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. -more-

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. -more-

“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. -more-

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

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. -more-

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. -more-

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

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

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

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. -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

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

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

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

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. -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

“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. -more-

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.) -more-

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. -more-

ROSS AND OTHER STORES -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

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.” -more-

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

BIOFUEL / KANDY’S -more-

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? -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

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.) -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

Some of the best gifts I’ve ever received have been from people’s gardens. -more-

I’m Bolted, I’m Ok? -more-

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. -more-

TUESDAY, DEC. 18 -more-

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. -more-

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.” -more-

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. -more-

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.) -more-

TUESDAY, DEC. 18 -more-

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. -more-

FRIDAY, DEC. 14 -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

Some of the best gifts I’ve ever received have been from people’s gardens. -more-

I’m Bolted, I’m Ok? -more-

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. -more-

FRIDAY, DEC. 14 -more-