The Week

The one-story building with a wooden facade at 1505 Shattuck Ave., targeted for demolition and a proposed mixed-use development by its owner, has sparked controversy in North Berkeley. Photograph by Michael Howerton.
The one-story building with a wooden facade at 1505 Shattuck Ave., targeted for demolition and a proposed mixed-use development by its owner, has sparked controversy in North Berkeley. Photograph by Michael Howerton.
 

News

Landmarks Commission Considers Demolishing Squires Block Building

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday July 03, 2007

Controversy is mounting over a proposed use permit and an application to demolish a one-story commercial building in the historic Squires Block in North Berkeley which was submitted for review to the Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC). -more-


UC Illegally Buried ‘Thousands Of Truckloads’ of Toxic Soil In Richmond, State Says

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday July 03, 2007

UC Berkeley and a Swiss multinational must clean up thousands of truckloads of toxic-laden soil illegally buried at the Richmond site of a planned 1,330-unit housing complex, state officials ordered Friday. -more-


Lawyers Question UC Stadium Settlement Offer

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday July 03, 2007

While UC Berkeley may have offered to downsize a planned parking structure northwest of Memorial Stadium, opposing lawyers say that’s not enough to derail the lawsuits holding up construction of a new high-tech training gym. -more-


Out-of-State Groups Fund Term-Limit Opposition

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday July 03, 2007

A former Oakland Assembly-member running for outgoing State Senator Don Perata’s District 9 Senate seat says she doesn’t believe that a term limits initiative will pass next February, allowing Perata to run again. -more-


Zoning Board Rejects South Berkeley Cell Phone Antennas

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday July 03, 2007

A group of South Berkeley residents won a close victory Thursday when the Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) voted 5-4 to reject a use permit application by Verizon Wireless and Nextel Communication for 11 cell phone antennas atop the UC Storage building at 2721 Shattuck Ave., following a second remand from the City Council in May. -more-


The Declaration of Independence

Tuesday July 03, 2007

IN CONGRESS, -more-


MKThink to Hold First Community Workshop for People’s Park

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday July 03, 2007

A discussion and visioning workshop on the future programs and design of People’s Park will be held next week by MKThink, the San Francisco-based consultants hired by UC Berkeley to develop a plan to improve the park. -more-


The Comforts of Home at the Sutter Hotel

By Al Winslow
Friday June 29, 2007

You can find a Sutter Hotel in many cities. Go where the last wave of redevelopment has passed through and see what’s left standing. -more-


Berkeley Lab Wins Federal Biofuel Grant

By Richard Brenneman
Friday June 29, 2007

Berkeley’s bid to become the biofuel research capital of academic and corporate America scored another major advance Tuesday, winning funds to start a second lab. -more-


Grand Jury Questions Library Practices

By Judith Scherr
Friday June 29, 2007

An Alameda County Grand Jury report released June 26 on a controversial three-year-old automated check-out system has raised questions about the library’s ability to manage its contracts effectively. -more-


Walters Leaves City College Top Post

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday June 29, 2007

Berkeley City College President Judy Walters, who presided over the transition of the downtown community college from its longtime rental quarters to a newly-built Center Street building, has left her position to take up a similar post at Diablo Valley Community College in Pleasant Hill. -more-


Local Safeways Plan to Revamp, Embrace Organics

By Richard Brenneman
Friday June 29, 2007

Though Safeway’s plans for adding housing to its Albany grocery store on Solano Avenue proved a flop with neighbors, the Pleasanton-based grocery chain is still pursuing its plans for a makeover. -more-


Council Repeals Drug City Employee Drug Test Prohibitions

By Judith Scherr
Friday June 29, 2007

At its meeting Tuesday the Berkeley City Council repealed the ordinance that prohibits the city from drug testing employees, approved a $369,000 budget, adding back some social services that had been cut and heard from both citizens and the developer’s representative on the question of a proposed commercial development at College and Ashby avenues. -more-


Sweden Detains Former Berkeley Resident

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday June 29, 2007

Ganna Dharmarajah, a former Berkeley resident whose mother still lives here, was arrested by Swedish authorities on Saturday while vacationing in Sweden. She is now being detained at a center for asylum seekers, even though she says she has never sought asylum and is not now doing so. -more-


City Transportation Manager Leaves for Private Sector

By Judith Scherr
Friday June 29, 2007

In a letter addressed to City Manager Phil Kamlarz and emailed to Kamlarz and the press on June 20, five-plus-year transportation manager Peter Hillier tendered his resignation effective July 8. -more-


School Board Approves Measure BB Before Summer Break

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday June 29, 2007

The Berkeley Board of Education met for the last time Wednesday before breaking for summer. Board members will be back Aug. 22 for the new school year. -more-


BUSD Responds to Supreme Court Decision on School Race Placement

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday June 29, 2007

Minutes after the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 Thursday to limit the consideration of race in school integration plans, Berkeley Unified School District superintendent Michele Lawrence said that she hoped Berkeley public schools would stand the test and become a model for other schools. -more-


Bateman Neighbors Say Crime Is on the Rise

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday June 29, 2007

Residents of Berkeley’s Bateman neighborhood are spending a lot of time looking over their shoulders these days. -more-


Early Fire Season Brings Worry to Local Firefighters

By Richard Brenneman
Friday June 29, 2007

As California launches into a dry summer with wildfires raging in both northern and southern California, David Orth wonders if we’re not seeing the start of something far more ominous. -more-


County Medical Center Rejects Union Request to Avoid Layoffs

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday June 29, 2007

The Board of Trustees of the Alameda County Medical Center approved a $460 million budget on Tuesday, rejecting requests by union members for a no layoff pledge and to set aside $5 million from increased debt payments to Alameda County to fund staff development and training to help staff transition into new positions. -more-


Legislative Briefs

Friday June 29, 2007

SB67 Vehicle Speed Contests -more-


Opinion

Editorials

Editorial: Remembering Revolution on the 4th

By Becky O’Malley
Tuesday July 03, 2007

Not in my own youth, but in the Victorian novels I read as a child, it was the custom for Americans at their Fourth of July picnics to read aloud the Declaration of Independence. In the mid and late 19th century the American revolution was still part of living memory. The older folks at the picnics were still able to summon up the tremendous excitement with which their grandparents and great-grandparents seized their destinies and started a new kind of country in a still-wild place. -more-


Editorial: Taking the Pledge, One More Time

By Becky O’Malley
Friday June 29, 2007

The Saturday Farmers’ Market in Berkeley was awash with politicians, pressing the flesh and hawking their latest products. “Will you take the pledge?” one shouted at me, and I fled. I’ve got many historic associations with taking pledges, none of them good. -more-


Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Tuesday July 03, 2007

FIRE TRAIL -more-


Commentary: Civilization, Terror, And Real Security

By Americ Azevedo
Tuesday July 03, 2007

Today, the biggest “temples” are skyscrapers devoted to office work; no cathedrals at the center of town devoted to worship of a Higher Power. The true religion of world civilization is money. The attack upon of the World Trade Center in New York City was not just an “attack upon America” but an attack upon the current modes of world civilization. Terrorism challenges civilization, just like street crime challenges a local community. Crime is a symptom of a social sickness; terrorism is the surface symptom of systemic disorder in civilization. -more-


Commentary: A Better Life for Palestinians and Israelis

By Tracie de Angelis Salim
Tuesday July 03, 2007

Desperation and imagination. A total sense of hopelessness. Some of us can only imagine the depths we would go to have this hopelessness crack the sound barriers. -more-


Commentary: The U.S. Sustain Green Exchange

By Willi Paul
Tuesday July 03, 2007

I was happy to have attended a chapter lunch meeting of BNI in San Francisco last week. About 20 professional people were there— passing business cards and working a vibrant prospect referral system. On their website BNI states that they are the largest business networking organization in the world that offers their members the opportunity to share ideas, contacts and business referrals—opportunities that the sustainability/green community needs more of and fast! -more-


Letters to the Editor

Friday June 29, 2007

EMPTY LOT -more-


Commentary: Mayor Should Honor Pledge to Protect University Avenue Neighborhoods

By Regan Richardson
Friday June 29, 2007

In a Nov. 18, 2003 commentary, Mayor Bates and Councilmember Linda Maio made what appeared to be a heartfelt plea for immediate incorporation of the University Avenue Strategic Plan into the zoning ordinance. In light of developments such as the behemoth building proposed for 1950 MLK, affectionately known to some as the Trader Joe’s building, this public promise to champion the UASP principles of protecting Berkeley from inappropriately large development and to maintain the residential character of the neighborhoods definitely bears re-examination. -more-


Commentary: Bus Rapid Transit Will Destroy Telegraph Avenue

By George Oram, Mary Oram, Arlene Giordano, Thomas Cooper, Carol Lipnick and
Friday June 29, 2007

AC Transit proposes to eliminate two auto lanes on Telegraph Avenue and have curbed, restricted, and exclusive fast bus lanes in the middle two lanes for the new BRT service. Their thinking and the environmental impact report do not address the problems this will cause. Telegraph today is attractive, clean, and traffic flows. -more-


Commentary: Berkeley Complicit In Hamas Takeover

By John Gertz
Friday June 29, 2007

At last count, there were 43 separate militias in Gaza, including clan based militias, Fatah splinter groups, criminal gangs, and non-Hamas Islamic groups. It is unclear as of this writing how long it will take Hamas to consolidate its control, and eliminate all possible resistance. But they will. To subdue one clan, they took three female civilian clan members, one a young girl, and executed them summarily as an example. Summary execution has always greeted those accused (no trials necessary in Palestine) of collaboration with Israel. Now collaboration with Fatah has become a capital offense as well. Military control is but one aspect of the story. Gaza is about to descend into a very dark night of the soul. Hamas will gradually monopolize and Islamicize all aspects of life. There have already been innumerable attacks on normal expressions of modernity. Nightclubs and internet cafes have been torched, gays murdered, churches burned (Palestine, which, until recently, was 7 percent Christian Arab, is now only about 2 percent Christian). Women who commit adultery face death by stoning, if their own brothers and fathers do not kill them first. Hundreds of women have already been strangled by their own family members in so-called “honor killings.” Women also face forced genital mutilations, and, of course, they will be required to take up the veil. The education system will become Islamic. Already, Mickey Mouse broadcasts a message of hate on Hamas TV. “Kill the Jew and the crusader” (i.e., Christians), preaches Hamas’ Mickey Mouse, “for they are all pigs and apes.” But this has been going on for years. Hamas’ “summer camps” routinely taught children how to become martyred suicide bombers. Those children have grown up to become the shock troops which made short order of Fatah in Gaza, and may someday soon do the same in the West Bank. -more-


Columns

Wild Neighbors: The Wrong Fox and Other Reversals of Fortune

By Joe Eaton
Tuesday July 03, 2007

This is not strictly a Berkeley or Bay Area story, although it begins here with the introduced red fox (Vulpes vulpes regalis). You probably know the basics: eastern and Canadian foxes brought to the Central Valley during the 19th century by would-be fur farmers, some escaping and taking to the wild where they’ve become serious predators on a roster of endangered species. -more-


Column: Undercurrents: Mincing Words About Oakland Development

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday June 29, 2007

An attentive and knowledgeable reader has pointed out that in my June 15 column on Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums (“Mayor Dellums Isn’t What’s Wrong With Oakland”), I incorrectly reported that at the new mayor’s direction, the city’s Community and Economic Development Agency (CEDA) has “put a moratorium on conversion of Oakland's dwindling industrial-zoned parcels to mixed-use.” Though close, that’s not what actually happened. -more-


East Bay Then and Now: Immigrants’ Sons Established Local Tanning Industry

By Daniella Thompson
Friday June 29, 2007

The history of Bay Area industry parallels that of immigration. In the East Bay, the economy was largely built by first- and second-generation immigrants who had settled in the West, bringing with them specialized skills from points east, often Europe. -more-


Garden Variety: Sales, Temptations and a Crisis of Conscience

By Ron Sullivan
Friday June 29, 2007

I see the inimitable Annie’s Annuals is having a sale. Some of the stuff the two Anni(e)s are offering are rarities in the plant trade, in the area, maybe anywhere. Once again I’ll have to wrestle with my conscience. -more-


About the House: How to Say ‘I Love You’

By Matt Cantor
Friday June 29, 2007

I was with a very charming couple today. He was French and she was American. They were very different and both very smart and we had a great time looking at an incredible place that needed … like … nothing. Well, not much. -more-


Arts & Events

Arts Calendar

Tuesday July 03, 2007

TUESDAY, JULY 3 -more-


Around the East Bay

Tuesday July 03, 2007

FOURTH OF JULY AT THE BERKELEY MARINA -more-


The Theater: Woman’s Will Stages ‘Romeo and Juliet’

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Tuesday July 03, 2007

Woman’s Will, the Oakland-based all-female Shakespeare company, is celebrating their tenth season—and tenth year of free Shakespeare in the parks—with Romeo and Juliet, beginning 1 p.m. this Saturday and Sunday, and the following weekend, July 14-15, at Berkeley’s John Hinkel Park. -more-


Wild Neighbors: The Wrong Fox and Other Reversals of Fortune

By Joe Eaton
Tuesday July 03, 2007

This is not strictly a Berkeley or Bay Area story, although it begins here with the introduced red fox (Vulpes vulpes regalis). You probably know the basics: eastern and Canadian foxes brought to the Central Valley during the 19th century by would-be fur farmers, some escaping and taking to the wild where they’ve become serious predators on a roster of endangered species. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday July 03, 2007

TUESDAY, JULY 3 -more-


Open Call for Essays

Tuesday July 03, 2007

Healthy Living -more-


Arts Calendar

Friday June 29, 2007

FRIDAY, JUNE 29 -more-


Around the East Bay

Friday June 29, 2007

FAIRYTALES AND OTHER STORIES -more-


Wang Gangfeng Photos of China at Alta Galleria

By Robert McDonald, Special to the Planet
Friday June 29, 2007

A dense and dazzling, vertically and horizontally rectilinear installation of color photographs by contemporary Chinese artist Wang Gangfeng awaits visitors at the entrance to Alta Galleria in Berkeley (2980 College, Suite #4, near Ashby Avenue). The show closes July 10. -more-


Moving Pictures: Shifting Alliances and Realities in Von Trier’s ‘Boss of It All’

By Justin DeFreitas
Friday June 29, 2007

Lars von Trier’s The Boss of It All, opening this weekend at Shattuck Cinemas, is something of a departure for the Danish director. He has returned to Denmark and the Danish language to produce, for the first time, a comedy, and a rather light-hearted comedy at that. No politics, no commentary, no overarching cinematic code of ideals to weigh down his creation—just a clever idea, a witty script and a talented cast. -more-


Guare’s ‘Bosoms and Neglect’ at Aurora

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Friday June 29, 2007

With a clap of thunder, a lightning fla sh illuminates an enormous shadowy figure, behind gauze, before a window. A man hastily enters, pulling away that curtain, revealing a much smaller female form standing in the window casement, with greenbacks safety-pinned to the lace curtain that frames the window. -more-


East Bay Then and Now: Immigrants’ Sons Established Local Tanning Industry

By Daniella Thompson
Friday June 29, 2007

The history of Bay Area industry parallels that of immigration. In the East Bay, the economy was largely built by first- and second-generation immigrants who had settled in the West, bringing with them specialized skills from points east, often Europe. -more-


Garden Variety: Sales, Temptations and a Crisis of Conscience

By Ron Sullivan
Friday June 29, 2007

I see the inimitable Annie’s Annuals is having a sale. Some of the stuff the two Anni(e)s are offering are rarities in the plant trade, in the area, maybe anywhere. Once again I’ll have to wrestle with my conscience. -more-


About the House: How to Say ‘I Love You’

By Matt Cantor
Friday June 29, 2007

I was with a very charming couple today. He was French and she was American. They were very different and both very smart and we had a great time looking at an incredible place that needed … like … nothing. Well, not much. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Friday June 29, 2007

FRIDAY, JUNE 29 -more-