Police Charge Suspect In Derby Street Murders
Berkeley police Tuesday arrested an already-jailed South Berkeley man for the two Sept. 18 murders in the 1400 block of Derby Street. -more-
Berkeley police Tuesday arrested an already-jailed South Berkeley man for the two Sept. 18 murders in the 1400 block of Derby Street. -more-
A student at Willard Middle School in Berkeley has admitted to starting some of the trash can fires at the school more than three weeks ago and will take part in intervention services. -more-
The AC Transit Board of Directors moved quickly on its two most controversial projects following this month’s electoral victories, scheduling a special board workshop on Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) for Wednesday afternoon and approving a new round of Van Hool bus purchases. -more-
Cell phone antenna regulations, West Berkeley zoning issues, two condo conversion proposals and the land use chapter of the Downtown Area Plan have all been crammed into Wednesday night’s agenda for the Berkeley Planning Commission. -more-
The UC Police Department is investigating a fight that erupted Thursday evening between a group of current and former UC Berkeley students after a Palestinian flag was hung over a balcony overlooking a pro-Israel concert on campus. -more-
Plans for a $159 million biofuel and alternative energy lab in the Berkeley Hills have been put on hold by UC President Mark Yudoff while the project is sent back to the drawing board. -more-
I didn’t join the street protests against Proposition 8 right after it passed. My gut reaction was: “Where were all these people when we had the chance to defeat it?” But “No on 8” ran a terrible campaign that would not have effectively used more volunteers, and it’s possible that many had tried to get involved. Now the state Supreme Court will decide what to do about Prop 8, and City Attorney Dennis Herrera has put on a strong case to have it overruled. But that doesn’t mean the Court will do the right thing; even the best legal arguments can lose. A mass movement of peaceful protest is crucial at building the political momentum to attain marriage equality – which can convince the Court it’s okay to overturn the “will of the voters.” Social movements rely too much on lawyers and politicians to make progress—without effectively using the masses of people who want to help. Now people are angry, and this weekend we saw mass protests across the country. It’s now time for everyday people to get involved. -more-
An argument over alcohol at the Marina Liquor store on 1265 University Ave. late Thursday night resulted in two Berkeley residents being stabbed, authorities said. -more-
UC Berkeley students joined the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration & Immigrant Rights, and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) Thursday to launch a national campaign urging President-elect Barack Obama to enact the federal Dream Act, which would legalize federal financial aid and open a path of citizenship for undocumented immigrant college students across the nation, who are otherwise entrapped in complicated paperwork. -more-
Authorities served dozens of warrants in the Bay Area this morning as part of a massive California Department of Justice operation targeting a violent Richmond gang known as "Deep C," state officials said. -more-
A battle over the installation of a cluster of cell phone antennas atop a building owned by Patrick Kennedy has revealed a paper trail and testimony focusing on his financial dealings with City Councilmember Linda Maio. -more-
Neighbors worried about cell phone antenna radiation and angry at city officials who have allowed it in their neighborhoods poured out their frustrations at the Berkeley Planning Commis-sion meeting last week. -more-
An out-of-control party at the Gaia Arts Center in downtown Berkeley two weeks ago prompted Berkeley Police to label the venue a public nuisance, leaving its owners susceptible to a fine from the city if a similar incident occurs there in the next four months, authorities said Thursday. -more-
Berkeley’s Long Haul Infoshop finally has its computers back, but its legal battle with UC Berkeley is far from settled. -more-
Berkeley Councilmember Kriss Worthington, who for the last seven years has been advocating for a strong sunshine ordinance to give citizens access to government records and meetings, will put the Berkeley Sunshine Committee’s draft ordinance—crafted as an alternative to one written by the city attorney—on the agenda for the Dec. 8 City Council meeting. -more-
Berkeley City Councilmember Laurie Capitelli can rest easy. Sophie Hahn has decided not to ask for a recount. -more-
Incoming At-Large Oakland City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan said that hard work by volunteers and supporting organizations was the key to her victory in last week’s runoff election. -more-
AC Transit Board President Chris Peeples hit the election trifecta on Tuesday, but by Friday morning, he didn’t sound in the mood for celebration. -more-
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposal to make additional state education budget cuts to stimulate California’s flagging economy set off alarm bells for school districts last week, many of which had been fearful of mid-year reductions when the governor released a delayed state budget in September. -more-
Community members will get a chance to comment at two scheduled meetings on the Citywide Pools Master Plan, which is being developed by the City of Berkeley and the Berkeley Unified School District over the next six months. -more-
California’s leading newspaper publisher, Dean Singleton’s MediaNews, is shedding eight more jobs in the East Bay. -more-
At the Landmarks Preservation Commission meeting last week, preservationists and architects warned against stripping historic buildings of their original windows, explaining that it could take away character-defining features, and advised homeowners to instead invest in sealing problem areas, weather-stripping and making use of natural ventilation. -more-
There’s still plenty of time to offer comments on Berkeley’s proposed Climate Action Plan. -more-
Controversial and costly changes are planned for Berkeley High School (BHS) as a way to help close the achievement gap. BHS administrators claim that the addition of advisories, block scheduling and another small school will improve standardized test scores and college preparedness for African American and Latino students. While the goal is laudable, the effectiveness of the proposed changes remains questionable at best. The School Board should be critically assessing the costs of implementation of the reforms against a realistic appraisal of the benefits. -more-
The conversation going on about whether or not there should be criteria that exclude the use of guns for art work placed in the Addison Street Windows exhibition is very delicate. But now that the conversation has moved from the Civic Arts Commission meetings to the public sphere in the form of flyers and newspaper articles, I feel that it is time that I add my voice. I have served on the commission for the past year and a half and during that time I have had the privilege of learning an enormous amount of information about the ways that a city commission works. I have a newfound appreciation for those who serve in public office, their roles, responsibilities and the challenges of reaching consensus in a city with a progressive history and outlook. -more-
In the wake of the Proposition 8 vote, it is easy for the LGBT community and those that support us to feel deflated. To focus on the temporary loss rather than the amazing strides we have made since Harvey Milk said, “You cannot live on hope alone—but without it life is not worth living.” In spite of this set back, which is admittedly disappointing, we have so much to be hopeful for. -more-
The ink is barely dry on AC Transit’s Measure VV and Van Hool can’t wait to get a return on their investment. The ABC Company that “sponsored’ Measure VV is the agent for Van Hool buses. (I wonder if it would have passed if more people knew that!) So with indecent haste, the general manager is asking the board to approve more Van Hools at this Wednesday’s board meeting!! -more-
I grew up in this city and I am so disappointed in it I could just spit. How its citizenry can keep electing someone as mayor who quite obviously doesn’t care about their wants, needs or rights escapes me. -more-
It is unbelievable that Mayor Tom Bates could be re-elected by an astonishing 62 percent of City of Berkeley voters. This is the same mayor who gave University of California at Berkeley the rights to run rough shod over the downtown area for the next 15 years with no input from the residents. This UCB giveaway was signed behind closed doors by our mayor. The pending university land grab will result in reduced property taxes while placing the increased cost of maintenance on the backs of Berkeley residents. You see UCB is exempt from City of Berkeley property taxes. -more-
Alan Tobey’s strange Nov. 6 rant, “Measure KK Aftermath: Perish by the Sword,” prompted me to reflect on Measure KK and the discussion it generated about Bus Rapid Transit. The Measure KK campaign brought to light some interesting information about our community. Here are some of the most memorable things I learned. -more-
I have to say I’m rather appalled. In the last edition of the Daily Planet, there was an article regarding the United Healthcare Workers SEIU strike and protest and the noise complaints from surrounding Alta Bates area neighbors. Peter Shelton was specifically noted as having his 5- and 7-year-old boys woken up on the morning of the protest. The police, union representatives, the union vice president, the chief of police, a city department director, a city council member and hospital management were all quoted as regretful and solemn about correcting future such problems. -more-
As the so-called victim of the Oct. 19 assault in West Berkeley described in the San Francisco Chronicle’s Oct. 28 article “When Wife is Attacked, Husband Becomes Hero,” I would like to express a few thoughts on the matter. While I am grateful to journalist Chip Johnson for bringing attention to the assault and to crime in West Berkeley I am curious as to why he chose not to hear and include “the wife’s” version of the events. Mr. Johnson presented the crime and my husband’s actions as a hyper-masculine fantasy in which a lone-ranger saves a damsel in distress and bashes the bad guy. I found this to be disturbing on a few different levels not least of which was the reaction it received from readers: many readers wrote in to the Chronicle’s blog saying my husband should have simply killed our assailant. -more-
Having worked as a physician for the United Farm Workers Union (UFW) from 1973-78, I was interested in Zelda Bronstein’s interview with Randy Shaw about his new book on Cesar Chavez and the UFW. Since Cesar’s death it’s been my feeling that anyone who tried to write the story of Cesar might either succumb to psychocophancy or else be branded a heretic. Thus I have avoided comment on Cesar’s legacy. Like many former UFW staff I refused to talk publicly. Former KPFA programmer Chuy Varela once did a program on Cesar that I thought lacked insight and I called Chuy to tell him why. He invited me to come on the air. I refused. -more-
My daughter, who is 28 years old had just picked up her 3-year-old toddler from childcare and was on her way home from work. She made a right hand turn onto a busy street when her car was struck on the passenger front door damaging her front passengers mirror by a Caucasian male riding a bicycle. After the incident happened, she heard a crowd of people yelling and screaming angrily at her. The incident startled her and her baby as well and was frightening, because she was unsure what had occurred at the time; maybe it was a car jacking, or someone trying to snatch her baby. She tried to make a turn on a street to come back on the street where the accident occurred but got lost. When she did return, she parked her vehicle about a block away where the accident occurred and waited for the police to arrive. She was kept separate from the bicyclist and the crowd of people and was questioned by Berkeley Police. The ambulance with the medical team arrived to examine and give first aid to the bicyclist, but the medical team never examined the baby or my daughter to see if they were physically injured or in shock, etc. My daughter was arrested. This was the first time she had ever been arrested and placed in jail. She bailed out of jail three days later and got a public defender to represent her. The public defender stated that there was a possibility her case would be dropped. After I spoke with him, pertaining to the bicyclist being the one to cause the accident, he assured me that the bicyclist was not responsible and that my daughter had left the scene of the accident which made her automatically guilty. -more-
It’s time for the post-election post-mortems in California races, now that a significant number of the votes in all categories have been counted. First, the one that shocked everyone around here. -more-
Of many things, I wish my parents had lived long enough to see Barack Obama elected as the 44th President of the United States. I think they would have appreciated it far more than I ever could. -more-
On Oct. 2 the City of Berkeley butchered the big ornamental pear tree that grows in the sidewalk median in front of my house. -more-
On election night, Barack Obama’s magnificent acceptance speech felt like a defining moment in American history. Adding to the elation many of us experienced for having supported the winning candidate in a twenty-two month presidential marathon was our sense that America had turned a page and headed off in a new direction. But what exactly is the Obama moment? -more-
On Sunday Nov. 9, some 30 volunteers planted more than 700 young native plants in that section of Audubon Canyon Ranch on Marin County’s Bolinas Lagoon. The canyon is named for the volunteers who worked to save the lagoon and other parts of the local seashore from a catastrophic oil spill in 1971. -more-
Back to the raccoons. Last week I wrote about one way of indirectly assessing intelligence in non-human mammals: the Encephalization Quotient, the difference between actual brain size and expected brain size based on body size. It’s a measure on which humans outscore all our fellow mammals, bottle-nosed dolphins outrank the great whales, and dim creatures like opossums occupy the cellar. Based on data from the German biologist Dieter Kruska, carnivores have higher indices than hoofed mammals, and raccoons outdo their closest relatives, the bears, pandas, and coatis. -more-
A rare event is coming to the Bay Area this next week. One of cinema’s greatest works of art will screen twice—once at San Francisco’s Castro Theater and once at UC Berkeley’s Hertz Hall—accompanied by 200 singers and a 24-piece orchestra. UC Berkeley’s Alumni Chorus will present Voices of Light, an oratorio, as accompaniment for Carl Dreyer’s 1928 landmark film The Passion of Joan of Arc. -more-
New Italian Cinema, the annual San Francisco Film Society festival, returns to Embarcadero Cinemas next week with seven new films by emerging Italian directors, three movies by acclaimed Tuscan director Paolo Virzi and two special closing night films. Some of the filmmakers will be on hand for the showings. -more-
A little-noticed gated driveway branching east off Hillside Avenue north of Dwight Way bears a name most Berkeleyans wouldn’t recognize: Fernwald Road. It leads to a UC apartment complex housing 74 student families. Smyth Fernwald, as the complex is called, is named after the previous owner of the land, engineer, inventor, and social economist William Henry Smyth (1855-1940). Fernwald was the name Smyth gave his estate in the mid-1890s. -more-
It’s funny how little I know about a house prior to pulling up to the curb. Despite some lengthy conversation with my client, it really isn’t until I’ve arrived that I can actually see what I’m going to be dealing with. Had I known on this particular day what it was that I was going to see, I might have turned it down but, in retrospect, it was probably best that I didn’t know and showed up anyway. -more-
East Bay Voters Speak Up for Local Change 11-13-2008
I Voted... By Justin DeFreitas 11-13-2008
We, Not You, Shall Overcome By Justin DeFreitas 11-13-2008
Proposition 8 By Justin DeFreitas 11-13-2008
The Threat of Gay Marriage By Justin DeFreitas 11-13-2008
Letters to the Editor 11-17-2008
Letters to the Editor 11-13-2008
Berkeley High Reforms: Money Well Spent? By Priscilla Myrick 11-18-2008
In Support of the Addison Street Windows Gallery Criteria By Stephanie Anne Johnson 11-17-2008
Hope in the Wake of Proposition 8 By Darren Main 11-13-2008
How Van Hool Co. Benefits From Measure VV By Joyce Roy 11-13-2008
Bates’ Charade Regarding Pacific Steel By Reva Aimes 11-13-2008
Mayor Bates: Berkeley At Its Worst By Zachary RunningWolf 11-13-2008
What I Learned From Measure KK By Russ Tilleman 11-13-2008
Backwards Sensitivity To Pacific Steel Neighbors By Pear Michaels 11-13-2008
Wife’s Response to Recent Assault By Myra Paci 11-13-2008
Contradictions Within the United Farm Workers Union By Marc Sapir 11-13-2008
The Importance of Protecting Civil Rights in Berkeley By Earl V. Levels, Sr. 11-13-2008
Poem By Zac Morrison 11-13-2008
Police Charge Suspect In Derby Street Murders By Richard Brenneman 11-18-2008
Intervention Sought for Willard Student Involved in Trash Can Fires By Riya Bhattacharjee 11-18-2008
AC Transit To Hold Wednesday BRT Update, Purchases More Van Hools By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 11-18-2008
Cell Phones, Condos, Downtown, West Berkeley All Face Planners By Richard Brenneman 11-18-2008
UCPD Investigates Israeli-Palestinian Altercation On Campus By Riya Bhattacharjee 11-17-2008
BP Lab Building Put on Hold, Computer Lab Funds Revised By Richard Brenneman 11-17-2008
News Analysis: Why the Prop 8 Protests Matter By Paul Hogarth 11-17-2008
Double Stabbings, Burned Cars Mark Night in Berkeley By Riya Bhattacharjee 11-14-2008
UC Berkeley Students Call On Obama to Enact the Dream Act by Riya Bhattacharjee 11-14-2008
Massive Operation Targets Notorious Richmond Gang Bay City News 11-13-2008
Paper Trail Reveals Kennedy and Maio Financial Dealings By Richard Brenneman 11-13-2008
Angry Neighbors Protest Cell Phone Towers By Richard Brenneman 11-13-2008
City Calls Gaia Center a Nuisance After Rowdy Party By Riya Bhattacharjee 11-13-2008
Long Haul Gets Computers Back, Wants UC to Delete Seized Info By Richard Brenneman 11-13-2008
Citizens’ Draft Sunshine Law Heads to Council By Riya Bhattacharjee 11-13-2008
Hahn Vetoes Recount in Close Berkeley Council Race By Richard Brenneman 11-13-2008
Kaplan Credits Volunteers in Oakland Council Race Victory By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 11-13-2008
Victorious AC Transit President Surveys the Road Ahead By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 11-13-2008
School District Threatened By Mid-Year Budget Cuts By Riya Bhattacharjee 11-13-2008
Public Workshops Called to Discuss City’s Aquatic Future By Riya Bhattacharjee 11-13-2008
More Jobs Lost At BANG’s East Bay Papers By Richard Brenneman 11-13-2008
City Encourages Greening Historic Buildings By Riya Bhattacharjee 11-13-2008
Police Blotter By Ali Winston 11-13-2008
Fire Dept. Log By Richard Brenneman 11-13-2008
Climate Action Plan Comment Period Extended By Richard Brenneman 11-13-2008
Undercurrents: The Only Regret in the Obama Victory—I Wish My Parents Were Here By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 11-13-2008
The Public Eye: Beware of City of Berkeley Staff Bearing Chain Saws By Zelda Bronstein 11-13-2008
The Public Eye: The Obama Moment By Bob Burnett 11-13-2008
Volunteer Canyon Still Lives Up To its Name By Ron Sullivan 11-13-2008
Wild Neighbors: The Raccoon Brain Revisited By Joe Eaton 11-13-2008
East Bay: Then and Now—The Inventor, His House and the Neglected Bequest By Daniella Thompson 11-13-2008
About the House: How Good a Deal is a Fixer? By Matt Cantor 11-13-2008
Arts Calendar 11-13-2008
Cabaret Opera Stages an ‘Opera Apocalypse’ By Ken Bullock Special to the Planet 11-13-2008
Philharmonia Baroque At First Congregational By Ken Bullock Special to the Planet 11-13-2008
Oakland Symphony Premieres Unusual Work By Ken Bullock Special to the Planet 11-13-2008
Virago’s Theatre’s ‘Dream of a Common Language’ By Ken Bullock Special to the Planet 11-13-2008
Moving Pictures: Chorus Performs Dramatic Oratorio for Classic Film By Justin DeFreitas 11-13-2008
Annual Italian Film Fest Returns to San Francisco By Michael Howerton 11-13-2008
East Bay: Then and Now—The Inventor, His House and the Neglected Bequest By Daniella Thompson 11-13-2008
About the House: How Good a Deal is a Fixer? By Matt Cantor 11-13-2008
Community Calendar 11-13-2008