Full Text

 

News

Housing Director Barton Resigns Under Pressure

By Judith Scherr
Friday June 08, 2007

For some, Steve Barton’s an idealist who puts his principles into practice, advocating housing policies—rent control, subsidized housing, co-operative housing—aimed at keeping diverse populations in Berkeley. 

Others say Barton, pressured to resign Tuesday as Berkeley’s housing director, is an ideologue, practicing a political agenda rather than performing as a neutral bureaucrat. 

And for City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque, perhaps the former housing director’s harshest critic, Barton’s chief failure has been a refusal over the years to adhere to her legal advice.  

In a memo to the mayor and council released Wednesday Albuquerque not only chronicles details of alleged lapses of the former housing director, she criticizes City Manager Phil Kamlarz and Deputy City Manager Lisa Caronna for failing to follow her counsel. 

“Had they taken the legal advice, it might have been possible to avoid the current crisis,” Albuquerque writes. 

Barton supporters, however, say that the tone and content of the attorney’s memo was inappropriate as it made public specific personnel issues and that Barton is taking the fall for accumulated housing authority problems.  

“Barton is a sacrificial lamb for the years of [City Council] neglect of the Housing Authority,” Councilmember Kriss Worthington told the Planet on Wednesday. The council plus two tenants currently serves as the board that oversees the Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA). A new board is to be put in place July 1. 

Barton reacted Thursday to the Albuquerque memo. 

“I have a very different perspective on what was done. I welcome an impartial investigation,” he told the Daily Planet in a brief phone interview, adding, “I am disappointed that the city has put out a one-sided attack piece without engaging me in a proper process.” 

 

Blame spread around 

On Thursday, Councilmember Kriss Worthington said he hesitated to respond to questions about the city attorney’s memo, saying, “Some of what’s in the city attorney’s memo may be illegal, the way it’s said.”  

Worthington was referring to the part of Albuquerque’s memo that criticized Barton for going against her counsel when he hired a particular individual at the housing authority. 

Kamlarz, who is the executive director of the BHA, told the Daily Planet that he faults himself as well as others. 

“I’m accountable, he’s accountable,” Kamlarz said referring to Barton’s alleged failure to complete certain tasks. One of these detailed in the Albuquerque memo was Barton’s lapse in making sure low income housing manager Affordable Housing Associates had installed a telephone line for the deaf in its offices. 

“I have to rely on the department heads to do the work,” Kamlarz said.  

On Thursday Kamlarz declined to comment on Albuquerque’s Wednesday memo. 

Worthington told the Planet he faults the council for spending so little time overseeing the housing authority. 

A quick look back at BHA agendas since 2003 shows the board met between seven and 12 times each year, spending from 30 minutes to an hour per meeting. This was an improvement over earlier years when the board would schedule BHA meetings simultaneously with the council meetings and spend just a few minutes rushing through business. 

“The City Councilmembers as the Housing Authority Board did not pay the attention needed. This is not the way to manage a multi-million dollar agency,” Worthington said, noting that he had tried to get the BHA and council meetings scheduled on separate days, but the council majority refused. 

Worthington also faulted the council for having never evaluated Kamlarz, who is ultimately responsible.  

Worthington said Barton’s departure is a loss for the city. “Barton has been a phenomenal resource in getting funding for affordable housing,” he said. 

City Councilmember Max Anderson told the Planet Wednesday that he was sorry to see Barton leave his post: “He’s a strong advocate for affordable housing. The housing authority has been a continuing frustration for all of us.” 

Anderson added that he thinks it is unfair for the city attorney, in her May 22 memo to the council, to have painted all the workers “with a broad brush.”  

He was referring to a report by Albuquerque that said authority staff inaccurately determined eligibility, allowed ineligible family member to “inherit” Section 8 units, failed to complete income certifications and continued to pay rent on at least 15 units in which the tenants are deceased. As a consequence, all BHA staff except the director are losing their jobs at the BHA; they will be reassigned to vacant positions within the city. 

(Albuquerque has denied the Daily Planet’s Public Records Act request for the names of landlords alleged to rent to “dead” tenants, contending that she cannot turn over the material while an investigation is going on. Attorneys at the Community Law Center have told the Daily Planet that the issue of “dead” tenants is complex, since, in some cases, the deceased tenants’ families continue to live in the Section 8 apartment.) 

Jesse Arreguin, a member of both the Rent Stabilization Board and Housing Advisory Commission told the Daily Planet Wednesday that he was “incensed” that Barton was made to resign. 

“Steve Barton has a fundamental belief in providing housing for all,” he said. “He was an advocate for rent control and did an incredible job in his position. He should not have been forced to resign just to give the appearance that change was happening.” 

 

Some welcome departure 

Barton’s detractors welcome the departure of the man they say was responsible for the 2002 designation by the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) as “troubled.” Barton was named permanent housing director in 2001. 

“The buck has got to stop somewhere,” said Berkeley resident David M. Wilson, telling the Planet that Barton’s advice to the council is generally based on ideology rather than objectivity.  

In a May 25 letter to the Planet Wilson faults Barton as “the author of the Condominium Conversion Ordinance which [Barton] said would bring the city $4 million a year in added [low income housing] funds. Now nearly two years later, not a single dollar has come in. He continues to resist any reevaluation of Berkeley’s rent control program, which costs $3 million per year, but which no longer helps those most in need of help.” 

Commenting on Albuquerque’s Wednesday memo, which he characterized as “intense,” Councilmember Darryl Moore said the city attorney was correct in “pointing the fingers at management.” 

In her first memo, she faulted line staff only. “It seemed very incomplete,” he said, adding, “I believe management dropped the ball. I’m glad she did the second memo. It’s unfortunate for Mr. Barton—he let some things fall through the cracks.” 

Moore added that he thinks the city manager should be evaluated yearly. 

 

The departure 

Kamlarz asked Barton to resign June 5. 

This came on the heels of Albuqerque’s May 22 report in which she cites a “defensive and combative attitude by Housing Department management toward early warnings about the severity and widespread scope of [BHA] problems.”  

In the Wednesday morning phone interview, Kamlarz took responsibility for Barton’s departure. “It was my decision, a tough decision,” he said.  

“The unions are saying management is not being held accountable,” Kamlarz said, adding that he shared responsibility for the housing authority situation.  

“I should be held accountable,” he said.  

Albuquerque’s six-page June 6 memo was even more pointed, detailing multiple instances in which Barton—and also Kamlarz and Deputy City Manager Lisa Caronna—refused her legal advice. 

“In brief, at many successive junctures, city management at every level failed to follow legal advice on how to identify and rectify the full scope of the serious and growing operational problems at the BHA,” the memo says. 

Specifically, Albuquerque alleged Barton failed to comply with an agreement signed with HUD in 2005 with respect to accessibility for the disabled, including failure to survey contractors to see if they complied with the Americans with Disability Act requirements and the lack of installation of a TDD line (telephone communication for the deaf) at Affordable Housing Associates (AHA) offices. AHA manages the city’s 75 public housing units and was criticized by Albuquerque in her May 22 report for not making needed repairs of the units.  

At the time, AHA blamed a convoluted city process for slow repairs. 

Among her complaints against Barton, Albuquerque, who declined comment through her staff, alleged that he failed in 2004, to impose performance standards for maintenance on AHA and/or “failed to hold it to the standards imposed.” 

Kamlarz and Caronna are not spared the attorney’s venom. The memo accuses them of deciding to appoint a particular city employee as BHA acting director against her advice.  

“I immediately and strongly objected to this course of action because of the serious resistance this employee had previously exhibited to implementing legal advice, including a very serious matter involving significant potential city liability,” she wrote. 

Albuquerque goes on write that Kamlarz “appointed the employee in the face of my advice….” 

Albuquerque says Barton continued to ignore her counsel: “Against my advice, the city manager and deputy city manager continued to defer to Mr. Barton’s decisions.” 

One source, who asked for anonymity, praised Barton for being “the only staff person who will go toe to toe with Manuela Albuquerque.”  

 

Memos from Albequerque and Kalmarz concerning Barton’s resigntion can be found on the Planet’s website, www.berkeleydailyplanet.com 

 

 


Cramped South Berkeley Library Considers Proposal to Relocate

By Judith Scherr
Friday June 08, 2007

Walk into the South Berkeley Library and you practically bump into the four computers near the entry way. If you want to browse the history section, you’ve got to move to a narrow hallway to find what you’re looking for.  

Because of its construction, the old building, at Russell Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way, cannot grow up or out, Jeri Ewart, who heads the South Berkeley branch told the Daily Planet during an interview Wednesday at the library. 

“And we cannot grow in terms of technology,” Ewart said, pointing to the limited space in which current wiring allows the library to hook up computers.  

On Saturday, the Board of Library Trustees is holding a meeting to explore a move to the new Ed Roberts campus. Trustees say that the meeting is intended to get input from the community into the proposal. It is slated to go from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church, 2024 Ashby Ave. 

“We want to get a feel about what people in the community might be feeling” about the proposal, Ewart said. 

The Ed Roberts Campus (ERC) slated to begin construction within a year in the east Ashby BART station parking lot, will house a number of organizations serving the disabled, including the Independent Living Center. Those working on the ERC invited the library to explore housing a new South Berkeley library on the second floor of the building. 

Ewart explained that it would cost less to become part of the ERC project than to build a new library—the space would likely be owned in a way similar to a condominium, Ewart said. And, it would give the library the opportunity to partner with the disabled community. 

“The library could provide special services,” Ewart said. “It could be unique.” 

The move would give the popular tool-lending library an opportunity to expand, using the current library building. The community room could remain a resource for the community.  

Trustee Ying Lee cautioned that the plans “are at a very preliminary stage.” The library board will also use the opportunity of exploring a new building to look at groups of people, such as the Latino population, that take little advantage of the library’s services. 

Tangentially, Lee said, the library directors are looking at the possibility of instituting a bookmobile to serve southwest Berkeley, an area that has no library services. It’s an expensive proposition that might be shared with Oakland or Emeryville, Lee said. 

Councilmember Darryl Moore added that the bookmobile, which would serve his southwest Berkeley district, is a “priority of the trustees.” He said he is excited about the possibility of doubling the library space at the ERC site. 

Councilmember Max Anderson, in whose district the South branch library sits, called the possible move a “net gain” and south Berkeley neighborhood activist Laura Menard said she is “thrilled” with the idea. It will be larger and provide more computer access, especially needed for neighborhood youth who don’t have computers, she said. 

In a recent letter to the Daily Planet, Christopher Adams, vice president of the Berkeley Public Library Foundation, was upbeat about the possible move, but pointed to the possible downside of traffic and parking problems.  

And Jody Bush, a former deputy library director and neighbor of the south Berkeley library, said the major downside would be moving into a building that did not serve southwest Berkeley.  

However, she said she realized that the costs for constructing a new library farther west would be cost prohibitive. And she asked how the new library at the Ed Roberts campus would be funded. 

That’s a question many are asking. 

 

Photograph by Judith Scherr.  

Jeri Ewart, librarian of the south Berkeley branch, stands in the narrow hallway of the history section.


Policy Change Allows Sales in People’s Park

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday June 08, 2007

The People’s Park Community Advisory Board approved a policy Monday to allow a one-year trial for limited commercial activity at the park. 

The park previously had an informal policy that prohibited commercial uses at the park. 

According to Irene Hegarty, director of UC Berkeley Community Relations, the university—which owns the park—has received numerous requests from bands who want to promote their CDs at the park. A farmer’s market will also be allowed. 

“We have turned down these requests repeatedly,” she said. “With the exception of the Berkeley World Music Festival, we don’t pay bands to perform. Allowing them to sell their CDs would provide some incentive to attract better entertainment.” 

Hegarty told the board that although the longstanding philosophy behind the park has always been to prohibit commercial use, the time has come to amend the policy on no sales in the park. 

Ionas Porges-Kiriakou, a UC Berkeley undergraduate and board member, voted against the policy. 

“I just don’t want to see a nightmarish situation where corporations such as BP or Camel start sponsoring events at the park,” he said. 

Community gardener Terri Compost echoed his thoughts. “Open it up,” she said. “What do we have next?” 

“We are just talking incidental use,” said Hegarty. “not corporate sponsorship.”  

According to park policy, not more than two concerts can be held at the park in any one month. About eight to ten concerts are held annually. 

“In applying for a permit to use the park, people would have to check off their desire to sell something,” she told the Planet Wednesday. “Although the board voted on it, I would have to come up with a policy outlining this.” 

A draft policy stipulates that commercial activities would not be allowed at People’s Park except under the following circumstances, reviewed on a case-by-case basis: 

• The commercial activity must be directly relevant to a special event for which a permit has bee approved by the university, e.g., food or beverage sales at a concert, art sales at an arts fair.  

• At least 20 percent of the gross receipts from any commercial sale must be donated to a charitable organization. Proof of tax-exempt status of the charitable organization is required 

• The request to sell goods must be submitted to the university in the special event permit application, and authorization must be set out in the special event permit. 

The possibility of food and beverage sale during concerts was also discussed at the meeting. “Often, many expect to have food available at a concert,” Hegarty said. “We would have to issue a permit to the vendors and make sure they meet state regulations.” 

Board co-chair John Selawsky described food sales at the park as a “logistical and staffing nightmare.” 

“I am concerned about food sales leading to trashing,” he said. “It becomes a totally different kind of an event when people queue up in front of kiosks.” 

Hegarty replied that food sales would only take place four to five times a year. 

“Would it create litter? Yes,” she acknowledged. “Would the university staff be able to clean it up in the next day or two? Yes.” 

Board members were also concerned that food sales would not help the already declining retail sales on Telegraph. 

Board member Sam Davis suggested that neighborhood merchants could be invited to the park to sell their food. 

“I would encourage the university to look into this possibility,” Selawsky remarked. 

The board also discussed the issue of painting on the stage at People’s Park. Under park rules, “construction, installation or modification of buildings, structures, or art is not permitted unless authorized by the university.” 

“When people paint a slogan, is that allowed as free speech or prohibited as vandalism?” Hegarty asked. “There have been times when the university has taken no action and at other times imposed regulations.” 

“The stage was put up by volunteers,” said board member Dana Merryday. “Painting is part of the process to spruce it up. And all of it is not political.” 

The board decided to discuss this issue after San Francisco-based consultants MKThink— who were brought in to conduct a community based planning process for People’s Park—had completed their public workshops. 

 

 

 


Golden Gate Fields Resurfacing Plan Faces Challenges, Legal Hurdles

By Richard Brenneman
Friday June 08, 2007

The Sierra Club doesn’t object to a new track finish for Albany’s Golden Gate Fields; they just don’t like how it’s being done. 

For Norman La Force, the attorney who chairs the club’s East Bay Public Lands Committee, the central issue isn’t the state-mandated resurfacing of the venerable East Bay horse racing venue; it’s the possible violation of state environmental laws. 

La Force said he doesn’t object to the new Tapeta surface in principle. What he does object to is the track’s failure to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act. 

“They’ve known since last May that they have to install the new surface, but they only filed for a permit on April 17, and now they’re threatening a lawsuit if the city doesn’t approve it right now,” La Force said. 

“Basically, they have to show it’s safe for the community,” said Albany Mayor Robert Lieber, who added that his ability to comment was limited by the fact he may have to vote on the issue at an upcoming council meeting. 

“They have a right to do it, and it’s probably good for the horses and the jockeys, and if it’s safe and good for the community, there’s no reason not to do it,” he said. 

The proposal calls for removing and replacing upwards of 12,000 cubic yards of soil, and La Force said he’s heard that the actual figure could be up to 30,000 cubic yards. 

The earth would be temporarily stored on-site on the same parking lot where the failed shopping center had been planned and where track owners Magna Entertainment are reporting to be thinking of siting a hotel. 

The issue for La Force is whether or not the soil has been adequately tested for toxins, a step he said is critical given that much of site was created with infill imported from other sites. 

While preliminary tests were rushed through after the Sierra Club first raised its objections, La Force said more thorough testing may be need to make certain the soil contains nothing to endanger people or wildlife. 

The Tapeta mixture—a patented blend of wax-coated sand, fibers and rubber—represents only the top 4-7 inches of the system, installed above a permeable 2-inch later of asphalt laid over a 6-inch layer of crushed rock, with a system of permeable drainage pipes laced through the layer of soil beneath. 

A similar system by another firm, costing $8 million, was just installed at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, and the process can be viewed online at www.dmtc.com/season/polytrack.php 

What concerns the Sierra Club and the mayor is the nature of the soil that will be removed, and whether or not the earth slated for removal may contain contaminants. 

On Feb. 10. 2006, the California Horse Racing Board ordered all tracks with racing calendars longer than 14 days in the state to switch to a synthetic surface designed to reduce leg injuries to the animals and reduce spills which can injure or kill their riders. 

The move came after members of the board learned that 5,156 horses had been injured on state tracks over the previous decade—with 2,343 of them killed either in or as a result of accidents—and that injuries and deaths drop dramatically after artificial surfaces are installed. 

The exemption for shorter racing dates was designed to allow for continued racing at California county fairs, which generally have short racing seasons and which cannot afford the considerable expense of installing the artificial surface. 

Del Mar, which holds races as part of the San Diego County Fair, is an exception, and had to install the track because races there extend for a longer season. 

Magna Entertainment, founded by Canadian auto parts magnate Frank Stronach, is North America’s leading horse racing track owner, and runs the Albany track. 

Stronach teamed with Los Angeles mega-mall magnate Rick Caruso to propose an upscale shopping mall with housing above on part of the Albany track’s parking lot, which led to a ballot initiative campaign which was rejected by a judge because of a missed filing requirement. 

But when two leading proponents of the initiative won election to the Albany City Council last November, mall opponents had captured a majority on the five-member panel and the project was quietly tabled. 

Malls are a major element in Stronach’s strategy for his racing company, with another Caruso complex at Santa Anita in Southern California. 

Albany city staff have declared the track’s application to install the new surface incomplete, and the whole matter may wind up before the city council, Lieber said. 

 

Dixon defeat 

Golden Gate Fields officials filed their application for city permits to resurface the Albany track on April 17, same day that citizens in Dixon, to the east, were voting on four initiatives targeting plans by Magna to build a high tech television-friendly track adjacent to the rural Sacramento Valley farm town. 

As planned, Dixon Downs would have been a major racing facility within 23 miles of the state capital, featuring what Magna CEO Michael Neuman described as a “California fair type facility ... together with mixed use retail.” 

Voters faced four ballot measures focused on the $250 million project, backed by a sophisticated $500,000 Manga-funded campaign. 

With the impending closure of Bay Meadows at the end of the upcoming season, the Bay Area’s only other major track and one Magna had leased and operated, Stronach’s firm had been looking for a venue to fill the void for the past five years, settling on Dixon. 

In addition to the track, Magna’s plans called for 1.2 million square feet of additional development on 51 acres of its 260-acre property, featuring a hotel, conference facilities, major retailers, shops and other amenities promising 2,000 new jobs for a community of only 17,000 residents. 

Dixon voters rejected the Magna plan, though company officials say they may try again. 

“We could go back, either alone or with partners and undertake the process” to try again for approval of the original plan, “[o]r a process to get entitled to simply go for mixed use retail,” Magna Entertainment CEO Michael Neuman told investors in a telephone conference May 7. 

Magna retains the property, which Neuman said “is still appreciating as we speak.” 

Plans for the Dixon track were drawn up with the television camera in mind, thanks to the new era of betting where most wagers are placed from betting parlors far from the tracks where they occur. 

Racing aficionados have become habitués of off-track betting (OTB) parlors, located either at other tracks or in purpose-built facilities like those found in New York City or in clubs and taverns as in Illinois. 

States created the venues hoping to capture some of the mountains of cash that had been flowing through illegal bookmakers, or in the plush wagering halls of Las Vegas casinos. 

Television is critical to the enterprise, because bettors like to watch the races on the large screens at OTB parlors. 

The rise of the OTB parlor has proved a serious problem to cities like Albany, because the city collects revenues only on bets made at the track, and receives no revenues on bets made there on races elsewhere. 

 

Other plans 

Meanwhile, Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates is urging another project on the track—installation of solar panels at the clubhouse and on new stables now being planned. 

Cisco DeVries, the mayor’s chief of staff, said Bates wants the track to adopt solar technology, and also hopes that Golden Gate Fields will work with Berkeley on plans to install solar panels at the parking lot and ball fields of the new Gilman fields recreational facility south of the track. 

He said another notion suggested at a recent meeting attended by the mayor—using solar power to generate hydrogen for a fueling station at the fields for vehicles that might use the clean-burning gas—didn’t look feasible. 

DeVries said that yet another rumored plan, building a hotel on the Albany parking lot at the track, wasn’t being urged by the mayor, though it surfaced during casual discussions at a recent event in Albany. 

“He said there’s no plan for a hotel at Golden Gate Fields,” DeVries said.


Albany Activist Killed Crosssing Marin Avenue Intersection

By Richard Brenneman
Friday June 08, 2007

Well-known Albany environmentalist Ruth Meniketti died Wednesday night after she was struck by a pickup as she crossed Marin Avenue at Talbot Avenue, police report. 

Police arrested the driver, Rebecca Rivera, 43, on charges of gross vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence, said Albany Police Lt. Daniel Adams. 

It was the second fatality in four days on the Albany Berkeley border involving an elderly woman walking a short distance from her home and a driver charged with driving under the influence. 

Bruce Yost of the Alameda County Coroner’s office said Meniketti died of multiple blunt injuries. She was 85. She died within a few yards of her home at 1002 Talbot Ave. 

“Ruth was a lifelong environmentalist who made her contributions in a quiet and consistent way,” said former Mayor Robert Cheasty. “She was a delightful soul and will be sorely missed.” 

Cheasty said Meniketti was the longest serving member of the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission and served on numerous other organizations, “all in the interest of improving out community and our environment.” 

The Albany Chamber of Commerce named her Citizen of the Year in 2001, and she played an active part in last year’s political campaigns over the planned shopping mall at Golden Gate Fields. 

Mayor Robert Lieber said Meniketti “was one of the icons of our community,” Lieber said, “and she had served on the waterfront commission. She was a really interesting person.” 

“She was a remarkable person, and she was able to change her mind—something you don’t often see,” said Lieber. 

Meniketti campaigned for the last year’s proposed ballot initiative that called for a new planning process for waterfront development, and when an Alameda County Superior Court judge ordered the measure stricken form the ballot, she campaigned for Joan Wile and Marge Atkinson, who won seats on the City Council and swung the majority to the opposition side. 

Plans for the development were quietly tabled soon after the election. 

Wednesday night’s accident came four days after a similar fatality. 

Guillermo Robles, a retired Berkeley police officer, was arrested Sunday night on manslaughter and drunk driving charges after his car struck and killed Betty Kietzman, 82, of 915 Fresno Ave. as she was crossing Solano Avenue. Robles was released the next morning on $30,000 bail. 

Like Meniketti, Kietzman died less than a block away from her home. 


BHS Student Arrested at Prom For Carrying Concealed Gun

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday June 08, 2007

A Berkeley High School senior and her date were arrested Saturday at the senior prom in San Francisco for possession of a loaded gun. 

Kyanna Roberson, 19, a Berkeley High student, and Emmanuel Richardson, 20, an East Bay resident, were charged by the San Francisco Police Department with possession of a loaded gun and concealed firearm and conspiracy. 

Close to 600 students attended the annual high school event which was held at the Julia Morgan Ballroom at the Merchants Exchange Building at California Street in San Francisco, said Berkeley Police Department press officer Lt. Wesley Hester. 

Berkeley Unified School District spokesperson Mark Coplan declined to comment on the case but said that incidents such as this were uncommon at proms. 

“Most kids spend a lot of money for this one night and they don’t want anything to go wrong,” he said. 

BHS safety officers were at the site to check students tickets and their bags, Lt. Hester said. 

“When Roberson’s bag was searched, the officers found a loaded .25 caliber handgun in it,” he said. “She was immediately arrested by SFPD. During the situation her date Richardson stepped forward and admitted that he had handed her the gun to avoid detection. He was then taken under arrest. He made a statement during the arrest that he had been carrying the loaded gun for protection from gang rivalry between Berkeley and Oakland.” 

Lt. Hester added that four to five unrelated fights had also broken out at the prom on Saturday night but nobody had been seriously hurt. 

“It’s unusual for so many fights to take place at a prom,” he said. “The gun incident caught the police officers completely off guard. It was an eye opener for them.” 

School Board vice president John Selawsky told the Planet Thursday that the state education code stipulated expulsion for student possession of a weapon. It was unclear what this might mean for Roberson’s ability to graduate. 

“An expulsion panel looks into the offense,” he said. “The panel usually consists of three principals who listen to evidence and statements from eyewitnesses. Then they make a recommendation to the board. The board has the final say.” 

Saturday’s prom had safety officers from Berkeley High as well as three police officers from the Berkeley police. Teachers, administration and parents were also present. Since the event was held in San Francisco, San Francisco police officers were also present. 

“The case is currently under the jurisdiction of SFPD,” Lt. Hester said. “The San Francisco DA’s office will decide the appropriate punishment. It sort of depends on the person’s arrest history and personal record.”


The State of the Berkeley Housing Authority

By Judith Scherr
Friday June 08, 2007

Today, the Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) is a division of the housing department that oversees federally-funded low-income housing. A board currently consisting of the mayor and City Council and two tenants oversees the authority. 

BHA is administered by a manager—Tia Ingram has been manager for nine months—who is supervised by the housing department director. The city manager serves as BHA’s executive director. 

The housing department director supervises the BHA, has oversight over other affordable housing projects, supervises grants awarded to community agencies and oversees the city’s energy/sustainable development division. 

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) designated BHA as a “troubled” institution in 2002. Unable to improve enough to wrest itself from that designation, which could ultimately lead to assigning the housing authority oversight to an outside agency, the city manager, with council consent, decided to restructure BHA to create an independent agency. The transition will be effective July 1. A new board of seven Berkeley residents has been named by the mayor.  

Accused by the city attorney of incompetence and malfeasance, the entire BHA staff will be laid off at the end of the month, something the workers’ and their union are opposing. They will be offered jobs in vacant positions throughout city government. They will go through an evaluation process at that time and can re-apply for their old jobs. 

The workers who have done their jobs well “shouldn’t be punished,” Kamlarz told the Planet. “That’s not our intent.” 

Meanwhile, various investigations are taking place in the housing authority: the city attorney is working with city manager staff on one investigation; an outside attorney will be doing an investigation; the BHA director is working on an internal investigation; HUD investigators will be in the city next week to do their own investigation.  

In two weeks or so Councilmember Wozniak will ask the City Council to put together an outside committee to look into how the city got into the problem it finds itself in. Wozniak wants the mayor to choose the committee; a counter-proposal by Councilmember Kriss Worthington would have the council appoint the committee. The proposal was to be on Tuesday’s City Council agenda, but Kamlarz asked Wozniak to wait and work with him to refine it. 

The BHA next meets on Tuesday at 5 p.m. at the Maudelle Shirek Building, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 


UC Seeks Architect for Planned Cloyne Court Renovation

By Richard Brenneman
Friday June 08, 2007

UC Berkeley issued notice Thursday that it plans a $3 million to $5 million renovation of Cloyne Court, a venerable shingle-sided landmark that has served both as a hotel and as student housing. 

Designed by John Galen Howard, the architect who created the master plan for UC Berkeley, the unique Arts & Crafts-style structure was named after the Irish village that served as the seat of Bishop George Berkeley, for whom the university was named.  

Opened in 1904 as a hotel for university faculty and visitors, it was owned and operated by the James M. Pierce family until its transfer to University Student’s Cooperative Association in 1946. 

The university issued a request for design professional qualifications this week for an architect to draft the plans for renovations that will restore the structure that currently houses about 150 students. 

The building was declared a city landmark on Nov. 15, 1982, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Dec. 24, 1992. 

Because of the two historic designations, the university is seeking an architect versed in state’s historic building code. 

According to the request for design professional qualifications, the cooperative also hopes to renovate the structure in conformance with the university’s Green Building and Clean Energy Policy, as well as the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation of Historic Buildings. 

Daniella Thompson, a Berkeley preservationist who has written about the building for the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association’s website, said the renovation is a good thing, and much needed. 

“”They will do the right thing,” she said, “and anything better than they have right now will be a huge improvement.” 

Thompson the said there have been many changes over the years to the interior and exterior of the venerable structure. 

While the building once had 32 suites, the floor plan has been significantly altered, including the removal of many stairways that once gave relatively private access to the apartments. 

Similarly, many individual entrances to the exterior were removed, all in the course of converting the hotel into student housing. 

Thompson wrote that Cloyne Court was built at the then-substantial price of $80,000 by a group of investors which included Howard, Pierce and Phoebe Apperson Hearst.


AC Transit Line Changes, No Cuts, Planned for June 24

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday June 08, 2007

Changes, adjustments, or complete disbandment affecting some AC Transit 20 route lines are scheduled to go into effect June 24, but district representatives say that riders will be able to catch buses at almost all of the currently existing bus stops, and will be able to get to and from virtually all of the existing travel points. In several cases, however, riders may have to get where they are going on AC Transit a slightly different way than they have been used to. 

“Our objective in the upcoming changes is not to cut routes, but to improve and streamline service,” AC Transit media affairs manager Clarence Johnson said by telephone. “We hope that riders will get a faster, quicker ride and once they get used to it, they’ll probably like it much better. Of course,” he added, “if riders don’t like it, I know we’ll hear from them.” 

An example of the upcoming realignment involves travel between downtown Berkeley through East Oakland into San Leandro and the Bayfair BART station, with service changes affecting the existing 40, 40L, 43, 82, and 82L lines. 

Currently, someone traveling from downtown Berkeley down Shattuck Avenue to downtown Oakland would catch the 43, which then goes into East Oakland to Eastmont Mall along Foothill Boulevard. 

A rider going to downtown Oakland from downtown Berkeley along Telegraph Avenue would currently catch the 40 or 40L, which also currently goes to the Eastmont Mall via Foothill, and then to the Bay Fair BART station along Bancroft Avenue. 

There is no direct AC Transit service for anyone coming from downtown Berkeley wanting to travel through East Oakland along International Boulevard. At present, a rider has to take either the 40, 40L or the 43 to downtown Oakland, and then transfer to the 82 or 82L, which currently runs down International into San Leandro and Hayward. 

But in advancing a new district strategy to set up rapid bus service along major transportation corridors, part of the new AC Transit realignment creates a non-transfer single rapid bus line combining two of those corridors, Telegraph Avenue and International Boulevard. 

Beginning June 24, a rider wanting to travel from downtown Berkeley along Telegraph Avenue and then south through East Oakland along International Boulevard into San Leandro and Hayward will take the newly-created 1 and 1R (rapid) lines. Those lines will now run between the Bayfair BART station and the Berkeley BART station, in the case of the 1 line, and the UC Berkeley west entrance, in the case of the 1R. 

Beyond that, it gets a little confusing. 

The 43, which used to run from San Pablo and Marin Avenues in El Cerrito, down Shattuck Avenue, through downtown Oakland and out to Eastmont Mall in East Oakland via Foothill, will be discontinued. 

In its place will be a new line, 18, which will take the old 43 route between San Pablo and Marin Avenues through downtown Oakland, partly along Shattuck. But instead of going to Eastmont, as the old 43 now does, the new 18 will go from downtown Oakland up Park Boulevard to MacArthur, ending up at Moraga Avenue and Medau Place in the Oakland hills. 

The 40 will still live after the changeover, but with its Berkeley half cut off. Instead of running from the Berkeley BART along Telegraph to downtown Oakland and then out to Bayfair BART along Foothill and then Bancroft, the 40 will run the Foothill-Bancroft corridor to Bay Fair from 11th and Jefferson in downtown Oakland, only. 

These and other projected route changes are all listed on the AC Transit website (www.actransit.org), but figuring out how to find those changes on the site, and figuring out exactly what the changes are, can be just as challenging to district riders as some of the new route changes themselves. 

The route changes are listed on the district’s homepage directly under the picture of a bus at the top, with a link from a headline that reads “New Date: Upcoming Service Changes, June 24.” 

That link (www.actransit.org/news/articledetail.wu?articleid=d00173cf) leads to an AC Transit news release that talks about the upcoming changes, but detailed descriptions of the line changes themselves are midway down the page under a subheading “See detailed descriptions of the changes” and then two links, one that reads “San Pablo to Hayward” and another that reads “Fremont and Newark.” 

Under the “San Pablo to Hayward” link (www.actransit.org/riderinfo/SChanges_Hayward_07.htm), riders will find a list of all the new lines and all the old lines that are affected. 

That page provides a brief description of the new service for each line, but more detailed information is provided by the links on the individual line numbers themselves, which go to pages for each line that give both a map and complete schedules for both the current schedules for the line as well as the new schedules to go into place June 24. 

Hard-copy maps and schedules for all of the new lines and old line changes are also supposed to be currently available on AC Transit buses, as well as at the AC Transit headquarters at 1600 Franklin Street in downtown Oakland. 

 

 


School Board Approves New ‘Opt-Out’ Military Recruitment Policy

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday June 08, 2007

The Berkeley Board of Education accepted the first reading of a policy reversal to release student information to the military for recruitment to be eligible for federal education grants. 

The board voted 5-0 in favor of the new policy, with board member John Selawsky abstaining. 

Berkeley High recently informed its juniors and seniors about a change in policy which requires them to sign an “opt out” form if they don’t want their information released to the U.S. military. Until now, students who wished to be contacted by military recruiters had to sign an “opt-in” form. 

According to the federal No Child Left Behind act, school districts must provide the military with the names and addresses of all juniors and seniors for recruiting purposes unless there is a signed letter from the parents or the student indicating that they are opting out and do not want information released. 

“I want to go back to the ‘opt-in’ policy,” Selawsky said. 

Riddle told the board that the district should work toward getting 100 percent of the juniors and seniors participating in the survey. 

“A hundred percent of the students should be able to make one choice or the other,” she said. 

“I don’t quarrel with that,” said school superintend Michele Lawrence. “But in essence a student is making a choice by not filling out a form. Anticipating getting a 100 percent is very hard to do but we will try our best.” 

 

Demolition of preschools 

The Berkeley school board approved the demolition of all the buildings at King Child Development Center and Franklin Parent Nursery preschools Wednesday and accepted the schematic designs to rebuild both the sites. 

Franklin, at 1460 Eighth St., has operated out of portable buildings for 30 years, said Berkeley Unified School District spokesperson Mark Coplan. The King center, at 1939 Ward St., has wooden structures which also need replacement, he said. 

On March 28, the board approved WLC Architects—a firm specializing in designing schools—to draw up a plan for the King and Franklin pre-school sites. Project costs, which would be paid from bond funds, have been estimated at $6.4 million. 

“One of the concerns of the staff was that the wisteria all along Eighth Street at Franklin be maintained,” Kevin McLeary, of WLC Architects, told the board. “And we are doing just that. Also there is enough space on Franklin to expand if we need to do so in the future.” 

“The current entrance at King is way in from the street,” said school board vice chair John Selawsky. “Very few people know about the administrative office. I am glad to know that the proposed entrance and the administrative office is on Milvia.” 

WLC presented to the board two site plans for King. 

“This is because of the possibility of future changes to Derby Street that may need portions of the property to create a ‘curvy’ Derby,” said Lew Jones, district director of facilities, referring to a proposed plan that keeps Derby Street open, but bends it to accommodate a regulation-sized high school baseball field. 

“How much is it going to cost to rip off [this plan] and put in Curvy Derby?” asked school board member Nancy Riddle. 

Lew Jones replied that it would be minimal. 

The new designs for both school sites includes six pre-K classrooms and one administrative building which would increase the current capacity for both. 

Currently, King houses up to 84 children, which would grow to 144 with the new plan. The Franklin site housed up to 120 children prior to a recent fire and this number would also be boosted to 144. 

Pre-designed buildings with metal roofs and stucco walls will be brought in at both sites. Students attending Franklin will be moved to West Campus and Berkeley Arts Magnet and those attending King CDC will be moved to Malcolm X over the course of summer. They will remain there for a year while construction is completed. Demolition is scheduled to take place in winter. 

 

Solar project 

The board continued the approval of $750,000 in funds from the Office of Public School Construction and $305,000 in PG&E funds to complete a solar project for Washington Elementary School to June 20. 

PG&E extended the deadline for their grant by 60 days on Tuesday.  

 

New school board student director 

BHS junior Rio Bauce beat out two of his classmates to win the school board student director elections earlier this week. 

Bauce will take over responsibilities from outgoing student director Mateo Aceves in August. Bauce is also chair of the City of Berkeley Youth Commission and a member of the Berkeley Planning Commission.  

 

BUSD 2007 Graduation Events 

 

June 8 (Friday) 

Berkeley Technology Academy  

(B-Tech) 

11 a.m. 

St. John’s Church, 2727 College Ave. 

 

June 9 (Saturday) 

African American Studies Graduation 

1 p.m.  

St. Paul AME Church (Ashby between Adeline and Shattuck) 

 

June 12 (Tuesday) 

Berkeley Adult School (BAS) 

7:00 pm 

West Campus Auditorium 

 

June 14 (Thursday) 

Martin Luther King Middle School 

4 p.m., BHS Community Theater 

 

Willard Middle School 

7 p.m., BHS Community Theater 

 

June 15 (Friday) 

Longfellow Middle School 

10:30 a.m., Longfellow Theater 

 

Berkeley High School 

5:30 p.m. 

Greek Theater 

 

 


Berkeley High Inagurates Sports Hall of Fame

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday June 08, 2007

Berkeley High School unveiled its Athletic Hall of Fame last week to recognize former student athletes who have excelled in sports over the last century. 

“The Berkeley High Athletic Hall of Fame is an idea whose time has come,” said Berkeley High athletic director Kristin Glenchur.  

The Berkeley Athletic Fund, a volunteer organization, began the drive for the hall of fame for athletes who have attended Berkeley High. This sports hall of fame is distinct from the already existing Berkeley High Hall of Fame, which recognizes alumni who have excelled in all fields. 

Seventeen of the 46 sports inductees recognized on Saturday are also members of the school hall of fame. The inductees’ names, graduation year, and varsity sports played, will be printed on banners that will be displayed in the Berkeley High Donahue Gym. 

Many of this years inductees—such as Billy Martin (baseball), Glenn Burke (baseball, football and basketball), Steve Odom (football), Hannibal Navies (football and track and field) and John Lambert (basketball)—have gone on to lead distinguished professional careers. 

District superintendent Michele Lawrence lauded the school’s efforts. 

“It’s wonderful that we are recognizing these men and women of fame,” she said. “The history of Berkeley athletics is simply incredible and this is a wonderful way of lettng people know about our prestigious sports program.” 

Achievements such as winning the Basketball Tournament of Champions in the ‘70s and the ‘80s and the phenomenal success of the girls’ basketball team under coaches Spike Hensley and Gene Nakamura have been highlighted time and again by the media. 

“A lot of people hear Berkeley and they associate it with sports,” Glenchur said. “We have always had lots of homegrown talent, but we have never had a hall of fame. The reason we are doing it now is because we are riding the tide of Gene’s incredible year as a coach. When people came out to recognize him, all the puzzle pieces came together and made it possible to capture the energy.” 

The youngest inductee—Anthony Lee Franklin—is a 2001 Berkeley High graduate who played baseball, football and basketball in high school. He went on to lead the baseball team in his senior year and was Scholar Athlete of the Year (baseball) in 2001 with a 4.0 GPA. 

Diagnosed with leukemia at 13, Franklin’s story made headlines when San Francisco Giants left fielder Barry Bonds visited him at the Children’s Hospital in Oakland. 

Together, Bonds and Franklin campaigned to raise awareness about bone marrow donation. Franklin died last year. 

Hannibal Nevies, a 1995 Berkeley High graduate, who currently plays for the San Francisco 49ers, told the Planet that he was proud to return to his high school as an inductee. 

“This is where it all started,” he said, sitting at one of the inductee tables with his family. “Berkeley High, with its diverse student population, helped prepare me for college. I have great memories of this place, especially of senior year in which we won a lot of tournaments. My advice to students would be to take it slow and enjoy high school while they can.” 

Former Girls Basketball coach Gene Nakamura said he was delighted with the idea of an athletic hall of fame. 

“All these years, we’ve had so many great athletes and nothing to remember them by,” he said. “I remember being disappointed as I walked into the Donahue Gym and looked at its bare walls. I am glad that’s going to change now.” 

John Lambert, a 1971 BHS alumnus and former professional basketball player for the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, described Berkeley High as the place where he had “learned to compete.” 

“We were such a classy team,” reminisced Doug Kagawa, a 1968 graduate who helped the school win the Alameda Contra Costa Athletic League and the Tournament of Champions in the late ‘60s. 

“When we walked into the basketball court, we already had a lead over the other teams,” he said. “There was none of that on-court bickering or bragging. Our game did all the talking for us.” 

Rubert and John Rickson, twins from the class of 1949 who made it to the California Athletics Hall of Fame in 1999, said they were pleased with the improvements in the athletics program at BHS. 

“We used to play in the old tennis courts across the street from Berkeley High which is a parking lot now.” John said smiling. “Back then tennis was considered a sissy sport. But we also played basketball, so I guess it was okay.” 

 

 

 

 

 


Oakland Youth Violence Testimony Given

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday June 08, 2007

Members of the Assembly Select Committee On Youth Violence Prevention brought their third and final hearing to Oakland last week, hearing hours of expert testimony before an overflow crowd at the Port of Oakland boardroom on Friday on strategies that have been used to address and attack one of California’s most pressing problems. 

Hearings had previously been held in Los Angeles and Salinas. 

In addition to being charged with production of a “tool kit” of what Committee Chair Anna Caballero (D-Salinas) calls “successful, tested approaches that have been effective in reducing youth violence,” the committee is rushing to make recommendations requested by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez to be included in the fiscal year 2007-08 budget. Caballero said Friday that one of the goals of the select committee “is to align state resources with local resources, and to get targeted resources into the neighborhoods that need them the most.” 

The Oakland hearing was hosted by Assemblymember Sandré Swanson (D-Oakland), one of two local members of the Select Committee. The other local legislator on the committee is Berkeley Assemblymember Loni Hancock. Several national, state, and local lawmakers were in attendance to hear the testimony, including Congressmember Barbara Lee (D-Oakland). 

Lee told the gathering that “the lack of a support system for our youth leads to a life of violence in many cases. The shootings at Virginia Tech got a lot of national attention, but you and I know that shootings go on in our communities every day, and go unnoticed.”  

The congressmember said that the national government is setting a bad example for youth, saying that “unfortunately, when our young people see their own government using violence to solve problems around the world, they believe it’s correct to do the same thing in their neighborhoods. Our young people have to see our government using diplomacy and conflict resolution itself in order to know that there are alternatives to violence.” 

Lee also accused the Bush administration of “being downright hostile to the needs of youth,” citing the fact that the administration has steadily eliminated funds for education programs. With the election of a Democratic majority in Congress, she said that “we are now slowly beginning to undue the damage done over the last 12 years.” 

Swanson said that “we have to show it is unacceptable to spend $10 billion on the state prison system when we can spend less and put that money into prevention strategies.” Swanson called the situation for many youth in the area “terrifying.” 

And Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson called Oakland “unfortunately, the epicenter of youth violence. We are only scratching the surface of this epidemic.” 

The four-hour Oakland hearing had a far different atmosphere from Assembly or State Senate hearings on bills held in Sacramento, where testimony is often rushed through while committees seek to pack in votes on several pieces of legislation in one session.  

At the Port of Oakland session, committee members appeared to be more interesting in gathering information than in finding out the “for or against” positions on specific legislation, and expert testimony was often interrupted as legislators asked for clarification. 

Most of the people testifying either talked of recently growing up in violence-plagued communities themselves or gave long résumés of working in youth violence-prevention programs. 

The most memorable exchange came during the first panel on violence prevention strategies in early childhood education, parent education, and after school programs when Angie Darling, Coordinator of the Alameda County Childcare Planning Counsel, said that neglect and abuse of children at an early age begins a downward spiral that can lead to a life of violence, making the startling revelation that the yearly rate of expulsion of pre-school students in the State of California is three times the K-12 expulsion rate. 

That prompted Assembly Majority Leader Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles), a committee member, to Darling with a startled look on her face and ask, “What did you just say?” Other committee members appeared startled as well. 

When Darling repeated her statement at the request of Caballero, the committee chair asked, a little incredulously, “in our state it’s possible to expel a child from pre-school? I’m flabbergasted. That’s a prescription for failure, to tell a 3-year-old ‘you don’t belong with the other children.” 

And Congressmember Lee, to the applause of others in the room, broke in, “Let me just say one thing, there should be a law against that.” 

One solution was advanced by Demetria Hutson, Program Director of the Peacekeeping Team of Youth Uprising, who talked of growing up on Seminary Avenue, calling herself “an authentic Oakland girl.” She said the background of the five-member Peacekeeping Team “who know the streets and are known on the streets; all of us have street handles and know everybody else’s street handle,” is crucial to their success. “Somebody can come up and tell me that Bo-Bo got into a fight with Cee-Cee, and I can say, yeah, I know Cee-Cee’s cousin. I can talk to them.” 

Hutson said that the Youth Uprising five-member Peacemaking Team concentrates on intervening in potentially-dangerous neighborhood or family disputes before they get out of hand. “Homicides in Oakland are not happening because some Hannibal Lector character is jumping out of the bushes with a knife and stabbing people to death. It’s happening largely because of conflicts in ongoing relationships that have not been resolved,” she said. “Sometimes the victims live right across the street from the perpetrators.”  

Hutson said the situation in some of Oakland’s most violent neighborhoods is so volatile that “sometimes these conflicts escalate from zero to 60 in a moment.” 

Other testimony was provided by local organizations and agencies, including the Prevention Institution, Fight Crime: Invest In Kids, Youth Alive, Project Re-Connect, Girls Justice Initiative, the Alameda County Probation Department, the Alameda County Board of Education, the Cypress Mandela Training, Acts Full Gospel Church Men of Valor Academy, Oakland Community Organization, the Ella Baker Center, the Oakland Police Department, and the office of San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris. 

A full report and recommendations from the committee is expected later this year. 


Police Blotter

By Rio Bauce
Friday June 08, 2007

Urban shoplifters 

At 5:14 p.m. on Tuesday, three teenagers were arrested for stealing from Urban Outfitters at 2590 Bancroft Way. Store employees recovered the stolen clothing and necklaces. 

 

Car collision 

On Tuesday at 4:40 p.m., someone called in to report that a car collision had occurred at the freeway entrance at Gilman and West Frontage Street. No emergency services were dispatched for the accident. 

 

Dog bite 

At 10:59 a.m. on Tuesday, a male victim called into report that a dog had bitten him on the 1200 block of Allston Way. The dog owner was located and identified. 

 

Indecent exposure 

At 9 a.m. on Tuesday, a man committed an act of indecent exposure to a woman with whom he’d had prior contact, on the 1200 block of Evelyn Street. He was arrested and cited for a violation of city code. 

 

Series of auto break-ins 

On Tuesday, 11 auto break-ins occurred across the city. City Police Department Spokesman Wes Hester is recommending that people not keep valuable items visible from the outside of their car. 

 

Hit-And-Run 

At 9:43 p.m. on Monday, a 29-year-old man from Phoenix was arrested for hitting a North Berkeley man in his 20s and fleeing the scene. The incident occurred at the intersection of Shattuck and Carleton streets. 

 

Another auto burglary 

At 6 p.m. on Monday, an auto burglary occurred on the 1200 block of Euclid Street. 

In the past couple days, four other car burglaries have occurred in the area surrounding the Rose Garden and Cordonices Park. 


First Person: Why I’m a Racist

By Madeline Smith Moore
Friday June 08, 2007

“When this war is over, there will be one between colored and white!” These were the words of my parents that I listened to in horror from the back seat of our car outside of the A&P in East Providence, R.I. I had seen war in the newsreels on Saturday afternoon. I had seen people shooting at other people from the protection of hedgerows. I pictured myself shooting at my eight-year-old white friends. My only friends of color were my cousin and Anna, and neither lived in my neighborhood. It was the early ‘40s and my parents were referring to the segregation of our armed forces in the Second World War. I got over that. 

My mother subscribed to two black newspapers, The Boston Chronicle and The Pittsburgh Courier; they presented to me a vague idea of what Jim Crow meant, and a vivid picture of lynchings. I was horrified but somehow felt this didn’t apply directly to me. 

My mother graduated from Commercial High in Providence in 1927, fully prepared to enter the white-collar world, quite a feat for a colored woman at that time. Every so often she would take civil service exams for a clerical job with the government. She was always among the top-scorers and would eventually be assigned. At the last moment she would back out. “I’ll have to spend most of the money I make on clothes.” or “Everyone will be younger than I am.” I can only suspect she was afraid that as a “colored girl” she would be stepping out of bounds, even for Rhode Island in the ‘40s. 

She did work from time to time, however. In white people’s houses doing housework for people like Mrs. Rosenstein who addressed her as “Doris,” while my mother addressed her with the honorific “Mrs.” Mrs. Rosenstein’s husband was a doctor and they lived in Rumford, an affluent white suburb. She told Momma she knew how she felt because “we’re Jewish, you know.” 

And then there was the time I naively decided to try out for our senior play, Junior Miss, and was told by my embarrassed English teacher that the only part available to me would be that of the maid. I bitterly declined. 

In 1953 when I went to work in Washington, D.C., I spent my first two weeks in orientation and saw very few blacks. I blithely decided that this particular government agency was not segregated. Then I was assigned to an all-black office—these were the only blacks employed except for guards and janitorial help. I still didn’t get it. 

When I came to California, I married a man who had been raised a poor black in Oklahoma. He thought my lack of racial consciousness appalling. We would have heated arguments over whether or not the police were racist. I heard stories about blacks being beaten by Oakland cops for traffic violations. I didn’t believe it. 

Before I left Rhode Island, I made application for a clerical job at UC Berkeley. My qualifications and experience were effusively acknowledged by personal letter from the UC Personnel Office. But after arriving at Berkeley and being sent out for interviews, the dawn slowly broke. I would watch the faces of my interviewers as I entered. Mouths would drop open; faces would redden. They would stammer inanely and I wouldn’t get the job.  

“Where did you say you are from?” they would ask, as if my application was not on the desk in front of them, as if my birthplace had any bearing on my qualifications. “New York?” they would venture tentatively. I felt I was being viewed as an aberration since my complexion did not match my “accent” and I was therefore disqualified. Eventually the Math Department hired me for a two-week period to assist the secretary arrange the Symposium on the Axiomatic Method. They decided to keep me. Since a number of blacks were then hired in that department, I assumed Personnel thought it was safe to send us there. 

Then it was 1961; black was soon to be beautiful. I walked up a cement path and three steps to the wooden front door of a modest two-story house just east of Telegraph Avenue, down near 40th St. There was a For Rent sign in the window and the nameplate on the door read Sousa. The neighborhood was definitely downscale but neat and quiet. My husband had continued to tell me (I was not, at that time, clear why) that I could not look for lodging in certain, very specific places; east of Telegraph Avenue was one of them.  

“We don’t rent to coloreds.” The wrinkled white face peered at me through the crack in the barely open door. 

I was enveloped in hot rage beginning to surpass the surprise. I had no recollection of my drive home. 

In 1964 when we bought a house in the Oakland hills, the white people next door couldn’t move fast enough—their FOR SALE sign went up almost immediately. I found out later we were blockbusting. This infuriated and embarrassed me because I was beginning to get it—it felt terrible! 

A tearing was going on inside of me. Why didn’t I feel victorious because we blacks had won one? Why instead did I feel sad and sick? Why all the trickery? Why couldn’t I learn that blacks must use any means possible to get ahead, even when it was dishonest or hurt somebody? 

Whites continue to fool me. I guess it’s taking me longer because it was so well hidden from me in the beginning. Nobody talked about race relations to me directly when I was young. It was just something that was there but seemed to have really nothing to do with me personally. And I don’t know yet if that’s good or bad. If I had been aware early in life, might not that just have been an excuse for me not to be a success? I had enough excuses as it was. Which kind of racial prejudice is the most destructive? 

Overt, in which one has the visual aid of restrictive signs—“Colored Folks to the Rear,” “Whites Only Need Apply”; restricted neighborhoods into which a person of color would never venture seeking housing; segregated public schools so designated? 

Or covert, in which a person is born into a society that, on the surface, doesn’t show prejudice; in which a person attends twelve years of public school and is allowed to feel special because of excellent performance, supposedly with no racial preference, in which there are no “colored” neighborhoods; any part of the bus or train can be occupied. 

Overt, in which everything and everybody tells you your place: that by virtue of the color of your skin you are inferior or, at best, to be treated in an inferior manner? The world holds no surprises for you in terms of fairness. You aim low so as not to be disappointed. You, whether consciously or unconsciously, emulate the superior race by straightening or artificially curling your hair--making it shiny. You have plastic surgery to correct non-caucasian features. You bleach your skin using lighteners advertised in black publications. You marry light: if you are dark-skinned you try to marry lighter so that your children will be lighter. 

Or covert in which you are made to believe that your color makes absolutely no difference; you go to school and play with white children who treat you just like anybody else; you read about the experiences of others of your color in big city ghettoes or in the south and somehow feel that you are spared this curse, though you are never quite sure why. In some very vague way, you are aware that all is not well but you don’t know what this means. As a growing child there is much that confuses; this race thing is only one of them and, at the time, doesn’t seem the most important. 

I continued to attribute these and countless other racist incidents in my life either to innocent oversight or total ignorance on the part of the specific white individual, certainly not to the entire white race. 

All the while, my “black identity” was being questioned by my black friends. I was told I didn’t have enough of it. Again, I wasn’t sure what “it” was. All I knew was that I was Doris and Gene’s daughter and that they were at first colored, then Negro and now black. So how black was I supposed to be? 

Then came the San Quentin shoot-out, which killed George Jackson, other blacks, and a couple of prominent white people, one of whom was a judge. The authorities decided to take off after Angela Davis—they had their scapegoat, black and an avowed Communist to boot. And suddenly I was black. I had finally been slapped hard enough. I was enraged. I decided I had to act and had no idea what I could do. Up until then I excused my inaction by saying that I was fighting my own war to prove to whites that blacks don’t fit the stereotype engendered by whites. 

So I acted. I decided I would no longer be a part of the white power structure. Silly me. Nevertheless, the next day I fully intended to quit my job at UC. No one tried to stop me. I collared my boss when he came in and told him I needed to talk. I spent at least two emotional hours explaining to him why I could no longer work for him. He never interrupted. I went back to my desk; I never quit. 

But from that moment on I have been learning. I no longer resist the fact that I live in a racist world, in a racist society, in a racist city and a racist neighborhood. I spend my money in racist stores and attend racist classes. White doctors, teachers, service people, firemen, policemen and clergy are racist. I don’t care how many of us are here or how much money we are making or how many of us are graduating from how many colleges. When whites are born into this society, they know inherently that they are superior to all third world people, and especially to blacks. No matter what negative condition they find themselves in, they are still superior to blacks. And some blame blacks for their negative condition. Liberal whites decide just how much slack they will cut us, and then assume we should not only be grateful, but also friendly. I have never met and probably will never meet a white who believes himself racist. He will tell me about his racist mother or his racist brother-in-law or his racist neighbor, but not him. Rather than to accept the fact that I might be equal, or maybe even better, white people have told me that I’m “not really black”. 

This situation will never, never improve until whites can admit to themselves that they are by definition and innately racist. They should identify as closely with their racism as they identify with their gender. If you are born white, you are born racist. Blacks like me become racist in defense. Identify that you are racist and, recognizing yourselves as such, you can check yourselves. Blacks do not want your love. Your like isn’t even important. And your understanding is not necessary. We don’t even care whether or not you smile at us. What we do want is that you not stand in our way. What we do want is equal justice by law, no favors. And just for the record, affirmative action is just that, not a favor.  

Thirty years ago, in a fit of panic and pseudo-generosity prompted by fear, the white power structure admitted blacks, almost indiscriminately, to some schools and some jobs. Since this action was indiscriminate, many blacks failed. At which point the whites sat back and said, “See! We gave them a chance and they failed.” And that was the end of it. So now it’s cut welfare, cut the quota system, beat ‘em up and throw ‘em in jail.  

It will take years of exposure for the rest of the United States of America to fully realize what a monstrous thing American racism is. And all during this time one proceeds quite naturally with one’s life dealing with racism on a day-to-day basis, too overwhelmed by the monstrosity of it ever to be able to get up on a soap-box screaming in rage. And as the realization slowly inches its way into the consciousness, the surprise, the hurt and then the rage take over. How many times must one silently, but clearly, be called “nigger” before it finally sinks in? And if one is to be a nigger, then one had better track down the meaning of this negritude. 

My particular racism is my particular experience. I’ve never written about it before for two reasons: I wasn’t sure I was black enough to discuss it with blacks, and it does no good to discuss it with whites. 


Steve Barton Out as Housing Director

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday June 05, 2007

“Today, Housing Director Stephen Barton stepped down from his post,” Berkeley City Manager Phil Kamlarz wrote in an email to the mayor and City Council Tuesday.  

Some of Barton’s supporters reacted strongly, telling the Daily Planet Wednesday morning that the dedicated champion of low-income and affordable housing, also a widely-respected academic and author in the field of housing, has taken the fall for a department fraught with problems and impossible to manage from the time he took it over as director in 2001.  

“Barton is a sacrificial lamb for the years of [City Council] neglect of the Housing Authority,” Councilmember Kriss Worthington told the Daily Planet. 

Others however welcomed the departure of the man they say was responsible for the “troubled” designation that the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) has given the Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA). BHA is the Housing Department division that oversees low-income housing. They also blamed Barton for a Condominium Conversion Ordinance that makes it difficult to convert rental apartments to condominiums.  

“The buck has got to stop somewhere,” said Berkeley resident David M. Wilson, arguing that Barton’s advice to the council is generally based on ideology rather than objectivity. 

Barton’s departure is part of an overall restructuring of the BHA. A new board will take over July 1 and the BHA staff will be laid off and reassigned to other city departments. Deputy City Manager Lisa Caronna will take over the department temporarily. 

See the full story in Friday’s paper. 

 

 


Safeway to Rebuild Shattuck Store

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday June 05, 2007

Rounds of applause punctuated occasionally by bouts of “boos”—enough to prompt a scolding from City Councilmember Laurie Capitelli—greeted varied proposals for Safeway’s planned North Shattuck Avenue makeover at a meeting Thursday evening at the Jewish Community Center. 

The loudest boo choruses from the standing-room-only crowd targeted a plea from Livable Berkeley, the meeting’s sponsor, for the new building to rise to at least three or four floors, with housing on the upper levels. 

But Todd Paradis, real estate manager for the grocery giant, told the crowd that the firm’s earlier proposal to build housing and a new market at the site of its store at 1500 Solano Ave. in Albany “went over like a lead balloon. We reeled it back in and said, ‘not today.’” 

The suggestion of housing above the new store at 1444 Shattuck Ave. had been raised in a letter from Berkeley developer Chris Hudson to Paradis urging construction of 50 to 100 units of housing above the store. 

But Paradis said housing “was not our plan, and if we’re not forced to do housing on top, we would not advance it because it makes the project more difficult.” 

Applause followed, and there would be boos later in the meeting when Livable Berkeley board member Jim Orajala rose to advocate for housing over the store. 

The North Shattuck store will probably still feature three levels, Paradis said, consisting of underground parking, the main shopping area and an upper level for offices. City codes restrict the total height to 35 feet, he said. 

Safeway has already hired Berkeley architects Marcy Wong and Donn Logan for the job, a firm whose local projects include the Berkeley Repertory Theater and the new Berkeley High School gymnasium.  

Paradis said he envisions a radical new store, both inside and out. Compared to the 27,000-plus square feet of the existing store, the new market would occupy 45,000 to 50,000 square feet and offer a dramatically different array of goods. 

Organic produce, wider aisles, a make-your-own nut-butter bar, wrapped-to-order meats and fresh fish, a bakery and a deli are likely features of the new facility, he said, which will take about a year to build and open sometime in 2011-2012. 

And if all goes the way Paradis hopes, the reincarnated retailer will be a truly “green” grocer, built to strict environmentally friendly standards and generating its own wind and, perhaps, solar power. 

Safeway’s latest television ads boast of the wind generators incorporated into store designs, and Paradis testified to their benevolence. “They’re not the type of windmills that chop birds up,” he said. 

When solar advocate Harvey Sherback advocated solar panels for the store’s roof—to be used either for resale or for charging the batteries of electric or hybrid vehicles—Paradis suggested Berkeley’s climate might not be suited for solar panels. 

Then David Stoloff spoke up, a planning commissioner whose office is near the store: “I put solar on the roof of my building, and it has cut our power bills in half.” Paradis promised to investigate. 

While the thought of an environmentally sensitive business offering both union wages for its workers and edibles that meet the exacting culinary criteria of Berkeley’s sophisticated shoppers was clearly popular—the only bad thing anyone could say about Safeway was the corporation’s strong financial backing for Republicans—most in the overwhelmingly gray-haired crowd were sweating the details. 

One Livable Berkeley idea did fare well with the crowd, a call for a lively retail facade along the sidewalk on the west side of Shattuck. 

A neighbor suggested siting the store’s fish market there, and perhaps a deli—ideas Paradis said he found particularly intriguing. 

A landlord who owns apartments on Vine Street directly behind the store said some of her tenants had said noise and dust concerns had led them to say they would move out if construction began. 

Paradis said construction would be staged, and promised measures to control dust and noise, particular concerns of long-time residents of Henry Street, which runs directly behind the store. 

The Safeway official promised immediate neighbors a meeting of their own where they could share their concerns in greater detail. 

While the store currently has some underground parking, one Henry Street resident asked the store to locate all parking in the new store underground, with an entrance on Shattuck. Other shoppers said they wouldn’t park in an underground lot because of safety concerns, and when Paradis said the store could have employees stationed in the lot, another shopper said she feared they’d be the first to go if layoffs ever came. 

Another alternative suggested was locating whatever above-ground parking remained between the proposed sidewalk-fronting stores and the main store body. 

But for the immediate neighbors, traffic was the enduring concern, especially at the intersections of Rose and Henry streets with Shattuck. One neighbor also called for restrictions on delivery hours. 

Other concerns and suggestions included: 

• A call from Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee member Dorothy Walker and two others for a shuttle service for shoppers, especially those who live in the hills where bus service is less than frequent. 

• A request to clean up and perhaps relocate a store recycling center that Paradis acknowledged could stand improvements. 

• A lowered height for upper shelves. 

Paradis promised to create a web site and post regular updates as the project progresses. 

“I’ll put a button on the District Five web site for updates and notices about future meetings,” said Capitelli, where one and all could make their requests known. I want no-calorie potato chips.” 

The councilmember ended the meeting by chiding the audience. 

“I want to give you one opportunity to boo me,” he said. “I personally don’t find booing people who are expressing their views a very civil thing to do,” he said, urging applause for agreement and silence for the dissent. “We’re not all going to get our way.” 

Silence followed.


Retired Police Officer Arrested in Fatal Crash

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday June 05, 2007

A retired Berkeley police officer was jailed Sunday night on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and drunk driving after he allegedly struck and killed an elderly Berkeley woman on Solano Avenue. 

The Alameda County Corner’s office identified the victim as Betty Kietzman, 82, of 915 Fresno Ave. The cause of death is listed as multiple blunt force injuries. 

Berkeley Police Lt. Wesley Hester said the suspect charged in the death is Guillermo Robles, 56, who retired from the department in 2001, where he had been serving as a patrol and narcotics officer. 

According to witnesses, Robles struck the woman as she was crossing Solano Avenue at Fresno Avenue. 

Police and paramedics arrived at the scene within minutes of the 10:50 p.m. call. The injured woman was rushed to a local emergency room, where she was later pronounced dead, said Hester. 

After a field sobriety test at the scene, Robles was handcuffed and taken to city jail, where he was held on the two felony charges. Hester said he was transported to the county jail at Santa Rita Monday morning. 

After booking at the jail, said the officer, Robles was released on $30,000 bail. 

Hester said he couldn’t reveal the results of the blood alcohol tests, but said that because of the death, “fairly extensive testing was involved.” 

Since retiring from the police department, Robles has become a business owner, said James Carter, the former manager of the Albany Chamber of Commerce. Known as “Memo” to friends, Robles opened Casa Oaxaca, a store which features imports from the Mexican state where was he born, Carter said. The store opened in July 2004 at 1274 Solano Ave. 

Hester said he believes that Keitzman’s death is the city’s first traffic fatality for the year.


Questions of Bias at Jazz Festival, School

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday June 05, 2007

A Berkeley jazz school that has profited from tens of thousands of city dollars is remiss in hiring an almost all-white faculty, serves mostly white students and has engaged only a handful of African Americans for the Downtown Berkeley Jazz Festival, say local African American musicians and supporters. 

It’s like the master appropriating the work of the slaves, Samuel Fredericks, owner of Samuel’s Gallery in Jack London Square and specializing in African American art, told the Daily Planet.  

Fredericks is one of a group of people who have been meeting for about three weeks to address the question of how race affects the jazz community. In separate interviews with the Daily Planet, many of the group underscored that the discussions are aimed at giving African Americans their due, not taking away from talented white artists. 

“As far as the dominant culture is concerned, jazz is deemed too important to have been created by black people,” Fredericks said. “Whatever comes from a colonized people, you own it.” 

At issue locally has been the recent revelation that the Downtown Berkeley Jazz Festival, produced by the Jazzschool at 2067 Addison St., has hired few African American artists for the August festival. Almost simultaneously Yoshi’s, the celebrated Oakland jazz club, produced a 10-year anniversary CD with no African American musicians. (The CD has reportedly been pulled from circulation.)  

African Americans have been aware for decades of the expropriation of jazz, said Rhonda Benin, also part of the group meeting on the question. And so the problems at Yoshi’s and the jazz festival came as no surprise.  

Concerns around the Berkeley festival have been festering for the event’s three years of existence, according to Anna de Leon, owner of Anna’s Jazz Island in downtown Berkeley.  

De Leon said she was outraged a few weeks ago when Susan Muscarella, director of both the Jazzschool and the festival, sent de Leon an e-mail with the names of the artists she had booked at de Leon’s club for the festival. “She proposed four artists—there was no black group,” de Leon told the Daily Planet on Friday. 

` “I objected. I said that’s not OK,” she said. “My belief is that jazz originated in the African American community and comes out of the African American experience.” 

An e-mail from de Leon about the situation went the rounds of Bay Area jazz musicians, which led to a forum and follow-up show on Doug Edwards’ KPFA program Ear Thyme, several community meetings and a story Friday in the San Francisco Chronicle. 

Refusing to be interviewed, Muscarella sent an e-mail statement to the Planet, saying that the Chronicle article was “heavy on sensationalism.”  

In an apparent response to criticisms of lack of diversity, Muscarella said, “The stated purpose of the festival, incidentally, is to celebrate jazz and related styles of music from throughout the world. Part of the festival’s mission has been to reflect the diversity of downtown Berkeley, and it has accomplished that and more.” 

Muscarella further stated that as a female artist, “the minority throughout the history of jazz, I am particularly sensitive to any issue around discrimination and diversity.” 

The controversy over the booking, which Muscarella says is still in progress, led to the scrutiny of the Jazzschool itself, its board of directors and its faculty.  

As for the board of directors, there might be either zero or one African American on it, depending on whom you talk to. 

Another concern is the lack of diversity in the school’s Sunday concerts. Benin said she counted 25 Sunday performers on the school web site. “There were two black people in the line-up,” she said. 

Out of about 92 people listed as faculty at the school, “There are three, maybe four African American teachers,” jazz saxophonist Howard Wiley told the Planet.  

Wiley, who was born in Berkeley, said there is “no excuse” for not hiring African American teachers and performers, given the large number of highly respected black artists in the area. 

“There’s blatant bias right under our nose,” he said. “If the most left [area acts like that] what does it say for the country?”  

In a June 1 e-mail to the Jazzschool which he copied to the Planet, Wiley turned down an invitation to play at the festival. “Your attempt to quickly hire me and other black musicians seems to be damage control as you are well aware of the publicity around your racist hiring practices,” Wiley wrote. 

Adding fuel to the fire is that the city of Berkeley is listed on the festival web site as a co-sponsor of the event. Further, according to Economic Development Director Michael Caplan, the city has just refinanced and consolidated two loans to the jazz school, equal to $88,000. 

“Muscarella’s getting all kinds of public funding,” said jazz bass player Michael Jones. 

On Friday, Caplan said he was unaware of the controversy, but said he would discuss the question with Muscarella.  

Budget Manager Tracy Vesely said in an e-mail that the Jazzschool has received grants of around $3,000 in 2005 and 2006 and has been awarded a $9,000 grant for 2007. Civic Arts Coordinator, Mary Ann Merker, said the Civic Arts Commission looks at criteria such as diversity when it makes its awards. 

Muscarella told The Chronicle: “I hold African American heritage in high esteem. But I do choose quality and not ethnicity alone.” 

“Jazz is the highest order of our black music,” Jones told the Daily Planet. Muscarella “went to the Chronicle and told us we weren’t qualified,” Jones said. 

Rather than hiring highly qualified Bay Area artists who need work, “she’s shipping in a singer from Germany,” Jones said. 

Fredericks said, while the immediate focus is on the festival and Yoshi’s CD, “It’s much bigger than the flap over the Jazzschool and Yoshi’s. What’s happening now is the tip of the iceberg.” 

White musicians have the money and the power to reinvent history, he said, “to build monuments to themselves.”  

The group that has emerged from the controversy is looking for answers. “Nobody has a roadmap,” Fredericks said.  

“We’re ready for some real hard work,” Benin said. “Everybody should come to the table on this in truth and honesty.”  

The group meets at the Public Conservatory of Music in Oakland: 836-4649. 

 


Oakland Activists Call for School Closure Moratorium

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday June 05, 2007

A revived and newly energized movement to restore local control to the Oakland public schools held several hours of testimony from Oakland residents on Friday evening calling for an end to the state school takeover of Oakland Unified School District and a moratorium on school closures in the district until that time. 

Full control of OUSD was taken over by the State of California in 2003. Since that time, the Oakland public schools have been run by a state administrator hired by State Superintendent Jack O’Connell, with the elected school board stripped of all power and functioning without pay, in an advisory capacity only. The legislation authorizing the takeover gives O’Connell broad discretion in deciding when to return local control, and O’Connell has refused to give a timeline as to when that will happen. 

Just over a year ago, the Oakland local school control movement appeared stalled. 

But in May of last year, after O’Connell announced he was working on a deal to sell more than eight acres of downtown area property owned by the district—including the administrative headquarters and five schools—to an east coast developer, the momentum shifted. An ad hoc committee to restore local control—made up of local activists, educational professionals, and officeholders—formed to fight the property sale, eventually leading to a February announcement by O’Connell that the sale is dead. 

Meanwhile, newly elected District 16 Assemblymember Sandré Swanson (D-Oakland) fulfilled a campaign promise by introducing legislation immediately after his swearing in, calling for an immediate return to local control of the Oakland schools. Swanson’s AB45 was later modified to put power over local control in the hands of the semi-private school intervention Fiscal Crisis Management Assistance Team, taking it out of the discretion of the state superintendent. AB45 has passed two assembly committees, Education and Appropriation, and is scheduled for a vote on the assembly floor this week. 

Last week, buoyed by the change in momentum, school board members agreed to ask OUSD State Administrator Kimberly Statham to put a resolution on the board-state administrator meeting agenda calling for a moratorium on school closures. 

Board member Chris Dobbins, who introduced the resolution at the request of local organization Education Not Incarceration, stressed that he did not want to rule out an OUSD school board ever closing an Oakland public school; he only wanted such closures held off until the school board regains control over the operation of district activities. In addition, at the request of board member Noel Gallo, the discussion on the school closures is expected to include a broader discussion on the financial and enrollment situation in the Oakland public schools. Gallo said he was offering that inclusion in anticipation of the board beginning to take on a larger role in setting school policy. 

It was in that atmosphere that Friday’s meeting was called by the ad hoc committee to end the state takeover. Oakland Education Association teachers union president Betty Olsen-Jones, the convener for the meeting, said the ad hoc committee had gone dormant late last year, but members decided to revive it after a dramatic February board meeting presentation by representatives of the East Oakland Community High School. After an announcement by the state administrator that EOC was scheduled for closure at the end of the school year, faculty, students, and parents marched eight miles from the school site on the old Kings Estate Middle School campus in the East Oakland hills to the board meeting on Second Avenue near the lake, and then presented more than two hours of emotional testimony, asking that the state administrator rescind the closure order. 

EOC is still slated for closure this month. 

On Friday, with Olsen-Jones called EOC “the poster child for problems under the state takeover,” many of the residents providing testimony were EOC students or parents. 

“When they closed my school, they told me I could get my first choice in any school I wanted in the district,” EOC student Leonard George Jr. said. “But I can’t get my first choice, because my first choice is East Oakland Community High School.” 

Besides Olsen-Jones and several school board members, panelists listening to testimony included Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, Assemblymember Swanson, Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson, and representatives of Congressmember Barbara Lee and several local school-based unions and organizations. 

Organizers of the meeting had scheduled a time for the introduction of resolutions at the end of the meeting. But after public testimony took the meeting more than an hour over schedule, Olsen-Jones told gatherers, “I haven’t heard anyone tonight say they were in favor of keeping state control, or closing schools, so I think we can go on record as saying this body is in favor of a return to local control and a moratorium on school closures.” 

There was a unanimous showing of hands. 


Berkeley Residents Speak Out About City Budget

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday June 05, 2007

A group of about 10 civic-minded residents turned out for a lightly publicized public hearing on the budget at the North Berkeley Senior Center Tuesday evening, hoping city staff would listen to their ideas.  

The emphasis was on public safety. “There’s just one police person at night in District 5,” Bob Allen told those present, which included Councilmember Gordon Wozniak and four employees from the city manager’s office.  

This was the second in a series of three public hearings on the budget. The first was held at 10:15 p.m. as part of the May 22 City Council meeting. There, the public focused on funding social service programs, especially those that had not been funded by the federal Community Development Block Grant program. 

The last public hearing on the budget will be at the June 19 City Council meeting. 

In reality, most budget choices have already been made by past councils and staff. About 80 percent of the budget is personnel costs and another chunk is for fixed costs such as payment on debt, ongoing programs and maintaining “prudent reserves” of about 8 percent. 

There is, however, some wiggle room for new choices, according to the city manager. That includes about $5.1 million from the $15.6 million the city is receiving this fiscal year in transfer taxes and another $2 million in savings from vacant employee positions. 

City Manager Phil Kamlarz said that in order to pay for large projects—the storm water infrastructure and long-term police and fire needs—the city will have to tax itself. 

Longtime budget watcher Barbara Gilbert said the city has the process backwards. City revenue from property and utility taxes should pay for public safety, she said. 

“Tax measures should be for special things—a youth center, the Brower Center [the environmental center being built downtown next to low-income housing],” she said. 

Barbara Allen of BudgetWatch called for more money for public safety. Councilmember Wozniak, who has asked the council to consider giving an additional $1 million per year to the Berkeley police, did not speak at the hearing. 

Kamlarz argued against those pressing for more city money for public safety. “We have more fire stations per square mile than any place around,” he said. “And we have more police, when you include UC Berkeley Police, than anywhere around.” 

Kamlarz added that fire-fighting needs have changed over time: 87 percent of calls to the fire department are medical calls. 

And there are other ways to increase public safety than hiring new police, such as neighborhood watch groups, he said. 

One resident said the city was shooting itself in the foot by making money from parking meter fines, which, in the end, deter people from shopping in Berkeley. (Mayor Tom Bates has suggested raising meter fees and adding new meters where there are now none.) 

While the city manager has proposed putting almost $1 million into the city’s beleaguered housing authority, which oversees subsidized housing, Gilbert said she’d be happy to see the oversight leave Berkeley and go to Alameda County, something the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has threatened if the city doesn’t improve the agency. “We’re creating a huge dependent population,” she said, arguing that people in Berkeley would rather pay for police than for affordable housing. 

Kamlarz addressed the question of a need for more revenue. The city earns about 1 percent of the sales taxes people pay within the city. “When I talk to people in town, they don’t want retail,” Kamlarz said. “They all want to go to Target, but they don’t want a Target in town.” 

One person raised the question of the high cost of department heads, all of whom make more than $100,000 per year plus about another $50,000 in benefits. Kamlarz talked about “holding down labor costs,” which could mean having employees pay more for their health benefits. This change would only come out of contract negotiations. 

In some jurisdictions, such as the University of California, salary savings have been realized by giving the lowest-paid employees the highest percentage of a salary increase and the highest-paid, the lowest percentage. 

Christopher Lien said the answer is to reduce staff and asked Kamlarz to suggest where that can be done. “We would like the ideas coming from you,” he said.  

Those in attendance said the hearing should have been better publicized. “Everyone in the city should have gotten a notice,” Gilbert said. “I’m really disappointed.” She added that the city should be surveyed to see where people really want their money spent. 

The city manager has made a number of budget proposals. Some are:  

• $900,000 for deferred maintenance for city buildings and recreation facilities, including swimming pools, senior and recreation centers. 

• $1 million for transportation planning. 

• $2.86 million for streets and other transportation funding and $1 million for clean storm water/creeks planning. 

• $306,000 for youth: $136,000 to fund 50 youth jobs and another $170,000 for youth recreation programs cut in earlier budgets. 

• $66,000 for a full-time watershed coordinator, increasing a half-time position to full time. 

• $947,000 over two years to subsidize the Berkeley Housing Authority; and $1.5 million to fund three low-income housing projects. (This $1.5 million is expected to be reimbursed to the general fund through future fees for condominium conversion.) 

• $900,000 for public safety; $600,000 to keep all fire stations open (ending rotating closures) until December 2008 and $300,000 for training public safety dispatchers on new communications equipment. 

City Councilmembers have made their own proposals, some of which include: 

• $50,000 to study the feasibility of a youth center (Anderson, Moore) 

• $65,000 to restore funding to the civic arts coordinator (Civic Arts Commission) 

• $380,000 to expand the street-sweeping program (Public Works Commission) 

• $200,000 for traffic calming in the Cedar/Rose/Hopkins/Gilman streets area (Maio) 

• $50,000 for the Public Commons/street behavior initiative (Bates) 

• $25,000 for a Panoramic Hill emergency access study (Wozniak) 

• $15,000 for services for severely disabled children in West Berkeley (Spring, Moore) 

• $85,000 for crisis Intervention training for police (Mental Health Commission) 

• $1.2 million for community-involved policing (Worthington) 

Call the City Clerk (981-6900) for the complete list of council referrals or look on line at the May 22 City Council agenda, supplement to Item 31. 

• June 26 the council will vote on the budget. 

 

The complete budget document is on line at www.ci.berkeley.ca.us, with a link on the city’s home page. The budget book can be purchased for $25 from the city clerk’s office.  

The budget will be discussed at every City Council meeting in June: 

• June 12, 5 p.m., City Council budget workshop. 

• June 19, there will be a public hearing on the budget at the council meeting. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. The mayor will present his additions to the city manager’s budget at that time. 

 

 


UC, Lab Opt Out of Nanoparticle Report

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday June 05, 2007

Berkeley was in the national headlines for weeks after the City Council approved a policy in December 2006 that requires local businesses to report to the city on their use of nanotechnology materials as well as guidelines for safety procedures and disposal of the substances.  

By the June 1 reporting date the only business following the formal reporting procedure was Bayer Laboratories, according to Toxics Manager Nabil Al-Hadithy. The other two local users of the technology, UC Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) responded, but did not include the specific data required by the ordinance. 

“I am especially disappointed because LBLN has been engaged in the process [of writing the reporting procedures] for two years and has failed to implement it,” Al-Hadithy said. 

The policy requires companies working with engineered nanoparticles—materials one of whose axes is 100 nanometers or less (a nanometer is one-trillionth of a meter)—to submit a report disclosing the toxicology of the nanoparticles used and “how the facility will safely handle, monitor, contain, dispose, track inventory, prevent releases and mitigate such materials,” says the city ordinance. 

The lab’s response was written by Howard K. Hatayama, of LBNL’s Environment, Health and Safety Division. Hatayama did not return a call for comment from the Daily Planet.  

Writing the city on May 31, Hatayama said the wide range of nano materials render the characterization of toxicity of each “extremely challenging.” However, without going into detail, he underscored that the lab follows safety procedures: “LBNL has procedures that take into account the toxicity, process and controls during evaluation of the work performed, in consultation with health and safety specialists as necessary.”  

The university response noted its independence from city regulation. “The university, as a state entity, is exempt from the city of Berkeley’s manufactured nanoscale material disclosure ordinance,” says a May 31 letter written by Mark Freiberg, UC Berkeley’s hazardous materials manager. Freiberg was out of town and unavailable for comment. His letter to the city was forwarded by the university’s Public Information Office. 

Freiberg writes, in general, about the university’s safety precautions: “Nanoscale materials created by UC Berkeley researchers are to be handled in accordance with the safe laboratory practices established in our laboratory Chemical Hygiene Plans…. Our researchers are also studying and helping better define and characterize the potential impacts manufactured nanoscale materials may have on human health and the environment….” 

Making sure that there is training in safety procedures in handling the nanoparticles is an important aspect of the reporting, Al-Hadithy said. The university’s letter says training “may be provided as part of the training provided on the laboratory’s Chemical Hygiene Plan.” 

Al-Hadithy noted that state and federal standards for disposal of the particles have not been developed. “They can be dumped in a sink or in a garbage can,” he said, noting that he had hoped that LBNL’s response would have helped in the development of such standards. 

 


LeConte Community Honors Denise Brown

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday June 05, 2007

Everything was purple at LeConte Elementary School Friday. 

Hues of purple greeted a community who had come to honor Berkeley High Vice Principal denise brown in the place where she had first started off as an educator. (She preferred to spell her name in lowercase letters.) 

Brown, who died in February following knee surgery, had sent both her children to LeConte and later went on to teach kindergarten, first and fourth grades there. Purple was her favorite color. 

“It was Denise who breathed life into this stage,” said LeConte instructional assistant Rita Petitt, looking around the auditorium Friday. “She brought drama to life and reality. She was not just a parent, a teacher and a friend, but also a magician. She pulled back these curtains for so many people.” 

Hundreds came by with flowers, photos, candles and memories to take part in the plaque dedication for Brown on Friday.  

A plaque was installed in the auditorium with the words: “As we walk through these doors, we recognize the contribution of denise brown.” 

“What Denise did here was create theater, create drama,” said LeConte first-grade teacher Debbie Barer. “This is her neighborhood. Everybody here knows her. This is why it continues to be such a wonderful place for community building. We want to carry on the legacy that she left behind.” 

A generation of LeConte alumni who had grown up taking part in Brown’s Performing Arts Program reminisced about their favorite teacher. 

“She’s the reason we are all friends,” said Shelly Gleason, an eighth-grader at Willard, as she rehearsed scenes from Brown’s skit “I Wanna Be” with her classmates for the event. “We all met while rehearsing for ‘I Wanna Be’ at LeConte. I have such wonderful memories. Ms. Brown was simply amazing with us kids. The one thing I remember is the way she would always ask us ‘why’ when something was weird. She had to get to the bottom of everything.” 

Brown, during her tenure as drama teacher at LeConte, produced numerous plays and musicals, each with a message to explore, such as war, violence and homelessness. 

She taught her students to have fun too, as was portrayed by the characters Carob Cookie and the Pixy Stick Twins in the play “The Wizard of Berkeley.” 

In a video that chronicled some of the best moments of all these performances, Brown said: “My inspiration for these stories came from none other than the children themselves. I have observed their behavior closely and watched the way they chisel away at each other with insults and putdowns. I see how they swallow and take it sometimes or lash out in anger ... The kids have developed these characters themselves. I just took them and put them in a script.” 

Excerpts from the video show Brown tying students’ shoelaces, arranging their clothes and hugging them in between scenes during the performances. 

Hilary Mitchell, a student teacher under Brown, described her as the “most loving person ever.” 

“She took everybody under her wing,” said Mitchell, who now teaches fifth grade at Washington Elementary School. “She taught me to advocate for my minority students and to teach everyone positive traits. There are certain things I do in my class that reminds me of denise every day. She helped me become a better person.”


College Republicans Support Woodfin

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday June 05, 2007

A group of about 10 College Republican counterprotesters came out Saturday to support the Woodfin Suite Hotel in Emeryville, as some 50 demonstrators—separated from the Republicans by a handful of Emeryville Police—condemned the hotel for what they said is the unjust firing of 12 employees and refusal to comply with the city’s Measure C. 

Measure C was an initiative passed by Emeryville voters in November 2005 that guarantees a minimum wage for hotel workers and requires overtime pay for workers who clean more than 5,000 square feet of floor space. The hotel fired 12 workers in April for improper Social Security numbers.  

Hotel supporters say the firing was in retaliation for the workers’ protest around Measure C; management says it is complying with federal law. 

Ryan Clumpner, a senior at UC Davis, told the Daily Planet he came to demonstrate at the Woodfin for the second time to lend “support for a business that is unfairly targeted.”  

Clumpner, who said he and his friends were lodged by the Woodfin, addressed the question of Measure C on the Young Republican’s website, opposing its requirements to pay all employees at least $9 per hour.  

“So much for free markets,” Clumpner wrote. 

Protesters marched with signs calling for back pay—Measure C overtime—and chanted “Si se puede!” [Yes we can], while the Young Republicans taunted the organizers and unions for their support, calling for one of the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE) organizers by name to go home as they yelled and sang into bullhorns.  

The Young Republicans call EBASE a “front organization” for the unions and say the support for hotel workers is simply a backdoor attempt at organizing them. 

Luz, one of the fired workers who spoke to the Daily Planet through a translator and declined to give her last name, said it was a shame “that people expressed themselves so disrespectfully.” She went on to ask, “If this is the way they treat workers now, how will they treat them when they work later in a big company?” 

Brooke Anderson, an organizer with EBASE, said last week the Emeryville Marriott Hotel, which agreed to abide by Measure C, paid workers back wages owed for Measure C overtime—$5,000 to $9,000 per worker. The Woodfin has not yet agreed to do the same. 

Woodfin spokesperson Eric Schellhorn was not available for comment. 

 


Landmark Flint Site On the Auction Block

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday June 05, 2007

The former site of Flint Ink in West Berkeley went on the auction block Friday, but just who won remains a mystery. 

The site, covering almost 4.8 acres in two parcels south of Gilman Street, housed Berkeley’s oldest existing manufacturing plant, where Flint Ink Co. once produced a rainbow of hues for printers across the nation—including the first magnetic inks used for bank checks. 

Today, the site—declared a city landmark in 1986—stands vacant, and the owners, who include developer Ali Kashani, are awaiting the results of an auction being conducted by Accelerated Marketed Group (AMG) of Newport Beach. 

The larger of the two parcels, 3.36 acres, is bound by Gilman, Camelia, Fourth and Fifth streets. The second bloc of 1.42 acres, occupies the south half of the block bound by Gilman, Camelia, Fourth and Fifth streets, with the northern half of the block occupied by The Tannery. 

As a condition of the sale, the owners will be required to complete an environmental cleanup of the site, which is laden with chemicals from nearly a century of manufacturing in a complex that once numbered about 20 structures. 

Michael Caplan, the city’s acting Economic Development Director, said he had contacted the auctioneer Monday morning. “I believe they are waiting until all the anticipated bids have arrived,” Caplan said. 

City Councilmember Linda Maio, whose district includes the site, said she didn’t know anything more than Cisco De Vries, the chief of staff to Mayor Tom Bates, who had referred a reporter to Caplan as the most knowledgeable member of the city staff. 

The official deadline for bids was 5 p.m. Friday.  

Neither AMG President Todd Good nor Executive Vice President Bob Daniel had returned a reporter’s phone calls by late Monday afternoon. 

The site’s status as a landmark featured in last November’s election battle over Measure J, the revised Landmarks Preservation Ordinance (LPO) that went down to defeat by a 57-43 percent margin. 

Opponents of the ordinance, which would have preserved and legally buttressed the city’s existing and often-controverisal LPO, included the Flint Ink designation among those they charged were of questionable value. 

The Landmarks Preservation Commission had made the designation citing the plant’s architecture and its historic significance. 


School Board Meeting Preview

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday June 05, 2007

The Berkeley Board of Education will review the proposed solar project at Washington Elementary School for the third time Wednesday and vote on whether to approve $750,000 in funds from the Office of Public School Construction (OPSC) and $305,000 in PG&E funds. 

Board members had asked district staff to develop a more comprehensive report on the financial aspects of the proposed project at the last meeting. 

Tom Kelly, director of KyotoUSA, said that unless the district issued a request for proposals for the project and submitted a copy to PG&E by June 16, the PG&E rebate would be lost. Kelly said KyotoUSA secured a 10-year financial municipal lease in the amount of $232,000 from Saulsbury Hill Financial to avoid bond funds. 

“KyotoUSA will donate approximately $8,000 to the district to bridge that difference,” said Kelly. “The district will be assured that it will be able to go forward with the Washington solar project without it affecting any other projects that are currently scheduled.” 

 

Collective bargaining 

The board will vote on whether to approve the collective bargaining agreement for 2006-07 with the Berkeley Council of Classified Employees (BCCE), which covers district secretaries, clerks and instructional assistants and includes an increase of 4.7 percent in salary and benefits. The board will also vote on whether to approve the compensation and salary increase for employees not represented by a union or under a bargaining agreement. 

 

Surplus committee 

The board will vote on whether to approve recommendations for five additional members for the district Surplus Facilities Committee. 

Current properties that are under consideration for being sold are located at Sixth and Addison streets and Milvia and Bancroft. 

The district pays the City of Berkeley $1 annually for using the Old City Hall in exchange for the city using the property at Sixth and Addison. This 20-year agreement is set to end in 2009. 

The board will also direct the committee to look at surplusing the Berkeley High tennis courts which could serve as a possible relocation for the warm water pool. 

 

B-Tech summer school program 

Traditionally, B-Tech students are assigned to Berkeley High School for summer school. This year, B-Tech principal Victor Diaz has worked with the B-Tech faculty to design a summer program to meet the needs of their students. The six-week- long program at B-Tech (June 20-July 27) is aimed at students not making satisfactory progress toward high school graduation. 

The mayor’s office will provide paid internships during the afternoon to up to 15 B-Tech students enrolled in the program. Tutors from UC Berkeley’s Cal Corps will also help the students during their morning classes.


DAPAC, Landmarks Meetings Crowd Calendar

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday June 05, 2007

Two DAPAC meetings—both centering on Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)—and a session of the Landmarks Preservation Commission mark the week’s major events in land use. 

The first meeting is tonight (Tuesday), when the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee’s subcommittee on BRT commences at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

Their focus is AC Transit’s plan to establish Bus Rapid Transit service providing dedicated lanes and faster travel times along a surface street corridor from Berkeley to San Leandro. 

BRT will also be the topic when all DAPAC members meet at 7 p.m. with the city’s Transportation Commission, once again in the North Berkeley Senior Center. 

Jim Cunradi, BRT project manager for the bus company, will give a presentation on BRT service in downtown Berkeley, followed by questions from both city panels. 

Next, the two groups will consider the proposed chapter on parking that will eventually be included in the new downtown plan DAPAC must complete by the end of November, following discussions of pedestrians, bicycles, possible incentives to increase use of mass transit and policies to manage transportation demand. 

After the Transportation Commission leaves, DAPAC members will discuss upcoming meetings and the possible creation of additional subcommittees to work on draft chapters of the plan. 

The LPC meets Thursday night, again in the North Berkeley Senior Center, but starting at 7:30 p.m. 

Among the items on the agenda are: 

• A hearing on the addition of a by-right accessory dwelling unit (ADU) at the landmarked Wallace-Sauer house at 1349 Arch St. Designs for the ADU, planned for the owner’s father, faced harsh criticism by LPC members and neighbors during last month’s meeting. 

• A landmark application for a home at 1375 Summit Road, along with an application to create a historic district that would include that house and two others at 1363 and 1365 Summit. 

• An application to landmark the former car dealership office at 2747 San Pablo Ave., the site of a proposed “green” apartment complex. 

• An alteration permit to remodel the storefronts at 2340-2350 Shattuck Ave. 

• A permit for seismic strengthening of the Corder Building at 2300 Shattuck Ave. 

The commission will also review an application to raise the roofs of the canopies that once shaded gas pumps and the former gas station at 1441 Ashby Ave. The station, designed in a faux-Asian style, is on the state’s list of potential landmarks.


Oakland Bills Makes Their Way Through State Legislature

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday June 05, 2007

SB1019 Peace Officer Records (Sen. Gloria Romero)  

Passed the Senate on a 21-10 vote on Monday and now goes to the assembly. 

Among other things, this bill intends to restore open Community Police Relations Board complaint hearings against officers that were closed in such cities as Oakland and Berkeley by the State Supreme Court’s recent Copley Press, Inc. v. The Superior Court of San Diego County ruling. The bill would also provide expanded access to the public about officers who have been formally complained against. 

Last week, in order to pick up support from legislators on the fence, the bill was amended on the floor of the Senate to limit the amount of information about police records to be revealed to the public. In addition, the legislation picked up key support in Oakland with endorsements from both Mayor Ron Dellums and Chief of Police Wayne Tucker. 

On Saturday, with passage of the measure by the Senate still in doubt, Rashidah Grinage of Oakland’s PUEBLO organization, one of the groups leading the lobbying effort for SB1019, sent an email to supporters saying that the legislation still needed to pick up votes. 

“We need at least three [more] Senators to vote ‘YES’ this week on SB 1019,” Grinage wrote. “We’re that close to getting the bill through the Senate and on to the Assembly … This bill may come up for a vote as early as Monday or Tuesday! We could lose by a single vote, so we must make every effort to avoid that…. This is our opportunity to overturn that terrible Copley ruling that has placed police behind a curtain, shielded from public scrutiny!” 

Originally, the bill allowed any government entity employing peace officers to restore public hearings and the release of information on citizen complaints and other personnel investigations against peace officers that were in effect in that government entity prior to the Copley ruling. 

The amendments expand those provisions in some way, saying that a government entity could allow disciplinary hearings or release of police disciplinary information that were in effect not only in that government entity but in any government entity in California prior to the Copley ruling. Thus, if Berkeley allowed more access to disciplinary hearings than Oakland prior to Copley, for example, Oakland would be able to follow the Berkeley example if SB1019 is passed. 

But the amendments also allow police departments to restrict the release of disciplinary information if the police chief makes one of several determinations, including a finding that the release of the information might jeopardize the safety of the police officer. 

Meanwhile, the Oakland mayor’s office sent out a release this week announcing Dellums’ and Tucker’s support. 

“This bill will allow cities to, once again, hold public hearings on officer misconduct when appropriate and also protect the privacy of police officers accused of misconduct,” Dellums said in a prepared release. 

And Tucker added that, “I am pleased to be able to support SB1019 as it returns the open hearing process to pre-Copley conditions. SB1019 reflects what the residents of the City of Oakland want—open government.” 

Local progressives had been lobbying hard for the support of Dellums, who had been publicly silent on SB1019 up until this point. 

 

AB45 Oakland Unified School District Return to Local Control (Assemblymember Sandré Swanson) 

A bill that supporters hope will speed up return to local control of the Oakland Unified School District passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee on Thursday on a 12-5 partisan vote, with committee Democrats in support and committee Republicans in opposition. AB45, which previously passed the Assembly Education Committee, now goes to the full Assembly this week for consideration. 

In a prepared statement the bill’s author, Assemblymember Sandré Swanson (D-Oakland), said, “I am extremely encouraged by the giant step forward that AB45 took today.… When passed, AB45 will move us out of the debate over who will manage the school board and back to what is really at stake: our children’s education.” 

The bill makes changes in the original 2002 OUSD state takeover legislation, taking away the discretion of the State Superintendent to return local control of the Oakland schools and putting it solely in the hands of the Fiscal Crisis Management Assistance Team (FCMAT). It has the support of State Senator Don Perata, who authored the original SB39 takeover legislation, but is opposed by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, who currently runs the Oakland schools. 

Without Republican support, the bill needs the signature of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to become law. Swanson is apparently still unsure about Schwarzenegger’s support. At a Friday evening meeting at the Oakland Unified School District administrative headquarters, Swanson asked the audience to send emails to Senator Perata thanking him for his support for the bill, but pointedly asked them to send emails to the governor asking him to sign it when it reaches his desk. 

 

SB67 Sideshow Car Confiscation Bill (Sen. Don Perata) 

A renewal of previous legislation aimed specifically at Oakland sideshows that allows cars to be towed and confiscated for 30 days solely on the word of a police officer that the car was being used in “sideshow activity.” 

After passing the Senate in mid-April, the bill was held at the desk of the Assembly speaker for a month while committees worked exclusively on bills written by Assemblymembers, and referred to the Assembly Transportation Committee on May 17. The committee holds its next hearing June 11, but SB67 has not yet been scheduled to be heard on that date.


Opinion

Editorials

Editorial: Being Color Blind is No Better than Being Tone Deaf

By Becky O'Malley
Friday June 08, 2007

San Francisco Opera General Manager David Gockley himself summed it up best in an interview with Daniel Wakin in Saturday’s New York Times: “Our business doesn’t work that way,” he said in a telephone interview. “It has been nobly color-blind over recent decades, and I certainly haven’t worked that way, and my record bears that out.”  

For those Planet readers who aren’t opera fans (probably quite a few of you out there), a brief replay of an ongoing drama: Last week the San Francisco Opera fired soprano Hope Briggs, who was under contract to sing the major role of Dona Anna in a new production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, on the night of the final dress rehearsal, after a performance which many in the audience later reported was very good. She was replaced by a young woman who has been at the SF Opera for a couple of years as an Adler Fellow. 

I’ve known a lot of young musicians in the past 15 years, and Hope is one of the most outstanding among them, so I was outraged, as were many others, by how she was treated. My first reaction was that she must have been a victim of the increasingly appearance-based trend in American opera, which is suddenly contemplating possible riches from simulcasts in cinemaplexes and other fantasies.  

Gockley himself was quoted by Anthony Tommasini in the Times in 2004 noting that casting decisions are now “driven by several factors: voice, musicianship, appearance, etc.” Sometimes even height comes into the picture, he added in a statement issued when he was criticized for casting “a handsome German tenor with a thick mane of light hair” for a role that had been ably sung by another tenor described as “dark” and “hefty”—read stout. “People don’t understand that we are in danger of losing this wonderful thing about opera: the beautiful reality of the singers,” lamented the spurned tenor.  

I wondered in print whether in this case Gockley, with an eye to the camera and the mass market’s tastes, might have picked a cute young woman of European descent over an admittedly handsome woman with a classic African-American face and physique. Others had similar ideas, so a mini-storm ensued in the print press and in the blogs.  

The Planet ran a letter from one of his former co-workers defending Gockley from any perception of racism, although my own comments had carefully distinguished between conventional racism and what might be called “appearancism.” The writer pointed out that Gockley produced both Porgy and Bess and Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha at the Houston Opera, employing a significant number of black artists. I’m happy to give credit where credit is due, and I know from my own experience that unjustified accusations of racism or anti-Semitism can be painful, so I’m willing to accept the writer’s view.  

However. Putting racial considerations aside for the moment, the decision to cashier a singer who by almost all accounts was performing well at the very last minute with no prior warning still looks shabby. The rumor mills have been having a field day with back stories which purport to explain how this could happen. 

 

Back Story No. 1 (the most charitable, from a singer): 

The role of Dona Anna is notoriously hard to cast, because her solo arias require a showy voice, yet the ensembles call for musical cooperation and restraint. Management decided to go with the big flashy voice of replacement Elza van den Heever, but this had the inevitable consequence of unbalancing the ensembles on opening night. This theory was confirmed for me by an experienced critic who was present at both the Briggs-sung Final Dress and the van den Heever opening performance. She said that both singers had done a good job, neither one better than the other, that it was just a matter of taste. 

 

Back Story No. 2 ( the dishy one) was cleverly articulated by blogger Ching Chang on The Bay Buzz: 

“….there is mounting evidence from different sources suggesting that Hope Briggs dismissal from SFO’s Don Giovanni was not about race, but rather a carefully orchestrated deal to promote van den Heever, a new client of Matthew Epstein at CAMI [Columbia Artists Management Inc.] 

“A selected portion of an e-mail received from a credible anonymous source: 

‘... So, this supposedly “sudden” event has been planned for a long time, as I’m sure you suspected as well. Rhoslyn Jones was the official cover, and [her colleagues] had been hearing from her “why am I even here, sitting in rehearsals, spending all this time,” because she knew that Elza was in the wings and was being rehearsed, and kept informed of the production—very quietly. The only person who didn’t know was Hope. 

[...] Matthew Epstein works very sneakily. While Gockley is not known to be a fan of Elza’s around the Opera Center, he was supposedly convinced long ago by Epstein to make a big press splash like this, not only for SFO and the summer season, but for his new client Elza, as well as dumping a singer chosen by Pamela. Of course it would’ve looked even worse if they cancelled Hope earlier, to only replace her with an Adler (either Roz or Elza).’ 

“Elza van den Heever is an Adler Fellow, which is essentially a glorified intern undergoing advanced training. So, if SFO had replaced Hope Briggs earlier, they would have felt obliged to find an artist of stature to replace her, thus derailing a calculated plan to offer Matt’s client Elza her big break. This version of events seems at least more plausible than asking us to passively believe that [former SF Opera Managing Director Pamela] Rosenberg’s choice of Briggs could be so unfit as to merit an unceremonious dump at the last minute.…. It appears that Briggs’ name was dragged through the mud through no fault of her own.” 

 

If I were writing the libretto for this opera-in-the-making, that’s the plot I’d go with—it has the ring of truth. In fact, you could even call it A Star is Born—one of the oldest plots in show biz: plucky intern rises from the ranks on opening night to save the company. Gockley and Epstein, old pros both, might have thought they could fool the press and the public with this tried-and-true scenario, and it almost worked. 

Except that, as Cornell West titled his book, “Race Matters.” Using one of opera’s relatively few African-American singers as the scapegoat in this hoary plot was bound to garner public attention.  

Saying that opera is “nobly colorblind” makes no more sense than boasting about being tone-deaf. There’s nothing noble or even practical about being colorblind, it’s just insensitive, clueless. 

This is not about altruism, it’s selfish. I happen to love hearing the sound of unamplified human voices singing lush harmonies, but I’m painfully aware that European opera, like much of European classical music, is at risk of become an elite preoccupation for wealthy dilettantes. I also love jazz, but as music programs disappear from our elementary schools it’s starting to be reserved for kids whose parents can afford private lessons and jazz camp, and it’s the listeners who lose out. 

If Gockley’s San Francisco Opera really believes its own PR about broadening the audience for opera, blowing off a gala planned for African-American patrons in Hope’s honor was remarkably shortsighted. When two excellent singers were weighed in the balance, the fact that only one of them is an African-American should have mattered more than the ambitions of a powerful corporate agent who had a contract with the other one.  

And being colorblind was also a mistake for Yoshi’s jazz club and the Jazzschool in Berkeley. Both were lambasted last week for overlooking black musicians when they put together an anniversary CD and a festival program. It’s a valid question: I can name eight fine African-American jazz musicians almost within walking distance of the Planet office who could have handled a festival gig with panache—why weren’t they asked? Both organizations are attempting to make amends now, but the controversy still rages. 

I’m not qualified to speak about how this kind of shortsightedness affects African-Americans themselves. One of our readers tackles the broader question of the corrosive effect of the perception of racism in a First Person essay which appears in today’s paper, submitted even before last week’s furor over snubs to black artists. The jazz musicians themselves and their fans are duking it out in our columns and elsewhere. We’ve gotten opposing opinions from two of the very best black saxophone players in the Bay Area or perhaps the world. Hope Briggs herself graciously told the Times that she didn’t think racism was an issue in her case, and she gets the last word on that topic for now. 


Financial Woes Plague UC Hotel Developers

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday June 05, 2007

Money woes are forcing developers of the high-rise hotel and condo tower planned for the corner of Center Street and Shattuck Avenue to take another look at their project. 

One result is a search for ways to cut back on costs, including construction prices and the size of an underground parking lot, and for possible concessions from landowners or the city. 

Peter Diana, vice president of Massachusetts hotelier Carpenter & Co., told members of the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee Wednesday night that high construction prices were “quite a bit higher than anticipated.” 

Diana said the rising prices “require us to figure out how to compensate,” and three alternatives were being considered: 

• Reducing costs. 

• Increasing income from the property. 

• Seeking less expensive sources of capital. 

One major cost factor has been the inflationary spiral of the price of structural concrete, sparked in part by the increasing cost of the energy used to make cement from limestone and in part by the rising demand for the material in China. 

On the bright side, Diana said, the project would prove a financial windfall for the city, providing $41 million in revenues during its first decade. 

Tax benefits would include “about $24 million in transit occupancy taxes” and $10 million as the city’s share of property tax reviews, he said. 

The hotel executive said his company would also be seeking to fix some of the costs paid to the city as fees and would be looking for concessions from Bank of America and the university, the owners of the land on which the high-rise hotel, conference center and condo building will rise. 

One possible cutback would be reducing the number of underground parking levels from three to two and seeking other locations for the lost spaces. 

“Underground parking is enormously expensive,” he said, and the third level would cost even more because it falls below the site’s water table. 

“If we take the spaces out of the building, we have to find room for them somewhere else,” he said, in part because the hotel will count on them as revenue generators. 

Diana said one factor complicating fund-raising for a project with 50 condos planned for the upper stories of the 19-floor tower is the lack of any comparable units already built in the city. 

Lenders like to know what probable sales prices are, but the only costly condos currently planned for downtown have yet to be built, the 149 units planned for the nine-floor-plus Arpeggio, soon to be built across Shattuck and a half block west on Center Street. 

Ed Denton, UC Berkeley Vice Chancellor in charge of construction and capital projects, was in the audience for the presentation, as was Donlyn Lyndon, a UC Berkeley architecture professor who is working with Diana’s company on the design. 

In addition to the condos, the project includes 210 hotel rooms, 16,000 square feet of meeting space, and 26,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space—including a jazz club. 

When DAPAC member Patti Dacey asked if parking lifts would help cut parking costs, Diana said the devices didn’t pencil out for the hotel project. 

Member Winston Burton suggested developing parking in cooperation with the Pacific Film Archive/Berkeley Art Museum the university plans for the eastern end of the block, something Diana said was already being discussed. 

When member Jesse Arreguin asked if the company was considering reducing the number of on-site parking units reserved for condo owners, Diana replied, “We’re looking at everything.” 

When Wendy Alfsen said that concrete was the biggest polluter of all building materials during the fabrication process, Diana responded with, “We have a rash of green consultants.” 

While DAPAC members may have been left with more questions than answers, Diana left things on a sweet note, in the form of two cakes from the Rubicon Bakery, which he had visited shortly before Wednesday night’s DAPAC meeting.


Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Friday June 08, 2007

HOPE BRIGGS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In reply to Richard Yahiku’s letter in Tuesday’s Planet: 

Were we at the same rehearsal? Your comments on Hope Briggs’ performance during that rehearsal are so inaccurate, and expressed in such vitriolic terms, as to suggest some hidden agenda that has nothing to do with artistic values per se. Indeed, as this whole matter has unfolded, it has attained a definite sub-plot aura all around it. In any case, your claim that Hope Briggs “singlehandedly ruined...an otherwise superb performance,” and that it would have been a disaster both for her and the company to allow her to go ahead and perform the role, is totally outlandish. It is true that she was not singing full out a lot of the time (She was not alone in that; it is to be expected in Final Dress, even without the announcement at the beginning), and even seemed uncharacteristically subdued acting-wise at times, which made me wonder a bit about the direction she might have been given. But “painful (and) excruciating”? Please.  

I have a long-time familiarity with Hope Briggs’ vocal and dramatic abilities; I have even accompanied her several times, in informal situations. I think I have a pretty good idea of what she would have come up to in performance. But she was cruelly and unfairly denied that final step. Come to that, it wasn’t even fair to Ms. Van den Heever to have gotten her “big break” in this fashion.  

As to Becky O’Malley’s bringing up the issue of race in her article, I think she was just casting about for some reason that would at least have some real logic behind it—however ugly the ramifications—to explain David Gockley’s actions. Certainly the reasons that he gave for his decision, and subsequent explanations as to why he waited so long to take action, are flimsy at best. 

Hope Briggs will survive this undeserved blow, by continuing to be the wonderful artist and person she is. The worst damage to her career would only occur if she began to listen to people like you. 

Cara Bradbury 

Oakland 

 

• 

WHO TO BELIEVE? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As a person of color, I was hit over the head by a 2x4 when I read your story about Hope Briggs. Particularly the paragraph saying, “[A]s a cynical old-school veteran of the civil rights movement, I can’t help but wonder if there isn’t a (perhaps subconscious) subtext here. This production is going on TV: it will be simulcast to a number of venues. Hope is a big, handsome dark skinned woman, with strong African features—quite beautiful, but not exactly like most faces you see in romantic roles on TV these days.” After reading that—and personally facing discrimination myself due to my dark skin—my blood began to boil. No, I’m not a fan of opera, but I’m sure it’s dominated by whites. Then I find the New York Times story where Briggs herself is quoted as saying race was “not an issue as far as I was concerned.” So now I’m wondering which paper to believe—the Planet with all of its typos and factual errors or the New York Times, winner of 95 Pulitzers. Gee, which one is right? Gosh, I don’t know. 

Bob Gamboa 

 

• 

MUSCARELLA DESERVES RESPECT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Susan Muscarella has done a fine job of developing the Jazzschool and the Downtown Berkeley Jazz Festival (DBJF). Susan has made major contributions to the creation of the Downtown Berkeley Arts District. Susan has made three decades of contributions to keeping jazz alive in America. Susan has made sincere good-faith efforts to be racially and culturally inclusive in the school and DBJF. 

Anyone who feels that Susan needs to improve some aspect of the DBJF or the Jazzschool needs to go directly to Susan and in a civil manner discuss the desired improvement. 

Anyone who goes to the press before going to Susan ends up hurting every member of the jazz community, and thus should not pursue that option. We look forward to a great festival in August. 

Mark McCleod 

President, Dowtown Berkeley Association 

 

• 

JAZZPOETRY FESTIVAL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In light of the current controversy about the absence of African-American performers on Yoshi’s 10-year anniversary CD and the small number booked for the Berkeley Downtown Jazz Festival, I would like point out that I recently attended a wonderful jazz festival that was very inclusive of all ethnic groups. It was the First Annual Bay Area JazzPoetry Festival, held at Berkeley’s Hillside Club on April 27. The organizers, Raymond Nat Turner and Zigi Lowenberg, of the group Upsurge, pulled together a remarkable program of jazz performers and poets. Many African-Americans performed, and many of the performing groups encompassed a range of ethnicities. The way this event brought together diverse groups warmed my heart. The program featured groups of musicians and poets performing together, speaking poetry simultaneously with the music. The audience included many African-Americans, whites, and others. The poetry was by turns moving, funny and thought provoking and the music complemented it beautifully. I was impressed by the energy, creativity, polish, and professionalism of this event. I’d like to point out that jazz music can be very inclusive, and that Upsurge is a group worth listening to and following. 

Lea Delson 

 

NEW SKATEBOARD MECCA 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Once again the city has made a mess of things. After many months of labor and tens of thousands of dollars, the new skateboard park at the west end of Civic Center Park is remarkably disappointing. There are no ramps, no smoothly curving turns. Nothing one expects of a world-class skate-park. About the best that could be said is that the timing of its openings coincided with the installation of park-wide lighting, allowing skaters to enjoy themselves after dark. But how can it be expected to draw world-class skaters from around the world? 

Eh? What? What’s that you say? Not intended to be a skate park? Not built with the intention of providing skateboarders a place to hone their craft? Not build with features preventing the cracking of concrete walls, staircases, and seating, or enabling the removal of graffiti? Not designed to minimize the risk of bodily injury? Not, you say, funded or build with the intention of being a skateboard park? 

Then what the hell were the powers-that-be thinking, not putting down those little metal bump-strips that impede skateboarding?! What the hell are they thinking now, since the construction has so obviously converted to a skate park?! Its not like the city is unaware of development, or lacks the manpower to send someone over with a box of those little metal anti-staking deterrents! Even the Democratic People’s Republic of Berkeley has no significant pro-skate-board-caused-destruction coalition, right? Surely few voters will be offended if there is a belated attempt to salvage a project so recently been completed! 

With all that said, I do, however, commend these skaters for claiming this turf and keeping the homeless from creating an encampment in the area. 

 

Come see the newly completed construction at the west end of Civic Center Park. See the damage that can so quickly be done. Picture the damage after just one year. Ask yourself if there has been a failure to protect the public-works paid for by your tax-dollars. 

People also concerned that one of these helmetless kids is gonna crack their head open and stain the new concrete, or even those concerned about the health risk to kids of cracking their heads open, are likewise invited. (Hey, relax, just a little levity! I know it’s not that hard to get blood off concrete!) 

Michael Cohn 

 

• 

ONE OF GOD’S FORSAKEN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

If you’re a regular visitor to downtown Berkeley, you’ve undoubtedly spotted this woman. She’s a familiar sight on Shattuck Avenue, standing on a street corner—most often in front of Ross. She’s not actively panhandling, doesn’t hold a tin cup, but rather just stands, hour upon hour, leaning against the building. 

It’s difficult to determine this woman’s age, but I would judge she’s in her 70s. Mother Nature has not treated her kindly. One side of her face is twisted, possibly the effect of a stroke. Her eyes are bleary; I suspect she is, or has been, an alcoholic, and a cigarette dangles from her lips. She’s quite restless, constantly moving. Also, she avoids eye contact, even when I try speaking to her. And I have tried engaging her in conversation, but to no avail. She accepts the money I give her occasionally, but with no thanks, of course. 

Heaven knows, we’re used to homeless people in Berkeley. But this pathetic creature arouses not only my pity, but my curiosity. Who is she—where does she live—does she have enough to eat? Intent on learning more about her and getting help for her, “Miss Goody Two Shoes” called Berkeley’s Mental Health Department to make a report. I was politely informed that the woman is well known to this department, that she routinely spurns their offers of assistance, but that they keep tabs on her. 

So, I guess there’s nothing I can do for “Miss X” other than greet her and hope that the dollar bill I hand her from time to time doesn’t go for cigarettes or beer! 

Dorothy Snodgrass 

 

• 

A BRIGHT IDEA 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I compiled a list of problems that confront the nation and that I believe will be there when the next president takes office. The list contains old, urgent and simmering foreign problems, such as arresting the proliferation of nuclear weapons, quelling violence between Israelis and Palestinians and genocide in Darfur, restoring respect and assuaging hatred and bringing the mess in Iraq to a close. On the domestic front the list contains immigration reform, illegal eaves-dropping, education, medical care, abortion, religion in government, immorality in high places, sky-rocketing cost of political campaigns, and more. 

Now, the last time I looked there were eighteen people in the race to be our 44th president—15 white men, one white woman, one American-African man and one Latino. (Fred Thompson may run but he’s being coy about it.) 

So, my idea is this (Comic strip light bulb!): let’s have 18 (or 19) co-presidents.  

We’d not only spare ourselves the anguish that beset us in each of the last two presidential elections (and the cost) but we’d match the talent to the job. Guliani could handle abortion issues, Clinton push universal medical care, Obama could bring ethics to governance, Richardson reform immigration, Kucinich take on peace policy and foreign policy parceled out to Dodd, Biden, McCain and whomever. 

Some people will dismiss the idea out of hand as being wacky. To them I would simply ask: Is my bright idea any wackier than what’s in store for us during the next year and a half?  

Marvin Chachere 

San Pablo 

 

• 

YASSIR CHADLY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Yassir Chadly personifies the essence of goodness and sincerity. The City of Berkeley has shut him out of his desire for the 30-hour position with benefits that he has sought for himself and his family. This is hard to fathom after all he’s done to promote good will as well as good health in our community.  

Yassir has served for 17 years and continues to serve Berkeley and the East Bay Community in a selfless and spiritual way. Where is the justice for goodness and good will? Yassir is a gift to hundreds, and we are denying him something that is so important to him, and me. I ask where is the justice and good decision-making of our Berkeley leadership? Please don’t let this issue pass without deep consideration on the ramifications to many, many people. 

Joan Trenholm Herbertson 

 

 

• 

POOL BUREAUCRACY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

A very popular water aerobics instructor is demoted because “the recreation department decided to restructure the department to save money. Meanwhile three 75 percent supervisor positions are being created by the department.” When the rationale for a bureaucratic decision doesn’t make any sense, you can’t help speculating what the real reason may be. Bureaucracies always tend to become more top-heavy and disfunctional by downgrading or eliminating positions of people who do the actual work, while creating more positions for managers with less and less to manage. But why demote one of the most outstanding employees in the department? Did his performance and popularity make employees with less energy, dedication and charisma uneasy or insecure? Or could his religion have something to do with the decision? 

Steve Donelan 

 

• 

MASTER OF THE POOLS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

To those of us who swim daily in Berkeley, the extraordinary outpouring of support for Yassir Chadly comes as no surprise. A city bureaucracy by definition works mostly behind their desks and often in ignorance of how their decisions directly touch the community. In an epoch of savage public cuts and grotesque priorities, the dispiriting decision to dismiss our genius aquarianw may yet have a happy outcome, since Berkeley’s public servants now have a tangible measure for judging some of their current priorities. I’m prepared to bet that letters of support for Yassir’s reinstatement outnumber, by several hundred to zero, expressions of enthusiasm for the new, costly, and redundant roundabouts (installed in addition to stop signs!) encountered on our way to swim under his gracious tutelage.  

Yassir has roots in a culture that honors water more seriously, but he shows no resentment of our cinderblock apologies for the glory of the hammams of North Africa or old Roman baths. Indeed, this gentle Master of the Berkeley Pools conjures some of their magic and beauty for us every day. 

Iain Boal 

 

 

• 

SAFETY OF MEMORIAL STADIUM 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The Planet’s June 1-4 headline proclaims that there is, “No Fault Under New Gym Location.” However, buried toward the end of the article is the statement, “There is no question that the stadium itself sits directly over the Hayward Fault, which federal seismologists say is the most likely site of the Bay Area’s next major disaster, and Alquist-Priolo rules will apply to the university’s plans for a major stadium overhaul and expansion.” The stadium could not be built today because it is bisected by the fault. Many people would be killed if the elevated concrete structure of the west side of the stadium collapsed, not to speak of the panic if the stadium was full. Because of major failures in recent earthquakes the engineering of concrete structures has changed dramatically since the early twenties when the stadium was built. Forty seven people died when the Cypress Freeway collapsed in the 1989 Loma Prieta quake. Many more freeways collapsed in the 1971 San Fernando and the 1994 Northridge earthquakes. The Berkeley school district relatively recently built a concrete frame classroom building at the Cragmont site, only to tear it down about 15 years later because it was judged unsafe. 

It does not seem responsible or logical for the University to build the Student Athlete High Performance Center first, then retrofit the stadium for seismic safety, hoping the Alquist-Priolo rules can be bent. While it is obviously easier to raise money for a new high tech gymnasium than to worry about the safety of the stadium, the priorities seem reversed. Besides, where would the money come from? 

Henrik Bull 

FAIA Architect 

 

• 

BICYCLE LANES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Bicycle lanes on Berkeley streets are inadequate. I commute by bicycle daily to the UC campus and to shop for groceries, etc., and I’m therefore aware of problems. From my home, near Ashby and College, the designated bicycle route on Hillegass to Bowditch ends on Bancroft Way. Bancroft does not have a bicycle lane, although one is very much needed. Several AC transit bus lines, campus buses and many delivery vehicles in addition to the heavy automobile traffic on Bancroft make cycling perilous. Although I bicycle within three feet of parked cars, vehicles have come within inches of side swiping me. Another example: the bicycle lane on Milvia ends at University Avenue. Every major arterial should have bicycle lanes where possible. This would encourage more people to use a bicycle instead of an automobile. Bicycling with minimum hazards needs to be encouraged if we are to take conservation and minimization of greenhouse gas production seriously. Adding more bicycle lanes would be a relatively inexpensive measure. 

Malcolm D. Zaretsky 

 

• 

BETTY KIETZMAR 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was deeply saddened to read about the death of Betty Kietzman of Fresno Avenue. A retired Berkeley police officer was driving, perhaps legally drunk, and struck and killed her. I believe in severe punishment for people who are found DUI or DWI which might look more like the European systems—jail time, revoking license for six months, heftier fines, etc. Let’s get creative about these problems which seem to continue injuring and killing my neighbors. Back in the early 1980s there was a terrible crash involving three cars where our wonderful Albany Fire Department rescued one person using the jaws-of-life to cut the car’s steel frame to get one person out; luckily no one was seriously injured, it took a few hours for the police to close off the intersection and take measurements to determine who was at fault. However my neighbors at the time were shocked that cars were racing up Washinton Street, often at speeds exceeding 40 mph, way too fast for that intersection. “Isn’t it terrible,” said neighbors. I went in and typed up a petition to our City Council. Not long thereafter we got on the Albany City Council Agenda and suggested first a traffic signal which was denied due the cost. We were very willing to settle for a temporary (90-day) stop sign, which upon review became permanent. That sign has slowed down traffic and adversely affected traffic coming from busy Santa Fe and Solano. Now folks stop at that corner, Washington Street and Santa Fe Avenue. 

Not only are there many elderly and/or disabled citizens of Berkeley-Albany in and around Solano Avenue, but also parents with kids on foot or in strollers, albeit everyone needs to be safe while crossing any street, especially Solano Avenue. Visitors from many cities who come here for our wonderful boutique-type shops, fantastic restaurants, outdoor seating at many cafes, flower shops, the Albany Y, post office, two movie theaters—yes they’re often jam-packed, and they deserve safety while going about their errands. 

I often find most other drivers are very courteous in my neighborhood motioning me forward when we come to stop signs at approximately the same time. The last time I got a moving violation was more than 10 years ago and find I’m much happier and take more time to get places. Let’s remember to breathe, be courteous to the other person whether they be on bicycles, foot, trucks, motorcycles, skateboards, busses or cars. Please remember to be aware, mindful, please not on your cell phone, share the road and be kinder to each other.  

Sylvia P. Scherzer 

Albany 

 

• 

RIVKA MASON 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Congratulations to Malcolm X school gardener Rivka Mason for receiving the National Service Award.  

Gardens on Wheels Association, dedicated to preventing and reversing childhood obesity by delivering martial arts classes, etiquette, grooming and self-discipline to the school and parks’ gardens, gave her its first annual “School and Park Gardeners Recognition Award” in 2002. 

She has a genius for seizing the teachable moment—when a child first has an “ah hah!” epiphany in the garden about the taste, purpose, or classification of a fresh fruit or vegetable. Her ability to teach kids about the joy of eating healthier matches perfectly, like a carefully chosen wine for a particular dinner, with providing martial arts to jump-start weight-loss and building self-esteem to resist peer pressure and ubiquitous junk food advertising, so that kids can avoid or withdraw from the obesity epidemic. 

Rivka also goes the distance to complete the circle of educating kids so the message is implemented: She works with the parents as well, often to reinvoke long lost nostalgic memories of grandparents’ vegetable gardens. Repositioning convenience fast food from the notion it is a reward to the reality that it can shorten kids’ lives by contributing to early-onset preventable chronic disease is an essential part of educating our children in the edible gardens. 

Gardens on Wheels Association hopes to revisit Rivka soon and roll out a Berkeley and Albany-wide martial arts in the gardens program, with Northern California’s oldest and largest martial arts school on University Avenue in Berkeley, West-Wind Schools. 

Wendy Schlesinger  

 

• 

POWER 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Having documented and been the brunt of fundamentalist right and anti-abortion attacks and activities for 15 years, this statement makes a whole lot of sense: “The preservation of life seems to be rather a slogan than a genuine goal of anti-abortion forces; what they want is control. Control over behavior: power over women. Women in the anti-choice movement want a share in male power over women, and do so by denying their own womanhood, their own rights and responsibilities.”—Ursula K. LeGuin 

Ron Lowe 

Grass Valley 

 

• 

SUSAN PARKER 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

At least two of us really miss reading Susan Parker’s column. She is certainly good for a laugh. I know that she is working full time now. But I know at least one former teacher who would love to keep hearing of her adventures. 

Ardys DeLu 

 

• 

GILMAN FIELDS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Gilman Fields, a five-field, $18 million dollar athletic complex, broke ground this week. The project, located west of the 80/Gilman interchange, consists of two lighted artificial soccer/rugby/lacrosse fields, a full-size baseball field and two Little League/softball fields. The artificial fields are due to be ready for the 2007 winter season, starting in December while the grass baseball and softball fields should be ready by next spring. The fields will be used for all adult and youth sports from adult Ultimate Frisbee to youth lacrosse. “It’s been six years of hard work to get this complex off the ground but it’s going to transform Eastshore State Park from a little used strip of bay shore land into a real urban park,” according to Doug Fielding, chairperson of the Association of Sports Field Users, the nonprofit that will be operating the park. “One of our goals is to have the revenues from the use of the fields, pay for all the operational and capital costs for the complex. We have quite a bit of experience with that on other complexes we are running.” 

“We have already sold out almost our entire inventory of practice and game space for the winter season and based on this and past experience the athletic fields will serve between 225,000 and 275,000 people per year. Imagine what that means to have that many people coming down to the park not only for athletic use but walking Fido while Jimmy does his practice, or taking Mary’s little sister down to the San Francisco Bay while Mary’s learning rugby, or just going for a walk or run through the North Basin Strip or Berkeley Meadow. It’s a lot of people.” Most of the money for the park came from the East Bay Regional Parks District, the Coastal Conservancy and California State Parks. 

Doug Fielding 

 

• 

RACE TO THE BOTTOM 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

After reading about Bates’ public common proposal, and now Sharon Hudson’s column on malefactors, I cannot help but feel that we are in a race to the bottom. People who are homeless are totally dependent on the commons for life, and not just aesthetic pleasure or amenities. For over 30 years the federal government and the state have slowly shed responsibility for the poor and disadvantaged. The responsibility has been passed to the counties and cities which have become overloaded. The Street Spirit and other homeless newspapers track the cities that have passed draconian public behavior laws ostensibly to control behavior, but in practice to simply move the homeless and the disadvantaged out of town. The remaining places become havens, and their resources become more stressed, until they too start to look for a way out. Berkeley politicians at least have the grace to talk about public restrooms and the like, but if it is just talk and no funding we will join the race to the bottom. 

Of course the real scary thing about the race to the bottom is that, in a sense, it works. People act out, out of frustration and anger, and get thrown in jail, and hence off the streets, and become someone else’s problem. Or even more permanently, they die. The numbers I have seen is that the average lifespan for the homeless is 20 years less than for everyone else. We don’t actively kill them, they die instead of neglect, exposure, lack of social support and care, substance abuse and mental illness, and inadequate medical care. Out of sight, and out of mind; our society is failing in its responsibility to the poor and disadvantaged. 

We cannot be the state’s sole haven for the disadvantaged, but if we view the disadvantaged as a behavior problem then we join the race to shunt them somewhere else. The disadvantaged need advocates. If we can’t get the legislature to be responsible, then the city should take to the courts to get the state to provide the money needed to handle the public health problems of our homeless. We should keep track of other city’s policies towards the homeless, as their policies impact us. We should perhaps even consider intervening in challenges to other city’s laws, if we feel they are simply trying to move their “problems” elsewhere. A radical idea? Yes, trying to save people’s lives is a radical idea. 

Robert Clear 

• 

NUCLEAR WEAPONS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thank you, thank you Marvin Charchere for your commentary on nuclear weapons (June 5-7). It is so essential that this specter be raised and kept in front of the public as a terrible and possibly imminent reality. 

Naturally, most humans don’t want to think about mass annihilation any more than we want to contemplate our own demise. But the fact is this is a more real possibility than ever since the 1945 Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombing. And given the fact that the world is in a downward—and rapid—slide toward an atavistic barbarism on all sides, it is more than ever important to keep the possibility in the foreground of our thinking. 

Not that we can necessarily prevent it. The juggernaut of species self-destruction seems, at this point, all but unstoppable with so many world players recklessly threatening each other with dire retaliation for infringement on their territory, sovereignty, religion or governing structure. And the number of wise heads at the helm—people who can clearly contemplate the consequences of such hot headedness—is not impressive. 

Perhaps we are living through a moment when the opposite forces within homo sapiens sapiens are being highlighted: humans are both extremely clever—capable of toolmaking development and extraordinary physical feats. Consider the two most prestigious accomplishments every country covets: the Olympic games to showcase the very best in human physical prowess, and possession of a nuclear bomb. 

But any kind of wisdom that includes considering our species (and all other living forms) is pretty rare. With all the talk of globalism there is no widespread thinking about how everything and everyone is affected by what happens elsewhere on the planet. We have been supremely lucky that no nuclear bombs have been dropped on cities in 62 years. But with six countries in possession of this lethality—and four more on the way—we are all at risk of this luck running out. 

Joan Levinson 

 

• 

WEST BERKELEY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Quoting Richard Rogers, the world-famous architect and recent winner of the Pritzker award which is the most important architecture prize in the world: “The success of a city is whether people want to live there or not.”  

“Zoning creates walled cities, urban structures and their inhabitants literally need room to breath.”  

West Berkeley has literally been choked by its zoning restrictions and from Pacific Steel. I am a third generation native to West Berkeley. I enjoy living in West Berkeley except the bad air quality created by Pacific Steel and the lack of nearby services such as a grocery store, a bank, and shopping which is taboo in our zoning area.  

From Pacific Steel on Frontage to Cal Ink on Fourth and Fifth Street, the old AMC Concrete plant on Sixth, to the old Urban Ore lot on Seventh and Gilman, the Gilman corridor needs a new plan which also reinforces Mayor Tom Bates’ Green vision for our city.  

If you really want to green our city, mayor, start with the air. Start with Pacific Steel and Casting. Redevelopment can lead to a better quality of life, not the pessimistic view Zelda Bronstein’s claims “gentrification.”  

This can only happen with a change and a new visionary outlook to the current zoning uses for West Berkeley. Imagine a multi-use space with parks, recreation, shopping, and people living in “green live work spaces.” Next time you eat at Picantes imagine strolling across the street and watching your kids run around the new Urban Ore Park. 

What does the city have planned for that space? A school bus parking lot. 

Patrick Traynor 

 

• 

HEALTHY FOOD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

How can we get healthy food to poor people and to the elderly? I watched some old people near where I live buying over-ripe fruit from the grocery store. It pained me to think that we have not found ways to provide a basic supply of fruit and vegetables to the people who need it most. 

Are there ways? 

Romila Khanna 

 

• 

THE WHOLE THING SMELLS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am perplexed by the latest developments in the Berkeley Housing Authority story. This week City Manager Phil Kamlarz fired Housing Director Steve Barton, apparently without any notice or opportunity to rebut charges of incompetence. No charges have been released yet; the responsibility for explaining what went wrong has fallen for inexplicable reasons to City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque, who herself has been deeply involved with the management of BHA and is the only current city employee who has exercised continuous oversight since the problems began, decades before Barton became involved. 

The whole thing smells like scapegoat and coverup. How can the city manager expect us to believe a list of charges released after the punishment is carried out? How can he possibly explain, after the city’s lengthy and open (and laughable) history of coddling misperforming management, why he’s assessing blame without conducting a thorough and independent investigation? How big is this mess? 

Dave Blake 


Commentary: Blacks Excluded from Yoshi’s And the Jazzschool? No!

By Robert Stewart
Friday June 08, 2007

As one of the most prolific Black saxophonists in the country, born and raised in Oakland, I’m ashamed of the hostility and triviality that has been directed toward SUSAN MUSCARELLA and the Yoshi’s establishment by Black musicians in the Bay Area.  

Further, though I do not know SUSAN MUSCARELLA and have never played in her festival nor her school, her efforts to perpetuate the BLACK CLASSICAL MUSIC of America must be acknowledged and applauded, regardless of any personal bias against her as an individual. In fact, Blacks in the Bay Area should feel downright EMBARRASSED or ASHAMED that she chose to defend herself in the media; She most certainly did NOT have to do this, whatsoever.  

The same EMBARRASSMENT should be felt by Black musicians in regard to Mrs. Yoshi, her husband, and her establishment. She has a near 20-year track record, of hiring Black musicians and treating them with the utmost respect and generosity. I have performed with Max Roach, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Smith, Freddie Hubbard, Benny Golson, and many others who have performed at Yoshi’s. None of the aforementioned ever voiced a single complaint of RACISM at anytime, whatsoever. Peter Williams, Yoshi’s current booking agent and manager, is also fair and honest in his dealings with Black musicians as well.  

Consequently, a mere compact disc of live recordings void of Black musicians is triviality beyond comprehension, to say the least. Further, for the past three years, I have performed for the “Ronald McDonald House” organization for children with cancer. Mrs. Yoshi has attended every event and has voluntarily donated her time and personal monetary funds to this organization. Henceforth, a mere compact disc that was unintentionally void of Black musicians, is not a complete and accurate representation of her noble character in any way, shape, or form, whatsoever.  

Henceforth, since Black musicians have been found floating on the surface of the ocean (a CD with no Blacks), let’s probe the ABYSS of it: 

A man builds a house that is brand new from top to bottom (= BLACK creators or pioneers of Jazz from the late 1800s until early 1940’s). The house begins to deteriorate over time, but rather than performing the necessary repairs, the builder of the house decides to move. Another man buys the house (= BLACK Jazz musicians from the 1940s thru the late 1960s) and does SOME of the repairs; Not ALL of the repairs. Consequently, the house deteriorates further and this owner decides to move as did the previous owner (= BLACK jazz musicians from the early 1970’s thru the early 1980s). The house remains ABANDONED, in SHAMBLES, and on the verge of COMPLETE COLLAPSE or DESTRUCTION. So, another man sees the condition of the house, and decides to invest in the total restoration and maintenance (= WHITE FOLKS) of this house; He now lives there, himself.  

Yeah, now WHO is to BLAME for the current condition of Black musicians in this new millennium?  

Is it the BLACK WHO ABANDONED his house, or the WHITE who FIXED and MAINTAINS it, eh?  

Yeah, if Black folks would pool their own monetary resources, and buy their own record labels, clubs, magazines, and so on, then they would not have the time to be concerned about what Yoshi’s and The Jazz School are doing. Actually, if only two of the prominent Blacks in sports (Kobe Bryant and Lebron James) were to combine their salaries and invest in the perpetuation of their own Black art form (Jazz), Blacks would have a budget of over 250 MILLION dollars to buy an entire city of Jazz schools, nightclubs, record labels, magazines, and so on. However, this has not been the case with these disgruntled Black musicians who are willing to attack Yoshi’s over a freakin’ CD, yet won’t pursue their own Black multimillionaires with the same zeal or vigor, whatsoever; HYPOCRISY of colossal proportions, indeed. 

I’m quite tired of Blacks COMPLAINING, MARCHING, CRYING, and BEGGING to be where they are not wanted; This is DISGUSTING and PATHETIC, to say the least. Blacks should feel EMBARRASSED or ASHAMED that OTHER RACES have been forced to perpetuate Black’s OWN art form, due to the majority of Blacks across the country NOT WANTING nor CARING about their OWN art form.  

The “blame everyone but self” mentality is OVER in this new millennium, indeed. Consequently, any affliction that Blacks are experiencing is of their own design or fault; Not the fault of Whites nor any race other than THEIR OWN! 

 

Robert Stewart is a Bay Area saxophonist.


Commentary: Jazzschool Questions Long Overdue

By Esther Green
Friday June 08, 2007

As I see it, the recent public questioning of the hiring and operating practices of the Jazzschool in Berkeley by prominent jazz artists and their supporters living in the San Francisco Bay Area is long overdue. Here is just one local example of how the actions of self-appointed authorities on this cultural art form are marginalizing the musicians who are the direct connection to and inheritors of the legacy. This is being done by trivializing the dedication and level of artistic achievement of our resident musicians who were and are members of the real jazz community here, which existed long before all of these exclusive so-called jazz festivals and schools.  

Instead of joining the jazz community, these bubbles have been formed which allow many musicians to go straight to the bandstand without paying dues and to operate safely away from the scrutiny of the traditional standards of jazz music. Academic experience is being equated with genuine earned stature and artistic achievement. The problem is that it is being done in the name of jazz by people who have positioned themselves to deny access to performing venues and the media to many world-class musicians and music educators while at the same time professing their respect for the art form and its history. What is at stake is the livelihood and very survival of working-class musicians who are shut out of this new model after spending many years, often twenty or thirty years or more in dedication to honing their craft. 

It may be interesting for some people to learn, and almost impossible for some to fully accept, that jazz music is in fact Black music invented by the African American descendants of slaves in this country. It is a cultural art form with a documented history, a distinct tradition and scores of living breathing musicians who come out of that tradition. It is blues-based music, so much so that musicians I know will tell you that there is no significant difference. I often hear phrases such as “Jazz is the blues” and  

“if you can’t play the blues, you can’t play jazz.  

Where did the blues come from? The blues were born from the field hollers of the slaves and Negro spirituals. Connect the dots —jazz, blues, Negro spirituals, field hollers—and it always leads back to the African-American descendents of African slaves. This is not subject to debate and for anyone to talk about the African-American “contribution” is an attempt to obfuscate the truth of its origins. To me anything less than acceptance of this fact is about as ridiculous and backward as refuting the scientific basis for evolution. 

The cultural tradition of jazz music historically has been a handing down of the art form in the same fashion as oral tradition from one generation to the next. Jazz musicians have great stories about whom they have gigged with. I have always thought about this as a type of jazz pedigree; you are not a good jazz musician because you say you are, but because your artistic achievement has been recognized by an artist who is indisputably qualified to make that judgment. I could be wrong, but I don’t think I am. Just a few of the musicians I know have gigged with or worked for Big Mama Thornton, Cal Tjader, Esther Phillips, Wynton Marsalis, Donald “Duck “Bailey—who has played on more than one hundred classic jazz albums—Charles Brown, Bobby Hutcherson, Herbie Lewis, Ed Kelly, Pharoah Sanders, Al Tanner, Buddy Montgomery, Monk Montgomery, Diane Reeves, Carmen McRae. Gigging and playing with such musicians is not to be confused with encountering artists of this stature in a jam session or master class, but actually being paid by them to perform with them.  

These jazz legends were recognized and came up under the greats before them and so on. This has been the tradition. These are just a few of the people I know and the names I have listed are only the ones I can readily remember. It is staggering to consider what a complete list of all of the musicians I know and have met who live in the San Francisco Bay Area would look like. How can it be that someone is good enough to play with many such musicians throughout their career, but magically not of the “quality required” for local jazz festival organizers, often in their very own hometowns, when it comes time to chose the performers who will receive the considerably larger sums that are earned from playing a festival as opposed to nightclub gigs? The director of the Jazzschool in Berkeley, who has been quoted as saying “I hire quality, not ethnicity,” knows these very musicians and many others, and has for at least 20 or 30 years. She also knows the esteemed educators/performing artists in the tradition who have held and hold positions at local colleges. With her extensive knowledge of the local scene, to plan the Berkeley Jazz Festival as has been described in the media, and to engage in the hiring practices she has been called on, looks like she is actually hiring ethnicity and not necessarily the highest quality available in jazz. The ethnic group that is overwhelmingly frozen out are African-American musicians, especially African- American men, the very foundation of the art form.  

Being invited to play with musicians of the caliber I have mentioned is a serious achievement and may seem like a very high standard, but it has always been the standard until now. This should not be some form of pee-wee soccer where everyone gets a trophy for showing up. 

This same director of the Jazzschool has also attempted to confuse the issue by bringing in the idea of gender discrimination. This may have been, and may still be, true, but that is not what the charges against her are, nor the point of the current discussion. After all, she hires plenty of non-African-American women. More important, trying to use the gender card to divide Black musicians and their supporters is to discuss the issue outside of historical context. The fact is that throughout its infancy, playing jazz was a gritty business. That’s just how it was. You must remember that jazz was formed during a period of this country’s history when African-Americans were forcibly segregated into their own communities, and African-American women were involved. I would also add it was not the most enlightened period for women’s rights in general, but that was certainly not because of jazz musicians. What appears to be discriminatory to me now is the exclusion of a whole group of local, resident artists. 

 

Readers interested in Doug Edwards’ radio show Ear Thyme can find online in the KPFA archives. The relevant shows were on May 19 and May 26. The guests were concerned artists, a jazz club owner, and the director of the Jazzschool in Berkeley. 

 

Esther Green is a Berkeley jazz fan. 

 

 


Commentary: Elmwood Doesn’t Need a Big Bar Without Parking

By the Elmwood Neighborhood Association
Friday June 08, 2007

On Tuesday night, the Berkeley City Council will consider a project that could bring a restaurant with a bar and lounge on the scale of Spenger’s to the Elmwood. But there would be one crucial difference—it wouldn’t have any parking.  

We know little about the prospective tenants for the Wright’s Garage project approved by the Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) on March 8th. The restaurant and lounge proposed for the Gordon Commercial property at 2629-2635 Ashby Ave. has been presented as anywhere from upscale and high-end to mid-price. The only things that we know for sure are that the restaurant will be up to 5,000 square feet, seating 200 people or more, and that there will be a full bar and lounge. “It is important to the concept and to the success of the restaurant that it serves alcohol,” wrote attorney Harry Pollack on behalf of John Gordon. Pollack used the term “alcohol” to mean hard liquor in addition to wine and beer. 

We have many fine restaurants in the Elmwood in which wine and beer enhance the dining experience, but people do not come to the Elmwood to drink. The Elmwood Zoning Ordinance says, “service of alcoholic beverages [is] allowed only as incidental to food service in Food Service Establishments.” A lounge primarily serves alcohol. Even if a lounge is inside a restaurant, food service is subordinate to the service of alcoholic beverages. The real profit margin is in serving alcohol, and this restaurant would be permitted to get up to 50 percent of its revenue from alcohol. If the City Council approves this project, it will have to break a law that protects the quiet family-oriented character of the Elmwood. 

Currently, Shen Hua is the only Elmwood restaurant serving distilled spirits, but the food at Shen Hua is the main attraction. Shen Hua’s bar is located within the dining room, and it accommodates customers waiting for tables. There is no lounge. Shen Hua closes at 9 p.m. on weekdays and 10 p.m. on weekends, as compared with the Gordon establishment, which would be open until late each night and until midnight on weekends. Location is also significant; Shen Hua is on College Avenue and well-insulated from the neighborhood. Wright’s Garage is on Ashby, right next to a residential area. 

It is odd that a bar and lounge would be proposed for this site—not just because of its proximity to homes and the obvious violation of the Elmwood Zoning Ordinance—but also because this ignores the history of the neighborhood. A three-year task force run by the city determined that the intersection at Ashby and Benvenue was a traffic hot spot, due to the many accidents occurring there. The mitigations the city made will be insufficient to protect pedestrians, drivers, and neighbors when a 200-seat restaurant and lounge with no parking operates nearby. Those mitigations are barely effective now. On May 23, there was yet another accident. This time a car jumped the curb and landed next to a neighbor’s fence. If anyone had been on the sidewalk, it could have been much worse. Yet, in spite of the neighborhood’s traffic problems, a sidewalk café is planned for this restaurant. 

The Zoning Ordinance says a project must not “Generate traffic and parking demand beyond the capacity of the commercial District or significantly increase impacts on adjacent residential neighborhoods.” This restaurant will need enough personnel to wait tables, prepare food, and bus dishes for 200 or more customers. The building will have between four and seven commercial establishments, including an exercise studio of undetermined size. There could be well over 300 people in this building, yet Planning staff recognizes no significant impact on the neighborhood. 

This restaurant and all but one of the retail uses are exceptions to Elmwood quotas. To approve any exception, there must be a finding that the exception “shall result in the positive enhancement of the purposes of the district, as evidenced by neighborhood resident and merchant support.” ZAB concluded that since the Merchants Association seemed not to oppose the project, this constituted a positive finding of merchant support. A poll on KitchenDemocracy.org (KD) was used as “evidence” of neighborhood support. The many and varied heartfelt objections from residents were dismissed by ZAB Secretary Deborah Sanderson, who said, “I can get hundreds of emails that sound very much alike…and they’re amazingly similar when I get 50 of them, but [KD comments] are individual comments not following a template...” And this is how City Staff nullified neighborhood concerns in a single bureaucratic blow. 

A KD poll is not a proper neighborhood survey for a number of reasons. For one thing, it doesn’t survey the neighborhood; it surveys its members. Many Elmwood residents don’t belong to KD. Nor should this be necessary; it is the city’s responsibility to conduct an objective survey with an open public process. Residents wrote to the city, in the manner prescribed by law, without knowing that they had to join KD to be heard. 

As of 2007, KD no longer edits articles for bias, and it doesn’t require arguments to be balanced. Councilmember Gordon Wozniak’s piece on this issue was slanted; it didn’t disclose the plans for a bar and lounge, nor did it discuss the traffic task force and its conclusions. Additionally, voters were not informed about the number of people who might occupy the building.  

When KD results are turned in, the city never sees how the questions were asked and the changes made to the article as members are voting. In fact, KD erased Councilmember Wozniak’s original statement of strong support for this project when the Planet noted that he might have to recuse himself from voting in a manner consistent with the city Attorney’s previous rulings on prejudgment. 

With or without Councilmember Wozniak’s vote, the Council will have a chance to correct a terrible injustice done to Elmwood residents and merchants. Let’s hope that Councilmembers have the courage to overturn ZAB’s flawed decision. 

 

 


Commentary: Will Berkeley Become a Company Town?

By Merrilie Mitchell
Friday June 08, 2007

When we consider global warming, most of us know we must change our fuel-guzzling ways, not continue them with the UC-BP (British Petroleum) biofuels project. Here is a protest song about UC-BP recycled from the song “Simple Gifts”:  

 

If it’s good to live simply, 

And it’s good to be free, 

Then we all must just say “No!” to BP, 

And to the Department of Energy, 

So we won’t be a “Company Town” for UC. 

 

Question “Carbon Credits,” 

Folks can fudge the statistics, 

Now they’re saying nuclear’s “Green”! 

How ‘bout intercontinental ballistics? 

We know what’s Green, leaves and trees, 

They make the oxygen that we breathe! 

 

The Downtown Area Planning Advisory Committee (DAPAC) is facilitating UC expansion—outside the campus, across Oxford Street, all over downtown, and beyond! Parking for residents is being eliminated, while DAPAC plans 1000 new parking spaces for UC! If you bike or walk downtown, it can be so filthy and scary you may not return. Our mayor does not prioritize resources for keeping the sidewalks clean and safe for all.  

The DAPAC members are mostly well connected to implement the mayor’s number one priority—development! Dorothy Walker, for example, was former manager of Property for UC Berkeley, and chair of “Livable Berkeley,” our local developer advocacy group. Another DAPAC member formerly worked for the Association of Bay Area Governments. ABAG gave Patrick Kennedy $72 million in loans to develop seven high-density projects, which serve essentially as student housing for UC.  

Also on DAPAC is parking elimination strategist and Transportation Commissioner Rob Wrenn. Recently he set his sights on using the Berkeley Way parking lot for housing or a park. Mr. Wrenn also said he would like Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) to run on University Avenue. Many merchants believe this would hurt them by eliminating parking—and it would remove many trees. 

The DAPAC includes two associates of Berkeley Oakland Support Services (BOSS). The BOSS affiliates insure that “service-resistant panhandlers” are not required to improve their streetside manners. This strategy plus the mayor’s lack of priority for cleanliness and safety, keeps downtown scary, and filthy. And there is method in this madness! The cumulative effects of this and the parking loss cause businesses to fail. Empty storefronts proliferate—and the downward spiral to blight, which furthers Mayor Bates’ big plans for redevelopment. 

UC is already in the downtown, often renting, possibly awaiting deals. The Oxford parking lot, which the City Council majority sold for $1.00, was an acre of prime property, worth millions. It kept movie theaters and marvelous restaurants in business, and allowed citizens who could not walk there easy access to downtown. The “Brower” building on that site may end up serving the UC/BP biodiesel/ethanol project. Mayor Bates would not deny this possibility! 

While we are losing our city’s wealth, our mayor says he is designing a downtown like Paris. Like a Berkeley version of “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” the DAPAC spins the “The Mayor’s New City” week after week.  

What has this to do with BP and DOE? UC wants to develop Strawberry Canyon with 15 new labs, six acres of parking, hotels, and deforestation all around, for the BP and DOE projects. UC told DAPAC they might like to move Lawrence Hall of Science downtown. Would this free up more space for the BP and DOE biodiesel project? The DOE grant is competitive—UCB will need to have facilities lined up to receive it. 

The biodiesel ethanol deal has several parts. BP, like the Trojan horse entering the city, brings the early money, to ready wet labs, dry labs, offices, and housing all over Berkeley to compete for the DOE grant to be announced this summer. A consortium has agreed to match the DOE grant for immediate commercialization of the biofuels. 

With the potential for millions of dollars, UC seems unable to consider the needs of people, the canyon’s trees which absorb CO2 and make oxygen, the forests and fields worldwide that would be destroyed to grow biomass for ethanol to run our vehicles. Even the Hayward fault under the canyon gives UC no pause. Is this a manifest destiny dream? Or do they take direction from George or Tom, politicians who understand green capital, not green science, and are unable to consider what is critical for peace and for life on earth?  

 

Merrilie Mitchell is a Berkeley civic watchdog and former council candidate.


Commentary: Bus Rapid Transit Plan is Bad Idea

By Peter Allen
Friday June 08, 2007

AC Transit’s proposed bus rapid transit (BRT) is just a bad idea. Here is why:  

First, the project provides no real benefits. According to AC Transit’s own environmental impact report (EIR), the project will only cause a small reduction in automobile usage (p. 4-28), provide no reduction in energy consumption (p. 4-152), and it will poach riders from BART (p. 3-31). 

Second, because it turns traffic lanes into bus-only lanes, it will cause more traffic congestion, especially on nearby streets. Just in south Berkeley and north Oakland, AC Transit admits that the project will make traffic worse on Telegraph near Dwight, College near Dwight, Adeline near Alcatraz, and Telegraph near Alcatraz, and at the intersections of Adeline and Ashby, Adeline and Alcatraz, College and Ashby, College and Claremont, and Telegraph and Alcatraz (EIR pp. 3-53, 3-61 and 62). 

The EIR does not even consider the impacts of this additional traffic on the Hillegass Bicycle Boulevard or pedestrians in areas such as Elmwood and Rockridge. 

Third, because of the bus-only lanes and fancy bus “stations,” lots of parking disappears. Just between Dwight Way and Woolsey, the project would result in the removal of approximately 142-146 spaces on Telegraph. This is about 73-75 percent of the parking on Telegraph in this area, and 25 percent of parking in the area when you include Telegraph-accessible cross streets. (p. 3-112). AC Transit proposes to reduce the impact of this by converting 65-70 spaces on cross streets near Telegraph to metered parking. (p. 3-127) In other words, the parking for businesses on Telegraph has been shifted to nearby residential areas. 

Finally, there are better alternatives. It was back in August of 2001 that AC Transit decided to go with bus rapid transit instead of light rail. (But AC Transit did keep light rail as a “long-term objective,” and refers to the buses and stations as “rail-like,” probably because it knows that many people simply like riding trains better than they like riding buses.) The EIR fails to compare the greenhouse gas impacts of adding 46-51 new fossil fuel-burning buses with the impacts of renewable electric-powered light rail. In a carbon capped or taxed world (not considered by AC Transit in 2001), light rail starts looking a lot better. 

Or, if service to the community is the primary goal, AC Transit would do better to reduce fares (the current $1.75 for a basic fare, plus $0.25 for a transfer, is pretty pricey), and hire more drivers to run more (and smaller, more fuel efficient) buses more frequently. This would provide more economic benefit to the community, and help low-income transit users far more than big fancy buses and stations. 

If AC Transit wants to provide environmental benefits and a “rail-like” experience for riders, then it should go with light rail. If AC Transit wants to benefit the community and its most vulnerable customers, it should reduce its fares and provide more frequent service. The bus rapid transit proposal is an expensive compromise that provides neither environmental nor community benefits, and it should be rejected. 

Call or write or e-mail AC Transit, or show up at the meeting at 5:30 p.m. on June 14 at the North Berkeley Senior Center, and tell AC Transit to kill the bus rapid transit project. 

 

Peter Allen is a Berkeley resident.


Commentary: The Role of Transit in Berkeley, Bay Area: Taking a Stand Against Global Warming

By Joe DiStefano
Friday June 08, 2007

I want to weigh in on behalf of the vast majority of Berkeley citizens who voted a resounding yes on Measure G this past election. Voters said we want the city and its businesses and residents to comprehensively and effectively address the issue of climate change and energy policy. That means addressing this extremely important issue in many different ways, from the efficiency of individual buildings, to how we power, heat, and cool our homes, to how we get from place to place within Berkeley and the greater Bay Area. When it comes to transportation, this means viable alternatives to the private automobile, including bikes, walking, and transit.  

Cities across this country and across the world are making major investments in rapid transit systems, bucking the primacy of the car and building rail and bus transit systems that attract new riders, and provide real and efficient options for residents and workers. Berkeley has a chance to embrace and foster such transit by supporting AC Transit’s new East Bay Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line, which would connect Downtown Berkeley to Oakland and San Leandro with fast, efficient, and clean hi-tech buses on dedicated lanes. This system is like rail with rubber tires, and similar systems are up and running in Los Angeles, Eugene (Ore.), across South America and Canada, and more are planned and under construction across the United States. Unlike regular bus systems, BRT buses do not sit in traffic, and BRT stations are spaced further apart and are designed like rail stations so that they move people faster and thus can compete with and even out-compete cars. We need these kinds of systems if we are to take a real bite out of our carbon emissions and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.  

The East Bay BRT line is an essential component in the fight against global warming. Opponents of the system, which are few in number but particularly vocal, point out that the buses will remove valuable auto lanes and impact parking. These are exaggerated claims, but even if the new system does take away a few parking spaces or impact the efficiency of car travel, is that not something that we can accept to take on such an important issue as global climate change and oil dependency?  

Of all places, Berkeley should be a leader in this challenge, not a place where single-issues like parking and driving take primacy over transit, bikes, pedestrians, and the environment. Let’s live up to our progressive reputation and support innovative new travel options for Berkeley and the East Bay. We can’t win the battle against climate change with solar panels and Prius’ alone. We need to invest in and support transit, and advance plans and projects that put more housing and jobs within walking distance of major transit investments like BRT stations and BART. Only then can we say we are really addressing the mandate laid out by the voters when they passed Measure G. 

 

Joe DiStefano is a Berkeley resident. 


Letters to the Editor

Tuesday June 05, 2007

TRAFFIC DIVERTERS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Hi, are there any proposed measures to remove existing traffic diverters near College Avenue or Ashby Avenue (near Claremont)? Because there are no other routes but College, Ashby and Claremont throughout the area, the traffic has become unbearable. It’s virtually gridlock on College most days. In the 1970s this may have worked, but it’s 2007! Let’s remove all barriers and let the city breathe again with normal traffic flows. 

The gridlock and aggravation of being forced to take only certain streets is prompting my family to consider moving from the city we love. I would like to see ALL Berkeley traffic diverters removed immediately. 

Please re-consider these old-fashioned barriers! They are ridiculous. Doesn’t anyone else feel the same way we do? Certainly anyone on College or Ashby would agree. 

Esten Sesto 

 

• 

WHY HURT TELEGRAPH 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am deeply troubled that this AC Transit plan for their buses has not gone away. I am very concerned that the future of my business and my city may be in the hands of righteous people who think that it is appropriate to force others to use bicycles. 

Businesses that rely on barter, an ancient form of commerce, depend on the transportation of goods to be traded. A bicycle is an inefficient means of transporting books, clothes, or music. These are the goods which are traded every day on Telegraph. This is how many wonderful institutions in Berkeley function day in and day out. Moe’s Books is just one of many businesses that will have to close their doors if our customers are not permitted to bring us their objects to trade. Amoeba, Rasputin’s, Mars, Buffalo Exchange, and Shakespeare and Company also rely on barter. These businesses contribute financially to the viability of the City of Berkeley. If these businesses close, who will re-open in an empty neighborhood? Where will the city get its money? 

Please allow us to continue to do the business that we have been doing for years and years. Telegraph is the heart of our city’s history and we need your special care and consideration. This is not about politics, but survival. Please take the time to study real cities and the impact of bus lanes on people’s behavior. 

Project for Public Spaces (the nonprofit that ran the forum on Telegraph for the TBID with AC Transit, City of Berkeley, TAA and UCB) are responsible for turning around the New York Public Library area by redesigning Bryant Park. These experts made clear to me through numerous examples, that people vacate the areas where buses have the right of way. Bus malls kill commercial neighborhoods. 

Please do not strangle us. Our livelihood depends on your careful examination of the impact of your decisions. As the owner of Moe’s Books and a Berkeley resident, I am against designated lanes on Telegraph. Please help Moe’s stay open.  

By the way, I ride my bike almost every day. 

Doris Moskowitz 

Moe’s Books 

 

• 

VIRTUES OF TELEGRAPH 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Moving from the Elmwood District to Telegraph Avenue as I did a few years ago was a traumatic experience for me. To this day I think wistfully of Elmwood’s genteel charm. Friends charge me with being a snob. “What’s so special about Elmwood? How is it different from Telegraph Avenue?” Dear Lord—how is it different? Let me count the ways. 

For one thing, there was something very stable about Elmwood. Businesses were constant, they didn’t come and go—the wonderful Wells Fargo Bank, Bolfing’s Hardware, a stationer’s, a great Deli, Trips Out Travel, the Elmwood Theatre, jewelry shops, the famous lunch counter where Ozzie used to hold court, and the warm and inviting Claremont Library, etc. 

How to describe Telegraph Avenue? I heard someone remark that it’s quite eclectic. Boy, oh, boy, is it ever eclectic! Just in the few blocks either side of Dwight Way—name it and we’ve got it. When the former Gorman Furniture Company was being remodelled a year ago, I happily fantasized about what business would move in that beautifully restored Victorian type building. Hopefully it might be an upscale women’s apparel shop, a boutique, perhaps an intimate little tea room with lace curtains, something that would add elegance to our neighborhood. So, who moved in? A tattoo parlor and body piercing shop! Oh, well, why not? Right across the street is a store that dispenses marijuana. Two or three pleasant young fellows stand guard at the entrance at all times. I thought marijuana was outlawed, but I guess that’s only the federal government, not the state. Who am I to doubt that the patrons who slip in are not seeking the weed for medical purposes? Another popular shop on that block is The Dark Entry, featuring “Goth” items. I personally am not into black leather and chains so I’m not a patron. The store is very popular with girls with green hair and young men sporting Mohawk cuts. Oh, and I mustn’t forget the Berkeley Hat Shop near the corner of Dwight. You won’t believe the hats they have. If Queen Elizabeth had seen the place on her recent visit she would have bought it out. 

Having mentioned the more bizarre attractions on Telegraph Avenue I should in all fairness add that there are several really excellent ethnic restaurants all along the street. And, to everyone’s delight, a new Peet’s Coffee where you might be lucky enough to get a table. I say “might” because many graduate students who frequent the place are obviously working on their dissertations, glued to laptops.  

Come to think of it, Telegraph Avenue is not such a bad area after all. Who needs Elmwood? 

Dorothy Snodgrass 

 

• 

WILSON’S ERRORS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

David Wilson’s May 25 commentary (“The Housing Scandal: A Perfect Storm”) critical of the City of Berkeley Housing Department contained several errors and/or misrepresentations. 

For example, Mr. Wilson states that under Housing Department director Steve Barton, the city’s Housing Trust Fund (HTF) is “bankrupt.” This is erroneous. 

The city’s HTF is a pool of federal, state and local funds collected together for affordable housing allocations: i.e., new housing construction, existing housing rehabilitation, housing site acquisition, etc. 

The HTF is replenished with new funds every year. In recent years, the HTF allocated its money for the 100-unit, mixed-use Oxford Plaza affordable housing development in downtown Berkeley. With all HTF funding decisions approved by the City Council, this development started construction with a groundbreaking ceremony two weeks ago. 

The HTF is not “bankrupt.” It will receive new funds again—up to a million dollars—and allocate these funds for new affordable housing projects during the next fiscal year. 

At another point in his commentary Mr. Wilson states that the Housing Department “continues to resist any re-evaluation of Berkeley’s rent control program.” In point of fact, the Housing Department has no legal authority or sovereignty over the Rent Stabilization Agency which oversees the city’s rent control program. 

The Rent Stabilization Agency is a separate, autonomous city agency that regulates nearly 19,000 rent-controlled units citywide. The agency’s budget and effectiveness are audited by an outside firm every year. As the former president of the Berkeley (Rental) Property Owners Association, Mr. Wilson’s dislike of the city’s rent control program does not come as a surprise.  

Finally, Mr. Wilson unfairly tars the employees of the reorganized Berkeley Housing Authority with a single, broad brushstroke: commenting on the remarks of several BHA employees who strongly defended their individual job performance before the City Council during public comment, Mr. Wilson declares that “if this is how city workers behave in front of TV cameras, you can only imagine how they act with their clients, the citizens of Berkeley.” 

While the situation at BHA must be rectified and those responsible for documented misdeeds be held accountable, it is important that sweeping generalizations about employees and a “rush to judgment” mentality are avoided during the BHA reorganization process. 

Chris Kavanagh 

 

• 

WHY NOT SECEDE? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

J. Douglas Allen-Taylor impressively paints a bleak picture of the options for Congress ending the Iraq war, noting that cutting funding could cost seats for Congressional liberals, and a reversal of the authorization for war would just send the issue to the Supreme Court which might enjoy legalizing dictatorship. Allen-Taylor says at the end of his piece that we should keep fighting for peace. But he makes no suggestions on what to do. I have one. 

Let’s secede. Why not? As Allen-Taylor notes, Congress will probably never end the war. And following his reasoning: it will never pass single payer medical care, nor will it vote to end the high dropout rates in high school by abolishing tuition at all public colleges, nor will it act to solve prison crowding by legalizing marijuana; nor will it vote more than “compromise” actions on global warming. Meanwhile, we already have here a minimum wage much higher than the pitifully low one Congress just authorized. Our cities have already voted our own immigration policy of no-raids-in-our-backyard. And we have abortion clinics—which the court in Washington might soon outlaw. 

We who want peace in Iraq and a functioning nation should have our state Legislature vote that all tax money earmarked for Washington be sent instead to Sacramento. Then we butter-up the Austrian, “Hey Arnold. You can’t be president in Washington, but you could be in California.” Granted, he’s no liberal, but forced to relate to California without his current patrons in the national Republican Party he’d probably be manageable.  

Suggestions for the new national anthem are welcomed. 

Ted Vincent 

 

• 

DAVID GOCKLEY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Becky O’Malley is well justified to be angered by the firing of Hope Briggs from San Francisco Opera’s production of Don Giovanni. One of the wonderful things about opera is the allegiance of fans to particular singers. To know a professional singer personally allows someone to witness the immense amount of work, sacrifice, persistence, joy, and disappointment that such a career provides. So it easy to understand Ms. O’Malley’s outrage at David Gockley’s decision. However, her accusation of racism is baseless and irresponsible. 

Mr. Gockley is almost single-handedly responsible for proving that Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess belongs among the great 20th century operas and deserves a place in the standard operatic repertory among the works of Mozart, Verdi, and Puccini. In addition, he resurrected Scott Joplin’s lone opera, Treemonisha. He cast an African-American soprano, Nicole Heaston, in the title role of the world premiere of Jackie O. He has commissioned bilingual operas and built outreach programs that have been models for the industry. The Houston audiences, despite your inference, were always open and supportive. 

I worked for Mr. Gockley at HGO for five years. I admire his brilliance but know the other side of that coin. In my time at HGO, a handful of singers were dismissed. I did not always agree with the decision and the process was always painful, but opera, like all of the arts, is subjective and he is allowed his prerogative as general director. You can and should question his decision regarding Ms. Briggs, but not on racial grounds. 

Brad Blunt 

Houston, Texas 

 

• 

HOPE BRIGGS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

You cite “Gockley’s narrow point of view” yet you never detail or support such an allegation. Could it be that your own world view is so narrow that any time a black artist is released from a role, racial prejudice can be assumed without evidence? Yes, Gockley’s explanation for releasing Hope Briggs was unusually honest, yet not very specific, as he knew that specific criticism of Briggs’ vocalism would be damaging to her career. From other accounts, the company would have gone along with the usual euphemistic route of citing illness, but apparently it was Briggs’ manager who chose the more honest route.  

I happen to appreciate Briggs in suitable roles such as Aida, but I know from having attended the dress rehearsal that going ahead with Donna Anna would have been utterly disastrous not only for Briggs’ career but for the company’s reputation as well, not to mention the fact that the musical enjoyment of thousands of paying opera lovers would have been ruined. Unlike Mr. Gockley, I can be more honest about Briggs’ performance: It was a painful, excruciating experience, completely ruining any chance of musical enjoyment of the opera. In a word, Briggs pitifully lacks the technique and range to sing Donna Anna, one of the most feared soprano roles in the repertory. Not only in the two extremely taxing arias, but in the all-important ensembles as well, she single-handedly ruined the overall musical experience of an otherwise superb performance. I have been attending opera for 45 years and have seen many productions of Don Giovanni, but I must say, it would have been a ghastly mistake to have proceeded with the original casting as well as an unforgivable crime against Mozart. 

Richard Yahiku  

 

• 

TRAFFIC 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Laura Spurrier feels hostility because she lives in the hills and drives a car to downtown Berkeley. Her complaint is a familiar one to transit advocates like me. Lost in the noise is that we need to reduce car traffic on our streets, not totally ban the use of cars. The Traffic Demand Management study, paid for jointly by the City and UC in 2000, concluded that a “modest mode shift” from driving to transit would eliminate the need for more downtown parking. The basis of this conclusion was the fact that many employers and employees park all day, taking up a downtown space which could be used by short-term shoppers, restaurant patrons and other visitors. Berkeley’s traffic and parking problems would vanish if most of these all-day parkers would just ride the bus to and from work. Employers could offer the EcoPass as a benefit to encourage transit use. There’s also the “guaranteed ride home” insurance offered by some taxi companies. 

Yes, people who live in the hills have poor bus service. That’s because hill residents have chosen not to demand good bus service. AC Transit maintains very good bus service in places where it finds riders, like along College Avenue, Shattuck and University. Hill dwellers could control their downtown car use by driving to a “satellite parking lot,” like the “Park ‘N Ride” lots in Richmond or Vallejo. There must be some unused land on the periphery of downtown, yet near one of the major bus lines, which could be operated like BART parking in the suburbs. During the week, some churches have parking available.  

Even trips with bulky packages could be covered if some enterprising merchants offered delivery service to the satellite parking. Safeway and Albertson’s offer home delivery service now. 

The fact is that we are making too many trips by cars and generating too much congestion and pollution. We need to stop giving our bad example to China and India, and find a better transportation lifestyle. Our hostility should not be toward cars, but toward pollution, congestion and poor land use. 

Steve Geller 

 

• 

YASSIR CHADLY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thank you for your front-page coverage regarding the plight of Yassir and his employment with the city. For anyone who has ever encountered Yassir, this is big news and deserves the full attention of the community. Plenty of hyperbole has already been shared, but I have to add my voice, noting three things in particular:  

1) Have you ever known another city employee who knows each of his “clients” by name?  

2) Have you ever known another city employee that lives, breathes, and shares with everyone his absolute joy in being alive 24/7?  

3) Since when has it been “OK” in Berkeley to eliminate the best employee due to some bureaucratic numbers-cruncher who is being penny-wise and pound-foolish? I am another person who will go to lengths to see Yassir reinstated at the city pools! 

Carolyn Sell 


Commentary: Irreplaceable Asset Slated for Wrecking Ball

By Marie Bowman
Tuesday June 05, 2007

The Berkeley Unified School District’s plans to demolish the original gymnasium building are wrongheaded, wasteful and contrary to the values held dear by Berkeley’s residents. The building, with its beautiful hardwood floors, classrooms, historic murals, and swimming pools, dates back to the beginnings of Berkeley High School and is worth preserving as a contribution to the school’s future. Many residents who use its warm water pool would not be able to function without the physical therapy it provides.  

In an era where creative reuse is a paramount concern not just for our city but for the world, let’s not throw away a perfectly usable structure. Maintenance is needed, as the building has been sadly neglected by BUSD. It cannot be replaced, but it can be repaired and retrofitted.  

Berkeley voters approved $3,250,000 to do just this for the pool, restrooms and lockers, and the money is available but has not been used. In the past year the City of Berkeley has replaced the roof on the pool, painted the pool interior and upgraded the electrical.  

Claims by BUSD that the building is beyond repair shouldn’t be taken at face value, based on a careful review of the published consulting reports. Testing done by ABS Construction’s structural engineering division shows the old gym to be surprisingly strong, and concludes it is “structurally feasible to upgrade the building to perform to the desired performance level.” BUSD prefers to base their argument on statements by Dasse, a design firm, that did no testing whatsoever and drew conclusions from a walk-through visual inspection only, before recent upgrades done by the city. Even so, Dasse acknowledged that the building can be retrofitted. 

Landmarking the building will make it eligible for funding from the California Cultural and Historical Endowment Fund. In January, the City of Richmond received over $2 million for their landmarked pool, the Plunge. In addition State funds such as 1D can be used to rehabilitate the classroom space in the building. Private and corporate funds will also be available to restore the building once it is designated a landmark. 

The gymnasium has a distinguished history connecting the City of Berkeley, the School of Architecture at Cal, and the development of educational facilities in the state. Designed in the Period Revival style by W. C. Hays, the building has a sense of place in the campus plan as well as in the downtown and civic center. Hays, who was involved in designing Princeton University, and three UC campuses including Berkeley, wanted BHS students to get sunlight and exercise by walking between campus buildings.  

In 1929, Walter Ratcliff, Jr., designed the expansion of this building. Ratcliff worked with John Galen Howard on the Hearst Mining Circle and Doe Library at UC Berkeley, as well as many other important and notable buildings in the Bay Area. Ratcliff met Hays while working on these two UC buildings. 

In 1936 a major seismic reconstruction of the gymnasium was undertaken by structural engineer Thomas Chase. The reconstruction, prompted by the State Field Act of 1933, was in response to the devastating earthquake in Long Beach. Berkeley was once again in the forefront of school construction and utilized the most modern seismic retrofit techniques then known. Chase was involved in the construction of Cal’s Memorial Stadium, Kezar Stadium in San Francisco, and Berkeley Iceland.  

These three noted architects and professors shaped a building that Berkeleyans can be proud of, continually adapting and re-using it to meet the needs of the day. Current estimates to demolish the building are $8 million plus another $20 million to replace it. BUSD has no funds to do this work. Consistent with Measure G passed by the voters in November, BUSD needs to focus on adaptive re-use and sustainability, not wanton destruction of community assets. This beautiful, historic and useful building should be kept in service to the future, not destroyed. 

 

Marie Bowman, on behalf of Friend’s Protecting Berkeley’s Resources


Commentary: Nuclear Weapons

By Marvin Chachere
Tuesday June 05, 2007

From time to time we read news stories about nuclear non-proliferation but seldom does the media attend to the general risk involving the existence of these “doomsday weapons.” The reason the media avoids this angle may be similar to the reason New Orleaneans avoid talk about hurricanes yet to come and Californians don’t talk much about earthquakes. Precisely because it is inevitable, forecasting regional destruction is uncertain and media reports arouse unnecessary un-ease. A more likely reason is cowardice: analyzing the possibility of total extinction exposes the absolute futility of everything else.  

Imagine a forested landscape where the atmosphere, under certain conditions, will produce a nuclear storm, total annihilation, by accident maybe but maybe not. Given this prospect, trees (standing for domestic and international problems) don’t much matter.  

Have we lived with the nearness of nuclear horror for so long that we can afford to forget about it or to take it for granted? Perhaps we as a nation think that being the world’s foremost nuclear power makes us secure.  

Ninety-two days after 9/11 president Bush officially withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, thereby paving the way for resurrecting Reagan’s “Star Wars” boondoggle. The president’s action, consistent with the “second coming” of the neo-cons, enticed taxpayers into believing that maintaining nuclear superiority is a vital part of national security.  

Recently, ignoring criticism from scientists and rejecting protests from Russia, the White House announced that it will modernize and expand our country’s huge nuclear arsenal; it plans to develop new RRWs (reliable replacement warheads) and to install new missile sites in Poland and radar sites in the Czech Republic. This places us on the verge of an outer space arms race. 

When the Cold War ended our MAD (mutual assured destruction) foreign policy morphed into carrot-stick agreements, pledges, promises and pacts, relying on honor among nations to block the use and curtail the proliferation of nuclear weapons.  

From a practical point of view “non-proliferation” has meant (and still means) maintaining the status quo and especially our lead position. (The lead position, in every arena, is the hardest to hold and the most frequently attacked.) 

Needless to say, nuclear bombs separate us who have them from others who do not and although this may give us an edge it is a tenuous one because every nation today has access to the science, if not the capability, of releasing energy locked in the nucleus of atoms. 

Having been the first and so far the only nation to use this awesome weapon we struggle to retain the world’s respect. We did what we did in a worthy cause, we say. In other words, we claimed moral power sufficient to deploy the means (atomic bombs) deemed necessary to achieve the end (defeating Japan).  

If the ends justified the means in that instance, it may do so again. Thus, for us, double standard is our standard—all right for us but not all right for you.  

The Bush administration goes further. It proliferates even as it demands non-proliferation; neo-cons do not trust others – China, Russia, North Korea, Iran—but they insist that others trust them.  

Alas, conservative policy makers, having no precedent for controlling the spread of nuclear weapons, resort to analogies. Laws restricting the possession of handguns are not very effective and so, unable to keep guns out of the hands of bad guys, some conservatives, invoking the Second Amendment, advocate putting them in the hands of good guys. This despairing attitude is echoed internationally: so-called “rogue nations” must not be allowed nuclear weapons.  

Nuclear armament, however, introduces something infinitely more lethal than hand guns, and to curtail their spread, whether to rogue or non-rogue nations, requires much more than fine tuning analogous control mechanisms. Nuclear non-proliferation is a new species of problem for it involves devising some way to prevent the spread of scientific knowledge. We could more easily prevent the flight of a cloud.  

Consider how we got where we are. 

The top secret detonation of the first atomic bomb before dawn at Alamogordo, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945 exceeded the predictions of the team of scientists who brought its awesome potential to fruition. That explosion was so stupendous it effectively blasted a hole in time disconnecting everything that was there before from everything that came after. On that day science brought forth the “destroyer of worlds.”  

In less than a month atomic bombs destroyed most of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and a few months later scientist developed nuclear bombs of more breathtaking capability. As time went by the Soviet Union, France and Great Britain joined the nuclear weapons club, then came the Peoples Republic of China and today there are three more, Israel, India and Pakistan.  

Nuclear bombs have the potential to reverse time and send the earth itself back to its initial condition as cosmic dust—Apocalypse now!  

When (not if) North Korea and Iran, crash their way, as India and Pakistan did, uninvited into the club, others will no doubt do the same because the “destroyer of worlds” is as unstoppable as the cloud of ideas that created it.  

The enormous magnitude of a nuclear explosion belittles earthquakes, hurricanes, floods; the prospect of it overshadows global warming. Nuclear Armageddon will make the future irrelevant; it would not just interrupt time but erase it altogether.  

Nuclear weapons color every contention with the dark possibility of annihilation. The “destroyer of worlds” obliges nations and indeed all mankind to measure themselves, their priorities and their relationships sub specie aeternitatem, from the standpoint of eternity. 

Two millennia ago another event occurred that slowly spread and irreversibly changed the world. Its mighty force is symbolized even today in the way we, in western culture, track and record time—B.C. for the run of years before, and A.D. for the run of years after the birth of Christ.  

Christ’s followers believe their power derives from a God who is the creator of life, while nations in the nuclear armaments club can release “the destroyer of worlds” with the press of a button and thereby obliterate the very possibility of life!  

 

Marvin Chachere is a San Pablo resident.


Commentary: Accurate Information Important for Intelligent Discussion

By Tracie de Angelis Salim
Tuesday June 05, 2007

Personal attacks will not help make a point; rather, they dilute from the intention of making a larger point speak loudly. While Carmel Hara’s letter to the editor may be an isolated instance of a personal attack on Joanna Graham, sadly the pages of the Daily Planet continue to be used as a forum for assault on character rather than a place for intelligent discourse. I find a great opportunity within his letter to make a larger point. 

Carmel Hara writes about the work of the founder and president of the Jewish Peace Lobby, Jerome Segal. Dr. Segal’s work is to be commended as he is an expert on Palestinian/Israeli relations and was one of the first American Jews to meet with the leadership of the Palestinian Liberation Organization when based in Tunis. However, I am not sure I understand Mr. Hara’s point. He mentions a piece that Dr. Segal wrote that he refers to as “Final Status in a new era” and “Who’s Afraid of 194” and then he puts “the Saudi Peace Initiative” in parentheses. Perhaps this was an editorial mistake, but I want to turn it into an opportunity to talk about both the Saudi Peace Initiative and U.N. Resolution 194, which are two different things. The Saudi Peace Initiative was created in 2002 and U.N. resolution 194 has been on the books since December 1948. 

U.N. resolution 194 is consistent with International Law. It states in the 11th paragraph "the [Palestinian] refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible." This basic right is still being denied. In 2005, according to the Badil Resource center, there were approximately 7.2 million Palestinian refugees, equivalent to 74 percent of the entire Palestinian population which is estimated at 9.7 million worldwide. This resolution has been affirmed over 130 times, with universal consensus except for the United States and Israel. 

The Saudi Peace Initiative of 2002 calls for the return of the refugees, full withdrawal of the occupied territories, normal relations with Israel and East Jerusalem as the capital for Palestine. This focus of the initiative holds a clear principle: land for peace. However, it is not as basic as calling for land for peace because both the issue of the refugees and Jerusalem are the real sticking points. And these are the issues that continually get pushed aside.  

It is important for people interested in this issue to have accurate and detailed information about the problem from many angles. The question of a peaceful resolution to this issue is likely one of the most complex in history; because of this, an easy answer is impossible. I appreciate all the passionate discourse that goes into letter writing when it comes to this topic. It seems that no two people agree on the best road to freedom for all in the region. But a best first step would be for all of us who live outside the region to get a wide, varied and balanced perspective. We may not always agree on history or on what is “fair.” But, I would venture to say that if we could put history aside and look at the human cost of the illegal Israeli occupation on Palestinian land and at the human cost of tactics from the militant groups in Gaza and the West Bank, we could agree on one thing: peace in Palestine/Israel is step number one for peace in all of the Middle East.  

Personal attacks here at home have no place in a dialogue when the real intention of putting thought to pen and paper is to open hearts and minds to an issue that affects all humans who care about justice. 

 

Tracie de Angelis Salim is a Berkeley resident.


Columns

Column: Dispatches from the Edge: Dark Plots in Byzantine Beirut

By Conn Hallinan
Friday June 08, 2007

According to the U.S. mainstream media and the Bush Administration, the fighting in Lebanon between Fatah al-Islam and the Lebanese Army is really a proxy battle between the Lebanese government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Syria over efforts by Damascus to destabilize Lebanon and snuff a UN investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005.  

“Fatah al-Islam is a terrorist organization that has been imported into Lebanon,” said Saad al-Hariri, a leader of the Sunni Future Movement, a supporter of the current government, and son of Rafik Hariri. “The side that stands behind it is known, and its aims are known.” 

White House spokesman Tony Snow said, “We will not tolerate attempts by Syria, terrorist groups or any others to delay or derail Lebanon’s efforts to solidify its sovereignty or to see justice in the Hariri case.” 

But writing in the Cairo-based, English language weekly Al Ahram, Beirut journalist Lucy Fielder says that Fatah al-Islam’s anti-Shiite ideology caused it to break from the Syrian-backed Fatah al-Intifada last November.  

The Syrian government is dominated by the Alawites—a variety of Shiism—who make up only about 12 percent of Syria’s Muslim population. The rest are overwhelmingly Sunni. In short, Fatah al-Islam, with its extremist philosophy of Sunni Salafism, is an anathema to the Damascus regime. 

According to Ahmed Moussalli, an expert on Islamic movements at the American University at Beirut, Fatah al-Islam’s rise is a direct outgrowth of the split between Siniora’s Sunni-dominated government and the Shiia organization, Hezbollah. The latter is closely aligned with Syria, which withdrew its troops from Lebanon shortly after Hariri’s assassination. 

On May 29, the UN Security Council voted to set up an international court to try those suspected of involvement in Hariri’s death. 

“In Lebanon in the last few months,” according to Moussalli, “it seems the Hariri group has been channeling funds and allowing weaponry to enter in order to create a Sunni militia … to bargain with Hezbollah.”  

Back in March, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh found exactly the same thing. “American, European, and Arab officials I spoke to told me that the Siniora government and its allies has allowed some aid to end up in the hands of emerging Sunni radical groups in Northern Lebanon…these groups, though small, are seen as a buffer to Hezbollah; at the same time their ideological ties are with Al-Qaeda.” 

Hersh interviewed Alastair Crooke, a veteran of almost three decades in the British intelligence service, MI6. Crooke told Hersh, “The Lebanese government is opening space for these people to come in. It could be very dangerous.” According to Crooke, when Fatah al-Islam showed up at the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in Tripoli, the scene of the recent fighting, “within twenty four hours they were being offered weapons and money by people presenting themselves as representatives of the Lebanese government’s interests—presumably to take on Hezbollah.” 

“The key players,” in the drive against Syria and Iran, according to Hersh, “are Vice President Dick Cheney, Deputy National Security Advisor Elliot Abrams, the departing Ambassador to Iraq (and nominee for United Nations Ambassador) Zalmay Khalilzad, and Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi national-security advisor.” 

Hersh’s sources include current and former Bush Administration officials, and a “senior member” of the House Appropriations Committee.  

Just prior to the outbreak of fighting in Lebanon, Cheney made an “off the radar” visit—no press—to Saudi Arabia. 

In an interview with Democracy Now host Amy Goodman, Hersh called the U.S. charge of Syrian involvement in the current fighting “beyond belief.”  

After a May 21 visit to Beirut, European Union (EU) Foreign Minster Javier Solana also said that he saw no evidence of Syrian involvement in the recent fighting. 

Fatah al-Islam leader Shakir al-Abssi fled Syria for Lebanon when the Damascus authorities cracked down on militant Islamic groups, and, according to the New York Times, killed his son-in-law. It is no accident that almost a third of Fatah al-Islam’s fighters are Saudis. The Riyadh government has been bankrolling anyone who will join its Sunni alliance against Shiia Iran. 

While the fighting has been situated in a Palestinian refugee camp, the Palestinians have kept at arm’s distance from Fatah al-Islam. “This is a gang, and only 3 or 4 percent of its members are Palestinians,” according to Sultan Abul Ainain, head of the Lebanese Fatah movement. “What they’ve done is an attempt to create a rift between the Palestinians and the Lebanese government.” 

Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah accused the U.S. of trying to destabilize the country by importing its war against al-Qaeda to Lebanon, and called for a negotiated settlement rather than a military assault on the Nahr el-Bared camp. “Does it concern us that we start a conflict with al Qaeda in Lebanon and consequently attract members and fighters of al-Qaeda from all over the world to Lebanon to conduct their battle with the Lebanese Army and the rest of the Lebanese?” Nasrallah asked rhetorically in a recent speech. 

According to Robert Fisk of the Independent, Hezbollah has assured the French, Italian and Spanish governments that their soldiers stationed as peacekeepers in the South of Lebanon will be safe from attacks by Fatah al-Islam. The fact that Syria’s closest ally in the region has agreed to protect EU troops from the Sunni extremists in Tripoli suggests that Nasrallah and Damascus are on the same page in the current fighting. It is highly unlikely that Syria would sponsor a group from whom Hezbollah has agreed to shelter EU soldiers.  

The Bush administration is already gearing up to pump $280 million in military aid to the Siniora government. According to an anonymous U.S. official, “Lebanon will get whatever it takes to boost its internal defense capability to control its territory.” 

Well, yes and no. The U.S. vetoed rockets for the Lebanese Army’s Gazelle helicopters and Belgium Leopard tanks because of concerns that the weapons might be used against Israel in the future. 

The flood of military hardware may well mean that when the Lebanese Army finishes off Fatah al-Islam it will turn its weapons on Hezbollah, possibly in conjunction with a new attack by Israel. The latter is openly being talked about in Israeli circles, and Gush Shalom founder Uri Avnery warns that a third Lebanon war is a real possibility.  

According to Fisk, if the Israelis do attack, the results would be a “far fiercer war than the 34-day conflict last June and July.” Hezbollah has apparently been building a network of roads and bunkers north of Lebanon’s Litani River in preparation for just such an attack. 

So, what happened? In their effort to isolate Iran and Syria, did Cheney, Abrams, Khalizad, and Bandar ramp up an anti-Hezbollah militia that went haywire and attacked the Lebanese Army instead? Or was that the plan from the beginning: use the fighting as an excuse to ship arms to the Siniora government, turn those arms on Hezbollah in conjunction with another Israeli invasion, and reignite Lebanon’s civil war?  

“The dangers of a conflagration that could spread across the country are serious,” Professor Charles Harb of American University of Beirut wrote in the Guardian. “The U.S. once nurtured the mujahideen in Afghanistan, only to pay the price much later. In the dangerous game of sectarian conflict, everyone stands to lose.” 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Column: Undercurrents: Media Reports on Dellums’ First Months Miss the Mark

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday June 08, 2007

Investigative reporter Robert Gammon of the East Bay Express doesn’t reach Gary Webb status—who among us does, after all?—but he’s one of the best the Bay Area now has when it comes to uncovering essential information to the public that others don’t even think about looking for. 

Mr. Gammon is at his most effective when he provides us with the information and allows his readers to put it together and draw the larger picture ourselves. But he is at his least effective when he tries to present quick conclusions. 

So it is with one of Mr. Gammon’s latest offerings (“Dellums Chamber Ties,” Full Disclosure column, East Bay Express, May 30), which tells us that Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums’ chief of staff—Dan Boggan—continues to be a highly paid member of the board of directors of Oakland-based corporate giant Clorox while he is working for the Dellums administration. As far as I can tell, the story first broke two weeks before on the website of the Oakland Residents For Peaceful Neighborhoods (ORPN) (www.orpn.org/Boggan1.htm). 

That’s good as far as it goes, an important piece of information that you can put in your pocket and put together with other pieces—from time to time—to help understand what the Dellums administration may be doing and where it may be going. But Mr. Gammon goes a step further in his May 30 piece, including charges and insinuations by both the ORPN and by my good friend, former Oakland City Councilmember Wilson Riles Jr., that the Boggan-Clorox connection means that Dellums administration decisions are being unduly influenced by what Mr. Gammon calls Mr. Dellums’ “growing connections to East Bay corporate interests and the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.” 

Fair enough. Except that this week, the Express has now published a column by the we-thought-he-was-out-the-door reporter Chris Thompson which draws the exact opposite conclusion, that the problem with the Dellums administration in its early stages is that it has failed to attempt to make corporate connections. 

“It’s an old adage that big-city mayors can do two things: hire and fire people, and sell their city to investment capital,” Mr. Thompson writes in a City Of Warts column called “Anybody Seen Hizzoner?” 

“For all his faults, Jerry Brown knew this, and he pitched Oakland to private capital till he was blue in the face. Dellums has decided to pitch Oakland to public capital, by begging Gov. Schwarzenegger and Congress to help this ailing, troubled city. Some people are impressed with the ex-congressman’s Beltway connections, but there’s a drawback to this strategy. Set aside the fact that Dellums probably won’t get much money. And that, even if he does, it’ll be years before it reaches Oakland. As long as Dellums calls on Sacramento and D.C. to help with Oakland’s terrible problems, he’s calling attention to—you guessed it—Oakland’s terrible problems. He’s telling entrepreneurs and developers that the city is once again desperate and broke, and they should think about starting their businesses somewhere else.” 

So is Mr. Dellums leaning too much toward corporations to help solve Oakland’s problems, or is he not leaning that way enough? Mr. Gammon, Mr. Thompson, Mr. Riles, and the good folks at ORPN are free to draw whatever conclusions they want, of course, but the truth is, perhaps it is simply too soon to tell. 

That, however, is not the case with some of the other conclusions drawn by Mr. Thompson’s somewhat-grumpy “Anybody Seen Hizzoner?” column? 

Rumor has it that Mr. Thompson has not been working for the Express for a couple of weeks. His name no longer appears on the paper’s staff list, and calls asking for him at the Express switchboard get the reply that he has gone to work for “the Village Voice” (the Express, you may know, recently broke its ties of several years with the Village Voice newspaper chain). But perhaps the Express editors had Mr. Thompson’s last offering in their in box, and present it to us as a last reminder of what we will be missing in their paper in the future. 

The “Anybody Seen Hizzoner?” in the column title (“Hizzoner” being a common phonetic rendition of “his honor” and meant to mean Mr. Dellums) is a reference to an earlier conclusion, reached by several local newspapers, that because Mr. Dellums had “disappeared” from public view in the early months of this year following his inauguration, the new mayor was not doing much of anything. As you remember, last April, in a posting on the Express blog, Mr. Thompson himself wrote that “[a]pparently, Ron Dellums can sleep on the job for more than three months, create task forces to conduct secret meetings but do nothing more than draft toothless position papers, and generally piss away his time in office.” 

You will have to read Mr. Thompson’s latest column yourself to get its full flavor and his complete reasoning, which often appears to contradict its own self, but several points stand out. The first is when Mr. Thompson asks the question “But when, exactly, will the new mayor do something significant?” The second is what Mr. Thompson concludes is what he calls a “pattern” that he hasn’t done anything “significant”: “In his first five months,” he writes, “the mayor has offered next to nothing in terms of action or even a specific vision.” Mr. Thompson “backs up” his old assertion that Mr. Dellums is off-the-job by the somewhat convenient use of anonymous sources who are supposedly afraid to speaking against Mr. Dellums in public, writing that Mr. Dellums is "’absentee,’ said one City Hall source. ‘He’s not spending time in City Hall, not talking to councilmembers. ... I don’t see any work being done.’ Another source snorted, ‘Mayor who? I mean, where is he?’” Do these anonymous people actually exist? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Only Mr. Thompson knows. 

However, the theme of the absent Mr. Dellums is echoed by someone calling himself “Tab,” who responds online to Mr. Thompson’s column by writing “With Ron himself rarely on site, there’s a vacuum on nearly every issue.” And Mr. Thompson himself concludes that “Dellums has offered no original thinking, no new programs, no new directions. … If he keeps it up, Oakland is in for a long four years.” 

Some light in the midst of all of this heat. 

Is Mr. Dellums an “absentee” mayor, “rarely on site?” Nowhere have I seen anyone back up this assertion with facts on Mr. Dellums’ actual schedule, nor, for that matter, has anyone made a case for why it should matter if Mr. Dellums were actually spending a lot of his time in the early days of his administration away from his office. Further, with both a chief of staff and a city administrator in place to take care of the actual running of city business, I don’t think what Oakland voters elected Mr. Dellums to do last summer was to sit behind his desk at City Hall. 

But that, in fact, is one of the problems in judging the success or lack of success in the Dellums administration. What exactly was it that Oakland voters elected Mr. Dellums to do? 

The mayor actually made very few specific policy promises during last year’s campaign, instead invoking broad themes that generally spoke of changing the city’s atmosphere and turning the city around. It was good politics, since it drew in a broader coalition of voters who admired Mr. Dellums from his years as Congressional representative, and were looking for a break with and a change from the Jerry Brown years. It also gives Mr. Dellums a freer hand, now, to pick and choose some specific things to do in these first months. 

But if it is true, as Mr. Thompson asserts, that Mr. Dellums has “offered next to nothing in terms of action or even a specific vision” in his first five months in office, should that worry us? I wouldn’t think so. 

I have long felt that it is the second year of a four-year, first-term administration that is the most critical in making accomplishments, whether it be in the office of a president, a governor, or a city mayor. The first year is usually spent in getting a handle on the bureaucracy, massaging the budget, and putting plans in place. The second year is the time for initiating major projects, the effects of which usually only begin to become apparent by the end of the third year and the beginning of the fourth. 

If that is the case, five months into its first year, it would seem to be too soon to judge the success or failure of a Dellums administration that is still working out what its major policy initiatives will be. That will probably only become apparent, one way or the other, by the end of next winter. 

But for those who voted for a change from the Jerry Brown years, the differences in the two administrations have already proven to be stark. I give just one recent example. 

Last week, the Ad Hoc Committee for Return of Local Control to the Oakland Public Schools held a forum on the state school takeover and school closures at the OUSD headquarters. Mr. Dellums was one of the panelists. He sat on the stage through several hours of citizen testimony, listening, apparently patiently, as the long line of citizens came to the microphone to give their complaints about the situation in the public schools. In a similar situation, Jerry Brown would have made an early statement and then quickly ducked out the door, holding a de facto press conference in the lobby while the meeting was still going on, so that if you watched the news that evening, you’d think he was the star of the show even though he was long gone while the show was still going on. But Mr. Dellums stayed until the very end, and when the testimony was finished, gave brief remarks that referenced several speaker comments, showing that he had, indeed, been listening. Afterwards, with tired staff members waiting, Mr. Dellums spent another 20 minutes or so in the hallway, talking individually, one by one, with several citizens who approached him on his way out. They were still talking when I left. 

If any of those citizens felt that their new mayor was “absent,” none of them mentioned it. And to them, I’m sure, this was something significant: that they have a mayor who long after the election is still paying attention to them.


About the House: Some Thoughts on Bathroom Remodeling

By Matt Cantor
Friday June 08, 2007

I just love aphorisms. They’re so … so … one-size-fits-all. No bother with versatility or adjustment for circumstances, just “Time and Tides wait for no man” (but they do wait for women as we all know), “Cast not your pearls before swine” (I like the idea of “casting for swine” although it may not be the right season for swine and I think you need a second set of tackle). “Never throw good money after bad” (now which was the bad money? Let me think). Actually, I think I can say something about the last one. 

When I think of throwing good money after bad, I think of bathroom remodels and specifically of those that I’ve seen over the years in which a select group of repairs were made by in accord with the items seem in a pest report. Now, I have a lot of respect for the folks in the pest control business and some of our local pest guys are quite skilled but even they will generally agree with the argument I’m going to make, so let’s not make this about them when, as usually, it’s really about ME. 

Bath remodels are all too often a “reaction” to one or several specific failings in the bath. Usually, water has gotten into framing from any of several joints in the finishes. Let’s run them down. The first is the shower shell. This may involve a tub (most commonly) but can be just a shower. This most often involves ceramic tile, but can involve any of a wide range of alternative finishes such as cast polymer panels, hardboard or plastic. 

For each of these finishes, there are layers which are built up in the installation. There is also quite a spectrum of quality in these installations that will affect their longevity and their vulnerability to moisture intrusion. Tile is the worst, in many ways because of the many joints involved and the many common misconceptions regarding acceptable installation among installers (including highly paid professionals). That said, tile can absolutely be well installed and last for decades without failure if good practices are observed. It’s also my personal favorite so don’t get me wrong when I seem to be picking on tile. 

Tile needs to be installed over a solid backing so there is almost no potential for flexion on the surface. The materials behind need to have some tolerance for moisture themselves since grout does tend to hold and transmit moisture to some extent and everything leaks, at least a little, over time. This is why sheetrock (AKA drywall) is not rated for tile installation. We tried this a couple of decades ago with a special “marine” grade (or green) sheetrock and almost no municipality will now allow it. The paper surface would eventually get wet through the grout or the edge of the tile and the paper would get all icky and fall apart (that’s the technical terminology) taking the tile with it. 

Tile needs to be affixed to a cementitious or other water retardant substrate to stay in place for more than a decade (though I’ve seen bad jobs fail much sooner than that). 

Also, the substrates need to be “papered” or “flashed” so that water that might penetrate these substrates can leak down into the pan of the shower or the tub (most of which have a lip at the edge for just this purpose). This is sometime referred to as a “belt & suspenders” approach. If one thing fails, another acts as backup. When dealing with water, you might want a belt, suspenders and a wetsuit. You just can’t assemble these systems carefully enough. 

I don’t want to get too bogged down with the details here but the point is that putting a bathroom together involves many layers that integrate together in a complex assembly. This is one very good reason never to do a PART of a bathroom remodel. It’s the same with roofs. It’s a bad idea or part of a roof because you violate the principle of layering involved in proper assembly. 

Also, there are both the financial and the design aspects to consider. Economies of scale dictate that one should do a large enough job to take advantage of the benefits that come with adequate scale. The smaller the job, the more expensive it becomes. This is true with many things but, boy, let me tell you. It’s way true with construction. It is nearly always more economical to “gut” a bathroom to the studs than to try to do it by half measures.  

This necessitates that you care, at least a little, about the quality of the bath as a whole, but nearly everyone likes a nice bathroom. When you do the entire bath you can easily expose all the damage that may have occurred over time, such as fungal decay (rot) caused by moisture finding its way under the flooring over behind the shower enclosure. When you’ve exposed everything in this way, it’s quite easy to remove and replace a few sticks of wood or a plywood floor. What seems as though it might be quite daunting is actually quite easy when you can easily reach it all.  

Once you’ve replaced the damaged wood and exposed the rest to the drying air, you can easily install new pipes and wires. Again, everything is open. This is where things get really good. You now have the chance to do a number of things that would almost certainly not get tackled if you simply “cleared” the pest report or fixed the one thing that the plumber or tile person has pointed out. Now you can look at the proximity of fixture. Many older baths lack a nice comfy spaces around the toilet. Try for a 30” space, side to side, with the toilet centered. Also, see if you can get 21” in front of the toilet. With the sink try for a similar standing space. See if you can get a shower to be at least 30” by 30”.  

If you have a sloped wall on one side of the bath, try a “test fit” so you know that you won’t bump your head when you shower or approach the toilet. City inspectors vary in their leniency on these last matters. Most are somewhat forgiving of a slope or bump as long as the primary clearances remain healthy. 

Changing a sink cabinet to a pedestal may give you the room you need but consider where the storage will go. A cabinet over a toilet might be the answer. An open set of shelves can hold rolled towels. 

Think about light and air. Every bath needs ventilation and good airflow can literally mean the difference between replacing tile in 10 years or 30 year (No joke). Allowing things to constantly dry out is key in a bath. Despite the value of windows (and I suggest keeping them out of the shower if you can manage), I heartily endorse the use of vent fans. Cheap fans aren’t worth the money saved (they start around 30 bucks) but a really great fan may move 3 times as much air while actually being quieter. The Panasonic fans (which start around 70) are pretty great but better than these are the in-line fans that hide in the attic or some other hidden recess of the house while a 3” duct connects to the ceiling or wall of the bath using a cute little trim-plate (these start around 160). This makes them even quieter (because the fan is further away) and eliminates a foot-square THING on the wall or ceiling (for we aesthetes). By the way, when you put in your fan, how about a timer so the thing gets turned off after a while. Electronic timers are really cool and don’t cost much. 

Now, let’s talk about heat. It’s nice to get out of the bath and put your feet on a warm floor. When remodeling, it’s easy to add a small electric wall heater and it may also be a simple matter to run a small duct from your existing heating system (talk to your HVAC gal (that’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning)). If you want to go wild, try one of the new radiant heating pads that mount under the tile. The materials cost for a bath are probably under $700 for a bath and your GC should be able to manage the rest. This is one where careful consideration for the manufacturer’s guidelines is a must.  

A ceiling mounted heater makes less sense and I don’t care at all for heating bulbs over my head. Makes me feel like the meatloaf special waiting to be taken to table 12. 

As with fans, a timer on heaters is strongly advised and costs only a little. Actually both of these are designed to save you money. 

When you rehab, you can also ask yourself bigger questions such as “Do I really want a bathtub?” Many folks (once the kids are older) prefer a big shower that they can just step into. This is also better for those of limited mobility, where stepping over the tub gets to be tough. I for one, love a big shower. 

Be sure to replace ALL the piping in the bath when you rehab. There’s nothing more likely to make you bang your head against the wall than to realize that you have to tear out your 1 year old tiled shower because the pipes have begun to leak. If you want to leave the old pipes in the crawlspace for a while, that’s O.K., You can get to them later. 

So the message is, don’t hold back. The savings on a partial bath (fixing the bad floor and shower tile the pest guy found) just isn’t that great and the cost of getting a groovy bathing environment can be a few grand more. This may not lead to Godliness but if you do it right, it’s close enough. 

 

Got a question about home repairs and inspections? Send them to Matt Cantor, in care of East Bay Real Estate, at realestate@berkeleydailyplanet.com.


Garden Variety: House and Garden Wares Worth A Look in West Berkeley

By Ron Sullivan
Friday June 08, 2007

When we’re in the Fourth Street shopomania neighborhood we’re usually on the way to buying groceries for Shep the snake, though if we get a parking space we might go see if Cody’s still exists, or stop for lunch at Tacubaya. So it’s no surprise I missed Eastern Classics while the store was nearby, and had go read the little A-frame signboard on the corner to see where the enterprise had gone. 

That sign promised garden as well home stuff, so I warped on over to Camellia Street near REI and the Nomadic Traders seasonal shop and, mirabile dictu, found a space right in front of the door. I think of such events as signs from the Goddess Asphalta.  

I parked next to an interesting antiquish device that resembled a cross between wheelbarrow and hobbyhorse and bore the store’s banner. (I still don’t know what it is.) 

The shop itself is small but not cramped and the garden stuff is right up front: mostly carved lanterns—real carved stone, not cement—and small fountains. Most intriguing of these were a couple of art-glazed ceramic jugs maybe two feet tall; there’s a photo of one such on the company website, but it doesn’t do it justice.  

Most of Eastern Classics’ stock is tansu, and most of those are goodlooking, reasonably-priced reproductions. The Yin family has a workshop in China where items are made, their info says, singly by hand and (optionally) to order. If you like tansu, go take a look. 

Lots of noren, too, long ones in interesting fabrics; a few clothing items in that great folk indigo that Japanese craftspeople wear; lamps, lanterns, baskets and bowls for interior use. Pretty stuff.  

What really made my sox roll up and down was the set of burlwood furniture—chair and loveseat—back in a corner. Manager Jay Yin told me these were a traditional craft item from Fujien Province in China.  

They’re carved and polished from massive burls of, Yin said, maple or fir with back and side outlines following the curl of the grain. They look like frozen auburn waves breaking on rocks.  

These are strictly for interior use, though they’d look great in a very simple garden courtyard of the raked-gravel and one-tree variety.  

They also look very comfortable; I was schlepping too much to give one a test drive or I might have sold all I hath and bought it. It’s worth dropping by just to see them.  

I’ve always liked the habit of bringing the outside indoors, as the Japanese and others do. The Roman Latin word “impluvium” might be the best word in any language. It describes a central courtyard pool into which rain (pluvia) falls. In a civilized society, every dwelling would have one—or at least a room that’s also a garden.  

 

 

Eastern Classics 

1001 Camellia Street, Berkeley 

(510) 526-1241 

Saturday & Sunday 11 a.m.—5 p.m. 

Weekdays by appointment.  

Jay Yin: “I’m usually here, but people should call first to be sure.” 

 

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.


Green Neighbors: Elderberry Tree Stands in the Margins

By Ron Sullivan
Tuesday June 05, 2007

Elderberry is a bit more a tree than last column’s rose is, but we usually see it as a shrub: multi-trunked, relatively small. But the wonderful natural history writer Donald Culross Peattie called it a tree, and I’ve seen western pewee and other tree-nesting birds make themselves homes in tall specimens; that’s good enough for me.  

Sometimes I have to stand back and look again to identify the little tree in front of me as an elderberry, if it’s (typically) in a tangle of oak and California bay and poison oak. The leaf shape, that feathery compound, is diagnostic. So, even in winter, is the arching fountain form of the whole individual, even when it’s being elbowed by more forceful neighbors.  

One odd thing about elderberries is the contradictory data about them. I’ve heard that they’re toxic; that just the red ones are toxic; that they’re delicious and by the way, here are five recipes for them; that either the red or the blue are toxic to everyone or toxic to only certain people, either always (especially the red ones) or only when raw; that the unripe blue ones are toxic; that only the blue ones are traditional food; that the red ones are traditional food too; that the leaves, stems, and other plant parts are toxic and “children have been made ill by using the stems as peashooters”; that aboriginal Californians have traditionally used the stems for flutes. That it’s poisonous and that it’s good for what ails you; that it’ll give you a bellyache and that it’ll cure a bellyache. 

I suppose what’s going on is that some people are susceptible in various ways to a compound in the plant—apparently there are plenty of suspects, like some lectins. (Lectins are proteins; they’re various, ubiquitous, and often poorly understood.) Whatever causes the problem, it can be neutralized by drying or cooking, so elderberry flowers for tea and elderberries for pie are often dried and then reconstituted before use. Those kids being poisoned by their peashooters would be better off if they dried the sticks before using them—which is what the Miwok do for their flutes.  

These traditional flutes are made from elderberry twigs chosen for their size, already hollow, or pithy and easy to hollow out. Flutemakers cut them green and let them dry; one writer says they used to bore fingerholes by touching hot coals to the sticks at random intervals, so no two flutes had the same scale. If true, that would make for some interesting compositions. Californians traditionally make clappersticks out of elderberry branches too. With both the wind and the rhythm sections accounted for, some people call it the music tree. For all these and for arrow shafts, elderberry plants are coppiced to produce straight stems.  

There’s a Miwok legend that, back in the days before the sun shone everywhere, only the Valley people had fire, and the Mountain people wanted some too. Robin guarded fire in the Valley roundhouse, and Coyote went out searching but couldn’t find it. White-footed Mouse figured out where it was, and sat down at a gathering in that roundhouse (either with just the Valley people or with the visiting Mountain people too, depending on who’s telling) and played his elder-twig flute till everyone was lulled to sleep. Then he hid some of the fire inside the flute, and after more adventures and a merry chase, brought it to the mountains, where it was tucked under a layer of leaves. When Coyote lifted the leaves to find the fire, most of it shot into the sky and became the sun. Some was left behind, and the people put that into the buckeye and the incense cedar, where now anyone can find it.  

Elderberry does occupy that margin between wild and garden, forest and field. Peattie in his Natural History of Western Trees calls it “a ruderal little tree”; that is, a plant that grows on “waste ground.” That’s a loaded term, but it just means disturbed areas; you often see wild elders on road margins—their white flowerheads light up mile after mile of highway in Florida—and along trails, a sort of forest doorkeeper.  

That’s an appropriate position for elderberry in a garden, too; you’d want it between your beds and whatever boundary of big trees you have. Ask your elder relatives for pie, tea, and fritter recipes, or try Carolyn Niethammer’s book American Indian Cooking. Share the berries with the birds, and you might even get a flock of waxwings to visit.  

 

 

Photograph by Ron Sullivan. 

This elderberry has grown to tree size in an unusually isolated spot in Sibley park.


Arts & Events

Arts Calendar

Friday June 08, 2007

FRIDAY, JUNE 8 

THEATER 

Altarena Playhouse “The Last Five Years” Fri and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at 1409 High St., Alameda, through June 10. Tickets are $17-$20. 523-1553. www.altarena.org 

Berkeley Rep “Oliver Twist” at 8 p.m. at the Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. through June 24. Tickets are $45-$61. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org  

Berkeley Rep “Great Men of Genius” with Mike Daisy in four different monologues at 2025 Addison St. through June 30. Tickets are $30-$75. 647-2949. 

California Shakespeare Theater “Richard III” at the Bruns Ampitheater, 100 Gateway Blvd., Orinda, through June 24. Tickets are $15-$60. 548-9666. www.calshakes.org 

“Colorstruck” Donald Lacey’s one-man show at 8 p.m., Sun. at 7 p.m. at Laney College Theater, 900 Fallon St., Oakland, through June 15. Tickets are $10-$20. 663-5683.  

Masquers Playhouse “Ring Round the Moon” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at 105 Park Place, Point Richmond, through July 14. Tickets are $15. 232-4031.  

Shotgun Players “The Cryptogram” Thurs.-Sun. at 8 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., through June 17. Tickets are $17-$25. For reservations call 841-6500.  

Travelling Jewish Theater “Death of a Salesman” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave., through June 10. Tickets are $15-$44. 1-800-838-3006. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Lush Life” A group show by 15 artists whose work celebrates the garden. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. Exhibit runs through July 8. 843-2527. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Jason Roberts reads from “A Sense of the World” at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Cameron Stracher describes “Dinner with Dad: How I Found My Way Back to the Family Table” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500.  

Rafaella Del Bourgo, Rose Black, Gayle Eleanor read their poetry at 7 p.m. at Nefeli Caffe, 1854 Euclid Ave. at Hearst. 841-6374. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley High Jazz Ensemble, Lab Bands and Combos at 7 p.m. at the Florence Schwimley Little Theater, Berkeley High Campus. Tickets are $3-$10. 

Berkeley Edge Fest “The Music of Frederic Rzewski” with Frederic Rzewski and Ursula Oppens, piano, at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu/presents/season/2006/edgefest/ 

Clerestory “In the Midst of Life” Men’s octect performs music by Purcell, Elgar and Tavener at 8 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Bancroft Way at Ellsworth. Tickets are $8-$10. www.clerestory.org 

Susie Davis, TapWater at 5:30 p.m. at Park Place at Washington Ave., Point Richmond. Free. www.pointrichmond.com/prmusic/ 

Bay Area Classical Harmonies at 8 p.m. Arlington Community Church, 52 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Tickets are $15, children $5. 526-9146. 

Hanif & The Sound Voyagers at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ.  

Donny Dread, Ancient King, Xcaliba and Nubian Natty, reggae, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  

Darol Anger & the Republic of Strings at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761.  

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

The Bleu Canadians, The Phenomes, Bob Wiseman at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082.  

Ninja Academy, Walken at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

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

5 Days Dirty, Round Three Fight, Traces of Reason at 8:30 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $10. 763-1146.  

Nora Whittaker Band & Macabea at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 644-2204.  

San Pablo Project at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Chrome with Helios Creed, Triclops, progressive rock, at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $10-$12. 451-8100.  

SATURDAY, JUNE 9 

CHILDREN  

Los Amiguitos de La Peña ¡Vamos A Cantar! with Jose Luis Orozco at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568.  

Flute Sweets and Tickletoons “Little Kids Little Songs” at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720. 

ALICE, Arts and Literacy in Children’s Education with Congolese Dance, Ballet Folklorico and trapeze arts at 7:30 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave. Donation $25. RSVP to 482-0415.  

Bookpals Storytelling at 11:30 a.m. at Children’s Fairyland, at 699 Bellvue Ave., Oakland. 452-2259. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Self as Superhero” ArtEsteem’s annual exhibition at 3 p.m. at ASA Academy and Community Science Center, 2811 Adeline St., at 28th St., Oakland. 652-5530.  

“Animals, Sea Creatures and Animation” Paintings, sculpture, digital and fiber art and more, in a benefit for Hopalong Animal Rescue. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Expressions Gallery, 2053 Ashby Ave. 644-4930.  

“One Thousand Words: New Paintings by Mary Younkin” Artist reception at 6 p.m. at Luka’s Taproom & Lounge, 2221 Broadway at Grand, Oakland. 451-4677.  

East Bay Open Studios Sat. and Sun. at various studios around the East Bay. For maps see www.proartsgallery.org 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley “A Dream Play” Sat. and Sun. at 3 p.m. on the lawn in front of Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Wlnut St. at Berryman, through July 1. 841-5580.  

FILM 

“Under a Shipwrecked Moon” by Antero Alli, at 8 p.m. at Kaleva Hall, 1970 Chestnut St. Cost is $5-$10. 464-4640.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Berkeley Edge Fest Composer Interviews with Sarah Cahill, Frederic Rzewski and Ursula Oppens at 2 p.m. at 125 Morrison Hall, UC Campus. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu/presents/season/2006/edgefest/ 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Mozart for Mutts and Meows Midsummer Mozart Festival fundraiser for Berkeley Humane Society at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club. 845-7735, ext. 19. 

Berkeley Edge Fest “The Tyrant” composed by Paul Dresher, John Duykers, tenor, at 8 p.m. at the Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Campus. Tickets are $36. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu/presents/season/2006/edgefest/ 

Matthew Owens, cellist and poet, will perform his new works at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St., Live Oak Park. Cost is $10. 644-6893.  

Keith Doelling, double bass, at 4 p.m. at Crowden School, 1475 Rose St. 

Slavyanka Men’s Russian Chorus at 7:30 p.m. at First Unitarian Church of Oakland, 685 14th St., Oakland. Tickets are $16-$20. www.slavyanka.org 

Na Leo Nahenahe Summer Concert at 2 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $15.00 at the door, children 12 and under are free. 

Passamezzo Moderno “Venice and Vienna in the Early 17th Century” at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864.  

The Sacred Jazz Symposium: Exploring Spirituality in the Music at 2 p.m. at The Black New World and Pleasure Club, 836 Pine St., Oakland. Tickets are $10-$20, no one turned away. Sankofacc@earthlink.net 

La Peña’s 37th Anniversary and Open House at 6 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $22-$24. 849-2568.  

Brazzissimo! at 8 p.m. at Piedmont High School Auditorium, 800 Magnolia Ave., Piedmont. Tickets are $5-$10. www.brazzissimo.com  

Gateswingers Jazz Band at 8 p.m. at Central Perk, 10086 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito. 558-7375. 

The Ravines at noon at Cafe Zeste, 1250 Addison St. at Bona. 704-9378. 

Ellen Robinson and her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ.  

Pellejo Seco, Luis Valverde, and Ekobios, rhumba cubana, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15. 525-5054.  

Katherine Peck and Michael Burles at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Mucho Axe at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Robin Flower & Libby McLaren at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761.  

Meshugga Beach Party, The El Dorados, The TomorrowMen at 8:30 at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $10. 848-0886.  

Sheila Jordan “Jazz: A Life’s Work” at 8 p.m. at the Jazz 

school. Cost is $20. 845-5373.  

Draggin’ Suzy, Sorrow Town Choir, The Backorders at 9 p.m. at The Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph, Oakland. 

Don Burnham & Friends at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 558-0881. 

Diego’s Umbrella, Tippy Canoe & the Paddlemen at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082.  

Insaints, Fabulous Disaster in a benefit for A Safe Place Shelter, at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6-$10. 525-9926. 

Varukers, Scarred for Life at 7 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $10. 763-1146. 

SUNDAY, JUNE 10 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Photographs of China and Mongolia” by Berkeley photographer Caroline Johnson. Reception at 1 p.m. at The LightRoom, 2263 Fifth St. 649-8111. www.lightroom.com 

Paintings by Michael Adkins Opening reception at 4 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

The Jersey Boys cast will discuss the musical based on Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons at 11 a.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Khaled Hosseini introduces his new novel, “A Thousand Splendid Guns” at 7 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Ticekts are $12-$40. 559-9500. 

Architecture Tour of the Oakland Museum of California at 1 p.m. at the koi pond, first level, Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak at 10th St., Oakland. 238-2200. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Junteenth Freedom Mass with the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir at 10 a.m. at St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church, 7900 Mountain Blvd., Oakland. www.stcuthbertsoakland.org 

Berkeley Edge Fest “The Music of Frederic Rzewski” with Frederic Rzewski and Ursula Oppens, piano, William Winant and Ben Paysen, percussion, at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu/presents/season/2006/edgefest 

Chamber Music Sundaes with San Francisco Symphony musicians and friends, and featuring Tio Navarro at 3 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $18-$22. 415-753-2792.  

Young People’s Symphony Orchestra Pops Concert at 2 p.m. at Greek Orthodox Church of the Ascension, 4700 Lincoln Ave., Oakland. Cost is $10-$15. 849-9776. 

Soul at the Chimes with Promise, Called Out and the East Bay Church Men’s Chorus at 2 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $20-$25. 464-3086.  

Talking Wood CD Release Party at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ.  

Jacob Wolkenhsuer at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Americana Unplugged: Donner Mountain Bluegrass Band Reunion at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

BandWorks Concert, with kids, teens and adult rock bands, from 1:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $5. 525-5054. 

Piano Trio Summit with Dick Hindman, Joe Gilman and Mark Levine at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazz 

school. Cost is $18. 845-5373.  

Have Heart, Allegiance, Soul Control, Turn it Around at 5 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

Damnweevil, Walken at 6 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $6. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

Jessica Williams Trio at 7 and 9 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $14-$24. 238-9200.  

MONDAY, JUNE 11 

EXHIBITIONS 

“A Buddhist Pilgrimage to China” Photographs by Zohra Kalinkowitz on display at Studio Rasa, 933 Parker St., Studio 38, to Aug. 15. 843-2787. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Martin Cruz Smith reads from his new suspense novel, “Stalin’s Ghost” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Katherine Hastings and Ed Coletti at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Poetry Express with Bucky Sinister at 7 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. 644-3977. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“Russian Evening of Songs” with Maria Mikheyenko, soprano and Dmitri Anissimov, tenor, at 7 p.m. at Le Bateau Ivre, 2629 Telegraph Ave. 849-1100. 

Classical at the Freight New Esterhazy String Quartet at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50 -$18.50. 548-1761.  

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

Blue Monday Jam at 7:30 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100. w 

Dayna Stephens at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. 

TUESDAY, JUNE 12 

CHILDREN 

“The Adventures of Spider and Fly” a puppet show by P & T Puppet Theater for ages 3 and up at 6:30 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. Free. 524-3043. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Rising Sun: A Bridge to Japan” American art influenced and inspired by Japan and its arts at Alta Bates Medical Center Gallery, 2450 Ashby Ave., through Aug. 23. 204-4444. 

“Poetics of Space” Intaglio prints by Seiko Tachibana opens at the Cecile Moochnek Gallery, 1809-D Fourth St. and runs through July 1. 549-1018. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Shannon Hale reads from “Austenland” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Gator Beat 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. Cost is $6. 841-JAZZ.  

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

Octobop at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200.  

Jazzschool Tuesdays at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Tony Wheeler, founder of Lonely Planet, reads from “Unlikely Destinations” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 559-9500. 

Nomadic Rambles, storytelling at 7 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

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

BandWorks Concert at 7:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $5. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

The Flux at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

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

Bill Bell at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200.  

THURSDAY, JUNE 14 

THEATER 

“Colorstruck” Donald Lacey’s one-man show Thurs. and Fri. at 8 p.m. at Laney College Theater, 900 Fallon St., Oakland. Tickets are $10-$20. 663-5683.  

“Pagbabalik” (Return) A multidisciplinary theater production by Aimee Suzara at 7:30 p.m., Sat. and Sun. at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Tickets are $10-$15. 849-2568, ext. 20. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Residency Projects, Part I” Kala Fellowship Artists Talk with Freddy Chandra and Su-Chen Hung at 7 p.m. at Kala Art Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. Exhibition runs to June 30. 549-2977.  

“Painting to Live: Art from Okinawa’s Nishimui Artist Society: 1948-1950” Opening reception at 4 p.m. at the IEAS Conference Room, 6th flr, 2223 Fulton St. 642-2809. 

“A Buddhist Pilgrimage to China” Photographs by Zohra Kalinkowitz. Conversation with the artist at 7 p.m. at Studio Rasa, 933 Parker St., Studio 38. 843-2787. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Michael Ondaatje reads from “Divasadero” in a benefit for Poetry Flash at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. donation $10. 559-9500. 

Clifford Chase reads from “Winkie” at 7 p.m. at Revolution Books, 2425 Channing Way. 848-1196. 

Heidi Swanson describes “Super Natural Cooking: Five Ways to Incorporate Whole & Natural Ingredients into Your Cooking” at 7:30 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

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

The Very Hot Club at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $9. 841-JAZZ.  

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

Kally Price Combo, Myles Boisen’s Past-Present-Future, Kim Vermillion at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082. 

Terence Blanchard at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$22. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Unholy, Apiary, Year of Desolation, heavy metal at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is 10-$12. 451-8100.  

Selector: Karmacoda at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

 

 

 


Arts and Entertainment Around the East Bay

Friday June 08, 2007

PHOTOS OF MONGOLIA 

AT THE LIGHTROOM 

 

Photographer Caroline Johnson is showing giclée prints of her trip to Mongolia last year at the Lightroom. The show will be in the gallery through July 13, with an opening reception this Sunday, June 10, from 1-5 p.m. 2263 Fifth St. For more information, call 649-8111 or see www.lightroom.com. 

 

‘AN AMERICAN IN PARIS’ 

AT CERRITO THEATER 

 

Gene Kelly is best remembered as the lovestruck man who splashed about in Singin’ in the Rain, widely considered the greatest of movie musicals. But his previous film, An American in Paris, playing this weekend at the Cerrito Theater, earned him the greatest acclaim during his career, including a unique Academy Award for overall achievment for 1951. The movie contains some of the highlights of Kelly’s work as a dancer and choreographer: his light-hearted rendition of “I Got Rhythm,” accompanied by a covey of Parisian schoolchildren; his machine-gun tap dance to “Tra La La,” much of it atop Oscar Levant’s piano; and of course, the show-stopping 16-minute ballet fantasy sequence. Though this segment might seem dated and indulgent to modern audiences unfamiliar with the great musicals of the 1940s and ’50s, it was a groundbreaking innovation. Kelly first experimented with it in On The Town (1949) and would revisit in the following year in Singin’ in the Rain (1952), but the American in Paris ballet is the fullest expression of Kelly’s interest in exploiting the unique qualities of cinema in the presentation of dance, while still managing to resolve plot points, develop character, and move the narrative forward. The film shows at 6 p.m. Saturday and at 5 p.m. Sunday. 10070 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito.  

www.picturepubpizza.com.


The Theater: Actors Ensemble Stages ‘A Dream Play’

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Friday June 08, 2007

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley has taken on an ambitious project—Strindberg’s shape-shifting A Dream Play as a site-specific performance, in and around the Berkeley Art Center in Live Oak Park, played during afternoons over the next few weekends. And admission is free. 

The production features 11 actors as 32 different characters at 10 locations, inside and out. Director David Stein, who adapted Strindberg’s text, written at the turn of the 20th century, talked about the genesis and progress of this unusual project: “I’ve been chewing on this for the last four years. I did Phaedra with Subterranean Shakespeare, and that introduced me to the Art Center. I was captivated by the architecture, the settings, walking around the creek, with all the evergreens, the cypress making strange bends—all very ethereal.” 

A copy of the play surfaced at a garage sale, at the same time that a production of it in another area was reviewed in a magazine. “I thought it was perfect for a site-specific staging, with its sudden scene changes and its many possible interpretations.” 

Stein spoke of the play’s “great story, about a child of the gods who comes to earth for the first time, and sees humanity for what it is, all the ugliness and hypocrisy, but also love and kindness.” 

He worked over the text, “paring it down to 14 scenes, distilling it to the essence. The original has 50 different characters! We try to refer to them, and to much of what was cut. There were so many stage directions, heavy props ... the daughter of the gods coming down through the clouds from out of the sky! When I first looked at it, with its moving walls and mountains growing, I thought, how do we get from one scene to the next? But I took out the stage directions, and said, ‘We can get there.’” 

The Actors Ensemble version uses only minimal sets and just a few props. “We put our budget into the costumes,” said Stein, “and they’re gorgeous, very bright, in Hindu style. Our designer, Helen Slomowitz, did a great job.” 

On his philosophy of taking the action off one stage and around the building, across a landscape, Stein says, “This is only the second time we’ve done Strindberg, and the second time we’ve done an outdoor show. The first was Euripides’ The Bacchae, which I directed in ’03 at John Hinckle Park. I liked it at Hinckle. I like having the audience in the middle, like overhearing something happening nearby, an argument next to you, and you want to know what’s going on. When it’s outdoors, versus in a theater, you can follow along to the next site—or, if you want to, you can wander off. Everyone gets a map on the back of the program, so they can stroll away and come back to the next scene, or the one after.” 

Asked about the meaning of it all, Stein reflected, “What’s the play about, how to sum it up? The plot’s Expressionistic, almost like a painting. The more we rehearsed, the more we picked up the connections. Like the characters are oftentimes the same. Agnes [the earthly name of the child of the gods] keeps repeating, ‘We are poor souls, all of us!’ But it’s not all gloom and doom. All the moments ring true—and often you just have to chuckle. It applies to everybody, and is really timely—perfect for what the world is going through right now.” 

 

A DREAM PLAY 

Presented by Actors Ensemble of Berkeley at 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through July 1 on the lawn in front of the Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. Free. 841-5600. www.aeofberkeley.org.


The Theater: A New Take on Dickens’ ‘Oliver Twist’

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Friday June 08, 2007

By KEN BULLOCK 

Special to the Planet 

 

“Please, sir ...” It seems that almost everybody knows that Oliver wants some more, as Dickens’ great book of the London slums has been sentimentalized and staged and filmed, just as his Christmas Carol finds its way into countless theatrical venues every holiday season. But there have been few enough adaptations of the novelist’s creations that have served up the sensibilities of Dickensian genius—much less what’s actually there, in the stories themselves—as well as the innovative, theatrically satisfying version of Oliver Twist, as adapted by Neil Bartlett, with Gerard McBurney’s fitting music, produced in association with American Repertory Theatre and Theatre for a New Audience, onstage at Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theatre until June 24. 

Originally commissioned by the Lyric Hammersmith in London, Oliver Twist boasts a fine, very professional ensemble of 13 performers, who take on double duty as they switch seamlessly (or with great humor, as Gregory Drelian, the big, stubbly lug who becomes street thug Bill Sykes doubles in a bonnet as the smarmy mortician’s wife, Mrs. Sowerberry) from one persona to the next, following orphaned Oliver (Michael Wartella) in his indenture to the Sowerberrys and subsequent escape to London, where he’s discovered by the devious Artful Dodger (Carson Elrod, marvelously transforming himself from Narrator to the grotesque attitude of the Dodger in a twinkling), and led through the tortuous streets and alleys of London’s Chinese box puzzle of a plan, with the Dodger reeling out the place names Homerically, into the most degraded inner slums, where Oliver is shoehorned in among the other youngsters of Fagin’s troupe of pediatric pickpockets, the apple of his mentor’s eye, with “the face of an angel,” meaning more loot from their slippery business of street mayhem. 

Fagin is played by Ned Eisenberg in a stand-out performance, a grinning, overly amicable monster who can turn on a farthing into a vengeful demon. A self-parodying Jew, who in moments of terror resorts to Hebrew prayer, Eisenberg’s Fagin dances like a delicate marmoset on his toes when he sees Oliver come to visit him in prison—then, after failing at an escape with the boy in tow, he’s engulfed by the sheer stage darkness of his fate, a frightening, sobering moment straight from the book, as is Fagin’s first, torqued posture in custody, taken right from Cruikshank’s original caricatures of the novel’s personae. 

Bartlett, who expressed the wish to explore the many facets of narrative and dramatic means by which Dickens, himself an amateur player and professional raconteur, mounted his great stories, compounded of a reformer’s zeal and “that savage old English humor” (as T. S. Eliot described the last survival of the dark laughter from Elizabethan dramatists Marlowe and Middleton in this Victorian’s popular serial novels), manages to touch on that strange, volatile mixture with which Dickens could tell, with Shakespearean scope, of one world existing cheek-by-jowl, all-unknowing, with another. 

There’s a sense of almost cosmic finality when Oliver, recovered by the world of “The Quality,” stands oblivious in tableau with his long-lost, unknown relatives, as his former companions of the workhouse and the streets are propelled through narration into their bleak, ghastly fates—a kind of gut-wrenching schism between social castes that seems to rip apart the stage, with its excellent grimy decor, like a paper toy theater. 

There’s a contemporary taste for self-narrating theatricals, and the “word-for-word” kind of adaptation of texts performed verbatim, talked through onstage, could learn a good deal from Bartlett’s skillful use of Dickens’ essentially unmodified text, of speech rhythms transformed, through the physical theater practices of the talented performers, into stage rhythms, of each disparate element finding its appropriate expression in concert with the rest—and what could have been merely a tour-de-force turned into compelling theatrical art. It’s a true tribute to Dickens, whose great stature, influence and infectious humanity can be hinted at by the excitement conveyed by Henry James, so different a writer and artist, in memoirs penned late, of the great occasion of meeting the great Charles Dickens and the impression he made, at the start of a career of genius. 

 

OLIVER TWIST 

Through June 24 at Berkeley Rep, 2025 Addison St. $45-$61. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org. 

 

Photograph by Kevin Berne 

Michael Wartella and Carson Elrod star in a dark new take on Oliver Twist.


The Theater: Daisey Presents ‘Great Men of Genius’

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Friday June 08, 2007

“Brecht is a very challenging ‘Jeopardy’ question,” quipped a deadpan Mike Daisey at the start of the first in his series of four monologues, Great Men of Genius, at the Berkeley Rep thrust stage through July 1. 

Daisey’s tossed-off line sets the tone of an evening the Village Voice fittingly characterized as “like a coked-up History Channel biography.” 

Daisey presides, seated at a chair behind an old oblong wood table, with his pages of notes before him. There’s no other scenery, and Daisey doesn’t get up, except to exit at the end. A big man by his own admission—and frequent exploitation as material, like the picture he makes of himself doing the “Dead Man Float” in a rooftop swimming pool at a Hollywood hotel and the consternation that stirs it up—Daisy could be called ursine, amplifying the verbal action of his solo pieces with wide eyes that narrow, his large mouth, which even closed seems agape, and sweeping gestures with his hands. 

When he jokes about himself in one of his frequent, seemingly off-subject autobiographical digressions, such as ranting about “Freedom of speech! Freedom of Speech!” (”before I burned out on dialogue!”) in a caffeine-induced, quixotic, one-man freshman crusade (and subsequent damage-control, accusatory “informal talk group” that he’s escorted to from his dorm), it doesn’t take an act of imagination to see it. Daisey’s stories seem to be pretty strictly non-fiction, albeit with trimmings. 

His “lecture” on Brecht, first in a series which encompasses an unlikely gaggle that also includes showman P. T. Barnum, inventor Nicolai Tesla and science fiction writer-turned-Stalinoid of Dianetics, Scientology’s L. Ron Hubbard, goes from beginning to end of “B. B.’s” peripatetic existence, fleeing always one step ahead of the Nazi invasion, finally across the beleaguered Soviet Union, and aboard ship to “the most improbable of possible” safe havens, Hollywood, where his career as a screenwriter ends when he’s called before HUAC, to which he talks evasively, a plane ticket to Switzerland in his pocket, as he misses the New York opening of his play Galileo, starring Charles Laughton (and directed by Joseph Losey, replacing an oft-considered Orson Welles). 

The most touching and truest moment about Brecht comes up when Daisey describes the hurried productions of his political plays mounted during exile, that, although poorly attended, attract audiences of future resistance fighters, collaborators and the apolitical, who yet remember the communal sense of sitting together “for one moment ... in the crux of history, for a human conversation about what was happening in their times,” Brecht’s faith in theater (and poetry and song), and his testament to “those who will not live in dark times like these.” 

Otherwise, Daisey’s glib, playing fast and loose with his subject, banking shots off the sloppy myths about “alienation effect” and out-of-context speculations that constitute whatever’s popular knowledge of Brecht—a figure Daisey talks of from the start as hazy to most. Increasingly he rambles through his college days in retrospect, his student drama productions, meeting his wife and collaborator (director Jean-Michele Gregory), and their spat over his “sell-out” 40-minute, upbeat showcase performance of a previously 90-minute, darkly satirical piece for a Hollywood exec crowd, in hopes of getting cast. It’s his stock-in-trade, fusing the quick hits of the post-adolescent wiseguy with the reflective, sentimentally sarcastic nostalgia of the middle-aging college boy. 

His style will probably find more amicable company with less challenging, more boffo figures as Barnum and Hubbard. Nonetheless, judging from previous appearances in previous monologic outings, Daisey’s decision to focus on a figure other than his own, gradually edging out his subject with the backwash of his own subjectivity, dilutes his effectiveness as solo performer, garbling his formula of recounting autobiographical episodes, then digressing in whimsically amusing “asides” when he takes on a broader subject that surfaces from his personal musings. The technique’s flexibly plastic, but limited in range, more from contemporary stand-up or sketch comedy than “performance art,” or the tradition of the dramatic or literary raconteur. 

 

GREAT MEN OF GENIUS 

Through June 30 at Berkeley Rep, 2025 Addison St. $30-$75. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org. 

 

Photograph by Ursa Waz 

Mike Daisey in Great Men of Genius.


About the House: Some Thoughts on Bathroom Remodeling

By Matt Cantor
Friday June 08, 2007

I just love aphorisms. They’re so … so … one-size-fits-all. No bother with versatility or adjustment for circumstances, just “Time and Tides wait for no man” (but they do wait for women as we all know), “Cast not your pearls before swine” (I like the idea of “casting for swine” although it may not be the right season for swine and I think you need a second set of tackle). “Never throw good money after bad” (now which was the bad money? Let me think). Actually, I think I can say something about the last one. 

When I think of throwing good money after bad, I think of bathroom remodels and specifically of those that I’ve seen over the years in which a select group of repairs were made by in accord with the items seem in a pest report. Now, I have a lot of respect for the folks in the pest control business and some of our local pest guys are quite skilled but even they will generally agree with the argument I’m going to make, so let’s not make this about them when, as usually, it’s really about ME. 

Bath remodels are all too often a “reaction” to one or several specific failings in the bath. Usually, water has gotten into framing from any of several joints in the finishes. Let’s run them down. The first is the shower shell. This may involve a tub (most commonly) but can be just a shower. This most often involves ceramic tile, but can involve any of a wide range of alternative finishes such as cast polymer panels, hardboard or plastic. 

For each of these finishes, there are layers which are built up in the installation. There is also quite a spectrum of quality in these installations that will affect their longevity and their vulnerability to moisture intrusion. Tile is the worst, in many ways because of the many joints involved and the many common misconceptions regarding acceptable installation among installers (including highly paid professionals). That said, tile can absolutely be well installed and last for decades without failure if good practices are observed. It’s also my personal favorite so don’t get me wrong when I seem to be picking on tile. 

Tile needs to be installed over a solid backing so there is almost no potential for flexion on the surface. The materials behind need to have some tolerance for moisture themselves since grout does tend to hold and transmit moisture to some extent and everything leaks, at least a little, over time. This is why sheetrock (AKA drywall) is not rated for tile installation. We tried this a couple of decades ago with a special “marine” grade (or green) sheetrock and almost no municipality will now allow it. The paper surface would eventually get wet through the grout or the edge of the tile and the paper would get all icky and fall apart (that’s the technical terminology) taking the tile with it. 

Tile needs to be affixed to a cementitious or other water retardant substrate to stay in place for more than a decade (though I’ve seen bad jobs fail much sooner than that). 

Also, the substrates need to be “papered” or “flashed” so that water that might penetrate these substrates can leak down into the pan of the shower or the tub (most of which have a lip at the edge for just this purpose). This is sometime referred to as a “belt & suspenders” approach. If one thing fails, another acts as backup. When dealing with water, you might want a belt, suspenders and a wetsuit. You just can’t assemble these systems carefully enough. 

I don’t want to get too bogged down with the details here but the point is that putting a bathroom together involves many layers that integrate together in a complex assembly. This is one very good reason never to do a PART of a bathroom remodel. It’s the same with roofs. It’s a bad idea or part of a roof because you violate the principle of layering involved in proper assembly. 

Also, there are both the financial and the design aspects to consider. Economies of scale dictate that one should do a large enough job to take advantage of the benefits that come with adequate scale. The smaller the job, the more expensive it becomes. This is true with many things but, boy, let me tell you. It’s way true with construction. It is nearly always more economical to “gut” a bathroom to the studs than to try to do it by half measures.  

This necessitates that you care, at least a little, about the quality of the bath as a whole, but nearly everyone likes a nice bathroom. When you do the entire bath you can easily expose all the damage that may have occurred over time, such as fungal decay (rot) caused by moisture finding its way under the flooring over behind the shower enclosure. When you’ve exposed everything in this way, it’s quite easy to remove and replace a few sticks of wood or a plywood floor. What seems as though it might be quite daunting is actually quite easy when you can easily reach it all.  

Once you’ve replaced the damaged wood and exposed the rest to the drying air, you can easily install new pipes and wires. Again, everything is open. This is where things get really good. You now have the chance to do a number of things that would almost certainly not get tackled if you simply “cleared” the pest report or fixed the one thing that the plumber or tile person has pointed out. Now you can look at the proximity of fixture. Many older baths lack a nice comfy spaces around the toilet. Try for a 30” space, side to side, with the toilet centered. Also, see if you can get 21” in front of the toilet. With the sink try for a similar standing space. See if you can get a shower to be at least 30” by 30”.  

If you have a sloped wall on one side of the bath, try a “test fit” so you know that you won’t bump your head when you shower or approach the toilet. City inspectors vary in their leniency on these last matters. Most are somewhat forgiving of a slope or bump as long as the primary clearances remain healthy. 

Changing a sink cabinet to a pedestal may give you the room you need but consider where the storage will go. A cabinet over a toilet might be the answer. An open set of shelves can hold rolled towels. 

Think about light and air. Every bath needs ventilation and good airflow can literally mean the difference between replacing tile in 10 years or 30 year (No joke). Allowing things to constantly dry out is key in a bath. Despite the value of windows (and I suggest keeping them out of the shower if you can manage), I heartily endorse the use of vent fans. Cheap fans aren’t worth the money saved (they start around 30 bucks) but a really great fan may move 3 times as much air while actually being quieter. The Panasonic fans (which start around 70) are pretty great but better than these are the in-line fans that hide in the attic or some other hidden recess of the house while a 3” duct connects to the ceiling or wall of the bath using a cute little trim-plate (these start around 160). This makes them even quieter (because the fan is further away) and eliminates a foot-square THING on the wall or ceiling (for we aesthetes). By the way, when you put in your fan, how about a timer so the thing gets turned off after a while. Electronic timers are really cool and don’t cost much. 

Now, let’s talk about heat. It’s nice to get out of the bath and put your feet on a warm floor. When remodeling, it’s easy to add a small electric wall heater and it may also be a simple matter to run a small duct from your existing heating system (talk to your HVAC gal (that’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning)). If you want to go wild, try one of the new radiant heating pads that mount under the tile. The materials cost for a bath are probably under $700 for a bath and your GC should be able to manage the rest. This is one where careful consideration for the manufacturer’s guidelines is a must.  

A ceiling mounted heater makes less sense and I don’t care at all for heating bulbs over my head. Makes me feel like the meatloaf special waiting to be taken to table 12. 

As with fans, a timer on heaters is strongly advised and costs only a little. Actually both of these are designed to save you money. 

When you rehab, you can also ask yourself bigger questions such as “Do I really want a bathtub?” Many folks (once the kids are older) prefer a big shower that they can just step into. This is also better for those of limited mobility, where stepping over the tub gets to be tough. I for one, love a big shower. 

Be sure to replace ALL the piping in the bath when you rehab. There’s nothing more likely to make you bang your head against the wall than to realize that you have to tear out your 1 year old tiled shower because the pipes have begun to leak. If you want to leave the old pipes in the crawlspace for a while, that’s O.K., You can get to them later. 

So the message is, don’t hold back. The savings on a partial bath (fixing the bad floor and shower tile the pest guy found) just isn’t that great and the cost of getting a groovy bathing environment can be a few grand more. This may not lead to Godliness but if you do it right, it’s close enough. 

 

Got a question about home repairs and inspections? Send them to Matt Cantor, in care of East Bay Real Estate, at realestate@berkeleydailyplanet.com.


Garden Variety: House and Garden Wares Worth A Look in West Berkeley

By Ron Sullivan
Friday June 08, 2007

When we’re in the Fourth Street shopomania neighborhood we’re usually on the way to buying groceries for Shep the snake, though if we get a parking space we might go see if Cody’s still exists, or stop for lunch at Tacubaya. So it’s no surprise I missed Eastern Classics while the store was nearby, and had go read the little A-frame signboard on the corner to see where the enterprise had gone. 

That sign promised garden as well home stuff, so I warped on over to Camellia Street near REI and the Nomadic Traders seasonal shop and, mirabile dictu, found a space right in front of the door. I think of such events as signs from the Goddess Asphalta.  

I parked next to an interesting antiquish device that resembled a cross between wheelbarrow and hobbyhorse and bore the store’s banner. (I still don’t know what it is.) 

The shop itself is small but not cramped and the garden stuff is right up front: mostly carved lanterns—real carved stone, not cement—and small fountains. Most intriguing of these were a couple of art-glazed ceramic jugs maybe two feet tall; there’s a photo of one such on the company website, but it doesn’t do it justice.  

Most of Eastern Classics’ stock is tansu, and most of those are goodlooking, reasonably-priced reproductions. The Yin family has a workshop in China where items are made, their info says, singly by hand and (optionally) to order. If you like tansu, go take a look. 

Lots of noren, too, long ones in interesting fabrics; a few clothing items in that great folk indigo that Japanese craftspeople wear; lamps, lanterns, baskets and bowls for interior use. Pretty stuff.  

What really made my sox roll up and down was the set of burlwood furniture—chair and loveseat—back in a corner. Manager Jay Yin told me these were a traditional craft item from Fujien Province in China.  

They’re carved and polished from massive burls of, Yin said, maple or fir with back and side outlines following the curl of the grain. They look like frozen auburn waves breaking on rocks.  

These are strictly for interior use, though they’d look great in a very simple garden courtyard of the raked-gravel and one-tree variety.  

They also look very comfortable; I was schlepping too much to give one a test drive or I might have sold all I hath and bought it. It’s worth dropping by just to see them.  

I’ve always liked the habit of bringing the outside indoors, as the Japanese and others do. The Roman Latin word “impluvium” might be the best word in any language. It describes a central courtyard pool into which rain (pluvia) falls. In a civilized society, every dwelling would have one—or at least a room that’s also a garden.  

 

 

Eastern Classics 

1001 Camellia Street, Berkeley 

(510) 526-1241 

Saturday & Sunday 11 a.m.—5 p.m. 

Weekdays by appointment.  

Jay Yin: “I’m usually here, but people should call first to be sure.” 

 

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.


Berkeley This Week

Friday June 08, 2007

FRIDAY, JUNE 8 

Impeachment Banner Fridays at 6:45 to 8 a.m. on the Berkeley Pedestrian bridge between Seabreeze Market and the Berkeley Aquatic Park, ongoing on Fridays until impeachment is realized. www. Impeachbush-cheney.com 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Philip P. Frickey on “U.S. Law of Federal-Indian Tribal Relations” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $14, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925.  

“Born into Brothels” Academy Award winning documentary at 7:30 p.m. at The Center of Light, 2944 76th St., Oakland. 635-4286. 

“Walmart: The High Price of Low Cost” will be screened at 2 p.m. at the YWCA Berkeley. 2600 Bancroft Way. Free. 848-6370. 

Free Diabetes Screening Come find out if you might have diabetes with our free screening test and make sure not to eat or drink anything for 8 hours beforehand, from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the Latina Center, 3919 Roosevelt Ave., Richmond. 981-5332. 

Womansong Circle Participatory singing for women with Betsy Rose and Kelly Takunda Orphan at 7:15 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Suggested donation $15-$20. 525-7082.  

Circle Dancing, simple folk dancing with instruction at 7:30 p.m. at Finnish Brotherhood Hall, 1970 Chestnut St at University. Donation of $5 requested. 528-4253. www.circledancing.com 

SATURDAY, JUNE 9 

Live Oak Park Fair, juried festival of arts and crafts, Sat. and Sun. from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 1301 Shattuck Ave. 898-3282.  

Temescal Street Fair with music, art making, craft and community booths and food from noon to 6 p.m. along Telegraph Ave. between 48th and 51st. 654-6346, ext. 2. www.temescalmerchants.com 

Berkeley History Center Walking Tour “Buddhist Churches: Jodo Shinshu Center” led by Sady Hayashida, architect and Glenn Kameda, at 10 a.m. Cost is $8-$10. For information on meeting place and to register call 848-0181. 

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 

“Point Pinole: A Place Apart” An exhibition on the explosive and peaceful past of the Point Pinole Shoreline. Opening reception at 1 p.m. at Contra Costa County Historical Society, 610 Main St., Martinez. Exhibit runs to Aug. 23. 925-229-1042. 

Trails Challenge in the Eastshore State Park from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Bring water, lunch, sunscreen and sturdy walking shoes for the eight-mile excursion. For information and meeting place call 525-2233. 

Shotgun Player’s Silent Auction Fundraiser at 6 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. 841-6500, ext. 301. 

Berkeley Garden Club Spring Plant Sale from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 547 Grizzly Peak Blvd., at Euclid. Many native plants, succulents and perennials available. 845-4482. 

NAACP Meeting to discuss the 98th National Convention in Detroit, MI, and some local events at 1 p.m. at 2108 Russell St. All are welcome. 845-7416.  

Learn to Row Day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Jack London Aquatic Center, 115 Embarcadero, Oakland. Participants must know how to swim. Call for more information. 208-6067. 

Great War Society meets to discuss “Sinking of the Lusitania” by S. Compagno at 10:30 a.m. at 640 Arlington Ave. 527-7118. 

California Writers Club celebrates the fifth-grade winners of the story contest at 10 a.m. at Barnes and Noble, Jack London Square. 272-0120. 

Training for Small Business Owners and people interested in starting their own business at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 3rd floor community room, 2090 Kittredge St. Sposored by The Small Business Administration and the Berkeley Public Library. 981-6148. 

“Drought Tolerant Mediterranean Plants” with Gail Yelland, landscape designer, at 10 a.m. at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. 

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. 

Hopalong Animal Rescue Come meet your furry new best cat friend from noon to 3 p.m. at 2940 College Ave. 267-1915, ext. 500. www.hopalong.org  

Exotic Birds 101 An introduction at 2 p.m. at RabbitEARS, 303 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 525-6155. 

Hall of Health Medical Mystery Festival for children ages 4 to 12 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Hall of Health, lower level, 2230 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5. 705-8527.  

An Evening of Chanting with religious leaders from different Asian styles/traditions at 7 p.m. at the Jodo Shinshu Center, 2140 Durant Ave. at Fulton St. Donation $10. 809-1460. 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden Sat. and Sun. at 2 pm. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Call to confirm. 841-8732.  

Around the World Tour of Plants at 1:30 p.m., Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. 643-2755.  

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wed. and Sat. 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. 

SUNDAY, JUNE 10 

Live Oak Park Fair, juried festival of arts and crafts, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 1301 Shattuck Ave. 898-3282. www.liveoakparkfair.com 

Wild About Watersheds A 2 mile roundtrip hike in Wildcate Creek Regional Trail in Richmond. Meet at 10 a.m. For information and meeting place call 525-2233.  

Creek Care A resource conservation project from 1 to 3 p.m. on the Wildcat Creek Regional Trail in Richmond. Wear layered clothing that can get wet and dirty. For information and for meeting place call 525-2233. 

Green Sunday: The Successful Picket at the Port of Oakland What it means for the longer term struggle against the war and for funding our needs at home at 5 p.m. at Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave., at 65th in North Oakland. 

Liquid Gold Fertilizers Learn how to turn weeds, kitchen scraps and natural byproducts into plant fertilizers. A workshop from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at EcoHouse, 1305 Hopkins St., near North Berkeley BART. Bring 2 liter plastic bottles, old hoses/ bicycle tubes, cardboard or newspaper, large containers or 5 gallon buckets w/ lids. Cost is $15, no one turned away. 548-2220 ext. 242. ecohouse@ecologycenter.org  

Social Action Forum with Antonio Medrano on Amnesty International at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, One Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302. 

Children’s Community Center Celebrates 80 Years with cake, music and art projects from 2 to 4 p.m. at Children’s Community Center, 1140 Walnut Street. RSVP to cccboardchair@gmail.com. 

Blood Drive from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Congregation Netivot Shalom, 1316 University Ave. To make an appointment please call 872-0751. 

Tibetan Buddhism with Sylvia Gretchen on “The Art of Happiness” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812.  

MONDAY, JUNE 11 

“Voices of Iraqi Workers U.S. Solidarity Tour” with Iraqi labor leaders at 7 p.m. at Martin Luther King, Jr., Middle School, 1781 Rose St. 527-1222. 

Berkeley School Volunteers training for summer volunteer opportunities in preschool, elementary, and middle schools, from 4 to 5 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

Drop in Knitting Class at the Albany Library Work on your own project or make pet blankets and children’s hats to be donated to charity organizations. At 3:30 p.m. at 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

TUESDAY, JUNE 12 

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 Tilden’s Inspiration Point. Call for meeting place and if you need to borrow binoculars. 525-2233. 

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. 

New to DVD Screening and Discussion at 7 p.m. at JCCEB, 1414 Walnut St. Discussion follows. 848-0237. 

“The Basics of Buying Your First Home” A free workshop with Jonathan Cole, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Consultant at 7 p.m. at El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Ave. 526-7512. 

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 

Community Sing-a-Long every Tues, at 2 p.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 1247 Marin Ave.. 524-9122.  

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, JUNE 13 

Walking Tour of Oakland City Center Meet at 10 a.m. in front Oakland City Hall at Frank Ogawa Plaza. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. 

“The Next Industrial Revolution” a documentary about the transformation to an environmentally sustainable society at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., between Telegraph and Broadway, Oakland. Donation $5. www.HumanistHall.net 

“Underground” A documentary about the Weather Underground at 8 p.m. at Long Haul Infoship, 3124 Shattuck Ave. www.thelonghaul.org 

“Braving Borders, Building Bridges: A Journey for Human Rights” An African American Tour of the U.S.-Mexico Border A forum and report back at 6 p.m. at Laney College Forum, 900 Fallon St., Oakland. Donations accepted. 849-9940. 

“Human Factors for Technical Communicators” Monthly meeting of the Berkeley Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication at 7:30 p.m., dinner at 6:30 p.m. at Highlands Country Club, 110 Hiller Dr., Oakland. Cost is $15-$24. for reservations see www.stc-berkeley.org  

Berkeley East Bay Track Club for ages 4-16 starts at 5:30 p.m. at Rosa Parks Elementary School, Ninth St. and Allston Way. Free. 512-9475. 

Free Diabetes Screening Come find out if you might have diabetes with our free screening test and make sure not to eat or drink anything for 8 hours beforehand, from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the Latine Center, 3919 Roosevelt Ave., Richmond. 981-5332. 

Poetry Writing Workshop with Alison Seevak at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave., Albany. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

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, JUNE 14 

AC Transit Public Hearing on the Bus Rapid Transit Environmental Impact Study/Report at 5:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 

“Rehab it Right!” with Jane Powell, restoration consultant at 7:30 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. E-mail a few photos of an interior and/or kitchen project to nj2oakland@yahoo.com for expert tips. Cost is $8-$10. 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

Quit Smoking Class from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., with optional accupuncture at the South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. For more information call 981-5330. 

East Bay Macintosh Users Group will discuss Apple TV at 6 p.m. at Expression College for Digital Arts, 6601 Shellmound St., Emeryville. http://ebmug.org 


Correction

Friday June 08, 2007

According to city spokesperson Mary Kay Clunies-Ross, the city’s web page incorrectly states that there is a budget workshop preceding the regular council meeting on June 12. 

Instead, the budget will be discussed during the regular June 12 meeting. The public can speak to the council on the budget at that time and again on June 19 during a public hearing on the budget, part of the regular council meeting. A vote on the budget is slated for June 26. 


Open Call for Essays

Friday June 08, 2007

As part of an ongoing effort to print stories by East Bay residents, The Daily Planet invites readers to write about their experiences and perspectives on living healthy. Please email your essays, no more than 800 words, to firstperson@berkeleydailyplanet.com. We will publish the best essays in upcoming issues. 


Arts Calendar

Tuesday June 05, 2007

TUESDAY, JUNE 5 

THEATER 

Shotgun Players presents Week 30 in “365 Plays/365 Days” Tues. and Wed. at 8 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Tickets are $5. 841-6500. 

FILM 

“Unreleased Beatles” film clips and music shown by rock music historian Richie Unterberger at 6:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, Community Meeting Room, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6100. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ilona Meagher, editor of the online journal “PTSD Combat: Winning the War Within” at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Austin Grossman introduces “Soon I Will Be Invincible” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Book. 559-9500. 

Gordy Slack reads from “The Battle Over the Meaning of Everything” at 7:30 p.m. at Laurel Book Store, 4100 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland. 

Freight and Salvage Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $4.50-$5.50. 548-1761.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Thomas Mapfumo & The Blacks Unlimited at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

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

Middian, Minsk at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $8. 451-8100.  

Bill Charlap at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200.  

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

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6 

THEATER 

Berkeley Rep “Great Men of Genius” with Mike Daisy in four different monologues at 2025 Addison St. through June 30. Tickets are $30-$75. 647-2949. 

“Colorstruck” Donald Lacey’s one-man show at 8 p.m., Sun. at 7 p.m. at Laney College Theater, 900 Fallon St., Oakland, through June 15. Tickets are $10-$20. 663-5683. www.colorstruck.net 

FILM 

“From Saturday to Sunday” on Jazz Age Prague at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Free screening. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Sally Denton describes “Passion and Principle: John and Jessie Fremont, the Couple Whose Power, Politics and Love Shaped Nineteenth-Century America” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

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 

Johnny Smith Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $6. 841-JAZZ.  

Sauce Piquante at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  

Sweet Crude Bill and the Lighthouse Nautical Society at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100.  

In Harmony’s Way, a capella, at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 644-2204.  

Two Sheds, Dame Satan at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

Anat Cohen at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200.  

Disappear Incompletely at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

THURSDAY, JUNE 7 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Unknown Knowledge” Paintings and collages by Nicollette Smith. Opening reception at 5:30 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. 848-1228. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry Flash with Lisa Gluskin, Alison Powell and Barbara Yien at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley City College Auditorium, 2050 Center St. 525-5476.  

Joseph Lease, poet, followed by an open mic, at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave., Albany. 526-3720. 

Larry Doyle reads from “I Love You, Beth Cooper” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

New Century Chamber Orchestra with guest concertmaster Cho-Liang Lin at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $28-$42. 415-357-1111. www.ncco.org 

Berkeley Edge Fest “The Tyrant” composed by Paul Dresher, John Duykers, tenor, at 8 p.m. at the Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Campus. Tickets are $36. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu/presents/season/2006/edgefest/ 

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

“Two Cities, One Song” Rhonda Benin & Youth Choirs at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ.  

GoGo Fightmaster, Dear Liza, Jon Raskin at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

Anat Cohen at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200.  

Blurred Vision, The Cons, Hazerfan, rock, at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $8. 451-8100.  

FRIDAY, JUNE 8 

THEATER 

Altarena Playhouse “The Last Five Years” Fri and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at 1409 High St., Alameda, through June 10. Tickets are $17-$20. 523-1553. www.altarena.org 

Berkeley Rep “Oliver Twist” at 8 p.m. at the Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. through June 24. Tickets are $45-$61. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org  

Berkeley Rep “Great Men of Genius” with Mike Daisy in four different monologues at 2025 Addison St. through June 30. Tickets are $30-$75. 647-2949. 

California Shakespeare Theater “Richard III” at the Bruns Ampitheater, 100 Gateway Blvd., Orinda, through June 24. Tickets are $15-$60. 548-9666. www.calshakes.org 

“Colorstruck” Donald Lacey’s one-man show at 8 p.m., Sun. at 7 p.m. at Laney College Theater, 900 Fallon St., Oakland, through June 15. Tickets are $10-$20. 663-5683.  

Masquers Playhouse “Ring Round the Moon” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at 105 Park Place, Point Richmond, through July 14. Tickets are $15. 232-4031.  

Shotgun Players “The Cryptogram” Thurs.-Sun. at 8 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., through June 17. Tickets are $17-$25. For reservations call 841-6500.  

Travelling Jewish Theater “Death of a Salesman” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave., through June 10. Tickets are $15-$44. 1-800-838-3006. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Lush Life” A group show by 15 artists whose work celebrates the garden. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. Exhibit runs through July 8. 843-2527. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Jason Roberts reads from “A Sense of the World” at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Cameron Stracher describes “Dinner with Dad: How I Found My Way Back to the Family Table” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500.  

Rafaella Del Bourgo, Rose Black, Gayle Eleanor read their poetry at 7 p.m. at Nefeli Caffe, 1854 Euclid Ave. at Hearst. 841-6374. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley High Jazz Ensemble, Lab Bands and Combos at 7 p.m. at the Florence Schwimley Little Theater, Berkeley High Campus. Tickets are $3-$10. 

Berkeley Edge Fest “The Music of Frederic Rzewski” with Frederic Rzewski and Ursula Oppens, piano, at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu/presents/season/2006/edgefest/ 

Clerestory “In the Midst of Life” Men’s octect performs music by Purcell, Elgar and Tavener at 8 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Bancroft Way at Ellsworth. Tickets are $8-$10. www.clerestory.org 

Susie Davis, TapWater at 5:30 p.m. at Park Place at Washington Ave., Point Richmond. Free. www.pointrichmond.com/prmusic/ 

Bay Area Classical Harmonies at 8 p.m. Arlington Community Church, 52 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Tickets are $15, children $5. 526-9146. 

Hanif & The Sound Voyagers at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ.  

Donny Dread, Ancient King, Xcaliba and Nubian Natty, reggae, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  

Darol Anger & the Republic of Strings at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761.  

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

The Bleu Canadians, The Phenomes, Bob Wiseman at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082.  

Ninja Academy, Walken at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

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

5 Days Dirty, Round Three Fight, Traces of Reason at 8:30 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $10. 763-1146.  

Nora Whittaker Band & Macabea at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 644-2204.  

San Pablo Project at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Chrome with Helios Creed, Triclops, progressive rock, at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $10-$12. 451-8100.  

SATURDAY, JUNE 9 

CHILDREN  

Los Amiguitos de La Peña ¡Vamos A Cantar! with Jose Luis Orozco at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568.  

Flute Sweets and Tickletoons “Little Kids Little Songs” at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720. 

ALICE, Arts and Literacy in Children’s Education with Congolese Dance, Ballet Folklorico and trapeze arts at 7:30 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave. Donation $25. RSVP to 482-0415. www.aliceprogram.org 

Bookpals Storytelling at 11:30 a.m. at Children’s Fairyland, at 699 Bellvue Ave., Oakland. 452-2259. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Self as Superhero” ArtEsteem’s annual exhibition at 3 p.m. at ASA Academy and Community Science Center, 2811 Adeline St., at 28th St., Oakland. 652-5530. www.ahc-oakland.org 

“Animals, Sea Creatures and Animation” Paintings, sculpture, digital and fiber art and more, in a benefit for Hopalong Animal Rescue. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Expressions Gallery, 2053 Ashby Ave. 644-4930.  

“One Thousand Words: New Paintings by Mary Younkin” Artist reception at 6 p.m. at Luka’s Taproom & Lounge, 2221 Broadway at Grand, Oakland. 451-4677.  

East Bay Open Studios Sat. and Sun. at various studios around the East Bay. For maps see www.proartsgallery.org 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley “A Dream Play” Sat. and Sun. at 3 p.m. on the lawn in front of Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Wlnut St. at Berryman, through July 1. 841-5580. www.aeofberkeley.org  

FILM 

“Under a Shipwrecked Moon” by Antero Alli, at 8 p.m. at Kaleva Hall, 1970 Chestnut St. Cost is $5-$10. 464-4640. www.verticalpool.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Berkeley Edge Fest Composer Interviews with Sarah Cahill, Frederic Rzewski and Ursula Oppens at 2 p.m. at 125 Morrison Hall, UC Campus. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu/presents/season/2006/edgefest/ 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Mozart for Mutts and Meows Midsummer Mozart Festival fundraiser for Berkeley Humane Society at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club. For information call 845-7735, ext. 19. 

Berkeley Edge Fest “The Tyrant” composed by Paul Dresher, John Duykers, tenor, at 8 p.m. at the Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Campus. Tickets are $36. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu/presents/season/2006/edgefest/ 

Matthew Owens, cellist and poet, will perform his new works at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St., Live Oak Park. Cost is $10. 644-6893.  

Keith Doelling, double bass, at 4 p.m. at Crowden School, 1475 Rose St. 

Slavyanka Men’s Russian Chorus at 7:30 p.m. at First Unitarian Church of Oakland, 685 14th St., Oakland. Tickets are $16-$20. www.slavyanka.org 

Na Leo Nahenahe Summer Concert at 2 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $15.00 at the door, children 12 and under are free. 

Passamezzo Moderno “Venice and Vienna in the Early 17th Century” at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864.  

The Sacred Jazz Symposium: Exploring Spirituality in the Music at 2 p.m. at The Black New World and Pleasure Club, 836 Pine St., Oakland. Tickets are $10-$20, no one turned away. Sankofacc@earthlink.net 

La Peña’s 37th Anniversary and Open House at 6 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $22-$24. 849-2568.  

Brazzissimo! at 8 p.m. at Piedmont High School Auditorium, 800 Magnolia Ave., Piedmont. Tickets are $5-$10. www.brazzissimo.com  

Gateswingers Jazz Band at 8 p.m. at Central Perk, 10086 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito. 558-7375. 

The Ravines at noon at Cafe Zeste, 1250 Addison St. at Bonar, in the Strawberry Creek Park complex. 704-9378. 

Ellen Robinson and her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Pellejo Seco, Luis Valverde, and Ekobios, rhumba cubana, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cuban salsa dance lesson at 8:30 p.m. Cost is $15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Katherine Peck and Michael Burles at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Mucho Axe at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Robin Flower & Libby McLaren at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

The Meshugga Beach Party, The El Dorados, The TomorrowMen at 8:30 at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $10. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Sheila Jordan “Jazz: A Life’s Work” at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $20. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Draggin’ Suzy, Sorrow Town Choir, The Backorders at 9 p.m. at The Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph, Oakland. 

Don Burnham & Friends at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 558-0881. 

Diego’s Umbrella, Tippy Canoe & the Paddlemen at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082.  

Insaints, Fabulous Disaster in a benefit for A Safe Place Shelter, at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6-$10. 525-9926. 

Varukers, Scarred for Life at 7 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $10. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

SUNDAY, JUNE 10 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Photographs of China and Mongolia” by Berkeley photographer Caroline Johnson. Reception at 1 p.m. at The LightRoom, 2263 Fifth St. 649-8111. www.lightroom.com 

Paintings by Michael Adkins Opening reception at 4 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

The Jersey Boys cast will discuss the musical based on Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons at 11 a.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Khaled Hosseini introduces his new novel, “A Thousand Splendid Guns” at 7 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Ticekts are $12-$40. 559-9500. 

Architecture Tour of the Oakland Museum of California at 1 p.m. at the koi pond, first level, Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak at 10th St., Oakland. 238-2200. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Junteenth Freedom Mass with the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir at 10 a.m. at St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church, 7900 Mountain Blvd., Oakland. www.stcuthbertsoakland.org 

Berkeley Edge Fest “The Music of Frederic Rzewski” with Frederic Rzewski and Ursula Oppens, piano, William Winant and Ben Paysen, percussion, at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu/presents/season/2006/edgefest 

Chamber Music Sundaes with San Francisco Symphony musicians and friends, and featuring Tio Navarro at 3 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $18-$22. 415-753-2792. www.chambermusicsundaes.org  

Young People’s Symphony Orchestra Pops Concert at 2 p.m. at Greek Orthodox Church of the Ascension, 4700 Lincoln Ave., Oakland. Cost is $10-$15. 849-9776. 

Soul at the Chimes with Promise, Called Out and the East Bay Church Men’s Chorus at 2 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $20-$25. 464-3086.  

Abji Dibril CD Release Party at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Jacob Wolkenhsuer at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Americana Unplugged: Donner Mountain Bluegrass Band Reunion at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

BandWorks Concert, with kids, teens and adult rock bands, from 1:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $5. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Piano Trio Summit with Dick Hindman, Joe Gilman and Mark Levine at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazz 

school. Cost is $18. 845-5373.  

Have Heart, Allegiance, Soul Control, Turn it Around at 5 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

Damnweevil, Walken at 6 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $6. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

Jessica Williams Trio at 7 and 9 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $14-$24. 238-9200.  

 

 


The Theater: A True New York ‘Death of a Salesman’

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Tuesday June 05, 2007

A cellist strikes up in pizzicato as an older man, dressed in the fashion of the late ‘40s, shambles onstage at the Julia Morgan Center, gazing out above the audience as if down the road—or into the past. A crowd forms, staring at him—and disperses. A woman’s voice is heard, calling his name. “I’m tired to the death!” And Willy Loman, brilliantly rendered by Corey Fisher, is home again, in Traveling Jewish Theatre’s remarkable version of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. 

As Willy and his wife, Linda (Jeri Lee Cohen as a steady foil to Fisher’s Willy), talk about Willy’s abrupt return soon after departing on a New England sales trip, as well as the constant nag of payments on house, car, appliances, all bought on time—and about family: the return of ne’er-do-well son Biff from a stint wandering the West—the mood shifts constantly, from apprehension over Willy’s driving to a quick memory of peacefulness, to an admonition from Linda about his too-apparent disapproval of Biff. “I said he’s not making money. Is that criticism?” Willy replies. 

He is lost in revery, as the audience too is caught up in his quickly intercut visions and fantasies, memories of the past. The mention of his older brother Ben’s death triggers an apparition (Julian Lopez-Morillas, a presence as ironic as Hamlet’s father’s ghost) and a refrain, “When I was 17 I walked into the jungle; when I was 21 I walked out—and by God I was rich!” 

Ben’s hurried shade, always rushing off—as life itself seems to rush away from Willy—becomes a surrogate, a kind of trumped up co-dependent for the suicidally depressed, broken-down old salesman, an auto-suggestive confidant and executor. Ben also reminds Willy of their wayward father, a flautist and roving handyman, both free on the road Willy’s married to. 

The opposite of Ben’s specter is Charley, next door, (a playful yet direct Louis Parnell), and his nerdy son Bernard (Zac Jaffe, who modulates the ages of his part very well), “liked, but not well-liked,” another refrain. Charley is Willy’s true mainstay—and Willy rankles at his kidding and at his very decency, until finally admitting Charley’s his only friend, and how strange that is. Bernard is the only peer who both challenges and cares for Biff. 

Biff (starry-eyed, slack-jaw Michael Navarra) and brother Hap (scrappy John Sousa) keep mixing it up with the women (Meghan Doyle and Juliet Strong, both sharp in dual roles as chippies and secretaries) and with their thwarted dreams, their gags, their sparring. Biff, exasperated with self-consciousness, is leading the life Willy pines for (”If I’d only gone with my brother Ben to Alaska!”), only to earn the opprobrium of his parents: “Ah, go out to the West and be a cowboy; enjoy yourself!” says Willy, and Linda says, “You can’t look around all your life ... a man is not a bird to come and go with the springtime.” 

“Look at the moon, moving between the buildings!” exclaims Willy, in bed with Linda before slipping off into delusion and disaster. “It takes so little to make him happy,” she tells the boys. But “let go” by his dilettante employer, young Howard (a smarmy Danny Webber, doting on his wire recorder, touting it to Willy as a way to get the maid to record radio programs a busy socialite must miss), Willy is beyond both sadness and happiness, rapt in his passion, oblivious as he walks the line down the road that runs downstage through the middle of Giulio Perrone’s splendid, spare set. 

The mood swings of Willy and his family are the pivot, in Aaron Davidman’s excellent directorial conception, for the true theatrics of the play, reflecting Miller’s innovations as a former radio playwright adapting the multiplex style of the medium to the live stage. Jim Cave’s spot-on timing with lights and sound design by Rex Camphuis (also production manager) and cellist Jessica Ivry’s original music help deliver the goods to this audience, which is on three sides of the action, up on stage left and right as well as in the orchestra section in front. Few productions ever get the humor, the lyricism (which Miller would hauntingly refer to), the synthesis of approaches that catches up the social, the psychological, the moral, the sheerly pathetic content up into a vortex that sways back and forth until, as Antonin Artaud said of Euripides’ tragedies, “the floodgates are open ... and we don’t know any more just where we are.”  

There’s been much talk of Traveling Jewish’s intention to make this a Jewish show with a Jewish Willy Loman. The notes in the program recall the Yiddish theater translation and production of 1951, with a review speaking of that show “bringing the play ‘home’ ... [catching] Miller [son of immigrant Jews], as it were, in the act of changing his name.” 

True to their principle of being inspired by Jewish experience, Traveling Jewish has fashioned less a tragic look back at the Jewish diaspora in America than a true, multifaceted revelation of American experience through a Jewish perspective. “I still feel kind of temporary about myself,” says Willy. It opens up speculation as to other representatives of assimilated cultures being seen in the chief roles. Jackie Gleason, for instance, regarded more highly as a dramatic actor than as a comedian by the likes of Orson Welles and others, might have made a great Brooklyn Irish (or German-Irish) Willy Loman. 

Because this production’s accents, inflexions and mannerisms give this monumental play a different and fascinating texture, a new syncopation of street and domestic rhythms, it is a truly New York City Death of a Salesman—Manhattan-born Arthur Miller brought home. 

 

 

DEATH OF A SALESMAN 

Presented by the Traveling Jewish Theater at 8 p.m. Thursdays—Saturdays and at 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays through June 10 at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. 2640 College Ave.  

$15-$44. 1-800-838-3006.


The Theater: Theater Groups Stage 3 Weeks of ‘365’

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Tuesday June 05, 2007

Leave it to the Shotgun Players to organize a posse to go after weeks 26, 27 and 30 of playwright Suzan-Lori Parks’ monumental, year-long, nationwide collaborative theater project.  

The three companies—Shotgun, mugwumpin and Just Theater—will gang up tonight (Tuesday) and Wednesday at 8 p.m. on the Ashby Stage to play a grand total of 21 of Parks’ plays—three whole weeks’ worth—each night. 

In addition, Shotgun has announced they’ll be offering 365 drinks, 365 snacks and intermissions of 3 minutes 65 seconds to extend the numerical conceit of Parks’ astonishing outpouring of pieces to be staged. Admission is $5, which includes a drink. 

Parks’ project began a few years back when she set herself the goal of writing a play a day for a year. Now they’re being produced around the country, about midstream to conclusion. The Bay Area is one region of production—and East Bay companies have leapt at the challenge, devising unusual, creative ways to collaborate and stage each week of seven plays. 

But Shotgun decided that wasn’t quite enough ... 

“The question we asked ourselves was how we could make an interesting evening of theater which would do justice to the concept of the whole cycle of plays,” said Shotgun’s Liz Lisle. “So we decided to do a stretch, and invited two other companies we respect and have worked with before to join us in getting a leg up on it, to do three whole weeks at once: 26 (Just Theater), 27 (mugwumpin) and 30, which is ours.” 

As part of the process, Shotgun assembled a “mini-ensemble” to put on their portion of the plays.  

“Every piece will have a different director, and every ensemble member will both act and direct,” Lisle said. “This kind of immediacy of feedback isn’t usual with the process we go through to mount a production. Like Parks’ plays, it’s something really playful.” 

Denmo Ibrahim of mugwumpin, the innovative physical theater troupe in residency at San Francisco’s Exit Theatre, concurred: “We wanted to find a way of using the plays as a test to find new collaborators, new ways of working.” 

To that end, the troupe staged their week’s portion one night a few weeks back, as a party at Root Division in San Francisco’s Mission District. “It was crazy!” laughed Ibrahim, who both directed and performed. “Each director had a half-hour to cast and rehearse.” 

Molly Aaronson-Gelb of Just Theater, said, “This’s been right up our alley, using theater to reflect, create community, and to create a common conversation among theater people.” She compared it to the nationwide, antiwar Lysistrata Project a few years back, in which she participated. 

Asked about running themes and motifs in their portions, Aaronson-Gelb mentioned “a lot about war and peace; it affected our costuming!” Ibrahim quoted Richard Foreman, “Everything makes sense!” and went on to identify mugwumpin’s plays as having in common “the lonely sense of being witness to the last of something happening.” 

Lisle brought it all into perspective by reflecting on the playwright’s impulse: “What she does is transform her everyday into theater, which rolls over into the next day. In one of our plays, the characters from the next one come on and announce, ‘Your play’s over!’” 

 


Daily Planet Wins 6 Peninsula Press Club Awards

Tuesday June 05, 2007

The Daily Planet’s Justin DeFreitas swept two categories at the Greater Bay Area Journalism Awards Saturday night at Foster City’s Crowne Plaza Hotel. The contest is sponsored by the Peninsula Press Club. 

In the non-daily newspapers division, DeFreitas took first place for entertainment reviewing for his critique of the movie Cowboy del Amor (published Feb. 24, 2006), and second place for The Devil and Daniel Johnston (April 7, 2006). He also netted an honorable mention in the specialty story category for a preview of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival (July 11, 2006). 

DeFreitas also swept the editorial cartooning category, which spans all divisions—daily and non-daily newspapers, magazines and trade publications. First place was awarded to his “Mousetrap” cartoon (May 5, 2006), regarding the proposed mixed-use development and Trader Joe’s at University Avenue and MLK; second went to “Sept. 10” (June 13, 2006); and an honorable mention was given to “Media Balance” (Sept. 1, 2006). 

The contest covers the 11 counties of the greater Bay Area: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Sonoma. Entries were judged by the Florida Press Club, Milwaukee Press Club, the Press Club of Cleveland, San Diego Press Club and the Press Club of Southeast Texas. For more information and a complete list of winners, see penpressclub.org.


Green Neighbors: Elderberry Tree Stands in the Margins

By Ron Sullivan
Tuesday June 05, 2007

Elderberry is a bit more a tree than last column’s rose is, but we usually see it as a shrub: multi-trunked, relatively small. But the wonderful natural history writer Donald Culross Peattie called it a tree, and I’ve seen western pewee and other tree-nesting birds make themselves homes in tall specimens; that’s good enough for me.  

Sometimes I have to stand back and look again to identify the little tree in front of me as an elderberry, if it’s (typically) in a tangle of oak and California bay and poison oak. The leaf shape, that feathery compound, is diagnostic. So, even in winter, is the arching fountain form of the whole individual, even when it’s being elbowed by more forceful neighbors.  

One odd thing about elderberries is the contradictory data about them. I’ve heard that they’re toxic; that just the red ones are toxic; that they’re delicious and by the way, here are five recipes for them; that either the red or the blue are toxic to everyone or toxic to only certain people, either always (especially the red ones) or only when raw; that the unripe blue ones are toxic; that only the blue ones are traditional food; that the red ones are traditional food too; that the leaves, stems, and other plant parts are toxic and “children have been made ill by using the stems as peashooters”; that aboriginal Californians have traditionally used the stems for flutes. That it’s poisonous and that it’s good for what ails you; that it’ll give you a bellyache and that it’ll cure a bellyache. 

I suppose what’s going on is that some people are susceptible in various ways to a compound in the plant—apparently there are plenty of suspects, like some lectins. (Lectins are proteins; they’re various, ubiquitous, and often poorly understood.) Whatever causes the problem, it can be neutralized by drying or cooking, so elderberry flowers for tea and elderberries for pie are often dried and then reconstituted before use. Those kids being poisoned by their peashooters would be better off if they dried the sticks before using them—which is what the Miwok do for their flutes.  

These traditional flutes are made from elderberry twigs chosen for their size, already hollow, or pithy and easy to hollow out. Flutemakers cut them green and let them dry; one writer says they used to bore fingerholes by touching hot coals to the sticks at random intervals, so no two flutes had the same scale. If true, that would make for some interesting compositions. Californians traditionally make clappersticks out of elderberry branches too. With both the wind and the rhythm sections accounted for, some people call it the music tree. For all these and for arrow shafts, elderberry plants are coppiced to produce straight stems.  

There’s a Miwok legend that, back in the days before the sun shone everywhere, only the Valley people had fire, and the Mountain people wanted some too. Robin guarded fire in the Valley roundhouse, and Coyote went out searching but couldn’t find it. White-footed Mouse figured out where it was, and sat down at a gathering in that roundhouse (either with just the Valley people or with the visiting Mountain people too, depending on who’s telling) and played his elder-twig flute till everyone was lulled to sleep. Then he hid some of the fire inside the flute, and after more adventures and a merry chase, brought it to the mountains, where it was tucked under a layer of leaves. When Coyote lifted the leaves to find the fire, most of it shot into the sky and became the sun. Some was left behind, and the people put that into the buckeye and the incense cedar, where now anyone can find it.  

Elderberry does occupy that margin between wild and garden, forest and field. Peattie in his Natural History of Western Trees calls it “a ruderal little tree”; that is, a plant that grows on “waste ground.” That’s a loaded term, but it just means disturbed areas; you often see wild elders on road margins—their white flowerheads light up mile after mile of highway in Florida—and along trails, a sort of forest doorkeeper.  

That’s an appropriate position for elderberry in a garden, too; you’d want it between your beds and whatever boundary of big trees you have. Ask your elder relatives for pie, tea, and fritter recipes, or try Carolyn Niethammer’s book American Indian Cooking. Share the berries with the birds, and you might even get a flock of waxwings to visit.  

 

 

Photograph by Ron Sullivan. 

This elderberry has grown to tree size in an unusually isolated spot in Sibley park.


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday June 05, 2007

TUESDAY, JUNE 5 

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 the Wildcat Regional Trail. Call for meeting place and if you need to borrow binoculars. 525-2233. 

“Empty Bowls” fundraising event in conjunction with National Hunger Awareness Day at 5:30 p.m. at Alameda County Community Food Bank, 7900 Edgewater Drive, Oakland. Tickets are $20, or $40 for a family. 635-3663, ext. 328. www.accfb.org 

Free Diabetes Screening Come find out if you might have diabetes with our free screening test and make sure not to eat or drink anything for 8 hours beforehand, from 9 a.m. to noon at the Downtown Oakland Senior Center, 200 Grand Ave. 981-5332. 

Eco-Oakland Volunteer Opportunity Help elementary school students with mapping and habitat restoration at Lion Creek, near Merritt College. For information call 635-5533.  

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. 

“The Citizen Powered Energy Handbook” with author Greg Pahl on renewable energy technologies ways that individuals and communities can work toward sustainable energy, at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220 . 

Climate Action Networking Lunch with strategies for reducing our community-wide GHG emissions at noon at Spud's Pizza, 3290 Adeline near Alcatraz. Hosted by the City of Berkeley. 981-7081. 

Digital Earth Symposium: Humanitarian and Climate Change Presentations A 5 day conference on using satellite and aerial images of the earth at UC Berkeley. For information see www.isde5.org 

Berkeley Rep Book Club meets to discuss “The Real Oliver Twist” by Jonathan Waller at 6 p.m. at the Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. RSVP to 647-2916. 

Berkeley School Volunteers training for summer volunteer opportunities in preschool, elementary, and middle schools from noon to 1 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

Free Legal Assistance the first Tues. of the month at 6 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. Advance registration required. 526-3720, ext. 5. 

Family Storytime for preschoolers and up 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.  

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, JUNE 6 

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 

Workshop for Low Income Berkeley Homeowners on how to get help for maintenance of your home, at 10:30 a.m. at West Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5180. 

“Sustainable Futures” a documentary about seven communities where sustainability is a high priority at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., between Telegraph and Broadway, Oakland. Donation $5. www.HumanistHall.net 

New to DVD Screening and Discussion at 7 p.m. at JCCEB, 1414 Walnut St. Discussion follows. 848-0237. 

American Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation from 10 a.m. to noon at 6230 Claremont Ave., Oakland. 594-5165. 

Backpacking 101, a talk on the fundamentals needed for a weekend trip, at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

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. Heavy rain cancels. 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 

THURSDAY, JUNE 7 

“Last Journey for the Leatherback Sea Turtle” A video and talk with Karen Steele, the coordinator of the Sea Turtle Restoration Network, at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave, near Dwight Way. 548-2220, ext. 233. erc@ecologycenter.org 

“Israel & Palestine - What Peace Could Look Like” with Rabbi Jeremy Milgrom and Husam El Nounou at 7 p.m. at Kehilla Community Synagogue, 1300 Grand Ave, corner of Grand Ave. and Fairview, Piedmont. Donation suggested $10-$25. 547-2424. 

Storytime for Babies and Toddlers at 10:30 a.m. at the Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

World of Plants Tours Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at 1:30 p.m. at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $5. 643-2755.  

Avatar Metaphysical Toastmasters Club meets at 6:45 p.m. at Spud’s Pizza, 3290 Adeline. namaste@avatar.freetoasthost.info  

FRIDAY, JUNE 8 

Impeachment Banner Fridays at 6:45 to 8 a.m. on the Berkeley Pedestrian bridge between Seabreeze Market and the Berkeley Aquatic Park, ongoing on Fridays until impeachment is realized. www. Impeachbush-cheney.com 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Philip P. Frickey on “U.S. Law of Federal-Indian Tribal Relations” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $14, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925.  

“Born into Brothels” Academy Award winning documentary at 7:30 p.m. at The Center of Light, 2944 76th St., Oakland. 635-4286. 

Free Diabetes Screening Come find out if you might have diabetes with our free screening test and make sure not to eat or drink anything for 8 hours beforehand, from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the Latine Center, 3919 Roosevelt Ave., Richmond. 981-5332. 

Womansong Circle Participatory singing for women with Betsy Rose and Kelly Takunda Orphan at 7:15 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Suggested donation $15-$20. 525-7082.  

Circle Dancing, simple folk dancing with instruction at 7:30 p.m. at Finnish Brotherhood Hall, 1970 Chestnut St at University. Donation of $5 requested. 528-4253. www.circledancing.com 

SATURDAY, JUNE 9 

Live Oak Park Fair, juried festival of arts and crafts, Sat. and Sun. from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 1301 Shattuck Ave. 898-3282.  

Temescal Street Fair with music, art making, craft and community booths and food from noon to 6 p.m. along Telegraph Ave. between 48th and 51st. 654-6346, ext. 2. www.temescalmerchants.com 

Berkeley History Center Walking Tour “Buddhist Churches: Jodo Shinshu Center” led by Sady Hayashida, architect and Glenn Kameda, at 10 a.m. Cost is $8-$10. For information on meeting place and to register call 848-0181. 

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 

“Point Pinole: A Place Apart” An exhibition on the explosive and peaceful past of the Point Pinole Shoreline. Opening reception at 1 p.m. at Contra Costa County Historical Society, 610 Main St., Martinez. Exhibit runs to Aug. 23. 925-229-1042. 

Trails Challenge in the Eastshore State Park from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Bring water, lunch, sunscreen and sturdy walking shoes for the eight-mile excursion. For information and meeting place call 525-2233. 

Shotgun Player’s Silent Auction Fundraiser at 6 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. 841-6500, ext. 301. 

Berkeley Garden Club Spring Plant Sale from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 547 Grizzly Peak Blvd., at Euclid. Many native plants, succulents and perennials available. 845-4482. 

NAACP Meeting to discuss the 98th National Convention in Detroit, MI, and some local events at 1 p.m. at 2108 Russell St. All are welcome. 845-7416.  

Learn to Row Day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Jack London Aquatic Center, 115 Embarcadero, Oakland. Participants must know how to swim. Call for more information. 208-6067. 

Great War Society meets to discuss “Sinking of the Lusitania” by S. Compagno at 10:30 a.m. at 640 Arlington Ave. 527-7118. 

California Writers Club celebrates the fifth-grade winners of the story contest at 10 a.m. at Barnes and Noble, Jack London Square. 272-0120. 

Hopalong Animal Rescue Come meet your furry new best cat friend from noon to 3 p.m. at 2940 College Ave. 267-1915, ext. 500. www.hopalong.org  

Exotic Birds 101 An introduction at 2 p.m. at RabbitEARS, 303 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 525-6155. 

Training for Small Business Owners and people interested in starting their own business at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 3rd floor community room, 2090 Kittredge St. Sposored by The Small Business Administration and the Berkeley Public Library. 981-6148. 

“Drought Tolerant Mediterranean Plants” with Gail Yelland, landscape designer, at 10 a.m. at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. 

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. 

Hall of Health Medical Mystery Festival for children ages 4 to 12 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Hall of Health, lower level, 2230 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5. 705-8527.  

An Evening of Chanting with religious leaders from different Asian styles/traditions at 7 p.m. at the Jodo Shinshu Center, 2140 Durant Ave. at Fulton St. Donation $10. 809-1460. 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden Sat. and Sun. at 2 pm. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Call to confirm. 841-8732.  

Around the World Tour of Plants at 1:30 p.m., Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. 643-2755.  

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wed. and Sat. 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. 

SUNDAY, JUNE 10 

Live Oak Park Fair, juried festival of arts and crafts, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 1301 Shattuck Ave. 898-3282. www.liveoakparkfair.com 

Wild About Watersheds A 2 mile roundtrip hike in Wildcate Creek Regional Trail in Richmond. Meet at 10 a.m. For information and meeting place call 525-2233.  

Creek Care A resource conservation project from 1 to 3 p.m. on the Wildcat Creek Regional Trail in Richmond. Wear layered clothing that can get wet and dirty. For information and for meeting place call 525-2233. 

Green Sunday: The Successful Picket at the Port of Oakland What it means for the longer term struggle against the war and for funding our needs at home at 5 p.m. at Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave., at 65th in North Oakland. 

Liquid Gold Fertilizers Learn how to turn weeds, kitchen scraps and natural byproducts into plant fertilizers. A workshop from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at EcoHouse, 1305 Hopkins St., near North Berkeley BART. Bring 2 liter plastic bottles, old hoses/ bicycle tubes, cardboard or newspaper, large containers or 5 gallon buckets w/ lids. Cost is $15, no one turned away. 548-2220 ext. 242. ecohouse@ecologycenter.org  

Social Action Forum with Antonio Medrano on Amnesty International at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, One Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302. 

Tibetan Buddhism with Sylvia Gretchen on “The Art of Happiness” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812.  

MONDAY, JUNE 11 

“Voices of Iraqi Workers U.S. Solidarity Tour” with Iraqi labor leaders at 7 p.m. at Martin Luther King, Jr., Middle School, 1781 Rose St. 527-1222. 

Berkeley School Volunteers training for summer volunteer opportunities in preschool, elementary, and middle schools, from 4 to 5 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

Drop in Knitting Class at the Albany Library Work on your own project or make pet blankets and children’s hats to be donated to charity organizations. At 3:30 p.m. at 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

CITY MEETINGS 

Commission on the Status of Women meets Wed., June 6, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5190.  

Downtown Area Plan Advisory Commission meets Wed. June 6, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7487. 

Housing Advisory Commission meets Thurs., June 7, at 7:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5400.  

Landmarks Preservation Commission meets Thurs. June 7, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7419.  

Community Environmental Advisory Commission Workshop The Co-Benefits of Climate Protection Thurs., June 7, at 7 p.m. at 2118 Milvia Street, 1st Floor Conference Room. 981-7461.


Open Call for Essays

Tuesday June 05, 2007

As part of an ongoing effort to print stories by East Bay residents, the Daily Planet invites readers to write about their experiences and perspectives on living healthy. Please e-mail your essays, no more than 800 words in length, to firstperson@berkeleydailyplanet.com. We will publish the best essays in upcoming issues.