Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Friday February 22, 2008

SAYING THANKS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

On Wednesday, Feb. 13 I fell on my face (literally) at the corner of Martin Luther King, Jr. Way. Within seconds there were half a dozen people of every description asking if I was okay and offering to give help. I’d like to say “Thank You!” to them, especially the (female) postal worker and “Paul” who had a handy Band-Aid. 

It’s nice to know that with all the (fill in words of your choice), that there is a bedrock of kindness in Berkeley! 

Nancy Yates 

 

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CONSEQUENCES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

A serious unintended consequence has been ignored in recent discussion. Well over 100 million citizens will vote in the upcoming election, nearly half of them registered Republicans. Of those, there are many millions who are disenchanted by the Bush years and may consider defecting to the Democratic candidate. But members of the City Council have created a national scandal and focused nationwide ridicule and resentment on the irrationality and irresponsibility of the radical left, and have surely pushed millions of those undecided voters firmly back into the Republican camp. The rash fools who provoked this debacle should be booted off the council. 

Jerry Landis 

 

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CORRECTION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In my letter published Feb. 15, a reader pointed out an egregious typo I made in my letter. The proper Article and Section of the Constitution referring to the responsibility of Congress to raise an army is Article I, Section VIII, not Section VII. 

Katherine Brakora 

 

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SWINTON’S INSPIRATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Bob Burnett calls this year’s crop of Oscar-nominated movies a collection of downers, with the lone exception of the teen pregnancy epic Juno. However, among the drab tales of oppressors and psychos there is one role which should be a joy to watch for the typical reader of the Daily Planet. 

Tilda Swinton in Michael Clayton was good enough to earn herself an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. It is her first Oscar nomination in 20 years of movie making. What did Swinton do to distinguish her character this time? She plays a ruthless murderous corporate lawyer, a character so uptight she calculates every breath she takes, every variation on eyebrow position, every well placed hair on her head, and she walks with every step perfectly placed, right up to her utter downfall at movie’s end, and according to an article about Swinton on the Internet, she said she modeled her role after Condoleezza Rice. 

Ted Vincent 

 

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THE FASCIST FACTION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

That letter by Chuck Heinrichs was excellent—right on! I wasn’t happy about telling the Marines that they are unwelcome, but I sure am glad that Code Pink is making some noise about the war. I’m especially glad that Berkeley is annoying the flag-waving fascist faction. 

Steve Geller 

 

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ACCEPTING RESPONSIBILITY? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I would like to address an argument made by a number of folks in the media and made last night at the Berkeley City Council Meeting. The argument goes: “Support the troops because it is the government’s responsibility for the unjust war.” I think this denial of troop responsibility is a denial of their conscience, and thus, their dignity. They exercise this conscience when they generate the habits that create the kind of person they become, when they chose to enter the military, and when they continuously chose to sustain their participation in an immoral and unjust war. The troops as persons are responsible. We might say they have less responsibility then government leaders, but they still have a level of responsibility, which is sufficient to be judged for participating in immoral and unjust activity, such as Iraq.  

The devaluing or denial of troop responsibility manifested itself last night at the Berkeley City Council. There was general consensus that the war is unjust and they did a better job articulating the depth of the injustice. Yet, they were unwilling to hold the Marine institution and the individual troops sufficiently responsible. In turn, they buckled somewhat to the “support the troops” mantra and affirmed a right of the Marines to recruit in Berkeley. I respect the troops as persons and acknowledge the kind of courage it takes to risk one’s life, but I think we fail them and ourselves when we insist on “supporting” their immoral and unjust choices. This failure is implied when we insist on “supporting the troops” while they fight an immoral and unjust war.  

I wonder how many of those who deny the personal responsibility of troops tend to simplify poverty and argue the poor are personally responsible for their situation? There’s much more which could be said, but I will leave it here for now.  

Eli S. McCarthy  

 

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DEMONSTRATION REPORT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Riya Bhattacharjee’s recent report on the demonstration was, as usual, completely one-sided. The cops are bad, the radical left-wingers are good. The event was completely nonviolent until the Berkeley High School students arrived with their colors. But the problem was the cops, right? Horseshit. Beware, the citizens are catching on. 

Peter Bjelda 

 

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BUS RAPID TRANSIT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thanks for quoting me about AC Transit’s misnamed Bus “Rapid” Transit proposal (“BRT, Parks, Southside Evoke Heated Response,” Feb. 15). But to clarify one detail: 

I called on Berkeley’s Planning Commission to reject BRT not because BRT isn’t “clean rail” technology. We already have clean rail: it’s called BART. It runs just one to six blocks beside AC Transit’s crazy proposed route. It’s faster, with lower fares for comparable trips. Its capital costs are already paid for. Its operator is more financially solvent. And it has ample excess capacity. 

AC Transit simply should not be allowed to waste $400 million duplicating the BART tracks. Their own consultants predicted that BRT on this route would offer only “negligible” environmental benefits. Light rail beside BART would waste even more money. 

AC Transit could benefit Berkeley by instead routing BRT to extend the BART network. BART-bypassed areas, like the I-680 and I-580/MacArthur corridors, send lots of cars into Berkeley every day. 

AC Transit could benefit the environment by abandoning its Telegraph BRT boondoggle, and instead replacing its conventional diesel buses with a more efficient and cleaner-fueled fleet. 

When I recently visited Toronto, half the buses I saw going by were hybrids. These were genuinely “low-floor” buses: They had low-mounted seats, which mobility-impaired passengers could easily get to and from. (Unlike AC Transit’s despised Van Hools.) 

The nameplates said “Orion,” a Daimler subsidiary with factories near Toronto. Toronto’s transit buyers evidently aren’t joining AC Transit in bankrupting their system through bus-buying sprees in Belgium, on Van Hool-financed junkets. Buy local, dudes. 

Michael Katz 

 

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BERKELEY NAACP PROTESTS MURDER OF ANITA GAY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The Berkeley branch of the NAACP is appalled by this senseless act of murder perpetrated against this African American female by the Berkeley Police Department. The citizens of Berkeley are outraged as a result of this cowardly act of murder of an African American female by the Berkeley Police Department. The police are trained at the academy on how to disarm and subdue a person advancing on them without a firearm. It is clear that they cannot think clearly in a crisis. Certainly in the case of this female who was not advancing on the officer with a knife, a non-lethal method of apprehension could have been applied. However, it is apparent that the only thing in the mind of a Berkeley Police Officer is to kill, especially any African American that they can. The baton, a rubber bullet, or mace should have been used instead of a lethal shot in the back to kill. 

It is clear that the Berkeley Police are afraid of the citizenry. Therefore, they should be removed from the force of the Berkeley Police Department. Their armed position and their badges give them the edge and the right to kill at will. We vehemently protest and demand an end to the brutal method of operation by the Berkeley Police Department. They are trigger happy and eager to commit murder in the name of the law and they believe they are above the law. 

We are calling for a federal investigation to determine whether the civil rights of Anita Gay were violated. This latest incident further exacerbates the tensions between the police and the African American community. We have recently witnessed on television how African American law enforcement agents use cruel and unnecessary acts of violence against the disabled. This incident sends a clear message to the neighborhood. Not only will the police kill young African American males and females, but they will also kill your mother and your grandmother. Upon the investigation of the perpetrator we are calling for his immediate removal from the Berkeley Police Department and that he be arrested for the murder of Anita Gay. 

Allen Jackson 

President, Berkeley Branch, NAACP 

 

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GUN BUYBACK A BIG FLOP 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Gun buybacks seem to be a much-touted (recently, by Don Perata) measure that people hope will reduce crime in Oakland. Think so? Let me tell you some of the facts about the recent gun buyback in Oakland on Feb. 9. A lot of guns were being brought to the buyback: so many were being sold that the Oakland Police Department ran out of money, and Oakland Chief of Police Tucker had to leave early and quickly from Jane Brunner’s Feb. 9 advisory meeting on crime in North Oakland to try to get more funds for the guns. But wait and hear more: Who was bringing in the guns? Not the criminals. They don’t sell their guns. Sure, a few elderly people and others who weren’t really using their guns, decided to bring them in. But according to three Oakland police officers I met with in a community meeting recently, very many of those selling guns didn’t live in Oakland. Some came from Livermore. Others came from Nevada. Some people had dozens of guns to sell. What’s up? They were collectors, or junk dealers, who saw the gun buyback as a great way to get a guaranteed $250 each for their $25 or 50 piece of crap guns that they probably couldn’t sell to anyone anywhere. So Oakland gave out a lot of money for a lot of junk that came from out of state or out of county and had zilch to do with crime in Oakland. The big anti-gun crime prevention measure simply became a way for non-Oaklanders to profit off of our foolishness.  

Time to get a new plan to end crime in Oakland.  

Deborah Cloudwalker 

Oakland 

 

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WILLIARD SCHOOL STORY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

What are we to make of your story about the assistant principal at Willard? This woman seems to have taken action to deal with rampant marijuana abuse at the school. Somebody should. 

Are we to believe that the police would deal with the problem? I doubt the Berkeley Police Department has time or interest in setting up a “sting” to catch these potheads.  

Her methods may have been unconventional, but it’s hard to argue with her intent. Someone give her a medal; everyone else should get off her back. 

Carlos Machina 

 

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CITY-MARINES STORY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In Tuesday’s Daily Planet, Judith Scherr reported on the Marine Recruiting Station action Friday by World Can’t Wait, and the horrific overreaction by the Berkeley Police Department. When the police asked us to take signs off the MRS windows at the Marines’ request, CodePink took down their beautiful valentines to the Marines. WCW did not comply, forcing the police to enforce the law. But when the police cordoned off the street and moved in against the group clustered on the sidewalk, they used unnecessary force and hurt people, including young high school students. 

Judith’s article mentioned Robert Young, an army vet, who was holding a sign protesting Berkeley’s decision to ask the recruiters close down their office. I had a wonderful conversation with Robert. The police pushed Robert too, and his sign was knocked to the ground. CodePink Women for Peace has good relationships with authorities: the San Francisco and Berkeley police, Capitol police in D.C., Secret Service guarding Nancy Pelosi, others. We cooperate with them, but don’t give up our civil rights. WCW views the police with suspicion, and expects them to behave badly. Reminds me of the protests in the ’60s, when battles with police eclipsed ending the war. 

In recent memory, I have not seen the Berkeley police act as they did on Friday and at last week’s 24-hour peace-in at Old City Hall. My dealings with the BPD have been respectful and friendly. My opinion of our police force is changing. I filed a complaint with the Police Review Commission because an officer pushed me without even giving me a chance to move first. I hope that the people knocked to the ground and hurt by the police last Friday will file complaints. What’s happening here? When did our police turn into bullies and thugs? Those words are not too strong to describe what I’ve experienced lately. The police arriving at the MRS in huge groups don’t look like Berkeley police to me. Is this change in behavior connected with our new Police Chief? 

I’m sending this letter to the chief of police, Police Review Commission and City Council, hoping they take action to stop this behavior. Nothing going on at the MRS justifies the way the police have behaved. Finally, some officers haven’t participated in these violent actions. I want to thank them for using restraint and respecting our free speech rights and us. They are the true face of the Berkeley police, who have a well-deserved reputation as being true public servants and valued members of our community. 

Cynthia Papermaster 

 

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WHAT IS LIVABLE? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In her last column, (“Mary Dean Owes Me Three Bucks,” Feb. 19), Susan Parker describes a recent community meeting with Children’s Hospital Oakland officials who apparently still intend—in spite of the decisive rejection of their plan by the voters—to build a new 12-story tower in a residential neighborhood. Ms. Parker notes that during the meeting, Mary Dean, senior vice-president of Children’s Hospital, chose to don a neighborhood-produced “Livable Oakland” T-shirt and wore it for the remainder of the event. Ms. Parker expresses confusion about Dean’s reasons for doing this, and states that “no one at the meeting understood why she was wearing it.” Does Ms. Parker mean to suggest that 12-story towers in residential neighborhoods somehow detract from their livability? 

Ha! It’s obvious that she has not spent much time in Berkeley lately—because high-rise towers are exactly what our own pro-development lobbying group, Livable Berkeley, would love to see everywhere within a half-mile of any major thoroughfare or transit route. That means they want to put them pretty much all over town—except, of course, within their own protected neighborhoods. To them, as to Children’s Hospital, the privileged few should be able to retain their quality of life, but the less-powerful should be forced to give up all expectations of sunlight, clean air, views of the sky and hills, trees, privacy, parking spaces, and any semblance of peace and quiet for the rest of their lives. 

These “smart growth” zealots are very happy to build things that destroy the lives of others, as long as they do not have to live anywhere near them. If anything like that is ever proposed for their own neighborhoods, you better believe that they are adamant in their desire to protect their quality of life—and how dare anyone suggest that they are being selfish! This breathtaking level of arrogance and hypocrisy has served to discredit the notions of “Livable Berkeley” in the eyes of a growing number of community members in Berkeley. 

Not that I mean to discourage Mary Dean in her choice of attire. In fact, she really should stop by the Livable Berkeley office. I’m sure they would be happy to give her a free T-shirt. 

Doug Buckwald  

 

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DEVELOPMENT — ALL ABOUT EASY LENDING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Your Feb. 15 coverage of the density bonus discussion at the Planning Commission was most interesting. Developer Chris Hudson of Hudson/McDonald was quoted, regarding future development in Berkeley: “There’s no money, and there is a slowdown in demand” (slowdown would be an understatement). 

When there’s no money and little demand for an activity, it’s time to consider ceasing that activity—the bubble years were very good for developers, but they are over. 

I have been avidly reading about the housing bubble for more than three years, and therefore knew that it was fueled by cheap credit—and that it would end badly. Apparently, whenever lending is cheap and abundant, developers build like crazy regardless of need. Since the projects are owned under limited liability corporations, failed projects are no skin off developer noses—after all, it’s not as though they were using their own money. 

While farmland was paved for McMansions all over California, Berkeley residents were being guilt-tripped into accepting “smart growth.” It was actually exceedingly dumb growth—five-story stucco boxes littering the terrain, for rent or for sale, many of them leaking due to construction flaws. 

More superfluous stucco boxes are in the approval process, at least two planned by Hudson/McDonald. Early in 2006, H/M purchased the Drayage Building, which had been a thriving environment for approximately 30 artists until they were evicted for phony “code violations.” One of the evictees summed it up with sadness, “West Berkeley has lost one of its coolest things.” The plans are for a five-story condo box. 

Upon purchase, H/M demolished the Drayage building, cleansing the property of Special Assessment property taxes, (city taxes based on square footage of the structures). The site is now home to a chain-link fence, vivid graffiti, and three empty H/M sign stands (only one still upright), while lending and demand for condos are virtually dead. It appears that we may have lost 30 artists, an interesting structure, and the city tax revenue it generated—for nothing at all. 

Gale Garcia 

 

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LIQUOR LAWS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In his letter in the Jan. 25 edition, John Vinopal asks “why not have concerned citizens call the city to report sidewalk drinking or perceived sales to minors?” Answer: We should and many have and that would be enough if this system worked. It is not working. The city’s nuisance ordinance BMC 23B64 is supposed to allow the city to “solve” any nuisances created by liquor stores or others. This requires that neighbors make complaints to the city, call the police, document times, dates and places the nuisance occurred, and testify at Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB), City Council meetings and/or other proceedings. This is all very public and makes neighbors a target for retaliation. 

Take the example of Dwight Way Liquors, which was a problem for 15 years. After years of complaining to no avail, neighbors organized large shows of community concern, they would show up at the ZAB and City Council meetings 30 strong. Still, it took years and many of them spent hundreds of hours to get the city to shut it down. At least three families moved away because of the nuisance created by this one store. 

Alcohol is the number one problem drug in the world. The police, medical, and other costs to the public, far exceed that of all other drugs combined. Alcohol requires a special license and land use permit to sell it. The state’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control provides monitoring and enforcement, but politics and budget cuts have greatly reduced the ability of the ABC to protect the public. According to the ABC, the Oakland district covers all of Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco San Mateo and Solano counties with a total of 10,455 licenses. This district is allocated 13 sworn officers. One is an administrator, two are supervisors, two are still in the academy and three positions are unfilled. 

It is our contention that the ABC cannot effectively enforce all the regulations for us, that the general public does not have the necessary expertise or time to deal with problem alcohol outlets. Nor should they be forced to risk retaliation. Instead of the current adversarial system, what is needed is a small, dedicated, well-trained staff to deal with these problems administratively. If we want any real enforcement of some very reasonable laws the city will have to do it, and it should be paid for by those who make money from the sale of alcohol. 

Ralph Adams 

Berkeley Alcohol Policy Advocacy Coalition (BAPAC) 

 

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PACIFIC STEEL LAYOFFS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Pacific Steel Casting is misrepresenting the reason for its recent layoffs. The layoffs were caused by market forces. 

The lack of demand for steel in the United States has not translated into a larger available supply, because the demand in Europe and particularly in China and India is very strong. The global demand for steel is blowing up the price of steel inputs in a time when U.S. enterprises are already reluctant to spend. Many steel fabricators have had their stock prices fall 25 percent in the last two months. The ones that are doing well are the ones with operations where the demand is. This is also a time of great consolidation for the steel industry, where small outfits are being snatched up by steel mega-companies, and this indicates that small operations like PSC are having trouble competing with the big ones. 

PACCAR, the heavy truck manufacturer that does not want to do business with PSC any more, saw a 45 percent loss in United States and Canada sales from 2006 to 2007. Demand for goods in the U.S. has slowed, and the high price of fuel is moving the transportation of goods from trucks to trains and ships. 

The possibility of revising PSC’s use permit could result in a loss of jobs. The union’s job is to protect and represent the workers, and they should have been working with the company for the last several years to make sure it never came to this. If the company refuses to work with the community and puts the workers’ jobs at risk, the union should help its workers find employment elsewhere. 

I hope that the company and the union work in good faith to resolve this issue. 

Ken Geis 

 

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VIOLENCE, PEACE, JUSTICE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

We have too long permitted the thugs to tell our tale. 

Behavior we would universally condemn on any playground has become our national ethic. Our appetites are legendarily voracious: with but a rough tenth of the world’s population, we consume a quarter, a third, a half, or more of one vital resource after another. Were kids on a playground to commandeer such a disproportionate share of the foursquare balls or some other limited resource, they would incur swift, certain reprimand. Yet, on a national scale, our selfish hoarding is defended with lethal brutality. The “few, good men” are sent out, from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, to threaten, maim, kill, lest our unfair advantage be imperiled.  

The litmus test for any political candidate’s viability? The credibility of the candidate’s promise to wage future wars with sufficient temerity, premised on the implicit affirmation that we deserve to defend that which we have stolen.  

Our very presence on these premises reeks of war crime. Absent the self-serving official story, the narrative reads as rape and plunder, Nanking on a continental scale. What we didn’t bloodily occupy outright, we bought or wrested from previous recent conquerors. We deny, however, the wholesale murder of innocents, the repeated torching of cultures, the strong-arm theft of the land itself, substituting instead glorious tales of bravery, honor and justice. 

Inconsistently addicted to the intoxication of violence, we relish shock and awe, when perpetrated on Wounded Knee, Hiroshima, Hanoi, or Baghdad, yet reel from it in Oklahoma City or Manhattan. 

So, we allow the government to seduce our young with its glossily mendacious recruiting ads, permit the armed services to send sexy young uniforms to our high school campuses to flirt our vulnerable, impressionable graduates-to-be into harm’s way. We further allow the national dialogue to fixate on topics of degree rather than insisting on a thorough redefinition of essence. 

The world is not ours. Nor are her resources. Nor is space. Nor the sea.  

It is only through the seduction of self-flattering fictions that we have been able for so long to justify to ourselves the exercise of political, economic and military hegemonies, predicated as they are on our pretended superiority. 

We are not special. 

Peace can only follow the establishment of justice. Justice cannot coexist with unequally constructed paradigms of distribution and consumption, requiring, rather, that we relinquish our over-holding and the false claims of desert on which we base it, that we establish mechanisms of redistribution to eliminate both excess and want. 

It also requires that we heal from our erotic fascination with the military fetish. Melt the weapons. Burn the uniforms. Disband the troops. Lower the flags. Shutter the very museums in which we have too long fostered our fascination with this darkest of dungeons. 

Let us prepare to tell a different story. 

A true one, of how we created justice and waged peace. 

For, if we continue to live by the sword, we shall surely die by it, with the sins of our greedy conquests still on our bloody hands. 

Earl Jon Rivard, Jr. 

Alameda