Some 50 people, including four Berkeley city councilmembers, rallied Tuesday at the Maudelle Shirek Building, demanding that federal drug enforcement agents and the Los Angeles Police Department stay out of Berkeley and that the city become a sanctuary for medical marijuana distribution. 

On July 30, the Los Angeles Police Department ordered the Bank of America to freeze the account of the Berkeley Patients Group, BPG Community Liaison Becky DeKeuster told the Daily Planet on Thursday. “And on Aug. 1, the U.S. Marshall seized the assets” as indicated by cashier’s checks, DeKeuster said. 

And on Thursday when BPG administrators looked at the bank account on line, they saw a debit issued at $9.9 million. “We’re not sure what that’s about,” DeKeuster said, assuming that it means that any funds deposited would immediately be seized. 

The $4,500 funds that were in the bank were to pay for the group’s hospice and other programs for BPG patients, DeKeuster said. 

Seizing the BPG funds comes on the heels of a DEA /LAPD raid July 25 on 10 medical marijuana distributors in Los Angeles, in which agents entered the medical marijuana dispensaries and seized medicine and equipment. Among the L.A. dispensaries targeted was the California Patients Group that has ties to the BPG. 

Wednesday, a DEA spokesperson in Los Angeles said she could not confirm or deny whether the DEA had a hand in freezing the account, although an LAPD spokesperson later confirmed what DeKeuster said Thursday—that both agencies were involved. 

“From what I hear, [the BPG] is associated with the dispensary down here,” Sarah Pullen, DEA-Los Angeles spokesperson told the Daily Planet. The federal search warrant is under seal, she said. 

On Thursday, BPG attorney William Panzer told the Daily Planet he is waiting to see the warrant through which the funds were seized. The only reason a warrant can be under seal is if it would reveal the name of an informant, he told the Daily Planet. And even then, the DEA can blank out the name of informants before they turn over the records, he added. 

“I hope we can adopt a resolution calling for Berkeley to be a sanctuary city where patients can be safe from disruption from the Nazi tactics of the federal government,” said Councilmember Darryl Moore, speaking to the Daily Planet before the Tuesday rally. 

Moore and Councilmembers Kriss Worthington, Max Anderson and Linda Maio all spoke at the rally, condemning the DEA action. 

The four councilmembers plan to pre-sent an ordinance when the council reconvenes in September calling on the city and county law enforcement officials “not to assist in the harassment, arrest or prosecution of physicians, medical cannabis dispensaries, individual patients, or their primary caregivers,” complying with Proposition 215, which permits the distribution of cannabis for medical purposes. 

DeKeuster said she hopes the city will provide the dispensary with a safe city-owned space to provide services. 

“The federal government should stop messing with sick people here and in the state,” Moore said. 

Mira Ingram, who suffers from neuropathy, arthritis and a paralyzed digestive tract, was at the Tuesday rally. She has a doctor’s recommendation for medical marijuana. 

“I can’t tolerate regular painkillers,” she told the Daily Planet. 

“Nothing else can relieve neuropathic pain,” added her partner Naomi Finkelstein. 

Both Finkelstein and Ingram use motorized wheelchairs to get around. 

“How dare the DEA come to Berkeley, the seat of the disabled rights movement,” Finkelstein said. “We want our City Council to protect the disabled in Berkeley.” 

Bringing beauty to Berkeley’s ugly Ashby Avenue gateway, cleaning sidewalks, adding security, removing graffiti, creating an improved local transportation system emulating the popular Emery Go Round are just a few of the reasons South West Berkeley’s commercial property owners want to create an assessment district, says Marco Li Mandri, president of New City America and consultant on the South West Berkeley Community Benefits District (CBD) project. 

The CBD, being planned by members of the West Berkeley Business Alliance with Li Mandri’s help, would be funded by taxing every property owner in the district and would benefit each owner in proportion to the tax levied, with the larger property owners taxed more heavily. Following a complex formula, the larger the property, the more weight the owner will have in deciding if the district is to be established. 

Some homeowners and others within the proposed district boundaries, however, are beginning to organize against the proposal, arguing that the city already provides adequate services, for which they pay high taxes. 

District skeptics say the commercial property owners have not asked homeowners to participate in writing the plan and contend that giving a greater say in establishing the district to bigger property owners is undemocratic.  

Skeptics also argue that in return for fees they do not want to pay in the first place, that—even though it is not immediately proposed—eventually the CBD managers will likely try to push through zoning changes that will encourage runaway development, turning the city’s southwest corner into a mirror image of neighboring Emeryville. 

The proposed CBD originated with the West Berkeley Business Alliance (WBBA), a group of individuals who own commercial property in the area. They’ve teamed up with Li Mandri, whose New City America has given birth to more than 40 assessment districts. The city kicked in $10,000 and the WBBA loaned another $50,000 to hire Li Mandri to create the district. WBBA funding is to be paid back from the CBD. 

The CBD is a unique form of a Property Business Improvement District (PBID), a concept regulated by California law that generally includes only owners of commercial properties. Under the state statute, property owners within a PBID pay into it according to their size.  

Similarly, the creation of a West Berkeley CBD will depend on a majority vote by property owners in the district, with votes weighted by the size of their parcels. 

The uniqueness of a CBD is that it takes the concept of a Property Business Improvement District and adds in the people who live there, Li Mandri said. “If we’re going to create a district to have multiple uses, we have to have something that encompasses multiple needs,” he told the Daily Planet, pointing to the common desire for cleanliness, security and transportation. 

The city’s Acting Economic Development Manager Michael Caplan told the Daily Planet that the state law is designed to prevent individuals from opting out and taking a “free ride,” benefiting from district services while paying nothing.  

The proposed district 

The precise weight-per-property-owner and differing tax zones within the district are being developed by the WBBA steering committee and Li Mandri. Preliminary data shows 81 homeowners within the district to be assessed at a rate of $180 per parcel. That means they would have a 2 percent (collective—though they vote separately) vote when deciding whether the district should be established. 

“The bigger the property of the person, the more their vote counts. It doesn’t seem democratic to me,” photographer Judy Dater told the Daily Planet on Monday. Dater and her husband own a small home near Allston Way and Fifth Street and a nearby studio where Dater works.  

Dater said she and her neighbors are circulating petitions to oppose the district, hoping that the mayor and council will listen to them. 

Eighth Street resident Sara Klise also opposes the district. “If Bayer and Wareham want [the district] they’ll get it. My vote counts for nothing,” she told the Daily Planet.  

Wareham Development of San Rafael owns at least eight properties in the proposed district and would have, according to its size, about 8 percent of the decision-making power over whether the district is to be created.  

Bayer, whose parent company is based in Leverkusen, Germany, would comprise a separate division within the district—calculated differently because of the different benefits it would accrue from the district, given that it is gated and already has its own security personnel, Caplan said. The gated portion would be weighted at 9 percent and assessed $51,620.  

The city, which owns Aquatic Park, would also constitute a unique zone. It would be taxed at $29,997 and weighted at 5 percent. It is not clear yet where city funds would come from or who would be responsible for casting the city vote for or against the district. 

Unlike property taxes, “Nobody is exempt,” Li Mandri said. Churches, nonprofits, the city and the state, including UC Berkeley-owned property, would be taxed.  

“You pay according to the benefit you receive,” Caplan said.  

The proposed CBD includes properties roughly from University Avenue south to Emeryville and from Aquatic Park and the bay east to San Pablo Avenue south of Grayson Street, east to Tenth Street between Dwight Way and Grayson and east to the west side of Sixth Street from Dwight Way to University.  

Who benefits 

Michael Goldin, who chairs the steering committee putting together the CBD, lives in the proposed district and owns and has developed a number of properties there. He says the services provided by the new district will be good for both residents and businesses.  

With a $160,000 budget for security—within a proposed $600,000 budget—Goldin says the area will be made safe for everyone.  

“I live here,” he said. “I don’t let my kids go out at night. In the hills people walk down the street at night.” 

Security personnel hired by the CBD will not be armed, but will become new eyes and ears on the street. They will also escort anyone in the district to or from their cars in the evening, he said. 

Responding to those who say the district formation vote is undemocratic, Goldin pointed to the law. Weighted voting “is mandated by the state of California” under the property-based BID law, he said, further noting: “If we do it by weight, it will be by the amount of interest people have in the area.”  

The preliminary budget shows the expenditure of $80,000 annually for weekend clean-up and graffiti removal, something Goldin said will benefit everyone who lives and works there. 

But Dater contended: “If businesses want to clean up the streets, they should put their money together to do it. Some people don’t have a spare cent to their name.” 

Golden points out, however, that the homeowners are getting a break. The WBBA steering committee capped homeowner contributions at $180 per parcel so they would not be overburdened. “Technically [according to property size] they could pay double the fee,” Goldin said. Further, people with financial hardships will pay less or be exempted. 

“We realize that some people in the district may not be able to afford it,” he said. 

Grayson Street resident Rick Auerbach says residents were never asked to help develop the concept. “They never consulted us,” he said “Planning has been completely under the radar.” 

But Goldin points to a letter accompanying survey results sent to every property owner in the district in June. 

A paragraph at the bottom of the second page states: “We welcome any affected property owner in the study area to be involved in this CBD formation process” and gives the consultant’s phone number for information. 

Caplan underscored that what is currently on the table is simply a proposal. “There will be a series of meetings,” he said, explaining that is Li Mandri’s job to call them. “That’s one of the reasons we hired a BID consultant,” he said, adding that the City of Berkeley’s economic development division will assist at the meetings. 

Another concern the CBD proposes to address is the campsites of homeless people near the railroad tracks and people who live in RVs in the district. The budget proposes $35,000 for this issue, to be matched with $35,000 of services from the city to “deal with encampments on public and private property” the draft budget document says. 

The funds will be spent providing hotel rooms, detox, mental health and other services for the homeless who live in the area, Caplan said. 

Li Mandri points to an enhanced local transportation system as an example of a service that could benefit everyone working and living in the CBD. The proposed CBD budget includes $165,000 to expand an employee shuttle that now serves mostly Bayer employees.  

“It takes the Emery Go Round model and expands it,” Li Mandri said.  

Re-zoning off the table? 

Dater said she is concerned the CBD might push the city to change zoning laws that would allow tall buildings to sprout where now they are prohibited.  

The Daily Planet put the question to Goldin who responded: “That’s not part of this (plan).” The budget proposal confirms there are no funds set aside for rezoning efforts. 

But Dater said she fears that could emerge in subsequent years and points to a survey sent by the WBBA to all property owners in the district in February. (It appears that fewer than half the recipients responded.)  

The survey, according to Caplan, spelled out issues of concern to the WBBA steering committee including security, parking, transportation, “people demonstrating aggressive and disturbing street behavior,” cleanliness and graffiti. 

The question that caught Dater’s attention was: “Would you support property owner funded planning and economic development services to give input to proposed zoning issues that would impact West Berkeley commercial and industrial properties?”  

To Dater, than means the CBD will eventually address zoning issues. 

“If they got control over what’s built here, it could be detrimental to the neighborhood,” she said, noting that under current laws people build and the community changes, but the current pace of change is slow. “There are rules and controls (now),” she said. 

New zoning could mean “people who own property will want to build five-story buildings next to tiny houses.” 

Next steps 

A number of steps remain before the district is established. A non-profit corporation must be formed to manage the district. Its creation is in progress, Goldin said.  

The steering committee needs to poll property owners and get a 30 percent positive response rate—in a weighted vote—to go forward in the initial phase. 

The City Council must approve a new “enabling ordinance.” There is already city law for other kinds of business improvement districts, but not for one that includes residences. 

Finally, the city needs to hold a public hearing on the new district and show that more than 50 percent of the weighted vote favors the district. Creation of the district will ultimately depend on City Council approval. Li Mandri says the district will be established by the end of the year. 

Woodworker John Curl rents workspace in the proposed district. Renters, who have no voice, will be facing higher rents, passed through by landlords, he said. 

Curl told the Daily Planet he thinks the district is not about cleaning streets “which we pay for anyway. What it’s about is giving funding to an organization through public methods, getting the entire community to pay for the organization to lobby for zoning changes to the advantage of developers.” 

Interests of the community and developers compete, Curl said: “Big property owners invest in property and are looking for profit. Neighborhood people care about the community—they are there for different purposes.”  

For CBD information and steering committee meeting dates, call New City America at (619) 233-5009 or (619) 239-7140 after Aug. 6.. 

To contact those opposing the district, email: wbconcernedneighbors@gmail.com. 

Photograph by Judith Scherr. South West Berkeley is characterized by single family residences tucked in among commercial properties.

As the date for the courtroom showdown over UC Berkeley’s Memorial Stadium gym draws closer, a paperwork blizzard has begun to blow. 

Along with a slew of filings in advance of the Sept. 19-20 hearing scheduled by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara J. Miller, the university has spawned a little storm of its own. 

UC Berkeley planner Jennifer McDougall stole a march on the City of Berkeley with a July 19 Freedom of Information Act and California Public Records Act request that produced letters from the U.S. and California geological surveys to Berkeley City Manager Phil Kamlarz. 

Those documents, based on reviews of reports by a university-hired geological consultant, bolster the school’s claim that the site of the Student Athlete High Performance Center may lie outside a crucial earthquake hazard zone. 

The Alquist-Priolo Act bars new construction within designated fault zones, which typically encompass 50 feet on either side of a seismic fissure that has been active within the last 11,000 years. 

The gym site lies immediately adjacent to the western wall of Memorial Stadium, an aging landmark that is literally divided end-to-end by the Hayward Fault—the fissure dubbed by federal geologists as the most likely source of the Bay Area’s next major shaker. 

Questions of seismic safety rank foremost among the concerns raised by Harriet Steiner, the attorney hired by the city to represent its interest in the multi-party action in Judge Miller’s court, and figure prominently in the arguments of the other attorneys challenging the university. 

CEQA concerns 

All the litigation is focused on alleged violations of the California Equality Act (CEQA), and the alleged inadequacies of the environmental impact report (EIR) the university prepared—using Berkeley land use activist David C. Early’s DCE consulting firm. 

The lawsuits, filed by the city, residents of Panoramic Hill and a coalition of environmental and preservation groups and individuals including City Councilmember Dona Spring, all seek an order overturning the Dec. 5 vote of the UC Regents Committee on Grounds and Buildings to approve the EIR for the Southeast Campus Integrated Projects, or SCIP. 

While the vote encompassed a series of projects, the university is moving forward with the one that figures prominently in the contract of Cal Bears football coach Jeff Tedford. 

While the contract spells out a base salary of $1 million a year, plus a $1 million signing bonus and a variety of escalators depending on numbers of games won and titles captured, another bonus gives him $250,000 if he’s still coaching the Bears when the four-story, high-tech gym is finished—plus another bonus of the same size if he’s still here when the western half of the stadium has been remodeled. 

Leaving before completion of the gym would cost him $150,000 a year for the remaining years on his contract, and $300,000 a year if the gym has been finished and occupied. 

Once the gym is complete, he can’t sign on with any other Pac-10 team till the contract term expires. 

If all goes according to the contract, the coach would get a maximum payout by the fifth year of his contract of $4,285,000—all paid by grateful alums. 

Stewart’s latest filing noted that on Jan. 7, 2004, then-Chancellor Robert Berdahl said that stadium improvements were critical to keeping the coach, who has transformed the Cal team from losers to bruisers. 

All of the SCIP projects will be bankrolled by private donors, and Vice Chancellor Ed Denton, the university’s construction czar, told regents last December that keeping the team at the existing stadium was critical to maintaining the fond memories of alums, and, presumably, the pliability of their wallets. 

But the city and their co-litigants contend that in the rush to build, the university has failed to give adequate consideration to the hazards of building on the fault. 

Construction of the gym means cutting down about 100 trees, including many Coastal Live Oaks, a key point with the environmentalists, who maintain that the stand represents a unique resource. 

Attorney Stephan Volker charged that that EIR “never address the biological significance of this impact. The reader is left to wonder whether this loss would harm wildlife or eliminate important genetic legacies.” 

All of the litigants charge that the university failed to seriously consider other alternative sites for the gym, and for the stadium itself. They also claim that stadium retrofit and expansion plans exceed the maximum 50 percent value of improvements allowed by the Alquist-Priolo Act. 

One major concern of the neighbors, cited in the papers submitted by attorney Michael Lozeau, is the impact of permanent stadium lighting—long a bone of contention between Panoramic Hill residents and the university—as well as the planned doubling of events at the stadium. 

The university had planned to start construction of the gym in January, but was stopped when Judge Miller issued an injunction that effectively blocked construction for a year. Vice Chancellor Denton estimated the year’s delay would cost between $8 million and $10 million. 

Other projects in the SCIP include a nearby underground parking garage, a new “connector building” bridging offices and functions of the university’s law and business schools, renovations to other buildings and changes to the landmarked Piedmont Avenue/Gayley Road streetscape. 

Only the gym has been approved for imminent construction. 

Geology reports  

The university scored a minor coup of its own, when McDougall obtained letters from the two geological surveys written to Berkeley’s city manager July 2—then released them to the press. 

Both the U.S. Geological Survey and the California Geological Survey had questioned the adequacy of an earlier report by the university’s consultants, which lead to a second survey that included taking core samples near the northeastern end of the gym site. 

State geologist William A. Bryant, manager of the Alquist-Priolo program, wrote Kamlarz that the new data indicated a “very small” chance of a potential tilt at the stadium site, and found no evidence for surface faulting within 25 to 30 feet of the gym. 

The language used by federal geologists David Schwartz and Tom Brocher expressed the same conclusions in virtually identical language. 

Volker said Thursday that he hadn’t seen the letters, and couldn’t comment on their specifics before his own geologist had reviewed them. 

“But they are too little, too late,” he said, “because the university was obliged to provide a full seismic review before the public comment period started for the EIR rather than attempting to sidestep review” by providing the needed research after the regents had already acted.

In a 4-0-1 vote Wednesday evening, former Chamber of Commerce Chair Carolyn Henry Golphin was recommended by the Library Board of Trustees as the new trustee.  

Outgoing Trustee Laura Anderson, the sole dissenting voice, had recommended NAACP activist Elaine Green, who is among those spearheading the move to keep the South Branch library at its present location. 

Ignoring Chair Susan Kupfer’s request for unanimity on the vote, Anderson abstained. 

The City Council still must confirm the appointment, which is for a four-year term. Trustees are limited to two terms. 

Golphin, a 12-year Berkeley resident and marketing director at Skates on the Bay, beat out six other candidates in a process that some say was flawed. 

She was among four candidates interviewed by the board July 18. Three other candidates were interviewed Wednesday evening, shortly before the vote.  

The city clerk had received applications from two of the three candidates interviewed Wednesday after the advertised July 1 deadline: Ann Chandlers’ was stamped “received July 3” and Abigail Franklin’s was stamped “July 23.”  

The board voted at its July 18 meeting to accept both late applications. (It seems that they had anticipated Franklin’s application, since she had called in advance, asking if she could submit it late.) 

Berkeleyans Organizing for Library Defense (SuperBOLD) respresentatives, speaking during the public comment period, said the extension for two candidates was unfair and that the application process should be reopened with new deadlines. 

After hearing from the three candidates—Mary Lukanuski, a former librarian and software designer whose application was in by deadline, former Councilmember Chandler and retired bond expert Franklin—Trustee Darryl Moore tried to make a motion to delay the decision.  

“We have not had time to check all the references,” he said. “It behooves this body to put off the decision-making process.” 

Trustee Ying Lee tried to second the motion, which Kupfer said was out of order, given that the decision was scheduled for later in the evening.  

Toward the end of the meeting—around 9:30 p.m.—just before the vote to name the new trustee was to come up, Kupfer called for a break. During the break, some remaining members of the audience noticed that the trustees used their time for conferencing.  

Kupfer spoke to Trustee Terry Powell separately and she spoke to Trustees Anderson and Lee together. 

SuperBOLD member Gene Bernardi pointed out to Kupfer that it appeared as if she were engaged in an improper discussion with a majority of members. 

After a few minutes into the break Trustee Moore left the room and Powell left after him, going out into the hallway and around a corner. 

Both told the Daily Planet there was no impropriety—Powell said they were talking about Library Foundation members. (It would have been a violation of the state’s open meeting laws had Powell spoken to Kupfer about the selection process and then spoken to Moore about it.) 

Bernardi said on Thursday that the trustees’ behavior “looked like something fishy was going on.” 

When the meeting reconvened after the 10-minute break, Kupfer asked her colleagues if there was discussion about going forward with the vote. 

Moore, who had called for discussion earlier, was silent.  

Lee commented that she hoped the decision would be delayed, giving the board more time to check references. It would give the board time to find out more about the candidates, needed because the method of questioning was faulty. 

Kupfer had imposed a civil service-like routine in which all candidates were posed exactly the same questions. 

Lee said there should have been questions about personnel and union issues, given that the trustees have the power to hire and fire all library personnel, although they generally delegate the function to the library director.  

“I ought to know how a potential trustee feels about personnel issues,” she said. 

But Trustee Powell disagreed. “There’s no need to be concerned about one issue [the personnel issue],” she said. “I think we have enough information.” 

She encouraged the board not to delay the decision, given that the City Council would have to confirm the vote before Oct. 1.  

Moore also addressed the question format, saying it was “very limited, like selecting the Pope. We should have been allowed to ask many types of questions. This is not civil service.”  

Kupfer defended the format, saying the questions were exactly the same ones used to select the last two trustees. 

Moore did not repeat his earlier request to delay the vote. Instead, he said voting that night would “give enough time for the council to deliberate.” 

The council, which generally rubber stamps the trustees’ choice, is scheduled to meet twice in September: Sept. 11 and Sept. 18. 

Lee did not get a second on her motion to delay the vote. 

Golphin was the first choice for all the trustees except Anderson. In addition to her experience as Chamber of Commerce president, she is active with at least 10 other boards, including St. Paul AME Church, the Berkeley Food and Housing Project, and the [UC Berkeley] Chancellor’s Community Partnership Fund. 

Moving the South Berkeley Branch 

In other library business, the trustees heard a report from architects Noll & Tam about a possible move of the South Berkeley Branch Library to the proposed Ed Roberts Campus on the east Ashby BART parking lot. 

A number of members of the public had come to oppose the move. SuperBOLD member Jane Welford presented the board with 575 signatures of South Berkeley library patrons who said the library should stay at its Martin Luther King, Jr. Way and Russell Street site. 

Three spaces are available at the proposed Ed Roberts campus, which continues to lack adequate funds to break ground. The campus is to house non profit corporations that serve disabled people. The larger two available spaces at Ed Roberts allow for significant expansion of book collections, but the smallest does not, the architects said. 

The smallest site would cost the library about $4 million. The largest would cost $6 million to purchase as condominiums and build the interior of the facility. 

The architects also talked about the possibility of setting up kiosks at the Ashby BART station or other sites in Berkeley, where people could make selections from about 500 books with the use of their library card.  

The library director was asked to write a Request for Proposals that would address remodeling the other branches, beginning with the current South Branch Library.

The fissure dividing Berkeley’s citizen downtown planners trembled anew Tuesday night, but when it was over, the “Big One” still lay ahead. 

The fundamental fault line dividing members of the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee (DAPAC) remains the always thorny issue of preservation versus development. 

At stake is nothing less than the future face of the city center. 

Tuesday night’s meeting of a joint subcommittee of DAPAC and the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) focused on the draft ”Historic Preservation & Urban Design” chapter of the new downtown plan. 

Even the title itself is in question, with a revised version prepared by Principal Planner Matt Taecker from the subcommittee’s earlier draft and proposed revisions submitted by five DAPAC members entitled “Historic Preservation & New Construction.” LPC Chair Steven Winkel dubbed the DAPAC five’s submissions “the minority report.” 

The difference between the titles embodies the question of whether or not the subcommittee’s reach should include the downtown streetscape as well as its buildings. 

Sitting in the audience during Tuesday night’s meeting were three of the five DAPAC members who wrote the dissident critique Taecker had embodied in his revised draft: DAPAC Chair Will Travis, Planning Commission Chair James Samuels and retired UC Berkeley planning executive Dorothy Walker—who proposed the new title used by Taecker. 

Mim Hawley and Jenny Wenk, who also contributed to the dissident draft, were not at the meeting. 

The meeting began with public comments, with retired planner and preservationist John English setting off the first temblor, charging the revisions with “weakening the balance against preservation. I urge you to resist this.” 

Deborah Badhia, executive director of the Downtown Berkeley Association, told committee members that while her group supports the call for balanced preservation voiced by the subcommittee, she believed the streetscape should be separated from preservation. 

Merilee Mitchell, who challenged Linda Maio for her City Council seat last November, suggested Berkeley follow the example of Pittsburg, which had designated its downtown a historic district. 

Winkel, the only one of the four LPC commissioners on the subcommittee present, chaired Tuesday’s meeting—the subcommittee’s 12th. All four of DAPAC’s representatives attended—Jesse Arreguin, Patti Dacey, Wendy Alfsen and Jim Novosel. 

Members made it clear that they felt they had careful balanced conflicting interests of strict preservationists and development advocates. 

But Travis said, “When you talk about this balanced document, you were balancing it in this room.” Travis said that “while we need to protect our historic resources, we need to understand that history is part of a continuum that takes place outside this room.”  

While she said she was willing to consider changes in the language of their proposed chapter, Dacey said, “I certainly don’t agree with changing any of the policies.” 

“A lot of suggestions” from the minority report ”go against what we feel should be adopted,” said Arreguin. Alfsen agreed.  

“There is no question in my mind,” said Novosel. “The document we should work with is the one DAPAC voted on 17-2 ... I don’t think you can change the whole wording of much of the chapter to include so much of the views of the two who voted against it.” 

That vote, which came at the larger committee’s June 20 meeting, followed the 8-10-1 failure of a motion by Walker to support the subcommittee’s chapter “in principle” but leaving it up to DAPAC to deal with the specifics. 

Juliet Lamont followed with a motion to support—without formally adopting—the chapter’s strategies and goals, leaving it to the subcommittee to draft the final version. Only Samuels and Walker voted against the motion. 

Samuels told the subcommittee that some who had voted switched sides on the assurance that they would be able to discuss their reservations at future meetings.  

One change the minority report sought was accepted by the subcommittee, at least in part. Members agreed to drop the word “precincts” as applied to parts of the downtown with historic buildings that might call for special design standards for new constructions. “Subareas” became the new term of art. 

The term “subarea” occurs in the 21-page settlement of the lawsuit filed by the city to challenge the university’s plans for expansion into the downtown. That document, signed by city and university officials, specifies that the final plan will develop design guidelines “by area or subarea.” 

Kerry O’Banion, UC Berkeley’s planner for downtown projects, offered both suggestions and a warning. 

The university, which has no formal vote at DAPAC itself, has the right to reject the plan, mandated in the resolution of a city suit against UCB’s Long Range Development Plan 2020, with its call to develop 800,000 square feet of new construction in the city center. 

DAPAC isn’t mentioned in the settlement, which states that the plan will be prepared by a “staff level DAP joint preparation committee that includes UC Berkeley planners.” 

One potentially thorny issue has already been raised by subcommittee members, who said they intend to move on to the plan’s actual implementation language during their remaining meetings—a move discouraged by planning staff. 

But Dacey and Arreguin said they want to develop implementation language that will give force to the subcommittee’s vision. 

“The university has already negotiated some very precise language,” said O’Banion, who is Taecker’s campus counterpart. “It is a hot button for UC if you stray from that specific language, because of constitutional issues.” 

The university ”shall use it as a guideline,” he said, “which is different from saying that it ‘shall abide’ by it.” 

By the time the meeting ended, the big rupture had been filled in with palliatives, with subcommittee members and the minority report authors making conciliatory sounds toward each other. But the key issues hadn’t been resolved. 

DAPAC has a deadline of Nov. 30 to finish their role in the plan, after which it’s up to Taecker and O’Banion to come up with the plan and accompanying zoning ordinances for implementation. Then both the city council and the university must agree on the final document. 

If a final plan isn’t adopted by May 25, 2009, the university will deduct $15,000 a month from the $1.2 million in annual payments to the city mandated in the settlement, to compensate for the institution’s financial impacts on the surrounding community. 

The DAPAC subcommittee has two more meetings currently scheduled, Aug. 13 and Aug. 27.

Tributes to slain Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey poured in today from prominent politicians as well as from his colleagues in the news business. 

Oakland police say Bailey, 58, who was a reporter for the Oakland Tribune for more than 10 years and recently served as editor of the Oakland Post, was shot multiple times on the 250 block of 14th St. shortly before 7:30 a.m. Thursday in what appears to have been a targeted shooting. 

The Oakland Post’s office is several blocks away from the scene of the shooting at 405 14th St. 

Oakland police spokesman Roland Holmgren said witnesses told police that a lone suspect dressed in black clothing and black headgear approached Bailey, shot him multiple times and then fled on foot. 

Holmgren said he has no initial explanation for the motive of the shooting and no knowledge of any threats that had been made against Bailey. 

Holmgren said he knew Bailey because Bailey covered Oakland City Hall as well as police matters and described Bailey as “a very assertive person who spoke his mind and addressed controversial topics.” 

Bailey worked for The Oakland Tribune for more than 10 years before leaving the newspaper in 2003, according to Tribune employees. 

He later joined the Oakland Post, which is oriented toward serving the area’s black community. 

Gwendolyn Carter, the paper’s advertising manager, who came to the shooting scene, said Bailey was just promoted to be editor in the last month or two. 

Carter said, “Chauncey was a great man and he called me his little sister.” 

Derrick Nesbitt praised Bailey for helping him get into the news business when Bailey hosted a television program called “Soul Beat.” 

Nesbitt said, “Chauncey was very controversial and could bring anger out in people.” 

Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, said, “I was shocked and saddened to learn of Chauncey Bailey’s death this morning. Chauncey contributed so much to the fabric of our community, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.” 

Lee said, “It is my hope that the perpetrators of this horrible crime are brought to justice swiftly, and that Chauncey’s untimely death will bring our community together and strengthen our collective hand in rooting out this type of violence.” 

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums said Bailey’s death “is a huge loss for all of Oakland.” 

Dellums said, “It is a tragedy when any person loses his or her life by an act of violence. The crime and violence on Oakland streets presents me with the most painful and difficult challenge I’ve ever faced.” 

Dellums said, “We should all be able to move through our lives on the streets of Oakland in peace and safety. We are all diminished by the loss of any one of us.” 

Dellums added, “Chauncey will be missed. He was at every media event and he always asked the first question. His questions were thoughtful and you knew that he sought to truly inform the public.” 

Oakland Tribune managing editor Martin Reynolds said, “Chauncey Bailey was a friend, a valued colleague and a loving father. His death has left all of us at the Oakland Tribune shocked and deeply saddened.” 

Reynolds said, “Chauncey’s coverage of Oakland’s African American community was a tremendous asset to the Tribune.” 

Reynolds recalled that, “I just saw him last week walking through Frank Ogawa Plaza (next to Oakland’s City Hall). He was in his trademark business suit and tie. We chatted as we always did when we saw each other, and I congratulated him again on being named editor of the Post.” 

Reynolds said, “We will miss Chauncey and send our sincerest condolences to his friends and family. We now look to the authorities to bring his killer to justice.” 

Bob Butler, a reporter for KCBS Radio who is president of the Bay Area Black Journalists’ Association, said the association “is saddened” to learn of Bailey’s death. 

Butler said, “I first met Chauncey when he was a general assignment reporter at the Oakland Tribune. Over the years our paths crossed many times, sometimes sitting on workshop panels together at conferences.” 

He said, “I last saw him on July 11th when were both honored as ‘101 African American Men Making A Difference’ in Oakland. Chauncey was excited because he had recently been named the editor of the Oakland Post and had also been involved with buying a cable access franchise in Oakland.” 

“The Bay Area Black Journalists Association offers its condolences to Bailey’s family, friends and colleagues. African Americans have lost a champion and the world has lost an outstanding journalist,” Butler said.

With a new treasurer, hi-tech computer software and a lesson in banking skills, Berkeley Councilmember Dona Spring pledged to do a better job of following campaign finance laws. 

Spring, who won her fifth term last year, is under investigation by the Berkeley Fair Campaign Practices Commission (FCPC) for possible violations by the Dona Spring for City Council Committee. 

“Ms. Spring had filed ten campaign statements over the last four years containing campaign cash balance information that she knew to be incorrect at the time she filed the statements,” said Assistant City Attorney Kristy Van Herick. “This is very serious.” 

In the recent past campaign violations have been committed by former Berkeley mayor Shirley Dean, mayoral candidate Don Jelinek and Rent Board commissioner Chris Kavanagh, Van Herick said. She added that it was possible that Spring’s violations could be resolved with a settlement if the FCPC agreed to it. 

“I would be happy to negotiate with the city attorney to resolve the matter to their satisfaction,” said Spring, who is working on an amendment to her 2006 campaign report, which had first caught the attention of the commission staff in February. 

“After Ms. Spring filed a timely post-election campaign statement on Jan. 31, 2007, we found a large deficit account balance of $6,144,” said Van Herick. “We also found some additional discrepancies going back a few years. Since then she has been to the commission three times and has been very cooperative.” 

At least 28 separate contributions of or exceeding $50 and a campaign loan were omitted from Spring’s campaign filings from the 2006 election season. 

Spring, who until last week was her own treasurer, explained that some of the contributors were omitted in part due to her work with the office services business Creative Office Solutions and a lack of updated computer software. 

“In the flurry of activities, some of the copies of the checks did not get to their office,” she said. “As a result some of the contributors did not make it into Form 460, the form used to file campaign finances. There were four reporting periods and they missed between seven to six contributors per reporting period. Only on looking at the summary later, I saw massive discrepancies between the expenditure and the contributions. I knew immediately that some amendments would have to be made.” 

Spring added that only 3 percent of the 2006 campaign report was left to be amended. 

“That’s less than $200,” she said. “It will be submitted by next week.”  

The FCPC ruled at their July 26 staff meeting that there was “probable cause” to think that Spring had committed violations. 

Commissioner Pat O’Donnell said that a hearing would be held on Sept. 19 to determine whether a violation had taken place. 

The only monetary fine that could be imposed on Spring would be for the failure to file a late contribution report. “If you receive $100 or more during the last 12 days of the elections, you are required to file a notice of the contribution with the city clerk,” said Van Herick. “Ms. Spring did not file one.” 

Late contributions totaling $450, from Norman La Force, an attorney for the Sierra Club and from SEIU Local 535, were not reported on Form 460. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington said that Berkeley was more strict about campaign contributions than other cities. 

“Most places require you to report contributions of $100 or above,” he said. “But for Berkeley it’s $50.” 

Worthington added that going through the campaign paperwork was very time consuming. 

“If someone hasn’t cashed a check it’s very hard to balance your bank statements with your campaign finance reports,” he said. “I am sure it was hard for Dona in particular since it takes a reasonable amount of time for her to get out of her bed every morning and get into her wheelchair. She’s an absolute tiger, the way she works hard to fix problems for her constituents.” 

Spring’s new treasurer is Zoning Adjustments Board member Sara Shumer. 

“Sara is just a terrific lady,” said Spring. “She will be getting help from planning commissioner Gene Poschman. Also, it really helps if you have the right software. From now on I will be using Adobe Professional and Quicken to fill up all the campaign forms. I will also correlate the expenditures on my form with my bank statements. Most importantly, I will never be my own treasurer again.”

Affordable Housing Associates (AHA) announced this week that they would give tenants at Allston House on 2121 7th St. the option to be temporarily relocated during the renovation of their toilets beginning Aug. 20. 

In recent months, there has been controversy over whether AHA has followed their renovation and relocation plans correctly during recent renovations.  

The Berkeley Housing Advisory Commission (HAC) gave AHA $1.2 million from the Berkeley Housing Trust Fund, housing money that is supplied by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, for the renovation of the affordable units in West Berkeley. 

In initial plans, AHA planned to use an additional $150,000 for the relocation of tenants during construction from various grants. But some residents said they were never offered the option of moving while their apartments were being renovated. 

According to AHA’s Temporary Relocation Plan, tenants must be presented with three options during renovations: To be relocated to another apartment in the complex, to be relocated to another apartment off-site, or to live with family or friends and receive a housing allowance. 

AHA Executive Director Susan Friedland said that no one was offered a relocation option because she said tenants had requested that they would rather stay in their homes during renovation work. “We modified our plans for relocation, because people at the building told us, ‘We’d really like to stay in our homes during the renovation.’ So we tried to accommodate that,” she said. 

April Green, working on behalf of some residents, disagreed and accused AHA of violating procedure to the detriment of residents. “They violated the contract,” Green said. “Susan Friedland didn’t offer anybody to live in another unit. The money for doing that is there. It was very clear and accounted for.” 

A few tenants who agreed to speak with the Planet said that they did not want to live at the property during construction. 

“They didn’t do it like they said they would,” said one resident who didn’t want to be identified. “I would have rather moved into a hotel or another apartment like they told us. Most people wanted to move out.” 

“Money was supposed to go towards relocating families,” said Green. “Instead, we are living in our apartments while renovation is taking place. They are not using the relocation money the way they need to be. I think that they are pocketing the money.” 

However, Friedland said that all AHA funds and expenses are reviewed by the government. “At the end of the project, the IRS audits us,” she said. “We did not pocket any money.” 

Many tenants also said they have been frustrated with AHA because they haven’t been given adequate notice of when construction would be taking place in their units.  

“Yesterday, people came by to change the windows without any notice at all,” said another source who did not want to be identified. “For the first job they did in my home, they gave us 10 days notice. When they changed the bathrooms, they gave us three days of notice. It’s annoying. I wish that they would tell us what’s going on.” 

Green said the important thing is the people are now being offered a chance to move into hotels. 

“After the recent news, people are celebrating,” said Green. “We just wanted people to get into hotels.” 

Robin Gorton was a favorite teacher in the Berkeley Unified School District. With her quick smile, storyteller’s magic, and seemingly unlimited number of puppets, Mrs. Gorton performed hundreds of puppet shows for kindergarten students enrolled in the Cragmont and Oxford schools. 

Over the years she collected thousands of puppets of every description. Brilliantly colored birds, scary spiders, cats, dogs, fish and sea creatures, prides of lions, zebras and exotic animals of all kinds filled her shelves. Every Friday she set up her puppets in the front of the classroom, and would made them perform for students from a story book as part of the readiness for reading program—“reading along” as she acted out the story. 

Mrs. Gorton started her 28-year-long career as a preschool teacher in the Berkeley Grove Parent Nursery. She got kids excited about learning through craftmaking and cooking. She co-authored a successful cookbook for children called Crunchy Bananas that introduced countless children to cooking. After Grove Parent Nursery closed she moved to Malcolm X and Oxford schools where she taught the fourth and second grades.  

After retiring in 1996 she became a regular volunteer at the Cragmont School and focused on puppeteering. She was eagerly greeted by students when she came in for her weekly puppet show every week.  

Mrs. Gorton came from a family of teachers. Her mother, Thelma Kestin, taught preschool and her daughter, Laura West, teaches kindergarten in the Berkeley Unified School District and played host to the weekly puppet shows.  

Mrs. Gorton was a supporter of the arts throughout her life. Born and raised in Berkeley, she attended Berkeley High and participated in the school plays and variety shows. She started folkdancing as a teenager, and majored in it at Springfield College in Springfield, Mass., graduating in 1961. She was a regular supporter of the California Repertory , the Berkeley Repertory, the Aurora and the Shotgun Players theaters. 

Mrs. Gorton died suddenly of natural causes on July 3. She is survived by her children Laura West and David Gorton, her father Irv Kestin, her brother Peter Rich, daughter-in-law Janet Weiss, son-in-law Neale Miller and innumerable friends. 

On Sunday, Aug. 5, those who wish to say their goodbyes to Mrs. Gorton—fellow teachers, parents and the children she taught—are invited to join her family and family of friends at the Albany Public Library, 1246 Marin St., Albany, for a memorial, to be held from 2:30– 4:30 p.m.

People concerned about impacts of two planned Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) buildings—one housing the controversial BP-funded Energy Bioscience Institute (EBI)—can raise their questions during a special meeting Wednesday night. 

The two-hour Aug. 8 meeting is a scoping session to gather comments which much be addressed an the environmental impact report (EIR) prepared for each of the structures. 

The larger of the two structures, the Helios Energy Research Facility, will house the labs and offices of the EBI, a $500 million research program into synthetic fuels funded by the company once known as British Petroleum. 

According to the university prospectus which captured the grant, most of the research will focus on genetically modified organisms (GMOs), in the form of crops designed to yield fuels (so-called feedstocks) and altered microbes designed to convert the plants into refinable fuels. 

The EBI project resulted in small but vocal student protests, heated dissent among faculty and a vote by the university’s Academic Senate, which resulted in endorsement of the grant. 

EBI documents specify 90,000 square feet of space for the institute, leaving the remainder for other energy-related projects. Cost of that structure is estimated at $160 million. 

The second project under review is the Computational Research and Theory (CRT) building, a $90.4 million, 140,000-square-foot, 300-office state-of-the art computing research center. 

The buildings are located at opposite ends of the LBNL campus, with the Helios building on the slope above Strawberry Creek at the eastern end of the complex and the CRT building near Blackberry Gate at the western end. 

Lab expansion plans have drawn the fire of neighbors, who fear the impacts of congestion and additional construction on narrow roadways in an area subject to the hazards of fire, earthquake and mudslides, and environmentalists concerned about destruction of delicate habitat and the dangers of building in an area with a long history of soil and groundwater contamination. 

Congestion fears have been compounded by UC Berkeley plans to add a 452,000 square feet of new campus construction immediately below the lab—a proposal which has triggered suits by the city, neighbors and environmentalists. 

Pamela Shivola, spokesperson for the Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste, argues that new construction at the lab should be delayed pending a detailed investigation of seismic and toxic hazards at the lab. 

The committee contracted a detailed report on known hazards by geomorphologist Laurel Collins; that document and others are posted on the committee’s website at www.cmtwberkeley.org. 

The lab’s own environmental documents can be found at www.lbl.gov/Community/Helios/ and www.lbl.gov/Community/CRT/. 

The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. Wed., Aug. 8, in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. at Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

Some 50 people, including four Berkeley city councilmembers, rallied at the Maudelle Shirek Building Tuesday, demanding that federal drug agents and the Los Angeles Police Department stay out of Berkeley and that the city become a sanctuary for distributors of medical marijuana. 

Either—or both—the Drug Enforcement Agency or the LAPD was responsible for freezing the Berkeley Patients Group’s account at the Bank of America, according to BPD administrator Debby Goldsberry, who discovered the funds were frozen when she went to make a withdrawal on Monday. 

This comes on the heels of a DEA /LAPD raid July 25 on 10 medical marijuana distributors in Los Angeles, in which agents entered the medical marijuana dispensaries and seized medicine and equipment. 

Among the L.A. dispensaries targeted was the California Patients’ Group that has ties to the BPG. 

Wednesday, a DEA spokesperson in Los Angeles said she could not confirm or deny whether the DEA had a hand in freezing the account.  

“From what I hear, [the BPA] is associated with the dispensary down here,” Sarah Pullen, DEA-Los Angeles spokesperson told the Daily Planet. The federal search warrant is under seal, she said. 

William Panzer, the Oakland attorney representing the BPG, however, said he thinks the LAPD froze the account. He said he is waiting to see an affidavit from them and believes that whatever reason was given on it would not be credible.  

“If police don’t like the law [Proposition 215], they won’t follow it,” Panzer said. An LAPD spokesperson told the Daily Plant on Wednesday that he would research the question. 

“I hope we can adopt a resolution calling for Berkeley to be a sanctuary city where patients can be safe from disruption from the Nazi tactics of the federal government,” said Councilmember Darryl Moore, who spoke at the rally, along with Councilmembers Kriss Worthington, Max Anderson and Linda Maio.  

“The federal government should stop messing with sick people here and in the state,” Moore added. 

Berkeley Patients’ Group’s claims that the Drug Enforcement Agency had federal Drug Enforcement Agency froze the bank account Monday of the Berkeley Patients’ Group, an eight-year-old medical marijuana distributor. 

1996's Proposition 215, which allows residents of the state to use marijuana for treatment of chronic pain, anorexia, cancer and other serious illness 

The restaurant remodel and mixed-use development of the historic Fidelity Bank Building on Shattuck Avenue was postponed by the Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) Thursday to investigate ways to alleviate the project’s loss of parking. 

While the board agreed that they were in favor of the proposed preservation and reuse of this historic structure at 2323 Shattuck Ave., they voted 5-2 to request the city manager to look into instituting a fee to offset the project’s elimination of eight parking spots. The fee would be applied toward creating more downtown parking. 

Architect Jim Novosel has proposed a project which would preserve the existing 4,000-square-foot structure and convert the two-story bank space into a restaurant and a dwelling unit. 

The project includes a new five-story building, to be built in place of the existing three-story building adjacent to the Fidelity Building, which would have 2,609 square feet of commercial floor area and 15 dwelling units. The permit request includes beer and wine services at the restaurant and sidewalk cafe seating. 

The proposal, already approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, would keep the exterior of the Fidelity building intact. 

Located between the Mechanics Bank and the Union Bank on Shattuck Avenue, the Fidelity Bank Building was designed by architect Walter Ratcliff in 1925. 

It was last occupied by Citibank Corporation but now sits empty. In recent years, it has been used as a venue for the Berkeley Arts Festival. 

“We are thrilled to be doing this building,” Novosel told the board Thursday. 

“It’s going to be saved in its entirety when we could have demolished everything except for the facade.” 

“Parking is the main issue in the project,” zoning staff told board members.  

“We support the concept of the proposed mixed-use infill nature of the project, but we cannot recommend approval of this project due to the proposal to eliminate on-site parking, which requires a variance.” 

Novosel proposes to remove all of the eight existing on-site spaces without providing any new parking based on the explanation that the additional costs to provide onsite spaces would reduce the project’s economic viability. 

Novosel also contends that the downtown location of the project site made preservation of the existing on-site parking lot and driveway inappropriate.  

“One of the principles of the Downtown Area Planning Committee (DAPAC) is mixed-used development that would result in the restoration of the downtown,” said ZAB board member Jesse Arreguin. “This project meets some of those goals. It’s taking a beautiful building and turning it into something that will help Shattuck Avenue. I am personally happy with the decrease of residential parking spaces and the increase in commercial parking. But car share opportunities and transit passes should be offered.” 

The current zoning ordinance strictly prohibits new developments from removing existing on-site parking spaces. 

Rauly Butler, senior vice president of Mechanics Bank, opposed the project at the hearing. 

“I am very pro-development in downtown,” he said. “I like the fact that housing will go in. But the parking is ridiculously low. It all comes down to public benefit.” 

In a letter to ZAB, Butler stated that “alternatives had not been explored in good faith” and that the project density was designed for income and not public benefit. 

“This lack of effort to explore workable alternatives clearly indicates a single focus on the part of the developer and does not warrant the granting of variances as a result.” 

Maurice Segerberg, who operated a retail bicycle store at 2301 Shattuck Ave. for 40 years, expressed concerns about parking and called the project an “eyesore” in his letter to the ZAB.  

“Not only does this project provide no additional parking, it eliminates eight existing off-street parking spots. Eight spots may not seem like a lot but consider that each spot may have from five to 10 hits a day. That could mean as many as 80 individual consumer usages a day.” 

Novosel told board members that the restaurant would provide valet parking for its customers and arrange for 10 parking spaces in one of the two parking lots in the neighborhood. 

“The property owner will also buy transit passes and membership in ride share programs for its residents,” he said.  

“In order for that to happen, would you have leases that said residents cannot have cars?” board member Sara Shumer asked. 

“The loss of parking is critical,” said board member Terry Doran. “These eight spaces are used by people who are doing business in the area, going to Venus restaurant and the banks.” 

Boardmember Bob Allen spoke in favor of approving the project without the parking spaces. 

“This board blew off a hundred parking spaces at the Brower Center,” he said. “And we are sitting here worrying about eight parking spaces. None of the mixed-use developments and theaters on Shattuck provides parking. If we don’t allow this project without parking, we are going to lose a really good building without the facade.” 

Board vice-chair Rick Judd echoed his thoughts. 

“Eight parking spaces won’t make or break downtown,” he said. “But we do need parking downtown. As a city we need to get off our butts and do something about the parking fee ... We could ask the city manager to report back to us what it would take to collect an annual fee from this project. We should convey to them that we do want to approve this project but we are struggling badly.” 

The hearing was continued to Aug. 9.

Rent Stabilization Board Member Chris Kavanagh, a Green Party member first elected to the board in 2002, may not live in Berkeley, a requirement for all elected officials in Berkeley.  

The question was raised in a piece by Matier & Ross in Monday’s San Francisco Chronicle. It’s not the first time the question was asked. 

In late 2002 or 2003, the city attorney turned a question of Kavanagh’s residency over to the Alameda County District Attorney’s office, according to City Clerk Pamyla Means. It appears that the DA declined to file charges at the time. Neither the DA’s office nor Means could confirm that as a fact, however. 

Kavanagh did not return numerous calls for comment. 

At issue is a cottage at 338 63rd St., Oakland, for which Kavanagh signed a lease in 2001.  

H. Wayne Goodroe, an attorney working on behalf of new owners of the cottage and the house in front of it, says he is trying to evict Kavanagh from the property and provided the Daily Planet with a copy of the 2001 lease. He said Kavanagh is the only person named in the eviction proceedings for the cottage. A woman who answered the door at the cottage Monday afternoon said she had no comment.  

A review of Kavanagh’s voter registration filings shows him living at that Oakland address for a brief time when running for his first seat on the rent board, but not during the time he has been serving on the board. 

It appears that he was registered to vote in early 2002 at 2828 College Ave., then on May 10, 2002, moved his registration to the Oakland address. Following that, on Aug. 19, 2002 he moved his registration to 22 Tunnel Road in Berkeley. He was elected in November 2002 and took office Dec. 10.  

On Jan. 9, 2003, he moved his registration to the 2709 Dwight Way Apt. 16 address, where he has told fellow rent commissioners he now lives. 

“In light of today’s allegations, we will try to determine his residency,” Means told the Daily Planet on Monday.  

Glen Kohler, manager of the apartment building at 2709 Dwight Way, responded to the Planet’s inquiry, saying: “No, he doesn’t” live at that address. 

Questioned about how long the elected official had been “gone,” Kohler answered: “I don’t know if ‘gone’ is the correct word,” explaining he meant that during the two and one-half years that he had been managing the apartment, Kavanagh had, to his knowledge, never lived there. 

A postal worker delivering mail while the Daily Planet was at the Dwight Way apartment house said Kavanagh had previously received mail there, but hadn’t for more than a year and a half. 

The mailbox at apartment No. 16, where Kavanagh has said he lives, bears no name. 

Asked if he knows where Kavanagh lives, Rent Board Executive Director Jay Kelekian told the Daily Planet on Monday, “To my knowledge he resides in Berkeley.”  

Kelekian said that Kavanagh had informed the rent board of a change of address to 2705 Webster one time, but had informed Kelekian that address is actually a box at the Elmwood Post Office and that he continued to live at the Dwight Way apartment. 

Kelekian said Kavanagh picks up his rent board materials at the rent board office. 

If it is determined that Kavanagh doesn’t meet the residency requirements of the City Charter, Kelekian said he thinks the rent board would agree that he should step down.  

Determining residency is not the rent board’s call, he said, explaining it is up to the city clerk’s office to investigate. 

Rent Board Chair Jesse Arreguin said he is aware that this is not the first time the question has been raised. Reporting a conversation with Kavanagh on the topic, Arreguin said, “He assured us that he rents an apartment in Berkeley and stays with his girlfriend in Oakland.” 

Apparently the question of Kavanagh’s residence has not come before the city’s Fair Campaign Practices Commission. “It’s never been drawn to our attention,” said Eric Weaver, FCPC chair. 

“We looked at the fact that he is the most chronic late filer,” Weaver added. 

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums won a large measure of vindication over charges in some media outlets that he was missing in action in the Waste Management workers lockout dispute, when representatives of both Waste Management and Teamsters workers told a Friday afternoon City Hall press conference that a settlement of the month-long lockout would not have been possible without the mayor’s intervention. 

Members of Teamsters Local 70 ratified the new contract on Saturday, ending a dispute that began two days before the July 4 holiday when Waste Management officials locked out close to 500 trash workers several days after their contract ended. The company brought in replacement workers to try to fill in, but the lockout disrupted trash pickup in several East Bay cities that have contracts with Waste Management services to pick up garbage, recycling, and yard clippings. By far the largest city affected was Oakland. 

Details of the contract were not available, but both sides called them fair. 

Dellums was specifically asked by the federal mediator in charge of the negotiations to participate in the meetings to help resolve the dispute. 

On Thursday morning, while Teamsters and Waste Management negotiators were meeting with Dellums and Dellums’ Budget Director Dan Lindheim in a federal mediator’s office in Oakland, working out the final details in the contract settlement, the San Francisco Chronicle was publishing an article by reporter Christopher Heredia saying that “next to the uncollected garbage, the biggest stink in Oakland right now might be the dispute over how Mayor Ron Dellums has handled his first major crisis, the lockout of trash haulers.” 

The Chronicle article quoted one Oakland resident who spoke favorably of Dellums’ actions, but three other individuals quoted, including an anonymous city official, were critical of what they said was the mayor’s failure to intervene quickly enough in the dispute. 

Typical of the critical comments was one from Barbara Richardson of East Oakland, who said “I think it’s pitiful. I forgot he was mayor. This has gone on for four weeks. He should not have waited so long before he stepped in. All these mediators didn’t work. I’ve heard nothing from him. I look at the news every morning and I didn’t hear his name anywhere, not until the second week.” 

But at Friday’s press conference announcing the proposed settlement, Waste Management Area Vice President James Devlin said he was “stunned” during the course of the contract negotiations to read articles alleging that Dellums was either totally inactive in the dispute or had been tardy in intervening. 

“It could have been easy for the mayor to step back and hysterically criticize us, but he didn’t,” Devlin said. “He was one of the few people to stick his neck out to find a resolution. Mayor Dellums has a reputation of working both sides of the [political] aisle, and he personified that in the contract discussions. He worked both sides in this issue. We might not have even been talking at all without his intervention.” 

That position was echoed by Chuck Mack, Teamsters Local 70 secretary-treasurer. 

“A lot of people believed that when Ron Dellums decided to come back to Oakland to run for mayor,” Mack said, “he was not of a mind to get his hands dirty or to get down in the nitty-gritty and grunge of running a city.” 

Mack, whose union supported Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente in last summer’s Oakland mayoral election, paused with a sheepish look on his face, and then said, “I might have said that myself.”  

The reporters in the upstairs reception area at City Hall outside of the mayor’s office erupted in laughter. “But Mayor Dellums’ actions in these negotiations changed my mind completely,” Mack went on. “I don’t think we would have had this agreement without his persuasion, his coercion, his intimidation, at times, and his cajoling.” 

Oakland City Attorney John Russo, who filed an injunction against Waste Management in Superior Court for the company’s failure to pick up all the trash in Oakland along its routes during the lockout, also disputed the contention that the city had failed to intervene early.  

Russo said that by July 5, which he noted was two business days after the lockout began, the city’s Public Works Department was already taking the legal steps under the city’s contract with Waste Management that would make the later injunction possible, as well as possible action by Mayor Dellums to declare that Waste Management had broken its contract with Oakland. That declaration would have allowed the city to hire a replacement firm to pick up the city’s uncollected trash. 

Dellums said he chose not to exercise that option because he believed a settlement between Waste Management and the Teamsters was in the best long-term interests of the city. 

Dellums refused to get into a discussion about whether the Waste Management settlement also settled the discussion over his role in settling the lockout. 

“I’ll allow history to determine whether my actions were appropriate,” he said.

Nearly a month after the U.S. Supreme Court severely restricted the use of race to bring about diversity in schools, a group of legal scholars and education officials gathered at a recent panel discussion on the issue and said Berkeley’s integration strategy is likely to withstand challenges based on the recent 5-4 decision, and may become a model for other districts that are struggling to integrate their schools without triggering legal barriers. 

“We are very optimistic that the Berkeley plan will be a model adopted by others in other parts of the country,” said Michele Lawrence, superintendent of the Berkeley Unified School District and one of four panel members at the forum, which was held last Tuesday at UC Berkeley’s Boalt Law School. 

Under Berkeley’s school assignment policy, which was developed five years ago by a community advisory group charged with coming up with a race-neutral integration strategy, students are categorized by geographic zones, which are determined by parent education level, parent income, and race. Students are assigned to schools based on personal preference and on the geographic zones in which they live, rather than on their race alone. 

BUSD has thwarted challenges to its integration policy by the Pacific Legal Foundation, a Sacramento-based nonprofit which sued the district twice, alleging that Berkeley’s plan violated Proposition 209, a 1996 California law banning racial preferences in public education.  

PLF attorney Paul Beard praised the recent ruling, saying it would open up another way to challenge BUSD’s and other districts’ racial integration policies. “We only brought 209 cases because of its stricter equal protection standard,” said Beard. “But we may use federal means in the future, depending on what the facts of the case are.”  

But legal scholars at the forum seemed to agree with Lawrence’s belief that Berkeley’s policies will stand up against any new attacks by PLF or any other group. Goodwin Liu, an assistant law professor at Boalt who filed a friend-of-the-court brief earlier this year in favor of race-conscious school integration plans, said the Berkeley system is more coherent and comprehensive than those implemented in Louisville and Seattle, the two cities whose districts were sued in the cases recently decided by the court. He said that in Seattle the court’s majority determined that the district failed to prove that its plan passed the “compelling interest” test cited in the court ruling. 

“The Seattle case was considered ‘incoherent’ because the district only considered white and black students, even though the school district had more ethnicities,” said Liu. “So it was not coherent with the stated compelling interest” of fostering racial diversity. 

The court also found fault with the two districts because of their failure to show necessity, a standard that requires districts to exhaust all non-racial strategies to achieve integration. But David Campos, general counsel for the San Francisco Unified School District, said experience suggests that racial integration cannot be achieved without focusing on race. 

“San Francisco proves that these other strategies don’t work,” said Campos. 

SFUSD was put under a consent decree in 1983 to racially integrate its schools. In 1994, a group of Chinese American students sued the district, claiming that its integration policy discriminated against them. From 1999 to 2001, the district abandoned the use of race as a factor in integration and adopted a random assignment process, which increased segregation. After the 2002 settlement with the group, the district adopted a system which takes into account various socio-economic factors. But under that policy, Campos said, “schools continue to desegregate severely.” 

Christopher Edley, dean of Boalt Law School, wondered aloud whether the Supreme Court, in laying out a requirement of “necessity,” was compelling every district seeking to achieve diversity to exhaust every means imaginable, regardless of how many times it had been attempted elsewhere. 

“I fear that the scenario you are describing Chris is what the court intends,” said Liu. “I don’t think the justices are approaching this from a reality-based perspective.” 

After more than a year of delays, Pacific Steel Casting released its Health Risk Assessment report to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District last week.  

The report—which is yet to be released to the public—is intended to help determine whether the country’s third largest steel foundry poses a health risk to Berkeley residents, as neighbors of the Second Street plant have long maintained. 

“It will go through a series of reviews,” said Elisabeth Jewel, of Aroner, Jewel & Ellis Partners, the public relations firm representing Pacific Steel. “It could even be changed. But it’s important information for the neighbors that may help them better understand what kind of impact Pacific Steel has on the community.” 

The neighbors, however, aren’t so sure. Most called the process of how the report was put together “deeply flawed.” 

Although the air district initially told community members in an e-mail that the HRA would be made public by the end of July, agency spokesperson Karen Schkolnick told the Planet Monday that air district engineers were currently doing a preliminary review of the report. 

“We just received it on July 23,” Schkolnick said. “Once we complete our preliminary review of the emissions impact and modeling data, we will send it to the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. After completing the preliminary review, we will provide a 90-day public review period.” 

Schkolnick added that feedback from the public, the city and the air district engineers would be incorporated into the approval process for the report. 

“We fully expect the so-called Health Risk Assessment to be a whitewash of the ongoing problems and ongoing threat to public health from Pacific Steel's pollution,” said Bradley Angel, executive director of Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice. “Residents continue to complain of noxious odors and there is a disturbing pattern of cancer in the surrounding community that is coming to light. The fight to stop PSC's pollution problem will continue.” 

Based in the predominantly industrial neighborhood of West Berkeley, Pacific Steel has been the target of public outcry claiming that the steel mill pollutes the environment and contributes to asthma and respiratory diseases. 

Although Pacific Steel installed a carbon adsorption system at Plant 3 in October, odor complaints continue to be made by community members to the Air District. 

According to the California Environmental Protection Agency, risk assessments are geared toward helping scientists and regulators “determine serious health hazards and set realistic goals for reducing exposure to toxins so that there is no significant health threat to the public.” 

West Berkeley Alliance for Clean Air and Safe Jobs volunteer Janice Schroeder said she was concerned that Pacific Steel Casting’s report may do little more than provide “risk number mumbo-jumbo” without compelling cleanup.  

In an e-mail to the Planet, Schroeder said that the Alliance wanted Pacific Steel to implement a Toxic Use Reduction program. 

“The Toxic Use Reduction program requires the industry to become fully transparent and accountable to the community, to use the best housekeeping practices in all operations, and to modernize the facility,” said Schroeder.  

“It’s time for cleanup, not just guesstimates.” 

According to Dr. Michael Wilson of UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health, the Health Risk Assessment is not an effective tool whereas Toxic Use Reduction has been proved to be much more promising. 

Jewel maintains that PSC has complied with the law. 

“This is the tool they have through state law to gain information,” she said. “It’s through the California EPA, which is a much higher standard then the USEPA. The kind of information that is provided to neighbors is more through CEPA than federal law.” 

Environmental groups continue to call the model flawed. 

“There is so much that goes into the report that’s heavily biased that it can never be taken seriously,” said Martin Bourque of the Ecology Center. “The results are biased to make it seem that there is no health risk ... Their assumption is that it’s okay for one person in a million to get cancer. We don’t think it’s okay. The results are not going to convince members of the affected public in any way.” 

Philip Huang, attorney for the non-profit Communities for Better Environment, said that a toxic use reduction program was a more comprehensive and health-protective method than the HRA. 

“We welcome the HRA,” he said. “At the same time the state legislature is considering a bill called the Toxic Use Reduction Act which requires industries to examine their industrial processes and determine how they can reduce the risk of toxic chemicals.” 

Bourque added that the fact that the HRA was being paid for by Pacific Steel was another reason not to rely on it. 

“Even though the consultants are a third party, they know where their pay checks are coming from,” he said. “I doubt that the HRA will produce any significant negative results and PSC will just turn around and say ‘we told you so.’”

The California Supreme Court Monday upheld a death penalty for a former Berkeley waterfront commissioner who brutally beat a university professor and his wife and then murdered and dismembered a fellow commissioner who would have testified against him. 

Enrique Zambrano, 63, a contractor who also served on the Berkeley Waterfront Commission, was given the death penalty in Alameda County Superior Court in 1993 for murdering fellow commissioner Luis Reyna in July 1988.  

Reyna’s body, missing head and hands, was found in the Lafayette hills. Prosecutors said the murder motive was to prevent Reyna from testifying that Zambrano told him he had brutally bludgeoned Robert and Barbara Mishell six months earlier, on Jan. 31, 1988. 

Robert Mishell, a University of California immunology professor, and Barbara Mishell, who managed her husband’s laboratory, were severely injured in the attack at their Berkeley home but survived.  

Prosecutors said Zambrano, who had done remodeling work for the couple, believed they had made anonymous phone calls revealing he was having an extramarital affair with a girlfriend. He was convicted of their attempted murder.  

Zambrano admitted during his trial that he attacked the Mishells, but said he had “lost control,” and admitted he was present at Reyna’s death and later decapitated and hid the body. But he contended Reyna was accidentally killed during a struggle over a gun. 

The state high court, in a ruling issued in San Francisco, rejected a series of claims in which Zambrano challenged jury selection, jury instructions and prosecution closing arguments at his trial and argued that a death sentence was disproportionate to his crimes. 

Justice Marvin Baxter wrote, “We reject the claim” of a disproportionate sentence. 

“He was a successful contractor and public official who brutally assaulted Robert and Barbara Mishell, leaving both with permanent disabilities, because he believed they had exposed his extramarital affair,” Baxter wrote for the court. 

“After admitting this assault to his friend and fellow official, Luis Reyna, he murdered Reyna to prevent Reyna’s testimony against him in the Mishell matter, then decapitated and dismembered Reyna’s body and dumped it in a remote location in order to hamper the body’s identification,” the court said.  

“Under these circumstances, defendant’s death sentence is not so disproportionate as to ... offend fundamental notions of human dignity,” Baxter said.  

All seven justices upheld Zambrano’s convictions for attempted murder and first-degree murder with a special circumstance of witness killing.  

Six of the judges upheld the death sentence, but Justice Joyce Kennard said in a partial dissent that Zambrano should be given a new penalty trial because of errors in jury selection and prosecution arguments.  

Today’s ruling on Zambrano’s direct appeal from the trial court is the first step in the lengthy appeal process in California death penalty cases.  

Zambrano also has a habeas corpus petition pending before the state high court and if he loses that appeal, he can file a similar petition in federal court. 

Reyna was initially silent, but gave police a taped statement on April 15, 1988, saying that Zambrano had confessed to him. Two days later, Zambrano was arrested. 

After Zambrano posted bail in the Mishell assault case on July 15, he arranged a July 18 meeting with Reyna. Reyna left his home for the meeting and was never seen alive again. 

Zambrano then fled to Mexico with his girlfriend, Linda “Celebration” Oberman, and was arrested on a visit to Palm Springs in 1989.

Berkeley may be getting $330,000 more for mental heath services, in addition to the nearly $1 million already allocated under the state Mental Health Services Act (MHSA). 

The city asked Berkeley residents last week to submit recommendations for using the cash. To receive the additional money, the city must give the state an outline of how the funds would be used and give the public 30 days to comment on the recommendations. The window for public comment closes Aug. 20. 

The MHSA Steering Committee—comprised of staff, consumers and other stakeholders—has recommendations that include allocations for the Homeless Action Center and the Youth Emergency and Assistance Hostel (YEAH!). 

California voters approved the Mental Health Services Act in November 2004. The act places a 1 percent tax on every dollar of personal income over $1 million.  

“The state allocates these revenues to local mental health departments for the purpose of transforming and expanding mental health services,” said Kathy Cramer, program supervisor. “State income tax revenues have exceeded projections and according to the new law, the state is required to release these additional funds to local governments.  

Berkeley Mental Health commissioner Michael Diehl said he was pleased that the additional funds would focus on mental health housing. 

“The steering committee has come up with a plan for the $330,000 which includes a heavy focus on permanent housing, which in my opinion was somewhat slighted in the plan for the $1.1 million, due to the existence of preexisting state funding under AB2034 for mental health housing for those defined as both seriously mentally ill and homeless,” he said. “One of my key goals is to get the homeless off the streets. As a result, this is the part of the MHSA funding I am particularly interested in.” 

The MHSA provides a combination of permanent as well as temporary housing through the Russell Street Residence and the Martin Luther King House. 

Under the additional funding, housing services have been allocated a total of $182,227, which includes housing coordinators, benefits advocacy and additional housing supports. 

YEAH! will receive $20,000 for a clinician to help transition-aged youth; additional peer counselors will also be funded. 

Kramer added that the MHSA strives to employ peer counselors who had once taken advantage of mental health services. 

“The advice is unique since it’s coming from a person who has been in the same shoes,” she said. “Peer counselors give tips to mental patients about what it takes to be a good tenant and what it takes to get back to work in the real world. They make the entire transition a lot less fearful.” 

“When we first put out the plan, people were happy that the money was being used to help the homeless, but they didn’t think there was enough money allocated for housing,” Kramer said. “They were also concerned that we didn’t address the issue of substance abuse. We hope things will get better with time.”  

Community outreach is being done through the city website and the press to make people aware of the public comment period. 

“It’s extremely important to get the recommendations out to the public,” she said. “In fact, the MHSA wanted to make sure that the community is involved rather than just leave it to the Mental Health Services.” 

After the review period for the recommendations end, a final proposal would be submitted to the State Department of Mental Health.  

The Mental Health Commission will review the MHSA in the fall. 

Residents can download and review the recommendations at www.CityOf 

Berkeley.info/mentalhealth/prop63.html and follow the directions to respond, or call 981-7698 for other options for viewing the city’s recommendations. 

The Berkeley City Council will meet briefly today (Tuesday) to hold a public hearing on the Elmwood Theater Business Improvement Area, required for the business improvement district to continue its operations, and to formally adopt findings that B-Town Dollar at 2973 Sacramento St. is a nuisance and should be shut down. 

Before the open meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, the council will hold a closed meeting to discuss labor negotiations with its police officers union. 

This is the last council meeting before its summer break. The next meeting will be Sept. 11. 

The California Supreme Court ruled on Thursday against California ordinances allowing the seizure and forfeiture of vehicles used in picking up prostitutes or buying drugs, thus effectively ending the City of Oakland’s 10-year experiment in the practice. 

In a 4-3 vote in O’Connell v. City of Stockton, the court ruled on the narrow grounds that the city could not enact enforcement laws in areas that had already been addressed by the state. “The illicit commercial activities—prostitution and trafficking in controlled substances—that are the focus of the city’s vehicle forfeiture ordinance,” the court’s ruling read, “are matters of statewide concern that our Legislature has comprehensively addressed through various provisions of this state’s Penal and Vehicle Codes, leaving no room for further regulation at the local level.” 

The ruling invalidates similar drug-prostitution car seizure ordinances in 28 California cities, including Oakland. The ruling does not prevent police from towing automobiles involved in picking up prostitutes or drugs, however, but only the forfeiture. Automobile towings are covered under the state’s Vehicle Code. 

But according to the Santa Rosa attorney who represented the plaintiff in the City of Stockton lawsuit, the narrow grounds on which the Supreme Court made its decision leaves a large loophole for the auto confiscation to be reinstated at the state level. 

“The court said that the cities could not preempt state law in passing such ordinances,” attorney Mark Clausen said by telephone. “Unfortunately, that is just an invitation for the legislature to step in and pass a law allowing such ordinances. It’s a victory for now. Hopefully, the legislature won’t give the cities more authority.” 

Although the court asked attorneys involved in the case to submit briefs on whether the seizures themselves violated state or federal constitutional due process guarantees, the ruling noted that “because we conclude here that state law preempts the provisions of the Stockton Municipal Code pertaining to seizure and forfeiture of nuisance vehicles, thus invalidating those provisions and rendering them unenforceable, we need not address [those] issues.” 

That leaves unsettled whether the court considers seizure and holding of vehicles prior to a court hearing a violation of the state or federal constitution. The California legislature is currently considering legislation which would reinstate such non-hearing automobile seizures aimed at stopping illegal “sideshows”—provisions which allow for 30-day confiscation and not complete forfeiture as called for in the Stockton ordinance—and Thursday’s ruling would not affect that legislation. 

Stockton’s “Seizure and Forfeiture of Nuisance Vehicles” Municipal code provision that was the subject of Thursday’s ruling is virtually identical to Oakland’s so-called Beat Feet ordinance, which allows for the forfeiture of “any vehicle used to agree to or engage in an act of prostitution, or procure another person for the purpose of prostitution (pandering), or derive financial support or maintenance from the earnings or proceeds of prostitution (pimping) or illegally acquire or attempt to illegally acquire any controlled substance.” Oakland city officials had been closely following the O’Connell case, and the Oakland city attorney’s office said the Oakland Police Department had suspended enforcement of the city’s “beat feet” laws pending the court decision. 

In 2000, the California Supreme Court had validated Oakland’s “beat feet” ordinance in the Horton v. City of Oakland case. Thursday’s ruling effectively overturns the Horton ruling. 

Last Tuesday, on the recommendation of City Attorney John Russo, the Oakland City Council approved a $70,000 settlement in the case of Aram Sohigan v. The City of Oakland rising out of an auto seizure based on Oakland’s “beat feet” laws. In that case, Sohigan and two other plaintiffs were represented by Santa Rosa attorney Mark T. Clausen, the same attorney who represented the plaintiff in the Stockton case. 

Erica Harrold, public information officer for Russo, said that the court ruling means Oakland can no longer enforce the controversial “beat feet” ordinance. Harrold said that when the Oakland City Council returns from its summer break, it will have the option of either amending the “beat feet” ordinance to conform to the Supreme Court’s rulings or to eliminate the ordinance altogether. She said that the city attorney’s office would be prepared to present the council with its options at that time. 

Harrold noted that Russo had been on the City Council in 1997 when the “beat feet” ordinance was passed, and opposed it “because he thought it was unconstitutional.” Harrold said, however, that Russo “dutifully enforced the law” after he became city attorney “although he didn’t agree with it.” 

UC Berkeley development officials will meet this morning (Tuesday) with builders eager for the chance to build an $8 million guest house at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. 

University of California Regents unanimously approved the project July 19, along with the lab’s Long Range Development Plan 2025. 

According to the university’s call for bids, three construction companies have gone through the qualification process: B.B.I. Construction, Inc., of Oakland; C. Overaa & Co. of Richmond; and W.E. Lyons Construction Co. of Oakland. 

Anticipated guests are visiting faculty, graduate students and others visiting or working on projects at the lab. 

Final bids are due on Sept. 5 and will be opened when evaluation scores of individual proposals are announced a week later. 

The 22,500-square-foot, three-story building will house 44 “standard” bedrooms, 12 larger rooms and four “studio suites.” Construction is required to meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating “silver” standard. 

That ranking falls below the gold and platinum ratings, requiring between 33 and 38 points compared to the 52 to 69 points awarded the highest, platinum certification—the ranking awarded the California Environmental Protection Agency’s 25-story Sacramento headquarters. 

Developers of the David Brower Center office building now under construction in downtown Berkeley are also aiming for the highest certification.

An organization affiliated with National Public Radio will be coming to Oakland and Richmond for six weeks beginning Aug. 9, collecting historical stories by Bay Area African-Americans for possible later broadcast on NPR. 

A spokesperson for Mayor Ron Dellums called the announcement “exciting news.” 

With NPR’s StoryCorps Griot Initiative saying that it will “place a special emphasis on the stories of World War II veterans and men and women involved in the Civil Rights struggle,” the broadcasters are expected to find a rich source of material in the East Bay. Much of the area’s African-American population migrated from the South to Oakland, Berkeley, and Richmond during World War II to work in the wartime industries, particularly Richmond’s Kaiser shipyards. 

In addition, the East Bay was one of the national action centers during the civil rights and Black Power periods, with, among other things, Oakland serving as the birthplace of the Black Panther Party.  

NPR’s StoryCorps Griot asks participants to record 40-minute interviews in pairs, with the two people knowing each other, either swapping stories back and forth or with one participant interviewing the other. All participants receive copies of their recorded interviews, with additional copies sent to the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress and the National Museum of African-American History and Culture at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., with excerpts of selected interviews to be broadcast on NPR. 

According to the organization, participation is open to anyone “who considers her/himself of African heritage and lives in the United States” and who has stories to tell, but participants are encouraged to register in advance at www.storycorps.net/griot/#reservations or at (800) 850-4406 to ensure there is available time. Participants are also encouraged to contribute a tax-deductible $10 donation or more to help defray costs for the effort. 

StoryCorps Griot had originally planned to do all of its interviews from a bus parked at Frank Ogawa Plaza in front of City Hall, but has scheduled two days in Richmond after learning of that city’s recent efforts in archiving African-American history, including aspects of the Rosie the Riveter National Park and the Memories of MacDonald Avenue project. 

The East Bay stop is one of six urban areas to be visited in the initiative’s one-year effort, with other stops in Atlanta, Newark, Detroit, Chicago, Memphis, Harlem, New York Clarksdale, Mississippi, and Selma and Montgomery, Alabama. 

On Thursday the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) will discuss the landmarking of a 19th-century dwelling at 3100 Shattuck Ave., which is proposed to be demolished for the construction of a new three-story mixed-use building . 

The meeting will take place at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave., at 7:30 p.m. 

According to a report from the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA), the site is located in the vicinity of an area known as “Ashby Station” which “could be potentially eligible for a historic district nomination to the National Register of Historic Places.” 

An example of a 20th-century American streetcar suburb, Ashby Station is now a transportation hub, serving the greater bay region with the BART Richmond Line and AC Transit. 

The BAHA report states that although several blocks of the historic Ashby Station district were removed in the 1960s due to the construction of BART, “a distinct historic context is still visible today within the ‘Area of Potential Effect’ surrounding the Ed Roberts Campus project site.” 

Although the original construction date, owner, architect and builder of the building remain unknown, the building’s construction date canbe estimated at 1904 or 1906 from city and county records. 

According to Berkeley planning department staff reports, the building possesses no special cultural, educational or cultural value and is not an example of exceptional Victorian architecture. The staff report concludes that the building is not eligible for landmark status and that the proposed demolition would not “cause a substantial adverse change in the significance of any historical resources in the vicinity.” 

In a letter to the LPC, Berkeley resident Robert Lauriston contends that the staff report misinterprets BAHA’s survey map of the neigborhood, which graphically displays the evolution of the streetcar suburb from “its beginnings in the 19th century, through the peak period 1900-1910, and up to the decline of the streetcars in the mid-20th century.” 

According to Lauriston, the map includes 3100 Shattuck in the list of contributing structures in the National Register of Historic Places Form, which neighbors plan to submit to the California Office of Historic Preservation next year. 

“The neighborhood’s remaining 19th-century structures are important both because they show its development from a small cluster of houses centered around the post office at Shattuck and Ashby into the later densely populated streetcar suburb, and because they were residences of landowners, builders, and others involved in the subdivision, annexation, and development of the neighborhood,” he states, and adds that the demolition of 3100 Shattuck would bring about an adverse change in the significance of a historic resource. 

Marin Circle Fountain Walk 

The LPC will also discuss the possible repair of the locally landmarked Marin Circle Fountain Walk which was damaged when a truck crashed into the area surrounding the fountain in May, damaging both public and private property. 

Built in 1908, when Berkeley lobbied to be the State Capital, the Marin Circle Area was planned and built as the entrance to the proposed Capital building. 

With its surrounding balustrades, piers and 22 terra cotta pots, the Fountain Walk is one of Berkeley’s pedestrian avenues. 

The restoration calls for the repair of the balustrades, piers, the handrail and terra cotta pots. The city is in charge of the repair process, which includes assessing the damage, recovering money from the trucking company and selecting staff and contractors to guide and carry out the restoration project. 

In my gilded youth I went on a skiing trip to Austria. In those carefree days one traveled by boat and train in a leisurely, comfortable, civilized way, with none of the overcrowded panic that mars voyaging today. The train had sleeping berths and we woke gasping at the proximity of massive Alps rearing skywards almost close enough to touch, or so it seemed. Our destination was a picture postcard-perfect village, Obergurgl. 

I managed to enjoy falling about on the nursery slopes. Once a whole line of us keeled over, like dominoes, destabilized by hilarity perhaps. But although the apres-ski hot chocolate mit schlagzahne was divine, dinner fare tended to be faintly, even strongly, repellent. I had never before eaten turnip fritters, and I have made a point of never doing so since. 

Still, there is no good reason to avoid turnips altogether. Delicately treated rather than manhandled, they can be toothsome. The key to their flavor and texture is how they are grown and when they are harvested. 

Turnips in my vegetable plot are part of my four-year rotation plan. After potatoes are dug, the earth is friable, just right for root vegetables: beets, carrots, onions and turnips. For the latter, the name of the game is speed, from sowing to harvest. Turnip seed germinates days sooner than that of the other roots. It’s as though like modern travelers it hits the ground running. All these vegetables need modest but regular amounts of water for their roots to become plump, every three or four days. Deep watering once a week and letting the ground dry in between will produce tough, skinny turnips. 

I try to spray the seed bed lightly, so that the seeds are not dislodged. When leaves appear, I gently trickle the hose around the roots, to avoid knocking the plants over. Although the leaves enjoy a little moisture, this is best left to dew. Wet leaves can scorch in hot sun. 

When the seedlings have their second pair of leaves, the true ones, I thin the plants to four inches apart, and put the thinnings into salads or a sandwich. At this point they don’t amount to much. The seedlings look spindly without their siblings, so I sprinkle the earth around them with potting soil, building it up to the first leaves, the cotyledons. This provides a stabilizing and nourishing matrix in which the turnips can readily form their bulbs, as well as augmenting the planting bed, which is already a raised one. 

When four true leaves have appeared, I give their roots a drink of fish emulsion, diluted to palest tea. From then on, they receive only water. I thin them once more, steaming the tiny bulbs and leaves together, leaving the remainder with plenty of room for full growth. If I have calculated correctly, even a small area, let us say 18 by 24 inches, will yield over two dozen turnips, enough to satisfy a small household if not an Obergurgl chef. 

There is a root maggot that will ruin with its tracery of brown tunnels an entire crop of turnips if a defensive strategy is not deployed. These maggots are the offspring of a winged creature, probably a moth. Sowing turnips in late summer eliminates this problem, since moths lay their eggs in spring. So does covering the bed with black plastic netting stretched over a cage of garden wire, since the moth can not get through the small net openings. I cover all seed beds with such cages, since soft earth is a magnet for cats. 

The turnip, Brassica rapa, is, confusingly enough, not the same as rape, Brassica napus, which produces the oil now politely called canola. Both are in the Cruciferae family, so named because the four flower petals of every family member are in the form of a cross. Unfortunately, clumsily, and unpoetically, taxonomists have now changed the family name to Brassicaceae. Another relative, the rutabaga or swede, a yellow-rooted hybrid crossed between B. napus and B. oleracea, is bigger and hardier than the turnip. It overwinters very well and is delicious when peeled, boiled and mashed with plenty of butter. But one large rutabaga goes a long way, whereas a young turnip takes up much less room in the garden and is more versatile in the kitchen, so I do not grow rutabagas. 

Turnips on the other hand are delicious harvested at golf ball size, steamed or boiled briefly. Like so many home-grown vegetables, they take very few minutes to cook, five at the most, and barely need to be peeled. They are delicious simmered in broths or stews, taking on some of the flavor of the stock without losing their own. They can be mashed into carrots or potatoes, but that always seems to me to be a way of disguising the taste of old, bitter ones. Better to caramelize them, adding a little sugar and butter to the cooking water. They can be eaten raw, grated into salads, too. 

Still, since turnips seem more appropriately eaten in cool weather, one wonders whether in terms of yin and yang the turnip is a “hot” vegetable, promoting the circulation of the blood. Cold weather at an altitude is all very invigorating if one is warmly clad and the sun is shining, and when it goes down early, behind the mountains, if there’s a crackling fire and gluhwein to come indoors for, and after dinner and dancing, if that is the correct term for schulplattlern, which involves much slapping of body and soles of boots, sleep that descends rapidly under a billowy down-filled duvet, while crisp snow lies inches deep on the sill outside. In spite of all this one still needs inner fuel. I suppose this is why Obergurgl is the turnip fritter’s home.

If we don’t watch out, pretty soon there’ll no Beserkely left in Berkeley—nothing quirky, funky, artsy or even anything useful. Stories coming out of West Berkeley in the last few weeks strongly suggest that there’s a determined campaign underway to turn Berkeley’s last non-suburban bastion into a poor imitation of a cross between Emeryville and Walnut Creek, with the worst aspects of both. Case in point: the proposed re-zoning, supposedly just to create freeway-centric automobile dealerships a la Walnut Creek, but which threatens properties now home to unique and valued West Berkeley businesses like Ashby Lumber, MacBeath Hardwood, Urban Ore and the place that sells the outrageous sculpture and furniture made from salvaged redwoods.  

And what about the nascent international district, whose diverse and colorful food and clothing merchants depend on reasonable rents? One restaurant owner says his rent has just been doubled, and others are threatened.  

Also, there’s the clash of cultures experienced by older residents who moved to West Berkeley to take advantage of the freewheeling atmosphere and the low prices, but who are now being squeezed by gentrifying newcomers working the city’s code enforcement policies. A couple of weeks ago the Planet got a letter from a West Berkeley resident who complained that “my family and I have suffered several weeks of a nightmarish assault from the City of Berkeley.” The writer said that he and his wife, both in their eighties, had been in their home for thirty years, but a few weeks ago they had received a letter from the city threatening them with a fine of $139 an hour, all because a rat had been spotted on their property. I called him up to find out more, and he said that his property was completely cemented over, so he didn’t see where a rat could be living. He hadn’t, for whatever reason, been able to reach any resolution with the city’s vector control people who signed the letter. He was so afraid of retribution that he wouldn’t agree to let the paper print his name or even his address for a news story, so I went to his block to take a look myself, and it’s obvious what’s going on.  

His house is part of a four-home group of turn-of-the-last-century frame houses on tiny lots with no yards. His front area, such as it is, is surrounded by a high fence, which is completely covered with bumper stickers, political slogans and eclectic artworks of various descriptions in what used to be typical old-school Berkeley style, once prevalent too in the south campus area but now vanished almost everywhere in town  

There are rats everywhere in Berkeley, of course, especially in the high-priced ivy-covered hills neighborhoods, but his particular lot didn’t offer even a blade of grass which might have been harboring rodents--it was tight as a drum. Clearly, rats weren’t really the problem.  

A quick check of the Planet’s remarkable new web feature, the interactive Map of Current Zoning Applications, showed a whole forest of the tell-tale red dots indicating project applications in his neighborhood. Clicking on some of them showed they were for currently chi-chi condos-over-retail developments a la Emeryville, and in fact when I visited his block I’d noticed a multi-story building going up right across the street.  

If I were a betting woman, I’d bet that some investor or broker with a connection to a new building under construction figured that having funky old houses with odd decor as neighbors wouldn’t enhance the marketability of their property. City inspectors with time on their hands are complaint-driven, and someone must have thought that eccentric old folks would be easy to scare into selling out cheaply. These particular people don’t happen to give up easily, but it was certainly worth a try. Some of the big-bucks property owners are now trying to get the power to enact a mandatory extra tax on everyone in their West Berkeley area to pay for even more security guards and other police services than the city already provides. 

And then there’s San Pablo Avenue, the wide boulevard beloved of smart-growthers because it happens to be a straight shot for busses between downtown Oakland and Richmond. On an aerial map it’s easy to miss the value in an upholstery shop or an auto repair garage or an architectural salvage yard, but all of these are the greenest of green businesses, because they’re concerned with ensuring the re-use of what already exists. Replacing them with spiffy new condos for young yuppies to live in before they buy houses in Pleasanton to raise families is not the green alternative it’s touted to be. San Pablo’s lower rents have allowed interesting semi-bohemian establishments like Caffe Trieste to get a toehold in West Berkeley, but if prices go up it will be Starbucks end to end before long. And of course working artists are fleeing in droves, as reported here.  

Is it possible to zone to keep a little urban grittiness and flash in some part of our increasingly suburban pseudo-city? I can’t think of any place that I’ve seen that done successfully, partly because planners on the whole are a dull lot, seldom creative, often prescriptive. Oakland’s suffering from a similar assault, as is the Mission in San Francisco. There’s an interesting new book, The Suburbanization of New York, which deplores the replacement by faceless clean chains of what made that city unique. Uniform new buildings inhabited by uniform new people do not a lively city make, but what can? Berkeley could have a chance to figure that out, if we hurry.  

Talk about abrupt transitions: We spent a long weekend in the Santa Cruz mountains with some of the grandchildren, with no newspaper delivery and recreational attractions out-competing Internet and radio news updates. So listening to the latest news on NPR on Monday morning was the classic rude awakening, with a featured report on the secretary of state’s announcement that she’s proposing to drop more weapons, to the tune of close to $30 billion or more, into the steaming cauldron which is the Middle East today. A big hunk of the new money, $20 billion, would go to Saudi Arabia, theoretically to balance a perceived threat from Iran, but in addition, to allay Israeli fears about the Saudis, Israel’s already huge weapons funding would be increased to at least $30 billion. And there’s another $13 billion for Egypt. 

Such news is hard to square with the well-known information that the 9-11 plotters and today’s al Qaeda, wherever and whoever they are at the moment, are mainly drawn from the Saudi ruling class. Iran poses a theoretical threat because of its nuclear activities, but in what passes for reality these days, the Saudis seem to be the real threat, and yet their country continues to be the beneficiary of lavish U.S. aid. And the real dangers, to Americans, Iraqis and Israelis alike, are on the ground, from weapons so common they need an acronym: IEDs (improvised explosive devices). That means homemade bombs, and what good will the fighter jets being handed out like popcorn to Saudi Arabia, Israel and Egypt do against homemade bombs thrown by amateur fanatics? 

But as we listened to the Monday news, it sounded strangely familiar. One feature of our long weekend was listening to stories of conflicts in exotic locales among people with unusual names over powerful weapons which promised fantastic results. Our 11-year-old granddaughter had spent the early part of the week at Lawrence Hall of Science’s backpacking camp, where she lugged along an extra five pounds or so. That was because she’d stayed up until midnight on Saturday night to acquire the most essential status item for her peer group: not the latest hoodie, not an iPhone—a book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Backpacking doesn’t provide a lot of extra time or artificial light for reading, so by the time we picked her up on Thursday to drive her home, she’d only managed to read about half of it. That meant that a major feature of last weekend was a Harry Potter marathon, including a lot of reading aloud by her and her mother so that the 6-year-old sister, an avid reader but not quite at the Harry Potter level, could share in the excitement.  

I confess that I haven’t really read much Harry Potter myself: occasional bedtime chapters of various volumes is about all. But the genre is quite familiar to any comparative literature major and opera fan like me: heroes and villains with fancy names who change places and shapes and motivations and struggle endlessly over possession of weapons perceived to have magic powers. Beowulf, the Arthurian legends, Wagner, Superman comics, the Wizard of Oz, even the Judeo-Christian bible...Harry Potter draws heavily on many story cycles with similar content. It’s all part of our human inheritance, which is why the news from the Middle East sounds so familiar, depressingly familiar in fact.  

Condoleezza Rice, like all too many secretaries of state who preceded her, is trying to sell the story that possession of the latest fantastic weapons by the forces of good, whoever they are this week, will assure that good will triumph over evil at the end of the chapter. The readiness of most Americans, even Americans in Congress, to buy this version of reality might be attributed to its similarities to familiar stories which are part of the culture, and which have been told over and over again. During the Cold War, Russians and other Communists played the part of the monsters, and now that they’ve seemingly vanished in a puff of smoke the narrative is being reconstituted with Middle Eastern characters. But keep your eye on the Russians; under Putin they seem poised to reappear as villains at any moment.  

Pursuit of treasure, another classic ingredient of legends, is the real world motivation behind arms funding, of course. While the clash between good and evil is being enacted in the foreground, Halliburton and other profiteering corporations play the role of the greedy monster sneaking up behind the combatants to make away with the treasure while they’re distracted.  

A couple of members of Congress, people identified with support of Israel, complained about the new funding for Saudi Arabia when it first surfaced on Saturday. Whether the increase in weaponry for Israel will mollify them remains to be seen. So far no one else in Congress has had much to say on the subject. 

In the meantime, while the administration is preoccupied with mythical future battles to be fought by shifting heroes with fantasy tools, on the ground in Iraq live people are dying. It’s not just soldiers in opposing forces who are suffering, it’s non-combatants and especially children as well. Also in Monday’s news was an Oxfam report which says that “as many as four million Iraqis are in dire need of help getting food, many of them children; 70 percent of the country now lacks access to adequate water supplies, up from 50 percent in 2003, and 90 percent of the country’s hospitals lack basic medical and surgical supplies.....”  

Is it too much to ask that in the second millennium since the death of Christ we humans might finally figure out that magic weapons and morphing evildoers are the stuff of children’s stories, but real children in the real world have real problems which need better solutions? Is it possible, even, that putting twenty or thirty or sixty-three billion dollars into repairing the damage we’ve done in Iraq and other parts of the Middle East might make the United States safer in the long run than providing Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel with more tools for mutually assured destruction? Can we at least talk about it? 

running KPFA 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As a long-time media activist and KPFA-watcher, and currently a termed-out community representative on KPFA’s Program Council, I’d like to weigh in on the recent editorials and responses. I support what Becky O’Malley said: I think she’s correct and I would add that the first hour of the Sunday Salon program that featured Mayor Bates also struck me as an unfocused discussion—one that attempted to link a recent study of soaring US obesity rates with the “gourmet foodie” culture of Berkeley, instead of food supply issues that cause obesity rates to skyrocket, most noticeably in lower-income populations. 

That said, I think the lesson to be learned here is that a progressive community radio station benefits from collaborative decision-making on programming and a wide circle of opinions and voices, and suffers when it retreats into hierarchy, secretiveness and buy-in to mainstream media myths about objectivity and professionalism. We can have a mayoral love-fest on KGO any day of the week. 

I understand that running KPFA is a difficult task and the level of criticism can be hard to take, so maybe it’s no surprise that the conversation has been heated. But the issue here is the Sunday morning program needs to forge tighter connections with Bay Area progressives, activists and community organizations so it can provide acute, sharp and uncompromising coverage of local issues—and KPFA internally needs to honor the richness and diversity of its volunteers and surrounding city and region by making sure programming decisions don’t occur in bolted conference rooms but in larger committee structures that include a dozen plus people drawn from different places and experiences. It doesn’t do the station any good to box out its own programming council with volunteer, community and board input. It just makes for less rewarding programming. 

Tracy Rosenberg 

Media Alliance 

Former community representative 

KPFA Program Council 

• 

What’s not to like? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As a Berkeley resident, doesn’t it fill you with pride to hear that Stephen Hawking is coming to lecture, Yo-Yo Ma is coming to play or that Cal’s rugby and men’s water polo teams are the NCAA Champions? We live in a world-class city because it houses a world-class university whose excellence reaches all corners of science, music, politics, the arts ... and yes, athletics. We are able to be fans at hundreds of sporting events of both men’s and women’s teams whose outstanding national rankings have earned Berkeley ninth place in the most recent NCAA Directors’ Cup.  

However, to continue to recruit the best student athletes, train them in the safest and most modern facilities, and provide the best in sports medicine for them, the university desperately needs to move ahead on its master plan for the Memorial Stadium site. 

Sadly, the media has distorted this endeavor as a football project, when in fact some 13 teams—seven women’s and six men’s teams would be housed in this state-of-the-art facility. Teams who now lack even locker rooms to change in would be served. What a boon this will be for the recruiting of the finest men and women to represent us in the tradition of excellence that we have come to expect from all areas of the Berkeley campus. 

To add to the media spin and the circus created by the “treesitters,” the Berkeley City Council has voted unanimously to spend $250,000 of our taxpayer dollars to stop this project. Their concerns centered on the Hayward fault, but those worries have been dispelled by the Geomatrix Report, the US Geological Survey and the California Geological Survey. There are no reasonable grounds to continue to oppose the project. 

If anyone else is angry about the prospect of more tax dollars being wasted to continue this lawsuit, I would encourage them to contact their councilmembers and share their views. Need to learn more about the facts or see the project drawings? Visit stadiumcampaign.berkeley.edu. 

JoAnn Richert Lorber 

• 

dear mr. conyers 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Below is a letter I sent to Congressman John Conyers. I hope other Democrats will resign this gutless party and send similar letters to Conyers, as well as to Nancy Pelosi and their state representatives. 

Dear Mr. Conyers, 

Enclosed please find the bumper sticker you sent me last year in thanks for my contribution to your congressional compaign. Find also a copy of my registration form, switching me from the Democratic party to no party. 

I contributed to your campaign because I considered your work, investigating the Bush administration’s many crimes against America, to be vitally important, and I wanted it to continue by insuring your re-election. I fully expected your investigation to lead to impeachment charges, should Democrats take the house this year. 

How wrong I was. But equally disappointing, I was apparently wrong about your commitment to hearing the voice of the people, as was demonstrated earlier this month when you had Cindy Sheehan and other activists in your office arrested. 

Shame on you, Mr. Conyers! Shame on the Democratic leadership as a whole, who are arrogantly disregarding those who elected them with their refusal to uphold our constitution by getting this mafia out of office. 

We, in response, will now work to get you out of office. 

Judy Shelton 

• 

CLINGING TO CARS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

One of the claims of neighbors against BRT is that “It will encourage very few automobile drivers to switch to public transit.” I ask in all sincerity, “What, pray tell, will?” It is obvious for anyone with intelligence and vision that cars are not working and that the longer we cling to them, the more painful will be the transition. Public transit offers freedom, health and a much more enjoyable society. So if it is not BRT, then what will encourage you to figure out how to live your lives without your car? 

Cyndi Johnson 

• 

ED ROBERTS CAMPUS 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

In the Friday Weekend Edition, July 27-30, of the Planet, Judith Scherr’s article (Meeting Draws South Branch Supporters) mistakenly suggests that I am opposed to moving the South Branch Library to the proposed Ed Roberts Campus. Quite the contrary. I believe that relocating the majority of the services and book collection to the Ed Roberts site may offer a unique and perhaps one-time opportunity to expand library services at a spacious modern location while at the same time continuing to provide services to youth, a community meeting space and expand the much valued Tool Lending Library at the existing site. The new location can also offer an opportunity to greatly expand the book collection, services, number of computers available, and disability access at a reasonable cost to the city and the community. Let’s move forward! I think the relocation is a win, win situation. 

Winston Burton 

Member, Berkeley Public Library  

Foundation Board of Directors 

• 

WASTE MANAGEMENT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Although your columnist sees “Dellums Credited with Resolution of Garbage Dispute” (Berkeley Daily Planet, July 31), the fact remains that Dellums has enormous powers in the contract between the City of Oakland and Waste Management. He refused to threaten these measures, let alone invoke them, for three weeks of public stench. See ORPN.org for details. 

But moving on (as the evasive phrase has it), what about punitive damages for causing a public nuisance and the threat of a public health disaster? Specifically, the City should demand that WM cancel the entire July-August-September bill for all customers. Triple damages are needed; otherwise, WM learns that it can repeat such a disastrous lockout at minimal cost. Let’s see how Mayor Dellums handles this one. 

Charles Pine 

Oakland Residents for  

Peaceful Neighborhoods 

• 

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As we enjoy the many “secret” pathways and landscapes in our gorgeous city this summer, it is clear that many bikers and auto drivers are not heeding the laws of the road. How many run-away bicyclists have you seen blasting through a stop sign around town, obviously suicidal, and smiling without fear? 

How many cars have just missed your kids at our “protected” crosswalks? I’m thinking of the Solano Ave. slide and the complete horror show daily at College and Bancroft avenues. 

I spoke with City of Berkeley Police Sergant Thomas Curtain about this and he urges the public to call in all law breakers at the non-emergency number: 510-981-5900. The police want to give folks a good scolding first and then issue fines. 

Please stop at the stop signs and heed the yellow lights, people. Or we’re dead! 

Willi Paul 

Berkeley 

• 

FEAR OF IMPEACHMENT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Greta Farber wrote “impeachment was a no-brainer route” to end the war, but now thinks it will “prolong the chaos” because “persons whom I honor and respect, like Representatives Conyers and Kucinich, question this path ... and fear impeachment”. 

Wrong! 

First, rather than “prolonging chaos”, impeachment could end the war. It could also prevent war with Iran and enable the Democrats’ legislative agenda to pass, without vetoes and signing statements. 

Second, Kucinich is clearly for impeachment. He introduced House Resolution 333, the articles of impeachment against Cheney. Our Representative Barbara Lee is a cosponsor.  

Third, Conyers sponsored articles of impeachment and published a book arguing for impeachment last year. His wife is on the Detroit City Council, which recently voted for impeachment through her efforts. 

Why is Conyers blocking impeachment now? Did Pelosi threaten him and other Democrats with the loss of committee assignments? Is politics trumping patriotism here? Obviously, impeachment is not a partisan issue. Conservatives are calling for impeachment too. Pelosi is playing politics, but she’s making a huge tactical error. Impeachment can’t hurt the Democrats in 2008 since 75 percent of Democrats polled want impeachment! She is shamefully and willfully ignoring her SF constituents—both SF voters and the Board of Supervisors have voted for impeachment. 

The patriots who visited Conyers represent the majority of Americans wanting impeachment. As Chair of the House Judiciary Committee Conyers can start the proceedings. We respect him, but we expect him to put politics aside and do what he knows is the right thing. This has nothing to do with race. Seven of the 14 co-sponsors of H. Res. 333 are black. 

Hundreds of thousands of lives have been sacrificed because of Cheney and Bush’s lies, our Constitution is in tatters, our administration is headed by war criminals, and we are less safe. Time and cost considerations are irrelevant under these circumstances. Cheney and Bush must be investigated. Once that investigation begins to establish their guilt, the votes will come, and perhaps their resignations. If the Democratic leadership in the House won’t do their duty, they are as guilty as the Bush Administration in ignoring the Constitution, the rule of law, and the will of the people. 

Impeachment is neither a diversion nor something to be feared. It is vital that we take action now to protect our country. Call Conyers and Pelosi and tell them to impeach: 202-224-3121. 

Cynthia Papermaster 

• 

CONFUSED POLITICOS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As usual, the confused Oakland politicos, who never met a class struggle they could comprehend, have conflated more opposing—I’d say 180-degree opposing but it’d necessitate numerous circles to encompass the many—opposing ideas as though they make sense, rather than contradicting each other. 

Sheehan actually has enumerated reasons why Bush, leader of the U.S. government needs to be impeached, same as any rapist on the street. If like Nixon, he’s let go, the dictatorship will just tighten like that noose around us.  

So Conyers made a mistake. These writers are saying people should ignore that because after all he’s done so many good things—the universal health care proposal, the reparations proposal, and he is Black, excusing any unacceptable thing he might do—we don’t think so. 

The writers did allow a bit of room for error on their part saying ‘to the best of our knowledge’ re whether the activists had done what these writers require in order for the writers to accept the activists’ behavior. Martin was a leader of all of us; another startling difference the writers want to take up, as though he were predominantly or only a Black leader.  

Fortunately there are numerous Black people who differ widely with these writers. Just talk with people at the grocery check-out counters, clerks and customers alike, Black and brown and white, for starters. When arguments like this keep coming forward I have to admire this publications’ encouragement for participation by the whole community regardless of how confused the writers are. 

Norma J F Harrison 

MARK TWAIN AWARD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

If Charles Siegel wants to win my proposed “Mark Twain Award” for being the Funniest Commentator in the Planet, he’s going to have to do a lot better than his recent letter in the July 27 edition. Addressing the issue of building heights in walkable neighborhoods, Mr. Siegel wrote that I had “claimed that the Urban Land Institute generally opposes development over 35 feet in walkable neighborhoods.” I said no such thing, nor do I believe it. However, instead of continuing a battle of wits (or facts) with an unarmed opponent, let me state what I actually think about walkable—or more importantly, livable—neighborhoods. 

The good news is that I believe that livable neighborhoods can be created with sensitive buildings of almost any size. However, unless a city starts with a “blank canvas,” it cannot maintain or increase its overall livability without respecting the livability of the neighborhoods that are already there. And although it is not nearly as much fun as diddling the built environment, we must pay much more attention to the social and psychological aspects of livability. Since people spend the vast majority of their lives in their homes, what is going on inside the buildings—old or new—is generally more important than the superficial sizes, shapes, and designs of the buildings. Rabbit warrens do not lead to healthy communities for humans. 

The bad news is that, unless we have a change in the current mayor, council majority, and high-level planning staff, I don’t believe that Berkeley can create livable neighborhoods with buildings of any size—small, medium, or large. This is because Berkeley has no commitment to creating livable neighborhoods, and won’t have until we change things dramatically at City Hall. Until we create the political will to make sure our new buildings improve our city, citizens have to look at how to best avoid doing damage to the urban environment we already have. Generally speaking, smaller buildings do less damage than larger ones. 

I like nice new buildings, and I wish I lived in a city where I would look forward to new buildings of any size. But unlike some “smart growth” simplicists—or in some cases, simpletons—I don’t confuse reality with wishing. 

Sharon Hudson 

• 

FLAWED COMPUTERS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As a computer scientist (former chair of the Compter Science Department at New York University), I have been deeply worried about these flawed machines for some time. They should be decertified immediately. 

Dr. Martin Davis 

• 

FLUORIDE IN THE WATER 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

There’s now a proposal being floated to “ban” bottled water sales in Berkeley. Eliminating a mountain of plastic bottles is welcome by everyone. However, the debate over bottled versus tap water has glossed over an important issue. California state law mandates that all tap water in California contain a toxic chemical: fluoride. Fluoride is a halogen, which causes DNA damage, injures the liver, causes uptake of aluminum which can contribute to Alzheimer symptoms, and loss of bone density. The list of toxic effects goes on. Flouridated toothpaste contains a warning against using fluoridated tooth paste with young children because young children tend to swallow everything in their mouths. While topical applications may prevent cavities, eating fluoride poisons us. Thirty years ago countries such as Germany, Sweden, The Netherlands and Japan stopped fluoridating their drinking water, and they have not experienced an increase in cavities. Let’s keep all those plastic bottles out of the landfill by giving everyone safe, clean, chemically free water. Our elected officials should stop requiring water districts to poison its customers. Until we get rid of the fluoride in tap water, I’m happy to drink bottled. 

Yolanda Huang 

• 

HANDGUNS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Hardesty ( 7/10-7/12) claims that his estimate that gun owners use their guns for self-defense several million times per year is reasonable because people don’t report a crime that has been deterred. If this claim is true, either gun owners are far more at risk of being assaulted than non gun owners, or non gun owners are defending themselves against millions of violent crimes without the use of guns. Several web sources (see for example www.cbsnews. com/stories/2002/09/09/national/main521212.shtml) agree that for most crimes the actual crime rate is about 50 percent of the reported rate (murders are almost all reported). This leads to a current estimate of about one million violent crimes per year. If Hardesty is correct, gun carriers are exposed to over two million violent crime attempts per year. According to Hardesty half the adult population owns a gun, but probably only half of that number have their gun when they are being accosted. If people with or without gun access during a crime have equal risk this leads to an estimate that the non-gun people are exposed to 6 to 7 million violent crime attempts per year. If a significant number (25 to 30 percent) of the successful violent crimes happened to the gun carriers then the probability of defending or avoiding an actual assault is no better for people with guns than for people without. Alternatively, people with guns could be more at risk. People in unsafe areas possibly are more likely to own guns and thus skew the risk ratio, however it is equally plausible that people without guns are more likely to avoid unsafe areas and situations. In addition, people without guns are more likely to walk away from a situation that is becoming dangerous, instead of sticking around until they have to attempt to rescue themselves with a gun. Even if Hardesty’s self-defense estimate is true, which I doubt, these arguments show that it is insufficient by itself to prove that guns make people safer. 

Hardesty doesn’t think 800 accidental deaths per year from guns is significant, but it is 10 percent of the homicides by guns. He completely ignored my demonstration of why comparing crime statistics without evaluating social factors is useless, and even more importantly ignored the point that there are non-lethal alternatives to guns (sprays and tazers). It is intellectually dishonest to ignore points that are inconsistent with a desired conclusion. 

A correction and one final point: I reside in Berkeley not Oakland, and I did not make an ad hominem attack on Mr. Hardesty. An “ad hominem”, attack is when one asserts that the person is dishonest or incompetent, and therefore their arguments are invalid. It is not an hominem attack to state that it is dishonest to state an opinion as a fact. 

Robert Clear 

• 

PRIVATIZATION OF  

DEMOCRACY 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Remember Diebold’s CEO saying that he would help elect George Bush president? How safe is our electronic ballot? 

Companies involved in Califoria’s recent voting machine review say that the tests on touch screen machines were unrealistic. All machines failed miserably. How realistic is it that America’s public elections are now in the hands of private corporations? Democracy has been privatized. 

How difficult would it have been for malevolent forces intent on stealing elections to compromise prior contests in 2000, ’02 and ’04? All that was required was to have the source codes, operating manuals and access to software—easy for insiders or anyone to get. 

Given its track record is anything beneath this administration? 

Ron Lowe  

Grass Valley, CA 

• 

WE THE PEOPLE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The question of what to do about Iraq is attracting tsunami waves of responses from Congress, Bush, cabinet officers, military top brass and numerous “expert” advisors. Conflicting, contradictory and overlapping answers spread into every available media space and, irrespective of political or professional source, most voices begin with the first person plural pronoun, “we”:  

We must stay, we must win, we must withdraw, we must not give up, we must accept, we must force/help their government, we must allow more time, we must change course, we this …we that. 

By definition “we” functions as a place holder, in this case for an unspecified group and yet none of the many voices take the time to identify the referent when they use it to answer the question. Why? 

“We” often refers to an assembly of family, friends, professional associates, political colleagues and such, but not in this instance because the question concerns national interest and the speakers are governmental leaders and policy makers.  

Given the context of the question, “we” can only stands for “We, the people of the United States.” That’s what Republicans, Democrats, Bush and his top advisors want us to believe. But they’re wrong.  

“We,” meaning our legislative and executive representatives, invaded Iraq on false claims, followed inept planning that has left our mighty military stuck like br’er fox to the Iraq tar-baby.  

“We,” meaning an estimated seven citizens out of ten want to detach our soldiers. We, the people recognize the folly and mendacity of our leaders. We, the people can foresee more carnage in the trap the wily al Qaeda rabbit has sprung.  

We, the people want the troops home. The sooner, the better. 

Marvin Chachere 

San Pablo 

• 

WEAPONS DEAL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The Bush administration wants our federal government to allow a 20 billion dollar weapons deal with Saudi Arabia and other non-democracies. Saudi Arabia is a dictatorship. Their royal family is against democracy, equality, human rights, and civil liberties. They don’t support freedoms of speech, press, and religion. Women only have what liitle rights their men will allow them to have. The Bible is illegal, and any citizen who converts to Christianity can be executed. Don’t forget that Osama bin Laden and most of the 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. Some ‘’experts’’ say that this advanced weapons deal will be a good counter to Iran. I wonder if these are the same experts who said that supporting Saddam Hussein would be a good counter to Iran. Look how that turned out. Our country should support secular democracies, not theocratic dictatorships.  

Chuck Mann 

Greensboro, NC 

• 

INACCURACY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Riya Bhattacharjee inaccurately describes our position on HRAs in an otherwise well-written article about the recent Pacific Steel Health Risk Assessment (”Pacific Steel Releases Health Assessment, Citizens Say Process Flawed,” July 31). In response to the repeated delays in the process, I did say that the release of the HRA was long overdue. However, Communities for a Better Environment does not support the use of HRAs in general, or for this facility in particular, for several reasons. As CBE has stated publicly, HRAs tend to underestimate chemical exposure, ignore a facility’s cumulative impacts, and concentrate on risk management rather than the proper focus: preventing pollution. 

The pollution prevention approach is also called Toxics Use Reduction (TUR). As Ms. Bhattacharjee correctly reported, CBE joins public health experts and community advocates in endorsing a toxic use reduction program as “a more comprehensive and health-protective method than the HRA.” It would require a facility to examine and improve its practices, and develop strategies to reduce its use of toxic chemicals in the first place. In fact, Dr. Wilson proposed this approach to the City of Berkeley almost two years ago. 

The state legislature is currently considering a Toxics Use Reduction Act that would require industrial facilities to report and reduce their toxic chemicals, with the aim of reducing statewide use of toxics by 50%. This bill, which has passed the State Assembly, would move us away from mere risk analysis toward actual toxics reduction. The writing is on the wall for Pacific Steel and any other industrial facility: protect community health through real pollution reduction. 

Philip Huang 

Communities for a Better Environment 

Oakland 

• 

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

On July 31, 2007 Robert A. Sunshine, Assistant Director for Budget Analysis at the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) testified that Bush’s “war on terrorism” could cost an additional “$1,010 billion over the 2008-2017 period.” Since the CBO only deals with budget matters, Mr. Sunshine did not shed any light on how many more hundreds of thousands of deaths, if not millions, would result as a result of the war. For those who are math challenged, the CBO estimate is over a trillion dollars for the next ten years. This is on top of the $602 billion already budgeted according to the CBO. 

According to the testimony provided to the Committee on the Budget of the House of Representatives, the “CBO projected the costs through 2017 of all activities associated with operations in Iraq, Afghan-istan, and the war on terrorism…” They used two scenarios, one where the military force levels on the ground in the “war on terrorism” would be reduced to 30,000 in 2010 and remain at that level through 2017. In that “rosy” scenario, the war would cost up to $603 billion over the 10 year period. In the second scenario, troop levels would only go down to 75,000 by 2013. That is the one trillion plus scenario. The CBO testimony also made clear that they were not counting naval personnel deployed aboard ships to fight the “war on terrorism” so these are low-ball estimates of the actual possible costs. 

These are only estimates by the CBO and they do not take into account possible expansion of the “war on terrorism.” Both scenarios are based on a reduction of troop levels on the ground in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other places. But what if the U.S. attacks Iran or other countries? How many more will die and how much will it cost to kill them? 

Clearly any scenario that continues the so-called “war on terrorism” is unacceptable and will just be a continuation of the Bush regime’s crimes against humanity. The cost in lives and in dollars is far too high to allow this regime to exist more than one more day. 

To see how you can rid the world of the scourge of the Bush regime, please see worldcantwait.org. 

Kenneth J. Theisen 

Oakland

The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) meeting sponsored by the Transportation Commission on July 24 was even worse than I imagined it would be. The meeting was facilitated by the Chair of the Transportation Commission, Sarah Syed. She treated the people in the room as if they were a group of schoolchildren—rather than concerned Berkeley citizens who had volunteered their time on a weekday evening to weigh in on an important city issue. She was unfriendly and impatient right from the very start. She snapped orders at people and threatened to throw people out of the meeting. What were members of the audience doing that was so unacceptable? Just trying to express concerns about BRT, nothing more. She just would not allow it! 

During the meeting, Ms. Syed treated speakers in the audience in a blatantly inconsistent manner. She showed absolute deference to some people (who were allowed to speak at great length without any interruption), but quickly interrupted and cut off others. People who expressed views most at odds with her views were the ones who were censored. 

In Friday’s issue of the Daily Planet (July 27), Sarah Syed is quoted as saying, “The whole workshop has been designed to allow public participation. We want to hear from the people.” George Orwell, meet your new poster child. Sure, they wanted to hear from the people—the ones who agreed with their BRT plan and wanted to discuss how to implement it, but not from anybody who had questions or criticisms of BRT. That was strictly off-limits. And the picture on the cover of the Planet illustrated another mechanism of social engineering. It all looks good: Ms. Syed is listening attentively, poised to write down the thoughts of a public citizen on her clipboard. This occurred after the meeting had been broken down into small discussion groups—a technique that a speaker at the recent ABAG conference in Berkeley had recommended as an effective way to control citizen activists. They are more manageable if you can limit the number of people who hear their thoughts, and you can control them with discussion group facilitators who have strong agendas. But Ms. Syed will undoubtedly claim that it was to make it easier for audience members to get an opportunity to speak. Don’t be fooled. It’s all about social control. The will of the people is best expressed only after it has been carefully eviscerated and then re-engineered.  

All in all, Sarah Syed did an excellent job—of demonstrating to the public the way the Transportation Commission really functions now. It is a Commission unto itself, without the need for any input from pesky Berkeley citizens. It has a vision of the true and right way that transportation will occur in this town, and everybody else’s needs and values can be ignored. This is their particular method of “consensus-building”: anybody who disagrees with them should just leave town. 

It should be noted that Sarah Syed is Mayor Tom Bates’ appointee to the Transportation Commission. That makes sense. She seems to share his contempt for public involvement in decision-making in our city. How very sad. 

Doug Buckwald is a civic activist.

Tuesday night, July 23rd, I witnessed an exercise in mind control in the disguise of a meeting of a transit subcommittee of the Transportation Commis-sion. The subject of the meeting was to discuss the proposed BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) as it affects the South Side area. The meeting was run by the Chair of the Transportation Commission. Most of the attendees have attended more than one meeting about BRT so that the Chair knew many of the attendees by name and their position on this issue.  

From the outset it was clear that the vast majority of the attendees—mostly Tele-graph area business owners and residents of the neighborhoods on either side of Telegraph Avenue—were opposed to the major component of the BRT plan—converting two lanes on Telegraph into high speed bus-only lanes. But the Chair controlled the agenda, which she said was to see what we could do working together to improve BRT implementation. 

When attendees were recognized and made comments questioning the feasibility of this portion of BRT plan, the Chair badgered and cut the speakers off and at two points threatened to have the speakers removed from the meeting. The business owners and neighbors raised concerns on such issues as how many parking spaces will be removed from Telegraph, where the replacement spaces will be located, how the two lanes of Telegraph will be turned over to AC Transit, who will maintain these lanes once the BRT starts, what entity will be responsible for policing violations in the exclusive bus lanes, how cross traffic on Telegraph will be handled, how BRT will be evaluated if it is implemented, and if it does not generate the volume of ridership that AC Transit predicts if it can be scaled back or undone, etc. None of these questions were answered.  

After the brief public session, the Chair counted off the attendees and assigned each by number to one of six groups, each headed by a City of Berkeley staff member. The small groups were directed to review specific BRT route alternatives and make a list of issues that BRT needs to address to facilitate its implementation.  

The group I joined had six people. A straw poll at the start showed that five of the six—business owners and neighbors—were in favor of the Rapid Bus plan that was implemented but opposed to the BRT. The sixth person, a member of Friends of BRT who lives near the North Berkeley Senior Center, far away from the BRT project, was in favor of it. But we are all well-socialized people and we did what we were told to do. We set to work pouring over the maps of the BRT route south of campus and considered which streets BRT should follow. Should Telegraph between Dwight and Bancroft be two-way for buses only? Should the intersection of Bancroft and Telegraph be closed to all non-bus traffic? Should Bancroft be one way or two way? It was classic divide and conquer.  

The leader of each small group reported to the whole the issues that had been identified. What had started as a mostly cohesive anti-BRT audience had dissolved into tame individuals. After the presentations, one of the attendees asked if the transit subcommittee was going to schedule another meeting where people could express their concerns to the BRT proposal. The Chair said, no, that this meeting had covered that subject. At the end I don’t think that anyone had changed their position, and we certainly hadn’t chosen a route for BRT through the south side. 

You can listen to the audio of the meeting at www.berkeleypublictransit.blogspot. com. 

Is this how they do it in totalitarian countries? Here in Berkeley we expect our elected officials and their representatives to take the views of the people into account when making decisions that will affect life in our city. On the contrary, what I see at virtually every meeting to consider BRT is a closed loop between AC Transit and its consultants and the Berkeley Trans-portation Department and Commission. Neighbors and business owners are becoming increasingly frustrated that their views and concerns are not being considered. Massive change needs to be developed from the bottom up, not imposed from the top down.  

There are so many bad things happening right now—BRT and the Wright’s Garage situation come to mind. What can we citizens do to get our city back on track? 

Mary Oram is an Elmwood resident.

The rapid pace of proposed development for this town reminds me of post-war development, not only as in post-WW2, but as in post-Civil War. Buildings were decimated; towns pillaged; landscapes burned. People’s lives destroyed.  

OK. Southerners may have deserved it. I can say that because I was born a southerner, raised a southerner, and will always be one, I suppose. 

But here we are in Berkeley, and we did not ask for this. Our ideals are being manipulated and used against us. To save the planet and reduce urban sprawl, we are supposed to accept the destruction of buildings and landscapes that make a town a home, give a town definition, make a place special and less common.  

People can become attached to buildings and places when they harmonize and complement families and communities. And this, it would seem, is a good thing that is one small antidote to the potential alienation of modern American life in the 21st century.  

Artists are under siege in West Berkeley. This is the human landscape, being decimated, writ large. Affordable housing and live-work space are lost so that affordable housing and live-work space can be built. 

The downtown will somehow magically be transformed by the addition of out-of-scale buildings as if tall buildings did any good in previous iterations. 

And, the sleeper issue is the imminent loss of wild open space in walking distance of the downtown—Strawberry Canyon. Because this is “the university’s land,” we have incorrectly abandoned our sense of stewardship. 

Next week there are several opportunities to learn more about Strawberry Canyon. The Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA) is sponsoring two events. One is a lecture by Charles Birnbaum, a nationally renowned expert on cultural landscapes, who will speak Thursday, August 9, 7:30 p.m. at the Town and Gown Club. The next night there will be a choice of four rambles around the canyon and a barbecue will follow at the Haas Club House in Strawberry Canyon. They promise to be most enjoyable evenings. Please check out the BAHA website for more detail. http://berkeley heritage.com/weblog/2007/07/cultural-landscapes.html The events stand on their own; you can attend any or all.  

Equally stimulating will be a public scoping session on the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s proposed construction of two buildings in Strawberry Canyon. On Wednesday, August 8, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, the Lab will receive public comment on the scope of the draft environmental impact report for the proposed development of 310,000 gsf of new construction including the controversial Helios Energy Research Facility (HERF). Among other problems with the HERF, it would be built on undeveloped land in the interior of Strawberry Canyon. Additional information can be found at www.lbl.gov/ Community/Helios/ 

As we become an increasingly dense community, we need open space, and wild, undeveloped places, more than ever. This might be “university land,” but our stewardship transcends the university’s “ownership.”  

Strawberry Canyon needs us, too. The time is now. 

Janice Thomas is a Panoramic Hill resident.

I was shocked to read in the San Francisco Chronicle in the Matier and Ross column that our Berkeley Rent Board Commissioner Chris Kavanagh is defending an eviction proceeding from his home in Oakland. If these allegations are true, that Mr. Kavangh perjured himself when he signed election papers to seek the position of Berkeley Rent Board Commissioner, then he must be prosecuted for that perjury by the Alameda County District Attorney’s office. If he is not prosecuted, then our election laws, which are sacred, become meaningless and subject to fraud and manipulation by unscrupulous individuals.  

If Mr. Kavanaugh is defending an eviction proceeding from a cottage that he claims is his home in Oakland, he has again perjured himself. He can’t legally reside in two locations. Either he lives and votes in Berkeley, or he lives and votes in Oakland. If he illegally registered and voted in Berkeley, that would be another crime. This case warrants thorough investigation. As an elected official he is held to a high standard of fairness and trust. How could one ever appear in front of the rent board and assume they will receive due process and the fair hearings and decisions they are entitled to by law when individuals like this sit in judgment. If these allegations are true, I wonder if any of the matters he voted on are legal and binding. If these allegations are true and I were a claimant, I would seek a new hearing on any matter he was involved in. His attorney Marc Janowitz, a former rent board commissioner, should not be allowed to make appearances in front of the board or represent claimants in matters before the board, as he would likely have a conflict of interest. 

I don’t know if people are aware that rent board commissioners receive $500 a month for serving on the rent board and also receive health insurance coverage, both at taxpayer expense. At Mr. Kavanaugh’s age, the health insurance coverage benefit is probably worth between $400 to $700 per month. If Mr. Kavanaugh was truly not a Berkeley resident, he has been receiving these funds and benefits through fraud. After investigation to get to the facts, I believe it is incumbent on the Berkeley City Attorney, if the investigation so warrants, to file a civil suit against Mr. Kavanaugh for reimbursement of all funds and benefits he has received at our, the taxpayer’s expense. Such a suit should include a claim for punitive damages as Mr. Kavanaugh has engaged in an intentional act which, if it is true, amounts to fraud against a public entity. The City of Berkeley should be able to recover a tidy sum. I calculate five plus years of benefits amounting to at least $1,000 per month to be worth $60,000 not including puntive damage claims. If the allegations in the Matier and Ross column are accurate, the public needs to know that public fraud will be punished both criminally and civily. 

Why do rent board commissioners need to be paid and receive health coverage benefits when no other Berkeley commissioners are paid or receive healthcare benefits? With vacany decontrol now the law in California, there is very little the rent board commissioners actually do. I believe they may meet for a total of 2-3 hours per month and do basically almost meaningless committee work. Other commission involve far more work. Have you ever watched a rent board meeting. Most of the time, the commissioners engage in longwinded philosophical discourses and rarely discuss anything meaningful. They appear to be pressed to fill the time of the meetings with anything of substance and often laugh and joke around. I guess I would laugh and joke around if I were on the public dole. It is a good gig if you can get it.  

Paul M. Schwartz is a Berkeley resident.

In the “Ten Questions for Council-member Dona Spring” (07-20-07), “high rents,” which soak up much of the residents’ income and prevents people from being able to afford to live in Berkeley, was at the top of the pressing issues. 

To solve this problem, we need to understand the economics of land. The civic services of Berkeley, along with the other levels of government, make Berkeley a better place to live and work in, which increases the demand for real estate here. The rentals and prices of real estate therefore increase. This is really an increase in land values, as the value of buildings and other improvements are based on their costs of production minus depreciation. 

If landowners paid for civic services such as streets, transit, parks, schools, security, fire protection, and public health, their land values would go back down, since they would be paying for value received. But in our tax system, little of the cost of public services are borne by landowners. Most of public revenue comes from taxes on wages, including sales taxes that are paid from wages. The burden of taxes on business is mostly passed on to consumers as higher prices and to workers as lower wages or less employment, since if an enterprise does not make at least a normal profit, it eventually ceases to exist. 

So taxes push wages down while pumping up rents and real estate prices. The big gap between high rents and high cost of living, and low wages for many workers, is caused by tax policy, not by the market as such. To remedy this, we must reform taxation to decrease taxes on wages and increase taxes on land rent or land value. This can be done by repealing Proposition 13 and replacing it with a property tax based on the current market price of land. The value of buildings and other improvements would be not be taxed. Going further, a high tax on land value can also replace California’s regressive sales tax. Even further, the state income tax can be replaced with taxes on pollution from factories, power plants, buildings, and cars. 

Such a radical change will require a big social-justice movement, but it gives us the direction for reform to raise wages and reduce the cost of living. Despite Proposition 13, local governments have enacted property taxes, such as Berkeley’s parcel taxes for city landscaping, lighting, library services, schools, AC Transit, and services for the disabled. Berkeley also has real estate transfer taxes, hotel taxes, and assessments for special districts. Berkeley also has utility taxes that increase the cost of living, and a permits that add costs to enterprise. These taxes could be shifted into parcel taxes on land instead of on improvements, transfers, enterprise, and utility usage.  

If the residents of Berkeley are serious about greenhouse emissions, they should also get the city to levy a tax on all pollution taking place within the city. That plus a shift to land-based taxes would reduce pollution while raising wages, increasing employment, and reducing the cost of housing. Businesses would gain from paying less tax and paying less rent. 

Proposition 13 prevents Berkeley from levying a tax explicitly on land value, but Berkeley can get around this with parcel taxes on land with rates that vary among districts as well as revenues authorized by “Mello-Roos” legislation and from assessments on land. Taxes on land are borne by the landowners rather than by tenants, if the landlord was already charging what the market can bear. 

Most Berkeley homeowners will get a net benefit, since they already pay taxes, and for most, this would be a neutral or beneficial shift. Owners of commercial land would generally pay more, but they have been getting a huge subsidy from city services paid for by others, and they have no legitimate complaint about no longer being subsidized. Special consideration could be provided for real estate owners who would have a burden, such as retired folks with low income and high property values, who would be able to postpone their civic dues. 

Berkeley has attempted to treat the symptoms of the artificial wage-tax disparity with rent control, living wage laws, and low-cost housing, but as Dona Spring rightly points out, the problem has persisted and gotten worse. It will take state and federal reforms to bring wages up and housing prices down to their natural levels, but Berkeley can enact its own reforms, and we can’t really complain about the state and federal governments if we do not start the ball rolling in Berkeley.  

The basic problem is that current taxes push wages down, while government spending pumps house prices up. The residents of Berkeley pay twice for city services: once with higher rent and again with taxes. The remedy is to have a single payment, from rent. Untax wages and goods, and shift public revenue to land. Nothing else will cure the problem of low wages and high rent.  

Fred Foldvary lives in Berkeley and teaches economics at Santa Clara University.

The Planet is to be congratulated. While Matier and Ross broke the story of Chris Kavanagh’s floating domicile, Judith Scherr’s astute reporting adds an awful lot to the picture. Despite filing numerous statements (under penalty of perjury) stating he was a Berkeley tenant, Rent Board Commissioner Chris has apparently lived in Oakland since at least 2001. He has never lived at either 22 Tunnel Road or 2709 Dwight Way, where he has registered to vote. Indeed, he cares so much about his Oakland pad that he is now in court fighting the owner’s effort to move him out. In the meantime, his “residence” is the Elmwood post office.  

Some cynical Berkeleyans will dismiss Chris’s fibs as typical behavior from elected officials. Others will blame political enemies for Kavanagh’s current embarrassment, as if an elected official’s “progressive” views somehow excuse voter fraud. And some will say they just don’t care, because what could be less important than the political backwater that is the Berkeley Rent Board?  

Why does all this matter? Won’t the politicians say a few pious words, sprinkle some holy water, and let the sinner go free, just as they did in 2002 when the problem first came to light?  

I hope not. Voters have a right to expect office-holders to tell the truth. We expect them to obey the law, including the requirement that they reside in Berkeley. Telling the truth and obeying the law is especially important when the elected official serves as a judge. This is the primary function of the Rent Board on which Chris serves: it sits in judgment on hundreds of landlord-tenant disputes, and can award thousands of dollars in fines and damages. Its rulings are given deference by the Superior Court. Its budget of $3.3 million, and its staff of 20, are impervious to review by the City Council or anyone else. This is real power, and (as the saying goes) power corrupts.  

The city must go beyond the simple issue of where Chris Kavanagh lays his weary head. Let us take the situation of Marc Janowitz, who was Vice Chair of the Rent Board prior to 2002. Janowitz left the Board, and sponsored Chris Kavanagh as a successor. He then migrated to private practice with the East Bay Community Law Center. EBCLC solicits tax-deductible contributions, supposedly to provide legal services to poverty-stricken tenants. Indeed, once on the Rent Board, Kavanagh joined in voting for contracts that have brought more than $500,000 in legal fees (funded by taxes on landlords) to Janowitz and EBCLC. Now, Janowitz and the EBCLC represent Kavanagh personally in a matter that seems to show beyond question that Kavanagh has for years been ineligible to serve on the Rent Board.  

This is what they call a conflict of interest, and may be something worse.  

Add the Section 8 scandal (where Kavanagh was the strongest defender of the status quo), and the near bankruptcy of the Affordable Housing Trust Fund (which Kavanagh administered for some years as a Housing Advisory Commis-sioner), and you get the idea. Berkeley housing policy consists of (1) a federal Section 8 program, which has been found to be riddled with incompetence and outright corruption; (2) a rent control program that protects very few tenants, but provides millions in salaries, benefits and third party payments to a “progressive” slate and its friends; and (3) “smart growth” policies that have alienated the neighborhoods and emptied the Trust Fund.  

These policies have been sold to us by an inbred group of elected officials and staffers who support each other tenaciously. I don’t expect the Rent Board to do anything about their fellow member, perhaps because they themselves have known the truth for a long time. Nor will the Council majority do much: a lot of them are Kavanagh’s political allies who have no more desire to probe Rent Board operations than they had to investigate the Section 8 mess when it first came to light in 2002.  

But once more for the record: even folks who come to power with good intentions are subject to temptation. Those who come to power with no scruples at all will be corrupted. That is what has happened here, and what must be investigated if we are to maintain any pretense of open and democratic government.  

David Wilson has been Berkeley resident for 45 years. Though sympatheitc to some of its goals, he is not a part of BPOA.

I have found that the challenge of healthy living is this: to adapt the body that my ancestors carefully evolved to live a particular way of life to the demands of life in twenty-first century Berkeley. What an undertaking! 

My hunter/gatherer ancestors walked all day, every day just to amass food, water, and fire fuel enough for survival. They did not read printed text, but they were well aware of the messages the various flora and fauna communicated through scent, sound, and color. They had to learn to read the signs of the winds and the clouds to avoid being stuck in the wrong places during rough weather. They weren’t smarter than I am, they just developed other ways of learning about a very different world than the one I experience. 

So, what did they do? They gave me a body that, if it does not get lots of exercise every day, will develop all kinds of cardiovascular problems. They gave me eyes that see colors well, but are poor at distinguishing detail. The gave me a legendary sense of smell, which is highly undervalued in a culture that believes that only pine, floral, and lemon are acceptable scents. Those hunter/gatherers definitely did not prepare me for life in my current habitat. 

Although they did provide me with a remarkable immunity to the various viruses and bacteria that share my habitat, they could never have foreseen the dangers that beset me each day as I walk streets infested with powerful motor vehicles which, though they are not so much hostile to the pedestrian as they are indifferent, are nonetheless deadly. For that, I must use the instincts they probably honed while on the alert for wild animals lurking in thick vegetation. Even so, I doubt if they provided me with any protection against the toxic fumes the modern hazardous beasts spew. 

There is evidence that at least some of my ancestors became herders and farmers. They also walked all day behind the flocks or the plow, but they had a pattern of eating well in the warm months and very lean in the winter. Since I have access to the same amounts of food all year long, I have a tendency to gain weight in the winter, no matter how much I try to avoid it. Luckily, the winter weight seems to melt off with the lengthening days without too much effort, but creatures raised in captivity, be they animal or vegetable; predator or prey; develop different characteristics than those whose lives are spent in the wild, and every year the doctors and scientists tell me that something else that I enjoy eating is bad for me. Since truly wild food is all but unavailable in Berkeley, I eat what I can and try not to lose sleep over the consequences. 

Foraging in Berkeley presents me with possibilities that would surely have overwhelmed those distant ancestors. Nearly every tribe on the planet has brought its cuisine within my reach. Like most of the people I know, I find the greatest challenge is to pace myself. Few meals, small meals, and no all-day or late-night snacking seem to work best for me. 

For low-emission transportation, nothing beats a good long walk, especially after a healthy meal. Walking allows me to connect with my fellow creatures, human, animal, and plant, and to stay informed about what is going on in the neighborhood. Over the years I have come to recognize many Berkeley faces; merchants and mendicants; children and the adults they become; longtime residents and new arrivals. I especially enjoy watching the fruit trees go through their annual cycle, and greeting the roses (the girls, I call them) that bloom at the end of my block. Sometimes I chuckle as I pass a gym and see people who pay a fee to walk on a treadmill to nowhere, while I walk from my home to my destination for free, with lots of entertainment along the way. To each his own. 

The main thing that seems to keep me sane is to remind myself that, since nature never intended that humans should live to be more that about 40-years-old, I have long since exceeded my allotted time. Everything from here on is overtime (which is worth at least time and a half, right?)  

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.

LAUFER’S KPFA  

PROGRAM 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Like you, I’m disappointed with Peter Laufer’s Sunday program. After Larry Bensky’s hard-hitting, relevant, and intelligent political discussions with experts, Laufer’s program is Marin-lite. He seems to want to please everyone; there is no anger or indignation at current politics, which even Robbie Osman evinces in his folk music program Across the Great Divide, which follows Laufer’s. Instead of dealing with very urgent political issues like: To impeach or not to impeach, Gonzalez’s obfuscation and lying, the sham peace conference called by Bush, the overdevelopment of Berkeley (and our mayor’s complicity in it), on and on, Laufer gives us tepid commentary in the name of egalitarianism: an hour on the English language, murals, food, etc., etc. Bensky may have offended lots of people with his strong opinions and arrogant personality, but he also challenged our critical thinking. Give me Bensky any day! 

Estelle Jelinek 

• 

REP. CONYERS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I’m sorry that the authors saw our deep disappointment with Congressman Conyers as racist. One of the three people who met with Rep. John Conyers on July 23 was Reverend Lennox Yearwood, who has worked with Conyers for years and calls the congressman his mentor. Rev. Yearwood emerged from the meeting with a heavy heart and extreme disappointment at Conyers’ refusal to endorse impeachment. 

Days later, when hearing that the action at Conyers’ office was considered racist, Rev. Yearwood wrote:  

“To my African-American counterparts who take issue with the white progressive anti-war movement, I understand your criticism of our recent action in Mr. Conyers office, but I do not agree. It was extremely difficult to challenge a man that means so much to African-Americans, but impeaching Bush is critical to the future of our country.  

Impeachment begins in the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, which Rep. John Conyers chairs. He is in the position to begin the impeachment process or keep it from happening, and no other human being is in that position. If Rep. Conyers does not put forth impeachment then we have no recourse and the Democrats will have failed us. 

This moment is not about race, it is about our future as a country.” 

While we are disappointed with Conyers on impeachment, we continue to respect him for his lifelong achievements and to have a good working relationship with him. Moreover, our closest allies in Congress in this anti-war work are, without a doubt, members of the Black Caucus. We work, on almost a daily basis, with Maxine Waters, Barbara Lee and Diane Watson. We have had yearly events on women and peace with Eddie Bernice Johnson. Both Cindy and I went to Georgia to work on the congressional campaign of Cynthia McKinney. Cong. Carrie Meek from Florida and his wife, both African-American, are great fans of Code Pink (and our neighbors here in D.C.). We work very closely with newly-elected African-American Muslim Congressman Keith Ellison, who is very concerned about the war and working with us to stop a new war with Iran, as is Cong. Gregory Meeks. We have a very close relationship with civil rights veteran and staunch anti-war Congressman John Lewis, and work closely with Sheila Jackson Lee from Texas. On issues related to Africa, we look to Donald Payne for leadership and have a close working relationship. 

Medea Benjamin 

P.S.: I also support reparations.  

• 

PLAYING THE RACE CARD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

A segregated world of white liberal activists and media personalities revealed itself when it played the race card against Congressman John Conyers. Understandably angry at being arrested at Conyers’ office after he refused to push an impeachment resolution in the U.S. Congress, their anger turned “stupid,” to use Becky O’Malley’s term from her July 27 editorial. 

Perhaps “ignorant” applies. Only people in a white cocoon would add to the legitimate gripe about Congressman Conyers’ decision racially divisive jibes that Conyers was a poor representative of the Congressional Black Caucus, was “no Martin Luther King,” had forgotten the meaning of Selma, Alabama, and was a living insult to his former co-worker, Rosa Parks. 

The derision is spewed upon Conyers by three writers on Commondreams.org, where a fourth writer, Rev Lennox Yearwood, Jr. defends the sit-in but avoids mention of the slurs. Of 72 writers contributing to the issue, Yearwood is the only black (excluding a 1974 statement by Barbara Jordan), and there are no Latinos. A consistent exponent of white liberal aloofness is Air America radio. The network currently features nine radio hosts, all whites. The local 960 Quake radio affiliate has four independent hosts, all whites. In a number of cities the network got on the air by purchasing African American or Latino stations. Old staffs were dumped, according to an article in ColorLines. 

An exemplary Air America host is Thom Hartmann, who quotes heavy tomes about the constitution, damns the war in Iraq, but cuts off callers about immigration with his quip, “We don’t have an immigration problem, we have an employer problem.” O.K., but what about the U.S. policies driving millions North, and what about the migra raids that tear apart families? Hartmann’s understanding of Hispanics shows in his pronunciations of towns with Hispanic names. A few weeks ago, his screen flashed that he had a caller from what he called, “Lay Joel La,” that coastal town near San Diego. 

The cocooned white libs may pronounce black names correctly, but they show their true colors when they pick on John Conyers for his race. 

Ted Vincent 

• 

UNFORTUNATE DETOUR 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It’s not easy to decide that persons I honor and respect, like the “Code Pink” activists, have taken an unfortunate detour from the very goal that I have also honored—to immediately end our crimes in Iraq, and to return our military. I was also convinced that demanding Bush’s impeachment seemed like a no-brainer-route to that end! But now, I’ve heard persons who I honor and respect just as much, like Representatives Conyers and Kucinich, who question this path. They fear impeachment proceedings will involve Congress far too long. Every day that our best minds and energies are used for this litigation, there will be simultaneous daily horrors continuing in Iraq.  

Impeachment of a president was probably never more justified, but has, I now believe, become an unwise diversion, as has any issue of racism, such as in this attack of frustration on Conyers. We are embarrassed and grieved by this seemingly endless waste of humanity—American, Iraq, and others! But to unwisely split our view of the correct path to peace, we may only prolong the chaos.  

Gerta Farber 

• 

MAYOR BATES AND  

THE HOMELESS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Becky O’Malley’s editorial “all about attitude” reports on a KPFA interview by Larry Bensky’s replacement person of Mayor Tom Bates. 

He provided Bates with ample opportunity to express his well-known distaste with individuals to be found on our Berkeley streets. Clearly Becky has touched the pulse of the community. However “all about attitude” doesn’t hit the complexity as I’m acquainted with it. When we did the April Coalition in 1971, one thing that happened was Tom got involved with Loni. But there was also politics, and the “center” was that—in the name of coalition between the “hippies” and the “politicos”—the idea of putting people in their place for “attitude” was replaced by an agenda of “listen.” Now Tom is presenting the so-called “Commons” initiative with attitude, as indeed the quote above indicates. What’s changed, however, is the dialogue structure. Instead of accommodating “attitude,” it is becoming increasingly important to hear the advocacy of those abused and—if next month’s San Francisco American Psychological Association demo http://ethicalapa.com is relevant—yes, tortured. The way to do that is not just “listen” because that’s a way of taking in .. raw pain. It requires taking people’s advocacy more seriously than the mere civility of “listen.” 

Tom quotes Berkeley Mental Health that “40 percent of the folks on the street” are ‘hardcore resistant’ to services, “treatment,” and the like. His choice, and that of Mental Health here, is “behavior management by compassion (if possible) by force (if necessary).” The alternative politics is to promote a “culture of responsibility.” It’s to see that those “40 percent” do have a point. Since the time of Gus Newport, such an alternative has not been policy. Wendy Georges—heroic advocate of the “culture of responsibility” with the Food Project—was herself “behavior managed.” 

Psychologically, the editorial does what it rails against, sitting “passively by while guests pitched the inevitability of unbridled capitalism.” We need to go beyond the “better yuppies” model, to speak more to the social change level where the advocacy of the “culture of responsibility” will be the center of discourse and activism. 

Andrew Phelps 

Former Chair, Berkeley Mental Health Advisory Board 

Former organizer, April Coalition 

• 

HOUSING AUTHORITY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

After reading all of the scandal concerning the Berkeley Housing Authority and knowing from experiencing what went on, I am not surprised at the way the Housing Authority protects their own…after all, we have heard the, “ put up or shut up” and “cover your ass” excuses by the elite of Berkeley. The untouchable well paid fired SEIU workers got to come back…get better jobs at City Hall.  

No one needs to see the film City Hall, with Al Pacino in the staring role. All we need to see are the returned former BHA employees who got hired back in spite of what went on at the Housing Authority. Many of us know from first hand that favors were made and deals were made behind the backs of the people who pay the salaries of city employees including Mayor Bates who I understand has enough to give away his small check. 

Does anyone care? Is it more important to protect city jobs and Section 8 status and keeping the Section 8 program in Berkeley? Many people are calling me and telling me sad stories, and it continues to bother me. “Favorite landlord status” and separate and unequal acts by BHA employees to oust a tenant who does not bow down to them is not new news, it is old news. A housing director who misplaced $400,000 of funds that were to go to disabled poor people is, I realize, old news. But so is the hanging of Christ who died on the cross for the poorest of the poor. 

Diane Villanueva 

• 

A FEW PLEASANT THINGS ABOUT BERKELEY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Since the City of Berkeley comes in for a great deal of “dissing” these days, I’d like to come to their defense and mention a few very pleasant events they offer our community. I had business in downtown Berkeley this afternoon and so just happened to run across the Thursday Noon Concert, sponsored by the Downtown Berkeley Association. Today’s program featured the Koz George Quartet, a group of young, very talented musicians, probably none older than 16. These concerts, given Thursdays in July and August, are located at the Berkeley Bart Station. Seats, under a canopy, are provided, making for a relaxed, very enjoyable lunch hour for office workers and shoppers. 

Another, equally pleasant event, is the Friday Afternoon Movie at the Main Berkeley Library. I saw a splendid film there last week, a powerful Danish movie Brothers. The next movie will be Sunset Boulevard, a picture well worth viewing a second time.  

Need I add, this sure beats forking over $7.50 at commercial theaters. Granted that the above are hardly earthshaking events, I think we should give Berkeley credit where credit is due! 

Dorothy Snodgrass 

• 

BIG BOX VS. WALKABLE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The stuff we need and like is so distant from us, so difficult to access because it’s so far away—big box instead of local. Health care, groceries, schools—what happened to local, to walk-to locations? They’ve been overcome by corporate conquests of the small business. They’ve been undone by theft our taxes that used to pay for local services. These are abetted by ruler-ship of the automobile and fuel makers: no reasonable public transportation!  

Community has been undone in favor of creating us slaves marching to service to big money: waged slavery. Meanwhile corporate control mandated by our state, federal and local governments prevent us caring for us and Earth. Talk about a planned economy! Not planned in our favor, but in favor of The Owners. Is that why we struggle for the dictatorship of the proletariat? 

Norma J. F. Harrison 

• 

ACCESS AWARD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In response to an April 6 letter to the editor, submitted by a commission chairman crowing over an award given to our city for its accessibility to disabled citizens, I have been paralyzed by irony. It has taken me months to recover from a conflict of not knowing whether to laugh or cry. 

Ask our mobile, disabled community of wheelchair users and blind pedestrians how often our lives are threatened by misleading apex curbcuts, broken sidewalks and traffic circles with high-growing vegetation that obscures drivers’ view of human traffic. 

The Transportation Commission, without first notifying commissions on aging and disability, removed pedestrian refuge areas from a busy thoroughfare, and say they plan to do another. 

It would seem to me that, considering the many broken sidewalks in Berkeley inaccessible to people in wheelchairs, which necessitates users having to move into busy streets, the treacherously tilted walkways, and the uneven concrete surfaces permitted by Public Works to accommodate developers for new construction, the mind of anyone would boggle at the idea of accepting an award for either accessibility or safety in Berkeley.  

Arlene Merryman 

• 

PACIFIC STEEL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I work a few days a month at an office in the Tannery, at the foot of Gilman Street, and I’m glad I don’t have to go there more often. It’s too near Pacific Steel Casting and I smell that unmistakable burnt-pot smell the neighbors complain of. I have even smelled it on occasion outside my house on Channing near McGee, miles away from the plant. It’s not the smell that’s the main problem, however, it’s the chemicals and particulates that are aggravating asthma among the neighbors of the plant. I had asthma as a child, and I know how scary it is to wake up in the night unable to draw a full enough breath to call out for help. I also just lost a sister-in-law to asthma. She lived in the none-too-clean air of lower Manhattan. 

Instead of quibbling about whether Pacific Steel Casting’s emissions are the 12th worst for health in the Bay Area, or the 14th, or the 18th, we need a health survey that will show what effect the emissions are having on actual people. The city needs to hold a public hearing where people’s concerns can be addressed. Ironically, the office where I work deals with the songs and recordings of my mother, Malvina Reynolds, who wrote “What Have They Done to the Rain,” a song about nuclear testing that has also been applied to acid rain, and could easily be applied to PSC: “Just a little breeze with some smoke in its eye...”  

Nancy Schimmel 

• 

ASSESSMENT TAX 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am extremely concerned with the proposed assessment tax in regard to the West Berkeley Community Benefits District. It appears to be funded and supported by big Berkeley developers. I wonder how something like this happens behind the backs of all the small people who will be affected. I am an artist, recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and two National Endowment for the Arts Grants. I own a studio in this district and have lived here since January of 1999. I also own a house on Allston Way. I am very distressed about another tax, which I see will only benefit the already affluent few. It is not what any of us need in this neighborhood. Our taxes are already exorbitantly high. My combined taxes for house and studio are roughly $16,000.00 a year. 

The big issue they claim to want to address, people demonstrating aggressive and disturbing behavior, is a sham. It reminds me of our current administration using terrorist threat and homeland security to keep us in a state of panic. I have never witnessed aggressive or disturbing behavior in my area, but seen it near the Fourth Street shopping area; a few people, probably schizophrenic, battling their demons; a few blind people, who the merchants would like to see gone. Is this not something for social services to address? How in the world do they think they are going to get these people off the streets with a private security system? These people need help, and have no power and no resources. 

Street cleaning, zoning issues, parking and transportation don’t seem like things we residents need to pay more taxes for. With all the taxes we pay why don’t we have regular street cleaning down here? 

I have spoken with a number of my neighbors about this and we are in the process of gathering names for a petition wanting to opt out of this net we are presently caught in. We are aware that large residential areas in this proposed special assessment district have already been excluded. However some of us who happen to live in this mixed use area are being thrown in with the big land owners and developers and being asked to pay for their personal agendas. The vote is weighted on money, property ownership and power. It is un-democratic and taxation without representation. 

Judy Dater 

• 

LENNON CORRECTION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I recently read an on-line Berkeley Daily Planet story by Cynthia Johnson concerning John Lennon and the event planned for last Saturday of which I am planning on attending. 

She stated that both John Lennon and his son Sean were born on the same day, July 27. This is in error, both father and son Lennon’s were born on Oct. 9. I am assuming that she may had been thinking of the date that her story was to appear in the Daily Planet at the time of the writing of the article, and that date remained with her. 

I do not consider this to be an important issue, unless Saturday’s events were scheduled near to the date that was thought to be Lennon’s birth date. Many attendees may be confused. 

M. C. Lanham 

• 

RIGID CURRICULUM 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

We have burdened our classrooms with a rigid curriculum. Real education is built on the spark of self-discovery. Are we prepared to devise a curriculum in which music and art and dance are primary? I believe many students become low achievers because they have not experienced the excitement of discovering something for themselves. It is time to restore the vitality of learning by providing students numerous opportunities for self-expression. 

Romila Khanna 

Albany 

• 

CHENEY’S SHENANIGANS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

For over two hours on July 21, Vice President Cheney held presidential power while Bush underwent a medical procedure. What executive orders did Acting President Cheney sign that might have given additional powers to the vice president? What secret “findings” did Cheney sign that might have authorized extra-legal activities by covert agencies? What pardons might Cheney have signed to free his convicted aid, Lewis Libby, or perhaps to shield Cheney’s accomplice, Donald Rumsfeld? 

How many investigative reporters has your news organization assigned to look for answers? 

Bruce Joffe 

Piedmont 

• 

IMPEACHMENT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Impeachment of the Bush administration would take no time at all if Congress just got right to it. As long as the short-sighted, callous, irresponsible rich boy and his evil masters are in the White House, veto power is in force. They have taken their stand on bringing the troops home (not?), all the while constructing American headquarters in Baghdad the size of several football fields, complete with electricity and running water—potable and for washing—in full view of Iraqi who have had neither since this unnecessary war started over five years ago. 

Just imagine what else they are thinking up to secretly instigate before November, 2008! 

Nancy Chirich 

• 

ENOUGH 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Oh, how the tangled web of deceit practiced by the Bush administration becomes ever more tightly knotted! 

The Bush team has come up with a clever plan to sell to Peter and give the proceeds to Paul. It will ask congressional approval to sell $20 billion worth of high tech military stuff to Saudi Arabia, with smaller amounts for five other gulf states.  

Bush hopes that friendly King Abdullah, a Sunni Muslim, will use his enhanced military as a forceful counterbalance to Iran’s growing Shiite influence. But because the Saudis and their Arab neighbors are hostile towards Israel the sale is sure to invite opposition. In order to assuage opponents’ anxiety, the Bush administration intends to give $30 billion to Israel’s military and $13 billion to Egypt for defense.  

It has been said that the Soviet Union lost the Cold War by spending itself into bankruptcy. Will we lose the war on terror from similar profligacy—trying to purchase victory?  

The disturbing part of this is not that it takes a lot of money to buy hearts and minds but that this plan, if approved, will extend our global entanglements far into the future.  

We need a president and a Congress with the courage and foresight to hold the line against further entanglements. Enough is enough! 

Marvin Chachere  

San Pablo 

• 

LEAVING REALISM BEHIND 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

If Bush and his war buddies are considered sane, we should all pursue insanity. George W. has left realism far behind; Iraq has become a bloody quagmire. There was no rhyme or reason for the invasion of Iraq except a faulty ideology and a GOP penchant to play the 9/11 card to the hilt. 

This is a Republican war, have no doubt about it. President Bush is undermining Congress’ attempts to end the Iraq war; Republican hard-liners filibuster any attempt to end it; and Bush core supporters cheer from the sidelines. 

The war in Iraq will not end until funding is cut off, the American public’s clamor reaches a fever pitch or the ‘I” word (impeachment) is impressed firmly on Bush’s mind. 

Ron Lowe  

Grass Valley

I am writing given your recent editorial comment about KPFA’s new Sunday Morning talk show host, Peter Laufer and his reply. Some history is important. Right after Larry Bensky announced that he was leaving the Sunday Morning show I approached Sasha Lilley, the recently appointed interim program director, while at an event at the Berkeley Unitarian-Universalists Hall at Cedar and Bonita. I suggested that they should consider breaking up the two-hour block and getting some diversity in that time slot: Women, people of color, and political diversity. Having the same politics controlling the questions and direction of the interviews every Sunday can get tiresome and redundant. Having different expressions from diverse people with diverse politics could reach more people and be much more interesting.  

With eight hours a month there were lots of possibilities. Four hosts rotating each week, two hours a week or one hour each week, or eight hosts with one hour per month. The possibilities were numerous. I also pointed out that they could all help during fund raising and thus reach a much larger audience. Also, with them all being volunteers it would cut down the payroll expenses. As I recall KPFA has the highest payroll expense of the five Pacifica stations and the highest percentage of payroll to funds raised in the network. 

What did we get? Two hours a week from a reasonable facsimile of what we have had for several years. No women, no people of color and no political diversity. I raised this issue with Lemlem Rijio, the interim general manager, and suggested that we had local folks that have developed political analyses and that it would be interesting to have them on the air one hour a month, someone like Michael Parenti. She sent back an e-mail race baiting me for suggesting a white male. Mind you, I suggested him as part of widening political diversity and as part of breaking up the Sunday segment and including people of color and women on Sunday morning. Her decision was to give the entire two hours every week to an older white male with politics very similar to the older white male he replaced, as far as I can tell.  

The Program Council was not included in the process of deciding how to fill the time. As far as I know the Local Station Board (LSB) was not consulted about this decision, not that it is required and yet a meet and confer on such important issues would be helpful toward better communications and transparency. Perhaps some of the LSB members that support anything the current management does were consulted. I wouldn’t know since I am not part of that group. My allegiance is to the Pacifica Mission, transparency, accountability and democratic process.  

As to my thoughts about the new host. I find him boring, arrogant and rude to our listeners, the people who pay his salary. Peter Laufer interrupts every guest and almost every person that calls in. Perhaps we have a different perspective on talk shows. I think they are to bring on interesting people to see what they have to say and to invite our listeners to participate. I see the host as a facilitator to allow the guests and the listeners to dialogue and debate on important issues. Mr. Laufer seems to feel that he needs to overly control the process and constantly interject his views. Sure sometimes one needs to bring the program back to the topic and that doesn’t require constant interruption. Here is an example of what I am talking about: Sunday July 8 at 1:44.10 on the archive recording Mr. Laufer interrupted an articulate African-American woman caller, Dee, who was trying to make a point about the lack of anti-war activity in the communities where most of the youth that are going to Iraq come from. When he interrupted her, less than one minute into her comment, she asked if she could finish her thought and he responded as follows: “Yeh, yeh, I have a propensity to know where someone is going and to get on to the next point because I just watch the clock tick, Dee, and I know how long you waited and I want to get on the other Dees out there.”  

On a personal level I found this offensive. On a political level, for a white male host of a station that is supposed to be working toward racial harmony and diversity, to tell an African-American Woman caller that he knows what she is going to say and must interrupt her is beyond belief. Perhaps if he knew this woman or she sounded like a nut case his conduct could possibly be justified. If you listen to the archive you will see that neither apply. He doesn’t have to agree with her point and he should at least let her finish it without telling her he knows all and must interrupt her. This is no way to build an audience or increase subscribers on a station like KPFA.  

I am not talking off the top of my head, I worked as a radio announcer for five-plus years both AM and FM in my young adult years and I have hosted several LSB Shows with call-ins on KPFA. I have been a listener/subscriber for 33 years and an LSB member for two-plus years, and I spent 14 months as chair of the LSB. I have also participated on several LSB and Pacifica National Board committees.  

Richard Phelps is an Oakland attorney  

and mediator.

As a long-time listener and volunteer at KPFA, I have been following the issue of Larry Bensky’s replacement with great interest. Even though there continues to be infighting over station management issues, the hosts on KPFA generally maintain a high level of respect for their audience, and do their level best to allow people to express their views on the air. I hoped, at a minimum, that the new host of the Sunday morning show, Peter Laufer, would embrace these ideals.  

After listening to several of Mr. Laufer’s shows, I felt a growing discomfort with his approach. I didn’t think his interviews were very enlightening, and I did not like his approach to callers. I thought he did a particularly poor job on the July 22 show that featured Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates as a guest. I was sure he would get criticism for that broadcast, and he did. An editorial in this paper took him to task for, among other things, showing excessive deference to Mayor Bates and cutting off callers who were trying to ask questions. I agreed wholeheartedly with the criticisms that were presented in that editorial. 

Then something happened to give me an even worse impression of Peter Laufer’s journalistic skills. I read his commentary in the Planet! (“KPFA Talk Show Host Talks Back,” July 27). It was so astonishing that I had a hard time believing he was really serious. I had to read the piece over again several times to be absolutely sure. What made it difficult to tell is that the commentary contains all the elements of a comedic parody of an egotistical talk show host: a pervasive condescending tone, disingenuous assertions, arrogant self-promotion, inexplicable logic, mean-spirited comments, and just plain nuttiness. It was difficult to believe that such a piece could have been written in earnest by an experienced journalist, but it eventually dawned on me that this must be the case. And if this is any indication of Mr. Laufer’s thought processes and analytical skills, we should all be on notice that we need to take his opinions and conclusions with a good dose of skepticism. 

The most revealing aspect of Mr. Laufer’s commentary is that he fails to admit even the possibility that he did anything inappropriate. In spite of the fact that he received some stinging criticism from several different quarters about the show, he seems to believe that his critics are 100 percent wrong about everything. That is not a good sign. 

Equally troubling, Mr. Laufer seems to believe he can resolve the whole matter by leveling a personal attack against the executive editor of the Daily Planet, Becky O’Malley. And it’s even a poor quality personal attack at that, because it is so ridiculous. Mr. Laufer writes, “I’m convinced that I speak for all of us when I say that it is you who are the problem here.” Mr. Laufer should have been embarrassed to write such a thing. He obviously doesn’t speak for all of us, and it would not have taken him more than a few minutes to find somebody else besides Becky O’Malley who would have been happy to point that out to him. The utter arrogance of Mr. Laufer’s perspective is breathtaking. And then there’s his statement about the content of the Planet: “Unlike your newspaper which has only one point of view, my radio show serves the entire community and all points of view.” Regular readers of the Planet know that this paper publishes viewpoints from across the political spectrum on local issues. Vigorous debates play out in its pages every week on a wide range of topics. Mr. Laufer really ought to be encouraged to read a bit more before he makes such generalizations. 

During the show with Bates, it was particularly striking that Mr. Laufer openly admitted he was unfamiliar with many of the issues being discussed—yet this did not cause him the slightest hesitation in supporting the mayor’s assertions on just about everything. He reiterated his unequivocal support of Bates in his commentary, even mentioning some friends of his who also support the Mayor. In this context, Mr. Laufer felt it appropriate to declare: “If they and the mayor are part of the problem, sign me up on their team.” Well, so much for maintaining an unbiased perspective for all your listeners, Peter.  

Reading Mr. Laufer’s mixed bag of accusatory and often baffling comments did not quite prepare me for the jarring juxtapositions in the final paragraph of his commentary. In a few short sentences, he manages to combine an expression of gratitude, a sneering critique of the work Becky O’Malley does, and a taunting invitation for her to appear on his show. How exactly does one respond to such an “invitation”? Should Ms. O’Malley arrange to bring a professional mediator along? A playground supervisor from a local elementary school? Thich Nhat Hanh? One thing we know is true: Mayor Bates certainly did not receive an invitation as disrespectful as this before his appearance on the show.  

Finally, what are we to make of Mr. Laufer’s bizarre extrapolation from the simple fact that Becky O’Malley sorts her socks? He opines, “That’s strange: Disorder is OK outdoors but not in? Sounds like symptoms of a closet conservative to me.” Um…what? Peter, allow me to let you in on a little secret: Many of us sort our socks, and we also perform a number of other household chores, too. This is certainly not aberrant behavior, and it does not indicate anything about one’s political outlook. But this highly-contrived invention of yours does indicate something to me: you seem quite willing to bend the facts to suit your own pre-conceived notions. I think many would agree with me when I say that habit, more than anything else, is the mark of a bad journalist. And that may be the underlying reason why you produced a commentary that is so very far removed from reality. 

That is, unless you ‘fess up and admit that the whole thing was just a practical joke. If so, I am ready to read your commentary yet again, and enjoy the refreshing, self-deprecating humor. Taken in that way, your piece really is laugh-out-loud funny. 

Doug Buckwald is a Berkeley activist.

What a cheap shot by columnist Becky O’Malley, backhandedly saying that my criticism of Rep. John Conyers for having 45 people who came to demand that he act on the impeachment bill for Dick Cheney that he has let sit in his committee for three months arrested was “not quite racism.” Why does the white Becky mention the race word? Because the chair of the Judiciary Committee is black? 

Sorry, I would have said exactly the same thing if Conyers was white. But besides that, Becky deceptively fails to note that one of the three people who went in to speak with Conyers, and who came out to say that he was really disturbed at the chairman’s attitude—including the decision not to let protesters stay in his office, but to call in the Capital Cops immediately and have the petitioners all hauled out in cuffs—was Lennox Yearwood, the black Air Force chaplin who is head of HipHop Caucus. He expressed genuine sadness at Conyers’ handling of the whole affair. My reference to Rosa Parks was appropriate because Conyers has chosen to eulogize her and highlight his having hired her as a staffer in his office. He has called her—appropriately—the mother of the Civil Rights movement. But by ejecting people from his office, and having them cuffed, hauled out of Congress, jailed and fined, he has shamed himself, for Parks certainly would not have endorsed that action. 

Becky O’Malley says we can’t criticize Conyers firstly because he has a formidable history as a civil rights hero. That is surely true, but his history doesn’t immunize him against criticism, any more than John Kerry’s heroic stance against the Vietnam War immunizes him against criticism for his later unconscionable Iraq War position. O’Malley then says that Conyers can’t be criticized because when Sheehan, Yearwood, Ray McGovern and 300 other people marched from Arlington Cemetery to Conyers’ office, they wanted to be arrested. 

Not. 

What they said was that they wanted Conyers to stop stalling, and to stop buckling under to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s opposition to impeachment. Conyers, O’Malley failed to mention, in 2005-6 was calling for impeachment hearings. He even wrote a book, “Constitution in Crisis,” which made an eloquent case for impeaching the president. Then he suddenly backed down. Caved. What the marchers were hoping for was a return of the old Conyers. They were not hoping to be, or even expecting to be arrested. They were willing to be arrested, and prepared to be arrested, but that is not the same thing. I don’t think anyone thought it would play out the way it did. 

And it’s not correct to say people who climbed onto the front of segregated busses, or pushed their way into segregated schools, or sat in segregated restaurants expecting to be arrested are the same as those who go and sit in a progressive congressman’s office. You don’t expect the black and progressive chair of the House Judiciary Committee to act like a 1960s deep south mayor. 

And saying Conyers should be ashamed of himself for buckling under to Pelosi, and for arresting people coming to petition him for action is in no way racism. What garbage! 

In response to my article, I received a letter from former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, a representative who never buckled under to conservative leadership. She said she couldn’t believe the arrests had happened, and that she had called to check and confirm the arrests. Her conclusion, “You know, Glen Ford and Bruce Dixon and Leutisha Stills of the BlackAgendaReport.com, formerly all of the BlackCommentator.com have consistently written about the loss of consciousness by the “Conscience of the Congress.” Thanks so much for putting out that call-to-arms. Another sad day in the life of our democracy. “ 

So Becky, spare me your condescending comments. By the way, I’m happy you knew Allard Lowenstein “when I was in high school.” I at least know that he wouldn’t have carried water for the kind of gutless Democratic Congressional leaders we have today, which is why I thought he was such a great guy when I was watching him “back in highschool,” whatever that dig was supposed to mean. 

Your tired, liberal defense of Conyers and your back-handed charge of racism are both beneath contempt. 

Dave Lindorff is the author of The Case for Impeachment.

I am very torn about the Bus Rapid Transit project. I want transit to work and will take the bus more often if it does happen. Still, after reading the articles and letters pro/con-BRT, I remain unconvinced that BRT will be successful. While ridership will grow, such growth can be had with gentler, incremental and cheaper measures that have not been considered, and that in some combination, could increase ridership just as much without having to resort to tearing up Telegraph: i.e., proof of payment system, Bay Area transit pass, security, better shelters, NextBus, lower fares, free rides in downtown areas, increased gas tax, WiFi, more buses/shorter headway, better neighborhood parking programs and enforcement, employee TDM, etc. 

BRT is billed as a connector to BART. At $1.75, it is expensive for those short rides, even with a transfer. Any transit trip from one Bay Area location to another should cost roughly the same regardless of how many transfers and transit providers are involved. The balkanized transit system of the Bay Area is to blame. 

BRT boosters wistfully conjure images of Denver, Portland, Europe and other areas. But the comparison is incongruent as these other systems are free or cheap in downtown areas, and the employment and household densities are much higher.  

The draft environmental impact report (DEIR) attributes anticipated ridership increase to expected growth along the alignment. However, constant debates on individual development projects provide evidence that Berkeley stakeholders are conflicted even on a modest density increase along the Berkeley portion of the “growth area.”  

Land is being shifted from shared use to exclusive bus use. The DEIR does not explain if the land value taken for the travelway in Berkeley (~$24M = 2 miles x 23 feet average travelway width x $100/sf of land) is included in $400 million tab. Or if any proceeds will be used to mitigate project impacts upon those most hurt by the gridlock, loss of parking, etc. How can one blame those along the alignment for opposing the project? To them, the benefits are a myth, the impacts will be real. 

The 40,000 BRT riders will benefit during a short portion of their day—during their commute. However, BRT will hurt constantly for those affected. Assuming that residents 1?4 mile on each side of the alignment are impacted by the project, at about an average of 10,000 persons per sq. mile along the alignment, an equivalent number of persons will be impacted for longer periods—commute and business hours, and worse on weekends. That estimate does not include those affected residents and commuters along other major arterials (Ashby, Alcatraz, College, and Shattuck). Lost opportunity costs to those impacted by BRT are ignored in the DEIR.  

Finally, no single transit system will succeed without the cooperation of the state, cities, employers, other transit agencies, etc. Unfortunately, AC Transit has no control over their bureaucrat brethren. If all transit is to work, it can be done only with related land use, parking, tax and fiscal policies and practices. Any stand-alone transportation project will have limited success. AC Transit should fix what they can for now and continue to work with state and local government to promote policies and regulations that will be supportive not just of BRT, but all transit. Before any major surgery is performed on Telegraph, other remedies should be given a chance.  

Ignacio Dayrit is a Berkeley resident.

I mailed a few letters this past Saturday, getting to the post office just before pickup at 4:30 in the afternoon. The post office is on the corner of College and Webster in the Elmwood. I live on Prince Street and was alarmed that every parking spot on the street was taken; it is the longest uninterrupted street in the city, between College and Claremont avenues. Traffic on College was backed up beyond Woolsey, almost to Alcatraz Avenue as a result of the red traffic light at Ashby. Alcatraz is four blocks south of Ashby. After I mailed my letters, I walked to the corner of Ashby and College, and as a result of the red light there, traffic was backed up on Ashby several blocks east as well as west. I wondered: has the city ever commissioned an environmental report for auto exhausts in my neighborhood, especially on the corner of Ashby and College on a Saturday afternoon?  

There is a church with a Chinese congregation on Prince near College, and when there is activity there, its members occupy many parking spaces on the street. However, there was no activity there when I mailed my letters; it was obvious that people who live elsewhere were parking on the street so they could take the short walk to businesses in the Elmwood.  

I often wonder what motivates politicians like those on the Berkeley City Council to approve projects like Wright’s Garage. Neither the mayor nor council members who approved the project, as well as those who sit on the ZAB commission, live in the Elmwood neighborhood. Obviously, they will not be impacted by the problems it will generate. I understand that my council representative lives up in the Hotel Claremont area, considerably east of the Elmwood neighborhood, so he could easily detour the congestion already prevalent at Ashby and College.  

Campus activity, its employees, sport and cultural events, generate enormous traffic on the North/South College corridor. Employees from San Francisco generate as much or more traffic on the east/west Ashby corridor. This corridor is also backed up by drivers from outside of town who are going to events or an evening on the town in San Francisco. Of course, the mayor and his allies on the city council have no reason to concern themselves about the impact these conditions have on Elmwood residents. By virtue of where they live, they are spared being exposed to it daily. 

There are several scientific studies that apply directly to the traffic problem of the Elmwood. One done by Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, examined the association between traffic-related pollution and childhood asthma. It found that children developed “asthma from exposure to high concentrations of auto pollution.” Another study by researchers from the California Environmental Protection Agency, Cal Department of Health Sciences, and Lawrence National Laboratory, confirm the above findings that “traffic-related pollution is associated with respiratory symptoms in children.” A third study comes from the Netherlands and it finds that older folks, 55-69 years of age, suffer from “cardiopulmonary disease when living near a major road.” 

Imagine the harm being done to residents of the Elmwood from thousands of cars, many of which stop at a red light and stand idling on four major streets in Berkeley, seven days a week. 

I fear greatly the pollution that is being generated by all the traffic, for the elderly who live in the Elmwood. There are many on my street who are over 65 years of age, and not a few with cancer, as with myself, and other blood diseases. I fear for the children in the Elmwood. There has been a large increase of children on my street alone, from toddlers to ten years old, who are taken to the businesses in the Elmwood daily. All are unknowingly exposed to the numerous, disease induced pollutants.  

I fear for all of us who live in the Elmwood, for we have a mayor and members of the City Council who are reckless with our lives, having no interest in our “general welfare,” no curiosity about protecting us. Rather, they are defiantly assaulting the young and the old with their approval of the Wright’s Garage—their mindless decision to approve an increase in traffic in an environmentally overburdened neighborhood.  

I urge all residents of the Elmwood to press the city, as well as our council member Wozniak, to demand that an environmental impact report be made for the Elmwood neighborhood. The monitoring of the pollution should be done especially at Ashby and College on a Saturday afternoon, on a windless day, during game day at the campus, as well as at five in the afternoon on weekdays, when the overwhelming traffic, representing thousands of residents living outside of Berkeley, unwittingly overwhelm the neighborhood with crippling, poisonous exhausts. 

The report should be conducted by a respected, independent scientist who has no ties to members of ZAB and members on the Berkeley City Council. Such an appeal should not prevent concerned citizens from commissioning a scientist to also do the work. Once findings are made, they should be shared with the public and California’s Environmental Protection Agency. Elmwood residents, upon learning of the invisible destroyer in our midst, can act to turn around the irresponsible votes of ZAB and the city council.  

R.J. Schwendinger is an Elmwood  

resident. 

Berkeley’s process to begin implementing Measure G, the greenhouse-gas reduction initiative passed by 81 percent of Berkeley voters last November, is off to a good start. Community workshops held in collaboration with city commissions have been well-attended and lively, and have produced long lists of helpful ideas for action. It seems that the city council will have more than enough raw material from which to decide on policies and incentives after it receives the staff report in December. And many of us citizens will then gladly line up to sign a pledge to do our own bit to help further reduce the greenhouse gases we help to produce in Berkeley every day. However, we’re still taking too narrow a view, and that phrase “produce in Berkeley” explains why. City staff report that about a quarter of our greenhouse gases are produced by automobiles as they drive our city streets (freeway traffic, for which we’re not primarily responsible, is excluded). But there’s an even larger contribution to greenhouse gases that we’re also responsible for—the hundreds of thousands of vehicle miles traveled every work day by commuters into and out of town. According to the evolving Measure G implementation plan, if the miles aren’t traveled in Berkeley they simply don’t count. And that’s leading us to an ostrich-eye view of what we need to do. 

According to a 2005 study by the Bay Area Council, a workforce housing advocacy group, Berkeley provides about 71,000 private- and public-sector jobs—or approximately one current job for every adult Berkeley resident. However, 66.9 percent of those jobs—about 47,600—are held by people who live out of town and commute in to work. In addition, 56.7 percent of our 54,400 “working residents” commute out of town to their jobs—a total of about 30,800. 

Put those two numbers together and we get a truly astonishing statistic: every working day about 78,400 people commute into or out of Berkeley to get to work. Since the average Berkeley commute has been estimated at 28 minutes, we can be sure that many of those commuters are not just tiptoeing across the border from north Oakland or Albany. And we also know that many (and probably most) of our inbound and outbound commuters do so by private automobile, with an average occupancy of 1.2 people per car. 

So here’s the unfortunate reality for our current Measure G planning: Every working day Berkeley is responsible for something like half a million GHG-generating auto miles that are not being targeted for reduction—and not even being counted in the year-2000 baseline. That’s more far GHGs than everything we produce by car trips within our city borders. How environmentally responsible is it to ignore this “half-million-mile gorilla” in the middle of our Measure G planning space? 

The root problem, of course, is that many Berkeley workers who’d love to live here can’t afford to do so. Between now and Measure G’s 2050 endpoint, truly fixing this problem would involve not just personal actions (recycling and walking more and buying compact fluorescents) but structural changes to our housing mix and transportation systems. And that, if we take the charge seriously, would require significantly changing many of our current assumptions about acceptable urban density, the desirability of larger-scale workplaces and the greater availability of affordable workforce housing. It’s all too tempting to ignore today’s unfortunate highly-polluting pattern of living and commuting in our Measure G implementation, even though it’s our worst single GHG offender. But Measure G should require us to take a more responsible global view—and “out of Berkeley, out of mind” is an attitude that falls well short of that. 

Alan Tobey has lived in Berkeley since 1970, and avoided car commuting for all but four months of his working life.

When it comes to food, “everything in moderation,” is how my grandmother would have said it. And that includes knowledge.  

I have always been health-conscious. I would stay away from the sugar, drink the green tea and slurp the pomegranate seeds. I even bought some wheatgrass once, though it remained buried in the crisper drawer, as I wasn’t sure what to do with it. 

But I was still an omnivore with dilemmas. I was confused about cholesterol, mystified by meat and afraid of fat. More knowledge, I decided, was the answer. Picturing lean body mass for life, strong bones, a glowing complexion and vitality radiating from my every extremity, I enrolled in weekly nutrition classes and began devouring articles and books by food journalists. 

Looking back, there should have been a disclaimer: Warning: Too much nutritional knowledge can lead to anxiety and stress. What followed was a year-long journey to Destination Health in which I routinely found myself turning mid-step and looking longingly back at the blissful place called Ignorance that I had left. Faster than I could say “high fructose corn syrup,” the holistic world began to take over my life.  

I became concerned with LDL, HDL, organic, local, seasonal, grass-fed, happy cows not Happy Meals, raw milk, antibiotics, probiotics, growth hormones, lactose intolerance, trans fats, rancid oils, enriched and fortified, glass or plastic, slow-cooked or fast food, mercury levels, heavy metals, artificial sweeteners, GMO, refined carbohydrates, empty calories, top soil, feed lots, soy, pasteurized, homogenized, irradiated, microwaves, and pesticides. 

I learned that we must wash everything we eat because of the chemicals but not too much because we need the healthy bacteria. I stopped drinking out of plastic and cooking with Teflon. I began planning every meal and inputting the ingredients into a computer program to check that we were getting not just our RDA but ODA. (O is for Optimum. I was all about the Optimum.) I learned that my body was always trying to tell me something. Ridges on my nails, brain fog, cravings and the little wart on my right foot were obvious signs of nutritional imbalance and impending doom.  

So, I had my hair tested for heavy metals. I took a food allergy test, kept a food diary, recorded my daily basal body temperature every morning and fed-exed my stool to be analyzed in a laboratory in North Carolina.  

And the strange thing was, the more I learned, the worse I began to feel. What is the opposite of the placebo effect? Paranoia, hypochondria and an alarmed husband. Ah. Enter sanity again. My sweetie had been living his life just as always, taking care of his health in a general, old-fashioned sort of way—you know, exercising and eating lots of fruit and veggies and he was doing great, he was never sick. Meanwhile I was changing everything about my diet and lifestyle in view of my newly acquired knowledge and was feeling crummy. 

I couldn’t understand it but I was sure that his relaxed attitude would catch up with him in the end. After I had once more informed him that his liver was probably about to implode and that he was most certainly deficient in zinc and addicted to gluten, meanwhile I was in a state of near permanent anxiety and was having trouble sleeping, he told me that maybe, just maybe, I was getting a little too stressed out about this health thing. 

“You’re like Woody Allen on wheatgrass,” he muttered. I looked up from where I was attempting to force-feed kelp supplements to the dog. “And we all know that stress is one of the worse things for you.”  

How had my passion for health turned into an unhealthy obsession?  

Knowledge is in general a good thing after all and for much of it, I am grateful. But my grandmother, who passed away peacefully at the age of 94, probably thinking that a nitrate was something to do with the cost of a hotel room, was actually right. Though we are correct to ask questions and consume consciously, the attitude with which we raise our fork to our mouths can be as important as what is on the fork. Worry is bad for our health. And boy did I worry? The odd refined carb can be good for you occasionally if that’s the only time you eat with reckless abandon.  

Right now, I haven’t taken my vitamins in several days. I forgot. Oops. Also, I didn’t have a teaspoon of flax seed oil this morning, I ate wheat for breakfast two days in a row and I didn’t have a spirulina and bee pollen smoothie this afternoon. I’m still alive, I no longer become neurotic if I go out to eat and there is no organic food available (for which my husband is very relieved), I’m more laid back about it all and I feel great. 

New research comes out everyday, dispelling myths about health and creating new ones. I’ve just learned that the healthiest way is to take them with a big pinch of salt. Just as long as it’s not too much salt. And it’s probably best if it’s gray, Himalayan sea salt, rich in trace minerals such as iodine, potassium... 

Some years ago, while I was working for an African-American newspaper in South Carolina called the Charleston Chronicle, a local Black attorney tried to get me to ride down with him to a country community near the Georgia border to talk with some people he was representing. George Payton was a self-promoter who had run for public office several times and would probably be running again, and an incessant talker as well, and the idea of spending a day with him—including four hours alone in a car—just so he could get his name in the paper didn’t appeal to me, so I begged off. 

I should have gone. 

The people George Payton was representing were African-American rural landowners, farmers, and the community they lived in was on an island named Hilton Head. Their families had come into possession of the land in the middle of the Civil War, through Union General William Sherman’s famous Special Field Order No. 15 written at the conclusion of his March to the Sea, the origin of the 40 acres and a mule promise, which declared that “the islands from Charleston, south, the abandoned rice-fields along the rivers for thirty miles back from the sea, and the country bordering the St. Johns River, Florida, are reserved and set apart for the settlement of the Negroes now made free by the acts of war and the proclamation of the President of the United States.” 

Those lands had been kept in Black hands on Hilton Head Island until developers had come in during the early 1970s with a remarkable idea, to turn these steaming, swampy seaside cotton lands into an exclusive resort, one that would include a world-class (and in this case, the term is not obligatory) golf course. These developers put enormous pressure on the Black families to turn over their land, some of that pressure less than scrupulous, and George Payton had inside information from the families themselves, and wanted our paper to do a story on it. 

I never got the chance to do the story. Not long after I turned down the Hilton Head trip, someone walked into George Payton’s law office in the middle of a busy Black Charleston business district, in mid-morning, put a gun to his head and shot him dead, and then walked out again, past the receptionist. The killer was never caught, and though the receptionist saw him clearly both going in and out of George Payton’s office, he was never identified. 

Speculation raced for weeks throughout Charleston as to the motive and reason for George Payton’s brazen, daylight assassination. Much of it centered on the Hilton Head connection, and the belief that the financial stakes were high, enormously high, and Mr. Payton was bringing things to public light that the speculators dearly wanted kept under wraps. But George Payton had other involvements, personal and professional, that might have also led someone to take his life, and so no one, ever, could be sure. 

What caused his death remains a mystery, to this day. 

As of the time of the writing of this column, barely a half a day has passed since the daylight murder of Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey in downtown Oakland, and the mystery surrounding that murder is just as deep as that of George Payton some 30 years ago, and a continent away. Because of the circumstances of the shooting, early reports from the Oakland Police Department express the belief that Mr. Bailey was specifically targeted. 

And so, just like in the case of George Payton, speculation centers on whether the murder of Chauncey Bailey was motivated by personal concerns, or whether it was something he had written, or was intending to write, that caused him to be a target. 

But that brings us to a dilemma, at least as far as this column, or any published story, is concerned. 

It is normal—and proper—for individuals in Oakland, or with ties to Oakland—to try to come to terms with the death of Chauncey Bailey by trying to figure out its source. But what is proper to speculate upon in conversations all over Oakland and the East Bay—and probably in many parts of the country—is both improper and irresponsible when you talk about putting something into print or online, or broadcasting it on the air. 

And so, I will simply said that it is credible and possible that Chauncey Bailey’s murder was an assassination, and that he was killed to prevent him from publishing a story, or stories, that he was working on. On the other hand, given the available public evidence—which is sparse, at this moment—it is also credible and possible that Chauncey Bailey was killed for entirely personal reasons, by someone with some personal beef. 

And though the difference between the two, unfortunately, has absolutely no bearing on his death itself, and cannot change it, they do have vastly different implications for the city of Oakland, and for those of us who live or work here. 

It immediately raises two questions. Is this a case of someone being silenced for trying to disseminate information? Or is this the beginning of another period of assassination of public figures, one feeding on the other, with no immediate end in sight? For those of us who lived in the last period—beginning with the assassination of President John Kennedy, and including the shooting death of Oakland Unified School District Superintendent Marcus Foster on an Oakland street—it is a ghastly, awful thought. 

That being said, the first and most immediate burden is now on the initial investigative agency, the Oakland Police Department. There will be enormous pressure on OPD investigators, in the next couple of weeks, to identify the killer. If not, the speculation on who killed Chauncey Bailey, and why, will immediately devolve into speculation that the police department is participating in a cover-up, and that there are people in high places who do not want Mr. Bailey’s killer found. 

That is what happened after police in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, respectively, failed to identify the killers of rap stars Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. 

There is problem in such speculation as well, however. 

It would be naïve, indeed, to believe that there are some cases that police do not investigate vigorously, for whatever reason, and that killers go free because police did not do a good job of trying to find them. 

The problem is, the fact that a killer is not identified and caught is not evidence that the police are not trying. It is only evidence that a killer has not been identified and caught. Police can be trying their asses off—they can be working double overtime, they can be following every lead, they can be shaking every bush—and still not be able to solve the case. 

One can only hope, then, that in the investigation of the murder of Chauncey Bailey, the Oakland Police try. One can forgive a failure. But if the police do not try, or if they fail to follow key and important areas of inquiry, and if that ever comes to public light, it will be a stain upon Oakland that a hundred years will not erase, a memory that will last far beyond the recent “bad publicity” that we think we’ve been having. 

Meanwhile, our thoughts return to Chauncey Bailey. 

Since we were fellow journalists, I saw him on many occasions over the past few years, press conferences and meetings and the like. The last time I saw him was at the City Hall press conference that announced the end of the Waste Management lockout at which Mr. Bailey, as always, was the first to ask a question, even before Mayor Ron Dellums could finish asking if reporters had any. But we never socialized, and I never saw him outside of a working setting, but once. One late afternoon, last winter or early spring, I saw him while I was walking down 14th Street on my way to a Peralta Community College District Board meeting. I have no idea where he was coming from or going to, but he gave the impression that he had reached the end of a busy day, and was going somewhere to relax. He was talking about plans to travel to Vietnam to do a series of stories. I thought it unusual, since he had not been to Vietnam during the war—he was a war resistor, he told me—and without that type of relationship, Vietnam is not the usual place where an African American might make a connection. I never found out why he thought it so important, but he was enormously excited about the project, and talked about it most of the way. 

He stopped on a corner to turn to his destination, wherever that was, and I continued on towards the lake. He was standing there as I turned and waved to him, and he was smiling and thinking about his Vietnam project, I presumed, on the corner of 14th and Alice streets, where someone pulled out a gun this morning, and shot him dead.s, where someone pulled out a gun this morning, and shot him dead. 

This is a tale about politics, influence, money and murder. It began more than 40 years ago with a bloodletting so massive no one quite knows how many people died. Half a million? A million? Through four decades the story has left a trail of misery and terror. Last month it claimed four peasants, one of them a 27-year old mother. 

It is the history of the relationship between the United States and the Indonesian military, and unless Congress puts the brakes on the Bush Administration’s plans to increase aid and training for that army, it is likely to claim innumerable victims in the future. 

Speaking alongside Indonesia’s Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsone in Singapore last month, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the White House intends “to deepen the strategic partnership between Indonesia and the USA.” 

Given what that partnership has led to over the past four decades, it a profoundly disturbing statement.  

The Washington-Jakarta narrative begins in 1965 with the Tentara Nasional Indonesia’s (TNI)—the Indonesian Army— massacre of Indonesian leftists, a bloodletting in which the U.S. was a partner. How many died is unclear, certainly 500,000, and maybe up to a million or more. According to the U.S. National Security Archives published by George Washington University, the U.S. not only encouraged the annihilation of Indonesia’s left, it actually fingered individuals to the military death squads. 

When Suharto, the dictator who took over after the 1965 massacres, decided to invade the former Portuguese colony of East Timor in 1975, the Ford Administration gave him a green light. Out of a population of 600,000 to 700,000, the invasion killed between 83,000 and 182,000, according to the Commission of Reception, Truth and Reconciliation. 

“As a permanent member of the Security Council and superpower,” the Commission found, “the U.S… consented to the invasion and allowed Indonesia to use its military equipment in the knowledge that this violated U.S. law and would be used to suppress the right of self-determination.” 

The U.S. was not alone in abetting the invasion. Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam “encouraged” the invasion, according to the Jakarta Post, and Japan, Indonesia’s leading source of aid and trade, stayed on the sidelines. France and Britain increased trade and aid in the invasion’s aftermath, and in an effort to protect Indonesia’s Catholics, the Vatican remained silent. 

It was not the first time the U.S. and its allies had rolled for Jakarta. When the Suharto dictatorship short-circuited a 1969 United Nations plebiscite on the future of West Papua, no one raised a protest. 

Through six presidents—Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Bush and Clinton—the TNI had carte blanche to brutally suppress autonomy movements in Aech, Papua, and East Timor, murder human rights activists, and—according to the U.S. Department of Defense, the Justice Department and the State Department—engage in violence and oppression against women, threats to civil liberties, child exploitation, religious persecution, and judicial and prison abuse. 

After more than 30 years of either encouraging or turning a blind eye to the savagery of the TNI, the Clinton Administration and the UN finally intervened to stop the rampage unleashed on the Timorese when they had the effrontery to vote for independence in 1999. However, before the force of mostly Australian troops could land, TNI-sponsored and led militias killed some 1500 people, destroyed 70 percent of East Timor’s infrastructure, and deported 250,000 Timorese to Indonesian West Timor. 

Indonesia has refused to hand over any of the TNI officers currently charged for crimes against humanity for leading the 1999 pogrom or taking part in the brutal suppression of East Timor from 1975 to 1999. Indeed, many have been reassigned to places like West Papua, where Indonesia is attempting to crush a low-level independence insurgency. 

Col. Burhanuddin Siagian, indicted for crimes against humanity for his actions in East Timor, was recently appointed a sub-regional military commander in Papua. 

“It is shocking that a government supposedly committed to military reform and fighting impunity would appoint an indicted officer to a sensitive senior post in Papua,” Paula Makabory, spokesperson for the Institute for Human Rights Study & Advocacy—West Papua told the Australian Broadcasting Company. A coaltion of human rights organizations is demanding that Indonesian President Susilo Yudhoyono withdraw the appointment and suspend Siagian from duty. 

Several other commanders, all under indictment for human rights crimes, have also been appointed to military posts in Papua and the province of Aech.  

And how does the TNI continue to get away with this? 

Starting in 2001, Indonesia began a multi-million dollar lobbying campaign— abetted by the White House—to lift the ban on military aid to Indonesia. A leading force in that campaign is Paul Wolfowitz, disgraced former head of the World Bank and ambassador to Indonesia from 1986 to 1989. 

The lobbying worked and sanctions were gradually relaxed. Military aid more than doubled from 2001 to 2004. In 2005, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said, “A reformed and effective Indonesian military is in the interest of everyone in the region,” and lifted the last restrictions on military aid. 

Part of the “reforms” Rice referred to require the TNI to divest itself of its vast economic network, which, according to the International Relations Center, accounts for 70 to 75 percent of the military’s funding. The TNI runs corporations, mining operations, and cooperatives.  

A 2004 law requires the TNI to divest itself of its holdings by 2009, but a loophole allows the military to keep “foundations” and “cooperatives.” According to Defense Minister Sudarsone, 1494 out of the TNI’s 1500 businesses are “foundations’ or “cooperatives.” 

“The core problem for addressing impunity [of TNI commanders] is that civilian government has no control over the military while they do not control their finances,” Human Rights Watch Chair Charmin Mohamed told Radio Australia, “and on this key issue Yudhoyono has clearly failed.” 

While the military continues to resist efforts to reform, there is growing anger at the TNI’s penchant for violence. 

In late May, Indonesian Marines opened fire on East Java demonstrators protesting the TNI’s claim to land the protestors say was taken illegally. Four people were killed and several others wounded, including a four-year old child whose mother was among the dead. 

The shootings have angered some important political figures. Djoko Suslio, who sits on the powerful Defense Committee, accused the military of using “weapons, brought with money from the state budget to kill their own brothers,” and the important Islamic Crescent Star Party denounced the killings. Abdurraham Wahid, a former president and the leader of the National Awakening Party, says his organization intends to file civil suits against the Navy. The Missing Person and Victims of Violence organization is petitioning the government to move the case from military to civilian courts. 

The TNI’s track record has also angered some in the U.S. Congress. Representative Nita Lowey (D-NY) and Chris Smith (R-NJ) are currently leading a campaign to cut the Bush Administration’s proposed aid package because of Jakarta’s failure to prosecute human rights violations. Arrayed against that is the Bush Administration’s campaign to surround China with U.S. allies and more than 40 years of cooperation or acquiescence to the brutality of the Indonesian military. 

For further information, go to the East Timor and Indonesian Action Network (ETAN.org) 

The Kitchen 

Go to a kitchen showroom or a home improvement store, or open up a shelter magazine, and you will see the contemporary kitchen accoutrements that we have been convinced to lust after: restaurant stoves, built-in stainless steel refrigerators with internet access, granite counters, and so forth. But if your house is historic, which covers everything from Victorian to World War II, you will be doing your home a serious disservice if you give into that lust and install the latest “state-of-the-art “ kitchen.  

The first “modern” kitchens, in the sense that they had stoves, refrigeration, electricity, and plumbing, came about in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Though a kitchen of that era might look primitive now, it was miles ahead of earlier kitchens, where cooking was done in fireplaces, refrigeration was non-existent, and water had to be carried in. By the turn of the twentieth century, the basic kitchen elements we still use were in place: ranges, refrigerators, plumbing, electric lighting, cabinets for storage, and even concepts about efficiency, such as continuous countertops and the work triangle. Though there have been technological advances since then (under-counter dishwashers, microwaves, garbage disposals), these basic elements have remained much the same. 

Nonetheless, the kitchen was, and is, the most complex room in the house. The demands placed on it in earlier times are nothing compared to the demands placed on it now. Then it was a utilitarian space, for the servants or the woman of the house. But now, the kitchen has supplanted the living room as the central place in most homes. Is it possible to have a period kitchen that still meets modern expectations? It depends on your expectations. An exacting reproduction of a 1915 kitchen may not be for everyone- how do you feel about doing the dishes by hand? But with a dishwasher, it could still look like 1915, but you might be a lot happier.  

The elements that make up a historic kitchen are fairly standard, and by picking a combination of appropriate elements, it’s possible to have a kitchen that incorporates modern technology yet still looks right in an older home.  

Cabinets 

The right cabinets are the most important element in making a kitchen look period-appropriate. Historically, cabinets were face-framed (as opposed to frameless European-style cabinets), with flush inset frame-and-panel doors (now called “Shaker” doors—square stiles and rails around a flat panel). Overlay doors (still frame and panel) began to appear in the 1920s, influenced by the doors on Hoosier cabinets. (Flat “slab” overlay doors, made of plywood, began to appear in the 1940s.) Panels in the doors could also be glass, either plain or with muntins.  

Drawers were either inset or three-eights inch overlay, with wooden glides. Old cabinets lacked the toe kicks of modern cabinets—the face frame extended down to the floor. (Toe kicks appeared in the 1910s.) The lower cabinets were shallower than the standard 24 inches used today, ranging from 15 to 22 inches deep, though upper cabinets were 12 inches deep and still are. Upper cabinets often hung lower than modern cabinets, 12 to 14 inches above the countertop, rather than the 18 inches now standard. Unlike many modern cabinets, the upper cabinets went all the way to the ceiling, rather than leaving the tops exposed to collect dust and grease, or by filling the gap with a soffit. Custom storage abounded, with tilt-out bins for 50 pound bags of flour and sugar (used now for pet food or recycling), corner cabinet lazy susans, sliding shelves, and so forth. There were also specialty cabinets, including California coolers- a ventilated cabinet with wire or slatted shelves, which used the chimney effect to draw cool air up from the basement or crawlspace, which was used to store foods like potatoes, onions, garlic, even wine. Another specialty cabinet was the built-in ironing board, though many of these have been turned into spice racks. And of course, the hoosier cabinet (now a generic term, Hoosier was one of many manufacturers) was prevalent in many households. There weren’t any kitchen islands as we know them, only worktables, though many work tables had built-in storage. 

Most historic kitchen cabinets locally were made of vertical grain Douglas fir, inexpensive at the time, now more expensive than oak or cherry. Cabinets were either varnished or painted with enamel in shades of off-white to beige, as white was considered “sanitary”, and they were really obsessed with sanitation back then. 

Cabinet hardware was also standardized with ball-tipped mortise hinges, surface-mount butterfly hinges, or offset hinges for overlay doors. Doors latched with spring-loaded cupboard catches, hexagonal glass knobs, or simple wood or brass knobs. Drawers utilized metal bin pulls, glass bridge handles, hexagonal glass knobs, or wood or brass knobs. In the Victorian period, metal hardware often had elaborate patterns formed by lost-wax casting, but after 1900 hardware was much plainer. Metal hardware was usually brass or nickel, until chrome became popular in the mid-1930s.  

Appropriate cabinets are offered by national companies or can be custom-built by local cabinetmakers. Suitable hardware can be found locally or on the web. 

Countertops 

Countertops are the most difficult element, since there is no perfect countertop. In the past, the most prevalent countertop was varnished wood. This is fine in some areas, but problematic around the sink or near the stove. The second most common countertop is ceramic tile. White hexagonal porcelain tiles or other small mosaics were common, although sizes up to 4” by 4” were used. Backsplashes were often subway (3” by 6”) tiles laid like bricks, though 4”by 4” tiles were also employed. Tile was white from the late nineteenth century through the Teens, maybe with a colored border or liner. In the Twenties and beyond, wild color combinations like jadite green and black, burgundy and yellow, lavender and peach, and even three and four color combinations began to be used, although white continued throughout. The third most popular countertop, surprisingly, was linoleum- it held up well on the floor so why not on the counter? I am referring to real linoleum, which was invented in 1863 and consists of linseed oil, cork, ground limestone, and pigments on a burlap backing. It is a green alternative to highly toxic vinyl.  

Stone countertops were rare—there might be a marble pastry slab in an upper middle class kitchen, and occasionally soapstone or slate would be installed, but granite is very wrong for a historic kitchen. And contrary to the hype, stone is actually porous and requires sealing. 

I detest Corian, but some of the newer composite materials aren’t too bad. Products like Fireslate, Silestone, Richlite and even concrete have an appropriate look. Even some patterns of laminate, with a matte finish and a wooden edge molding, look decent. It is legitimate to use different countertop materials in different areas of the kitchen- tile or stone near the sink and stove, wood or linoleum elsewhere.  

Floors 

Kitchen floors used one-inch by four-inch tongue-and-groove boards of the same old growth Douglas fir as the cabinets, either varnished, painted, or covered with linoleum. Occasionally hardwood flooring (oak or maple) was installed. Fancier houses sometimes had ceramic tile floors, either hexagonal tiles or quarry tiles. 

Sinks and Faucets 

Sinks were almost always white porcelain over cast-iron. There were two kinds- sinks with built-in drainboards and backsplashes, which were wall-hung, but often had decorative legs, or occasionally sat on top of cabinets, and undermount or tile-in sinks, which were set into tiled countertops. Undermount sinks are still widely available. Farmhouse-style sinks were primarily used in the 19th century. Butler’s pantries utilized small copper or nickel silver sinks, these softer metals thought less likely to chip the fine china which was washed in the butler’s pantry rather than the kitchen. The nickel-plated faucets were wall-mounted, rather than deck-mounted as most are today. In the 19th century, the faucet would have had separate hot and cold taps, but by the 20th century, mixing faucets with cross or lever handles were the norm. 

Appliances 

Vintage stoves are currently popular, and you could pay up to $30,000 for a restored double oven Magic Chef. You could also pick up a perfectly good 1940s Wedgewood on Craigslist for $500 or less, or a restored stove for somewhere between $1200 and $3000. If you want more of the modern stuff like electronic ignition and sealed burners, Elmira and Heartland make vintage-looking stoves with modern components. A simple (and thus inexpensive) modern stove also can be unobtrusive in a historic kitchen. Nowadays, people who don’t cook at all insist on having restaurant-style stoves—I guess they’re for the caterers. 

Refrigerators are difficult to deal with, being large and hard to disguise. Only a few people want vintage refrigerators, which have to be manually defrosted. A “fully-integrated” fridge that can be completely covered with wood panels is an option, as are refrigerator drawers made by various companies. Replicas of wooden iceboxes with modern refrigeration components inside are also available, as well as retro 1950s-style fridges. 

Dishwashers also come “fully integrated” with controls on the top edge so the front can be completely covered with wood. I would refrain from putting a wood panel on a regular dishwasher- it draws more attention to the dishwasher than leaving it as is. Dishwasher drawers are also an option. A dishwasher can also be recessed into an extra deep cabinet with a regular cabinet door to disguise it. Compact dishwashers are only slightly larger than a microwave and can fit into small spaces or under old counters that aren’t deep enough for the usual 24” deep unit. 

Obviously they were no microwaves until recently, but it’s easy enough to hide one in a cabinet. 

Lighting 

Electricity was available locally by the late 19th century, so kitchens would have had electric lights and plugs, just not as many as we are used to (or required by code). A ceiling fixture in the middle of the room, a light over or next to the sink, and maybe another over the range would have been usual. These were plain nickel-plated fixtures with simple shades, or even just a bare lightbulb on a cord or chain and are readily available as reproductions. You can have as many visible fixtures as you like, since we are used to higher light levels. If you want to add well-disguised under-cabinet lighting, go ahead. 

Ventilation 

Historically, ventilation was passive- a plaster or painted metal hood over the range connected to a vent in the roof, using the chimney effect of rising heat to draw out smoke and steam. Electric fans mounted on an outside wall were also employed. It is possible to buy just the guts of a stove hood- fan and light- to retrofit old hoods or use in new custom hoods. If there are cabinets over the range, there are also retracting hoods, which virtually disappear when not in use. 

Things to Avoid 

There are some things that will make your kitchen scream “twenty-first century”. Recessed can lights, although your architect or designer will tell you they are unobtrusive, aren’t. Stainless steel anything (appliances, sinks, countertops) will be the avocado green of the twenty first century. Granite is totally overdone, as are glass tiles (which replaced with ubiquitous tumbled marble of the 1990s). And fancy art tiles and a copper hood belong on a fireplace, not in a kitchen. 

Although much useful technology came about in the twentieth century, we seem too enamored of bells and whistles we don’t actually use. Many historic kitchens, some of them perfectly functional, have been ripped out and replaced with some decade’s “state of the art” kitchen. Perhaps you’ve had one: plywood cabinets and gold flecked laminate from the Sixties? An avocado and harvest gold nightmare from the Seventies? Or perhaps beige tile, half-inch brown grout and oak cabinets from the Eighties? These once trendy kitchens soon look dated, whereas a period kitchen appears timeless, like it belongs there. Today it is possible to have a kitchen that meets twenty-first century expectations and yet still feels right in an historic house. 

Jane Powell is a restoration consultant and the author of Bungalow Kitchens. Contact her at janepowell@sbcglobal.net. 

Contributed photo.  

A fully-integrated refrigerator disguises modern technology behind coordinating wood panels that help it look like part of the cabinetry. 

Change is inevitable; it’s always reassuring when a change in a good business is in the spirit of the original, an enhancement rather than a trip to the oubliette—for example, when an owner retired and sells the place to people who are familiar with it and like its style already. A breath of fresh air is much better than a tornado where there’s something worth preserving. Oh, Toto! 

I’d visited Mt. Diablo Nursery and Garden just a few times since writing it up for The Garden Lover’s Guide: San Francisco Bay Area around 1997. It was engagingly eccentric, homey, with the oddities that come with long independent ownership. It sat in the shadow of a big fat pretentious hotel of some sort—still does, though the stucco coat on the architectural iceberg is a slightly different shade now—and made a quiet, ornery statement about what East of the Hills used to be like when it was the outback, before it got all pretentious.  

You know, I know people who live over on the hot side of the hills and they’re not pretentious themselves, even the most genteel ones. Maybe nobody there is pretentious, and it was all just the developers’ fault. Could we spare a day to take weedwhackers to all the gratuitous “The”s and “at”s that are popping up in such unfortunate places? Thanks; it would mean so much to me. 

So Mt. Diablo Nursery has just changed hands. Garth and Marcia Jacober bought Harry’s Nursery from its former owner (that would be Jiro Mishimoto, who’d taken over from his friend the eponymous Harry some 30 years back) and changed its name. They’re sprucing it up now. Redoing the gift shop, restocking the stock, gearing up for a Grand Opening day in the near future.  

I’ll announce that here as soon as I hear when it’s happening.  

Marcia said they intend to include work from local artists in the gift shop, and they’re considering throwing some classes too. Garth has taught gardening classes at Heather farms and at Magic Gardens.  

When he was a student, Garth worked with the eponymous Harry and the post-eponymous Jiro at the nursery, so he does know and like what he and Marcia have acquired. The lot is funny, shaped right for a spaghetti farm and rising in little terraces up a steep hill. ’Round the other side of that hill is Lafayette Cemetery, which looks rather like the “cemmies” in my Coal Region hometown where we used to say are so steep that the dead must be buried standing up, ready for Judgment Day.  

The Jacobers like camellias and have a lot of them waiting for blooming season to be on display at the nursery. They have, even in the current under-renovation space, some unusual plants such as native vine maples, Rhus typhina ‘Tiger Eye’—a golden cut-leafed staghorn sumac I don’t think I’ve seen before—and a rose named ‘Golden Winds’ whose scent has a note of cinnamon.  

There’s a nifty mural in progress along the bordering wall too. Go on out and have a look; it’s worth braving the heat.  

Mt. Diablo Nursery & Garden 

3295 Mt. Diablo Boulevard, Lafayette 

(925) 283-3830 

info@mtdiablonursery.com 

http://mtdiablonursery.com (Site is under construction too, clearly.) 

8:30 a.m.—5 p.m. daily 

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

Ouch! That Quake Hurts!  

How do most people get hurt in a big quake? Is it from the ceiling falling on them? The house collapsing all around them? No, historically there hasn’t been much “pan caking,” or houses falling apart around the occupants. Your major worry about your house is that it’s going to fall off its foundation, or possibly have a gas explosion if you’re not home to turn off the gas if an appliance supply line ruptures.  

The fact is that most people are injured in a quake by either trying to run to another room or outside, and the shaking knocks them down violently, or they get hit by falling objects like heavy furniture, wall hangings, or light fixtures.  

Securing your furniture is easy and pretty cheap. More on this later, but think about doing this NOW!  

Here’s to making your home secure and your family safe. 

Larry Guillot is the owner of QuakePrepare, an earthquake consulting, securing and kit supply service. Contact him at 558-3299 or see www.quakeprepare.com to receive semi-monthly e-mails and safety reports. 

We’re at war with Germany again, and this time they’re winning. No, it’s not a shooting war but since shooting wars always start with economic pretexts, it’s not a far stretch to talk about shooting wars in conjunction with this war and since it involves energy, it’s easy to point to our differing approaches to the war in Iraq as one example of how they’re winning, both morally and physically. 

First of all, they’re not in Iraq. This means that they’re winning the approval of their people (who think, like most peoples outside the U.S. that our leadership in energy and diplomacy is retarded). They’re also winning morally, in my opinion, since they’re working hard to create alternatives to oil in the form of, primarily, solar power. 

The battleground in this war is taking place at the hardware store (now that’s MY idea of the right place to fight a war). It’s being fought with cost incentives, pilot projects and legislation and let me tell you brother, it’s not going well for us. 

Here are some of the daily death tolls. In 2005 German families bought 632,000 kilowatts in solar grid-tie systems. We bought 70,000. Germany is a county of less than one-third our population at 82 million (we just passed 300 million).  

So let’s do the math and let’s be extra fair to the enemy. If we include all other forms of PV (photovoltaic), you can take the U.S. up to 103 million and Germany up to 635,000 (nearly all of their PV systems are grid-tie), so this means that a country of less than a third our size, bought, in 2005, more than 6 times the number of watts in solar installations than we did. If we multiply this times the population difference, they beat us by a factor of more than 22. Things are not going well for us in this war. Back to the coal mines, I guess. I didn’t need my lungs anyway (or clean water, glaciers, bees, plant-life...). 

By the way, just for fun, guess who our other major opponent is in this war is (and they’re also wiping the floor with us, although not quite so comically). Yes, friends, it’s Japan (they’re numbers are about half of Germany’s and their population is less than half of ours). See, the Marshall plan worked. Keeping Japan and Germany from developing military power after WWII was the best thing we could have done for them. They had to get busy with things like, say, education, infrastructure, medicine and technology. Maybe we should whoop the Marshall plan on our selves. “Now, young man, go to your room for 50 years and I don’t want to hear anything from you but non-military development.” Imagine what we could accomplish! 

It’s also interesting that, while the U.S. has more off-grid (won’t share) power generation than Germany, they still have over three times our total developed capacity. Their systems are designed to share extra electricity with the nearest neighbor. Ours is designed for me, me, me. I guess those damned socialists think that by collectivizing, they can sneak up on us and wipe us out (by the way, it’s working). It might be time for us to do a little of that socialist collectivizing, when it comes to energy (the single biggest business in the U.S., Ca-Ching).  

It may be just this attitude and the fears of our corporate fathers (and mothers. Sorry, women can also rob from the poor and give to the rich) that has prevented the U.S. from doing what is almost certainly the basis of Germany’s success story, which is the incentivizing of their system. You see, Germans are getting paid back TWICE the rate they pay for power for every watt they give to the grid.  

(By the way, this grid-tie system I keep mentioning is one in which the solar panels feed electricity directly to your main electrical panel and can be used immediately by the house or flow out through the meter, turning it backward, and to the neighborhood for others to use.) 

Now, you and I, in the U.S. don’t get paid back double for the watts we contribute. We don’t even get paid back once for each watt. We only get to reduce our bill to zero and then we get SQUAT. Now, why would you buy a nice big solar array when all you get after you’ve paid your bill down to zero is the comfort of knowing that PG&E stockholders will be showered in the extra cash you just gave them. I’m not suggesting that you shouldn’t buy a solar array. Just that, sadly, the smallest system that meets your needs is the logical financial approach, at least for the present. 

Most PV systems have inverters (the part that turns PV power into house power) that can accommodate a range of array sizes and if a day arrives when you can get paid to generate power, you can then add more panels (in the worst case, you’d need a new inverter). 

Steve, a client of mine, the other day was buying a house that had a nice big fat solar array. It was well installed and already had close to 10 years of road time on it. Steve knew enough to ask about the problem of throwing away excess electrons and wanted to know if there were ways to use the extra electricity in the house. I told him that I hoped that in the next few years, driven by shame, the U.S. could well catch up with Germany and he could then sell the excess back to the grid. If true, it might be best to consider these issues in the selection of electrical equipment. 

Switching to electrical water heating is one thing that Steve could do with his free watts. I’m not generally a fan of electric water heating, space heating or cooking due to it’s environmental costs. This is because electricity is usually generated at some distant location by burning something and the loss of power by the time we arrive at your house is generally 2/3 of what we had to begin with. Of course, if power is generated with solar, wind or waves, I don’t care too much, although I still think, from a political perspective, that it’s better to decentralize and (don’t hurt me now) give power back to the people. BUT, given the current alternatives, I’m willing to take a ride with centralized eco-friendly electric power. 

We considered three kinds of electric water heating. Tanked (which is the cheapest), on-demand central or on-demand local (tiny units put in baths, kitchen, or laundry). Given the tangible possibility that he might soon sell back the extra watts, I suggested the tanked model. While not my usual first choice, it was the cheapest approach and, therefore, the least painful to dump after just a few years. Also, it could be turned off, replaced by a gas on-demand unit and remain as a flow-through seismic water storage unit. 

I similarly suggested a set of baseboard electric heaters to replace the now condemnable gravity gas heater in the basement. They’re cheap and could also be tossed in favor of something better when things change. 

My friend J.P. Ross, who works on solar legislation, also points out that some folks are selling or giving away car chargings to their friends before their billing year is over as a way of deflating their losses. Apparently, annual billing cycles are different for everyone and you can find a different person each month to charge up the electric hybrid if you’re well connected (so to speak). 

While all these strategies are helpful in the face of a bad system, the ultimate solution is to demand fair pay for fair watts. J.P. says that the solar initiative folks currently have an understanding with P.G.&E. NOT to try to push for cash repayment while they focus on more winnable fights. 

While I respect the fine work these people are doing, I feel like we’re all getting taken for a ride that hurts the development of solar power, the sale of PV systems and, ultimately, the earth. I urge everyone to write their governator or their congress-woman . and ask them to take a look at the difference between the German system and the U.S. system. 

Hopefully, we won’t have to lose a war to learn THIS lesson. 

Got a question about home repairs and inspections? Send them to Matt Cantor, in care of East Bay Real Estate, at mgcantor@pacbell.net.

About the time of year the robins wind down and the naked ladies begin to bloom, we start seeing the garden spiders. They’re orbweavers, probably Araneus diadematus, and at this stage they’re just little orange-and-black specks with legs. Between now and Halloween they’ll get a lot bigger, and plumper. 

The garden spiders take over the garden, of course, but they don’t confine themselves to it. Most years we have a clutch of them on the front porch, anchoring their webs to the railings. They often get into the car, and have to be delicately removed. Once we woke up to find a sizable web across the back door. Some might find that ominous. I live with an arachnophile, though, and I’ve come to terms with them. 

The large conspicuous spiders are females. The males would be smaller and more furtive. It’s not clear what arrangements the garden spiders make, but males of a related species, the black-and-yellow agriope, spin their own webs at a safe distance from the females’. The males’ webs are shoddily constructed and often littered with beer cans and pizza boxes. 

But a female garden spider’s web is an architectural marvel—all those precisely arranged spokes and spiral struts. A typical web has 25 to 30 radial threads forming regular 12-to-15-degree angles. The younger the spider, the more threads. The center of the web is stickier and has closer-spaced spirals. From that hub she monitors the web for tremors that announce an arriving insect, holding on to a signal thread.  

Webs are delicate things, subject to damage from struggling prey. Rather than patching up the old web, a spider begins her day by eating whatever’s left of it—thus conserving the silk proteins—and spinning a new one. 

Webmaking is a complex act, and it’s hard to see how a spider’s minuscule brain can hold all the necessary programming. A spider’s central nervous system consists of a pair of ganglia—clusters of neurons—that are wired to its muscles and sensory systems. You wouldn’t expect a lot of bandwidth there. 

What about a really small spider? William Eberhard of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the University of Costa Rica was interested in the tradeoffs that a miniaturized spider brain would require. Brains are metabolically expensive to run, and Eberhard expected that small-brained organisms would have to jettison some of their behavioral repertoire. Webmaking precision seemed a likely candidate. 

So Eberhard chose five Costa Rican orbweaver species, ranging in weight from the 50-milligram Leucage mariana to the tiny Anapisona simoni that tips the scales at .005 milligrams. That’s five orders of magnitude’s difference. The smaller species, he says, had descended from larger ancestors, downsizing their brains along the way. 

He measured the webs of each species, expecting the smaller spiders to be sloppier webcrafters. To the contrary, there was no loss in precision with decreasing size. Eberhard speculated to a New York Times reporter that the smallest spiders “have done something subtle or special with the neurons in their brain to be able to do the same behavior that larger ones can.” 

That’s an almost heretical thought. We all know big brains are best, right? Primates, cetaceans, corvids all have higher brain-to-body mass ratios than other mammals and birds. Even octopi and squids, arguably the most intelligent invertebrates, are large-brained for mollusks.  

I can think of only a few other instances of brain shrinkage in the evolutionary process. Slender salamanders, wormlike creatures that are probably hiding under the leaf litter in your back yard, have smaller and less complex brains than their ancestors. But the lifestyle of these sedentary amphibians doesn’t require complex behavior. A slender salamander that travels more than ten feet in its entire lifetime would be exceptional. 

Somehow, though, arachnids have found a way of shrinking the brain (along with the body) without losing key behavior capabilities: some kind of compromise between size and connectivity. Whatever they’ve done, it’s one of the neater evolutionary tricks. 

Photograph by Ron Sullivan: A female garden spider waits for visitors. 

Joe Eaton’s “Wild Neighbors” column appears every other Tuesday in the Berkeley Daily Planet, alternating with Ron Sullivan’s “Green Neighbors” column on East Bay trees.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 3 

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 

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. 

Stage Door Conservatory “Urinetown” A Teens On Stage Production, Fri. at 7 p.m., Sat. and Sun. at 5 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $10-$20. 521-6250. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Colors of the American West” Pein-air paintings by Deborah Diamond. OPening reception at 7 p.m. at The Gallery, 5751 Horton St., Emeryville. 428-2384. 

“Glimpses in Time” Photography exhibition in honor of Gordon Parks. Opening reception at 4 p.m. at Joyce Gordon Gallery, 406 14th St., Oakland. 465-8928. 

“Inscibere” A group show of works related to the act of writing. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Chandra Cerrito Contemporary, 25 Grand Ave., upper level. www.chandracerrito.com 

“The Locals” Group show of artists using photography, metal, lichen and sound. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Rhythmix Cultural Works, K Gallery, 2513 Blanding Ave., Alameda. 845-5060. www.rhythmix.org 

FILM 

The Great Wall of Oakland screenings of two new experimental films by Bill Domonkos and Naomie Kremer at 8:30 p.m. on the wall on Grand Ave., just west of Broadway, downtown Oakland. 

Max Ophuls: Motion and Emotion “Happy Heirs” at 7 p.m. and “Lola Montes” at 8:35 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Gumby Dharma” the story of Art Clokey and his cartoon legend at 8:45 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak at 10th St. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Art Shapiro and Tim Manolis discuss their new book “Butterflies of the SF Bay Region” at 5:30 p.m. at University Press Books, 2430 Bancroft Way, just below Telegraph. The authors will lead a nature walk in Claremont Canyon before their talk, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. For informration and reservations for the walk call 841-8447 or email wmcclung@rcn.com  

William Poy Lee reads from his new book “The Eighth Promise” at 7:30 p.m. at Oakland Musuem of California, 1000 Oak at 10th St. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2200.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Ross Hammond’s “No Do” at 8 p.m. at Free-Jazz Fridays at the Jazz House, 1510 8th St., Oakland. Cost is $5-$15. 415-846-9432. 

Saed Muhssin, part of The Arab Cultural Initiative, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $8-$12. 849-2568.  

The Brama Sukarma Ensemble at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10. 845-5373.  

Judy Wexler & Anton Schwartz Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ.  

Bayonics, 40 Watt Hype at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

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

The Ditty Bops at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

The Hobbyists, indie folk duo, at 9 p.m. at Downtown Restaurant & Bar 2102 Shattuck Ave. 649-3810. 

Midnite, roots reggae from St. Croix, at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $25-$30. 548-1159.  

Bryan Harrison and Abel Mouton at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. 

The Blind, Everest at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Born/Dead. A.N.S., Cross Examination, Resist the Right 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. 

215 Freshest Kidz at 9:30 p.m. at the Stork Club Oakland, 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 444-6174. 

The Wayward Sway at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

Midnite, roots reggae, at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $25-$30. 548-1159.  

Swoop Unit at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4 

CHILDREN 

Pinocchio: The Hip-Hopera, Sat. and Sun. at 12:30 and 3:30 p.m. at Children’s Fairyland, 699 Bellevue Ave. 452-2259. 

THEATER 

Shotgun Players “The Three Musketeers” Sat. and Sun. at 4 p.m. at John Hinkle Park, Southampton Ave., off The Arlington, through Sept. 9. Free. 841-6500. 

EXHIBITIONS 

Berkeley’s “Other” Revolution: Celebrating 35 Years of Independent Living, Disability Access, and Disability Rights. Photographs by Ken Stein on display in the windows of Rasputin Music, 2401 Telegraph Ave., between Channing Way and Haste. 525-2325. 

“Interiors/Exteriors” Works by Tracy Wes, Vivian Prinsloo and Scott Courtenay-Smith. Artist reception at 6 p.m. at Esteban Sabar Gallery, 480 23rd St., Oakland. 444-7411. 

FILM 

Jewish Film Festival from 12:30 to 9:15 p.m. at The Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. For information on tickets call 925-275-9490. www.sfjff.org 

Abbas Kiarostami: Image Maker “And Life Goes On” at 6:30 p.m. and “Through the Olive Trees” at 8:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“At the Med ... Were You There?” Thirty years of sketches from Telegraph Ave.’s Mediterranean Coffee House by Doyl Haley. Lecture on Doyl Hayley’s work by John McNamara at 2 p.m.at the Berkeley Public Library, in the 3rd flr Community Meeting Room, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6100. 

Bay Area Poets Coalition open reading from 3 to 5 p.m. at Strawberry Creek Lodge, 1320 Addison St. Park on the street. 527-9905.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Erik Friedlander at 8 p.m. at the Jazz House, 1510 8th St., Oakland. Cost is $15. 415-846-9432. 

Roy Zimmerman “Faulty Intellegence” songs about ignorance, war and greed at 8 p.m., reception at 6:30 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. Tickets are $10-$30. www.brownpapertickets.com 

Saul Kaye “A Taste of Paradise” in a benefit for missing woman Lynn Ruth Connes, at 9:30 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $10-$15. 849-2568.  

Mal Sharpe and Big Money in Gumbo at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ.  

Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15. 525-5054. 

Sotaque Baiano, Brazilian, at 8 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

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

The Cannery and Nomi at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Patrick Fahey & Friends at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 558-0881. 

“The Q is Silent” with Dan Marschak and Friends at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Le Jazz Hot at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

5 Dollar Suit, The Mission Players, San Pablo Project at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082.  

Ceremony, Blacklisted, Shipwreck Said Radio at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

Will Bernard Quartet at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

Pete Escovedo at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $18-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SUNDAY, AUGUST 5 

THEATER 

“Nature vs Merger” a Sci-Fi fairy tale for all ages at 3 p.m. at 1631 Bonita Ave. Rehearsal and set building on Sat. at 2 p.m. Call to claim a role. 266-2069. 

EXHIBITIONS 

Paintings by Yoni G. Opening reception at 4 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

FILM 

Max Ophuls: Motion and Emotion “La signora di tutti” at 5 p.m. and “The Exile” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Museum Dialogs” A panel discussion on culturally-specific museums in the Bay Area at 2 p.m. at the Judah L. Magnes Museum, 2911 Russell St. Cost is $10-$12. 549-6950.  

Douglas Rothschild and Scott Bentley, poets, at 7:30 p.m. at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Trumpet and Organ Concert with James Tindsly, trumpet and Ron McKean, organ, at 3 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, 2619 Broadway, Oakland. Suggested donation $10. 444-3555. 

Oakland Municipal Band Concert with jazz, big band, marches and showtunes from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Edoff Memorial Bandstand, Lakeside Park and Lake Merritt, Oakland.  

Americana Unplugged: Homespun Rowdy at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

Dred Scott Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ.  

Trick Kernan Combo at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe. 595-5344.  

Julian Pollack Three-O at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10. 845-5373.  

Mojácar Flamenco at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Lion of Judah, Ability at 5 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

MONDAY, AUGUST 6 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Actors Reading Writers“Forces of Nature,” stories by Alice Munro and Wallace Stegner, at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. 932-0214.  

“Landscapes for Politics” A panel discussion with Jake Kosek, author of “Understories,” Marina Sitrin, author of “Storming the Gates of Paradise,” and moderated by Ed Yuen, editor of Confronting Capitalism, at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Jessica Bruder describes “Burning Book: A Visual History of Burning Man” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Danubius, Hungarian Gypsy music, at 7 p.m. at Le Bateau Ivre, 2629 Telegraph Ave. 849-1100. www.lebateauivre.net 

Trovatore, traditional Italian music, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Rumbaché at 8 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, AUGUST 7 

CHILDREN 

Crosspulse Rhythm Duo at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

P&T Puppet Theater, “The Adventures of Spider and Fly” at 10:30 a.m. at Berkeley Public Library, West Branch. 981-6270. 

FILM 

Abbas Kiarostami: Image Maker “Rugs, Roads and Palaces” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Zilpha Keatley Snyder reads from her children’s book “The Egypt Game” at the Middle School Mystery Book Group at 4 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. All ages welcome. 981-6223. 

Anita Thompson describes the legacy of her late husband in “The Gonzo Way: A Celebration of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

CZ & The Bon Vivants at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Singers’ Open Mic with Ellen Hoffman at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

Barbara Linn & John Schott, jazz, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Jazzschool Tuesdays, a weekly showcase of up-and-coming ensembles from Berkeley Jazzschool at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8 

CHILDREN 

Gary Lapow “Get A Clue @ Your Library” for ages 3-8 at 3:30 p.m. at the Claremont Branch of the Berkeley Public LIbrary. 981-6280. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“A New Home, A New Life” Photographs by Refugee Youth in Oakland. Exhibition closing reception at 5:30 p.m. at Oakland Art Gallery, 199 Kahn’s Alley, Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland. Exhibit co-sponsored by the International Rescue Committee who helped to resettle the youth in Oakland. www.oaklandartgallery.org 

FILM 

Eco-Amok: An Inconvenient Film Fest “The Mutations” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Cara Black and Peter Gessner discuss their latest mysteries at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Café Poetry at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Donation $2. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

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 

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

A Night of Rumi, Persian Sufi music and poetry at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

La Verdad at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

J-Soul at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

Mikie Lee and Amber at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Big Blue Whale at 9:30 p.m. at the Stork Club Oakland, 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Cost is $5. 444-6174. 

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

Vusi Mahlasela, South African singer-songwriter, at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $12-$20. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, AUGUST 9 

THEATER 

Women’s Will “Romeo and Juliet” Sat. and Sun. at 8 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes. 420-0813. www.womenswill.org 

FILM 

“War Made Easy: How Presidents & Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death” at 7 p.m. at Grand Lake Theater, 3200 Grand Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $12. www.warmadeeasythemovie.org 

Abbas Kiarostami: Image Maker “First Graders” at 7 p.m. and “Fellow Citizen” at 8:45 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

William Gibson reads from his new novel “Spook Country” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Louann Brizendine describes “The Female Brain” at 7:30 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Sara & Swingtime at noon at the downtown Berkeley BART station. info@downtownberkeley.org 

John Jorgenson Quintet at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $24.50-$25.50. 548-1761.  

Atmos Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $9. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Houston Jones & Jacques at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave 548-5198.  

Squaretape, The Fourfits, The Corner Laughers at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082. 

Julia Lau at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

Maldroid, Royalty at 9:30 p.m. at the Stork Club Oakland, 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Cost is $5. 444-6174. 

Marco Benevento at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sat. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $8-$18. 238-9200.

‘A NEW LIFE, A NEW HOME’ 

An exhibit at the Oakland Art Gallery features photos by 16 children recently resettled in Oakland as refugees from places like Liberia, Turkey, Somalia and the Congo. These refugee youth were forcibly displaced as the result of war, conflict or persecution and now live in Oakland with their families. In April, they were given donated disposable cameras and asked to capture what they see. Some of these youth had been here only several months. The gallery is at  

199 Kahn's Alley. The show closes Aug.8 with a reception 5:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. 

For details, call 637-0395 or see www.oaklandartgallery.org 

Guitarist Ross Hammond, doubling on banjo and lap steel guitar, will lead a quartet dubbed “No DQ,” featuring Philip Greenlief (saxophone), Gino Robair (percussion) and J.P. Carter (trumpet) for tonight’s Free Jazz Friday, The Jazz House’s biweekly event, 8 p. m. at the Performance Space at 1510 8th St. (a block from West Oakland BART). Admission is $5-15, sliding scale.  

“No DQ means anything goes, all bets are off,” said Ross Hammond of the quartet’s monniker. Of their music, Hammond said, “Everyone’s pretty hip into musical textures, and you could expect lots of dynamics, highs and lows. It may not be swinging jazz—but it may go in that direction, too!” 

Hammond commented on the other players: “everybody’s got an electronic element, which should contribute to spacey textures. Philip Greenlief has a great sense of free improvisation and of different sounds; there aren’t that many players really doing that in the Bay Area. He gets some very cool sounds in his solo work. He and Gino Robair, both, have been forging their own direction in the local scene. They’re Bay Area trailblazers. Every timbre should be represented on this gig!” 

The next Free Jazz Friday, Aug. 17, will feature saxophonist Ike Levin, just back from NewYork, with Randy Hunt on contrabass and Tim Orr, drums and percussion.  

Of Levin, Jazz House founder Rob Woodworth said, “Ike’s one of the really rare players around, a free jazz pioneer. He hasn’t had a lot of press, so I want to single him out, give him some credit for all he’s done.” 

The Jazz House, originally on Adeline in Berkeley, was founded by Woodworth as a venue for musicians to play improvised music with fewer restrictions--and as an educational vehicle for that music and its players. After losing the lease on Adeline, The Jazz House has been homeless, but Woodworth continued to produce projects at other venues around the Bay—including The Zipper Festival, sponsored by the Berkeley Arts Festival, a weekend-long event downtown this spring. Woodworth continues to search for a regular venue, hopefully in Berkeley, and funding to get such an undertaking off the ground. 

Of Woodworth and The Jazz House, Ross Hammond commented, “The music always needs new players, but also needs enthusiasts like Rob just as much, those who do the groundwork. It’s often athankless job, promoting shows just for the love of it. It’s all work, with the cards pretty much dealt in advance. People should be thankful he’s around. He’sa champ. 

“That’s something Rob, Philip and Gino have in common--doing the best they can for improvised music. They’ll all be there under one roof, occupying three of the few seats in the place! I’m just glad to be involved in the scene in the small way I am.”  

Well before nuclear physics, Nobel Prizes, Free Speech, championship athletics, or alternative fuels research, the University of California was known for academic work in fields such as agriculture, mining … and astronomy. 

Less than a decade after its founding, the University received what remains one of the most lavish and striking gifts in its history, $700,000 from Santa Clara valley pioneer, farmer, and investor James Lick to build a “telescope, superior to and more powerful than any yet made … and also a suitable observatory connected therewith.” 

The result was Lick Observatory on the peak of Mount Hamilton east of San Jose, completed in 1888. 

The public can visit Lick throughout the year. It’s still a working observatory, now managed through the UC Santa Cruz campus. Lick, along with the Keck telescopes in Hawaii, helps keep UC a leader in Earth-based astronomy. 

Conceiving and building Lick was a project of superlatives. It contained the then-largest telescope in the world and was the first permanently occupied observatory built on a mountaintop. Much of modern astronomy follows from research undertaken at Lick, and from the work of men and women who trained there. 

The project was a painstaking process, taking years. Telescope lenses of unprecedented size were manufactured in France, and a road carved to the summit. 

The visitor follows the same road today through classic Northern California coastal countryside, with distant glimpses of the gleaming, white-painted, multi-domed, observatory. As you head up the last stretch, the landscape shifts from grassland and oaks to pine forest, and the domes rear vertiginously from the heights above. 

If our current civilization were to catastrophically come to an end these structures would presumably still stand for centuries and what would rustic herdsman, nomad or traveler think, seeing them far off on the mountaintop? 

That they were some temple or remote monastery, perhaps, where earlier humans sought closer communication with the heavens? In a way they would be right. 

The 36-inch refractor telescope that has been in use since 1888 is housed in a Pantheon-like domed brick drum, finished on the inside with wooden bead board walls. A polished wooden floor, spiraling and curving metal staircases, and a narrow balcony surround the enormous silvery instrument, 57 feet long, which aims out a slit in the open dome like a colossal cannon. 

This is a working survivor from the industrial age of scientific gigantisms, when better research often met bigger mechanical instruments. It’s also a science research space that’s elegant in a way most modern facilities can’t match. 

You almost expect Jules Verne to step out of the shadows or, perhaps, Flash Gordon. 

The observatory lies about 13 miles east, and some four thousand feet above, San Jose. Visitors from the west take Alum Rock Road, which crosses both Highways 680 and 110. From Alum Rock, you follow nearly 20 miles of two-lane roadway, climbing up and down rural ridges, with a final ascent up Mount Hamilton itself. 

The road is in good condition, but it’s no trip through Tilden Park. It winds back and forth, up and around, with hairy hairpins, narrow stretches, many blind curves, few guardrails or safe places to pull over, and steep drops off the shoulder. 

Make sure your excursion has a good driver, good tires, good brakes, and enough gas. And remember you may be coming down after dark, or late in the day with the sun in your eyes. 

On a July trip we didn’t meet deer on the road but did pass a coyote standing on the shoulder after dark, and nearly became an off-road vehicle when two turkeys decided to fly across the road, windshield high. 

It takes a solid two hours to travel to and from Berkeley. Allow an hour at least for those last 20 miles of two-lane road, and more if you want to stop along the way to admire the views. 

Spare a thought for early visitors, including astronomers from Berkeley who periodically commuted to the Observatory. They took trains to San Jose then horse-drawn stages to the Observatory, a five-hour drive that was often punctuated with an overnight stop at a roadhouse near the base of the mountain. 

Today, on public observing nights (see sidebar), you can step up to the eyepiece of the Great Lick Refractor yourself and for a few minutes be Percival Lowell puzzling out the possibilities of canals on Mars, or perhaps astronomer E.E. Barnard at this very same telescope, discovering the fifth satellite of Jupiter on September 9, 1892 

Or even just a shivering pre-Space Age graduate student looking to complete a thesis or dissertation with observational data on comets, double stars, asteroids or cosmic nebula. 

The vast wooden floor of the main dome rises and falls hydraulically to keep the viewer positioned properly at the eyepiece as the telescope tracks across the heavens. Below the floor there’s the solid and simple brick base of the telescope pier marked “Here lies the body of James Lick.” It looks a bit forlorn, but a vase of flowers stands in front. 

On the night we went, the telescope focused on bright Jupiter. Four moons, identified by Galileo in 1610, were all clearly visible. 

Outdoors, enthusiastic volunteers offered supplementary looks at the night sky through portable telescopes. One pointed out a satellite moving down the southern sky. 

The elegant entrance lobby of the main building displays a bust of the donor and the monumental inscription, “Lick Astronomical Department of the University of California.” 

Straight ahead is a courtyard with a fountain and a bust honoring the mountain’s namesake, The Reverend Laurentine Hamilton who climbed the peak in 1861 with his friend, William Brewer, of the California State Geological Survey. 

Although the original building has been substantially remodeled in parts, it still has a late Victorian feel, including high ceilings, spacious hallways, marble floors, and beautiful wooden casework around the transomed doorways. 

There’s an exhibit room with historical materials and photographs and a gift-shop which, for my taste, had a few too many T-shirts and toys and too few books. The rest of the mountain-top is punctuated with other research and operational buildings, including a large dome housing the newer, 120 inch, Shane Reflector, which daytime visitors can see. 

Aside from the buildings, there’s also the elevating experience of being on a 4,200-plus foot mountaintop (about as far above sea level as Yosemite Valley) that’s near, but still removed from, urban civilization. Tree-dappled hills and canyons surround the mountain and it’s amazingly quiet. 

The mountain top weather can get chilly and severe, including winter snow, but a summer visit can also be calm and balmy. After dark, the Santa Clara Valley sprawls a vast latifundia of light beyond the hills to the west.  

Most visitors come to Lick come during the day, when there isn’t telescope observing of course, but we visited for a periodic summer night event called “Music of the Spheres.” 

For $30 (more, if you want special tours and seats and a buffet dinner), you enjoy a live concert by visiting musicians, a lecture, the opportunity to walk around in the main dome and building, and viewing through the telescope after dark. Courteous staff and volunteers are on hand to explain the Observatory’s history and operations. 

Attendees receive, in the order they arrive, numbered passes for viewing access; concert seating is first-come, first served. We got there 15 minutes before the concert started and found ourselves near the end of the viewing queue. Our turn at the telescope eyepiece finally arrived close to midnight, making it a long night, including the travel time back to Berkeley. 

There’s also a much cheaper Summer Visitors Program, sans concert, that provides the same viewing opportunities on several Friday and Saturday nights, plus talks on the history of the Observatory and astronomers speaking on their current research. Tickets for all these events go on sale in the spring, and typically sell out. Check the Lick website for details. 

At the event we attended we heard an engaging lecture by Berkeley Professor Alex Filippenko, who cogently theorized about the existence of multiple “and perhaps even infinite” universes. 

“We may be just one island in a bunch of universes, of which most are less interesting than ours,” he concluded. 

Just so, I thought. That’s what many people think about living in Berkeley. Go down to Lick for a look at the greater things beyond. 

The Lick Observatory website, www.ucolick.org/public/ has plenty of information on visiting. 

Free daytime public visiting hours are Monday-Friday, 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m., and 10-5 p.m. on Saturdays. Open every day except Thanksgiving and December 24 / 25. 

There is no drop-in, nighttime, viewing. Special nighttime Summer Visitors Program and summer “Music of the Spheres” events are advertised in the spring. At press time, the Lick website indicated some tickets still available for August and September music nights. 

From Berkeley/Oakland take Highway 880 (then 101) or 580 some 50 miles south to eastern San Jose and Alum Rock Boulevard. There is no gas available for the next 20 miles, coming and going.  

Photograph by Steven Finacom. 

The main facade of the original observatory building glows in the early evening sun.  

The Kitchen 

Go to a kitchen showroom or a home improvement store, or open up a shelter magazine, and you will see the contemporary kitchen accoutrements that we have been convinced to lust after: restaurant stoves, built-in stainless steel refrigerators with internet access, granite counters, and so forth. But if your house is historic, which covers everything from Victorian to World War II, you will be doing your home a serious disservice if you give into that lust and install the latest “state-of-the-art “ kitchen.  

The first “modern” kitchens, in the sense that they had stoves, refrigeration, electricity, and plumbing, came about in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Though a kitchen of that era might look primitive now, it was miles ahead of earlier kitchens, where cooking was done in fireplaces, refrigeration was non-existent, and water had to be carried in. By the turn of the twentieth century, the basic kitchen elements we still use were in place: ranges, refrigerators, plumbing, electric lighting, cabinets for storage, and even concepts about efficiency, such as continuous countertops and the work triangle. Though there have been technological advances since then (under-counter dishwashers, microwaves, garbage disposals), these basic elements have remained much the same. 

Nonetheless, the kitchen was, and is, the most complex room in the house. The demands placed on it in earlier times are nothing compared to the demands placed on it now. Then it was a utilitarian space, for the servants or the woman of the house. But now, the kitchen has supplanted the living room as the central place in most homes. Is it possible to have a period kitchen that still meets modern expectations? It depends on your expectations. An exacting reproduction of a 1915 kitchen may not be for everyone- how do you feel about doing the dishes by hand? But with a dishwasher, it could still look like 1915, but you might be a lot happier.  

The elements that make up a historic kitchen are fairly standard, and by picking a combination of appropriate elements, it’s possible to have a kitchen that incorporates modern technology yet still looks right in an older home.  

Cabinets 

The right cabinets are the most important element in making a kitchen look period-appropriate. Historically, cabinets were face-framed (as opposed to frameless European-style cabinets), with flush inset frame-and-panel doors (now called “Shaker” doors—square stiles and rails around a flat panel). Overlay doors (still frame and panel) began to appear in the 1920s, influenced by the doors on Hoosier cabinets. (Flat “slab” overlay doors, made of plywood, began to appear in the 1940s.) Panels in the doors could also be glass, either plain or with muntins.  

Drawers were either inset or three-eights inch overlay, with wooden glides. Old cabinets lacked the toe kicks of modern cabinets—the face frame extended down to the floor. (Toe kicks appeared in the 1910s.) The lower cabinets were shallower than the standard 24 inches used today, ranging from 15 to 22 inches deep, though upper cabinets were 12 inches deep and still are. Upper cabinets often hung lower than modern cabinets, 12 to 14 inches above the countertop, rather than the 18 inches now standard. Unlike many modern cabinets, the upper cabinets went all the way to the ceiling, rather than leaving the tops exposed to collect dust and grease, or by filling the gap with a soffit. Custom storage abounded, with tilt-out bins for 50 pound bags of flour and sugar (used now for pet food or recycling), corner cabinet lazy susans, sliding shelves, and so forth. There were also specialty cabinets, including California coolers- a ventilated cabinet with wire or slatted shelves, which used the chimney effect to draw cool air up from the basement or crawlspace, which was used to store foods like potatoes, onions, garlic, even wine. Another specialty cabinet was the built-in ironing board, though many of these have been turned into spice racks. And of course, the hoosier cabinet (now a generic term, Hoosier was one of many manufacturers) was prevalent in many households. There weren’t any kitchen islands as we know them, only worktables, though many work tables had built-in storage. 

Most historic kitchen cabinets locally were made of vertical grain Douglas fir, inexpensive at the time, now more expensive than oak or cherry. Cabinets were either varnished or painted with enamel in shades of off-white to beige, as white was considered “sanitary”, and they were really obsessed with sanitation back then. 

Cabinet hardware was also standardized with ball-tipped mortise hinges, surface-mount butterfly hinges, or offset hinges for overlay doors. Doors latched with spring-loaded cupboard catches, hexagonal glass knobs, or simple wood or brass knobs. Drawers utilized metal bin pulls, glass bridge handles, hexagonal glass knobs, or wood or brass knobs. In the Victorian period, metal hardware often had elaborate patterns formed by lost-wax casting, but after 1900 hardware was much plainer. Metal hardware was usually brass or nickel, until chrome became popular in the mid-1930s.  

Appropriate cabinets are offered by national companies or can be custom-built by local cabinetmakers. Suitable hardware can be found locally or on the web. 

Countertops 

Countertops are the most difficult element, since there is no perfect countertop. In the past, the most prevalent countertop was varnished wood. This is fine in some areas, but problematic around the sink or near the stove. The second most common countertop is ceramic tile. White hexagonal porcelain tiles or other small mosaics were common, although sizes up to 4” by 4” were used. Backsplashes were often subway (3” by 6”) tiles laid like bricks, though 4”by 4” tiles were also employed. Tile was white from the late nineteenth century through the Teens, maybe with a colored border or liner. In the Twenties and beyond, wild color combinations like jadite green and black, burgundy and yellow, lavender and peach, and even three and four color combinations began to be used, although white continued throughout. The third most popular countertop, surprisingly, was linoleum- it held up well on the floor so why not on the counter? I am referring to real linoleum, which was invented in 1863 and consists of linseed oil, cork, ground limestone, and pigments on a burlap backing. It is a green alternative to highly toxic vinyl.  

Stone countertops were rare—there might be a marble pastry slab in an upper middle class kitchen, and occasionally soapstone or slate would be installed, but granite is very wrong for a historic kitchen. And contrary to the hype, stone is actually porous and requires sealing. 

I detest Corian, but some of the newer composite materials aren’t too bad. Products like Fireslate, Silestone, Richlite and even concrete have an appropriate look. Even some patterns of laminate, with a matte finish and a wooden edge molding, look decent. It is legitimate to use different countertop materials in different areas of the kitchen- tile or stone near the sink and stove, wood or linoleum elsewhere.  

Floors 

Kitchen floors used one-inch by four-inch tongue-and-groove boards of the same old growth Douglas fir as the cabinets, either varnished, painted, or covered with linoleum. Occasionally hardwood flooring (oak or maple) was installed. Fancier houses sometimes had ceramic tile floors, either hexagonal tiles or quarry tiles. 

Sinks and Faucets 

Sinks were almost always white porcelain over cast-iron. There were two kinds- sinks with built-in drainboards and backsplashes, which were wall-hung, but often had decorative legs, or occasionally sat on top of cabinets, and undermount or tile-in sinks, which were set into tiled countertops. Undermount sinks are still widely available. Farmhouse-style sinks were primarily used in the 19th century. Butler’s pantries utilized small copper or nickel silver sinks, these softer metals thought less likely to chip the fine china which was washed in the butler’s pantry rather than the kitchen. The nickel-plated faucets were wall-mounted, rather than deck-mounted as most are today. In the 19th century, the faucet would have had separate hot and cold taps, but by the 20th century, mixing faucets with cross or lever handles were the norm. 

Appliances 

Vintage stoves are currently popular, and you could pay up to $30,000 for a restored double oven Magic Chef. You could also pick up a perfectly good 1940s Wedgewood on Craigslist for $500 or less, or a restored stove for somewhere between $1200 and $3000. If you want more of the modern stuff like electronic ignition and sealed burners, Elmira and Heartland make vintage-looking stoves with modern components. A simple (and thus inexpensive) modern stove also can be unobtrusive in a historic kitchen. Nowadays, people who don’t cook at all insist on having restaurant-style stoves—I guess they’re for the caterers. 

Refrigerators are difficult to deal with, being large and hard to disguise. Only a few people want vintage refrigerators, which have to be manually defrosted. A “fully-integrated” fridge that can be completely covered with wood panels is an option, as are refrigerator drawers made by various companies. Replicas of wooden iceboxes with modern refrigeration components inside are also available, as well as retro 1950s-style fridges. 

Dishwashers also come “fully integrated” with controls on the top edge so the front can be completely covered with wood. I would refrain from putting a wood panel on a regular dishwasher- it draws more attention to the dishwasher than leaving it as is. Dishwasher drawers are also an option. A dishwasher can also be recessed into an extra deep cabinet with a regular cabinet door to disguise it. Compact dishwashers are only slightly larger than a microwave and can fit into small spaces or under old counters that aren’t deep enough for the usual 24” deep unit. 

Obviously they were no microwaves until recently, but it’s easy enough to hide one in a cabinet. 

Lighting 

Electricity was available locally by the late 19th century, so kitchens would have had electric lights and plugs, just not as many as we are used to (or required by code). A ceiling fixture in the middle of the room, a light over or next to the sink, and maybe another over the range would have been usual. These were plain nickel-plated fixtures with simple shades, or even just a bare lightbulb on a cord or chain and are readily available as reproductions. You can have as many visible fixtures as you like, since we are used to higher light levels. If you want to add well-disguised under-cabinet lighting, go ahead. 

Ventilation 

Historically, ventilation was passive- a plaster or painted metal hood over the range connected to a vent in the roof, using the chimney effect of rising heat to draw out smoke and steam. Electric fans mounted on an outside wall were also employed. It is possible to buy just the guts of a stove hood- fan and light- to retrofit old hoods or use in new custom hoods. If there are cabinets over the range, there are also retracting hoods, which virtually disappear when not in use. 

Things to Avoid 

There are some things that will make your kitchen scream “twenty-first century”. Recessed can lights, although your architect or designer will tell you they are unobtrusive, aren’t. Stainless steel anything (appliances, sinks, countertops) will be the avocado green of the twenty first century. Granite is totally overdone, as are glass tiles (which replaced with ubiquitous tumbled marble of the 1990s). And fancy art tiles and a copper hood belong on a fireplace, not in a kitchen. 

Although much useful technology came about in the twentieth century, we seem too enamored of bells and whistles we don’t actually use. Many historic kitchens, some of them perfectly functional, have been ripped out and replaced with some decade’s “state of the art” kitchen. Perhaps you’ve had one: plywood cabinets and gold flecked laminate from the Sixties? An avocado and harvest gold nightmare from the Seventies? Or perhaps beige tile, half-inch brown grout and oak cabinets from the Eighties? These once trendy kitchens soon look dated, whereas a period kitchen appears timeless, like it belongs there. Today it is possible to have a kitchen that meets twenty-first century expectations and yet still feels right in an historic house. 

Jane Powell is a restoration consultant and the author of Bungalow Kitchens. Contact her at janepowell@sbcglobal.net. 

Contributed photo.  

A fully-integrated refrigerator disguises modern technology behind coordinating wood panels that help it look like part of the cabinetry. 

Change is inevitable; it’s always reassuring when a change in a good business is in the spirit of the original, an enhancement rather than a trip to the oubliette—for example, when an owner retired and sells the place to people who are familiar with it and like its style already. A breath of fresh air is much better than a tornado where there’s something worth preserving. Oh, Toto! 

I’d visited Mt. Diablo Nursery and Garden just a few times since writing it up for The Garden Lover’s Guide: San Francisco Bay Area around 1997. It was engagingly eccentric, homey, with the oddities that come with long independent ownership. It sat in the shadow of a big fat pretentious hotel of some sort—still does, though the stucco coat on the architectural iceberg is a slightly different shade now—and made a quiet, ornery statement about what East of the Hills used to be like when it was the outback, before it got all pretentious.  

You know, I know people who live over on the hot side of the hills and they’re not pretentious themselves, even the most genteel ones. Maybe nobody there is pretentious, and it was all just the developers’ fault. Could we spare a day to take weedwhackers to all the gratuitous “The”s and “at”s that are popping up in such unfortunate places? Thanks; it would mean so much to me. 

So Mt. Diablo Nursery has just changed hands. Garth and Marcia Jacober bought Harry’s Nursery from its former owner (that would be Jiro Mishimoto, who’d taken over from his friend the eponymous Harry some 30 years back) and changed its name. They’re sprucing it up now. Redoing the gift shop, restocking the stock, gearing up for a Grand Opening day in the near future.  

I’ll announce that here as soon as I hear when it’s happening.  

Marcia said they intend to include work from local artists in the gift shop, and they’re considering throwing some classes too. Garth has taught gardening classes at Heather farms and at Magic Gardens.  

When he was a student, Garth worked with the eponymous Harry and the post-eponymous Jiro at the nursery, so he does know and like what he and Marcia have acquired. The lot is funny, shaped right for a spaghetti farm and rising in little terraces up a steep hill. ’Round the other side of that hill is Lafayette Cemetery, which looks rather like the “cemmies” in my Coal Region hometown where we used to say are so steep that the dead must be buried standing up, ready for Judgment Day.  

The Jacobers like camellias and have a lot of them waiting for blooming season to be on display at the nursery. They have, even in the current under-renovation space, some unusual plants such as native vine maples, Rhus typhina ‘Tiger Eye’—a golden cut-leafed staghorn sumac I don’t think I’ve seen before—and a rose named ‘Golden Winds’ whose scent has a note of cinnamon.  

There’s a nifty mural in progress along the bordering wall too. Go on out and have a look; it’s worth braving the heat.  

Mt. Diablo Nursery & Garden 

3295 Mt. Diablo Boulevard, Lafayette 

(925) 283-3830 

info@mtdiablonursery.com 

http://mtdiablonursery.com (Site is under construction too, clearly.) 

8:30 a.m.—5 p.m. daily 

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

Ouch! That Quake Hurts!  

How do most people get hurt in a big quake? Is it from the ceiling falling on them? The house collapsing all around them? No, historically there hasn’t been much “pan caking,” or houses falling apart around the occupants. Your major worry about your house is that it’s going to fall off its foundation, or possibly have a gas explosion if you’re not home to turn off the gas if an appliance supply line ruptures.  

The fact is that most people are injured in a quake by either trying to run to another room or outside, and the shaking knocks them down violently, or they get hit by falling objects like heavy furniture, wall hangings, or light fixtures.  

Securing your furniture is easy and pretty cheap. More on this later, but think about doing this NOW!  

Here’s to making your home secure and your family safe. 

Larry Guillot is the owner of QuakePrepare, an earthquake consulting, securing and kit supply service. Contact him at 558-3299 or see www.quakeprepare.com to receive semi-monthly e-mails and safety reports. 

We’re at war with Germany again, and this time they’re winning. No, it’s not a shooting war but since shooting wars always start with economic pretexts, it’s not a far stretch to talk about shooting wars in conjunction with this war and since it involves energy, it’s easy to point to our differing approaches to the war in Iraq as one example of how they’re winning, both morally and physically. 

First of all, they’re not in Iraq. This means that they’re winning the approval of their people (who think, like most peoples outside the U.S. that our leadership in energy and diplomacy is retarded). They’re also winning morally, in my opinion, since they’re working hard to create alternatives to oil in the form of, primarily, solar power. 

The battleground in this war is taking place at the hardware store (now that’s MY idea of the right place to fight a war). It’s being fought with cost incentives, pilot projects and legislation and let me tell you brother, it’s not going well for us. 

Here are some of the daily death tolls. In 2005 German families bought 632,000 kilowatts in solar grid-tie systems. We bought 70,000. Germany is a county of less than one-third our population at 82 million (we just passed 300 million).  

So let’s do the math and let’s be extra fair to the enemy. If we include all other forms of PV (photovoltaic), you can take the U.S. up to 103 million and Germany up to 635,000 (nearly all of their PV systems are grid-tie), so this means that a country of less than a third our size, bought, in 2005, more than 6 times the number of watts in solar installations than we did. If we multiply this times the population difference, they beat us by a factor of more than 22. Things are not going well for us in this war. Back to the coal mines, I guess. I didn’t need my lungs anyway (or clean water, glaciers, bees, plant-life...). 

By the way, just for fun, guess who our other major opponent is in this war is (and they’re also wiping the floor with us, although not quite so comically). Yes, friends, it’s Japan (they’re numbers are about half of Germany’s and their population is less than half of ours). See, the Marshall plan worked. Keeping Japan and Germany from developing military power after WWII was the best thing we could have done for them. They had to get busy with things like, say, education, infrastructure, medicine and technology. Maybe we should whoop the Marshall plan on our selves. “Now, young man, go to your room for 50 years and I don’t want to hear anything from you but non-military development.” Imagine what we could accomplish! 

It’s also interesting that, while the U.S. has more off-grid (won’t share) power generation than Germany, they still have over three times our total developed capacity. Their systems are designed to share extra electricity with the nearest neighbor. Ours is designed for me, me, me. I guess those damned socialists think that by collectivizing, they can sneak up on us and wipe us out (by the way, it’s working). It might be time for us to do a little of that socialist collectivizing, when it comes to energy (the single biggest business in the U.S., Ca-Ching).  

It may be just this attitude and the fears of our corporate fathers (and mothers. Sorry, women can also rob from the poor and give to the rich) that has prevented the U.S. from doing what is almost certainly the basis of Germany’s success story, which is the incentivizing of their system. You see, Germans are getting paid back TWICE the rate they pay for power for every watt they give to the grid.  

(By the way, this grid-tie system I keep mentioning is one in which the solar panels feed electricity directly to your main electrical panel and can be used immediately by the house or flow out through the meter, turning it backward, and to the neighborhood for others to use.) 

Now, you and I, in the U.S. don’t get paid back double for the watts we contribute. We don’t even get paid back once for each watt. We only get to reduce our bill to zero and then we get SQUAT. Now, why would you buy a nice big solar array when all you get after you’ve paid your bill down to zero is the comfort of knowing that PG&E stockholders will be showered in the extra cash you just gave them. I’m not suggesting that you shouldn’t buy a solar array. Just that, sadly, the smallest system that meets your needs is the logical financial approach, at least for the present. 

Most PV systems have inverters (the part that turns PV power into house power) that can accommodate a range of array sizes and if a day arrives when you can get paid to generate power, you can then add more panels (in the worst case, you’d need a new inverter). 

Steve, a client of mine, the other day was buying a house that had a nice big fat solar array. It was well installed and already had close to 10 years of road time on it. Steve knew enough to ask about the problem of throwing away excess electrons and wanted to know if there were ways to use the extra electricity in the house. I told him that I hoped that in the next few years, driven by shame, the U.S. could well catch up with Germany and he could then sell the excess back to the grid. If true, it might be best to consider these issues in the selection of electrical equipment. 

Switching to electrical water heating is one thing that Steve could do with his free watts. I’m not generally a fan of electric water heating, space heating or cooking due to it’s environmental costs. This is because electricity is usually generated at some distant location by burning something and the loss of power by the time we arrive at your house is generally 2/3 of what we had to begin with. Of course, if power is generated with solar, wind or waves, I don’t care too much, although I still think, from a political perspective, that it’s better to decentralize and (don’t hurt me now) give power back to the people. BUT, given the current alternatives, I’m willing to take a ride with centralized eco-friendly electric power. 

We considered three kinds of electric water heating. Tanked (which is the cheapest), on-demand central or on-demand local (tiny units put in baths, kitchen, or laundry). Given the tangible possibility that he might soon sell back the extra watts, I suggested the tanked model. While not my usual first choice, it was the cheapest approach and, therefore, the least painful to dump after just a few years. Also, it could be turned off, replaced by a gas on-demand unit and remain as a flow-through seismic water storage unit. 

I similarly suggested a set of baseboard electric heaters to replace the now condemnable gravity gas heater in the basement. They’re cheap and could also be tossed in favor of something better when things change. 

My friend J.P. Ross, who works on solar legislation, also points out that some folks are selling or giving away car chargings to their friends before their billing year is over as a way of deflating their losses. Apparently, annual billing cycles are different for everyone and you can find a different person each month to charge up the electric hybrid if you’re well connected (so to speak). 

While all these strategies are helpful in the face of a bad system, the ultimate solution is to demand fair pay for fair watts. J.P. says that the solar initiative folks currently have an understanding with P.G.&E. NOT to try to push for cash repayment while they focus on more winnable fights. 

While I respect the fine work these people are doing, I feel like we’re all getting taken for a ride that hurts the development of solar power, the sale of PV systems and, ultimately, the earth. I urge everyone to write their governator or their congress-woman . and ask them to take a look at the difference between the German system and the U.S. system. 

Hopefully, we won’t have to lose a war to learn THIS lesson. 

Got a question about home repairs and inspections? Send them to Matt Cantor, in care of East Bay Real Estate, at mgcantor@pacbell.net.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 3 

East Bay Vivarium vists the South Branch of the Berkeley Public Library at 2 p.m. to show off reptiles and amphibians. 981-6260. 

“Butterflies of the SF Bay Region” with Art Shapiro and Tim Manolis discussing their new field guide at 5:30 p.m. at University Press Books, 2430 Bancroft Way, just below Telegraph. The authors will lead a nature walk in Claremont Canyon before their talk, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. For information and reservations for the walk call 841-8447 or email wmcclung@rcn.com  

“Yosemite” with scientific illustrator Andie Thrams on Yosemite flora, Ranger Yenyen Chan on Chinese labor in the construction of park roads, and a screening of “Discover Hetch Hetchy” from 6 to 8 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak at 10th St. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

“Daily Realities of Living under Occupation” with Hisham Ahmad Ph.D, formerly of Bir Zeit University in the West Bank at 7 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison St. Free. 499-0537. 

Foreclosures in the Changing Real Estate Market: How does it Affect the Albany/Berkeley Area? at 5:30 p.m. at 1302 Solano Ave., Albany. Cost is $3-$5. Sponsored by the Albany Chamber of Commerce. RSVP to 525-1771. 

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. 

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4 

“Container Gardening for Renters or Those with Limited Space” with strategies on growing in various vessels with information on compost, soils, compost teas, seasonal planting, and more. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Cost is $10-$15, no one turned away. Please call to register. 548-2220, ext.233. 

Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tour Preservation Park to Pardee Mansion Meet at 10 a.m. at 13th St. and Preservation Park Way for a walk through Oakland’s 19th Century. Bring a picnic lunch for the end of the tour. 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

Birding Bike Trip at Quarry Lakes An easy 24-mile trip to see birds in riparian, marsh and bayside habitats. Meet at 8:20 a.m. on the east side of the Fremont BART station. Bring helment, bike lock, lunch and liquids. For information email Kathy_Jarrett@yahoo.com 

Walking Tour of Jack London Waterfront Meet at 10 a.m. at the corner of Broadway and Embarcadero. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

Rally in Support of Universal Health Care (SB 840) at 1:30 p.m. at Oakland City Hall Plaza. Speakers include Sandre Swanson, Richard Quint, MD, Sara Rogers and many others. 832-8683. 

Hopalong Animal Rescue Come meet your furry new best friend. Dogs and puppies available for adoption from noon to 3 p.m. at Pet Food Express Rockridge, 5101 Broadway, and cats and kittens at 3974 Peidmont Ave., Oakland. 267-1915, ext. 500. 

Fun With Bubbles for ages 3 and up at 2 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave, Kensington. 524-3043. 

Fast Pitch Softball for Adults at noon on Saturdays in Oakland. 204-9500. 

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 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wed. and Sat. at 10 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

SUNDAY, AUGUST 5 

Peace Lantern Ceremony from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the north end of Aquatic Park. Decorate a lantern shade then wach it float across the lagoon in commemoration of teh atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. www.progressiveportal.org/lanterns/ 

Green Home Expo from noon to 5 p.m. at the Berkeley Marina, with electronics and old medicine disposal, and information on reducing your global carbon footprint. 981-5435. 

Walking-Pole Workshop in celebration of the opening of the new Glendale Path at 9:45 a.m. Registration required. Email info@berkeleypaths.org  

Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tour of Chinatown Meet at 10 a.m. at the fountain of Pacific Renaissance Plaza, Ninth St., between Webster and Frainklin. 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

Home Graywater Systems A workshop on safely irrigating with shower, bathroom sink, and laundry waste water from 10 a.m. to noon at EcoHouse, 1305 Hopkins St. Cost is $15 sliding scale. Registration required. 548-2220 ext. 242. 

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. www.nativeplants.org 

MONDAY, AUGUST 6 

Peace Day Crane Folding with the film “Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes” followed by a crane folding program, from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Children’s Story Room, Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6223. 

“Landscapes for Politics” A panel discussion with Jake Kosek, author of “Understories,” Marina Sitrin, author of “Storming the Gates of Paradise,” and moderated by Ed Yuen, editor of Confronting Capitalism, at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Help Plan the Peoples Park Paace Rally in Sept., at an organizational meeting at 7 p.m. at Cafe Med, Telegraph Ave. 658-1451. 

“Hormone Disrupting Chemicals in the Environment” with Jennifer Jackson of EBMUD and Rebecca Sutton of Environmental Working Group at 7 p.m. at Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin, at Masonic. Sponsored by Friends of Five Creeks. www.fivecreeks.org 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at West Pauley Ballroom MLK Student Union, UC Campus. To schedule an appointment go to www.BeADonor.com  

Family Sing-Along at 6:45 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6223. 

TUESDAY, AUGUST 7 

Monitor Native Oysters in the Bay Help monitor oyster populations and set up equipment for our Native Oyster Monitoring Study at 10 a.m. at the Berkeley Marina, 201 University Ave. 452-9261, ext. 119. www.savesfbay.org/oysters  

“Youth Prison Reform: Does the Governor Have It Right?” with Pat Kuhi. Brown Bag lunch at noon at the Albany Library, Marin and Masonic Ave. Sponsored by League of Women Voters of Berkeley, Albany, Emeryville. 843-8824. http://lwvbae.org 

WIllard Neighborhood Ice Cream Social Part of National Night Out, from 7 to 9 p.m. at Willard Park, corner of Derby St. and Hillegass Ave.  

Lawyers in the Library Free legal information and referral presented in conjunction with the Alameda County Bar Association. Sign-ups at 5 p.m. for appointments between 6 and 8 p.m. at the Rockridge Branch of the Oakland Public Library, 5366 College Ave. 597-5017. 

Dance Dance Revolution Interactive Game at 5:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library Community Room, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6100. 

Family Storytime for preschoolers and up at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Join a few slowpoke seniors at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm for an hour or two walk. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. Sponsored by the Ecology Center’s Farm Fresh Choice. 848-1704. www.ecologycenter.org 

Community Sing-a-Long every Tues, at 2 p.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. 524-9122.  

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. 

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, AUGUST 8 

LBNL Building Plans Learn about the plans for the 160,000 sq-ft Helios building and the 150,000 sq-ft Computational Research Facility at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. See www.lbl.gov/Community/Helios and www.lbl.gov/Community/CRT 

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. 

Pax Nomada Bike Ride Meet at 6 p.m. at Nomad Cafe for a 15-25 mile ride up to through the Berkeley hills. All levels of cyclists welcome. 595-5344. 

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 noon at the Latina Center, 3919 Roosevelt Ave., Richmond. 981-5332. 

Poetry Writing Workshop with Alison Seevak at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave., Albany. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

“Coming Out to Your Children” a workshop for LGBT parents at 6:30 p.m. at Women of Color Resource Center, 1611 Telegragh Ave., #303, Oakland. 415-981-1960. stephanice@ourfamily.org 

Farsi Club at 1:15 p.m. at North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst. 981-5190. 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. 548-9840. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Sing for Peace at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www. 

geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil 

Stitch ‘n Bitch at 6:30 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

THURSDAY, AUGUST 9 

The Cultural Landscape of Strawberry Canyon with Charles Birnbaum at 7:30 p.m. at the Town & Gown Club, UC Campus. Cost is $20, reservtions required. 842-2242. www.berkeleyheritage.com 

Introduction to Urban Permaculture Hear and see local permaculture designers from the Ecological Division of Merritt College’s Landscape Horticulture Department discuss what's possible in a city, at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

“War Made Easy: How Presidents & Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death” A new documentary film based on thebook by Norman Solomon at 7 p.m. at Grand Lake Theater 3200 Grand Ave , Oakland. Tickets $12. www. 

warmadeeasythemovie.org 

East Bay Macintosh Users Group reviews the iPhone at 7 p.m. at Expression College for Digital Arts, 6601 Shelmound, Emeryville. http://ebmug.org  

Screening to Reduce Risk of Stroke at Bayview El Cerrito Fraternal Order of Eagles at 3223 Carlson Blvd., El Cerrito. Cost is $139. To schedule an appointment call 1-877-237-1287. 

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 

CITY MEETINGS 

Disaster and Fire Safety Commission meets Wed., Aug. 8, at 7 p.m., at 997 Cedar St. 981-5502.  

Waterfront Commission meets Wed., Aug. 8, at 7 p.m., at 201 University Ave. 981-6740.  

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., Aug. 9, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. 981-7410.

TUESDAY, JULY 31 

CHILDREN 

Dan Chan the Magic Man and Kat at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext 17. 

Voice of the Wood “How the Jackrabbit Got His Very Long Ears” at 3 p.m. at the West Branch of the Berkeley Public Library. 981-6270. 

FILM 

Jewish Film Festival from 1:45 to 8:45 p.m. at The Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. 925-275-9490. www.sfjff.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES  

Deborah Davis introduces “Not Like You at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Randy Craig Trio at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

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

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1 

CHILDREN 

Zun Zun plays “Music of the Americas” in Spanish, English and Portuguese at 3:30 p.m. at the CLaremont Branch od the Berkeley Public Library. 981-6280. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“The Telegraph 3 p.m. Project” Photographs by Robert Eliason and poetry by Owen Hill opens at the Gaia Arts Center, 2120 Allston Way with a reception at 7:30 p.m. exhibition runs to Jan. 31. 665-0305.  

“Glimpses in Time” Photography exhibition in honor of Gordon Parks opens at the Joyce Gordon Gallery, 406 14th St., Oakland, and runs to Aug. 31. 465-8928. 

FILM 

Jewish Film Festival from 2 to 8:30 p.m. at The Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. For information on tickets call 925-275-9490. www.sfjff.org 

Eco-Amok: An Inconvenient Film Fest “Prophecy” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ian Jackman describes “Eat This!: 1,001 Things to Eat Before You Diet” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Ann Channin, jazz, at 1:15 p.m. at North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst. 981-5190. 

Johnny Bones and the Palace of Jazz at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Saul Kaye “A Taste of Paradise” at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Tri Tip Trio at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun/Zydeco dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Orquestra Universal at 8 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159. www.shattuckdownlow.com 

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

Tenth Annual East Bay Blues Revue at 7:30 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $20. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, AUGUST 2 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Shaped by Water” Abstract landscape paintings by Jane Norling. Reception for the artists at 11:30 a.m. at the EBMUD Gallery, 375 11th St., Oakland. 287-0138. 

“New Visions” Group show of work by Bay Area artists. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Pro Arts Gallery, 550 Second St., Oakland. 763-9425. 

FILM 

“2nd Verse” A documentary exploring teen life in the Bay Area and the popularity of Spoken Word, at 8 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $5-$6. 849-2568.  

Jewish Film Festival from 1:45 to 8:30 p.m. at The Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. For information on tickets call 925-275-9490. www.sfjff.org 

A Theater Near You “White Light/Black Rain” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Roberta Spear Retrospective “A Sweetness Rising” with Pholip Levine, Peter Everwine and Sandra Hoben at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 559-9500. 

“Conversations on Art” with Faith Powell on the female subjects in Man Ray’s work at 6:30 p.m. at the Judah L. Magnes Museum, 2911 Russell St. Cost is $6-$8. 549-6950.  

Larry Kearney reads his poetry at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave., Albany. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Steve Carter Trio at noon at the downtown Berkeley BART station. info@downtownberkeley.org 

“Once More, For the First Time” students of the Ailey Camp perform at 7 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Free tickets available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Dgin, Mad Maggies at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $8. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Tangria Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $9. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Iwori, Raya Nova, Sugar Shack at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082 . 

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

Vortex Tribe at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

Pete Escovedo at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $18-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

FRIDAY, AUGUST 3 

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 

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. 

Stage Door Conservatory “Urinetown” A Teens On Stage Production, Fri. at 7 p.m., Sat. and Sun. at 5 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $10-$20. 521-6250. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Colors of the American West” Pein-air paintings by Deborah Diamond. OPening reception at 7 p.m. at The Gallery, 5751 Horton St., Emeryville. 428-2384. 

“Glimpses in Time” Photography exhibition in honor of Gordon Parks. Opening reception at 4 p.m. at Joyce Gordon Gallery, 406 14th St., Oakland. 465-8928. 

“Inscibere” A group show of works related to the act of writing. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Chandra Cerrito Contemporary, 25 Grand Ave., upper level. www.chandracerrito.com 

“The Locals” Group show of artists using photography, metal, lichen and sound. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Rhythmix Cultural Works, K Gallery, 2513 Blanding Ave., Alameda. 845-5060. www.rhythmix.org 

FILM 

Max Ophuls: Motion and Emotion “Happy Heirs” at 7 p.m. and “Lola Montes” at 8:35 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Gumby Dharma” the story of Art Clokey and his cartoon legend at 8:45 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak at 10th St. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Art Shapiro and Tim Manolis discuss their new book “Butterflies of the SF Bay Region” at 5:30 p.m. at University Press Books, 2430 Bancroft Way, just below Telegraph. The authors will lead a nature walk in Claremont Canyon before their talk, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. For informration and reservations for the walk email Bill McClung at wmcclung@ren.com  

William Poy Lee reads from his new book “The Eighth Promise” at 7:30 p.m. at Oakland Musuem of California, 1000 Oak at 10th St. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2200. w 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Ross Hammond’s “No Do” at 8 p.m. at Free-Jazz Fridays at the Jazz House, 1510 8th St., Oakland. Cost is $5-$15. 415-846-9432. 

Saed Muhssin, part of The Arab Cultural Initiative, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $8-$12. 849-2568.  

The Brama Sukarma Ensemble at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10. 845-5373.  

Judy Wexler & Anton Schwartz Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ.  

Bayonics, 40 Watt Hype at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

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

The Hobbyists, indie folk duo, at 9 p.m. at Downtown Restaurant & Bar 2102 Shattuck Ave. 649-3810. 

Midnite, roots reggae from St. Croix, at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $25-$30. 548-1159.  

Bryan Harrison and Abel Mouton at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. 

The Blind, Everest at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Born/Dead. A.N.S., Cross Examination, Resist the Right 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. 

The Wayward Sway at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

Midnite, roots reggae, at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $25-$30. 548-1159.  

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4 

CHILDREN 

Pinocchio: The Hip-Hopera, Sat. and Sun. at 12:30 and 3:30 p.m. at Children’s Fairyland, 699 Bellevue Ave. 452-2259. 

THEATER 

Shotgun Players “The Three Musketeers” Sat. and Sun. at 4 p.m. at John Hinkle Park, Southampton Ave., off The Arlington, through Sept. 9. Free. 841-6500. 

EXHIBITIONS 

Berkeley’s “Other” Revolution: Celebrating 35 Years of Independent Living, Disability Access, and Disability Rights. Photographs by Ken Stein on display in the windows of Rasputin Music, 2401 Telegraph Ave., between Channing Way and Haste. 525-2325. 

“Interiors/Exteriors” Works by Tracy Wes, Vivian Prinsloo and Scott Courtenay-Smith. Artist reception at 6 p.m. at Esteban Sabar Gallery, 480 23rd St., Oakland. 444-7411. 

FILM 

Jewish Film Festival from 12:30 to 9:15 p.m. at The Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. For information on tickets call 925-275-9490. www.sfjff.org 

Abbas Kiarostami: Image Maker “And Life Goes On” at 6:30 p.m. and “Through the Olive Trees” at 8:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“At the Med ... Were You There?” Thirty years of sketches from Telegraph Ave.’s Mediterranean Coffee House by Doyl Haley. Lecture on Doyl Hayley’s work by John McNamara at 2 p.m.at the Berkeley Public Library, in the 3rd flr Community Meeting Room, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6100. 

Bay Area Poets Coalition open reading from 3 to 5 p.m. at Strawberry Creek Lodge, 1320 Addison St. Park on the street. 527-9905.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Erik Friedlander at 8 p.m. at the Jazz House, 1510 8th St., Oakland. Cost is $15. 415-846-9432. 

Roy Zimmerman “Faulty Intellegence” songs about ignorance, war and greed at 8 p.m., reception at 6:30 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. Tickets are $10-$30. www.brownpapertickets.com 

Saul Kaye “A Taste of Paradise” in a benefit for missing woman Lynn Ruth Connes, at 9:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Mal Sharpe and Big Money in Gumbo at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ.  

Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Sotaque Baiano, Brazilian, at 8 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

The Cannery and Nomi at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

“The Q is Silent” with Dan Marschak and Friends at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Le Jazz Hot at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

5 Dollar Suit, The Mission Players, San Pablo Project at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082.  

Ceremony, Blacklisted, Shipwreck Said Radio at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

Pete Escovedo at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $18-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SUNDAY, AUGUST 5 

THEATER 

“Nature vs Merger” a Sci-Fi fairy tale for all ages at 3 p.m. at 1631 Bonita Ave. Rehearsal and set building on Sat. at 2 p.m. Call to claim a role. 266-2069. 

EXHIBITIONS 

Paintings by Yoni G. Opening reception at 4 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

FILM 

Max Ophuls: Motion and Emotion “La signora di tutti” at 5 p.m. and “The Exile” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Museum Dialogs” A panel discussion on culturally-specific museums in the Bay Area at 2 p.m. at the Judah L. Magnes Museum, 2911 Russell St. Cost is $10-$12. 549-6950.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Trumpet and Organ Concert with James Tindsly, trumpet and Ron McKean, organ, at 3 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, 2619 Broadway, Oakland. Suggested donation $10. 444-3555. 

Oakland Municipal Band Concert with jazz, big band, marches and showtunes from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Edoff Memorial Bandstand, Lakeside Park and Lake Merritt, Oakland.  

Dred Scott Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ.  

Trick Kernan Combo at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe. 595-5344.  

Julian Pollack Three-O at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10. 845-5373.  

Lion of Judah, Ability at 5 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

MONDAY, AUGUST 6 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Actors Reading Writers“Forces of Nature,” stories by Alice Munro and Wallace Stegner, at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. 932-0214.  

“Landscapes for Politics” A panel discussion with Jake Kosek, author of “Understories,” Marina Sitrin, author of “Storming the Gates of Paradise,” and moderated by Ed Yuen, editor of Confronting Capitalism, at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Jessica Bruder describes “Burning Book: A Visual History of Burning Man” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Danubius, Hungarian Gypsy music, at 7 p.m. at Le Bateau Ivre, 2629 Telegraph Ave. 849-1100. www.lebateauivre.net 

Trovatore, traditional Italian music, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Rumbaché at 8 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

The Telegraph 3 p.m. Project, a collection of scores of photographs by Robert Eliason with matching poems by Owen Hill captioning text that chronicles in an upbeat fashion streetlife on the avenue, will be on exhibit at the Gaia Building, 2120 Allston Way (near Shattuck) through Jan. 31. 

There will be a reception with the artists, who refer to the exhibit as “going downtown,” at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 1. Refreshments will be served; admission is free. 

The project, named after the hour of Eliason’s lunchbreak at Moe’s Books (where both artists are longtime booksellers) when most of the photographs have been taken, will be represented by 161 photos, about a third of the project’s total so far, many of the images newer than those shown in two previous exhibits, in larger format and higher quality prints. 

“The goal has always been to show Telegraph in a much better light than that in the public’s perception,” said Eliason. “And I think this is the best of the three shows of the work. For one thing, there’s more room to breathe at the Gaia Building. And the size and quality of the prints are so much better. They’re just gorgeous—they sparkle on the walls. It’s as positive a look at Berkeley as you could possibly get. It should make a lot of people happy.” 

The project oiginally began several years back when Eliason, who’d shown Hill his photos, “began e-mailing me hundreds,” Hill recalled, “I’d shoot unrevised texts back on some. We’d negotiate between the two a little—not much.” 

Soon they had scores of photos with short poems captioning them. The first public showing was sponsored by the Telegraph BID, facilitated by Doris Moskowitz, owner of Moe’s. 

“We went up and down the Avenue, asking if business owners were interested in displaying them in windows,” said Hill. “I was surprised how many there were. We were proud and enthused, as hundreds were shown and some were kept up long after the show was supposed to be over.” 

A later exhibit at the YWCA updated the original showing with new work. The new show at the Gaia Building will feature even newer work, as well as some photos of other spots in the Bay Area. 

Hill reflected on the differences seen in the photos of Telegraph over just a few years: “Some look necessarily more deserted than the earlier ones, after Cody’s closed—‘the specter of the Cody’s building,’ Robert calls it—and other businesses went down, leaving empty storefronts. But there’s been an upswing this summer, whether from Peet’s moving in on the corner of Dwight, or the Berkeley World Music Festival bringing people down who realized the avenue’s a good place to go. But the energy doesn’t necessarily change overall. 20-plus years at Moe’s, and living around the corner, watching the avenue, is like watching the stock market. There are terrible months, then everybody comes back.” 

The impetus for applying to the Gaia Building for an exhibit originally came from a resident of the Gaia, also a customer at Moe’s, “somebody who was in one of the first photos,” Eliason recalled, “and wasn’t thrilled about it at first. Then he talked to us, become sort of a fan of the project, and told us they were looking for exhibitors at the Gaia, that we should pull something together. We mailed it off—and heard from them the day it was received.” 

Eliason plans to rotate some of the photos about halfway through the run. “There’s a lot of work that wouldn’t get displayed otherwise.” 

Hill, a bookseller who’s had seven books of poetry and two of fiction, one (The Chandler Apartments) a detective novel set in the neighborhood, published—hopes the new exhibition and the longevity of the project will also result in a book. “It’ll certainly sell off the Moe’s counter!” 

For more information about the Telegraph 3 p.m. Project, see www.lostinthestars.com. 

Photograph: The photographs of Robert Eliason, accompanied by poems by Owen Hill, make up the Telegraph 3 p.m. Project, on display at the Gaia Building through Jan. 31.

“Not fair, roaring without telling,” Decca would warn as I read—and roared—over some bit from her latest book or letter. I was nursing a sherry in her Oakland kitchen, and reading hugely funny and provocative items from some of the experiences we’d shared during the ‘40s and ‘50s. 

Such as the times we faked interest in a white-owned home for sale, in Oakland, running interference for a black couple not allowed to bid for it for themselves. (Racial Restrictive Covenants prevailed then —eventually to be tossed by the U.S. Supreme Court.) Such as producing Lifeitselfmanship: or How to Become a Precisely Because Man, the send-up of Left language, illustrations by me. It was home-mimeographed, stapled and sold to benefit The People’s World, although the satire rubbed some Comrades the wrong way. 

Then Decca became a proper Writer with the publication of her autobiography, Hons and Rebels, in the U.K. in 1959 under her proper name, Jessica Mitford. By that time her Committee—composed of five or six friends and two husbands: Bob Treuhaft and Steve Murdock (my second)—had become a kind of editorial board while roaring over her bizarre family history. Hard to believe that Lord and Lady Redesdale’s next to youngest daughter would become an American Communist married to a Jewish lawyer while two of her older sisters were raging, notorious Fascists. 

Decca went on to write The American Way of Death, the best-seller which dealt a mortal blow to some of the more nefarious practices of the funeral industry. We all enjoyed reading house organs like Casket & Sunnyside, for their grisly ads. 

She was a hero to me for her bravery in confronting racist mobs; e.g. rounding up defense for a black couple who had moved in to a formerly all-white community in San Pablo; being in a black church in Montgomery, Ala. to hear Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., as rioters raged outside and burned her borrowed car. 

She became “Queen of the Muckrakers,” an investigative reporter who could skewer her subject with the politest of voices, all wide-eyed and relentless. I recall her quizzing a coffin-maker about his wholesale prices to the “trade.” But he was an artful dodger. “Hm, I see you are not going to tell me,” Decca decided. A collection of her essays, Poison Penmanship, is must reading for aspiring journalists.  

Decca’s second autobiography, A Fine Old Conflict, deals with her life as head of the East Bay Civil Rights Congress and membership in the Communist Party. (The title is a “mondegreen,” a mishearing of “’tis the final conflict...” from The Internationale.) And a fine old conflict it was in the McCarthy ‘50s—raising children, going to endless meetings and bucking the racist Oakland police. In Decca’s case, bearding racism in the heart of the South, when she and a group of white women went to Mississippi to try to forestall the execution of an innocent black man, Willie McGee. 

Our lives ran along similar lines. Our lawyer husbands, Bob Treuhaft and Bert Edises, were continually harassed by the police and occasional investigative bodies—HUAC, etc. for their defense of unionists and black people. The Treuhaft house was abuzz with activity in 1966 when Bob ran for District Attorney in an effort to unseat “loathsome” J. Frank Coakley. Bert had made the run in 1950; also lost. But they remained Coakley’s worst nightmare in court. 

Not long after I met Decca, in 1943, we became friends and neighbors. She was never one to hug, but you knew she liked you and was on your side, whenever push came to shove. She and Bob gave great cause parties; one, I vividly remember because you were not only charged for entrance but for napkins, glasses, toiletpaper—and to leave! Anything to keep the CRC afloat.  

Since Decca arrived from England she’d been fascinated by American slang. On our way out to lunch, she would say in her perfect British accent, “I am so longing for grub!” Whereas, when British journalist Claude Cockburn arrived to observe the United Nations Decca was called upon to translate his indecipherable English. She began to sound more like a Brit as she made many trips back to “Jolly Old.” 

It’s such a good read, these letters, and so beautifully stitched together by Peter Sussman. He makes it easy to follow the chronology and the tumultuous ‘50s and ‘60s. He did a massive job of pulling together Decca’s family relationships, the political times (and the curious punctuation). 

The Letters reveal a witty, courageous, hugely funny woman in her own words, from the inside out. It’s a great chronicle of those times. How I miss—and long for Decca’s take on these parlous times. 

DECCA: THE LETTERS OF  

JESSICA MITFORD 

Edited by Peter Y. Sussman. 

Alfred A. Knopf. 745 pages. $35.

Are you interested in little old white lady, self-supporting, spinster-librarians? Do you assume much doesn’t go on in their lives beyond the spectacles and reading all those books? Well, meet “Miss Breed.” She took chances, risked her career and income by taking an activist stance during World War II.  

“Miss Breed” was the San Diego Public Library’s first Children’s Librarian. She worked in the branch used by the city’s Japanese American children. Within four months of Dec. 7, 1941, San Diego Nikkei were forced to leave their homes, schools, jobs, and public libraries.  

At the train station “Miss Breed” distributed self-addressed post cards to “her children” and sent them packages of books and other necessities that she purchased as she came to know their locations. She wrote about their condition and struggled to get published in library literature. And more. 

I learned of “Miss Breed” because recently I happened to tune into Book-TV when Joanne Oppenheim related her experiences writing Dear Miss Breed: True Stories of the Japanese American Incarceration During World War II and a Librarian Who Made a Difference to an audience that included many of Miss Breed’s children and their children at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles (www.janm.org). All of the above describes this wonderfully illustrated and written book in the barest terms. 

One of the subject headings suggested by the U.S. Library of Congress catalogers is “Juvenile Literature,” but it should be read by every one. It is in the Berkeley Public Library collections.  

DEAR MISS BREED: TRUE  

STORIES OF THE JAPANESE AMERICAN INCARCERATION  

DURING WORLD WAR II AND A LIBRARIAN WHO MADE A  

DIFFERENCE 

By Joanne Oppenheim. Foreword by Elizabeth Kikuchi Yamada. Afterword by Snowden Becker Scholastic Nonfiction, 2006. 

About the time of year the robins wind down and the naked ladies begin to bloom, we start seeing the garden spiders. They’re orbweavers, probably Araneus diadematus, and at this stage they’re just little orange-and-black specks with legs. Between now and Halloween they’ll get a lot bigger, and plumper. 

The garden spiders take over the garden, of course, but they don’t confine themselves to it. Most years we have a clutch of them on the front porch, anchoring their webs to the railings. They often get into the car, and have to be delicately removed. Once we woke up to find a sizable web across the back door. Some might find that ominous. I live with an arachnophile, though, and I’ve come to terms with them. 

The large conspicuous spiders are females. The males would be smaller and more furtive. It’s not clear what arrangements the garden spiders make, but males of a related species, the black-and-yellow agriope, spin their own webs at a safe distance from the females’. The males’ webs are shoddily constructed and often littered with beer cans and pizza boxes. 

But a female garden spider’s web is an architectural marvel—all those precisely arranged spokes and spiral struts. A typical web has 25 to 30 radial threads forming regular 12-to-15-degree angles. The younger the spider, the more threads. The center of the web is stickier and has closer-spaced spirals. From that hub she monitors the web for tremors that announce an arriving insect, holding on to a signal thread.  

Webs are delicate things, subject to damage from struggling prey. Rather than patching up the old web, a spider begins her day by eating whatever’s left of it—thus conserving the silk proteins—and spinning a new one. 

Webmaking is a complex act, and it’s hard to see how a spider’s minuscule brain can hold all the necessary programming. A spider’s central nervous system consists of a pair of ganglia—clusters of neurons—that are wired to its muscles and sensory systems. You wouldn’t expect a lot of bandwidth there. 

What about a really small spider? William Eberhard of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the University of Costa Rica was interested in the tradeoffs that a miniaturized spider brain would require. Brains are metabolically expensive to run, and Eberhard expected that small-brained organisms would have to jettison some of their behavioral repertoire. Webmaking precision seemed a likely candidate. 

So Eberhard chose five Costa Rican orbweaver species, ranging in weight from the 50-milligram Leucage mariana to the tiny Anapisona simoni that tips the scales at .005 milligrams. That’s five orders of magnitude’s difference. The smaller species, he says, had descended from larger ancestors, downsizing their brains along the way. 

He measured the webs of each species, expecting the smaller spiders to be sloppier webcrafters. To the contrary, there was no loss in precision with decreasing size. Eberhard speculated to a New York Times reporter that the smallest spiders “have done something subtle or special with the neurons in their brain to be able to do the same behavior that larger ones can.” 

That’s an almost heretical thought. We all know big brains are best, right? Primates, cetaceans, corvids all have higher brain-to-body mass ratios than other mammals and birds. Even octopi and squids, arguably the most intelligent invertebrates, are large-brained for mollusks.  

I can think of only a few other instances of brain shrinkage in the evolutionary process. Slender salamanders, wormlike creatures that are probably hiding under the leaf litter in your back yard, have smaller and less complex brains than their ancestors. But the lifestyle of these sedentary amphibians doesn’t require complex behavior. A slender salamander that travels more than ten feet in its entire lifetime would be exceptional. 

Somehow, though, arachnids have found a way of shrinking the brain (along with the body) without losing key behavior capabilities: some kind of compromise between size and connectivity. Whatever they’ve done, it’s one of the neater evolutionary tricks. 

Photograph by Ron Sullivan: A female garden spider waits for visitors. 

Joe Eaton’s “Wild Neighbors” column appears every other Tuesday in the Berkeley Daily Planet, alternating with Ron Sullivan’s “Green Neighbors” column on East Bay trees.

TUESDAY, JULY 31 

Tuesdays for the Birds Tranquil bird walks in local parklands, led by Bethany Facendini, from 7 to 9:30 a.m. Today we will visit Berkeley Meadow in the East Shore State Park. Call for meeting place and if you need to borrow binoculars. 525-2233. 

“Elevating the Sparks of Peace: Stories of Hope and Reconciliation from the Holy Land” with Eliyahu McLean of Jerusalem Peacemakers at 8:30 p.m. at Chochamat HaLev Maggid Conference, 2215 Prince St. 704-9687. www.chochmat.org 

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. 

Bayswater Book Club meets to discuss “The Secret History of the American Empire” by John Perkins at 6:30 p.m. Call for location 433-2911.  

Community Sing-a-Long every Tues, at 2 p.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. 524-9122.  

Family Storytime for preschoolers and up at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. Sponsored by the Ecology Center’s Farm Fresh Choice. 848-1704.  

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your digital images, slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1 

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.  

South Berkeley Library Presentation 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 the Berkeley Public Library, 3rd flr. Community Meeting Room, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6107. 

“Richmond Shoreline and its Resources” A talk by Rich Walkling and a showing of the documentary “Rheem Creek and Breuner Marsh: A Promised Land” at 7 p.m. at 4191 Appian Way, El Sobrante. 665-3538. www.spawners.org 

American Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation from 10 a.m. to noon at 6230 Claremont Ave., Oakland. To register call 594-5165.  

CSI at Your Library A crime solving presentation by the Berkeley Police for children 10 and up at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6223. 

Family Math and Science Night at 6 p.m. at the West Branch of the Berkeley Public Library. A bilingual program for children ages 7-10 and their families. 981-6270. 

Skin Cancer Screening at the Markstein Cancer Education Center, Summit Campus, Oakland. Appointments reuired. 869-8833, option 2. 

Pax Nomada Bike Ride Meet at 6 p.m. at Nomad Cafe for a 15-25 mile ride up to through the Berkeley hills. All levels of cyclists welcome. 595-5344. 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome. 548-9840. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at 6:30 p.m. at the Berkeley BART Station. www.geocities.com/ 

vigil4peace/vigil 

Stitch ‘n Bitch at 6:30 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

THURSDAY, AUGUST 2 

El Sabor de Fruitvale Farmers market with activities for children, information on community services and music, from 3 to 7 p.m. at Fruitvale Village Plaza, 3411 East 12th St., near the Fruitvale BART. www.unitycouncil.org 

Summer Family Film Series at 3 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Main Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6223. 

“The White Rose” A film about a group of courageous youth in Nazi Germany at 7 p.m. at Revolution Books, 2425 Channing Way. 848-1196. www.revolutionbooks.org 

Healing Yoga for Cancer at 7:30 p.m. at Elephant Pahrmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. Suggested donation $10. 549-9200. 

Cope with Creativity Workshop on “Healing Touch for Self-Care” at 6:30 p.m. at 4401 Howe St., Oakland. To register call 888-755-7855, ext. 4241. 

Avatar Metaphysical Toastmasters Club meets at 6:45 p.m. at Spud’s Pizza, 3290 Adeline. namaste@avatar.freetoasthost.info  

FRIDAY, AUGUST 3 

East Bay Vivarium vists the South Branch of the Berkeley Public Library at 2 p.m. to show off reptiles and amphibians. 981-6260. 

“Butterflies of the SF Bay Region” with Art Shapiro and Tim Manolis discussing their new field guide at 5:30 p.m. at University Press Books, 2430 Bancroft Way, just below Telegraph. The authors will lead a nature walk in Claremont Canyon before their talk, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. For information and reservations for the walk email wmcclung@ren.com  

“Yosemite” with scientific illustrator Andie Thrams on Yosemite flora, Ranger Yenyen Chan on Chinese labor in the construction of park roads, and a screening of “Discover Hetch Hetchy” from 6 to 8 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak at 10th St. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

“Daily Realities of Living under Occupation” with Hisham Ahmad Ph.D, formerly of Bir Zeit University in the West Bank at 7 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison St. Free. 499-0537. 

Foreclosures in the Changing Real Estate Market: How does it Affect the Albany/Berkeley Area? at 5:30 p.m. at 1302 Solano Ave., Albany. Cost is $3-$5. Sponsored by the Albany Chamber of Commerce. RSVP to 525-1771. 

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. 

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4 

“Container Gardening for Renters or Those with Limited Space” with strategies on growing in various vessels with information on compost, soils, compost teas, seasonal planting, and more. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Cost is $10-$15, no one turned away. Please call to register. 548-2220, ext.233. 

Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tour Preservation Park to Pardee Mansion Meet at 10 a.m. at 13th St. and Preservation Park Way for a walk through Oakland’s 19th Century. Bring a picnic lunch for the end of the tour. 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

Birding Bike Trip at Quarry Lakes An easy 24-mile trip to see birdsin riparian, marsh and bayside habitats. Meet at 8:20 a.m. on the east side of the Fremont BART station. Bring helment, bike lock, luch and liquids. For information email Kathy_Jarrett@yahoo.com 

Walking Tour of Jack London Waterfront Meet at 10 a.m. at the corner of Broadway and Embarcadero. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

Rally in Support of Universal Health Care (SB 840) at 1:30 p.m. at Oakland City Hall Plaza. Speakers include Sandre Swanson, Richard Quint, MD, Sara Rogers and many others. 832-8683. 

Fun With Bubbles for ages 3 and up at 2 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave, Kensington. 524-3043. 

Fast Pitch Softball for Adults at noon on Saturdays in Oakland. 204-9500. 

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 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wed. and Sat. at 10 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

SUNDAY, AUGUST 5 

Green Home Expo from noon to 5 p.m. at the Berkeley Marina, with electronics and old medicine disposal, and information on reducing your global carbon footprint. 981-5435. 

Walking-Pole Workshop in celebration of the opening of the new Glendale Path at 9:45 a.m. Registration required. Email info@berkeleypaths.org  

Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tour of Chinatown Meet at 10 a.m. at the fountain of Pacific Renaissance Plaza, Ninth St., between Webster and Frainklin. 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

Home Graywater Systems A workshop on safely irrigating with shower, bathroom sink, and laundry waste water from 10 a.m. to noon at EcoHouse, 1305 Hopkins St. Cost is $15 sliding scale. Registration required. 548-2220 ext. 242. 

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. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 1 to 5 p.m. at 7th Heaven Yoga Studio, 2820 7th St. To schedule an appointment see www.BeADonor.com (Code: 7YOGA) 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

MONDAY, AUGUST 6 

Peace Day Crane Folding with the film “Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes” followed by a crane folding program, from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Children’s Story Room, Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6223. 

“Landscapes for Politics” A panel discussion with Jake Kosek, author of “Understories,” Marina Sitrin, author of “Storming the Gates of Paradise,” and moderated by Ed Yuen, editor of Confronting Capitalism, at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Help Plan the Peoples Park Paace Rally in Sept., at an organizational meeting at 7 p.m. at Cafe Med, Telegraph Ave. 658-1451. 

“Hormone Disrupting Chemicals in the Environment” with Jennifer Jackson of EBMUD and Rebecca Sutton of Environmental Working Group at 7 p.m. at Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin, at Masonic. Sponsored by Friends of Five Creeks. www.fivecreeks.org 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at West Pauley Ballroom MLK Student Union, UC Campus. To schedule an appointment go to www.BeADonor.com  

Family Sing-Along at 6:45 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6223.