  

IN OAKLAND 

The Jazz House returns with Free Jazz Fridays, featuring Woman’s Worth, Sword and Sandals and Vholtz performing tonight 8 p.m. tonight (Friday) at the Performance Space at 1510 Eighth St. $5-$15 sliding scale. (415) 846-9432.

A very important painting belonging to the university’s Berkeley Art Museum is about to be auctioned off at Christie’s April 18 sale. The large oil is by the renowned 19th-century painter Vasily Vereshchagin (1842-1904), whose paintings are honored in their display at Moscow’s Tretiakov Museum of Art. The picture, entitled Solomon’s Wall, depicts the West Wall of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. It is part of the artist’s Palestine series and was shown in the 1880s throughout Europe and also in New York. 

Beautifully rendered, it is a superb example of 19th-century history painting. 

It was given to the university by Phoebe Hearst and has been on long-term loan to the Judah L. Magnes Museum where it was appreciated by countless viewers and established a long partnership between the two museums. 

The loss of this painting to the Berkeley community is comparable to the fate of Asher B. Durand’s Kindred Spirits (depicting Thomas Cole and William Cullen Bryant standing on a precipice), which was sold by the New York Public Library, its long-time owner, to the Wal-Mart Museum in Arkansas. The New York public, deprived of this painting, is very angry at its loss. The Berkeley community would be similarly impoverished if this sale should be consummated. 

The mission of the Berkeley Art Museum from the beginning was to be as encyclopedic as feasible. At its late start it could not compete with Yale or Harvard, but fine European and American paintings were acquired. This seems to have come to a virtual standstill.  

A museum is judged primarily by the strength of its collection, so this seems a bad time for the Berkeley Art Museum to auction off one of its prime possessions. The de Young Museum’s recent fund drive for its new buildings was largely successful due to its record of acquisitions by gift and purchase of important art. Acquisitions by the Berkeley Art Museum have been meager in recent years. The museum can hardly expect to raise funds when important gifts such as Solomon’s Wall are sold at auction. 

Peter Selz is the founding director of the Berkeley Art Museum.  

Image: Vasily Vereshchagin’s Solomon’s Wall (1884-1885), oil on canvas. The painting was gifted to the Berkeley Art Museum by Phoebe Hearst.

Dorothy Vance (called Dotty by her childhood friends in Colorado and Dart by her Berkeley friends), radical, anti-nuclear protester and jailbird, rebel girl and woman for peace, vegetarian, feminist, champion of the poor and foe of the powerful, resident of Berkeley for 50 years, and of the Elmwood for 35, friend extraordinaire, mother of three and grandmother of four, the best sister in the world, sociologist and college teacher, librarian, early receptionist for KPFA back in the days when it was upstairs over Edy’s on Shattuck, former drunk and smoker to the end, assertive yet modest and self-effacing, breadmaker, playwright and short story writer, graphic artist, potter and tile maker, creator of award-winning appliqué quilts of great good humor, some on historical, political or cultural themes, others simply whimsical, fundamentally dubious about labels and categories such as those above, died in her home on Russell Street in late February. She was 76. 

Upon being told that she wanted no memorial service or obituary, her friends and family all said, “That sounds just like her.” 

—Roger Moss, Dorothy’s brother 

Image: Detail from a nine-panel quilt of original limericks titled There Was An Old Man, made by Dorothy Vance in 1995.

By KEN BULLOCK 

Special to the Planet 

“A total waste of time that is, looking at cows.” With judgments like this, passed by one “pretend auntie” of Cripple Billy on the title character’s chief pastime in The Cripple of Inishmaan, by Martin McDonagh (author of Berkeley Rep’s recent hit, The Pillowman), the audience is ushered into—and soon surrounded by—the bleak, back-biting and hysterically deadpan, insular world of one of the Aran Islands in the 1930s. There the news, according to ubiquitous, snooping Johnny Pateen, who gathers and recites it, consists of a feud (and a feud is to be relished) between two old friends, after the goose belonging to one bites the tail of the other’s cat, and no apology seems forthcoming. Wilde Irish is now staging the play at the Berkeley City Club, 

But caviling at cow-watching, speaking to rocks, pegging eggs at priests and other parochial preoccupations with each other’s eccentricities and mischief are upstaged by a truly momentous piece of news: an American film (or “fil-um”) crew has landed at nearby Inishmore, under the direction of Robert Flaherty, “one of the richest and most famous Yanks there is,” according to Johnny Pateen. What’s more, the local talent “will be taken back to Hollywood, anyone chosen to be in it, and given a life free of work.” 

That verbal banner headline raises enough of a stir to dampen the incessant complaining about Yanks a bit, bringing up a new golden phrase to be endlessly mutated and recycled: “Sure, and if they came all the way from Hollywood, Ireland can’t be such a bad place after all.” Or wondrous words to that effect. 

But when Cripple Billy learns that local terror, trash-talking tomboy Slippy Helen (“And why shouldn’t a lassie be swearin’?”) has twisted Babbybobby’s arm with a promise of kisses to row her to Inishmore to surely be cast as the romantic lead (“If I’m pretty enough to get clergymen gropin’ my arse ...” reasons Helen, but Bartley McCormack shoots back: “Sure, havin’ your arse groped don’t demand no skill!”), the suddenly enterprising Billy cons the boatman into taking him along, too, on the force of a doctor’s letter that must contain a dire prognosis—one that the lurking Johnny Pateen wants to convert to verbal copy for his raconteurish wire service ... . 

So the plot advances by devolving into a hundred seemingly insignificant subplots and asides that always come ‘round again, snowballing with absurd significance. And just like Zeno’s race between swift Achilles and the plodding tortoise, in which the quicker party must cover so much subdivided ground that the snail-like progress of his opponent easily overtakes him, so reverting to type (and endlessly talking about it) provokes the most unexpected series of reversals, and double-reverses. It’s not for nothing that a brand of Irish doubletalk is referred to as Doin’ the 180. 

Soon enough, the shag is worn off the dog, and the audience is still helplessly laughing at the saddest of predicaments as they inevitably worsen. But this cast of characters, quaint unto death, is bitterly determined. Even after the deepest, darkest truths have been plumbed, the Yank movie screened to the infighting islanders and revealed to be no more than a documentary, complete with shark hunts (“It was a shark ate Daddy,” intones Johnny Pateen’s besotted, disapproving Mammy, “But Jesus says you should forgive and forget!”) the wheel keeps turning, the worst turn out to be best, and a kind of love descends upon the loveless, although all is subject to change at the careless drop of a brutal word. 

Wilde Irish’s valiant cast—Andrew Sa, Arthur Scappaticci, Breda Courtney, Bryn Elizen Harris, Eddie Fitzgerald, Esther Mulligan, Howard Dillon, Shelley Lynn Johnson and Martin Waldron—brave the word-hoard of the darkly humorous McDonagh, making a very funny evening of a treacherous piece of work, one that must trick everyone in order to enlighten. For those who saw The Pillowman, the show at the City Club gives the opportunity to witness McDonagh’s fantastic humor (and dire speculations on what it means to walk the earth and talk about it) now grounded in the Ould Sod. The London-reared playwright had antecedents in Connemara, on Ireland’s West Coast, where the Arans are just off shore. 

The Cripple slips neatly into an ongoing literature of black comedy set in the western islands, with John Synge’s still-controversial masterpiece The Playboy of the Western World taking place in the Arans, and Myles na Gopaleen’s (better known by his other pen name, Flann O’Brien) misanthropic Gaelic novella, translated as The Poor Mouth, in the Blasketts. Each looks at the romancing of primitive Gaeltacht culture with a jaundiced eye, making it clear, too, why Orson Welles’ stage mentor, Michael MacLiammor of the Gate Theatre, on a challenge from his protege to come up with a one word description of the Irish, said “Malice!” And the false naivete of the characters, turned inside-out, recalls the loaded words of the 18th-century tinker Conor Cruise O’Brien liked to quote: “I never was a sadist, but always tried to look on the bright side of things.” 

Stephanie Courtney-Fox, daughter of company co-founder and “phony auntie” Breda Courtney, bellwether to this wayward flock, has shown real prowess in staging as she takes up the reins of Wilde Irish as the new artistic director.  

Wilde Irish has not only succeeded in putting across a dense, ingrown tale that threatens to devour itself—and maybe its listeners—at every turn, they’ve rendered its vertiginous, arch yet mocking tone well, too, through all its cruel vicissitudes. As one of the twisted souls of Inishmaan exclaims, on the verge of some mayhem, “It wouldn’t be a very Christian thing to do, but it would be awful funny!” 

THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN 

Presented by Wilde Irish Productions at 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and at 2 p.m. Sundays through April 15 at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. $20-$25. 644-9940.

Ken Loach’s new film The Wind That Shakes the Barley, opening this weekend at Shattuck Cinemas in downtown Berkeley, is the story of the nascent Irish Republican Army and its struggle against British occupation in the early 1920s. 

“If they bring their savagery over here, we will meet it with savagery of our own!” the group’s leader calls to his guerilla troops after a successful ambush of British forces on a remote country lane. He angrily declares that their actions will send a message “that will echo and reverberate throughout the world.” 

Thus develops a seemingly endless cycle of escalating violence that does in fact reverberate throughout Ireland, Britain and eventually the world, and indeed finds echoes of late in America’s exploits in the Middle East. Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty do an excellent job of capturing the essence of the conflict from multiple vantage points: from that of the die-hards, who believe in the nobility of the cause; from the contingent of pragmatists that eventually accepts a compromise with the British; and from the long view, in which the eye-for-an-eye violence and retribution becomes a weary demonstration of futility and human frailty. In this film nothing is black or white or good or evil; politics and motivations are all as gray as the fog-shrouded landscape.  

The Wind That Shakes the Barley won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006, as well as a number of other European awards, and it is not difficult to understand why. Almost everything about the film is well done; it is beautifully photographed, features strong performances by compelling actors, and it is directed and edited with competence and grace. Quiet scenes are handled with restraint, while the more dramatic and violent episodes are forceful without ever being excessively graphic or gratuitous.  

However, the film has one significant flaw which threatens to undermine its artistry and impact. Loach and Laverty have unfortunately fallen prey to one of the more tedious and ham-fisted of devices: In order to amplify the already clear theme of brother pitted against brother, they have found it necessary to dramatize the conflict all too literally, with two familial brothers finding themselves divided over the issue of the compromise treaty.  

It’s a bit insulting. Do we need the story reduced to melodrama in order to comprehend the enormity of it all? Did the filmmakers not trust the audience to grasp the tragedy of the conflict? Or was it merely a clumsy attempt to elevate the tale to Biblical proportions, with Cain rising up to slay Abel in service to the twin causes of acquiescence and moderation? 

It’s a structural flaw, and thus it infects the entire production. But if you can get past that and accept the contrivance, Loach and Laverty and a talented cast manage to bring the story to life in spite of it. 

Photograph: Cillian Murphy and Pádraic Delaney star as brothers battling British occupation of Ireland in the 1920s.

The documentary category is consistently one of the few categories in the Academy Awards in which every nominee genuinely seems to be worthy of the attention. This year’s nominees were all high-caliber films whose selection can hardly be questioned. The winner, however, was An Inconvenient Truth, its high visibility and great cultural impact perhaps earning greater recognition for the film than its inherent quality would merit. Jesus Camp, for example, was more compelling, and Iraq in Fragments was a unique artistic triumph. 

And there were many films of great style and substance that didn’t even make the cut. Thus, here are five documentaries released last year, all now available on DVD, that were easily worthy of nomination. Complete reviews for all of these films can be found in the Daily Planet’s archives at www.berkeleydailyplanet.com. 

Probably the best of the lot is The Devil and Daniel Johnston, a fascinating and poignant examination of the life and career of a musician and artist tormented by manic depression. The film uses Johnston’s own art, films and audio diaries to document his journey from suburban Boy Scout to cult legend, a journey that has all the trappings of folk music mythology: devils and demons, divine revelations, wayward road trips, traveling carnivals, mental breakdowns, plane crashes, a “lost year,” falls from grace followed by triumphant resurrections.  

Johnston’s story is one of salvation through art. He believes he has lost his soul to the devil in pursuit of fame; he believes that he is damned, yet is actively and forever seeking redemption. The film is both inspiring and heartbreaking, a stylish yet simple and effective portrait of an extraordinary artist. The DVD comes with plenty of extra features, including footage from the film’s premiere at Sundance, Daniel’s famous solo radio drama and a reunion with Lori, the unrequited love of Johnston’s life.  

Shakespeare Behind Bars goes behind the scenes at Kentucky’s maximum security Luther Luckett Correctional Complex to document the rehearsal and staging by inmates of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Volunteer director Curt Tofteland selected the play because of its themes of forgiveness and redemption, knowing these concepts would resonate with his cast.  

The picture this film presents is disarming; the prisoners are articulate, intelligent, charismatic and educated, making for a film that is not just moving and entertaining, but genuinely funny. Prison would seem an unlikely setting for a movie of such warmth and compassion, humanity and joy. 

Cowboy Del Amor is a quirky film that spotlights an obscure man in an obscure trade: Arizona resident Ivan Thompson makes his living by driving lonely American men across the border in search of Mexican brides. The inherent misogyny of the operation is unsettling. The men, it seems, are looking for docile Mexican dolls to sit by their sides, to come live in their homes and to generally behave themselves, while the women are looking for respect, love, security, equality and, perhaps most importantly, a shot at the American Dream.  

Despite the charisma, kindness and humor of Ivan Thompson, the film is permeated with a certain sadness—the sadness that comes with the acknowledgment that life is not a story with a fairly-tale ending, but a series of compromises, of people making do with what they have. And the sadness is compounded by the realization that for these women, their only path to independence is through dependence on a man; and that these men, being American, believe that they can simply buy the happiness they’ve thus far been unable to find.  

The Road to Guantanamo presents the harrowing tale of the “Tipton Trio,” three Englishmen of Pakistani origin who set out for their native country so that one of them could get married there. On the way they were picked up in a raid in Afghanistan along with a group of alleged Taliban soldiers, arrested by the Northern Alliance, turned over to the American military, and eventually shipped off to Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where they were systematically humiliated, beaten, abused and degraded. 

Though the story is told primarily through dramatic re-creations, the action is interspersed with news footage and interviews with the Tipton Trio themselves, creating an interesting documentary-narrative hybrid. 

Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos tells the story of soccer’s arrival in the United States in the late 1970s, when a media mogul set out to make the “the beautiful game” a national phenomenon. 

In the mid 1970s, Steve Ross and a few partners created the North American Soccer League and recruited Brazillian legend Pelé to draw attention to the fledgling league. Thus began a circus of soccer, media relations and mayhem that consumed the city of New York and took the world of American sports by storm for several years. The documentary features interviews with the major players in this drama (with the notable exception of Pelé himself), but what makes this film so entertaining is the fact it is not a calm, dignified documentary of talking heads, but rather a back-and-forth battle of words, with each man stepping before the camera with an axe to grind in an effort to put his own particular stamp on the story of the Cosmos. 

It’s one of those discussions that only Arts and Crafts people would have, because we’re weird. The basic question is, “What would Stickley do with a computer?” (Gustav Stickley, for those who don’t know, was a famous furniture designer and proponent of the Arts and Crafts movement during the first two decades of the 20th century.) There seem to be two points of view on the question: the “Oh, he’d just stick it out on a library table” camp and the “No, he would have designed a special piece of furniture for it” camp. 

In no way am I saying there’s a right answer to the question, but in many ways the struggle to have both technology AND art IS the central question of the original Movement as well as the Arts and Crafts Revival that has been going on for the last 30-odd years. And this being 2007, not 1907, we have to come up with our own answer, because some of the technology we have now is nothing Stickley could have even imagined.  

I myself tend toward the “special piece of furniture” camp, for a couple of reasons. One of them is the difference in attitudes toward utilitarian objects at the beginning of the 20th century compared to today. In the early 20th century, even functional objects like water heaters and furnaces were embellished. Many East Bay homes still retain their original Ruud instantaneous water heaters, complete with Art Nouveau ornamentation. And things back then were generally made of materials like metal and wood, not plastic. 

Another reason is that Arts and Crafts is not just a philosophy, it’s also an aesthetic, and while an iMac may be fine-looking, it doesn’t exactly have an Arts and Crafts aesthetic. But at least an iMac HAS an aesthetic. The design, if you could call it that, of most modern technology, could be summed up completely by the word “gray.” But the second reason is even more compelling—take a look at the tangle of wires on the back of your computer. A home office may still contain bookcases and a desk, but instead of the typewriter of 1907, there will be a computer, and that will entail at least a monitor, a CPU, a keyboard, a mouse, and a printer.  

But more likely it will also entail more than one printer, a notebook computer, a scanner, a copier, a fax machine, a cradle for the PDA and the iPod, a battery backup, a router, a USB hub, a cable modem or DSL connection, a webcam, speakers, surge protectors, a regular phone, a cordless phone, a lamp, a file cabinet, a Rolodex, etc. These things will require wires and power cords, and the dreaded transformers. And that’s why Stickley would have designed a special piece of furniture, because it just wouldn’t be very artful to put all that junk out on a library table. That’s why we of the 21st century have the computer desk and the computer armoire. 

Ah, you say, but I have gone wireless! I have a wireless keyboard and mouse! I have Blue Tooth! I take my laptop to Starbucks! I surf the Internet on my back porch! All well and good, but the wireless router still needs to be plugged in, as does the printer and most of the other stuff. 

There are certain parts of the house where the technology has changed more than it has in others. The dining room, for instance, is not much different now than it was then. Houses of the Arts and Crafts era WERE the first modern houses, as we would think of modern—they had electricity, central heat, and indoor plumbing. They had telephones and vacuum cleaners and sewing machines and other pieces of technology which we still have. 

For instance, bathrooms haven’t changed that much in a hundred years. I think everyone would agree that indoor plumbing is the very basis of modern civilization, and few of us would be willing to give it up. We might like to have two sinks, which is easy enough to do if there’s room. We might prefer to have mixing faucets instead of separate taps, which is easily done. Modern code requires a pressure balance valve, so you don’t get scalded when someone turns on the dishwasher while you’re taking a shower. They actually had these at the turn of the century, and you can still buy new ones that look old, or you can get one that is plumbed into the supply lines before they reach the shower. Reproduction low-flow toilets are now available that look like old ones, where the tank hangs on the wall instead of sitting on the back of the bowl. 

GFCI’s, which stands for ground fault circuit interrupter are now required in the bathroom. This is the plug that keeps you from being electrocuted should you be standing in a puddle of water when the hairdryer short circuits. It’s hard to make these look old. It is possible to install one upstream on the circuit, which then protects all the outlets downstream from it, or you can put a GFCI breaker at the main panel. 

In the early 20th century, the living room was to be the center of home life, with the family gathered around the hearth. They would play board games or parlor games, read, play musical instruments, women would do needlework. They might even listen to 78s on the gramophone, or listen to the radio. They would even, God forbid, talk to each other. We prefer to watch TV. In fact, it’s pretty much replaced the fireplace as the center of home life, whether you think that’s good or bad. But it’s not just the TV. It’s the VCR and the DVD player and the Tivo and the Wii, and the remote controls and joysticks and whatever that go with all of these. Often the stereo and a computer are hooked into it as well. And that, friends, is why the entertainment center was invented.  

The kitchen is far too complicated to go into here—I’ll save that for another article. 

If you look closely, you may be struck by just how ugly many of the elements of contemporary life really are, and how out of place they look in an Arts and Crafts interior. Beauty is not really part of the equation any more for most things. Certainly our lives have become very complex. Maybe we need to try to live a simpler existence in the face of cultural pressures, and to choose only the technology that is actually helpful to us.  

Much of the technology that has come about in the last century is useful- I certainly don’t intend to give up the computer that allowed me to rewrite this paragraph several times with ease. But I often think we have become enamored of bells and whistles for which we have no real use, and altered our houses, our lives, and even the outer environment in unfortunate ways in order to make room for them. It isn’t a new struggle. Oscar Wilde realized this in the 19th century, saying, “Do you think, for instance, that we object to machinery? I tell you we reverence it; we reverence it when it does its proper work, when it relieves man from ignoble and soulless labor, not when it seeks to do that which is valuable only when wrought by the hands and hearts of men. And let us not mistake the means of civilization for the end of civilization; steam-engine, telephone and the like, are all wonderful, but remember that their value depends entirely on the noble uses we make of them, on the noble spirit in which we employ them, not on the things themselves.” 

Jane Powell is the author of Bungalow Details: Interior and can be reached at janepowell@sbcglobal.net. 

Photograph: A custom armoire built by The Craftsman Home (3048 Claremont Ave.) allows these homeowners to keep their computer in the living room.

Everybody up and at ‘em! Shop till you drop! It’s time for spring plant sales! 

Various chapters of the California Native Plant Society are selling, big surprise, California native plants. Sometimes you can find species at CNPS sales that you haven’t seen for sale anywhere else, and there’s usually a handy plant maven hanging around to give you advice. Another thing I like about these sales is how CNPS propagators are generally persnickety and specific about where the plants came from; one might get a clue from that about where they’re likeliest to thrive, and the information is really useful to restoration gardeners.  

Marin Chapter California Native Plant Society 

30th annual Native Plant Sale 

Saturday, April 14  

9:30 a.m. -2 p.m. 

Tiburon Audubon Center and Wildlife Sanctuary, 376 Greenwood Beach Road, Tiburon. www.marin.cc.ca.us/cnps. 

Regional Parks Botanic Garden  

Saturday, April 21 

10 a.m. -3 p.m. 

Wildcat Canyon Road, Tilden Regional Park. www.nativeplants.org. 

Jepson CNPS Chapter Plant Sale 

May 5, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Benicia Community Garden 

Military East and E. Second Street, Benicia. www.cnpsjepsonchapter.org. 

Other sales might mix natives with exotic ornamentals and/or edible plants and fruit trees, or sell any or all in various combinations. And at least one local nursery throws a party every now and then.  

Annie’s Annuals  

Spring Party 10 a.m.–5 p.m.  

Friday through Sunday, April 13, 14, and 15  

Mother’s Day party 10 a.m.–5 p.m. 

Saturday and Sunday, May 12 and 13 

740 Market Ave., Richmond. 

I-80 east ; exit San Pablo Dam Rd., turn left at the light. Turn right at third light onto San Pablo Avenue; left at Church Lane, which becomes Market Avenue. Go 1.5 miles past two traffic lights and over two railroad tracks, look left for Annie’s green fence and sign, but no street number. 

www.anniesannuals.com. 

COPIA’s Big Spring Plant Sale 

Saturday, April 14, 10 a.m –4 p.m. 

Sunday April 15, 10 a.m.–4 pm 

500 First St., Napa 

Preview hour for members only, Saturday and Sunday 9–10 a.m. 

Padrone peppers, more than 80 varieties of tomatoes, assorted types of basil. Plants, seeds, garden products and tools, music and demonstrations. For your shopping pleasure, The Nurserymen will play Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m.–1 p.m. in the South Garden. Sale open to the public (does not include general admission to COPIA). Food, wine, and plants sold separately. (888) 512-6742. www.copia.org. 

Merritt College Landscape Horticulture Department Spring Plant Sale and Fair 

Saturday, April 28 

9 a.m.– 3 p.m. 

Merritt College, 12500 Campus Dr., off Redwood Road, Oakland 

Natives, edibles, weird and nifty plants; live music, food! Also good advice on design, plants, pruning, and life in general. 

www.merrittlandhort.com. 

It’s always a good idea to bring some sturdy boxes to a plant sale—those blue recycling bins are ideal—to tote your purchases. Do I really have to add that gardenworthy clothing and shoes are de rigeur?

The East Bay is a special place for so many reasons including architectural history. Now, I’m a technical guy (for a sensitive male) and the history that turns me on involves silly things like pipe threading and wire soldering. I love museums of mine shafts and light bulbs. I get no kick from champagne but a museum of science and industry makes my pulse race. In other words, I’m a geek. The one that all the girls moved away from at the junior high school dance and now, years later I can proudly come out of the closet, with my phaser held high and admit my affiliation with those who collect glass doorknobs and vacuum tube radios. 

So for me, architectural history is inextricably mingled with technical history and our local housing stock makes a marvelous display case for century-long evolution of the technical advances in building. To make this even more fun, the display case is neatly organized by community. Berkeley and Oakland begin with houses in the 1870s (and a very few that are earlier) and flow along to the north and south upward to the present as the rolling hills and bayside shoreline gothomorphed into its current urbanity. 

So let’s take a short technical trip from Old Oakland to 1960s Richmond and see how some elements of these houses evolved. 

It’s easy to see how foundations evolved from the oldest houses in Oakland and Berkeley to the modern ones we have today if we pick a handful of examples. Starting at an 1875 church in Berkeley we might find no foundation at all but instead a huge redwood mudsill. The mudsill is the bottom board of the house and is usually bolted to a concrete footing today but in our Oakland church and many early houses, it would have been a large wooden beam laid on its side made from old growth redwood. When I’ve seen these, they’re usually still in pretty good shape, owing to redwood’s high tannin content and its resultant pest resistance.  

Now let’s go to South Berkeley 1906. This house probably had a brick foundation and by today, these are mostly dissolving away. They’re also waiting for a 7.3 earthquake to finally turn them into a nice herringbone patio. 

By the time the 1920s houses of Berkeley were built, concrete foundations had become the common form, although these lacked reinforcing metal (rebar) and were quite small and laid in shallow trenches. Combined with poorly mixed concrete, these often fared poorly on the soft clay soils of Berkeley and many today are rocking and rolling like all good Boomers do. 

Albany, largely developed in the 1930s has almost exclusively concrete foundations and, again, most lack rebar. Nonetheless, these later concrete footings tend to be stronger since concrete mixing improved as the century matured. Bay-dredged sands gave way to mined sands from the Black Diamond mines of Mt. Diablo and concrete mixing became more science and less sport. 

By the time World War II arrived and Henry Kaiser’s shipyards in Richmond began producing a fleet, the hills of El Cerrito began to produce the humble and solid housing stock that would house a generation of G.I. and steelyard families (Many lived out their entire adult lives in these houses and a few are still there today). These foundations reflected the technical and engineering advancements that came with a war build-up. Concrete became prescriptive (mixed by formula) and these foundations are still hard as rock. They also began to use rebar and even employed this rebar to do what had, heretofore, not been done at all, connecting the foundation to the mudsill. Builders let short lengths of the rebar project up and out of the foundation. These stuck through the mudsill and were then hammered down to one side, holding the sill in place. Now this isn’t all that useful in a large quake but it shows the early glimmer of insight in these fabulous 1940s builders. By 1950 nearly all houses had some actual bolts doing the same thing. 

Sweeping north to Richmond, houses continue to advance through the ’50s into the ’60s and ’70s with foundations becoming still larger, deeper and wider at the base. During this time the inverted T shape become the standard form. We still do most foundations in the same manner today with just a little more rebar and a slightly stronger concrete. Nonetheless, foundations today are essentially the same as these ones with only a few exotic variations. Some hillside foundations built today are of a pier and gradebeam type that became popular in the 1960s and ’70s. 

Electrical systems advanced along the same stretch of shorefront with many Oakland and Berkeley houses having no electricity until the years following 1900. Many of these houses still have the plumbing for gas lighting running through the attics and walls. It’s still a thrill for me to come upon this in the attics of Victorians and other turn-of-the-century homes. Occasionally, I’ll even find a gas light still in use. Ooooo. Scary! 

As we move along to ’20s Berkeley houses and those ’30s Albany houses (thank you, Mr. MacGregor) the “knob and tube” wiring becomes more elaborate. Fuses move up from the crawlspace at the front of the house and into cabinets on the side where users are less likely to fry themselves while changing a fuse. The open knife switches (think Frankenstein) give way to fused disconnects. These early system have fuses on both “hots” and “neutrals” posing a serious threat to those trying test and repair these systems. By 1928, the “fused neutral” system gives way to hot-only fusing. We also move fuse panels out of wooden boxes (often lined with asbestos) and into metal enclosures. 

By the time we get to El Cerrito, we move from 120-volt to 240-volt systems that can accommodate more power and big users like ranges and A/C. Move along to Richmond and we find houses built with (good God!) breaker panels. 

Heating takes the same trip, as does plumbing and roofing. It’s pretty fun to see how faithfully the technology falls into line.  

As much as I enjoy the beauty of our old Berkeley houses, it’s always a relief to get the call to go inspect a 1942 El Cerrito, knowing that I’ll be getting a chance to inspect a modern house.  

Matt Cantor owns Cantor Inspections and lives in Berkeley. His column runs weekly. 

Copyright 2007 Matt Cantor

Run to a safe place? 

Here’s something we cover in my QuakeConsults: when a big quake hits, expect that the shaking will be so violent that you can’t stand up. Get on your hands and knees right away and crawl to the safest spot in the room you’re in (unless it’s the kitchen or a bathroom). 

Don’t try and get outside: moving around is how you can get hurt (you’ll be knocked down!), plus there are things outside that can fall on you.  

If you have a child in another room, be sure to drop and crawl – you won’t be much help to your child if you’re seriously injured.  

Speaking of being injured: have you secured your furniture yet? 

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

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. 

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 

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. 

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 

Salon in the Grove to decorate the trees and discuss the ongoing protest at 2 p.m. at the Memorial Oak Grove in front of the UC Stadium. lkaybrown@hotmail.com 

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. 

TUESDAY, APRIL 10 

“Impact of the 1906 Earthquake on Berkeley” with Richard Schwartz and Stepehn Tobriner on “Bracing for Disaster” at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6107. 

Berkeley High School Governance Council meets at 4:15 p.m. in the Berkeley Community Theater Lobby to discuss the proposal for denise brown mural, proposed change in Bylaws, and budget decisions. 644-4803. 

March Across Emeryville for Justice for Woodfin Workers Rally at 5 p.m. at the Emeryville City Hall, Park St. at Hollis, and march at 6 p.m. at the Woodfin Suites. www.workingeastbay.org 

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. 

A Week Without Racism Film Festival “Girl Trouble” at 5:30 p.m. at the YWCA, 2600 Bancroft Way. Free. www.ywca-berkeley.org 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Join a few slowpoke seniors at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm for an hour or two walk. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. Sponsored by the Ecology Center’s Farm Fresh Choice. 848-1704. www.ecologycenter.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. 

“Poles for Hiking, Trekking and Walking” at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

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. Monthly field trips. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11 

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  

Teach-In and Vigil Against American Torture every Wed. at noon at Boalt Hall, Bancroft Way at College Ave.  

“Building Alliances: Latinos, Immigration & The Environment” with Maria Elena Durazo, head of the LA County Federation of Labor; Margot Pepper, Teacher at Rosa Parks School; Hilary Abell, Exec. Director of WAGES at 4 p.m. at Berkeley City College Auditorium. www.ecologycenter.org/chavez  

“China and India: How Japan Approaches Asia’s Two Giants” A lecture with Ambassador Sakutaro Tanino, former Japanese Ambassador to China and India at 4 p.m. in the IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton St., 6th flr. 642-2809. 

“Ira Nowinski”s San Francisco” a slide presentation at 10:30 a.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St. Cost is $12.50. 238-2200. 

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. 

“Kayaking 101” with paddling specialist Scott Goodman at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

A Week Without Racism Film Festival “When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in four Acts” the documentary by Spike Lee about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina at 5:30 p.m. at the YWCA, 2600 Bancroft Way. Free. www.ywca-berkeley.org 

ReelVenezuela, Venezuelan films at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $7-$9. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

New to DVD: “Half Nelson” at 7 p.m. at JCCEB, 1414 Walnut St. Discussion follows. 848-0237. 

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 the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Sing for Peace at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. 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 12 

“Seeds and the Privatization of Life” with Ignacio Chapela. Learn about the importance of saving seed diversity and about the local projects that are putting control back into the hands of local gardeners. At 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

William Sloane Coffin Awards will be presented to Robert N. Bellah and Nancy Scheper-Hughes at 5:15 p.m. at the First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Reception follows. 559-9500. 

A Week Without Racism Film Festival “In This World” a documentary on human trafficking at 5:30 p.m. at the YWCA, 2600 Bancroft Way. Free. www.ywca-berkeley.org 

“Jewish Superheroes” with comic book expert Rabbi Harry Manhoff at 7:30 p.m. at the JCCEB, 1414 Walnut St. 839-2900, ext. 347. 

Peace Action West: 50 Years of Waging Peace Celebration with dinner and reminiscences at 6 p.m. at Madison’s, Lake Merritt Hotel, Oakland. Tickets are $125. RSVP to 839-3100. 

ReelVenezuela, Venezuelan films at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $7-$9. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Family Story Time for children ages 3-7 at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, North Branch, 1170 The Alameda, at Hopkins. 981-6107. 

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. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

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 

Youth Commission meets Mon., April 9, at 6:30 p.m., at City Council Chambers, Old City Hall. 981-6670.  

Homeless Commission meets Wed., April 11, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Jane Micallef, 981-5426. 

Police Review Commission meets Wed., April 11, at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-4950.  

Waterfront Commission meets Wed., April 11, at 7 p.m., at 201 University Ave. Cliff Marchetti, 981-6740. 

Community Health Commission meets Thurs., April 12 , at 6:45 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5356.  

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., April 12, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410.  

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.