The Week

Riya Bhattacharjee
          Protected by Tyvek coveralls and steel-tipped boots, Shawn Weaver and Lawrence Davis, professionals hired by the recovery firm the O’Brien Group, clean rocks at the Berkeley Marina Sunday.
Riya Bhattacharjee Protected by Tyvek coveralls and steel-tipped boots, Shawn Weaver and Lawrence Davis, professionals hired by the recovery firm the O’Brien Group, clean rocks at the Berkeley Marina Sunday.
 

News

Flash: JUDGE THROWS OUT OAK TO NINTH EIR; DEVELOPERS MUST GO BACK THROUGH PROCESS

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday November 20, 2007

A California Superior Court Judge has voided the City of Oakland’s approval of the controversial Oak To Ninth development project, sending the project back to the Oakland Planning Commission and the City Council for a new round of environmental impact report certification and commission and council votes. -more-


Proposed Ed Roberts Center Funds May Knock Out Freeway Sound Wall

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday November 20, 2007

The Ed Roberts Campus—an easily accessible center where disabled people will find legal advocacy and housing help, learn computer skills, find specialized day care, practice fitness routines and meet friends for coffee without the barriers most local cafes present—may have found the last $9 million it needs to start construction on the project that began 12 years ago. -more-


HazMat Experts Replace Local Volunteers to Clean Shoreline

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday November 20, 2007

Forty HazMat professionals battled toxic gunk on the treacherous Berkeley Marina rocks as part of the Cosco Busan Oil Spill Response Monday. -more-


Berkeley Council Addresses Oil Spill

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday November 20, 2007

Berkeley City Manager Phil Kamlarz took several emergency actions after the Nov. 9 oil spill. In a specially called meeting Monday afternoon, the council retroactively approved the measures: -more-


Neighbors Win Nuisance Case Against Pacific Steel Casting

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday November 20, 2007

An Alameda County Superior Court judge awarded thousands of dollars in damages to a group of West Berkeley neighbors Friday who sued Pacific Steel Casting for loss of use and enjoyment of their property and mental distress. -more-


Arrests, Branch-Cutting Bid Ratchet Up Tension at Grove

Tuesday November 20, 2007

Campus police have escalated their campaign against the tree-sitters at UC Berkeley Memorial Stadium, making arrests Sunday and Monday in the protest that began nearly a year ago. -more-


Oakland Public Safety Plan Up for Consideration by Mayor

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylo
Tuesday November 20, 2007

With the impediments removed to the Oakland Police Chief Wayne Tucker’s plan for 12-hour shifts and dividing the city into three districts, community police advocates both inside and outside the Dellums administration are hoping that the way is now clear for the administration to move forward on a proposed Comprehensive Public Safety Plan as well. -more-


Berkeley Train Death Similar to June Accident at Jack London Square

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday November 20, 2007

Scott Slaughter, 31, of Oakland lost his life Thursday morning when he crossed the train tracks north of the Berkeley Amtrak Station on his way to his job at Truitt & White, located near the tracks on Hearst Avenue. -more-


BP Seeks Global Harvest of Berkeley-Born Biofuels

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday November 20, 2007

(Editor’s note: This is the first of two articles on implications of the just-concluded $500 million agreement between UC Berkeley and BP. Part two will be published Friday.) -more-


School Board Delays Approving Firm to Demolish Berkeley High Old Gym

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday November 20, 2007

The Berkeley Board of Education held back last week from approving Emeryville-based Baker Vilar Architects to plan the demolition of the Berkeley High School old gym due to the lack of a timeline for the project. -more-


The Right Touch: Berkeley High Volleyball

By Al Winslow
Tuesday November 20, 2007

Mostly they play for the pure fun of it. -more-


Hassan Pleads Not Guilty in Son’s Death

Bay City News
Tuesday November 20, 2007

A Berkeley woman tearfully pleaded not guilty Friday to charges that she murdered her 9-year-old son at their Shattuck Avenue home last month. -more-


Call for Feinstein Censure Grows Over Nomination

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday November 20, 2007

Editor’s note: This story ran in an incomplete version in the Nov. 16 issue. It is reprinted here in its entirety. -more-


Call for Feinstein Censure Grows

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday November 16, 2007

As a local movement to censure U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein for supporting Michael Mukasey’s nomination for U.S. Attorney General began, more than 200 students gathered in front of UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza Wednes-day to witness a waterboarding demonstration. -more-


UC Signs BP Contract, Research Already Underway

By Richard Brenneman
Friday November 16, 2007

The $500 million pact between UC Berkeley and one of the world’s largest oil companies went into effect Wednesday, though research covered by the contract started months ago. -more-


Oil Spill Prompts City To Declare Emergency

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday November 16, 2007

The only sound along the deserted shoreline at the Berk-eley Marina Wednesday was the clattering of pebbles inside Carole Rathfon’s double-layered plastic bag. -more-


Residents Say Richmond Shore Cleanup Neglected

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday November 16, 2007

Richmond residents expressed concern this week at the failure of state and federal officials to rescue oiled birds from the Rich-mond shoreline. -more-


Solar Grant Leaves CESC in the Cold

By Judith Scherr
Friday November 16, 2007

The question of who will implement the East Bay Smart Solar Program, funded by the Depart-ment of Energy with matching city money, brings to the fore the question of how government engages nonprofits and other organizations—for better or worse—to do work it cannot or will not do. -more-


DAPAC Upholds Lowered Skyline; Plan Final Meeting

By Richard Brenneman
Friday November 16, 2007

DAPAC approved a limited-height mandate for the downtown Berkeley plan, dividing their Monday night vote between a majority who felt they’d compromised enough and a minority who wouldn’t approve anything without an economist’s imprimatur. -more-


Arrests Follow Fence-Cutting at Grove

By Richard Brenneman
Friday November 16, 2007

The Memorial Stadium confrontation between tree-sitters and campus officialdom heated up Thursday, marked by three arrests and a fence breach. -more-


City Stops Aquatic Park Project, Tests Sludge for Toxins

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday November 16, 2007

Berkeley officials said they plan to submit a work plan for dredging Aquatic Park lagoon to the State Water Resources Control Board for approval, according to city and state officials. -more-


Business Improvement District For Solano Avenue Dismantled

By Judith Scherr
Friday November 16, 2007

A three-year-old business assessment district that had become controversial with some of its members was voted off the Avenue at last week’s Solano Avenue Association (SAA) board meeting. -more-


Commissioners Tighten Grandfathered-In Liquor Sales Rules

By Richard Brenneman
Friday November 16, 2007

Berkeley planning commissioners voted to clamp down on liquor stores that started selling spirits before the city instituted its current zoning policies. -more-


Coalition Sues Caltrans Over Planned Caldecott Bore

By Judith Scherr
Friday November 16, 2007

Arguing that the California Department of Transportation did not adequately assess impacts on the environment in its plans to add a fourth bore to the Caldecott Tunnel, attorneys Stuart Flashman and Antonio Rossmann have filed a petition in Alameda County Superior Court in an attempt to get Caltrans to modify its plans. -more-


Brown Flip-flops on CEQA; Governor, Perata Spar

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday November 16, 2007

California Attorney General Jerry Brown told a gathering of California county leaders in Oakland this week that global warming was the single most important issue of our time, that the California Environmental Quality Act was a “key environmental milestone” in fighting the greenhouse gas emissions that are much of the cause of global warming, and that counties which do not address such emissions in their CEQA environmental impact reports face a likelihood of being sued by his office. -more-


State Senate Education Committee to Hold Takeover Hearing

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday November 16, 2007

The California Senate Education Committee has scheduled a public hearing in Oakland next month on the State Department of Education and procedures for return to local control of school districts in state receivership. -more-


Opinion

Editorials

Thanks for Everything, and Why

By Becky O’Malley
Tuesday November 20, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving to all and sundry. It’s the custom of the place to gather together family and friends and enjoy a lavish meal, to celebrate—well, to celebrate having family and friends and lavish meals. My Puritan ancestors in New England usually get the credit for popularizing the custom, with occasional nods to the generosity of their Native American neighbors, though Virginians and even Canadians also had Thanksgiving events early on. When you think about it, it’s a Puritan kind of thing at its theological heart, a tribute to how nice it is to be among the Elect, to be one of those lucky souls predestined for salvation, as per the beliefs of the first settlers who landed on Plymouth’s rocky shores. Due credit is given to the creator for choosing the right folks to save, of course. -more-


Editorial: Growth: Who Pays for It?

By Becky O’Malley
Friday November 16, 2007

An e-mail from an old friend chided me recently for this space’s seeming pre-occupation with local land use issues (and with opera). He pointed out that serious national matters like Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s inexcusable endorsement of Michael Mukasey deserve attention too, and he’s got a point. Luckily here in Berkeley we’ve got a good number of writers, some better than me, to keep track of Feinstein’s lapses, and they’re doing a sterling job, so we are off the hook. -more-


Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Tuesday November 20, 2007

veterans day -more-


The Real Truth About Oregon’s BRT System

By Doug Buckwald
Tuesday November 20, 2007

Oregon has a Bus Rapid Transit system called the “Emerald Express” operating on a five-mile route between Springfield and Eugene. This bus system is generally regarded as a successful transit project, and transportation planners in Alameda County should pay careful attention to several important factors that have contributed to its success. Steve Geller mentioned some of these factors in his commentary “Bus Rapid Transit Success in Oregon” (November 2), but downplayed or neglected others. I think it is important to have a more complete picture. -more-


KPFA Dialogue Must Be Honest

By Henry Norr
Tuesday November 20, 2007

Sasha Lilley is right that KPFA needs dialogue, not demonization (Commen-tary, Nov. 13). But dialogue can be effective only if it’s honest; if not, demonization is sure to prevail. Unfortunately, parts of her commentary are anything but honest. -more-


Let’s Talk Turkey

By Suzan Bateson
Tuesday November 20, 2007

Have you ever debated which was more essential to your Thanksgiving table—the mashed potatoes or the stuffing? Have you gone without turkey dinner all together? This is the reality facing numerous families in our community. Thanksgiving brings families together to celebrate a bounty of food. For many low-income families, Thanksgiving brings lean fixings as they struggle with the high cost of living in the Bay Area. A recent report released by the California Budget Project stated that in order to meet basic needs including health care, a family of four needs to earn more than $77,000 annually. Most Food Bank recipients live on a fraction of that and are continually faced with harsh choices—food or gas? Food or rent? -more-


Dinner for 1,000 on Thanksgiving

By Colleen Miller
Tuesday November 20, 2007

In its normal holiday tradition, St. Vincent de Paul of Alameda County has begun preparation of its annual Thanks-giving Day holiday meal. The SVdP’s Free Dining Room, located on 23rd Street in Oakland, is the oldest and only facility in Alameda County to provide hot meals to homeless and low-income adults and children seven days per week. During Thanksgiving, the SVdP of Alameda County prepares a holiday meal consisting of turkey with all the trimmings to provide a seasonal meal for those in need. Approximately 1,000 meals will be served with almost as many adults and children in attendance to partake of those meals. -more-


Letters to the Editor

Friday November 16, 2007

CLEANUP PART II -more-


Commentary: The Biggest Game in Town

By Merrilie Mitchell
Friday November 16, 2007

The Biggest Game in Town is Mayor Tom Bates’ favorite—Deals for Developers. -more-


In Circulation: This Is Not the Time for Caution

Friday November 16, 2007

EDITOR’S NOTE: This correspondence between Downtown Area Planning Advisory Committee staffer Matt Taecker and former city land-use Planning Manager Mark Rhoades was sent to the DAPAC and has been circulating on the Internet for the last week. -more-


Commentary: The Source of Oakland’s Violent Crime

By Jackie Wilson
Friday November 16, 2007

In his Nov. 9 letter, Jeffrey Jensen of North Oakland is unsatisfied with nebulous crime-fighting plans and bigger-picture orations from Mayor Dellums. -more-


Commentary: Open Letter to Chancellor Birgeneau

By Emma Fazio, Jessica Karadi, Christina Oatfield and Marcella Sadlowski
Friday November 16, 2007

Dear Chancellor Birgeneau, -more-


Commentary: Truth to Power: What Truth? What Power?

By Christine Staples
Friday November 16, 2007

It is human nature to form our opinions out of small bits of available information, a large dose of personal experience, with random bits of stuff we’ve heard from other sources thrown in; that’s how we figure out the world. Unfortunately, all too often we form our opinions based on too little information combined with too much “stuff we’ve heard”—and that’s how we wind up with bigotry and prejudice. -more-


Columns

Birds in Berkeley: The Changing Campus Habitat

By Joe Eaton
Tuesday November 20, 2007

My previous column about the birds Joseph Grinnell observed on the UC Berkeley campus drew a response from Allison Shultz, a recent graduate who is now the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology’s Centennial Coordinator (more about that below.) Shultz said that for her senior thesis, she replicated surveys done on campus by Margaret Wythe between 1913 and 1927, and by Charles Sibley and Thomas Rodgers in 1938-39. Her results reveal significant changes among those data points. “I saw that the number of species didn’t change much over the years—it actually went up a little—but the community composition changed,” she explains. -more-


Column: Undercurrents: For Commercial Development in Oakland, Look Beyond Downtown

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday November 16, 2007

Development battle opponents are often depicted as pro-development on one side, anti-development on the other, but that’s almost always a mischaracterization. Just as it would be virtually impossible for someone to be in favor of all development, regardless of what that development happens to be, you never run into someone who is against any and all development. The questions for both sides always is: what type of development are we talking about? Where will it be located? And, probably most important, what portions of the community will it benefit? -more-


East Bay Then and Now: A Tale of Two Mystery Houses and One Politician

By Daniella Thompson
Friday November 16, 2007

Mystery is the reverse side of history. Berkeley, a city chock-full of historic houses, naturally has its share of mysteries—interesting structures about whose origin little or nothing is known. -more-


Garden Variety: A Rare Case of Virtue’s Being Fun: Annie’s Annuals

By Ron Sullivan
Friday November 16, 2007

Annie’s Annuals sent me a promo e-mail a week or two back. Not spam; I’ve put my name on Annie’s mail list because I want to know when the Annies do interesting stuff. -more-


About the House: The Brick Chimneys in Our Houses

By Matt Cantor
Friday November 16, 2007

Dash it all! It seems to take so blasted long to get clothed for the office these days, what with button-hooking the boots, those darned gaiters, buttoning those trousers all the way up and then there’s all the layers. My tailoring bill has become absolutely astronomical and my dresser takes a good 45-minutes ironing my shirt, cravat and those endless four-fold handkerchiefs. Perhaps one day, a man will be able to wear only three layers when flagging his Hansom cab to the office, but for now we must plod through, chin high and suffer silently. -more-


Quake Tip of the Week

By Larry Guillot
Friday November 16, 2007

Tectonic Time Bomb -more-


Arts & Events

Arts Calendar

Tuesday November 20, 2007

TUESDAY, NOV. 20 -more-


‘The Children of Lir’ Plays Well to All Ages at Gaia Arts Center

By Ken Bullock
Tuesday November 20, 2007

“Appropriate for children—enchanting for adults”: It’s rare that such a formula pans out for both parties. But Wilde Irish’s staging of The Children of Lir, going into its second and final weekend this Friday through Sunday at the Gaia Arts Center, off Shattuck on Allston, fulfills that pledge on the cover of their program, the proof being the presence of so many kids, as rapt as the adults at last Sunday’s matinee. -more-


‘The Human Race’ at the Berkeley City Club

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Tuesday November 20, 2007

The solo show has become a staple of the theater scene, overlapping into film and TV, ever since Emlyn Williams, Hal Holbrook, James Whitmore and Julie Harris took the stage in the ’50s and ‘60s to play Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Will Rogers (et al!) and Emily Dickinson. -more-


Birds in Berkeley: The Changing Campus Habitat

By Joe Eaton
Tuesday November 20, 2007

My previous column about the birds Joseph Grinnell observed on the UC Berkeley campus drew a response from Allison Shultz, a recent graduate who is now the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology’s Centennial Coordinator (more about that below.) Shultz said that for her senior thesis, she replicated surveys done on campus by Margaret Wythe between 1913 and 1927, and by Charles Sibley and Thomas Rodgers in 1938-39. Her results reveal significant changes among those data points. “I saw that the number of species didn’t change much over the years—it actually went up a little—but the community composition changed,” she explains. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday November 20, 2007

TUESDAY, NOV. 20 -more-


Arts Calendar

Friday November 16, 2007

FRIDAY, NOV. 16 -more-


The Theater: Zimmerman’s ‘Argonautika’ at Berkeley Rep

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Friday November 16, 2007

Awash with the spray of the yet-unconquered sea, the stage at Berkeley Rep (designed by Daniel Ostling) represents the wooden ships and wood palaces of preclassical times, as the cast does the heroes, demigods, goddesses, kings, witches and nymphs from legend that move through. -more-


The Best of Italian Cinema in San Francisco

Friday November 16, 2007

The New Italian Film Festival, playing this week at the Embarcadero Center Cinema in San Francisco through Sunday, offers a rich course on the best new filmmakers in Italian film. After this weekend, most of these films will likely never be shown again with English subtitles or ever be released on DVD in the United States. -more-


Moving Pictures: PFA Examines the Complexities of Chaplin

By Justin DeFreitas
Friday November 16, 2007

Our image of Charlie Chaplin is a simple one: a daft little man in baggy clothes, with bowler hat and wicker cane. He’s just a comedian—a silly clown. -more-


Moving Pictures: Reilly: A Career-Defining Performance

By Justin DeFreitas
Friday November 16, 2007

“Wow.” The word permeates The Life of Reilly, a new film of a one-man show by the late actor Charles Nelson Reilly. And with each utterance of the word, we get the sense that it’s the only time when this consummate entertainer is not totally in control of his performance. The word just seems to seep out, almost reflexively, at quiet moments during the show. It is as though Reilly himself is still marveling at his own past, reliving his memories, experiencing the formative events of his life all over again, but with the wisdom and awe of an older man keenly aware that he was too young to fully appreciate the depth, the pain, the humor and the madness of his life as he was living it. -more-


East Bay Then and Now: A Tale of Two Mystery Houses and One Politician

By Daniella Thompson
Friday November 16, 2007

Mystery is the reverse side of history. Berkeley, a city chock-full of historic houses, naturally has its share of mysteries—interesting structures about whose origin little or nothing is known. -more-


Garden Variety: A Rare Case of Virtue’s Being Fun: Annie’s Annuals

By Ron Sullivan
Friday November 16, 2007

Annie’s Annuals sent me a promo e-mail a week or two back. Not spam; I’ve put my name on Annie’s mail list because I want to know when the Annies do interesting stuff. -more-


About the House: The Brick Chimneys in Our Houses

By Matt Cantor
Friday November 16, 2007

Dash it all! It seems to take so blasted long to get clothed for the office these days, what with button-hooking the boots, those darned gaiters, buttoning those trousers all the way up and then there’s all the layers. My tailoring bill has become absolutely astronomical and my dresser takes a good 45-minutes ironing my shirt, cravat and those endless four-fold handkerchiefs. Perhaps one day, a man will be able to wear only three layers when flagging his Hansom cab to the office, but for now we must plod through, chin high and suffer silently. -more-


Quake Tip of the Week

By Larry Guillot
Friday November 16, 2007

Tectonic Time Bomb -more-


Berkeley This Week

Friday November 16, 2007

FRIDAY, NOV. 16 -more-