A celebration of smiles will be held at Emerson and Jefferson Elementary Schools this weekend. 

Smiles that belong to the thousands of children who have learned their ABCs and scraped their knees on their hallowed grounds over the last 100 years, and to the parents and teachers who have painstakingly helped them every day. 

Established in 1906, Emerson will celebrate its centennial anniversary today (Friday) while Jefferson—founded in 1907—will host it’s 100th birthday on Saturday. 

Both schools were born from the 1906 earthquake and both are vivid examples of institutions that have stood the test of time. 

“We acknowledge our students for who they are,” said Jefferson principal Betty Delaney, who has been at the school for the last six years. With her warm smile, watchful eyes and motherly advice, Delaney proudly carries the legacy of the school’s former principals. 

The close-knit North Berkeley community remembers Mary O’Bannon, Jefferson’s first principal, who drove to school each morning in her buggy. They remember Les Thomsen, who as a student in 1917 helped operate the school’s first baloptican projector. Years later, Thomsen directed a film about the school’s Junior Traffic Police in Hollywood. 

“Berkeley had the first Junior Traffic Police in the country,” Joann Sullivan, who served as the school historian for its 90th anniversary. 

“It was 1923, and August Zollmer, head of the Berkeley Police Department, felt it was necessary to have one,” she said. 

As Sullivan and a team of other devoted parents and faculty put together scraps of paper, remnants of faded photographs and a million memories, their effort gives shape to the history of the school’s evolution. 

“Way back when Ms. O’Bannon was principal, the school didn’t even have a piano because the Board of Education could not provide it,” Sullivan said smiling. “Fifteen dollars was raised for down payment and the principal gave her a note for the $185 balance. Her faith in the Jefferson people were justified. They met every succeeding payment.” 

Jefferson has come a long way since then. Its excellent programs and caring, nurturing atmosphere earned it “A California Distinguished School” award under principal Marian Altman. 

Anna Wong, who has taught the Chinese by Cultural Kindergarten program at Jefferson since 1970, credits the school’s success to its staff. 

“Over the years the teachers have put up with some really extraordinary circumstances,” she said, while teaching her class the meaning of resilience in the yard Wednesday. “But it’s the children who keep us going. My best memories are watching the kids develop and grow and have an ‘aha’ moment,” 

Teachers have survived not just disasters, suc as the Loma Prieta earthquake, but also small hindrances such as forever leaking hallway windows, lack of handicap access to the stage and second floor, asbestos removal, lead paint removal, failed heating system, popping floor tiles, and failing ceiling tiles, which led to many a stressful working condition over the years. 

“We will always be a work in progress,” said art teacher Lolly Watanabe, who is creating a centennial year mural with students. 

“Right now, the school does not reflect the creativity of the students and teachers and the tiles are going to change that. The entire mural will serve as an year book. The kids will be able to come back and remember Miss Delaney, Kate Brooks—their music teacher—and festivities such as the Chinese New Year.” 

For fifth-grader Tara Taeed, it was the memory of the school’s ice-cream social that went into her tile. “I have been going to it since I was a Kindergartner,” she said shyly. “It’s cool that our school has been here for 100 years. That makes it so much more special.” 

Nestled in the hills of South Berkeley, is another special institution— Emerson. A bond issue passed in May 1903 led to ten rooms built three years later on the corner of Piedmont and Forest Avenue and Emerson was born. 

Today the school boasts of classrooms, offices, an auditorium and a playground as well as an extraordinarily committed PTA and a strong academic program. 

“Even though it’s a tiny campus with no grass, it’s always been the kind of school you’d want to send your child to,” said former Emerson parent Jamie Carlson, who has been teaching at the school for 14 years. 

“Every year there’s a phrase we say : ‘It’s the Emerson Way’. The school is like our own village, our home, a place where we can be safe. Every teacher knows every student by name.” 

Emerson alumni will congregate Friday to share memories about Bert Harwell, known as the Bird Man, who served as principal from 1921-1927. Harwell, who broke the ice at the first faculty meeting by whistling for the teachers, inspired hundreds of Emerson school children with a love for the birds in their neighborhood. 

They will remember Miss Betty Pittman, former kindergartner teacher who is now 85 years-old and lives in Santa Barbara, and share a laugh about the wild sliding on the linoleum floors. 

“One of the things I remember is the effort to desegregate schools in the 1960s,” said Carlson. “Earlier, we only had students who came from middle class backgrounds and were just as white as could be. But after desegregation, there were children of color who came from different socio-economic levels.” 

Louis Smith, the school custodian, often described as the heart and soul of the school, summed up the spirit of Emerson after a day’s work. 

“When I first started, it was from K-3. Today it’s K-5,” he said. “It’s gotten a lot busier but everyone does their bit. If it hadn’t been for the team effort, I would have had a whole lot of trouble keeping up with things today.” 

Emerson Elementary School will begin festivities at 4 p.m. today (Friday) with tours of the Emerson school site followed by a reception and commemorative program at St. John's Presbyterian Church from 6-9 pm. Tickets $10; all alumni and family over 18 welcome. 

Jefferson Elementary School welcomes the entire Berkeley community, and especially Jefferson alums, to join them on Saturday between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., to celebrate 100 years of the school.

A weary mayor and seven councilmembers—with Councilmember Betty Olds having gone home—and more than two dozen members of the public waited in the council chambers past midnight Tuesday to address the mayor’s controversial Public Commons for Everyone initia-tive, a proposal aimed at curbing inappropriate behavior in shopping areas by intensifying law enforcement in an initial phase and adding social services later as funding will allow. 

No decision on the proposal was made however. Mayor Tom Bates delayed a vote, saying he would present additional information at the council’s May 22 meeting. 

Before the council was a staff report that would have required councilmembers to vote on whether they wanted the staff to write ordinances addressing any or all of the proposals the mayor had put forward.  

These are:  

• Strengthening prohibitions against lying on the sidewalk, making them citywide rather than just in the Telegraph-Shattuck avenues areas as they now are. The measure could include allowing police officers discretion in giving warnings to offenders before citing them;  

• Making urination/defecation in public a citable offense; 

• Broadening smoking restrictions, making smoking illegal in most parts of commercial districts; and 

• Increasing enforcement of existing laws such as prohibitions against bike riding on sidewalks, possessing a bicycle without proper registration, tying dogs to parking meters and more. 

When the remaining public—most of the homeless and marginally housed had left by midnight—was invited to queue up for comment, Downtown Business Association President Mark McLeod lauded the proposal. “Improved [street] behavior is going to equal more sales for our merchants,” he said. “More sales means more taxes. More taxes, more services.” 

But attorney and artist Osha Neumann slammed the proposal. “There are no services provided. It’s about new laws,” he told the council. 

Neumann distributed copies of a poster he had made to the council with an apparently homeless person seated on the sidewalk and a question inscribed at the bottom: “Is this a crime?”  

There are already laws on the books criminalizing the homeless, Neumann said, asking for what he called a “real” discussion on the issues. 

Jake Gelender of Copwatch also spoke against the initiative, condemning the further criminalization of petty infractions.  

“People aren’t not enjoying Telegraph because people are going around with unregistered bikes,” he said. “That is to target a population that is already over-targeted by police.” 

It’s not about a simple citation when one is talking about people with no address, no phone and no income, he said. “It’s about locking people up and nothing else.”  

In his comments the mayor added information to the staff report, saying that he was talking to city staff about keeping various bathrooms under city control open at all times: those at Civic Center, and at the Sather Gate and Center Street garages. He also said he would talk to UC Berkeley officials about keeping the People’s Park bathroom open. 

He said he also wanted to investigate installation of self-cleaning public toilets, such as are in use in San Francisco. 

Over the last few weeks, the initiative had been strongly criticized by the Homeless and Human Welfare commissions as well as service providers for its lack of services. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington noted at the meeting that funding has been “slashed for a dozen homeless groups” when services are critical. 

But Bates defended the proposal as a way to “open a dialogue in the community” on the question of unacceptable street behavior. While many have said the measure targets homeless people, the mayor said it does not. Its enforcement would respect everyone’s rights, he said. 

“I want to curb inappropriate street behavior wherever that is, whether it is adults or young people harassing passersby, or a small group of high school students wreaking havoc at lunch or after school, for people with serious mental illness problems, for people high on drugs or conducting unlawful activities,” he said, bringing the question of targeting Berkeley High students into the mix. 

The mayor underscored that the measure is not simply punitive and would eventually include services. “This is not one shot,” he said. “It is a broad picture.”  

Along those lines, Bates called for more seating in public areas so that people do not have to sit on the sidewalk. He also said he wanted to find a way to encourage people to give donations to agencies that serve the homeless, rather than directly to panhandlers “who may or may not use it for purposes you’d want them to use it for.”  

He said he’d also like to initiate a program of peer outreach, where there would be an initial response to inappropriate street behavior by trained peers. And he supports community policing and diversion programs. 

To pay for additional programs he said he would support a January 2008 increase in street parking fees, raising them to $1.50 per hour. This would generate $2 million, he said.  

Councilmember Laurie Capitelli spoke out in favor of the initiative—and had sent emails to constituents calling on them to come to the council meeting in its support.  

Councilmember Gordon Wozniak also supported the proposal and told the council and public a story about a time a year or so ago when he and his wife witnessed an incident in which a woman parked her car and went to an ATM machine nearby. In the few minutes she was there, an individual urinated on the grill of her car, he said. 

“I bet she didn’t come back to Berkeley,” Wozniak concluded.

With the release last week by Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums of a budget that proposes to spend $1.1 billion per year over the next two fiscal years, the focus of Oakland’s budget discussion now shifts to the Oakland City Council. 

The council is scheduled to formally receive the mayor’s proposed budget at a May 15 special meeting, with four more meetings planned in a month before a scheduled June 19 adoption. A sixth council budget meeting has been tentatively scheduled for June 21 if the council cannot come to an agreement by the June 19 meeting. 

In addition, several councilmembers have planned community budget meetings to be held within their individual districts. 

Council President Ignacio De La Fuente, who is expected to have a major say in reshaping the budget to meet the council’s desires as well as the mayor’s, was sick and out of the office this week and not available for comment. 

De La Fuente has scheduled two community meetings for the Fifth District he represents, one for the evening of Thursday, May 31, and the second for the morning of Saturday, June 2. Locations for the meetings have yet to be set. 

Last year, Dellums campaigned on soaring promises of making Oakland a “model city,” with far-reaching initiatives to tackle its most serious and long-standing problems. 

Though Dellums has not backed away from that vision, his May 3 budget message to the City Council made it plain that money for far-reaching new initiatives was not in Oakland’s current financial reach, and this was a hold-harmless budget that, at its best, keeps most current city programs and offices intact. 

“This is a balanced budget that continues funding levels for most existing programs, but a budget severely constrained by rising costs, stringent spending requirements, and limited revenues,” Dellums wrote. “While this budget touches on [my policy] priorities, it is neither a transformative budget nor an expression of my vision of Oakland as a 21st Century Model city. There are simply too few resources to address the magnitude of the problems facing Oakland. … With existing funds, we are not able to invest in our people or maintain our infrastructure. To address Oakland's short- and long-term needs, we need to develop our local economy to increase current revenue sources, as well as develop new sustainable revenue streams and program-specific funds. This is not a new discovery, but it is important for the residents of Oakland to understand that Oakland’s needs cannot be met solely through Oakland’s current budget.” 

But Dellums has proposed to address one of his most persistent campaign themes in the new budget, calling for the creation of a new position of Public Safety Director to work directly out of the mayor’s office. Last year, during the mayoral campaign, Dellums consistently criticized the governmental breakdown in New Orleans and along the Mississippi River area during and after Hurricane Katrina. During last month’s Frick Middle School Town Hall meeting, he said he did not want to repeat those mistakes in Oakland, and that with earthquakes the major natural disaster facing the East Bay, he wanted a Public Safety Director to directly coordinate disaster preparedness. 

While telling Councilmembers that “spending constraints severely limit the possibility of proposing new programs,” Dellums has also proposed $2.4 million for what he called “a very limited set of” new program initiatives in the area of support for children and youth, health, police, violence prevention, and human rights, among them an Oakland Human Rights Commission, an HIV screening program, 21 additional recreation staffmembers for after school programs, and additional staffmembers specifically designed to “to reduce barriers to ex-offenders finding City jobs.” 

The budget is based a $21.5 million increase in city revenue in FY2007-08 and a $14 million increase in FY2008-09, based upon forecasted economic growth of 4.8 percent this year and 3 percent the year after. The budget document says that “the revenue forecast is consistent with economists’ forecasts of moderate economic growth - without any indications of recession in sight.” 

Highlights of Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums’  

Fiscal Year 2008 and 2009 Proposed Budget 

Mayor Dellums’ Budget Priorities: to increase public safety and reduce crime and violence; to foster sustainable economic growth and development for the benefit of Oakland and Oakland residents; to create a sense of hope and empowerment, especially among youth; to give Oakland residents the opportunity to lead a healthy life; and to deliver City services in an open, transparent, effective and efficient manner. 

Principal Goal: to maintain fiscal prudence while avoiding cuts in current program levels. 

Funding Levels: Currently existing funding levels have been maintained, according to the Mayor’s office, for “most existing programs.” In other words, no major, across-the-board funding cuts. 

New program initiatives 

• $600,000 for 21 additional part-time (afternoon/evening) recreation staff to staff and support after-school programs. 

• $100,000 for additional staff to assist ex-offenders finding City jobs. 

• $400,000 for City/County collaboration on Children, Families and Youth. 

• $100,000 for a City/County HIV/AIDS initiative for testing, counseling, and treatment efforts. 

• $400,000 to add 5 non-sworn staff positions to support Chief Wayne Tucker’s geographic policing reorganization. 

• $300,000 for additional Mayor’s Office inter-governmental relations staff for the purpose of seeking increased funding for the City of Oakland from federal and state governments and philanthropic organizations. 

• $200,000 for continuation of one-time Council funding of the middle-school sports program. 

• $200,000 for increased support for Chabot Space and Science Center. 

• $100,000 for initial funding to support a Human Rights Commission. 

Need for additional revenues 

The mayor’s proposed budget is based upon a one-time allocation of $3.5 million to make up a shortfall in the Landscaping and Lighting Assessment District (LLAD). The mayor’s office anticipates that in order to keep current funding levels for maintenance of street lighting, parks, fields, medians and trees, the City will have to go back to Oakland voters prior to the beginning of the 2008-09 fiscal year to request an increase in the LLAD assessment. 

Two operations and five days after he was beaten outside a Berkeley student co-op, a San Francisco State student remains under medical care at Summit Alta Bates Hospital. 

Charles Rochon, a resident of the Andres Castro Arms co-op at 2310 Prospect St., sustained a skull fracture, a broken jaw and other injuries in a fight with at least one man, identified by friends as a member of the national championship UC Berkeley rugby team. 

Berkeley Police spokesperson Officer Ed Galvan said police were called at 9:48 p.m. Saturday about an incident near the intersection of Prospect Street and Channing Way. 

Officers interviewed Rochon at the scene, and “he said he wanted no medical service. We thought it was not anything major,” said Galvan. 

A housemate’s father, a UC Irvine faculty member and physician, insisted that he should see a doctor when asked for advice by telephone. He was admitted to the hospital the next day, where the full extent of his injuries was diagnosed. 

Rochon then told his story to Berkeley detectives, who have launched an investigation, Galvan said. 

“We took the case,” said the officer. “We are currently working on an investigation, and we can’t release anything more than that.” 

Rochon, reached at the hospital, declined to comment on the attack, other than to say “I wish I could tell you what happened, but I’ve been advised not to talk” until he can meet with an attorney. 

The incident reportedly began after something was thrown through a window of the co-op, now covered with flattened segments of a cardboard box. A confrontation outside was followed by the beating, said the friend.  

The attack followed the rugby team’s capture of the national title in a 37-7 win over Brigham Young University in a game played at Stanford. 

A call to Irene Hegarty, UC Berkeley’s director of community relations, had not been returned by deadline. 

Nextel and Verizon representatives at Tuesday’s council meeting squared off with irate neighbors of UC Storage at 2721 Shattuck Ave., with the communications companies getting what they wanted—the promise of a public hearing to review a zoning board decision which denied the powerful companies permits to install their antennas atop the Shattuck Avenue building. 

In other council actions, the body voted to reappoint Library Trustee Susan Kupfer, called on a developer and neighbors to come to an agreement over disputed height of a proposed south Shattuck condominium building, asked the city manager to explore adding sex-change operations to the city’s employee benefits and more. 

At the council meeting, both sides of the telecommunications question laid out their cases. Paul Albritton, an attorney representing Verizon, cited the need for the antennas. Berkeley’s use of cell phones has increased 94 percent between years 2005 and 2006, he said, adding, “Data use has tripled in Berkeley.” 

Nearby residents argued that the council has significant evidence that there is no need for additional coverage and that south Berkeley has got the highest rating for service.  

But the argument that seemed to convince the council majority that a hearing was in order was city staff’s recommendation to set aside the zoning board decision: “The board did not make a finding relating [to] the primary need for the facility, which is capacity,” a staff report said. 

The vote to support the zoning board decision was 3-5-1, with Councilmembers Max Anderson, Darryl Moore and Kriss Worthington voting in favor of the decision and Councilmember Dona Spring abstaining. The date of the hearing will be set at the May 22 meeting. 

Neighbors call for lower building 

People in the same neighborhood also came to the meeting to contest the zoning board’s approval of a five-story 24-unit condominium development planned for 2401 Shattuck Ave. Neighbors were calling for developer Gordon Choyce to construct a structure whose height would not interfere with their access to sunlight. The council made no decision, but asked Councilmembers Laurie Capitelli and Max Anderson to mediate between the neighbors and developers. They will come back to the council July 10. 

Kupfer reappointed 

While fellow trustee Terry Powell called on the council Tuesday night to renew the appointment of trustee and Board Chair Susan Kupfer for “leading the library through difficult times,” a number of citizens asked the council not to rubberstamp the reappointment and to have an open and democratic process.  

The council vote went in favor of the reappointment 6-2-1, with Councilmembers Kriss Worthington and Dona Spring opposing and Councilmember Max Anderson abstaining.  

At issue in the trustee reappointment is the constitution of the board of trustees. Unlike most city commissions, where the mayor and council each appoint a commissioner, and the rent and school boards, where members are elected by the community, the library trustees select new trustees and renew four-year appointments automatically. (The trustees have a two-term limit.) The City Council then affirms the trustees’ decision, generally approving the candidate without discussion. 

But because of increasing conflict at the library over the last few years, with members of the public opposing the decision to use Radio Frequency Identification Devices and conflict between staff and the former director, the public has increasingly called for more transparency in the actions of the library directors. Some have called for putting an end to self-selection among the trustees and handing the job over to the city council. 

Addressing the council, Berkeley resident Leona Wilson called the selection process “undemocratic” and asked, “Where is the public in the public library?” 

The council voted unanimously to: 

• increase the salary of the energy program manager to a range of $7,000 to $8,300 per month; 

• conduct a refuse rate survey, which will likely result in an increase in garbage rates; 

• ask the city manager to look at the cost of adding sex reassignment surgery to city staff benefits; 

• ask the city manager to report on the possibility of implementing community involved policing for Telegraph Avenue and other districts in the city.

The Berkeley City Council got a first look at the draft two-year 2008-2009 $614,050 budget at a workshop before its regular meeting on Tuesday. Final budget decisions will not be made until the June 26 council meeting. 

The budget is balanced through savings mostly from vacant or eliminated positions and limited increases in revenue, despite the fact that “growth in recurring revenues is not keeping pace with the cost of providing city services and programs,” according to the city manager’s written budget report. 

As always, there’s little wiggle room for councilmembers to fund pet projects for their districts, as 80 percent of the budget is dedicated to fixed employee costs and most of the rest of the budget is tied up in ongoing projects and capital expenses. 

The council will have a degree of discretion, however.  

Much of that comes from a one-time infusion of cash the city is getting from unexpected commercial transfer taxes—taxes of 1.5 percent of the sales price of properties. Large commercial properties sold during the 2007 fiscal year include seven of Patrick Kennedy’s properties, the Fantasy Building at 10th and Parker streets, the Smith-Marchant building on the 6700 block of San Pablo Avenue and the Shattuck Hotel. 

The total FY 2007 transfer tax is expected to be $15.6 million. Of that, the city manager considers $10.5 million as recurring revenue to be allocated as part of ongoing city expenses.  

The remaining $5.1 million can be used for one-time expenditures. While the manager had detailed the projects he would like to see funded, the council will be able to make adjustments, Kamlarz said at a Tuesday morning press briefing. 

Kamlarz asked the council to spend the windfall over five years on capital improvement projects including: $900,000 for deferred maintenance for city buildings and recreation facilities, including swimming pools, senior and recreation centers; $1 million transportation planning; $2.86 million for streets and other transportation funding and $1 million for clean storm water/creeks planning.  

The city manager is proposing to fund other projects through a shift in expenditures. Some of the projects he is asking the council to fund include: 

• Youth—$306,000: funding would go to 50 jobs for $136,000 (Mayor Tom Bates and Councilmembers Darryl Moore and Max Anderson are asking for enough money to fund 400 jobs) and adding another $170,000 for recreation programs cut in earlier budgets; 

• Full-time watershed coordinator—$66,000, increasing the half-time position to full time; 

• Affordable housing: $947,000 over two years to subsidize the Berkeley Housing Authority; and $1.5 million to fund three projects: Ashby Lofts, Satellite Senior Housing and the Oxford Plaza. (This $1.5 million is expected to be reimbursed to the general fund through future fees for condominium conversion.) 

• Public safety—$900,000: $600,000 is allocated to keep all fire stations open (ending rotating closures) until December 2008 and $300,000 for training public safety dispatchers on a new communications system. 

Still, there’s not enough money available to fund large projects, Kamlarz said, proposing their funding through new taxes. 

For example, $80 million is needed to fund the aging, under-capacity storm water system, he said.  

“If people want more police and fire, they may need a special tax,” Kamlarz added. “Feeling safe is a major community value.”  

On the average, one police officer costs approximately $170,000, including a car, equipment and overtime, said budget manager Tracy Vasely. 

At the same time, the city manager said the impact of a new tax could be blunted by refinancing existing obligation bonds. 

“Given the savings resulting from the Measure S bond restructuring, the resulting increased tax generated from a ballot measure would be offset, resulting in a minimal new tax increase to homeowners,” the manager says in his budget report. 

Other anticipated revenue sources are increases in sewer and garbage fees—studies on the increase are pending. A 5 percent increase in the Marina berth fee will come before the council May 22. 

The budget includes a 6 percent reserve. “Eight percent covers city operations for 30 days,” Vasely said. 

Among the large city costs are employees’ pension funds. “We have guaranteed pensions for the rest of our lives,” Kamlarz said. At age 50, police and fire employees can opt to retire and receive 3 percent of their top year’s wages for every year served. Other staff gets 2.7 percent per year of their top wages if they retire at age 55.  

“It’s a very expensive plan,” Kamlarz said. 

Areas in which city revenue is growing in addition to transfer taxes are city income from hotel taxes, auto in-lieu fees, parking fines, and interest income. Sales taxes show a small increase and business license tax revenue is flat. 

Councilmembers have a number of projects they are asking the city manager to consider. Funding them would amount to $3.8 million in one-time costs and $2.1 million in recurring costs.  

The council wish list includes increasing the street sweeping program, traffic calming measures, implementation of the Public Commons for Everyone proposal, holding programs at the Willard Park clubhouse, providing sex-reassignment surgery as part of employee benefits, adding funding to Options Recovery Services, funding community-involved policing and funding implementation of the mayor’s greenhouse gas reduction plan. 

A community meeting will be held May 29 when the public can ask questions about the budget, copies of which are available $25 through the city clerk’s office or online at www.cityofBerkeley.info/ budget. The meeting will be at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center at Hearst Avenue and Martin Luther King, Jr. Way.

If a Burger King wants to set up shop on Telegraph Avenue, the Berkeley Planning Commission decided Wednesday night that they’re not inclined to block it, though they don’t expect the fast food chain to open up on Berkeley’s emblematic commercial street. 

The issue before the commission was a staff proposal drawn up in response to comments commissioners made at the March 28 meeting after they voted 5-4 to adopt new rules that would ease quota-busting on the avenue. 

Those changes are currently slated to go before the City Council for final adoption on June 12. 

The existing ordinance, adopted in 1985, sets strict quotas on the numbers and types of business allowed in the Telegraph Commercial District. 

Immediately after the March vote, commissioners Susan Wengraf and Harry Pollack said they might be willing to reconsider the requirements for findings in the revised ordinance they’d just approved. Findings spell out the reasons for granting variances from existing quotas. 

The main concerns of commissioners were about the “quick service” restaurant category, zoning-code-speak for fast food eateries. 

Associate Planner Jordan Harrison drew up a series of four options that could tighten the proposed rules to make it more difficult to open quick service and other so-called “formula restaurants” in the district. 

The choices ranged from an outright ban to the no-change option ultimately accepted. 

A lawyer representing the owners of the Granada Building at the southeast corner of Telegraph and Bancroft Way told commissioners her clients were “strongly opposed to any new restrictions on business in the area.” 

Robia Chang, representing Munger Properties, said a ban on formula restaurants “would present itself as another barrier to businesses.” 

Roland Peterson, executive director of the Telegraph Business Improvement District, said his organization “opposes all quotas in the district. A ban on formula restaurants is just another restriction on business,” and contradicts efforts of Mayor Tom Bates and City Councilmember Laurie Capitelli to aid the district, he said. 

“I am an immediate past president of the California Downtown Association,” he said, “and we have found that the most successful downtowns have a mixture of formula and unique restaurants.” 

While Wengraf said she thought that with a little editing the commission might be able to adopt a recommendation to forward to the council, in the end the commissioners decided not to act. 

Vice Chair Larry Gurley said there probably wasn’t any reason to worry, noting that city Planning Manager Mark Rhoades had told the commission earlier that Berkeley was perhaps the only town in the U.S. where Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken had closed their franchises. 

The permit regulations changes as now proposed will make it easier for new businesses to avoid the quotas, and for property owners to subdivide previously mandated minimum spaces into smaller spaces for rental to multiple tenants. 

West Berkeley car sales 

Do proposed zoning ordinance amendments proposed to allow car dealers to set up shop in West Berkeley also open the door to commercializing the city’s last remaining manufacturing and light industrial districts? 

Rick Auerbach said he thinks they do, but commissioners said he was worrying for naught. 

At issue are the zoning law changes sought by Mayor Tom Bates as a way of keeping car dealers— and their hefty sales tax revenues—from fleeing the city. 

Auto manufacturers have told the city they want dealerships “freeway close,” as their ads often say, but current zoning law bars them from locating in the M and MULI zones that govern most city property immediately to the east of Interstate 80. 

Auerbach, who spoke as a representative of West Berkeley Artists and Industrial Companies (WEBAIC), said his group “is sympathetic to auto businesses locating in West Berkeley,” but concerned that the wording of the changes would allow other businesses to settle in. 

Because retail rents are higher than industrial rents, WEBAIC members have opposed opening up more of the area to commercial use because they fear higher rents could drive out small industries, artists and artisans. 

He said he was also concerned that the large size of the parcels the proposal allows for dealerships could lead car retailers to buy up multiple properties and consolidate them, destroying existing buildings in the process. 

“I am not happy about this in many ways,” said Commissioner Gene Poschman. His colleague Harry Pollack said concerns that the wording would open up the area to other retailers were misplaced, but “there might be a better way to phrase it.” 

Commissioners agreed, however, that the dealers couldn’t let would-be buyers test drive prospective purchases in the nearby neighborhood. 

“You couldn’t say that all test drivers should be conducted in Albany?” quipped Gurley. 

“I think it’s a good idea,” said Pollack. 

In the end, the commission voted unanimously to schedule a public hearing on the ordinance changes at an upcoming meeting. 

ABAG quotas 

Poschman took the final moments of the meeting to direct another round of criticism at the housing quotas imposed by the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG). 

While the regional government agency doesn’t demand construction of all the units in the quotas it imposes, it does insist that local governments be willing to permit the full development if private builders apply—with possible loss of some state and federal funding if municipalities and county governments refuse. 

Poschman said Berkeley is penalized with higher quotas than many other cities because of ABAG policies that set larger numbers for cities with rail transit, adding that Berkeley also seemed to go out of its way to meet quotas while Newark had built none of the below-market-rate housing in its ABAG quota. 

“They must know something we don’t,” he said. Five other Bay Area communities had built less than 10 percent of their affordable housing quotas, and 11 others hadn’t built half. In addition, he said, the city was also obligated under state law to meet the housing needs generated by UC Berkeley. 

The city is currently in the process of challenging the latest proposed quota, which would apply through 2012.

The Berkeley Board of Education delayed its vote on a controversial proposal to establish a Community Day School on the B-Tech campus Wednesday. 

Superintendent Michele Lawrence recommended that the Independent Study program remain at the B-Tech campus at Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Derby Street for the time being, while options for moving the program are considered. 

She asked the school board to hold off on the decision to move the Independent Study program to the new Adult School at San Pablo Avenue to make room for the proposed Community Day School, which would enroll middle-school students who have faced expulsion from school, have disciplinary problems, are on probation, have attendance or adjustment problems, or require a smaller school setting. 

“I felt it was necessary to pull the plug on this today,” Lawrence told boardmembers, and added that Berkeley Unified would continue to look for a viable place to relocate the Independent Study program so that the Community Day School could be esablished as early as the spring 2008 semester. 

The board discussed the proposal at great length after Independent Study parents and staff vehemently opposed it at the meeting. 

“We have needed a Community Day School for sometime now,” Lawrence said. “We don’t have an appropriate place to put children who are troubled or need special attention. We have a wonderful Independent Study program but students can only go there independently. We cannot force anyone to go there. The continuation school [B-Tech] cannot be used for middle school students. As a result there are very limited options.” 

Lawrence added that the school district did not have school campuses that could hold the administrative offices, classrooms and conference rooms required at the Community Day School. 

“We looked at Willard Elementary School but it was horrifically cramped,” she said. “We looked at West Campus but that made no sense. The classrooms are leaking, unhealthy and we are intending to knock that place down. We did go to the current Adult School site but that did not work out either.” 

The proposed plan for the Community Day School recommends that the program be housed in the current location for Independent Study, which is on a separate part of the B-Tech campus. 

“No sufficient planning has preceded this proposal,” said Robert Young, a Berkeley teacher. “Moving 170 Independent Study students to the Adult School which does not have adequate light is not a good idea. B-Tech parents and students have not been consulted either.” 

Gordon Stevens, an IS parent, said that tampering with the Independent Study program could jeopardize his daughter’s future. 

Cathy Campbell, vice president of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers, said that while the union supported the creation of a Community Day School, curriculum should not be harmed in the process. 

“Many attend Independent Study because they need a smaller learning environment or are in a transitional phase in their lives,” she said. “Moving this program to the Adult School would mean a loss of 1,000 square feet for Independent Study. There is zero natural light, insufficient acoustics and the rooms are currently only used for Traffic School and testing. The bathrooms are also located a distance away.” 

Board Vice President John Selawsky said that he had heard in the past that the Independent Study site was getting crowded and not considered a good fit for its current students. 

“So there is some kind of double talk going on,” he said. “Maybe it’s the fear of the unknown. However, it’s important to know that we live in a built-out city and a built-out district. We have very little space to move our programs and our students around. It’s the curriculum, the people and the sense of purpose that builds a good program, not the facility itself. The facility can enhance the program. I would ask faculty and parents at Independent Study to keep an open mind.” 

Lawrence said that the partnership between the proposed Community Day School and B-Tech made sense because students at both schools would need counseling and education support services as well as an administrator.  

B-Tech principal Victor Diaz would oversee the curriculum, staff development, day-to-day discipline and supervision and evaluation of staff at the Community Day School. 

“I need to let our Independent Study program know that we don’t have any other space to put the Community Day School,” Lawrence said. “We need to look for another place to put the Independent Study in.” 

The Community Day School would initially enroll seventh- and eighth-graders and would expand to serve sixth- through ninth-graders in the future. 

2007-08 consolidated school plans 

The board unanimously approved the 2007-08 consolidated school plans which outlines a three-year plan for student achievement at each school site. 

Selawsky commented that although progress had been made in creating the plans, inconsistencies were present from site to site. 

“A lot of thought was put into most of the plans, but there were a handful of sites where there was no mention of any plans,” he said. “I expect some of these sites to do some more work.” 

Lawrence said that the plan had become more inclusive and was considering the needs of every child in the district. School board member Karen Hemphill said that the plans should be shared with the community. 

“We need to celebrate what the schools are doing for the our children,” she said. “We should give the public the opportunity to see what we are getting to see.”

Tuskegee police have charged Quentin Motez Davis, 18, of Macon County, and Romanita Michelle Cloud, 18, of Tuskegee, Ala., with the murder of Berkeley High Graduate Canon Jones, who was shot after he left his dorm to buy food on April 29. 

Both teenagers are being held at the Macon County Detention Center without bond. Police believe robbery was the the motive for the shooting. Canon, who graduated from the Communication Arts and Sciences School (CAS) at Berkeley High in 2006, had also attended the Berkeley Boosters PAL program. 

“He had so much potential,” said CAS English teacher Ingrid Martinez. “We were really looking forward to see him accomplish a lot. He was a leader and a really great community member.” 

David W. Manson Jr. of the Berkeley Boosters described Canon as a “peacemaker.” 

“He was planning on working with the younger kids this summer as a youth counselor in our summer adventure camp programs when he returned from college,” he said in an email. 

Canon had also worked at Berkeley Unified’s transportation department last summer before starting at Tuskegee. 

“This is the tenth Berkeley High student we have lost to a shooting in the last three years,” said school district spokesperson Mark Coplan. 

“Canon was a really popular kid,” he said. “When his mother went to his dorm room to collect all his stuff, she was surrounded by at least 30 college students who shared memories about him.” 

Funeral services are scheduled to be held today (Friday) at the Southside Church of Christ in Richmond at 11:15 a.m. 

State Assemblymember Loni Hancock, City Councilmember Kriss Worthington and Father Stephan of St. Joseph the Worker Church were among the 38 people arrested in front of the Woodfin Suites Hotel Thursday, committing civil disobedience to show support for 12 hotel workers fired April 27. 

More than 300 worker advocates rallied as 38 supporters sat in the street in front of the hotel at 5900 Shellmound St. in Emeryville, according to Brooke Anderson, organizer with the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy. The workers and their supporters have been demanding that the hotel enforce Measure C, a living wage law for Emeryville hotel workers that mandates overtime rates when workers clean more than a set amount of space. 

Hotel management has told the Planet that the fired workers do not have proper Social Security numbers, but their advocates say that the question of Social Security numbers came up only after workers began to demand enforcement of Measure C. 

On its website, www.woodfinfacts.org, the hotel management says that on April 27 “the City of Emeryville warned our company in writing that our decision to comply with federal laws would place Woodfin ‘in clear violation of city law.’ 

“This language amounts to not much more than a veiled threat to revoke our hotel operating permit, a decision that would result in all 120-plus Woodfin employees being unceremoniously thrown out of work.”  

A murder and three stabbings marked Berkeley’s most violent 24 hours so far in 2007, ending with the wounding of two firefighters inside their station. 

The homicide is Berkeley’s first for the year, though the name of the victim, like the identity of his killer, remains a mystery.  

Police learned of the crime at 6:30 a.m. Sunday, when an employee of a West Berkeley business called emergency operators to report the discovery of a man lying atop an abandoned stretch of railroad track near the corner of Cedar and Second streets. 

He was unconscious when officers arrived at the scene, said Officer Ed Galvan, spokesperson for the Berkeley Police Department, and paramedics pronounced him dead soon after they arrived. 

“We’re trying to find out what killed him, and we need to identify him,” said Galvan, who described the victim only as a possibly Hispanic man, apparently in his 20s. 

The scene is located between a self-storage yard and an automobile towing and storage service. 

The victim was taken to the Alameda County Coroner’s office in Oakland for an autopsy, and coroner’s representative Charles Brewer said the examination was under way Monday afternoon, though results would be released by Berkeley police. 

Until completion of the autopsy, said Officer Galvan, the time of death remains unknown. 

“We know that it happened sometime between the time the owner of a nearby business left Saturday and the time of his return at about 6:30 Sunday morning,” he said. 

The police representative said identification will be made by the coroner’s office. “They’ll pull his fingerprints. If he’s been fingerprinted for a driver’s license or an arrest or a job application that required a background check, it could be easy. If he hasn’t, it could be harder,” Galvan said. 

He asked anyone with information about the crime to call the department’s Homicide Detail at 981-5741 or the general switchboard at 981-5900. 

Triple stabbing 

Berkeley police arrested a suspect in the stabbings, identified as 53-year-old Michael Kenard Cornelius. 

The knifing spree began shortly before 1:45 a.m. Monday, when a woman was awakened from sleep in her home in the 2700 block of Milvia Street by the sounds of an intruder. 

Police were called to the scene by neighbors who reported that they’d heard a woman screaming, and officers found the woman bleeding from a cut in the arm inflicted by the intruder after she confronted him. 

Officers and paramedics arrived moments later, and the woman was able to provide a description of her attacker. 

Minutes later, Cornelius reportedly walked into the open engine bay at Berkeley Fire Station No. 5 a block away at 2680 Shattuck—the same station which had dispatched paramedics to treat the injured woman. 

“We got a call from Station 5 requesting help because someone was inside,” said Galvan. 

Meanwhile, when firefighters confronted the man in an attempt to capture him, the suspect fought back, stabbing one firefighter in the hand and another in the abdomen before making his getaway. 

“We found him about an hour later,” Galvan said. 

Following an intense search by Berkeley officers, an Oakland canine team and a California Highway Patrol helicopter, Cornelius was spotted hiding beneath the deck of a nearby home in the 2000 block Parker Street, where he was taken into custody. 

Galvan said he didn’t known if the suspect resisted arrest, nor if the knife had been recovered. 

Cornelius was booked on suspicion of three counts of assault with a deadly weapon, one count of first degree robbery for the home invasion of the home on Milvia, and one count of burglary. He was being held in Berkeley City Jail Monday afternoon 

None of the stabbing victims was seriously injured, Galvan said.  

“Both firefighters were treated for their injuries and released,” said Deputy Fire Chief David Orth. “They’ve gone home now.” 

“We’re not talking about it,” said Orth when asked for more details about the incident inside the station. “We’ve been deferring to the police department, which has been doing a good job. We’re taking care of our officers and making sure everything’s okay.” 

Cornelius may have a prior criminal record, as indicated by two habeas corpus applications denied by the state Court of Appeal and a published report that stated he was on probation stemming from a burglary conviction and prison sentence. 

Telegraph area merchants, property owners, residents and city officials and their representatives took a field trip to San Francisco last week to find out how “the city” curbs inappropriate behavior on Haight Street. 

They came away with kudos for the area and calling for Community Involved Policing on Telegraph, according to Al Geyer, owner of Annapurna and member of the Telegraph Area Merchants Association. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington, among those on the trip, has placed a resolution on today’s (Tuesday) council agenda asking the city manager to write a report that would detail how the city could adopt community policing on Telegraph. 

In other business in the council’s 1,451-page packet, the council will address the mayor’s proposal to enact laws intended to curb anti-social street behavior, approve a mobile disaster fire protection system, discuss how a “sunshine” law will be written and reviewed, look at providing sex reassignment surgery as part of the city’s healthcare benefits, appointing Susan Kupfer as library trustee and more. 

The city meetings begin at 5 p.m. with a budget workshop. No information was available on the budget by deadline on Monday at 5 p.m. 

Geyer praised Haight Street for its sense of safety. And while there were homeless people on the street, “No one approached us,” he said, explaining that he and others on the trip credited community policing for the comfortable feel of the street. 

Geyer contrasts policing on Haight to that on Telegraph, which he compared to “a school with nothing but substitute teachers” given the lack of consistency in the officers who patrol the area. 

One of the people the group met in San Francisco was Officer John Andrews, who patrols the Haight, which is about the same length as the Telegraph Avenue business district.  

Andrews has chosen to be a beat officer in the Haight and has worked in that capacity for four years, according to Geyer. He spends at least two hours walking his beat and uses a bicycle to patrol during the remaining time of his shift. Each day, Andrews goes into every business to check in with the shop keepers. 

“We saw him stop and talk and listen to people,” Worthington said. “He was clearly engaged.” 

“Unlike here, they know the names of people in the community and get to know the habitual offenders,” Geyer said. Also, unlike in Berkeley, the Haight’s beat officers want to work in the area and make a long-term commitment, he said. 

Police on Telegraph “don’t want to be here,” Geyer said. “The officers here never engage the community.” 

The Haight officers have one cell-phone number merchants call and generally reach the officer directly. 

In Berkeley, the merchants call the non-emergency police number and speak to a dispatcher who is unfamiliar with Telegraph Avenue, Geyer said. They go through a mandatory litany of questions: “Are you safe? Is the person bothering you? Someone else? What does the person look like?” 

Worthington says that giving merchants the ability to call the beat officer directly is not out of the ordinary. “Many suburban shopping centers do that,” he said, noting that the Telegraph Avenue businesses do $100 million in sales annually and should be provided this service. 

The mental health teams don’t help, Geyer said, contending that the police don’t do the social work they need to do with people acting out because they think the mental health team is going to take care of the situation.  

In the Haight, “the police officers are more interested in social issues and act more like psychologists or school principals than crime fighters,” Geyer said. 

Policing in the Telegraph area is made difficult because of the way it is divided, with one precinct going from the middle of Telegraph Avenue to College Avenue and the other precinct stretching from the middle of the street to Shattuck Avenue, Geyer said. UC Berkeley police overlap in the area with city police. 

“When you call, you might get any of the three,” Geyer said, adding that the area should be one jurisdiction, patrolled by one city and one university officer. 

Another element of the Haight’s community policing is regular community meetings. 

In Berkeley, Worthington said, “The police just meet with the Telegraph Business Improvement District,” the property owners. “They hold one-sided insider meetings,” Worthington said. 

San Francisco Capt. John Ehrlich, who supervises the Haight Street beat officers, meets with the community every two to four weeks. The groups include neighborhood and community organizations, city departments, homeless youth, the Coalition on Homelessness and more. The group has no decision-making power, but it creates a dialogue within the community, Ehrlich said.  

Berkeley Police Chief Doug Hambleton did not return a call for comment before deadline. 

Public Commons Initiative 

The Homeless, Mental Health and Human Welfare commissions asked the mayor not to take action on proposals on the agenda concerning the Public Commons for Everyone Initiative, intended to enhance a person’s shopping experience by reducing the inappropriate street behavior of those who use the public areas associated with commercial districts. 

The mayor has said previously that the initiative will include services for people with mental health/substance abuse needs, but none are included in the part of the initiative to be addressed by the council tonight.  

The council could delay discussion of the initiative or approve some or all of its provisions, some of which include: 

• Changing the smoking laws from prohibiting smoking with 20 feet of a doorway or bus stop to prohibiting smoking within 25 feet of any building face in a commercial zone; 

• Making public urination and defication a citable offense and adding signage to the nearest public restroom; 

• Strictly enforcing city and state laws including prohibitions of lying on the sidewalk, public consumption of alcohol, noise disturbance (yelling and shouting), hitching animals to fixed objects, unauthorized possession of a shopping cart and more. 

Mobile protection from fire disaster 

The council will be asked to approve a $4.7 million mobile fire protection system intended to provide adequate water to fight large fires during an emergency when normal sources of water are unavailable or inadequate.  

The water would come from the Bay or Aquatic Park and would be pumped through 12-inch hoses to the fire, as high as Grizzly Peak, according to Deputy Chief David Orth. 

Funding for such a system was approved by voters in 2000, although the particular system under consideration at that time was later found to be inadequate and was not purchased.  

No additional funding will be asked of taxpayers, who have been paying for the system through their property taxes. 

Kupfer reappointment to library board 

Despite objections to the process by SuperBOLD, Berkeleyans Organized for Library Defense, a staff report written by library services director Donna Corbeil recommends a second term for Library Trustee Susan Kupfer. 

Kupfer was recommended by the library board 3-1, with board member Ying Lee voting in opposition. The City Council must approve the recommendation and generally does so without discussion. 

Kupfer “has dedicated countless hours of volunteer time in support of the library during a difficult time and is currently providing leadership as chair of the board,” says Corbeil’s report. “Her work on behalf of the board included negotiating the resignation of the previous library director, assisting with administration of the library during the past year’s leadership gap, working with the staff to solve daily problems, and supervision of the library director recruitment process ... Trustee Kupfer’s knowledge and professional legal expertise has been an exceptional contribution to the board and its decisions over the past four years of her term.” 

The library director serves at the pleasure of the library board. 

An ad hoc committee of city councilmembers and library trustees has been meeting to revamp the trustee selection process, in which the trustees self-select their members, with the council affirming the selection with little or no discussion.  

The council will also consider: 

• A process by which a sunshine (open government) law will be drafted and reviewed by the community. While Mayor Tom Bates said at the April 24 meeting that he would call on open government expert Terry Francke, an attorney with the advocacy organization Californians Aware, to help draft the ordinance, the city manager’s report says that the city attorney is continuing to draft the ordinance and that Francke and others will be able to weigh in after its completion. 

• Including sex reassignment surgery as part of employee healthcare benefits; 

• Increasing funds for summer employment for youth; 

• Setting a public hearing in July for an appeal for the Zoning Adjustment Board’s denial of a new wireless telecommunications facility at 2721 Shattuck Ave. 

• Reviewing the Sweatshop Free Berkeley Ordinance that was approved by the council but has not been implemented. It concerns the city not purchasing goods produced in sweatshop conditions. 

Charges of misconduct levied against two Berkeley police officers in the recent past spurred a five-member Police Review Commission subcommittee to look at creating more effective police policies. 

Thursday evening the Evidence Theft Subcommittee interviewed Berkeley Police Chief Douglas Hambleton on issues arising from two police misconduct cases: Cary Kent, a former police sergeant, pleaded guilty in May 2006 to felony charges of stealing drugs from the evidence room he was responsible for; and Officer Steven Fleming was charged by the department with stealing money and other items from citizens he arrested. Fleming resigned from the department in February without being charged by the Alameda County District Attorney’s office. 

At the Thursday meeting, subcommittee members—PRC Commissioners Bill White, Sharon Kidd and Sherry Smith, and community members Andrea Pritchett of Copwatch and James Chanin, an attorney and former PRC member—had hoped, in addition to the chief, to interview officers close to the two cases.  

The Berkeley Police Officers Association, however, in a letter to Hambleton threatened to “pursue court action” if officers were required to appear and testify before the subcommitee, linking its objection to a recent case won by the BPA that protects police officer confidentiality in personnel-related issues. 

Questioning the blue line 

One question Chanin asked went to the heart of the problem in the Kent case: why did various officers recognize a problem with their fellow officer but not report it? The 900-page Internal Affairs report, made public after Kent pleaded guilty to felony charges, documents through interviews with numerous officers that many realized there was something amiss with Kent more than two years before charges were brought against him. He was unkempt, performed duties late, was at the station at odd hours of the day, slept at his desk, isolated himself and more, according to the report.  

Some officers mentioned their concerns to colleagues, and a few mentioned the problems to commanding officers, the report said. 

“Are officers trained to tell their supervisors when they see an officer is unable to perform his or her duties?” Chanin asked the chief. 

“I don’t think there’s a specific training on that—no,” Hambleton responded. 

“Are there any policies to report any officers they believe are unable to perform their duties and responsibilities?” Chanin asked, and the chief said there are not, although, while the policy is not in writing, he expects supervisors to recognize problems and follow up. 

When it was her turn to question the chief, Commissioner Smith pursued the issue of inadequate supervision. “The lack of written policies has allowed for so much leeway in your written policies that the results seem to be a complete failure of supervision,” she said. 

Smith went on to query the chief about disciplining supervising officers. “I would be curious to know if anyone had been disciplined because of failure to adequately supervise,” she said. 

Hambleton declined to comment, citing the letter from the BPA attorneys that cautioned against discussing issues in public that touch on personnel issues. 

Along the same line of questioning, subcommittee members wanted to know whether there are policies targeting officers who are late. Interviews by the Internal Affairs Department showed that Kent was consistently late for meetings or did not come to them at all, and was late in distributing drug evidence to officers who needed it in court or was not there at all to distribute it. 

Hambleton said if officers are late to work, it is recorded on their time cards. If the officer is late to distribute drug evidence the supervising officer should know about it, but there is no policy that says a report must go up the chain of command, Hambleton said. 

Further he said there is no written policy mandating an officer report another officer if that officer doesn’t get drug evidence to him in a timely way. 

And there is no policy that an officer file a report when an arrestee says his money has been taken by police or when an officer uses profanity in speaking to a prisoner, the chief said. (Former Officer Fleming was accused of both stealing prisoners’ money and using profanity in addressing them.) 

Recognizing officers under the influence 

Other questions addressed concerns that fellow officers, especially those involved in drug crimes, should have recognized that one of their own was a drug abuser. (While there was no confirmation in arrest records that Kent was a drug abuser, his attorney Harry Stein, of Rains, Lucia & Wilkinson told the Planet last year that Kent had sought treatment for drug addiction.) 

“How are Berkeley police officers trained to recognize people under the influence?” Chanin asked the chief, who answered that there is a training that some officers go through, but most have not received the training.  

Smith said she was surprised at the response. “I would think that anybody who is in charge of who’s on a narcotics squad for drug investigations would have taken that training,” Smith said, wondering why, since the chief had been trained, he had not recognized a drug-addicted officer. 

Hambleton responded that symptoms can be subtle “when someone appears to be sick, for instance,” Hambleton said. (Kent had told several fellow officers that he had lupus.) 

The chief further explained that such training might not help in a situation such as the Kent case. In addition to outward signs, the officer would have to touch the skin to see how moist it is, examine the suspect’s pupils, and take the person’s pulse.  

“That’s not the kind of activity that would normally occur in the employment setting,” Hambleton said. 

The other avenue is ordering drug testing, something that is prohibited by the city, the chief added. 

Chanin pressed the chief to elaborate on what new policies could be put into place so that substance-abusing officers are identified, but the chief said he thinks no new policy is needed in this area. 

However, he would like to be permitted to send an officer suspected of abusing substances for a medical exam. “It is not something we can do under the current policies,” Hambleton said, noting that it would have to be part of the Memorandum of Understanding, the work agreement negotiated between the BPA and the city. 

Drug evidence audits 

Other questions addressed audits of drug evidence, checked into the evidence room and recorded on a computer. (The investigation into Kent’s theft of drugs from the evidence room included some 286 envelopes whose contents had been tampered with.)  

Hambleton said the audits were not as thorough as they could have been and that they did not weigh the drug evidence to see if it was the same or less than it had been when it was checked into the evidence room.  

“Clearly the inspections that we do in the future will need to be more thorough and we’ll have to examine those envelopes in much more detail,” Hambleton said, noting that he has already tightened the audit procedure, which would likely become written policy in the future. 

Before writing new policy, the committee will meet with the city attorney and city manager to discuss the BPA letter and then will meet to discuss policy recommendations. These meetings are yet to be scheduled, according to PRC officer Victoria Urbi. 

As in the recent successful battle to landmark Iceland, most advocates of landmarking the old Berkeley High School gymnasium are more concerned with its current use than its history. 

Advocates from the disabled community have spearheaded the push to landmark the aging and ailing gym because it houses the East Bay’s only public warm water therapy pool. 

They turned out in force at the Landmarks Preservation Commission Thursday night because the building and the pool it houses have been targeted for demolition by the city’s school board. 

Trustees of the Berkeley Unified School District voted in January to demolish the building and replace it with classrooms and a new gym built to modern seismic safety standards. The site could also include a new warm pool—but no school district funds would be used. 

In 2000, Berkeley voters passed Measure R, authorizing $3.25 million in bonds to “reconstruct renovate, repair and improve the warm water pool facility at Berkeley High School.” 

The city and the school board divided responsibilities, with the city responsible for the pool and the school district for the building. 

Neither agency took action following the vote, and by March 2005, the city had learned that the cost of renovating the pool would cost twice as much as the never-issued bonds, or between $6.3 million and $7.5 million—well out of reach for a cash-strapped city government. 

When the school district released the draft environmental impact report on its South of Bancroft Master Plan late last year, both city Planning Director Dan Marks and Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association President Wendy Markel wrote letters protesting the planned demolition of the gym. 

The board approved the plan—including demolition—on Jan. 17, prompting a Feb. 23 lawsuit by the newly formed Friends Protecting Berkeley’s Resources. 

Marie Bowman, one of the group’s leaders, appeared at Thursday night’s meeting. 

Bowman urged the commission to landmark the building, “a resource worth preserving for future generations to enjoy.” A preservationist who is also a pool user, Bowman said the school district should emulate Richmond, which is saving is own community pool, the Plunge. 

School board member John Selawsky, who, while acknowledging that the building has architectural merit, said Berkeley voters weren’t likely to approve restoration costs of $15 million to $20 million. 

Preservation of the building and the presence of a warm water pool in Berkeley “are two separate issues” which were being conflated and confused, he said. 

While former school board member Terry Doran dismissed the structure housing the pool as “an old, barn-like structure,” others praised the design. 

JoAnn Cook, though a pool user, said she was concerned that a decision to landmark the building would lead to a prolonged closure. “I’m very confused on this issue,” she said. 

A strong voice for preservation came from a new audience member, Lesley Emmington, who until recently sat on the commission. “That building needs us to take care of it,” she said, “It’s part of our heritage, and it’s one of the few dignified buildings in that part of the downtown.” 

One of the voices for preservation came from an unexpected source, Anny Su, an architectural historian who formerly worked for a consulting firm that had furnished a report to the school district. 

The gym “embodies irreplaceable architectural and historical value for the city of Berkeley and immense cultural value for the city,” Su said. 

In addition to being the first gym of its kind in the state, the building was also part of the first master-planned high school campus in California, she said—a fact that Josh Abrams, who was sitting in for absent LPC member Steve Winkel, said might influence his vote. 

But Abrams also said he wanted to hear more from the district. 

Gary Parsons, an architect who often votes with the strong preservation majority on the LPC, said he was conflicted about the structure, which he said he thinks is both significant and a bad design. “It certainly hasn’t improved over the years,” he said. 

While Commissioner Jill Korte proposed a resolution calling out details of the structure to landmark, commissioners ultimately voted to postpone action for the second time, with a vote possible at the LPC’s next meeting on June 7. 

1340 Arch Street 

While most commissioners said they wouldn’t reject the addition of a new by-right dwelling in the front garden of the recently landmarked home on Arch Street, they didn’t find much to like in preliminary plans they were shown Thursday night. 

Normally an addition that can be built by-right under city law, the structure must pass muster with the LPC because they landmarked the existing home, a 1905 Craftsman, last November. Owner Horst Bansner had objected to the landmarking application, which had been filed by neighbors after he told them of plans to add the additional dwelling for his father. 

While neighbors still spoke in opposition to any plans to add a structure in the unique garden in front of the home, commissioners found fault with the design itself, which was too ornate in part and too stark in others. 

“The front seems to be developed in one way and the sides in a different way,” said Parsons. 

Commissioners also wanted to see poles erected to show what impact the new structure would have on the views of the existing house from the sidewalk in front, which is considerably lower than the house itself. 

Members faulted city staff for not providing them with an initial statement, a document they said was required under the California Environmental Quality Act when alterations were made to historic structures. While city staff said that the report wasn’t needed, the commission disagreed and voted to ask for the document to be prepared. 

They also voted to delay action until Bansner returned with a report on story poles verified by a licensed surveyor.  

2411 Fifth Street 

Commissioners gave their retroactive approval to the removal of siding from a recently designated structure of merit—the city’s category for historic resources of less than pristine integrity—while withholding a decision on a plan to move and raise the Victorian cottage slightly and to build a new residence at the rear of the property. 

Architect Ed Levitch presented preliminary sketches for both structures, but only sought official action on removing the siding on the existing cottage—a retroactive approval, given that city planning staff had already but erroneously issued the permit without LPC approval and the siding had already been removed. 

Levitch said the owner, Laura Fletcher, wants to transform the existing 1892 Queen Anne cottage into two dwelling units, one on each floor. 

She will also be seeking approval of an additional new two-story dwelling at the rear of the property, and Levitch presented preliminary plans for comments. The commission will have say over the final plans for both projects. 

The property had been designated a structure of merit in November over Fletcher’s objections.

The Joe Lurie Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Fellowship was launched at the UC Berkeley International House’s 19th Annual Celebration & Awards Gala Thursday. 

The fund aims at providing an I-House room and board award to an entering first year returned Peace Corps doctoral student at UC Berkeley. The UC Berkeley Graduate Division will match this annually with tuition, fees and a $5,000 stipend.  

“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,” said I-House director Joe Lurie. “Financial aid is extremely important to a student who otherwise couldn’t afford to go to school. This fellowship will assist anyone who has served in the Peace Corps and wants to go to Cal to pursue a Ph.D.” 

Lurie, who will be retiring in June, said he was honored to have the board name the fellowship after him. 

Patricia Garamendi, former associate director of the Peace Corps, announced the scholarship Thursday. She was joined by her husband John Garamendi, Lieutenant Governor of California. 

Since 1961, 3,282 UC Berkeley alumni have gone on to serve in the Peace Corps, more than at any other university. The school ranks fifth among all universities in the number of alumni currently serving (80) and its graduates work in every Peace Corps sector including agriculture, business development and IT, environment, health and HIV/AIDS and youth development. 

“Many returned Peace Corps volunteers look for a program at UC which has funding for people like them,” said Ben Bellows, a RPCV who is pursuing doctoral studies at UC.  

“Having a scholarship just makes the program more appealing to Peace Corps volunteers who come back to the U.S. with a fresh perspective and a new set of skills. Cal with its excellent programs, great location and weather is a natural choice. But it’s expensive. Since I didn’t have funding I had to take a loan. If this fellowship had existed when I had applied for a master’s in 2002, I would have been more eager to come to Cal.” 

A massive branch broke off from a pine tree in the Berkeley Hills late Friday afternoon and smashed into a home at 1570 Hawthorne Terrace, causing considerable damage. 

Deputy Fire Chief David Orth said electricity was shut off to the surrounding neighborhood for about an hour while crews worked to clear the debris. 

“The home was red-tagged by the building inspector as a precaution,” Orth said, forcing occupants to find other accommodations until the extent of the damage could be fully assessed. 

While Hawthorne Terrace’s was the first tree fall reported during the weekend’s heavy winds, it wouldn’t be the last. “We had a lot of trees down,” Orth said, but only one did damage to a structure. 

While high winds and soaring mercury prompted the department to order firefighters to carry their wildland firefighting gear for the duration of the hot spell, fire season hasn’t begun officially, “although we expect it to get off to an early start this year,” Orth said.

The Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board will meet Thursday to discuss the following items: 

• Chris Lincoln, director of 24Seven in San Ramon, will request a use permit to establish a gym/health club of approximately 2,000 square feet in an existing commercial building at 1775 Solano Ave. Staff recommends approval. 

• Walter Armer of SNK Development, in Emeryville, will request a permit to update a plan to modify the building facades and floor plans at 2041-2067 Center St. Staff recommends approval. 

• Jinwoo Kim of Oakland will request a use permit to open a carry-out food service store (frozen yogurt) at 2380 Telegraph Ave. with operating hours of 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Staff recommends approval. 

• Harry Pollack of Berkeley will request a use permit to demolish an approximately 3,625-square-foot two-story abandoned service station building and two dispenser pads to allow for further testing and remediation at 3001 Telegraph Ave. Staff recommends approval. 

Velma Sykes worked hard to ensure that her children received a quality education at their public high schools in Sacramento. 

“I was very involved, and I’m not talking about just helping with homework or weekly meetings with their teachers. I mean sending emails to their teachers every single day,” she says. Sykes saw firsthand what happened to the African-American children in her school district who didn’t have this kind of parental involvement. “They were ignored.” Sykes says that she has completely lost faith in the public school system’s ability to serve African-American children like her own. 

This lack of faith among African-American parents is a theme that runs through a statewide survey on education released last week by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC). In the survey, 63 percent of African-Americans surveyed said they disapproved of the California legislature’s handling of the K-12 public education system, compared to 52 percent of whites, 36 percent of Latinos, and 30 percent of Asians. 

“I was really struck by the degree of concern in the African-American community,” says Mark Baldassare, the CEO and President of PPIC. “In contrast, we see a very optimistic assessment among Latinos of the direction that public education is going in California.” 

It is no secret that both African-American and Latino students are among those in California with the highest dropout rates and those most likely to attend a poorly resourced school. Yet the survey reveals that while all Californians are concerned with the severity of these problems, there is a stark difference in the attitudes held by Latino and African-American respondents towards the state’s education system. 

Patricia Gandara, professor of education at UCLA, says that two major factors contribute to this difference. The first is immigrant optimism. “Things look a lot better here than they did at home. Many of the Latinos in California are immigrants, so their comparison is to the situation in Mexico, which they left because it was so bad. You see that with the Asians as well, there is a little bit more optimism. The African-Americans have lived with the under-funding and under-education for so long, but the immigrants haven’t yet.” 

The second issue is a lack of information. “There is no community that is more out of the loop in terms of what’s happening in the schools than the Latino community, because of the language issue, and also the lack of social capital they have,” says Gandara. “I think if we ask Latinos these same questions in two generations and nothing drastic has happened to improve the education system, their answers will look a lot more like the African-American responses.” 

The PPIC survey and findings are based on 2,500 telephone interviews that were conducted in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean. Survey respondents were 52 percent white, 31 percent Latino, eight percent Asian, six percent African American/black and three percent ‘other’. It was funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. 

This survey makes clear that ethnic Californians place great importance on giving all children a quality public education and the chance to go to college. This is a particularly strong sentiment within the Latino community. Among the Latino respondents, 56 percent say that preparing kids for college is the most important goal of the K-12 system compared with 34 percent of African-Americans, 28 percent of Asians, and 20 percent of whites. 

“Latinos hear that going to college is important in this society. Even if they know little about the process, they want this for their children. It’s part of their optimism,” says Gandara. 

Latinos aren’t always optimistic, however. Latino and African-American respondents showed the most concern for those falling between the cracks. Eighty percent of Latino respondents and 78 percent of African-American respondents cited the high school dropout rate as a big problem compared with 60 percent of white respondents and 48 percent of Asians. 

Poll results found that even among white respondents, there is significant support for English-language learners and students from low-income families. “This poll shows that there is the desire among all Californians to level the playing field,” says Baldassare. 

Although public awareness of inequalities in education is high, the survey also exposes some major gaps in knowledge around how California ranks in the country when it comes to how much money is spent per student and student test scores. 

According to the National Education Association, California ranks 29th out of 50 states when it comes to spending, yet nearly half of the African-American respondents, and more than half of the white, Asian and Latino respondents thought Californians ranked average or higher in terms of spending. 

And while California is ranked close to the bottom on student reading and math scores when compared to other states, only about a quarter of respondents from every ethnic group were aware of this fact. 

The PPIC Statewide Survey comes out on the heels of the release of a major group of studies out of Stanford University that advises lawmakers on how to better manage the system and how to direct more resources toward the state’s public school system. “We see our role as an extension of the Stanford research by providing the public opinion component,” says Baldassare. “Our role is to provide voices for people who may not be at the table during the discussions going on this year about these issues.” 

The situation is urgent, stresses Sykes. She says that an overwhelming number of African-Americans are now looking at private school as the only option for a quality education for their children. “African-American parents want a better public education system. The politicians need to hear what we have to say and act on it.”

Efforts to limit family re-unification visas are the most dangerous, yet least known aspect of the immigration reform now being hatched in Washington, D.C. Karen Narasaki, executive director of the Asian American Justice Center, warns that the quota of family members being allowed to join their families in the United States may be halved. 

That was the most surprising news in New America Media’s new series of biweekly conference calls offered to ethnic media to enable them keep up with the fast-paced nature of immigration reform by providing access to immigration experts and activists. 

Washington is buzzing with speculation and negotiation as new immigration legislation may be decided upon in the next few weeks. 

Public hearings, run by the subcommittee of the House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee, can be viewed at the Judiciary Committee website. These cover subjects such as the economic impact of immigration, said Angela Kelley, deputy director of the National Immigration Forum. 

The hearings are part of the Judiciary Committee’s preparation to discuss the latest immigration bill called the STRIVE Act (HR 1645), proposed by Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and now co-sponsored by 60 other House representatives. Co-sponsorship improves this bill’s chances of surviving committee, said Kelley. However, it’s unclear which bill— if any—might actually move through the immigration subcommittee to the Judiciary Committee and then onto the House floor. The other spur is that the Judiciary Committee has said they will pass an immigration bill through in June. The bill then goes to the House floor and a final vote is projected for July. 

Simultaneously, Senate leader Harry Reid has reserved the week of May 14 to 21 to discuss an immigration proposal from the Senate before lawmakers leave for Memorial Day. No bill has yet been introduced in the Senate. “It’s currently being hammered out behind closed doors,” said Kelley. “For anything to pass,” she added, “it will have to be bipartisan and comprehensive.” May 9 is the date to watch, Kelley says, since that is when Reid could introduce a bill in the Senate. 

The biggest worry for reformers is the White House’s discussions on immigration. A group of Republican senators, led by John Kyl (R- Ariz.) and supported by the administration, is working on a set of principles to address immigration reform, according to Narasaki. The central tenet is what she called “corporate sponsorship,” which means boosting the number of temporary work visas and severely curtailing the chance for immigrants—even those who have become citizens—to bring their parents, sisters or brothers into the country. They propose that these family members could only enter as workers. 

For those who have been waiting—often years—to bring their family to join them, there may be an arbitrary cut-off date (June, 2004 or May, 2005 are speculated dates). Those who have applied after the cut-off date would simply have to get back in line. 

“There’s a face on the undocumented,” Narasaki said, “but there’s not as much (of a human) face on the issue of those who have been waiting a decade or more.” She urged the ethnic media to tell the stories of how many successful immigrants have come to this country, started businesses and contributed to the economy. She noted that one man who entered the United States on a family visa was Dr. David Ho, who was Time Magazine’s man of the year when he created the triple cocktail with which to fight AIDS. 

The purpose of this change, proposed by anti-immigration forces, is to reduce the number of people entering the country, in the hope that by making it difficult for even guest workers to bring their families with them, they will leave. But “it’s not true,” said Kelley. 

The impetus for the White House to wrestle with immigration reform is to stem “the piecemeal approaches at the local level,” says Clarissa Martinez, campaign manager of the Coalition for Immigration Reform. 

All three experts agree that over the next couple of weeks, crucial negotiations are being hammered out and the state of play on this issue changes almost daily.

In the last week of April, more than five years into the “War on Terrorism,” Retro Poll asked a national sample of Americans this question: “Do you agree or not with the government’s assertion that people seized and detained at Guantanamo are presumed to be dangerous terrorists or they would not have been seized in the first place?” A slightly different wording last October had garnered 37 percent agreement. In the recent poll 48 percent agreed. We conclude that a substantial proportion of people do not grasp a key principle of democracy: Unless everyone is presumed innocent under the law until proved guilty of a crime in a fair trial, dictatorial powers of government achieve supremacy. Civil rights like this exist not just to protect criminals, but to protect the public from arbitrary government abuse of authority. The War on Terrorism promotes the denial of this democratic tenet.  

Retro Poll data, based on small random samples—in this case 164 people—are not projected to precisely represent the general public on individual questions. Retro Poll instead focuses on statistically significant comparisons and unexpected findings within its random samples. In the current sample only nine (out of 164) people could identify Maher Arar as the “Canadian citizen awarded $11 million for being tortured under the U.S. extraordinary rendition.” Two times that number (18) misidentified him as one of the 9/11 hijackers and 136 didn’t know. Likewise 70 percent did not know that Italy has brought charges for kidnapping against 26 CIA agents in a case of “extraordinary rendition.” Why are such important stories of extraordinary rendition, an anti-democratic if not outlawed process, not common knowledge? Where do people buy their ignorance and where is the source of this ignorance?  

To get answers, Retropollsters asked the extent to which people believe various major corporate media organizations present the truth. The options were “usually”, “mostly when it suits their interests”, and “half the time or less.” Whether asking about CNN, NYTimes, Fox, CBS, MSNBC, NBC or others, in every case fewer than 40 percent of the respondents thought the media “usually” tells the truth. Moreover, between 22 and 28 percent said that each outlet tells the truth “half the time or less.”  

Even though Retro Poll is a media critical group, this can’t be true. Even if the media manipulates, distorts, censors, its methods must be more subtle than to lie half the time. This response represents mass disaffection and mistrust of media. But it also turned out to be one marker of ignorance.  

Those who think Fox “usually” tells the truth were consistently less aware or blind to important facts. For example, despite now overwhelming evidence, two out of three claimed that the “United States opposes and does not teach, sanction or engage in torture” and more than three out of four denied that the administration “fabricated intelligence on Iraq” before the war. Seventy-seven percent of these Fox supporters (within the “usually truthful” group) held the presumption that Guantanamo captives are terrorists. Yet the respondents who were most opposed to presumption of innocence (by 77-90 percent) were those disaffected who said that all the various corporate media lie half the time or more. This group (20-30 percent of our respondents) feel manipulated and have little trust in the reliability of public information. Their ignorance and disaffection combined make them susceptible to pure demagoguery about terrorism.  

On the other hand, asked whether Homeland Security responded effectively to the tragedy after hurricane Katrina, two out of three (and 79 percent of those responding) said no, a very high level of awareness. Likewise, 68 percent of respondents agreed that people cross U.S. borders without papers mainly because of enforced inequalities between nations. We conclude that most people are somewhat aware of contradictions and defects in national domestic policy regarding immigration, treatment of ethnic minorities and of poor Americans. Also, that many believe they are being manipulated by media, but often lack the tools to discern between false and accurate presentations of international events.  

The full questionnaire, poll responses and links defending factual questions can be found at www.retropoll.org.  

Marc Sapir is executive director of Retro Poll. 

Telegraph Avenue quotas, West Berkeley car sales and new quotas for Berkeley housing top the agenda for Wednesday night’s Planning Commission meeting. 

And while the planners meeting in one room, another panel will gather in another room in the same building to mull the fate of historic structures in the future of downtown Berkeley. 

Both meetings begin at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Avenue at Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

The Planning Commission is considering new rules that will allow for the creation of more and smaller spaces for new business to operate in the Telegraph Avenue Business Improvement District. 

The proposal would also expand the current quota system, which limits the size and types of businesses allowed in the district, by easing the rules allowing for change of use and the breakup of larger commercial areas. 

The commission will also consider amendments to the city’s Zoning Ordinance that will enable car dealers to set up shop in West Berkeley, a plan backed by Mayor Tom Bates as a way of capturing more sales tax dollars for the city. 

Berkeley has lost dealerships in recent years, and automobile manufacturers say they want their dealers to locate near freeways, where access is easier for potential customers. 

Commissioners will also discuss an evaluation of Berkeley’s performance in filling Association for Bay Area Governments (ABAG) quotas set for market rate and affordable housing between 1999 and 2006. 

Meanwhile, members of a joint subcommittee formed of members of the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) and the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee (DAPAC) will be discussing how historic buildings will be treated in the new downtown plan which DAPAC is slated to give to the Planning Commission in November. 

Wednesday’s meeting will be the subcommittee’s ninth, and could conclude with the formalization of its recommendations to DAPAC. 

The Berkeley Board of Education will vote on approving a proposal to establish a Community Day School on Wednesday. 

Although the Berkeley Unified School District already runs an Independent Study Program (IS) which serves some students, the board has expressed interest in establishing intervention and opportunity programs for students facing problems at its high and middle schools. 

Since Berkeley Technology Academy (B-Tech), a continuation high school, cannot enroll students younger than 15-and-a-half years old or below sophomore level, the board is looking at options for students in the 12- to 15-year-old age group. 

The Berkeley Community Day School proposal seeks to address the needs of district middle school students who have faced expulsion from school, have disciplinary problems, are on probation, have attendance or adjustment problems, or require a smaller school setting. 

According to the staff report, “Students with a history of at-risk behaviors have been found to benefit measurably from an environment in which there is a lower student-teacher ratio and where the curriculum is customized to scaffold and accelerate student learning.” 

The program will initially enroll seventh- and eighth-graders and go on to serve sixth- through ninth-graders in the future. 

Although the exact location of the program is yet to be determined, district staff members propose that it should be kept at a distance from other schools. They recommend that the program be housed on a separate part of the B-Tech campus. Student interaction between the two programs—especially during lunch time—would be avoided by arranging different schedules, according to the proposal. 

The new program for younger students would have its own entrance, exit, restrooms, conference rooms, administrative offices and staff area, and would be separated from the rest of B-Tech by a gate. It would be under the direct supervision of B-Tech principal Victor Diaz who would look after its curriculum, staff development, day-to-day discipline and supervision and evaluation of staff and program, according to the proposal. 

B-Tech teachers and staff—who would be in close proximity to the Community Day School—have not yet given input on this proposal. The Independent Study students and staff have also not been consulted yet, but the Independent Study staff—whose program would be relocated to make room for the Community Day School at the site—have objected to the proposed move. The Berkeley Federation of Teachers (BFT) has also expressed concerns about the location. 

The board is scheduled to act on the proposal at the May 23 meeting, since the application has to be approved by the California Board of Education by May 24. 

The total cost for teachers, instructional aid and a school safety officer at the proposed Community Day School is estimated to be $310,200. 

SB 288: Comprehensive Pupil Learning Support System 

The school board will vote on a letter in support of SB 288, which would provide grants to California school districts to help fund work being done in Berkeley, supported by an Integrating Schools and Mental Health Systems Grant from the U.S. Department of Education. 

School Board director Shirley Issel explains in her report that the recently completed Berkeley Schools Mental Health Partnership Strategic Plan was designed to build the kind of comprehensive system of school-based, school-linked mental health system that is called for in SB 288. 

“We have benefited in Berkeley from our association with the Center for Mental Health in Schools,” the report states, “and I believe SB 288 provides new opportunities for us and for other districts to develop and improve the delivery of vital support to students who face barriers in learning.” 

Perkins Grant for Berkeley Adult School 

The Board will vote on approving the Perkins Grant for the Berkeley Adult School Career Technical Education Programs for 2007-2008. The grant would fund the academic, vocational and technical skills of secondary and post-secondary students by funding the development of challenging academic standards and promoting the development of services that integrate academic, technical and vocational instruction. 

Educational items 

The board will vote on a recommendation for class size reduction in the 2007-08 school year with funds from the Berkeley Public Schools Educational Excellence Act of 2006 (Measure A of 2006) and Measure B of 2004. 

It will also vote on a recommendation for the district’s library program in the 2007-08 school year, with $1.3 million in funds from Measure A of 2006 and carryover funds of $146,000 from Measure B of 2004. 

Berkeley Bowl theft 

On Wednesday at 9:33 a.m., a Berkeley Bowl employee called the police to report that somebody had been taken into custody for stealing. The thief, a 42-year-old Berkeley man, was cited and arrested. 

Willard break-in 

A Willard Middle School administrator called the police Wednesday afternoon to report that somebody had broken into the school Monday night. A television with a DVD player and a VCR was taken, along with a Sony boombox. There are no suspects. 

Robbery 

At the corner of Blake Street and Mathews Street, a man was stopped and robbed by two teenagers on Wednesday at 9:22 p.m. The suspects took a cellphone, some cash, and four wallets. They were last seen heading eastbound on Blake Street and northbound on Mable Street. 

Hit-and-run 

A female victim called in Wednesday night to report that somebody had hit her black Volkswagen Jetta that was parked on the 2900 block of San Pablo Avenue. It is unknown who hit her car. 

Robbery 

A 22-year-old Berkeley female was at her apartment on the 2300 block of Durant a little after midnight on Thursday, when she witnessed a man breaking into her car and making off with her wallet. 

Simultaneous auto burglaries 

In front of Jefferson Elementary School at 7:43 a.m. on Thursday, two Oakland residents called in to report that somebody had pried the door lock on both of their vehicles. 

In the first car, a computer was taken, while in the second car, a wallet and its contents were taken. The police haven’t taken anybody into custody. 

Bike theft 

At 1:20 p.m. on Thursday, a female reported that someone had stolen her blue bike from the rear yard. The bike was unsecured and had a breast cancer ribbon painted on the seat. There are no suspects in this case. 

It’s been almost 40 years since I gave up smoking, but watching Tuesday’s City Council meeting made me feel for the first time in years that I’d really like a cigarette. Why? Well, watching the City Council stumble and stutter their way through an agenda which came with a 1,400-page packet which they clearly hadn’t bothered to read was a nerve-racking experience. It culminated in a pathetic charade which purported to address the mayor’s heartfelt interest in “improving the quality of life of public commons in the city.”  

What’s pathetic about that? Well, first, the grammar. Perhaps the drafter meant to say “in” or “on” the public commons. Whatever the “public commons” might be, it’s inanimate, doesn’t have any life of its own, nor any quality of same.  

Maybe what was meant was the quality of life for “people” in or on the public commons. But what does “public” commons mean anyway? Is it to be contrasted with “private” commons, and if so what would a “private” commons be? Let’s just assume for discussion purposes that “public” is simply redundancy for the purpose of emphasis, and that that the triple redundancy in the title “Public Commons for Everyone” initiative is meant to convey the very great sincerity of the proponents.  

In case you were afraid that there might be some insincerity at work here, you might have caught the mayor’s introduction to the discussion on Tuesday night. He maundered on for several minutes, eyes downcast, seeming to be reading from a text written by someone else, assuring anyone who cared that he really really does feel their pain. 

You might have missed the whole discussion, though, since it took place at 11:30 or later, after the allotted time for the council meeting had been extended. Presumably it was placed at the end of the agenda to make sure that as few people as possible saw it, and that even fewer were able to show up to express their opinions on the topic.  

What was actually on the agenda for this item? Just five recommendations, all either obvious or pointless:  

1. “Restrict smoking in public areas in commercial zones.” Yes, yes, I’m fully aware that tobacco is the devil’s weed, and that one of the privileges of living in the Berkeley Bubble is never having to inhale anything you believe to be health-threatening or simply offensive, whether it’s tobacco smoke, cheap scent or body odor. (Perhaps medical marijuana is an exception, perhaps not. The no-smoking signs on the 51 bus my kids took to Berkeley High had hand-lettered “this means pot too,” but whiffs of The Other Weed still drift in through the windows in some areas.) There are already laws against public smoking, widely ignored by the police. The proposal would extend the no-smoking zones to even wider areas, making them even less likely to be enforced.  

But perhaps Recommendation 4 would take care of that: “Provide for strict enforcement of all existing laws affecting the quality of life in public spaces and parks.” Oh sure, and in the meantime the drug dealers down around Oregon and Sacramento are cheering. This one will keep the police off the streets and out of trouble, busy handing out tickets for public smoking.  

Better get the officers some foreign language instruction too. Every year about this time Telegraph Avenue is deluged with French youth, guidebooks in hand, looking for excitement and puffing up a storm. If the cops are going to try to stop them, at least they should learn to say “Defense de Fumer.” Some Chinese wouldn’t hurt either, since sadly most people in China are still heavy smokers, even when they visit the United States. 

Which brings up, in a roundabout way, elimination. In many countries urination in alleys is no great sin if there’s no public facility handy, particularly for men. I’m personally a bit too timid for that—the reason I finally stopped buying clothes in downtown Berkeley is that Ross-Dress-for-Less closed the bathrooms in the building they took over from J.C. Penney, and it became virtually impossible to find a place to pee in peace downtown. We’re told the city should “Develop prohibitions and increased fines for public urination”... but just wait until the police snag a hapless foreign tourist in an alley.  

This will all be solved, however, by Recommendation 2: “Install better directional signage to public restrooms.” Turns out that when you find them there are only four public restrooms in the downtown/Telegraph area, and trust me, three of them you wouldn’t want to go into. They’re only open during business hours anyhow, though the mayor in his benevolence now suggests keeping them open longer, and of course the signs will be bigger....  

But obviously the target of all this is not tourists or desperate shoppers, it’s the homeless and/or crazy folks in the “public commons” who offend. That “Everyone” in the title of the proposal really means “everyone except anyone who offends someone else who’s more important.”  

Councilmember Wozniak told a harrowing anecdote about the time his wife and son saw a vagrant deliberately peeing on the radiator grill of an expensive car on Telegraph—the horror! I’m sure that never happened back in Nebraska.  

And there are urban legends that some of these types even defecate where they shouldn’t to show their contempt for something or other. How often does this happen, in reality? Wouldn’t a better explanation be that they just couldn’t find a bathroom in time? Not pleasant, but not criminal, and until the city can provide enough public facilities in enough places it will be hard to prove intent-to-annoy. (On the other hand, in the defecation category don’t get me started on dogs and their lazy owners.) 

And the recommendation that is the red meat in this proposal is Number 5: “Reduce warning provisions associated with regulations prohibiting lying on the sidewalk.” Anyone who’s ever shopped with a 2-year-old knows that lying on the sidewalk is a regular feature of the tired-of-shopping-tantrum. Anyone who occasionally gets dizzy knows that sitting or lying down helps. Even the mayor recognized problems like this with his suggestion that the city needs more approved places to sit down, but don’t hold your breath waiting for new benches on Telly.  

Again, however, it’s not naughty toddlers or dizzy walkers who are being targeted. It’s the homeless/disturbed/anti-social people who are the real problem for Everyone Else. And what do we propose to do about them? Give them tickets, of course, but now without the traditional and customary “OK, buddy, it’s time to move on.” And if they get enough tickets, they go to jail, since of course they don’t have money for fines. That’ll show’em. 

The latest North East Berkeley Association newsletter sums it all up without apparent irony: “... serious impediments to safe and enjoyable use of our public spaces and commercial districts are inappropriate street behavior, drug-dealing, vagrancy, and panhandling.... Mayor Bates has, commendably, put forth a call for a serious examination and resolution of this issue, with an emphasis on making our public spaces more attractive to the vast majority of Berkeley residents. It remains to be seen whether common sense and the needs of the vast majority will prevail against well-organized homeless advocates.” That vast underprivileged silent majority of North East Berkeley homeowners speaks up for themselves for once! Thank God someone’s finally looking out for their rights!  

Oh, and by the way, earlier in the evening the council discussed plans for cutting the funding for social service programs in next year’s budget. The “well-organized homeless advocates” were wringing their hands, but to no avail. And councilmembers stomped all over Kriss Worthington’s excellent ideas for using genuine community policing to solve Telegraph Avenue problems. It’s so much easier just to write some new laws, isn’t it? But on Tuesday the council didn’t even get around to that by the time the meeting ended. 

The jockeying over the future direction of Oakland’s economic development in the Ron Dellums Years—how much it will continue on the path laid down by former Mayor Jerry Brown and how much it will break new ground—began in earnest last week with the release of an Oakland Chamber of Commerce study that both implicitly criticized Brown’s failures and embraced his goal of concentrating commercial development in the city’s downtown core. 

The study was immediately criticized by former Oakland City Councilmember and mayoral candidate Wilson Riles Jr. for what Riles called “ignoring Oakland’s racist development history” and for promoting “profits for millionaires” over “jobs for residents,” and at the same time, Mayor Dellums himself issued a call for the creation of 10,000 new jobs in Oakland in five years that could be interpreted as a direct dig at former Mayor Brown’s old 10K downtown residential development goal.  

The 119-page Chamber of Commerce study, commissioned a year ago, sets out four of what it calls “strategic initiatives” in “those sectors found to offer the greatest opportunity for meeting Oakland’s development aspirations.” 

The study was done free of charge by McKinsey & Company, an international management consultant firm that in the past has also done studies for the Oakland-based Policy Link nonprofit organization and the Oakland Unified School District. 

The four initiatives promoted by the Chamber study are to “strengthen Oakland’s healthcare industry while leveraging the Bay Area’s strengths in biotechnology,” to “enhance Oakland’s position as an international gateway and logistics hub” through the Maritime Port and the Oakland International Airport as well as “by cultivating an international presence to capitalize on the rise of Asian trade,” to “revitalize downtown Oakland,” and to “nourish the growth of industries in emerging niche sectors such as green industry, arts, design, and digital media, and specialty food manufacturing.” 

Saying that “retail trade is an underrepresented sector in Oakland’s economy,” representing 7 percent of the city’s employment as opposed to an 11 percent share of U.S. employment overall and 13 percent of Bay Area jobs, the study said that increasing Oakland’s retail sector provides a path for the city’s eventual “economic rejuvenation.” 

But the study spoke exclusively of enhancing retail in Oakland’s downtown section, failing to make any mention of the city’s many neighborhood commercial centers, including Chinatown, Grand Lake/Lakeshore, the Laurel, or the Fruitvale, where retail is already thriving, or the Acorn area in West Oakland or Foothill Square in East Oakland, where it is floundering. 

That was the same retail strategy—concentrating on reviving downtown while ignoring the neighborhood commercial districts—promoted for eight years under former Mayor Jerry Brown. 

Asked during a telephone news conference if the neighborhood commercial districts had been deliberately excluded from the study, McKinsey & Company’s San Francisco director Lenny Mendonca said no, but that the downtown retail development had been included as “one example.” 

But in other areas, the study sharply repudiated Brown Administration policies, though never mentioning Brown by name. 

In a section entitled “Institute Land Use Policies That Support an Economic Development Strategy,” the study said that “while most of the actual re-development of sites falls to the private sector to identify investment capital and prospective tenants, the City government plays a crucial role in establishing a regulatory framework that will clarify where certain uses of land and real estate are permitted and, more than that, where the City would like to see them.” 

To accomplish that goal, the study said that Oakland officials “should focus immediately on clarifying the City’s land use policy,” including zoning for business uses, resolving infrastructure issues, clarifying design and development standards, and updating land use classifications.”  

Those areas all languished in the Jerry Brown years, when Brown deliberately held off on conforming Oakland’s zoning code to the General Plan, preferring to let developers have a freer reign as to what types of developments they wanted to build. That often left developers, neighborhood residents, and existing business owners in confusion, unsure of what new developments would be allowed and what would have to be modified. 

One of incoming Mayor Ron Dellums’ first actions was to put the city’s Community and Economic Development Agency (CEDA) back to work to conform the zoning code to the General Plan. 

The Chamber of Commerce study also suggested that Oakland attempt to attract some of the Bay Area’s large and growing biotechnology firms, calling them one of the Bay Area’s strongest economic sectors. 

But while the Chamber of Commerce study said that “other Bay Area cities, including Oakland’s near neighbors, were welcoming biotechnology,” it said. “Oakland did not capture any of this burgeoning investment. In short, the city lacked the disciplined approach and leadership to persuasively engage with key firms and developers in the industry to make the case for Oakland.” 

While the study specifically spoke of this lack of initiative by Oakland leaders occurring during the period of the 1990s, leaving out much of the term of Jerry Brown that began in January of 1999, the study then spoke of biotech expansion in areas outside of Oakland during Brown’s term. 

The study noted that “biotechnology companies create jobs, and they create them for every educational level and in a variety of specialties across the life sciences. Genentech in 2005 employed about 3,100 people in South San Francisco. Chiron in Emeryville, recently acquired by Novartis, employs about 2,500, and Bayer in Berkeley, 1,500. People with degrees ranging from Ph.D. to terminal high school degrees are needed in biotechnology.” 

But in a column this week in the Oakland Post, a newspaper distributed in Oakland’s African-American neighborhoods, former Oakland City Councilmember Wilson Riles Jr. said the call for increased biotechnology in Oakland the “worst aspect” of the Chamber report, adding that “this smells like that same old, purely self-serving misdirection.” 

Citing a recent study that said the biotech industry involves fewer than 200,000 people nationwide, most of them “only the most highly trained and educated scientists,” Riles charged that the spokesperson for McKinsey & Company had a vested interest in promoting that sector. 

Noting that McKinsey & Company’s San Francisco director Mendonca is also an executive member of the Bay Area Council, Riles said that the council “is busy lobbying for more H1B visas so that the biotech industry will be able to import more foreign scientists. (You do not have to pay foreigners as much and they make few demands.)” 

Riles added that “since the defeat of affirmative action, very few Oakland residents will be trained at the University of California to take those few available biotech jobs,” concluding with the question that “why should Oakland promote an industry that is going to bring few jobs to residents?” 

But Riles and the Chamber study were in full agreement in another area—the promotion of green technology jobs in Oakland—with the former mayoral candidate saying that “green technology is where the future growth is in producing good jobs that are more accessible to Oakland residents” and the Chamber study noting that “Oakland should actively encourage the emerging clean technology industry. This sector is attracting intense investment activity, it creates jobs, and it aligns with Oakland’s green values, offering a double opportunity to provide work and evolve the economy toward green values and products. The timing is right as well: like biotechnology a decade ago, clean tech startups are looking for affordable locations, and they want to be in the Bay Area where the growing clean technology community is clustered. Oakland is an ideal location.” 

Meanwhile, at an economic summit held last week at the Oakland Marriott, Dellums announced the formation of an “Oakland Partnership” between the city’s government, business, and private citizen communities to produce 10,000 new jobs in the city in the next five years, with many of them expected to be drawn from the recommendations made in the Chamber study. 

The Oakland Tribune reported that members of the Oakland Partnership were expected to begin meeting later this month to start work on drawing up specific plans. Membership of the Partnership has not yet been announced. 

The use of the 10,000 figure by Dellums could hardly be accidental. 

During his campaign for mayor in 1998, former Mayor Jerry Brown began using that same 10,000 figure, announcing that he would bring in 10,000 new residents to the downtown area to attract retail development and, eventually, jobs. That goal became the signature slogan of the Brown years: the 10K Initiative.  

Before his term ended, Brown had met his goal of approving new residential development downtown to meet his 10K goal, but the resulting retail and job development floundered. In a 2006 article on Oakland developer Hal Ellis in the San Francisco Business Times, Ellis—who otherwise praised Brown’s development policies—said that the “retail vacuum is the greatest failing of the development boom under Brown.” 

POWERBAR SIGN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Have you noticed? It’s suddenly gone! Gone to Nestle USA in Glendale, we can presume (see Riya Bhattacharjee’s “PowerBar Moves To Southern Cal” in the Aug. 8, 2006 Daily Planet). 

Will anyone miss the 140-square-foot yellow snack-food advertisement which adorned the uppermost eastern face of Berkeley’s tallest downtown building for nine years and four months? 

Perhaps, if anyone still believes the words of the late PowerBar magnate Brian Maxwell who in 1998 defended his company’s sign by arguing that it “overlooks both the tennis court and the track at the university” and that “there are several people who have told me that the sign is an inspiration to them.” The rest of us have lost a rooftop reminder of how, in their zeal to accommodate and reward private-sector employers, Berkeley’s public servants occasionally stretch municipal rules and manage to circumvent public process. 

Goodbye and good riddance, I say. No doubt moving day for the monster sign would have made a great Planet photo-op. 

Jim Sharp 

• 

KEEPING HOURS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I decided to be a consumer of conscience and patronize an independent store instead of Amazon. So I rushed across town to the Musical Offering, ready to spend serious money. I got there ten minutes before their stated closing, knowing exactly what I wanted, The store was closed. Very annoying since I get there so rarely. How are local businesses going to survive if they don’t observe their stated hours? 

Rachel DeCarlo 

• 

CARTER CENTER FUNDING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In the interests of full disclosure the Daily Planet’s coverage of Jimmy Carter’s appearance on the UC campus should have mentioned that more than 80 percent of the Carter Center’s budget is paid for by the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Carter has denied that he is influenced by the Saudi government paying his bills. The Daily Planet should leave it to its readers to decide whether we believe that or not.  

Jack Kessler 

El Cerrito 

• 

CELL TOWER STUPOR 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In the northwest corner of the Orchard Supply parking lot near the corner of Ninth and Heinz there stands a high, large water tower bristling with cellular antennae. I count at least 26 attached to structure pointing in all directions. There are about seven antennae pointed directly at the French School situated about 150 feet away. 

Is it prudent of the City of Berkeley to allow the continued electromagnetic irradiation of adolescent children in their formative years? Has there been any attempt to do an epidemiological survey of this student population? 

Is there any anecdotal evidence of unusual or increased health problems in this population? 

While city planning staff assert that there is no potential for injury from exposure to electromagnetic waves, they are relying on an FCC safety standard that has been called into question by many reputable scientists. 

The City of Berkeley bases its cell tower approvals on radio wave engineers who work closely with the cellular industry. Does this not call into question the independence of the consultant evaluations? Is this prudent? Have these engineers/consultants ever seen a cell tower they didn’t approve of? 

Peter Teichner 

• 

ABORTION POLITICS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

When it’s your family, the abortion debate stops being academic. Let me backtrack a little. In 1914 Margaret Sanger gave out information on birth control, which was illegal at the time. Though arrested numerous times, in 1921 she formed the organization that became known as Planned Parenthood. In 2007, anti-abortionists and Republicans on the right are still trying in earnest to make contraceptive information hard to get. 

Where are the Margaret Sangers’ of today and why do Christian conservatives feel they have the right to tell a woman what she can and can’t do with her body and why are nine of 10 GOP presidential hopefuls intent on overturning Roe v. Wade? 

Ron Lowe  

Grass Valley 

• 

TRAFFIC CONCERNS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am currently an Oakland resident who lives one block from Grand but who travels along Ashby Avenue between Adeline and Telegraph often enough to understand the concerns in one Becky O’Malley’s recent editorials.  

However, if O’Malley wishes to compare her Ashby corridor air quality concerns with those of West Oakland residents, it is only fair to mention the approximately 5,000 trucks that drive through West Oakland to pick up and deliver shipping containers to the port every day. Even living near there, I did not fully appreciate the impact of these trucks until I actually went down by East Shore Park where some of these them are loaded and saw how they are lined up by the scores, idling their motors as they wait, to take their turn beneath a shipping crane. I’ve not measured the air quality other than by my own experience breathing, but I do not find the current circumstances along Ashby Avenue compete for poor quality with the output of all those trucks—and I am not even taking into account the additional pollution West Oakland residents now experience as result of detouring three lanes of east-bound traffic along West Grand.  

I do not actually wish to contest O’Malley’s fundamental concerns. They are both legitimate and very serious. I just don’t find her approach as savvy or as thoughtful as it might be. Pushing for improved public transportation would seem more appropriate. I would prefer to be able to reach central Berkeley and the university efficiently by public transportation, but do not live very near the BART station and usually drive because it takes me less than half as long to get to my destination by auto than by any of the public transportation alternatives available, even given Berkeley traffic and parking.  

Julie Bongers 

• 

OAKLAND BUSINESSES WANT PUBLIC SAFETY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The Daily Planet comprehensively reviewed the policy aspects of the Oakland Chamber of Commerce/McKinsey report (“Oakland Begins Sparring Over Economic Development,” May 8). The real news in the document was the survey of Oakland businesses. They told the Chamber and McKinsey that the number-one constraint on doing business in Oakland is crime; that the understaffed police department cannot be relied on; and that common crime imposes significant costs on doing business in Oakland. For the details and what they mean, see www.orpn.org. 

Charles Pine 

Oakland Residents for  

Peaceful Neighborhoods 

• 

LIBRARY COMPLAINT LINE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

With all the serious gnashing of teeth in and around Berkeley Public Library administration and services, wouldn’t it be nice to have a complaint to which library staff could answer, “sure, no problem!” and make everyone happy? Here’s one. 

For a couple of years now, I have encountered more and more lower, floor-level library shelves with books or videos shelved on their sides. The reason is obvious. Shelvers need only bow slightly to see the call number at the lower end of the spine, in order to shelve or remove a book or video. However, browsers must actually read a title, which requires deep, prolonged bending or kneeling, pulling the books out, one by one, to see the title. With my aged, aching back, I can go through this ordeal only briefly before I must give up. (Indeed, those unfortunate, neglected authors on the lower shelf have really hit bottom.) 

I mentioned my problem to a South Berkeley librarian, and never even got into gory descriptions of my back surgery before he interrupted me. “You’re absolutely right, even the kids won’t flop down on the floor in order to pull out and read the hidden titles on that bottom shelf.” 

Two days later, all books on all shelves at South Branch, were standing upright, titles on bottom shelves easily visible when I stepped back and slightly cocked my head. 

Thank you, overworked staff at South Branch! 

But then there is Central Branch. I have sent e-mails, I have fed notes into suggestion boxes. I have spoken to staff. 

No action, no response (unless you count shrugs), nothing. So I’m forced to go public. I urge others to join in my plea to Central. Please! 

Dorothy Bryant 

• 

KPFA: A POX ON  

ALL THEIR HOUSES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The recent spate of letters and editorials regarding the situation at KPFA, coupled with the onset of yet another interminable fundraising period, moves me to write this. I have followed the internal disputes there pretty closely, starting with the Pacifica-KPFA battle in 1999: I was there protesting when Dennis Bernstein was dragged out of the station and the staff locked out. But what I feel now can pretty well be summed up thus: “a pox on all your houses.” 

Since there seems to be no end in sight to the endless bickering, vituperation, back-stabbing, squabbling, whining about process, whining about how the process is broken, accusations and counter-accusations of sexual harassment, racism, sexism, elitism, and every other evil in the pwogressive catalog, I am about ready to just throw my hands up and simply tune it all out, literally and figuratively. 

I’m certainly not suggesting yet another letter-writing campaign, boycott or other Berkeley-type agitation here. I’m just pointing out to the combatants that I’m certainly not alone in reaching the saturation point. And don’t expect any more money from us: Why should we continue to fund you, when you only seem to fight over it and piss it away? While I’m at it, how about taking a look at the uneven quality of what gets broadcast at 94.1? (I’m being charitable here.) Sure, there are some outstanding programs (Democracy Now and a few others spring to mind), but a lot of the rest, particularly the locally produced shows, sounds like what one would expect from a mediocre college radio station training neophyte announcers. 

It’s a pity, really, because it would be really nice, not to say essential, to have a functioning voice for progressive politics and all that that entails here in Berkeley. But keep it up, and you run the risk of becoming irrelevant and being tuned out by more and more folks. 

David Nebenzahl 

North Oakland 

• 

MAHER ARAR 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Great commentary by Marc Sapir in the May 5 issue! I have been following the Maher Arar story since the Canadian government decided he was hard done by. Therefore I know all the details.  

However, how could anyone not know his name and his role? And why did so many not know of Italy’s action against CIA agents?  

I too would like to know where those people “buy their ignorance.”  

David Ferrier 

Edmonton, Alberta 

• 

LACK OF CIVILITY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I have lived in Berkeley for more than 40 years, and have been active in politics for a good deal of that time from being a spear carrier in the Free Speech Movement to being a delegate to the founding convention of the California Peace and Freedom Party, to working for Rep. Jerry McNerney in his campaign to unseat Richard Pombo and turn one Congressional seat from Red to Blue. 

I want to support Mayor Bates’ effort to curb anti-social behavior on the streets of Berkeley. The “in your face” attitude that is so prevalent on our streets is one of the least attractive parts of our town. A lot of that behavior comes from people who need help, and incarceration is not the way to solve their problems. But neither is letting them do anything they want on our streets no matter how rude or injurious it is to them or to us. 

We must find ways to keep our city civil and at the same time to make sure that we remain a bastion of free speech and free thought. I believe the mayor’s proposals find that balance in almost every case. Berkeley is unique. We need to make sure it is not unique in being a city done in by its lack of will to remain civil. 

Vincent Casalaina 

• 

DEFECATION IN THE STREETS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

“The Movement” may soon come to its final sputtering end. If the puritanical forces of retention and denial have their way our dear denizens of darkened doorways will be deprived of the joy of completing their morning constitutional on the sidewalk. Will the city add a steaming pile of defecate to the tacky banners lining Telegraph Avenue? Right next to the yellow flower. Thus adding the final human touch to the sweet nostalgia for days gone by. Mario Savio rolls in his grave. Karl Marx said “people do not have the right to sleep under bridges.” In other words the state owes a responsibility to those that cannot take care of themselves. Here in the land of the 10-cylinder SUV we still have the right to lay down in the street and die. Shame on you heartless hypocrites that blame the illness of this malignant society on the poor. How many of those of you that would run the homeless sidewalk poopers out of town work for or have some connection with “Bayer” or UC Berkeley? Smells to me that those organizations along with Chevron and Pacific Steel have been taking a giant crap around here for along time.  

Herb Gardner 

• 

SHUTTING DOWN B-TOWN WON’T HELP 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I live on that block of Sacramento between Ashby and Russell and since I wasn’t able to attend the ZAB meeting regarding the matter, I’d at least like to put my two cents in here. I’ve lived in that neighborhood for about a year and a half and I’ve seen just about everything that goes down on that block. It’s probably the “shadiest” part of Berkeley, if you ask me. To get to the point, I don’t think shutting down B-Town Dollar is going to help the neighborhood or retard the amount of drug dealing that is going on.  

The reason I think this way is because, truthfully, they deal drugs everywhere on this block. In front of both barber shops, in and around the 24 hour laundry, all around the apartment units at 2924, and just about everywhere else there’s a shady spot to duck into. What is going to happen when they shut down B-Town? The “d-boys” are going to migrate elsewhere. Meaning our homes and businesses will be even more unsafe. 

I think this is a police presence issue and not a “drug-dealing nexus” issue. Maybe if the BPD added more patrols to southwest Berkeley then the dealers wouldn’t be so bold as to infest the block the way they do now. As a side note, I shop at B-Town Dollar fairly regularly and my quality of life hasn’t been significantly impacted by this issue.  

Name withheld 

• 

MICRO PARKS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Can we design micro parks in our cities where smoking is allowed? We can kill two birds with one stone. We can keep other public spaces healthy for non-smokers. At the same time by providing attractive green sites for smokers we can remind them that they have a choice about smoking. When they come to these micro-parks ? just four trees and two park benches they will inhale a lungful of fresh air before lighting up.  

Romila Khanna 

Albany 

• 

XXXXXXXXXX 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

A recent Drill Team practice had to be canceled again, due to the weather. This might not sound so unusual except for the fact that we have never had this problem before. Thank you Scott Ferris. The Flaming Five Drill Team has been practicing at Frances Albrier Recreation Center for nearly 20 years. We provided a safe activity for at risk youth. A organization they could belong and not worry whether or not their family could afford it, for some over the years the drill team became their family. Then along came Scott. I was told in November that we could no longer use the space for free and I was given Three options: 1) Pay the rental fee for the space; 2) Turn over the team to the city and become a volunteer; 3) Turn over the team to the city and perhaps be a paid instructor. He suggested I think about it over the holidays. In February I informed the site director Deborah Jordan that I decided to go with option no. 1. She gave me a breakdown of how much it would cost and when it would be due. It was going to be hard but I was not about to turn the team over, not by force. We practiced during Spring Break ,when it ended we were informed that we had already had our last use of the center. Our space had been given away. Scott changed the options, he decided option no. 1 was only available after hours. Did I mention that the children on the drill start at age 5. I have met with the mayor the I been asking our councilmember for help but no one seems to be able to do anything. Here’s how it stand for now we sit outside with our drums and our new recruits that we are unable to properly train while inside for the first 30 minutes there is a empty auditorium and for the last hour the city has hired someone to come in to teach less than eight children dance. We could be in there providing that service and more at no cost to city. Like we have been doing for almost 20 years. We are now in jeopardy of not being able to compete at any event this summer or even be performance ready. Here’s a bit of irony, last week Ms. Jordan asked if the team could perform at an upcoming event.  

Denice Cox 

Director, Drill Team 

• 

REPORTING VS. SNITCHIN’ 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

According to a Pentagon study 40 percent of marines and 55 percent of army personnel say they would not report a fellow member for killing or injuring an Iraqi. On 60 Minutes (April 29) black hip-hop performers and fans alike declared that if they witnessed or knew about a crime, they would not report it.  

The military and the black devotes of hip-hop are closed communities in which, evidently, a similar moral value prevails, a value antithetical to standards advocated by society at large.  

In hip-hop society a black person who snitches commits the same kind of “crime” a military person reporting a crime in Iraq commits. May we old folks, to this extent, consider soldiers in Iraq akin to blacks in hip-hop land? 

Marvin Chachere  

San Pablo

Here in Alameda we recently marked that 10th anniversary of the closure of Naval Air Station Alameda, on the West end of the Alameda. The former base is heavily contaminated and is a federal Superfund site, and clean-up has been in progress for years. The land that comprised the base is now known as Alameda Point and is slated for housing development, and the City of Alameda has recently selected two developers - Catellus and Lennar - as co-developers for Alameda Point. Enacted in 1973, Alameda City Charter Amendment XXVI (known colloquially as “Measure A") restricts housing density for new construction within Alameda. 

One small, but vocal, organization in Alameda, Homes Makes Economic Sense (HOMES), argues that Measure A needs to be relaxed to build “affordable housing” at Alameda Point. However, when you read their material, you realize that they aren’t talking about traditional “affordable housing” for low-income families. Instead, they are talking about housing for a much higher income level. Yet, in their IRS filings claiming charitable organization status, they describe themselves as public educators and advocates for “affordable housing.”  

You can learn for yourself how they misrepresent the term “affordable housing” from their FAQ on their web page and from their newsletters: 

From the FAQ on the HOMES website: 

3) But isn’t there subsidized housing? 

Twenty-five percent of the new homes must be “affordable” defined by income levels for “very low,” “low,” and “moderate” incomes. People who earn mid-level incomes, such as young professionals, nurses, teachers, and safety officers, don’t qualify for “affordable” housing, yet can’t afford the only types of homes permitted by Measure A.  

From HOMES’ September 2006 Newsletter: 

Currently, market-rate homes at Bayport are selling for close to $1 million, and subsidized low-income housing is provided for one-quarter of the homes to be built. However, there will be no middle-income housing for those who can’t afford large single family homes nor those who don’t qualify for subsidized housing...Studies show that with transit-oriented higher density, each household tends to own fewer cars and drive less. 

From HOMES’ October 2006 Newsletter: 

And herein lies the rub. What you end up with are two extremes: those who qualify for the below market rate housing and those who can pay the price tag for expensive single family homes. The ones left out of this picture are those who neither qualify for below market rate housing nor can afford the market rate prices. 

So it seems that when HOMES is arguing for “affordable housing,” they aren’t talking about housing for very low, low and moderate income households. They are talking about housing for, as an example, a family of two making $150K per year in Alameda. This is a shameful mis-use of the term “affordable housing” and a betrayal to the genuine low-income residents of Alameda, such as the residents of Operation Dignity and Alameda Point Collaborative out at Alameda Point. 

Further, HOMES advocates high-density housing so that residents need not own or use a car. But there is growing research across the nation suggesting that owning a car improves the lives of low-income families. Consider this report from “Port Jobs” of Seattle, WA on their “Working Wheels” program, at a 2005 Brookings Institute conference on Low-Income Car Ownership (LICO): 

Working Wheels opened in 2002 and has sold more than 225 cars to low income individuals and families. 

• Improved employment opportunities for low-income families:  

— Increase hours worked – an average 32 percent increase in weekly hours  

— Increase flexibility in jobs and shifts  

— Increased education and training opportunities  

• Increased earnings:* 

— 81 percent of car owners experienced wage gains over the 15 month period.  

— Median hourly wage increased from $11.25 one quarter before car purchase to $12.34 three quarters after, an increase of 10 percent.  

— Median wage gain was 10 percent higher than the comparison group. Decreased dependence on public assistance.  

— 60 percent decrease in car owners who receive TANF cash assistance. –Majority of those who left TANF cite an increase in income as the reason.  

(Source: Washington State Employment Security Department employment records.) 

Improved family life:  

— It’s easier to get kids where they need to be: Nine out of 10 parent respondents report transporting their children to daycare, school, extracurricular activities, and doctor’s appointments is easier now that they have cars. 

— Children can participate in new activities: 83 percent of parent respondents report that their children can participate in new activities, such as joining the school debate team, taking Tae Kwan Do classes, and going to the park.  

— Families are spending more time together: 76 percent of parent respondents report having a car has increased the time or improved the quality of time they spend with their children.  

(Source: Interviews with 51 Working Wheels car owners.) 

Sally, a Working Wheels car owner said: “The car has helped so much with my kids. We are on medical coupons, so the kids are restricted to the one dentist who takes coupons in our area. It takes 3 buses to get there, and this is impossible to manage during my working day. And of course that dentist doesn’t offer night appointments. The kids hadn’t been able to go to the dentist in about two years. Now that I have a Working Wheels car, I can take them.”  

Additional studies reported at the Brookings Institute conference showed that doubling the number of people who take mass transit to work would reduce drivers by less than 5 percent, while if every car-deprived household in the bottom half of the income scale were to buy an automobile, it would increase the number of vehicles on the road by only about 3.5 percent 

(Learn more about Low-Income Car Ownership here: http://www.brookings.edu/es/events/agendas/20051205.htm or email info@actionalameda.org to request a CD-ROM.) 

Public transit is always heavily subsidized by taxpayers. Instead of insisting on high-density housing to justify public transit, which only collects 20 to 25 percent of expenses from the fare box, and typically has only 30 percent usage, why can’t we taxpayers subsidize low-income families to buy a low-emission hybrid vehicle? A low-emission vehicle would afford low-income families the benefits of owning an automobile without grossly increasing greenhouse gas emissions. 

As for HOMES, many of us in Alameda are asking: Why is HOMES waging warfare on the lowest-income earning families in our city? 

David Howard is an Alameda resident.

The City of Berkeley is approaching the point when the long-held vision of a spectacular urban plaza featuring a daylighted Strawberry Creek can at last become a reality. Since the early 1980s, hundreds of Berkeley citizens have come forward to express their hope that the City would unearth Strawberry Creek which currently flows under several downtown buildings and streets. This long-buried waterway could become the centerpiece of a world class destination, the first example of environmental restoration in such a highly urbanized location.  

With Berkeley Art Museum and the first LEEDS certified hotels to be built in the country moving onto Center Street, Berkeley has the opportunity to continue the pioneering role it has played in the now thriving national movement to restore our urban creeks. Despite vocal opposition and skepticism at the time of its proposal, in 1983, Berkeley became the first city in the country to “daylight” an urban creek when it brought a section of Strawberry Creek back to the surface. The landscape design for Strawberry Creek Park received the highest Environmental Planning Award from the California Parks and Recreation Society in 1984. 

Berkeley now has the opportunity to take the lead in the Green Cities movement by doing more than planting trees, more than certifying its new hotel as energy efficient, more than increasing its density to promote transit. While all of these efforts are important, a truly “green” city cannot be built on top of a buried natural resource; part of a deteriorated watershed that needs to be brought back to better health.  

The current planning process for the downtown which is being carried out by the DAPAC (Downtown Area Planning Advisory Committee ) has recommended full pedestrianization of Center Street, allowing access for deliveries and emergencies, a public open space on Center Street, and possible inclusion of a creek water/feature. This is in full accordance with the recommendations of the Hotel Task Force. Citizens for a Strawberry Creek Plaza has formed to ensure that this approach, including the option of daylighting Strawberry Creek, is fully explored.  

Contrary to misinformation we’ve seen in recent letters and articles on the topic, the creek would not require elevation and pumps at the proposed Center Street location between Oxford Street and Shattuck Avenue; rather, it would remain at a depth approximately eight feet and flow down the block naturally. At the end of the block, the creek would be channeled back into the culvert. This design offers the benefit of providing additional flood protection in case of failure of the aging and seismically vulnerable downtown section of the existing culvert. 

Featuring Strawberry Creek as part of a new green urban plaza presents Berkeley with an opportunity to move downtown toward a real renaissance, the likes of which have resulted from investments in water oriented plazas like those in San Antonio, Texas, San Luis Obispo, California, and Little Rock, Arkansas. A Strawberry Creek Plaza in the heart of downtown Berkeley would provide a wealth of aesthetic, social, economic and environmental benefits to the city. It would be an inspiration to those who believe cities can be leaders in restoration of a healthy relationship between society and nature.  

Elyce Judith is a member of Citizens for a Strawberry Creek Plaza.

Below is an excerpt from “A failure in generalship”by Army Lt. Col. Paul Yingling, deputy commander, 3rd Armored Calvary Regiment, as published in the Armed Forces Journal, followed by a response by Karl Davis, a Berkeley High graduate currently on active duty as colonel in the National Guard.  

For the second time in a generation, the United States faces the prospect of defeat at the hands of an insurgency. In April 1975, the United States fled the Republic of Vietnam, abandoning our allies to their fate at the hands of North Vietnamese communists. In 2007, Iraq’s grave and deteriorating condition offers diminishing hope for an American victory and portends risk of an even wider and more destructive regional war. These debacles are not attributable to individual failures, but rather to a crisis in an entire institution: America’s general officer corps. America’s generals have failed to prepare our armed forces for war and advise civilian authorities on the application of force to achieve the aims of policy. The argument that follows consists of three elements. First, generals have a responsibility to society to provide policymakers with a correct estimate of strategic probabilities. Second, America’s generals in Vietnam and Iraq failed to perform this responsibility. Third, remedying the crisis in American generalship requires the intervention of Congress. 

• • • 

Yingling does a good job of describing some aspects clearly lacking in our present three-front war, particularly the lack of social political involvement of the nation at war. But you cannot lead a people to war on false pretexts, and then expect their commitment to the cause down the road. The Administration’s misrepresentations were very short-sighted. I do have to take some measure of dispute with his analysis that it is the generals who failed to foresee our current fight. Since 1991, the US history of warfare has been one low intensity operation other-than-war after another. We have fought an increasingly complex variety of fights, to include Somalia, Philippines, Angola, Bosnia, Kosovo, Columbia, Haiti. The force-on-force model we pursued in the prepare-to-fight World War II again Cold War era was pretty well replaced, both in training and in operations. We knew full well the nature of the fight in Afghanistan, on a military level. Many of us foresaw the nature of war in Iraq, as well. That these two fronts have gone poorly is a matter of political leadership, at least as much as military. As Yingling points out, the military has a duty to instruct as to its appropriate purposes and employment; but also politicians must recognize when a fight is diplomatic, and when it can be won with force. Or when the balance has tipped, and a new approach would be appropriate. 

In Afghanistan, we are now losing the fight we won three years ago. Without a significant change of course, we will be declaring defeat there, too, soon enough. We may or may not have won the “land war” in Iraq, depending on how one sees things, but we never engaged appropriately the multifaceted conflict that followed. By refusing to use the full range of tools available, to include regional diplomacy, we doomed our military to a uni-dimensional fight on a multi-level battlefield. Our one success in the “Global War", so far, has been stemming the insurgency in the Philippines. I believe we have been successful there, in a large part, because it is a nearly invisible operation, and the theater leadership is allowed free reign to manage the fight, both military and diplomatic, as they see necessary. With hope, the next administration will see a way through the woods it inherits, both without our having to suffer another post-Vietnam self-canabilism and without leaving a significant portion of the world dedicated to our destruction. 

Dealing with serious social problems by creating laws which only protect certain individuals is a method for avoiding root causes by making small changes in their effects. Thus we have new legislation applied to old problems which exist, in part, because old legislation was never fairly enforced. The new laws make some people feel better, especially if they’re in the legal business. But the public is usually divided along familiar for or against lines, remaining in the mindset they had before the new laws were applied to the old problems. 

Serious issues of discrimination have brought legal battles which excluded much of the general public by operating over their heads, and out of their minds. The resulting victories were for some individual members of a minority , but actually more for the system which thrives on social discrimination. When privileged groups within targeted populations achieve seeming equality with the mainstream, countless members of those same groups are left still suffering from discrimination that can only be met in part by laws. What is needed is radical change in the system these laws maintain. 

Among the national establishment’s favorite new legislative moves are those against what are labeled hate crimes, in a sense implying that some other crimes might be provoked by love . The implication that pain hurts more when it is the result of hate flies in the face of any supposed logic , but the reason for passing such laws seems to be motivation for justice, even if majority injustice continues under cover of minority law. Both language and law sustain rather than change systems of social discrimination which maintain power and class relations, no matter which discriminated group may gain entry level status or protection for some of its members. 

Perhaps the worst case of sanitized madness is the massive hate crime called war. In war, mass murder and serial killing are morally legalized as necessary for geopolitical and social safety. This perpetuates the same system that labels some special crimes as being hateful, if they befall a class of minorities which has the legal and political power to gain some exclusion from the social norm of discrimination. But once war is started, no people, minority or otherwise, can demand exception or exclusion from the targeted population: humanity. 

Since there is some acceptance of a narrowed and specific view of hate crimes, it may be time to broaden the label to encompass and cover a more general sector of humanity: Everyone. 

What can be more hateful than bombing cities, destroying national infrastructures and transforming human beings into corpses, cripples and refugees? The ongoing atrocity in Iraq has seen the near total destruction of a nation and a people, unacknowledged as such by most political and media mind managers who line up in support of hate crime legislation. What if there were a movement to designate war as the most serious hate crime of all? In fact, rather than discriminate against special groups of people, warfare is an equal opportunity mass murderer, with alleged villains joining thousands of innocents in the slaughter. Can we be serious about protecting the rights of some people from being slandered in speech, when we do nothing to safeguard life itself for humans who have been falsely designated as enemies, or, more usually, are nonexistent in popular consciousness? 

If the average American were witness to the carnage that our foreign policy has created in Iraq, or what it supports in Palestine, the movement against such policies and war itself might be much stronger. But as long as we are manipulated into only seeing some hardship and discrimination while missing out on most, we can be swept up in righteous indignation at one form of injustice, while we support an even more criminal form that commits mass murders in our name. Designating a physical or language assault on another human being as a hate crime, but only in special cases in which response from society is based on segments of an offended group and not all members of the group, serves to strengthen and not change the system from which the discrimination and hate originates. We can make such laws forever, and possibly even help a relative handful of people in the process. But as long as we accept and even in false patriotism fiercely support the mass hatred for humanity that is the reality of war, our law making powers are inflicted on minorities, for other minorities, while majorities remain under the hateful control of powers that show no respect at all for human life. 

It makes little sense to claim that someone who hits you over the head with a bat because you are female, nonwhite, or gay commits a more serious crime than someone who hits you over the head with a bat to steal your wallet or purse. By creating new categories and sub categories of people and crimes, we simply add to the list of injustice and court case loads, while doing little or nothing about real discrimination which only rarely involves literally taking a stick upside someone’s head. 

Seemingly nonviolent discrimination administered in hiring, housing and health care , widespread in our society, is not seen as criminal. But when we practice large scale social murder, our unwillingness to treat it as criminal is puzzling. Maybe it’s because it hasn’t been suggested that war is the ultimate hate crime, and needs to be confronted and dealt with as such. Consider this such a suggestion . If the mass murder of war is not a hate crime, then there are no hate crimes. And the president of the United States is a brilliant humanist.  

Frank Scott writes political commentary which appears in the Coastal Post, a monthly publication in Marin County, and on his shared blogsite at: http://legalienate.blogspot.com. 

Sooner or later, we will be taking care of a parent or a loved one who is aging. According to the National Family Caregivers Association, “More than 50 million people provide care for a chronically ill, disabled or aged family member or friend during any given year.” Our State’s elderly population is expected to reach 12.5 million by 2040, an increase of 232 percent from 1990. Beginning in 2010, 1 in 5 Californians will be 60 years of age or older. As the average age of the population becomes older, the importance of a care giver becomes increasingly significant, both functionally and economically.  

At any moment, you could become a care giver which means you will have to make good decisions for your loved one; therefore, what to do next and where to go for help will be crucial. Undoubtedly, this will raise concerns about your responsibilities and what resources will be available to you. Many of us are so pre-occupied with our own financial and emotional security, thinking about and planning for our retirement years, that we are not thinking about a crisis situation with mom, dad, or an aging loved one.  

Do you know your aging loved one’s wishes? Knowing that an advanced health care directive allows individuals to appoint an agent who has power of attorney to make care and treatment decisions on their behalf will become very important. When is it time to consider moving them out of the home and when do you bring in specialized care? Knowing where to go for housing and in-home care resources is essential to the continued health and safety of your loved one.  

Most importantly, how will your aging loved one afford the appropriate care they need and are you and your siblings in a financial position to help? The answers to these questions are not always easy to find; while there are many government agencies and organizations to help you navigate through the challenges of these issues, rarely can you get all of this information in one place. 

Please join me and other County residents for a free community event, “Planning and Caring for Aging Loved Ones,” on Saturday, June 2, 2007 at the Malcolm X Elementary School in Berkeley from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. This event will offer you information essential to plan for issues related to legal responsibilities, housing, health and safety of aging adults. Alameda County’s Social Services Agency and the Area Agency on Aging will have resources at the event, along with the City of Berkeley. There will also be many community groups with invaluable resources that you can take home with you, so you can begin the planning process.  

For more information or to register for this free event, please call my office at 272-6695 or visit www.acgov.org/board/district5/event.htm. 

Keith Carson represents District 5 on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors.

The Berkeley Daily Planet accepts letters to the editor and commentary page submissions at opinion@berkeleydailyplanet.com and at 3023A Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705.  

Letters should be no more than 400 words in length; commentaries should be no more than 1,000 words in length. Deadline for Tuesday edition is 5 p.m. Sunday; deadline for Friday edition is 5 p.m. Wednesday. Please include name, address and phone number for contact purposes. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.  

BIRTH RATE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The front-page Daily Planet photo of Danny Glover boycotting UC Berkeley’s graduation ceremonies showed a UC janitorial employee who has three children. She works two jobs to support her family. Understandable. Children are expensive. Based on U.S. Department of Agriculture data, the cost of raising a child for 18 years and through a public college is $535,318. For a calculator that can be customized for a particular family situation, check out www.babycenter.com/costofchild. 

Because it is unreasonable to expect parents to afford such expense, society as a whole has an obligation to help. We all benefit from a diverse, talented, healthy, and crime-free community. The general social obligation is particularly salient in California where half of the babies born are from Latino immigrants who are young and have more than the average number of children. Unfortunately, the majority of tax revenues go to the federal government, but the majority of expenses for public services (such as education, emergency medical service, subsidized housing, prison costs) are paid at the state or local level. 

Social custom and religious doctrine that discourage contraception is, in part, responsible for toxic impact of high birth rates and over-population. Because there is a positive correlation between college education, agnosticism, and smaller families, it is important to keep tuition at public universities as low as possible. That way, the children of the janitorial employee will have a greater opportunity to enjoy a life that their mother is struggling so hard to provide. 

Robert Gable 

• 

MAZE COLLAPSE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I have seen plenty in the news about how much the highway catastrophe is costing the Bay Area in dollars. On the flip side, I would like to see what quantity of carbon emissions is being saved now that ridership for public transit has risen as a result of the highway closer. I think this is a great pressure point to show how more people can use mass transit. 

Andy Waggoner 

• 

CREEK DAYLIGHTING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In the May 4 Daily Planet both Richard Brenneman and John Kenyon discuss the planned transformation of Center Street, including the prospect of daylighting a portion of Strawberry Creek, an idea promoted by some Berkeley creek-fanciers. The problem with this idea is that the creek is not there to be daylighted. It doesn’t run under Center Street; it flows through culverts under Oxford, then west under Allston Way. In a related article in the May 5 San Francisco Chronicle, Carolyn Jones cites Will Travis as saying that to re-direct and elevate it would require a complicated and expensive series of pumps and pipes, especially because the underground BART station is at the end of the block. Thus, the “restored” creek would be an entirely artificial structure, in Kenyon’s words “a few yards of railed-off ‘demonstration nature’ in the middle of a busy mall”—no more natural than the Marin Circle fountain. So, if people really want a water display in the mall, why not just put in a re-circulating pond and fountain, and leave Strawberry creek where it is? 

Kenyon further points out that “on the UC campus, starting immediately across Oxford Street, there is approximately a mile of beautifully landscaped natural creek waiting to be strolled along and enjoyed,” In fact, Berkeley provides public access to natural creeks in the Rose Garden, Codornices Park, Live Oak Park, and John Hinkle Park—not to mention the larger bounty of the East Bay Regional Parks. That’s 90,000 acres of natural habitat laced with endless miles of creeks for us to explore. But I guess there will always be special interest groups in Berkeley eager to promote their little ego projects—so long as someone else is paying for it. 

Jerry Landis 

• 

GREENING DOWNTOWN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

John Kenyon’s “Visions of a Future Downtown” (May 4) made three especially welcome points. First, regarding the Berkeley Art Museum’s planned relocation to Oxford at Center Street, he wrote, “Perhaps the most interesting program suggestion made so far was incorporation of the existing University Press building,...a City of Berkeley landmark...on the grounds that the original signatory copies of the United Nations Charter were printed there in 1945.” 

Having offered that suggestion in these pages last year (“Designing an Ideal UC Art Museum: Back to the Future,” Public Eye, Dec. 15, 2006), I’m grateful for this expert validation of its merits. If only UC would seriously consider those merits. Museum staff has yet to respond to a formal written proposal from our group, Friends of the U.N. Charter’s Birthplace—even though they’ve adopted our proposal to use the printing plant building as a projection surface. 

Second, Kenyon usefully reminded all of us who want a greener city core that “on the UC campus, starting immediately across Oxford Street, there is approximately a mile of beautifully landscaped natural creek waiting to be strolled along and enjoyed. A far cry from a few yards of railed-off ‘demonstration nature’ in the middle of a busy mall.” 

Indeed, given the huge expense, disruption, and uncertainty involved in “daylighting” Strawberry Creek for just one extra block west of Oxford, wouldn’t it be wise to instead focus on literally “greening” downtown—with amenities like an expanded tree canopy and more usable park space? 

Finally, Kenyon wisely invoked “the splendid twin-towered Federal Building in downtown Oakland, with its clever interplay of windows and heavy structure.” In fact, the whole area that Oakland designed around that Dellums Building and the nearby City Hall— namely, Frank Ogawa Plaza—is a wonderful model for Berkeley. 

Its structural design and its landscape architecture unify old and new buildings in beautifully successful ways, creating an unexpectedly welcoming heart for a rejuvenating city. At sunset, its harmony of unobstructed sunlight, glowing brick, and shining glass is simply magical. 

Michael Katz 

• 

UC-CITY SETTLEMENT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Concerning the city’s sellout to UC in the secret settlement and the continuing litigation surrounding the Long Range Development Plan, the one big question I keep getting asked speaking to Berkeley residents is: If we do win the appeal, then what? The one liner is: Berkeleyans get a seat at the table.  

The next question is: What will I get? Not a one liner.  

Secrecy in government is wrong. You will get a better quality of life. You will re-establish the fact that even great institutions like the University of California will have to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act. The city will have to protect its residents against institutional abuses. The city will get some muscle to prevent the taking of more and more properties from the tax rolls. (The real reason we have high taxes and fees here in Berkeley.) The city will be able to insist that UC pay their fair share of the services and imposed costs that they lay upon the people who make Berkeley their home. There could be a temporary halt in the city’s continuing campaign to increase taxes and fees. There could even be improved city services. The window of opportunity would be opened for better town/gown relations. We could have more trust in what is a public trust. A message will be delivered to UC that they are beholden to the people they serve. Even great universities, as demonstrated elsewhere in the United States, have a real responsibility to the community that hosts them. Just maybe, if you are a property owner, and if the City Council has any backbone, you may even save several hundred dollars per year on taxes and fees. And last but not least, just sitting at the table will give us (the people) enormous power over any negotiation. 

How much and when? If everyone who currently calls Berkeley home contributes just $5 now, we can see this through the Supreme Court. 

How? Make your check out to the: “Law Offices of Stephan C. Volker” and send it to: 

Law Suit Fund 

c/o Dean Metzger 

1 Hazel Road 

Berkeley, CA 94705 

Thank you very much, 

Carl Friberg 

Lead Plaintiff in Friberg vs. Bates,  

RG 05230715 

www.berkeleyblue.org 

• 

CHERRY PICKING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Ms. O’Malley’s May 4 editorial cherry picks a single initiative from the comprehensive scheme touted by New York Mayor Bloomberg for his city, intended to make New York greener and greater by, among other items, adding 265,000 housing units by 2030, to accomplish “the most dramatic reduction in greenhouse gases ever achieved by an American City.” 

Here at home, ABAG’s regional growth projections are intended to protect more than 83,000 acres of greenfield lands that would be converted to urban use by 2020 if current Bay Area development trends continue. Adding housing to Berkeley is part of our own regional grand scheme for a sustainable future. 

Also, the number of new parking spaces proposed by the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and UC Berkeley are available to all. Under the settlement agreement reached with the City of Berkeley on the 2020 LRDP, UC Berkeley’s proposed net new parking, excluding the replacement Underhill parking structure scheduled for operation this fall, is 1,270. (The entirety of the settlement agreement is on the web through lrdp.berkeley.edu.) The total net new parking proposed by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is 500 (www.lbl.gov/LRDP/ faq.html). 

Jennifer McDougall 

• 

JEFFERSON SCHOOL  

CENTENNIAL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

This year, Berkeley’s Jefferson Elementary School celebrates its 100th birthday! We welcome the entire Berkeley community, and especially Jefferson alums, to join us on Saturday, May 12, between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., to celebrate 100 years of a great school during our Mayfair. Having the celebration coincide with the Mayfair is no coincidence! For many years, the Mayfair has been one of our most important events, featuring performances, a carnival, a benefit drawing, a silent auction, delicious food, and a beautiful plant sale. Lots of fun for the entire family! This year, we are planning a number of Centennial-related activities in addition: 

• Assembly honoring Jefferson community, past and present, at 1 p.m. 

• Beginning at 1:30, a showing of “Junior Traffic Patrol” by Les Thompsen (Jefferson was one of the first schools with traffic patrols) followed by a slideshow of photos and memories 

• There will also be continuous displays of intriguing photos and memorabilia, a preview of the new centennial tile mosaic and centennial garden, tours of the old Jefferson School (now Crowden), and the benefit drawing supporting school activities. 

Please join us! 

Joann Sullivan, Historian 

Jefferson School PTA (1996-97) 

Chris Hoffman, Centennial Historian 

Jefferson School PTA (2006-07) 

• 

A BITTER IRONY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The use of the Reagan Library for the Republican presidential debate is a bitter irony amid the current Iraq war and battles with right-wing fundamentalist jihadists. This is because the 1980s Reagan-Bush administration, which included Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, was a strong supporter and financier of the Saddam Hussein dictatorship and fundamentalist jihadists, like Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network, whom Reagan aided with billions of dollars. The Reagan Library itself contains pictures of Reagan graciously hosting jihadists in the White House. Pictures of Reagan’s emissary and recently Bush’s Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld smiling and negotiating with Saddam Hussein are in the National Archives. 

Reagan’s support of Hussein and bin Laden’s forces accompanied Reagan’s support of brutal dictators around the world such as Noriega, Somoza, and Pinochet in the Western Hemisphere, Pol Pot’s ruthless regime in Southeast Asia, and still-standing Middle East oil dictatorships. Reagan’s legacy represents hypocrisy and betrayal of democracy around the world, whenever such betrayal benefits powerful oil cartels and wealthy elites. This dangerous legacy should be rejected in favor of honest policies that support real democracy, not rule by the rich, powerful, and dangerous. 

Patrick T. Keilch 

• 

PRAISE FOR THE PLANET 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thanks so much for publishing Ruth Rosen’s superlative article “The Care Crisis” in your May 1 edition.  

Rosen is the author of the ground-breaking book The World Split Open: How the Modern Women’s Movement Changed America. She was a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle until they fired their only two feminists, her and Stephanie Salter. 

In your same issue you printed an article about a Mexican journalist who is exposing child porn rings. How could we get along without the Planet? 

Nancy Ward 

Co-Coordinator,  

Oakland/East Bay National Organization for Women 

• 

VIOLENCE JUNKIES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Bob Burnett is right that we have become “a nation of violence junkies,” and that today’s conservatives embody this problem. But his condemnations of the ideas that “the best government is no government” and “the market will provide” miss the point. Conservatives do not favor a free market or smaller government. They have expanded the federal government by about 50 percent since Bush took power. They have given us the worst war and police state since the Cold War and have also increased domestic spending—the prescription drug benefit was not just corporate welfare but the biggest expansion of entitlements since the Great Society! Government is, as Gandhi put it, organized and concentrated violence. We shouldn’t look to state violence to solve society’s problems, whether in Iraq or at home. Everything the government does it ultimately backs up by throwing non-compliers in its inhumane institutions called prisons. The ripples of aggression from government looting and murder poison civil society. 

Conservatives don’t believe in smaller or no government, and probably never did. From Nixon and Reagan to the Bushes, they have long been the true promoters of more government and higher taxes—many of which are hidden, such as with inflation, and hurt the poor disproportionately. The answer to random acts of violence is not more state violence, bigger budgets or more cops. Nor are individual liberty and the common good at odds with each other, for only through freedom can peace and community thrive.  

Anthony Gregory 

• 

UPDATING AN OLD FABLE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Remember the story of the blind persons who from touching an elephant tell what kind of animal it is? Each gets it wrong because each mistakes a small part of the creature’s anatomy for the whole. Every report I’ve read or heard about the nature of our engagement in the Middle East reminds me of that.  

Because of carelessness or intent, public discourse is blind to two obvious contextual facts: 1) A military engagement is not necessarily a war. Our mighty forces in Afghanistan and Iraq are occupiers, not warriors. 2) We’re not wanted. Iraqi people of every stripe, unequivocally and understandably, want all armed foreigners to leave their country.  

The reasons our leaders and the press call it “war” is to distract allies from our desire to control that region, and to make our military presence there acceptable to voters here.  

The reason our leaders and the press ignore Iraqis’ pleas to leave is to blame their government, the government we created, installed and protect, for not controlling the sectarian violence, violence enabled by our armed presence.  

To end a war implies surrender, irrespective of timetables or benchmarks. To end an occupation we simply have to withdraw.  

How do you say “Yankee go home!” in Arabic? 

Marvin Chachere 

San Pablo 

As part of the Measure G process, Berkeley should consider policies to give employees the option of down-shifting economically by working less. Though it is not much talked about, choice of work hours is one key to dealing with global warming. 

Today, the economy must grow in tandem with increased productivity, regardless of how much people actually want to consume. Because of improved technology, the average American worker produces about 2.3 percent more in an hour each year— which means that a worker produced eight times as much each hour in 2000 as in 1900. As long as work time remains constant, total output per worker grows by 2.3 percent a year, doubling every 33 years. 

Reductions in greenhouse gas emissions through conservation and cleaner fuels are likely to be overwhelmed by this constant increase in output. To stabilize world climate, we must reduce greenhouse gas emissions dramatically during this century, and there is little or no chance of doing this if per capita output grows eight-fold during this century. An alternative to this hyper-growth economy is to give people the option of reducing their work hours. This opens the possibility of using increased productivity to work fewer hours, rather than to produce and consume more. Yet most Americans today have no choice of work hours. Almost all good jobs are full time, while most part-time jobs have low pay and no benefits. The economist Juliet Schor found that, if the average American male worker reduced his hours by 20 percent, he would reduce his earnings by 50 percent, because part-time workers have lower wages and fewer benefits. (The average female worker would reduce her earnings by a bit less, because women are more likely to have worked part-time during part of their lives, and so they are already discriminated against.) To give people the opportunity to choose to work shorter hours, we need to: 

• End discrimination against part-time workers. By law, part-time workers should have the same hourly earnings as full-time workers and should have equivalent benefits, seniority, and chance of promotion. The European Union already protects part-time workers from discrimination. 

• Create high-quality part-time jobs: The Netherlands and Germany have laws saying that, if a full-time employee asks to work shorter hours, the employer must accommodate the request unless it will be a hardship to the business. As a weaker but still effective policy, we could give businesses tax incentives to their employees the option of working shorter hours. These policies would give Americans the option of working less and consuming less. Even a relatively small change could make a big difference. The average American works 1,817 hours a year, and the average West European works 1,562 hours a year. A recent study by Harvard University economist Mark Weisbrot found that, if Americans worked as few hours as West Europeans, it would lower our energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent. More important, Weisbrot found that, if the developing nations imitate the American model of work hours, world temperatures will rise 4.5 degrees by 2050, all else being equal. But if the developing nations imitate the European model of work hours, world temperatures will rise by 2.5 degrees—a very substantial difference caused by work-time alone, apart from other policies to reduce emissions. 

Moving to a European model of work hours would not involve any great sacrifice. On the contrary, I think that West Europeans are better off than Americans because they have more time for their families and their own interests, rather than having more freeways and bigger SUVs. 

Berkeley took a leading role in promoting the civil rights movement and feminist movement during the 20th century. Now it is time for us to take a leading role in promoting the movement toward shorter work hours and simpler living that is a political imperative during the age of global warming. 

Charles Siegel is the author of The End of Economic Growth. 

The official title is California Assembly Bill AB 1458, also known as the Boater Safety Education Bill now working its way through the various legislative committees in Sacramento. But if you look carefully at what it will do and who it will affect, you might be tempted to give it a different name. 

AB 1458 began life in 2006 when the Department of Boating and Waterways published a study recommending mandatory boater education for powerboaters, and proposed language for the legislation. 

Forty-six states have already passed mandatory boater education laws in some form. In nearly all of these states, only the operators of powerboats with over 15 HP are required to carry a license or certificate to prove they have passed a basic boating safety course. In California’s version, there would be a gradual phase in affecting younger boat operators first. The course and test would be inexpensive and they would be available online. 

So far so good, but when industry lobbyists and “stakeholders” got through with this proposal, the bill was left with a giant loophole for rental boats, including rental PWCs (“PWC” is for personal watercraft, or “Jetski” in the incorrect vernacular.) As now drafted, boat renters would be forever exempt from nearly all of the education and certification requirements called for by AB 1458. All a renter would have to do is submit to an oral briefing by the rental operator, view a map, sign a form, and be issued a temporary California Boat Operator Certificate good for 30 days. What are they smoking? PWC operation is the most dangerous form of boating known, and rentals are the worst of the worst. DBW’s own statistics put the risk of a serious accident per hour of PWC operation at 24 times the risk of serious accident in a kayak or canoe. 

But the industry lobbyists—and RBOC (Recreational Boaters of California) seems to be going along with them—insist that the only acceptable boating education law is one that continues to allow walk-up customers with no prior boating experience to rent a PWC or other fast powerboat on the spot. 

Not only that, but these same lobbyists have repeatedly attempted to extend the reach of AB 1458 so that it would also apply to small sailing dinghies, kayaks, canoes, rowing shells and even river rafts. Yes, us kayakers really need to learn about fire extinguishers, fuel vapor explosions, propeller contact injury and water skiing rules. If the industry lobbyists and RBOC have their way, you will need a Boat Operator Certificate to paddle a safe-as-a-house sit-on-top kayak around a protected lagoon. You will not be able to legally let your friends try it out unless they too take the course, pass the test, pay the fee and carry the certificate. But if they want to rent a Jetski and go 50 knots right next to the local swimming area, that will be just fine and dandy with the State of California as along as they are briefed and checked out by the same company that’s renting them the machine. No oversight or verification by an objective agency required, thank you. 

This is about like letting car rental companies issue temporary drivers licenses to new drivers renting cars. And applying the certification requirements to kayakers is about like making pedestrians get drivers licenses to cross the street. But that’s how things work in Sacramento. 

The industry is hurting, they see kayaks as the only growth sector, and if the powerboat business is going to take a regulatory hit then by gosh those kayak dealers are going to take the same hit before they steal any more market share that rightfully belongs to the thrillcraft. 

Of course, if anyone really wanted to make California waterways safer, diverting prospective powerboat buyers and renters to non-motorized forms of boating is exactly what they would advocate. By the DBW stats, switching from a PWC to a kayak reduces risk of a serious accident by 96 percent. 

Can education help also? Probably, but only by small increments. California’s boating fatality rate over the last five years is 5.46 per 100,000 registered boats. In all the states that have had mandatory boating education laws for 20 years or more, the accident rate is 4.03 per 100,000 registered boats. This is a risk reduction of 26 percent. Florida, another state with a large year-round boating population and a mix of inland and open water boating similar to California’s, has a higher fatality rate (6.41) despite implementing a mandatory program in 1991. 

It’s not hard to understand where the industry is coming from, but why is RBOC on the side of restrictive legislation? They have a long tradition of fighting off nearly everything that inhibits boating in any way, shape or form, from holding tanks to fuel tax. Perhaps they are concerned that something much worse will come from the federal level, and want to get this passed now on their own lenient terms. 

As someone in the business of reconstructing boating accidents, I have nothing to fear from AB 1458. 

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

Should Berkeley’s City Council continue to rubber-stamp the Board of Library Trustees’ (BOLT’s) choice for trustee at its Tuesday May 8 meeting? Or, will the council hold off on re-appointing the incumbent trustee, Susan Kupfer, so that the ad hoc Committee for Sunshining Selection of Library Trustees, which the council itself set up, can continue and conclude the work it has begun? 

The library is a public institution that should be run in a public way. The City Council should control the trustee application and selection process from start to finish, in contrast to the custom of BOLT selecting a nominee and the City Council approving their nomination without considering any others. 

What happens now and in the next few months will affect the library for many years to come. That is because current Trustee Kupfer’s first term expires May 13, and Trustee Laura Anderson’s second and final term ends Oct. 1. Two years ago the library trustees selected Trustee Ying Lee (and the City Council appointed her) because of a strongly expressed need for someone who could relate to the community. Trustee Lee is persevering and is reflecting the needs of the community, including the library staff. But a minority of one on a five-member body is not enough. 

The library has been through several years of strife. A recent union report revealed that Berkeley Public Library is still short staffed. Money spent on malfunctioning technology could be better used to hire staff, extend library hours and buy books. The status quo must be changed. We need new direction. The council should allow trustee applicants to compete with the incumbent!  

With a BOLT vacancy looming on May 13, the City Council, on March 13, voted for a recommendation submitted by Councilmembers, Anderson, Moore and Mayor Bates to set up an ad hoc Committee for Sunshining the Selection of Library Trustees. Councilmembers Betty Olds and Kriss Worthington were appointed to serve on the committee, with Trustee Ying Lee and Library Trustees Board Chair Susan Kupfer. The committee’s mission is “to establish a more open and transparent process for selecting library board members.” 

Information about a library trustee opening was buried at the bottom of an April 13 lengthy press release titled “Ad Hoc Committee Works on Public Process for Potential Library Board Trustees... .”  

The last two paragraphs contained a call for applications for an upcoming library trustee vacancy and said that the application had to be submitted just five days later on April 18. Also, all interested applicants “must” be in attendance that very night at the Board of Library Trustees’ (BOLT’s) 7 p.m. meeting. 

Despite the extremely short application period, two candidates applied. One withdrew before the April 18 meeting. The other, Pat Cody, co-founder of Cody’s Books, met the deadline and attended the April 18 BOLT meeting as mandated. Yet Pat Cody’s application was not discussed at the meeting and she was not even given an opportunity to speak. The library trustees voted 3-1 (Kupfer recused) to recommend the re-appointment of incumbent Trustee Kupfer to a second four-year term.  

We think there is a problem in having an incumbent (Chair Kupfer) sitting on a committee which is set up to establish a more open and transparent process for selecting future library trustees.  

The Committee for Sunshining the Trustee Selection is making progress in achieving a more open and democratic process. We urge the City Council to allow this committee to complete its work in the next few weeks by postponing consideration of re-appointment of the incumbent, Kupfer, and if necessary, giving her a temporary extension of her term for the next few months.  

Please attend the City Council meeting tonight at 7 p.m. and/or contact the City Council, asking it to postpone consideration of re-appointing the incumbent so that the Committee for Sunshining the Trustee Selection process can finish its work. 

Gene Bernardi, Peter Warfield and Jane Welford are members of Berkeleyans Organizing for Library Defense (SuperBOLD). Warfield is also executive director of the Library Users Association. 

The current brouhaha over a U.S. plan to deploy anti-ballistic missiles (ABM) in Poland has nothing to do with a fear that Iran will attack Europe or the United States with nuclear tipped Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM), but a great deal to do with the Bush Administration’s efforts to neutralize Russia’s and China’s nuclear deterrents and edge both countries out of Central Asia. 

The plan calls for deploying 10 ABMs in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic, supposedly to interdict missiles from “rogue states”—read North Korean and Iran.  

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Security John Rood claims “North Korea possesses an ICBM range missile,” and it is “certainly possible” that Pyongyang could sell some to Iran. Barring that, Tehran could build its own missile capable of striking Europe and the United States. 

But the North Korean Taepodong-2, which failed a recent test, is not a true ICBM—in a pinch it might reach Alaska. And Iran pledged in 2003 not to upgrade its intermediate missile, the Shihab-3. 

“Since there aren’t, and won’t be, any ICBMs [from North Korea and Iran], then against whom, against whom, is this system directed?” First Deputy Prime Minister Sergi Ivanov said to the Financial Times, “Only against us.” 

The chief of the Russian General Staff added, “The real goal [of the U.S. deployment] is to protect [the United States] from Russian and Chinese nuclear-missile potential and to create exclusive conditions for the invulnerability of the United States.” 

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice responded that “The idea that somehow 10 interceptors and a few radars in Eastern Europe are going to threaten the Soviet [sic] strategic return is purely ludicrous and everybody knows it.”  

But once you start adding up a number of other things, it isn’t just 10 missiles and a radar site. There is already a similar site in Norway, and the plan is to put similar systems in Georgia and Azerbaijan. Britain is considering deploying ABM missiles at Fylingdales, which even the United States admits would pose a threat to Russian missiles. 

“If the [Russians] are concerned about the United States targeting their intercontinental ballistic missiles, I think that would be problematic from the UK because I believe we probably could catch them from a UK launch site,” says Lieutenant General Trey Obering, head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. 

An editorial in the Guardian called the Fylingdales plan “the far side of folly.” The Russians are also suspicious that the Polish missiles are the camel’s nose under the tent. 

Poland has made it clear that it doesn’t feel threatened by Iran. For Warsaw, this is all about its traditional enemy to the East, Russia. Besides the ABM missiles, Poland is pressing Washington for Patriot missiles and high altitude THAAD missiles, plus it is purchasing American F-16s. In response, the Russians have moved surface-to-air missiles into Belarus. 

“It would be naïve to think that Washington would limit its appetite to Poland or the Czech Republic, or the modest potential that it is now talking about,” writes Victor Litovkin of Russia’s Independent Military Review.  

All these systems will be tied into ABM systems in Alaska and California, plus similar planned systems in Japan, Australia and the Philippines (not to mention sea-borne ABM systems in the Pacific, the Indian Ocean, and the Mediterranean).  

Keep in mind the Bush Administration unilaterally withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.  

Total all those things up, and toss in the recent decision by the Bush Administration to start designing another generation of nuclear warheads, and it is no wonder the Russians have turned cranky. 

The European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have—with reservations— gone along with the plan, in part because the EU would like to squeeze Russian control over gas and oil pipelines coming out of Central Asia. 

According to K.M. Bhadrakumar, the former Indian ambassador to Uzbekistan and Turkey, the United States has financed a pipeline that runs natural gas from Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan through Turkey, Austria, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. The pipeline will be “a rival to Russian Gazprom’s Blue Stream-2,” scheduled to open in 2012. 

“Moscow is well aware that Washington is the driving spirit behind the EU’s energy policy toward Central Asia,” Bhadrakumar writes in the Asia Times, arguing that the U.S. “calculates that Moscow will be inexorably drawn into a standoff with the EU over the latter’s increasingly proactive polices in Eurasia.” 

While Rice may suggest that “everyone” thinks Russian paranoia is “ludicrous,” in fact the EU is split over the missiles, and unhappy that Washington bypassed NATO to make bilateral agreements with both countries.  

Neither the right-wing Polish government nor the center-right Czech governments dare put the issue up for a referendum. Sentiment in the Czech Republic is running 60-40 against the radar, and there is strong opposition to the missiles in Poland. 

The German Social Democrats (SPD), junior partners in the current coalition of Chancellor Angela Merkel, also oppose it. “We do not need new rockets in Europe,” says SPD chair Kurt Beck. “The SPD doesn’t want a new arms race between the United States and Russia on European soil. We have enough problems in the world.” 

Former French President Jacques Chirac also warned, “We should be very careful about encouraging the creation of a new dividing lines in Europe or a return to the old order.” 

The Russians have threatened to withdraw from the European Conventional Forces Treaty, and have even hinted they might reconsider their participation in the 1987 Intermediate Ballistic Missile Treaty. Russia is also making plans to quadruple its production of new ballistic missiles and add to its nuclear submarine fleet. 

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute researcher Shannon Kile says the Russians view the deployment “as a violation of the original NATO enlargement agreement,” where the United States pledged it would not permanently deploy or station “military assets on the territories of former Warsaw pact countries.” 

Last month, the White House urged admitting Albania, Croatia, Georgia, Macedonia and the Ukraine to NATO.  

Implicit in Rice’s “ludicrous” comment is that an ABM system would be incapable of stopping a full-scale nuclear attack by a major nuclear power, and critics point out that the system has a dismal track record. Kile characterized the proposed ABM as “A system that won’t work to fight a threat that does not exist.” 

But it doesn’t have to work very well. ABM systems have a dark secret: They are not supposed to stop all-out missile attacks, just mop up the few retaliatory enemy missiles that manage to survive a first strike. First strikes—called “counterpoint” attacks in bloodless vocabulary of nuclear war—are a central component in U.S. nuclear doctrine.  

Last week the Democrats blocked funds for the European ABM system. Robert Wexler (D-Florida), chair of the House subcommittee on Europe, said, “Europeans also question why—if this program is really intended to protect Europe—did the administration choose to bilaterally negotiate with Poland and the Czech Republic rather than collectively decide this issue in NATO?” 

But whether the Democrats will stand up to the White House is anyone’s guess. 

If you are sitting in Moscow or Beijing and adding up the ABMs, the new warheads, and the growing ring of bases on your borders, you have little choice but to react. Imagine the U.S. response if the Russians and the Chinese were to deploy similar systems in Canada, Mexico and Cuba. 

A nuclear arms race, an increase of tension in Europe, and the launching of a new Cold War: That is what is at stake in the European missile crisis.

How should East Bay progressives handle criticism of Mayor Ron Dellums and his administration, their own criticism, and that of others? It’s a complicated question without a quick and easy answer. 

Mr. Dellums won last summer’s election handily over two solid opponents—veteran city councilmembers, both—and it would appear that the new mayor has done little in the ensuing 11 months that would indicate a lessening of his popularity with the people who voted for him. Certainly, that would be indicated by the favorable reception he received at the recent Sixth District Town Hall meeting at Frick Middle School. The new mayor has made no major missteps—either in public statements or in policy direction—and, so far as I can tell, he has not, in the four months since he took office, been accused by any responsible observer of breaking any of the promises he made to Oakland voters in the campaign. 

Still, Mr. Dellums has not been afforded the “honeymoon” period new officeholders are generally allowed to get their feet wet and to establish the direction of their new positions. 

Some of this early criticism has come from a few of my colleagues in the media. 

Most recently, for example, we have San Francisco Chronicle political columnists Phil Matier and Andrew Ross combing through Mr. Dellums’ newly released 500 page, two year proposed budget to discover that, according to the columnists, “Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums is thinking big—a big $1 million-plus increase in his own office budget next year. Dellums is asking the City Council to give him seven new or redefined staff positions, including a $130,000 chief of staff, two $100,000-plus senior deputies and both a full-time bodyguard and a driver.” All in all, Mr. Matier and Mr. Ross report, this is a seven-staff increase from the 17 staff members under former Mayor Jerry Brown. “Dellums’ budget director, Dan Lindheim,” the column explains, “said about half the requested increase would be covered by redirecting money that Brown had steered toward the School for the Arts, one of his pet projects.” 

I can’t read Mr. Matier and Mr. Ross’ minds, but the column seems designed specifically to leave the impression that rather than crafting a budget to build Oakland into a “model city,” as promised in last year’s election, Mr. Dellums is instead building an entourage that would seem more appropriate for a fashion model. Long after the 500-page budget is combed through and studied and analyzed for its strengths and weaknesses and insight into Mr. Dellums’ policy directions, it will be the Matier & Ross column that will be remembered. 

If that’s the column’s purpose, it has already had its desired effect. 

Larry Livermore, a blogger who often writes about East Bay political affairs from his current Brooklyn, New York home, writes in his most recent post [http://larrylivermore.blogspot.com/2007/05/dellums-takes-charge.html]: “Doddering Ron Dinkins, er, I mean Dellums, is off to a blinding start when it comes to attacking Oakland’s myriad problems. After a couple months-long disappearing act, he’s now surfaced with a million-dollar makeover on what he apparently considers the most crucial of them: his office. Oh yeah, plus a pay raise for himself and a new driver and bodyguard to accompany him through the streets of his fair city. Oh, and where’s he coming up with the money in that perennially broke city? Half of it’s being lopped off the budget of one of the new schools launched during Jerry Brown’s tenure. Let’s see: educating children or pay raise and chauffeured limo for the mayor, which is more important? Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” 

Mr. Dellums’ supposed “disappearing act” for the first three months of his administration has gotten to be a general theme among some critics, by the way, with a local blogger posting at Common Sense Oakland [http://urbandreems.blogspot.com/] that “the same benighted constituencies that pushed his candidacy … is making a concerted effort to ignore the fact that St. Ron is ignoring his job and basically drawing an increased check for sitting around is hardly surprising.” 

And on a Berkeley neighborhood e-mail forum, one resident posted, in response to the Matier & Ross column, “What I think should be focused on is WHY Mayor Dellums is acting like he’s back in Washington D.C.? Oakland does not have the coffers, the lobbyists or the structure to support requests such as private drivers and full-time bodyguards. Although I didn’t agree with Mayor Brown’s choices, at least he never requested those private services. Hell, all of us drive, why can’t Dellums learn or pay for a driver out of his private pension?” 

Some of the insinuations in the Matier & Ross column are easily refuted, but only if you have a detailed knowledge of Oakland in the Jerry Brown years. 

The money Mr. Brown allocated for the highly-subsidized Oakland School For The Arts was not a part of Oakland’s regular, departmental, line-item budget, but was part of the mayor’s discretionary funds, which was his right to funnel to any (legal) area of his choosing. To that end, Mr. Brown spent more than a million dollars for renovations to the Malonga Casquelord Center (formerly the Alice Arts Center) in order to make it the arts school’s first home, and God knows how much more was spent by the city through the mayor’s office to relocate the arts school to the still-being-renovated Fox Theater. The point is that the mayoral discretionary funds being allocated by Mr. Dellums are not being “redirected” from the Oakland School For The Arts since each mayor, coming in, has the authority to use that money for her or his own projects and purposes. That’s why they call it discretionary. 

Because Brown staff members destroyed many, if not most, of the Brown Administration records in its last days, we may never know exactly how many staff members Mr. Brown actually had at his disposal. Matier & Ross noted that according to Dellums Budget Director Dan Lindheim, Mr. Brown funded “a couple of” staff members from other departments, so that they did not show up in the mayor’s budget during his years. We have no idea whether that “couple of” staff members included such people as Deputy City Manager Simón Bryce, who at one point while still on the city manager’s staff, moved his offices out to the Oakland Army Base to act in an administrative capacity for one of Mr. Brown’s other charter school projects, the Oakland Military Institute. And that doesn’t take into account the many hours the City Manager’s staff—including former City Manager Robert Bobb himself—put into Mr. Brown’s charter school initiatives when they had other city business they should have been working on. 

Meanwhile, the early blanket criticisms of Mr. Dellums put local progressives in a difficult position. 

Except for those who stayed with Oakland Councilmember Nancy Nadel, who has her own longtime progressive credentials, Oakland progressives generally supported Mr. Dellums in last year’s election. They did so not simply out of loyalty to a man who was a national progressive icon for many years, but because they have long-term issues and interests that they wanted the mayor’s office to address and solve. And many progressives are now lobbying fiercely for those interests in areas where they don’t think the new mayor has moved swiftly or forcefully enough. 

One of those areas is State Senator Gloria Romero’s SB 1019 legislation that would overturn the recent California Supreme Court “Copley” ruling that closed most police misconduct hearings and records to the public. Some progressive groups would like to see Mr. Dellums put his considerable political weight, progressive credentials, and prestige to bear in publicly lobbying for SB 1019. 

Conversely, some progressives were disturbed to learn that a city-contracted legislative lobbyist, Jennifer Thompson of Towsend Public Affairs, spoke for the Dellums Administration earlier this spring before the State Senate Public Safety Committee in support of State Senate President Don Perata’s SB 67 sideshow car confiscation bill, which would renew the recently-expired law. They think the original law has been misused by Oakland police, and want Mr. Dellums to speak out against it, or at least withdraw his support. 

Mr. Dellums has also come under some early criticism from progressives on the economic front. Former Oakland City Councilmember Wilson Riles—who lost to Mr. Brown for Oakland Mayor when Mr. Brown ran for re-election in 2002—is concerned that Mr. Dellums’ economic task force recommendations were turned over to the Oakland Chamber of Commerce “before they were finished” and “before they were merged into a coherent plan and before there was sufficient indication of agreement from the Mayor on the individual recommendations or priority order of implementation.” 

As far as I know, none of these Oakland progressives have come out publicly with statements specifically criticizing Mr. Dellums himself, and these progressive criticisms don’t constitute a “break” with the Dellums Administration, if by that term we mean that progressives no longer support Mr. Dellums, or are in danger withdrawing their support at anytime soon. The jockeying and criticisms are part of the normal give-and-take of political advocacy, a sign of a healthy adult political dialogue in a community long known for its strong advocacy of various political positions. 

And East Bay progressives are mindful of the toxic, relentless attacks on the presidential administration of Bill Clinton—from the health care bill onward—that blunted or still-birthed Mr. Clinton’s most progressive initiatives, and eventually helped lead to the conservative, Republican takeover of Congress. There is some concern that a drumbeat of blanket criticism and attacks on the Dellums Administration might do something similar in Oakland. 

But if progressives—to counter those blanket attacks—begin a campaign of speaking and letter-writing specifically to throw support to Mr. Dellums, as well as holding off on “excess” public criticisms of their own that might add to the general clamor, there is also some concern that some of the issues progressives most care about may get unduly delayed, or completely lost in the shuffle. 

It’s not an insoluble problem, by any means. But look for area progressives to try to find creative and responsible ways to work out of the dilemma in coming weeks, trying to split the difference between focused criticism and reasoned support. 

Ploughshares Nursery is a unique operation. Located off Main Street on the former Alameda Naval Air Station, across from the Rosenblum Winery and the ferry terminal, it’s owned by the Alameda Point Collaborative. The Collaborative describes itself as a “supportive housing community,” with 500 formerly homeless people—veterans, domestic violence survivors, children and adults with disabilities—living in converted Navy housing. It offers counseling, life skills coaching, and job training, through the nursery and otherwise. Proceeds from the plants you buy at Ploughshares go to the Collaborative. 

Good plants, too. With its mix of edibles and California natives, this is a nursery after my own heart. Andrea, the propagator who showed us around last week, joked about specializing in edible natives plants—a niche just waiting to be filled. 

Ploughshares has a couple of neighbors on its four-acre growing site: Kassenhoff, which sells organic heirloom tomato starts at a couple of Oakland farmers’ markets, and Oaktown Natives, which grows plants for restoration projects. Although they don’t do direct retail sales, you can find a selection of Kassenhoff tomatoes at Ploughshares: the likes of Omar’s Lebanese, Black from Tula, Dr. Wyche’s Yellow, Momotaro. 

Among other edibles, there’s Four Winds Citrus (improved Meyer lemon, bai makrut), guava, tree collards, red Russian kale, several kinds of raspberry. Andrea says the Chinese spinach isn’t to everyone’s taste, but it is edible. 

“We have weird natives other people don’t have,” she adds. I don’t know about weird, but the variety is impressive. Fremontodendron ‘Ken Taylor’ looks like a spreading variety; blue-eyed grass ‘California Skies’, short and stout, complements another Sisyrhynchum with a tall, slender growth habit. Ploughshares has native trees (coast live oak, buckeye, madrone, holly-leaf cherry, red-twig dogwood, tree poppy), shrubs (toyon, ceanothus, manzanita, coyote brush), ground covers (wild ginger), bulbs (wild onion, Ithuriels’ spear)—a little of everything. The nursery’s web site includes a partial plant list.  

The nursery still bears the fingerprints of its first manager, Christopher Shein, who now runs the permaculture program at Merritt College. You enter through a wide bamboo arch, and the shade house, something between a palapa and a Marsh Arab mudhif, is thatched with palm leaves, some donated by a local church after Palm Sunday. There’s a stump-and-haybale amphitheatre where classes have been held in the past, although none are currently scheduled. Many of the plants are organically grown and/or certified Bay Friendly. 

This place is well worth a trip through the Posey Tube (“Dark Tunnel,” the sign on the Oakland side warns). Keep an eye out for the family of hooded orioles that frequent the nursery’s salvia beds. And consider a lunch stop on nearby Webster Street. Although the somewhat unsettling Ribs n’ Things is long gone, Tillie’s is still dishing up classic diner fare, and you can try an antipodean meat pie at the New Zealander. 

Ploughshares Nursery 

2701 Main Street, Alameda,  

Open Wed.-Sun. 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. www.ploughsharesnursery.com 

898-7811. 

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

There are few things in life as embarrassing as having to ask your hostess what’s in the casserole. I know. I’ve been doing this for the last 15 years or so since having finally figured out after many distressing years that I’m not good friends with bovine products. 

Not meat, mind you. I do fine with beef, although, like most of us, I’ve pushed that plate pretty far away in favor of tofu and fish. No, it’s the other wonderful things that cows will gladly give us in return for their lives: Cheese, milk, cream, ice cream and sadly, butter. It’s not really as bad as it sounds. I’ve gotten used to it and the downside for me personally was so distressing that I need only remind myself of the late night wheezing or stomach ache to happily eschew the Cheese Board pizza.  

Of course, there is that issue of the dinner party at Ben and Lisa’s where I actually have to ask if butter is used in the casserole. I just hate it. So when I talk with mold sensitive clients, and this IS something that comes up with some regularity, I have more than a little empathy for those who cannot live with what others take for granted. 

You see, that’s the funny thing about mold, mildew and other fungi. They’re all around us, on everyone’s menu but some folks have a very hard time with them. My own dairy sensitivity is nothing compared with, for example a serious peanut allergy. Some folks can’t eat food that was prepared using the same machine that grinds up peanuts and will go into shock over the tiniest exposures. 

This is also true with molds and mildews. While most people can eat cheeses cultured with mold (funny you should ask), tempeh and the other moldy foods we eat, a few sorry souls are exempt and must eschew, not chew. 

So when we talk about mold in buildings, it’s the same. Molds and their neighbors (members of the fungus family) are common to our environment and, in typical settings, are not significantly pathogenic (unless your immune system is compromised, in which case many common molds can become a serious threat). 

The one thing that almost all molds have in common is their need for moisture, although many need other conditions (like still air) to propagate successfully. So, the first thing that I start thinking about, when I’m confronted with a mold or mildew problem, is where the wet is coming from? If you do, as I do, you begin by opening a toolbox of investigative and amelioratory tools. 

Let me give you that toolbox (or at least a beginner’s set) so that you can go boldy where no aspergillus has gone before. 

Since we know that most molds require fairly high levels of humidity to grow, our first tool is a simple examination of the external shell of the building. If there are physical signs of growth in one particular place and not in others, we have a big clue. Later we’ll discuss broadcast effects. 

If I have one closet or one bedroom where there is growth and it’s all localized along one wall, I’d start by examining the walls and adjacent surfaces. A closet is more likely to be a problem because of still air, which spore-producing critters prefer. When they get blown about, they have difficulty propagating. The simple act of opening a closet can lessen the growth of a mold colony. 

I will want to make sure that there is no leakage into the interior of walls or into the living space from the outside so a good set of eyes working slowly across the roof and exterior is the first major tool to use when it’s clear that the growth is discreet or localized. If you take your time, this can be quite effective. 

Keep in mind that water can enter through a fissure one-8000th of an inch (or so I’ve been told), so it’s critical that all junctions on the exterior of the house be sealed or configured to shed water outward. On the inside, signs of moisture aren’t hard to detect, although a moisture meter can be quite handy. 

If you don’t have a clear sign of leakage from roof or wall, and growth is randomly noted, it’s possible that you’re dealing with elevated moisture levels due to ground moisture. Moisture travels from cold to warm because warm air will hold more moisture than cold air (counterintuitive, I know) so this is why moisture will travel up out of the soil or damp basement to the upper areas of the house or the outside walls. 

Area which have elevated humidity or actual dampness on surfaces will tend to grow bushes, grass, corn or maybe just mold. Mold spores are all around floating in the atmosphere and they need only find a damp environment to begin having large families. 

The second set of tricks or tools relates to this condition. If we have a good idea that the moisture started in a soil-surfaced crawlspace (as opposed to a basement), the first and cheapest thing to do is to cover the soil with plastic. A “vapor barrier” does not need to be sealed at the edges or taped together, although these things certainly can’t hurt. 

Steve Quarles, of U.C. Berkeley, has shown us in his research that moisture levels in crawlspaces are driven down very effectively by nothing more than laying plastic on the ground. So, this being the case, it’s the first thing I’d do if I believe that this was happening.  

The other thing that can be done if damp soil is the source of moisture is to increase ventilation in a crawlspace so that air can naturally dry out the soil through increases evaporation. 

Breaking the barrier between the crawlspace and the exterior allows the two spaces to reach equilibrium and it’s often a lot wetter under your house than it is outside where the sun and breeze are drying things out. 

If you’re not sure if the inside of your house is damp, a great tool to acquire is a hygrometer. Cigar stores carry these and they’re pretty cheap to buy. I see them on eBay for 10-20 bucks all the time. If you put this up in your living space and study it over a course of days, you’ll be able to get a sense of how damp you’re home is. A moisture level of 40-60 percent is very nice but a moisture level of 90 percent is probably going to lead to all night fungus parties at your place. 

A tool that is both diagnostic as well as amelioratory is a dehumidifier. You can set one of these in a room and within a day or two figure out if the room was really damp. If the unit is collecting buckets and buckets of water and never shuts down (they have adjustable “humidistatic” controls), it means that there a lot of water in the space and you’ll probably want to start taking other measure.  

Nonetheless, leaving one hooked up and hosed to the outside, can actually fix a damp space, although I’d never choose that as my final solution. I’m too cheap to want to pay the electric bill and dehumidifiers cost money to run. 

If you’ve got major wetness in the subfloor area (i.e. boat ramp, fishing pier) you may want to install a subsurface drainage system. This can help to dry things out but costs a lot of money and is never my first solution. That said, there are houses for which this IS the solution. Even then, some will need additional ventilation, vapor barriers and other tactics. 

So this is the short course and not, by any means a complete assessment of what makes mold grow but, seriously, these few tactics can help I.D. or lessen the ill effects of damp wood and plaster in many homes. 

If you’re someone who’s clearly getting sick, don’t mess around. If you can’t make things better in very short order, just get out. There’s always another place to bed down and being sick isn’t worth staying at Buckingham Palace. I’m lucky. Like most people, I can live with a little damp and a little mold but when it comes to lunch, I’ll take the sushi and leave the pizza for someone else. 

Got a question about home repairs and inspections? Send them to Matt Cantor at mgcantor@pacbell.net.

There aren’t lots of them around, but many are in bloom now so it’s a bit easier to spot them: silk oak, Grevillea robusta. Their leaves have a distinctive profile, a bit like an exaggerated oak-leaf shape, verging on the fernish; I suppose that might account for the name, but the Aussies have a habit of calling any old thing some kind of “oak”—casaurina is “she-oak” for example, and that genus has foliage that looks like pine needles.  

Look for a tree with gray bark, floppy ferny leaves about as long as your hand, and orange flowers, probably up high in the tree. If you have the flower in hand, you’ll see it’s actually scarlet and yellow, an odd long brush of curled flowerets like a row of inquisitive cartoon ants.  

The Grevillea genus stems from a clan with a habit of producing weird flowers. It’s a protea, if you don’t mind—one of that family that includes those strange silvery South African plants with big blossoms like the offspring of an artichoke and a cactus. I find myself groping for similes to describe this stuff, because it’s practically extraplanetary to look at.  

The family’s actually a respectable old Terran one, though from when the Earth wasn’t Earth as we know it, quite. It’s one of those Gondwanaland groups, like araucarias—monkey puzzle and bunya-bunya trees and such—and the particular distribution of those groups over the world is one of those mind-boggling signatures of continental drift.  

No, really. Imagine discovering that the reason you were born where you were born was that your ancestors had traveled there without taking a step, but by riding the ground they stood on while it surfed the Earth’s mantle for eons. The idea that life forms are older than the ground they stand on or the acre next door messes with the usual pictures of planetary history we tend to have in our heads. You can meet similar temporal disjunctions on the east slope of the Sierra, looking from recent volcanic-glass mountains and underwater instant-hot-tub vents toward the ancient bristlecone pines in the White Mountains just to the south.  

Or, what the heck, go to the Big Island of Hawai’i where islands of vegetation stand among barren lava flows. Take Joe and me along, please. We can all look for silk oaks there; the species is in use for landscaping, shade (as in India, Sri Lanka, and Brazil, for tea and/or coffee plantations), and sometimes timber. It’s getting a bit invasive there, though; uh-oh. 

Other grevilleas are more shrubs than trees. You’ll find some of them here and there around us in garden settings; they tend to be drought- and heat-tolerant, shearable for hedges, and decent looking.  

I myself dislike those shrubs strongly, but it’s a personal grudge. When I was a practicing pro gardener with a few accounts over the hills in Contra Costa County, those were about the meanest, prickliest, itchiest buggers I had to mess with, and lots of them were on slopes where I could barely keep on my feet without grabbing something. Not much to grab but a fanged bush. Ow.  

No, gloves didn’t help much. Somehow the thin needly leaves found the seams and that gap at the cuff. As I said: mean.  

If you get close to one of those, though, look—carefully—at the flowers: maybe stranger even than silk oaks’. Art deco snails with periscopes.  

grows fast—not an unmixed blessing—and sheds lots of leaves and twigs; it’s the sort of pet a large drooly dog might be. Ideally it lives in a spot where the dropped leaves can be left to compost where they land, as mulch. It flowers more reliably in warmer places like Hawai’i and south Florida.  

It also has the distinctive root system that typify its family: proteoid lateral roots, short, dense, and good at using scarce nutrients in poor soils by extracting those nutrients from their mineral matrix.  

So if you have a warm rocky spot at the back of a sizeable garden, this might be the tree for you. Frankly, you and your garden’s animal commensals would be better off with a native, but I couldn’t blame anyone who got a good look at a silk oak’s flowers for falling in love with them. 

Photograph by Ron Sullivan: At the top of this silk oak in downtown Berkeley, you can  

see its flowers. If you're preternaturally sighted, you can see a lesser goldfinch too. 

Ron Sullivan is a former professional gardener and arborist. Her “Green Neighbors” column appears every other Tuesday in the Berkeley Daily Planet, alternating with Joe Eaton’s “Wild Neighbors” column. Her  

“Garden Variety” column appears every Friday in the Daily Planet’s  

East Bay Home & Real Estate section.

FRIDAY, MAY 11 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley “Lysistrata” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave. at Berryman, through May 12. Tickets are $12. 525-1620. www.aeofberkeley.org  

Aurora Theatre “Private Jokes, Public Places” Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m. at 2081 Addison St., through May 20. Tickets are $38. 843-4822. 

Berkeley High Theater “Hair” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Florence Schwimley Little Theater, Berkeley High Campus. Tickets are $7-$15.  

Berkeley Rep “Blue Door” at 8 p.m. at 2025 Addison St., through May 20. Tickets are $45-$61. 647-2949.  

Contra Costa Civic Theater “A Streetcar Named Desire” at 8 p.m. Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at Contra Costa Civic Theatre, 951 Pomona Ave., El Cerrito. Runs through May 12. Tickets are $8-$11. 524-9132. www.ccct.org  

Impact Theatre “Measure for Measure” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave., through May 26.Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468. 

Just Theater, “I Have Loved Strangers” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., to May 26. Tickets are $12-$25. 421-1458.  

Masquers Playhouse “She Loves Me” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2:30 p.m. at Masquers Playhouse, 105 Park Place, Point Richmond, through May 12.Tickets are $18. 232-4031.  

Shotgun Players “The Cryptogram” Thurs.-Sun. at 8 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., through June 17. Tickets are pay what you can. For reservations call 841-6500.  

Subterranean Shakespeare “Macbeth” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St., near Rose in Live Oak Park, to May 26. Tickets are $12-$17. 276-3871. 

TheatreFIRST “Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 3 p.m. at Old Oakland Theatre, 481 Ninth St., Oakland. Tickets are $18-$25. 436-5085.  

EXHIBITIONS 

“Touchable Stories: Richmond” A multi-media, oral history event created by the people of Richmond. Fri. at 8 p.m., Sat. at 2 and 6 p.m. through May 13, at 1303 Canal Blvd., Richmond (the former Kaiser Shipyard Cafeteria). Cost is $6-$12. For reservations call 619-3675.  

“Origin: Poetics of Space” Intaglios by Seiko Tachibana. Reception at 6 p.m. at Cecile Moochnek Gallery, 1809-D Fourth St. 549-1018. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Last Word Poetry Series David Alpaugh and C.O McCauley read their poetry at 7 p.m. at Nefeli Caffe, 1854 Euclid Ave. at Hearst. Open mic follows. 841-6374.  

Arthur Blaustein talks about ways to “Make A Difference: America’s Guide to Volunteering and Community Service” at 7:30 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

Geoffrey G. O’Brien and Jasper Bernes, poets, at 7:30 p.m. at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

David Kerns talks about his novel “Standard of Care” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

The Zipper Festival, three days of jazz and other music, by more than 50 musicians in a fundraiser for The Jazz House, in conjunction with the Berkeley Arts Festival, at 6 p.m. at the Fidelity Bank Building, 2323 Shattuck Ave. 415-846-9432. 

Berkeley Opera “Romeo and Juliet” at 8 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2460 College Ave. Tickets are $10-$40. 925-798-1300.  

Oakland Public Conservatory of Music Student Performance at 7 p.m. at 1616 Franklin St., Oakland. 836-4649.  

Berkeley Symphony with Matt Haimovitz, cello, at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. 841-2800. 

Jerry Kuderna Piano “From Bach to Babbitt” at 1 p.m. at 2323 Shattuck Ave. www.berkeleyartsfestival.com 

Dr. Loco’s Rockin’ Jalapeño Band at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

We A Dem, Friends, reggae, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  

Bobby Ingrams Returns at 8 p.m. Arlington Community Church, 52 Arlington Ave., Kendington. Tickets are $15, children $5. 526-9146. 

Chelle! at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ.  

Judy Wexler, jazz, at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Bluegrass Intentions at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

The Nomadics, jazz, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Sumner Brothers, Phil Saylor Wisor at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Whiskey Rebels, Far From Finished at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Sacred Music Concert with Snatam Kaur, Guru Ganesha, Ram Dass Khalsa at 8 p.m. at Sacred Space Yoga Sanctuary, 830 Bancroft Way. Cost is $20-$25. 1-888-735-4800. 

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

Celius-One, Psycokinetics at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$7. 548-1159.  

Zadell: Zoe & Dave Ellis at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Desa, Tera Melos, Nurses at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $10. 763-1146. 

Mirthkon, The Coma Lilies, Juan Prophet Organization at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $7. 451-8100.  

SATURDAY, MAY 12 

CHILDREN  

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

EXHIBITIONS 

“Wings of Spring” Paintings of American, European and African birds by Rita Sklar at Café 817, 817 Washington St., Oakland. Through July 12. www.ritasklar.com 

“Out of the Box” Works by Gera Hasse, Jaja Jackson, and Jim Woessner. Opening reception at 7 p.m. at Fourth Street Studi, 1717D 4th St. www.fourthstreetstudio.com 

“Excavations” Opening exhibition for a new gallery, Johansson Projects, at 6 p.m. at Telegraph and 23rd, Oakland. http://johanssonprojects.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“ultra deepfield” Bay Area artists look at urban locations in transition. Gallery talk with the artists at 2 p.m. at Kala Art Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. Exhitition runs to May 12. 549-2977. www.kala.org 

Michael Chabon reads from “The Yiddish Policeman’s Union” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

“Aging Artfully” with author Amy Gorman and “Still Kicking” with Greg Young at 1:30 p.m. at The Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Ave., Richmond. Donation $5-$10. 620-6772. 

Rhythm and Muse Open Mic with Julia Vinograd at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. 644-6893.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

The Zipper Festival, jazz and other music, in a fundraiser for The Jazz House, in conjunction with the Berkeley Arts Festival, from 2 to 11 p.m. at the Fidelity Bank Building, 2323 Shattuck Ave. 415-846-943. 

American Bach Soloists with Michael Sponseller on harpsichord at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $10-$42. 415-621-7900.  

Schola Cantorum San Francisco “Come My Beloved” at 8 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. Tickets are $12-$20.  

Trinity Chamber Concerts, Kazuko Cleary, piano, perfroms Beethovan and Chopin at 8 p.m. at 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864.  

Kairos Youth Choir Sat. and Sun. at 4 p.m. at Longfellow School Theater, 1500 Derby St. Cost is $8-$10. 704-4479. 

Los Mapaches at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5-$10. 849-2568. 

Bluebelles at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ.  

DjiIay Kunda Kouyate at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054.  

Bhi Bhiman and Ted Schram at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Frank Wakefield at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Ed Johnson and Novo Tempo at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10-$12. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Beep with Michael Coleman at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $5. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Vanessa Lowe & Kwame Copeland at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 558-0881. 

Plum Crazy Shelley Doty X-tet at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. All ages show. Cost is $8. 841-2082.  

Raya Nova, hybrid rock, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Internal Afairs, Never Healed, Trash Talk at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, MAY 13 

CHILDREN 

Asheba at Ashkenaz at 3 p.m. Cost is $4-$6. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Allison Smith “Notion Nanny” Artist talk on her exhibition exploring traditional art and craft-making, at 3:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. 

Total Chaos: Hip Hop Literati A discussion with Jeff Chang, Adam Mansbach and others at 6 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

The Zipper Festival, jazz and other music, in a fundraiser for The Jazz House, in conjunction with the Berkeley Arts Festival, from 2 to 11 p.m. at the Fidelity Bank Building, 2323 Shattuck Ave. 415-846-943. 

Berkeley Opera “Romeo and Juliet” at 2 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2460 College Ave. Tickets are $10-$40. 925-798-1300.  

Bella Musica Chorus “Her Infinite Variety” Four centuries of Shakespeare in song at 4 p.m. at St. Mary Magdalen Church, 29005 Berryman at Milvia. Tickets are $12-$15. 525-5393. www.bellamusica.org 

Presidio Ensemble performs music of Biber, Ginastera, Foote, and Goodheart at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. Cost is $10. 644-6893.  

Community Women’s Orchestra “Concertstück pour Violoncelle” at 4 p.m. at Lake Merritt United Methodist Church, 1330 Lakeshore Ave., Oakland. Suggested donation $10, children free. www.communitywomensorchestra.org 

Kathy Kallick’s 18th Annual Mother’s Day Celebration at 1 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $7.50-$9.50. 548-1761.  

Tango No. 9 at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ.  

Gift Horse at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe. 595-5344.  

Americana Unplugged: Corbin Pagter & Friends at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Zaedno and Friends, Bulgarian, at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $5-$10. 525-5054.  

Mark Murphy “The Singer’s Singer” at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $20. 845-5373.  

Clorox Girls, The Red Dons, Sex Tape Scandal at 5 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

MONDAY, MAY 14 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Celebrating the Arts in Berkeley: The Anniversary of the Arts and Crafts Cooperative, Inc., and the Berkeley Art Center at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6150. 

African/African-American Collections with Phyllis Bischoff, retired librarian, who will discuss her 30+ years developing an extensive collection of Africana for UC Berkeley at the Friends of Richmond Library Annual Meeting at 7 p.m. in the Bermuda Room, Richmond Convention Center, 403 Civic Center Plaza, Richmond. 235-9056. 

“Fostering Creative Engagement in Youth” A lecture and workshop by Eric Booth for educators, teaching artists and community members from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Longfellow Middle School auditorium, 1500 Derby St. Tickets are $25. 642-6838. 

Mary MacKey introduces her story set during the American Civil War “The Notorius Mrs. Winston” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Ron Loewinsohn reads at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Aurora Theatre Staged Readings “Subterranea” by Craig Lucas at 7:30 p.m. at 2081 Addison St. 843-4822. 

Poetry Express with Garrett Murphy at 7 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. 644-3977. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Ensemble Ciaccona, viola da gamba and harpsichord music at 7 p.m. at Le Bateau Ivre, 2629 Telegraph Ave. www.lebateauivre.net 

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

Blue Monday Jam at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100.  

Classical at the Freight at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761  

Mo’Fone, The Jolly Gibsons at 6:30 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $10. 763-1146.  

TUESDAY, MAY 15 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry Flash with Opal Palmer Adisa and Karla Brundage at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley City College Auditorium, 2050 Center St. 525-5476.  

Kaya Oakes and Jeff T. Johnson, poets, read at 7:30 p.m. at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

Rafaela Castro reads from “Provocaciones: Letters from the Prettiest Girl in Arvin” at 7 p.m. at El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Ave. 526-7512. 

Cheri Huber reads from “Making a Change for Good” at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Barbara Kingsolver reads from her first non-fiction narrative “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life” at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $15-$20. For reservations call 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

OOGOG plays at the Berkeley Arts Festival at 8 p.m. at the Fidelity Bank Building, 2323 Shattuck Ave. Tickets are $5-$10. www.berkeleyartsfestival.com 

Tri Tip Trio, cajun, zydeco, at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  

Singers’ Open Mic with Ellen Hoffman at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

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

Jazzschool Tuesdays at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Chris Finan describes “From the Palmer Raids to the Patriot Act: A History of the Fight for Free Speech in America” at 7:30 p.m. at Pegasus Books, Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 528-3254. 

Lama Surya Das describes “Buddha Is As Buddha Does: The Ten Original Practices for Enlightened Living” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Spoken Word: Park Day School Student Writers at 7 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Café Poetry hosted by Paradise at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Donation $2. 849-2568.  

Cheri Huber reads from her new books on Zen and dialy life at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

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

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Whiskey Brothers at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473.  

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

HeadRush’s, The Thow Down, and Shanique Scott’s Prisons, hip hop, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$15. 849-2568.  

Groundation, reggae, at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15-$18. 525-5054. 

Orquestra America at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Matt Morrish & Trinket Lover at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

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

Tie One Ons at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

THURSDAY, MAY 17 

THEATER 

Eastenders Repertory Company “Fear and Misery of the Third Reich” by Bertolt Brecht at 7:30 p.m. at the JCC of the East Bay, 1414 Walnut St. Tickets are $20. 

FILM 

“Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible” by Dr. Shakti Butler, at 6:30 p.m. followed by discussion at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 116 Montecito Ave., Oakland. 285-9600. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry Flash with Julie Carr and Jessica Fisher at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley City College Auditorium, 2050 Center St. 525-5476. www.poetryflash.org 

Ann Jauregui describes “Epiphanies: Where Science and Miracles Meet” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Tina Barseghian introduces “Get a Hobby! 101 All-Consuming Diversions for Any Lifestyle” at 7:30 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Oakland East Bay Symphony “Porgy and Bess” Preview performance at 7 p.m. at Paramount Theater, 2025 Broadway, Oakland. Tickets are $25. 625-8497. 

Aphrodesia, Antioquia at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Ellis Paul at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Elaine Lucia & Her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $17. 841-JAZZ.  

Travis Jones and Chojo Jacques at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Sorrowtown Choir, Matthew Grimm & the Red Smear at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $TBA. 841-2082  

Box O Bananas at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

Bunson, Panic Button, Go Kart Mozart at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100.

OOGOG AT THE  

BERKELEY ARTS FESTIVAL  

OOGOG, a “rock chamber group” comprised of clarinet/alto sax (Jon Russell), electric guitar (Ryan Brown), electric bass (Damon Waitkus) and piano (Kate Campbell for this performance), will play at 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 15. The music is rhythmically complex though groovy, contrasted with moments of free, wild improvisation. The musicians come from various backgrounds, bringing influences of rock, jazz, free improv, electronic and world music. The program is comprised of music written by the group, with one exception: three movements from Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring arranged by Ryan Brown. $10 general, $5 students and seniors. Fidelity Bank Building, 2323 Shattuck Ave. For details, see www.oogog.com or  

www.berkeleyartsfestival.com. 

BELLA MUSICA 

The Berkeley-based chorus Bella Musica presents a Mother’s Day concert, “Her Infinite Variety: Four Centuries of Shakespeare in Song,” featuring a mostly a cappella program of songs by Morley, Verdi, Vaughn Williams, Shearing, P.D.Q. Bach and others, at 4 p.m. Sunday, at St. Mary Magdalen Church, 2005 Berryman St. Admission is by donation. Recommended donation: $15 general, $12 for students and seniors. For more information, call 525-5393 or see www.bellamusica.org. 

MICHAEL CHABON 

AT CODY’S BOOKS 

Pulitzer Prize-winning Berkeley writer 

Michael Chabon will read from his new novel The Yiddish Policeman’s Union at 7 p.m. Saturday at Cody’s Books, 1730 Fourth St.

You may not be a fan of the rap industry, but if you’re looking for a movie with more heart and soul than a dozen Dream Girls, check out The Hip Hop Project, which opens today (Friday). And there’s something else that sets this film apart: all the profits from ticket sales are being donated to youth art programs. 

You might expect something out of the ordinary when Bruce Willis and Queen Latifa team up to produce a film, and HHP delivers. This is a transcendently honest and emotional film that will rip you apart and hug you back together. Over the four years it took to film HHP, you can see a rag-tag group of New York kids age from troubled but driven 14-year-olds to amazing, accomplished young adults. 

The film soars on the personalities of a number of young rappers, including “Cannon,” “Princess,” and the former street orphan who inspires them to produce one of the best rap CDs of the year. Chris “Kazi” Rolle, survived on some of Manhattan’s meanest street and found his life transformed when he became a surrogate father to a family of talented but conflicted teens who were brought together by two common forces: pain and art. 

For people who “don’t like rap,” don’t fret. This isn’t gang-banging rap. The HHP was designed to be an antidote to misogynistic, chest-thumping gangsta rap. This is Rap 2.0. Instead of rapping about being supernatural toughs, Kazi’s kids are telling their own personal stories of struggle, abandonment and achievement. 

As one tough-looking kid raps his story, his lip begins to tremble and tears stream from his eyes. This is not your Snoop Dogg’s rap. 

According to HPP’s director Matt Ruskin, this movie was intended as “a call to end the destructive forces of violence, misogyny and criminality that dominate the music our children are listening to.” Although this New Rap has been stripped of references to bitches and hos, the film was originally rated R because of 17 “fucks” that are uttered during the movie. In a rare ruling, the MPAA Ratings Review Board reconsidered and granted HHP a PG-13 rating, citing the film’s positive images and concluding that the message was “too important to turn kids away.” 

In the course of the film, HHP shows how a scruffy would-be rap artist evolves into what one might be tempted to call sainthood. Kazi is one in a million, a kid who listens, feels and heals — a Soul Buddha from the Hood. At one point in the film, Kazi is even shown introducing his young peers to meditation. 

There’s a remarkable scene where Kazi confronts the mother who abandoned him. The encounter left the audience groaning in anguish and then, amazed by a long moment of wrenching honesty unmatched in cinema and rarely encountered in real life. During a live performance following a preview screening of the film in Oakland’s UA Emery Bay Stadium, Kazi had the crowd pumping fists and swaying to one of his songs.  

Halfway through his passionate mike-waving rap, Kazi inserted the lines of the Serenity Prayer: “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” 

This film has won 12 film awards, but because it’s plowing its profits back into impoverished communities, it doesn’t have a budget for expanded distribution. 

The distribution process is so grassroots that the film’s director, producer, and star are all traveling across the country to help promote these critical screenings. 

Gar Smith is a Berkeley writer and editor emeritus of Earth Island Journal. 

“He can sing you jazz, the songs,” said Richard Silberg of Poetry Flash, introducing Al Young, California’s Poet Laureate, a Berkeley resident, as one of three readers, with Floyd Salas, also of Berkeley, and Reginald Lockett of Oakland, Tuesday night, in a round robin: “They’ll riff back and forth ... in sweet conclave!” 

With Silberg as genial MC, it had the feel of Poetry Flash’s long-running weekly reading series at the old Cody’s on Telegraph. But since last October, they’ve been transplanted downtown to the Berkeley City College auditorium, 2050 Center St., mostly on Thursday evenings, after a few were held in conjunction with Moe’s Books’ ongoing series, and at Black Oak Books before that series was dropped. The readings at City College are all free of charge. 

Young opened the set with, “Like Butter,” talking about “the way heat dictates” things like love. Most of the riffing, one poem suggesting another to the next reader, went on between Young and Lockett. Salas, best-known as a novelist (Tattoo and The Wicked Cross), read exclusively from his new book of poems and drawings, Love Bites—close, emotional studies about the dogs and cats he’s known since his childhood in Oakland. 

It wasn’t just exchanges of poems, but the good-natured banter that made it a reading apart from the typical parade of poets holding forth, one by one, at the podium. 

“I like doing it round robin when I can,” said Young. “It keeps you on your toes.” And Lockett expanded on the “riff” motif: “The three of us make a chord.”  

After the humorous, pugnacious Salas read a poem about the fears of his boyhood, “to face the stranger now at last,” and the feel of “the snapping tail of a fighting dog” quelling them “until the night prowler fades and evaporates in the dawn light,” Lockett took the mic and, referring to “Floyd the boxer,” and said, “I bet people wouldn’t know where I got my love of boxing ... my grandmother!” 

He then recited a piece about his grandmother reading her Bible and writing “Christian musings” while “waiting to watch Floyd Patterson throw jabs, uppercuts,” in a rural South populated by “fireflies, possums, hoot owls ... and Floyd Patterson on Saturday nights.” 

Maybe Lockett, referring to his relations walking “three country miles to listen to [Joe] Louis knock [European champ Max] Schmelling out” on the only radio around, in a country store, prompted Young to read a poem about another German, the internal combustion engine inventor Rudolf Diesel, who wanted “what we’d now call biofuels” rather than oil to power his invention. 

Young contrasted him to Hitler, who he referred to wryly as everybody’s “favorite” German: “The History Channel could not survive without Hitler—all that footage digitalized ...” Salas, in turn, remarking how “We’re all different,” referring to Lockett as writing about “the ambiance ... of who he is,” and calling Young “Mr. Suede—he’s so smooth!” recited how he once saw a sign, “German Shepherds For Sale,” leading him to his longtime canine companion, Sergie, “the most intelligent person I’ve ever known.” 

The community feel in the room was strong. All three poets are longtime local educators, and had contributions, alongside some of their students’, in the anthology from the Oakland PEN reading series, Oakland Out Loud (Jukebox Press), as well as their individual books, offered up for sale. Two of the anthology’s poet-editors, Claire Ortalda and Kim McMillon, were among the listeners. 

Joyce Jenkins of Poetry Flash stressed the years since 1982, when the Flash formally took over the Cody’s series (which went back to the ‘60s), that saw national figures brought week after week to Berkeley. Supported by the UC Chancellor’s Initiative, it’s the first time City College has done this sort of program. 

There’ll be a benefit reading for The Flash with Michael Ondaatje (author of The English Patient) June 14 at Cody’s Fourth Street. 

Lockett read of coming to California and being put into a Special Ed class until the school nurse discovered “I needed glasses,/A pair of glasses.” Young then mentioned a beautiful girl he once befriended who was in Special Ed, his friends remarking, “I’m gonna get me somebody from the dumb class!” 

There were poems and commentary on James Brown’s death: “We danced and sweated to your songs at blue light garage parties,” in Lockett’s words—and how Gerald Ford’s death took Brown’s out of the news, recalling Rupert Murdoch’s reputed command after Ray Charles’ death was superceded by another ex-President’s: “Get Ray Charles off and put Reagan on!” One line summed it all up: “Winners will take all.” 

Lockett spoke of fried bologna sandwiches: “If you’re from the South, that’s a delicacy!” and of the hand-me-down educational materials from white schools in his classroom, surrounded by pictures of appliances his teachers “tore from Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Wards catalogues” to decorate.  

Young read about a photo, “a silver gelatin print,” of a married couple embracing during the Korean War period, imagining their lives, their reaction to events, “the relation between photography and the subject. We don’t usually think about that, enter into whatever dialogue’s taking place. Art is never objective.” 

“Nothing in black and white to decipher, no diction/To master, just the tenderest picture—pure fiction.” Young later said, “I tell my students it’s all fiction, choosing what to write about. Some of them say, ‘But that really happened!’ And I tell them it’s fiction, and that’ll liberate them.” 

When Salas mentioned meeting Barney Rossett, Silberg blurted out, “Barney Rossett the prize fighter?” No, no, Lockett and Young responded for Salas, saying he is the late publisher of Grove Press, which featured Salas’ books. 

“Finish it up, Al!” Young closed with “Passport Blues”: “At dawn you wake up, knowing you will not make that flight ... Before Columbus cut his deal/ With the crown of Castile, /Who was lost?” 

Al Young and Richard Silberg will read May 19 at the Jazz School, with music. 

Ploughshares Nursery is a unique operation. Located off Main Street on the former Alameda Naval Air Station, across from the Rosenblum Winery and the ferry terminal, it’s owned by the Alameda Point Collaborative. The Collaborative describes itself as a “supportive housing community,” with 500 formerly homeless people—veterans, domestic violence survivors, children and adults with disabilities—living in converted Navy housing. It offers counseling, life skills coaching, and job training, through the nursery and otherwise. Proceeds from the plants you buy at Ploughshares go to the Collaborative. 

Good plants, too. With its mix of edibles and California natives, this is a nursery after my own heart. Andrea, the propagator who showed us around last week, joked about specializing in edible natives plants—a niche just waiting to be filled. 

Ploughshares has a couple of neighbors on its four-acre growing site: Kassenhoff, which sells organic heirloom tomato starts at a couple of Oakland farmers’ markets, and Oaktown Natives, which grows plants for restoration projects. Although they don’t do direct retail sales, you can find a selection of Kassenhoff tomatoes at Ploughshares: the likes of Omar’s Lebanese, Black from Tula, Dr. Wyche’s Yellow, Momotaro. 

Among other edibles, there’s Four Winds Citrus (improved Meyer lemon, bai makrut), guava, tree collards, red Russian kale, several kinds of raspberry. Andrea says the Chinese spinach isn’t to everyone’s taste, but it is edible. 

“We have weird natives other people don’t have,” she adds. I don’t know about weird, but the variety is impressive. Fremontodendron ‘Ken Taylor’ looks like a spreading variety; blue-eyed grass ‘California Skies’, short and stout, complements another Sisyrhynchum with a tall, slender growth habit. Ploughshares has native trees (coast live oak, buckeye, madrone, holly-leaf cherry, red-twig dogwood, tree poppy), shrubs (toyon, ceanothus, manzanita, coyote brush), ground covers (wild ginger), bulbs (wild onion, Ithuriels’ spear)—a little of everything. The nursery’s web site includes a partial plant list.  

The nursery still bears the fingerprints of its first manager, Christopher Shein, who now runs the permaculture program at Merritt College. You enter through a wide bamboo arch, and the shade house, something between a palapa and a Marsh Arab mudhif, is thatched with palm leaves, some donated by a local church after Palm Sunday. There’s a stump-and-haybale amphitheatre where classes have been held in the past, although none are currently scheduled. Many of the plants are organically grown and/or certified Bay Friendly. 

This place is well worth a trip through the Posey Tube (“Dark Tunnel,” the sign on the Oakland side warns). Keep an eye out for the family of hooded orioles that frequent the nursery’s salvia beds. And consider a lunch stop on nearby Webster Street. Although the somewhat unsettling Ribs n’ Things is long gone, Tillie’s is still dishing up classic diner fare, and you can try an antipodean meat pie at the New Zealander. 

Ploughshares Nursery 

2701 Main Street, Alameda,  

Open Wed.-Sun. 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. www.ploughsharesnursery.com 

898-7811. 

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

There are few things in life as embarrassing as having to ask your hostess what’s in the casserole. I know. I’ve been doing this for the last 15 years or so since having finally figured out after many distressing years that I’m not good friends with bovine products. 

Not meat, mind you. I do fine with beef, although, like most of us, I’ve pushed that plate pretty far away in favor of tofu and fish. No, it’s the other wonderful things that cows will gladly give us in return for their lives: Cheese, milk, cream, ice cream and sadly, butter. It’s not really as bad as it sounds. I’ve gotten used to it and the downside for me personally was so distressing that I need only remind myself of the late night wheezing or stomach ache to happily eschew the Cheese Board pizza.  

Of course, there is that issue of the dinner party at Ben and Lisa’s where I actually have to ask if butter is used in the casserole. I just hate it. So when I talk with mold sensitive clients, and this IS something that comes up with some regularity, I have more than a little empathy for those who cannot live with what others take for granted. 

You see, that’s the funny thing about mold, mildew and other fungi. They’re all around us, on everyone’s menu but some folks have a very hard time with them. My own dairy sensitivity is nothing compared with, for example a serious peanut allergy. Some folks can’t eat food that was prepared using the same machine that grinds up peanuts and will go into shock over the tiniest exposures. 

This is also true with molds and mildews. While most people can eat cheeses cultured with mold (funny you should ask), tempeh and the other moldy foods we eat, a few sorry souls are exempt and must eschew, not chew. 

So when we talk about mold in buildings, it’s the same. Molds and their neighbors (members of the fungus family) are common to our environment and, in typical settings, are not significantly pathogenic (unless your immune system is compromised, in which case many common molds can become a serious threat). 

The one thing that almost all molds have in common is their need for moisture, although many need other conditions (like still air) to propagate successfully. So, the first thing that I start thinking about, when I’m confronted with a mold or mildew problem, is where the wet is coming from? If you do, as I do, you begin by opening a toolbox of investigative and amelioratory tools. 

Let me give you that toolbox (or at least a beginner’s set) so that you can go boldy where no aspergillus has gone before. 

Since we know that most molds require fairly high levels of humidity to grow, our first tool is a simple examination of the external shell of the building. If there are physical signs of growth in one particular place and not in others, we have a big clue. Later we’ll discuss broadcast effects. 

If I have one closet or one bedroom where there is growth and it’s all localized along one wall, I’d start by examining the walls and adjacent surfaces. A closet is more likely to be a problem because of still air, which spore-producing critters prefer. When they get blown about, they have difficulty propagating. The simple act of opening a closet can lessen the growth of a mold colony. 

I will want to make sure that there is no leakage into the interior of walls or into the living space from the outside so a good set of eyes working slowly across the roof and exterior is the first major tool to use when it’s clear that the growth is discreet or localized. If you take your time, this can be quite effective. 

Keep in mind that water can enter through a fissure one-8000th of an inch (or so I’ve been told), so it’s critical that all junctions on the exterior of the house be sealed or configured to shed water outward. On the inside, signs of moisture aren’t hard to detect, although a moisture meter can be quite handy. 

If you don’t have a clear sign of leakage from roof or wall, and growth is randomly noted, it’s possible that you’re dealing with elevated moisture levels due to ground moisture. Moisture travels from cold to warm because warm air will hold more moisture than cold air (counterintuitive, I know) so this is why moisture will travel up out of the soil or damp basement to the upper areas of the house or the outside walls. 

Area which have elevated humidity or actual dampness on surfaces will tend to grow bushes, grass, corn or maybe just mold. Mold spores are all around floating in the atmosphere and they need only find a damp environment to begin having large families. 

The second set of tricks or tools relates to this condition. If we have a good idea that the moisture started in a soil-surfaced crawlspace (as opposed to a basement), the first and cheapest thing to do is to cover the soil with plastic. A “vapor barrier” does not need to be sealed at the edges or taped together, although these things certainly can’t hurt. 

Steve Quarles, of U.C. Berkeley, has shown us in his research that moisture levels in crawlspaces are driven down very effectively by nothing more than laying plastic on the ground. So, this being the case, it’s the first thing I’d do if I believe that this was happening.  

The other thing that can be done if damp soil is the source of moisture is to increase ventilation in a crawlspace so that air can naturally dry out the soil through increases evaporation. 

Breaking the barrier between the crawlspace and the exterior allows the two spaces to reach equilibrium and it’s often a lot wetter under your house than it is outside where the sun and breeze are drying things out. 

If you’re not sure if the inside of your house is damp, a great tool to acquire is a hygrometer. Cigar stores carry these and they’re pretty cheap to buy. I see them on eBay for 10-20 bucks all the time. If you put this up in your living space and study it over a course of days, you’ll be able to get a sense of how damp you’re home is. A moisture level of 40-60 percent is very nice but a moisture level of 90 percent is probably going to lead to all night fungus parties at your place. 

A tool that is both diagnostic as well as amelioratory is a dehumidifier. You can set one of these in a room and within a day or two figure out if the room was really damp. If the unit is collecting buckets and buckets of water and never shuts down (they have adjustable “humidistatic” controls), it means that there a lot of water in the space and you’ll probably want to start taking other measure.  

Nonetheless, leaving one hooked up and hosed to the outside, can actually fix a damp space, although I’d never choose that as my final solution. I’m too cheap to want to pay the electric bill and dehumidifiers cost money to run. 

If you’ve got major wetness in the subfloor area (i.e. boat ramp, fishing pier) you may want to install a subsurface drainage system. This can help to dry things out but costs a lot of money and is never my first solution. That said, there are houses for which this IS the solution. Even then, some will need additional ventilation, vapor barriers and other tactics. 

So this is the short course and not, by any means a complete assessment of what makes mold grow but, seriously, these few tactics can help I.D. or lessen the ill effects of damp wood and plaster in many homes. 

If you’re someone who’s clearly getting sick, don’t mess around. If you can’t make things better in very short order, just get out. There’s always another place to bed down and being sick isn’t worth staying at Buckingham Palace. I’m lucky. Like most people, I can live with a little damp and a little mold but when it comes to lunch, I’ll take the sushi and leave the pizza for someone else. 

Got a question about home repairs and inspections? Send them to Matt Cantor at mgcantor@pacbell.net.

FRIDAY, MAY 11 

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 

Emerson School’s 100th Birthday Celebration with a tour at 4 p.m. at 2800 Forest Ave., and a reception and Commemorative Program at 6 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Cost is $10. For information on how to send pictures and memories see www.emerson100.org 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Raj Patel “Rights of the Poor: Democracy in South Africa” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $14, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For reservations call 526-2925.  

“Creating a Caring Economy” A conversation with Raine Eisler at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. Donation $10-$100. For tickets see www.brownpapertickets.com/event/13655 

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 

Planning Meetings for a Dedication to denise brown will be on going every Fri. at 2 p.m. at LeConte, Room 104. Photos, videos and dvd's are welcome to be included in the event. For more information, contact Rita Pettit, PRitaAnn@aol.com, 559-4602. 

SATURDAY, MAY 12 

Annual Letter Carriers’ Food Drive Leave non-perishable food donations such as canned goods, rice, dried beans and pasta near your mailbox this morning for your letter carrier to collect. Benefits the Alameda County Community Food Bank. 653-3663. www.accfb.org 

5th Annual Bike Rodeo Practice your safe riding skills and learn some new tricks from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at San Pablo Park, 2800 Park St. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley Injury Prevention and Chronic Disease Prevention Programs. 981-5347.  

Annual Spring Plant Sale at The Edible Schoolyard Featuring 50 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, as well as vegetables, fruits, herbs, annual and perennial flowers grown by King students. Proceeds support school gardens throughout the East Bay. Sat and Sun from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, 1781 Rose St. at Grant. 558-1335. www.edibleschoolyard.org 

Bike Day at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market with information on everyday bicycling and how to repair your bike, from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Center St., btwn Milvia and MLK Way. 548-7433. 

Rosa Parks Kid’s Carnival Spring Fundraiser with live music, dance performances, petting zoo, games & prizes, great food, silent auction and quilt raffle, from noon to 4 p.m. at 920 Allston Way at 8th St. Torrezfamily@hotmail.com 

Peralta In Bloom Spring Festival from noon to 4 p.m. with live entertainment, carnival games, old fashioned high steppin’ Cakewalk, free arts & crafts activities, a climbing wall, jumper, delicious barbeque, and much more. Due to the school fire this year the festival will be held at Peralta’s temporary home, 4521 Webster Oakland, 45th and Webster. 301-4565. 

Celebration of Children Community Book Fair from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Ephesians Children’s Center, 1907 Harmon Ave., corner of Alcatraz and Adeline St. 653-2984. 

California Wildflower Show with flowers, talks and information on how to use native species in home gardens, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2200. 

Orchid Society of California Mother’s Day Sale and Show Sat. and Sun. from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Lakeside Park Garden Center, 666 Bellevue Ave., Oakland. 238-3208. www.orchidsocietyofcalifornia.com 

Pepperweed Pull Join Friends of Five Creeks volunteers removing invasive perennial pepperweed, a threat to shorebird habitat, at the mouth of Strawberry Creek. Meet at 10 a.m. at the cove west of Sea Breeze Deli, University Ave. just west of the I-880/580 Freeway. 848-9358.  

Berkeley History Center Walking Tour “Gilman and Frontage Road Area” led by Allen Stross at 10 a.m. Cost is $8-$10. For information on meeting place and to register call 848-0181. 

Walking Tour of Old Oakland around Preservation Park to see Victorian architecture. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of Preservation Park at 13th St. and MLK, Jr. Way. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234.  

Mini-Farmers in Tilden A farm exploration program, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. for ages 4-6 years, accompanied by an adult. We will explore the Little Farm, care for animals, do crafts and farm chores. Wear boots and dress to get dirty! Fee is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Reptile Rap Meet our resident snake and turtle friends in an interactive talk for the whole family at 2 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Celebrating Elephants Learn about the Oakland Zoo’s Elephant management program from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Oakland Zoo, 9777 Golf Links Rd., off Hwy 580. 632-9525.  

No Animal Circus Circus fun with the Circus Finelli from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Oakland Zoo, 9777 Golf Links Rd., off Hwy 580. 632-9525.  

Great War Society meets to discuss “Trench Art” by Jane Kimball at 10:30 a.m. at 640 Arlington Ave. 527-7118. 

Friends of the Kensington Library Booksale Sat. from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sun. from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Kensington Community Center, 59 Arlington Blvd., Kensington. 524-3043. 

“The Road to Black Freedom: Revolutionary Marxism vs Black Nationalism” A forum with updates on Mumia Abu-Jamal at 4:30 p.m. at Laney College, Room D200, Oakland. Suggested donation $2. 839-0851. 

Benefit for Deaf Palestine Solidarity Project, a new project linking American and Palestinian deaf communities, with poetry reding by Jean Stewart at 2 p.m. at Redwood Gardens Community Room, 2951 Derby St. Donation $5-$15. 243-9910. 

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.  

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.  

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

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. 

Petite Pooches Playgroup for small dogs from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., one block north of Solano on Ensenada at Talbot. 524-2459. 

SUNDAY, MAY 13 

California Wildflower Show with flowers, talks and information on how to use native species in home gardens, from noon to 5 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2200. 

Annual Spring Plant Sale at The Edible Schoolyard Featuring 50 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, as well as vegetables, fruits, herbs, annual and perennial flowers grown by King students. Proceeds support school gardens throughout the East Bay. From 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, 1781 Rose St. at Grant. 558-1335. www.edibleschoolyard.org 

Farm Stories and Songs for the whole family with farm activities, at 10:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Grandmother Oak Mother’s Day Celebrate Mother’s Day by visiting a very old oak. Bring a snack and a poem to share. Meet at Bear Creek Staging Area, Briones Regional Park, at 1 p.m. for this 5-mile hike. 525-2233. 

Mother’s Day Pancake Breakfast on the Red Oak Victory Ship in Richmond Harbor from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Cost is $6, children under 5 free. 237-2933. 

Celebrate Mother’s Day at the Kensington Farmers’ Market from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 303 Arlington Ave., Kensington, behind Ace Hardware.  

Mother’s Day at the Oak Grove with an interfaith blessing from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the Memorial Oak Grove in front of Memorail Stadium off Piedmont Ave. www.saveoaks.com 

Tibetan Buddhism with Hugh Joswick on “Self-Change” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812.  

MONDAY, MAY 14 

“Nanoscience at Work: Creating Energy from Sunlight” with Paul Alivisatos, Associate Laboratory Director at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, at 5:30 p.m. at Berkeley Repertory Theater 2025 Addison St. 486-5183. 

“Fostering Creative Engagement in Youth” A lecture and workshop by Eric Booth for educators, teaching artists and community members from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Longfellow Middle School auditorium, 1500 Derby St. Tickets are $25. 642-6838. 

“When the Levees Broke” Parts 1 and 2 Spike Lee’s documentary about Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans at 6:45 p.m. at the Upstairs Lounge at Geoffrey's Inner Circle, 410 14th Street, off Broadway, Oakland. Parts 3 and 4 will be shown May 21. Suggested donation $10. 262-1001. info@wellstoneclub.org 

“The Adventures of a Wildlife Photographer” with Eleanor Briccetti at 12:30 p.m. at the Edith Stone Room, Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. Brown bag lunch. 526-3720, xt. 17. 

Read Aloud Theater A free Berkeley Adult School class at 9 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst. 981-5190.  

TUESDAY, MAY 15 

Tuesdays for the Birds Tranquil bird walks in local parklands, led by Bethany Facendini, from 7 to 9:30 a.m. Today we will visit Pointe Pinole. Call for meeting place and if you need to borrow binoculars. 525-2233. 

Vigil Supporting the People of Iraq from noon to 1 p.m. at the Oakland Federal Building 1301 Clay St. We create a Living Graveyard, in which people lie on the city sidewalk, five feet apart, covered with white sheets, to represent the hundreds of thousands of deaths in Iraq caused by the war of occupation. Please bring your own sheet. www.epicalc.org  

Improving Berkeley’s Public Pools and Swim Programs A community forum at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst at MLK. 649-9874. Poolsforberkeley.org 

“Climbing Mt. Shasta: Tips for First-time Climbers” with Eric White, climbing ranger with the US Forest Service at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Discussion Salon on “Will Robots Become More Intelligent Than Humans and Take Over the World?” at 7 p.m. at JCC, 1414 Walnut. 848-2995. 

Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation from 6 to 8 p.m. at 6230 Claremont Ave., Oakland. Registration required. 594-5165. 

Family Storytime at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

Solo Sierrans Hike Hike at Lake Chabot Reservoir Meet at 6:30 p.m. at the boat house. Optional dinner follows. For information call Delores 351-6247. 

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 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda.548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16 

Walking Tour of Old Oakland uptown to the Lake to discover Art Deco landmarks. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of the Paramount Theater at 2025 Broadway. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. 

Tilden Mini-Rangers Hiking, conservation and nature-based activities for ages 8-12. Dress to ramble and get dirty. From 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8, registration required. 636-1684. 

Chris Finan describes “From the Palmer Raids to the Patriot Act: A History of the Fight for Free Speech in America” at 7:30 p.m. at Pegasus Books, Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 528-3254. 

Albany Library Evening Book Club meets to discuss “Digging to America” by Anne Tyler at 7 p.m. at The Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 16. 

Lead-Safety for Remodeling, Repair and Painting of older homes. A HUD & EPA approved class held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Alameda County Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, 2000 Embarcadero, #300, Oakland. 567-8280. www.ACLPPP.org  

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

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. 548-9840. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley BART station. 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, MAY 17 

Bike to Work Day with energizer stations located throughout Berkeley with refreshments and information. www.EBBC.org, www.511.org 

Golden Gate Audubon Society “Coming and Going: Bay Bird Populations” with Harry Fuller at 7 p.m. at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 843-2222. 

Young People United, Resisting War, Resisting Violence An evening with Camilo Mejía, Iraq War veteran and conscientious objector, spoken word, video and more at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 411 28th St., Oakland. Suggested donation $5-$20. 914-4678. 

Berkeley Community Gardening Collaborative Potluck at 6:30 p.m. at LeConte Elementary School Garden, 2241 Russell St. Please bring something to share. 883-9096.  

“Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible” a documentary by Dr. Shakti Butler, at 6:30 p.m. followed by discussion at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 116 Montecito Ave., Oakland. 285-9600. 

Compassionate Communication Lori Hope discusses her new book “Help Me Live: 20 Things People With Cancer Want You To Know” at 6:15 p.m. at Markstein Cancer Education Center, 450 30th St., Suite 2810, Oakland. 869-8833, option 2. 

Simplicity Forum “Tiny Homes, Handmade Homes” at 6:30 p.m. at the Claremont Branch of the Berkeley Public Library, 2940 Benvenue Ave. 549-3509. 

“Curitiba” A film on urban solutions from Curitiba, Brazil at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. Suggested donation $5. 663-2594. 

Poetry Workshop with Donna Davis, ongoing on Thurs. from 9 a.m. to noon at the JCCEB, 1414 Walnut St. Donation $10 per semester. 848-0237. 

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

Baby and Toddler Storytime at 10:30 a.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

“Dogen and the Lotus Sutra: The Mahayana Worldview of Zen” with Dr. Taigen Dan Leighton at 8:30 p.m. at the Jodo Shinshu Center, 2140 Durant Ave. RSVP requested 809-1444. 

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 

Food Drive for Alameda County Food Bank Drop off canned goods, peanut butter, ceareal, powdered milk, beans, rice and pasta at Citibank, 200 Shattuck Ave. from May 1 to 15. Financial donations always welcome. 635-3663, ext. 318. 

CITY MEETINGS 

Youth Commission meets Mon., May 14, at 6:30 p.m., at City Council Chambers, Old City Hall. 981-6670.  

Citizens Humane Commission meets Wed., May 16, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-6601. 

Commission on Aging meets Wed., May 16, at 1:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5344.  

Commission on Labor meets Wed., May 16, at 6:45 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7550.  

Downtown Area Plan Advisory Commission meets Wed., May 16, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7487. 

Library Board of Trustees meets Wed., May 16, at 7 p.m. at the South Branch Library. 981-6195.  

Design Review Committee meets Thurs., May 17, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7415.  

TUESDAY, MAY 8 

CHILDREN 

First Stage Children’s Theatre “Pet Care Capers” at 7:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $5 at the door.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry Flash with Al Young, California Poet Laureate with Reginald Lockett and Floyd Salas at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley City College Auditorium, 2050 Center St. 525-5476. 

Vendela Vida reads from her new book “Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name” at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Liza Mundy describes “Everything Conceivable: How Assisted Reproduction is Changing Men, Women, and the World” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Gator Beat, cajun zydeco at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $5. 525-5054.  

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

Robin Huw Bowen at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Debbie Poryes & Friends at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave.. 548-5198.  

Joyce & Dori Caymmi at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $6-$10. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdaysat 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 9 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Jeffrey Feldman and George Lakoff discuss “Framing the Debate: Famous Presidential Speeches and How Progressives Can Use Them to Change the Conversation (and Win Elections)” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Café Poetry hosted by Kira Allen at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Donation $2. 849-2568.  

Nomadic Rambles, Storytelling hosted by Ed Silberman at 7 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

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

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Opera “Romeo and Juliet” at 7:30 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2460 College Ave. Tickets are $10-$40. 925-798-1300. www.berkeleyopera.org 

Erik Jekabson Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $9. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Balkan Folkdance at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

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

UC Jazz Showcase: Joyce Kwan Ensemble at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

The Refugees: Cindy Bullens, Deborah Holland, Jenny Yeates & Wendy Waldman at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

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

THURSDAY, MAY 10 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Stitching Connections” Quilts designed and made by refugee and immigrant women from Cambodia,Laos, Mexico and Guatemala. Reception at 2 p.m. at Prudential California Realty, 2095 Rose St. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Charley Hardy Book party for “Cowboy in Caracas” at 7:30 p.m. in the Fireside Room, 1606 Bonita just south of Cedar, next door to the BFUU Hall. Cost is $5-$10. Not wheelchair accessible.  

Daniel Handler and Christopher Moore discuss Moore’s novel “Adverbs” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Bonnie Tsui introduces “A Leaky Tent is a Piece of Paradise: 20 Young Writers on Finding a Place in the Natural World” at 7:30 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

“Aging Artfully” with author Amy Gorman and “Still Kicking” with Greg Young at 7 p.m. at A Great Good Place for Books, 6120 LaSalle, Montclair, Oakland. 339-8210. 

Maidu Dance Tradition with Frank La Pena at 7:30 p.m. at Heyday Books, 2054 University Ave., 6th floor. RSVP to Lillian Fleer at lillian@heydaybooks.com 549-3564, ext. 316. 

Nomad Spoken Word Night at 7 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Tim Fuller on Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar at 12:15 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 5th Floor, 2090 Kittredge St. Free. 981-6100. www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org 

Zimrah Trio, North African and Near Eastern music at 6:30 p.m. at the Magnes Museum, 2911 Russell St. tickets are $6-$8. 549-6950.  

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

Christy Dana Quintet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

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

Make Me, Bill Swanson, The Fits at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

Terror, Hoods, Allegiance at 7:30 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $10. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

The Amplifiers, Flexx Bronco, Neon Nights at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $7. 451-8100. www.uptownnightclub.com 

Selector: DJ Gnat & Big Will at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

FRIDAY, MAY 11 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley “Lysistrata” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave. at Berryman, through May 12. Tickets are $12. 525-1620. www.aeofberkeley.org  

Aurora Theatre “Private Jokes, Public Places” Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m. at 2081 Addison St., through May 13. Tickets are $38. 843-4822. 

Berkeley High Theater “Hair” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Florence Schwimley Little Theater, Berkeley High Campus. Tickets are $7-$15.  

Berkeley Rep “Blue Door” at 8 p.m. at 2025 Addison St., through May 20. Tickets are $45-$61. 647-2949.  

Contra Costa Civic Theater “A Streetcar Named Desire” at 8 p.m. Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at Contra Costa Civic Theatre, 951 Pomona Ave., El Cerrito. Runs through May 12. Tickets are $8-$11. 524-9132. www.ccct.org  

Impact Theatre “Measure for Measure” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave., through May 26.Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468. 

Just Theater, “I Have Loved Strangers” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., to May 26. Tickets are $12-$25. 421-1458.  

Masquers Playhouse “She Loves Me” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2:30 p.m. at Masquers Playhouse, 105 Park Place, Point Richmond, through May 12.Tickets are $18. 232-4031.  

Shotgun Players “The Cryptogram” Thurs.-Sun. at 8 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., through June 17. Tickets are pay what you can. For reservations call 841-6500.  

Subterranean Shakespeare “Macbeth” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St., near Rose in Live Oak Park, to May 26. Tickets are $12-$17. 276-3871. 

TheatreFIRST “Sergeant Musgrave’s Dance” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 3 p.m. at Old Oakland Theatre, 481 Ninth St., Oakland. Tickets are $18-$25. 436-5085.  

EXHIBITIONS 

“Touchable Stories: Richmond” A multi-media, oral history event created by the people of Richmond. Fri. at 8 p.m., Sat. at 2 and 6 p.m. through May 13, at 1303 Canal Blvd., Richmond (the former Kaiser Shipyard Cafeteria). Cost is $6-$12. For reservations call 619-3675.  

“Origin: Poetics of Space” Intaglios by Seiko Tachibana. Reception at 6 p.m. at Cecile Moochnek Gallery, 1809-D Fourth St. 549-1018. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Last Word Poetry Series David Alpaugh and C.O McCauley read their poetry at 7 p.m. at Nefeli Caffe, 1854 Euclid Ave. at Hearst. Open mic follows. 841-6374.  

Arthur Blaustein talks about ways to “Make A Difference: America’s Guide to Volunteering and Community Service” at 7:30 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

Geoffrey G. O’Brien and Jasper Bernes, poets, at 7:30 p.m. at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

David Kerns talks about his novel “Standard of Care” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

The Zipper Festival, three days of jazz and other music, by more than 50 musicians in a fundraiser for The Jazz House, in conjunction with the Berkeley Arts Festival, at 6 p.m. at the Fidelity Bank Building, 2323 Shattuck Ave. 415-846-9432. 

Berkeley Opera “Romeo and Juliet” at 8 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2460 College Ave. Tickets are $10-$40. 925-798-1300.  

Oakland Public Conservatory of Music Student Performance at 7 p.m. at 1616 Franklin St., Oakland. 836-4649.  

Berkeley Symphony with Matt Haimovitz, cello, at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. 841-2800. 

Jerry Juderna Piano “From Bach to Babbitt” at 1 p.m. at 2323 Shattuck Ave. www.berkeleyartsfestival.com 

Dr. Loco’s Rockin’ Jalapeño Band at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

We A Dem, Friends, reggae, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  

Bobby Ingrams Returns at 8 p.m. Arlington Community Church, 52 Arlington Ave., Kendington. Tickets are $15, children $5. 526-9146. 

Chelle! at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ.  

Judy Wexler, jazz, at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Bluegrass Intentions at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

The Nomadics, jazz, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Sumner Brothers, Phil Saylor Wisor at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Whiskey Rebels, Far From Finished at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Sacred Music Concert with Snatam Kaur, Guru Ganesha, Ram Dass Khalsa at 8 p.m. at Sacred Space Yoga Sanctuary, 830 Bancroft Way. Cost is $20-$25. 1-888-735-4800. 

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

Celius-One, Psycokinetics at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$7. 548-1159.  

Zadell: Zoe & Dave Ellis at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Desa, Tera Melos, Nurses at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $10. 763-1146. 

Mirthkon, The Coma Lilies, Juan Prophet Organization at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $7. 451-8100.  

SATURDAY, MAY 12 

CHILDREN  

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

EXHIBITIONS 

“Wings of Spring” Paintings of American, European and African birds by Rita Sklar at Café 817, 817 Washington St., Oakland. Through July 12. www.ritasklar.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“ultra deepfield” Bay Area artists look at urban locations in transition. Gallery talk with the artists at 2 p.m. at Kala Art Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. Exhitition runs to May 12. 549-2977. www.kala.org 

Michael Chabon reads from “The Yiddish Policeman’s Union” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

“Aging Artfully” with author Amy Gorman and “Still Kicking” with Greg Young at 1:30 p.m. at The Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Ave., Richmond. Donation $5-$10. 620-6772. 

Rhythm and Muse Open Mic with Julia Vinograd at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. 644-6893.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

The Zipper Festival, jazz and other music, in a fundraiser for The Jazz House, in conjunction with the Berkeley Arts Festival, from 2 to 11 p.m. at the Fidelity Bank Building, 2323 Shattuck Ave. 415-846-943. 

American Bach Soloists with Michael Sponseller on harpsichord at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $10-$42. 415-621-7900.  

Schola Cantorum San Francisco “Come My Beloved” at 8 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. Tickets are $12-$20.  

Trinity Chamber Concerts, Kazuko Cleary, piano, perfroms Beethovan and Chopin at 8 p.m. at 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864.  

Kairos Youth Choir Sat. and Sun. at 4 p.m. at Longfellow School Theater, 1500 Derby St. Cost is $8-$10. 704-4479. 

Los Mapaches at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5-$10. 849-2568. 

Bluebelles at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ.  

DjiIay Kunda Kouyate at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054.  

Bhi Bhiman and Ted Schram at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Frank Wakefield at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Ed Johnson and Novo Tempo at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10-$12. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Beep with Michael Coleman at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $5. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Vanessa Lowe & Kwame Copeland at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 558-0881. 

Plum Crazy Shelley Doty X-tet at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. All ages show. Cost is $8. 841-2082.  

Raya Nova, hybrid rock, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Internal Afairs, Never Healed, Trash Talk at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, MAY 13 

CHILDREN 

Asheba at Ashkenaz at 3 p.m. Cost is $4-$6. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Allison Smith “Notion Nanny” Artist talk on her exhibition exploring traditional art and craft-making, at 3:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. 

Total Chaos: Hip Hop Literati A discussion with Jeff Chang, Adam Mansbach and others at 6 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

The Zipper Festival, jazz and other music, in a fundraiser for The Jazz House, in conjunction with the Berkeley Arts Festival, from 2 to 11 p.m. at the Fidelity Bank Building, 2323 Shattuck Ave. 415-846-943. 

Berkeley Opera “Romeo and Juliet” at 2 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2460 College Ave. Tickets are $10-$40. 925-798-1300.  

Bella Musica Chorus “Her Infinite Variety” Four centuries of Shakespeare in song at 4 p.m. at St. Mary Magdalen Church, 29005 Berryman at Milvia. Tickets are $12-$15. 525-5393. www.bellamusica.org 

Presidio Ensemble performs music of Biber, Ginastera, Foote, and Goodheart at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. Cost is $10. 644-6893.  

Community Women’s Orchestra “Concertstück pour Violoncelle” at 4 p.m. at Lake Merritt United Methodist Church, 1330 Lakeshore Ave., Oakland. Suggested donation $10, children free. www.communitywomensorchestra.org 

Kathy Kallick’s 18th Annual Mother’s Day Celebration at 1 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $7.50-$9.50. 548-1761.  

Tango No. 9 at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ.  

Gift Horse at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe. 595-5344.  

Americana Unplugged: Corbin Pagter & Friends at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Zaedno and Friends, Bulgarian, at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $5-$10. 525-5054.  

Mark Murphy “The Singer’s Singer” at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $20. 845-5373.  

Clorox Girls, The Red Dons, Sex Tape Scandal at 5 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

MONDAY, MAY 14 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Celebrating the Arts in Berkeley: The Anniversary of the Arts and Crafts Cooperative, Inc., and the Berkeley Art Center at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6150. 

African/African-American Collections with Phyllis Bischoff, retired librarian, who will discuss her 30+ years developing an extensive collection of Africana for UC Berkeley at the Friends of Richmond Library Annual Meeting at 7 p.m. in the Bermuda Room, Richmond Convention Center, 403 Civic Center Plaza, Richmond. 235-9056. 

“Fostering Creative Engagement in Youth” A lecture and workshop by Eric Booth for educators, teaching artists and community members from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Longfellow Middle School auditorium, 1500 Derby St. Tickets are $25. 642-6838. 

Aurora Theatre Staged Readings “Subterranea” by Craig Lucas at 7:30 p.m. at 2081 Addison St. 843-4822. 

Mary MacKey introduces her story set during the American Civil War “The Notorius Mrs. Winston” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Ron Loewinsohn reads at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Poetry Express with Garrett Murphy at 7 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. 644-3977. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

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

Blue Monday Jam at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100.  

Classical at the Freight at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761  

Mo’Fone, The Jolly Gibsons at 6:30 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $10. 763-1146.  

The opera opens with all the characters placing themselves, one by one, facing out toward the audience on an open stage set with stylized arches, stairs and doorways portraying Renaissance Verona. The music swells tempestuously as the cast recites the prologue of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet: “Two households, both alike in dignity …” At verse’s end, the cast sweeps from the stage and the action starts. 

So begins Berkeley Opera’s English-version production of Charles Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette, another of the company’s inventive remodelings, which interweaves very different cultural sensibilities into a postmodern mix that’s both engaging and fun, if not always smoothly polished. 

The major challenge the opera’s creative team faced in recreating this grand opera was more complex than the usual one of blending diverse cultural perspectives: it’s one buried deep in the musicality of the language used by Shakespeare, as opposed to the music of the French opera derived from it some 250 years later.  

Shakespeare’s language, the sine qua non of English poetic language, depends on a quick continuous presentation of a long line that is densely packed with sounds and intellectual wordplay. (Lynn Collins’ interpretation of Portia’s courtroom speech in the film version of The Merchant of Venice is a startling and revelatory example of how to speak cogent Shakespeare.) Romeo and Juliet, one of Shakespeare’s earlier plays, is especially full of puns and long drawn-out metaphors that reference the 16th century. And its musicality is self-contained.  

The music of the 18th century composer Gounod is French to its sixteenth notes: tender, at times ecstatic, given to a lushness filled with delicacy but backed with intellectual precision. It is a music meant as a setting for French lyrics, with their own emphases and an abundance of vowel sounds, linguistic characteristics that create a very different understanding of what defines poetry as well as what defines musical accenting and embellishment. 

As a partial solution to the impossible task of setting Shakespeare’s iambs to Gounod’s music, Jonathan Khuner, artistic director and conductor, decided to drop the opera’s lengthy recitatives. He comments on the validity of this decision: “[Gounod] would have preferred to compose Romeo and Juliet in the operá-comique style, with spoken sections leading to sung numbers in regular alternation… [In our production] material has been shuffled, reassigned and rearranged, but always with a view towards highlighting Gounod’s best Shakespearean responses and his often transcendent music.” 

A condensed version of Shakespeare’s text was used for the spoken text and a mélange of Shakespearean text and translations of the original Barbier and Carré libretto was concocted for the songs. Some of the translations were less than happy. Why Juliet’s “Je veux vivre” (“I want to live”) was translated as “I want to fall”—especially since it was sung while standing on a balcony—is a mystery. For the most part, though, the song libretti worked well—they were concise and sweetly formed. 

Reverting to Gounod’s original idea, while it allowed for Shakespeare’s text and greater accessibility, stirred up other problems. One was the discontinuity of the music. This production would be better served with more music, if only as background, even though that requires more intensive work in the musical reduction and despite the fact that each reworking runs the risk of moving farther away from Gounod’s original. Taking risks is one of the Berkeley Opera’s more endearing and admirable traits. 

The lovely soprano Elena Krell as Juliet was vocally well-matched to tenor Jimmy Kansau’s enthusiastic interpretation of the hormonally overwhelmed Romeo. Baritone Igor Vieira was a bawdy and humorous Mercutio, and the cast as a whole gave excellent portrayals. Maestro Khuner kept his 25-member onstage orchestra in admirable form, and the chorus work was delectable.  

A final tsk-tsk. Whoever designed the codpieces, which are distracting, needs to see the Vivienne Westwood exhibition at the de Young museum. Westwood, who with Malcolm McLaren fashioned the Punk movement, has always designed in-your-face sexually challenging but innately artistic outfits. Corsets, bum cages, see-through lace kilts. But no outsized codpieces. As she comments: the designs, which emphasize the body from foot to toe, finally focus on the face, which is ultimately the body’s most erotic part. Despite the bawdiness that decorates the Shakespeare’s text, eroticism is the true virtue of Romeo and Juliet’s love-soaked soul. All in all, though, this was an adventurous and thoroughly enjoyable performance for both theater and opera lovers. It’s one you should plan on seeing. 

ROMEO AND JULIET 

Presented by Berkeley Opera at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 9; 8 p.m. Friday, May 11; and 2 p.m. Sunday, May 13 at the Julia Morgan Theater in Berkeley. (925) 798-1300. www.berkeleyopera.org. 

The Jazz House, under the aegis of the Berkeley Arts Festival, will produce the Zipper Festival, its first festival of jazz this weekend, from Friday night, with acts 6-9 p.m., Saturday 2-8:30 p.m., and Sunday 2-8:30 p.m., featuring acclaimed local players like saxophonists Howard Wiley and Dayna Stephens, Sacramento guitarist Ross Hammond, drummer Weasel Walter, saxophonist John Gruntfest, and Damon Smith on bass, at the old Fidelity Bank Building, 2323 Shattuck Ave. 

“I’ve always wanted to do a festival,” said Rob Woodworth, founder of the Jazz House. “Michael Marcus, the free jazz player, came by the Jazz House when it was on Adeline and said we should have our own, like the Vision Festival that bassist William Parker started in New York, that features free and nonmainstream jazz. We don’t have anything like that out here. And something that features not only music, but links up with dance, poetry and visual art.”  

The chance came with a phone call about a month ago from Bonnie Hughes of the Berkeley Arts Festival. “She searched me out and introduced herself, offering to collaborate,” Woodworth said. “She’s helped us put on shows before, to keep a presence in Berkeley after we lost our lease on Adeline.” 

Hughes had a date open in May, and showed Woodworth the Fidelity Building, now dubbed the Berkeley Arts Festival Hall. “She has a wonderful knack for finding places for shows,” he said. “There wasn’t much time, but I sent out emails to a bunch of musicians I like to work with, and the response was so great, I asked for another day ... then, ‘How about a third day?’” 

The result is this weekend’s Zipper Festival?  

“I wanted something that would stick—in the mind, that is,” Woodworth said, explaining the festival’s name. 

Friday will feature D’Armous Boone’s Special Edition, followed by Andrew Voight’s Sunday Night Band, then Bush of Ghosts, with Damon Smith, Phillip Greenlief and Spirit. Saturday sees Jim Ryan’s Forward Energy take off, with Bill Crossman’s B-Free, the Nathan Clevenger Trio, Patrick Cress’ Telepathy (with visual arts included), and the Howard Wiley Quartet following. Sunday starts with the Dayna Stephens Trio, going on to The Lost Trio (featuring Phillip Greenlief), Ross Hammond’s V-Neck with drummer Tom Monsoon, The Greatest Little Big Band in the History of the Megaverse—John Gruntfest’s group with two drummers—closing with Weasel Walter, Gruntfest and Damon Smith. 

The Jazz House has been producing Free Jazz Fridays at Eighth Street, a block from West Oakland BART.  

“It’s doing very well,” said Woodworth; “I’m still surprised by it. And now KCSM-fm has a free jazz show, with Greg Bridges, whose father was a free jazz player.” But Woodworth said he would like to reestablish “a regular place where people know where we are, with more shows and more variety. I’m still looking for the right place—and the money.” 

ZIPPER FESTIVAL 

Tickets: $10 Friday, $15 Saturday and Sunday. A three-day festival pass is $30 at www.brownpapertickets.com or (800) 838-3006. Further info at www.berkeleyartsfestival.org, www.thejazzhouse.com or (415) 846-9432.

“You brought in a different war.” 

“I brought it in to end it!” 

“You can’t cure the pox by further whoring!”  

Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance, John Arden’s 1959 antiwar classic, abounds in piquant exchanges like this one that emphasize the complicity of all in war, when even those on the homefront are accessories.  

The mordant tale of a squad of soldiers on a recruiting mission, but one to demonstrate war’s horrors to a strike-torn town, fleshed out with song and dance by a cast of 13, has its long-overdue West Coast premiere, appropriately by TheatreFIRST in the Old Oakland Theatre. 

Arden’s play surfaced at a prime moment in postwar British drama. The well-wrought, three-act drama had just been challenged by the “Angry Young Men,” with their blue-collar “kitchen sink” realism (John Osbourne’s Look Back in Anger had actually been decried by some for having an ironing board as focus of the set).  

The first of their plays were really just a different form of the traditional chamber play, with characters speaking to each other separated by “the fourth wall” from the audience. But Continental influences—Absurdism’s postsurrealist and Brecht’s political theaters, along with a little Strindbergianism—and an upsurge of native popular forms, like Music Hall (Osbourne’s The Entertainer featured Laurence Olivier as a run-down vaudeville comedian caught up in the news of the Suez Crisis), quickly paved the way for more openly theatrical pieces, taken directly to the spectator. 

Arden’s masterpiece has been talked about—and taught—here for over 40 years, though apparently never performed. In the ’60s, pieces like Brendan Behan’s plays and Oh! What a Lovely War (staged by Robert Adler at the Festival Theatre), which were originated by Arden’s co-pioneer in British Brechtian dramaturgy, Joan Littlewood, found their way to Bay Area venues. 

But it’s taken TheatreFIRST to stage this complex work, with its demanding vocal scape of British dialect, bringing in every register, as Sean O’Casey’s The Plough & The Stars did for Ireland. 

It’s an ensemble piece, by turns rough and strangely charming, with surprisingly disarming wit. Serjeant Musgrave, a military lifer on a mission as “a religious man,” brings his little army into a mining town, far from the foreign war in which they’ve been embroiled. 

In encounters with the upper class who control the burgh, known only by their titles: Mayor, Reverend (and Magistrate) and Chief of Police, and the ordinary folk (much takes place in a pub run by women)—as well as the striking miners, suspicious the soldiers have come out of the blue to bust their strike—Musgrave and his men argue, drink and sing with the locals, taking night visits from barmaids as well as vandals, before rivetting a crowd of citizens and gentry alike, and the crowd in their theater seats, with a patriotic display turned upside down, like a distress flag, in a raw attempt to “work out the logic” of violence and its pandemic guilt. 

It’s an ensemble play, and the cast, with Clive Chafer’s steady direction, engages each other and the audience with some fine performances (a few being the finest of the respective actors), including an excellent portrayal of haunted Annie, the barmaid impregnated and left by a soldier on his way to the wars (Emily Jordan). 

But the lead role—and performance--must be singled out. Chris Ayles, who has played many parts in the Bay Area, more than a few like his excellent salt-of-the earth Petey in Aurora’s production of Pinter’s The Birthday Party (a show contemporary with Serjeant Musgrave), here plays another diffident Everyman of sorts, but one driven by a strange inspiration, and a leader of disaffected men. 

It’s a tough part, in every sense of the word, and Ayles scores magnificently, truly leading the cast—and subject to it, as when Annie tries to take the mickey out of him with a bawdy song, and to sudden laughter from the audience the Serjeant deadpans a straight line: “What you’re saying, lassie, has some sort of truth.”  

“So ye are the gay recruiters!” Yet that “good strong girlie with a heart like a horse collar” remarks about the “bleedin’ lobsters” how soldiers remain soldiers ... or “What good’s a bloody soldier but to be dropped in a slit in the ground like a letter into a box?” 

The logic of war and a violent peace plays out in that “loamy language” that Clive Chafer singles out, descendent of the gushing lines of Elizabethan theater, of Thomas Hardy and his modernist heirs David Jones and Basil Bunting, who made sonatas and symphonies of the word music Hardy rhapsodized. And TheatreFIRST has just begun its journey into that hinterland Arden charted. A brave, bold show by Oakland’s sole resident company, stalwarts of our East Bay scene. 

SERJEANT MUSGRAVE’S DANCE 

Presented by TheatreFIRST at 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays and at 3 p.m. Sundays through May 27. Old Oakland Theatre, 481 Ninth St., Oakland. $18-$25. 436-5085. 

www.theatrefirst.com.

There aren’t lots of them around, but many are in bloom now so it’s a bit easier to spot them: silk oak, Grevillea robusta. Their leaves have a distinctive profile, a bit like an exaggerated oak-leaf shape, verging on the fernish; I suppose that might account for the name, but the Aussies have a habit of calling any old thing some kind of “oak”—casaurina is “she-oak” for example, and that genus has foliage that looks like pine needles.  

Look for a tree with gray bark, floppy ferny leaves about as long as your hand, and orange flowers, probably up high in the tree. If you have the flower in hand, you’ll see it’s actually scarlet and yellow, an odd long brush of curled flowerets like a row of inquisitive cartoon ants.  

The Grevillea genus stems from a clan with a habit of producing weird flowers. It’s a protea, if you don’t mind—one of that family that includes those strange silvery South African plants with big blossoms like the offspring of an artichoke and a cactus. I find myself groping for similes to describe this stuff, because it’s practically extraplanetary to look at.  

The family’s actually a respectable old Terran one, though from when the Earth wasn’t Earth as we know it, quite. It’s one of those Gondwanaland groups, like araucarias—monkey puzzle and bunya-bunya trees and such—and the particular distribution of those groups over the world is one of those mind-boggling signatures of continental drift.  

No, really. Imagine discovering that the reason you were born where you were born was that your ancestors had traveled there without taking a step, but by riding the ground they stood on while it surfed the Earth’s mantle for eons. The idea that life forms are older than the ground they stand on or the acre next door messes with the usual pictures of planetary history we tend to have in our heads. You can meet similar temporal disjunctions on the east slope of the Sierra, looking from recent volcanic-glass mountains and underwater instant-hot-tub vents toward the ancient bristlecone pines in the White Mountains just to the south.  

Or, what the heck, go to the Big Island of Hawai’i where islands of vegetation stand among barren lava flows. Take Joe and me along, please. We can all look for silk oaks there; the species is in use for landscaping, shade (as in India, Sri Lanka, and Brazil, for tea and/or coffee plantations), and sometimes timber. It’s getting a bit invasive there, though; uh-oh. 

Other grevilleas are more shrubs than trees. You’ll find some of them here and there around us in garden settings; they tend to be drought- and heat-tolerant, shearable for hedges, and decent looking.  

I myself dislike those shrubs strongly, but it’s a personal grudge. When I was a practicing pro gardener with a few accounts over the hills in Contra Costa County, those were about the meanest, prickliest, itchiest buggers I had to mess with, and lots of them were on slopes where I could barely keep on my feet without grabbing something. Not much to grab but a fanged bush. Ow.  

No, gloves didn’t help much. Somehow the thin needly leaves found the seams and that gap at the cuff. As I said: mean.  

If you get close to one of those, though, look—carefully—at the flowers: maybe stranger even than silk oaks’. Art deco snails with periscopes.  

grows fast—not an unmixed blessing—and sheds lots of leaves and twigs; it’s the sort of pet a large drooly dog might be. Ideally it lives in a spot where the dropped leaves can be left to compost where they land, as mulch. It flowers more reliably in warmer places like Hawai’i and south Florida.  

It also has the distinctive root system that typify its family: proteoid lateral roots, short, dense, and good at using scarce nutrients in poor soils by extracting those nutrients from their mineral matrix.  

So if you have a warm rocky spot at the back of a sizeable garden, this might be the tree for you. Frankly, you and your garden’s animal commensals would be better off with a native, but I couldn’t blame anyone who got a good look at a silk oak’s flowers for falling in love with them. 

Photograph by Ron Sullivan: At the top of this silk oak in downtown Berkeley, you can  

see its flowers. If you're preternaturally sighted, you can see a lesser goldfinch too. 

Ron Sullivan is a former professional gardener and arborist. Her “Green Neighbors” column appears every other Tuesday in the Berkeley Daily Planet, alternating with Joe Eaton’s “Wild Neighbors” column. Her  

“Garden Variety” column appears every Friday in the Daily Planet’s  

East Bay Home & Real Estate section.

TUESDAY, MAY 8 

Tuesdays for the Birds Tranquil bird walks in local parklands, led by Bethany Facendini, from 7 to 9:30 a.m. Today we will visit Sibley Regional Preserve. Call for meeting place and if you need to borrow binoculars. 525-2233. 

Hunger Action Day Join people from across California in raising your voice against hunger at the State Capitol in Sacramento. The free bus will leave Oakland at 7:30 a.m. and we will return by 5 p.m. Lunch will be provided. If you have any questions or would like to register please call 635-3663 ext. 307.  

Solo Sierrans Hike Hike at Lake Chabot Reservoir Meet at 6:30 p.m. at the boat house. Optional dinner follows. For information call Delores 351-6247. 

Oakland/East Bay Chapter of the National Organization for Women meets at 6 p.m. at Spud’s Pizza, corner of Adeline and Alcatraz. 287-8948. 

“Is Wal-Mart Good or Bad for America?” A debate with Ken Jacobs, Chair, UC Berkeley Labor Center and Richard Vedder, co-author “The Wal-Mart Revolution” at 6:30 p.m. at the Independent Institute Conference Center, 100 Swan Way, Oakland. Cost is $10-$30. For tickets call 632-1366. 

“Project Rewire: New Media from the Inside Out” a talk on the decline of the news media and the rise of the Internet by former journalist, author, and historian Judy Daubenmier, Ph.D., at 7 p.m. at Shambhala Book Store, 2177 Bancroft. Cost is $5-$15, no one turned away.  

“China's Brave New World--And Other Tales for Global Times” with Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Prof. of History, UC Irvine, at 4 p.m. at the IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton St., 6th Floor. 643-6321. 

El Cerrito NAACP Recognition of Armed Forces Month with Major General Paul Monroe (Ret) of the California National Guard at 6:30 p.m. at the El Cerrito Community Center, 7007 Moeser Lane. 526-2958. 

Free Diabetes Screening from 8:30 to 11 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Do not eat or drink anything for 8 hours beforehand. 981-5332. 

Family Storytime at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

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 

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, MAY 9 

Walking Tour of Jack London Waterfront Meet at 10 a.m. at the corner of Broadway and Embarcadero. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

“Knocking” A documentary on Jehovah’s Witnesses at 6:30 p.m., followed by a panel discussion, at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2200. 

Chosing a Preschool at 7 p.m. at Bananas, 5232 Claremont Ave. To register call 658-7353. www.bananasinc.org 

New to DVD: “Little Children” 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, MAY 10 

Berkeley Adult School Career Fair from 9 a.m. to noon at 1702 San Pablo Ave. 644-8968. 

League of Women Voters Annual Meeting with Dave MacDonald, Alameda County Registrar of Voters speaking on “Alameda County: Voting Successes and Areas of Continuing Concern” at 5 p.m. at Northbrae Church, 914 The Alameda. Dinner is $15. RSVP to 843-8828. 

Great Escapes Benefit for the Berkeley Women’s Daytime Drop-In Center with live jazz, silent auction, hors d’oeuvres and wine at 6 p.m. at the Berkeley Yacht Club, One Sewall Drive. Tickets are $25-$75. 415-317-5675. 

“Cowboy in Caracas” a book party with Charley Hardy on his work in the barrios of Venezuela at 7:30 p.m. at 1606 Bonita, next to BFUU Hall. Not wheelchair accessible. 

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

Poetry Workshop with Donna Davis, ongoing on Thurs. from 9 a.m. to noon at the JCCEB, 1414 Walnut St. Donation $10 per semester. 848-0237. 

Baby and Toddler Storytime at 10:30 a.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

FRIDAY, MAY 11 

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 

Emerson School’s 100th Birthday Celebration with a tour at 4 p.m. at 2800 Forest Ave., and a reception and Commemorative Program at 6 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Cost is $10. For information on how to send pictures and memories see www.emerson100.org 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Raj Patel “Rights of the Poor: Democracy in South Africa” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $14, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For reservations call 526-2925.  

“Creating a Caring Economy” A conversation with Raine Eisler at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. Donation $10-$100. For tickets see www.brownpapertickets.com/event/13655 

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 

Planning Meetings for a Dedication to denise brown will be on going every Fri. at 2 p.m. at LeConte, Room 104. Photos, videos and dvd's are welcome to be included in the event. For more information, contact Rita Pettit, PRitaAnn@aol.com, 559-4602. 

SATURDAY, MAY 12 

Annual Letter Carriers’ Food Drive Leave non-perishable food donations such as canned goods, rice, dried beans and pasta near your mailbox this morning for your letter carrier to collect. Benefits the Alameda County Community Food Bank. 653-3663. www.accfb.org 

5th Annual Bike Rodeo Practice your safe riding skills and learn some new tricks from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at San Pablo Park, 2800 Park St. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley Injury Prevention and Chronic Disease Prevention Programs. 981-5347.  

Annual Spring Plant Sale at The Edible Schoolyard Featuring 50 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, as well as vegetables, fruits, herbs, annual and perennial flowers grown by King students. Proceeds support school gardens throughout the East Bay. Sat and Sun from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, 1781 Rose St. at Grant. 558-1335. www.edibleschoolyard.org 

Bike Day at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market with information on everyday bicycling and how to repair your bike, from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Center St., btwn Milvia and MLK Way. 548-7433. 

Rosa Parks Kid’s Carnival Spring Fundraiser with live music, dance performances, petting zoo, games & prizes, great food, silent auction and quilt raffle, from noon to 4 p.m. at 920 Allston Way at 8th St. Torrezfamily@hotmail.com 

Peralta In Bloom Spring Festival from noon to 4 p.m. with live entertainment, carnival games, old fashioned high steppin’ Cakewalk, free arts & crafts activities, a climbing wall, jumper, delicious barbeque, and much more. Due to the school fire this year the festival will be held at Peralta’s temporary home, 4521 Webster Oakland, 45th and Webster. 301-4565. 

Celebration of Children Community Book Fair from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Ephesians Children’s Center, 1907 Harmon Ave., corner of Alcatraz and Adeline St. 653-2984. 

California Wildflower Show with flowers, talks and information on how to use native species in home gardens, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2200. 

Pepperweed Pull Join Friends of Five Creeks volunteers removing invasive perennial pepperweed, a threat to shorebird habitat, at the mouth of Strawberry Creek. Meet at 10 a.m. at the cove west of Sea Breeze Deli, University Ave. just west of the I-880/580 Freeway. 848-9358.  

Berkeley History Center Walking Tour “Gilman and Frontage Road Area” led by Allen Stross at 10 a.m. Cost is $8-$10. For information on meeting place and to register call 848-0181. 

Walking Tour of Old Oakland around Preservation Park to see Victorian architecture. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of Preservation Park at 13th St. and MLK, Jr. Way. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

Mini-Farmers in Tilden A farm exploration program, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. for ages 4-6 years, accompanied by an adult. We will explore the Little Farm, care for animals, do crafts and farm chores. Wear boots and dress to get dirty! Fee is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Reptile Rap Meet our resident snake and turtle friends in an interactive talk for the whole family at 2 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Celebrating Elephants Learn about the Oakland Zoo’s Elephant management program from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Oakland Zoo, 9777 Golf Links Rd., off Hwy 580. 632-9525. www.oaklandzoo.org 

No Animal Circus Circus fun with the Circus Finelli from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Oakland Zoo, 9777 Golf Links Rd., off Hwy 580. 632-9525. www.oaklandzoo.org 

Great War Society meets to discuss “Trench Art” by Jane Kimball at 10:30 a.m. at 640 Arlington Ave. 527-7118. 

Friends of the Kensington Library Booksale Sat. from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sun. from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Kensington Community Center, 59 Arlington Blvd., Kensington. 524-3043. 

“The Road to Black Freedom: Revolutionary Marxism vs Black Nationalism” a forum with updates on Mumia Abu-Jamal at 4:30 p.m. at Laney College, Room D200, Oakland. Suggested donation $2. 839-0851. 

Benefit for Deaf Palestine Solidarity Project, a new project linking American and Palestinian deaf communities, with peotry reding by Jean Stewart at 2 p.m. at Redwood Gardens Community Room, 2951 Derby St. Donation $5-$15. 243-9910. 

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.  

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.  

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

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. 

Petite Pooches Playgroup for small dogs from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., one block north of Solano on Ensenada at Talbot. 524-2459. 

SUNDAY, MAY 13 

California Wildflower Show with flowers, talks and information on how to use native species in home gardens, from noon to 5 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2200. 

Annual Spring Plant Sale at The Edible Schoolyard Featuring 50 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, as well as vegetables, fruits, herbs, annual and perennial flowers grown by King students. Proceeds support school gardens throughout the East Bay. From 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, 1781 Rose St. at Grant. 558-1335. www.edibleschoolyard.org 

Farm Stories and Songs for the whole family with farm activities, at 10:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Grandmother Oak Mother’s Day Celebrate Mother’s Day by visiting a very old oak. Bring a snack and a poem to share. Meet at Bear Creek Staging Area, Briones Regional Park, at 1 p.m. for this 5-mile hike. 525-2233. 

Mother’s Day Pancake Breakfast on the Red Oak Victory Ship in Richmond Harbor from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Cost is $6, children under 5 free. 237-2933. 

Celebrate Mother’s Day at the Kensington Farmers’ Market from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 303 Arlington Ave., Kensington, behind Ace Hardware.  

Tibetan Buddhism with Hugh Joswick on “Self-Change” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812.  

MONDAY, MAY 14 

“Nanoscience at Work: Creating Energy from Sunlight” with Paul Alivisatos, Associate Laboratory Director at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, at 5:30 p.m. at Berkeley Repertory Theater 2025 Addison St. 486-5183. 

“Fostering Creative Engagement in Youth” A lecture and workshop by Eric Booth for educators, teaching artists and community members from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Longfellow Middle School auditorium, 1500 Derby St. Tickets are $25. 642-6838. 

“When the Levees Broke” Parts 1 and 2 Spike Lee’s documentary about Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans at 6:45 p.m. at the Upstairs Lounge at Geoffrey's Inner Circle, 410 14th Street, off Broadway, Oakland. Parts 3 and 4 will be shown May 21. Suggested donation $10. 262-1001. info@wellstoneclub.org 

Read Aloud Theater A free Berkeley Adult School class at 9 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst. 981-5190.  

ONGOING 

Food Drive for Alameda County Food Bank Drop off canned goods, peanut butter, ceareal, powdered milk, beans, rice and pasta at Citibank, 200 Shattuck Ave. from May 1 to 15. Financial donations always welcome. 635-3663, ext. 318. 

CITY MEETINGS 

City Council meets Tues., May 8, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Homeless Commission meets Wed., May 9, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5426.  

Library Board of Trustees Special Meeting on the Budget followed by the Board’s regular monthly meeting at 7 p.m., Wed. May 9, at the West Berkeley Senior Cetner. 981-6195. 

Planning Commission meets Wed., May 9, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7484.  

Police Review Commission meets Wed., May 9, at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-4950.  

Waterfront Commission meets Wed., May 9, at 7 p.m., at 201 University Ave. 981-6740.  

Community Health Commission meets Thurs., May 10, at 6:45 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5356.  

West Berkeley Project Area Commission meets Thurs., May 10, at 7 p.m., at the West Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7520.  

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., May 10,, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410.