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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.
 

News

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. 

His resignation, announced today (Tuesday, July 10) follows the earlier resignations of Transportation Manager Peter Hillier and Housing Director Steve Barton. 

Though he’d known about the departure for several days, Planning Director Dan Marks said the news had come as a shock to him. 

“We will really miss his institutional knowledge, his passion about Berkeley and his passion about planning,” said Marks. 

A sometimes-controversial figure who has clashed with neighborhood activists over large-scale development projects, Rhoades has spent nearly a decade on city staff and had recently received a 10 percent pay boost. 

While Marks noted that Rhoades, who turns 40 this year, was one of his younger staff member, Planning Commissioner Gene Poschman quipped that the planning manager was likely retiring because of old age: “The say one year of working in Berkeley is like eight years anyplace else.” 

Rhoades had combined both the current and zoning aspects of the planning department along with future planning, uniting two previous positions. Marks said he didn’t know if a new employee would fill both roles. 

In his letter to city staff, Marks said Rhoades said, “He came to this decision with great difficulty after concluding that he needed to pursue employment opportunities that allowed him to spend more time with his young family.”


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. 

The Iceland owner is appealing the Landmark Preservation Commission’s decision to designate the ice rink as a landmark, arguing that the building does not meet landmark criteria.  

The Elmwood Merchants and Elmwood Neighborhood associations are appealing the Zoning Adjustments Board’s support for the proposed commercial development, saying plans for a large bar-restaurant are out-of-scale with the small retail area. 

Also on the agenda for tonight’s meeting are modifications of the city’s laws regulating condominium conversion, hearings on city fee increases, using permeable pavement for city projects and more. The regular 7 p.m. meeting will be preceded by a closed-door session in which the council will be asked to confirm the city manager’s appointment of Acting Finance Director Robert Hicks to the permanent finance director position and to meeting with staff negotiating police and fire contracts. 

The public can comment before the executive session. 

 

Iceland 

The landmarks commission voted in April to designate the 1939 facility as a landmark, saying it is the oldest and largest ice skating rink in Northern California and pointing to its “representation of interesting aspects of the social and cultural history of Berkeley,” such as being larger than an Olympic-sized rink and having served as the site for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in 1947, as well as being used by various skating clubs including the 76-year-old St. Moritz Club and the University Figure Skating Club.  

The designation specifies elements of the structure to be preserved, including the exterior wall surfaces and the two ticket offices.  

Oakland land-use attorney Rena Rickles, representing Richard Zamboni, president of East Bay Iceland Inc., wrote in the letter appealing the landmarks designation that the decision was made in order “to force a specific use inside a private building.” 

Rickles further wrote: “The landmarks designation process should not be lightly manipulated as it was here to serve other ends. On public policy and legal grounds the Notice of Decision designating Iceland as a Landmark should be vacated and overturned.” 

 

Wright’s Garage 

Granting new use permits for a remodelled building at the corner of Ashby at College, popularly called “Wright’s Garage” after the business which was the previous tenant, is opposed by neighbors and merchants who say the project, especially a proposed restaurant-bar, will attract traffic to the area, which cannot be accommodated by currently available parking. 

The proposal, approved by the zoning board in March, is appearing on the council agenda for one month, giving proponents time to defend their project and opponents the opportunity to convince the council to hold a public hearing on the development. Advocates of the appeal hope a formal hearing will lead to the council to overturn the zoning board’s approvals or, alternatively, to send the project back to the zoning board for further consideration. 

The discussion around the project took a new twist after the June 26 council meeting. The developer’s attorney, Harry Pollack of Pollack & Davis, LLP, wrote City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque on June 29, asking her to prevent Councilmember Dona Spring from voting on the issue. 

Pollack quoted Spring saying at the June 26 meeting “with strong emotion in her voice” that “’this project stinks to high heaven.’” Given that she has strong feelings on the question, Pollack reasoned, she would not be able to keep an open mind and vote rationally on the project. 

He compared Spring’s comments to Councilmember Gordon Wozniak’s statements posted on a hills-based web site, Kitchen Democracy, giving his reasons for supporting the project and encouraging people to weigh in on the web site with their support. Because of those statements, Wozniak has been advised by the city attorney’s office to recuse himself from council discussions on the question and from the vote. 

Albuquerque, however, in a July 5 response to the Pollack letter, said that when the item came on to the council agenda it became appropriate for Spring and others to voice their opinions. 

“Councilmember Wozniak’s comments were made on a Kitchen Democracy web site, not at a council meeting, before he had an opportunity to consider the record of any proceedings,” she wrote. “Had he made it clear that his position was a preliminary one and that he would await a review of all the evidence before making a final decision, even that comment would have not resulted in his recusal.” 

Albuquerque contrasted Wozniak’s comments to Spring’s, saying Spring’s statements, unlike Wozniak’s, were “made in the context of the council’s decision on the Wright’s Garage appeal.” 

 

Condo conversion law cleanup 

The purpose of the condominium conversion law is to ensure that when an apartment is converted to a condo, the city gets funds from the developer to replenish its low-income housing stock. 

The law limits the number of conversions to 100 but while there are more than 100 applicants on the list to be converted, the conversion process has hit a bottleneck.  

Tonight the council will find two condo conversion items on its consent calendar—items on this part of the agenda are approved without discussion unless a councilmember pulls the issue for discussion on the action calendar. These items will address some, but not all, of the issues holding up conversion, according to Jesse Arreguin, a Housing Advisory Commission member, chair of the Rent Stabilization Board and aide to Councilmember Kriss Worthington. 

A proposal by planning staff would amend the section of the condo conversion law that states that the affordable housing mitigation fee for a unit that is being converted to a condo will be capped at 12.5 percent, whether the unit is vacant or occupied, as long as the owner agrees to specified limits on rent increases for all current tenants within that building at the time of conversion.  

A second and separate proposal, put forward by Worthington, clarifies the language of the condo ordinance, saying that conversion will be prohibited for 10 years for no-fault evictions (such as owner move-ins—already covered by the law—or Ellis Act evictions in which the landlord goes out of the rental business). 

Worthington’s proposal says enacting it “increases protections for tenants and creates a disincentive for evictions in order to convert a building to condominiums.”  

Arreguin said the clarifications will help implementation of the law, but another impediment is yet to be addressed by council. That is the difficulties owners face with building inspectors “who come in at the last minute,” requiring owners to make unexpected improvements in their properties.  

Planning, housing and city attorney staff have been meeting to help design a better process, he said.  

A council workshop on condominium conversion that was to be held this month will instead be held in the fall. 

Other items the council will address include: 

• A $254,500 one-year contract with the YWCA to subsidize low-cost city staff memberships, which is part of the city employee benefit package. 

• Setting a public hearing for July 31, in which members of the Elmwood Business Improvement Area can weigh in on continuing the BIA. 

• Encouraging use of permeable surfaces on city projects. 

• Allocating $1.4 million to purchase fuel for city vehicles for a year. 

• Cconsidering a draft ordinance to establish operating standards for alcohol outlets and inspection fees for enforcement. 

The council will hold a series of public hearings on increases for: 

• Rental Housing Safety Program fees. 

• Planning department fees. 

• Adoption fees for rabbits, poultry, small rodents, birds and exotic animals. 

• Marina fees. 

• Parks and recreation facility and program fees. 

• Refuse fees.  

The council meeting is at 7 p.m. in the Maudelle Shirek Building, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, televised on cable Channel 33, broadcast on KPFB 89.3 and streamed at www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil/agendaindex.htm. 


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. 

The school district is not bound legally by local landmark laws, said school board president John Selawsky. 

“This does not change our plans for what we feel the high school needs,” he said. “There are lots of ways to honor an architect, a building and a style apart from landmarking it. The Old Gym does not fit our needs. We need more open space and more classrooms. Nothing landmarked can change that.” 

The BHS South of Bancroft Master Plan includes demolition of the Old Gym and the warm water pool and redevelopment of the site with classrooms and a physical education building. 

The commission had previously failed to reach a consensus at the June 7 meeting, with a motion to declare the 85-year-old gym a landmark failing on a 4-3-1 vote. 

According to Carey & Co., the architecture hired by the school district to evaluate the historical merits of the Old Gym and warm water pool at Milvia Street and Bancroft Way, both structures qualify for the National Register of Historic Places. 

The evaluation stated that the Old Gym was “representative of important advancements in structural engineering, namely, the early seismic retrofit of public school buildings.” 

Built in 1922, the Old Gym was designed by William Hays. According to the Carey & Co. report, the original building consisted of a two-story central gymnasium with a two-story classroom section on the east and a swimming pool on the west connected by a low one-story portion.  

Two units were added in 1929, one on the south identical with the original and one on the north, designed by architect Walter H. Ratcliff, Jr. The building’s appearance changed when it underwent seismic reconstruction in 1936. 

“It has good bones,” Berkeley resident Janice Thomas told the commissioners. “It needs to be revitalized and cleaned up.” 

“Although it meets the criteria for landmarking, it didn’t provide good space,” school district spokesperson Mark Coplan said at the meeting. “It was poorly planned and there was no way of getting disabled athletes up to the gyms on the second floor.” 

Commissioner Fran Packard said that landmarking the structure would “compound the complexity” of the school district’s South of Bancroft plan. 

“It just doesn’t serve the overall purpose of Berkeley High,” she said. 

“Public interest has nothing to do with landmarking,” said landmarks commissioner Carrie Olsen. “We are here to say whether it is historic or not. I think it’s worth preserving. It’s a stupid thing to demolish a building, I have said it before and I’ll say it again. In 1960, they wanted to tear down Jefferson Elementary School. The school district has a policy of deferred maintenance: let’s make it so ugly that we have to tear it down. I know the school district is not bound by landmarking but it is the right thing to do at the right time.” 

“It’s not about nostalgia,” said commissioner Steven Winkel. “It’s not about landmarking it because the warm water pool exists there. It’s because it meets the criteria. The information that was in the EIR says that the building is a historic resource. The external building has some damage done to it, but it has some cultural significance as well.” 

The Warm Water Pool Task Force is currently working with the city to identify alternate locations for the pool. A proposed design will be presented at the disability commission meeting at the North Berkeley Senior Center Wednesday. 

 

1505 Shattuck Ave. 

The LPC approved a use permit and an application to demolish a one-story commercial building and build a new 4,820-square-foot, two-story, mixed-use building in the historic Squires Block in North Berkeley. 

A few area residents had said that 1505 Shattuck Ave. was a historic structure which shouldn’t be demolished, while its owner Allen Connolly had cited a former landmarks commission decision to refute its right to protection. 

Other buildings at the site include a single-story commercial building at 2106-08 Vine St., a two-story commercial building at 2100 Vine St. (Earthly Goods) and a single-story storage building, which would be demolished as part of the project. 

The landmarks commission cited its own decision Thursday to approve the demolition application. The commission designated all of the Squires Block as a city structure of merit in March 2004, while indicating in particular that the buildings at 2100 and 2106-08 Vine St. were of historic interest, but not the one at 1505 Shattuck Ave. 

“When we landmarked the Squires Block, we were clear to say that 1505 Shattuck could come down,” said Olsen. “I am very happy with what I see. However, I would challenge you to come up with something interesting for the gate as we are tired of seeing that awful jingling gate there for so long.”


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. 

While some park regulars basked in the sun or played a round of basketball, there were those who gathered inside the First Church of the Christ Scientist on Dwight Way to attend the first community workshop on the future programs and designs of this historic piece of land. 

Mark Miller, principal planner of San Francisco-based MKThink—the firm hired by UC Berkeley to plan improvements for People’s Park—brainstormed ideas with a group of 30 people who had turned up to share their thoughts. 

“The idea was to use role-playing to make people think from a different perspective,” said UC Berkeley Community Relations Director Irene Hegarty. “We had a good discussion and we will be able to get a better idea of what people want when the consultant’s report is out. We will probably have additional workshops to talk about concepts, especially in the fall when students are back from summer break.” 

Workshop attendees were split up into three groups with each person playing the role of a community member. Neighborhood residents became homeless, students turned into cops and People’s Park Committee Boardmember Lydia Gans took on the role of a local church worker. 

“This really helped a lot,” she said. “It engaged us to look at things from another point of view. I for one feel fine walking in the park. I am sad most people don’t feel that way.” 

Miller drew comparisons between People’s Park and other famous parks across the country. 

“We want to reference parks with similar issues,” he explained, showing the group clips from Manhattan’s Bryant Park. “The idea is to facilitate a conversation without undermining what works. To get people to meet each other.” 

Located behind the New York Public Library, Bryant Park is an urban oasis near the ever-bustling Times Square, which draws people of different age-groups with activities such as outdoor movies, festivals and even a free WiFi service. 

“Morningside Park near Columbia University also had issues between the local constituents and the university for a long time,” Miller said. 

“Lafayette Square (Old Man’s Park) in Oakland has a very active food service and engages with its homeless through the park itself. The neighborhood is in transition right now. Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco also has a very active performing arts and its proximity to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) attracts people from all over the world. Union Square in New York is a good example of a park trying to balance landscape with softscape. Remodeling it didn’t involve many physical changes but involved scheduling more activities.” 

Sunday’s workshop focused on activities at the park. Concerts, art shows, adopt-the-park days topped people’s wishlists. 

“The only thing my group came to a consensus about was a community center,” said Jackie Bort, a church member, who had been in Group One. “We want the park to be people-friendly.” 

“But I don’t want to see the park become a courtyard for profit,” said Andrea Pritchett, a member of Cop Watch. 

“I want to be able to sit in the park peacefully without the fear of police coming. I want more of a community environment. Where is the user development? It looks like everybody is a customer.” 

Dione Cota, neighbor, said that she didn’t feel very safe walking near the park. 

“Most women don’t,” she said. “Something needs to be done about that.”  

Vincent Casalaina, who said he had helped tear down the fence around the park in 1969, said he would like to see a lot more history in the park. 

“There’s no place to go to learn about it,” Casalaina, who is president of the Willard Neighborhood Association, said. 

“We want a place that will honor the citizens’ history,” quipped in Berkeley resident Martha Jones. “Something like a distinguished monument.” 

Naturalist Terri Compost, who gardens at the park, agreed. 

“What it needs is for us to be there as a community,” she said. “I am a little wary of stuff like, ‘we are going to cement it all.’”  

Most park users agreed that they wanted to see as little cement in the park as possible. 

Sharon Hudson, an immediate neighbor, said that it was important to have a balance of events at the park. 

“We can’t have too many noisy big events there,” she said. “People’s Park acts as a buffer between residents and a very active South Campus area. It’s a very valuable green space.” 

Park user and disabled people’s activist Dan McMullan said that the park suffered from negative propaganda. 

“If good people go to a place, then it gets the bad people out,” he said. “That’s what we want at the park.” 

Carlos Ponce, who lives right across from the park said the neighbors were constantly dealing with homeless problems. 

“It’s a lot of screaming, a lot of cursing,” he said. “People are living outside my window and shitting there. I cannot use the park when my friends come. They are terrified of going there. The students live there for three or four years and then they leave. But for us, it’s very stressful to live across the park like this year after year. I feel the neighbors have been very neglected.” 

People’s Park Advisory Committee board member Gianna Ranuzzi said she wanted more involvement on the part of the city. 

“I think the park should be for all of us,” said Doris Moskowitz, who owns Moe’s Books on Telegraph. 

“Moe’s needs the park, UC needs the park and the city needs the park. I am frustrated because sometimes it spills over. The drugs are a problem. I’d definitely like to see more women and children use the park.” 

Suggestions for improvement included better bathrooms, a needle exchange box and a bigger recreation center. 

“We found out that people agree more than they disagree,” Miller told the Planet. “But they are always fearful of change. They don’t want to be disregarded and disrespected. That’s why we are looking for alignment and vision that works with the history of the park and community preservation. We want to break down the stereotypes.”


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.” 

In a news release, the state superintendent added that “this is a crucial first step toward returning the Oakland school district to local control and realizing long-term financial recovery and continuing improvement in student achievement. Substantial and sustainable progress has been made in this particular area and I am pleased to see this first of five objectives successfully met.” 

Speaking at the press conference announcing the turnover, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums said, “My view has always been that we desperately need local control of the public schools. We should put forward every effort to return full local control.”  

Board President David Kakishiba called the turnover “clearly a big victory for the people of Oakland. This school board has always wanted an orderly, responsible, timely return of local control. The MOU and today’s actions demonstrate what we have been doing.” 

Kakishiba predicted that state audits “will soon affirm that we are ready for full return to local control. I hope that comes by the start of the next school year.” And Assemblymember Sandré Swanson (D-Oakland) said that “schools are supposed to be our greatest example of democracy, and we want to prove that here in Oakland.” 

The official turnover by O’Connell of the area of community relations and governance to the OUSD School Board comes just two days before a scheduled hearing before the Senate Education Committee on Swanson’s AB45 legislation that would take discretion for the return to local control out of the state superintendent’s hands entirely. 

But while Oakland politicians and education activists expressed satisfaction with the return of one area of school operations to the school board, it was still unclear exactly what this action would mean for day-to-day policy and decision-making at OUSD, and they made pointed statements that this was only the first step in an ultimate goal of return of full local control. 

The MOU—signed by O’Connell, his appointed district administrator Kimberly Statham, district School Board President David Kakishiba, and Board of Education Secretary Edgar Rakestraw in front of a lineup of elected officials that included Dellums, Assemblymembers Swanson and Loni Hancock, Oakland City Councilmember and former school board members Jean Quan, and several current school board members—immediately transfers authority over community relations and governance to the Oakland school board as defined by the state-financed Fiscal Crisis Management Assistance Team (FCMAT), reducing the role of state administrator Statham in that area to a trustee with merely “stay and rescind authority” over any board decision that “may adversely impact the financial condition of the district.” 

Control over four other areas of school activity, as defined by FCMAT, will remain in the hands of O’Connell and Statham for the foreseeable future. Those include financial management, pupil achievement, facilities management, and personnel management. 

Earlier, the school board met in special session at district headquarters to ratify the MOU. 

The limited power transfer means that for the first time since the state takeover, Oakland school board members will be managing partners in the operation of the Oakland schools and will receive pay for their duties. The original SB39 law that authorized the state takeover in 2003 stripped the board of full power and pay. 

Following his announcement, O’Connell informed reporters that “I’m told that [OUSD] facilities are improving. I’m hopeful that this will be the next area in which we will sign an MOU to turn over control in the near future.” 

He refused to give a specific date or timetable for such a return. 

On Monday, O’Connell also did not speak directly during his announcement to what authority the school board will now have, and the MOU itself was distinctly vague on the matter. The MOU did not state the board’s new duties and powers directly, only saying that such authority is returned “over the 54 Professional Standards enumerated by FCMAT” in the Community Relations and Governance sections of its report on OUSD. 

But the 54 professional standards in the FCMAT OUSD document are not designed as outlines of duties, but are merely FCMAT’s assessments of board activities during the takeover years.  

One of those 54 FCMAT “professional standards,” for example, says merely that “Board spokespersons are skilled at public speaking and communication and are knowledgeable about district programs and issues.” Another says that “functional working relations are maintained among board members.” How those spell out the details of return of authority to the board is difficult to determine. 

At least one member of the local education community took a broader view of the turnover, saying that O’Connell’s actions appear to mean that the board will now have power over such things as opening or closing charter schools. 

Oakland Education Association President Betty Olsen-Jones cited the recent closing of the East Oakland Community High School, which State Administrator Statham did after a majority of the school board members voted to keep the school open. 

“Under the new situation, Dr. Statham would not make that decision if it directly went against a board vote,” Olsen-Jones said in an interview following O’Connell’s announcement. “That’s where I see this as being different.” 

But Olsen-Jones said that she was “a little bit skeptical” of O’Connell’s actions, saying that “if you went by the rules laid down by FCMAT, community relations and governance would have been returned to local control two years ago when FCMAT recommended it.” Olsen-Jones called the partial restoration “a small step. But not until we get back full control in all areas will the complete deed be done.” 

Asked by a reporter why it took two years to return community relations and governance to the Oakland school board after FCMAT’s recommendation, O’Connell said only that the turnover resulted from “ongoing discussions and negotiations” between himself, Statham, and the school board, “some of them difficult. We just recently came to an agreement.” 

School board member Greg Hodge, who has been critical of O’Connell’s actions during the takeover, said following the announcement that “two things changed” since FCMAT’s 2005 recommendation that he believes may have led to O’Connell’s belated decision to follow that recommendation. “Sandré Swanson introduced AB45,” Hodge said, “and the land sale got killed.” The “land sale” referred to a tentative deal O’Connell signed last year with an east coast developer to purchase and commercially develop 8.25 acres of central OUSD property, including the district administrative headquarters and five schools. A number of Oakland education activists have charged that the original Oakland school takeover may have been triggered by developer desires to seize that property. O’Connell dropped the land sale following intense opposition from Oakland activists and most Oakland politicians. 

Following the announcement, Assemblymember Swanson said that “the community should get a lot of credit for the state superintendent’s actions. They have been pushing very hard for a return to local control.” Swanson said that he will continue to press forward with his AB45 restoration of Oakland local school control bill, which has already passed the Assembly and will be heard this Wednesday morning in the Senate Education Committee.  

“My bill focuses on the process of return to local control, and makes that process more transparent,” Swanson said. “I’m pleased that the state superintendent is moving forward now to do it on his own. You can argue about the timing of his announcement, but it’s a good thing that it’s happening.” Swanson said that AB45, however, “will ensure that the process of return to local control in each of FCMAT’s five interest areas takes place in a more timely fashion, and will make it easier to take place in the future.” 


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. 

Walter Hood, a professor and former chair of UC Berkeley’s Landscape Architecture Department as well as the head of his own design firm, presented ideas and listened to comments during a Monday afternoon meeting with a variety of civic activists and officials in the Gaia Building’s art center. 

“It interests me to create a great public space in downtown Berkeley,” Hood said. 

An architect whose works have been hailed by colleagues and by the New York Times, Hood has been retained at a fee of $150,000 by a group including Oakland resident Richard Register’s Ecocity Builders and Berkeley resident Elyce Judith to prepare what Berkeley’s planning director has called an “advocacy plan.” 

There’s no guarantee the city will adopt Hood’s plan, but city officials who turned out for Monday’s gathering seemed impressed that an architect of his stature would be offering a design at no cost to the city. 

With grants from the Mazer Foundation and several local donors, Hood will design an alternative vision for what has emerged as a central feature of two downtown planning efforts. 

Both the city UC Hotel Task Force and the current effort by the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee (DAPAC) have floated the notion of transforming the block of Center Street between Oxford Street and Shattuck Avenue into a visionary public space. 

Richard Register and Kirstin Miller of Ecocity Builders, advocates of the proposal to restore a stretch of Strawberry Creek as a centerpiece of a pedestrian plaza, introduced Hood at a gathering attended by Berkeley elected and appointed civic leadership. 

“I got involved with the Urban Creek Council very early on,” said Hood, an affable speaker hailed as a genius by DAPAC Chair Will Travis. 

A long-time East Bay resident, Hood said that one of the area’s most compelling features is the presence of the skyline of the hills, a constant feature that literally grounds the observer in relation to the landscape. 

“Out here, we are in this environment where the hills are visible,” he said, and the challenge of the design is to integrate the experience of the hills, the creek, the buildings, while tying in the transit features of the bus and BART plaza that anchor the block across Shattuck Avenue. 

“I am less into aesthetics than anything else,” he said. “If I can come back at the end of the day and see people doing something I didn’t expect, I know I’ve been successful.” 

While one of his most famous designs, in collaboration with Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuton, has been the landscape and gardens of San Francisco’s De Young Museum, it was his creation at Splash Pad Park in Oakland which has won kudos both from passersby and New York Times writer Patricia Leigh Brown. 

Hood said he hopes to create a space where public events can be held, while allowing each visitor—whether intentional or simply passing through—to find a space of his or her own. 

“It’s really encouraging to hear you,” said Juliet Lamont, a DAPAC member and environmentalist. “I’ve been following the evolution of your work over the years.” 

Lamont urged Hood to consider a theme which has emerged as the central element of the new downtown plan taking shape with DAPAC’s assistance—sustainability. 

Planning Commissioner David Stoloff, citing different handling of water in European cities he had visited, asked Hood if the architect would consider two alternatives, one a daylighted creek and the other a “water feature.” Hood said he would. 

As two examples, he cited the Aqua Palace in Rome, a monument to the source of the city’s water in Tivoli, and San Antonio, where the Rio Grande had been fully restored as a center of commerce. 

“It really resonates with me to create a great public space,” said DAPAC member and architect Jim Novosel. “I would love to hear Al Gore downtown rather than at Provo [Martin Luther King Civic Center] Park or Sproul Hall.” 

“I am just absolutely thrilled that you are bringing your genius to this problem,” said DAPAC Chair Travis, who asked Hood how he saw his relationship with DAPAC—which is charged with wrapping up its planning efforts by the end of November. 

Hood said that while he would be glad to work with DAPAC—just as he has already been meeting with city planning staff and hopes to meet soon with university planners and the designers of the art museum planned for the northwest corner of Oxford and Center streets. Hood said he would also be working autonomously as well. 

While some said they wanted a full restoration of the creek, created as a didactic tool, Hood said he hoped everyone would be open to the everyday implications of the design. “Sometimes it’s just nice to be in a place and have some sunshine,” he said. “Sometimes it’s just nice to go to your business and open up the doors and it’s clean outside.” 

Members of the public have the opportunity to meet with Hood during a morning symposium Friday at Berkeley City College, starting at 9 a.m.  

Also on hand will be the present and past mayors and the city manager of San Luis Obispo, another university town which has made a restored creek an anchoring feature of its revitalized city center. 

The day’s events also include a private catered lunch for members of the City Council and city commissions, followed by a tour of the project area and campus and a meeting with members of the downtown business community. 

The day will end with a 5 p.m. gathering atop the Gaia Building. 

Monday’s event drew a good turnout, including Mayor Tom Bates, City Councilmembers Dona Spring, Gordon Wozniak and Laurie Capitelli, as well as at least three members of the Planning Commission and four DAPAC members. 

 

Photograph by Richard Brenneman 

Walter Hood fielded questions from city officials and interested citizens after he described the beginnings of his vision for a new Center Street Plaza. He has been commissioned to prepare plans for a public space that could include a stretch of restored Strawberry Creek between Oxford Street and Shattuck Avenue if the block is closed to traffic as advocates hope.


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. 

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the Old City Hall, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

The current building exists right on the border of a higher-density and a lower-density residential zone. 

Area residents are worried that the proposed building, which will become a dorm for UC Berkeley students, will produce noise, shadow and privacy impacts on the neighborhood.  

Applicant William Coburn Architects of Oakland wants to construct a 2,974-square-foot addition to an existing 903-square-foot one-story, two-unit building by expanding the footprint toward the rear yard and raising the existing house. The proposed expansion will increase the units from two to 14.  

The board will decide whether to set the issue for public hearing.  

 

Other items 

• The board will a hold a preliminary consideration of a use permit for the 1819 Fifth St. Pads Project.  

Applicants Liz Miranda and Timothy Rempel of Fifth Street have requested a permit to construct a mixed-use project which involves renovation and modification of an existing building at 1819 Fifth St., with four live-work units, 10 residential condominium units, 11 commercial units (7,298 square feet), 27 parking spaces and a new four-story construction. 

Although state laws mandate that the project should not receive more than a 15 percent density bonus, staff suggests that it should receive 35 percent. 

There is strong opposition from West Berkeley neighbors who have submitted a petition against the project. Area residents are concerned that the height and the mass of the proposed project will be out of character with the rest of the neighborhood. 

The Landmarks Preservation Commission is concerned about its impact on the Delaware Street Historic District. 

Staff recommends that the ZAB comment on the project’s bulk, mass and proposed concessions. 

• The board will vote on whether to approve a use permit to demolish an existing automotive repair shop and surface parking lot to construct a four-story, mixed-use building with 18 condominium dwelling units, 2,370 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and a 25-space parking garage at 2720 San Pablo Ave. 

 

 

 


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. 

“It went well,” said Kahn. “We had about 150 people in attendance. We also got a new prayer book. I think people are excited.” 

Berkeley Councilmember Kriss Worthington, also openly gay, said he enjoyed the service. 

“It was more emotional than the average service since it was the first one,” noted Worthington. “He also invited members of the rabbi search committee up to join him.” 

The rabbi search committee had been meeting to find a new rabbi, due to the retirement of the previous one. 

Katherine Haynes Sanstad, president of Congregation Beth El and chair of the search committee, said that the choice to pick Kahn wasn’t difficult. She also noted that the committee unanimously voted to elect Kahn as senior rabbi. 

“We did an international search with candidates as far as Australia,” said Haynes Sanstad. “We wanted to find a person who had the skills to bring deep meaning to the traditions of Judaism and Beth El, and Rabbi Kahn was head and shoulders above all other applicants in that respect.” 

During the first two days at his post, there were two deaths in the congregation. 

“He has already hit the ground running and provided families with the grace and compassion they need in this hard time and has asked the community to do the same,” added Haynes Sanstad. 

Kahn, a native of the Bay Area, graduated with honors from UC Berkeley and went to Jerusalem to study at Hebrew University. He was ordained at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1985. Then, he returned to the Bay Area and completed his graduate studies, receiving his Ph.D. through the Center for Jewish Studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. He has been a rabbi for the past 22 years, eleven at the Congregation ShaAr Zahaz in San Francisco. 

When asked why he became a rabbi, Kahn responded, “I like Jewish stuff. I think that the Jewish spiritual tradition is connected to community and culture. I try to model and teach these traditions.” 

Rabbi Kahn and his partner Dan Bellm have been married for 25 years and have a 15-year-old son, Adam. 

“This is a man who has been involved in synagogue renewal for the past decade,” mentioned Haynes Sanstad. “He is incredibly gifted and talented.” 

Members of the public are invited to attend services on Friday nights at 6:15 p.m. and Saturday mornings at 10 a.m at Congregation Beth El at 1301 Oxford St. 


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. 

The quarrel is over the new language proposed by Waste Management. Teamsters want to renew the previous contract for an additional five years, while Waste Management wants to include new language that increases the amount employees pay for healthcare, lessens the power and influence of unions, and establishes more stringent health and safety guidelines.  

In response to the disagreements, Waste Management has brought in 200 replacement workers from around the country. On their website, the company explains their position. 

“The company has tried for months to reach a new agreement with the union prior to the expiration of the old contract, without success,” according to the Waste Management of Alameda County website. “Waste Management of Alameda County has offered the Teamsters above-market wage and benefits increases that keep our employees among the highest paid in the industry. The company’s offer also provides for the highest level of safety standards, and ensures labor peace during the term of the contract.” 

Teamster Local 70’s Secretary-Treasurer Chuck Mack contends that the union will not strike, but says that it will not give in to company demands. 

“Our goal is to renew the old contract for another five years,” said Mack prior to a negotiation meeting with a federal negotiator yesterday. “We aren’t asking for anything new. We hope for the best today, but I haven’t seen any evidence that the company has changed its mind.” 

There have been 14 meetings between Waste Management and Teamsters Local 70, but no progress has been made. Union workers are furious with their employers and are asking for their jobs back. 

“I am not able to work,” said Tony Tedeschi, thirty-year employee of Waste Management. “I’ve had to file for unemployment for the first time in all these years. They’ve locked us out completely. I want to go back to work again. I’ve got bills to pay.” 

Additionally, Tedeschi accused the company of being hypocritical. 

“They’ve hired replacement drivers that are working unsafely,” said Tedeschi. “They aren’t wearing seat belts, they’re talking on their cell phones. In other words, the new workers are doing the same thing that the company says they want to stop, but they aren’t getting punished. In addition, they’re mixing green waste, recycling, and garbage. It’s all going to landfill.” 

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums said in a statement: “I understand the hardship this lock-out is creating for residents in Oakland. We’re pursuing every legal remedy, applying pressure on both sides to come to an agreement, and we’re looking at alternative ways to have the garbage collected.” 

Last week, the Central Labor Council of Alameda County, AFL-CIO granted picketline sanction to Teamsters Local 70 at Waste Management facilities around Alameda County. 

“The issue here is the right to honor picket lines and the right to collective bargaining,” said Sharon Cornu, executive secretary-treasurer of the 100,000-member AFL-CIO Labor Council, representing 130 local unions. “The company has been blowing smoke about a variety of side issues, while their real goal is to stop union brothers and sisters from supporting each other and bargaining good contracts. They picked the wrong place and the wrong members for this fight. Labor, community and political leaders are resolutely behind the workers from all three unions.” 

In a letter dated June 29, Waste Management threatened the Machinists Local Lodge 1546 with “permanent replacement” if they honored the Local 70 picket line, which would result in work stopping. 

Pickup complaints should be directed to the City of Oakland Recycling Hotline 238-SAVE (7283) for both garbage and recycling service issues.


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.” 

Meanwhile, an official with the Oakland police watchdog organization PUEBLO said that she was “disappointed” in what she called the failure of local Assemblymember Sandré Swanson to actively intervene to support the bill. 

Assemblymember Sandré Swanson “owes his constituents an explanation as to why he buckled under,” said PUEBLO organizer Rashidah Grinage by telephone this week. 

Swanson’s office could not be reached in time to comment for this story. 

State Sen. Gloria Romero’s (D-Los Angeles) SB1019 would restore open police disciplinary hearings in cities and counties throughout California, which were closed to the public earlier this year following the State Supreme Court’s ruling in the Copley v. Superior Court case. Among the cities closing those police hearings were Oakland and Berkeley. 

But last month, in a hearing room which ACLU-Northern California Police Practices Policy Director Mark Schlosberg says was filled with more than 100 police union representatives, members of the Assembly Public Safety Committee refused Romero’s request to bring the bill to a vote. 

“We could have had Mother Theresa come and testify for the bill, there could have been the Second Coming, it wouldn’t have mattered,” Grinage said. “The committee members already had an agreement to sit on the bill. It was a cowardly action. They engineered it so that none of them would have to go on record.” 

“Unfortunately, most committee members were non-responsive,” to the testimony of bill supporters, Schlosberg said in a press statement. “Instead, committee members sided with the phalanx of police union lobbyists who repeated their mantra of the day: ‘SB 1019 will endanger officer safety and the safety of their families.’ This assertion—repeated by dozens of police union reps—was completely unchallenged by even a single member of the committee, including Assemblywoman Fiona Ma. Not a single Assembly member pointed out the obvious: that in the over 30 years of public oversight in California, there is not a single example of a police officer being physically harmed because of the public release of information about misconduct complaints and discipline. The vast majority of other states release more information to the public than California and the police associations have also failed to provide any similar examples from those states as well. The bill also has specific provisions that allow information to remain confidential where there are officer safety concerns.” 

Schlosberg later said by telephone that “any police accountability bill in Sacramento is an uphill fight” because of the power of police unions. “Since before the Rodney King beating, there hasn’t been any major reform in this area that has passed the Legislature and been signed into law.” 

But Schlosberg later said by telephone that “the worst-case scenario in this is a two-year bill. It’s already passed the Senate, so even if we can’t get it passed in the Assembly this year, we can bring it up in the Assembly next year without having to go through the Senate again.” 

Schlosberg said that activists have not given up the fight for this year. “The deadline for getting bills to the governor to sign is September. We’ve still got time.” 

For her part, Grinage says that “we haven’t thrown in the towel.” But if Romero’s bill passes, she believes it won’t be through the Assembly Public Safety Committee. 

“We saw what they were about,” she said. “There’s no need to try to bring it back to those folks. We’re now trying to get people to contact [Assembly Speaker Fabian] Nuñez to bring this directly to the floor of the Assembly for a vote, without passing through committee. The Speaker has the power to do this.” 

Grinage said that local progressive activists had been “counting on people like Swanson to do that, but it doesn’t appear that he is up to the task. Any number of citizens and organizations have contacted his office, asking for his support for SB1019. The Mayor of Oakland is supporting it. The Oakland Chief of Police is supporting it. The Oakland City Council is supporting it. But the most we could get out of Swanson’s office is that he will vote for it when it comes to the floor of the Assembly, when he knew full well that it wasn’t going to get out of committee. That’s not leadership.” 

“Ironically,” Grinage added, Oakland City Attorney John Russo, who Swanson beat in last year’s Democratic primary for the Assembly seat, “is supporting the bill, even though Swanson has the reputation of being the more progressive of the two. On this issue, at any rate, progressives would be better off if Russo was in office.” 


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). 

Members of the Richmond Southeast Shoreline Area Community Advisory Group (CAG) are scheduled to meet at 6:30 p.m. in the Bermuda Room of the Richmond Convention Center, 203 Civic Center Plaza near the corner of Nevin and 25th streets. 

CAG members provide non-binding advice to DTSC officials supervising the cleanup of contaminated sites and is following efforts at Campus Bay and the adjacent UC Berkeley Richmond Field Station. 

Both tracts accumulated heavy loads of hazardous metals and organic toxins during their histories as sites of extensive chemical manufacturing—mercury-containing explosives at the university site and a host of chemicals at Campus Bay, for the century between 1897 and 1997 the location of a complex of chemical plants which produced everything from pesticides to fertilizers and sulfuric acid. 

Campus Bay is where plans for a 1,330-unit housing project were tabled after questions arose about the safety of the site and the nature of a major cleanup that took place between 2002 and 2004 while a similar effort was being conducted next door on the university property. 

On June 29, the DTSC ordered both the university and AstraZeneca, the last chemical manufacturer to own the Campus Bay site, to submit plans for proper handling of more than 3,000 truckloads of contaminated soil hauled from the field station to a massive disposal site at Campus Bay. 

DTSC alleges that not only was the soil improperly disposed of, but at least nine trucking companies lacked valid hazardous permits for at least part of the time they were hauling the earth.


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.  

I listened to what they all were saying about Costa Rica’s stewardship of her natural resources. 

With over 27 percent of land protected and preserved, Costa Rica has raised the bar as a model for conservation. In land the size of West Virginia exist 12 life zones and 5 percent of the earth’s flora and fauna, making Costa Rica one of earth’s most bio-diverse areas. From beautiful rain forests, volcanic mountain ranges, misty cloud forests, jungle rivers to mangrove swamps and vaulting canopy trees, life thrives. 

In Coter Lake’s rain forest, the sounds are those of water, drop by drop, working its way down through tiers of foliage, and the whine of the giant cicada. Here the nutrient-rich soil layer is thin, requiring flora to grab a foothold wherever possible. Every square inch becomes a habitat, nothing is wasted. One guanacaste tree, the national tree of Costa Rica, teems with life—red bromeliads, Sobralia orchids, mosses, ferns, blue sky vines and massive termite nests. 

Another sound is the “capi, capi” of the Maleku, indigenous people who are the guardians of the forest. Through Soto they explain, “Outside we are the same, two eyes, two ears, two arms, two feet. What sets us apart? What we believe in our hearts and think in our minds.” Through their crafts, like the soothing rain cylinder and balsa animal masks, they work to preserve their forest. 

Government regulations have aided conservation. Protected land is surveyed and catalogued, plant by plant. Permission must be granted even for the removal of one tree. Within Costa Rica, one acre of forest traps five tons of carbon dioxide and releases the same in oxygen. As an incentive, the government buys oxygen credits from individuals maintaining forests on private land. Quotas for visitors have also been set in the more popular parks and on trails within the parks. 

Monte Verde Biological Preserve is a primary cloud forest of diverse terrain, under intense humidity. Winds sweep across this land of miradors: in English, passages of windswept uninterrupted green, where there are no signs of human habitation as far as the eye can see. Listening here yields the joyful calls of birds, a symphony of song. Sharp eyes and Soto’s spotting scope reveals the amazing quetzal, emerald toucanet, screech owl and black guan. Ears tuned to the cellular might hear the aerial roots of the strangler fig as it surrounds and embraces an unwary ficus, slowly sapping its life and creating a latticed tree-structure of its own. 

While 50 percent of the population still makes a living from agriculture, over 186 protected areas have made tourism Costa Rica’s number-one industry. This has resulted in thousands of jobs as guides, drivers and in the service industries, as well as a dramatic rise in the value of land. My driver one day, Oscar, related the story of a convert to ecology. “There was a man who didn’t care about conservation; he wanted to cut the trees down in the quetzal forest. Now he saves the trees and leads groups to see the quetzal.” 

Tourism has its down sides, as is often the case when money competes with the environment. Some areas, like Quepos, have been overdeveloped, resulting in wall-to-wall hotels and strains on the water supply. Before quotas were set, Manuel Antonio National Park was overrun with beach enthusiasts whose lack of eco-interest contributed to wildlife like the white-faced capuchin and squirrel monkey becoming habituated to human food. But it’s all a balancing act. As Soto remarked, “The money collected at Manuel Antonio helps support less popular parks.”  

In the mangrove swamp I hear the sound of water lapping against tree roots: trees preventing erosion, helping to transform wet land to dry, trees whose roots create nurseries for crustaceans and fish as they filter salt. As the boat slowly glides, I observe the red, white and black mangrove forests, one of the most productive for removing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen. I watch ibis, ringed kingfishers, a northern tree boa and a tiny fur-ball, the silky anteater. Then I hear a plop, a mangrove pod hitting the water, sinking to the bottom, imbedding itself in the silt, ready to grow roots and begin the cycle of life once again. 

Costa Rica’s paradise is not perfect, but it’s a work in progress in the right direction. By abolishing her army in 1948, Costa Rica has been able to channel financial power to her people—30 percent to education and another 30 percent to health care. Literacy is at 93 percent. The government subsidizes education and provides tuition-free technical training; unemployment is very low. 

There are many voices speaking in Costa Rica; their sounds fill the air. The richness of the wildlife fills your eyes. This small country on the path of conservation can easily fill your heart.


Police Blotter

By Rio Bauce
Tuesday July 10, 2007

Arson 

At 11:51 p.m. on Saturday, someone called in to report that a small fire had been started at the entrance of the Berkeley Mental Health Center at Derby and MLK. Someone left an unknown accelerant at the door when the building was closed and damaged a portion of the entrance. No suspects have been identified. 

 

Spousal abuse 

On Saturday at 6:20 p.m., a man assaulted his wife, both in their 30s, on the 1500 block of Alcatraz Avenue. After the incident, the woman received an emergency protective order against her husband. No injuries were indicated in the report. 

 

Burglary 

At 10:12 p.m. on Friday, two Berkeley residents phoned the police to report that two laptops, a camera, and an MP3 player had been stolen from their home on the 2200 block of Haste. No suspects are in custody. 

 

Auto burglary via key 

At 11:30 a.m. on Friday, a car owner called in to report that their car had been broken into with a stolen key and their FasTrak transponder had been taken while they were parking at the Alta Bates Medical Center on Milvia at Dwight. Police believe that the suspect is a parking attendant, said Lt. Wes Hester, spokesman for the Berkeley Police Department. 

 

Paintball attack 

On Thursday at 12:21 p.m., a woman called in to report that she had been struck with a paintball gun on the 900 block of Shattuck. There are no suspects in this case. 

 

Double robberies 

On Thursday at midnight, two men and one woman were walking on the 2000 block of Shattuck, when they were stopped and robbed via gun. The suspects took cash, coupons, and a credit card. Six minutes later, at Durant and Shattuck, a man was stopped and robbed via strong arm. The suspects took his cell phone. Lt. Hester says that police believe that suspects performed both robberies due to the similar time and close proximity of the robberies.


New Deal Legacy Remains Visible and Vibrant in East Bay

By Gray Brechin, Special to the Planet
Friday July 06, 2007

We live and move daily amidst the remains of a lost civilization that we do not see but that we cannot do without. Nor, I suspect, do those who have loathed Franklin Delano Roosevelt ever since he made good on his promise to deliver a New Deal to Americans 75 years ago want you to see them. To do so would shatter myths beloved of free market fundamentalists whose economic flimflam has—at least until they bring on the next bust—triumphed over what Roosevelt and myriads of Americans accomplished and left us.  

FDR himself would likely not have moved into the White House without the stock market crash of 1929 that ended Americans’ love affair with go-go capitalism unhindered by restrictions or safety nets. By the time of his inauguration on March 4, 1933, banks across the nation were going down like dominoes and millions found themselves starving, freezing, dispossessed, and on the move. The terrible hangover of the Roaring 20s called the Great Depression took Roosevelt to Washington with such a solid Democratic majority in Congress that he was able to pass bill after bill regulating business to safeguard citizens and more equitably distribute its benefits.  

High on FDR’s to-do list was the creation of “alphabet soup” agencies meant to give back to the impoverished their self-respect by giving them to socially beneficial jobs. In doing so, those workers vastly expanded the concept of the public; a book of the time illustrating New Deal buildings boasted, “this vast building program presents us with a great vision, that of man building primarily for love of and to fulfill the needs of his fellowmen.” It sounds corny until you see what they did.  

When I began an effort nearly three years ago to reveal what New Deal workers left behind them when they laid down their picks, paintbrushes, trowels and batons to pick up rifles and riveting guns, I had no idea how much I would find. The deeper I dug, however, the more I encountered—a civilization whose motto is best summarized by an inscription over the door of the WPA-built City Hall in Cucamonga: THE NOBLEST MOTIVE IS THE PUBLIC GOOD. The Living New Deal Project became a group of volunteers—with now a small staff—working to inventory, map, and photograph an unseen matrix of public works ranging from the humble to the dazzling and essential. Within less than ten years of economic hardship, men, women and youth crafted innumerable artifacts that a seemingly far richer nation is allowing to fall into ruin  

With practiced eyes, you begin to see those remains everywhere in the East Bay. You use them pretty much every time you turn on a tap, flush your toilet, drive a car, or use an airport. Laborers with the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and its successor, the Works Progress Administration (WPA), graded and paved roads in West Berkeley and boulevards in Oakland, They poured many miles of sidewalks that sometimes bear the WPA stamp. They vastly expanded the East Bay Municipal Utilities District by trenching and laying steel mains that fortunately, according to a WPA report, “are practically indestructible.”  

They built power stations for Alameda’s publicly owned utility, improved the Port of Oakland, and largely created the Oakland and San Francisco Airports. And, more problematically, they converted local creeks into straightened and buried storm drains now beleaguering homeowners and cities alike. We all make mistakes.  

Roosevelt’s proudest creation was a peacetime army of destitute young men known as the Civilian Conservation Corps. Though the CCC “boys” usually worked from Army-like camps in the boonies to plant forests, fight fires and tree diseases, and build roads and lodges, they worked in the East Bay restoring watershed lands and launching the first units of the East Bay Regional Parks District. Look for the characteristically meticulous rockwork in Tilden Park and Lake Temescal whose landscapes are largely the result of the New Deal. Of the Tilden public golf course, the EBRPD director thanked the WPA supervisor “for the efficient construction of what is said to be one of the finest 18 hole golf courses in America.” He added that “It was built by you at one half the cost of an adjoining private course, despite the fact they did not have the difficult construction problems to surmount.”  

If San Francisco’s example is anything to go by, WPA workers created or improved virtually every older park in the East Bay. Their labor is usually invisible in now matured landscapes, picnic grounds, and the baseball diamonds and tennis courts we take for granted, but in places such as Berkeley’s Cragmont and Codornices Parks, Richmond’s Alvarado Park, or in Oakland’s Montclair Park and Joaquin Miller Parks, you can see WPA masonry. Few who enjoy Berkeley’s Aquatic Park or Yacht Harbor probably realize that they are heirlooms left by hundreds of men working with picks, mules and scrapers. Nor do many who enjoy outdoor performances at Berkeley’s John Hinckle Amphitheatre or Oakland’s Woodminster realize the debt they owe to workers who, to judge by what they left, were most certainly not resting on their shovels as Roosevelt’s enemies charged.  

The New Deal had a special concern for public education in all its aspects, for without such a commitment, Roosevelt believed, democracy itself would fail. The CWA and WPA put tens of thousands of teachers back to work, hired school librarians and nutritionists, and set up clinics to improve the health of children. Those agencies and the grant-giving Public Works Administration (PWA) left dozens of well-built and well-designed schools throughout the East Bay; many (such as Berkeley High) were embellished by artists employed by various federal art agencies.  

Visiting California in 1939, Secretary of Interior Harold Ickes said “I wonder if the people of California have not come to take the Federal Government too much for granted. One breath-taking public work has followed another in such rapid succession that it would not be surprising if, at times, you should overlook what has already been accomplished.” If they overlooked it then, we have forgotten it since.  

The New Deal agencies guttered out in the turmoil of war without leaving comprehensive records of their achievements. The Living New Deal Project (www.lndp.org) is a growing collaborative effort now housed at Berkeley’s Institute for Research in Labor and Employment. It is databasing and mapping the invisible matrix of public works left us by a bold, ingenious, and compassionate administration that, as one CCC vet told me, “cared for the little guy.” We hope that the work we are doing here will lead to a national inventory to honor the forgotten contributions of those upon whose shoulders we unwittingly stand.  

A sculptural frieze by John Boardman Howard on the Berkeley Community Theater depicts people of all races brought together by the arts. When I walk through the Berkeley or Oakland Rose Gardens, or look at the rock walls left us by the calloused hands of anonymous workers more than seven decades ago, I marvel at our government’s equal commitment to beauty as well as survival in a time of desperation. We once did peace well.  

 

If you have information on local New Deal projects, please contact Harvey Smith: harveysmithberkeley@yahoo.com, or 510-649-7395. We are interested in talking with WPA or CCC veterans, especially those who worked on the Berkeley Rose Garden.  

 


Toxic Questions Surround Two Richmond Sites

By Richard Brenneman
Friday July 06, 2007

More questions are swirling around the cleanup efforts at two adjacent contaminated sites in Richmond this week. 

Issues range from the adequacy of testing of contaminants at UC Berkeley’s Richmond Field Station (RFS) and the possibility of radioactive contamination both at the field station and at the adjacent site at Campus Bay, owned by AstraZeneca, a Swiss agro-chemical giant.  

State officials last week issued emergency cleanup orders to the university and AstraZeneca, demanding the cleanup of thousands of truckloads of contaminated soil illegally transported from the RFS and buried at the chemical company’s adjacent site. 

The orders from the state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) concern more than 3,000 truckloads of contaminated earth moved during cleanup operations between 2002 and 2004. 

But other questions remain, and scientists and two environmental and geological consultants working for a DTSC Community Advisory (CAG) Group overseeing the cleanups this week urged a halt to cleanup activities at the chemical company’s site in light of possible radioactive contamination there. 

Questions about radioactive contaminants have also arisen about RFS, and a possible site there has been identified. 

Just as worrisome to CAG member Sherry Padgett is the latest report on conditions at the RFS, which show the presence of significant levels of toxics where cleanup work has already been completed. 

“This is dramatic because they had excavated all of the area and brought in clean fill,” she said. 

Presence of the toxic incursions was disclosed in a hefty draft Current Conditions Report (CCR) prepared by the university’s environmental consultants in response to a Sept. 15, 2006 order from the DTSC. 

A similar report was ordered from AstraZeneca. 

Padgett said the university’s report is flawed, in part because the document only covers 90 of the site’s 152 acres. 

“We were expecting something more significant,” Padgett said. “The bottom line is that it isn’t adequate.” 

But Karl Hans, senior environmental scientist with the university’s office of Environment, Health & Safety, said the site area was specified in the DTSC order that led to the report. 

In response, member of the CAG’s Toxic Committee sent a 27-page response to the DTSC on June 8, raising detailed questions about the report’s specifics, along with recommendations. 

The committee has yet to receive a response. The university representatives canceled two consecutive meetings with the committee—the first two days before a scheduled session last month and a second time this month. 

“We wanted to meet with them before we prepared our report,” said Padgett. “They called two days before and said they had a open house they had to attend.” 

Padgett said the date for the second session was chosen as a date when university officials said they could attend. After the committee issued its report, Greg Haet, a university’s environmental health and safety officer, sent an email announcement that the school wouldn’t attend the second session. 

In his email to the committee, Haet offered to explain, but Padgett didn’t call. “The message was so terse it seemed pointless, particularly when we’d scheduled the meeting for a time they said they could attend.” 

Hans said the staff members had other commitments at the times of both meetings. “University staff familiar with the project have provided information at past CAG meetings, including the Toxics Committee,” he wrote in an email response to questions. He added that “In general, however, the University believes it is appropriate to deal directly with DTSC on these issues.”  

 

Key issues 

One of the key points raised in the committee’s report was the lack of any information about the university’s property south of the Bay Trail, some 40 percent of the RFS total acreage. 

Of the remaining acreage, the university’s consultants confined their testing largely to areas previously known to have harbored concentrations of toxics. 

“They didn’t do tests on most of the site,” said Padgett. 

“The Current Conditions Report is meant to consolidate information from previous investigations and summarize the current status of soil and groundwater conditions at the RFS. It is not intended to be an investigation work plan,” Hans responded. 

“The University will complete a Field Sampling Work Plan sometime in later 2007 based on DTSC’s review of the CCR. In addition, based on the extensive investigations performed to date, the RFS site is well-characterized and additional wide-spread sampling, such as grid sampling, is most likely not necessary, ” he said. 

The committee also questioned the claim by consultants that a plant that had reprocessed oils, including the unauthorized treatment of PCBs from electrical transformers, had contributed to the toxic load at the field station. 

The CAG committee asked the mention to be removed, given that the Liquid Gold plant was located on the other side of the AstraZeneca property, which had been the site of a century of chemical manufacturing. 

The committee also asked that the university consultants explain why the previously cleaned areas of Western Stege Marsh were showing elevated concentrations of PCBs near the surface, along with surface findings of mercury, arsenic and copper. 

“Low concentrations of metals and PCBs have been found in the sediment being deposited onto clean soils placed in areas excavated during 2002-2004,” Hans said. “The marsh sediment deposition processes are under investigation as part of the ongoing marsh monitoring program. These investigations are intended to help determine the source, or sources, of potential contaminants in the sediments.” 

The committee also asked for more testing for toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the soil and water through the RFS site and for greater study of the plume of toxics coming onto the field station from the AstraZeneca site 

Padgett said she was particularly concerned that the study didn’t include subsurface testing of soil and water near the border of the Campus Bay site near the intersection of 46th and Meade streets, where high levels of VOCs had been found on the Campus Bay side. 

“Soil and groundwater samples have been collected for chemical analyses in the northeastern portion of the RFS,” Hans responded. “Zeneca, as part of the investigation of their property required by DTSC, is performing additional characterization of chemicals in shallow and intermediate groundwater zones along the property boundary between the RFS and the former Zeneca site.” 

Padgett said she would also like to see an evaluation of the entire site for the presence of the highly toxic compound methyl mercury. Mercury was used at the RFS site by its previous occupant, California Cap Co., which manufactured blasting caps, ammunition and other explosive using fulminate of mercury, a compound made from the metal. 

Methyl mercury is a compound produced by the action of bacteria on mercury beneath the ground and in water. It is highly toxic, and has been linked to lowered intelligence in children, immune system disorders, heart attacks and death. 

Presence of the compound in San Francisco Bay has led to the posting of shoreline notices warning against regular consumption of fish caught in its waters. 

“The University expects DTSC’s official comments on the Current Conditions Report in the next month,” Hans wrote, “and will reply at that time to their specific comments and concerns.” 

 

Radioactive questions 

The committee is also concerned with issues of possible radioactive wastes at both the RFS and at the adjoining AstraZeneca site. 

Ethel Dotson, who spent her childhood in a segregated housing development near the sites, had long raised the issue of possible radioactive contamination. While her suspicions were initially disavowed by both the university and the chemical company, more information has surfaced that lends substances to her fears. 

Initial reports that a small test of melting uranium with an electron beam occurred at the chemical plant site have led to the discovery of more documentation indicating that more extensive testing may have taken place, including an account reporting that larger amounts of radioactive nuclear reactor fuel capsules may have been treated at the site. 

Another concern arises from the processing of so-called superphosphate fertilizers at the site, which are manufactured from ores that typically contain significant amounts of radioactive compounds. 

The concerns were raised in a letter sent Tuesday to the DTSC, AstraZeneca, Cherokee Simeon Ventures and others by Dorinda Shipman, a consultant with an Francisco-based Treadwell & Rollo, Inc., and Adrienne LaPierre, a scientist with Iris Environmental. 

The consultants were hired with funds provided by Cherokee Simeon, a company formed to develop the Campus Bay site, which it purchased from AstraZeneca. 

The consultants urged a halt to any further efforts to clean up the site pending a thorough examination of the site to determine the possible “human health and environmental risks.” 

“Proceeding with (cleanup efforts) before the completion of the site characterization process (in this case a thorough understanding of the radiological issues) could jeopardize the selection of a health protective remedy,” they wrote. 

Surface tests at the Campus Bay site conducted two years ago didn’t find measurable traces of radioactivity of the surface, though elevated radioactivity measurements have been detected in groundwater. 

Radiation concerns at the RFS arise chiefly from the reports of retired RFS worker and current CAG member Rick Alcaraz that he and other university staff members dumped barrels of rocks at the site hauled from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory which they believed to be radioactive. 

An exploratory dig at one site failed to find any trace of the barrels, but Alcaraz said they were dumped at another site, where magnetometer tests have shown the presence of metal beneath the surface.


New UC-BP Biofuel Lab Opening Set for July 2010

By Richard Brenneman
Friday July 06, 2007

BP—the multinational once known as British Petroleum—will be able to move into its new digs in Berkeley in three years, according to plans given to would-be builders. 

The projected date is July 22, 2010. 

Construction of the Helios Energy Research Facility (HERF) on a prime piece of hillside at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) could start as early as next January, according to the documents from a June 28 presentation by project director Joe Harkins. 

The building will house researchers—both academic and corporate—working at the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI), the $500 million research program funded by BP under the administration of UC Berkeley. Researchers will comes form the university, the lab, and BP. 

Researchers from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, will also be conducting crop testing and other research.  

The facility will also house two other programs, an inorganic physical sciences program working on alternative energy and a lab for producing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) not included under the EBI’s extensive program of GMO research. 

While earlier specifications for the lab building had placed the height of the building at four stories, the plans by SmithGroup, a national architectural firm which has offices in San Francisco, show a central core that rises to eight floors, including a rooftop with a greenhouse and a large space for mechanical equipment. 

Wings on either side of the core rise to six floors on the northern end and five on the south, tiering off to the three levels and then one at the southernmost end. The unusual floor arrangement is attributable partly to the sloping nature of the site. 

The sprawling structure is located in the southeasternmost complex of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), the so-called Nano Campus, and sited directly across Lee Road from the Molecular Foundry, LBNL’s state-of-the-art nanotechnology research facility and another Harkins-supervised project. 

Harkins, who is also charged with the demolition of the lab’s Bevatron building, was also project director for the foundry building, another SmithGroup design. 

Part of one floor in the HERF’s southern wing is reserved for nanotechnology offices. 

In addition to extensive offices and laboratories—including a suite of so-called “synthetic biology” labs for genetically modifying crops and microbes to produce fuels with the aim of making the United State independent of foreign fuel sources—the structure also contains a cafe and an auditorium. 

Both nanotechnology and the genetic modification of organisms for human ends have sparked controversy and protests, largely driven by fears of the unintended consequences that often accompany new technologies. 

Berkeley is quickly becoming a major center of GMO research for producing what have been described by supporters as biofuels and by critics as agrofuels. 

The 160,000-square-foot building is budgeted at $160 million—up $35 million from previous estimates. 

The $1,000-a-square-foot cost stems in part from the high costs mandated by the need to keep vibration to a minimum and to shield expensive electronic equipment and experiments from electromagnetic interference. 

Included in the plans are two laser labs, an ultra-fast optical lab, “synthetic biology” labs, biophysics and catalysis labs and other unspecified labs, as well as conference rooms scattered throughout the building. 

Of the lab and office space, about 14,100 square feet would be reserved exclusively for corporate-only research by scientists from the British oil giant. 

Among the selling points presented at the June 28 meeting was the lab’s status as a “high profile project,” which had drawn media attention and “support by Swarzenegger [sic],” referring to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s strong support of the BP grant. 

While university and lab officials have hailed the program agenda of providing the country with a source of transportation fuels that didn’t rely on foreign sources, critics like Tadeusz Patzek, a UC Berkeley professor of civil and environmental engineering as well as a former oil company scientist, charge that biofuel crops produced at the lab won’t be confined to the U.S. borders. 

Patzek sent project critics a Tuesday mail linking to an Associated Press story about a raid by Brazilian authorities on an ethanol plantation in the Amazon, where the liberated 1,108 slave laborers who were being forced to work 13-hour days harvesting sugar cane for refining into the fuel. 

The raid resulted from the efforts of the Catholic Church’s Land Pastoral group and its leader, Father James Thorlby, who spoke by a delayed telephone recording to an April 26 campus teach-in opposing the EBI project. 

Critics have charged that fuel crops will displace Third World farmers, cause further devastation of threatened rain forests and lead to further increases in food prices as crops are grown for fuel rather than food. 

China moved last month to ban the use of corn for ethanol after rising prices for the grain—a basic food of livestock—led to rapid increases in the price of pork, a staple of the Chinese diet. 

 

Timeline 

Accompanying the June 28 presentation was a timeline that began with the March 13 funding approval by the UC Board of Regents. 

The document also revealed that conceptual plans were begun on Jan. 2, a month before the BP’s announcement that Berkeley had been picked from among five university’s chosen as possible recipients. 

The proposal calls for selecting a contractor by Aug. 24, well before the projected approval of the project’s Environmental Impact Report next Jan. 17. 

If all goes as planned, site work would begin the next day, with the first foundation work starting Sept. 19. The projected date that scientists could enter and start work would be July 22, 2010. 

The full set of documents is available online at www.cp.berkeley.edu/RFQ.html under the heading “Helios Building.”


State to Return Part of OUSD to Local Control

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday July 06, 2007

The president of the School Board for the Oakland Unified School District said late this week that State Superintendent for Public Instruction Jack O’Connell will come to Oakland next Monday to announce his decision to immediately turn over the area of “Community Relations And Governance” from state control to control by the school board.  

Four other areas of school district operations—personnel, management, pupil achievement, financial management, facilities management—will remain in O’Connell’s hands, and the district will continue to be operated by O’Connell’s state administrator, as it has been since OUSD was taken over by the state four years ago after the district announced it was in danger of failing to meet its payroll.  

“The transition back to local control has started,” board president David Kakishiba said in a telephone interview on Thursday afternoon. “I think this is a good thing for Oakland. The ball is starting to roll.” 

What exact duties that will mean for the school board have not yet been fully determined. The Fiscal Crisis Management Assistance Team (FCMAT), which the state has charged with monitoring and assisting the district during the takeover period, includes several areas affected by “Community Relations And Governance,” including the setting of district policy. Potentially, that could have some effect on all district operations, including finances. 

Under the 2003 state takeover law, the board was rendered completely powerless, functioning as an unpaid “advisory body” that the state administrator did not have to listen to. Kakishiba said that “one thing the turnover will do is force the board to begin to think differently about our responsibilities. I believe that the board will not defer so much to the state on issues affecting the district, and it will cause us to be more proactive on those issues. On the flip-side, it will cause the staff to have to operate differently as well. For the last four years, they have operated with no public accountability. That will now change.” 

In practical terms, the school board president said that the state-appointed administrator will now be required to report to the board, something, he said, the administrator did not have to do while the board was completely powerless. 

Kakishiba said that he was not surprised by O’Connell’s announcement. “Actually, I expected it to happen last month,” he said. “We have been working on this for some time.” Kakishiba said that he and OUSD State Administrator Kimberly Statham have been working on a Memorandum of Understanding between the Superintendent’s office and the school to spell out the specific duties that will be taken over by the board. 

O’Connell will make the announcement at a special school board meeting called for 8 a.m. Monday morning at the OUSD Administrative headquarters, 1025 Second Avenue in Oakland. 

The state superintendent’s official announcement of the turnover will come just two days before the State Senate Education Committee is scheduled to hold hearings and vote on Assemblymember Sandré Swanson’s AB45 bill that, if passed by the legislature and signed into law by the governor, would result in the return of control over Community Relations and Governance to the local board, and would establish firm guidelines for return to local control of the other four areas of operation. AB45 has already passed the state assembly. 

The hearing on AB45 will be heard on Wednesday, 8 a.m., in the John Burton Hearing Room, Room 4203 in the state capitol building in Sacramento. 

O’Connell’s office could not be reached for comment, but Swanson’s public information officer, Amber Maltbie, said that O’Connell has invited Swanson, State Senator Don Perata, and State Assemblymember Loni Hancock to be present with him at the Monday announcement. 

“Assemblymember Swanson is happy that things are moving forward,” Maltbie said on Thursday by telephone. “He believes it shows that AB45 is still needed. If anything, this shows that the progress on the bill has spurred the superintendent to action.” 

At meetings held in Oakland over the past two years, many Oakland educators and activists have expressed the belief that return of “Community Relations And Governance” responsibilities to the local school board was long overdue. 

SB39, the 2003 Senator Don Perata-sponsored legislation which authorized the state takeover included several steps for return to local control of the district, including language that restoration would come after the Fiscal Crisis Management Assistance Team (FCMAT), the state-authorized agency charged with overseeing the recovery of troubled school districts, “determines that for at least the immediately previous six months the school district made substantial and sustained progress in implementation of the plans in the major functional area.” 

FCMAT determined in both its 2005 and 2006 OUSD progress reports that the district had made substantial progress in “Community Relations And Governance,” concluding in its 2006 report that “this area of school district operations is appropriate for the governing board of the Oakland Unified School District.” 

But up until this month, O’Connell ignored those findings and refused to cede control, and Assemblymember Swanson reported earlier this year that the state superintendent had refused to give him a firm timetable on the return of “Community Relations And Governance” or any other aspect of district activity to local control. Swanson said he wrote AB45 in part so that return to local control would not be arbitrary, but would be based upon “defined guidelines.” 

Perata has signed on as a floor manager of AB45 in the Senate. O’Connell has come out in opposition to the bill. 


County’s First Detox Center to Open in San Leandro

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday July 06, 2007

Alameda County’s first detox center is scheduled to open in November in San Leandro, although Berkeley and UC Berkeley officials had pushed for a center closer to home. 

The announcement of the new facility was part of an update by the county’s Behavioral Health Care Service to the People’s Park Advisory Board meeting Monday. 

The center, located on the grounds of the Alameda County Medical Center’s Fairmont Hospital in San Leandro, involves renovating the existing buildings at the Fairmont campus to meet the program needs. Services will include a sobering station, a detoxification program, and 24-hour-a-day transport vans. 

Berkeley Councilmember Kriss Worthington, who worked with the Telegraph Area Association and Telegraph Avenue business owners, residents and homeless advocates to prepare a report detailing Berkeley’s needs for a detox program, said he was glad to see the county center would soon be open despite its distance from Berkeley. 

“The idea was to get a detox facility in the Telegraph area,” he said. “We discovered it was possible to have a bigger budget if we did it in cooperation with the county. We wanted to get a site near Telegraph Avenue but we couldn’t come up with anything. Oakland didn’t work out either. By that time the project had become a countywide effort, and so we ended up in San Leandro.” 

Irene Hegarty, UC Berkeley community relations director, said the location was not convenient. “We have a lot of cases at People’s Park who are dependent on substances,” she said. “People had hoped that it would be something in Berkeley.” 

The People’s Park Advisory Board has also urged the university to look at providing more homeless services for the last few years. 

“Maybe the university’s academic resources could also be used in some way,” Hegarty said. 

Worthington said the important thing was not where the center was located but that it’s a joint venture which will help all the cities in Alameda County. 

“I still have a goal of having a detox in Berkeley,” he said. “I don’t see the one in San Leandro as a substitute for that, but it’s definitely a step towards the right direction. Having one in San Leandro is better than not having one in Alameda County at all. There’s a significant number of homeless people in Berkeley who need or want a detox center immediately.” 

Mental Health Commissioner Michael Diehl, who works with the homeless in People’s Park, said that it would be good if the detox center in San Leandro put emphasis on helping drug addicts. 

“Right now the focus is more on alcohol,” he said. “I want to see more stuff happening with respect to hard drugs.”’ 

Measure A was passed by Alameda County voters in March 2003, authorizing additional funding for community health care services and continued financial support for the Alameda County Medical Center. About $2 million was allocated from Measure A funds for the current project in 2004. 

The 2000 Tobacco Master Settlement Hearings and the implementation of the Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act (Prop. 36) paved the way for new detoxification services. The county carried out a detoxification study in 2003 to determine the types of detoxification programs that could be added.  

According to the study, most people wanted the location to be in Oakland and not in the northern part of the county. The general consensus was that “anyone who needs help with detoxification should be able to get that help and that access should be easy as possible.” 

Access priorities included walk ins, local police and BHCS case managers bringing in individuals and those referred to by the John George Pavilion staff. Alcohol, cocaine, opiates, amphetamines and poly-substanceswere ranked by counselors as the most prevalent addictive substance in the county and the ones that caused the most severe withdrawal symptoms. 

Participants ranked medical support, shelter, and social support as the top three “most needed” services. 

The sobering center will be a resource for many among Telegraph’s homeless population since it aims to serve low-income and indigent residents from Alameda County who suffer from alcohol and substance abuse. Fifty people would be able to stay for up to six hours in what has been described in the BHCS recommendation as a “very sparse environment consisting of plain cement floors with sleeping mats.” Clients will be encourage to enter intervention programs which will help rid them of chemical dependency. 

The Social Model Detoxification program, located close by, will be an all-hour 50-bed facility. It includes a comprehensive intervention program including process groups, accommodations for non-English speakers, 12-step or similar support groups and post-detox planning, placement and referral. 


Arrest Made in Series of Bateman/Halcyon Robberies

By Rio Bauce, Special to the Planet
Friday July 06, 2007

Residents of the Halcyon/Bateman neighborhood are breathing a bit easier since police arrested Marvin M. Johnson last week and charged him with a string of robberies targeting women walking alone during daylight hours in the neighborhood. 

Police arrested Johnson, 21, on June 29 as he walked to his car outside his home on the 1100 block of 8th Street in West Oakland.  

“The police department recognizes that the community has been challenged with a significant number of robberies in recent months,” said Sgt. Mary Kusmiss, Berkeley Police Department (BPD) Public Information Officer. “We want to assure everyone that we will be working rigorously to make these arrests.” 

Police say that the robberies that Johnson confessed to took place at 2512 Parker St. on June 8 at 10:48 a.m., the corner of Woolsey and Bateman streets on June 11 at 2 p.m., and at Woolsey and Benvenue on June 23 at 10:56 a.m. 

According to police, Johnson said he had performed all of the robberies alone, except the one on June 23. Police arrested 21-year-old Ronald Chastang shortly after the crime was committed, while his partner, now believed to be Johnson, evaded arrest.  

According to police, Johnson typically targeted women, usually between 30 and 60, who were walking alone in the morning or early evening. 

“He would approach them from behind, put a gun to their heads and take their purses,” said Oakland Sgt. Drennon Lindsey. “He would sometimes threaten to kill them if they resisted.” 

Johnson has been identified as a suspect in 25 cases in Oakland and five in Alameda. The Alameda County District Attorney has charged Johnson with nine counts of robbery. If convicted, he faces up to 27 years in prison. 

Over the past six months there have been 74 robberies in the Halcyon/Bateman neighborhood, according to Berkeley police. It is unclear how many of those cases have been closed. 

The Halcyon/Bateman neighborhood is bordered by College Avenue to the east, Shattuck Avenue to the west, Ashby Avenue to the north and the Oakland border to the south. Bateman is east of Telegraph Avenue and Halcyon is west of Telegraph. 

The Halcyon Neighborhood Association has met regularly over the last few months to address crime in the area. At the most recent meeting on June 21, Stephen Burcham, Berkeley Police Department coordinator for the area, offered several recommendations, including keeping cars locked and windows up, not leaving valuables in the open, getting to know your neighbors, and calling the police department for extra police surveillance while you’re on vacation. 

Kusmiss reported that the police are beefing up patrols in South Berkeley. 

“The police chief has allocated an additional two officers for the South Berkeley area,” she said. “The significant thing is that these officers will not be responding to calls, but rather will be looking out for wanted individuals and otherwise suspicious people.” 

Meanwhile, Councilmember Kriss Worthington, who represents the district, is trying to allocate money from the city’s budget to go towards response and violence prevention. 

“The budget adopted did not specify any money specifically for violence prevention and response,” said Worthington. “We are bringing this item back to the council. In the meantime, we should be actively supporting and encouraging Neighborhood Watch throughout the city. We can see what Richmond, San Francisco and Oakland are doing and build on that.” 

According to Worthington, Oakland has set up an escort program, where the city hires young people to escort citizens to their cars. 

“We could have escorts at BART and at bus stops,” added Worthington. 

Kusmiss stressed that while the BPD will be taking additional measures to combat crime, citizens should take some additional precautions themselves. 

“Awareness is key,” said Kusmiss. “We don’t want people to walk around in fear, but we want them to be aware of what’s going on. We want people to help one another.”


South Berkeley Shootings Prompt Increased Patrols

By Richard Brenneman
Friday July 06, 2007

Spurred by calls from anxious South Berkeley residents, Police Chief Douglas Hambleton sent a letter to neighborhood associations promising additional patrols in the area. 

“In the past several weeks, there have been several shootings and robberies that have a lot of people justifiably nervous,” wrote the chief. 

“I think everybody’s been getting calls—councilmembers, the mayor and our office,” said Mary Kay Clunies-Ross, a member of the staff of City Manager Phil Kamlarz. 

“We take shootings in Berkeley very seriously, and any string like this causes us to evaluate our short- and long-term responses,” wrote the chief. 

“Since so much urban violence is drug-related, our Special Enforcement Unit detectives and the Drug Task Force officers spend most of their time in South Berkeley,” Hambleton wrote. 

In addition to their regular crime-fighting efforts, the chief wrote, “in response to these shootings and other incidents, BPD will be adding additional patrols in the area.” 

Sgt. Mary Kusmiss, BPD’s public information officer, said the extra staffing stems in part from a string of shootings that began with two incidents on June 17, including one in the 1500 block of Alcatraz Street during Juneteenth celebrations. 

In that incident, a 16-year-old was struck in the leg by shots fired shortly before 3 p.m.  

A second shooting incident happened just after 6 p.m. near the intersection of Alcatraz and Sacramento streets. No victims were reported, nor any damage to property. Though the shooter had gone before police arrived, officers found shell casings at the scene. 

The next shooting happened on the 20th, when an unknown shooter fired into the Over 60 Health Clinic at 3260 Sacramento St. at 3:55 p.m. No one was injured in the attack. 

On June 27, a shooter located in the parking area at 1615 Russell St. fired a weapon, with shots traveling toward an occupied dwelling at 1620 Oregon St. The bullets shattered the windows on a black Nissan Maxima, and neighbors said several rounds hit the home. 

The following even at 8:30 p.m. a gunman fired a sustained volley at two men standing on the corner of Harper and Prince streets, striking both.  

A 27-year-old was struck by a grazing shot in his left biceps and declined treatment beyond first aid administered by a police officer at the scene. The second victim, a 20-year-old, was struck with a grazing wound to his inner left thigh and was treated and released at a local emergency room. 

“Approximately 15 to 20 rounds were fired, and at least nine rounds struck a home at 1829 Prince St.,” said Kusmiss. No one in the house was injured. 

While no suspects have been arrested in any of the shooting, Berkeley homicide detectives believe that at least the last two shootings were connected, said the officer. 

“We have not had a string of shootings like this for some time,” said Kusmiss. “We recognize the concerns of the neighbors, particularly since these shootings have been happening during daylight when there are people out and about.” 

On the brighter side, there were no incidents on the Fourth of July, beyond the usual reports of illegal fireworks and the larger-than-usual crowd which gathered for the city’s fireworks celebrations. 

“I talked to the officers and some of the photographers, who estimate that we had about one-and-a-half times the usual crowd,” Kusmiss said. “That may be because Oakland canceled their fireworks show this year.”


Architects to Present New Design of Warm Water Pool

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday July 06, 2007

The Warm Water Pool Task Force will deliver a progress report and hold a public hearing on the the relocation of the Berkeley High School warm water pool to the Berkeley Unified School District Milvia tennis courts at the disability commission meeting Wednesday. 

The meeting will start at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst at Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

ELS Architects, the firm hired by the city, will present the commission with a proposed pool design that the task force has agreed upon. 

“Let’s just say the new pool is warm enough, big enough and deep enough for everyone and more applicable for disabled people,” said pool task force member Joann Cook. “At first we were wondering whether there will be one pool or two pools, but in the end we decided upon one pool which will have a number of features. We have tried to improve disability access and disability use as much as we could without raising the costs. We are being thrifty since we are trying to go for a new bond.” 

Funding for a new pool at the Milvia site is currently undetermined. Lisa Caronna, deputy city manager for Berkeley, told the Planet Thursday that the $3.25 million ballot measure approved by Berkeley residents in 2000 to reconstruct, renovate, repair and improve the existing warm water pool facilities, including the restrooms and locker space, could not be used. 

“As a result we have to put together a plan for construction of a new pool at the Milvia site which meets the need of the disabled community,” Caronna said. “But the city does not have money for a new pool at the moment. We would have to come up with a new bond initiative to fund it.” 

The existing warm water pool, housed in the Berkeley High Old Gym, is the only one of its kind in the East Bay. The School District proposed in its South of Bancroft Master Plan to demolish the old gymnasium that houses the warm water pool and build classrooms in its location. 

The planned new building at the Milvia site has a construction budget of approximately $8.25 million without a pool. 

Designed by renowned Bay Area architects William C. Hays and Walter H. Ratcliff Jr., the warm water pool and the gymnasium are both eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.  

The Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission failed to reach a consensus on landmarking the 85-year-old structure in May.  

Caronna said that Wednesday’s meeting would help solicit information from pool users about future pool requirements. 

“This will help the architects come up with a conceptual design,” she said. “It will help them come up with some real costs and real numbers and start looking at funding options.” 

A public workshop about future uses of the warm pool was organized by the disability commission and the warm water pool task force on May 9. 

Pool users spoke about pool temperature, variety of depths and community use. 

“People want a shallow as well as a deep end,” Caronna said. “The temperature should ideally be between 92 and 95 degrees. They also want the pool to be used by all kinds of people, not just seniors. Hopefully, Wednesday’s meeting will help us put all the pieces of the puzzle together.” 

Community members also want the Special Needs Aquatic Program, a therapeutic swim program, to continue. Longer pool hours, a cafe and a space for meditation are also included in the wish list. 

The hundreds of disabled seniors, adults and children who flock to the pool’s therapeutic waters within the Old Gym every day want to see the aquatic facility renovated and preserved. 

“That is still the common feeling,” Caronna said, “but they are also interested in the possibility of a new pool in case the school district does go ahead and demolish the building.” 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Berkeley Police Blotter

By Rio Bauce
Friday July 06, 2007

Robbery 

On Thursday at 12:05 a.m., a 21-year-old man was walking home from Long’s Drugs, southbound on Shattuck, when three young men started to follow him. He turned westbound on Durant as one of the suspects asked to use his cell phone. When the victim replied “no,” one of them punched him in the back of the head, hitting him to the ground. The man quickly got up and ran to his nearby home, where he called the police. The suspects have not been identified. 

 

Aggressive petitioner 

On Wednesday at 4 p.m., a Berkeley man phoned in to report that a petition-gatherer had shoved him. The victim was standing in line to buy a ticket at California Theater on Kittridge and Shattuck, when a petition-gatherer approached him to ask him to sign a petition. When the victim refused and suggested that the petition-gatherer shouldn’t disturb people waiting in line, he was shoved. 

 

Vandalism 

At 3:40 p.m. on Wednesday, an employee at Tandoor Restaurant called in to report that an unidentified man had thrown a bottle at their front window, resulting in a 7-inch crack. The damage was estimated at more than $500. There are no suspects in this case. 

 

Auto burglary 

At 8:47 a.m. on Wednesday, a victim called in to report that their 1993 Honda Civic had been broken into via lock pry. The suspect stole a battery charger, cell phone, and rollerblades. No suspects have been identified. 

 

Hit-and-run with injury 

At 9:39 a.m. on Tuesday, a young man was driving in his Pontiac with two other passengers westbound on Parker Street, while a light-colored sedan was driving southbound on McGee Street. The driver in the sedan did not stop at the stop sign, causing the other driver to make a quick swerve out of the way. Unfortunately, the driver swerved into a tree. The driver and at least one passenger required medical attention and were treated at the local hospital for moderate injuries and burns from airbags. 

 

Church vandals 

At 9:29 a.m. on Tuesday, Father Joseph of Saint Ambrose Church called the police to report that suspects had committed a felony by hurling rocks through their stainglass windows. He reported that the incident had happened between 9 p.m. on Monday and the time of his call. There are no suspects in this case. 

 

Home burglary 

A woman called in at 8:19 a.m. on Tuesday to report that somebody had broken into her house during the night, removing the screen from her bedroom window, and stolen a tape recorder from her desk. She did not hear or see the suspects. No suspects have been identified.


Opinion

Editorials

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.  

The Professor used to be a working reporter in the Bay Area before she moved into Midwestern academia, so the takeover of the Chronicle by the Hearst corporation and almost every other publication by Media News was especially noteworthy for her. A deathwatch blog is being maintained on the Chronicle web site as a tribute to axed reporters by their former colleagues. It’s sobering reading, the only way fans can find out whether their favorites are gone for good or just “on vacation.” A case could be made that it’s the best and the brightest who are leaving, possibly because they’re the ones who have other options. Some notable losses: Anna Badkhen, reporting on foreign news (she showed promise of being a worthy successor to the superb Frank Viviano, lost a few years ago in the Chronicle’s pre-Hearst decline); Marc Sandalow, who wrote clearly and authoritatively about what was going on in D.C. (despite my surprise at first seeing his byline, since I knew him in kindergarten); Patrick Hoge, who made a short but valiant stab at the Berkeley beat, one of the few Chron reporters who might have had a chance to get Berkeley right; and top editor Narda Zacchino, a pioneer in understanding and promoting the role of women in the newsroom. 

We talked to various friends who are still there about what the plan might be for running the paper with many fewer staffers, and they all told us there didn’t seem to be any plan that they could discern from their own vantage points. One mentioned the general modus operandi of Hearst papers these days: no hard news at all on the front page because that might alienate the post-literate reader.  

The new Hearst style is BIG photos with soft features at the top of the front page, he said, and that certainly describes recent Chronicles. The universal target of horrified dinner table Chron critics was the day the big story over the fold was that women don’t really talk more than men, a psychological research result that had come out at least three days previously and surprised no one anyway. A close second was “It’s going to be hot tomorrow!”—and it wasn’t, by the way. No star reporters or brilliant editors are needed for front pages like these.  

And while the Hearst Chronicle is busily engaged in chewing off its own leg, the Media News ring-around-the-bay becomes ever more homogenized. The news from the Berkeley City Council is now frequently supplied by one guy, a former gossip columnist who watches it on cable TV, and it’s often reprinted in several sister publications, for example, in the East Bay Daily Snooze, the “Berkeley” Voice (which with a different front page is also the Montclarion, the Albany Journal and many more), the Oakland Tribune, the Contra Costa Times, and even (why would they care?) the formerly excellent San Jose Mercury News. When the guy gets things wrong, as he sometimes does, his mistakes are amplified a thousand-fold by his corporate empire.  

A modest bit of good news is that the new owners of the East Bay Express, despite my previous skepticism, do seem to be on the up-and-up. The New Times chain’s characteristic snarky tone has all but vanished, along with the reporters who used it as a substitute for facts, and they’ve gotten an honest and sincere young man to write about what’s going on at the Berkeley City Council—he even shows up in person at the meetings.  

Why, one might justifiably wonder, do the proprietors of a competitive publication cheer this change? Well, we’re first and foremost 35-year residents who care a lot about what happens in Berkeley, the East Bay, the Bay Area and the whole big world outside of California. We continue to believe that the more people know about what’s going on, from whatever source, the better government will work. With the corporate dailies on the fast track to oblivion, alternative weeklies like the stellar Bay Guardian and a reconstitituted Express have an important job to do. 

And community newspapers like the Berkeley Daily Planet and a fast-dwindling list of others have an even greater responsibility. The ongoing shenanigans of local government are increasingly ignored by big corporate media. We do our best to keep our corner of the universe clean. Trying to keep track of everything going on in our home town and at least the major outrages in neighboring cities is a big job for our small staff, but there’s really no one else to do it. The alt-weeklies do short takes and long exposes, but by their nature they can’t report as well on the mid-range bread-and-butter stories. The Post papers have historically covered the African-American community in the East Bay, though they’re trying to broaden their focus. 

Jon Wiener, another professor (UC Irvine), has a generally excellent piece in the current Nation on the New Times, Inc., takeover of the L.A. Weekly. Most of the points he makes are spot-on, but one of them is a bit off from our perspective. 

He complains that “the New Times strategy is relentlessly local,” lamenting the virtual disappearance of references to the war in Iraq from the pages of the Weekly. He says “the paper focuses on what Tim Rutten, media columnist for the L.A. Times, calls ‘hyper-localism—it's the prevailing commercial wisdom regarding all newspapers.’ But there's plenty of evidence that L.A. readers are as interested in what’s going on in Baghdad as in Beverly Hills.” That’s as true in Berkeley as it is in L.A., but our readers and theirs do have some other choices for national and international news if they look for them.  

What they don’t have, increasingly, are any other choices to tell them what’s going on at home, in their own city, their neighborhood, and in their kids’ schools, and that counts too. And how local people are responding to what’s going on in Baghdad is just as important as what’s happening in Iraq, because at home is where stopping the war in Iraq will have to start. The Planet does offer Bob Burnett and Conn Hallinan and the fine reports from New America Media to provide national and international perspectives, but our main focus is on the news you can’t get anywhere else, the local news. We don’t consider ourself an alternative paper because increasingly there’s nothing to be alternative to—the local dailies died years ago. 

And doing our job as we see it, this is our cue to remind you one more time to keep a tight eye on the Berkeley City Council as they try to slip out of town to make their annual contribution to the earth’s carbon footprint. Their most egregious misdeeds traditionally take place during the last two or three council meetings before the summer recess, which nows stretches into mid-September. Keep your eye on the final innings in these ball games: the mayor’s proposed changes to the rules governing public comment, the council’s attempt to duck the controversy over the development on the Wright’s garage site in Elmwood, and the megaplex project which has been baited with a Trader Joe’s store on University. Remember, it will all be over, for good or ill, by the end of the month.  

 

 

 


Editorial: Keeping Government Out of Sight

By Becky O’Malley
Friday July 06, 2007

Curiouser and curiouser, as Alice used to say in Wonderland. The belief that government is something that should take place outside the view of the governed seems to be growing by leaps and bounds, both nationally and locally. At the national level we have Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Cheney claiming that he’s got a whole new branch of government that doesn’t have to tell anyone what they’re doing, while Nominal President Bush commutes Cheney staffer Scooter Libby’s punishment for perjuring himself before the grand jury investigating Team Cheney misdeeds. And in Berkeley we have the continuing assertion that important city policy decisions can only be made by those who have no opinions on the matters before them. 

Planning Commissioner Harry Pollack sent this letter to the city attorney last week regarding the major development envisioned for the Ashby-College intersection:  

 

Dear Manuela, 

I write to protect the due process rights of my clients John Gordon and Janis Mitchell in connection with this matter. As I explained in our phone conversation yesterday, Councilmember Donna [sic] Spring made it very clear in her comments at Tuesday’s (June 26, 2007) Council meeting that she would not vote to affirm ZAB. Among other revealing comments, she stated (with strong emotion in her voice) that “the truth is that this project stinks to high heaven.” 

The statement expressing her strong negative opinion about the project was made in the context of the Council’s consideration of whether to set for public hearing an appeal of ZAB’s decision. However, at this point in the process, Council members are supposed to be open-minded so that if the matter is set for hearing, they can fairly listen to and consider all the relevant information. 

This statement, as well as Ms. Spring’s other remarks, make plain that my clients would be deprived of a fair hearing if she participates further in the appeal process. Continued participation by Councilmember Spring in this matter would violate my clients’ due process rights. Accordingly, I insist that Ms. Spring be recused from further proceedings regarding this matter. 

This request is made in the context of the recusal of Councilmember Gordon Wozniak. Mr. Wozniak was recused some weeks ago, apparently as a result of a statement that he made on the Kitchen Democracy website. 

The same standard must be applied to both members of the Council. Applying that standard equally, it is indisputable that Ms. Spring must also be recused. Her passionate opposition to the project, as stated in public during a City Council meeting in her role as a City Council member, makes it clear that she has made up her mind prior to any public hearing. 

 

Now, it’s true that in this instance Commissioner Pollack was writing in his private capacity as attorney for developer John Gordon. The question of whether as a Planning Commissioner he weighs in most often for policies to benefit the developers who are his frequent clients or for policies which benefit the District 8 residents who elected his appointing councilmember Gordon Wozniak is not up for discussion here, though it’s an interesting one. The case at hand was whether or not City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque would again adopt the novel legal theory that a decision-maker who has expressed an opinion in a land use case can be barred from voting on it. 

Boalt Hall land use professor Antonio Rossmann commented on her use of this doctrine once before in these pages: “ ...a leading California Supreme Court decision (City of Fairfield v. Superior Court) directly addressed this situation, and concluded that political accountability of a city council to its electorate outweighed the developer’s interest in avoiding allegedly “biased” decision makers...The city attorney has consistently attempted to distinguish Fairfield on technical grounds, failing to honor the spirit of the Court’s instruction, and ignoring another leading case (Andrews v. ALRB) where the Court suggested that a council of ‘rare intellectual eunuchs’ would be adversely qualified to decide the cases before them.” 

Pollack originally persuaded Albuquerque to employ this bizarre argument when he was president of Temple Beth El, many of whose neighbors opposed its major building project on a historic site in North Berkeley. He succeeded in getting her to bar three landmarks preservation commissioners, myself included, from voting on the project on the tenuous grounds of their participation in the Berkeley Architectual Heritage Association, even though they hadn’t expressed any opinion about the project per se. The excludees filed suit to contest her action, but the case dragged on so long they finally dropped it after the City Council approved the project on schedule. Now Pollack’s trying the same ploy again. 

We asked Professor Rossmann for his opinion on the current controversy over who can vote, but he was on his way out of town over the holiday and didn’t have time to comment at length for the Planet. He did point out in an email that there is a doctrine known as the rule of necessity which excuses a conflict when the member’s vote is necessary to reach a quorum. He suggested that councilmembers should be forced to vote “at least on whether to grant a hearing, which can be distinguished, if the City Attorney insists, from voting on the merits.” 

Councilmembers Wozniak and Capitelli have already cheerfully acquiesced to recusing themselves, probably grateful that they won’t have to answer to their constituents for their vote on a very controversial project. But Councilmember Spring is no coward, and one might reliably guess that she’d want to insist that her voice be heard on this one. If Albuquerque had tried to disqualify her, some sort of legal action either from Spring or from project opponents could have been anticipated. Fortunately for the city budget, at press time it looked like cooler heads were prevailing in the city attorney’s office. 

A more interesting question for the future of representative democracy in Berkeley is how the remaining three councilmembers can continue to justify blocking a public hearing on a very controversial ZAB decision. Bates, Olds and Moore seem to have no credible excuse of any kind for their votes to duck the hearing. If they don’t know enough about the project to be excluded from voting on it as per the Pollack Doctrine, how could they know enough to decide that they don’t need to hear any more about it? If you are one of the long-suffering minority of voters who can still bear to watch our city council mired in the usual inaction, it might be entertaining to watch on Tuesday to see how they wriggle out of their duty to hold a public hearing one more time. 

 


Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Tuesday July 10, 2007

AUG. 6 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Sixty-one years ago, on August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atom bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. On Aug. 6, 2007 people from around the globe will mark that date to remember that dark day and to remind us all of the continuing efforts of governments to design and develop nuclear weapons in the service of endless war. Presently, Livermore Lab has designed the first new nuke in a Bush administration initiative to re-design and rebuild every nuclear weapon in the U.S. arsenal, under the so-called “Reliable Replacement Warhead” program. By taking action this Aug. 6 we will honor the civilian population of Japan whose lives were destroyed in the most abominable way, and will say “Never Again.”  

We will stand in solidarity with all victims of war. We will rededicate our lives to peace and work to prevent our government from developing new nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. 

Please gather with me at Vasco Road and Patterson Pass Road at 7:30 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 6 and march to the gates of the lab at 9 a.m. Or contact Tri-Valley CAREs at (925) 443-7148 or www.trivalleycares.org for more information. 

Loulena Miles 

 

• 

BUS RAPID TRANSIT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Once again, Mary Oram makes the transparently false claim that Bus Rapid Transit will slow emergency vehicles: “[W]hat will happen when they come up behind a BRT bus? The express lanes will be separated from the regular traffic lanes by a curb. Unless they jump the curb, there will be no way to get around the BRT bus when it stops to pick up or discharge passengers.” In reality, there will be two express bus lanes next to each other. If a bus is stopped in one of those lanes, the emergency vehicle can simply pull into the other one to pass the stopped bus. We have all seen emergency vehicles stuck in traffic on Telegraph Avenue, and that will not happen when there are reserved lanes for buses and emergency vehicles. 

Oram also claims that it will be dangerous to cross “with two high-speed lanes in the middle.” But there will not be a continuous stream of traffic in these bus lanes. There will be plenty of gaps when it is perfectly safe to cross. With slower traffic in the two car lanes and relatively little traffic in the two bus lanes, it will obviously be safer to cross than it is now, with four lanes of aggressive traffic. 

And Oram claims that BRT will remove parking that businesses rely on for their customers. She apparently doesn’t know that AC Transit will mitigate loss of parking. As I remember, in locations where more than 85 percent of parking is occupied, they will provide two replacement spaces for each space they remove. Where parking is now tight, it will be easier. 

Charles Siegel 

 

• 

TRADER JOE’S PROJECT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Regarding the proposed Trader Joe’s project at MLK and University: Would city officials be so willing to embrace the project if it was for a Safeway rather than a Trader Joe’s? Would they be so willing to ignore the obvious traffic congestion/chaos and parking nightmare that such a project would generate? Would they be so willing to ignore the significant detriment that it would cause to the surrounding neighborhood? 

Before it’s too late, city officials need to wake up to the fact that the Trader Joe’s project is a bad idea.  

Debbie Dritz 

 

• 

OVERDEVELOPMENT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I noticed that neighbors of the proposed development at the Kragen Auto site on University Avenue have called on Mayor Bates to honor his 2003 pledge to follow the principles of the University Avenue Plan, which was developed with the input of many diverse stakeholders to prevent the negative impacts of overdevelopment along that street. This poses an interesting question: What pledges has Mayor Bates kept to protect neighborhood quality of life in Berkeley? Lord knows, he certainly made enough of them during his two campaigns and his series of neighborhood meetings. Heck, we should make it a contest. Okay, I will give a prize to anybody who comes up with any pledge that Tom has kept to protect the quality of life in our residential areas. There is only one rule to this contest: both you and the Mayor must agree that the pledge was kept. Let the competition begin! Your reward? A can of Pledge, of course. Which will probably come in handy—the winning entry may have quite a bit of dust on it. 

Doug Buckwald 

 

• 

UC’S TOXIC SOIL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thanks from all of us concerned with our land and water to Richard Brenneman for his astounding reporting of the thousands of truckloads of toxic soil in Richmond and for Sherry Padgett and Loni Hancock for their dedication and action.  

This terrible issue would never have gotten these results without the digging and commitment of your talented reporter who knows how to make words work, We are grateful for the follow-up of those who know how to make change happen. Just in time to stop the dangers from affecting all of us.  

The time has come for UC to consider how they can make a difference. How can they work with and join the community and stop the divisiveness. Make the world “better” in Berkeley and on the Bay. Its time for action that makes us all safer, healthier, more productive and changes things for the better for generations to come. The time is now. Write on, Richard.  

Stevanne Auerbach 

 

• 

MAXWELL FIELD GARAGE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Don’t be fooled by the recent UC offer to downsize the garage under the Maxwell Field (Daily Planet, July 3). The offer came on the heels of Chancellor Birgeneau’s annual meeting with the Staff Assembly Committee at which, in his opening remarks, he mused about why the city would waste all that money (on a lawsuit) because, as he stated in typical UC arrogance, “the sports facility is only delayed. It will be built.” Ignoring the issues, Birgeneau dismissed critics by claiming there is only one reason for the project; “to get our athletes out of an unsafe structure.” 

Appealing to our sympathies, he used “safety” to obfuscate the real issues; traffic, night-light pollution, the views from Strawberry Canyon, the reduced landscape, the trees. Besides, I work in another of UC’s “unsafe structures,” the Edwards Track, built of concrete pillars that may fall in the next quake, but I guess a bunch of gardeners are a lower priority than a bunch of marketable footballers. 

Hank Chapot 

 

• 

NUCLEAR ENERGY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I’m not sure how far I would trust Peter Fowler’s conclusion that nuclear energy is “...the only way to produce necessary levels of energy in an emission-free manner...,” when he precedes that conclusion with the comment, “...burning biofuels does little to curb global CO2 emissions because it is, like gasoline, a hydrocarbon.” (Letters, July 3.) 

While the whole biofuels issue does require much study and analysis before we leap to them as a solution to our transportation fuel problems, their CO2 “emissions,” that is, the impact on global warming due simply to burning the fuel, would be very beneficial because the carbon in biofuels is taken from CO2 in the atmosphere by the plants going into the biofuel. That is, considered in isolation, the burning of biofuels is a closed cycle in which there is no net addition of carbon to the atmosphere. 

In contrast, burning hydrocarbons extracted from deep in the earth removes carbon from it’s condition of sequestration in the petroleum (where it has been for millions of years and where most of it would stay if we didn’t extract it), and turns it into CO2, thus adding to greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. 

Determination of the relative atmospheric CO2 contribution of biofuels and fossil fuels requires careful analysis of the complete production cycle of both types of fuels, not simply an observation that carbon is present in both fuels. Thus, the fuels and fertilizers used to produce the biofuels (which the new industry-funded research institute at UC will be attempting to minimize or avoid altogether) have to be included in the balance.  

This observation does not imply my support for the industry-funded institute at UC. In earlier periods in our history we would have taxed the companies making such gargantuan profits and applied that tax money to both heavily subsidized higher education (I think I paid about $63 per semester when I started in engineering at UC Berkeley) AND to setting up such research institutes completely independent of industry influence and control—a far superior system in my opinion to the one we have allowed to evolve from “tax revolts” that leave the money and influence in the hands of the corporations and graduates saddled with enormous debts. 

Regarding nuclear energy being the only solution: Is Peter proposing a solution for the United States alone (and a few select allies) or for the entire world’s energy problems? Note that our current “leaders” are (possibly pretending to be) freaking out over Iran (and N. Korea) attempting to develop nuclear energy to the extent of sending three carrier battle groups into the very confined waters just off Iran’s waters and issuing multiple veiled and not so veiled threats of the use of nuclear weapons if Iran doesn’t stop its development efforts. I invite Peter to flesh out his proposal that the United States should rely heavily on nuclear energy and explain to us how we could go that route while threatening other states who we don’t like at that moment in history with annihilation if they attempt to do the same thing. 

Armin Wright 

Oakland 

 

• 

IRAQ WAR’S TOLL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As the Senate prepares this week to debate the Iraq war during hearings on the military authorization bill, it is appropriate to remind ourselves of the heavy toll our Iraq invasion and occupation has exacted on the nation’s psyche. The following statistics tell a sobering story. As of July 8, the Iraq war has exacted 3,605 U.S. military deaths, and through July 4, 26,558 wounded. A 2006 study, “The Human Cost of the War,” published in the British medical journal The Lancet estimates that since the U.S. invasion in March 2003 through July 2006, there have been 654,964 “excess deaths” of Iraqis due to the war, or put another way, 2.5 percent of Iraq’s population have died above what would have occurred without conflict. In addition, it is estimated that 2 million Iraqis have been displaced inside the country and another 2.2 million have sought shelter in neighboring countries. Finally, the Iraq war costs to date exceed $441.3 billion. Here’s what we have achieved in Iraq: a civil war; a fertile ground for future terrorists; and the world’s condemnation. Isn’t it time to end the Iraq misadventure and support our troops by bringing them home now? 

Ralph E. Stone 

San Francisco 

 

• 

GUNS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Before Robert Clear issues ad hominem attacks on others for alleged dishonesty and stat juggling, he should take a look in the mirror. 

In a nation of an estimated 100 million gun owners out of over 300 million people the estimated deterrence of several million individuals from criminal acts is an entirely reasonable assumption. He knows full well that a great many people who deter crime do not report it to the police because there has been no crime precisely because of deterrence. 

Clear knows that the 500,000 figure he cites are only the reported incidents, again precisely my point. Eight hundred accidental deaths from guns in a country of over 300 million is a totally insignificant figure, much less than drownings, food poisoning, industrial accidents, automobile mishaps and suicides. His citation of a “study” of four mishaps per one successful self-defense attempt is inherently unbelievable on its face.  

States where citizens are allowed to carry arms have shown a decrease in crime. A criminal is much more likely to attack someone he believes is disarmed. As for youth gangs, sale of weapons has always been illegal and Clear knows this. Somehow it never deters these punks. 

Clear has the statist assumption that people are unfit to own weapons and the state is the solution to all problems. This is the essence of modern collectivist liberalism in all its intellectual bankruptcy. 

Michael P. Hardesty 

 

• 

GAZA 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Jim Harris, in criticizing me, makes a reasonable point. He indicates that I should not speak for Worthington in saying that he now regrets his support for the Rachel Corrie resolution. Indeed, if I misspoke, Worthington can use this space to correct me. Harris also believes that I should not single out Linda Maio. There is some unfairness in condemning Maio, and not Dona Spring. But Spring will probably never face the voters again, and certainly does not seek the mayor’s office. That’s why I focus on Maio, the only other current member of the City Council besides Worthington and Spring who voted for Corrie. But Harris is also being unfair when he fails to identify himself as ISM’s local representative. It was his organization which sent Corrie to guard the Hamas smuggling tunnels. Further, the one time I met with Harris he expressed his desire for the destruction of Israel and its replacement by an Arab state.  

Tracie De Angelis Salim sympathizes with Gazans on several grounds. Yes, the area is overpopulated. But Gazans have the highest, or almost the highest, birthrate in the world. Why is that Israel’s fault? Second grounds: Gazans have no ready access to other countries. They actually have three borders, one with Israel, one with Egypt, and one to the open sea. Israel rightly restricts entry and exit through its border. Gaza, as ruled by Hamas, is in a declared state of war with Israel. Hardly a day goes by without Gazans rocketing Israeli towns and villages. The amazing thing is that Israel still allows food, medicine, electricity, and water through to a state with which it is at war. Israel even treats wounded Gazan gunmen in its state of the art hospitals. Go figure. 

De Angelis Salim feels that I am condescending when I state that the women of Gaza will now be required to take up the veil. I love freedom. My concern for Gazan women is not that they wear a veil, but that will be forced to wear a veil. Palestine is a largely secular society. But the choice to be secular will now be taken from Gazan women. It may be that one cleric or another condemns female genital mutilation, but that has no more effect upon Hamas than, say, the sermons of some Unitarian minister would have on Pat Robertson. The Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is an offshoot, has supported female genital mutilation. 

John Gertz 

• 

EDWARDS’ HAIRCUT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The national election is more than 15 months away, but already the political scene is getting heated, or, actually, quite nasty! For one thing, it’s become evident that we won’t be voting for candidates on the strength of their platforms—what they stand for—but rather how many millions of campaign funds they’ve raked in. 

Ah, but then there’s the big issue—John Edwards’ haircut. Believe me, this is high drama, folks! Now we all recognize that Mr. Edwards has a splendid head of hair: thick, luxuriant brown with not a trace of grey. (Hmm—I wonder.) Oh, yes, millions of American men would kill for that hair. But, the startling revelation that those haircuts cost $500 raised quite a few eyebrows. Then came the really damaging news that the haircuts actually came to about $1,250, given that the stylist charged for air travel and hotel costs. It seems that Joseph Torrenueva, the stylist, is quite a sensitive chap. He took sharp exception to Edwards’ casual referral to him as “that guy.” Says Mr. Torrenueva, “When he called me ‘that guy’, that hit my ears. It hurt.” One has to sympathize with the man. 

Now, if all of this hasn’t been bad enough, what about the Republican YouTube video in which Mr. Edwards is shown combing and patting his hair while the song “I Feel Pretty” from “West Side Story” is played in the background? 

Oh, John, John—in light of the fact that poverty is your signature issue in this election, couldn’t you have settled for Super Cuts? 

Dorothy Snodgrass 


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.) 

It is true, as Planet writer J. Douglas Allen-Taylor has noted and a Dellums’ staffer confirmed, the mayor has chosen two appointees to the Planning Commission, but they may be months away from being seated. The City Council takes a month and a half summer break and must give formal approval to appointments—meanwhile, the commission goes on meeting through most of the summer. A Planning Commission with the equivalent of two Sandra Day-O’Connors and five Clarence Thomases is cold comfort to most residents of Oakland. 

Dubbed the Approval Commission for good reason, the commissioners have yet to find a condo project they don’t like (the plug was pulled from above on the controversial West Oakland industrial rezoning Pacific Pipe project.) They follow staff directives and give variances out like candy. It is also true, as Allen-Taylor noted, that a process is underway to update the zoning throughout the city, something that should have been done when the general plan was approved in the late ’90s. But then the general plan update was itself decades overdue... Updating the zoning has been no godsend either. Temescal has received the dubious distinction of being one of the first areas where the process has been started. Despite overwhelming support for height limits of 45 feet on Telegraph and Shattuck, staff has recommended and the Planning Commission/City Council will likely approve limits of 55 feet (or even higher) by simply building underground parking, “affordability”—all considered community benefits deserving of extra stories. 

The Planning Commission has routinely approved one massive condo project after another. The latest in Temescal, a five-story 33 unit condo project, is slated for a hearing July 18. The mother of all Temescal projects so far—a 115-unit, six-story behemoth where the Global Video store now resides at 51st and Telegraph—is nearing a Planning Commission hearing and expected approval. 

The new coalition group, STAND, has appealed the 4801 Shattuck project, in which all of the buildings between Shattuck and the dying-on-the-vine Gate 48 condos will be demolished, for a solid five-story wall of 44 condos butting up to Gate 48. (Appeals of commission approvals to the City Council cost $710; “smaller” projects first considered by the zoning administrator can only be appealed to the commission—the last recourse is litigation.) 

During all of the controversy over the zoning update and the myriad condo projects, the Planning Commission has been, to a person, unsympathetic and critical of neighbor’s concerns. One commissioner in particular, Suzie Lee, married to and “business administrator” of the architectural firm of Yui Hay Lee, has a stump speech in which she opines about the employees in her office desperate to buy houses, for whom these condos are a blessing, and lectures opponents of projects to “adjust to change.” $400,000-$600,000 condos are not affordable housing. Her speeches remind me of the scene in Interview with the Vampire, in which the poor victim is soothingly told to just settle back and enjoy. 

All of the commissioners have adopted the smart growth rhetoric of lively, dense streetscapes, “urban vitality,” and transit corridors so well served by mass transit and walk-to-retail that cars are superfluous. 

What a unexpected shock, then, for even such a cynic as myself, to learn from public records just where these commissioners determining the new face of the city choose to live themselves. 

All are homeowners, some owning more than one, in a city where the majority of the citizens are renters. All live in single family homes, despite their fondness for density. Only one, Colbruno, lives anywhere near mass transit, on Moss Avenue, near the border with the City of Piedmont. None live in the flatlands of West, East, or North Oakland. Only one lives below MacArthur, the only black member, Paul Garrison, owner of two houses in the tony Haddon Hill neighborhood. Doug Boxer (yes, the son of Barbara Boxer and rumored to be politically ambitious—Planning Commission as stepping stone) lives in an exclusive area of Trestle Glen so quiet that even the leaves didn’t dare rustle the day we drove by. Nary a pedestrian or vehicle in sight—so much for urban vitality. 

The officious, wanly smiling chair of the commission, lawyer Anne Mudge and the most vociferous Smart-Growther, Michael Lighty, an employee of a progressive union, live high in the hills, Mudge in Montclair and Lighty just off Skyline Blvd. on the edge of Huckleberry Botanic Regional Reserve. Zayas-Mart lives in the hills overlooking Mountain. View Cemetery and Lee lives in the wooded Oakmore area off Park, close to the Montclair Golf course. All will be driving their cars to Planning Commission meetings and to work. 

Whatever their rhetoric, one might reasonably conclude they were defending their in-perpetuity-low-density neighborhoods by increasing it elsewhere. 

But the “smart growth” Planning Commission whose members live almost exclusively in the hills in large single family homes is, in some sense, the legacy of Brown, who prominently maintains (and perhaps lives in) a loft in the old Sears Building on a still gritty part of Telegraph Avenue. This proves Brown can talk the talk, encourage those with spotty memories to still think he’s KPFA Jerry, but given his purposeful choice of commissioners, he never intended to walk the walk. 

 

Robert Brokl is a member of STAND. The opinions expressed here are his own and do not necessarily represent the official position of STAND.


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.  

Gaza’s borders have been sealed since June 8. No food, medicine, people, or commercial goods can reach the 1.4 million Gazans, almost half of whom are under the age of 15. 

El Nounou toured the Bay Area with Rabbi Jeremy Milgrom, an American-born Israeli and member of Israel’s Rabbis for Human Rights, speaking on “What peace could look like.” 

I talked with him over dinner in Oakland, on his way from Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s office to an Oakland synagogue. Husam, a short man with a round face and gentle brown eyes, described the constant flights over Gaza by Israeli helicopters and drones, regular Israeli shelling and bombing, the increasing salinity of well water; of families with barely enough to eat, and unpaid health care workers—the effects of the blockade imposed by Israel and the United States in response to the victory of Hamas in the January 2006 elections. 

Husam tells of driving with his 7-year-old son when a shell struck with terrifying noise about 100 feet ahead. Husam tried to calm his son, but in the following days, the child showed signs of post-traumatic stress—clinging to his parents, sleeping poorly, and refusing to eat. After a week, he came back from school and said: “Dad, I want to be a martyr.” Distraught, Husam said: “Son, it is good to die for one’s country. But it is much better to live for it.” 

All Gazans have witnessed or experienced at least one traumatic episode — the death of a parent or friend, a home demolished, . . . and, most hurtful for children, seeing Israeli soldiers beat or humiliate their parents and understanding that their parents cannot protect them. Over 40 percent of Gaza’s children show signs of exposure to extreme stress—bedwetting, apathy, extreme anxiety, and nightmares.  

At night, Israeli aircraft fly low over Gaza and break the sound barrier, causing deafening thunder and shaking buildings—sometimes repeated an hour later. Children, violently awakened, scream and cry. Husam describes feeling the heart of his youngest child beating wildly, as he and his wife can only hold and reassure their children.  

Gaza’s Mental Health Program and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel have asked the Israeli High Court to order the sonic booms stopped as they violate human rights. The Court ordered the booms stopped until they made their decision, but the Air Force resumed the practice a month later, and when questioned by the Court, simply denied doing it. The booms continue. 

At Kehilla synagogue, Husam described the situation in Gaza, where, since Israel’s disengagement in September 2005, closures and destruction of infrastructure by the Israelis Forces have practically brought the economy to a halt, and 80 percent of the citizens live in deep poverty and depend on international food aid. 

Rabbi Milgrom talked of his work with Jahalin Bedouins. Expelled from the Negev Desert after Israel’s founding, they resettled east of Jerusalem—but now Israel plans to destroy their villages as it completes a ring of settlements around Jerusalem; this will stop the growth of East Jerusalem and cut the West Bank into disconnected pieces. 

Since September 2000, more than 5,000 homes have been destroyed in Gaza and the West Bank, leaving 50,000 homeless. Israel claims the demolitions are security measures, but Milgrom explained they are in fact collective punishment and a way to make room for more settlements and the separation Wall. 

Israelis willfully blind themselves to all this, Milgrom said, citing Jeremiah: “When you learn of the devastation, your ears will ring.” 

Destroying a house is like an earthquake, el Nounou explained. People wander stunned; they go to schools and mosques to find a place to stay. Most often, the IDF does not leave time for people to gather their belongings. 

The people of Gaza voted for Hamas to defy the West and to get rid of Fatah, the corrupt ruling party. This exercise of their democratic rights was met with a devastating embargo. Poverty, impotence, and hopelessness push young people into the arms of extremists.  

 

In mid-June, Milgrom returned to Israel and el Nounou flew to Egypt and traveled to the Rafah crossing, the only way Palestinians can go to and from Gaza. Hamas had just seized power in Gaza after fights with Fatah. Last February, Hamas and Fatah reached an agreement about a unity government—the Mecca accords, brokered in Mecca by the Saudis, were cheered by thousands of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. But the U.S. and Israel, openly unsatisfied, kept stoking the fires of civil war by funding and arming Fatah security forces. 

Eyad el Sarraj, the psychiatrist heading GCMHP, himself an opponent of Hamas, tells of a meeting involving Palestinians with U.S. deputy national security adviser Elliott Abrams last year. The Palestinians argued for engagement with Hamas, rather than confrontation, as the way to peace. Abrams insisted that Hamas must be pushed out, without regard to the disastrous consequences the Palestinians warned him about. 

Hamas’ participation in elections itself showed that it is tired of armed struggle. Hamas’ Ismaïl Haniyeh, the elected Palestinian Prime Minister, told the French daily “Le Figaro”: “We promise to respect all past agreements signed by the Palestinian Authority. We wish for the creation of a Palestinian state in the 1967 boundaries, that is, in Gaza, the West Bank, with East Jerusalem as capital. We wish for a reciprocal, global, and simultaneous truce with Israel to be put in place.” 

Severing Gaza from the West Bank was probably what former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his successor Ehud Olmert have had in mind all along. Many commentators in the Israeli press now are pleased about the strategic benefits to Israel of the “three-state” rather than “two-state” solution. 

Meanwhile, 6,000 Palestinians, including the elderly, ill, and children, are stuck at the Rafah crossing under the burning sun, with little water or food. El Nounou wrote on June 25: “I feel very upset for a special reason that my daughter will have surgery on her eye today… She called me yesterday and said: ‘Dad, do not be worried, I will be OK.’ … but when I finished with her, I cried a lot. I hope the crossing will open soon and I will be again with my family.” 

 

Protest letters can be sent to addresses given on http://toibillboard.info/addresss.rtf. Also contact your Congress members. 

 

Annette Herskovits is a Berkeley resident. 


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.  

I’m not a beer person but otherwise the joke hits close to home. I hate the television the way an addict hates heroin but can’t stop inserting the needle. I watch it for hours on end, good programs and bad, silly and serious. I’ve watched “Seinfeld” episodes so many times I can lip sync the dialogue. I may not know for certain any more whether my giggles over Kramer’s antics are spontaneous or part of the ritual.  

I’m very good at watching television. I can stand, sit, lie down, and even run on a treadmill or do sit-ups while keeping my eyes glued to the screen. I can eat a meal, time my microwave popcorn with the advertisement, visit the bathroom, and still not miss a minute of “Law and Order.” And I could beat Shane to the draw with my remote, pressing the mute button and re-holstering before he could get a shot off.  

Television is my entertainment, my companion, my stuporific. It numbs my brain and allows escape from my worries. It saves me the inconvenience of finding a creative outlet. Next to my television are stacks of books I’ve meant to read, if only I could find the time. I intended to learn the guitar this past winter, and there it sits, waiting for my attention in another corner of the bedroom. If only there were more hours in the day.  

I occasionally learn something from the history channel, or engage my adrenal gland in a good adventure, but by and large the experience is more similar to the empty calories of cotton candy; i.e., I have nothing to show for my time. If I were put in suspended animation for an hour instead of immersing myself in an episode of “ER,” I expect an analysis of my brain wave activity would be no different.  

Obviously, looking for new and growth-inspiring experiences is not an essential element for me with my entertainment. “Why do I watch TV,” is probably a good question to start pondering. I know better, that’s the truly pathetic thing. With the exception of this moment of lucidity, courtesy of a self-imposed assignment to write about something that impacts on my progress toward “living healthy,” I am sure I would remain in total denial. I elevated this topic on my list of possibles when I realized I had allowed the television to keep me from completing an essay on a more interesting subject before I grow another year older. This domino in the line toward true healthy living must fall first, apparently.  

Writing about my television habit, which I truly hate in my heart-of-hearts, is probably the most candid I’ll ever be with myself about this issue. Although I could quit cold turkey, I rather doubt that I will, at this point in time anyway, but it doesn’t take much reflection to realize I could make serious headway if I were more discriminating. Maybe cutting out the re-runs would be a good first step on the 12-step program. The reward would be several hours a week of found time to accomplish things that would be truly fulfilling. I could write a book. I could spend more time chastising my son for spending too much time on the computer... 

 

 

OPEN CALL FOR ESSAYS 

 

Healthy Living 

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, to firstperson@berkeleydailyplanet.com. We will publish the best essays in upcoming issues.


Letters to the Editor

Friday July 06, 2007

CELL PHONE TOWERS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It is ironic to find such a strong subtext for health concerns in rejection of the cell phone tower for UC Storage (“Zoning Board Rejects South Berkeley Cell Phone Antennas,” July 3). The electromagnetic waves from a radio transmitter diminish with the square of the distance. This makes the UC Storage building one of the best places in central Berkeley to place an antenna, from a health point of view. The building is high, so the main lobes of the radio footprint will be far overhead. Most importantly the top floors of this building are unoccupied, so nobody will work immediately below the antenna on a regular basis. And the more cell phone antennas there are in a city, the lower the power needs are for each one (both for the central antenna and the for the handsets right next to people’s heads). Considering the benefit to the city as a whole, it makes sense to ensure that all cellular carriers, not just Verizon and Nextel, have access to the best tower sites (potentially including this one). If the UC Storage site is ultimately blocked, chances are higher power and more intrusive antennas will eventually be sited in other buildings in other neighborhoods. And never mind that the prime proven association between cell phones and health has nothing to do with the radio, but rather with the increased risk of car collisions when people take calls while driving. 

Bryce Nesbitt 

Kensington 

 

• 

TOXICS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thank you for the story about toxic pollution in the East Bay (“UC Illegally Buried ‘Thousands Of Truckloads’ of Toxic Soil In Richmond, State Says,” July 3). Unfortunately, the plot line of insufficient state oversight, followed by extensive industrial pollution and disproportionately low-income/people of color communities left to fend for themselves in the resulting toxic morass, is all too common. Take the acrid odor and toxics in Albany, Berkeley and beyond due to air pollution from West Berkeley’s own Pacific Steel Casting Company (PSC) over the past several decades. PSC reports releasing well over 150,000 pounds of pollution in 2004. Although the US EPA considers PSC the 12th worst stationary source risk out of 2,171 industries in six Bay Area counties, Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) and City of Berkeley officials have offered little more than rhetoric and the occasional Band-Aid “solution.” 

The popular industry-sponsored Band-Aid solution is risk assessment. The legally mandated Health Risk Assessment (HRA) is paid for by industry itself, and BAAQMD indicates that industrial air HRAs in the Bay Area have not found industry exceeding allowable thresholds. The HRA technique is, as Phyllis Fox, the City of Berkeley’s former-industry-scientist-turned-green-pro-bono-consultant said, “a sham.” Typical industry practice is to “pre-test” and tweak equipment until it’s performing abnormally cleanly, at which point BAAQMD is called in to oversee formal testing. 

When emissions numbers are thus low-balled, PSC will undoubtedly come out (for the only time in its history) smelling like a rose. The flawed HRA is scheduled to be released on the 20th. Yet asthma hospitalization rates are high in West Berkeley, in part due to industrial operations, according to the Oakland-Berkeley Asthma Coalition. Neighbors still experience Pacific Steel’s odorous emissions (BAAQMD just settled another violation with PSC the other month), which can be accompanied by headaches, nausea and difficulty breathing, among other symptoms. BAAQMD and the City of Berkeley have done nothing substantial and the HRA is a sham; to achieve a truly green, sustainable Berkeley, these regulators must do an effective job. 

Regulators must pressure industry to include the whole community and the entire industrial process in comprehensive Toxic Use Reduction. Based on how it works throughout Massachusetts, Toxic Use Reduction can resolve the pollution problem, securing transparency, accountability, clean air and safe jobs for West Berkeley and beyond. 

David Schroeder 

West Berkeley Alliance for  

Clean Air and Safe Jobs 

www.westberkeleyalliance.org 

 

• 

MISQUOTED 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was misquoted in Riya Bhattacharjee’s July 3 article “Landmarks Commission Considers Demolishing Squires Block Building.” I never said that that “portions of the building could be historic and, if so, should be preserved.” What I said was that although a building had existed at 1505 Shattuck Ave. since at least 1911 and was still there in 1950 as shown in the Sanborn fire insurance maps, it’s entirely possible that the building had been demolished in the 1950s and replaced by the existing building, which the owner’s representative says is constructed of concrete blocks. I also said that I had never inspected the building’s construction, had no reason to doubt the owner’s claim, but that it would be a good idea to inspect the building prior to approving a demolition permit. 

It is sad to see the Planet devote front-page attention to this minor issue when it practically ignored a far more significant one less than a month ago, namely, the LPC’s failure on June 7 to designate the Joe Donham Willy’s automobile showroom at 2747 San Pablo Ave. That building, which is by far the best example of mid-century modern roadside architecture in Berkeley, will be demolished and replaced by a five-story condo development. 

The developer did not make any attempt to find a new site for the existing building. He claims to have paid tribute to it in replicating the rounded façade in his condo frontage. That claim is simply untrue. The condo plans and elevations, which can be seen on the city’s website, speak for themselves. 

The plans for 2747 San Pablo Ave. are available on the city’s website, http://webserver.ci.berkeley.ca.us/planning/landuse. The LPC misread and/or overlooked a significant amount of evidence presented to it showing why the Donham showroom deserves protection. The commission did not serve Berkeley well, and neither did the Planet. 

Daniella Thompson 

 

• 

A LANDMARK  

WORTH PRESERVING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I want to thank everyone who has supported the plans to restore Berkeley Iceland, our recently closed, historic ice palace. After almost a year delay, which was requested by the current owners, the Berkeley Landmark Preservation Commission designated the building and all its features as a landmark worthy of preservation at its April meeting. This decision was arrived at after three public hearings, hours of testimony and review of supporting documentation. As one of the applicants for landmark status, I have no doubts that Berkeley Iceland is an historic landmark. 

The current owners of Berkeley Iceland, believing that landmark status has a significant impact on the value of the site to developers, have chosen to appeal the designation which they call an “egregious” result. Their appeal calls into question the motives and veracity of the commissioners, the process under which it was arrived at, and the very facts to which some of their supporters testified. In the end, their stated goal is to completely remove the landmark designation and donate some pictures to the Berkeley Public Library to keep alive the memory of this historic community asset. 

A public hearing on the appeal is scheduled at the Berkeley City Council for 7 p.m. on 10 July at the Berkeley City Council Chamber (2134 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, Berkeley). Save Berkeley Iceland will be there in support of the landmark designation. We encourage others to let the council know that Berkeley would be better served by a fully protected, upgraded, and vibrant facility at 2727 Milvia rather than a set of donated pictures. Check the Save Berkeley Iceland website for more information on what’s happening and who to contact. 

Again, thanks to everyone who has supported SBI and our goals. 

Tom Killilea 

Executive Director 

SaveBerkeleyIceland.org 

 

• 

AIN’T ALL THAT RAPID 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

AC Transit’s misnamed Bus “Rapid” Transit (BRT) proposal has clearly lost any serious rationale when its boosters are reduced to defending it as a way to bridge the mile between adjacent Berkeley or Oakland BART stations. 

BRT isn’t all that rapid: On a long trip from Berkeley to San Leandro, AC Transit estimates that it would cut as little as six minutes off current bus schedules. Even by the shortest estimate, BRT would still take twice as long as BART, which will always be much faster. 

So, Robert Piper’s July 3 letter suggests a new rationale for BRT: as a BART connector. But if BRT saves such little time over a long haul, what would it save over the half-mile from the midpoint between two BART stations? Maybe a few seconds. 

AC Transit’s new 1R express “Rapid Bus” has already, since June 24, offered significant time savings along the BART corridor. If that wasn’t enough to switch hard-core drivers to transit, saving another few seconds won’t convert them either. And it certainly isn’t worth losing two lanes of Telegraph Ave. 

What might win new transit riders? Free transfers between BART and AC Transit. And monthly passes valid on both systems. New York City’s transit ridership, widely seen as saturated, spiked when New York finally introduced those amenities a few years ago. 

UC Berkeley and city government have been trying for years to negotiate a cross-agency pass. This shouldn’t be rocket science: Ten bus lines now participate in a “BART Plus Pass.” Actually, so did AC Transit—until it dropped out in 2003. So much for that agency’s good citizenship. 

Robert Piper and fellow BRT fan Roy Nakadegawa (letter, June 26) are both solid environmentalists and mainstays of the Sierra Club’s local chapter. But they’re also retired transit engineers, whose sympathies seem to lie with transit agencies. 

Lay transit riders, and our elected representatives, don’t have that problem. So we have the right to demand that transit agencies serve the public—not vice versa. AC Transit should abandon its Telegraph Ave. BRT boondoggle, and spend the same $400 million where it would do more good. 

Michael Katz 

 

• 

FOURTH OF JULY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Many thanks for printing the text of the Declaration of Independence in your July 4 issue. Our block always has a neighborhood potluck cookout on the fourth. This year, in addition to the games and food and talking, we did a reading of the Declaration. We passed it around and each person, adult or child, read a paragraph. The kids took it very seriously, and we all, whether hearing it for the first time or not, were reminded of what we are supposed to be about and why. That is a kind of patriotism I can relate to. 

Bill Mayer 

 

• 

HOLES IN BRT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am writing this letter in response to Charles Siegel’s response to a commentary I wrote about Bus Rapid Transit last week. One of my concerns with BRT is that it is going to slow emergency vehicles. Mr. Siegel disagrees, since emergency vehicles will ride in the express lanes down the center of Telegraph Avenue. But what will happen when they come up behind a BRT bus? The express lanes will be separated from the regular traffic lanes by a curb. Unless they jump the curb, there will be no way to get around the BRT bus when it stops to pick up or discharge passengers.  

Building curbs to separate the lanes on Telegraph reduces the flexibility in how emergency vehicles can get around. With a flat, continuous road surface, fire trucks, police cars and ambulances can change lanes to pass traffic, even crossing over the center line into ongoing traffic when necessary. If all four lanes are separated with curbs this flexibility will vanish and each lane will run at the speed of the slowest vehicle in the lane. 

There are many holes in the BRT draft environmental impact report. This appears to me to be one of the largest. 

BRT supporters have made many claims such as how it will increase pedestrian safety, will reduce auto trips, and will be beneficial to business. I do not see any of these benefits flowing from the implementation of BRT. Pedestrians will have to cross wide streets with two high-speed lanes in the middle. Some sidewalks will need to be narrowed along to route to accommodate the large buses. The only way auto trips will be reduced is if the BRT is going where the people who now drive need to go. If not, traffic won’t be reduced. Businesses will benefit only if people who ride BRT want to come to the business. With stops so far apart, BRT is not very shopper-friendly. And at the same time, BRT will remove a substantial number of parking places that businesses rely on for their customers. Wishing it so does not make it so.  

The Rapid Bus started running on Telegraph Ave. just last week. I think that everyone should let it run for long enough for AC Transit and riders to make adjustments to see how well this change is working before committing to spend millions of dollars that at the very least will wreck Telegraph Avenue for everyone other than the BRT. 

Mary Oram 

Willard Neighborhood Resident 

 

• 

BARRY BONDS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

There is a going supposition afloat suggesting that good ol’ fashioned bigotry is the major factor behind the Barry Bonds bandwagon of vitriol and hatred, everywhere he plays. Except for the intentional blind spots of the crowd in San Francisco, Bonds is almost universally despised by the fans. But racism is not at the root of this justifiable contempt. 

Hank Aaron withstood an onslaught of life-threatening letters, hoots and howls. But for the most part he was respected (if not revered) in and around the ballparks of this country. Moreover, this respect was in the midst of his breaking an all time home run record set by a white man. But any fool can deduce that Barry Bonds’ ascension to history is concomitant with an inordinate increase in offensive output at an age when exactly the opposite happens to virtually all major league hitters. His astounding statistics in the last seven years also intersect with baseball’s steroid scandal, and his centrality to that investigation. Bonds is hated primarily because he has been so powerful, in every sense of the term...not because he is black!  

Baseball is a highly competitive experience, one that thrives not only on winning, but on statistics, as well. Barry, along with the usual suspects, have proven to be a royal pain the neck in both regards, making championships (like the 1989 Mcguire-Canseco A’s) and statistics in general, a ruse of arestikal proportions. Meanwhile, Major League Baseball has gone along with the charade, without the slightest hint of a moral compass, now banning banners in stadiums that are laced with nothing more than understandable scorn and disrespect for this freak of nature. While they baby Bonds toward his spurious record, a player like Jason Giambi, who tries to set the record straight and apologizes for the steroidal circus, now has to answer to commissioner Selig, and steroid investigator George Mitchell. How’s that for throwing baseball’s devotees a curve and a cutter? 

Barry Bonds is not the only piece of moral refuse in professional sports these days, but he certainly is becoming the biggest. 

Marc Winokur 

 

• 

ABUSE OF POWER 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

This administration knows no limit when it comes to abuse of power. The Libby affair is just another example of the arrogance and disregard of our legal system that this administration flaunts regularly. 

What makes it all the worse is that there seems to be no dedicated effort, no willingness from the Congress to check this contemptible and corrupt administration. It has been allowed to operate for 7 1/2 years now, plundering and pillaging the whole while. 

I plead to the Congress of this great nation to stop your cowering and do your duty. Put an end to these thugs that are corrupting our system for private and personal gain. Impeachment now. 

Mark Lowe 

 

• 

TERRORISM HYPOCHONDRIACS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Reaction to a damaging act often causes more damage than the act itself. As everyone now knows, the Bush administration’s response to the mass murder of 9/11 has created monumental destruction and carnage in Afghanistan and Iraq. But similar instances in which the reaction is more damaging than the cause, occur often, in smaller dimensions.  

Such is the case with the aborted attempt to set off car bombs in London and the amateurish crash of a fiery car into the Air Terminal in Glasgow, Scotland. The response has far exceeded the actual damage or even the intended damage.  

For three days print and broadcast news featured intricate details of what might have happened, could have and may yet happen. As a result airline schedules were disrupted, passengers discombobulated and frisked, luggage searched and the ripple effects quickly spread across the Atlantic to our shores. 

There is great sadness in the presumably independent press uniformly elevating a bunch of incompetent, bold and resolute jerks to the level of terrorists, in the al Qaeda mold. There is even greater sadness in the ease with which a relatively small event caused such huge repercussions.  

Are we obsessed with the possibility of terrorism? Have we become terrorism hypochondriacs?  

Marvin Chachere 

San Pablo  

 

• 

WEASEL PARDON 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The Department of Justice’s own guidelines specify that to apply for a commutation a convict must first have started to serve their sentence and have abandoned all appeals. Scooter Libby has done neither. Instead, Bush has again abused his office to shield Cheney and himself from further exposure of their own impeachable offenses, as would happen were Libby finally compelled to testify truthfully, as was Judith Miller by her own incarceration. 

This is nothing but a weasel pardon, a premeditated obstruction of justice. Indeed, there is nothing to prevent Bush from further granting Libby a full pardon in January of 2009, as he no doubt plans on doing, unless both he and Cheney are impeached first. More than sufficient evidence of their constitutional crimes is already a matter of public record. There is no oversight they have not unilaterally defied. And now this. What more do we need to hear? 

Claire Eustace 

Oakland 

 

• 

FACTS NOT REQUIRED 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The current leaders of our country do not require actual facts or truth to make decisions. The United States invaded a sovereign nation based on the “fact” that that country had weapons of mass destruction and could be linked to terrorists attacks on our soil. Since those “facts” were proven erroneous the war has been continued in order to avoid having the enemy bring the fight to our country. Never mind that there is no evidence that they would. 

This predilection for making up convenient truths has infected our citizenry. 

When I assert that the notion of millions of crimes being prevented a year by guns is surely fallacious, a Mr. Doug Hawkins snows readers with the number of various crimes committed annually but no examples of any (let alone two million or more a year) being prevented by good Americans with guns. Michael Hardesty, who made the initial claim about millions a year, responds that there are “concrete examples of such deterrence” from one source and “a great many documented cases of self defense over the years” from another. 

This hardly justifies a claim of millions a year. Lastly Mr. Hardesty utilizes the conservative practice of sophomoric name calling by labeling me “a brainless lib.” 

Unsubstantiated claims and insults are the hallmark of a failed administration and the sooner it exits our political discourse the better. 

Richard Hourula 

 

• 

CLARIFICATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thanks for publishing my letter. I meant to refer to the Second Amendment Foundation but inadvertently left out the word “foundation.” My fault, not yours. Just in case anyone is wondering.  

Michael Hardesty 

 

• 

CANDIDATE CLINTON 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Those of us who approve of Sen. Clinton and her progressive values seem to face a tough problem when evaluating her chances as a Presidential candidate for 2008. 

Her personal qualities and positions on the issues make us support her and that may give her the Democratic Party’s nomination for President in 2008. Then of course she will face the opposing party’s negative campaign machine. 

Among the things that can be used by the other party is a recent article in the liberal New Yorker magazine, which details some difficult charges while reviewing a new book by Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame, titled A Woman in Charge. 

One of the worst charges seems to be the view that then-First Lady Clinton’s Health Care Reform attempt in 1993, was a “debacle” in which a bloated and incomprehensible proposal was delivered to Congress months late. 

According to Bernstein, when some in Congress wanted changes, the First Lady made the blunder of threatening to “demonize” them. This offended those whose support she most needed and led a leading Democratic Senator at the time to characterize her response as showing arrogance, disdain, and hypocrisy. When the First Lady’s plan did not get sufficient backing, bipartisan efforts to propose simpler alternatives were refused support by her. Ultimately no plan was passed. 

The possibility remains that had her support been given, an alternative bill could have been passed and millions of Americans now without health insurance could have received coverage 14 years ago. 

One of the task force’s deputies said at the time, “I find her to be among the most self-righteous people I’ve ever known in my life... and it’s her great flaw, it’s what killed health care.” 

The Republicans will likely make use of this information from Senator Clinton’s record in the 2008 campaign, as they have the right to do. 

Those of us who support and value Senator Clinton may wish to develop answers to the health care issue and to develop a strong list of the Senator’s notable accomplishments as First Lady and as Senator, so that she can have a good chance in the Presidential campaign, should she be our nominee. There seems to be some time left to do this. 

Brad Belden 

 

• 

FIX OUR FERALS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I went to my veterinarian’s office to buy cat food the other day. A doctor told me that she had had to kill 24 kittens the day before because the shelter was unable to adopt them out. Too many unwanted kittens. There is something we can do. A wonderful organization started by a friend of mine, Linda McCormick, called Fix Our Ferals is about to spay and neuter their 10,000th feral cat. Fix Our Ferals monitors, traps, and “fixes” the strays who live and breed outside, alone and mostly uncared for. Lots of volunteers help out at the clinics held every two months at the Oakland SPCA on Hegenberger Road. The veterinarians and vet students come from UC Davis to do the surgeries as volunteers. There is a clinic coming up Sunday, July 15. If you know of any ferals living around you, call their hot line at 433-9446. Also visit their very nice website www.fixourferals.org. 

Barbara Henninger 

 

• 

SUMMERTIME FUN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

This has been a summer when most of my friends are planning, or are now enjoying, fabulous vacations in faraway, romantic spots. One friend is presently in London, following a glorious week in Bruges. Another is leaving for Croatia this Friday. Still another lucky friend will be taking a river cruise: “Old World Prague and The Blue Danube.” All of this makes me rather reluctant to share my own plans. When I announced that I’d be spending five days in Burlingame, jaws dropped. “Burlingame? You’re going to Burlingame?” Well, I’m the first one to admit that this particular city hasn’t ranked high on my list of places not to be missed. 

But let me explain how it all came about. Several weeks ago I received a flyer from Elderhostel announcing a five day Comedy Theme Program. Now if you haven’t heard of Elderhostel, you’re clearly from another planet. Anyway, the flyer provided alluring details of a comedy workshop to be held at the Embassy Suites in Burlingame. This program has evidently become one of the most popular programs in all Elderhostel and it’s easy to see why. The comedy theme week included live performances by some of the top Bay Area comics—stand-up comedians, clowns, an entertainment writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, etc., etc. But what got me was the promise, “You’ll laugh until it hurts!” Brother, was I in need of a laugh! Admit it, this has been one lousy year: the bloody mess in Iraq (and that nerd in the White House just itching to do battle with Iran); the mass shootings in Virginia, melting ice glaciers, and, worse of all, the heart-wrenching ordeal of Paris Hilton). Yep, if ever I needed a laugh, it was now. 

All in all, it was a fantastic week. The Embassy Suites, a gorgeous hotel, looks out at the Bay and across to the S.F. Airport. The 52 participants were a lively bunch—Hal Roach’s daughter was one and she regaled us with stories of the distant pass when she starred in “The Little Rascals.” With morning and afternoon lectures by veteran comedians and ancient movies (Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, Danny Kaye film clips) we did indeed laugh until it hurt! 

But the very best part of al—there were no airport hassles, no canceled flights—just an easy 35-minute drive from the Bay Area. I had such a fabulous time I may sign up again for another program featuring great Jewish comedians and Borscht Belt comedy. 

Dorothy Snodgrass 


Commentary: What Don’t You Understand About Democracy?

By David Esler
Friday July 06, 2007

The administration swept aside laws it didn’t like or found inconvenient and ignored citizens’ protests as it catered to the commercial interests of its supporters. Sound familiar? No, we’re not talking about the Bush/Cheney administration but, sadly, Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates and some members of the City Council. 

Call it trickle-down. Not the financial kind but the trickling down—all the way down to grassroots Berkeley, the alleged bastion of progressive politics and uber-democracy—of Bush administration-style bullying tactics as seen in the Bates administration’s attempt to ramrod through its approval of developer John Gordon’s proposed 5,000-square-foot restaurant and bar in the former Wright’s Garage near the intersection of Ashby and College avenues, smack in the middle of the city’s historic Elmwood District. First, the Zoning Adjustments Board recommended that the project be approved in contravention of sitting ordinances regulating commercial growth and limiting the number of certain businesses—including restaurants—in the Elmwood. Mayor Bates, who ran as a progressive but, once in office, apparently never met a commercial developer he didn’t like, favors granting Gordon a use permit for his upscale eatery and watering spot, which would be sited against a residential neighborhood and open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. The matter will come to a final vote at this Tuesday’s City Council meeting where Elmwood residents and merchants will make one more impassioned effort to convince the Berkeley solons to either deep-six Mr. Gordon’s proposal or send it back to ZAB for much-needed revision. 

Two councilmembers have been recused from the vote, one because he owns property near the former Wright’s Garage and the other for taking an advocacy position for the project on the Kitchen Democracy website that polled the issue. To make matters worse, the councilmember’s description of the Gordon development on KitchenDemocracy.org grossly misrepresented the project, no mention being made of the restaurant’s 5,000-square-foot size, the expected patronage, or the presence of a bar and lounge. Thus, the misrepresentation of the poll, in which a majority subsequently favored the project, essentially rendered the results bogus. (Also, the poll was not confined to Elmwood residents.) Nevertheless, ZAB used the results of the Kitchen Democracy poll as the sole representation of neighborhood support in its deliberations on the project, its members rejecting numerous letters of opposition to the proposed development and live testimony from actual Elmwood residents in the flesh. Especially galling was ZAB secretary Debra Sanderson’s observation at the June 26 Council meeting that the Elmwood Neighborhood Association didn’t exist—with the implication that the 40 or so Elmwood residents sitting behind her waiting to voice their opposition to the restaurant/bar were irrelevant. 

For his part, Bates claims to understand that parking is an ongoing problem in the Elmwood District. And yet he has embraced a fallacious and largely empty solution recommended by ZAB for accommodating hoards of cars expected if the restaurant use permit is upheld. Basically, ZAB’s recommendation states that the developer only has to try “to the extent possible” to come up with a parking solution—but if Gordon tries and doesn’t succeed, there’s nothing to keep him from getting his building permit. As anyone who frequents and laments the congested traffic situation in the Elmwood knows, the likelihood for finding any more parking space embraced by the two-block business district is negligible. This means that the expected cars driven into the area by restaurant/bar patrons will have no other place to go except into adjacent residential neighborhood streets. For Elmwood residents this does not constitute a tenable solution. At the June 19 council meeting, Bates spent more time trying to figure out how to get the item kicked off the agenda for the following week’s council meeting than listening to the concerns Elmwood residents brought to him. These concerns include traffic safety, congestion, drunk driving and other alcohol-related behavior problems, noise, and additional exhaust pollution. 

After Bates heard statements from Elmwood residents who’d waited up to three hours to speak at last week’s council meeting, a motion was advanced by Councilmember Kriss Worthington to remand the project back to ZAB for further consideration. The motion failed by one vote, with two members voting against, two members recused, and one (Darryl Moore) abstaining. Leaving the meeting, one Elmwood resident who’d suggested in his two-minute statement that the restaurant/bar might be picketed by neighborhood opponents if it came to fruition was accosted by Gordon’s lawyer, Harry Pollack, who yelled into the senior citizen’s face that his presentation had been “despicable” and offered a few other choice words. Pollack’s performance on the steps of the Old City Hall was pretty despicable itself, given its intimidating nature—the attorney was literally trembling with rage. Apparently, Mr. Pollock, having also taken a page from the Bush administration, hasn’t heard of the First Amendment to the Constitution and the freedoms it confers to citizens to speak freely at public meetings and to picket. 

The larger ramification of the Gordon project, which is hugely out of proportion to the ability of the Elmwood commercial and residential area to accommodate it, is the precedent it will serve for other neighborhoods in the city under assault by developers. Progress is inevitable, but if we are to preserve the unique character of our Berkeley neighborhoods, limitations must be placed on it—and, especially when ordinances are already in place to implement those curbs, those laws should be enforced by the city government, which is pledged to serve and protect its citizens. Elections are coming, and the mayor and some council members have announced their intention to run for re-election. Two have indicated a desire to stand for the state Assembly. How Mayor Bates and the City Council vote in Tuesday’s decision on the Gordon Elmwood restaurant/bar project should be a good indication to Berkeley residents whether they deserve to be returned to office or elevated to higher service in government.  

As Councilmember Dona Spring observed at last week’s meeting, “this project stinks to high heaven!” Indeed it does, and just like that offensive odor emanating from Washington, it’s only going to get worse unless the people do something about it. The Elmwood Neighborhood Association urges residents to attend Tuesday’s City Council meeting and voice their opposition to the proposed restaurant/bar development and the strong-arm tactics adopted by the Bates administration and developer John Gordon. 

 

Elmwood resident David Esler writes on behalf of the Elmwood Neighborhood Association (www.theelmwood.org). 


Commentary: Accuracy in America’s Gun-Use Statistics

By Robert Clear
Friday July 06, 2007

The writers supporting guns for self-defense don’t seem to be honest, or not very good at numbers. After Richard Hourula questioned the veracity of Michael Hardesty’s claim that guns are used millions of times per year, Hardesty fell back on the claim that there are a great many documented cases of self defense over the years, and it was therefore a reasonable estimate. In short, he made up numbers to make the argument look good. Hawkins adds up violent crimes, property crimes, burglary, larceny and so on to get an estimate of 20 million crimes per year, but according to the FBI website “In the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, property crime includes the offenses of burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson,” so he has double counted the property crimes. However what is more important is that “The object of the theft-type offenses is the taking of money or property, but there is no force or threat of force against the victims.” There were only about a half million crimes per year where force or a threat of force was involved, and therefore where self-defense may be involved. If there are two million successful cases of self-defense then only 20 percent of the attempted violent acts were successful. It is hard to believe violent crime would be the problem that it is if its success rate was so low. Ms. Cloudwalker claims that 20 percent of homicides are concentrated in four cities with gun control, but provides no evidence that the two facts are related. A strong clue that they are not is that her numbers are old, and that by 2003 the value was about 10 percent. Washington D.C., which is one of the four, has been undergoing gentrification, and its murder rate dropped from first in the nation in 1991 at 81 per 100,000 to a much reduced but still horrible 44 in 2003, with the vast majority of the homicides occurring in those areas which have not yet been gentrified. New York has reduced its murder rate to 7.4, which is substantially below what is expected for a city of its size, its rate of poverty, unemployment, female head of household, and racial makeup. Locally one only need compare Richmond, with a murder rate of 36.7 to Berkeley, with a murder rate of 5.7, to realize that you have to account for all the variables before trying to draw conclusions about gun control and crime rates. 

Does it matter if it is less than several millions, as long as some people are enabled to successfully defend themselves? There are about 800 accidental deaths from guns per year, and one study described at library.med.utah.edu/WebPath/TUTORIAL/GUNS/GUNSTAT.html claimed that for every successful self-defense shooting there were 4 unintentional ones. Another site cited several studies showing a positive correlation to gun ownership and homicide and robbery rates. There is clearly a trade-off, so the numbers do matter. Even more to the point, there are products which aren’t generally lethal, but still provide protection (sprays and tazers). 

Are the kids in gangs any safer from all having guns? Will crooks faced with a possibly armed populace reform? Or just shoot first? In Texas a Japanese student was shot asking directions—do we really need more paranoid people with guns? 

 

Robert Clear is an Oakland resident.


Healthy Living: The Aging Process Beyond Four Score and Ten

By Rose Green
Friday July 06, 2007

For years my definition of a bore was “Someone, who when you ask how they are, they tell you.” It always got a laugh. However, these days the laugh’s on me. For I myself am now that quintessential Bore. When asked how I feel no longer say “Fine!” Instead, I launch into a recital of my aches and pains, completely disregarding the stifled yawns around me. I cannot believe that I’ve turned into such a person—one I don’t like at all. Never in my wildest nightmares did I think that I could bore anyone—and myself as well! 

So here I am, past my four score and ten, with a string of ailments euphemistically dubbed “part of the aging process.” The trouble with living past 90 is there’s no future in it. Our faculties fade and our body parts deteriorate, period. There’s no light at the end of the tunnel. 

It’s not like when I was younger and survived such crises as a hysterectomy, gall bladder removal and ovarian cancer. Today I’m not even sure I can survive the common cold. All I know is that my life is changing. The activities I still enjoy will diminish. My energy level will drop and I will need more sleep than ever. And then I will find myself constantly losing things and wasting precious time looking for them. Whatever I do will take twice as long. Et cerera, et cetera, et cetera. The list is endless. 

And yet, believe it or not, these are minor inconveniences compared with my big problem—macular degeneration—or a gradual loss of vision. Although it will proceed slowly and I will never be completely blind, the fact remains that I can no longer read newspapers, magazines or books unless they are in large print. My friends tell me that talking books are just as good—but not for me. I like the feel of a book, I like the printed word. I like turning the pages. Trips to the library are no longer the fun they used to be. 

Even more frustrating are my shopping trips. Up till now, my biggest problem in Long’s or Safeway was my height—or lack of it. More often than no, what I wanted was on a top shelf and I couldn’t reach it. Now I can barely see it, let alone read the label or the price tag. Similarly, when waiting for the bus, I cannot read its number as it approaches, or read the schedules posted at the bus stop. And when I’m finally on my way, I can’t read the street signs or house numbers to know when to get off. 

The saving grace in all this is what my mind is still fairly sharp. Not as sharp as I’d like, but sharp enough. Nor has my sense of humor left me, and though there are days when I feel so sorry for myself, I find nothing to laugh about. It’s just no fun getting older. 

Last year when I wrote my memoir Turning Points I felt I was at my peak. I was sure I’d soon have another big writing project under way. No such luck. The book was finished in December and on Jan. 12, I had a panic attack. Barely breathing, I managed to call my daughter, Debbie, who called 911. I vaguely remember lying in an ambulance, being in the Alta Bates Emergency Room, and then being transferred to Kaiser Hospital where I stayed for almost a week. The attack changed my life altogether. My other daughter and mygranddaughter Suzin and Coby, flew out from New Jersey to join Debbie and her daughter and me. That was the best part of being sick—I was surrounded by my dear ones. They spoiled me rotten and I loved every minute. But that too ended when they had to return to their own lives. 

I can go on like this, but it just occurred to me how boring I must be. I’ve been telling you just how I feel, and you haven’t even ask me. Nor did I ask you how you feel. Please forgive this crochety old woman. That’s the trouble with the aging process. 

 

 

 

 


Healthy Living: Lifelong Medical Care Weighs In On Michael Moore’s ‘Sicko’

By Chris Kiefer
Friday July 06, 2007

With the humor, realism, and moving imagery we’ve come to expect from Michael Moore, Sicko is exactly the medicine needed by the public debate around health care. The film has three simple messages: First, the American health care “system” is utterly broken, not just for the 40 million uninsured, but potentially for all of us. Second, this is totally unnecessary; other countries have systems that work quite well. Third, this is far more than an economic issue—the way we treat the sickest among us is a moral disgrace of staggering proportions.  

As a frequent speaker and teacher on health policy, I’ve learned that most Americans, even the well educated, know very little about our health care system. A popular view in the street or classroom is that anybody can get access to care “if they’re sick enough,” or if they know who and how to ask for it. Sicko fully explodes this myth, and identifies clearly the for-profit elements of our system that are to blame—health insurance companies, drug companies, the AMA, and private HMOs and hospitals.  

The film details how their lobbyists and fundraisers corrupt national politics to keep their profits. Meantime, thanks to 80 years of propaganda by these sectors against government sponsored health care, Americans also tend to be skeptical of universal systems such as Canada’s, England’s and France’s, and the film’s tour of those generally well functioning systems is a powerful antidote to the hype.  

Naturally, the for-profit health sector is fuming about Sicko and have already begun their counter-attack, leveling the usual charge against socially responsible journalism, that it shows a “liberal bias.” The truth is that money has assured this debate’s ultra-conservative bias for so long, that Moore’s view is sorely needed to balance the picture.  

 

Christie W. Kiefer is professor emeritus of anthropology at UC San Francisco and a board member of Lifelong Medical Care. LifeLong Medical Care (www.lifelongmedical.org) was formed in 1996 as a merger between two clinics with deep community roots in Berkeley. The Over 60 Health Center began in 1976 as an outgrowth of the Gray Panthers, a senior citizens’ advocacy organization. In 1989, Berkeley Primary Care was born in response to citizen protest over the closing of Herrick Hospital and a lack of prenatal care for low-income women. Since the merger, Lifelong has grown to encompass five medical clinics, a dental clinic, an Adult Day Health Center for elders with complex care needs, and a Supportive Housing Program for formerly homeless adults.  

LifeLong is known as the primary “safety net” provider of medical services to the uninsured and those with complex health needs in Berkeley, North Oakland, downtown Oakland, east Oakland, Albany and Emeryville. In 2004, LifeLong provided approximately 101,000 primary care visits to over 17,000 people, nearly half of whom were uninsured.  


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. 

This comes as no surprise, as the United States is an extremely religious country: According to the May 10 Gallup Poll 86 percent of Americans believe in God—only 6 percent “don’t believe.” Our religious terrain is dominated by Christians: the most recent Gallup Poll indicated that 75 percent describe Christianity as their “religious preference”—only 11 percent say they have “none.” A large percentage of U.S. Christians profess fundamentalist beliefs: 43 percent of Protestants describe themselves as “born-again or evangelical” Christians. Typically, they have dogmatic, conservative beliefs: the Bible is literally true; the end times are coming soon; and the United States must become a Christian nation. 

As George Bush’s popularity has waned, so has promotion of the concept that he is the anointed leader of the Christian nation: the notion that the United States functions better as a theocracy than it does as a democracy. Yet, a vast conservative Christian radio and television network has kept the Christian nation idea alive; they frequently declare that the Bible takes precedence over the Constitution. 

The Christian Nation concept drives a coterie of conservative Christian commentators such as James Robison. In his most recent column, Robison dissected comments made by Democratic Presidential candidates at the recent “faith forum.” He quoted John Edwards: “I also understand the distinction between my job as president of the United States [and] my responsibility to be respectful of and to embrace all faith beliefs.” Robison countered: “So while some candidates profess to be true Christians, they feel a responsibility to embrace Islam, Atheism, Scientology, the New Age movement and every other belief (or at least select portions of them). Their wisdom holds that their leadership role demands a dualistic split between attitudes and actions. They personally want moral legislation, as defined by most mainstream Christians, but feel duty-bound to not provide it.” Robison invoked “true Christian believer” imagery: the notion that real Christians don’t accept theological diversity; for them there is only one source of truth, the Bible. 

In his scathing 2004 critique of fundamentalism, “The End of Faith,” Sam Harris linked dogmatic religion and terrorism. Harris argued that the worst aspects of Islam—those that inspired the attacks of 9/11—are similar to the central tenets of ultra-conservative Christianity: there is one true religion; anyone who does not accept that religion is, by definition, an infidel; unbelievers will not get into heaven; and, for those who are shown the truth, the ends justify the means. Harris warned that unless the western world questions the core tenets of fundamentalist religions, we risk being swept into a global holy war fought with modern technology. 

The Feb. 20 Gallup Poll checked American attitudes about race, sex, age, and other factors. The most negative attitude concerned atheism: 53 percent of respondents indicated they “would not vote for” an atheist. Thus, we shouldn’t be surprised that Democratic as well as Republican candidates identify themselves as Christians; they don’t want to be seen as non-believers. 

However, there are two faces of American Christianity: the fundamentalist wing that hungers for a Christian nation and believes that anyone who respects the rights of non-Christians is an apostate; and the other, more tolerant wing. Speaking to the convention of the United Church of Christ on June 23, Barack Obama spoke from the tolerant, progressive Christian perspective. He declared that religion has a part to play in American politics but defined it as the role of inclusion: uniting Americans to deal with common problems such as poverty and environmental degradation. Obama observed, “Somehow, somewhere along the way, faith stopped being used to bring us together… Faith started being used to drive us apart. Faith got hijacked.” The junior senator from Illinois blamed this on “the so-called leaders of the Christian right, who’ve been all too eager to exploit what divides us.” He indicated that the religious right has “hijacked” faith and divided the country using wedge issues. 

Whoever the eventual Democratic and Republican presidential candidates turn out to be, there’s no doubt they’ll identify as a Christian. The critical question for American voters is what kind of a Christian they actually are: will the candidate be a fundamentalist Christian like Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback or will they be a progressive Christian like Barack Obama? They both proclaim their faith, but one has a closed, theocratic view that challenges democracy, while the other has an open, inclusive view that strengthens it. That’s a critical distinction in terms of protecting democracy and religious diversity. 

 

Bob Burnett is a Berkeley writer. He can be reached at bobburnett@comcast.net 

 


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.  

Keeping even mighty things alive in a hostile climate is often a matter of failing and maybe trying again. Certainly the bloom of American utopias of many sorts over the 19th and early 20th centuries has faded, maybe to seed, maybe just to footnotes after a brief flush of possibility.  

Sometimes even their marks have been willfully erased. How many of us knew that the biggest tree in the world used to be called the Karl Marx Tree? 

The Kaweah Colony, a socialist community founded in 1884, laid out a number of timber claims near their planned headquarters in the Three Rivers area. Because most members lived at the time in San Francisco (with others in associated clubs as far away as Boston), some alert officials thought they smelled fraud of the sort that timber corporations had perpetrated using individuals as fronts for homesteading claims and public land use.  

The claims, supposed to be the foundation of Kaweah’s prosperity, were held up pending investigation. The colony foundered within half a decade, partly on economics and bad planning, partly on the rock of government (and corporate-interest) hostility.  

The land claims finally fizzled when the Sequoiadendron groves became Sequoia (speaking of misnomers) National Park and the surrounding forest became national forest lands. The Feds never made any restitution to the claimants, though a Congressional investigation recommended it.  

Karl Marx’s tree got the name that stuck, “General Sherman,” in 1879, by some accounts as part of an attempt to “heal the nation’s wounds” after the Civil War; a great many of the trees in the park were named then after prominent military figures. Naming the biggest after the total-war practitioner Sherman rather than, say, Lincoln or even Grant (who do have barely-smaller trees named for them in the park) might seem rather abrasive for that purpose.  

Naturalist Asa Gray had seen the big trees in that decade, and had doubts about this sort of naming: “Whether it be the man or the tree that is honored in the connection, probably either would live as long, in fame and in memory, without it.” 

Certainly the trees don’t care. 

 

Photograph: Ron Sullivan  

Even a little Big Tree is a big tree. Broader spread, stouter trunk, more massive foliage, needles in rounded thready clusters, not flat sprays like coastal redwoods’.  

 

Ron Sullivan is a former professional gardener and arborist. Her “Green Neighbors” column appears every other Tuesday in the Berkeley Daily Planet, alternating with Joe Eaton’s “Wild Neighbors” column. Her “Garden Variety” column appears every Friday in the Planet’s East Bay Home & Real Estate section.  

 


Column: Dispatches From The Edge: Australia and the Pacific Wall

By Conn Hallinan
Friday July 06, 2007

Some 230 miles north of Perth, at Geraldton on Australia’s west coast, the Bush administration is building a base. When completed, it will control two geostationary satellites that feed intelligence to U.S. military forces in Asia and the Middle East. 

Most Americans know nothing about Geraldton or the U.S. submarine communications base at North Cape and the U.S. missile-tracking center at Pine Gap. But there is growing concern Down Under that Prime Minster John Howard’s conservative government is weaving a network of alliances and U.S. bases that may one day put Australians in harm’s way. As Australian Defense Force Academy Visiting Fellow told the Sydney Morning Herald, once the Geraldton base is up and running, it will be “almost impossible for Australia to be fully neutral or stand back from any war in which the United States was involved.” 

Indeed, that may already be the case. Australia, along with Japan, India, the Philippines and South Korea, signed on to the U.S. anti-ballistic missile system (ABM), which China fears is aimed at neutralizing its modest fleet of 21 intercontinental ballistic missiles.  

On Mar. 12 Australia signed a Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation (JDSC) with Japan, that according to Richard Tanter, a senior research associate at the Nautilus Institute who writes widely on Japanese Security policy, is an “anti-China U.S.-dominated multilateral alliance system” that “confirms the already accelerating tendencies for both Japan and Australia to militarize their foreign policies.”  

Certainly both nations have been flexing their muscles of late. 

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has put a strong nationalist spin on Tokyo’s foreign policy that has raised hackles from Seoul to Beijing. Japan has also sent troops to Iraq and recently declared it intends to repeal Article 9 of its post-war constitution. Article 9 renounces war and rejects “force as a means of settling international disputes.” Japan has the fifth largest navy in the world and spends over $40 billion a year on defense.  

Australia, whose defense budget is slightly more than half of Japan’s, also has troops in Iraq, as well as the Solomon Islands, East Timor, and Tonga.  

Last August, Howard told the Parliament that Australia needs to prepare for an even greater role in monitoring and assisting troubled nations in the Pacific region. The Prime Minister has also adopted some of the rhetoric of the Bush Administration, calling for “preemptive” strikes against “terrorist groups” in regional neighbors. 

Australia, New Zealand, and the United States, have moved forcefully to assert their authority in the myriad island nations that make up much of the South Pacific. Using a combination of troops, aid and control over transportation, the three countries dominate the politics of places like Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, the Solomon’s, Fiji and Samoa.  

Many of these island nations are almost totally dependent on either international aid or money earned from renting out their land for military bases. Some 60 percent of the Marshall Islands’ GDP comes from U.S. aid and the 50-year “Pact of Free Association” that allows the United States to use Kwajalein Atoll for missile tests. The United States only got the pact by engineering a change in the Marshall Island’s constitution that allows a simple majority of legislators to okay the Association. Before this change, Marshallese voters had rejected the pact eight different times.  

When Solomon Island Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare accused Australia’s High Commissioner of “unwarranted interventionism” in the Republic’s affairs, Howard’s Foreign Minister Alexander Downer warned ominously “the last thing the Solomon Island government can afford is to get into arguments with major donors who are helping keep their country afloat.”  

In an interview with political analyst and Pacific expert Andre Vltchek, UNESCO cultural expert Mail Voi said the “big three” use devices like transit visas for “effectively isolating small and poor countries of the Pacific from each other, as well as from the rest of the world. It is almost impossible for the citizens of most Southeast Asian nations, including the Philippines and Indonesia, to visit their neighbors in Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia.”  

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is elbowing its way into the region as well. In talking about Japan, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea, NATO General Secretary Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said last November, “We all face the same threats and it is in their interests, as well as our own, that we come closer together.”  

U.S. Undersecretary of State R. Nicholas Burns was blunter: “We seek a partnership with them so that we can train more intensively, from a military point of view.”  

But if there is a push to dominate and militarize the region, there are countervailing winds as well. 

On the one hand, Australia is part of an ABM system that China sees as a threat. On the other, China is Canberra’s third largest trading partner with an insatiable appetite for Australia’s coal, uranium, gas and oil.  

In 2006, energy exports earned Australia $33.9 billion, a figure that is certain to rise steeply over the next decade. “With the right policies,” says Howard, “ we have the makings of an energy superpower.”  

Japan finds itself in a similar position. While there is continuing tension between Tokyo and Beijing over Taiwan, and oil and gas fields in the South China Seas, China will become Japan’s number one trading partner by the end of 2007. Trade between the two countries topped $200 billion last year.  

The trade potential has made Japan and the Australia careful about tying themselves too closely to some of the bombast about “Chinese militarism” coming out of Washington.  

This past April, Japan and China pledged “closer cooperation,” and when Beijing made it clear it was unhappy about Australia’s hosting part of the U.S. ABM program, Australian Foreign Minister Downer was quick to state, “We are opposed to a policy of containment of China. We believe the best way forward is working constructively with China.” 

Australia and Japan are caught between “wanting to ride the Chinese economic gravy train,” says Tanter, while at the same time trying to “beat the drum about supposed [Chinese] military expansionism.” 

The Howard government’s muscular foreign policy has touched off a debate about what role Australia should play in the region and how closely Canberra should be tied to U.S. designs in Asia and the Middle East. Foreign policy, particularly the Iraq War, has become a major issue for the upcoming general elections in October, particularly the Iraq War. 

Polls indicate that two-thirds of Australians want to withdraw from Iraq, and 70 percent think Australia should be more independent from U.S. foreign policy. The Aussies were evenly split between what constitutes a greater danger to the world: the U.S. or Islamic fundamentalism.  

For now, Washington is too bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan to pay much attention to the Pacific, but given the importance of the region to the United States, that it’s not likely to last. Will the United States eventually move to confront China, its rival in Asia? That may well depend on where other nations in the region conclude their interests lie, and whether most of them decide that butter and trade trump guns and walls. 

Information doesn’t come free. Lots of things that get into Dispatches comes from towardfreedom.com, which publishes analysis and news from around the world. Most its reporters are young and report from on the spot. In a world of corporate controlled media, it is an essential source for progressive movements. Their fund goal is a modest $5,000. Please help. Send checks to “Toward Freedom,” 300 Maple St., Burlington, VT 05401.


Column: Undercurrents: Putting Band-Aids on Oakland’s Crime Problem

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday July 06, 2007

Modern-day African-Americans owe an enormous debt to the American labor movement, which helped provided funding, leadership training, and leadership itself for the African-American Freedom cause during key periods of the civil rights era. 

In the modern myth-tale of the birth of the civil rights movement that we hear recited each Black History Month, Rosa Parks, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and various Montgomery church organizations get pretty much all the credit for sparking, and then organizing, the 1955-56 Montgomery Bus Boycott out of which the movement grew. 

But those with good memories and/or research skills know that it was E.D. Nixon, the head of the Montgomery branch of A. Philip Randolph’s Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters union, who was one of the key African-American leaders and organizers in Montgomery in the lead up to, and the operation of, the year-long boycott.  

In its recent online retrospective on the boycott, for example, the Montgomery Advertiser says of Nixon: “Long before the famous boycott, Nixon had been campaigning for civil rights, particularly voting rights, working in the black community to get people registered to vote. He was well known for interceding on behalf of those who asked for his help with white office holders, police and other officials. He organized a group of 750 men who marched to the Montgomery County courthouse in 1940 to attempt to register to vote. He also ran for a seat on the county Democratic executive committee in 1954 and questioned candidates for the Montgomery City Commission on their position on civil rights issues the following year. Nixon is credited for helping to bail Rosa Parks out of jail.” The Advertiser begins its E.D. Nixon bio by saying that he was “affectionately dubbed as the father of the civil rights movement.” 

The Sleeping Car Porters developed other important African-American leaders in the years leading up to the beginning of the civil rights movement, of course, among them A. Philip Randolph himself, as well as Oakland’s own C.L. Dellums, whose statue now stands in front of the Jack London Square train station, and whose nephew, Ron Dellums, sits in the Oakland mayor’s chair over at City Hall. 

That is one of the reasons, perhaps, you can all but hear the anguish in the writing voice of (African-American) Oakland Tribune columnist Brenda Payton when she pauses during a recent column critical of the Oakland Police Officers Association union to say “I support unions. I'm a member of a union. I believe in workers' rights to organize. Without organized labor, I think working conditions would be worse in every industry.” 

For knowledgeable African-Americans, taking a stand against the unions can, at times, feel like the same thing as going against the Black Cause itself. 

At times, not, however. 

There are, actually, two major ideological strands within the union movement constantly in conflict with each other—the one that sees the primary (and, perhaps, sole) work of a union as promoting the rights and welfare of the members of that particular union, the other that sees the purpose of unions as advancing the interests of the entire working class. That is something of what comprised the original split in the American labor movement between the old American Federation of Labor (AFL) and the Council of Industrial Organizations (CIO), a split that was papered over when the two groups merged into the present AFL-CIO, but was never actually reconciled. 

African-American workers have, therefore, often found themselves at odds with some unions, and some aspects of the union movement. For many years during the pre-civil rights days, some unions operated a policy in which only family of union members—or those recommended by current union members—could join a union, and only union members could get jobs in certain industries. This had both the practical and, sometimes, intended effect of keeping out African-American workers—who were neither family nor recommended—from both the union and from the jobs the union represented. Then, in many instances when those old segregationist union policies were overthrown, some of those unions then promoted the “seniority rules,” in which those who had been in the unions the longest were favored during layoffs and promotions over those who had come in more recently, thus perfuming over the old anti-Black racism by lathering it down with another, more acceptable, more confusing name. 

Anti-Black racism certainly plays an enormous part in the current struggles between the City of Oakland and the Oakland Police Officers Association—and if you think it doesn’t, you really haven’t been paying attention—but to fully understand the situation, you have to understand that OPOA leaders appear to demonstrate the belief that their first priority is to protect the interests of OPOA members—the Oakland police—and that priority supersedes any other priorities which might get in the way. 

That makes the role of the OPOA very different from the role of the people and entities—the mayor, the chief of police, and the City Council—now negotiating with OPOA over a new police contract. Their job—whether they do it well or poorly or, sometimes, forget it altogether—is to protect the safety and interests of the citizens of Oakland. Knowing this allows citizens to be able to interpret the various positions taken by each side, and to know how to hold who accountable for what. 

That is why there should be no surprise—nor any outrage—amongst Oakland citizens following the comments of OPOA President Bob Valladon over the recent airport police transfer. 

In case you missed it, Mayor Dellums and Chief Wayne Tucker announced, two weeks ago, that 15 Oakland police officers currently assigned to duty at the Oakland Airport were being reassigned to street patrol duty. Their place at the airport will be taken over by Alameda County Sheriff’s deputies. 

This would seem like a good thing to most people, more police on Oakland streets for a department that has a severe shortage of patrol officers. And most people quoted in the June 20th Heather MacDonald article in the Oakland Tribune agreed, with one notable exception, Mr. Valladon. 

“Oakland Police Officers Association president Bob Valladon criticized the move,” Ms. MacDonald wrote, “saying it would do nothing to reduce the time it takes officers to respond to calls from residents for help. ‘I'm 100 percent against it,’ Valladon said, adding if the union could block the change, it would. ‘It's just another bad decision by the chief.’ Valladon said city officials would come to regret the decision, calling it a band-aid solution. 

Without understanding Mr. Valladon’s motivations and responsibilities, this seems like an odd response. 

Of course, adding 15 street patrol officers to a department that is understaffed is a “band-aid solution” to Oakland’s enormous violent crime problem, but that is no reason to reject it out of hand. A person with a life-threatening disease does not fall down while walking, scrape their arm on the pavement, and then normally refuse to wash out the wound and put a band-aid on it by saying, “Well, after all, it doesn’t do a thing about my cancer.” True. But it does do something about that particular bit of bleeding. 

The assertion by Mr. Valladon that adding 15 additional patrol officers to street duty “would do nothing to reduce the time it takes officers to respond to calls from residents for help” is a little more problematical. If there is one more officer working the streets on a given shift, and that new officer happens to be available at the moment I place a call that someone is breaking into my car, and that officer is able to immediately respond, then that, by definition, reduces the time it takes for police to respond to my call, whoever I may be. It may not be widely felt all over the city but then, after all, it is only a band-aid, and major surgery on the patient’s other problems is yet to occur. 

Once you understand that Mr. Valladon’s responsibilities are to his union members, and not to the citizens of Oakland, his response to the airport officer redeployment makes perfect sense. Some portion of his members obviously want airport duty as one of their preferred patrol options. When, after all, was the last time you heard of someone doing a drive-by or robbing a concession stand at the airport? 

Meanwhile, the major surgery we earlier spoke of, a reorganization of the police department to reflect Chief Tucker’s ideas about how best to protect Oakland citizens, is at the heart of the current impasse between the City of Oakland and the OPOA over a new contract. 

Some of the bare outlines of the dispute have surfaced, such as the union’s opposition to the redeployment of the airport officers, or their opposition to Mr. Tucker’s proposal to change the regular patrol shifts from four days on at 10 hours a day to three days on at 12 hours a day. Mr. Tucker asserts that this will significantly cut down on overtime pay, which is one of the things which annually throws the police department way over its allotted budget. 

But will it make the city safer? I do not know, in part because the issue of possible increased officer fatigue towards the end of their 12 hour shift has not been completely explained by Mr. Tucker and his staff. That, obviously, is a part of the safety issue. But in trying to understand and determine my position on those issues, I will be listening more to Mr. Tucker’s side of the argument, and holding him (and his boss, Mr. Dellums, and the Oakland City Council) responsible. It is their job to keep the citizens of Oakland safe. It is Mr. Valladon’s job to get the best possible contract deal he can for his union members, and that, my friends, is not at all the same thing. 


Open Home in Focus: Berkeley Architect Dakin’s Work on View at 2828 Hillegass

By Steven Finacom
Friday July 06, 2007

THE four-bedroom home at 2828 Hillegass Ave., built in 1909 in what is now Berkeley’s Willard neighborhood, is one of the notable residential works of Clarence Casebolt Dakin a little-remembered, but very intriguing, Berkeley architect.  

Standing midway on one of Berkeley’s most beautiful residential blocks, the house is towards the upper end of Berkeley’s housing market, currently offered for $1,695,000. 

An Open House is Sunday 1–4 p.m. The listing agent is Barry Pilger, and there’s a website with information on the house at http://2828hillegass.com. 

It’s an unusual design compared with many other local homes of the era. The roof has a very shallow pitch—making it barely visible from the sidewalk—and large, wide, windows give the two story house a low slung, horizontal, feel that's almost Prairie Style.  

Prominent, white-painted, wooden trim boards frame and cross at the corners of each window, further accentuating this effect. The rest of the exterior has periodically been painted, but is now restored to wood shingles on the lower walls and vertical wooden battens on part of the upper walls. 

Inside, the house feels substantial and pleasant with a sense of livability—large rooms, wide halls and stairs, a comfortable floor plan, lots of light, big closets—often associated with houses by Julia Morgan. 

Entry hall, a huge living room, formal dining room, and kitchen occupy the main floor. The rectangular living room has a period light fixture, tiled fireplace with oak mantle, and large matching windows at east and west, facing street and garden. A six-foot wide oak door slides between room and hall. 

Most of the downstairs interior woodwork is original, unpainted, oak. Curiously bracketed oak plate rails, a long window seat, and an enormous built-in sideboard with china cabinets frame the dining room. The wooden front door features subtly intricate metal work with an Art Nouveau feel. 

A wonderful “study” with a double folding glass door, a wood ceiling, and garden view tucks under the main stairs, half a level down from the entry hall. The long, galley kitchen, remodeled in 1957, has yellow Formica counters and a vintage Wedgewood stove. A laundry area, sink, and toilet adjoin the kitchen, and a narrow staircase descends to the basement, (look for the remnant of a wooden laundry chute beneath these stairs).  

Upstairs, four bedrooms—three large, one smaller—open off a wide hall along with two side-by side bathrooms, and two glassed in porches. Two of the bedrooms form little suites with a porch apiece, and one bathroom connects to both hall and front bedroom for modern “master suite” privacy. The positioning of the porches, one facing southeast and the other west, would allow sedentary residents (particularly housecats) to comfortably follow the sun throughout the day. 

Out back is an expansive and secluded garden with stone patio, two small ponds, lawn, a generous edging of trees including apple, maple, redwood, and flowering magnolia, and a pink-flowered theme to the plantings. A children’s play structure stands behind a two-car garage.  

This is a house that seems to have been on the cusp of modernity when built. Well-to-do Victorian design staples such as “back stairs” and bedrooms for servants are absent. Bedrooms have walk in closets, not wardrobes, and bathrooms are centrally placed. One ample living room replaces separate formal and family parlors. 

In short, although it’s almost a hundred years old, the way the way this house was designed for living seems closer to our day than to the 19th century.  

Clarence Dakin, the architect, was part of an interesting Berkeley family, one branch spelling the name “Dakin” the other “Deakin.” The eponymous Deakin Street in South Berkeley borders a block owned by family members along Telegraph between Prince and Woolsey. 

Artist Edwin Deakin—uncle of Clarence—had both home and studio there and his paintings of California missions helped to ignite a nostalgia craze for California’s Spanish / Mexican era. Clarence’s father, Frederick Dakin, built the landmark Studio Building at Shattuck and Addison in Downtown Berkeley.  

Born in San Francisco in 1880, Clarence Dakin studied in the College of Mines at the University of California, as did his brother Frederick who, like their father, pursued a career in mining.  

When still in college Dakin met the young—16 year old—Henrietta (Etta) Lyser in a church group at Berkeley’s First Unitarian congregation. Dakin—who, with a heavy moustache, looks quite adult in his yearbook photo—was cast as her father in a play. They soon married, had a son, but later divorced. 

Before the marriage Dakin “left college” his widow said in a 1970s oral history, “…he was studying mining engineering, and that was not what he wanted to do.” He seems to have initially worked as a real estate clerk and salesman but also picked up architectural training and experience. He’s identified as the designer of at least 15 buildings (primarily private homes , some for family) in Berkeley and others in Oakland. 

He opened a professional design office at 110 Sutter St. in San Francisco in 1913, the same year he “was granted a certificate to practice architecture” in California. He worked on some projects with cousin Edna Deakin, a skilled architect in her own right. A notable collaboration was their redesign of the iconic “Temple of the Wings” following the 1923 Berkeley Fire.  

2828 Hillegass came fairly early in Dakin’s design career and fits among what the Architect & Engineer called “a number of high class residences and bungalows” that he designed in Berkeley. The house was built for insurance agent Edward S. Valentine. 

Valentine, age 50 in 1910, had a wife, Alabama, and three sons, Edward, Roy, and Joseph who would have been about 16, 13, and 11 when the house went up. They were presumably prosperous enough to afford a large, custom built, house in one of Berkeley’s better residential neighborhoods.  

By 1915, however, the Valentines had relocated to 2001 Channing, a Colonial Revival house that still stands today across from the Berkeley High School softball field. This seems like a step down in elegance, and makes one wonder about the circumstances of their move. 

2828 Hillegass was successively home to three or four different owners. In 1952, Harry Q. Mills, perhaps a widower, told a realtor it was “too large” for his needs and sold it for a reported $23,750 ($1,000 less than his initial asking price) to the Ferrier family, owners until 1988. They were the ones, presumably, who remodeled the kitchen in 1957, the same year Clarence Dakin died in Southern California. 

The house stands in the midst of the Berry-Bangs Tract, one of Berkeley’s early 20th century residential subdivisions covering most of 13 square blocks north of Ashby Avenue, west of College Avenue, and south of Derby Street. Today, this area combines with the adjacent Hillegass Tract to the north to form the Willard neighborhood, centered on Willard Park. 

A period brochure describes the Berry-Bangs development as “the Choicest Residence Tract in Berkeley” and a “First Class Neighborhood” with “Not One Objectionable Feature” which, in those days, included “grocery(s), saloon, wood-yard, laundry, or other objectionable buildings.”  

It seems to have been a big success and must have felt busy with construction and families moving in during the early decades of the 20th century. Stately and substantial houses--most of which survive today—quickly went up on generous lots in that era. 

Now-vanished streetcar lines on nearby College and Telegraph provided convenient access to the business centers of Oakland and San Francisco. Residents included attorneys, real estate developers, brokers, mining engineers, accountants, businessmen and, my favorite, the all-purpose “Capitalist.” 

The Tract was also convenient to the University and several academics lived there or nearby. The developers were, however, at pains to point out the district was “within easy walking distance of the University buildings, and yet not so near as to make it a desirable location for fraternity and boarding house (sic), thus eliminating these somewhat objectionable features.” 

Although one high-rise apartment building stands a block away, this portion of the neighborhood largely escaped the mass demolitions and “ticky-tacky” infill development of the 1950s and 60s elsewhere near campus. As a result, ample original character is still clearly visible along the wide streets and in home settings like 2828 Hillegass. 

 

This article was prepared with considerable research help from Daniella Thompson. A more detailed and expanded version will later appear, with more photographs, under “Essays” on the Berkeley Architectural Heritage website at berkeleyheritage.com 

 

 

2828 Hillegass Ave, Berkeley 

Sunday, July 8, 1-4 p.m. 

$1,695,000 

-- 

Photograph by Steven Finacom 

The horizontal character of 2828 Hillegass and the curious, white-painted, window trim visually set it apart from neighboring brown shingle homes. 

 

 


Garden Variety: The Conscience of a Conservator

By Ron Sullivan
Friday July 06, 2007

Who would have known that something as simple and harmless as buying plants for our gardens would turn out to be such a fraught moral choice? Knowledge and scruples can drive you nuts. 

I mentioned Annie’s Annuals and Native Seeds/SEARCH last week, and allowed that one thing I didn’t worry about when dealing with either of them is provenance.  

Plants’ (or seeds’, or bulbs’) provenance matters for a couple of reasons. The first is that many of our favorite garden plants are too gorgeous for their own good. They’re all native somewhere—or their parents are, if they’re hybrids or cultivars—and they’re integral to some ecosystem.  

Many of those places are inhabited by human beings who don’t have much, and so will work for very little pay. This makes it more profitable for brokers to buy wild-“caught” specimens than to take the time and greenhouse space to grow and breed some plants, particularly plants that mature slowly and take a long time to set seed.  

The catch is, of course, that such slow-maturing plants tend to be more rare in their habitat than faster growers. More rare is more profitable, and so the cycle goes. Cyclamen mirabile, for example, is officially endangered in its native Turkey, though its bulbs are still being exported. 

Native California bulbs like Ithuriel’s spear (Tritelia laxa) and the various Calochortus species —mariposa lilies, “wild tulips,” and the like—are in various degrees of trouble in the wild. Mostly it’s habitat loss, exacerbated by the tendency of the Calochortus especially to speciate in very small areas, like the funny Martian-looking C. tiburonensis that grows only on Ring Mountain in Marin County.  

The bulbs of many of these are edible; the First Nations people here roasted and ate them. Given their scarcity now, that seems akin to a feast of hummingbirds’ tongues, but there’s a lot that’s possible given a small human population that we’re not likely ever to be able to think about with a clear conscience again.  

It should go without saying that digging these out of the wild, unless they’re in the path of someone else’s bulldozer, is unconscionable for gardeners. 

(Digging them to eat is fairly dangerous without a good helping of expertise; there are native bulb species like Zigadenus species—Fremont’s camas and death camas, whose name is a non-subtle hint—that closely resemble edible species at the time when you’d be digging them, when the flowers and some leaves have withered and put their nutritional investment back into the bulb.) 

The best way to plant such beauties unfeloniously is to check out our suppliers rigorously. For natives, start with the various California Native Plant Society chapter sales. They’re dedicated to keeping the species alive, and take the time to raise rarities from scrupulously collected and pedigreed seeds, which take longer to mature than bulbs, and from “mother” plants they keep for the purpose.  

Nina T. Marshall's 1993 book The Gardener’s Guide to Plant Conservation is still available, and a good first step to learning about these concerns. 

 

 

The Gardener's Guide to  

Plant Conservation 

by Nina T. Marshall 

Paperback: 187 pages 

Publisher: World Wildlife Fund (January 1993) 

ISBN-10: 0891641394 

ISBN-13: 978-0891641391


About the House: The Amazing Simpson Universal Foundation Plate

By Matt Cantor
Friday July 06, 2007

Now, this has happened to everybody at some point. You think of this cool thing that would make something work better and then one day, you’re walking (or in my case crawling) along and lo and behold, there it is! Well I have to admit that when I saw the one that Simpson company (of our own beloved San Leandro) had come up with, I realized that the one in my mind wasn’t as good. Nevertheless, It’s still amazing when something institutional, large-scale and corporate turns out to be clever and just the right size and price. 

Simpson is a pretty great company and for those of us in light construction (watching our weight, as it were) they’re a Buddha-send. Not only do they make a huge array of very nicely designed parts that make it easy to put houses together (or fix them), they also do tons of research into how earthquakes damage houses, how wood fails and how workers need to do their jobs. They also provide great documentation that makes it easy for someone like me to find the right thing or to see if you used the right hanger, bolt or strap by labeling things in innovative ways. I like these folks. 

So let me tell you a little about my favorite Simpson™ product because for we Estuarians with our 90 year old houses, it’s a terrific asset and can not only save your house, it can also save you money (that part comes later). 

A lot of seismic retrofitting (the bolting and bracing of houses for earthquake readiness) involves the bolting of houses in those very short spaces below your floor. These spaces are often so short that bolting down is not an option. There’s just no way to drill that way. 

Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of interesting attempts to fasten houses to their foundations in these confined settings. Some of it gets pretty comical from a geeky sort of perspective (these “in” jokes require you to know how the forces work but trust me, some of the attempts are genuinely funny). 

Engineers and contractors have tried all sorts of ways to attach the house to the foundation when there’s no room to bolt downward and the short answer is that most just don’t work or are so hard (or expensive) to do that they just don’t end up getting done right. 

That’s why the Universal Foundation Plate (UFP) is so cool. It makes it easy. This “plate” is very Star Trek in its shape and concept. Unlike most construction hardware it’s neither flat nor folded. Rather, it’s been cleverly articulated to optimize its strength in performing one special function; to keep mudsills (and houses thereby) bound in place. 

There’s another problem with this bolting thing. The stick of wood (or “mudsill”) that you’re trying to bolt to the concrete foundation is pushed back sometimes several inches from the inside edge, so if you’re trying to fasten the two together, you’ve got some work to do. 

They just don’t meet properly. It gets worse. Many older foundations also tilt inward on the inside face. So now you’ve got an inclined surface and a ledge of a couple of inches and then a piece of wood that you have to grasp and hold under enormous forces. 

Formerly, the best thing we had to do this job with were shop-cut lengths of L shaped metal that we could bolt from the footing to one of the floor joists. According to at least one local engineer, the bolting from this to the joist puts too much force in one place and can just split that joist apart. I also will often see straps used in this setting that will easily allow for sliding motion and may only tighten up after the house is inches off the foundation. 

As in many parts of retrofitting, the key is to distribute the force during all that shaking so that many parts share the load in order to keep any one part from busting apart. Good distribution of forces is key in good retrofitting. 

Now I realize that this is all a bit esoteric but please hang with me. It’ll be worth it. 

The UFP is just the right shape to do the trick I was describing above. It lies over the inclined footing, reaches out across the gap to that wooden board (incidentally called a “mudsill” because it rests on the formerly wet concrete or “mud”) and screws into the sill with a set of stainless steel screws. 

We don’t usually use screws in seismic work because they tend to snap but these are very specially made for just this function. The bottom of the UFP has a couple of bolt holes and one need only drill into the concrete from the side (easily accomplished using a special drill called a “roto-hammer”) to secure it in place. 

Another nice use of this cool product is in the addition of fasteners to walls that have already been braced and now have no access to the tops of the mudsills. Some buildings I see have had braced panels or “shear-wall” sheathing already added. Someone’s done a retrofit. But we can’t see how many bolts are present or know that there are just not enough. Shall we rip out the braced plywood panels and start again? With the UFP, we have an alternative course. If the panels appear well-installed or simply need some more nailing (and many lack enough nailing or need more due to nails driven too far into the plywood, thus weakening these connections) we can leave the panel in place and put a UFP at the base and screw it into the mudsill right through the plywood. 

This can save thousands on a retrofit. It can also solve a problem I often face, which is just-not-knowing how well the walls are bolted. 

When in doubt, it may be too much to ask to remove walls to see, but it’s not that hard to simply add a few of these novel widgets to compensate for what might be too little bolting. So they’re cheap confidence and real protection against what earthquakes are good at. Namely, tearing houses free from their foundations. 

UFPs are also easy to work with and pretty hard to screw up. I see a lot of bolting and bracing in my job—more than almost any other group of professionals. And I see a lot of mistakes. So it means something for me to say that I almost never see UFPs installed incorrectly. 

Yes, I have seen too few used and I think I’ve seen them poorly placed (they need to be near the ends of every piece of mudsill and spaced apart according to the size of the building) but I can’t recall seeing too many actually put in where they would not do any good.  

Surprisingly, bolts are often installed so that they provide far too little security, so it’s no small joy when something is designed that is, at least, somewhat foolproof. Of course you know what they say, don’t you?  

Nothing is truly foolproof when in the hands of a sufficiently talented fool! 

 

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

Copyright 2007 Matt Cantor


Arts & Events

Arts Calendar

Tuesday July 10, 2007

TUESDAY, JULY 10 

CHILDREN 

Gary Lapow, singer and songwriter, performs for children and their families at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720 ext 17. 

Los Mapaches Local Latin American youth ensemble performs music from the Andes at 7 p.m. at the Oakland Public Library, Rockridge Branch, 5366 College Ave. 597-5017. 

EXHIBITIONS 

Dance Elixer “Land” A multi-media installation and performance at 12:15 and 5:15 p.m., Tues.-Fri., Sat. at 3 p.m. at Oakland Art Gallery, 199 Kahn’s Alley at the Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland. 637-0395. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Freight and Salvage Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $4.50-$5.50. 548-1761. 

Barbara Quick re-creates eighteenth century Venice in “Vivaldi’s Virgins” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

The Hipnotic Blues Band featuring Eldridge “Big Cat” Tolefree and Tia Carroll at 5:30 p.m. at Park Place at Washington Ave., Point Richmond. Free. www.pointrichmond.com/prmusic/ 

WomenSing perform works including including Raichl’s “Amours,” Jeffers’ “Indian Singing,” and selections from Carter, Larsen and more at 7:30 p.m. at Valley Center for the Performing Arts, Holy Names University, 3500 Mountain Blvd., Oakland. 925-254-6254. 

Creole Belles 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 $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

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

Jim Campilongo at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $6-$18. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 11 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Bridge to Sakai: Japanese Arts and Crafts of Today” Part of the Berkeley/Sakai Sister City cultural exchange, on display at the Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. in Live Oak Park. 644-6893. www.berkeleysrtcenter.org 

“Art for Humanity” Art work on addressing the world’s most pressing problems at the Addison Street Windows Gallery through Aug. 25.  

“Suddenly Summer” A group show by East Bay women artists. Reception at 6 p.m. at Royal Ground Gallery, 2058 Mountain Blvd., Montclair, Oakland.  

“Yosemite: Art of an American Icon” Reception and presentation to benefit the Yosemite National Institutes, at 6 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St., Oakland. Tickets are $50. 415-332-5776, ext. 10. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Dave Zirin introduces “Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics, and Promise of Sports” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

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

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Echo Beach at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $11. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Naomi & The Courteous Bude Boays, Renee Asteria, at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $8. 525-5054.  

Julio Bravo, at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

John Richardson Band with John Shinnick and Hudson Bunce at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

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

John Santos Quintet at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, JULY 12 

EXHIBITIONS 

Residency Projects Part II Works by Packard Jennings, Scott Kildall and Stephanie Syjuco. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Kala Art Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977. www.kala.org 

“Headtrip” An exhibition of portraits by 26 artists. Opening reception at 5 p.m. at Barbara Anderson Gallery, 2243 Fifth St. 848-3822. 

“Summer Solos” Works by Yvette Molina, Chelsea Pegram and Amanda Williams. Artist talk at 6 p.m. at Pro Arts, 550 Second St., Oakland. 763-9425. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry Flash with Andrea Hollander Budy and Kathleen Lynch at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley City College Auditorium, 2050 Center St. 525-5476. 

Deborah Siegel introduces “Sisterhood Interrupted: From Radical Women to Grrls Gone Wild” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Conversations on Art with Faith Powell on the representation of the dinner table and its trimmings in the context of Jewish art, at 6:30 p.m. at the Magnes Museum, 2911 Russell St. Cost is $6-$8. 549-6950. 

Glenn Kurtz reads from “Practicing: A Musician’s Return to Music” at 7:30 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Bolero y Mas Trio at noon at the downtown Berkeley BART station. info@downtownberkeley.org 

“Voices in the Virtual World” Grant Gardner, jazz guitarist and Jonathan Segel, at 8 p.m. at Oaktown Creativity Center, 447 25th St., Oakland. Suggested donation $5-$10. 568-6920. 

Rani Arbor & Daisy Mayhem at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Fourtet CD release party at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ.  

Whiskey Brothers, bluegrass, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Okay, ChinaTown Bakeries, Beatbeat Whisper at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. 

The Bake Sale 2.0, hip hop at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5-$7. 849-2568.  

Matt Lucas Experience at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

Jane Moheit at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $12-$24. 238-9200. 

FRIDAY, JULY 13 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley “All in the Timing” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave. at Berryman, through Aug. 11. Tickets are $12. 525-1620. www.aeofberkeley.org  

Altarena Playhouse “Oh My Godmother” Fri and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at 1409 High St., Alameda, through Aug. 11. Tickets are $17-$20. 523-1553. www.altarena.org 

Aurora Theatre “Bosoms and Neglect” Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., SUn. at 2 and 7 p.m. at 2081 Addison St., through July 22. Tickets are $38. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org 

California Shakespeare Theater “Man and Superman” by George Bernard Shaw at the Bruns Ampitheater, 100 Gateway Blvd., Orinda, through July 29. Tickets are $15-$60. 548-9666. www.calshakes.org 

Central Works “Bird in the Hand” Thurs-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., through July 29. Tickets are $9-$25. 558-1381. 

Contra Costa Civic Theater “Meet Me in St. Louis” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. in July at 951 Pomona Ave., at Moeser, El Cerrito, through Aug. 4. 524-9132. 

Crowded Fire Theater “Anna Bella Eema” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at the Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. through July 15. Tickets are $10-$20. 415-439-2456. www.crowdedfire.org 

Impact Theatre “Impact Briefs 8: Sinfully Delicious” Thurs.-Sat. through July 21 at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave. Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468. 

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. www.masquers.org 

Woodminster Summer Musicals “West Side Story” at 8 p.m. through July 22 at Woodminster Amphitheater in Joaquin Miller Park, 3300 Joaquin Miller Rd., Oakland. Tickets are $23-$36. 531-9597. www.woodminster.com 

EXHIBITIONS 

National Juried Fine Craft Exhibition Opening reception at 6 p.m. at the ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. Exhibit runs through Aug. 18. 843-2527. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Donna Lane and Judy Juanita read their poetry at 7 p.m. at Nefeli Caffe, 1854 Euclid Ave., at Hearst. 841-6374. 

Hailey Lind reads from “Brush with Death” at 7 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. 228-3207.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Ariel String Quartet perform music of Haydn, Dvorak, Suprynowicz, at 8 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremon, at Ashby. Tickets are $12-$15. 848-1228. giorgigallery.com 

“Home Sweet Home” A musical exploring the themes of grief and loss. Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Mahea Uchiyama Center for International Dance, 729 Heinz St., #4. Tickets are $8-$12. Not suitable for children under 13. homesweethometickets@yahoo.com 

The Hipnotic Blues Band with Eldridge “Big Cat” Tolefree and Tia Caroll, at 5:30 p.m. at Park Place at Washington Ave., Point Richmond. Free. www. 

pointrichmond.com/prmusic/ 

Lost Legends, Freddie Roulette at 9:30 p.m. at Baltic Sq. Pub, 135 Park Place, Pt. Richmond. 235-2532. 

Alfonso Maya, Mexican trova, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Sylvia Cuenca Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Jazzschool Summer Youth Program Concert at 6:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Free. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Phenomenauts, Maldroid, The Struts, at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10-$12. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

“Patrick Bernard Concert” ancient mantra and dance at 8 p.m. at Rudramandir, 830 Bancroft Way at 6th. TIckets are $20. 496-6047. 

Anton Schwartz, jazz, at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Hawaiian Generations: George & Keoki Kahumoku, Dennis & David Kamakahi at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

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

Mushroom, Bart Davenport, Ruthann Friedman at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Radio Suicide, The Michetons, Fight Me Juliet at 7 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $10. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

Embrace the End, Spires, Times of Despiration at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

Blackberry Soup at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Destino Wolf at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Jane Moheit at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $12-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, JULY 14 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Moshi Moshi! Bridging Cultures through Art” Japanese and American art inspired by cross cultural influences. Reception at 3 p.m. at Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Ave., Richmond, and runs through Aug. 10. 620-6772. www.therichmondartcenter.org 

“Tsunami Affected Lives: Moving Beyond Disaster” Photographs by Adrienne Miller Opening party at 3 p.m. at La Peña. Exhibit runs to Aug. 31. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Dance Elixer “Land” A multi-media installation and performance at 3 p.m. at Oakland Art Gallery, 199 Kahn’s Alley at the Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland. 637-0395.  

Huichol Indian Yarn Paintings Exhibition from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sun. from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Gathering Tribes, 1573 Solano Ave. 528-9038. 

“The Wrong Friends” Sculpture and drawings by Charlie Milgrim and “tropicalismo” works by Cassandra Auker, opening reception at 7 p.m. at The Gallery of Urban Art, 1746 13th St., Oakland. 910-1833. 

THEATER 

San Francisco Mime Troupe “Making a Killing” at 2 p.m. at Cedar Rose Park, 1300 Rose St. 415-285-1717.  

Women’s Will “Romeo and Juliet” Sat. and Sun. at 1 p.m. in John Hinkle Park. 420-0813.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“From War to Peace: An Offering of Poetry and Music to Soothe a Suffering World” with Jan Dederick, Elisabeth Eliassen, Jeremy Cohne and others at 7 p.m. at 1300 Grand St., Alameda. Sponsored by the Alameda Public Affairs Forum and the Alameda Chapter of the Netwrok of Spiritual Progressives. Free, donations accepted. www.alamedaforum.org 

Bay Street Arts and Music Festival with live music and children’s activities Sat. and Sun. from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Bay St., Emeryville. 655-4002.  

Dana Lyons, singer-songwriter at 7:30 p.m. at Green City Gallery, 1950 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $8-$12. Benefit for Bay Localize. www.baylocalize.org 

Dekapitator, Fueled by Fire, Hatchet at 7 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $10-$12. 763-1146.  

Orquestra Karabali, salsa, at 9:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12. 849-2568.  

Gateswingers Jazz Band, traditional jazz at 8 p.m. at Central Perk, 10086 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito. 558-7375.  

Gail Dobson & Her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ.  

Samba Ngo at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15. 525-5054.  

Mere Ours and Kate Isenberg at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. 

Captain Seahorse at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

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

Misner & Smith, Americana, bluegrass, folk, at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

George Cotsirilos Jazz Trio at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $5. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Michelle Pliner at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Nicole McRory at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

Jimbo Trout and the Fishpeople, SecondsOnEnd, Howdy at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082.  

Never Healed, 86 Mentality, Set to Explode at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, JULY 15 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Bridge to Sakai: Japanese Arts and Crafts of Today” Part of the Berkeley/Sakai Sister City cultural exchange. Artist reception at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. in Live Oak Park. 644-6893.  

“Near and Far” Photographs by Doug Donaldson. Artist reception at 4 p.m. at Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave., Albany.  

THEATER 

San Francisco Mime Troupe “Making a Killing” at 2 p.m. at Cedar Rose Park, 1300 Rose St. 415-285-1717.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Lisa Margonelli on “Oil on the Brain: Adventures from the Pump to the Pipeline” A special event at 5 p.m. at Bridgeway Gas Station, Ashby and Claremont. 704-8222. 

Thomas Perry reads from his new suspense novel “Silence” at 4 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Summer Jazz with Melvin Butts at 3 p.m., The History of Jazz with Randy Moore at 4:30 p.m. at Open Jam Session at 5 p.m. at Oakland Public Library, Golden Gate Branch, 5606 San Pablo Ave., Oakland. 597-5023. 

Jazz at the Chimes with Slammin’, all-body band, at 2 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $10. 228-3218. 

Music for Soprano and Friends at 3 p.m. at All Souls Episcopal Church, 2220 Cedar St. at Spruce. 848-1755. 

Dance Theatre Arts of Hayward “Putting It Together” at 2 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $12-$15. 581-4780. 

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

Palindrome at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ.  

Rita Hosking and Cousin Jack at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

The Sam Goldsmith Ensemble at 4:30 at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10. 845-5373.  

Shivoham, Kirtan rhythms, at 3 and 6 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10-$20. 525-5054.  

Ellis Island Old World Folk Band at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. 

Redhouse, The Waco Kid, Prismatica at 6 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $10. 763-1146.  

MONDAY, JULY 16 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Alan Bern reads from his poetry at at 7:30 p.m. at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

Ellen Klages reads from her new novel “Portable Childoods” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Poetry Express with Leah Steinberg at 7 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. 644-3977. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

The Dazzling Divas, sopranos Eliza O’Malley, Pamela Connelly and Tara Generalovich and mezzo soprano Kathleen Moss at 7 p.m. at Le Bateau Ivre, 2629 Telegraph Ave. 849-1100. 

Trovatore, traditional Italian music, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Peter Apfelbaum Sextet at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. 

Samba Mapangala at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $12-$20. 238-9200. 

 


Arts and Entertainment Around the East Bay

Tuesday July 10, 2007

ARIEL STRING QUARTET AT GIORGI GALLERY 

 

Ariel String Quartet will perform music by Hayden, Dvorak, and Berkeley composer Clark Suprynowicz, whose opera, Chrysalis, staged by Berkeley Opera, was an outstanding show last year, on Friday, July 13, at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. (near Ashby). $15/$12. 848-1228. giorgigallery.com. 

 

KALA GALLERY SHOWS ‘RESIDENCY PROJECTS’ 

 

The Kala Gallery will present the second of its three-part exhibition series, “Residency Projects,” featuring work by Packard Jennings, Scott Kildall and Stephanie Syjuco on Thursday, July 12, with an opening reception, 6-8 p.m. The show continues through August 18.  

Kala Fellowships are awarded annually to eight artists working in installation, video, digital media, printmaking, and book arts. Fellowship artists come from various countries for an up-to-six-month residency followed by an exhibition of their new work. The gallery is at1060 Heinz Ave. For more information, call 549-2977 or see www.kala.org.


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

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

On a platform, three women sit, facing the audience. They don’t budge from their chairs until practically the end of the show, yet there’s a choreography, in Lisa D’Amour’s Anna Bella Eema, as directed by Rebecca Novick for Crowded Fire Theater Company at the Ashby Stage, and the three actors (Cassie Beck, Danielle Levin and Julie Kurtz) provide a rhythmic soundscape as well, with voice, simple musical instruments (a finger piano) and various ordinary objects as noisemakers.  

The story they enact—Beck and Levin as mother and daughter telling the audience their experiences and memories, while Kurtz plays both a speechless creature (“mud girl”) and other characters that crop up in the two narratives—at times seems like Erskine Caldwell plus The Brothers Grimm. 

Set in a trailer park that’s due for demolition to make way for the interstate, Anna Bella Eema is a kind of binocular view of a hippie mother (Irene, played by Beck), overstuffed with fantasy and fable from old books, endeavoring to (as a friend once put it) “circumvent the world,” while in a parable of oncoming puberty, her precocious 10-year-old, Anna Bella (played by Levin) makes a double, Anna Bella Eema (Kurtz) and tries to explore, in ways fantastic and ordinary, the world beyond her shut-in mother and their decrepit motor home. 

Each monologue of the narrative is supported by the sounds (sometimes in unison or syncopated) and gestures of the other two. Irene weaves in and out of fantasy, practically delusional at times, while Anna Bella, in a long-term dreamstate, brought on by an injury, makes a shamanistic—and humorous—journey among the animal spirits her mother hazes in and out of in her own schitzy state. 

There’s a grace and confidence in the ensemble work of the three women, and Kurtz shows a real talent for mimicry and humor, also lending an offbeat accent to what’s otherwise often close to a metronomic swipe in the somewhat Expressionistic effects of rhythm. 

This Expressionism of sound and gesture amplifies the hybrid fairytale quality, and sometimes feeds back. The devices get to be a little Disney-ish, too, illustrating a narrative with sounds and gestures that merely mimic or duplicate what the words have already said. And the very frontal orientation of the cast addressing the audience through monologues supported by sounds and action by the rest of the ensemble is strangely reminiscent of The Typographer’s Dream, Crowded Fire’s production of a very different kind of play by a different playwright at the Ashby Stage last year, staged as a panel discussion—three actors facing forward ... and, one by one, talking. 

D’Amour’s script resembles other neo-Gothic tales of recent times, though her humor is a signature.  

But what most spectators will probably go away with from Crowded Fire’s production is the ambient sense of the gestures and sounds the trio of women make, almost rooted to the wooden platform at Ashby Stage. 

 

ANNA BELLA EEMA 

Presented by Crowded Fire Theater at 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturdayand at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Ashby Stage,  

1901 Ashby Ave. $10-$20.  

(415) 439-2456. www.crowdedfire.org.


Moving Pictures: Silent Film Festival a Portal To the Picturesque Past

By Justin DeFreitas
Tuesday July 10, 2007

In today’s fully wired world of digital video and handheld viewing devices, it may be difficult to fathom a time when the moving picture was itself a revolutionary technology. In the first few decades of the 20th century, as the new medium was developed and perfected, it brought with it a radical cultural shift, bringing images from all over the world to neighborhood theaters. 

The cinema essentially held a monopoly on mass entertainment, for this was before television brought the moving image into the home, and even before radio, which first brought the immediacy of live news and entertainment into the living room in the 1930s.  

It was likewise before commercial aviation, a time when travel was more daunting, more arduous, and less accessible to the working class. Thus cinema provided a unique and engaging portal to the world for many who might not otherwise venture beyond regional borders. 

The 12th annual San Francisco Silent Film Festival, running this weekend at the Castro Theater, is a portal of its own, taking audiences back to a time when film was establishing itself as the dominant art form of the new century. The festival’s mission is to showcase the art of silent film as it was meant to be seen, with quality prints presented at proper projection speeds and accompanied by period-appropriate live music. 

In those early years, cinema, despite the tiredness of the cliché, was a new and universal language. Photography in newspapers and magazines could provide a glimpse of other cultures and other lives, but moving pictures, captured in faraway lands and projected on a screen, brought vivid images of a life beyond: clouds of dust kicked up by wagon trains moving west; waves unfolding on distant shores; the gleam of moonlight on cobblestones in a European village; the very ways in which people moved and lived throughout the world. It was a time when cinema was simpler in means yet just as rich in content, relying almost exclusively on image and motion to convey plot and import.  

It was the lack of dialogue in fact which lent the movies much of their universal appeal, establishing film as a visual language that would be undermined once the images began to talk. For along with the advent of synchronized sound came the cultural barrier of language, a gap bridged only by such awkward translation devices such as dubbing, the falsity of which created a visual-verbal dissonance, and subtitling, which detracted from cinema’s impact by drawing the eye away from the image. Silent film instead relied on intertitles, an imperfect device to be sure, but one which at least had the virtue of separating the printed words from the image, leaving the visuals untouched and undiluted. And translation was simply a matter of replacing the title cards as a film crossed international borders. 

This year’s festival presents something of the international appeal and range of silent-era cinema by bringing together an eclectic selection of films. The festival kicks off Friday with a mainstream American studio production, The Student Prince of Old Heidelberg. This is Germany by way of MGM, with big Hollywood stars Norma Shearer and Ramon Novarro directed with continental flare by the great Ernst Lubitsch. 

Continuing with the international theme, Saturday will feature an afternoon screening of Maciste, an Italian classic that the festival’s programmers—Executive Director Stacey Wisnia and Artistic Director Steve Salmons—came across at the Pordenone Silent Festival in Italy. This was the first in a series of Maciste films starring Barolomeo Pagan as a heroic strong man rescuing damsels in distress. Sunday’s screenings include “Retour De Flamme” (“Saved From the Flames”), a program of early rarities by French cinema pioneers, presented, with his own piano accompaniment, by Parisian film collector Serge Bromberg, and The Cottage on Dartmoor, a British “psycho-noir” by director Anthony Asquith. 

Another aspect of the Silent Film Festival’s mission is to educate its audience about the preservation and restoration of our rapidly disappearing cinematic heritage. Thus for the second year the festival is hosting “Amazing Tales from the Archives,” a free Sunday morning presentation on the effort to preserve that history. The program is the brainchild of Wisnia, who, despite the skepticism of her colleagues, thought last year’s presentation might draw a decent crowd. All were surprised when the turnout nearly filled the Castro’s main floor. This year’s program will focus on “peripheral” films—trailers, newsreels and shorts—and on obsolete formats, such as 28-millimeter, a format originally sold for use in homes and schools. Many 28mm films shorts will be screened throughout the festival, including travelogues, educational films and short comedies, even one of Harold Lloyd’s rarely screened “Lonesome Luke” films. 

Though Wisnia and Salmons’ tastes may skew toward the lesser-known films from the era, they make an effort to fill a range of genres, from comedy to drama, from blockbuster studio productions to quieter, more experimental work, from star-studded large-scale productions to forgotten gems by actors and directors nearly lost to film history. Other films on the menu include:  

• Valley of the Giants, a drama set amid the towering redwoods of the Sierra Nevada, featuring nearly forgotten actor Milton Sills.  

• Beggars of Life, a follow-up to last year’s screening of Pandora’s Box, featuring the legendary flapper-vixen Louise Brooks. This time Brooks takes a radically different role, spending most of the film attired in men’s clothes in a story of hobos riding the rails in Depression-era America. 

• The Godless Girl, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, one of the greatest showmen to take up film. His films were spectacles, full of melodrama and hysteria, and, more often than not, a steady stream of vice, usually denounced toward the end of the film to accommodate censors.  

• Miss Lulu Brett, by William DeMille, a successful Broadway playwright and accomplished film director whose work was often overshadowed by that of his younger, brasher, more ostentatious brother. Miss Lulu Brett is considered his best film, based a Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Zona Gale. William takes a quieter, humbler approach than his more famous brother, telling a tale of a small-town girl stuck as a servant in her sister’s household while looking for a path toward a happier and more meaningful life.  

• Camille, a distinctive and innovative Warner Bros. production starring Alla Nazimova and Rudolph Valentino. 

• And every festival includes at least one program focusing on the silent era’s comic masters. This year spotlights producer Hal Roach, screening four short comedies from Roach Studio stalwarts like Charley Chase and the Our Gang ragamuffins. 

 

SAN FRANCISCO  

SILENT FILM FESTIVAL 

Friday, July 13 through Sunday, July 15 at the Castro Theater, 429 Castro St., San Francisco. (925) 275-9005. www.silentfilm.org. 

 

Photograph: Doris Kenyon and Milton Sills in Valley of the Giants (1927).


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.  

Keeping even mighty things alive in a hostile climate is often a matter of failing and maybe trying again. Certainly the bloom of American utopias of many sorts over the 19th and early 20th centuries has faded, maybe to seed, maybe just to footnotes after a brief flush of possibility.  

Sometimes even their marks have been willfully erased. How many of us knew that the biggest tree in the world used to be called the Karl Marx Tree? 

The Kaweah Colony, a socialist community founded in 1884, laid out a number of timber claims near their planned headquarters in the Three Rivers area. Because most members lived at the time in San Francisco (with others in associated clubs as far away as Boston), some alert officials thought they smelled fraud of the sort that timber corporations had perpetrated using individuals as fronts for homesteading claims and public land use.  

The claims, supposed to be the foundation of Kaweah’s prosperity, were held up pending investigation. The colony foundered within half a decade, partly on economics and bad planning, partly on the rock of government (and corporate-interest) hostility.  

The land claims finally fizzled when the Sequoiadendron groves became Sequoia (speaking of misnomers) National Park and the surrounding forest became national forest lands. The Feds never made any restitution to the claimants, though a Congressional investigation recommended it.  

Karl Marx’s tree got the name that stuck, “General Sherman,” in 1879, by some accounts as part of an attempt to “heal the nation’s wounds” after the Civil War; a great many of the trees in the park were named then after prominent military figures. Naming the biggest after the total-war practitioner Sherman rather than, say, Lincoln or even Grant (who do have barely-smaller trees named for them in the park) might seem rather abrasive for that purpose.  

Naturalist Asa Gray had seen the big trees in that decade, and had doubts about this sort of naming: “Whether it be the man or the tree that is honored in the connection, probably either would live as long, in fame and in memory, without it.” 

Certainly the trees don’t care. 

 

Photograph: Ron Sullivan  

Even a little Big Tree is a big tree. Broader spread, stouter trunk, more massive foliage, needles in rounded thready clusters, not flat sprays like coastal redwoods’.  

 

Ron Sullivan is a former professional gardener and arborist. Her “Green Neighbors” column appears every other Tuesday in the Berkeley Daily Planet, alternating with Joe Eaton’s “Wild Neighbors” column. Her “Garden Variety” column appears every Friday in the Planet’s East Bay Home & Real Estate section.  

 


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday July 10, 2007

TUESDAY, JULY 10 

Bus Rapid Transit: Focus on Downtown Berkeley Community Workshop at the Transit Subcommittee meeting of the Transportation Commission at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7010. 

Tuesday Documentaries at 7 p.m. at the Gaia Arts Center, 2120 Allston Way. Donation of $5 benefits the Berkeley Food and Housing Project. 665-0305. 

Baby-friendly Book Club Bring your baby, and your love of books at 10 a.m. at the Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 524-3043. 

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

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

Red Cross Blood Drive from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Brandywine Realty, 2101 Webster St., Ste. 600, Oakland. To schedule an appointment go to www.BeADonor.com (Code: BRANDYWINEREALTY) 

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 8:45 to 1:30 a.m. at the Downtown Oakland Senior Center, 200 Grand Ave. 981-5332. 

Community Sing-a-Long every Tues, at 2 p.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 1247 Marin Ave. 524-9122.  

Family Storytime for preschoolers and up at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 11 

Walking Tour of Old Oakland uptown to the Lake to discover Art Deco landmarks. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of the Paramount Theater at 2025 Broadway. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. 

A Talk with Al Haber, the founder of S.D.S. will speak of the reformed S.D.S. as well as a history of Berkeley's Long Haul and doing peace work in Israel/Palestine at 7 p.m. at the Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave. www.thelonghaul.org 

“Tani O, Who Are You?” with Nigerian Chief Priest Elebuibon Akinyemi on Ifa wisdom at 7 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

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. 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, JULY 12 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Samuel Merritt Bechtel Room, 400 Hawthorne St., Oakland. To schedule and appointment go to www.BeADonor.com (Code: SMC) 

CoHousing Slide Show on cohousing principles and the new cohousing development in Grass Valley, at 7 p.m. at 1250 Addison St, Suite 113. 849-2063. 

“A Shorts Guide to Israel” Three short films at 7 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center of the East Bay, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $6-$8. 848-0237. 

Adult Self-Protection Workshop on everyday safety skills from 10 a.m. to noon in Berkeley. Cost is $105, no one turned away. Location details upon registration. 831-426-4407. 

Cope with Creativity Workshop on “Write to Connect with Grief” at 6:30 p.m. at 4401 Howe St., Oakland. To register call 888-755-7855, ext. 4241. 

FRIDAY, JULY 13 

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 

“The San Luis Obispo Experience and A New Vision for Center Street” with a delegation from an Luis Obispo speaking on their Mission Street project, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Berkeley City College Auditorium. 419-0850. 

International Working Class Film Festival with class struggle films from Australia at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Suggested donation $5. www.HumanistHall.net 

“The Jewish Chicken Ranchers of Petaluma” A documentary at 7 p.m. at The The Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave. at Alcatraz, Oakland. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 2000 Shattuck Ave. To schedule an appointment go to www.BeADonor.com Code: CITYOFBERKELEY.  

Berkeley Women in Black weekly vigil from noon to 1 p.m. at Bancroft and Telegraph. Our focus is human rights in Palestine. 548-6310. 

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.  

SATURDAY, JULY 14 

Peach Tasting, including other stone fruits from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market, Center St. and MLK, Jr. Way. 548-3333. 

Open the Farm Meet and greet the animals at the Little Farm as you help the farmer with morning chores, at 9 p.m. at the Little Farm, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Kid’s Garden Club for ages 6-9 to explore the world of gardening, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8, registration required. 1-888-EBPARKS. 

Feast for the Beasts Come to the Oakland Zoo at 9 a.m. for breakfast for the whole family. Bring apples, grapes, lettuce and carrots for the animals. Cost is $6. 632-9525. www.oaklandzoo.org 

Vegetarian Cooking Class “Burgers & Backyard Bites” from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at First Unitarian Church of Oakland, 685 14th St. at Castro, Oakland. Cost is $45 plus $5 materials fee. Registration required. 531-COOK. www.compassionatecooks.com 

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 Great War Society meets to discuss “French War Aims in WWI” with Robert Denison, at 10:30 a.m. at 640 Arlington Ave. 527-7118. 

Family Sundown Safari at 5 p.m. at the Oakland Zoo. A hands-on program for children 3 and up to explore the Valley Children’s Zoo. 632-9525. www.oaklandzoo.org 

Produce Stand at Spiral Gardens Food Security Project from 1 to 6 p.m. at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon St. 

Succulents for Bay Area Gardens at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens, 729 Heinz Ave., off 7th St. 644-2351. 

Preschool Storytime for 3 to 5-year-olds at 11 a.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720 ext. 17. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wed. and Sat. at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden Sat. and Sun. at 2 pm. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

Around the World Tour of Plants at 1:30 p.m., Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

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, JULY 15 

Bay to Barkers Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society’s annual dog walk/run, including many activities for canines from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Cesar Chavez Park, Berkeley Marina. Registration is $25 in advance, $30 on the day of the event. 845-7735, ext. 13. www.berkeleyhumane.org 

“Open Garden” Join the Little Farm gardener for composting, planting, watering and reaping the rewards of our work, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org 

Fun on the Farm Day Sing traditional songs, help grind corn and see how wool is turned into yarn from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Little Farm, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

The Red Oak Victory Ship Pancake Breakfast from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on board the ship. Take Hwy 580 to Richmond and exit at Canal Blvd. Cost is $6, children under 6 free. 526-7377. 

Community Labyrinth Peace Walk at 3 p.m.at Willard Middle School, Telegraph Ave. between Derby & Stuart. Everyone welcome. Wheelchair accessible. 526-7377. 

Free Sailboat Rides from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Cal Sailing Club, Berkeley Marina. Wear warm, waterproof clothing and bring a change of clothes in case you get wet. www.cal-sailing.org 

Bike Tour of the Port of Oakland on a leisurely 5-mile ride. Meet at 10 a.m. at the 10th St. entrance to the Oakland Museum of California. Reservations required. 238-3514.  

Parent-Child Self-Protection Workshop on everyday safety skills from 10 a.m. to noon in Berkeley. Cost is $60, no one turned away. Location details upon registration. 831-426-4407. 

East Bay Atheists will show the documentary “Jesus Camp” at 1:30 p.m. in the 3rd flr meeting room, Perkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 222-7580. 

Homemade Pet Foods from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Kensington Farmers’ Market, 303 Arlington, behind ACE Hardware.  

Social Action Forum with Eric Moon of the American Friends Service Committee at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, One Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302. 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace Meet at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712.  

Tibetan Buddhism with Sylvia Gretchen on “the Four Catalysts of Being” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, JULY 16 

“The Wells Fargo History Museum, 1852 to the Present” a Brown Bag Lunch with curator Anne Hall at 12:30 p.m. at the Edith Stone Room, Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the West Pauley Ballroom, MLK Student Union, UC Campus To schedule an appointmento to www.BeADonor.com (Code: UCB). 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. 548-0425. 

Dragonboating Year round classes at the Berkeley Marina, Dock M. Meets Mon, Wed., Thurs. at 6 p.m. Sat. at 10:30 a.m. For details see www.dragonmax.org 

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. Yarn and needles provided for donated items. At 3:30 p.m. at 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

CITY MEETINGS 

Commission on Disability meets Wed., July 11, at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-6346. TDD: 981-6345.  

Commission on the Status of Women meets Wed., July 11, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5190.  

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

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

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board meets Thurs. July 12, at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, Pam Wyche, 644-6128 ext. 113.  

Commission on Early Childhood Education meets Thurs. July 12 , at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5428. 

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

Public Works Commission meets Thurs., July 12, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-6406.  

West Berkeley Project Area Commission meets Thurs., July 12 , at 7 p.m., at the West Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7520.  

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

 


Arts Calendar

Friday July 06, 2007

FRIDAY, JULY 6 

THEATER 

Aurora Theatre “Bosoms and Neglect” Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., SUn. at 2 and 7 p.m. at 2081 Addison St., through July 22. Tickets are $38. 843-4822.  

California Shakespeare Theater “Man and Superman” by George Bernard Shaw at the Bruns Ampitheater, 100 Gateway Blvd., Orinda, through July 29. Tickets are $15-$60. 548-9666. www.calshakes.org 

Central Works “Bird in the Hand” Thurs-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., through July 29. Tickets are $9-$25. 558-1381. 

Contra Costa Civic Theater “Meet Me in St. Louis” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. in July at 951 Pomona Ave., at Moeser, El Cerrito, through Aug. 4. 524-9132. 

Crowded Fire Theater “Anna Bella Eema” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at the Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. through July 15. Tickets are $10-$20. 415-439-2456. www.crowdedfire.org 

Impact Theatre “Impact Briefs 8: Sinfully Delicious” Thurs.-Sat. through July 21 at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave. Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468. 

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. www.masquers.org 

Virago Theatre Company “The Death of Ayn Rand” and “A Bed of My Own” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Rhythmix Cultural Works, 2513 Blanding Ave., Alameda to July 7. Tickets are $10-$17. 865-6237.  

EXHIBITIONS 

Paiul Lewin Solo Show Acrylic paintings and sketches. Opening reception at 7 p.m. at Eclectix, 7523 Fairmoount Ave., El Cerrito. 364-7261. www.eclectixgallery.com 

FILM 

International Working Class Film Festival with “Maquilapolis,” “My Bicycle,” “No Te Rajas,” and Estamos Aqui” at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Suggested donation $5. www.HumanistHall.net 

Estacio Libre and Collectiva Zapatista Ramona Film Fest at 7:30 p.m. at AK Press, 674-A 23rd St., Oakland. 208-1700. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Paul Ekman reads from “Emotions Revealed: Recognizing Faces and Feelings to Improve Communication and Emotional Life” at 7:30 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Bay Area Blues Society: Hayward-Russell City Blues Festival, Fri.-Sun. from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Hayward City Hall Plaza, 777 B St., Hayward. Tickets are $10-$30. www.bayareabluessociety.net highsierratickets.com 

Craig Horton Blues Band at 5 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St., at 10th, Oakland. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2200. 

Les Percussions Malinke with drummer Bolokada Conde at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $13-$15. 849-2568.  

A Deep Breath featuring Raffi and Noah Garabedian, Daniel Lubin-Laden and David Michael-Ruddy at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Ed Johnson & Novo Tempo Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Stompy Jones, East Coast swing, lindy hop, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $13. 525-5054.  

Dani Thomas and Dulce, Latin and Caribbean, at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

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

Bob Harp and High Diving Horses at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Stephen Taylor-Ramirez, Misner and Smith, Drew Harrison at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082.  

Dave Stein’s Hub-Bub at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

Niyorah, Abja & The Red Eye Band, Binghi Ghost, at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $18-$20. 548-1159.  

The Brothers Goldman at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Mouth to Mouth, Soul Broker, Dead Cell at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro Operahouse, 201 Broadway, Oakland. Cost is $10. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

Kevin Eubanks at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$22. 238-9200.  

SATURDAY, JULY 7 

EXHIBITIONS 

“New Works by Margaret Chavigny and Sheila Metcalf Tobin” Reception at 6 p.m. at the Mercury 20 Gallery, 25 grand Ave. at Broadway, Oakland. Exhibition runs to July 29. 

THEATER 

Women’s Will “Romeo and Juliet” Sat. and Sun. at 1 p.m. in John Hinkle Park. 420-0813. www.womenswill.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Bay Area Poets Coalition holds an open reading from 3 to 5 p.m., at Strawberry Creek Lodge, 1320 Addison St. Park on the street, not in Lodge parking lot. 527-9905. poetalk@aol.com 

Mike Young, Logan Ryan Smith and Elliot Harmon read their poetry at 7:30 p.m. at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Mahea Uchiyama “Dance in the Key of Life” Dance from India, Bali, Hawai’i, Tahiti and more at 8 p.m. at Regents Theater, Holy Names University, 3500 Mountain Blvd., Oakland. Tickets are $25. 925-798-1300.  

The Ariel Quartet performs Hayden, Dvork, Suprynowicz at 8 p.m. at 2692 Shasta. RSVP to bob@cowart.com 

Schwenke y Nilo Chilean Nueva Cancíon with Los Materos at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $20. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Frankye Kelly & Her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Zydeco Flames, Cajun/Zydeco at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. 

Sotaque Baiano, Brazilian, at 8 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Dave Lionelli, Bhi Bhiman and Greg Cross at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

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

Kaz George Quintet at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

On the One at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

Ragwater Review, 5 Cent Coffee, Knees and Elbows at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082.  

Sarah Manning Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

SUNDAY, JULY 8 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Sing More Songs” Photographs by Misako Akimoto about the Music Therapy Fund in Richmond. Artist talk at 2 p.m. at the Community Meeting Room, Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6100. 

“David Goldblatt: Intersections” and “Abbas Kiarostami: Image Maker” photographs from South Africa and Iran at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. 

“Paintings by Jared Roses” opens at 4 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“When Cities Unite” Spoken word and music from L.A. to the Bay at 7 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $7-$10. 849-2568.  

Liza Dalby introduces “East Wind Melts the Ice: A Memoir Through the Seasons” at 7:30 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

Michael Fee describes “Cycling’s Greatest Misadventures” at 4 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 559-9500. 

“David Goldblatt: Intersections” Conversation with the photographer at 3:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. Cost is $5-$8. 642-0808. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Lineage Dance “Dancing Through the Ages” at 2 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $25. 925-798-1300. 

Summer Jazz with Yancy Taylor at 3 p.m., The History of Jazz with Randy Moore at 4:30 p.m. at Open Jam Session at 5 p.m. at Oakland Public Library, Golden Gate Branch, 5606 San Pablo Ave., Oakland. 597-5023. 

Americana Unplugged: Pete Madsen at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Julian Pollack Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ.  

Axis Mundi, sacred trance and dance, at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  

Mariel Austin, trombone, at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10. 845-5373.  

Melanie O’Reilley at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

MONDAY, JULY 9 

CHILDREN 

“Get a Clue at Your Library” a musical by Gary Laplaw at 7 p.m. at the Oakland Library, Montclair Branch, 1687 Mountain Blvd., Oakland. 482-7810. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Arthur Weil reads from his poetry at 6 p.m. at the Oakland Public Library, Lakeview Branch, 550 El Embarcadero, Oakland. 238-7344. 

Lisa See reads from her new novel “Peony in Love” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 559-9500. 

Michael McClure and Diana Di Prima at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Poetry Express with Mani Suri at 7 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. 644-3977. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Orquestra La Moderna Tradicion at 8 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. 

TUESDAY, JULY 10 

CHILDREN 

Gary Lapow, singer and songwriter, performs for children and their families at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720 ext 17. 

Los Mapaches Local Latin American youth ensemble performs music from the Andes at 7 p.m. at the Oakland Public Library, Rockridge Branch, 5366 College Ave. 597-5017. 

EXHIBITIONS 

Dance Elixer “Land” A multi-media installation and performance at 12:15 and 5:15 p.m., Tues.-Fri., Sat. at 3 p.m. at Oakland Art Gallery, 199 Kahn’s Alley at the Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland. 637-0395. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Freight and Salvage Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $4.50-$5.50. 548-1761. 

Barbara Quick re-creates eighteenth century Venice in “Vivaldi’s Virgins” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

The Hipnotic Blues Band featuring Eldridge “Big Cat” Tolefree and Tia Carroll at 5:30 p.m. at Park Place at Washington Ave., Point Richmond. Free. www.pointrichmond.com/prmusic/ 

WomenSing perform works including including Raichl’s “Amours,” Jeffers’ “Indian Singing,” and selections from Carter, Larsen and more at 7:30 p.m. at Valley Center for the Performing Arts, Holy Names University, 3500 Mountain Blvd., Oakland. 925-254-6254. 

Creole Belles 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 $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

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

Jim Campilongo at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $6-$18. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 11 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Bridge to Sakai: Japanese Arts and Crafts of Today” Part of the Berkeley/Sakai Sister City cultural exchange, on display at the Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. in Live Oak Park. 644-6893. www.berkeleysrtcenter.org 

“Art for Humanity” Art work on addressing the world’s most pressing problems at the Addison Street Windows Gallery through Aug. 25.  

“Suddenly Summer” A group show by East Bay women artists. Reception at 6 p.m. at Royal Ground Gallery, 2058 Mountain Blvd., Montclair, Oakland.  

“Yosemite: Art of an American Icon” Reception and presentation to benefit the Yosemite National Institutes, at 6 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St., Oakland. Tickets are $50. 415-332-5776, ext. 10. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Dave Zirin introduces “Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics, and Promise of Sports” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

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

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Echo Beach at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $11. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Naomi & The Courteous Bude Boays, Renee Asteria, at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $8. 525-5054.  

Julio Bravo, at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

John Richardson Band with John Shinnick and Hudson Bunce at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

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

John Santos Quintet at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, JULY 12 

EXHIBITIONS 

Residency Projects Part II Works by Packard Jennings, Scott Kildall and Stephanie Syjuco. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Kala Art Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977. www.kala.org 

“Headtrip” An exhibition of portraits by 26 artists. Opening reception at 5 p.m. at Barbara Anderson Gallery, 2243 Fifth St. 848-3822. 

“Summer Solos” Works by Yvette Molina, Chelsea Pegram and Amanda Williams. Artist talk at 6 p.m. at Pro Arts, 550 Second St., Oakland. 763-9425. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry Flash with Andrea Hollander Budy and Kathleen Lynch at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley City College Auditorium, 2050 Center St. 525-5476. 

Deborah Siegel introduces “Sisterhood Interrupted: From Radical Women to Grrls Gone Wild” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Conversations on Art with Faith Powell on the representation of the dinner table and its trimmings in the context of Jewish art, at 6:30 p.m. at the Magnes Museum, 2911 Russell St. Cost is $6-$8. 549-6950. 

Glenn Kurtz reads from “Practicing: A Musician’s Return to Music” at 7:30 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Bolero y Mas Trio at noon at the downtown Berkeley BART station. info@downtownberkeley.org 

“Voices in the Virtual World” Grant Gardner, jazz guitarist and Jonathan Segel, at 8 p.m. at Oaktown Creativity Center, 447 25th St., Oakland. Suggested donation $5-$10. 568-6920. 

Rani Arbor & Daisy Mayhem at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Fourtet CD release party at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ.  

Whiskey Brothers, bluegrass, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Okay, ChinaTown Bakeries, Beatbeat Whisper at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. 

The Bake Sale 2.0, hip hop at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5-$7. 849-2568.  

Matt Lucas Experience at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

Jane Moheit at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $12-$24. 238-9200. 


Moving Pictures: PFA Celebrates a Tough Old Broad’s 100th

By Justin DeFreitas
Friday July 06, 2007

You’d think a beautiful young woman with a name like Ruby Stevens would have had it made in 1930s Hollywood. And she very well might have; the name conjures images of a bright-eyed ingenue, lovely, ambitious and 100 percent red-blooded American.  

But that’s exactly what Barbara Stanwyck wanted to avoid, and thus, on the advice of a Broadway director, she changed her name, adopting a moniker that better suited her unique blend of beauty, strength, class and seductive allure.  

The name suited the woman as well as the actress, for Stanwyck was already the woman she would soon portray: a tough, hard-luck dame, clawing her way to the top. Orphaned at a young age, she was raised in a series of foster homes, working as a fashion model and Broadway chorus girl before landing a theatrical role that caused the movie industry to take notice.  

“I’m a tough old broad from Brooklyn,” Stanwyck once said. “I intend to go on acting until I’m 90 and they won’t need to paste my face with make-up.” She didn’t quite make it to 90, but she did work well into her 70s in a career that spanned nearly 60 years and earned her four Academy Award nominations, an honorary Oscar in 1982, and the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987.  

Pacific Film Archive is presenting a retrospective of some of the actress’ best work in honor of the centennial of her birth. The series runs through July 31 and begins Friday (today) with Night Nurse (1931), a Pre-Code classic that pairs Stanwyck with the brassy Joan Blondell, and Stella Dallas (1937), considered by many to be Stanwyck’s best. 

Stanwyck’s early career is full of commanding, riveting performances as working-class femme fatales struggling to survive and conquer in a man’s world. Baby Face (1933) and Ladies They Talk About (1933) are essentially companion pieces, telling similar tales accompanied by the same musical theme—the drawling, bawdy, jazz-era strains of “St. Louis Blues.” In both films Stanwyck’s character uses her body, her grace and her wit to manipulate men in pursuit of her material desires; she knows full well what they want and how to entice them with it, cynically selling notions of romance and passion in which she has long since ceased to believe. Stanwyck was judicious with her contempt though; she not only looked on her victims with disdain, but always managed to imbue her gutsy golddiggers with an undercurrent of self-loathing, an awareness that the dirty business of life soils everyone it touches, and that the path to the top runs through more than a few fetid swamps of vice. 

There was much more to Stanwyck than sex, however. Few actors could convey as much with just their eyes. “Eyes are the greatest tool in film,” Director Frank Capra told her, and she put the advice to good use. Her gaze was piercing and challenging, while simultaneously conveying the bemusement and weariness of a woman long tired of playing the fantasy object for legions of sweaty old businessmen in rumpled suits. She was also a gifted comedienne, comfortable in the delivery of droll putdowns and flirtatious witticisms. Yet she was fully capable of more overtly comedic roles, as in The Lady Eve (1941), in which she played a con-artist trying to play it straight but needing all her vice and cunning to get there. “My only problem,” Stanwyck said in response to a question about her signature roles, “is finding a way to play my fortieth fallen female in a different way from my thirty-ninth.” 

As good as she was, the movie industry was not altogether kind to its young stars, and many actresses saw their careers vanish as the studios ditched them at the first signs of middle age. But Stanwyck’s startling talent, screen presence and behind-the-scenes negotiating prowess gave her an edge. By avoiding long contracts, she was never bound to any one studio, keeping her career and her paychecks healthy as a prolific freelancer.  

Thus few actresses progressed as smoothly from eye-candy vixens to middle-aged dramatic roles. Double Indemnity (1944), for instance, saw her updating Baby Face’s Lily Powers by moving her to the upper class enclaves of the Hollywood Hills, now as a kept woman looking for adventure to stave off her domestic boredom—a door-to-door salesman’s wet dream, who lures insurance man Fred MacMurray into a lurid web of murder and intrigue. And still again she updated the portrait in Fritz Lang’s Clash By Night (1952). Here Stanwyck presents a stirring portrait of the opportunistic dame, but older now and tired of living a rootless life. Whereas the younger Stanwyck played women in dire or mundane circumstances looking for a way out, here she plays a woman on her way back home, returning to her humble origins on Monterey’s Cannery Row with the hope that she can finally set aside her nagging restlessness by embracing a simple domestic life. Yet her eyes belie the painful truth, revealing the jaded intelligence that knows her dissatisfaction is innate, that whatever she has is never enough, no matter how good the man and how safe the home he provides.  

It’s a compelling picture of a complex woman, requiring the sort of feminine insight that director Lang was entirely incapable of throughout his long career, resulting in a fascinating case of professional role reversal, with a talented actor bringing out heretofore untapped talents in her director. And all in marked contrast to her co-star, a young Marilyn Monroe, who might have led a much different life had she adopted just a bit of Stanwyck’s steely resolve.  

 

BALL OF FIRE:  

A BARBARA STANWYCK CENTENNIAL  

RETROSPECTIVE 

Friday, July 6 through Tuesday, July 31 at Pacific Film Archive.  

2575 Bancroft Way. 642-5249. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu.


The Theater: Contra Costa Civic Theatre Stages ‘Meet Me in St. Louis’

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Friday July 06, 2007

“Clang, clang, clang went the trolley ...”—which around these parts gets confounded with cable car bells and tourist-ridden summers, just as Meet Me in St. Louis’ other big hit, “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,” has led some to think of (or to list) the 1944 Vincente Minelli movie musical as a Christmas film.  

But the stage adaptation of the film musical (that rare bird), as it’s staged by Contra Costa Civic Theatre, shows it to be a comic piece of nostalgia for an older, family-oriented America, clearly a mood elevator for World War II audiences. It’s not all “family values,” though, that later, reactionary concoction. 

The family is a rather eccentric one, and the pater familias (in a fine portrayal by Kyle Johnson) is a bemused, bewildered, even exasperated one, in his efforts to further his career and fund his family’s whims and own social aspirations by relocating to New York. (When his debutantish elder daughter spurns his plans as being too crass and money-centered, he ripostes her thrust with, “and you spend it!”) 

The story follows the Smith family through the year of waiting for the International Exposition of 1904 in their hometown. The two oldest girls are also concerned with their beaux—an heir to a family fortune (Drew Fowler as Warren Sheffield) who keeps calling Rose (Angel Almeida), only to be put off, and the Boy Next Door (Chris Geritz as John Truitt) whose baseball practice seems to keep him from recognizing his fervent but carefully practiced, nonchalant admirer (Liz Caffrey as Esther, the Judy Garland role in the movie).  

As directed with care and sensitivity by Tammara Plankers (who provides a fine program note) and G. A. Klein, this is a refreshingly ensemble-based community production, with special solo and duet moments rising out of the group interactions. Besides Kyle Johnson and Jennifer Stark (Mrs. Smith), fine singers (whose duet of “Wasn’t It Fun?” is a high point), Hattie B. Mullaly (housekeeper Katie, who also cuts a stepdancing rug on “A Touch of the Irish”) and a small ensemble which appears before the curtain between scenes, most of the singing expresses mainly exuberance, which is the right motor for such a production, especially one centered on family and the ups and downs of young people and children.  

But the dance numbers are something else again, in particular, the whole dance party scene in Act One, comprising “Skip To My Lou,” a straw hat vaudeville number (from the same source as a song in T. S. Eliot’s ominous fragment, “Sweeney Agonistes”) “Under The Bamboo Tree,” and “The Banjo”—Derrick Silva’s choreography is engrossing and delightful, making the long scene a progressive production number. 

“Under The Bamboo Tree” is performed by Esther and her little sisters, Agnes (Sophie Gabel-Scheinbaum) and Tootie (Emma Thvedt, in the role that won little Margaret O’Brien a special miniature Oscar, the only Academy Award for the film that year). Throughout, the child actors are wonderful, showing an enthusiastic, mischievous quality that certainly fits these little mock-ingenues. 

And, as Esther, Liz Caffrey deserves a special notice for the juice she puts into the crucial role, making it better and better, until she brings off a near-perfect rendition of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” to a sleepy, forlorn Tootie, on the verge of the reluctant family’s departure East. 

Meet Me in St. Loius is a family show, by a company that declares on the cover of their program, “You Are Our Community--We Are Your Theatre.” But the production values (including Pat King’s musical direction and Malcolm Rodgers’ well thought-out and beautifully painted set design)—as well as a well-managed house and box office (Alex Ray and Holly Winter, respectively)—belie the usual stigma attached to “community theater.”  

It’s a reflection on how far Bay Area theater has come, and in what depth it’s arrived, on the level of performance. CCCT—and in particular, Louis Flynn, its founding artistic director, the irascible motorman on the trolley which clang, clang, clangs—deserves to be proud of their capability for mounting such a fine summer show for their audience. 

 

MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS 

Presented by Contra Costa Civic Theatre at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and at 2 p.m. Sundays through Aug. 4. 524-9132.


Midsummer Mozart Sneak Preview at El Cerrito Benefit

By Ira Steingroot, Special to the Planet
Friday July 06, 2007

In an encore of last year’s idyllic kick off event, this year’s 33rd Midsummer Mozart Festival, under the direction of Maestro George Cleve, again begins early with a sneak preview of the destival at a benefit party set in a lovely garden in the El Cerrito hills this Sunday, July 8, from 4 p.m to 6 p.m. 

One of the inviting aspects of the festival, which formally opens July 19, is that instead of the often cold, remote environment of concert halls, these performances take place in more intimate venues like churches, wineries and pocket theaters. 

The music is presented in a manner closer to the way it was first heard in Mozart’s time. The music at Sunday’s garden party will allow a lucky hundred or so listeners to get closer still. There is a $75 admission fee for this benefit event which includes complimentary food and wine and a festival T-shirt. 

The first program of the destival, which runs from July 19-22, will feature the Divertimento for Oboe, 2 Horns and Strings in D major; the Piano Concerto No. 22 in E flat major, featuring internationally renowned pianist Janina Fialkowska; the Bassoon Concerto in B flat major, featuring Rufus Olivier, principal bassoonist with the San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Ballet; and Symphony No. 34 in C major. The four performances of the first program take place on July 19 at 7:30 pm at St. Joseph Cathedral Basilica, San Jose; on July 20 at 8 p.m. at Herbst Theatre, San Francisco; on July 21 at 6:30 pm outdoors at Gundlach Bundschu Winery, Sonoma; and on July 22 at 7 p.m. at First Congregational Church, Berkeley. 

The second program of the festival, which runs from July 26-29, will feature the March in D major, and the Serenade for Orchestra in D major, “Haffner,” featuring violinist and concertmaster Robin Hansen; “Chi sà, chi sà, qual sia?” aria, and “Vado, ma dove?” aria, featuring lyric mezzo-soprano Elspeth Franks; and the Mass in C Major “Coronation,” sung by Cantabile Chorale. The four performances of the second program take place on July 26 at 7:30 p.m. at Mission Santa Clara, SCU Campus, Santa Clara; on July 27 at 8 p.m. at Herbst Theatre, San Francisco; on July 28 at 6:30 p.m. outdoors at Gundlach Bundschu Winery, Sonoma; and on July 29 at 7 p.m. at First Congregational Church, Berkeley. 

Since there is always room for a little more Mozart, you will not want to miss the Friday, July 13 concert in Davies Symphony Hall at 8 p.m. when the San Francisco Symphony’s new associate conductor, 27-year-old James Gaffigan, wields the baton for performances of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, and the Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, featuring pianist Jeremy Denk. As a further treat, there will be a performance of the Symphony No. 7 in A major, Opus 92, by that newcomer Ludwig von Beethoven. 

This concert’s program makes a nice complement to that of the Midsummer Mozart Festival. The late serenade, or “I’m inclined to like music,” as a classical novice once called it, is probably Mozart’s single most familiar melody. It has been used in over 30 films and television episodes and makes a good contrast to the beautiful, but less familiar, Haffner serenade. 

Mozart composed the 23rd Piano Concerto just 10 weeks after the 22nd. The 23rd is a well-known masterpiece with a moving adagio and virtuosic piano weaving in and out of the ensemble in the third movement. The 22nd, though less well-known than the 23rd, is equally beautiful, especially the playful, child-like allegro.  

This event is part of the Summer in the City festival. Following the concert, Mr. Gaffigan will answer questions from the audience as part of the symphony’s new “Off the Podium” program. The popularity and immediacy of the pieces to be performed makes for a good introduction to classical music, the San Francisco Symphony and its newest member, Mr. Gaffigan.  

 

For tickets and information about the Midsummer Mozart Festival and the Mozart in the Garden benefit in El Cerrito, call (415) 627-9145 or go to www.midsummermozart.org. For tickets and information about the San Francisco Symphony call (415) 864-6000 or go to sfsymphony.org.


Open Home in Focus: Berkeley Architect Dakin’s Work on View at 2828 Hillegass

By Steven Finacom
Friday July 06, 2007

THE four-bedroom home at 2828 Hillegass Ave., built in 1909 in what is now Berkeley’s Willard neighborhood, is one of the notable residential works of Clarence Casebolt Dakin a little-remembered, but very intriguing, Berkeley architect.  

Standing midway on one of Berkeley’s most beautiful residential blocks, the house is towards the upper end of Berkeley’s housing market, currently offered for $1,695,000. 

An Open House is Sunday 1–4 p.m. The listing agent is Barry Pilger, and there’s a website with information on the house at http://2828hillegass.com. 

It’s an unusual design compared with many other local homes of the era. The roof has a very shallow pitch—making it barely visible from the sidewalk—and large, wide, windows give the two story house a low slung, horizontal, feel that's almost Prairie Style.  

Prominent, white-painted, wooden trim boards frame and cross at the corners of each window, further accentuating this effect. The rest of the exterior has periodically been painted, but is now restored to wood shingles on the lower walls and vertical wooden battens on part of the upper walls. 

Inside, the house feels substantial and pleasant with a sense of livability—large rooms, wide halls and stairs, a comfortable floor plan, lots of light, big closets—often associated with houses by Julia Morgan. 

Entry hall, a huge living room, formal dining room, and kitchen occupy the main floor. The rectangular living room has a period light fixture, tiled fireplace with oak mantle, and large matching windows at east and west, facing street and garden. A six-foot wide oak door slides between room and hall. 

Most of the downstairs interior woodwork is original, unpainted, oak. Curiously bracketed oak plate rails, a long window seat, and an enormous built-in sideboard with china cabinets frame the dining room. The wooden front door features subtly intricate metal work with an Art Nouveau feel. 

A wonderful “study” with a double folding glass door, a wood ceiling, and garden view tucks under the main stairs, half a level down from the entry hall. The long, galley kitchen, remodeled in 1957, has yellow Formica counters and a vintage Wedgewood stove. A laundry area, sink, and toilet adjoin the kitchen, and a narrow staircase descends to the basement, (look for the remnant of a wooden laundry chute beneath these stairs).  

Upstairs, four bedrooms—three large, one smaller—open off a wide hall along with two side-by side bathrooms, and two glassed in porches. Two of the bedrooms form little suites with a porch apiece, and one bathroom connects to both hall and front bedroom for modern “master suite” privacy. The positioning of the porches, one facing southeast and the other west, would allow sedentary residents (particularly housecats) to comfortably follow the sun throughout the day. 

Out back is an expansive and secluded garden with stone patio, two small ponds, lawn, a generous edging of trees including apple, maple, redwood, and flowering magnolia, and a pink-flowered theme to the plantings. A children’s play structure stands behind a two-car garage.  

This is a house that seems to have been on the cusp of modernity when built. Well-to-do Victorian design staples such as “back stairs” and bedrooms for servants are absent. Bedrooms have walk in closets, not wardrobes, and bathrooms are centrally placed. One ample living room replaces separate formal and family parlors. 

In short, although it’s almost a hundred years old, the way the way this house was designed for living seems closer to our day than to the 19th century.  

Clarence Dakin, the architect, was part of an interesting Berkeley family, one branch spelling the name “Dakin” the other “Deakin.” The eponymous Deakin Street in South Berkeley borders a block owned by family members along Telegraph between Prince and Woolsey. 

Artist Edwin Deakin—uncle of Clarence—had both home and studio there and his paintings of California missions helped to ignite a nostalgia craze for California’s Spanish / Mexican era. Clarence’s father, Frederick Dakin, built the landmark Studio Building at Shattuck and Addison in Downtown Berkeley.  

Born in San Francisco in 1880, Clarence Dakin studied in the College of Mines at the University of California, as did his brother Frederick who, like their father, pursued a career in mining.  

When still in college Dakin met the young—16 year old—Henrietta (Etta) Lyser in a church group at Berkeley’s First Unitarian congregation. Dakin—who, with a heavy moustache, looks quite adult in his yearbook photo—was cast as her father in a play. They soon married, had a son, but later divorced. 

Before the marriage Dakin “left college” his widow said in a 1970s oral history, “…he was studying mining engineering, and that was not what he wanted to do.” He seems to have initially worked as a real estate clerk and salesman but also picked up architectural training and experience. He’s identified as the designer of at least 15 buildings (primarily private homes , some for family) in Berkeley and others in Oakland. 

He opened a professional design office at 110 Sutter St. in San Francisco in 1913, the same year he “was granted a certificate to practice architecture” in California. He worked on some projects with cousin Edna Deakin, a skilled architect in her own right. A notable collaboration was their redesign of the iconic “Temple of the Wings” following the 1923 Berkeley Fire.  

2828 Hillegass came fairly early in Dakin’s design career and fits among what the Architect & Engineer called “a number of high class residences and bungalows” that he designed in Berkeley. The house was built for insurance agent Edward S. Valentine. 

Valentine, age 50 in 1910, had a wife, Alabama, and three sons, Edward, Roy, and Joseph who would have been about 16, 13, and 11 when the house went up. They were presumably prosperous enough to afford a large, custom built, house in one of Berkeley’s better residential neighborhoods.  

By 1915, however, the Valentines had relocated to 2001 Channing, a Colonial Revival house that still stands today across from the Berkeley High School softball field. This seems like a step down in elegance, and makes one wonder about the circumstances of their move. 

2828 Hillegass was successively home to three or four different owners. In 1952, Harry Q. Mills, perhaps a widower, told a realtor it was “too large” for his needs and sold it for a reported $23,750 ($1,000 less than his initial asking price) to the Ferrier family, owners until 1988. They were the ones, presumably, who remodeled the kitchen in 1957, the same year Clarence Dakin died in Southern California. 

The house stands in the midst of the Berry-Bangs Tract, one of Berkeley’s early 20th century residential subdivisions covering most of 13 square blocks north of Ashby Avenue, west of College Avenue, and south of Derby Street. Today, this area combines with the adjacent Hillegass Tract to the north to form the Willard neighborhood, centered on Willard Park. 

A period brochure describes the Berry-Bangs development as “the Choicest Residence Tract in Berkeley” and a “First Class Neighborhood” with “Not One Objectionable Feature” which, in those days, included “grocery(s), saloon, wood-yard, laundry, or other objectionable buildings.”  

It seems to have been a big success and must have felt busy with construction and families moving in during the early decades of the 20th century. Stately and substantial houses--most of which survive today—quickly went up on generous lots in that era. 

Now-vanished streetcar lines on nearby College and Telegraph provided convenient access to the business centers of Oakland and San Francisco. Residents included attorneys, real estate developers, brokers, mining engineers, accountants, businessmen and, my favorite, the all-purpose “Capitalist.” 

The Tract was also convenient to the University and several academics lived there or nearby. The developers were, however, at pains to point out the district was “within easy walking distance of the University buildings, and yet not so near as to make it a desirable location for fraternity and boarding house (sic), thus eliminating these somewhat objectionable features.” 

Although one high-rise apartment building stands a block away, this portion of the neighborhood largely escaped the mass demolitions and “ticky-tacky” infill development of the 1950s and 60s elsewhere near campus. As a result, ample original character is still clearly visible along the wide streets and in home settings like 2828 Hillegass. 

 

This article was prepared with considerable research help from Daniella Thompson. A more detailed and expanded version will later appear, with more photographs, under “Essays” on the Berkeley Architectural Heritage website at berkeleyheritage.com 

 

 

2828 Hillegass Ave, Berkeley 

Sunday, July 8, 1-4 p.m. 

$1,695,000 

-- 

Photograph by Steven Finacom 

The horizontal character of 2828 Hillegass and the curious, white-painted, window trim visually set it apart from neighboring brown shingle homes. 

 

 


Garden Variety: The Conscience of a Conservator

By Ron Sullivan
Friday July 06, 2007

Who would have known that something as simple and harmless as buying plants for our gardens would turn out to be such a fraught moral choice? Knowledge and scruples can drive you nuts. 

I mentioned Annie’s Annuals and Native Seeds/SEARCH last week, and allowed that one thing I didn’t worry about when dealing with either of them is provenance.  

Plants’ (or seeds’, or bulbs’) provenance matters for a couple of reasons. The first is that many of our favorite garden plants are too gorgeous for their own good. They’re all native somewhere—or their parents are, if they’re hybrids or cultivars—and they’re integral to some ecosystem.  

Many of those places are inhabited by human beings who don’t have much, and so will work for very little pay. This makes it more profitable for brokers to buy wild-“caught” specimens than to take the time and greenhouse space to grow and breed some plants, particularly plants that mature slowly and take a long time to set seed.  

The catch is, of course, that such slow-maturing plants tend to be more rare in their habitat than faster growers. More rare is more profitable, and so the cycle goes. Cyclamen mirabile, for example, is officially endangered in its native Turkey, though its bulbs are still being exported. 

Native California bulbs like Ithuriel’s spear (Tritelia laxa) and the various Calochortus species —mariposa lilies, “wild tulips,” and the like—are in various degrees of trouble in the wild. Mostly it’s habitat loss, exacerbated by the tendency of the Calochortus especially to speciate in very small areas, like the funny Martian-looking C. tiburonensis that grows only on Ring Mountain in Marin County.  

The bulbs of many of these are edible; the First Nations people here roasted and ate them. Given their scarcity now, that seems akin to a feast of hummingbirds’ tongues, but there’s a lot that’s possible given a small human population that we’re not likely ever to be able to think about with a clear conscience again.  

It should go without saying that digging these out of the wild, unless they’re in the path of someone else’s bulldozer, is unconscionable for gardeners. 

(Digging them to eat is fairly dangerous without a good helping of expertise; there are native bulb species like Zigadenus species—Fremont’s camas and death camas, whose name is a non-subtle hint—that closely resemble edible species at the time when you’d be digging them, when the flowers and some leaves have withered and put their nutritional investment back into the bulb.) 

The best way to plant such beauties unfeloniously is to check out our suppliers rigorously. For natives, start with the various California Native Plant Society chapter sales. They’re dedicated to keeping the species alive, and take the time to raise rarities from scrupulously collected and pedigreed seeds, which take longer to mature than bulbs, and from “mother” plants they keep for the purpose.  

Nina T. Marshall's 1993 book The Gardener’s Guide to Plant Conservation is still available, and a good first step to learning about these concerns. 

 

 

The Gardener's Guide to  

Plant Conservation 

by Nina T. Marshall 

Paperback: 187 pages 

Publisher: World Wildlife Fund (January 1993) 

ISBN-10: 0891641394 

ISBN-13: 978-0891641391


About the House: The Amazing Simpson Universal Foundation Plate

By Matt Cantor
Friday July 06, 2007

Now, this has happened to everybody at some point. You think of this cool thing that would make something work better and then one day, you’re walking (or in my case crawling) along and lo and behold, there it is! Well I have to admit that when I saw the one that Simpson company (of our own beloved San Leandro) had come up with, I realized that the one in my mind wasn’t as good. Nevertheless, It’s still amazing when something institutional, large-scale and corporate turns out to be clever and just the right size and price. 

Simpson is a pretty great company and for those of us in light construction (watching our weight, as it were) they’re a Buddha-send. Not only do they make a huge array of very nicely designed parts that make it easy to put houses together (or fix them), they also do tons of research into how earthquakes damage houses, how wood fails and how workers need to do their jobs. They also provide great documentation that makes it easy for someone like me to find the right thing or to see if you used the right hanger, bolt or strap by labeling things in innovative ways. I like these folks. 

So let me tell you a little about my favorite Simpson™ product because for we Estuarians with our 90 year old houses, it’s a terrific asset and can not only save your house, it can also save you money (that part comes later). 

A lot of seismic retrofitting (the bolting and bracing of houses for earthquake readiness) involves the bolting of houses in those very short spaces below your floor. These spaces are often so short that bolting down is not an option. There’s just no way to drill that way. 

Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of interesting attempts to fasten houses to their foundations in these confined settings. Some of it gets pretty comical from a geeky sort of perspective (these “in” jokes require you to know how the forces work but trust me, some of the attempts are genuinely funny). 

Engineers and contractors have tried all sorts of ways to attach the house to the foundation when there’s no room to bolt downward and the short answer is that most just don’t work or are so hard (or expensive) to do that they just don’t end up getting done right. 

That’s why the Universal Foundation Plate (UFP) is so cool. It makes it easy. This “plate” is very Star Trek in its shape and concept. Unlike most construction hardware it’s neither flat nor folded. Rather, it’s been cleverly articulated to optimize its strength in performing one special function; to keep mudsills (and houses thereby) bound in place. 

There’s another problem with this bolting thing. The stick of wood (or “mudsill”) that you’re trying to bolt to the concrete foundation is pushed back sometimes several inches from the inside edge, so if you’re trying to fasten the two together, you’ve got some work to do. 

They just don’t meet properly. It gets worse. Many older foundations also tilt inward on the inside face. So now you’ve got an inclined surface and a ledge of a couple of inches and then a piece of wood that you have to grasp and hold under enormous forces. 

Formerly, the best thing we had to do this job with were shop-cut lengths of L shaped metal that we could bolt from the footing to one of the floor joists. According to at least one local engineer, the bolting from this to the joist puts too much force in one place and can just split that joist apart. I also will often see straps used in this setting that will easily allow for sliding motion and may only tighten up after the house is inches off the foundation. 

As in many parts of retrofitting, the key is to distribute the force during all that shaking so that many parts share the load in order to keep any one part from busting apart. Good distribution of forces is key in good retrofitting. 

Now I realize that this is all a bit esoteric but please hang with me. It’ll be worth it. 

The UFP is just the right shape to do the trick I was describing above. It lies over the inclined footing, reaches out across the gap to that wooden board (incidentally called a “mudsill” because it rests on the formerly wet concrete or “mud”) and screws into the sill with a set of stainless steel screws. 

We don’t usually use screws in seismic work because they tend to snap but these are very specially made for just this function. The bottom of the UFP has a couple of bolt holes and one need only drill into the concrete from the side (easily accomplished using a special drill called a “roto-hammer”) to secure it in place. 

Another nice use of this cool product is in the addition of fasteners to walls that have already been braced and now have no access to the tops of the mudsills. Some buildings I see have had braced panels or “shear-wall” sheathing already added. Someone’s done a retrofit. But we can’t see how many bolts are present or know that there are just not enough. Shall we rip out the braced plywood panels and start again? With the UFP, we have an alternative course. If the panels appear well-installed or simply need some more nailing (and many lack enough nailing or need more due to nails driven too far into the plywood, thus weakening these connections) we can leave the panel in place and put a UFP at the base and screw it into the mudsill right through the plywood. 

This can save thousands on a retrofit. It can also solve a problem I often face, which is just-not-knowing how well the walls are bolted. 

When in doubt, it may be too much to ask to remove walls to see, but it’s not that hard to simply add a few of these novel widgets to compensate for what might be too little bolting. So they’re cheap confidence and real protection against what earthquakes are good at. Namely, tearing houses free from their foundations. 

UFPs are also easy to work with and pretty hard to screw up. I see a lot of bolting and bracing in my job—more than almost any other group of professionals. And I see a lot of mistakes. So it means something for me to say that I almost never see UFPs installed incorrectly. 

Yes, I have seen too few used and I think I’ve seen them poorly placed (they need to be near the ends of every piece of mudsill and spaced apart according to the size of the building) but I can’t recall seeing too many actually put in where they would not do any good.  

Surprisingly, bolts are often installed so that they provide far too little security, so it’s no small joy when something is designed that is, at least, somewhat foolproof. Of course you know what they say, don’t you?  

Nothing is truly foolproof when in the hands of a sufficiently talented fool! 

 

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

Copyright 2007 Matt Cantor


Berkeley This Week

Friday July 06, 2007

FRIDAY, JULY 6 

“Native Plants of Yosemite” A slide show and talk with Ranger Erik at 6:30 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St., at 10th, Oakland. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2200. 

“The Spirit of John Muir” A performance highlighting Muir’s adventures in the western wilderness at 7:30 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St., at 10th, Oakland. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2200. 

“Pint for a Pint” Blood Drive Blood donors will receive a coupon for a free pint of gelato from Gelato Classico. The blood drive will be in Conference Room A from noon to 6 p.m. at Alameda Hospital, 2070 Clinton Ave., Alameda. To schedule an appointment call Louise Nakada at 814-4362. 

“The Iron Wall” A documentary with interviews with prominent Israeli and Palestinian peace activists, farmers, soldiers and political analysts at 7 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker, 1640 Addison. Free. Sponsored by The Fr. Bill O’Donnell Social Justice Committee. 499-0537. 

International Working Class Film Festival with “Maquilapolis,” “My Bicycle,” “No Te Rajas,” and Estamos Aqui” at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Suggested donation $5. www.HumanistHall.net 

Estacio Libre and Collectiva Zapatista Ramona Film Fest at 7:30 p.m. at AK Press, 674-A 23rd St., Oakland. 208-1700. 

Bayswater Book Club meets at 6:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble Coffe Shop, El Cerrito Plaza. 433-2911. 

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 8:45 to 1:30 a.m. at the Downtown Oakland Senior Center, 200 Grand Ave. 981-5332. 

Berkeley Women in Black weekly vigil from noon to 1 p.m. at Bancroft and Telegraph. Our focus is human rights in Palestine. 548-6310. 

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.  

SATURDAY, JULY 7 

Oakland Heritage Alliance Neighborhood Walking Tour of the F.M. “Borax” Smith Estate from 10 a.m. to noon. Meets at the redwood tree, corner of McKinley Ave. and Home Place East. Tickets are $10-$15. info@oaklandheritage.org 

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.  

Canyonero Hike A three-mile hike across habitats up to Wildcat Park, from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Led by Meg Platt, naturalist. For information and meeting place, call 525-2233. 

Bicycle Trip Along the Hayward Shoreline Meet at 8:30 p.m. at San Leandro Marina Park for a 14-mile round trip excursion, partly paved. Bicycle helmet required. Bring bicycle lock, lunch and liquids. For information email Kathy_Jarrett@yahoo.com 

“Ice Scone” Benefit for Save Berkeley Iceland, at the Cheese Board, 1504 Shattuck Ave. All proceeds from the sale of this special scone will go to saving the family-friendly community center for ice skating. 599-4591. www.SaveBerkeleyIceland.org 

Artists Funding the Arts Silent Auction to benefit the SF AIDS Foundation. Bidding begins at 10 a.m. at 4th St. Studio, 1717D 4th St. Bidding closes Sunday at 8 p.m. 527-0600. 

Kensington Police Department Program for ages 3 and up at 2 p.m. at the Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

“Brainiacs” An interactive neural anatomy lesson, at 1 p.m. for ages 7 and under, 2:10 p.m. for 8 and older at Hall of Health, 2230 Shattuck Ave., Lower Level. Cost is $5, no one turned away. 705-8527. 

Community Festival at The Way Christian Center with music, health and college fairs, and activities for children, from noon to 4 p.m. at 1222 University Ave. Free. 848-2117. 

Preschool Storytime for 3 to 5-year-olds at 11 a.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720 ext. 17. 

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 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, JULY 8 

People’s Park Community Workshop on the future design and programs for People’s Park, at 1 p.m. at First Church of Christ Scientist, 2619 Dwight Way. Pre-registration required. RSVP to 415-288-3390. taylor@mkthink.com 

Oakland Heritage Alliance Neighborhood Walking Tour of the Mountain View Cemetary from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Meet at Chapel of the Chimes, 4400 Piedmont Ave. Tickets are $10-$15. info@oaklandheritage.org 

“Open Garden” Join the Little Farm gardener for composting, planting, watering and reaping the rewards of our work, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. 525-2233.  

“Green Sunday” Upholding Our Rights to a Healthy Community A discussion on the California Healthy Communities Network and how its work affects our community, at 5 p.m. at the Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave. at 65th in North Oakland. 

Solo Sierrans Walk to Explore the Albany Bulb and discover the unique works of art here. Meet at 2:30 p.m. at the entrance of the Bulb at Buchanan St. and I-80. Optional dinner afterwards. RSVP to Therese at 841-5493. 

“Park Life” Martial arts, nutritional education, peer counseling, and healthy snacks for at-risk and overweight youth of all ages at 3 p.m. at Ohlone Park, bordering Hearst, between California and Sacramento. Donation requested, no one turned away. 684-1668. 

Berry Tasting from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Kensington Farmers’ Market, 303 Arlington, behind ACE Hardware, Kensington.  

Family Day at the Magnes Museum, including tours of current exhibitions, at 11 a.m. at 2911 Russell St. 549-6950. 

Social Action Forum with Jacques Verduun on programs offered inside San Quentin Prison at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, One Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302. 

Free Hands-on Bicycle Clinic Learn how to keep your bike in excellent working condition through safety inspections, from 10 to 11 a.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m. Call to confirm. 841-8732.  

Tibetan Buddhism with Betty Cook on “King Ashoka: An Ancient Model of Buddhist Social Responsibility” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812.  

MONDAY, JULY 9 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the West Pauley Ballroom, MLK Student Union, UC Campus. To schedule an appointment go to www.BeADonor.com (Code: UCB). 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, JULY 10 

Bus Rapid Transit: Focus on Downtown Berkeley Community Workshop at the Transit Subcommittee meeting of the Transportation Commission at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7010. 

Tuesday Documentaries at 7 p.m. at the Gaia Arts Center, 2120 Allston Way. Donation of $5 benefits the Berkeley Food and Housing Project. 665-0305. 

Baby-friendly Book Club Bring your baby, and your love of books at 10 a.m. at the Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 524-3043. 

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

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

Red Cross Blood Drive from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Brandywine Realty, 2101 Webster St., Ste. 600, Oakland. To schedule an appointment go to www.BeADonor.com (Code: BRANDYWINEREALTY) 

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 8:45 to 1:30 a.m. at the Downtown Oakland Senior Center, 200 Grand Ave. 981-5332. 

Community Sing-a-Long every Tues, at 2 p.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 1247 Marin Ave. 524-9122.  

Family Storytime for preschoolers and up at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

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, JULY 11 

South Berkeley Assessment of Library Needs with Noll & Tam Architects who have been hired to investigate possible spaces for the library at the Ed Roberts Campus, at Board of Library Trustees meeting at 7 p.m. at South Branch Library, 1901 Russell Street at MLK, Jr., Way. 981-6107. 

Walking Tour of Old Oakland uptown to the Lake to discover Art Deco landmarks. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of the Paramount Theater at 2025 Broadway. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. 

A Talk with Al Haber, the founder of S.D.S. will speak of the reformed S.D.S. as well as a history of Berkeley's Long Haul and doing peace work in Israel/Palestine at 7 p.m. at the Lonh Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave. www.thelonghaul.org 

“Tani O, Who Are You?” with Nigerian Chief Priest Elebuibon Akinyemi on Ifa wisdom at 7 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

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 

THURSDAY, JULY 12 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Samuel Merritt Bechtel Room, 400 Hawthorne St., Oakland. To schedule and appointment go to www.BeADonor.com (Code: SMC) 

CoHousing Slide Show on cohousing principles and the new cohousing development in Grass Valley, at 7 p.m. at 1250 Addison St, Suite 113. 849-2063. 

Adult Self-Protection Workshop on everyday safety skills from 10 a.m. to noon in Berkeley. Cost is $105, no one turned away. Location details upon registration. 831-426-4407. 

Cope with Creativity Workshop on “Write to Connect with Grief” at 6:30 p.m. at 4401 Howe St., Oakland. To register call 888-755-7855, ext. 4241. 

World of Plants Tours Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at 1:30 p.m. at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $5. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu