Opinion

A number of citizens, including some who live in District 5, have forwarded to us Councilmember Laurie Capitelli’s thoughtful explanation of why he voted to reject UC’s proposed settlement of the city’s lawsuit on the EIR for the gym/office building proposed adjacent to Memorial Stadium. He makes several good points, obvious ones that can’t be reiterated too often. -more-

A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE -more-

On Tuesday, Sept. 4, I attended the public comment before the City Council on the university’s proposed Memorial Stadium athletic center and other interrelated projects. Opponents of the university project outnumbered supporters by two or three to one. But the repeated misuse of the word “cooperation” by supporters of the UC project during that event compels me to comment. -more-

For over two years, SuperBOLD and the First Amendment Project have been working towards a more democratic public comment procedure in Berkeley. In April 2006 the First Amendment Project threatened a lawsuit if the city did not discontinue the use of a lottery for choosing speakers at public meetings. The lottery denied some persons willing to speak the right to do so. It also resulted in some agenda items not being addressed by the public. -more-

MISVIEWING -more-

On Wednesday, Aug. 22, the Berkeley School Board voted to charge youth groups “only” $35 per hour to use the new field at East Campus. This is “only” 300 percent higher than what these groups currently pay to use other grass fields in Berkeley. To put this in perspective, if BHS baseball and softball teams were required to pay this same amount for the City of Berkeley fields that they use it would cost about $300-$400 per player per season, just for field costs. This would be on top of the expenses for uniforms, equipment, umpires, coaches, etc. -more-

I am a student at Berkeley City College and am quite distressed at the cost of books, especially the ones sold in the schools own bookstore, and one policy in particular which I feel is totally unfair: the buy-back and return policy. As students, we have seen the results of state budget cuts with fewer classes, the increase in fees and the painfully high cost of our textbooks, no teaching supplies and more, but to be ripped off by our own school is terrible. First, if I buy let’s say a $100 book and return it, still wrapped four days later the bookstore will pay me only $50 for it, then turn around and sell it again for $100 to the next unsuspecting student. That has got to be criminal, but what’s worse is returning your old textbooks. -more-

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