The former San Pablo Florist and Nursery at 1806 San Pablo Ave.—a key piece of pre-World War II Japanese history and one of the last standing links to Berkeley’s hidden Japantown—was reduced to rubble early Saturday to make way for condos in West Berkeley, although property owner Syed Adeli had told the Planet on Dec. 7 that demolition wouldn’t occur for two months. Tonight he’s expecting the City Council to defer $315,588 in fees so that he can start construction before his building permit expires on Friday. Photograph by Richard Brenneman.

Bill Huyett, superintendent of the Lodi Unified School District, has emerged as the leading candidate for the new superintendent of the Berkeley Unified School District. 

Although Huyett, Lodi Unified superintendent for seven years, declined comment about the selection when reached by the Planet Monday, his name began to surface when Berkeley district e-mails announced a special board meeting for 10 a.m. today (Tuesday) at 1305 E. Vine St. in Lodi. The site visit by the Berkeley school board, part of the superintendent finalist selection process, must be noticed as a meeting by law. 

According to district officials, the Berkeley school board and 20 community members were invited to the site visit to speak to community members in Lodi about Huyett. The Berkeley Board of Education will also meet with the Lodi Unified Board of Trustees today (Tuesday) to check references, a key part of Berkeley’s hiring process. 

“The site visit is the concluding factor,” said BUSD spokesperson Mark Coplan. “The board will announce their selection at another special meeting Wednesday.” 

The district embarked on a superintendent search process with the help of consultants Leadership Associates after superintendent Michele Lawrence announced her retirement effective Feb. 1. 

The board narrowed down a list of candidates last month and interviewed the finalists on Dec. 8 and 9. 

Some union leaders and community groups have criticized the process, calling it closed and secretive. 

Cathy Campbell, president of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers, said that she had decided not to participate in the site visit. 

“Any kind of involvement at this point is superficial,” she told the Planet Monday. “It’s an effort to justify a really closed process. While a number of community, parent and labor organizations were interviewed about the qualities the board should be looking for in a new superintendent, there was no involvement by parents, teachers, students or community members.” 

Andy McCombs, director of BOCA, said his agency had not been invited to participate in the site visit. 

“We testified at one of the community meetings but nobody listened to us,” he said. “I still haven’t got copies of the report from that meeting. I am not sure if anybody has.” 

John Selawsky, appointed president of the Berkeley school board last week, did not return calls for comment by press time. 

Catherine Bruno, the district’s PTA Council president, said that she had been impressed with the selection process. “It involved different community members and highlighted the importance of racial equity and closing the achievement gap,” she said. 

Established in 1967, Lodi Unified is twice the size of the Berkeley Unified School District and serves the cities of Lodi, North Stockton, and the communities of Acampo, Clements, Lockeford, Victor, and Woodbridge in the Central Valley of Northern California. 

“It’s very rural and very widespread,” Coplan said. “I understand the board is very happy with the selection.” 

Lodi, which has a student enrollment of 29,800 K-12, consists of 49 school sites, including 33 elementary, seven middle, four comprehensive high schools, and two continuation high schools.  

The district’s racial breakdown is roughly 39 percent Caucasian, 30 percent Hispanic, 23 percent Asian and 7 percent African-American.  

Lodi Unified’s primary languages spoken by students include Spanish, Hmong, Urdu, Cambodian and Vietnamese.  

The district has obtained over $100 million in state bond funds for the construction and renovation of school facilities over the last 12 years. 

In writing his January 2006 mission statement about improving student performance, Huyett quoted from Star Trek, admitting it was one of his favorite lines. 

“Do you remember it?” he asked the community in his statement. “To explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.” 

“Talkin’ trash” will take on new meaning at today’s (Tuesday) City Council meeting when contracts for hauling rubbish from the city’s Second Street Solid Waste Transfer Station will be considered.  

The discussion won’t be limited to which company can get the job done for less. In the era of global warming, the question council is likely to address is how to recycle and reuse as much of the waste as possible.  

Currently, the city contracts with Republic Services to haul away two-thirds of its approximately 150,000 tons of garbage each year to a dump in Livermore.  

Of the 50,000 tons that don’t go to Livermore, half are organics and composted by the city’s contractor, Grover Landscape, and about 22,500 tons are recycled through the city’s curbside program.  

Urban Ore scavenges about 800 tons of reusable material and city staff picks up about 1,500 tons of recyclables that include mattresses, computer monitors and televisions. 

But since the city’s goal is to recycle much more of its trash, and because the five-year contract with Republic will terminate Dec. 31, the city wanted to contract with a company that would recycle or reuse more of the trash. 

City staff is proposing a 2.5 year contract with East Stockton Recycling—the only respondent to its request for proposals—to haul away from the transfer station 50,000 tons of trash annually, half of which would be recycled and half of which would be deposited in the East Stockton dump. This would increase the percentage of the city’s recycled trash from 33 percent to 50 percent 

Mary Lou Van Deventer, co-founder of Urban Ore, has been monitoring the contract through its discussions in the Solid Waste Commission. 

Urban Ore resells used goods at its facility on Murray and Sixth streets recycled from individuals, businesses and scavenged from the transfer station. According to Van Deventer, who spoke to the Planet Friday, the company would like to participate in making much more of the trash available for reuse and recycling. And they prefer that the material is not trucked for long distances.  

Urban Ore can live with the proposed city contract to East Stockton, however, if the council approves some conditions that would modify it, she said. The conditions should specify that the contract would be for one year, subject to a 1.5-year renewal, rather than for 2.5 years, she suggested.  

Another condition that Van Deventer proposed was that within the 25,000 tons that the company is contracted to recycle, East Stockton should not be allowed to count any tonnage burned for fuel. And the company should not be allowed to count as recycling any waste—concrete, wood chips, or other—ground up and spread over a dump to cover it, she said. 

What Van Deventer said she would really like to see is a complete remodeling of the facility, with the ability to do all the sorting of recyclable items at the transfer station itself. The city will be sending out a Request for Quotations in February to begin the formal process of exploring such a remodel, which Van Deventer estimated would cost $15-$30 million. 

Immediately, she said, the city should hold a design charrette aimed at interim remodeling of the transfer station so that more reusable and recyclable items can be separated on-site from trash that goes to the dump. 

“There’s not much of a capital cost” to the interim remodeling, Van Deventer said, noting that more materials, especially construction and demolition materials and cardboard could be “intercepted,” that is, taken directly off the trucks coming to the transfer station. 

And “we want to expand scavenging on the floor” of the transfer station, she said. 

Peter Holtzclaw, manager of the solid waste and recycling division, said such a charrette could be held as early as January. “I’m open for [Urban Ore] doing more here,” Holtzclaw told the Planet, during a walk-through of the facility on Friday. “I just don’t think they can do 25,000 tons more.” 

Holtzclaw added, “On-the-floor coordination with Urban Ore can happen today.” 

How the remodeling will be done is a question of worker safety, Holtzclaw said. “I don’t want Urban Ore crawling on that pile,” he said, pointing to the mountain of waste materials, with some obvious recyclables such as wood poking out from otherwise unidentifiable scraps. “That’s a big safety issue.” 

But Van Deventer called the safety issue a “red herring.”  

“They have very low workers’ compensation costs,” she said. 

The overall cost for services in Stockton would be 4 percent more than current costs. The city may ask for a rate increase in the future, according to the staff report. 

A second contract would go to Waste Management for 5.5 years to dispose of 24,000 tons of trash in its Altamont landfill in Livermore. And a third contract is proposed for Allied for 26,000 tons to be deposited in its Keller Canyon landfill in Pittsburg. 

Photograph by Judith Scherr. 

Reusable and recyclable materials are embedded within mounds of trash at the city’s Solid Waste Transfer Station. More of these materials will be recycled under a new city contract. Plans are afoot to further increase the tonnage of materials saved at the transfer station.

Councilmember Darryl Moore wants to get to the bottom of the surprise dredging of an Aquatic Park lagoon in early November. 

Why were there no work plans submitted for the dredging? Were the excavated spoils toxic, and how should they be disposed of? Why was the parks director told nothing about the dredging?  

Moore plans to ask these and other questions at tonight’s (Tuesday) City Council meeting. 

Also on the agenda tonight will be a request from the city manager to have staff look into giving the manager the ability to approve $50,000 contracts without council oversight, the election date for the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance and more. 

While a Condominium Conversion Ordinance was to be on the agenda, Planning Director Dan Marks told the Planet it will not be written until council gives the Planning Department adequate direction to prepare it. 

Aquatic Park dredging 

The city contracted with W.R Forde Associates of Richmond to dredge a lagoon at Aquatic Park, which included clearing sediment within a 50-foot radius of the tide tubes—the pipes that exchange water between the Bay and the lagoon—and the Strawberry Storm Drain outflow into the lagoon.  

However, the city failed to get permits to do the work, which, according to park users, could endanger waterfowl in the area. “Engineering did not inform the regulatory agencies, the staff in the Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Department, nor the public works director,” says a staff report submitted to the City Council Nov. 27. 

The report explains the need to clean the tubes periodically to ensure their proper functioning.  

A report from Analytical Sciences of Petaluma, also dated Nov. 27, written for W.R. Forde Associates and obtained by the Planet through a Public Information Act request, addressed the concern that the spoils may be toxic. The total lead results “are considered to be elevated above typical soil background levels, but are below typical commercial site public health goals,” says the report signed by Mark A. Vsalentini, laboratory director.  

Reached for comment on the degree of danger of the spoils’ toxicity, Toxics Manager Nabil Al Hadithy told the Planet Monday that he had received neither a copy of the original report on the toxicity, nor the city manager’s Dec. 12 memo to the council on the question. 

(The Analytical Sciences report refers, not to Aquatic Park, but to the “Oakland Estuary project,” which W.R. Forde Associates confirmed was a mistake—the report actually referred to Aquatic Park.)  

While Councilmember Moore had wanted the report discussed Nov. 27, he told the Planet that he acquiesced to the public works director who wanted to give the council an updated report Dec. 18. By 4 p.m. Monday, no updated report had been released. 

Who called the special session? 

Yesterday evening, the City Council was slated to hold a special closed session to consider whether to ask a judge to remove Rent Stabilization Board Member Chris Kavanagh from office. Kavanagh faces seven felony charges related to his service on the rent board while allegedly living in Oakland. Kavanagh says he is innocent of the charges. 

The Brown Act, the state’s open meeting law, states that a “special meeting may be called at any time by the presiding officer of the legislative body of a local agency, or by a majority of the members of the legislative body, by delivering written notice to each member of the legislative body and to each local newspaper of general circulation and radio or television station requesting notice in writing.” 

The meeting, however, was initiated neither by the mayor nor by five members of the City Council. According to Cisco DeVries, the mayor’s chief of staff, with whom the Planet spoke on Friday, the mayor did not call the meeting. In fact, DeVries said the mayor was trying to adjust his calendar so that he could attend. 

And five councilmembers would have to meet in open session to call a special meeting, which they did not. 

City Clerk Pamyla Means told the Planet Monday that, while the mayor did sign off on the meeting after the fact, City Manager Phil Kamlarz had initiated it. The Daily Planet was not informed of the meeting through the City Clerk’s office. 

Downtown discussion 

In a council workshop, from 5-7 p.m. today before the regular meeting, the council will discuss the future of the city’s downtown. This has been debated extensively in the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee, which has met several dozen times.  

It will be up to the council to make final decisions on the plan. An issue that is likely to be controversial is the allowable heights of buildings, including two hotels, which could be built as high as 225 feet or about 19 stories. 

Other considerations will be whether Center Street between Shattuck and Oxford streets should be closed and made into a pedestrian plaza, whether to create a downtown historic district and whether to dedicate two lanes of traffic to bus rapid transit.

While the proposed new zoning standards for West Berkeley are officially dubbed “relaxed,” that adjective didn’t necessarily apply to area business owners and developers addressing the Planning Commission Wednesday night. 

Funded by the city’s Economic Development Department, Principal Planner Allan Gatzke has developed a proposal for easing developments and leases in the city’s only industrial region. 

Gatzke’s proposal included allowing the Zoning Adjustments Board to grant developers who agree to provide for community benefits: 

• Two new “Master Use Permits,” with one for sites larger than one to two acres, which would streamline the application process. 

• More flexible application of city development standards and protected and permitted uses to parcels where developers grant benefits, including parcel size, setbacks, building height and parking. 

• More discretion in uses allowed on manufacturing sites, but not including residential uses. 

• Increased flexibility for development projects on properties that are either disconnected or in two different zoning districts. 

Gatzke’s proposal listed six possible sites for large project Master Use Permits: the landmarked Flint Ink site, Peerless Lighting (already the subject of a proposed large-scale project by owner Doug Herst); the long-vacant McCauley Foundry, the Marchant Building (which is on a site that includes Berkeley, Emeryville and Oakland) and the former site of American Soil Products. 

Mixed reception 

“For six or seven years my partner and I have been ragging on Mayor Bates over the Byzantine way” the West Berkeley Plan is administered, said Don Yost of Norheim and Yost. 

Rick Auerbach and John Curl of West Berkeley Artisans & Industrial Companies (WEBAIC) asked about the fate of proposals they had submitted to city Planning and Development Director Dan Marks through City Councilmembers Linda Maio and Laurie Capitelli in June 2006. 

“We went through this process, and we went to the City Council, and then it fell into a black hole,” said Curl. 

Yost had been one of the authors of those proposals, which the councilmembers had asked to be submitted to the Planning Commission. 

Responding to a question from commissioner Susan Wengraf, Acting Land Use Planning Manager Deborah Sanderson said the proposals had been sidelined because other concerns had received higher priorities. 

With the new push for changes in West Berkeley, Sanderson said, she will consider the earlier proposals “as we consider these other things.” 

The “other things” were contained in Gatzke’s 36-slide PowerPoint presentation, which focused on the notion of preserving uses enshrined in the existing plan—especially existing residential neighborhoods, manufacturing and workspace for artists—by granting economic incentives to owners and developers though “greater flexibility in the application of development standards.” 

ZAB member Jesse Arreguin, speaking from the audience, said a key question was “flexibility for who?” 

For John Norheim, Yost’s partner in West Berkeley’s leading real estate firm, the solution wasn’t simply flexibility. “The plan needs to be reworked in its entirety,” he said. “It’s an absolute quagmire.” 

Yost likened the “eloquent” proposals before the commission to “treating cancer of the hand with a manicure.” 

Staff weighs in 

Michael Caplan, the city’s economic development director, said he had been troubled by stories he’d frequently heard from Norheim and Yost about the difficulties businesses faced when trying to get permits to operate in West Berkeley. 

“Our relationship with the planning department gets strained” because of snafus over implementing provisions of the existing plan. “The process runs up against entrepreneurial goals,” he said. 

Any measures to “unlock some of the value of the land in West Berkeley” would have to offer developers incentives in return for preserving the district’s existing artists and artisans, Caplan said. As it is, he added, there are “acres and acres of long-term non-performing real estate.” 

WEBAIC has waged an ongoing effort to keep retail out of the area, except along the east/west Ashby/University/Gilman corridors and along San Pablo Avenue, the district’s eastern border. 

But Dave Fogarty, who works in Caplan’s department, said that some forms of retail might be appropriate for the area, citing the case of Internet marketing companies. 

Those business, like Amazon.com, create more truck traffic than typical retailers, and “ship out of warehouses, not stores.” 

Caplan said that while critics implied the intent of the plan was to destroy manufacturing, “much of the space is taken up by mini-storage warehouses.”  

“I do not know why we pretend everything is healthy in West Berkeley when this type of enterprise has been able to thrive in West Berkeley where auto dealers belong,” he said 

A recent push by Caplan’s department, backed by Mayor Tom Bates, has already produced a partial rezoning of West Berkeley—adopted by the commission and by the City Council—to allow car dealerships to locate closer to the freeway, based on the pleas of local dealers who say manufacturers need them “freeway close.” 

For John Curl, the fault is not with the plan, but with the Zoning Ordinance, which he called “a big mess.” 

He urged commissioners not to change the plan until they had convened a small committee of stakeholders to work with city staff.  

“We need a process where the community can work with the staff, you and the council so we don’t have to constantly go through these street fights,” Curl said. 

One such fight flared over the car dealership rezoning, leading to the exclusion of the southernmost area proposed by city staff—which would have included the sites of both Urban Ore, the city’s leading recycling business, and Ashby Lumber, a leading retailer. 

Urban Ore co-founder Mary Lou Van Deventer said she worried about the impact of changes on West Berkeley’s recycling business, a key element in the city’s plans to reduce Berkeley’s waste output to zero. 

While many recycling businesses want to locate in Berkeley but already aren’t able to find suitable sites, “flexibility would make it unaffordable to recyclers,” she said. 

“We are one of the biggest operators of our kind in the country, and I am so tired of fighting for our survival,” Van Deventer said. 

Mixed review 

Commissioners gave the proposals a mixed review. 

While David Stoloff said he needed to see more data, he also said he didn’t think the idea of workshops offered a workable solution. 

Helen Burke said she wanted to see stakeholders involved, and wanted the staff to come up with proposals for community involvement in developing changes to the plan—though she said a review of both the plan and zoning ordinances were in order after 14 years. 

Harry Pollack said that coming up with changes will take time, but “hopefully it won’t take too long.” The commission should take the issues raised and focus on improving the ordinance “within the context of the functions of the plan.” 

Planning and Development Director Dan Marks told commissioners, “The underlying strategy is ‘giving to get.’ In exchange for flexibility in zoning, the city needs to get something of value.” 

While the current plan has kept West Berkeley land values down and preserved some uses, he said, “over time, the market tends to have its way. Our concern is to get permanent or long-term protections for uses we want in Berkeley.” 

Commissioner Susan Wengraf said, “It would be very helpful to lay out a chart of what we would give and what we would get.” 

Marks said one possible gain might cover a gap in the existing plan, which affords some protections for space used by artists while failing to provide for its affordability. 

“The issue is to make things long-term that work,” he said. “It starts with the Planning Commission telling us what tradeoffs they want.” 

“Whatever process we come up with, I urge you to have a formal community involvement ... and not a top-down process,” said commissioner Patti Dacey. 

Commissioners will be working on the proposal in the coming months. 

The city staff proposal is available online at http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/planning/landuse/West%20Berkeley%20Flexibility/default.htm. 

Photograph by Richard Brenneman 

The 5.5-acre Peerless Lighting plant site at 2246 Fifth St. is one of six sites the city planning department is considering for new permits that would allow developers “flexibility” to stretch the limits of the West Berkeley Plan in exchange for providing benefits to the community.

When geologists across the country observe the 140th anniversary of the 1868 Hayward earthquake next year on Oct. 21, they will have more than speeches and slideshows on their mind. 

Seismologists at the American Geological Union’s meeting at the Moscone Center in San Francisco last week warned that the average interval between the past five earthquakes on the Hayward Fault was 140 years. 

“The 1868 earthquake was the first great ‘San Francisco earthquake,’ and one of the most destructive earthquakes in the nation’s history,” said Arthur Rodgers, a seismologist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). 

“However it has always been eclipsed by the great 1906 quake. It’s important to know that if an earthquake of the same scale happens today on the Hayward Fault, its aftereffects will be devastating.” 

Rodgers, along with Xiao-Bi Xie from the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at UC Santa Cruz and Anders Petersson from LLNL performed simulations of the 1995 Kobe earthquake on the Hayward Fault using reported finite rupture models from large strike-slip earthquakes under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy at Livermore lab. 

“We wanted to calculate what the ground motions will be on a large earthquake on the Hayward Fault,” Rodgers said. “The results showed large damaging ground motion levels near the asperities along the fault. Very strong ground motions are predicted in the sedimentary basins, particularly the Evergreen, Cupertino, San Leandro, Livermore basins and San Pablo Bay. Moderate damage will also occur in Berkeley and Oakland.” 

The 1868 earthquake—which took place at 7:53 a.m. with a magnitude of 7 on the Hayward Fault—stands as the country’s 12th deadliest quake. 

The last of a decade-long sequence of earthquakes in the Bay Area, the Hayward Earthquake left 30 people dead and brought about an extensive loss of property. 

According to a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) report, the damage was most severe in Hayward and the nearby towns of Alameda County. A town of about 500 residents back then, Hayward had almost every building either damaged or extensively wrecked.  

San Leandro—with a population then of about 400—saw the second floor of the Alameda County courthouse collapse and other buildings destroyed. 

Oakland, then a town of about 12,000 with predominantly wood frame buildings, sustained far less damage than either Hayward or San Leandro. 

San Francisco, which was then the largest U.S. city on the West Coast with a population of 150,000, suffered damages to the Custom House and several other structures built on landfill reclaimed from the former Yerba Buena Cove (modern day Financial District). 

The USGS report states that very little information is available on the 1868 earthquake because of a lack of funding from the state and the non-existence of seismographs during that time. 

“The 1868 Hayward earthquake and more recent analogs such as the 1995 Kobe earthquake are stark reminders of the awesome energy waiting to be released from below the east side of the San Francisco Bay along the Hayward Fault,” said Tom Brocher, a seismologist with the USGS and one of the authors of the study, “The M7 Oct. 21, 1868 Hayward Earthquake, Northern California—140 Years Later.” 

“The population at risk from a Hayward Fault earthquake is now 100 times larger than in 1868,” Brocher said. “The infrastructure in the San Francisco Bay Area has been tested only by the relatively remote 1989 magnitude 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake ... We are not saying that an earthquake is going to happen next year but if it does, we are not going to have any warnings. We have to prepare now. Whatever we have during the quake, we will have the same during the next three days.” 

To help attract public attention to future hazards, the 1868 Hayward Earthquake Alliance (www.1868alliance.org) was formed.  

Consisting of public and private sector agencies and corporations, the alliance has planned a series of activities including public forums, conferences and commemorative events leading up to the 140th anniversary. 

Labeled “a tectonic time-bomb” by USGS geologist David Schwartz, the Hayward Fault is the single most urbanized earthquake fault in the country. 

The USGS report warns that “hundreds of homes are built directly on its trace and mass transit corridors, major freeways and many roadways cross it in scores of locations.” 

According to a September 2007 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report, more than 1.5 million Bay Area employees with a combined income of $100 billion working near the fault would experience strong tremors from a modern recurrence of the 1868 quake. 

“We are trying to get people to do the right thing,” Brocher said. “An earthquake of this size is larger than most cities can handle. Cities will require help from the state government who in turn will require help from the federal government. The more people can take care of themselves, the faster they can recover. Ninety-nine percent of us are going to be fine after the earthquake, but we need to have supplies and first aid training.” 

USGS is working on a scientific website which will illustrate the cause and effect of the 1868 earthquake drawing on scientific and historic information. 

With the help of software from Google Earth, viewers will be able to see modeled shaking of the earthquake, relocations of historic photographs, reconstruction of damaged buildings as 3D models and other scientific data. 

The Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board on Thursday postponed discussing the Alta Bates Medical Center parking violations until April . 

Wendy Cosin, the city’s deputy planning director, told board members that the hospital had exceeded the regulations for neighborhood parking specified in their use permit three times in a row but had implemented mitigations which could resolve the problem. 

Alta Bates neighbors told the Planet that they did not voice their grievances at the meeting because it was meant to familiarize the board with the staff report. 

Cosin said that the annual traffic survey conducted by Alta Bates in January would give the zoning department and Alta Bates officials a chance to review the results and report them back to the board in April. 

“With each of the exceedences, Alta Bates has done something,” she said. 

“They have implemented valet parking, placed flyers on the cars so that employees know that they can’t park in the neighborhood and even worked with the police department to increase parking enforcement ... They are also considering putting parking meters in the area.” 

Last January, neighbors denounced what they said was an effort by the hospital to influence the results of the parking and traffic survey by reducing the number of employees parking in the neighborhood on the days of the survey. 

A zoning permit from the city requires Alta Bates to do a parking and traffic survey every January to monitor whether the hospital maintains the parking limit allowed by the permit. 

If too many employees park in the neighborhood, the hospital is required to take additional measures, such as moving some facilities and employees to other locations. 

The hospital is required to have its use permit reexamined by ZAB, if they exceed parking limitations the third year. 

Residents of Regent, Prince and Dana Streets—which are close to the medical center—continue to complain about what they perceive as the negligence of Parking Enforcement Officers (PEO) and the hospital staff. 

According to Bateman Mall neighbor Peter Shelton, enforcement officers often refrain from ticketing or chalking a car that is illegally parked in the neighborhood. 

“This is the kind of thing we observe that makes us believe that some PEOs are not doing their jobs,” he wrote in an e-mail to Cosin. 

“I understand there may be other forces at work that we are unaware of, but this is so obvious and so blatant, it’s just depressing.” 

Frank Chordas, another neighbor, said that he had observed a nurse parked in the space directly in front of his house rinse the blue chalk mark off her tire with a bottle of water. 

“I saw no attempt by the hospital employees to hide what they were doing,” he said.

King Swim Center regulars now have the option of doing laps at the Downtown Berkeley YMCA while their pool gets a facelift over winter. 

Protests against the City of Berkeley’s hastily announced closure of the King pool, the last working pool in the city, forced Mayor Tom Bates’ office to negotiate a temporary agreement with the YMCA last week to allow King swimmers free access to any of the YMCA’s pools from Dec. 26 to Jan. 11. 

However, complaints did not subside. 

“It’s the chlorine,” said King pool user Iain Boal. “I get a strong allergic reaction when swimming indoors, perhaps from the chlorinated atmosphere … Many of us open-air public pool swimmers are also members of the private YMCA. For various reasons the indoor pool is a poor substitute, and for myself, no substitute at all. A basement pool is no match for the healthful pleasure of open air swimming. It is like closing Yosemite and offering the Emeryville climbing wall as a substitute.” 

Other users were livid that the city had sold $64 30-day passes up to the day before the hand-written announcement of the closure was posted near the King pool. 

In an e-mail to the city’s swimming community Thursday, Bates apologized for the inconvenience. 

“Closure for maintenance and repair at any time of the year will have an unavoidable impact,” his letter said. “Based on pool usage data, staff believes that closure during this time frame will cause the least amount of disruption in overall programming. It is unfortunate that staff was not able to offer the YMCA as an alternative while posting the original notice, however, we believe that the new arrangement successfully addresses the concern.” 

Topping the list of repairs is a four-day chlorine shock to clean mold and bacteria off the main and dive pool, locker room upgrades and recalibrating the pool’s chemical automation system. 

Although users said they welcome the work, they want the city to reconsider the closure or to keep one of the city’s three public pools open for use while the work is done. 

“I think many people do go away on vacation, so it is true that this would be the least disruptive time to close down,” said pool user Gael Alcock in an e-mail to the Planet. “I would have liked them to do the maintenance while the other pools are open.” 

The Willard and West Campus pools are currently closed for maintenance, funded by a $200,000 bond measure approved by Berkeley residents in 2006. Deputy City Manager Lisa Caronna told the Planet in October that the pools were almost 60 years old and suffered from pipe leaks, decaying concrete and faulty pumps. 

Access to the YMCA will be limited to swimmers carrying a Premium Monthly Pass, a Premium Ten Swim card or a Premium Senior, Youth and Disabled Monthly Pass. Lap swim will be available for adults only. 

In an e-mail to the City Council, Scott Ferris, the city’s recreation and youth services manager, said that the city’s monthly passes would be extended until Jan. 28. 

“Obviously the city management is scrambling to undo an arbitrary and sudden decision which was a breach of trust to the community,” Boal said. “It is especially galling given that the city offers its employees subsidized or free membership in the YMCA.” 

A lot of swimmers said that either the excessive chlorine or the expensive parking would prevent them from using the substitute pool. 

“Some of us will swim in the outdoor Temescal pool,” Alcock said. “It’s not too expensive—$3 for normal and $2 for senior swim.” 

Swimmers said they were still angry about the removal of a swimmers’ petition protesting the pool closure from the King facility and the appearance of a notice informing swimmers that “public postings must be cleared by the main office.” 

“Why is the mayor silent about this?” Boal asked. “This is a prima facie case of intimidation, and an unconstitutional infringement of our rights of free speech and assembly for the redress of grievances. It is also a pathetic comment on the state of public life in the home of Mario Savio—contempt for democratic process and fear of the slightest response from the community that they are employed to serve.” 

Berkeley planning commissioners take up LBNL building plans and West Berkeley housing questions when they gather for their final meeting of 2007 Wednesday night. 

Officials from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are looking for officials’ comments on their plans for two major projects, one of which—the Helios Building—will house the labs funded by the $500 million biofuel research grant from BP (formerly British Petroleum). 

The second structure, the Computational Research and Theory facility, will house high-speed computers and research projects. 

The commission will comment as part of the official environmental review of the two projects. A public hearing on the Helios Building was held Monday night, and a similar hearing on the CRT facility was held a week earlier. 

Critics of the projects have asked for additional hearings and a month’s extension on the review because the hearings were scheduled over the holiday season. 

Commissioners will also receive another round of staff reports on West Berkeley, in which the city’s Economic Development Department is asking for more flexible rules as a way to increase revenues for the city. 

Wednesday night’s presentation will focus on the state density bonus law and the city’s own inclusionary housing ordinance. 

Both regulations allow developers to build projects larger than those otherwise allowed by zoning laws in exchange for providing affordable housing for low-income tenants. 

The so-called bonus ordinances and their impacts on the city have been the source of considerable friction from neighborhood activists confronted with larger-than-expected projects allowed because developers have included the affordable units. 

The commission had already started looking at the impact of the laws on the city, but Wednesday night’s session focuses specifically on their potential effects on West Berkeley. 

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

Once again, a two-day nurses’ strike at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center turned into a five-day affair, with a three-day lockout added by corporate parent Sutter Health. 

The walkout/lockout was scheduled to end at 7 a.m. today (Tuesday) at the 13 Sutter hospitals affected by the job action. 

The California Nurses Association (CNA), which represents registered nurses, called the walkout after talks with Sacramento-based Sutter reached an impasse. 

The strike followed on the heels of another two-day walkout in October, which Sutter similarly extended with a three-day lockout after recruiting nurses from agencies that specialize in striker replacements. 

“Things are great,” said Carolyn Kemp, spokesperson for Sutter’s three Alta Bates Summit Medical Center facilities in Berkeley and Oakland, Monday afternoon. 

Kemp said about 62 percent of their regular nursing staff has been crossing the picket lines—a figure disputed by CNA spokesperson Liz Jacobs. 

“We had about 95 percent participation last time, and this time we think it’s about the same or better,” Jacobs said. 

Negotiations between the union and the hospital chain have been under way since early spring, and both sides are saying that an impasse has been reached. 

Jacobs said the key issues for nurses are patient care, retirement benefits and their own health insurance. 

The company wants to cut back the range of available health plans for members and require worker contributions to the plan, she said. 

“We believe in a single payer system for everyone, like Medicare,” Jacobs said. “In Medicare, administrative costs run about 3 percent, versus 30 percent for private systems.” 

In a written statement, Kemp said the hospitals are offering free coverage for nurses and their families. 

While the company is offering an 18 percent pay hike over four years, “CNA has not even provided a wage offer” nor responded to the Sutter offer, Kemp said. 

The day before Thursday’s walkout, Sutter filed an unfair labor practices allegation with the National Labor Relations Board charging that the union had refused to hand over information to the company about its contracts with other hospitals. 

Kemp said Alta Bates Summit brought in 470 nurses to cover staffing at its three local facilities, down from 570 during the October walkout. 

At all three hospitals, about 196 of the 316 staff RNs needed to cover the facilities reported to work on the first day of the strike. 

Jacobs said the central question for the union has always been patient care, as demonstrated in its actions against Kaiser and Catholic Healthcare West. 

When it comes to environmental issues like global warming, America and China behave like a couple in a bad marriage, playing the blame game. But to tackle the problem of global warming, neither country can go it alone. 

UC Berkeley held a recent “marriage counseling” conference titled: “China’s Environment: What Do We Know and How Do We Know It?” It brought scientists, environmentalists, journalists and venture capitalists from both sides together to come up with solutions. 

China’s air, water, energy, urban and rural spaces were discussed, as well as how its population is affected by environment-related diseases. Although it’s a cliché that “the color of water in Chinese rivers is somewhere between dark grey and black,” the fact that China adds two coal-based power plants per week is astonishing. Kirk Smith, professor of global environmental health at UC Berkeley, concludes that “the cleanest cities in China are about the same as the dirtiest American city.” 

China’s environmental problems, which don’t always stay within its own borders, are terrifying to the world, especially because China has America as its role model. 

Copies of a story that ran in the January/February 2008 issue of Mother Jones magazine were circulated at the Berkeley conference. With a cover photo of a Chinese boy wearing a Nike jacket in the sunset-colored Forbidden City, as black industrial smoke wafts in the background, the story asks, “Can the world survive China’s rush to emulate the American way of life?” 

The likely answer is no. 

America apparently is not a good role model to follow. Seventy percent of the Chinese now rely on bicycles as their major means of transportation. If the Chinese one day decide to copy the classic American lifestyle—in which cars account for 90 percent of the means of transportation—then by the year 2030, China will have twice the number of cars as the rest of the world. Breathing will become a hard task to perform. 

But the Chinese seem ready to pay for the environmental damage they are causing. Research conducted by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) shows that half the Chinese people surveyed approve of the implementation of an energy-efficiency tax, compared to 20 percent of U.S. and German residents, and 17 percent in Britain. 

Max Auffhammer, an assistant professor at UC Berkeley’s Agriculture and Resource Economics department, says that the United States has “failed to find a way to get a global agreement,” adding that the Kyoto Protocol is seen as “weak and inefficient.” 

“We (Americans) may not provide solutions, but we can provide tools,” said Mark Henderson, who teaches in the public policy program at Mills College in Oakland. 

Architects designing community projects in China assert that they don’t aspire to have the likes of an affluent Orange County there; their plans are more eco-friendly. Harrison Fraker, dean of the College of Environmental Design at UC Berkeley, had people on the edge of their seats when he unveiled his proposal for an eco-site in the Chinese city of Qingdao in Shandong province on the Pacific coast. The proposal has already been approved by the city. 

“The ‘eco-block’ is resource self-sufficient,” said Fraker. In his design, the water, energy and waste could be 100 percent recycled within the community. Located in the windy coastal city of Qingdao, whose climate resembles that of the San Francisco Bay Area, half of the energy resources of the community will come from wind, 40 percent from the sun, and the other 10 percent from its own waste. 

Fraker hopes to break the division between “concrete cities” and “green countryside” and mix them up in his eco-community, where residents can grow their own food. 

But China’s environmental problems are far more complicated than just scientific issues. 

Jim Yardley, the New York Times’ Beijing correspondent whose coverage on China’s environmental issues last year won him a Pulitzer Prize, said China is trying to do it all—economic development, urbanization and a whole lot more at the same time. 

From a global viewpoint, Yardley altered the question of “Who is responsible?” to “Who is responsible for what?” He pointed out that figuring out responsibility comes down to the issue of trust. He said he’s interested to see how the most powerful and the most populous nations in the world “come together” to solve their environmental problems. 

The people of both countries, Yardley noted, deserve to breathe clean air. 

Jun Wang is a reporter and Chinese media monitor for New America Media.

U.S. militarism has to be considered under three headings. First, the U.S. military is the largest single consumer of fossil fuel in the world. Second, the U.S. economy, the largest national consumer of fossil fuel in the world, has shown that its primary mode of maintaining a supply of fossil fuel for itself is through military action (assault, intervention, occupation of other oil-producing nations). Third, the U.S. military operates in the interest of a corporate economy, of which it (the military) is the foremost sector in the U.S.  

U.S. military control of the global economy has shifted political definitions to the point where, at both the national and international levels, the corporations have become the primary citizenry, relegating humans to a second-class citizenship where their existence as humans has been reduced toward a structural and political irrelevance. Ultimately, as the largest user of fossil fuel in the world, the U.S. military must increase both itself and its petroleum use in order to guarantee that it will have increased access to fossil fuel for itself and the corporations in whose interests its own are interwoven.  

The received wisdom of the ecology movement is that we should all use less energy. Since real humans are the only ones who can take a political, moral, ethical, and social interest, and put that interest into action, to keep the planet inhabitable, we have to have priorities for ourselves that are in accord with the real situation we face, and not content ourselves with small measures. While the other cycles of greenhouse generation (the melting permafrost and the melting icecaps) may suggest that we are at or close to a point of no return, both result from unbalanced human use of earthly resources. This consideration renders the cycle of military use of fossil fuel the primary cycle involved in bringing us to this threshold. It is not ancillary or secondary to the other two. It has to be our primary focus.  

Let me put this in politico-economic perspective.  

The U.S. military is the single greatest user of petroleum, according to Sohbet Karbuz, writing in the Energy Bulletin for March 12, 2006. The military is the single largest consumer of petroleum in the U.S. It uses roughly 100 million barrels a year, for its aircraft, ships, ground vehicles and facilities. But this is its former peacetime base rate of usage. Usage increased considerably with its assaults on Afghanistan and Iraq. But even without that, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is the largest oil-consuming government body in the U.S. and in the world. The U.S. military is the biggest purchaser of oil in the world. Its peacetime consumption is comparable to the energy consumption of Greece. A hundred million barrels of petroleum is enough fuel for 1,000 cars to drive around the world 4,620 times, or 7.6 million cars to drive 15,000 miles each year. Jet fuel constitutes nearly 70 percent of the DoD’s petroleum use.  

Yet, percentage-wise, these figures seem to diminish in stature. Total U.S. consumption of petroleum in 1997 was 18.6 million barrels per day, according to the Department of Energy (DOE). The DOE breaks it down this way. Transportation: 13 mb/d; industry: 4mb/d; buildings: 1.2 mb/d; utilities: 0.34 mb/d. And petroleum only accounted for 67 percent of energy consumption, with coal accounting for 22 percent.  

Military consumption of patroleum is thus around a half a percent of this total. For 2004, military fuel consumption increased 27 percent over average peacetime military usage. The Army burned 40 million gallons of fuel in three weeks of combat in Iraq, or almost two million gallons per day, an amount equivalent to the gasoline consumed by all Allied armies combined during the four years of World War I.  

In other words, war is the factor that renders the military a self-generating cyclic producer of global warming. Wars add untold and inestimable damage to the ecology on all levels, while fulfilling their major function of producing mass murder. War is the essential logic of a military machine and of an ethic and a politics of militarism. Its fundamental purpose is to guarantee access to resources, and in particular petroleum, for its constituency. Its constituency is the U.S. economy, and U.S. industry. As the largest single consumer of petroleum in the world, its role is to guarantee the continued consumption of petroleum by the U.S. economy, the largest national consumer of petroleum in the world.  

In addition, the military has become a major industrial factor in the U.S. itself as part of a greater economic cycle. This is a result of an ancillary economic process, the movement of runaway shops and of whole industries relocating to lower-wage areas. Some industries moved south, others to Latin America, others to Asia or wherever on the globe they could be more exploitative. The U.S. government, from the Reagan administration on, has provided subsidies to major industries to move to low-wage areas, and produced agreements in many countries for establshing export production zones—that is, zones in which production is only for export; they add little to the local host economies, and create international assembly lines whose only coherence is the multi-national corporate structure that controls it. The effect of this process has been to gut the industrial base of the U.S. economy.  

The subsidiary internal effect was that the military, the one industry that could not run away because it was strategic, gained economic hegemony by default. The U.S. economy fell into the hands of the military-industrial complex.  

This brings us to the third dimension of militarist self-generation as a global warming factor. In the face of runaway industries, the U.S. economy has become dominated by military production. The military is now connected and conjoined to roughly 50 percent of all economic activity in the U.S. This doesn’t mean that 50 percent of all production is military production; it means that 50 percent of all economic activity is associated with the military, either in the production of military hardware, the running of bases, or ancillary industries whose major customer is the military, and who thus owe their existence and functions to that major customer. Military appropriations by Congress may be 25 percent of the budget, but there are ripple and multiplier effects that expand the economic involvement of the military to far beyond that 25 percent.  

Here is how corporate control of the economy, a history of militarism, and corporate globalization all come together. The U.S. military is what facilitated the acquisition of exploitation rights in other countries by U.S. corporations, leaving the U.S. economy essentially a military-oriented economy. That is, militarism has engendered a military economy. Second, it fosters a situation in which a transnational corporate structure becomes the predominant political force in the world; and the citizens of that structure, the corporations themselves, have no ethical concerns toward the planet nor toward life. Its ethics are governed by the maintenance of its stock value on the stock markets of the world. Thus, resource exploitation is its food; and resource consumption is its metabolism. Militarism is the way corporations maintain their access to their food supply—the planet.  

Because the military economy is by nature a monopoly, owing to government control, security clearances, national security considerations, etc., all military industries fall into a culture of corruption that is far beyond that of ordinary industries. This corruption is a cultural phenomenon that makes health and longevity an ancillary concern. In the interests of that corruption, beyond profit or stock price levels, the military drives the political processes and thinking of this society to ideologically ignore or deny the problem of global warming. The profit picture is important, of course, and it leads the oil and coal interests to buy prostituted scientists to help them promulgate that denial. But the real opposition to recognition of global warming is more immediately the corruption that exudes from the miltiary and its militarism.  

In order to seriously address the problem, the movements (ecology, environmentalist, anti-consumption, alternataive energy) will have to be anti-militarist. The military is key to the cycle of self-generation of global warming at the human (initiatory) end of the spectrum of factors. The military may not be the worst offender in producing greenhouse gases in the pragmatic sense, but it is the worst offender as an entity and an ideology in the world. It has to be seen as lying at the heart of the offense itself.  

It is not possible for the environmental movement to take a step toward preserving the environment unless two things are brought to an end, the existence of the US military machine and the existence of the corporate structure. 

In sum, this means that the primary focus for the ecology, environmentalist, green, and conservationist movements has to be anti-militarist, anti-war, and for the revocation of the personhood of corporations. Militarism is the concrete manifestation of corporate despoliation of the planet. And corporate despoliation of the planet is the material effect of corporate control of major political entities called nation-states, through which it effects its despoliation. The central factor that gave corporations control of nation-states was their elevation to the level of personhood. We cannot save the planet without constituting a massive anti-militarist movement that overflows all national boundaries, brings politics back to the human level, and focuses itself on the U.S. military machine and the U.S. war machine. 

References as source material:  

Michael T. Klare, Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America’s Growing Petroleum Dependency (New York : Metropolitan Books, 2004). Michael Taylor, and Nigel Thrift, The Multinational Corporations and the Restructing of the World Economy (London: Croom Helm, 1986). Aleksandr V. Buzuev, The Transnational Corporations and Militarism (Moscow, Progress Publ., 1985). Joseph Nye, Bound to Lead (New York: Basic Books, 1990).

As we get closer to election time, and I’m beginning to get more literature, photos, and slogans, I’m pondering what should I keep, display or throw in the garbage (recycle). Nowadays people express their beliefs, passions and identity on T-shirts, bumper stickers, and even tattoos! But I still like to look at what’s on people’s mantels.  

In the 1960s, whenever I went to the homes of friends and relatives, it seemed as if they all had the same two pictures on their mantel: John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. And this was before they were assassinated. These were all predominately black homes; I understood MLK, but it didn’t dawn on me until much later the significance of why so many people would display a picture of JFK.  

I know everyone doesn’t have a mantel over a fireplace (ours was a shelf over a wall heater), but most people I know have a place where they display important photos, religious icons and memorabilia. Some people have photos on the walls, stuff on book shelves and today’s most popular shrine—refrigerator magnets holding down pictures of their current loved ones. But there’s a big difference between being on the mantel and being on the fridge! 

When I go to someone’s home, I’m always drawn to check out their mantels and memorabilia. I think they display their stuff for themselves, but also for others to get a snapshot of who they are and what’s meaningful to them. And so Asians have Asian pictures; black people have their pictures, Hispanics, white folks and so on have theirs. As much as we strive for an inclusive society most of our mantels are segregated. 

Times have changed, and instead of picture of presidents on people’s mantels I’ve seen concert tickets, empty beer cans from important events, and lots of sea shells. In Berkeley I do see pictures of the Dalai Lama, Tibetan prayer cloths, and Pace Bene flags, but never an American flag. I must admit that the only thing on my mantel that’s not family is a Jimi Hendrix action figure. Our mantels kind of represent our individual voting booth, in the privacy of our homes, and what we are most willing to share with others that is important to us, outside of our underwear drawer! I’m still struggling with what or who I can put on my mantel to show others that I’m with it! Hillary Clinton? Barack Obama? Barbara Lee? I’m not sure, so I created a checklist. 

Mantel checklist: 

• Local politicians? I must admit that in a past election I had Kriss Worthington, Linda Maio and both Tom Bates and Shirley Dean signs on my lawn at the same time (OK, so I like to win!). But could any of them make my mantel? Linda send me a picture! 

• Is your mantel diverse? Do you have at least one person from the following sub-groups—Asian, African American, Caucasian, Hispanic. 

• Are your candles unlit? Having unlit candles on your mantel, still unwrapped, is the same as having a cream- colored velvet living room couch with clear plastic covering. 

• Is your mantel green? You figure it out! 

• Is anyone on it alive? If not it’s a shrine. 

I realize now the significance of those two pictures on everyone’s mantel in the past—MLK and JFK. MLK represented the future: our buy-in and belief in the dream of America that he so eloquently described. JFK represented the present at that time: our trust that the American system of laws and justice finally was ours too, and he would make sure we got a fair break. It’s sad and ironic that they both got shot in this America, by Americans! I’ve never seen a picture of George W. Bush or Al Sharpton on anyone’s mantel. What’s that got to say about our present and our future!  

Winston Burton is a Berkeley resident. 

A key piece of pre-World War II Japanese history will be lost amid rubble and concrete next week to make way for the development of condos and retail in West Berkeley. 

For many of the Berkeley residents who frequented the Auto California showroom at 1806 San Pablo Ave. until it closed recently, the building meant just one thing—a car wash run by an amicable Middle Eastern family. 

When local historian Donna Graves embarked on a project to document California’s hidden Japantowns last December, she stumbled upon Auto California’s buried past. 

Run by the Iwahashi family in the early 1930s, the quaint single-story building was used to grow and sell flowers. 

“It was called the San Pablo Florist & Nursery,” Graves told the city’s landmarks commission while doing a presentation on Preserving California’s Japan-towns in October. 

After the Iwahashis moved back to Japan in the mid-30s, the business was bought by Hisako and Shigeharu Nabeta, who came from two of the earliest flower-growing families in Richmond. 

Forced into WWII internment camps in 1942, the couple leased their business to Mr. Yee—a local Chinese florist—until they returned to Berkeley in 1946. In 1949, the Nabetas built a house next door where they raised three sons and lived until Shigeharu’s death in 1994. The following year, Hisako sold the business and moved on. 

Graves’ efforts to put the nursery on a list of 60 pre-WWII-era buildings to either landmark or preserve proved fruitless. She discovered the building was scheduled for demolition this month. 

The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission, Zoning Adjustments Board and the City Council approved a use permit to demolish the building and construct a four-story, 51-unit apartment complex with retail space and 67 parking spaces back in 2004. 

At that point, no one in the city was aware of its Japanese connection. 

“There is very little we can do about it now,” Dan Marks, the city’s planning director, told the Planet Friday. “There was opportunity for public review ... It was sent before landmarks but there was no information to indicate that it was a former Japanese nursery. If the owner applies for a building permit to demolish the structure now, then I would have to go ahead and issue it.” 

Syed Adeli—who owns Auto California—told the Planet last week that he didn’t plan to demolish the building for the next two or three months. However, ZCON Builders—the contractors hired for the project—began demolition work Tuesday. The building is currently being prepared for asbestos abatement and will be torn down Monday. 

“The time was right,” Adeli told the Planet Wednesday. “We got all the permits from the city and we wanted to start demolishing as soon as possible.” 

Adeli is awaiting a $315,588 building permit fee deferral, which would allow him to start construction. His building permit application will expire on December 21 if the fee is not paid or deferred. 

Councilmembers Linda Maio and Laurie Capitelli will ask the City Council to grant the deferral at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. 

Since fee deferrals are not common for projects of similar size in Berkeley, Marks had expressed concern at a public meeting that it would set a precedent for future projects. 

“I did not support the project in the beginning, but I have changed my mind since then. If this project is not approved then we could get a bulkier and boxier project. Adeli has included extra parking spots for the neighborhood and addressed a lot of their concerns,” Maio said. “The building is fairly well designed and does not evoke the state density bonus law. I know about Donna’s concern, but we are so far down the road now that we can’t start from square one.” 

Both Maio and Capitelli expressed concern in their request to the council that Adeli could be in danger of being caught in the sub-prime lending fiasco. 

“If he were to back away and lose the property it would be a disaster for him financially,” Maio said. “The permit application has been extended three times and currently expires on Dec. 21.” 

Adeli told the Planet that he would not be able to save the nursery but was open to recording its history. “We respect the community’s concern but there is nothing in the building that resembles Japanese culture in any way,” he said. “My project will be a great contribution to San Pablo Avenue ... It will improve the neighborhood tremendously.” 

Paul Osaka, executive director of the Japanese Community and Cultural Center and representative of the California Japanese Leadership Council, said most Nisei-owned buildings did not resemble Japanese architecture because the 1913 Alien Land Law prevented Japanese immigrants from buying property. 

“It’s not a matter of one building, it’s a matter of collective history,” he said. “The Japanese-American nursery business was a big part of California’s economy. Once historical resources are gone, they are gone.” 

He added that cities and developers should extensively research a building before demolishing it or try to retain it in the new development. 

“If all else fails, then it’s important to document and photograph it before it’s gone,” he said. 

For the city’s planning department, it’s a lesson learned. 

“Thanks to Donna, we do have a list we can look at now,” said project planner Aaron Sage. “There’s no way we can know about a past event or person living in a building by just looking at it. We don’t do the level of research that historians do ... We make a determination about its importance by looking at the architecture, age and the 1970 Berkeley Architecture Heritage survey of historically significant buildings.” 

Terry Blount, the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission secretary, told the Planet that it might be possible to apply for a grant from the State Historic Preservation Office to record historical buildings in the future. 

“Every time we lose an irreplaceable historic structure we lose a chance to connect to the community’s diverse past,” Graves said. “If we really need more housing then there must be a way to build around what is important. The purpose of our project is to discover the sites and share the information with the community so that they can make the best planning decisions.”

Superior Court Judge Barbara J. Miller handed UC Berkeley a legal setback Monday evening, denying its claimed exemption from state law governing buildings on earthquake faults. 

Her nine-page order was faxed to lawyers in the legal battle over the university’s plan to build a four-story high-tech gym next to Memorial Stadium—the site of the ongoing tree-sit in the grove of oaks that would be axed to make way for the gym. 

John M. Sanger, one of two San Francisco lawyers hired to represent the UC Board of Regents in the case, had told the judge that the Alquist-Priolo Act doesn’t apply to the university. 

Passed by the California Legislature in 1972, that statute bars new construction within 50 feet of existing faults and limits the cost of additions or renovations to 50 percent of an existing building’s value. 

In Monday’s order, Miller wrote that she “has concluded that the Act does apply to the University as a state agency with the responsibility to prohibit the location and development of structures for human occupancy across the trace of active faults.” 

The judge said that nothing in the evidence before her indicates the university ever considered: 

• whether the Student Athlete High Performance Center (SAHPC) was an addition to California Memorial Stadium (CMS) under the terms of the act; 

• “whether the cost to construct the SAHPC might violate the Act’s valuation limitations,” or 

• performing a valuation analysis on the gym in relation to the stadium. 

The ruling is critical because the stadium itself is split from end zone to end zone by the Hayward Fault, the seismic fissure federal geologists say is the most likely source of the Bay Area’s next disastrous earthquake. 

University-hired experts say the gym site is outside the Alquist-Priolo Act’s 50-foot zone, exempting the structure from the law’s provisions. 

“We’re quite gratified that the court has rejected the university’s contention that the Alquist-Priolo Act doesn’t apply to them,” said Stephan Volker, one of the attorneys who brought the litigation against the university. 

He said he is also pleased that the court agreed with the plaintiffs in the action that the university had failed to prove their contention that the gym and stadium were two separate and distinct buildings. 

“The university is backed into a corner,” he said. 

Dan Mogulof, executive director of UC Berkeley’s Office of Public Affairs, said, “While it’s going to engender further delay, we welcome the opportunity to provide the court with additional evidence from architects and engineering experts who we believe will support what we have said all along—that the Student Athlete High Performance Center and Memorial Stadium are separate buildings.” 

Mogulof said the university had from the beginning directed its engineers and architects to design the gym as a separate structure, following the provisions of the state building code, “and we are confident that the experts will confirm that for the judge.” 

Volker represents the California Oak Foundation and City Councilmember Dona Spring, two of several plaintiffs who have challenged the university in arguments in Judge Miller’s Hayward courtroom. 

The other lawyers are Michael Lozeau, whose clients in the case include the Panoramic Hill Association, and Harriet Steiner, representing the City of Berkeley. 

Sanger’s partner and the lead attorney for the university in the case is Charles Olson. 

Expert opinions 

Judge Miller’s order requires the lawyers to submit written opinions from experts about whether or not the gym and stadium are separate structures, or if the gym and stadium constitute a single building under terms of the California Building Code. 

If she finds that they form a single building, the outcome could have profound effects on the university’s development plans by limiting the total amount that can be spent on the gym and the planned retrofit and refurbishing of the landmarked stadium itself. 

The judge ordered all evidence to be submitted by Dec. 31, with a deadline for objections to any of the submissions of Jan. 7. Her final Notice of Decision, barring any additional extension, will come by Feb. 6. 

Mogulof said the university has been continuing with “the huge amount of preparatory work needed before construction begins, so if we get the go-ahead from the court, construction can begin almost immediately.” 

One key issue, not addressed in the judge’s order, is the value of the stadium itself, by all accounts a structure in need of repairs and a seismic retrofit. The stadium bears obvious signs of neglect, with unrepaired breeches in the concrete and its wooden flagpoles and fixtures shedding layers of peeling paint. 

The university claims that the Alquist-Priolo Act’s 50 percent limitation applies to the cost of replacing the existing building, while the challengers claim the limitation is based on the structure’s current sales value—potentially a nine-figure difference that could starkly limit the university’s options. 

The challenge to the stadium/gym project is encompassed in the larger legal question of whether or not the regents met all the legal steps required to adopt the gym’s budget and approve the environment impact report (EIR) for the full suite of projects included in what UC Berkeley has called the Southeast Campus Integrated Projects. 

Those projects, in addition to the gym and stadium retrofit, include an underground parking lot at the site of Maxwell Family Field northwest of the stadium, a new “connector building” housing offices and meeting space for the university’s law and business schools, repairs to the law and business school buildings, work on the Piedmont Avenue/Gayley Road street scape, repair of some historic buildings, and demolition of some historic residences and Calvin Hall.

Berkeley City Councilmem-bers acted illegally a year ago when they handed developer Patrick Kennedy a victory in the ongoing battle over the cultural uses of the Gaia Building. 

That decision by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch, filed exactly one year after the council’s Dec. 12, 2006 vote, ends the latest round in the ongoing battle over the city’s controversial “cultural density bonus.” 

It was “inescapable,” the judge declared, that the council’s action setting forth rules for applying the bonus “was an abuse of discretion and must be struck down.” 

Roesch cited three specific discretionary abuses he said the council made in their decision, which was portrayed as implementation of a council resolution of the previous April 25 that tackled an ongoing sore point in Berkeley politics. 

But just what his decision means remained a matter of dispute Thursday.  

“This is a victory for the cultural use the community was promised long ago,” said Anna de Leon, the Gaia tenant who waged a long battle backed by Councilmember Dona Spring and others—to reopen the question of cultural use at the Gaia Building. 

“Simply put, the court overruled the lawless act of the council majority that favored the profit of one developer over the rights of the community.” 

But Zach Cowan, Berkeley’s acting City Attorney and the lawyer who represented the city in Roesch’s court, said the judge’s decision effectively restores provisions that are less favorable for the cause championed by de Leon. 

“It seems like the decision leaves them worse off than where they started,” he said. 

Dona Spring also hailed the judge’s decision as a victory, overturning what she called “a blatant violation of the city’s own laws” and the actions of former City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque, who she charged had “always sided with Patrick Kennedy against the interests of the city zoning board and the community.” 

“I am delighted but not surprised that we won,” said Patti Dacey, a private investigator and city planning commissioner who served on the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee and was one of three plaintiffs in the action. 

The others were musician Ellen Hoffman and sculptor Fredric Fierstein. 

“I’m not exactly sure what it means,” said city Planning and Development Director Dan Marks. “You’ll have to talk to Zach Cowan.” 

One of the three reasons Roesch declared the council’s December vote illegal was because city ordinance doesn’t allow the council to change a building’s use permit except when acting on an appeal from a decision by the city’s Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB). 

The council had pre-empted ZAB action, and this “was simply without the statutory authority to modify the use permit.” 

Even if the council did have authority to modify the permit without a ZAB appeal, the action couldn’t be made without a public hearing. The council’s action without a hearing was yet another abuse of discretion. 

Finally, the council abused its discretion because it hadn’t reserved the power to alter or revoke a permit it had already approved and which gave ZAB broad discretion for modification or revocation.  

Kennedy, who did not return a reporter’s call, isn’t de Leon’s landlord anymore. In April, the developer’s Panoramic Interests sold his seven major Berkeley apartment projects with their 368 units to Equity Residential, one of the nation’s largest landlords and the source of the fortune which investor and corporate chief Sam Zell is now using to buy the Los Angeles Times.  

Kennedy remains a Gaia leaseholder. 

Battle of numbers 

The council’s action in April 2006 came a month after a March 23 vote by the Zoning Adjustments Board—triggered in part by complaints from de Leon. 

That action was followed by letters from an attorney for Gaia developer Patrick Kennedy threatening legal action. 

After the April vote, Kennedy said the council had reaffirmed what he understood was his original June 6, 2003 agreement with former city Planning Director Carol Barrett. 

The crucial paragraph of that agreement states: “We commit to the following performance standard: in the performance (theater) area, we will program performance use on 30 percent of the days of each month on average. In the reminder of the ground floor and mezzanine we will program arts related activities 15 days per month on average.” 

The council added language that the 30 percent figure applied to actual performance, “but must be expanded to include preparation time,” with performances given priority scheduling. 

Roesch’s decision voids the council’s Dec. 12, 2006, vote on a measure cited as action needed to implement the council’s action of eight months earlier. 

At issue is just how the building’s cultural space is to be used, with one critical question being the division of time devoted to public performances, including preparation and rehearsal time, and private, for-profit activities.  

With the help of city bonuses, Kennedy and partners—who include UC Berkeley business professor and entrepreneur David Teece—built the nine-story structure in a part of downtown Berkeley zoned for five floors. 

One of the extra floors of apartments was added explicitly because Kennedy had applied for the city’s cultural density bonus, which gives additional height and mass in exchange for providing community cultural space. 

Additional space was allotted under the city’s inclusionary ordinance, which at the time required housing projects of five or more units to add dwellings for low-income tenants. (Developers can now pay in-lieu fees, which fund units in affordable housing projects.) 

But the cultural space that won the bonus—the first floor and mezzanine—in the 2116-2120 Allston Way building was specifically created for the Gaia Bookstore, a local business that also hosted readings and seminars, rather than for a performance group or gallery. 

The bookstore closed before the building was completed, and the space was vacant and unfinished for several years until the Gaia Building LLC leased space to Anna’s Jazz Island and the owners of Glass Onion Catering. 

As a provision of the building’s use permit, profit-making businesses were allowed in the cultural space.  

Both de Leon’s business and the catering company are for-profit businesses, though the jazz club is specifically a performance venue. 

While a theatrical troupe offered shows in the theater space within the spaced leased by a partnership between Kennedy and Glass Onion, the group gave up because they couldn’t schedule enough performances to break even. 

Instead, the larger volume of space has been leased for private events served by the catering company and, for a time, church services. 

De Leon and other critics charged that use of the bonus space for private parties breached the intent of the cultural bonus statute. 

Troubled history 

The building has a troubled legal history, first from lawsuits over alleged construction defects that infested the building with mold and twice forced a resurfacing of the stucco-clad structure. 

Total costs of repairs reportedly topped the original construction costs. 

The city’s fire inspectors also found significant problems with the ground and mezzanine floors, including inadequate sprinkler systems, improperly installed and uninspected fixtures, and illegally posted signs which created greater occupancy levels that allowed by code. 

But the source of the current controversy, the cultural bonus, was created in the city’s current Downtown Area Plan, adopted in 1990. 

City planning staff didn’t adopt specific language for implementing the bonus laying out the requirements and limitations needed to qualify for the additional space, and when Kennedy applied to use it for the Gaia Building, city planning staff was left to figure out how it would apply to his project. 

One additional project won the bonus, the proposed Arpeggio Building, which would rise to nine stories across Center Street from Berkeley City College. Though approved more than a year ago, developers have yet to begin construction, with one source close to the project reporting that more funds needed to be raised. 

Specific language drafted for that project detailed precisely how the space was to be used, with Berkeley Repertory Theatre being the main beneficiary. 

The committee which prepared the proposed draft of the new downtown plan now making its way through the city planning staff before it moves on to the Planning Commission and City Council specifically declined to include the cultural bonus in their proposal. 

The fate of the Gaia’s Building’s cultural space remains in question, with a final decision still to be signed.

If you’re going to “dress for less,” you’ll need to spend your money in Emeryville or El Cerrito. The downtown Berkeley Ross for Less store will be shutting its doors in mid-January, according to Ross spokesperson Katie Loughnot. 

“We always review sites when the lease is up,” Loughnot told the Planet Thursday, refusing to compare the Berkeley store, located for about 13 years at 2190 Shattuck Ave., to neighboring Ross outlets. 

With The Spot, at 2175 Shattuck, and the Shoe Pavilion, at 2210 Shattuck, also planning to exit Berkeley, “we look at Ross leaving as an opportunity to upgrade” the tenant mix downtown, Economic Development Director Michael Caplan told the Planet Wednesday.  

“There will be no job loss,” Caplan added. Employees will go to other Ross stores.  

Loughnot said the closing is not a reflection on the health of the chain. “We close stores every year,” she said.  

Downtown Berkeley Associ-ation Executive Director Deborah Badhia said she was disappointed at the losses. “Ross fits a niche,” she said, whether it’s nannies out shopping or people running into the store on their lunch break for a tee shirt they’ve forgotten for their workout.  

“It will be missed,” she said, adding, “It’s a huge hit if The Spot and Shoe Pavilion leave at the same time.” 

What will replace the 40,000 square-foot store, originally a JC Penny’s, is an open question, Badhia said.  

Badhia said, because of the size of the store, the new tenant wouldn’t be an independent retailer. She pointed to the site’s advantages, noting in particular that half the population lives within one mile of the downtown. 

San Francisco-based Retail West, Inc. is the broker responsible for finding a new tenant. Retail West did not return calls before deadline. 

In a Dec. 6 report to its shareholders, Senior Vice President/Chief Financial Officer Jon Call said Ross is performing well. For the 10 months ending Dec. 1, 2007, Ross sales were almost $4.9 billion, a 9 percent increase over the $4.5 billion in sales reported for the 10 months ending Dec. 2, 2006.  

Call elaborated, saying the Mid-Atlantic was the strongest region “in the low double digits,” whereas the growth in California sales was 1 percent.  

Ross is a Fortune 500 publicly traded store headquartered in Pleasanton and is the nation’s second-largest “off-price” company, according to a Dec. 6 company news release. As of Dec. 1, the company operated 841 Ross stores and 52 dd’s DISCOUNTS, compared to 773 Ross and 26 DISCOUNTS the previous year. 

Economic Development Manager Dave Fogarty underscored, in speaking to the Planet Thursday, that there is some good economic news, with the opening of Green Motors in the old Cadillac dealership at San Pablo Avenue at Jones Street. The company’s website highlights the all-electric ZENN and iT cars, which they call “the perfect zero-emission solutions for around-town driving.” 

In an effort to stop liquor stores, bars and restaurants from selling alcohol to minors—and to make sure these establishments meet specific standards set by the city—the City Council voted 8-0 Tuesday to give the city new tools to regulate businesses that sell alcohol. 

In other matters, the council approved electromagnetic field testing near new telecommunication antenna sites, discussed condominium conversion in a two-hour workshop, hired a non-union security company to guard the corporation yard and promised a workshop in March on the question of undergrounding telephone wires. 

Alcohol-serving establishments regulated 

The council voted unanimously, with Councilmember Laurie Capitelli absent, to set standards for vendors of alcohol that include keeping the establishment free of graffiti and litter and well-lighted, keeping records of employees including hours worked, logging calls to law enforcement, refusing to serve persons who are drunk and who drink nearby in public, reporting people who make excessive noise in public, impair the free use of the sidewalk outside the establishment, engage in intimidating conduct and more to police. 

The law provides for new code enforcement staff who will inspect restaurants and bars once each year and outlets that sell alcohol to take off-site four times each year.  

“The operating standards in this ordinance are exemplary,” said Berkeley Alcohol Policy Advocacy Coalition Secretary Lori Lott, thanking city staff for including all alcohol venders—those that serve alcohol on-site and those that sell it for off-site use—in the inspection program. 

While councilmembers agreed that standards should be set and inspections done, they disagreed on how fees should be charged.  

Councilmembers Linda Maio and Kriss Worthington argued for a tiered rate, where restaurants would be charged less, but could not get a majority vote.  

“Liquor stores create a greater problem. If we’re putting more resources into liquor stores, they have to pay more,” Maio argued. 

“People are leaving our restaurants drunk and people [in restaurants] are serving underaged youth,” Moore said, pushing for the flat rate of $476, which won unanimously after the tiered rate lost 4-2-3, with Maio, Worthington, Gordon Wozniak and Mayor Tom Bates in support, Councilmembers Darryl Moore and Betty Olds in opposition and Councilmembers Max Anderson and Dona Spring abstaining. 

Testing cell antenna sites 

At Tuesday’s meeting, the City Council unanimously approved a plan to test electromagnetic field levels, including radiation levels, around UC Storage at Shattuck Avenue and Ward Street and close to the French Hotel on Shattuck near Vine Street.  

Cell-phone antennas are slated to go up at both sites in the near future. “It is necessary to have measurements quickly as the installations are imminent,” says the report, authored by the four sponsors of the measure: Spring, Maio, Anderson and Bates.  

Addressing the council, Michie McCon-nell said that in allowing the antennas to go up, the city compromised the health of residents and permitted “corporate control of cities.”  

She added that the city needs a stronger telecommunications ordinance: “We should have done that long ago.” 

The resolution also asks staff to begin work revising the ordinance. 

The council also: 

• Adopted the second reading of the Public Commons for Everyone Initiative ordinances that expand the area in which people lying on the sidewalks can be cited and increase restrictions on smoking in public places. The laws go into effect in 30 days. 

• Held a two-hour workshop on making changes in the condominium conversion law including eventual modifications to make the process quicker and easier to understand. They also discussed the possibility of bringing work up to code only when health and safety issues are in question and lowering fees. 

• Gave Securitas Security Services a contract to guard the corporation yard, with Councilmember Kriss Worthington objecting because Securitas is non-union. 

• Called for a workshop on undergrounding utilities to see exactly where utilities have been undergrounded and to talk about future undergrounding along main arteries for use during emergencies.

In a couple of years, the automobile shopper may not have to slog through Berkeley streets to find a new car. There’s likely to be a Volvo/Nissan dealer just a hop off the freeway—and perhaps a Honda dealer will follow. 

The ability to locate near Interstate 80 is something car dealers have been asking the city for, saying they’re pressured by their companies to increase visibility and heighten their competitive advantage. Three of the city’s four new-car dealers are now located on Shattuck Avenue, 5-10 minutes east of the freeway. 

For car dealers to move closer to the freeway and into the city’s manufacturing zone—from the Albany border south to Virginia Street and the Eastshore Highway east for two to three blocks—the City Council must modify zoning, amending the General Plan, the West Berkeley Plan and the Zoning Ordinance. 

A unanimous council (with Councilmember Laurie Capitelli absent) voted Tuesday in favor of the zoning changes but, at the urging of recyclers, removed the city’s nine-acre solid waste transfer station at Gilman and Second streets from the area subject to zoning changes.  

The council approved the new zoning in concept and will vote to make the zoning changes law at its meeting next week. 

Addressing the council before its vote on zonimg changes, recyclers said they feared the proposed zoning would allow the city to turn over all or part of the transfer station to auto sales, which would interfere with the city’s stated goal of eventually recycling or reusing everything brought to the transfer station.  

Early in the deliberative process, which took place at some 10 meetings of the Planning Commission, the planning department staff proposed rezoning for auto sales to include parts of the city now zoned as a multiple-use light industry (MULI) district, where Urban Ore, Ashby Lumber and MacBeath Hardwood are located in southwest Berkeley. The Planning Commission, however, voted to remove this part of town from the proposed rezoning. 

The primary concern expressed by councilmembers and speakers about allowing auto sales in the manufacturing district was the inclusion of the city’s nine-acre solid waste transfer center in the rezoning. 

Berkeley’s transfer station is unique, Dan Knapp, owner of Urban Ore, which resells recycled goods, told the council, calling for the lawmakers to remove the transfer station from the proposed zoning changes. 

The transfer station “houses a collection of enterprises that have gotten 59 percent diversion [of recyclable goods]” without burning or burying as some other facilities do, he said. 

“Protect those lands for future zero- waste businesses,” said Mary Lou Van Deventer, also of Urban Ore, speaking to the council on behalf of the Northern California Recycling Association. 

Knapp also raised the specter of possible rent hikes for property near where auto sales might be allowed, but Acting Land Use Planning Manager Debra Sanderson later told the council: “There’s not an expectation that [the zoning changes] would drive land prices up.”  

Shane Lavery, son of the owner of McKevitt Volvo/Nissan, now renting its property on Shattuck Avenue near Ward Street in South Berkeley, made the case for the new zoning. 

Requirements of manufacturers are changing, he told the council. “We need better access to the highways and we need to be in a part of the city where our customers can see us. Highway visibility is very important,” he said, adding, “We provide good jobs to the community; we are a union shop.” 

He also said that the owner of the property where McKevitt is located may want the land for condominium development.  

Van Deventer played down the need for the rezoning, telling council: “This entire rezoning is to keep two businesses in town.”  

The city staff report, however, pointed out that Berkeley’s four auto dealerships provide $1.2 million in sales tax revenue, just under 10 percent of the city’s total sales tax income.

The Berkeley City Council is getting involved in the case of a Berkeley man who has been screaming at children playing in the Becky Temko Tot Lot on Roosevelt Street for the past six months. 

Councilmembers will meet in executive session at City Hall Monday to discuss the disturbance. A public comment session will precede the closed-door meeting. The meeting will be held at 5 p.m. in the Redwood Conference Room at 2180 Milvia St. 

The Berkeley Police Department forwarded a citizen’s complaint to District Attorney Tom Orloff to prosecute Art Maxwell, the man who has been seen frequenting the tot lot, repeatedly screaming at the children and making them cry, for disturbing the peace at the park. 

Councilmember Dona Spring, who represents the neighborhood, said Maxwell’s behavior was psychologically abusive to the children and called for his arrest. 

Sgt. Mary Kusmiss, spokesperson for the Berkeley Police Department, told the Planet Thursday that Marty Brown, the D.A. handling Berkeley cases, had reviewed the crime report and had decided not to charge Mr. Maxwell. 

“He felt that the actual elements of the complaint did not meet the threshold of the violation he was cited under,” she said. “However, he has not ruled out the possibility of a future charge that better fits Maxwell’s actions.” 

According to Kusmiss, Maxwell was placed under citizen’s arrest and issued a misdemeanor citation under Section 415 of the Penal Code—which stands for disturbing the peace and using offensive words—after he started calling a neighbor and another man words such as “motherfucker” and “turd.” 

The neighbor said that Maxwell started throwing items at a fence separating Maxwell’s house from the park and continued yelling at him. 

Roosevelt Street residents have complained about Maxwell for months through community meetings, e-mails and public forums. 

When the complaints first surfaced, Lt. Wes Hester, another spokesperson for the Berkeley Police Department, said that Maxwell was within his free speech rights to yell as much as he wanted to. 

Calls to Lt. Hester or the neighborhood area coordinator Officer Casimero Pierantoni for comment were not returned by press time Thursday. 

“Although it was inappropriate behavior, it did not meet the criteria for violating the law,” Kusmiss said. “We recognize that people were frustrated but we have to operate within a strict framework of law. Berkeley doesn’t have any anti-profanity laws ... It just turned out to be more of a conflict than we had hoped for.” 

Although the city’s mental health services met with Maxwell, who lives next to the tot lot, no action was taken. He also declined mediation services from the city. Sound recordings taken at the tot lot did not show any evidence of violation of the noise ordinance. 

In a letter to the D.A.’s office on Dec. 4, Spring has asked the courts to prosecute as well as to issue a restraining order against Maxwell. 

“The district attorney will decide whether to prosecute him,” Spring told the Planet Monday. “This has been going on for a long time now. The Berkeley police could not arrest him or find a violation against him because of free speech. But he has used his free speech in such a way that it has psychologically affected children and their parents. He says that the children make too much noise but it is no more noise than any other tot lot in the city. He has either to live with the noise or go away.” 

Dozens of parents have e-mailed or called Spring to protest about Maxwell’s threats of getting children arrested, photographing them and blaring obscene rap music while they play or use the swing at the tot lot. “My direct experience with Mr. Maxwell in the last six months is through angry messages he left on my home office answering machine,” Spring wrote in her letter to the D.A.  

“These messages were loud and angry harangues regarding a litany of impositions of the tot lot’s impact on his life. He said his anger was justified because of failure of the city or myself to shut the park down. The messages would end with threats such as, “I’m about to lose it,” “I am sick of it” or “I’ll step up the fever pitch.” 

Spring said that she declined to meet with Maxwell to sort out his grievances because of his abusive phone messages. 

According to neighbors, Maxwell’s latest attempts at terrorizing visitors to the tot lot included screaming profanities and hurling glass bottles against a plywood board on the fence of the tot lot. 

“He is being totally unrealistic,” Spring said. “He basically wants to shut the tot lot down. But the city has no intention of doing that.”

In a special closed session Monday, the Berkeley City Council will consider removing Rent Board Member Chris Kavanagh from office.  

Kavanagh faces seven felony counts stemming from allegations that his real home is in Oakland, but that he falsely claimed residence in Berkeley in order to sit on the rent board.  

He pleaded innocent to the charges in September and stepped down from the board for three months, which ends at the end of this month.  

The item that appears on the closed session calendar came as a surprise to both Rent Board Executive Director Jay Kelekian and Rent Board Chair Jesse Arreguin. Both told the Planet they did not know who placed the item on the council agenda.  

The Planet learned of the item after business hours on Thursday and was unable to reach the city attorney or city clerk for further clarification. 

Arreguin said he was disappointed that the council would address the question before Kavanagh had his day in court—his next hearing is to be in January.  

“I am personally concerned that this will compromise the legal proceedings,” Arreguin said. Arreguin said such an action was necessary in the San Francisco case of Ed Jew, who refused to step down, but was unnecessary in Kavanagh’s case. 

The closed-door session begins at 5 p.m. with a public comment period. It is in the sixth-floor conference room at the city administrative building, 2180 Milvia St.  

Leftover furniture scraps will be hand-crafted into dolls, trains and trucks at the annual Waterside Workshop’s Holiday Sustainability Event this Sunday. 

What started off as an offshoot of Tinker’s Workshop at Berkeley’s historic Aquatic Park in July has now grown into a full fledged boat-building, bike-repairing and sewing organization, thanks to the tireless efforts of Helder Parreira and Amber Rich. 

“We are growing,” Parreira said excitedly. “The place has become a constant hub of activity. The word is out that there’s a place in West Berkeley where kids can come and spend time when they are not at school.” 

The workshop is set to become a part of the Berkeley Unified School District’s after-school program in January where kids will learn to make sustainable toys and build boats from scratch. 

Parents attending Sunday’s event will get an idea about what their children can expect out of the program. 

“We just like to give people a chance to make toys by hand,” Rich said. “Most toys are mass-produced and we often forget their roots. It means a lot if you can give someone a gift you have made with your own hands. People will also learn to sew fleece hats.” 

According to Rich, leftover materials from furniture and boat building will make up the principle components of the toy-making session. 

“End pieces such as the leg of a chair are too big to throw away and too little to use for anything else,” she said. 

“But it’s perfect for toys ... We have bucketsful of that stuff our instructor will sort from and cut out patterns and drill holes so that it’s easy for kids to put it together. It will be like a puzzle. No one will need to use any power tools.” 

The workshop has also gone through significant electrical renovations in the last few months which has brought bright lights and hot water to the building. 

Rich said the programs mainly attracted teenagers from West and North Berkeley. 

“Kids often have nothing to do after school so they come to our workshop to check it out,” she said. “They get hooked immediately ... It helps them to stay out of trouble.” 

Waterside Workshops Holiday  

Sustainability Event 

All ages welcome. Dec. 16, 12-5 p.m. 84 Bolivar Drive in Berkeley’s Aquatic Park (between Addison and Bancroft streets). 

Sliding scale donation requested, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds. 

644-2755. www.watersideworkshops.org.

Current and former members of Berkeley’s Sea Scout Ship Farallon and their parents will meet Monday night to discuss resumption of group activities. 

The term “ship” as used by sea scouts refers to the group rather than the boat itself. 

Troop members were stunned by the arrest last week of former Scoutmaster Gene Evans on charges that he molested four troop members—allegations supporters strongly deny. 

Evans was released on $190,000 bail last Friday after a troop parent pledged the family home as collateral. 

The scoutmaster has been banned from the movement. He is owner of the ship which the scouts have used and which was at the center of a lawsuit that challenged a City Council denial of a long-time rent-free slip at the city marina on the grounds that scouts discriminate against homosexuals. 

James Novosel, an architect who has two sons who have been members of the troop, is one of the organizers of the meeting, which is being held in a private home. 

According to a notice for the meeting provided to the Daily Planet by a member, scouts and their parents will discuss the resumption of the group’s activities, listen to statements from troop members and air questions from parents.

A city employee, crossing Solano Avenue at Fresno Avenue Wednesday afternoon was struck and seriously injured by an automobile going east, according to Sgt. Mary Kusmiss, Berkeley Police Department spokesperson. 

The victim, a woman whose name has not been released, was in a crosswalk walking south on Fresno Avenue at about 4:25 p.m. The car that hit her was going about 20 miles per hour, Kusmiss said. 

The victim sustained severe head and face trauma, along with a number of possible broken bones, Kusmiss said. She was transported by ambulance to a local trauma center. “She is considered in critical condition,” Kusmiss said. 

The motorist, an Oakland resident, was determined not to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol. An investigation will determine whether there will be charges against her.  

There was a fatality at the same intersection June 3, when the driver, a retired Berkeley Police Department officer, was found to be under the influence of alcohol. There have been 13 automobile accidents at Solano and Fresno between 2002 and 2007—this is the third auto-pedestrian accident among them, Kusmiss said. 

The first-of-its-kind poll on race relations between blacks, Latinos and Asians, released yesterday in Washington, D.C., revealed that while ugly stereotypes still hold strong between groups, a majority of those in each group said they should put aside their differences to work toward building better communities. 

All groups polled said overwhelmingly that racial tensions in the nation are a very important problem. 

The poll shows that high levels of segregation still exist which underlie and support negative stereotypes. More than 75 percent of blacks and Latinos attend religious services with their own kind. More than 65 percent of blacks and Latinos went to school with those of the same ethnicity or race. More than 50 percent of all three groups say most of their friends are of the same race. 

Latinos (44 percent) and Asians (47 percent) said they are generally “afraid of blacks because they are responsible for most of the crime.” Blacks (51 percent) and Asians (34 percent) said Latino immigrants are taking away jobs, housing and political power from the black community. Latinos (46 percent) and blacks (53 percent) said Asian business owners do not treat them with respect. 

“The sponsors of the poll strongly believe the best way to move forward is by identifying the problems and initiating a dialogue that can bring ethnic groups together in their fight for equality and against discrimination,” explained New America Media Executive Director Sandy Close. 

Pollster Sergio Bendixen, who conducted the nationwide survey of over 1,100 blacks, Asians and Latinos in seven different languages, said the poll highlights the need for ethnic media to play a bigger role in facilitating this dialogue. “The study indicates that a majority of the African Americans and a significant percentage of Hispanics and Asian Americans consider the coverage of problems related to race in the ethnic media to be irresponsible,” Bendixen noted. “At the same time, overwhelming majorities of the three groups think that the ethnic media have a responsibility to do everything in their power to improve race relations.” 

Mainstream media coverage of race relations was not much better, according to those interviewed. Sixty-six percent of blacks surveyed said the coverage of problems related to racial tensions by mainstream media was irresponsible, followed by Latinos at 43 percent and Asians at 30 percent. 

Other findings showed that groups with a higher immigrant population expressed a far greater optimism about achieving the American dream. A majority of Latinos (74 percent) and Asians (64 percent) believes that if you work hard, you will succeed in the United States. In contrast, more than 60 percent of blacks said they do not believe the American dream works for them. 

These findings show that the immigrant brings optimism to the mix while blacks bring a hard-won realism, Bendixen said. 

Yet the poll also found important commonalities between the three groups: All of the poll respondents shared values of patriotism, spirituality, and spending time with family over making money. 

And despite racial tensions, the poll revealed a strong sense of optimism among all three groups. Respondents overwhelmingly shared the belief that they should put aside their differences to work together on issues that affect their communities, that racial tensions will get better in the next 10 years and that the United States would be better off if their were more ethnic groups in positions of authority. 

Author Richard Rodriguez pointed out that other ethnic groups see blacks as the pathfinders of civil rights issues; their battles have benefited all ethnic groups. Asian parents, meanwhile, are admired for their strong participation in their children’s education. “In a time when womanizing politicians are talking about family values,” Rodriguez said, “the immigrant brings real family values to the mix.” 

“This leaves some possibility for groups to learn something from one another,” he added. 

The younger generation, meanwhile, presents even more reason for this optimism. Young people increasingly identify themselves as “Blaxicans” and “Negropanese,” for example, said Rodriguez, reflecting a constantly evolving notion of race. Unlike in earlier generations, a majority of young people today (65 percent) have dated outside of their race. 

Megan Malabunga, 16, is one example. A Pacific Islander from Los Angeles, Malabunga says she has Filipino friends and black friends, and her boyfriend is Latino. She says race or ethnicity aren’t factors in choosing her friends; she hangs out with most of her friends because they dress the same way as she does. 

Chris Wailoo, a 44-year-old black professional and an immigrant who lives in Washington, D.C., says he thinks working together with other ethnic groups is a great thing but he does not believe it is going to be easy. Generally speaking, he said, blacks do not agree with Lou Dobbs’ immigration rhetoric, and yet he did not see many blacks at the immigration marches. 

New America Media’s poll was co-sponsored by nine founding ethnic media partners: Asian Journal, Asian Week, Korea Times, Philippine News, La Opinion / Impremedia, Nguoi Viet News, Sing Tao Daily, Sun Reporter, and World Journal. 

The sample was designed to be representative of the adult population of the three major racial and ethnic minorities in the United States. Hispanic respondents were interviewed in English or Spanish, and Asian American respondents were interviewed in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese or Tagalog. 

For the second time in two months, some 5,000 nurses are gathered today outside 13 Sutter Health hospitals in the Bay Area, including Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley and Oakland, to advocate issues they say haven’t been adequately addressed since the October strike. 

The nurses want better healthcare and retirement plans, according to Liz Jacobs, a California Nurses Association spokeswoman. 

They also want “adequate meal and rest breaks so they can perform safely,” and they would like trained hospital personnel to be hired who can lift obese patients to prevent nurses from straining their backs, Jacobs said. 

In addition, Jacobs said Sutter is asking nurses “to accept ... health care that has higher premiums and less choice of where they can go.”  

The nurses also want “good health care when they retire and a decent pension,” Jacobs added. 

Dori Stevens, chief executive nurse at Sutter Delta Medical Center in Antioch, said they are willing to meet with union leaders to reach an  

agreement. 

“We have offered a very comprehensive package to the nurses,” Stevens said.  

The union wants one master contract for all Sutter hospitals and “to change the language of the contract to make it easier for nurses to join the union,” said Kevin McCormack, a spokesman for California Pacific Medical Center, one of the hospitals where nurses went on strike. 

The two-day strike began at about 7 a.m. Thursday. 

“Nurses don’t want to strike,” Jacobs emphasized. “The fact that they took the second strike was a message to Sutter that whatever Sutter puts across the table between the strikes is unacceptable.” 

The hospitals affected by the strike are: San Francisco’s St. Luke’s Hospital and California Pacific Medical Center, San Leandro Hospital, Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley and Oakland, Mills-Peninsula Health Services in Burlingame and San Mateo, Castro Valley’s Eden Medical Center, Sutter Delta Medical Center in Antioch, Sutter Solano Medical Center in Vallejo, Sutter Medical Center in Santa Rosa, Marin General Hospital in Greenbrae and Novato Community Hospital. They have hired replacement nurses to temporarily fill in for those on strike, Jacobs said. 

Although the strike is expected to last two days, nurses at all Bay Area Sutter hospitals, excluding St. Luke’s Hospital, California Pacific Medical Center and Sutter Medical Center in Santa Rosa, may not be able to return to work until Monday or Tuesday because the hospitals hired replacement nurses under contracts that last three to five days, according to Jacobs. 

Nurses at St. Luke’s Hospital, California Pacific Medical Center and Sutter Medical Center are expected to return to work Saturday, Jacobs said. 

The nurses are ready to jump in to help if an emergent situation presents itself, Jacobs said. 

“We always have provisions and are willing to not compromise care,” Jacobs said. “We’re not going to make the patients suffer.” 

Photograph by Richard Brenneman  

Smiling strikers and sympathetic colleagues drew friendly beeps from passing motorists as members of the California Nurses Association staged a second two-day walkout at Berkeley’s Alta Bates Summit Hospital on Ashby Avenue. Nurses also struck other hospitals owned by the Sacramento-based HMO chain Sutter Health. 

With little fanfare and no dissent, the Oakland Unified School District agreed this week to move forward with the building of a $75.5 million, four-school education complex on 6.5 acres of the district’s East Lake properties. 

“I believe this project is long overdue,” interim state administrator Vince Matthews said Wednesday night in approving the proposed operating budget for the complex.  

Matthews’ decision came shortly after a unanimous advisory vote by the OUSD Board of Education. The one board member who had earlier expressed reservations about the complex—Kerry Hamill—did not speak on the matter at Wednesday night’s joint administrator-board meeting and voted in favor with the rest of her colleagues. 

Under the state takeover of the OUSD, the state administrator has sole authority to approve the project, but Matthews had said earlier that he would not do so until he had heard from the board on the matter. 

Under the proposal, four of the five schools currently housed adjacent to the district’s Paul Robeson administrative headquarters—La Escuelita Elementary, MetWest High School, and Centro Infantíl and Yuk Yau child development centers—will be completely rebuilt. A fifth school on the East Lake property, Dewey, was recently rebuilt and will be considered as part of the 2nd Avenue Education Complex. 

The district’s next step will be to develop a more detailed proposal to be sent out to developers for bids. 

Money for the complex is expected to come from a variety of sources, including $30 million from district facilities bond measures A and C, $33 million from facilities bond measure B, $8 million from the county school facilities fund (Fund 35), and $4 million in developers’ fees. 

OUSD Facilities Director Tim White said Wednesday night that $260 million of the $439 million Measure B bond money has not been appropriated, so taking money for the 2nd Avenue Complex will not delay any currently approved Measure B construction projects. Inclusion of the 2nd Avenue Complex in Measure B expenditures was unanimously approved by the Measure B Oversight Committee earlier this week. 

The developers’ fees are projected to come from the proposed Oak-to-Ninth housing and commercial development along the estuary waterfront south of Jack London Square, whose students will be in the La Escuelita attendance area. The Oak-to-Ninth development must go back through the Oakland Planning Commission and Oakland City Council approval process after a Superior Court judge threw out portions of the project’s environmental impact report. OUSD failed to request developer fees from the project when it first went through the city approval process, but OUSD Facilities Director Tim White says that the district will request those fees during this round of approvals. 

The proposal for the complex does not deal with the fate of the district’s aging administrative headquarters, which has been ruled seismically unsafe, nor with the remaining three acres of land on the district’s East Lake properties. 

Following the making of his motion for approval of the complex, board member Noel Gallo said that he was “requesting that the staff take a look at the property in its entirety. This is probably one of the most valuable pieces of property owned by the district. I want the administration to develop a master plan for the entire property, to include a site for teacher housing.”  

Gallo said following the board vote that he wanted a master plan for the East Lake property to include a replacement plan for the administrative headquarters as well.

“He likes hot chocolate,” she said. Feeling cold myself, I approached the local barista and asked her for a large cup of coffee for the seemingly homeless man sitting outside on the cold bench. I say “seemingly” without knowing, but based on the tattered clothes, the unpleasant odor and the worn shoes. “God bless you,” he shyly replied when I offered him the hot drink. It was almost as if he preferred to remain anonymous. 

I walk around the lake every morning and often see the same people who are out in the early morning hours. Again, without being presumptuous, I will venture to say that most of these folks have no place to call home. What strikes me today as I remember my hot chocolate connoisseur, is that we are not that different, me and the early morning lake dwellers. We enjoy the quiet morning hours, the beauty of the lake, making contact with each other and the simple pleasures of life such as a hot drink first thing in the morning. 

Another thing I realized is that while I have been walking my same path every morning, seeing the same people every day…I have yet to ask this homeless man whom I shared a cup of hot chocolate with his name. He must have one; his life story would be one to share. And so today I vowed to ask; I vowed to embrace his story, whatever it is as one of value. Today, I did not find him, so instead I approached another woman whom I encounter on my daily treks; one who often appears to be responding to some unknown entity. She scares me at times, not in a physical sense, but because of her anger and what she might do with it. Over the years, I have listened to her talk to herself about her past as a violinist. Today I told her that some day I would like to hear her play. She just smiled.  

America has an overwhelming homeless population. This is a fact that cannot be disputed nor easily remedied Not only do we not have enough services to care for these people but the underlying issues that cause and perpetuate homelessness are varied and complicated. According to the Associated Press in 2005, there were 744,000 homeless people in the United States. California was the state with most homeless people in that year, about 170,000, followed by New York, Florida, Texas and Georgia, according to the report.  

How and why do people become homeless? There are a myriad of reasons: mental health issues, drug and alcohol use/abuse, medical problems, unprepared for emergencies, natural disasters, lack of affordable housing and the list goes on. No two stories are identical when it comes to our family of homeless. Usually there is a combination of factors that lead to being homeless, but the truth remains the same for all of them. I imagine many of them feel, and are in reality, alienated and abandoned … invisible. 

I do not want to pretend or hope that sharing a cup of hot chocolate or validating someone’s true or perceived identity will change the world, but I will venture to say that making contact and breathing life into those whom we might rather avoid can bring hope.  

Oftentimes, we are at a loss as to how to break through this crisis and make progress. On a grassroots level, there are many ways to offer support to homeless people. Here are some things we can think about when we engage with our homeless brothers and sisters: Talk to each person with respect, understand who the homeless people are through education and personal experience, be kind, offer clothing or blankets, volunteer at a shelter or a soup kitchen, offer food, educate your children about the homeless people in your neighborhood, contact your local government representatives about the issue and whenever you can, stand up for the civil rights of the homeless. 

At this time in our world history, things move so quickly: people are plugged in and tuned out. It takes extra effort to look outside of ourselves. Next time you see a homeless man or woman who may repel you or pique your curiosity, consider engaging with them. Whether or not one has housing, or a firm grip on what we see as reality, should not be a reason to ostracize them from the human family. It is up to us. A cup of hot chocolate may be much more than a cup of hot chocolate to that homeless person, or a passing hello at night to someone who has experienced that feeling of being invisible may be the best thing that has happened to that person in weeks.  

Today, almost one full week since my encounter with the nameless hot chocolate lover, I learned his name. Unfortunately, this was not because I was finally able to more fully engage him, but instead, to hear of his death. The barista who helped me know his favorite drink asked me this morning, “Hey, did you hear about John?” I asked, “Who is John?” She remarked that he was the man I bought the hot chocolate for the week before. “He died from a massive heart attack on Sunday night,” she said. “He was 48.” 

To think how I was able to offer a gesture of kindness so close to this man’s last moments on earth touched me. It also saddened me. Now I will never have the chance to hear his story. Nor will I ever share another hot drink with him. I bet he would have liked that. I would have too.  

To quote Ralph Ellison, “I am an invisible man. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids—and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.” Let us start to see our homeless neighbors and, if nothing more, smile or say hello to them. They will probably say, “God bless you.” And you might make a new friend. 

First, let’s stipulate that the Planet was delighted to get the lively and well-written commentary about the virtues of some of our distinctive local businesses from Deborah Badhia of the Downtown Berkeley Association which ran in our last issue. We’ve patronized many of them ourselves over the years, and we have a healthy appreciation even for some we’ve had no occasion to try. (I don’t usually need to buy electric guitars, but I appreciate Fatdog at Subway because of his community participation.) 

Next, let’s agree that we understand the statistics cited, and agree with most of them. Keeping sales tax revenues in town seems especially pertinent, although there are problems with that goal which we’ll take up later. We know that some of the revenues of locally owned businesses are re-circulated locally. 

But. It is profoundly disheartening to see, on the very day that we’ve contributed our editorial pages for free to boost local businesses, huge ads in the San Francisco paper for both Solano Avenue and the Elmwood shopping areas, including ads from quite a number of “local” businesses which have told our sales people that they can’t afford to advertise in the Planet. Some of our loyal advertisers were represented too, of course, and we have no complaint with businesses like theirs which can afford to look for customers outside the Planet’s circulation area as well as inside it.  

Lawrence J. Peter once advised “Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell, and advertise.” We happen to believe that shopping locally has to be supported by advertising locally or it’s probably not going to happen. All of our readers are surely tired of hearing this by now. 

Why do we bring this up? Well, it’s shopping season, no matter how much some of our readers may decry it. Shopping will be done, like it or not, and insofar as one shops, where one shops is relevant. In years past we’ve featured alternatives which are still good: the flea market, the crafts fair at the Saturday farmers’ market (check out the abalone shell earrings!), fair trade merchants, used books.  

Several of these venues are endangered species these days. Developers covet the Ashby BART parking lot where the flea market is held. (Flea markets in Santa Cruz and San Jose have already been snatched away by developers.) Fair trade stores are threatened by rising rents. Booksellers of all kinds are held hostage by Internet commerce.  

The relentless gentrifiers are now going after San Pablo Avenue, where used (I mean “recycled”) merchandise was formerly abundant. Even the St. Vincent de Paul store near the corner of University has been forced out. Soon it will be all market-rate condominiums whose owners will drive to Emeryville to shop. (No, Virginia, studies show that most of them will NOT take the bus.) 

The downtown area planning committee chair, professional planner Will Travis, was quoted in the San Francisco paper on Monday as saying “Berkeley’s downtown plan has resulted in a wonderful, vibrant, mixed-use community. It’s called Emeryville.” With friends like that, downtown Berkeley doesn’t need enemies. Of course, he might not actually have said that, since there were a number of obvious mistakes in the same story.  

One stunning group of compounded errors:  

“The plan also coincides with huge private investment downtown, totaling tens of millions of dollars over the past few years. Berkeley City College, Berkeley Repertory Theater, Freight and Salvage nightclub and the Shattuck Hotel are a few downtown businesses that have recently undergone extensive expansions and refurbishing.” 

Berkeley City College, of course, is not a private business at all, but is part of the tax-supported Peralta community college district. Berkeley Repertory Theater is not actually a private business either, though it sometimes seems to be run like one. It’s a non-profit which was gifted with $4 million of city-backed financing, which has now cost the city about $10 million when interest payments are included in the tally. The planners’ pitch then was that public arts investment would revive downtown, but it doesn’t seem to have worked. 

Freight and Salvage is another arts non-profit. It hasn’t even made it downtown yet, but is now trying to raise the money to get there, from mostly public sources. The Shattuck Hotel is indeed privately owned, but its expansion is planned for the future and its refurbishing isn’t finished. 

Even the movie theaters which were the basis for many of the plans to make Berkeley an arts destinations have gone the way of theaters everywhere. Those in neighborhoods and downtowns failed first, but now even the mall megaplexes are going under, pushed out by easy and cheap access to movies at home.  

Retail in downtowns is a similar story. The major for-profit businesses which have failed downtown in the last decade are the same mall chains courted by the city staff planners who were Travis’s predecessors as Emeryville-envyers: Ross For Less, Eddie Bauer, Gateway Computers, Barnes and Noble and the like. Mall chains do better in malls, supported by acres of free parking, but both downtowns and malls are being challenged by on-line sales. That’s not only in Berkeley, that’s everywhere. Check out BloomingtonAlternative.com on the web, or the dozens of other small town papers now trying to survive online, if you think it’s different elsewhere. 

And now let’s get back to the theory that local spending is good because it brings retail sales tax dollars into city coffers. I used to say that myself, but five years of close observation of what the City of Berkeley does with our money is starting to change my mind. It has become abundantly clear that more dollars for Berkeley don’t mean more services for residents. What more tax money means is just higher pay for already well-paid top-level public employees, even as our public pools are closed and our parking rates are raised.  

The added parking fees are supposed to pay for a few measly public bathrooms which ought to be provided from the general fund anyway. And don’t expect to see them any time soon, if at all.  

If you’re looking for a non-cynical shopping suggestion and don’t want to contribute to local sales taxes, there’s one I can wholeheartedly advance. Buy the delicious homemade cakes and pies from Arthur Davis at the Farmers’ Market. He doesn’t make them himself (Mrs. Davis does) and he doesn’t live in Berkeley (their farm is in Santa Rosa), but the Davises provide honest value for your money, and buying from them helps at least one family farm stay afloat. As Martha Stewart used to say, that’s a Very Good Thing. 

We were talking recently to our new friend, the professor visiting from Spain. We asked what her husband’s job is. He’s a sociologist, she said. And does he teach at your university? Well, he does teach some classes at night, but his day job is working for the government of a small city, about the size of Berkeley, outside of Madrid.  

How interesting, a city that employs a sociologist! Not just one sociologist either, it turns out, but a whole flock of them, perhaps five or six in all. And what do they do? They constantly survey the citizenry to find out what they want, and then the city, most of the time, gives it to them. She gave an example: You’d like the buses to run until 1 a.m.? Well sure, that’s reasonable, if enough people want it, they’ll get it.  

What about the cost? That’s what taxes are for, she says, and people don’t mind paying them if they can see the results in the services they get. The city government (Socialists, are you surprised?) has been in office for a number of years now, and seems likely to stay. 

What a concept! Actually trying to find out what the citizens want, and acting on it. Democracy is fairly new in Spain. She says it’s just taken hold in her lifetime—she was 10 years old when Franco died, and she’s 42 years old now. Perhaps the reason such responsive government seems like the Land of Oz to us Berkeleyans is that our democracy is a few hundred years old and we’ve lost the touch.  

A couple of feisty Boalt Hall School of Law alumnae did manage to get the attention of the Berkeley city government this week, the hard way of course. Elsewhere in this issue you’ll find the report of the court decision in Alameda County Superior Court holding that the Berkeley City Council’s attempt to modify developer Patrick Kennedy’s use permit for his Gaia building “was an abuse of discretion and must be struck down.”  

The council majority tried a year ago to let Kennedy off the hook for the never-delivered cultural uses that bought him two extra floors of apartments when the building went up many years ago. On Wednesday, Judge Frank Roesch said they couldn’t get away with it.  

The plaintiff on behalf of the public was Planning Commissioner Patti Dacey, and her attorney was fellow alumna Anna de Leon, who just happens to be the Gaia’s lone current cultural tenant with her Anna’s Jazz Island bistro. They’d made lengthy and varied attempts to persuade the City of Berkeley to enforce the conditions on the original use permit, but were rebuffed at every turn, which is why they finally had to resort to a lawsuit to get the city’s attention. 

Is it revolutionary to suggest that This Should Not Be Necessary? The City of Berkeley’s planning department and the city attorney’s office have been playing fast and loose with public policy for years now, and most of the recent city councilmembers, regardless of faction, have been more than happy to rubber-stamp staff schemes. The free pass for the Gaia building is just one of many questionable giveaways. The difference is that this time the wrong people were outraged, two well-educated citizens who were capable of taking their grievance to court. 

Another satisfying victory for the public was last week’s court decision that the University of California, despite its protestations to the contrary, is indeed subject to the state’s Alquist-Priolo law, which governs buildings on known earthquake faults. The exact application of the regulations has yet to be decided, but at least the UC Regents haven’t gotten away with claiming that they’re above the law. Citizens were plaintiffs in this suit too. One more time, however, This Should Not Be Necessary. 

Without a team of dedicated sociologists at their disposal, for Berkeleyans the courts have become the only real way to make their wishes known to public officials. Oh, we do have elections, of course, though not as often as we used to. In a slippery move, not noticed much at the time, councilmembers extended their terms from two years to four.  

Four years is time enough to do considerable mischief. Is it any wonder that there’s now a plan afoot to recall some or all of them, especially the mayor?  

Someone copied the Planet on the e-mail invitation to the organizing meeting for recall supporters, and it was fascinating reading. It’s almost impossible to imagine all of the people on that list in a room together, but the meeting seems to have happened on schedule. Those I’m acquainted with have had many different problems, but most of their complaints against the city officials can be boiled down to one central problem: favoritism, to the point of bending or breaking the zoning laws, toward rich and powerful developers. The richest and most powerful developer of all is the University of California, of course, so many on the list are united by their outrage at the city’s settlement with UC over its Long Range Development Plan.  

Another solution being talked about in civic circles is the necessity of reforming the Berkeley City Attorney’s Office. The former head of that office promoted or at least permitted a culture of contempt for citizen action, and though she’s now gone, those she hired (including Zach Cowen, Esq., defense lawyer in Dacey et al. vs. the Berkeley City Council) are still in place. If a thorough housecleaning doesn’t take place, Berkeley should perhaps join Oakland and San Francisco in electing its city attorney.  

Or we (the people) could ask the council to hire a team of sociologists to ask us what we want, and then make sure that it happens. Oh sure. Lawsuits seem more likely to succeed. 

Attorney de Leon, a former School Board president, has in the last few years been retired from the practice of law, putting her considerable energy into running her jazz club. She switched her California Bar membership from inactive to active to take this case, and she seems to have enjoyed the experience. She’s been heard to say that if the only way to regain citizen control of public policy is by filing “abuse of discretion” lawsuits when flagrantly illegal actions take place, she might be up for taking some more cases. If she means it, watch out.  

ROSS AND OTHER STORES 

LEAVING BERKELEY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Of course Ross and the Shoe Pavilion are leaving downtown Berkeley—shoppers need places to park! I’ve had to give up several times when I attempted to shop downtown. I can’t carry bedding or boxes of shoes long distances to my car or onto a bus. I drive to where I can park and shop. No parking or difficult and expensive parking downtown means no shopping.  

Diane Straus 

• 

POLICE RESOURCES WASTED 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Law enforcement agencies are having trouble finding recruits who can meet a required zero tolerance for drug use. That is for illicit drugs, not alcohol and tobacco, which cause more deaths annually than all illegal substances combined. 

We should welcome the common sense approach being initiated by California cities where there are unfilled law enforcement jobs. Zero tolerance is not a realistic standard, and never has been, at any level of society, whether it’s in a public high school or police academy. 

If police and criminal justice resources were focused on serious crimes, the shortage of police officers would be less critical and police officers’ jobs would be less difficult…and less dangerous. Too much of our police effort is wasted on expensive drug busts chasing non-violent offenders.  

The raids being conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration (the notorious “Feds”), in cooperation with local police, on harmless marijuana dispensaries smacks of terrorism. 

Our nation spends an estimated eight billion dollars on marijuana enforcement annually while arresting over 800,000 of our fellow citizens, 89 percent of whom for simple possession alone (FBI Uniform Report). 

Where are our public officials and our representatives in Congress? Our politicians? Are they afraid of alienating the powerful interests who benefit from the status quo? 

John Wagers  

Oakland  

• 

HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

While reading the old Berkeley Daily Gazette recently, I was amazed at one of the front page stories for March 18, 1926. The Berkeley Planning Commission was discussing height limits for buildings since the 12-story Chamber of Commerce Building (now the Wells Fargo Building, northwest corner Center and Shattuck) had recently been constructed.  

One speaker at the meeting brought a before and after photo showing what downtown Berkeley would look like with rows of 12-story buildings along Shattuck Avenue. Surprisingly, the speaker was UC President William W. Campbell who argued that Berkeley owed some consideration to UC, while making it clear that UC had no intention of interfering in Berkeley’s zoning matters. Dr. Campbell also pointed to European cities that he claimed had successfully controlled building heights. In a follow-up letter, Dr. Campbell argued that the founders of the UC campus had selected Berkeley, in part, because of the spectacular views! He felt that it would be unfair to obstruct campus views with so many skyscrapers. 

A few years later Dr. Campbell was replaced by UC Comptroller Robert Gordon Sproul, who would take a huge 1926 voter-approved bond to fund a 30-year building spree, interrupted only by a depression and war. Sproul would never have shown up at a Berkeley Planning Commission meeting. 

Jerry Sulliger 

• 

THE SURGE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I would like to briefly comment on Sue Pflederer’s Dec. 14 letter to the editor about “The Surge.” As I remember, the surge was supposed to improve security so that Iraq could find a political solution for its internal conflicts. Quoting President Bush: “Victory in Iraq will bring something new in the Arab world—a functioning democracy that polices its territory, upholds the rule of law, respects fundamental human liberties and answers to its people.” That’s not today’s Iraq. Iraq is no closer to a functioning government or to a reconciliation among its various religious groups as when the surge began. In fact, a September 2007 BBC, ABC News, and NHK poll of 2,000 Iraqis found that about 70 percent believed that the surge “hampered conditions for political dialogue, reconstruction and economic development” and that nearly 60 percent see attacks on U.S.-led forces as justified. And U.S. officials have admitted that the recent decrease in violence has much to do with the decision by Muqtada al-Sadr to temporarily stand down his militia, the Sunni groups reigning in al Qaeda, and Iran using its influence to curb the violence by some Shiite militias. 

Of course, I don’t want to be accused of confusing anyone with facts. I will just finish with a quote from a past master of propaganda: “Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” (Hermann Goering, Nazi leader, at the Nuremberg Trials, April 18, 1946.) See any similarities? 

Ralph E. Stone 

San Francisco 

• 

BUS RAPID TRANSIT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I don’t think they should shut down any lanes on Telegraph. It is already hard to maneuver from my house in North Berkeley to the medical offices in South Berkeley. 

I think that BART is the answer to north-south transportation in Alameda County. The AC Transit Buses should loop to the BART stations. The reason why more people don’t take BART for local transportation is that it is too expensive. They should lower the fares on BART. 

From the looks of things, it appears that AC Transit is competing with BART. Why do they have buses going over the Bay Bridge when BART is much more efficient? 

Aren’t all the mayors and other politicians de facto members of BART’s board? Why don’t they push for more cooperation? Or is this a situation like the firemen on the trains that switched to diesel? AC Transit people just don’t want to be eliminated. 

Bill Weiss 

• 

BRT DEBATE TERMS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I promise not to recite any poetry or call for any shows of hands at the BRT debate. I appreciate that Charles Siegel let me know what the real problem was—all along, I thought it was just their reluctance to allow an honest public discussion of the facts about BRT. Now that that’s been cleared up, can we set a date for the event? I think sometime in early February would work well. 

Doug Buckwald 

• 

FLOWER SHOP DEMOLITION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Where in the world did Riya Bhattacharjee get information regarding the story “Effort to Save Historic Japanese Florist Can’t Prevent Demolition” (Dec. 14)? Specifically the assertion that “For many of the Berkeley residents who frequented the Auto California showroom at 1806 San Pablo Ave. until it closed recently, the building meant just one thing—a car wash run by an amicable Middle Eastern family.” First, developer Syed Adeli is anything but amicable as neighbors of the property can testify. Second, Auto California has not “recently closed.” This junk yard has been an eyesore since before the auto repair shop closed at least four years ago. When Mr. Adeli opened the repair shop several years ago he violated city code by installing repair lifts and other equipment without proper permits. The property was overgrown with weeds and has been frequented by the homeless and drug dealers. Neighbors have had to repeatedly nag Mr. Adeli to clean-up the property. 

About the only item that’s accurate in the story is that Mr. Adeli is asking the city to defer his permit fees of $315,588. The deferral would be secured by a deed of trust on another property owned by Mr. Adeli. Mr. Adeli is not a poor man trying to salvage his financial livelihood. He owns several properties, including his own home, that can be used as collateral with outside financial institutions in order to secure the permit fees. The City of Berkeley should not be in the business of granting loans to developers. 

When writers report such inaccuracies as Riya Bhattacharjee has for this story, it damages the credibility of the Daily Planet. Stop making things up and report the news. 

Dennis Markham 

• 

DOGS OF DUMB DAD RESCUED BY BERKELEY POLICE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

One New Year’s Eve, we had a dog food emergency. I rushed down to Animal Farm. Coming out, suspect (violation of Stupidity to Animals) realized that his canines were locked in the vehicle with the engine running. The wife didn’t answer the phone. We never cleaned. Any vacuuming was done in a frantic spree. 

I flagged down a police car. Two officers tried opening my door. No go. Officers, this is my address. Here is my license (no, not a license for the monkeys). Take it so that my wife will give you car keys. 

At home, the police knocked and noticed. No answer, only the sound of binge vacuuming. Overhead lights and siren were used. Vacuuming silenced. Police flashed my license. Wife scared sh—less. “My husband expired during the dog food mission?” Keys to dogmobile taken into evidence then driven back to me. Our doggies journeyed into the New Year with full bellies. 

Why this confession? I promised to thank the officers by a letter to the Police Department. I never did. Their helpfulness happened 20 years ago. I’ve lost their names. Is it too late to make amends? Sorry I didn’t keep my word. My puppies have passed on, but your gentleness and humor reflected the spirit of our animal companions. Thank you, officers. 

Gatto Louie 

• 

FRIENDS OF THE BERKELEY PUBLIC LIBRARY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Hey, all you retiring baby boomers who aren’t moving out to the soporific boondocks, who still love the lively, urban environs of Berkeley, who want to give back to the community, who aren’t afraid of Telegraph Avenue and who want to jazz up their lives with new friends, we’ve got something for you! 

The Friends of the Berkeley Public Library is seeking members and volunteers to help operate its two thriving stores that sell used books. We are a non-profit group that for over 10 years has collected and sold books that have been donated to us from private libraries and individuals. Up to $100,000 is made each year and given directly to the Berkeley Public Library. Uses of the moneys have included the Summer Reading Program, Adult Literacy, Earphone English, the Noon Music Series (the Baguette Quartette!), the acquisition of special collections and the support of our library staffs’ continuing education with free college scholarships. 

Volunteers are needed at our two stores; a one-person space at the Central Library and the main store in the Sather Gate Mall. The one-person store is like a BART station newspaper stand with just enough room to turn around once in a while. But the locale can’t be beat. Central is a jumping place and the store has the best view of a parade of visitors. Everyone you have ever known throughout your decades in Berkeley will inevitably journey into Central and find you. Even those you’ve forgotten or avoided will show up and old remembrances will be brought up, as everyone goes to the Library. This is the store for those who hoped that everyone they once knew through schools, work or living had not left town. 

On the other hand, our main Bookstore is in the bustling Telegraph Avenue shopping district and is one of its great, hidden treasures. It is near the elevators of the Sather Gate Mall and Parking Garage that is located below Telegraph between Durant and Channing. It may be one of the City’s largest used bookstores and it is stuffed with books. When you see it, you might despair of its crowded ambiance. However, we are hoping to double our size soon and expand into an adjacent space. We will then be directly on the Mall thoroughfare with much better visibility, light and air. 

Our members serve as the sellers, deliverers, sorters, pricers, shelvers and promoters of the thousands of generously donated books. If you’ve ever wanted to help run a little bookshop, make lots of money for the community, enjoy the company of like-minded bibliophiles, browse through a trove of books, and place on your resume-merchant book seller, this is the group for you. You’ll be handling Civil War journals, first editions of poetry, fabulous art portfolios, music scores and other never know what will turn-ups at our doorstep. There’s an added benefit of re-experiencing first-hand, this time as a sort of merchant, the indescribable Telegraph Avenue scene!  

The Friends is one of those little-known Berkeley organizations that quietly perform essential community work. We are entirely non-political, busy worker bees, not affiliated with other Library groups such as the Trustees or the Foundation. For those of you who love the Library and want to work directly for its betterment, please consider joining our good company. Contact the Sather Gate Bookstore at 841-5604 (Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.).  

Jim Novosel  

• 

BOSTON LEGAL ASSESSES  

THE DAMAGE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Two topics have been prominent in recent issues of the Planet: The cost of the Iraq war and the state of American education. On Tuesday evening, Dec. 11, seeking an hour of mindless entertainment, I tuned the TV to Boston Legal on ABC, a show that is reliably silly and sometimes fun. To my surprise the writers had addressed those two topics in language that may deserve repeating. In the first of two fictional legal actions, a man who had lost his business to a predicted flood sued the National Guard for failure to protect him, since they were deployed in Iraq. As part of his argument, his attorney said: 

“Let’s just consider what the $450 dollars we’ve spent in Iraq could buy us: Free health insurance for every uninsured family ($124 billion). Converting every single car to run on ethanol ($68 billion). Primary education for every child on the planet ($30 billion). Ending hunger in America ($7 billion).” 

In the second case, an honors high school student sent to study abroad for a year had found herself disgraced by the inferiority of her education compared to that of her European counterparts. On her return, she protested by shredding a copy of the national assessment test and scattering the confetti in the school office, for which she was expelled. In suing to be readmitted, she argued in part: 

“Did you know there’s a study that found one third of young adults in the United States can’t tell you which way northwest is? Less than 40 percent of high school seniors can read proficiently. The data on these tests in so fudged—in Mississippi, for example, the national test showed that only 18 percent of kids can read proficiently, so what did they do? They made a special Mississippi test that showed that 89 percent were proficient, and presto—they avoid sanctions from No Child Left Behind.” 

Can there be hope for prime time network TV? 

Jerry Landis 

• 

CIGARETTE SMOKE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I wonder why we still allow cigarette sales near student housing areas or near bus stops or on the sidewalks. If smokers have the right to inhale all kinds of stuff what about the rights of those who don’t have any such need? What about those who want to be miles away from smokers and their smoke? I have difficulty in finding smoke-free bus stops as I travel to work each day. I do see signs on the benches which read: No Smoking — 20 feet. But why allow any smoking close to bus stops? We non-smokers don’t need second hand smoke; the environment is already polluted from hundreds of cars, trucks and buses emitting carbon monoxide. 

Let smokers go to smoking clubs if they wish. The rest of us would like to stay as healthy as possible. 

Romila Khanna 

Albany 

• 

FATAL FLAW IN THE  

THERMODYNAMIC ARGUMENT AGAINST ETHANOL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I have seen television newscasts that show self-proclaimed experts behind a desk with papers and computers in the backdrop; these apparent experts proclaim that according to physics—specifically according to thermodynamics—you have to expend more energy in the production of ethanol than you get back.  

This is a compelling argument. After all, isn’t it so that you can’t get energy out of nowhere? Isn’t it so that the energy you get out of a point must be equal to the energy that goes in?  

Before thermodynamics, many experimenters attempted to invent “perpetual motion” devices. For example, what about connecting a motor up to a generator that supplies the motor with electricity? Wouldn’t that keep running indefinitely as it supplies itself? Except for the fact of heat loss, it might work. Additionally, thermodynamics tells us that the amount of energy we get out of something has to be equal to the amount we put in, minus losses due to imperfect efficiency of the thing. The imperfect efficiency of something means that some of the energy expended takes the form of heat produced. When ball bearings rub against each other, there is some resistance that causes slight drag on the motion of the bearing and produces heat. In the windings of a motor, there exists resistance in the copper, again that produces heat as the current flows through the wire.  

Why, (despite the thermodynamic argument of these pseudo professors) can the amount of energy we get in the form of ethanol be more than the amount of energy expended by the farm and production equipment?  

The answer is: our sun radiates light energy into the leaves of cornstalks that makes them grow and produces energy molecules (sugar, fat, etc). The sugar in the corn is then fermented to produce ethanol. The sun is the actual supply of energy when you grow corn to produce ethanol to supply our automobiles.  

It is still possible to expend more than a gallon of gas to produce a gallon of ethanol, however. This is the case if the corn is grown in an extremely inefficient and power hungry manner. In this case, more gasoline energy is consumed farming the corn than the energy our sun puts into the system. In this case, ways must be found to make the process more efficient. Either that, or get the ethanol from another, less power hungry source.  

Jack Bragen 

Martinez 

• 

YMCA 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Every day, hundreds of kids from Berkeley High School go to the Young Men’s Christian Association (the YMCA) facilities on Allston Way, less than a block away from the school campus. They don’t go there because it’s a Christian-men only association (which it’s not), but because it has a great swimming pool, workout facilities, racquetball court, steam room, sauna. You name it, it has it. I personally enjoy this place a lot and consider it a great asset to the community. 

However, I would like to explain some of the frustrations that many of my peers and I have with this place. The YMCA closes too early. They won’t allow you in after a certain time. I understand that they don’t have insurance for us after 8 p.m. on weekdays, but we need to change this policy. If you open up a YMCA right near a major high school, you need to cater to them. I feel that the real reason they don’t allow in teens after specific hours is that certain people want a time slot to go to the Y where they don’t have to look at and share the facilities with “mindless hooligans.” It’s ageism and many of us don’t appreciate it.  

Another issue is the guest system. Up until a year or two ago, adults AND teens were allowed to bring guests into the YMCA. Adults have/had a certain number of guests they can/could bring, and guests of teens had to pay $5 for a visit. It was great. Teens who didn’t have a Y membership could still check out the facilities. Now the management has decided that teens can’t bring any guests in at all. 

I would like to encourage everybody to call up David Chong, director of facilities at the Berkeley YMCA at 848-9622 x 230 and tell him that you want to see more of a dialogue regarding teen hours and discuss ways to receive insurance for kids after 8 p.m. In addition, tell him that you want teens to be allowed to bring guests into the Y. 

With your help, we can make the Berkeley YMCA a more kid-friendly place. Thank you for listening. 

Rio Bauce 

• 

DARFUR 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Senators Boxer and Feinstein have once again demonstrated their commitment to California constituents and to genocide-afflicted civilians in Darfur. Last week, both senators voted for the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act (SADA), which authorizes and protects states and asset managers that divest from foreign companies whose business relationship with Sudan helps fuel the Darfur genocide. This piece of legislation is especially crucial for us Californians, since both our state and our UC system have recently divested from businesses working with the genocidal regime in Sudan. All that’s left now is to convince the Bush administration of SADA’s importance—a difficult feat that will require the determination of all our elected officials, including Senators Boxer and Feinstein, and Representative Lee. 

Charlotte Hill 

• 

DOING DAMAGE CONTROL FOR KPFA MANAGEMENT? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In a Dec. 11 letter by KPFA Concerned Listeners (CL) Mary and Jon Fromer, Warren Mar, Susan McDonough, PhoeBe Sorgen, John VanEyck, Sherry Gendelman and Conn Hallinan complain that a challenge to the certification of the recent board elections by candidate Steve Zeltzer is wrong and damaging to KPFA. 

The statement is factually wrong on many counts. 

1. The petition to the National Election Supervisor (NES) Casey Peters has 25 people including members of all three independent slates. Targeting one of the signers is a personal attack not only against Zeltzer but all the “losing” candidates. 

2. The challenge calls for the (NES) to remedy the violation of bylaws and election rules include using foundation resources for partisan intervention in the election most openly by Pacifica Counsel Dan Siegel and programmer Larry Bensky. 

3. The (NES) is blamed for being partisan however CL candidates were unfairly supported by the management. Radio carts were not played in a fair manner and only after the election was nearly over and the web site prevented links from going out by the Voices For Justice slate. Management has also thwarted the efforts of the unpaid staff organization UPSO to participate in staff elections. 

4. NES actions to remedy these violations were taken but ignored in part by KPFA management. Obstruction of NES rulings by CL management supporters is itself an election violation and puts the election in jeopardy. 

5. Signers charge Peoples Radio (PR) ballot statements are “personal attacks” but providing written facts about the record of CL supporters maybe uncomfortable but is essential information for an informed electorate. 

6. The election did not have “record listener turnout.” It dropped 500 votes from the last election. 

7. Concerned Listeners want the election “certified rather than going to the expense of another election, which has cost the station $70,000 of the listeners’ money,” yet the same Gendelman and CL/programmer supporter Brian Edwards-Tiekert have threatened to sue Pacifica unless the election is certified. (Letter from attorney Pyle, former colleague of Dan Siegel and president of N.CA NLG.) 

Doing damage control for management by CL in this election seems to be more important than “saving money” at KPFA/Pacifica. The election mess and lawsuit threat maybe one reason, Nicole Sawaya, Pacifica ED has recently quit after only weeks on the job. This interim management/CL nexus at KPFA/Pacifica have created an untenable situation even for people they consider their own. 

Bob English, Steve Zeltzer, Linda Hewitt, Mara Rivera, Maxine Doogan, Joseph Wanzala, Carl Bryant, Stan Woods 

EDITOR’S NOTE: In an upcoming issue, the Daily Planet will run one commentary each from Concerned Listeners and People’s Radio on the Local Station Board election. Each side will then be given space to respond to the other in a subsequent issue. Until then, the Planet will print no further letters on the topic. 

• 

A VISITOR’S STORY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

On Sunday evening, Oct. 28, I attended the annual dinner of the Ecumenical Peace Institute at Redwood Gardens in North Berkeley. Although I moved a year-and-a-half ago to Santa Cruz from the East Bay, where I’d lived for 11 years, I went up to Berkeley primarily to attend the dinner and see a long-time friend, Dr. Joseph Gerson, who is program secretary for the American Friends Service Committee’s New England Region, where I served as regional director in the late 1970s and hired Joe to do Middle East educational work. 

Upon coming out of the dining room, I made the rather complicated crossings of upper Derby street and the street it turns into at the northern barrier, accompanied by a helpful gentleman whose wife awaited him in a wheelchair. As we reached the corner where my car was parked, he turned back, and I headed onto the handicap ramp, leaning on my cane. But it really wasn’t a ramp—there was a curb of about one-and-one half inches, and I stumbled as my foot caught the curb. Down I went—Splat!—with my face and left knee hitting the sidewalk really hard. My nose immediately started running blood, and I could feel blood on my forehead and coming from my lip. A driver who had been waiting at the light for me to cross turned the corner and parked. He ran back to me with wads of tissues or napkins, and said, “I’m a doctor, I’ll call 911,” which he proceeded to do, then waited with me until a fire truck came. The crew gave me more tissues and asked the usual questions about name, did I know where I was, etc. They were joined by a kindly policeman, who comforted me until a red ambulance came and took me to Alta Bates Emergency Room—the crew handling me carefully and caringly and asking me more questions. 

At the hospital, I was surprised to see a completely re-built, re-furbished emergency room and waiting room. When I took my husband there some years ago, those rooms were freezing cold, and dingy. He told the staff immediately that he had malaria (being form Africa, he’d had it many times and knew the symptoms well). Nevertheless, they did a number of tests and four hours later, called and woke up a specialist, who told them that of course, with those symptoms, he had malaria. 

This time, the staff were immediately attentive—they put warm blankets on me, examined my wounds, and did a CAT scan to make certain my brain was not bleeding and that I had no cracks in my skull. The gave me pain medication and mopped up the blood, stitched my upper lip on the inside and stuck a blob of glue on the outside. They took my Medicare and insurance information, and gave me a written report, instructions and prescriptions. The released me in the care of my daughter, who got out of bed to come and pick me up. 

I cannot give enough thanks to everyone involved, from the doctor who called the ambulance and staved off my fright, to the firemen, policeman, and ambulance crew, and then the hospital staff—from Dr. Jonathan Vlahos to the nurses Elmo and Laurel and others, everyone was competent, solicitous and kind. I am now finally shedding all the black, blue, purple, red and yellow face colorings and two very black eyes. (I have told people, “No , it isn’t left-over Halloween face paint, and nobody beat me up!”) 

Residents of Berkeley are fortunate to have such efficient, well-trained, kindly public servants and medical personnel. And thanks too, to Alta Bates, which seems to have gotten its act together since my husband was there, and provides first class treatment. I offer my appreciation to all those nice folks who helped me so much when I needed it. 

Marjorie Swann Edwin 

Santa Cruz 

• 

HILLARY CLINTON 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I like Hillary Clinton. But a recent poll suggests she would lose in head-to-head matchups with any of the five leading GOP presidential candidates. Why is this?  

Hillary’s unfavorable rating, nationally, continues holding steady at 47 percent. Not only does she lose in matchups with Republican White House hopefuls, she would probably drag the whole Democratic ticket down. 

And there are tens of millions of evangelicals and fundamentalists who actively and compassionately despise Hillary Clinton (this from a group of religionists who proclaim Jesus, Lord of Love, as their leader. 

What can democratic leaders be thinking, considering Hillary a viable and winning presidential candidate? 

Ron Lowe  

Grass Valley

On tonight’s City Council agenda is a very interesting request from Councilmembers Maio and Capitelli to “defer” permit fees. It is Item 36 on the agenda and I encourage all to read it. 

The subject property is a 51-unit condo box to be built by Mr. Said Adeli, who claims he can’t afford to pay the building permit fees. So he has asked for the deferral of $315,588 ($99,990 of which are sewer connection fees) which will supposedly be paid to the city when he completes the project. The Maio/Capitelli letter makes it look like a loan, but unless the terms are revealed, this means little—City of Berkeley loans to developers are often subordinated or forgivable. 

The letter mentions that fees for sewer connections “are not normally deferred per BMC” (Berkeley Municipal code). Chapter 19.62 of the BMC actually says that the city manager can, “defer the payment until a later date, of any permit fees, except for new connection sewer fees, for any housing project in which at least twenty-five percent of its units are low and/or moderate income housing….”  

The applicant isn’t bothering to provide any of that pesky low income housing, but that’s another story. Suffice it to say that the maneuver used to skirt the terms of BMC Chapter 19.62 for fee deferrals would be setting an unwholesome precedent. 

Mr. Adeli seems very confident that he’s going to get his illegal fee “deferral” even though the City Council won’t vote on the matter until tonight. He is quoted in the Dec. 14 Planet as saying: “We got all the permits from the city. . .” (except, of course, the ones he doesn’t plan to pay for). Furthermore, on Saturday, he demolished the charming building at the site, a pre-war Japanese florist shop that should have been preserved. 

Who has promised Mr. Adeli that he’ll get his illegal “deferral”? And why? The mortgage industry is imploding, and the condo market tanking, both at a stunning pace. Breaking ground on a whole slew of new condos at this site, just as 34 units (2700 San Pablo) are about to land on a stalled sales market—is our City Council so out of touch as to believe that this is really a good idea? 

A condo project that doesn’t have enough money to pay its bills is very likely to fail. Then we might not get the “deferred” fees after all. And we Berkeley taxpayers will be paying for a shiny new sewer hook-up for a failed project, while the sewers of the rest of town continue to crumble. It’s your tax dollars (and the Bates regime) at work!  

Gale Garcia is a Berkeley resident. 

Last month I watched as boxes and bags of food came into Berkeley Food and Housing Project generously donated by our supporters. I watched as those items went out as quickly as they came in as they left with our graduates who have moved into housing, but are still forced to manage their lives on the edge economically. 

We are deeply appreciative of this community. A community that understands many thoughtful actions does make a difference in the lives of people so poor, that a daily free meal at Berkeley Food and Housing Project will mean having enough money to pay the rent—as opposed to being homeless again. We are relieved when we receive donations of new or clean coats and blankets every winter so that people do not freeze on our streets. We are grateful that we are able to help the women and children who move out of our shelter with the kitchen and furniture basics to start up a new household and life. We have experience creating solutions in the myriad and tragic lives of our clients: These solutions are life-changing and transformative. 

We were in shock when we received funding cuts in the summer of 2007. We did not really believe that Berkeley could hack away at such vital services as food for the poor and homeless. At first, in a spirit of cooperation we tried to make due and manage as we always do with what little we have. As do most non-profit agencies, we struggle on too little money, tighten already tight belts and work longer and harder to accommodate policy decisions made without input from real live clients—or even from the programs that serve the community as a whole. We are determined to advocate for our clients and the vital services that they need. To fight these and all future cuts which will have the unintended consequence of unraveling the already threadbare “safety net” of services?  

In 2010 Berkeley Food and Housing Project will be celebrating 40 years of providing essential community services on a shoe string budget; a miracle of under-funded yet comprehensive and model programs for homeless men, women and children. Thus we know from experience that emergency services are both vital and effective—both in the short and long term—to support permanent housing efforts, and to improve the quality of life in our community. 

And where are we headed in the future? The country as a whole may experience a recession, as the dollar is devalued, houses foreclose weekly, and a family in the Bay Area needs $70,000 a year just for the basics of food, healthcare, clothing and shelter. We all need to stand up to protect what little services there are for those making $12,000 and less! We thank you, the community, for standing up to support the reinstatement of funds for our Quarter Meal. We had an amazing turn out at City Council which resulted in a partial funding reinstatement for this year. But the battle continues. What about the rest of the funds? What about the funds for all food and emergency services for next year and beyond? 

Time for a change: 2008 is an election year and you can vote in more ways than one. As a community we need to draw the line at cutting food and shelter; the absolute basics for human survival. We also need to raise our voices on behalf of the people on our streets who suffer from multiple disabilities and have difficulty being heard—they are further isolated because of their illness and lack of housing. 

We at BFHP need your help in three specific ways:  

1. Please send a donation to continue our vital work.  

2. Write letters, make phone calls and visit your local elected officials asking them to reinstate the rest of the funding for the Quarter Meal, and demand that they protect all emergency food and shelter programs in the future. As of today, both our food and shelter programs are in danger of being permanently reduced and then eliminated.  

3. If we are to provide the level of service our most chronically homeless clients require, demand that your elected officials increase our funding so that we can expand our services to the poor and hungry. 

Terrie Light is executive director of the Berkeley Food and Housing Project. She can be contacted at tlight@bfhp.org or 649-4965 x307. Donations can be made online at www.bfhp.org, or sent to BFHP, 2140 Dwight Way, Berkeley CA., 94704. 

I can understand why Oakland’s elected officials would want to be seen as team players in the Bay Area Green Corridor grand scheme. After all, Oakland was not even included in the biosciences industry Bay Area life sciences strategic planning several years back, yet when it was time to lobby for the stem cell institute to be located in the Bay Area, the same industry lobby wasted no time obtaining letters from Oakland City Council members endorsing the project and offering up land in Oakland. Earlier this year, an outside consulting firm, linked to the same industry lobby, referred to Oakland as a “hole-in-a-donut” when it comes to promoting technological innovation. 

The same industry lobby is now pushing the bio-fuels agenda. But Oakland should not be fooled by the massive infusion of greenbacks that British Petroleum is using to green-wash its genetically-engineered agri-fuel crops bio-fuels agenda. There’s nothing green in propagating genetically-engineered switchgrass all over the planet, the British Petroleum and the U.S. Department of Energy’s national labs’ vision for replacing fossil fuel oil. The people of Oakland will not benefit from this, economically, except for a handful of venture capitalists, university faculty scientists, and patent attorneys. The unemployed and underemployed, who their elected officials should focus on if they really want to reduce poverty and crime, will not benefit from this green corridor hype. No reduction in carbon emissions and asthma in West Oakland will occur from this scientific research scheme. Even the World Bank has cast doubts on this technology in its recent agriculture-focused world development report. The United Nations has asked for a five-year moratorium on bio-fuels. Germany’s Tinplant Biotechnik sold its switchgrass germplasm collection to British Petroleum-backed Mendel Biotechnology (one of the chief players in the University of California’s deal with British Petroleum) after it conducted field tests of GM-switchgrass in Southern Germany. The United Kingdom, British Petroleum’s homeland, will not grow this; the European Union will not support this; Australia will not pollute its continent with this; and Oakland should not support this technology-based “green” imperial strategy. It will not lead to sustainability on the planet. 

British Petroleum has informed the U.S. government that bio-refineries will need to be located within 30 miles of where the genetically-engineered agri-fuel crops will be grown. The company is banking on convincing poor farmers in the developing countries, especially in Africa, that this ‘economic development plan’ will lift them out of poverty. Former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, is reported to have stated that Africa should be converted to a bio-fuels production zone. This would be the same old cheap labor, export-led exploitation scheme. Richard Branson’s, owner of Virgin Airlines, interview in the New Yorker magazine early this year revealed his neo-colonial survival-of-the-richest bias in the global oil depletion scenario. The West is running scared and scrambling for solutions on the backs of the poor.  

The truth of the matter is that the United States Armed Forces is a big consumer of oil. One wonders how much oil was consumed in invading Iraq, in order to control the flow of Middle East oil. This seems a hole-in-the-head strategy if greening the planet was a priority. Of course, the big oil companies, including British Petroleum, have been war-profiteers from this failed strategy. Under the British Petroleum-backed-Amyris-influenced and British Petroleum-led Proprietary Component of the flawed University of California deal, may flow some designer bugs that may be used in bio-warfare, since genetic re-engineering of organisms using systems biology is what Amyris brings to the research, but don’t expect alternative fuel anytime soon from this deal. This is not an ecological systems biology approach. And the Mendel folks are looking to add value to their switchgrass germplasm collection they purchased from Tinplant; the latter collected germplasm from various countries while it was a public nursery collective and subsequently privatized the collection prior to the sale. What better place than the largest university patent machinery than the University of California? Patent license and royalty fees are part of the proposed bio-fuels economic development model.  

But a similar patent license plan failed in the U.S. cotton belt when Monsanto tried it with Bt-cotton, and it will surely fail in the developing countries. It may succeed in China, so that’s where the research should be tried; not here with scientists imported from China. Patent license fees was the same bait that the same industry lobby used with the State of California to push through the stem cell proposition, then the same University of California switched its tune after the public bond funding was approved, claiming its patent ownership privileges under the Bayh-Dole Act.  

Oakland may be viewed as the hole-in-the-donut, but, hopefully, the people of Oakland have their morals, integrity, and priorities intact. Its current Mayor played a major part in the move to end apartheid in South Africa. Its U.S. Congresswoman was a sole voice opposing the Iraq invasion. Its elected city officials should not buy into a “green” pyramid scheme that may end up like the dot.com bust and exploit poor people. It should not bet on the British Petroleum greenback horse. 

Nazreen Kadir is a scholar in science and public policy at the Western Institute of Social Research.

Last Tuesday at midnight the temperature outside fell to near-freezing as I left my heated apartment in search of a restaurant open at that hour. The trip began as an adventure; bundled in scarf and gloves to ride a bicycle in the bracing air. But all sense of adventure died as I wheeled past the dark, silent figures sitting and lying on Telegraph Avenue, mute and stoic in the penetrating cold. These are the people that Thomas Lord (in a Dec. 11 Daily Planet commentary) and Tom Bates, et. al., want us to see as “potentially dangerous.” 

Potentially dangerous—the same phony excuse Bush and Co. uses to kill and torture and spy. The privileged class brooks no delay when facts and circumstances fail to justify their fear and prejudice. The real circumstance confronting Berkeley and other cities is the rapidly deteriorating economy. People of means know this well and are taking early steps to avoid any necessity of sharing their wealth. 

Like Thomas Lord, who has observed Berkeley for 20 years, I have lived here over 30 years. Unlike that uncharitable observer I know the people we both are writing about—he from his perch ‘above’ them; myself from their midst. In the last two and a half years of living on Southside I walk by and talk with people who live outside at all hours of the day and night. The greatest real danger I can see is to themselves, posed by their precarious circumstances. 

Lord takes issue with Becky O’Malley’s search for parallels in anti-social behaviors in “posh” districts and the Avenue. If the editor of the Daily Planet has not been sufficiently clear or convincing, let me share two instances of vehicular assault by well dressed drivers in late model Volvos that happened to me, once on Rose Street at Shattuck and again on Shattuck between Vine and Rose. Each time I was crossing the street with difficulty after a serious injury when an inhabitant of North Berkeley went into a potentially lethal tizzy because my stupid body was impeding their immediate desire to procede. In 30 years no one on Telegraph Avenue has driven a car right at me or done anything else as potentially dangerous as those two beautiful people. 

At the end of his convoluted, vaguely-defined assertions about “turf” Lord admits: “There is no evil mastermind, just lots of people trying to survive in the moment.” Yet, knowing this, Lord—and the minority who have pushed this disgusting law upon us despite the community’s outrage—is determined to make these lives harder than they already are, perhaps impossibly so. How narrowly self-interested! The Public Commons For Everyone Initiative is the life-style sociopathy of the must-have-mores, got up as social conscience. 

When I arrived in Berkeley this was a unique center of culture and commerce. Much of the visible culture, born of the social revolution of the ’60s and ’70s, taught us to make common cause and share our talents and resources. The commerce included products, services, and entertainment not available in surrounding communities. People flocked to Berkeley from Hayward, Oakland, Walnut Creek, Marin, and San Francisco. 

As other communities—indeed, the nation—began to imitate what they found here, there was less reason for people from surrounding areas to come to Berkeley (other than to get a parking ticket!). All the while real estate speculation has imposed a toll of ever-increasing rents on rental homes and businesses. The “dot bomb” collapse in Silicon Valley, followed by natural gas racketeers, aided and abetted by Washington, (and the subsequent recall of Gov. Gray Davis before he could sue FERC to make restitution of California’s lost nine billion in phony gas charges), followed by the fictitious threat of terrorism in 2000, administered the coupe de grace to our local economy. In 1999 people went out every night to restaurants and theaters in Berkeley and Oakland. By 2001 the streets were empty after six and the tide has ebbed even lower since. 

The ill health of businesses in Berkeley is not caused by people who live outside, though the calumnies that damage our economy surely force poor people to become homeless. The horrific Commons law in Berkeley expresses the middle class fear of their hunger and desperation—fear of the raven’s sharp beak. 

Glen Kohler is a Berkeley resident.

If your holiday shopping this season finds you in a bookstore, take a moment and do me a favor.  

Ask for the section on presidential history, and go take a peek. I’ll hazard a guess you’ll find literally hundreds of works of presidential history, from the scholarly tomes with hundreds of footnotes to the downright still works on presidential pets.  

Now, take a moment and imagine it’s 2033, and you’re looking for a nice downloadable e-book history of the Clinton or Bush presidency.  

What you find is truly disappointing: they look and feel like history, but sit down and read one for a moment, and the experience is wholly unsatisfying. Where is the background, the context provided by all of those once-classified memos detailing the West Wing intrigue that makes history truly come to life? Instead, we get the learned best guesses of the nation’s finest historians working without their tools: the primary documents that make history, well, history.  

Sounds like a nightmare, eh? It’s reality, for the moment, and it will rob us of our nation’s historical record unless We The People wake up and do something about it.  

A bit of history we do know: In November 2001, just as the National Archives was preparing to release a small portion of the records of the Reagan administration, President George W. Bush issued Executive Order 13233. The order gives former presidents and their assignees the right to prevent the release of presidential papers—forever. It also allows a sitting president to block the release of a former president’s records, even after that former president has signaled his approval. It requires that those who challenge the action of either a former president or the sitting president seek redress in court.  

Historians, most of Congress and Americans who know that our history begets our future, howled in protest, and our elected representatives slowly but surely swung into action. The House passed The Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007 (HR 1255/SB 886) by a veto-proof margin (333-93) with 104 Republicans breaking ranks with the administration.  

The bill would nullify the Bush executive order and re-establish procedures to ensure the timely release of presidential records that the Presidential Records Act was designed to ensure. The bill also has broad bipartisan support in the Senate, and cleared the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee by voice vote earlier this year.  

We were well on our way to reclaiming our history, when on Sept. 24, Senator Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) objected to floor consideration of HR 1255/SB 886 under unanimous consent, holding up a vote on the bill. Despite repeated requests from a host of historical, news media and open government organizations, Senator Bunning has refused to state the reasons for his opposition to the bill. Recently, the White House reiterated its threat to veto the bill should it pass Congress.  

For the second time this year, a lone senator has acted in the least democratic way possible to commit an act of legislative hostage taking. You may recall Sen. Kyl’s secret hold on meaningful reforms to the federal Freedom of Information Act. Sen. Kyl, to his credit, ultimately chose to voice his objections and work to address them. No such luck with Sen. Bunning, who prefers his lawmaking be done in silence. The World’s Greatest Deliberative Body is neither great nor terribly deliberative in this instance. 

When the history of this sad spectacle is written, it will note that the Presidential Records Act gutted by the president and aided and abetted by the callous silence of Sen. Bunning comes with a rather remarkable history of its own.  

It’s worth remembering that the Presidential Records Act of 1978 emerged from the tattered remnants of the Nixon presidency, in direct reaction to another presidential power grab. It’s a remarkably straightforward piece of legislation: Under the law, the U.S. government asserts complete “ownership, possession, and control” of all presidential and vice-presidential records. Upon conclusion of the president’s term in office, the National Archivist is required to assume custody of the records, and to make them available to the public when permissible under the PRA. Access to the records can be denied after the end of the 12-year embargo only if a former or incumbent president claims an exemption based on a “constitutionally based” executive privilege or continuing national security concern.  

It’s simple, really: the Bush administration wants to write its own history. Future presidents, Republican or Democrat, will find that sort of control downright intoxicating. If this executive order is not overturned by Congress it will allow any president, their heirs, and—for the first time—the vice president and heirs, to deny the American people access to the full historical record of all future administrations.  

And that is guaranteed to produce some tired pickings at your local bookstore in the near future.  

Charles N. Davis, a member of the Society of Professional Journalists’ Freedom of Information Committee, serves as the executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition at the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

BIOFUEL / KANDY’S 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In reference to the Nov. 30 article, “Biofuel Project Clashes with Kandy’s Carwash at Corner,” there are some corrections we would like to make. 

First of all, the BioFuel Oasis has no control over whether Kandy’s Car Wash stays or not. The pending eviction is between the landlord and Kandy’s Car Wash—we have not been part of those eviction discussions. 

Secondly, since June we have been in ongoing discussions with Kandy Alford, the car wash owner, about how we can help him in concrete ways. We will continue talking to him both independently and through City of Berkeley mediation. 

Finally, we did not receive preferential treatment from the City of Berkeley in getting some of our permit fees waived: any business can apply to have those fees waived. 

In general, we will be listening to people’s concerns and needs, and try to bring people together to figure out a solution that works for everyone. This is what we’ve been doing in the biodiesel movement and will continue to do wherever we go and whatever we do. For now, we will wait for what happens between the landlord and Kandy’s Car Wash. 

Ace Anderson 

Novella Carpenter 

Melissa Hardy 

Margaret Farrow 

Jennifer Radtke 

Worker-Owners,  

BioFuel Oasis Cooperative 

• 

THE CAL CURSE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I would like to put to rest this nonsense about the Cal football team having been under a curse as a result of the whole Save the Oaks controversy. Those of us who have been following the Bears fortunes for many years can tell you that they are already under curse almost 50 years extant (no Rose Bowl appearance since the 1958 season). Recent examples are the 2004 Rose Bowl snub, the collapse of the 1996 team, a seven-year Big Game losing streak, and several painful fourth quarter disasters against the University of Washington. Trust me, I could go on. The Bears are cursed all right, but it is a condition that long precedes the tree sitters. On the other hand I can tell you with great certainty that next year.... 

Richard Hourula 

• 

BRT AND PARKING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It is hard to believe that, after all this time, Doug Buckwald still hasn’t heard that AC Transit plans to replace parking that is removed because of In his latest letter, Buckwald writes: “In our case, the lost parking would not be replaced.” 

In fact, AC Transit has said that, where parking is more than 85 percent occupied, it will replace parking and will actually provide more replacement spaces than the number of spaces lost. In other words, any place where there is now a shortage of parking, there will be more parking after BRT is built. 

Since Buckwald’s letter calls for a discussion based on facts, I urge him to contact the planners of this project at AC Transit to confirm this fact. 

Incidentally, in this letter, Buckwald also repeats his call for a debate about BRT. Anyone who has seen him at public hearings, where he tends to read “poetry” and call for shows of hands, knows why no one believes he is capable of having a debate based on the facts. 

Charles Siegel 

• 

THE SURGE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In reference to Kenneth Thiesen’s Dec. 11 commentary about whether the surge is working, it is obvious that Theisen has not been to Iraq recently or heard how much safer it is for the Iraqi people now that the insurgents are being beaten down and that at last the Iraq people feel free and eager to help our troops to get rid of these thugs.  

I find it very sad that those such as Mr. Theisen and Nancy Pelosi have such a hatred for Bush, that they would stoop so low as to put their own selfish and political ambitions before the security and peace of a middle East effort which is finally working. I imagine that if Mr. Theisen were to pay a visit to Baghdad he would see for himself that the surge is working and the Iraqi people are yes, believe or not, happy to have American soldiers giving their lives to save them from the horrible tortures of the likes of Saddam, Ayman al-Zawahiri and other Muslim radicals who are trying to corrupt their own religion and spread terrorism throughout the world.  

If anyone thinks we can “speak nice” to these people, they don’t know these terrorists very well. I feel sorry for such misguided people who fail to get the true story, because they are so eager to turn President Bush into a laughing stock. Who do you think will have the last laugh? 

Sue Pflederer  

Williamsburg, Virginia 

• 

LEE ENDORSES OBAMA 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Barbara Lee is an incredible woman and I support her decision to endorse senator Barack Obama. He has been a phenomenal presidential candidate who has the vision to bring our troops home. Obama represents dignity and loyalty to his fellow Americans. His intention is to restore the trust of the American people in which was lost during the Bush administration. He is relatively young compared to other candidates but who is to say that change isn’t good? The demographics of this country are transforming because minorities are becoming the majority. It would be nice to have a new president that doesn’t fit the stereotypical image of America.  

Sanovia Jackson 

Oakland 

• 

ANOTHER PARTY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Having just gone into excruciating detail about the Loaves and Fishes Christmas Party a week ago Saturday at Newman Hall, I shall now regale you with an account of the Tele-Care Christmas Party on Sunday, Dec. 9 at Alta Bates Hospital, an equally lively affair. 

In case you’re not familiar with this organization, Tele-Care, is a free telephone service—an Alta Bates Summit Medical Center Program—providing daily calls to people who are homebound, isolated or at risk. Located at the Herrick Hospital Campus at 2001 Dwight Way, volunteers call people every day of the year, holidays included, to check on clients. I, myself, call about 70 people every Monday to check on their well-being. For some, this may be their only contact with the outside world. In addition to this very worthwhile service, social events are also offered, thanks to funding through grants, direct donations as well as matching funds from Alta Bates Summit Medical Center. Thanks to this generous funding, today’s party was a festive occasion clearly delighting the 200 people who attended. There was food enough to feed the city of Berkeley, live music (with line dancing guaranteed to free guests of any inhibitions they might have), table decorations, gifts—the whole works. 

Guests came dressed in their best finery. You should have seen the splendid hats and three-inch high heels on ladies in their ’80s and ’90’s, all of whom look forward to this annual event with great anticipation. I might add, the men looked pretty sharp, too. Granted there were a number of canes, walkers, and wheelchairs, the energy level was so high no one needed help loading their plates at the sumptuous buffet. As with the party at Newman Hall, there was much joy and camaraderie the entire afternoon. We, the volunteer callers, welcomed the chance to see the people we call each week—and they were happy to meet us. 

Dorothy Snodgrass 

• 

DELLUMS’ LEADERSHIP 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Jeffrey G. Jensen’s Nov. 9-12 column claming that Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums lacks leadership on the issue of crime shows some hypocrisy on the parts of the mayor’s critics. Crime, especially homicide, had been skyrocketing in Oakland during the eight-year reign of former mayor Jerry Brown. 

The murder rates had been going out of control under Brown’s watch. Did Mr. Jensen and others demand that former Mayor Brown show some leadership on combating crime as they are demanding current Mayor Ron Dellums? Did Mr. Jensen and others ask for former Mayor Brown to step aside and let Ignacio De La Fuente run this city as they are doing now to Mayor Dellums? 

Jerry Brown didn’t give a damn about Oakland contrary to what the San Francisco Chronicle columnist Chip Johnson says. While I too hope that Mayor Dellums would show some leadership on some issues such as housing, he is trying his best to repair the damage done by Brown in Oakland in terms of crimes, the environment and diversity. 

Billy Trice, Jr. 

Oakland 

• 

CHEVRON PIPELINE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

“Here is what democracy looks and sounds like,” chanted 300 of us—black, Hispanic, Laotian, Caucasian, and Burmese people of all ages, walking a mile and a half in the rain from Richmond to Chevron the day after to Bay Area oil spill, to protest Chevron’s expansion. How timely and exhilarating! 

We must stop Chevron’s proposed 22-mile highly explosive hydrogen pipeline from Richmond through Pinole, Hercules, Martinez, and East Bay Regional Park District’s open space. Chevron proposes using cheaper, more contaminated crude oil in its refinery. Attorney General Jerry Brown’s report of July 9 says: “the plant would emit up to 898,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year” ... “potential greenhouse gas emissions appear to be up to 1,961,592 metric tons.” 

Demand Chevron clean up its current eight polluting sources: Waste water pond contaminants, leaking pressure relief devices, toxic flaring, leaking tankers and barges, trucks, unsealed storage tanks, smoke stacks, and dysfunctional control valves (noted by Community for Better Environment). Chevron increased toxic emissions by 80 percent, while Martinez Shell refinery reduced by 75 percent. 

Bhopal, Mexico, Texas and the Chevron fire of January 2007 were caused by mishandled pipes. We assume human error with the Nov. 7 oil spill of 58,000 gallons that fouled our beaches, air and ocean, killing thousands of wildlife and fish. A United Nations panel of 2,500 scientists says a quarter of earth’s species are in danger unless we eventually end carbon emitting technology. Protect our health, require green alternatives. Contact City Council, Planning Board and representatives. 

Ruth Gilmore 

Richmond 

• 

OPTIONS RECOVERY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I have just finished reading a commentary piece by Dan McMullan, entitled “Options Recovery and the Public Commons.” 

The only, and I repeat, only, portion of the piece with which I fully agree is that which answers the questions of “successful programs.” 

“I guess if a program helped just one person and turned his or her life around that would be enough for me.” 

If Mr. McMullan sincerely believed the foregoing statement, that would make the remainder of his tirade completely meaningless. 

Speaking only for myself, I can testify that I was, through no fault of my own (save alcohol abuse), homeless in Berkeley when I applied to the Options Recovery Program. 

I am not now, nor have I ever been imprisoned, 

The “need to feel the pain of my addiction” did not result from “beatings” and broken bones but from physical illness which very nearly cost me my life, and I can flatly state that were it not for Dr. Davida Coady and the Options Recovery Program, I almost certainly would not have survived the extended stay in Alta Bates Hospital with pneumonia. 

Contrary to the statement “... that anyone unfortunate enough to get caught in the Options web is made to ‘feel the pain’” it is fortunate indeed for me to be accepted into the Options Recovery Program and I personally will be forever grateful to Dr. Davida Coady and her staff. 

For me personally, I believe in “Don’t question the methods, observe the results.” 

For Mr. McMullan to pen such a mean-spirited and unconscionable article is, in itself, unfortunate, and borders on unforgivable. 

Mr. McMullan strikes me as a person who would bitch if he was hung with a new rope. 

James M. Malone 

• 

RIGHT ON RED 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

A man and I were waiting for the walk sign at Central and Carlson in El Cerrito, on Nov. 20 at 8:30 a.m. The light turned green for us to walk and I saw the man who was waiting with me go up in the air. He got hit by a large car. I was devastated. I feel obligated to at least try to prevent this from happening again. 

Turning right on red for vehicles should be prohibited in intersections where pedestrians cross. Also, pedestrians should always be aware of cars turning even if they have the walk light. 

The Department of Transportation has widened roads at the expense of pedestrian safety. The elderly, frail and physically disabled are at an alarming risk whenever they attempt to cross the street. The streets and highways are a war zone. After seeing someone get hit by a car I plan on severely limiting my own car use and getting involved in pedestrian and bicycle safety issues. 

Diane Zappulla 

Richmond 

• 

BERKELEY MINICAR 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

A while back I read a letter in the Daily Planet highly complimenting Berkeley Minicar and I am writing to second everything your reader wrote. 

I am sitting in the Berkeley Minicar Garage at 2498 San Pablo Ave. and Dwight Way while my car is being serviced. For years this group has kept my Honda running beautifully and I have no desire to go elsewhere. In addition to being skilled mechanics who are always willing to take the time to answer my questions and reassure me that my car is going to be OK, they are always cheerful, pleasant, and courteous. I go in and feel I am among friends.  

Thank you Nancy and all you gentlemen at Berkeley Minicar. 

Carolyn Adams 

• 

HAVES AND HAVE-NOTS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I don’t know whether it was good timing, a good editorial eye, divine intervention or just plain serendipity, but the juxtaposition of Ms. O’Malley’s editorial, “Why Some Kids Go Bad” directly across from Michael Miller’s and Santiago Casal’s commentary “A 2020 Vision for Berkeley Education” could not have been more powerful. 

Ms. O’Malley, your editorial clearly, succinctly and with a much greater degree of compassion and empathy than I was ever willing to give you credit for, outlined the growing divide between the haves and the have-nots and the tremendous cost to our society of that divide. You don’t offer vacuous platitudes or vague sound bites as solutions, nor do you viciously finger-point and lay blame. Rather, you point out what should be obvious to any rational, compassionate human being, and certainly to those of us who self-identify as “progressive,” “liberal,” or even “humane”—that we need to “…create and empower a complete social network for our young.” 

Thank you for recognizing that it is only due to decades of either poorly conceived or deliberately divisive and destructive public policy that so many African-American, Latino and recent immigrant families face such a lack of resources, structures and support that so many take for granted, and that family structures suffer as a result of parents having to find ways just to survive, and have little time, money or energy left to find ways to proactively and creatively parent. 

The point of your editorial, that as a society we need to provide “…genuine support for [families’] child-rearing efforts, and where they aren’t succeeding they need efficient and compassionate substitutes…to take care of all of our kids (italics mine), paid for by realistic taxes on the obscene wealth now being amassed by a few favored clients of the current administration,” becomes much clearer when we read the commentary by Michael and Santiago of United In Action. 

Their commentary clearly lays out for us what we can do about this issue on a very local level. Their clear-sighted 2020 vision for our Berkeley public schools is an idea whose time has come. Clearly, with the 80 percent vote from generous Berkeley voters that passed Measure A for our schools, there is a mandate from our citizens that our public schools are a top priority and a worthwhile investment of our resources. As Michael and Santiago so effectively point out, however, that investment is not working for far too many of our kids. I urge your readers who are concerned about the issues you outlined in your editorial, and shocked about the reality of the failure of our schools when it comes to outcomes for children of color, to join with the efforts of UIA’s Equity Task Force. We cannot afford to wait. 

David Manson 

• 

TEMPTING THE  

TECTONIC TIME BOMB 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

On page three of Nov. 16 Planet, under the headline “DAPAC upholds lower skyline, etc.,” we read that the DAPAC subcommittee also is “allowing four (buildings) at 100 feet, four more at 120 feet, and two high-rise hotels which could rise 100 feet or higher.” 

Further down, on page 23, as Quake Tip of the Week and under the heading “Tectonic Time Bomb” we read in the first paragraph: “Big news in the papers recently: USGS seismic scientists have discovered that the Hayward Fault has had a major rupture every 140 years, on average, sine the year 1315. In case you wonder: We’re in the 140th year since the last one.” 

For a connection between these two passages, I urge readers to re-read Harold Gilliam’s critique of San Francisco’s proposed new Transit Terminal (San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 2). It is replete with examples of collapsed structures that all had been confidently built as “state-of-the-art” and “OK” achievements. 

Who in Berkeley will want to be caught on those high top floors or in one of those exceedingly shaded streets or parks below when “the Big One” strikes? How much will this high-rise development do for “re-vitalizing the downtown,” one of the prime purposes stated for all the planning? 

This is the time for us all to ask the City Council for the most informed, scrupulous and deliberate prudence when the downtown proposals come before it. 

No one may forget the ominous USGS warning lest Berkeley find itself tempting what is arguably predictable fate. 

Senta Pugh Chamberlain 

• 

NOBEL PRIZE FOR PETE  

Editors, Daily Planet: 

A response to Art Goldberg’s review of the film Pete Seeger: The Power of Song: Pete Seeger may come across as a Paul Bunyan or John Henry prototype, but he is not legendary, by any means—he is profoundly human! I would not deny that he is unusually talented, determined, principled and disciplined, all of which are desirous but hard to achieve human characteristics. That Pete Seeger is a model of integrity to the extent that he is an example for thousands of people is indisputable. But let’s not freeze his humanity with another Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech stereotype. 

Pete Seeger has been proposed for the Nobel Peace Prize from a grassroots petition movement. Nomination from the people upwards has never been done before; it has always been secret and elitist. That is what got us Henry Kissinger’s award! Should he win this is an opportunity to make a groundbreaking effort in behalf of Pete and for the acknowledgment of artists and cultural workers in our society. The singers and songwriters, the poster makers, the muralists, the writers and dancers need to be acknowledged for their contribution to culture, and culture’s contribution to civilization and the necessity of peace for civilization. The petition can be signed at www.nobelprize4pete.org. The petition, put up on the Internet in March, has just passed the 10,000-signature mark. 

We are petitioning the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) to nominate Pete on the basis of his lifelong contribution to peace and social justice. The testaments put up by the signers credit Pete with a major influence of changing their lives toward peaceful alternatives. One of Pete’s sayings is: You can’t understand everybody talking at the same time, but you can understand people singing together at the same time.” 

Non-violence ran through the Civil Rights Movement like a mantra; Pete Seeger was a voice of peace, but never of surrender. One of the people who signed the petition said, “on a NYC demonstration, I witnessed Pete turn a potentially explosive situation into a sing-a-long in Central Park after the power was cut and he (with me holding a megaphone as we stood on the barricades) got the first row singing which then reverberated like ripples in water till thousands were singing ‘All we are saying is give Peace a chance’, calming a potentially disastrous situation.” 

We must not pigeonhole Pete Seeger. He is only a man who took himself seriously, yet with a great deal of humor, who seldom deviated from his objectives, who had a wife who helped him be all he could be, even at the expense of her own career. Pete Seeger would honor the Nobel Peace Prize. 

Eleanor Walden 

Committee to Nominate Pete Seeger for the Nobel Peace Prize 

Why the Med Matters 

By Ted Friedman 

The Med on Tely sort of turned 50 Dec. 9 (like a vain movie star, it may be 51), celebrating with folk singers, a giant cake, free coffee, and open mike. 

Some recalled when the Med opened as the Piccolo in 1956 with book lined walls: “You could read those books and get a better education than at the University,” said one. 

The venerable hot-spot is one of only a handful of surviving Tely businesses. But times have changed since ‘56 when the Med had a monopoly on expresso. The craze to be beat and sit for hours in a second-hand smog philosophizing was irresistable. Who knew espresso would be the real “San Francisco Treat,” with espresso chasing you all over town. 

The Beat connection is hardly exaggerated. The short-lived Piccolo (’56-’57) was the logical (and real) extension of North Beach. A year later, the Piccolo was sold to new owners who presided over a charmed period which lasted until the ’90s, when changes in the neighborhood began to take their toll. 

The business was sold again, but by this time was in free-fall. Once ideally located amidst cinemas and bookstores (Moe’s and Shakespeare’s survive, but the last neighborhood cinema, George Pauly’s Tely Rep, closed in ’86). Filthy and troubled (more police calls than a crime wave), the palace of protest was gasping for breath. 

Enter Craig Becker, who saved the Med from becoming just another restaurant (he had promised the family which owned the building to keep it a coffee house). It’s been a tough year and a half, but the tide is turning. 

Now, instead of complaining about being mugged (order has been restored) complainers have noticed the floor (clean it!) and the beloved Med mural (don’t hang coffee house art on it!) 

Perhaps some of the critics have been spoiled by pampering treatment from the new owner, who has gone from being a coffee guzzling conversationalist to the man behind the counter, but, no matter what happens to the mural (Craig has promised to remove the paintings and restore the mural), The Med, which recently hosted the George Pauly memorial (past decedents have had their ashes scattered there) and housed Pauly’s oxygen tank, is emerging as a vibrant community center, perhaps the last hurrah from aging southside hippies. And yes, you can still walk in on a protest planning session (a throwback for the Med’s role in the Free Speech Movement). Talk to Reholio, who has been a barista since before anyone had ever heard of one, twenty-eight years ago. If you talk to Craig, be sure to complain about the floor; tell him to lay off the mural. You’ll feel like you made the scene. 

Ted Friedman is a Berkeley resident. 

EDITOR’S NOTE: One commentary from each side of the current KPFA controversy will run in an upcoming issue. We will refrain from running letters on the topic until then.

Did you know that by shifting just 10 percent of your purchases to locally owned businesses, you can start a cycle that creates more jobs in Berkeley, lightens the city’s environmental impact, expands your own shopping options, builds a stronger community, and helps keep our city a national innovator? 

Just over 40 years ago, Alfred Peet opened a coffee store on Vine Street that revolutionized how Americans drink coffee. The “specialty coffee” industry and Starbucks grew directly out of Peet’s. Some even credit Peet’s with sharpening Americans’ taste buds to appreciate California wines. 

Around the corner on Shattuck Avenue, Alice Waters opened a restaurant that began changing how America eats. Her Chez Panisse demonstrated the delicious meals that could be prepared from fresh, seasonal, local farm products. A growing circle of cooks nationwide embraced her simple principles as “California Cuisine.” 

At about the same time, Berkeley retail innovators like Moe’s Books and Rasputin Records gave the East Bay new ways to shop for familiar cultural products—plus a broadened selection of the unfamiliar. And in a converted automotive workshop further down Telegraph, The Body Shop (now Body Time) began growing from a small, quirky vendor of healthful cosmetics into an international trademark. 

We now take these businesses, and expanded options, for granted. But without their pioneers’ originality, Berkeley (and the whole country) would be a blander place. 

By supporting their successors—today’s locally owned businesses that offer us something just a bit different—we can help nurture Berkeley’s trendsetting businesses of tomorrow. We can keep the revolution turning for ourselves, and for friends and family in places less likely to incubate the offbeat. 

What do we get by shopping at Berkeley’s locally owned businesses? 

• More flexibility, better service. Local owners tend to create a more intimate dialogue that co-creates community tastes. Just as importantly, when you need to request products or services that aren’t already available, there’s no substitute for being able to talk directly to a small business’ owner or longtime staffer. 

Suzan Steinberg’s Stonemountain and Daughter fabric store has served Berkeley and beyond since 1981. “One of the reasons we are still here,” she says, “is that we listen carefully to the community...the whole sewing community. We are now a national and even international destination. Because there are so few unusual, independent, unique fabric stores left, we are now one of the top 10 to 20 fabric stores nationwide.” 

Further up Shattuck Avenue, at Games of Berkeley, Janet Winter says her specialty store’s advantage is that “we offer product knowledge, wide variety, and the knowledge that you’re supporting a local business.” She continues, “Most small businesses are family businesses, too, so you’re supporting not just one person but a whole family.” 

• Less stress on the planet. Locally owned businesses tend to be small businesses, which can readily fit into existing storefronts and buildings. Keeping old buildings in use, and keeping historic commercial districts thriving, fights sprawl. (“Adaptive reuse” may be the ultimate recycling project.) 

For more than 30 years, Berkeley’s Subway Guitars has been building and rebuilding unusual instruments for famous rock stars and anonymous local pickers. “We’re trying to reuse older instruments, which are probably better made,” says owner Fatdog, “and to manufacture instruments that are price-competitive with imports. We have a collaborative industry that creates these instruments, and that helps provide employment for a lot of musicians.” 

Locally owned businesses also tend to purchase more of their goods nearby than nonlocal businesses do. So, when customers shop locally, it translates into less long-distance transportation, less pollution, and a smaller carbon footprint. 

Amy Thomas, who owns the local Pegasus and Pendragon bookstores, adds: “By shopping in the neighborhood, not driving to the mall—and not buying on the Internet and having [delivery services] involved—people walk more. It’s good for you!” 

• A more creative, more compassionate community. Smaller businesses donate, on average, 250 percent more support to nonprofit organizations than do large businesses. Berkeley businesses are primarily small with some 85 percent which employ fewer than five people. And, all of Berkeley is enriched by our unusually high concentration of arts and other non-profit organizations which have made Berkeley a regional destination and deepened our sense of place. 

From social services to disability rights, Berkeley’s nonprofits have made us a regional and national leader in compassionate and innovative problem-solving. 

• A more stable city. Local businesses have local owners, who are invested in Berkeley’s future. They’re more likely to stay put, and less likely to leave empty storefronts on what should be thriving streets.  

• A stronger local economy and tax base. Locally owned businesses are especially likely to recirculate your purchases into payments to local and nearby suppliers. Economists call this a “multiplier effect,” because it steers more jobs and sales-tax revenue into our own community. And several recent studies have found local businesses’ multiplier benefits to be up to four times those of nonlocal businesses: 

A “retail diversity study” of San Francisco and three Peninsula cities found that purchasing from locally owned stores created about 70 percent more local jobs, and 67 percent more overall local income, per dollar spent. In all, the authors concluded that by shifting 10 percent of purchases to local businesses, consumers would add nearly 1,300 new jobs and $200 million in economic activity to the cities studied. (www.civiceconomics.com/SF) 

In Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood, researchers found that locally owned businesses recirculated 58 percent more of consumers’ spending into the Chicago economy than did nonlocal businesses. Per retail square foot, the local businesses’ local multiplier effect was more than 70 percent higher. (www.andersonvillestudy.com) 

• Stronger local identity. In an increasingly homogenized world, how does Berkeley maintain an edge in attracting innovative, good employers and world-class scholars? We benefit by nurturing one-of-a-kind businesses, a distinctive character, and a strong sense of self. How Berkeley can YOU be? 

Deborah Badhia is executive director of the Downtown Berkeley Association. 

Need help finding local sources for what you want? Check these Berkeley neighborhoods’ online business directories: 

www.downtownberkeley.org 

http://telegraphlive.com 

www.gourmetghetto.org 

www.solanoavenueassn.org/saa_directory/directory 

www.elmwoodshop.com 

EDITOR’S NOTE: If you’re looking for locally owned businesses to patronize, besides trying the websites listed above you can also find some (though not all) local businesses through their advertising in the Berkeley Daily Planet and on our website, www.berkeleydailyplanet.com. We thank them for supporting our local, family-owned business with their advertising dollars.

In a special meeting on Wednesday Dec. 5, the Berkeley Zero Waste Commission approved a controversial bid from a Stockton company to sort all rubbish (dry discards) that now comes through the city’s transfer station at Second and Gilman streets. It would cover about 200 tons a day of the 340 or so now landfilled. After sorting, about half the rubbish would go to landfill, some would be recycled, and some would be burned.  

The commission’s final recommendation contained compromises intended to calm recyclers, but whether they will do so is a question. Materials to be trucked include some recyclables existing recyclers could use. Recyclers would, however, have a chance to help rework the facility to intercept more materials before the dumping floor, and to pursue the large redesign and rebuild to achieve zero-waste recovery.  

If approved, the contract would begin at the end of this month and continue through June 2010. It would cost $2 million a year. Public Works Director Claudette Ford assured meeting attendees the contract could be cancelled with 30 days’ notice. Now the proposal goes to City Council for a vote on Dec. 18.  

Several groups, including Urban Ore, the Sierra Club, and the Northern California Recycling Association, have raised concerns. At issue are what problem this solution is intended to solve; the procurement process; burning discards; the environmental impacts of trucking recyclables 90 miles and dead-heading back; and the economic and environmental impacts of developing resources in the Central Valley rather than locally.  

The first question is what problem this proposal solves. The transfer station was built to handle a throughput of 400 tons a day. Currently it receives about 340 tons. City staff say they want to achieve the city’s goal of diverting 75 percent of now-wasted resources from landfill before the goal’s deadline of 2010. The followup question is why hurry without doing fuller analysis of impacts? Staff’s answers vary but fall back to not wanting to redo the RFP.  

The second issue is that the procurement process was done in a way that generated upset. Staff are now walking over hot coals as a result. Materials and tonnages were the first concern. For months staff told the commission they were working on a request for proposals (RFP) to recycle construction and demolition materials. The commission expected to see the RFP before it went out. Instead, at the September meeting, staff reported that the RFP had already been out for three weeks. It covered all rubbish, several times more material than just the construction component.  

Notification and processing vision were another issue. Urban Ore, expected to bid on construction materials recycling, wasn’t notified the RFP was available until it had only a week to respond. But no matter—the RFP envisioned a long-distance haul and bulk mechanical processing of mixed materials, judging by the requirement that any contractor must provide four highway trailers for the city to rent at $2,000 per month.  

Only one bidder responded. It is the Stockton company that bailed Berkeley out of a tough spot by taking materials when Waste Management’s San Leandro facility was closed, Berkeley’s facility was overwhelmed, and nobody closer could help.  

The Stockton facility is 90 miles away, though, and the current dump is 45 miles closer.  

So far there is no public information to answer several environmental and resource questions. What added greenhouse gases and costs will the added trucking generate? How much of a landfill’s greenhouse gases will this processing prevent (landfills’ gases are generated more by rotting materials than by dry ones). How much greenhouse gas will be generated by burning recovered wood instead of composting it? How much could be averted by composting it aerobically. Why not salvage to recover recyclables existing onsite recyclers could use? For example, Community Conservation Centers could use more cardboard, which instead will be sent to Stockton.  

The Northern California Recycling Association has called for analysis of the proposal’s environmental impact, but none has been done.  

The Zero Waste Commissioners tried to make compromises that would calm recyclers’ nerves. But they also wanted to help staff. Staff don’t want to rebid the contract because other bidders now know the Stockton rate and processing system and would shape their bids to out-compete. Stockton might raise its rates, too. So the commission recommended that City Council accept this contract, warts and all. The council will discuss it Dec. 18.  

Due to a copyediting error, a figure was misquoted in George Beier’s Dec. 11 commentary, “Option Recovery Services — Fighting the Good Fight.” The article should have stated that eighty percent of Options clients come from Berkeley.

This weekend, against my better judgment, I will be doing a couple of Audubon Society Christmas Bird Counts, one in Marin County, the other in Solano. (The Christmas Bird Count arose as a humane alternative to the traditional Christmas Side Hunt, whose object was to shoot every bird you saw. The data compiled by this annual exercise in citizen science has become a mother lode for ornithologists studying trends in North American bird populations.) 

What I’ll find is hard to predict, birds being such mobile creatures. But if I’m out there in anything more clement than a blinding rainstorm, it’s a cinch that I’ll see ruby-crowned kinglets—probably lots of ruby-crowned kinglets, based on early scouting reports. This time of year they’re all over the California lowlands. I’ve seen them in the Lady Banks rose outside my kitchen window, in street trees, in an isolated patch of shrubbery at the El Cerrito Plaza shopping center. 

Only male kinglets have the ruby crown, and you won’t see it unless the bird is in a heightened state of emotion. Normally it’s concealed under his greenish head feathers. When a male is confronting a territorial rival, though, or sometimes just feeling 

testy, there’s a laser-like flash of scarlet. 

Otherwise, this is not a showy bird: mostly greenish, with an off-white ring around the eye and two white bars on the folded wing. 

It looks a whole lot like another small greenish songbird, the Hutton’s vireo. In the summer, when the kinglets are elsewhere that’s not a problem for birders. But in December I’ve seen both species foraging in the same tree.  

There are various ways of telling them apart: kinglets are faster and twitchier, flick their wings more, have finer bills and a black bar behind the second white wing bar. If you get a really good look, the colors of the legs and feet are diagnostic. Hutton’s vireos have blue-gray legs; ruby-crowned kinglets have black legs and yellow feet. And if the bird says “che-dit,” it’s a kinglet. 

The two aren’t closely related. Genetic studies place the vireos somewhere near the crows, and the kinglets with a huge complex of thrushes and warbler-like birds. Formerly considered part of the Old World warbler family, the five species of kinglets are now in their own family, the Regulidae. (The only other North American member, the golden-crowned kinglet, has a snazzy orange-black-and-white head pattern.) But some scientists think the ruby-crown is more like the Eurasian leaf warblers than the other kinglets. Taxonomy is a moving target. 

We know ruby-crowned kinglets only as winter visitors. They nest in California, but not along the coast. As a breeding species, the ruby-crown is a mountain bird, ranging from the Siskiyous and Trinities down through the Sierra to the Transverse Ranges. That population appears to winter in Mexico; coastal-wintering birds come down from farther north. 

That means we’re unlikely to be treated to the male kinglet’s vocal performance. I’ve only heard a ruby-crown sing once, on the Kaibab Plateau north of the Grand Canyon. It was a loud, exuberant performance and I had no idea what it was. It came as a considerable surprise when I tracked the sound through the trees and realized that the source was a kinglet. Arthur Cleveland Bent had it right: “The remarkable part of the song is the great volume of sound that issues from the tiny throat…, much greater than would seem possible from such a small bird.” 

Sierran ruby-crowns usually nest about 4000 feet, sometimes as high as 10,000. They prefer semi-open conifer forests, sometimes forest edges. The typical nest is a deep cup suspended from an evergreen branch, well concealed among twigs. Construction materials in one nest included thistledown, aspen catkins, moss, lichen, grouse and mallard feathers, fibers from insect cocoons, and porcupine hairs. The clutch may be as large as twelve eggs, a high number for a small songbird. But unlike lowland-nesting birds, there’s no second brood—this is the parents’ only shot. Little is known about nest predation, although kinglets seem to be rarely victimized by parasitic cowbirds. 

On both nesting and wintering grounds, kinglets specialize in gleaning insects from buds and foliage, favoring the outer tips of higher branches. The birds occasionally hover as they work their way through the trees. In addition to small insects and arachnids, kinglets may consume elderberries and poison oak berries. They’re frequent members of mixed winter foraging flocks, along with titmice, nuthatches, downy woodpeckers, and warblers, although they never function as flock leaders. 

I will admit there have been times when I have gotten sick and tired of tallying ruby-crowned kinglets. I have in fact worked with a count partner who threatened not to record any more of them. Still, they’re lively little guys, good company in the wet winter woods whether you’re counting them or not. And there’s always the possible reward of that red flash. 

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. 

Photograph by Ron Sullivan. 

A ruby-crowned kinglet of undetermined gender. 

Nothing seems quite so odd as the contention made by advocates on both sides of the “waterboarding” issue that the use of torture is against American tradition. 

Which American tradition, one wonders. 

We could review the tradition of torture inherent in the American system of plantation slavery, for example, or the later Deep South lynchings of African-Americans who were forced to confess to various crimes—rape and murder—by the application of lighted torches to various parts of their bodies, or the use of such instruments as the “jack” in American prisons in the 1920s as described, from first-hand observation, in the 1932 book I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang! by journalist and former prisoner Robert E. Burns: “The ‘jack’ is a relic of the ancient Spanish Inquisition—a medieval instrument of human torture. The three convicts sat on bench … [and] placed both hands and feet through holes specially arranged to receive them. … The Warden worked a long lever which locked the convicts’ hands and feet in the holes by means of the boards coming together on their ankles and wrists… The bench on which the convicts were sitting was pulled from under them. This left [them] hanging in midair by their ankles and wrists … Soon their bodies became taut and strained to the point of excruciating torture. There they hung in agony for one solid hour.” 

But we don’t have to go all the way to Georgia in the 20s for such examples. Witness the following testimony, recently published: 

“He put some handcuffs on my ankles, then he took one wire and put it on my ankles, he took the other wire and put it behind my back, on the handcuffs behind my back. Then after that, when he—then he went and got a plastic bag, put it over my head, and he told me, don’t bite through it. I thought, man, you ain’t fixing to put this on my head, so I bit through it. So he went and got another bag and put it on my head and he twisted it. When he twisted it, it cut my air off and I started shaking, but I’m still breathing because I’m still trying to suck it in where I could bite this one, but I couldn’t because the other bag was there and kept me from biting through it. So then he hit me with the voltage. When he hit me with the voltage, that’s when I started gritting, crying, hollering … It feel like a thousand needles going through my body. And then after that, it just feel like, you know—it feel like something just burning me from the inside, and, um, I shook, I gritted, I hollered, then I passed out.” 

The testimony is not from an international terrorist suspect imprisoned at the now-abandoned dungeons at Abu Ghraib, or from the Guantanamo Bay “interrogation” rooms, or from one of the various torture chambers supposedly maintained by the Central Intelligence Agency in various “friendly” nations around the world and outside the U.S. borders. 

The statement comes from Anthony Holmes, a former inmate of the Illinois Death Row, describing to Illinois Special State’s Attorneys how he was coerced and tortured into a 1974 murder confession by then Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge.  

In one of the many hearings surrounding the Chicago police torture scandal, police officials stipulated that another former police detainee would testify to the following: 

“Melvin Jones will testify that on Feb. 5, 1982 … he was taken to an Area II interrogation room where he was handcuffed and questioned by Area II detectives concerning his knowledge and participation in a murder. When he failed to give information implicating himself in the murder, respondent Burge entered the room and told Jones that he was going to talk … Burge had Jones cuffed to a second ring and then produced and plugged into the wall socket a wooden box measuring approximately 10’’ x 6” x 6”, with tweezers and a long nail type device. … Burge pulled down Jones’ pants and shorts and, using the electrical device, shocked Jones three times, on the foot, thigh, and penis. While he was shocking Jones, Burge demanded that Jones talk. He told Jones that he had also shocked “Satan” (Anthony Holmes) and “Cochise,” forcing them to crawl all over the floor … Burge also tied a sock in Jones’ mouth. … Later, Burge also struck Jones with a stapler. When Jones continued to deny knowing anything about the murder, Burge again entered the interrogation room. He pointed a gun at Jones’ head, cocked it and told Jones he was going to ‘blow his black head off.’” 

In part because of the scandals surrounding the tortures under Burge’s command during the 1970s and 1980s at Burge’s Chicago Area II command center, then-Governor George Ryan commuted the sentences of all 167 Illinois Death Row inmates in 2003, and the City of Chicago recently announced a $19.8 million settlement of the lawsuit of four alleged Chicago police torture victims. The Illinois special prosecutor’s report, issued in 2006, concluded that more than 200 African-American prisoners were tortured in Chicago police interrogation rooms in the 1970s and 1980s. 

Only in Chicago? Hardly. Try Oakland, California, friends. 

In 2000, Oakland attorney John Burris and several other law firms began filing a series of lawsuits against the Oakland Police Department alleging that four West Oakland-based OPD officers—who had come to be known as the “Oakland Riders”—had beaten suspects in an attempt to elicit confessions from them and, in some instances, planted evidence on them.  

The legal action took two tracks, with the Alameda County District Attorney’s office filing criminal charges against the four officers—Francisco Vazquez, Matt Hornung, Clarence Mabang, and Jude Siapno—and the civil lawsuits continuing in a separate action. Vazquez, the alleged ringleader of the Riders, allegedly fled the country and has never been brought to trial, but the other three were eventually acquitted. 

Meanwhile, however, the civil cases spread to involve more officers than the initial four Riders, eventually consolidated into the Delphine Allen v. City of Oakland federal lawsuit containing 119 plaintiffs. 

A December 2000 San Francisco Chronicle article reported that in the news article announcing one of the lawsuits, “Burris showed pictures of Delphine Allen, 21, who accused Vazquez and Siapno in the suit of kidnapping him on June 27 and beating him, while in handcuffs, in a remote location in Oakland after he objected to false drug charges. The picture showed Allen with a bloodied right eye.” 

A July 2002 East Bay Express article provided a more detailed account of that incident, based upon the recollections of Keith Batt, the 23-year-old former OPD rookie who blew the whistle on the Riders: “On his second week on the job,” the Express reported, “Batt said he and the Riders tangled with an African-American man named Delphine Allen while he was walking on 32nd Street. The four Riders—Mabanag, Jude Siapno, Matt Hornung, and Francisco “Choker” Vazquez—kicked, punched, and beat Allen while he was handcuffed and down on his knees, Batt later testified. Batt himself admitted to kicking Allen twice to impress the other cops, especially the field-training officer who would ultimately write his performance evaluation. But when it was all over, Batt later said, Mabanag seemed disappointed in his trainee; he wondered why the rookie only kicked Allen twice. “Why did you stop?” Batt recalled his supervisor asking him. Batt added that Mabanag lectured him “that he had never seen a trainee ... hold back as much as I had.” 

The City of Oakland took split positions on the Riders-Allen allegations. The City fired the four Riders officers over the charges of beating suspects, falsifying reports, planting evidence, and supported their criminal prosecution. According to the official settlement agreement report in the Allen v. Oakland civil litigation, however, “the City denied the allegations in the plaintiffs’ [civil] complaint”—the same allegations that formed the heart of the criminal complaint against the Riders—but at the same time “agreed to a negotiated settlement to avoid a potentially divisive and costly litigation and to promote and incorporate the best police policies and practices into the operations of the Police Department.” Oakland still operates under that court-monitored settlement agreement which includes, in part, reforms intended to prevent the type of excesses the Riders and their fellow officers were accused of. 

But the Riders excesses may not have gone away. The Burris law firm only this week filed another police brutality lawsuit for eleven plaintiffs and naming 16 individual defendant Oakland Police officers, alleging, among other things, that in the spring of this year, police searched a suspect’s rectum for crack cocaine with their fingers so hard in a North Oakland incident that the suspect began bleeding from his anus and passed out. According to the lawsuit, no crack was found. The city has not yet answered the new lawsuit, so this can still be considered only an accusation. 

The accusations in the Oakland cases do not amount to the level seen in the Chicago police cases—applying electrical shock to genitals—or the CIA’s water torture practices, but that’s hardly the point, is it? Webster’s New World College Dictionary defines torture as “the inflicting of severe pain to force information or confession.” It does not require that the infliction of that pain be by esoteric means, such as the rack or the corkscrew or wires connected to a hot electrical source. It can be as simple as a flashlight to the head, or a boot to the midsection. 

However it may be treated with shame like the odd cousin never let out of the closet while company is in the house, torture has been—and remains—an American tradition. To end that tradition, we must first stop pretending that it does not exist or feign shock and surprise when it resurfaces, as it does, periodically.

Among the original Northside residences that survived the Berkeley fire of 1923, the Bentley House at 2683 Le Conte Avenue is one of the least assuming. Built in 1900 by the prominent Berkeley contractor and amateur artist A.H. Broad, this modest Dutch Colonial Revival residence is the quintessential “simple home” advocated by Charles Keeler in his 1904 book of the same name. 

Clad in unpainted shingles and strategically positioned at the crest of the hill, the house is sited at the center of its lot, surrounded by a garden that has always been informal, a graceful reminder of the Hillside Club’s Living with Nature ideals. 

The modest house accorded well with the personality of its first owner, the Rev. Dr. Robert Bentley, a leader of the Methodist Episcopal Church on the West Coast. 

Dr. Bentley purchased the lot in 1898 with the intention of building a retirement home. At the time, the family was living at 2210 Chapel St., near the First Trinity Methodist Church, located at Allston Way and Fulton Street (current site of Edwards Stadium), of which Dr. Bentley had been the pastor from 1892 to 1897. 

Reminiscing about Dr. Bentley in the 1980s, his grandson, the well-known printer, poet, calligrapher, and liberal arts professor Wilder Bentley (1900–1989), recalled that after a busy and peripatetic life, the minister had looked forward to a home of his own where he and his wife, Frances, could settle down in restful retirement. That hope was not to be fulfilled, as he lived only a few months in his new home, passing away on Sept. 28, 1900 after a brief illness. 

All the local newspapers devoted substantial space to Dr. Bentley’s obituary and funeral services, with the San Francisco Call outdoing its rivals in the bombast of its headline, “EMINENT DIVINE CLAIMED BY DREAD DESTROYER AT HIS BERKELEY HOME.” 

Robert Bentley was born in Cambridge, England, on May 6, 1836 or 1838 (accounts vary). He was the eldest son of the family. His father died when he was 12, and a year later the family came to America. He studied at Northwestern University and the Garrett Biblical Institute (now Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary) in Evanston, Illinois, and was licensed as a preacher in the annual Rock River Conference of the M.E. Church. 

Beginning his ministry in Chicago, Bentley married Frances Harvey in 1863. Their eldest son, Robert Irving, was born there in 1865. Three years later, they came to California and Dr. Bentley took charge of the Central Methodist Episcopal Church in San Francisco. Later he was pastor in Portland, Santa Barbara, Sacramento, Oakland, Alameda, and Berkeley. 

The U.S. census recorded the Bentley as living in San Francisco in 1870 (their second son, Charles Harvey, was born there the previous year) and in Sacramento ten years later. By 1880, the family had grown to include a third son—Edward, born in 1871—and a daughter, Mary, born in 1878. 

From 1886 to 1892, Dr. Bentley served as presiding elder of the M.E. Church’s Oakland district. After five years as pastor of Berkeley’s Trinity Church, he became presiding elder of the Sacramento district, territorially the largest in California. 

In 1891, Dr. Bentley founded the Fred Finch Orphanage (now the Fred Finch Youth Center) in Dimond, Oakland. He continued as its president until the end of his life. 

In September 1900, Dr. Bentley attended the California Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Pacific Grove, where he was appointed presiding elder of the Oakland District for the second time. Eleven days later, he was dead of either heart disease (according to the S.F. Call) or malarial fever (per the Oakland Tribune). 

At his memorial service, held on Sept. 30 at the Trinity Methodist Church in Berkeley, “the church was not large enough to hold the many friends who came to pay their last tribute of respect to the deceased,” reported the Tribune. 

Following Dr. Bentley’s death, his widow continued living on Le Conte Avenue. In 1904, she shared her home with the first African-American co-ed at the University of California. On February 8 of that year, The Berkeley Daily Gazette reported on its front page, “The first colored co-ed to register at the University of California is Miss Regina Crawford, whose home is in far away Meridian, Mississippi. [...] Miss Crawford is now staying at the home of Mrs. Robert Bentley, widow of the late Rev. Robert Bentley of the Methodist Church. She is being given employment by Mrs. Bentley and is thus enabled to support herself while carrying on her University work.” 

The Bentley sons were thriving in San Francisco. Robert Irving Bentley founded a fruit canning company, which his brother Charles, a Beta Theta Pi at Cal, joined following his graduation in 1891. In 1899, their company merged with seventeen others to form the California Fruit Canners Association, which used the Del Monte name as one of its many brands. 

In 1905, Charles Bentley’s wife died, leaving him with two young children. His mother joined them in Pacific Heights, leasing the Berkeley house to renters. When Charles remarried in 1909, Frances returned to Berkeley, living at various addresses. 

In 1920, Frances and her unmarried daughter Mary were lodgers in the old Henry boarding house at 2401 Le Conte Avenue, then run by Emma Greet. (The boarding house, built in 1897 by George Frederick Estey, burned in 1923. The University Christian Church now stands on the site.) At the time, Mary Bentley was working as a secretary at the YWCA. Ten years later, mother and daughter were living in a house they had purchased at 758 Contra Costa Avenue, near John Hinkel Park. 

Frances Bentley died in 1934, at the age of 94. Following her death, Mary returned to 2683 Le Conte Avenue, residing there until her own death in 1940. 

Perhaps the most interesting figure in the Bentley family was Harvey Wilder Bentley, the eldest of Charles H. Bentley’s children. Wilder (after his mother’s maiden name) graduated from San Francisco’s Lowell High School in 1918. He attended Yale University and the University of Michigan, then spent several years in Europe providing relief work with French war orphans and later traveling. 

Wilder married Ellen Mayo in 1927. In the late 1920s, he was at the University of Oklahoma, where his book The art of Laurence Pickett Williams (1930) was published. From 1930 through 1933, Wilder worked at Porter Garnett’s Laboratory Press at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, honing his skills in the craft of fine printing. In 1932, he became an honorary associate member of the American Institute of Graphic Arts. 

Having returned to Berkeley with their two young children, Wilder Jr. and Margaret (later Sevcenko), Wilder and Ellen settled at 1836 San Antonio Avenue. They found an old Acorn hand press that had been shipped around the Horn, bought it, and established a small publishing business, producing limited editions of finely printed books, portfolios, broadsides, scrolls, and cards. 

Their earliest publications were broadsides in the Acorn Series, beginning with Wilder’s own Excursion on the Bay and Unheroic couplets for the poets of New Albion (“Printed on the Acorn Press in the Thousand Oaks”). The following year, they began publishing under the Archetype Press imprint and opened a shop at Euclid Court, on the commercial block just north of the campus. Wilder taught Ellen how to set type, and it was she who did the typesetting and proofreading, in addition to sewing the books that Wilder designed. Their motto was “The fine printer begins where the careful printer leaves off.” 

One of the items Wilder “and his faithful spouse, Ellen” published at Euclid Court was N’en Parlons Plus!, Excerpts From Divers Papers & Chronicles of The Arts Club, 1937–1938. This 20-page folio was limited to 105 copies and issued for private distribution among members of The Arts Club and their friends. 

The Bentleys also printed William Saroyan’s A Native American (San Francisco: George Fields, 1938) in a limited edition of 450 copies, each signed by the author. By far the best-known book to emerge from the Archetype Press was Ansel Adams’ Sierra Nevada: the John Muir Trail (1938). In addition to being a photographic masterpiece, the book became a promotional tool on behalf of the Sierra Club’s campaign to establish a new national park on federally owned land in the Kings River Canyon region southeast of Yosemite: 

Ansel Adams sent a copy to Harold Ickes, secretary of the Interior. “The pictures are extraordinarily fine and impressive,” Ickes thanked him. He hoped that Congress would soon establish the park: “Then we can be sure that your descendants and mine will be able to take as beautiful pictures as you have taken—that is, provided they have your skill and artistry.” Ickes showed the book to his boss, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who kept it for himself. Kings Canyon National Park was established two years later. 

With the advent of World War II, the Bentleys closed the Archetype Press. The printing press was dismantled and stored in the basement of 2683 Le Conte Ave., which Wilder and Ellen had purchased from his aunt Mary’s estate. 

In addition to his printing activities, Wilder Bentley was a prolific poet, calligrapher, and brush artist. The Bancroft Library houses a large collection of his poetic output, practically all of it printed by the Archetype Press. In May 1943, the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco exhibited his brush drawings. 

After the war, Wilder Bentley returned to teaching. Between 1946 and 1956, he was professor of English and Philosophy at the College of the Pacific and Stockton Junior College, both in Stockton. In 1957, he was appointed professor at San Francisco State College, where he taught until his retirement in 1971. A former student described him as “a white-haired, elderly, enthusiastic expositor of the beauties and significance of American writing” who “was well-known in the college, if not beyond it, as one of those professors who is an inspiring catalyst for receptive students.” 

Following his retirement from teaching, Wilder dedicated himself to the epic poem The Poetry of Learning (Archetype Press,1975–85). A collection of 26 scrolls (some rolling out to about 15 feet in length), it was printed on an 1870s-issue Palmer & Rey “Washington”-type hand press in the basement of 2683 Le Conte Ave. 

Wilder Bentley passed away in 1989. His widow Ellen continued living at 2683 Le Conte Avenue until 1996, nearly a century since the Rev. Dr. Robert Bentley purchased the lot for his retirement home. 

Daniella Thompson publishes berkeleyheritage.com for the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA). 

Photograph: Daniella Thompson  

The Bentley House at 2683 Le Conte Ave. with a curved staircase leading to the street. 

Some of the best gifts I’ve ever received have been from people’s gardens.  

I got my first lemongrass from Beulah Stringer, when I lived just down the block from her. She was splitting her cluster, and handed me a nice hunk when I stopped to exclaim that Gee, that smelled and looked just like lemongrass. She used it for tea; I used it in Thai recipes. Over the years, we swapped seeds and starts and stories and I think the stories were the best things I got, along with her friendship.  

One thing she taught me was not to say “Thank you” for a plant. As she explained it, plants thrive better when they’re stolen, and by not quite acknowledging that you’ve received it as a gift you’re improving its chances. Beulah hails from Arkansas, on the other side of the state from my in-laws’ hometowns. When I checked her folk story out with my mother-in-law, she confirmed it, though I don’t remember her ever insisting on that bit of etiquette herself.  

I still have, if it hasn’t disappeared since the last time I looked, a walking onion left from the set that sweet innocent white-haired Auntie Ev smuggled here from Fostoria, Ohio. It’s also called “Egyptian onion,” and it “walks” because it bears a cluster of new bulbs on top of its stalk, which eventually bends with their weight so they come to rest and can take root on the ground at a strategic distance from the mother plant.  

Auntie Ev was someone else’s auntie officially, but we adopted her as ours too. Smuggling live plants rather shocked my sensibilities but I had to recognize the inherent heroism in the gift, as Auntie Ev had a serious allergy to onions, garlic, and their relatives. She couldn’t consume it herself and probably shouldn’t have been carrying it tucked into her bag, but she thought it was a plant of interesting habits. She was right, and it’s tasty too. 

I used to have a pine in a pot—not really a bonsai, because it was too tall. Too long. Too big in some dimension or other, maybe measured on the diagonal like a TV, anyway more than three feet from base to top and more like a bottle brush than a tree. I thought maybe I could make a bunjin bonsai out of it, as that form allows for eccentricities. 

Didn’t have the heart to part with it, even aside from the sentiment attached to it because I got it from a good friend and colleague. It was like that homely puppy in the litter who somehow just belongs in the household. I confess to keeping it more out of sight than on display, but that was mostly because it needed support on both ends. 

Time and happenstance have done for rather a lot of the living gifts I’ve received over the years. Still, though they’re mortal, a living gift grows and changes and develops and surprises long after the occasion’s over.  

I’m Bolted, I’m Ok? 

I’m hearing from way too many folks who have taken a peek in their crawl space, seen some bolts connecting their “mudsill” to their foundation, and are thinking “Oh, good, my foundation is bolted, I’ve got a retrofit.” 

A “bolted foundation” is NOT a retrofit. It is an essential ingredient of a retrofit, yes, but there is another ingredient (transfer ties) and very often a third (shear panels) which are also essential. If your foundation is bolted, it just means that the mudsill will probably stay put during a serious quake. The house, however, could very easily fall off the foundation. 

Be sure—have your retrofit checked.  

Make 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.

You’re in the last throws of the deal and it’s time for the home inspection. The inspector finds that the water heater is defective and needs replacement now. You’re a little upset, since you’ve just offered more money to buy this house than your parents have in their retirement fund. You expected the house to be perfect for that kind of money and you’re not about to shell out another dime.  

So, you ask the realtor to negotiate to have a new water heater installed prior to close of escrow. Being your diligent and obedient representative, he/she says fine, we’ll see if we can get them to put in a new water heater prior to closing of the escrow.  

Stop everything. Let’s run this scenario out to a likely conclusion before you choose this path. It is not unlikely that the seller will agree get this deal closed since it’s a relatively small item. But think about who they are likely to hire and what they are likely to buy … for you. Are they going to buy the best water heater on the market? Are they going to hire the top plumber in the field? Will they consider moving the water heater if that’s advised? Will they make sure it is placed on a stand, if this is advised or necessary?  

I can go on with at least another dozen considerations on this one kind of job, but you get the point. The seller, as fair and honest as they might be, is far more likely to get this job done fast and, well, let’s say economically. Of course, this is a broad generalization but I believe (with plenty of experience to stand upon) that this is, in fact, what happens the vast majority of the time.  

Any seller is likely to get the job done faster, cheaper, and with less consideration for long range consequences then you are as the new homeowner. The seller is not very likely to have a parental and deeply vested interest in the new owner’s well-being and that of the house beyond their ownership. With that in mind, who should be buying the water heater? Of course, it’s you the buyer.  

Now you can still seek additional funds from the seller. But you, the buyer will be using the money and getting the job done. This might mean adding some of your own money to the pot to get the best job done, but at least the seller’s money will be going to buy the better job, since you will be trying to get the best plumber you can afford as well as the best equipment. 

Another very good reason for you to be the buyer of any fixes that you feel are needed upon purchase of your new home relates to the nature of the contractual relationship between the client and the contractor.  

Let’s say that the sellers hire Joe the plumber and pay him to install the very finest water heater that mankind has yet to produce. He applies his greatest skill and makes a masterwork of installation that the city inspectors (three of them) come to see, bearing signatures, tags and words of great praise. The water heater works great. Everyone’s happy but surprise of surprises, the thing begins to leak from eight locations about 3 weeks after the sellers have moved to Malaysia. Not to worry, you have the name of the plumber and call him up.  

Joe (really a great guy) says how sorry he is but you are not his client and only his client can call in the warrantee. He’s right. You and Joe are not named in any contract as client and contractor and services on any piece of paper. Warrantees for roofs do transfer in the state of California but most workmanship does not transfer from one owner to another.  

If you attempted to take Joe to court to get him to come and repair his unconscionably bad workmanship, it is most likely that the judge would ask to see the contract for work and would find that you had not hired Joe at all and throw the case out.  

If, on the other hand, you asked for a cash sum or adjustment in the sale price of the house (or money held in escrow to pay for such a repair, which is a common tactic) you could hire your dear friend Joe and when the leaks began, you would be in a much better position to get him back to fix the repairs that you paid for. And if he turns out to be the scoundrel your cousin Vanessa said he was (they dated very briefly), you could take Joe to small claims and would likely find (remember to bring photos) that the Judge would like your case and force Joe to return some or all of your payment to him or force him to make good and fix the water heater properly.  

And here’s a word to the wise. If Joe is the one who screwed up you water heater in the first place, he might not be the best choice to come back and fix it. 

A final note regarding this whole issue of who gets the repairs done when houses change hands: Just a spoonful of money makes the escrow get done. When buyers request repairs as a requirement of closing, this sets the clock back as people start rushing about doing these repairs. Sometimes the repairs get done and get looked at and are disapproved and more time gets lost. Occasionally deals fall apart under theses circumstances. Mostly, it just leads to bad work and irritated buyers and sellers. So taking a sum of cash, or a cost adjustment or doing nothing at all may be preferable to receipt of this particular gift horse. 

Happy home hunting. 

TUESDAY, DEC. 18 

CHILDREN 

Arlington Children’s Choir Holiday Concert, suitable for ages 3 and up, at 7 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 524-3043. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Tell on on Tuesdays Storytelling at 7:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Cost is $8-$12 sliding scale. www.juiamorgan.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Tom Rigney & Flambeau at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  

Singers’ Open Mic with Ellen Hoffman at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ.  

The Christmas Jug Band at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761.  

Brian Wood Ensemble at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave.. 548-5198.  

African Roots of Jazz, with E.W. Wainwright & Friends at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 19 

CHILDREN 

“Alice in Wonderland” puppet show at 2, 4 and 6 p.m. at Children’s Fairyland, 699 Bellevue Ave., off Grand Ave., Oakland. Cost is $6. 452-2259. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“A Christmas Carol” read by Martin Harris as Charles Dickens at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

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 

Oakland City Center Holiday Concert with West African Highlife Band at noon at 12th and Broadway, Oakland.  

Berkeley Akademie Ensemble Debut performance under direction of Kent Nagano and Stuart Canin at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley. Tickets are $60. 841-2800. www.berkeleysymphony.org 

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

Balkan Folkdance at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $7. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Ben Graves Quartet at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

Charlie Hunter at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $20-$24. 238-9200.  

THURSDAY, DEC. 20 

CHILDREN 

Music with Bonnie Lockhart for ages 3 to 7 at 7 p.m. at North Berkeley Public Library, 1170 The Alameda. 981-6250. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now” Guided tour at 12:15 and 5:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft. Cost is $5.50-$9.50. 642-0808. 

Patrick O’Kiersey “Selected Paintings and Drawings” Artist talk at 7 p.m. at the Craft & Cultural Arts Gallery, Atrium, State of California Office Bldg. 1515 Clay St., Oakland. 622-8190. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Lutsinga Musical Ensemble at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Greenbridge, Celtic trio, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Anna Estrada & Her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

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

Matthew Charles Heulitt Project, The Japonize Elephants at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $10. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

Dietsnakes at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

FRIDAY, DEC. 21 

THEATER 

“Amahl and the Night Visitors” at 7:30 p.m. at the Arlington Community Church, 52 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Tickets at the door are $12-$15.  

Aurora Theatre Company “Sex” Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m. at 2081 Addison St., through Dec. 23. Tickets are $28-$50. 843-4822.  

Berkeley Rep “After the Quake” at the Trust Stage, 2025 Addison St., through Dec. 21. Tickets are $33-$69. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Encore Theatre Company & Shotgun Players “The Shaker Chair” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m., at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., through Jan. 27. Tickets are $20-$30. 841-6500.  

Impact Theatre “A Very Special Money & Run Winter Season Holiday Special” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave., through Dec. 22. Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468.  

Kids Take the Stage “Footloose” at 7 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $8-$15. 527-1138.  

“A Christmas Carol” with Martin Harris at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant. Tickets are $10-$15. 848-7800. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Mark Morris Dance Group “The Hard Nut” at 7:30 p.m., Sat. at 2 and 8 p.m., Sun. at 3 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32-$60. 642-9988. www.calperformances.net 

Oakland Ballet “Nutcracker” at 10:30 a.m. and 8 p.m. at Oakland Paramount Theater, 2025 Broadway, Oakland. Tickets are $15-$50. www.ticketmaster.com 

The Women’s Antique Vocal Ensemble “From the Rising of the Sun” Music for the Christmas season at 8 p.m. at Lake Merritt United Methodist Church, 1330 Lakeshore Ave. Tickets are $5-$15. www.wavewomen.org  

Holiday Caroling with Terrence Kelly & Ellen Hoffman at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Albany Artists Collective featuring The Matresses and Cody Green in a benefit for the Albany Music Fund at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10-$15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Mario “Weary Boys” Matteoli at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

In Harmony’s Way “Mid-Winter Sing” at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Lalin St. Juste and Connie Lim at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Starry Plough Bluegrass Session with Jacob Groopman, Ben Bernstein, Erik Yates and others at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Charlie Hunter at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $20-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Machina Sol at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

SATURDAY, DEC. 22 

CHILDREN  

“Wintertime at Little Farm” a puppet show for the whole family at 11 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

“Stuart Little” the movie at 10 a.m. and noon, Sun. at noon at Elmwood Theater, 2966 College Ave. at Ashby. Benefit for local PTAs. 433-9730. 

THEATER 

Kids Take the Stage “Footloose” at 2 and 7 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $8-$15. 527-1138. www.kidstakethestage.com  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

West Coast Live with Michael Chabon, Will Durst at 10 a.m. at Freight and Salvage. Tickets are $13-$18. 415-664-9500. www.WCL.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“From the Darkness...Solace” a Winter Solstice Concert at 6 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. Donation $10-$20. 228-3207. 

Mark Morris Dance Group “The Hard Nut” at 2 and 8 p.m., Sun. at 3 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32-$60. 642-9988. www.calperformances.net 

Oakland Ballet “Nutcracker” at 2 and 8 p.m. at Oakland Paramount Theater, 2025 Broadway, Oakland. Tickets are $15-$50. www.ticketmaster.com 

Nicolas Bearde Holiday Blues Fest at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $14. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Hot Hot Hot Caribbean Nights with Winston Soso and David Reid Caribbean band at 9:05 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $12-$15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Michael Grandi at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Holiday Revue, bluegrass and acoustic with Lauries Lewis, host, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50-$16.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Bayonics, The Unsmokables at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $9. 841-2082.  

Mitch Marcus Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

SUNDAY, DEC. 23 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Thomas Lynch performs the Truman Capote classic, “A Christmas Memory” at 3 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets sliding scale $10-$30. 665-5565. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Oakland Ballet “Nutcracker” at 2 p.m. at Oakland Paramount Theater, 2025 Broadway, Oakland. Tickets are $15-$50. www.ticketmaster.com 

Redwing at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Trumpet Supergroup Holiday Concert with Dave Scott, Mark Inouye, Mario Guarneri, Mike Olmos, and Erik Jekabson at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15. 845-5373.  

MONDAY, DEC. 24 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Musica ha Disconnesso traditional Italian music, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Obie winner Adam Bock’s new play, The Shaker Chair, at Ashby Stage in a joint production of the Shotgun Players with Encore Theatre Co., opens with one woman sitting on the title piece, expostulating with another woman, who’s curled up in another kind of chair crying over a book.  

The first woman goes on about Shakers, and their admirable work ethic, which is why their chair isn’t so great for sitting. A third enters the stark, light-filled room and takes the other two to task—the first for “being asleep,” the second for crying and doing nothing about it. 

All of this is fleshed out with witty, skewed dialogue, sometimes overlapping or simultaneous, with occasional silences, awkward and otherwise.  

The lines and repeated words and phrases that are batted back and forth like a shuttlecock don’t always directly refer to the matter (or matters) at hand, so by inference, the audience is in on the conversation, a little like a latecomer or eavesdropper. 

This continues throughout the play, though pretty quickly the story’s clear, clearer than the humorously tangled conversations it’s inferred from: Marion (a sometimes ebullient, sometimes diffident Frances Lee McCain) is putting up her sister Dolly (Nancy Shelby), who is upset with her husband, Frank (Will Marchetti). Marion’s old friend Jean (Scarlett Hepworth) is an environmental activist, endeavoring to involve Marion (or at least her car) in a nighttime raid on a nearby farm that’s spilling sewage. Meanwhile, Jean tries to coach—or boss—Dolly about men, romance and what’s passé about it all. Dolly doesn’t appreciate it. 

The gradually accruing plot works itself out through offhanded, even loopy dialogue as the various characters express themselves. A pair of watchcap-bonneted co-conspirators (Andrew Calabrese and Marissa Keltie) show up with Marion and Jean, back from a night’s mischief on the farm.  

Frank shows up at Marion’s to reel Dolly back in, and later to contend with Marion, all the while gushing about her lawn. There’s a lot of goofy reasoning and trick explanations. It finally does end up with some change—or resolution—but only through personal tragedy, while the rest apparently slips back to normal. 

The comic dialogue is Bock’s strong suit, and all cast members (as directed by Tracy Ward)are well up to their marks, displaying excellent timing and characterization. Word for Word’s Nancy Shelby is particularly adept at presenting a character who could appear as just a flakey ditz, making her laughable yet sympathetic, a real part of the ensemble of various types and their self-stated concerns. She’s also good at the pauses, the silences which offset the loopiness with a kind of existential eloquence. 

Of the two other sides of the triangle, as it were, McCain takes the lead with much gusto, tempered with a stern, sometimes sorrowful reflectiveness, while Hepworth is appropriately severe, brusque even, yet surprisingly soft around the edges whenever the edges are showing.  

The design of the interior of Marion’s severe country house (James Faerron’s set), which provides the stage for this little agon—or passion—is fine on all levels, the lighting (Heather Basarab) indirect by day and night, and the sounds (Sara Huddleston) veer from crickets to claxon alarms, bucolic to industrial, adding texture to the sense of light and darkness on this stark palette. 

(Shotgun’s productions continue to explore what’s becoming something of a house style in look and feel, a pleasing, ongoing trend.) 

The difficulty with the play is that not enough is really worked through, except the humorous banality and occasional indirection of the dialogue. The plot’s pretty pat, though it does go from screwball sitcom of a very professional order, through a quick upsurge of melodrama, into a kind of morality play denouement. The torquing or melding of forms is at least as old as Euripides’ Alcestis, but here it doesn’t run interference for—or cover—a somewhat bland plot which processes the story, like the factory farm Jean’s protesting. more than shape it as it moves through slightly hackneyed complications and resolution. 

There is, by the way, an uncredited pig in the cast; even the playwright seemed hesitant about mentioning it, but word got around before opening. “Bratty” (short for Bratwurst, the diminuative monicker apparently pinned on diplomatically by Shotgun artistic director Pat Dooley, who took the boar in), in a porcine cameo, appropriately hogs the stage for a moment, not once uttering a clever line. 

THE SHAKER CHAIR 

8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 5 p.m. Sunday through Jan. 27 at the Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. $20-$30. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org. 

Photograph: Frances Lee McCain in The Shaker Chair. 

Berkeley Akademie Ensemble, Berkeley Symphony’s new program jointly directed by conductor Kent Nagano and violinist Stuart Canin to present music in “a multifaceted structure,” a tradition of Akademies which “trace their origin all the way back to what one might call the democratization of music,” will perform their debut concert 8 p.m. Wednesday at the First Congregational Church with renditions of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 2 and 3, Beethoven’s Grosse Fugue and Richard Strauss’ “Metamorphosen.”  

The Berkeley Symphony musicians will be joined by six string players, guest artists from the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, in a first-time partnership. 

“The Akademies were founded to share music with the community at large ... around the time of Beethoven,” said Nagano. “[It] had primarily been reserved for the aristocracy ... They had an enormous following ... very much music of the times and for people of the times. That was the spirit in which we wanted to launch the Akademie here in Berkeley.” 

Some pieces on the Akademie program will be performed as chamber music, some led by concertmaster Canin, others conducted by Nagano.  

“The hope is to try to blur those lines,” Nagano said, “so that what we share with the audience is simply music making. The template we are using is really very close to those original concerts presented by Peter von Winter 200 years ago.” 

With a first season emphasis on detailed string ensembles, the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 features three groups of three string instruments each, with support from a basso continou group; Beethoven’s Grosse Fugue—meant originally as a finale for one of his later string quartets—is performed by string orchestra; and Strauss’ “Metamorphosen” is subtitled “A Study for 23 Solo Strings.” 

An early sketch of Strauss’ piece was titled “Mourning for Munich,” written the day the Munich Court Theater was bombed in 1943. 

The Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, which will conclude the debut concert, will feature Canin, violin; Emma Moon, flute; Laura Griffiths, oboe and DavidWashburn, piccolo trumpet.  

The Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, from which the six guest string players come, was founded in 1974, drawing its musicians from top conservatory students in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.  

“Germany’s great youth orchestra,” Nagano called them, “which represents tomorrow’s talent, already performing at a high professional level today.” 

Nagano—who as general music director of the Bavarian State Opera presides over von Winter’s Akademie concert tradition since 1811, one of the oldest—will continue as co-artistic director of Berkeley Akademie with his departure as Berkeley Symphony’s music director following the 2008-09 season.  

Canin, his co-director, has served as concert master of the San Francisco Symphony and the New Century Chamber Orchestra, which he co-founded as a conductorless orchestra. In 2001, Nagano appointed him concertmaster of the Los Angeles Opera, a position he continues to hold. 

BERKELEY AKADEMIE ENSEMBLE 

8 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 19 at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, Durant Avene and Dana Street. $60. 

841-2800. www.berkeleysymphony.org.

Everyone who knew Sidney Howard (1891-1939) testified to his exuberant vitality. Barrett Clark said he had an “irrepressible youthfulness, a tremendous enthusiasm for life.” He was admired for his generosity to other writers, and his own plays were described as “among the best ever written in America.” He was one of the first important Broadway playwrights to go to Hollywood. 

English 106 

Born in Oakland, Sidney Howard came to Berkeley as a student in 1911. His undergraduate poems and stories appeared in Occident, and he wrote two pageants which were performed on campus. He also took Leonard Bacon’s English 106, probably the first seminar in creative writing ever offered at Cal. Under Bacon’s guidance he wrote a blank verse tragedy which used the Black Death at Avignon as a background for the love story of Petrarch and Laura. After considerable revision the tragedy became a pageant, The Sons of Spain, and was produced in 1914 by The Forest Theater Society at Carmel. The scene was changed from Avignon to Monterey; Laura and Petrarch became mission Indians, Tiga and Raphael, protected by Fr. Serra from the lecherous Gov. Fages. The pageant’s success spurred Howard’s desire to become a playwright. 

World War I 

But in June, 1916, he put aside thoughts of Broadway and joined an American volunteer ambulance unit with the British army in Greece. Later he served on the Western Front and became a pilot in the French air force, transferring to the U.S. Army in 1917. 

Initially he loved flying. “It’s sport,” he wrote to his sister, Jean McDuffie, “and, by God, it’s poetry.” But he soon learned differently. Once, after he was shot down and managed somehow to land safely, he found his co-pilot dead in the seat behind him. Elizabeth Sergeant left us a glimpse of him on active service in 1918: “Moving heavily instead of with his usual light ease ... he cannot eat in the restaurants he visited with his dead friends. It seems that he does nothing but look up [their] families—or write to them.” 

Howard received two citations for gallantry in action and a Silver Star. After the armistice he returned to Berkeley to pick up the threads of his life, worked as a journalist in New York, and resumed writing plays. For the next 15 years he wrote nothing about the war. 

Broadway 

Swords, Howard’s first Broadway play, was a melodrama in verse. It opened in September 1921, and closed in October. He set it in Italy, “during the struggle between the Popes and the Emperors, a little after the height of the Crusades, a little before the revival of learning.” Femmina, the protagonist, is “an altogether human empress, devoted to her servants, none too scrupulous, temperamental, exacting, very feminine, wholly glorious.” She is the first of many strong female characters in Howard’s work. 

Femmina’s story seems an odd subject for a soldier home from the wars, but a natural one for a student of Leonard Bacon’s. Howard dismissed its failure, saying it was “instructive;” he never again wrote verse for the stage. What redeemed Swords for him was its star, Clare Eames, a tall, slender actress with a regal presence. She became famous for playing fearless modern women as well as historical figures like Femmina. (In 1923 she played Queen Elizabeth in Mary Pickford’s Dorothy Vernon of Hadden Hall.) “The real purpose of the play,” Howard said, “was to marry us.” They were “gloriously happy” for several years. 

His next play, S.S. Tenacity, opened in January 1922, and ran twice as long as Swords. A comedy about two young Frenchmen waiting for a ship to take them to Canada, it tells how one meets a girl and decides to stay at home, while the other sails away. The setting is contemporary and the behavior of the characters, simple and direct. From then on Howard wrote as a realist. 

‘They Knew What They Wanted’ 

In 1920 playwrights who respected Victorian conventions still dominated the American stage. Their work was swept away so completely by the rebellious younger generation—Howard, O’Neill, Barry and others—that their plays have almost totally disappeared. The only one still performed is David Belasco’s Madame Butterfly—in Puccini’s operatic version. A few others survive on DVD as “picturized” silent movies, like The Squaw Man and D. W. Griffith’s amazing Way Down East. 

In their plays, as one Victorian wrote, “The wife who has once taken the step from purity to impurity can never reinstate herself in the world of art this side of the grave.” Sidney Howard demolished this dogma in his first mature work, They Knew What They Wanted. Within hours of her marriage, the heroine commits adultery and emerges at play’s end not only alive, but with her marriage intact. Material the Victorians could only handle as tragedy, he treats as comedy. 

The Knew What They Wanted is based on a story Howard found in Dante. He made it “a treatise on the obsessions which make the world go round. The woman’s obsession for security—the man’s for a dynasty.” Brooks Atkinson described the play as a “romantic and savory story of love and magnanimity in a California vineyard.” And, Atkinson added, Howard “presented with warmth and sympathy some of the best characters he ever created.” This rich comedy ran for over a year, was filmed three times and returned to Broadway in the 1950s as a musical, The Most Happy Fella. 

Hollywood 

When his marriage to Clare Eames ended in 1928, Howard returned to Berkeley, residing for two years at his sister’s home on Roble Road in the Claremont area. He endured a period of despondency and said his heart had gone out of writing for the stage. By an unforeseen chance, this made him available for Hollywood just as movies began to talk. In April, 1929, he signed a contract with Samuel Goldwyn, who promised to make him a millionaire, and he became the best paid screenwriter of the 1930s. 

For the rest of his life Howard alternated between writing films in Hollywood, plays in New York, and living on his farm in Massachusetts. He made a happy marriage with Polly Damrosch in 1931, and arranged his life so that he could spend large amounts of time at home with her and their children. 

Howard’s screenplays for Sinclair Lewis’s Arrowsmith and Dodsworth won Academy Awards. Dodsworth also became Howard’s biggest Broadway hit. While they were collaborating on a screenplay for Lewis’s anti-fascist It Can’t Happen Here, they received a request from the Reich Theater Chamber in Berlin for permission to produce Dodsworth, provided they supplied “evidence of Aryan descent.” They replied, “Who knows what ancestors we may have had in the last few hundred years? We really are as ignorant of them as even Hitler is of his. In answering please use our proper legal names: Sidney Howrowitz, and Sinclair Levy.” 

Howard’s only work explicitly on World War I, an adaptation of Humphrey Cobb’s Paths of Glory, failed on Broadway in 1935. A ghastly tale of suffering and injustice, he dramatized it cinematically in scenes so harsh that they alienated the audience. S. H. White believes the play’s energy came from Howard’s own military experience. Urging that the novel be filmed, Howard wrote, “It seems to me that our motion picture industry must feel something of a sacred obligation to make the picture.” Least his motives be misunderstood, he added, “I am not involved in the picture rights for this book.” 

‘GWTW’ 

In the winter of 1936 Howard wrote the screenplay for a widely loved, widely reviled and wildly romantic novel of the Old South, Gone With the Wind. In the preliminary treatment he wrote, “For screen purposes it is, I think, well to think of the book as Scarlett’s story, and of Scarlett herself as a character whose actions are consistently motivated by what she conceives to be the tragedy of an unrealized love.” In five months he reduced the densely printed 1,000-page novel to a typewritten script of only 240 pages. His choices as to what to omit, what to keep, and how to present the material had a decisive impact on the film. For example, he decided (echoing, perhaps, Paths of Glory) to give GWTW the sobriety of its unflinching look at the horrors of war. 

David O. Selznick, the film’s producer, tinkered with the script compulsively, ultimately hiring 10 other writers to revise it. Some softened the story, removing such astringencies as the sight of masses of wounded soldiers, while others suggested strange changes in the plot line. (F. Scott Fitzgerald’s contribution consisted mostly of restoring Howard’s and Margaret Mitchell’s original words, and justifying them to the anxious producer. Ben Hecht helped to shorten the script.) In a moment of self-indulgence after GWTW was completed, Selznick claimed to have written it all himself, but later decided Howard should get credit for the script. According to Andrew Sinclair, who edited and published Howard’s original screenplay, a comparison of Howard’s original text and the actual film, shows that GWTW is 85 percent Howard’s work. 

Sidney Howard’s life came to a sudden, shocking end in August, 1939, when he died in an accident. GWTW had its premiere in Atlanta four months later. At the February 1940, Academy Awards, Sinclair Lewis presented Howard’s posthumous Academy Award for the GWTW screenplay. 

This weekend, against my better judgment, I will be doing a couple of Audubon Society Christmas Bird Counts, one in Marin County, the other in Solano. (The Christmas Bird Count arose as a humane alternative to the traditional Christmas Side Hunt, whose object was to shoot every bird you saw. The data compiled by this annual exercise in citizen science has become a mother lode for ornithologists studying trends in North American bird populations.) 

What I’ll find is hard to predict, birds being such mobile creatures. But if I’m out there in anything more clement than a blinding rainstorm, it’s a cinch that I’ll see ruby-crowned kinglets—probably lots of ruby-crowned kinglets, based on early scouting reports. This time of year they’re all over the California lowlands. I’ve seen them in the Lady Banks rose outside my kitchen window, in street trees, in an isolated patch of shrubbery at the El Cerrito Plaza shopping center. 

Only male kinglets have the ruby crown, and you won’t see it unless the bird is in a heightened state of emotion. Normally it’s concealed under his greenish head feathers. When a male is confronting a territorial rival, though, or sometimes just feeling 

testy, there’s a laser-like flash of scarlet. 

Otherwise, this is not a showy bird: mostly greenish, with an off-white ring around the eye and two white bars on the folded wing. 

It looks a whole lot like another small greenish songbird, the Hutton’s vireo. In the summer, when the kinglets are elsewhere that’s not a problem for birders. But in December I’ve seen both species foraging in the same tree.  

There are various ways of telling them apart: kinglets are faster and twitchier, flick their wings more, have finer bills and a black bar behind the second white wing bar. If you get a really good look, the colors of the legs and feet are diagnostic. Hutton’s vireos have blue-gray legs; ruby-crowned kinglets have black legs and yellow feet. And if the bird says “che-dit,” it’s a kinglet. 

The two aren’t closely related. Genetic studies place the vireos somewhere near the crows, and the kinglets with a huge complex of thrushes and warbler-like birds. Formerly considered part of the Old World warbler family, the five species of kinglets are now in their own family, the Regulidae. (The only other North American member, the golden-crowned kinglet, has a snazzy orange-black-and-white head pattern.) But some scientists think the ruby-crown is more like the Eurasian leaf warblers than the other kinglets. Taxonomy is a moving target. 

We know ruby-crowned kinglets only as winter visitors. They nest in California, but not along the coast. As a breeding species, the ruby-crown is a mountain bird, ranging from the Siskiyous and Trinities down through the Sierra to the Transverse Ranges. That population appears to winter in Mexico; coastal-wintering birds come down from farther north. 

That means we’re unlikely to be treated to the male kinglet’s vocal performance. I’ve only heard a ruby-crown sing once, on the Kaibab Plateau north of the Grand Canyon. It was a loud, exuberant performance and I had no idea what it was. It came as a considerable surprise when I tracked the sound through the trees and realized that the source was a kinglet. Arthur Cleveland Bent had it right: “The remarkable part of the song is the great volume of sound that issues from the tiny throat…, much greater than would seem possible from such a small bird.” 

Sierran ruby-crowns usually nest about 4000 feet, sometimes as high as 10,000. They prefer semi-open conifer forests, sometimes forest edges. The typical nest is a deep cup suspended from an evergreen branch, well concealed among twigs. Construction materials in one nest included thistledown, aspen catkins, moss, lichen, grouse and mallard feathers, fibers from insect cocoons, and porcupine hairs. The clutch may be as large as twelve eggs, a high number for a small songbird. But unlike lowland-nesting birds, there’s no second brood—this is the parents’ only shot. Little is known about nest predation, although kinglets seem to be rarely victimized by parasitic cowbirds. 

On both nesting and wintering grounds, kinglets specialize in gleaning insects from buds and foliage, favoring the outer tips of higher branches. The birds occasionally hover as they work their way through the trees. In addition to small insects and arachnids, kinglets may consume elderberries and poison oak berries. They’re frequent members of mixed winter foraging flocks, along with titmice, nuthatches, downy woodpeckers, and warblers, although they never function as flock leaders. 

I will admit there have been times when I have gotten sick and tired of tallying ruby-crowned kinglets. I have in fact worked with a count partner who threatened not to record any more of them. Still, they’re lively little guys, good company in the wet winter woods whether you’re counting them or not. And there’s always the possible reward of that red flash. 

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. 

Photograph by Ron Sullivan. 

A ruby-crowned kinglet of undetermined gender. 

TUESDAY, DEC. 18 

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 Martin Luther King, Arrowhead Marsh. Call for meeting place and if you need to borrow binoculars. 525-2233. 

Cancer Prevention and Survival Cooking Class on Planning Healthy Meals at 8:30 a.m. at Fruitvale Elementary School, 3200 Boston Ave., Oakland. To register call 595-6445. 

End the Occupation Vigil every Tues. at noon at Oakland Federal Bldg., 1301 Clay St. www.epicalc.org 

Tai Chi for Peace at 1:30 p.m. in front of the Marine Recruiting Station, Shattuck Square. Open Sidewalk Studios at 3 p.m. 524-2776. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. . 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. We always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 19 

War and Peace Book Group meets to discuss “Saturday” by Ian McEwan at 7 p.m. at Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 16. 

Cancer Prevention and Survival Cooking Class on Planning Healthy Meals at 8:30 a.m. at Cesar Chavez, 2825 international Blvd., Oakland. To register call 595-6445. 

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, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. Heavy rain cancels. 548-9840. 

Eay Does It Board of Directors Meeting at 6:30 p.m. at 1636 Univestiy Ave. 845-5513. www.easyland.org 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at at 6:30 p.m. at the Berkeley BART station. www.geocities.com/ 

vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, DEC. 20 

Winter Solstice Celebration Bring stories, poetry and music to share, and join a short walk to learn the solstice’s cultural history, at 4 p.m. at the Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. For ages 6 and up. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 1-888-EBPARKS. 

FRIDAY, DEC. 21 

Iraq Moratorium Vigil to Protest the War from 2 to 4 p.m. at the corners of University and Acton. Sponsored by the Streawberry Creek Lodge Tenants Assoc and the Berkeley-East Bay Gray Panthers. 548-9696. 

Winter Solstice Labyrinth Walk by Candlelight from 6 to 8 p.m. at Willard Middle School, Telegraph Ave. between Derby and Stuart. Free. Everyone welcome. Wheelchair accessible. Rain cancels. 526-7377. 

Teen Playreaders meets to read “Hamlet” and other plays based on the classic, at 4 p.m. at Claremont Branch Library, 2940 Benvenue at Ashby. 981-6121. 

“Women’s Hormone Balance” Covering PMS, infertiltiy and menopause at 6:30 p.m. at The Redwood Clinic, 3021 Telegraph Ave. Reservations required. 849-1176. 

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, DEC. 22 

Nature Theater Sing-Along “Wintertime at Little Farm” a puppet show for the whole family at 11 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Working with Wool Watch the spinning wheel turn wool into yarn, try a drop spindle and make a felt ornament to take home at 1:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Family Workshop: Winter Ornaments from 1 to 4 p.m. at Mocha, Museum of Children’s Art, 528 9th St., Oakland. Cost is $7. 465-8770.  

Winter Solstice Gathering at the Interim Solar Calendar, Cesar Chavez Park, Berkeley Marina, from 4:15 to 5:15 p.m. Alan Gould, Lawrence Hall of Science, will lead a mini-workshop on the seasons. Dress warmly. www.solarcalendar.org 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market Holiday Crafts Fair at Civic Center Park with live music from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and handmade gifts by local craftspeople. 548-3333 . 

Berkeley High Crew 40th Anniversary Celebration from 8 a.m. to noon at the Jack London Aquatic Center. All alumni welcome. www.berkeleyhighcrew.org  

Sunset Walk in El Cerrito Meet the end of Rydin St. at 3:30 p.m. for an hour walk along the bay, on paved trail at Pt. Isabel. Bring binoculars and bird book to help identify hundreds of shore birds. Rain cancels. 234-8949. 

Plant Native Seedlings in partnership with East Bay Regional Park District from 9 a.m. to noon at Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline, Oakland. 452-9261, ext. 119. www.savesfbay.org 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden Sat. and Sun. at 2 pm. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

Around the World Tour of Plants at 1:30 p.m., Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wed. and Sat. at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

SUNDAY, DEC. 23 

Golden Gate Audubon Society Bike Trip in Arrowhead Marsh Meet at 9:30 a.m. at the Fruitvale BART. Bicycle helmet required. Bring lunch and dress in layers. 547-1233. 

Berkeley Hiking Club Hike on Mt. Tamalpais Meet at 9 a.m. at Berkeley Way and Shattuck for an 8 mile, moderately paced hike. Bring lunch and liquids. Heavy rain cancels. 649-9787. 

Toddler Nature Walk We’ll splash in puddles and poke in holes. Especially for 2-3 year oldsat 10:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

A Seasonal Family Celebration Come make greeting cards and simple gifts from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Materials fee is $5-$7. 525-2233. 

Family Workshop: Candy Cottages from 1 to 4 p.m. at Mocha, Museum of Children’s Art, 528 9th St., Oakland. Cost is $7. 465-8770.  

“Mrs Santa Claus” In person and on film at 1 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. 841-4824. 

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 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace Peace walk around the lake every Sun. Meet at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712. lmno4p.org 

MONDAY, DEC. 24 

Teen Book Club meets to discuss favorite tearjerkers at 4 p.m. at Claremont Branch Library, 2940 Benvenue at Ashby. 981-6121. 

Cancer Prevention and Survival Cooking Class on Planning Healthy Meals at 8:30 a.m. at Jefferson Elementary, 2035 40th Ave., Oakland. To register call 595-6445. 

Juggling for Peace Learn juggling and plate spinning at 11:30 a.m. in front of the Marine Recruiting Station, Shattuck Square. 524-2776. 

Simplicity Forum meets at 6:30 p.m. at the Claremont Branch of the Berkeley Public Library, 2940 Benvenue Ave. jcecil@chw.edu  

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 

Avatar Metaphysical Toastmasters Club meets at 6:45 p.m. at Spud’s Pizza. 3290 Adeline. namaste@avatar.freetoasthost.info  

CITY MEETINGS 

City Council meets Tues., Dec. 18, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900.  

Human Welfare and Community Action Commission meets Wed., Dec. 19, at 7 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5427.  

Design Review Committee meets Thurs., Dec. 20, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7415.  

The Shoe Pavilion in downtown Berkeley “isn’t going anywhere,” said Jill Seiler, operations manager for the Shoe Pavilion. The Daily Planet incorrectly reported that the store is closing in a story on Tuesday.

FRIDAY, DEC. 14 

CHILDREN 

“Alice in Wonderland” puppet show at 2, 4 and 6 p.m. at Children’s Fairyland, 699 Bellevue Ave., off Grand Ave., Oakland. Cost is $6. 452-2259. 

THEATER 

Altarena Playhouse “The Man Who Saved Christmas” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at Altarena Playhouse, 1409 High St., Alameda, through Dec. 16. Tickets are $17-$20. 523-1553. www.altarena.org 

Aurora Theatre Company “Sex” Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m. at 2081 Addison St., through Dec. 23. Tickets are $28-$50. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org 

BHS Drama and Shift Theatre “Noises Off” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Florence Schwimley Little Theater, Berkeley High Campus. Tickets are $6-$12. 332-1931.  

Berkeley Rep “After the Quake” at the Trust Stage, 2025 Addison St., through Dec. 21. Tickets are $33-$69. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Black Repertory Group “A Rasin in the Sun” at 8 p.m. at 3201 Adeline St., through Dec. 12. Tickets are $10-$20. 652-2120. 

Brookside Repertory Theatre “Hiliday Shorts IV” at noon at The Claremont, 41 Tunnel Rd. Tickets are $65-$75, includes lunch. 549-8512. 

Encore Theatre Company & Shotgun Players “The Shaker Chair” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m., at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., through Jan. 27. Tickets are pay what you can. 841-6500.  

Impact Theatre “A Very Special Money & Run Winter Season Holiday Special” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave., through Dec. 22. Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468.  

Masquers Playhouse “Little Mary Sunshine” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., selected Sun. at 2:30 p.m. at 105 Park Place, Point Richmond, through Dec. 15. Tickets are $18. 232-4031.  

EXHIBITIONS 

Touchable Stories “Richmond: The Story Continues” Fri. at 8 p.m., Sat. at 2 and 6 p.m. at Old Kaiser Cafeteria, Shipyard #3, 1303 Canal Blvd., Richmond. Cost is $6-$12. Reservations required. 619-3675. www.touchablestories.org 

Holiday Arts from 4 to 8 p.m. at ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. 843-2527. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

The Best of Actors Reading Writers “Serendipity” at 8 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. 932-0214. ricaisabella@yahoo.com 

Daniel Marlin and Janell Moon at 7 p.m. at Nefeli Caffe, 1854 Euclid Ave. 644-3977. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Ballet Theater “Nutcracker” Fri. at 7 p.m., Sat. at 2 and 7 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave., through Dec. 16. Tickets are $16-$22. 843-4689. 

The Venezuelan Music Project at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $13-$15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Mark Morris Dance Group “The Hard Nut” at 7:30 p.m., Sat. at 2 and 8 p.m., Sun. at 3 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32-$60. 642-9988. www.calperformances.net 

Holiday Gospel Extravaganza with Zoe Ellis, Caitlin Cornwell, Carmen Jones and Ashling Cole at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $14. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Farlow-Kirch Band, David Gans, Pat Nevins at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $12. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

TC Brewitz and Trio at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Rebecca Riots at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jeff Oster plays selections from his new CD “True” at 7:30 p.m. at Sacred Space Yoga Sanctuary at Rudramandir, 830 Bancroft Way. Tickets are $15-$20. 486-8700. 

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

El Capitan, Axton Kincaid, The Whoreshoes, bluegrass and country, at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Lifesavas, Pigeon John at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $10. 548-1159.  

Broun Fellinis at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

Chick Corea Elektric Band at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $40-$45. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, DEC. 15 

CHILDREN  

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Bonnie Lockhart at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $5 for adults, $4 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Boswick the Clown at 11 a.m. at Studio Grow, 1235 Tenth St. Cost is $7. 526-9888. 

“Children’s Theater Holiday Program” Sat. and Sun. at 12:30 and 3:30 p.m. at Children’s Fairyland, 699 Bellevue Ave., off Grand Ave., Oakland. Cost is $6. 452-2259.  

Bugs Bunny/Road Runner cartoons at 10 a.m. and noon, Sun. at noon at Elmwood Theater, 2966 College Ave. at Ashby. Benefit for local PTAs. 433-9730. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Of Ignorance and/or Mystery” A location-inspired project by Ken Fandell opens at Traywick Contemporary, 895 Colusa Ave. 527-1214. www.traywick.com 

“Robots are Art” Art show and contest at 6 p.m. at Float Gallery 1091 Calcott Place #116, Oakland. 535-1702. 

“Elegance and Simplicity” Mixed media group show. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Expressions Gallery, 2035 Ashby Ave. 644-4930. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

The Best of Actors Reading Writers “Serendipity” at 8 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. 932-0214. ricaisabella@yahoo.com 

Wilde Irish Productions “A Joycean Christmas” with readings from James Joyce’s masterpiece “The Dead” at 8 p.m. at Gaia Arts Center. Tickets are $25. 644-9940. 

West Coast Live with James Tipton, Ruth Gnedler and Lemony Snickett and Lisa Brown at 10 a.m. at Freight and Salvage. Tickets are $13-$18. 415-664-9500. www.WCL.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Pacific Boychoir Academy “Harmonies of the Season” at 7 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Ave., Oakland. 652-4722. 

Berkeley Ballet Theater “Nutcracker” Fri. at 7 p.m., Sat. at 2 and 7 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave., through Dec. 16. Tickets are $16-$22. 843-4689. 

Trio Concertino with Amy Likar, flute; Madeline Prager, viola; Miles Graber, piano at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. www.trinitychamberconcerts.com 

“Carols Around the World Concert” at 5 p.m. at first United Methodist church, 201 Martina St., corner W. Richmond Ave., Point Richond. 236-0527. 

Sacred and Profane Annual Holiday Concert, traditional and contemporary music for Swedish Lucia, Channukah and Christmas, at 8 p.m. at St. Leo’s Catholic Church, 176 Ridgeway Ave., Piedmont. Tickets are $12-$15. www.sacredprofane.org 

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

The Ravines at noon at Cafe Zeste, 1250 Addison St. at Bonar, in the Strawberry Creek Park complex. 704-9378. 

Brian Andres & the Afro-Cuban Jazz Cartel at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568.  

Christie McCarthy & Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $14. 841-JAZZ.  

Pellejo Seco at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cuban salsa dance lesson at 8:30 p.m. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

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

Moment’s Notice improvised music, dance and theater at 8 p.m. at Western Sky Studio, 2525 8th St. Tickets are $8-$15. 992-6295. 

Fred Odell and Bob Harp at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Flowtilla at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

Dave Gleason, 77 El Deora, The B Stars, alt country, at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082.  

SUNDAY, DEC. 16 

EXHIBITIONS 

“One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now” Guided tour at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft. Cost is $5.50-$9.50. 642-0808. 

Paintings by Julie Ross Opening reception at 2 p.m. at Poulet, Shattuck & Virginia. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra “Puccini’s Messa di Gloria” at 8 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison St. Free, donations appreciated. 

A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at 5:30 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way at Ellsworth. 845-0888. 

San Francisco Choral Artists “Glorious Sounds of Christmas” at 4 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Ave. www.stpauloakland.org 

Rebecca Rust, ‘cello and Friedrich Edelmann, bassoon at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. Cost is $10. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

Al Stewart at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $29.50-$30.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Mamadou Sidibe & Music Mali at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Tom Huber and Misisipi Mike at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Pappa Gianni & the North Beach Band at 2 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198. 

MONDAY, DEC. 17 

CHILDREN 

“Alice in Wonderland” puppet show at 2, 4 and 6 p.m. at Children’s Fairyland, 699 Bellevue Ave., off Grand Ave., Oakland. Cost is $6. 452-2259. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry Express with Jeanne Powell at 7 p.m. at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. 644-3977. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Yolanda and Ric, opera and lieder, 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. 548-5198.  

Classical at the Freight with San Francisco Chamber Orchestra at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. 

Dann Zinn at 8 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, DEC. 18 

CHILDREN 

Arlington Children’s Choir Holiday Concert, suitable for ages 3 and up, at 7 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 524-3043. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Tell on on Tuesdays Storytelling at 7:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Cost is $8-$12 sliding scale. www.juiamorgan.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Tom Rigney & Flambeau at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  

Singers’ Open Mic with Ellen Hoffman at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ.  

The Christmas Jug Band at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Brian Wood Ensemble at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave.. 548-5198.  

African Roots of Jazz, with E.W. Wainwright & Friends at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 19 

CHILDREN 

“Alice in Wonderland” puppet show at 2, 4 and 6 p.m. at Children’s Fairyland, 699 Bellevue Ave., off Grand Ave., Oakland. Cost is $6. 452-2259. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“A Christmas Carol” read by Martin Harris as Charles Dickens at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

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 

Oakland City Center Holiday Concert with West African Highlife Band at noon at 12th and Broadway, Oakland.  

Berkeley Akademie Ensemble Debut performance under direction of Kent Nagano and Stuart Canin at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley. Tickets are $60. 841-2800. www.berkeleysymphony.org 

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

Balkan Folkdance at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $7. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Ben Graves Quartet at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

Charlie Hunter at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $20-$24. 238-9200.  

THURSDAY, DEC. 20 

CHILDREN 

Music with Bonnie Lockhart for ages 3 to 7 at 7 p.m. at North Berkeley Public Library, 1170 The Alameda. 981-6250. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now” Guided tour at 12:15 and 5:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft. Cost is $5.50-$9.50. 642-0808. 

Patrick O’Kiersey “Selected Paintings and Drawings” Artist talk at 7 p.m. at the Craft & Cultural Arts Gallery, Atrium, State of California Office Bldg. 1515 Clay St., Oakland. 622-8190. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Lutsinga Musical Ensemble at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Greenbridge, Celtic trio, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Anna Estrada & Her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

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

Matthew Charles Heulitt Project, The Japonize Elephants at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $10. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

Dietsnakes at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277 

Tomas Saraceno is a visionary artist who aspires to bridge the gap between art and science. Knowledgeable about principles of physics, chemistry and architecture, he has made use of high technology to design cities in the air.  

On view at the Berkeley Art Museum are models of Flying Gardens/Air-Port-City, elliptical plastic pillows filled with air and bounded by elastic cords. In his lecture at the museum the Argentine-born artist, who works mostly in his Frankfurt studio, traced his models for aerial cities back to hot air balloons. He had already experimented with the possibilities of passive solar energy and built and flew the largest geodesic balloon ever built. 

For his aerospace vehicles he proposes to use a chemical called “Aerojet,” a gas which is only three times heavier than air and which is already being employed in the aerospace industry.  

There are important precedents to Saraceno’s work: Buckminster Fuller’s pivotal geodesic dome and the Cloud Nine experiments on the 1960s. Paolo Soleri’s Acrosanti buildings minimized the use of land and energy by building very tall self-sufficient structures, which were exhibited at BAM in 1971.  

Ant Farm, shown at BAM in 2004, proposed pneumatic inflatable structures, which were designed to challenge the hierarchies of land-built architecture to provoke users to take charge of the environment. In Germany Frei Otto built lightweight fabric constructions and experimented with pneumatic membranes for his tent-like structures. In England, a group of visionary architects, called Archigram, came forward with hypothetical projects of high tech, low weight structures, which were not bound to the ground.  

The models for Saraceno’s Flying Gardens are evocative sculptural forms, which look great in Mario Ciampi’s open museum space. Elizabeth Thomas, the museum’s Matrix curator, has mounted an exhibition that can motivate the viewer to ponder a new technological utopia. Utopias of a political nature have, as we know, brought about veritable disasters.  

Saraceno’s vision proposes a network of habitable structures that float in the air. Will the social intercourse of humans, we may ask, improve with altitude?  

Tomas Saraceno: Microscale, Macroscale, and Beyond 

Through Feb. 17, 2008 at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2575 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. 

www.bampfa.edu. 

Image: Tomas Saraceno’s installations are on display at the Berkeley Art Museum. 

Brookside Repertory’s Holiday Shorts IV, their annual anthology of short holiday-themed plays by Bay Area playwrights, directed by Robert Hamm in staged readings, will be performed this Sunday afternoon at the Ballroom of the Claremont Resort and Spa. 

“The holidays affect us in many ways, and these plays help set the mood for what we’re about to experience personally as the year draws to a close,” said Mae Ziglin Meidav, founder and artistic director of Brookside Rep. 

Six new plays by local playwrights are joined by two past favorites of Brookside Rep audiences: Tamales on Christmas Eve, by Stephen D. Gutierrez, director of the Cal State-East Bay Creative Writing Dept., and Mae Ziglin Meidav’s Chanukah Is Not the Jewish Christmas. 

The six new plays are Missing Mistletoe by Thomas H. Bryan, New Year’s Eve by Risa Nye, Invitation by Donna LaFlamme (a Berkeley chiropractor who’s taught high school drama in Oakland), Baby New Year by Hillary K. Hann, More Fun than the Battle of Hastings by Nancy Cooper Frank and Apples and Spice by Pam Gutman.  

In More Fun than the Battle of Hastings, set in the year 2007, a century-old bottle of pinot noir has the chance to ignite the forgotten pleasures of the early 21st century in a futuristic couple. Its playwright has been involved with Playwrights’ Cafe at the Gaia Center. 

Mae Ziglin Meidav’s Franz/KAFKA, which Subterranean Shakespeare produced at LaVal’s on the Northside in 1997, will be shown in a revised form this May at the Berkeley City Club. 

Robert Hamm, who directs the afternoon plays, is a well-known East Bay actor, director and playwright, lately artistic director of Alameda’s Altarena Theatre. He has appeared in productions by the Aurora, Wilde Irish and Virago, which has also produced Hamm’s dramatic work. 

The show is coproduced by The Club at the Claremont and has a buffet luncheon from noon-1:30 p.m., with the show from 1:45-4 p.m. Tickets are $75 with buffet (Theatre Bay Area and Club members $65); $30 for show only, validated parking included.  

For reservations, contact Katy Yong at 549-8512; for information e-mail mmeidav@brookside-art.org.

Siddhartha, the Bright Path, The Marsh Youth Theater production about the life of Buddha, which serves as a kind of alternative holiday show on several levels, opening this Saturday and playing through Jan. 6 at The Marsh in San Francisco’s Mission District, is the result of a collaboration set into motion by Berkeley’s Emily Klion, the creative roots of which trace back years ago to Mills College. 

Siddhartha tells the story of the young Indian prince “who had everything and gave it up, in order to find out what made people suffer,” said Klion. “He found it was through attachment to things. That’s a good message for the holiday season. We work at The Marsh Youth Theater with kids from diverse backgrounds, and all somehow feel if they have the newest iPod, the newest sneaker, they’d be content. What Siddhartha discovers is having things doesn’t relieve suffering, but increases it.” 

Told through acting, song and dance with a young cast of 24, ranging in age from 11 to 16 (including veteran of San Francisco Ballet’s Nutcracker Vishnu Balunsat in the title role, Jenna Huxley and Misha Brooks from Berkeley and Audrey Eileo from Oakland), the show incorporates Indian dance and Bollywood-style hip hop from three different choreographers (kathak dancer Joanna Meinl, Antonia Minnecola—wife of tabla drummer Zakir Hussein—for the more theatrical numbers, and Russell Wright of Berkeley’s Walden School for hip hop), and three composers (Klion, Lisa Quoresimo and Klion’s husband, jazz musician George Brooks.) 

Siddhartha was written by Klion, Quoresimo and longtime Bay Area trouper Danny Duncan, directed by Quoresimo with costumes and videography by another Berkeley resident, Susana Aragon.  

Klion spoke of it all going back to her days studying music at Mills with Terry Riley, Pandit Pran Nath and Lou Harrison.  

“I travelled with Lou’s gamelan and puppet show,” Klion recalled, laughing. “Dick Whittington and His Cats—I think I played a cat part! He first showed me how to put on a show, to use music to get something across. Then I went to India for a year on a Watson grant and saw how they used theater, comic books, all kinds of ways to teach their children Indian mythology. I decided I wanted to tell the myths of the world to children, who would enact them. I’ve worked at the Mills Children’s School, the S.F. Day School, Center Stage—and now direct The Marsh Children’s Theater. We started out seven years ago with 10 neighborhood kids, and now have over 250 citywide.”  

Siddhartha was first performed last May with a cast of 40. 

“The houses were overflowing with families and friends,” Klion said. “This time, we wanted to reach out to the community at large, to the general public, so held auditions for the first time. There are so many skilled kids, all with some sort of stage experience, a few from the S.F. School of the Arts. Many have the desire to become artists, and through this can look forward to the time when they’ll appear at The Marsh asadults. We’re a full-service theater place, from two year-olds doing creative movement, on up. We accept everyone, from whatever background and financial situation.” 

The story parallels that of the young Buddha with a Bay Area girl, Chandra, surrounded by gifts at her birthday, “who becomes aware of the suffering on the street around her, and gives away everything—gives up too much, in fact, and realizes, as Siddhartha did, that too much deprivation, like too much attachment, makes you unhappy. She sits down under a tree, which turns out to be the Bodhi tree, under which Buddha was tempted. It’s the one place she and Siddhartha meet. The temptations are shown in a video dance piece. We asked the kids, ‘What tempts you?’—and they all said, Money, computers ... lots of temptations out there to resist.” 

The show moves between “two feelings, Indian dance and Broadway showtunes and video, just as the music itself draws on ancient Indian as well as jazz and gospel. It shifts between two worlds. My husband, George Brooks, also studied with Pandit Pran Nath and Terry Riley, and went to India with me. He’s been involved in jazz fusion with Indian music. He cowrote some of the score, and also sprinkled in some of his own music throughout.” 

Being asked about harnessing the energies of all her collaborators, plus 24 kids “and their parents!” took Klion back to her days at Mills. 

“Learning pipe organ, playing a four-part Bach fugue with all your arms and legs taught me to think on many levels at once,” she said. “It’s been very rewarding work, with a good message for the holiday season—that, whatever your path, each one can change the world through enlightenment. A message of light.” 

SIDDHARTHA: the bright path 

Through Jan. 6, with matinees between Christmas and New Year’s Day. The Marsh, 1062 Valencia Street, San Francisco. Tickets: 800-838-3006, information 415-826-5750. 

Opening Night Benefit on Saturday, Dec. 15: $50-$100 sliding scale. 

Doors open at 6:00 p.m. for Indian hors d'ouvres and Silent Auction. Show begins at 7:30 p.m., followed by wine reception. 

Image: Contributed photo  

A scene from Siddhartha, the Bright Path at the Marsh in San Francisco.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a huge oak tree stood east of Shattuck Avenue near Strawberry Creek in old Berkeley. It was variously known as Gibbet Oak, Vigilante Oak, and Hanging Oak.  

A rumor persisted that in the 1850s a horse thief had been captured by ranchers who, wishing to return to their work and tired of waiting for the judge, tried the man themselves and hanged him from that tree. 

There was certainly a huge oak on that spot, probably hundreds of years old, but no one could confirm the hanging. William Waste, an early Berkeley resident who was the first member of the State Bar of California, a graduate of Hastings Law School, and a member of the State legislature who would become Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court, had never heard of the incident—and he was known as a local history buff.  

Clarence Merrill, son of Berkeley’s first druggist, Berkeley postmaster, and operator of the city’s first telegraph service for 30 years, said he had heard the story, but, from what he gathered as a boy, no one was ever hung there. William Warren Ferrier, a premier Berkeley historian and author, agreed with that conclusion. 

This slate of early Berkeley luminaries clearly disbelieved the story of the hanging. So where did it come from? While the origin of the story is unknown, it appears to have been recounted by one of the great editorialists and working-class heroes of early Berkeley—the expressman known in town as the “Boss Baggage Buster of Beautiful Berkeley,” John E. Boyd. In 1902, the Berkeley Gazette published a story written by Boyd in which Cloromeda Mendoza was hanged on this tree. The Gazette reprinted this story on Jan. 14, 1908. 

Interestingly, Boyd had perpetuated quite another myth about the tree many years earlier. This version of the story appeared on April 2, 1887, in the Berkeley Advocate in a letter to the editor: 

Talking to an old timer on the occasion of the recent trials in East Berkeley he gave me an account of the first trial ever held in what is now the town of Berkeley, and thinking that the story would be interesting to your readers I jotted down the particulars which are as follows: It appears that early in the year ’51 a warrant was issued by Judge Blake against a man named William Harding who resided on San Pablo avenue about where Duffy’s saloon now is [San Pablo Avenue near Folger Street], charging him with stealing hogs. The accused was arrested by a constable named Kellogg, and brought before Judge Blake at his residence in what is now known as the Poinsett house on Shattuck avenue, near Strawberry creek. A jury was quickly found and the court sat under the old oak tree which is still standing on the left of the railroad track. After the court was called to order, the prisoner pleaded “not guilty” and the jury impanneled. One of the jurymen announced that he was as dry as Strawberry creek and the prisoner at once offered to pay for the liquor if any person would go after it. The nearest gin and sugar establishment was at Temescal kept by Smith Bros. and a man known as “Whiskey Jack” volunteered to be the messenger if any one would lend him a “bronco.” The horse was soon ready two demijohns were hung in grain sacks, one on each side and the rider started with “Temescal and whiskey only 3 miles away.” Eager eyes watched for his return and soon a cloud of dust announced the looked for messenger. 

The demijohns were quickly brought forth and all hands took a hearty drink which was soon followed by another. The judge then proposed to proceed when one of the hilarious jurymen proposed that all the liquor be drank up and then they would not be “hankerin” after it. All hands agreed to the suggestion, the liquor was soon disposed of and the court started to resume business when one of the jurymen said that he be hanged if he ever sat on a jury without whiskey and he was not going to begin now. Another adjournment took place and the prisoner handed over seven Mexican dollars and Whiskey Jack was soon riding away for more “juice.” He quickly returned, another drink was taken and the business of the day resumed. Before the evidence was all in Whiskey Jack had made two more trips for supplies and about two o’clock in the afternoon the judge charged the jury who soon retired to deliberate. The jury room was under the other oak tree near the creek, each juryman first rolled his coat up for a pillow and after lighting his pipe lay down to deliberate. The prisoner, constable and spectators all picked out a soft place under the other tree and soon the majority were snoring. At this juncture Mr. Clark (who now and for many years past has been in the employ of Capt. Bowen) gave the prisoner a wink and pointed to the foothills. The prisoner took the hint and not waiting to take a formal adieu, or not liking to disturb the sleeping multitude, quickly crept away through the tall grass. He remained hidden in the hills for about two weeks, his hiding place being near the pile of rocks situated on what is now known as Capt. Boswell’s ranch, and being supplied with provisions by his friend Clark. After remaining in hiding a short time, a boat was procured for him and he made his escape to San Francisco. Many years have passed since the above occurance but I never pass the old oak trees without thinking of the story of the first court in Berkeley as told to me by an old pioneer.  

—John E. Boyd  

One possible explanation for the two differing stories told by the same John E. Boyd is that the later story was published at a time when many residents were attempting to save the tree from developers who planned to chop it down. In 1896, the city culverted Strawberry Creek, which had run down Allston Way, to make Allston Way a real street. The Berkeley chapter of the Native Sons of the Golden West offered to save the tree by donating an ornamental iron fence around it where it stood in the street by the southern curb, near where Eddy’s ice cream parlor later stood. It seems probable the later story was manufactured simply to save the tree. In the end, the developers won the fight. The tree was felled in 1908: 

Acting upon the order of Superintendent of Streets Turner two laborers were at work today cutting down the historic oak tree which has been standing since time immemorial on Allston way, a short distance from Shattuck avenue. This gnarled old tree was standing long before Allston way or even Berkeley was thought of and is the one oak in the uptown district which unites the past with the present. 

Out of a spirit of sentiment the tree has been left standing while all the other trees in the neighborhood have been destroyed. When Allston way was graded care was taken not to injure this tree and it stood unmolested until this morning. Then Turner gave his orders and the tree is now a thing of the past, not even a relic. Improvements are to be made on this street and it was found necessary to destroy this old landmark.  

Aye, cut it down, this old landmark 

Tis but a relic of the past; 

Though for ages it has stood 

The storm king’s wintery blast. 

What though it sprang from mother-earth 

Ere the white man reached this land, 

Before kind earth did yield its gold 

To the grasping Gringo’s hand. 

No matter if an outlaw met his death 

By Judge Lynch’s stern decree— 

No matter if the court was held 

Beneath the old oak tree. 

No matter of the statement made 

By one of Berkeley’s sages, 

No matter if the wise Le Conte 

Said, ’tis a relic of past ages. 

Aye, cut it down, ye ruthless sons 

Of Berkeley’s lovely clime; 

Aye, cut it down and burn it up— 

It has outlived its time. 

— Boyd, the Boss Crank of Berkeley, Berkeley Daily Gazette, Jan. 14, 1908 

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first of a three-part series featuring stories of forgotten Berkeley history excerpted from Richard Schwartz’s new book Eccentrics, Heroes, and Cutthroats of Old Berkeley. Schwartz has been writing California history books and giving talks for more than 20 years. His other books include The Circle of Stones: An Investigation of the Circle of Stones in Stampede Valley; Sierra County, California; Berkeley 1900: Daily Life at the Turn of the Century and Earthquake Exodus, 1906: Berkeley Responds to the San Francisco Refugees.  

Eccentrics, Heroes and Cutthroats of Old Berkeley is sold at local book stores, lumber yards, hardware stores, gift shops, movie theaters, and other local and online merchants. For a list of the locations where the book is available and information about Schwartz and his other books, see www.RichardSchwartz.info. 

The Planet will publish parts two and three of this series in upcoming issues. 

Image: Courtesy Berkeley Firefighters Association. 

This 1888 photograph of the area just east of Shattuck Avenue and Allston Way shows the hanging oak on the right. Strawberry Creek runs along along the bottom of the image.

Among the original Northside residences that survived the Berkeley fire of 1923, the Bentley House at 2683 Le Conte Avenue is one of the least assuming. Built in 1900 by the prominent Berkeley contractor and amateur artist A.H. Broad, this modest Dutch Colonial Revival residence is the quintessential “simple home” advocated by Charles Keeler in his 1904 book of the same name. 

Clad in unpainted shingles and strategically positioned at the crest of the hill, the house is sited at the center of its lot, surrounded by a garden that has always been informal, a graceful reminder of the Hillside Club’s Living with Nature ideals. 

The modest house accorded well with the personality of its first owner, the Rev. Dr. Robert Bentley, a leader of the Methodist Episcopal Church on the West Coast. 

Dr. Bentley purchased the lot in 1898 with the intention of building a retirement home. At the time, the family was living at 2210 Chapel St., near the First Trinity Methodist Church, located at Allston Way and Fulton Street (current site of Edwards Stadium), of which Dr. Bentley had been the pastor from 1892 to 1897. 

Reminiscing about Dr. Bentley in the 1980s, his grandson, the well-known printer, poet, calligrapher, and liberal arts professor Wilder Bentley (1900–1989), recalled that after a busy and peripatetic life, the minister had looked forward to a home of his own where he and his wife, Frances, could settle down in restful retirement. That hope was not to be fulfilled, as he lived only a few months in his new home, passing away on Sept. 28, 1900 after a brief illness. 

All the local newspapers devoted substantial space to Dr. Bentley’s obituary and funeral services, with the San Francisco Call outdoing its rivals in the bombast of its headline, “EMINENT DIVINE CLAIMED BY DREAD DESTROYER AT HIS BERKELEY HOME.” 

Robert Bentley was born in Cambridge, England, on May 6, 1836 or 1838 (accounts vary). He was the eldest son of the family. His father died when he was 12, and a year later the family came to America. He studied at Northwestern University and the Garrett Biblical Institute (now Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary) in Evanston, Illinois, and was licensed as a preacher in the annual Rock River Conference of the M.E. Church. 

Beginning his ministry in Chicago, Bentley married Frances Harvey in 1863. Their eldest son, Robert Irving, was born there in 1865. Three years later, they came to California and Dr. Bentley took charge of the Central Methodist Episcopal Church in San Francisco. Later he was pastor in Portland, Santa Barbara, Sacramento, Oakland, Alameda, and Berkeley. 

The U.S. census recorded the Bentley as living in San Francisco in 1870 (their second son, Charles Harvey, was born there the previous year) and in Sacramento ten years later. By 1880, the family had grown to include a third son—Edward, born in 1871—and a daughter, Mary, born in 1878. 

From 1886 to 1892, Dr. Bentley served as presiding elder of the M.E. Church’s Oakland district. After five years as pastor of Berkeley’s Trinity Church, he became presiding elder of the Sacramento district, territorially the largest in California. 

In 1891, Dr. Bentley founded the Fred Finch Orphanage (now the Fred Finch Youth Center) in Dimond, Oakland. He continued as its president until the end of his life. 

In September 1900, Dr. Bentley attended the California Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Pacific Grove, where he was appointed presiding elder of the Oakland District for the second time. Eleven days later, he was dead of either heart disease (according to the S.F. Call) or malarial fever (per the Oakland Tribune). 

At his memorial service, held on Sept. 30 at the Trinity Methodist Church in Berkeley, “the church was not large enough to hold the many friends who came to pay their last tribute of respect to the deceased,” reported the Tribune. 

Following Dr. Bentley’s death, his widow continued living on Le Conte Avenue. In 1904, she shared her home with the first African-American co-ed at the University of California. On February 8 of that year, The Berkeley Daily Gazette reported on its front page, “The first colored co-ed to register at the University of California is Miss Regina Crawford, whose home is in far away Meridian, Mississippi. [...] Miss Crawford is now staying at the home of Mrs. Robert Bentley, widow of the late Rev. Robert Bentley of the Methodist Church. She is being given employment by Mrs. Bentley and is thus enabled to support herself while carrying on her University work.” 

The Bentley sons were thriving in San Francisco. Robert Irving Bentley founded a fruit canning company, which his brother Charles, a Beta Theta Pi at Cal, joined following his graduation in 1891. In 1899, their company merged with seventeen others to form the California Fruit Canners Association, which used the Del Monte name as one of its many brands. 

In 1905, Charles Bentley’s wife died, leaving him with two young children. His mother joined them in Pacific Heights, leasing the Berkeley house to renters. When Charles remarried in 1909, Frances returned to Berkeley, living at various addresses. 

In 1920, Frances and her unmarried daughter Mary were lodgers in the old Henry boarding house at 2401 Le Conte Avenue, then run by Emma Greet. (The boarding house, built in 1897 by George Frederick Estey, burned in 1923. The University Christian Church now stands on the site.) At the time, Mary Bentley was working as a secretary at the YWCA. Ten years later, mother and daughter were living in a house they had purchased at 758 Contra Costa Avenue, near John Hinkel Park. 

Frances Bentley died in 1934, at the age of 94. Following her death, Mary returned to 2683 Le Conte Avenue, residing there until her own death in 1940. 

Perhaps the most interesting figure in the Bentley family was Harvey Wilder Bentley, the eldest of Charles H. Bentley’s children. Wilder (after his mother’s maiden name) graduated from San Francisco’s Lowell High School in 1918. He attended Yale University and the University of Michigan, then spent several years in Europe providing relief work with French war orphans and later traveling. 

Wilder married Ellen Mayo in 1927. In the late 1920s, he was at the University of Oklahoma, where his book The art of Laurence Pickett Williams (1930) was published. From 1930 through 1933, Wilder worked at Porter Garnett’s Laboratory Press at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, honing his skills in the craft of fine printing. In 1932, he became an honorary associate member of the American Institute of Graphic Arts. 

Having returned to Berkeley with their two young children, Wilder Jr. and Margaret (later Sevcenko), Wilder and Ellen settled at 1836 San Antonio Avenue. They found an old Acorn hand press that had been shipped around the Horn, bought it, and established a small publishing business, producing limited editions of finely printed books, portfolios, broadsides, scrolls, and cards. 

Their earliest publications were broadsides in the Acorn Series, beginning with Wilder’s own Excursion on the Bay and Unheroic couplets for the poets of New Albion (“Printed on the Acorn Press in the Thousand Oaks”). The following year, they began publishing under the Archetype Press imprint and opened a shop at Euclid Court, on the commercial block just north of the campus. Wilder taught Ellen how to set type, and it was she who did the typesetting and proofreading, in addition to sewing the books that Wilder designed. Their motto was “The fine printer begins where the careful printer leaves off.” 

One of the items Wilder “and his faithful spouse, Ellen” published at Euclid Court was N’en Parlons Plus!, Excerpts From Divers Papers & Chronicles of The Arts Club, 1937–1938. This 20-page folio was limited to 105 copies and issued for private distribution among members of The Arts Club and their friends. 

The Bentleys also printed William Saroyan’s A Native American (San Francisco: George Fields, 1938) in a limited edition of 450 copies, each signed by the author. By far the best-known book to emerge from the Archetype Press was Ansel Adams’ Sierra Nevada: the John Muir Trail (1938). In addition to being a photographic masterpiece, the book became a promotional tool on behalf of the Sierra Club’s campaign to establish a new national park on federally owned land in the Kings River Canyon region southeast of Yosemite: 

Ansel Adams sent a copy to Harold Ickes, secretary of the Interior. “The pictures are extraordinarily fine and impressive,” Ickes thanked him. He hoped that Congress would soon establish the park: “Then we can be sure that your descendants and mine will be able to take as beautiful pictures as you have taken—that is, provided they have your skill and artistry.” Ickes showed the book to his boss, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who kept it for himself. Kings Canyon National Park was established two years later. 

With the advent of World War II, the Bentleys closed the Archetype Press. The printing press was dismantled and stored in the basement of 2683 Le Conte Ave., which Wilder and Ellen had purchased from his aunt Mary’s estate. 

In addition to his printing activities, Wilder Bentley was a prolific poet, calligrapher, and brush artist. The Bancroft Library houses a large collection of his poetic output, practically all of it printed by the Archetype Press. In May 1943, the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco exhibited his brush drawings. 

After the war, Wilder Bentley returned to teaching. Between 1946 and 1956, he was professor of English and Philosophy at the College of the Pacific and Stockton Junior College, both in Stockton. In 1957, he was appointed professor at San Francisco State College, where he taught until his retirement in 1971. A former student described him as “a white-haired, elderly, enthusiastic expositor of the beauties and significance of American writing” who “was well-known in the college, if not beyond it, as one of those professors who is an inspiring catalyst for receptive students.” 

Following his retirement from teaching, Wilder dedicated himself to the epic poem The Poetry of Learning (Archetype Press,1975–85). A collection of 26 scrolls (some rolling out to about 15 feet in length), it was printed on an 1870s-issue Palmer & Rey “Washington”-type hand press in the basement of 2683 Le Conte Ave. 

Wilder Bentley passed away in 1989. His widow Ellen continued living at 2683 Le Conte Avenue until 1996, nearly a century since the Rev. Dr. Robert Bentley purchased the lot for his retirement home. 

Daniella Thompson publishes berkeleyheritage.com for the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA). 

Photograph: Daniella Thompson  

The Bentley House at 2683 Le Conte Ave. with a curved staircase leading to the street. 

Some of the best gifts I’ve ever received have been from people’s gardens.  

I got my first lemongrass from Beulah Stringer, when I lived just down the block from her. She was splitting her cluster, and handed me a nice hunk when I stopped to exclaim that Gee, that smelled and looked just like lemongrass. She used it for tea; I used it in Thai recipes. Over the years, we swapped seeds and starts and stories and I think the stories were the best things I got, along with her friendship.  

One thing she taught me was not to say “Thank you” for a plant. As she explained it, plants thrive better when they’re stolen, and by not quite acknowledging that you’ve received it as a gift you’re improving its chances. Beulah hails from Arkansas, on the other side of the state from my in-laws’ hometowns. When I checked her folk story out with my mother-in-law, she confirmed it, though I don’t remember her ever insisting on that bit of etiquette herself.  

I still have, if it hasn’t disappeared since the last time I looked, a walking onion left from the set that sweet innocent white-haired Auntie Ev smuggled here from Fostoria, Ohio. It’s also called “Egyptian onion,” and it “walks” because it bears a cluster of new bulbs on top of its stalk, which eventually bends with their weight so they come to rest and can take root on the ground at a strategic distance from the mother plant.  

Auntie Ev was someone else’s auntie officially, but we adopted her as ours too. Smuggling live plants rather shocked my sensibilities but I had to recognize the inherent heroism in the gift, as Auntie Ev had a serious allergy to onions, garlic, and their relatives. She couldn’t consume it herself and probably shouldn’t have been carrying it tucked into her bag, but she thought it was a plant of interesting habits. She was right, and it’s tasty too. 

I used to have a pine in a pot—not really a bonsai, because it was too tall. Too long. Too big in some dimension or other, maybe measured on the diagonal like a TV, anyway more than three feet from base to top and more like a bottle brush than a tree. I thought maybe I could make a bunjin bonsai out of it, as that form allows for eccentricities. 

Didn’t have the heart to part with it, even aside from the sentiment attached to it because I got it from a good friend and colleague. It was like that homely puppy in the litter who somehow just belongs in the household. I confess to keeping it more out of sight than on display, but that was mostly because it needed support on both ends. 

Time and happenstance have done for rather a lot of the living gifts I’ve received over the years. Still, though they’re mortal, a living gift grows and changes and develops and surprises long after the occasion’s over.  

I’m Bolted, I’m Ok? 

I’m hearing from way too many folks who have taken a peek in their crawl space, seen some bolts connecting their “mudsill” to their foundation, and are thinking “Oh, good, my foundation is bolted, I’ve got a retrofit.” 

A “bolted foundation” is NOT a retrofit. It is an essential ingredient of a retrofit, yes, but there is another ingredient (transfer ties) and very often a third (shear panels) which are also essential. If your foundation is bolted, it just means that the mudsill will probably stay put during a serious quake. The house, however, could very easily fall off the foundation. 

Be sure—have your retrofit checked.  

Make 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.

You’re in the last throws of the deal and it’s time for the home inspection. The inspector finds that the water heater is defective and needs replacement now. You’re a little upset, since you’ve just offered more money to buy this house than your parents have in their retirement fund. You expected the house to be perfect for that kind of money and you’re not about to shell out another dime.  

So, you ask the realtor to negotiate to have a new water heater installed prior to close of escrow. Being your diligent and obedient representative, he/she says fine, we’ll see if we can get them to put in a new water heater prior to closing of the escrow.  

Stop everything. Let’s run this scenario out to a likely conclusion before you choose this path. It is not unlikely that the seller will agree get this deal closed since it’s a relatively small item. But think about who they are likely to hire and what they are likely to buy … for you. Are they going to buy the best water heater on the market? Are they going to hire the top plumber in the field? Will they consider moving the water heater if that’s advised? Will they make sure it is placed on a stand, if this is advised or necessary?  

I can go on with at least another dozen considerations on this one kind of job, but you get the point. The seller, as fair and honest as they might be, is far more likely to get this job done fast and, well, let’s say economically. Of course, this is a broad generalization but I believe (with plenty of experience to stand upon) that this is, in fact, what happens the vast majority of the time.  

Any seller is likely to get the job done faster, cheaper, and with less consideration for long range consequences then you are as the new homeowner. The seller is not very likely to have a parental and deeply vested interest in the new owner’s well-being and that of the house beyond their ownership. With that in mind, who should be buying the water heater? Of course, it’s you the buyer.  

Now you can still seek additional funds from the seller. But you, the buyer will be using the money and getting the job done. This might mean adding some of your own money to the pot to get the best job done, but at least the seller’s money will be going to buy the better job, since you will be trying to get the best plumber you can afford as well as the best equipment. 

Another very good reason for you to be the buyer of any fixes that you feel are needed upon purchase of your new home relates to the nature of the contractual relationship between the client and the contractor.  

Let’s say that the sellers hire Joe the plumber and pay him to install the very finest water heater that mankind has yet to produce. He applies his greatest skill and makes a masterwork of installation that the city inspectors (three of them) come to see, bearing signatures, tags and words of great praise. The water heater works great. Everyone’s happy but surprise of surprises, the thing begins to leak from eight locations about 3 weeks after the sellers have moved to Malaysia. Not to worry, you have the name of the plumber and call him up.  

Joe (really a great guy) says how sorry he is but you are not his client and only his client can call in the warrantee. He’s right. You and Joe are not named in any contract as client and contractor and services on any piece of paper. Warrantees for roofs do transfer in the state of California but most workmanship does not transfer from one owner to another.  

If you attempted to take Joe to court to get him to come and repair his unconscionably bad workmanship, it is most likely that the judge would ask to see the contract for work and would find that you had not hired Joe at all and throw the case out.  

If, on the other hand, you asked for a cash sum or adjustment in the sale price of the house (or money held in escrow to pay for such a repair, which is a common tactic) you could hire your dear friend Joe and when the leaks began, you would be in a much better position to get him back to fix the repairs that you paid for. And if he turns out to be the scoundrel your cousin Vanessa said he was (they dated very briefly), you could take Joe to small claims and would likely find (remember to bring photos) that the Judge would like your case and force Joe to return some or all of your payment to him or force him to make good and fix the water heater properly.  

And here’s a word to the wise. If Joe is the one who screwed up you water heater in the first place, he might not be the best choice to come back and fix it. 

A final note regarding this whole issue of who gets the repairs done when houses change hands: Just a spoonful of money makes the escrow get done. When buyers request repairs as a requirement of closing, this sets the clock back as people start rushing about doing these repairs. Sometimes the repairs get done and get looked at and are disapproved and more time gets lost. Occasionally deals fall apart under theses circumstances. Mostly, it just leads to bad work and irritated buyers and sellers. So taking a sum of cash, or a cost adjustment or doing nothing at all may be preferable to receipt of this particular gift horse. 

Happy home hunting. 

FRIDAY, DEC. 14 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Christine A. Hastorf, Prof. of Anthropology on “Local Work and World Heritage: How Archeologists Work on the Ground to Learn About the Past as Well as to Protect it for the Future” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $14.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925.  

Conscientious Projector Film “Life in Occupied Palestine” at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar at Bonita. Donation $5-10. No one turned away. 528-5403. 

Teen Playreaders meets to read “Hamlet” and other plays based on the classic, at 4 p.m. at Claremont Branch Library, 2940 Benvenue. 981-6121. 

SATURDAY, DEC. 15 

Open The Farm Meet and greet the animals at the Little Farm in Tilden Park as you help the farmer with morning chores, from 9 to 10:30 a.m. 525-2233. 

Reptile Rendevous Learn about the reptiles that call Tilden Park home, at 1:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market Holiday Crafts Fair at Civic Center Park with live music from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and handmade gifts by local craftspeople. 548-3333 . 

Berkeley Artisans Open Studios Sat and Sun. from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Dec. 16. 845-2612. www.berkeleyartisans.com 

Celebrate a Muir Christmas at John Muir National Historic Site, 4202 Alhambra Ave., Martinez. Music from 10 a.m. to noon, 1 to 3 p.m., House tours at 10:30 and 11:30 a.m. and storytelling at noon and 3 p.m. Cost is $3. 925-228-8860. 

Chapel of the Chimes Historical and Botanical Tour at 10 a.m. at 4499 Piedmont Ave. Other events throughout the afternoon. RSVP to 228-3207. 

Create Your Own Card with an Origami Star at 2 p.m. in the Edith Stone Room, Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave., Albany. 526-3720. 

Family Workshop: Wrapping Paper and Gift Cards, Sat and Sun. from 1 to 4 p.m. at Mocha, Museum of Children’s Art, 528 9th St., Oakland. Cost is $7. 465-8770. 

The Phoenix Mars Mission A presentation by NASA educators. Demonstrations at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., lecture at 1 p.m. at Chabot Space and Science Center, 10000 Skyline Blvd., Oakland. Cost is $9-$13. 336-7373. 

SUNDAY, DEC. 16 

Berkeley Hiking Club Hike on Mt. Tamalpais meet at 8:30 a.m. at Berkeley Way and Shattuck. Bring lunch and liquids hike about 8 miles. Rain cancels. 492-0470. 

Women on Common Ground Make decorations for the Women’s Drop-In Center, and some for yourself also. Bring a pair of small hand clippers and a bag lunch if you plan on joining an early winter hike afterwards. From 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $15-$17. Registration required. 1-888-EBPARKS. 

Waterside Workshops Sustainable Holiday Event and Toy Making Workshop with hands-on activities, music, food, and fun for people of all ages. Learn how to make your own wooden toy, or sew up a fleece hat to keep your ears warm. All of our materials are from sustainable sources, and non-toxic. From noon to 5 p.m. at 84 Bolivar Dr. in Berkeley’s Aquatic Park. Sliding scale donation is requested. 644-2577.  

Women on Common Ground Early Winter Hike from 2:30 to 5 p.m. from the Tilden Nature Center to Wildcat Peak, returning to the Nature Center for a warm fire and hot cider. Registration required. 525-2233. 

Daniel Ellsberg on “Secrecy, Freedom, and the Spiritual Life” a on his spiritual life and the role of conscience at 10:30 a.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St, a block above MLK Jr. Way. 841-4824. 

Berkeley Artisans Open Studios from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Dec. 16. 845-2612.  

Community Labyrinth Peace Walk at 3 p.m. at Willard Middle School, Telegraph Ave. between Derby and Stuart. Everyone welcome. Wheelchair accessible. Rain cancels. 526-7377. 

Free Sailboat Rides from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Cal Sailing Club, Berkeley Marina. Wear warm, waterproof clothing and bring a change of clothes in case you get wet. www.cal-sailing.org 

“Chimes Winter Starscape” events from 10 to 5 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. 228-3207. 

“The Cross-Walk Walk” for war resistance, every Sun. at noon at the corner of Solano and San Pablo. Bring signs, ideas, young people. 

Tibetan Buddhism with Jared Baird on “The Value of Spiritual Retreat” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 809-1000.  

MONDAY, DEC. 17 

Public Hearing for the Helios Energy Research Facility, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 486-5183. 

Two-and-a-Quarter-Mile Monday Join a short but strenuous hike from shoreline to ridge in Miller/Knox, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Led by naturalist Meg Platt. Bring lunch, layers, and hiking poles. For meeting place call 525-2233. 

TUESDAY, DEC. 18 

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 Martin Luther King, Arrowhead Marsh. Call for meeting place and if you need to borrow binoculars. 525-2233. 

Cancer Prevention and Survival Cooking Class on Planning Healthy Meals at 8:30 a.m. at Fruitvale Elementary School, 3200 Boston Ave., Oakland. To register call 595-6445. 

End the Occupation Vigil every Tues. at noon at Oakland Federal Bldg., 1301 Clay St. www.epicalc.org 

Tai Chi for Peace at 1:30 p.m. in front of the Marine Recruiting Station, Shattuck Square. Open Sidewalk Studios at 3 p.m. 524-2776. 

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 always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 19 

War and Peace Book Group meets to discuss “Saturday” by Ian McEwan at 7 p.m. at Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 16. 

Cancer Prevention and Survival Cooking Class on Planning Healthy Meals at 8:30 a.m. at Cesar Chavez, 2825 international Blvd., Oakland. To register call 595-6445. 

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, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. Heavy rain cancels. 548-9840. 

Eay Does It Board of Directors Meeting at 6:30 p.m. at 1636 Univestiy Ave. 845-5513. www.easyland.org 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at at 6:30 p.m. at the Berkeley BART station. www.geocities.com/ 

vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, DEC. 20 

Winter Solstice Celebration Bring stories, poetry and music to share, and join a short walk to learn the solstice’s cultural history, at 4 p.m. at the Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. For ages 6 and up. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 1-888-EBPARKS. 

Teen Book Club meets to discuss favorite tearjerkers at 4 p.m. at Claremont Branch Library, 2940 Benvenue at Ashby. 981-6121. 

Cancer Prevention and Survival Cooking Class on Planning Healthy Meals at 8:30 a.m. at Jefferson Elementary, 2035 40th Ave., Oakland. To register call 595-6445. 

Juggling for Peace Learn juggling and plate spinning at 11:30 a.m. in front of the Marine Recruiting Station, Shattuck Square. 524-2776. 

Simplicity Forum meets at 6:30 p.m. at the Claremont Branch of the Berkeley Public Library, 2940 Benvenue Ave. jcecil@chw.edu  

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 

Avatar Metaphysical Toastmasters Club meets at 6:45 p.m. at Spud’s Pizza. 3290 Adeline. namaste@avatar.freetoasthost.info  

CITY MEETINGS 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board meets Mon., Dec. 17, at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers. 644-6128 ext. 113.  

City Council meets Tues., Dec. 18, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900.  

Human Welfare and Community Action Commission meets Wed., Dec. 19, at 7 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5427.  

Design Review Committee meets Thurs., Dec. 20, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7415.