Workers measure the frame of the former Wright’s Garage building on Ashby Avenue Monday as part of ongoing renovations. The proposed bar-restaurant development has been the subject of controversy in the Elmwood District, and the City Council is considering holding a public hearing on the plans. Photograph by Michael Howerton.
Workers measure the frame of the former Wright’s Garage building on Ashby Avenue Monday as part of ongoing renovations. The proposed bar-restaurant development has been the subject of controversy in the Elmwood District, and the City Council is considering holding a public hearing on the plans. Photograph by Michael Howerton.

Extra

Mark Rhoades Joins Exodus

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday July 10, 2007

Berkeley Planning Manager Mark Rhoades is headed for the private sector, the third high level city official to vacate his position in city government. -more-



Page One

Council Will Consider Hearings On Iceland, Wright’s Garage

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday July 10, 2007

Tonight’s (Tuesday) City Council meeting will look at holding public hearings on landmarking Iceland, an ice skating rink at Milvia and Derby streets, and allowing a commercial development at College and Ashby avenues. -more-



BHS Gym Landmarked, But District Moves Ahead With Demolition Plans

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday July 10, 2007

Although the Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) voted 5-4 to landmark the Berkeley High School (BHS) Old Gym at 1920 Allston Way Thursday, the Berkeley Unified School District will move ahead with its demolition plans. -more-



People’s Park Workshop A Success, Says UC

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday July 10, 2007

Sunday was a day of envisioning the future of People’s Park. -more-



Oakland School Board Regains Limited Authority

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday July 10, 2007

California State Superintendent for Public Instruction Jack O’Connell came to Oakland on Monday to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) returning a portion of the Oakland Unified School District back to local control, telling a crowd of reporters, citizens, education activists, and politicians gathered at East Oakland’s Franklin Elementary School that “this is a big day for Oakland Unified. This is a new beginning for us. The district’s future looks brighter than ever before.” -more-



Noted Architect Tackles Center Street Plaza Plan

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday July 10, 2007

One of the nation’s rising stars of landscape architecture shared the stirrings of a vision for what could become a Berkeley civic showcase—the Center Street Plaza. -more-



Features

LeConte Neighbors Plan to Appeal Use Permit for 2516 Ellsworth

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday July 10, 2007

A group of LeConte neighbors are planning to appeal an administrative use permit to construct an addition to a one-story two-unit building at 2516 Ellsworth St. at the Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) meeting Thursday. -more-


Beth El Wecomes First Gay Rabbi

By Rio Bauce
Tuesday July 10, 2007

Senior Rabbi Yoel Kahn gave his first service at Congregation Beth El Friday night, marking the first time the congregation has had an openly gay rabbi. -more-


Teamsters, Waste Management Still at Odds

By Rio Bauce
Tuesday July 10, 2007

Waste Management of Alameda County and Teamsters Local 70, a union that represents drivers and equipment operators, aren’t making progress in negotiations of a new contract despite the company’s lockout of the union’s 481 members last Monday. The old contract expired June 30. -more-


Activists Vow to Fight for Police Information Bill

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday July 10, 2007

Despite the crushing defeat of a police misconduct information bill late last month in the Assembly Public Safety Committee, a local American Civil Liberties Union director says that SB1019 is not dead in this Legislature, and “what we have been able to do to bring this bill so far at this point is remarkable.” -more-


Toxic Sites’ Woes Lead CAG Agenda

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday July 10, 2007

Toxics at two adjoining Richmond waterfront sites will dominate Thursday evening’s discussion of a citizen panel advising the state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). -more-


Costa Rica: Raising the Bar for Conservation

By Marta Yamamoto, Special to the Planet
Tuesday July 10, 2007

When traveling through Costa Rica it’s best to emulate the sloth. Take it slow, very slow. Costa Rica requires maceration, allowing time for her to soak into your pores. On a recent visit I received sage advice from my guide, Luis Diego Soto: “Close your eyes and listen.” Listen to the voices of the forests, mountains, rivers and the life within. Listen to the voices of the people. -more-


Police Blotter

By Rio Bauce
Tuesday July 10, 2007

Arson -more-


Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Tuesday July 10, 2007

AUG. 6 -more-


Commentary: Oakland Planning Commissioners to Citizens: ‘Eat Cake!’

By Bob Brokl
Tuesday July 10, 2007

The U.S. Supreme Court, likely to be controlled by reactionaries for a generation, will be one of George Bush’s many unfortunate lingering legacies. The Oakland City Planning Commission will be Jerry Brown’s. While Brown has been yanked by the chain of his ambition back to Sacramento, all of Brown’s appointees, nearly a year into the Dellums’ mayorship, still run the Planning Commission. (Planet readers may be unfamiliar with the Oakland model, where—unlike Berkeley—the mayor makes all the appointments to the planning commission and landmarks board.) -more-


Commentary: A Humanitarian Crisis at Gaza’s Gate

By Annette Herskovits
Tuesday July 10, 2007

Thousands of Palestinians are stranded in Egypt, waiting to return home to the Gaza Strip. Among them is Husam El Nounou, who has been there three weeks, unable to join his wife and three children and return to his work at the Gaza Community Mental Health Program (GCMHP), the Strip’s principal provider of mental health services. -more-


Healthy Living: Confession of a Television Addict

By Richard Cormack
Tuesday July 10, 2007

The story goes something like this: While discussing his living will, the man tells his wife that he prefers not to exist in a vegetative state, dependent on a machine and taking fluids from a bottle. His wife moves from her chair, unplugs the television, and throws out all of his beer. -more-


Editorial

Editorial: Reporting on the News from the Home Front

By Becky O’Malley
Tuesday July 10, 2007

A visit from our friend the journalism professor prompted many “whither newspapers” conversations around dinner tables last week. These were a continuation of earlier similar discussions with local friends about recent developments in what used to be called the corporate mass media. I say “used to be called” because as newspapers are increasingly the playthings of large corporate empires their influence on the masses seems to be diminishing. -more-


Columns

The Public Eye: Faith and Politics

By Bob Burnett
Tuesday July 10, 2007

How important is it that presidential candidates tell us whether or not they are Christians? For many Berkeley residents it’s not important at all; most of us feel that religious belief is a personal matter: what matters most is that candidates adhere to high ethical standards and honor the U.S. Constitution. But for many Americans, identifying as a Christian is shorthand for being on the “right” side. As a result, candidates for president are forced to talk about their Christian faith. -more-


Green Neighbors: What’s in a Name? History and Big Trees

By Ron Sullivan
Tuesday July 10, 2007

It isn’t always easy to keep a giant sequoia / Big Tree / Sequoiadendron giganteum thriving down here near sea level. (It isn’t always easy even to talk about the species without someone’s caviling about whatever common name is current.) I’ve known at least two that were cut down locally, and one that just doesn’t look happy. There’s a nice row of them along the main road through Tilden Park, though, just past the regional Parks Botanic Garden, for easy viewing as you pass. You can get up close and personal with the species in the Bot Garden too, and reassure yourself about identification—they’re labeled—and compare them with coast redwood, Sequoia sempervirens. -more-


Arts Listings

Arts Calendar

Tuesday July 10, 2007


The Theater: Crowded Fire Theater Presents ‘Anna Bella Eema’

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Tuesday July 10, 2007


Events Listings

Berkeley This Week

Tuesday July 10, 2007

Back Stories

Opinion

Editorials

Editorial: Reporting on the News from the Home Front 07-10-2007

Editorial: Keeping Government Out of Sight 07-06-2007

Public Comment

Letters to the Editor 07-10-2007

Commentary: Oakland Planning Commissioners to Citizens: ‘Eat Cake!’ By Bob Brokl 07-10-2007

Commentary: A Humanitarian Crisis at Gaza’s Gate By Annette Herskovits 07-10-2007

Healthy Living: Confession of a Television Addict By Richard Cormack 07-10-2007

Letters to the Editor 07-06-2007

Commentary: What Don’t You Understand About Democracy? By David Esler 07-06-2007

Commentary: Accuracy in America’s Gun-Use Statistics By Robert Clear 07-06-2007

Healthy Living: The Aging Process Beyond Four Score and Ten By Rose Green 07-06-2007

Healthy Living: Lifelong Medical Care Weighs In On Michael Moore’s ‘Sicko’ By Chris Kiefer 07-06-2007

News

Mark Rhoades Joins Exodus By Richard Brenneman 07-10-2007

Council Will Consider Hearings On Iceland, Wright’s Garage By Judith Scherr 07-10-2007

BHS Gym Landmarked, But District Moves Ahead With Demolition Plans By Riya Bhattacharjee 07-10-2007

People’s Park Workshop A Success, Says UC By Riya Bhattacharjee 07-10-2007

Oakland School Board Regains Limited Authority By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 07-10-2007

Noted Architect Tackles Center Street Plaza Plan By Richard Brenneman 07-10-2007

LeConte Neighbors Plan to Appeal Use Permit for 2516 Ellsworth By Riya Bhattacharjee 07-10-2007

Beth El Wecomes First Gay Rabbi By Rio Bauce 07-10-2007

Teamsters, Waste Management Still at Odds By Rio Bauce 07-10-2007

Activists Vow to Fight for Police Information Bill By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 07-10-2007

Toxic Sites’ Woes Lead CAG Agenda By Richard Brenneman 07-10-2007

Costa Rica: Raising the Bar for Conservation By Marta Yamamoto, Special to the Planet 07-10-2007

Police Blotter By Rio Bauce 07-10-2007

New Deal Legacy Remains Visible and Vibrant in East Bay By Gray Brechin, Special to the Planet 07-06-2007

Toxic Questions Surround Two Richmond Sites By Richard Brenneman 07-06-2007

New UC-BP Biofuel Lab Opening Set for July 2010 By Richard Brenneman 07-06-2007

State to Return Part of OUSD to Local Control By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 07-06-2007

County’s First Detox Center to Open in San Leandro By Riya Bhattacharjee 07-06-2007

Arrest Made in Series of Bateman/Halcyon Robberies By Rio Bauce, Special to the Planet 07-06-2007

South Berkeley Shootings Prompt Increased Patrols By Richard Brenneman 07-06-2007

Architects to Present New Design of Warm Water Pool By Riya Bhattacharjee 07-06-2007

Berkeley Police Blotter By Rio Bauce 07-06-2007

Columns

The Public Eye: Faith and Politics By Bob Burnett 07-10-2007

Green Neighbors: What’s in a Name? History and Big Trees By Ron Sullivan 07-10-2007

Column: Dispatches From The Edge: Australia and the Pacific Wall By Conn Hallinan 07-06-2007

Column: Undercurrents: Putting Band-Aids on Oakland’s Crime Problem By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 07-06-2007

Open Home in Focus: Berkeley Architect Dakin’s Work on View at 2828 Hillegass By Steven Finacom 07-06-2007

Garden Variety: The Conscience of a Conservator By Ron Sullivan 07-06-2007

About the House: The Amazing Simpson Universal Foundation Plate By Matt Cantor 07-06-2007

Arts & Events

Arts Calendar 07-10-2007

Arts and Entertainment Around the East Bay 07-10-2007

The Theater: Crowded Fire Theater Presents ‘Anna Bella Eema’ By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet 07-10-2007

Moving Pictures: Silent Film Festival a Portal To the Picturesque Past By Justin DeFreitas 07-10-2007

Green Neighbors: What’s in a Name? History and Big Trees By Ron Sullivan 07-10-2007

Berkeley This Week 07-10-2007

Arts Calendar 07-06-2007

Moving Pictures: PFA Celebrates a Tough Old Broad’s 100th By Justin DeFreitas 07-06-2007

The Theater: Contra Costa Civic Theatre Stages ‘Meet Me in St. Louis’ By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet 07-06-2007

Midsummer Mozart Sneak Preview at El Cerrito Benefit By Ira Steingroot, Special to the Planet 07-06-2007

Open Home in Focus: Berkeley Architect Dakin’s Work on View at 2828 Hillegass By Steven Finacom 07-06-2007

Garden Variety: The Conscience of a Conservator By Ron Sullivan 07-06-2007

About the House: The Amazing Simpson Universal Foundation Plate By Matt Cantor 07-06-2007

Berkeley This Week 07-06-2007