C.J. McGowen, Berkeley Bait & Tackle owner, sells six or seven cases of beer a week. Under a City Council proposal—now under revision—he would have had to pay the same alcohol inspection fees as large grocers such as Andronico’s. Photograph by Judith Scherr.
C.J. McGowen, Berkeley Bait & Tackle owner, sells six or seven cases of beer a week. Under a City Council proposal—now under revision—he would have had to pay the same alcohol inspection fees as large grocers such as Andronico’s. Photograph by Judith Scherr.

Extra

Tune-Up Masters Condos Project Rises from the Dead

By Richard Brenneman
Friday January 18, 2008

Posted 1/21—Berkeley Design Review Committee members gave a qualified thumbs up Thursday night to plans for a controversial and long-delayed condominium project on University Avenue. -more-


My Diary of the New Hampshire Primary

By J. Harrison Cope
Friday January 18, 2008

Posted 1/20—Concord, New Hampshire, Thursday, Jan. 3, 8:30 a.m., 4°F. It’s hard to believe we actually get votes and elect presidents this way—standing on street corners waving signs and yelling, driving miles and walking miles and missing three dozen people, talking to a dozen more who aren’t even slightly interested just so we can talk to one or two people who might possibly, with a lot more coaxing and contact, be persuaded to vote our way. -more-


Albany Leads Opposition to Aerial Spraying in Alameda County

By Judith Scherr
Friday January 18, 2008

Posted 1/19—While Albany is preparing to take an aggressive stand in opposition to aerial spaying intended to eradicate the light brown apple moth—epiphyas postvitattana—Berkeley has adopted a wait-and-see attitude. -more-



Page One

Outrage Over Alcohol Inspection Fees Forces City to Halt Plans

By Judith Scherr
Friday January 18, 2008

Faced with some two dozen irate small business owners, the Berkeley City Council reversed itself Tuesday, backing away from a December decision to charge bars, restaurants and liquor stores $467 each year to inspect for -more-



City Council Questions, Approves Green Corridor

By Judith Scherr
Friday January 18, 2008

The mayors of Berkeley, Oakland and Emeryville, along with the UC Berkeley chancellor and the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, met under the TV cameras’ glare in early December to unveil the East Bay Green Corridor Part-nership. -more-



City Rejects University Plan For Third Fence At Oak Grove

By Richard Brenneman
Friday January 18, 2008

Berkeley city officials turned thumbs down on a request by UC Berkeley officials to build yet another fence surrounding the tree-sitters encamped near Memorial Stadium. -more-



Dellums Focuses on Oakland’s Crime and Violence in First State of City Speech

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday January 18, 2008

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums flipped the script in his first State of the City address Monday night—as the hip-hoppers like to say—focusing on policy recommendations for the coming year rather than on listing accomplishments for the old, and largely abandoning the rhetorical flourishes for which he is best known, replacing them with a more sober and businesslike recitation of details. -more-



Berkeley High Teachers Press District for More Space

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday January 18, 2008

Brandishing posters, placards and signs at the Berkeley Board of Education meeting Wednesday, more than 30 Berkeley High School teachers urged board members to construct the new classrooms approved for the high school by August. -more-



Features

Council Delays Decision to Place Warm Pool on November Ballot

By Judith Scherr
Friday January 18, 2008

Rebuilding Berkeley’s therapeutic warm pool hit troubled waters Tuesday, when a City Council majority balked at expressing its intent to place a bond measure for the pool on the November ballot without first having details on operational costs. -more-


Remembering Robert Ewing, Memorial Planned for Sunday

By Matt Cantor
Friday January 18, 2008

Last month, Berkeley lost one of the individuals who make Berkeley Berkeley. Robert “Bob” (to some) Kinzie Ewing passed on to the great atheistic beyond. He was 75. A Berkeley resident since 1957, Robert spent a quarter century among the “old men” at Peet’s on Vine and on “The Bench” at Fat Apples debating the Constitution, the press and human rights. -more-


Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Friday January 18, 2008

CELL PHONE ANTENNAS -more-


Commentary: Zoning Board Must Protect Rent-Controlled Housing

By Randy Shaw
Friday January 18, 2008

On Thursday, Jan. 24, the Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board will decide whether to allow the demolition of five sound rent-controlled housing units at 1923 Ninth St. and their replacement with condominiums. The case potentially represents a dangerous precedent in a city whose economic diversity depends on rent control, and whose single-family home prices have skyrocketed in recent years. The ZAB should follow San Francisco’s lead and only allow the demolition of sound rent-controlled housing when the units are replaced with new rent-controlled housing on-site, an outcome readily achievable at 1923 Ninth St. -more-


Commentary: Why Progressives Should Embrace Obama

By Thomas Long
Friday January 18, 2008

Appealing as Barack Obama’s politics of dialogue and inclusivity may be to the broader electorate, his non-confrontational rhetoric is troubling to some on the Left—people who are accustomed to having to do battle with corporate America for the reforms that will bring about economic and social justice. People like me. -more-


Editorial

Editorial: Remembering That the Prize is the Presidency

By Becky O’Malley
Friday January 18, 2008

Let’s build our dream candidate, shall we? Experienced, smart, African-American, from an immigrant family though born in the U.S.A., and female.....wouldn’t we all be proud to support that person, don’t we wish she were running this year? Well, folks, I’ve been there, done that, in 1972, no less. I was one of the core group (non-hierarchical, of course) who ran the Michigan primary campaign for Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, and it was a huge success: We got 5 percent of the vote. It was an enormously satisfying experience, right up until Richard Nixon was re-elected in a landslide vote. It’s all been downhill since then. -more-


Columns

Column: Dispatches From the Edge: Updating Two Stories: Desert Mirage, African Report Card

By Conn Hallinan
Friday January 18, 2008

Dispatches From the Edge is going to start off 2008 by revisiting two stories the column covered in 2007. -more-


Undercurrents: Ghost of America’s Racial Past Lies Uneasy in South Carolina

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday January 18, 2008

It should come as a surprise to no one—should it?—that the issue of race resurfaced in the Democratic primary campaign as soon as that campaign dropped down I-95 from the snows of New Hampshire to the sandhills and seashores of South Carolina. However it tries to escape or pretend otherwise, the Palmetto State continues to live in the long shadow of the slaverytime plantations. -more-


The Sunset ‘Idea House’ Opens for a Peek This Month

By Steven Finacom
Friday January 18, 2008

For many years the Bay Area-based Sunset Magazine, self-described “magazine of Western living,” has been sponsoring “idea houses” in partnership with builders and manufacturers. -more-


Quake Tip of the Week

By Larry Guillot
Friday January 18, 2008

My Quake Resolutions... -more-


Garden Variety: A Walk in the Woods, or Not

By Ron Sullivan
Friday January 18, 2008

A few years ago, Joe and I got a tour of Garvan Woodland Gardens, a newish botanical garden in Hot Springs, Arkansas, courtesy of Uncle Leonard and Aunt Evelyn. We were all toted around in a golf cart, and a docent told us about the origins and current state of the garden, about the plants and other features we were seeing. -more-


Arts Listings

Arts Calendar

Friday January 18, 2008

Around the East Bay

Friday January 18, 2008

ReOrient Festival Showcases Mid-East Short Plays

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Friday January 18, 2008

Memorial for Jack Tucker Saturday

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Friday January 18, 2008

Events Listings

Berkeley This Week

Friday January 18, 2008

Back Stories

Opinion

Editorials

Editorial: Remembering That the Prize is the Presidency 01-18-2008

Editorial: So You’d Like to Hear More About BRT? 01-15-2008

Public Comment

Letters to the Editor 01-18-2008

Commentary: Zoning Board Must Protect Rent-Controlled Housing By Randy Shaw 01-18-2008

Commentary: Why Progressives Should Embrace Obama By Thomas Long 01-18-2008

Letters to the Editor 01-15-2008

Commentary: Implement Area-Wide Traffic Calming in 2008 By Michael Jerrett 01-15-2008

Commentary: Bus Rapid Transit Means More Convenience, Less Global Warming By Roy Nakadegawa 01-15-2008

Commentary: How to Make Berkeley Pure Green By Fred E. Foldvary 01-15-2008

News

Tune-Up Masters Condos Project Rises from the Dead By Richard Brenneman 01-18-2008

My Diary of the New Hampshire Primary By J. Harrison Cope 01-18-2008

Albany Leads Opposition to Aerial Spraying in Alameda County By Judith Scherr 01-18-2008

Outrage Over Alcohol Inspection Fees Forces City to Halt Plans By Judith Scherr 01-18-2008

City Council Questions, Approves Green Corridor By Judith Scherr 01-18-2008

City Rejects University Plan For Third Fence At Oak Grove By Richard Brenneman 01-18-2008

Dellums Focuses on Oakland’s Crime and Violence in First State of City Speech By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 01-18-2008

Berkeley High Teachers Press District for More Space By Riya Bhattacharjee 01-18-2008

Council Delays Decision to Place Warm Pool on November Ballot By Judith Scherr 01-18-2008

Remembering Robert Ewing, Memorial Planned for Sunday By Matt Cantor 01-18-2008

Berkeley High Teachers Press BUSD For More Space By Fall By Riya Bhattacharjee 01-15-2008

Sunset San Francisco “Idea House” Opens to the Public This Month By Steven Finacom 01-15-2008

Council Heads Back To Drawing Board for Alcohol Inspection Fees By Judith Scherr 01-15-2008

For the Love of the Dog By Jill Posener, Special to the Planet 01-15-2008

Green Corridor Goes to Council By Judith Scherr 01-15-2008

Liquor Inspection Program Worries Business Owners By Richard Brenneman 01-15-2008

Threatened Lawsuit Targets Lab Runoff Contaminants By Richard Brenneman 01-15-2008

Oakland Hosts Workshop on Mortgage Crisis By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 01-15-2008

Berkeley Man Slain at San Rafael Club By Richard Brenneman 01-15-2008

AC Transit Contract Still in Negotiation, Union Members To Hold Strike Vote By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 01-15-2008

The Pleasures of Berkeley’s Fourth Street By Dorothy Snodgrass, Special to the Planet 01-15-2008

The Wonders of Oakland’s Lake Merritt By Marta Yamamoto, Special to the Planet 01-15-2008

Walking Every Street in Berkeley By Jennifer English, Special to the Planet 01-15-2008

Path Wanderers Leave No Carbon Footprint By Sandra Friedland, Dale Miller and Susan Schwartz, Special to the Planet 01-15-2008

Enjoy a Day of Fun at Alameda’s Crown Memorial Beach By Marta Yamamoto, Special to the Planet 01-15-2008

The Joys of Piedmont Avenue By Joe Kempkes, Special to the Planet 01-15-2008

Columns

Column: Dispatches From the Edge: Updating Two Stories: Desert Mirage, African Report Card By Conn Hallinan 01-18-2008

Undercurrents: Ghost of America’s Racial Past Lies Uneasy in South Carolina By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 01-18-2008

The Sunset ‘Idea House’ Opens for a Peek This Month By Steven Finacom 01-18-2008

Quake Tip of the Week By Larry Guillot 01-18-2008

Garden Variety: A Walk in the Woods, or Not By Ron Sullivan 01-18-2008

Column: No Butts, Said the Pregnant Lady By Susan Parker 01-15-2008

Wild Neighbors: Squirrels Vs. Snakes: The Snakeskin Treatment By Joe Eaton 01-15-2008

Arts & Events

Arts Calendar 01-18-2008

Around the East Bay 01-18-2008

ReOrient Festival Showcases Mid-East Short Plays By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet 01-18-2008

Memorial for Jack Tucker Saturday By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet 01-18-2008

The Sunset ‘Idea House’ Opens for a Peek This Month By Steven Finacom 01-18-2008

Quake Tip of the Week By Larry Guillot 01-18-2008

Garden Variety: A Walk in the Woods, or Not By Ron Sullivan 01-18-2008

Berkeley This Week 01-18-2008

Arts Calendar 01-15-2008

The New Year of East Bay Theater By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet 01-15-2008

‘Love, Grandma’ — Letters in Print By Dorothy Bryant, Special to the Planet 01-15-2008

East Bay Symphony Unveils ‘Sounds of China’ Program By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet 01-15-2008

Wild Neighbors: Squirrels Vs. Snakes: The Snakeskin Treatment By Joe Eaton 01-15-2008

Berkeley This Week 01-15-2008