The Week

 

News

Flash: Kavanagh Arrested, Charged with Five Felonies

By Judith Scherr
Friday September 21, 2007

Berkeley Rent Board member Chris Kavanagh was arrested Friday morning by Oakland police and is currently (Friday afternoon) in Santa Rita jail, according to his attorney, James Giller. The date of his arraignment has not been set. -more-


Court Battle Begins Over UC Gym Complex

By Richard Brenneman
Friday September 21, 2007

The city of Berkeley, environmental groups and neighbors are seeking to overturn the UC Board of Regents’ approval of documents that would pave the way for a massive construction program and the removal of a grove of oaks along the stadium’s western wall. -more-


Council Slows BRT Decision Process

By Judith Scherr
Friday September 21, 2007

Finding himself without City Council allies in support of a rapid transit system with dedicated bus lanes, Mayor Tom Bates backed down Tuesday night in his request for the pro-Bus Rapid Transit Transporta-tion Commission to lead city efforts in exploring AC Transit’s BRT proposal. -more-


Sproul Rally Attacks Racism In Louisiana Beating Cases

By Angela Rowen, Special to the Planet
Friday September 21, 2007

About 200 people congregated at UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza Thursday to show support for six black teenagers who they say were unfairly charged in the beating of a white student in a small, mostly white town in Louisiana. -more-


Low-Income Housing List Opens for Week

By Judith Scherr
Friday September 21, 2007

The good news is that Berkeley will be housing three new low-income families in the three- and four-bedroom homes it owns. The bad news is that if you were on the waiting list, you have to start the application process from scratch. -more-


Deal for New AC Transit Buses Lacked Federal Approval

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday September 21, 2007

AC Transit officials have not released bottom-line figures on the complicated exchange of 16 North American Bus Institute buses for 16 buses made by Belgium-based Van Hool company because as late as Aug. 28 the district was still in negotiations over how much it owes the federal government for going through with the deal without federal approval. -more-


UC: People’s Park Plan Lacks Student Input

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday September 21, 2007

At a People’s Park Community Advisory Board meeting held last week, community members listened to San Francisco-based MK Think, the firm hired by UC Berkeley to plan improvements for the park, and Emily Marthinsen, assistant vice chancellor, talk about conceptual designs for the park. -more-


Worthington to Announce Candidacy for State Assembly

By Judith Scherr
Friday September 21, 2007

Much of Councilmember Kriss Worthington’s time is spent working on issues such as low-income housing, diversity and labor. But, he told the Daily Planet on Thursday, his efforts are often blocked by the inadequacy of state laws. -more-


BUSD Sets Dates for Superintendent Search Process

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday September 21, 2007

The first step for the selection of Berkeley’s next school superintendent will begin with a community meeting Monday. -more-


First Person: A Joyous Act of Civil Disobedience

By "George"
Tuesday September 18, 2007

EDITOR’S NOTE: This was sent to the Planet on Friday evening by a veteran of the Free Speech Movement, using a pseudonym for reasons which will be obvious. -more-


City Council Looks At Process for Bus Rapid Transit Approval

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday September 18, 2007

Dedicating one traffic lane for fast buses for much of the 16 or so miles between San Leandro and downtown Berkeley will get people out of their polluting vehicles and into speedy, comfortable, ecological public transport, says the AC Transit Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) proposal. -more-


Burials Prompted First Tree-Sitter

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday September 18, 2007

Zachary Running Wolf, pointing to two little known UC documents, said that the university has admitted that the place where it plans to build its $125 million Student Athlete High Performance Center is a Native American burial ground. -more-


Resignation Shocks Oakland School District

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday September 18, 2007

The Oakland Unified School District, struggling to regain local control after nearly five years of state receivership, was sent into turmoil at the end of last week with the abrupt and unexpected resignation announcement of State Administrator Kimberly Statham. -more-


Two City Bodies Meet on Downtown Policies

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday September 18, 2007

Two civic bodies meet Wednesday to hash out transportation policies for Berkeley’s new downtown plan. -more-


Oakland Affordable Housing Debate Moves Forward

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday September 18, 2007

Oakland City Council’s Community and Economic Development Committee found themselves more divided this week than the council’s Blue Ribbon Housing Commission, with the committee’s four members—Chairperson Jane Brunner, City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente, and Councilmembers Henry Chang and Larry Reid—voting to accept the commission’s 105-page report and pass it on to the full council, but without a recommendation. -more-


Regents Vote Wednesday on Lease for Biofuel Lab

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday September 18, 2007

UC Regents are scheduled to vote Wednesday to approve a lease on an Emeryville building to house a federally funded $250 million biofuel program. -more-


Health Concerns Remain Over Richmond Cleanups

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday September 18, 2007

Government health officials who contend there’s no evidence of toxic health threats to most workers at UC Berkeley’s Richmond Field Station (RFS) found themselves before a skeptical audience Thursday. -more-


Fire Department Log

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday September 18, 2007

A fire-starting burglar and a six-year-old with matches topped the recent hotspots for the Berkeley Fire Department. -more-


BUSD Weighs Options for Move To West Campus

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday September 18, 2007

The Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) is investigating options to move its administrative staff to its West Campus location, according to school officials. -more-


George Pauly 1933-2007

By Ted Friedman, Special to the Planet
Tuesday September 18, 2007

Here’s looking at you kid: George Pauly, 74, founder of the “Tely Rep,” one of the last art-house cinemas on Telegraph Avenue’s “cinema row,” is dead. He died Aug. 27 at Summit Hospital after a two-month shoot-out with multiple organ failure. -more-


Opinion

Editorials

Editorial: The Culture of Entitlement, Part Two

By Becky O’Malley
Tuesday September 18, 2007

Two letters which came in over the weekend are worthy of comment: -more-


Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Friday September 21, 2007

GHANDI’S BIRTHDAY -more-


Letters to the Editor

Tuesday September 18, 2007

GOOD VS. EVIL -more-


Commentary: A Few Thoughts on Bus Rapid Transit

By Len Conly
Tuesday September 18, 2007

Glen Kohler, in his Aug. 24 commentary (“Empty Van Hool Buses on Telegraph”), provided a fairly good description of “bus bunching” when he said “A closely-spaced motorcade of double-size Van Hool buses now trundles up and down Telegraph Avenue at all hours.” Ironically, bus bunching would be remedied by the BRT system that Kohler expresses doubt about. It occurs when buses are operating in “mixed flow” traffic which results in buses being stuck in traffic and as a result thrown off schedule. Transportation engineers use the term “mixed flow” to describe the situation where buses are mixed in the same lane with autos, trucks, emergency vehicles, etc. The proposed BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) system with dedicated lanes proposed for Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley/Oakland and International Boulevard in Oakland would go a long way to eliminating this problem. With dedicated lanes, buses flow unimpeded by other traffic. -more-


Commentary: City, UC Goals Are One and the Same

By Leo J. Gaspardone, Sr.
Tuesday September 18, 2007

I would like to respond to Hank Gehman’s charge in his Sept. 11 commentary that the University of California (UC) is duping Berkeley citizens with misinformation. While it is clear Mr. Gehman is misinformed, UC is not the source of his misinformation. He starts his article by saying that UC is proposing a new high performance center (HPC) as a diversion for the building of a new expanded stadium to hold many nighttime events. He mentions rock concerts and other events attracting 600,000 to 700,000 people annually. That would be at least one event each month with about 60,000 attendees. This is not part of the environmental impact report. There has not been a commercial event in the stadium in over 20 years. He fails to mention that the capacity of the stadium will be reduced by 10,000 seats down from the current 72,000 seats. He must not know that in the 1950s the capacity was 85,000 as there were bleachers on the east rim of the stadium. The city will have the right to negotiate the parameters of the seven events noted in the EIR. -more-


Commentary: Blocking the Road Forward

By Michael Katz
Tuesday September 18, 2007

Berkeley’s City Council may be blundering into AC Transit’s controversial, misnamed Bus “Rapid” Transit (BRT) proposal with eyes wide shut. Hidden on tonight’s consent calendar is item 18, requesting that the “Transportation Commission, Planning Commission, and staff develop a city preferred alternative route for the Telegraph Avenue Bus Rapid Transit.” -more-


Commentary: Scapegoating the Bus

By Steve Geller
Tuesday September 18, 2007

The city bus has become a political scapegoat. Neighbors on Cedar Street have been trying to remove bus service there, because they think the bus is too noisy. These neighbors do not complain about the far louder noise generated by garbage trucks and commercial vehicles. The Willard neighborhood now officially opposes the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). The residents earnestly claim to support public transit, but fear that BRT will bring more congestion to Telegraph and cause cut-through traffic onto their quiet streets. -more-


Columns

Undercurrents: Director of Public Safety Should Seek Cause of Violence

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday September 21, 2007

One of the things I like least about our New Age Of Information Overload is that it seems to have birthed a sort of mix and mismatch trend in journalism in which a reporter—or columnist—does an online Google search of a subject of which they appear to know little, comes across two disparate bits of information that have some tenuous connection, slaps them together, and thereafter loudly announces that they have uncovered a “trend.” As a six-degrees-of-separation parlor game, this can function as an amusing distraction. As a way to conduct our community dialogue on social issues, it can be damaging, leading us into the realm of silliness, when it is seriousness that is called for. -more-


East Bay: Then and Now – Orchids and Industry Thrived Side-by-Side in Berkeley

By Daniella Thompson
Friday September 21, 2007

At the turn of the last century, wharves, lumber mills, farms, breweries, tanneries, and Victorian residences dotted West Berkeley. The largest employer south of University Avenue was the Standard Soap Company, which had occupied half a block between the bay shore and Third Street north of Allston Way since 1876. -more-


Garden Variety: The Orchid, the Legend, The Avowed Homosapiens

By Ron Sullivan
Friday September 21, 2007

This past Sunday I got a bargain, a cymbidium orchid in a gallon pot for five dollars. Nice healthy-looking thing, too. If I’d been willing to stagger around the crowded Sycamore Congregational Church bazaar conking innocent children on the head with a bigger pot, I could’ve had even more bargains. -more-


About the House: The Fight Between Old Houses and New Houses

By Matt Cantor
Friday September 21, 2007

If you stop and think about it, the notion that old houses are better is just as silly as the notion that new houses are better. The truth is that both things are true. Older houses are better in some way and newer houses are better in others. Construction is fraught with misconceptions. Another one is that the framing or “bones” of old houses is better than that of newer ones. -more-


Quake Tip of the Week

By LARRY GUILLOT
Friday September 21, 2007

Is Your Child’s School Prepared? -more-


Bungalow Details Revealed

By Steven Finacom, Special to the Planet
Friday September 21, 2007

Jane Powell is a bungalow and old house zealot. Every community should be lucky to have even one person like her. -more-


Column: The Public Eye: The Iraq War: Where’s the Strategy?

By Bob Burnett
Tuesday September 18, 2007

On Sept. 13, George W. Bush spoke to the United States about Iraq. In his most somber assessment to date, the president claimed the surge has achieved modest results and a few troops can return home. However, “Iraqi leaders have asked for an enduring relationship with America,” therefore additional troops will only “return on success.” Bush implied that large numbers of Americans would remain in Iraq throughout the remaining 17 months of his presidency. He didn’t present an exit strategy, but rather a profession of faith: U.S. troops can “win” in Iraq. -more-


Wild Neighbors: A New Field Guide to All Things Sierran

By Joe Eaton
Tuesday September 18, 2007

A few years back, the Planet asked me to review a slim (hip-pocket-size, actually) volume called Sierra Birds: A Hiker’s Guide by John Muir Laws, a joint venture of Berkeley’s Heyday Books and the California Academy of Sciences. I gave it a thumbs up, calling it “ideal…for beginning birders or hikers with only a causal interest in birds,” but also useful to seasoned watchers. Laws, like Peterson and Sibley, had written and illustrated his own guide, which did not assume knowledge of formal bird classification: all the streaky brown birds were illustrated together. The art was lively, the text concise and to the point. -more-


Arts & Events

Arts Calendar

Friday September 21, 2007

FRIDAY, SEPT. 21 -more-


Pulitzer Finalist Eisa Davis Returns Home

By KEN BULLOCK, Special to the Planet
Friday September 21, 2007

I was on a break at the Public Theatre in New York,” said Eisa Davis, playwright, actor and South Berkeley native, “during the second week of rehearsing Passing Strange, when I got a voice message from the actress who played the lead in Bulrusher, and she was crying. ‘Have you heard the news?’ I jumped up and screamed!” -more-


East Bay: Then and Now – Orchids and Industry Thrived Side-by-Side in Berkeley

By Daniella Thompson
Friday September 21, 2007

At the turn of the last century, wharves, lumber mills, farms, breweries, tanneries, and Victorian residences dotted West Berkeley. The largest employer south of University Avenue was the Standard Soap Company, which had occupied half a block between the bay shore and Third Street north of Allston Way since 1876. -more-


Garden Variety: The Orchid, the Legend, The Avowed Homosapiens

By Ron Sullivan
Friday September 21, 2007

This past Sunday I got a bargain, a cymbidium orchid in a gallon pot for five dollars. Nice healthy-looking thing, too. If I’d been willing to stagger around the crowded Sycamore Congregational Church bazaar conking innocent children on the head with a bigger pot, I could’ve had even more bargains. -more-


About the House: The Fight Between Old Houses and New Houses

By Matt Cantor
Friday September 21, 2007

If you stop and think about it, the notion that old houses are better is just as silly as the notion that new houses are better. The truth is that both things are true. Older houses are better in some way and newer houses are better in others. Construction is fraught with misconceptions. Another one is that the framing or “bones” of old houses is better than that of newer ones. -more-


Quake Tip of the Week

By LARRY GUILLOT
Friday September 21, 2007

Is Your Child’s School Prepared? -more-


Bungalow Details Revealed

By Steven Finacom, Special to the Planet
Friday September 21, 2007

Jane Powell is a bungalow and old house zealot. Every community should be lucky to have even one person like her. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Friday September 21, 2007

FRIDAY, SEPT. 21 -more-


CALL FOR ESSAYS

Friday September 21, 2007

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 in, working in or enjoying various neighborhoods in our area. We are looking for essays about the Oakland neighborhoods around Lake Merritt and Piedmont Avenue, Fourth Street in Berkeley, and the city of Alameda. Please e-mail your essays, no more than 800 words, to firstperson@berkeleydailyplanet.com. We will publish the best essays in upcoming issues in October. The sooner we receive your submission the better chance we have of publishing it. -more-


Arts Calendar

Tuesday September 18, 2007

TUESDAY, SEPT. 18 -more-


Oakland Museum Receives Major Gift

By Peter Selz, Special to the Planet
Tuesday September 18, 2007

While General Betray-us tells us to “stay the course” and while the glaciers are melting, the museums in the Bay Area are doing great. The celebrated artist Fernando Botero has made a munificent offer to donate his powerful drawings and paintings of Abu Ghraib to the Berkeley Museum upon their return from their international tour. The Fishers are about to build a museum at the Presidio to house their significant collection of contemporary art. -more-


Wild Neighbors: A New Field Guide to All Things Sierran

By Joe Eaton
Tuesday September 18, 2007

A few years back, the Planet asked me to review a slim (hip-pocket-size, actually) volume called Sierra Birds: A Hiker’s Guide by John Muir Laws, a joint venture of Berkeley’s Heyday Books and the California Academy of Sciences. I gave it a thumbs up, calling it “ideal…for beginning birders or hikers with only a causal interest in birds,” but also useful to seasoned watchers. Laws, like Peterson and Sibley, had written and illustrated his own guide, which did not assume knowledge of formal bird classification: all the streaky brown birds were illustrated together. The art was lively, the text concise and to the point. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday September 18, 2007

TUESDAY, SEPT. 18 -more-


Call for Essays

Tuesday September 18, 2007

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 in, working in or enjoying various neighborhoods in our area. We are looking for essays about the Oakland neighborhoods around Lake Merritt, Fourth Street in Berkeley, and the city of Alameda. Please e-mail your essays, no more than 800 words, to firstperson@berkeleydailyplanet.com. We will publish the best essays in upcoming issues in October. The sooner we receive your submission the better chance we have of publishing it. -more-