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Construction on the Berkeley Arpeggio condo tower moves forward on Center Street, just the kind of project that would have enjoyed an easier approval process under provisions of SB 375.
By Richard Brenneman
Construction on the Berkeley Arpeggio condo tower moves forward on Center Street, just the kind of project that would have enjoyed an easier approval process under provisions of SB 375.
 

News


Obama Justice Department Moves To Keep Apple Moth Spray Secret

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday February 10, 2009 - 06:55:00 PM

For one prominent Bay Area attorney, the bloom is already off the Obama rose. 

Stephan Volker is the lead attorney in a case which pits a group of plaintiffs, including the North Coast Rivers Alliance, an Air Force major and his son, a Santa Cruz City Councilmember, the mayors of Richmond and Albany and others, against the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

The action for declaratory relief, filed Nov. 25, seeks to overturn the EPA’s approval of the pesticide Checkmate for use against the Light Brown Apple Moth—LBAM for short. 

Volker, a Richmond resident with his law office in Oakland, said he had hoped the administration of President Barack Obama would open up a new era of openness at the EPA—a federal agency which had frequently sided with corporate interests during the George W. Bush years. 

When it comes to disclosing the ingredients in the controversial pesticide, “This new administration is just like the old one,” he said. “When you peel off the cover, it’s the same book underneath.” 

On Feb. 2, the U.S. Department of Justice, acting on behalf of the EPA, filed a motion with U.S. District Judge Saundra Armstrong asking her to seal that part of the government’s response that details the ingredients in two compounds used in a spraying program that aims to break the moth reproductive cycle by rendering the males sexually confused. 

If granted, the court would bar disclosure of the ingredients as “claimed trade secret and confidential information,” according to the motion filed by San Francisco federal attorney Rochelle Russell and John Cruden, acting assistant Attorney General in charge of the Environmental & Natural Resources Division of the DOJ. 

Questions about the alleged dangers of both the pest and CheckMate versions OLR-F and LBAM-F, the state’s pesticides of choice, have dogged the spraying from its inception. 

Further clouding the already murky waters of fact and science is a question of political calculus raised by the $144,600 donation from Stewart and Lynda Resnick, to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 2006 gubernatorial campaign. 

The Resnicks co-chair Roll International, a Los Angeles holding company with subsidiaries that include Paramount Agribusiness, Fiji Water and Suterra Inc., the Oregon company that manufactures the pesticides. 

Several of Volker’s clients contend they have been injured by the pesticide, which combines a synthetic version of the female insect’s sexual attractant (pheromone) in a cocktail of supposedly “inert” ingredients designed to confuse the males. 

Volker’s lawsuit charges that the inert ingredients are actually harmful to humans and wildlife, especially given the way the compound has been sprayed. Two clients, an infant and a 9-year-old girl, sustained series medical injuries as a result of the spraying, he contends. 

In addition, the suit alleges, hundreds of seabirds were killed when one of the ingredients in the spray stripped their feather of the water repellent that allowed the birds to float. 

In their filing with the San Francisco court, the federal attorneys said that even if Judge Armstrong allows the plaintiffs to see the ingredients, they will seek a protective order to bar broader disclosure to the public. 

Volker said the motion to seal the ingredients is pointless, since the state Department of Food and Agriculture revealed ingredients in one of the sprays, CheckMate LBAM-F, in an Oct. 20, 2007 press release.  

In the November lawsuit, the plaintiffs sought to bar further use of the pesticides in part because during the 2007 spraying campaign, the spray was spread by winds outside the targeted zones and onto waterways and populated areas. 

While the state contends the spray is harmless, the plaintiffs cite research they say proves that one ingredient in particular among those listed by the state causes severe lung damage.  

 


Flash: Planning Commissioners Propose Eliminating Downtown Berkeley Height Restrictions

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday February 10, 2009 - 01:40:00 PM

Four members of the Berkeley Planning Commission majority—all with ties to the building industry—have proposed effectively eliminating height restrictions in the city's downtown plan. 

The revisions to the new Downtown Plan will be up for passage during the commission’s Wednesday night meeting. 

Chair James Samuels, an architect, prepared a revised land use chapter along with colleagues: 

• David Stoloff, a retired planner and developer; 

• Attorney Harry Pollack, whose clients have included Patrick Kennedy, the city’s most controversial developer; and 

• Teresa Clarke, an executive with an affordable housing developer. 

City Councilmember Darryl Moore named Clarke to the commission last month after ousting his previous appointee, Roia Ferrazares, reportedly because the independent-minded UC Berkeley employee was too questioning of pro-development proposals. 

Those four are almost invariably joined on votes by Larry Gurley, a Laney College math professor and appointee of Max Anderson and sometimes also by architect James Novosel. 

If approved, the new chapter would gut height restrictions passed by a majority of the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee (DAPAC), the citizen panel appointed by the council, which spent two years drafting the plan. 

These commissioners also want to expand the area where tall buildings would be allowed, as well as eliminate DAPAC’s call to restrict development in the southwestern sector of the downtown planning area. 

While proposing some general height limits—85 feet as a general downtown maximum, with a 100-foot limit for UC buildings, expect for two at 120 feet—the revisions would “Permit a sufficient number of buildings over 85’ to meet plan goals for density, residential and worker populations, for hotels, and for higher level financial contributions to the costs of civic improvement.” 

With those 31 words, the DAPAC proposal and the delicate compromises that led to its resolution, would be shattered. The DAPAC plan had allowed for a pair of 220-foot hotels in the downtown “inner core,” but both the height limits and the restricted inner core have vanished in the revisions. 

Commissioners will take up the proposal Wednesday night, when they consider the plan’s chapters on Land Use, Historic Preservation & Urban Design, and Environmental Sustainability. 

Together, the three documents would define the shape of downtown Berkeley for the next two decades. 

The three chapters formed key dividing lines in DAPAC deliberations during the two years the 21-member committee spent drafting the plan that the planning commission is now revising. 

Planning commissioners have been much more inclined than DAPAC to raise the city center skyline, and Samuels has been firmly in the majority on the commission, while he was on the losing side of DAPAC on key votes about high-rises. 

While DAPAC wanted a rigorous system of tradeoffs for a limited number of tall buildings, commissioners have been more encouraging of tall buildings, which Samuels and his allies have said are needed to revitalize the downtown. 

The commission’s agenda is on the web, and the revised chapter is available as the second item under the heading "Communications" at http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=34602 

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

 


Injured Malcolm X Kindergartner Will Receive Temporary Home Schooling

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday February 10, 2009 - 05:50:00 PM

The Malcolm X Elementary School kindergartner hit by a truck on Jan. 30 on her way to school in South Berkeley was released from Children’s Hospital in Oakland last week and will be home-schooled for at least two weeks starting today (Tuesday), Berkeley Unified School District spokesperson Mark Coplan said. 

The 6-year-old was on the north side of Ashby at the intersection with Ellis Street, preparing to cross, when the school bell rang, according to authorities. 

The girl, who was walking a little ahead of her brother, looked back and dashed from the sidewalk into the crosswalk, when she was struck by a Toyota 4 Runner making a left turn onto Ashby Avenue. 

She later underwent surgery for two hours for a fractured skull and a fractured clavicle. 

Doctors spent a good deal of that time performing cosmetic surgery on cuts on her face. 

Berkeley police and eyewitnesses described the driver as being “distraught,” and he later told investigators that he had not seen the girl come onto the crosswalk while driving. 

Officer Andrew Frankel, spokesperson for the Berkeley Police Department, said that investigations had revealed that the little girl, and not the driver, was at fault. 

“She did not exercise due care and caution while crossing and just stepped out into the traffic,” Frankel said, citing the California Vehicle Code, which states that “no pedestrian shall suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle which is so close as to constitute an immediate.” The driver had the right of way, he said. 

Coplan said that the girl would be evaluated by a doctor this week to determine how soon she could go back to school. 

“She really has to be careful right now,” he said. “The district decided that home school would be best for her. It’s a part of independent study, something like short-term intervention, where teachers are assigned to work with kids who are just out of the hospital.” 

Coplan said that the accident had raised some safety issues, including suggestions by community members to have parents stand on either side of the crosswalk, which has been called dangerous by many Malcolm X parents and neighbors. 

“It’s a good idea, but the question remains who would take liability,” he said. 

The Malcolm X PTA hosts a forum on Wednesday, Feb. 11, at the school, to discuss traffic safety in light of the tragic accident, which will include speakers such as Farid Javandel, the city’s transportation manager, Amy Manta-Ranger, the city’s injury prevention program manager and Susan Silber, education coordinator for Safe Routes to Schools, an international movement designed to increase the number of children biking and walking nationwide. 

City Councilmember Max Anderson, who represents the neighborhood, is also expected be present. 

Cheryl Eccles, Malcolm X PTA president, said that parents hoped to discuss proposed Safe Routes to School applications, the school’s traffic calming program, prevention programs offered by the city and other traffic safety issues. 

“Families at Malcolm X and area residents are concerned about the traffic situation at Ellis and Ashby in particular,” she said. “A lot of parents and children use that crosswalk to get to school. The accident was deeply disturbing to our community. We want to make sure that nothing like that ever happens again. 

Eccles said that finding a solution for that particular intersection would be tricky since Caltrans had jurisdiction over Ashby Avenue while the city was responsible for Ellis Street. 

Javandel said that he was still waiting for the Berkeley Police Department’s internal review of the incident, following which, he said, the city would evaluate the current traffic conditions at the Ashby and Ellis intersection to see if any steps could be taken to alleviate future risks. 

“We will definitely be looking at whether anything physical can be done,” he said. “We tend to monitor locations that have a high risk of collisions in the city to understand what the causes may be and how they can be corrected—whether it is poor visibility, overgrown vegetation or the question of painting a crosswalk. One accident alone wouldn’t make us install a traffic signal.” 

Manta-Ranger said that she would inform parents about the different resources as part of the city’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Project. 

““It’s important for parents to remember that they can teach safe pedestrian practices to their kids every day,” she said. “It could be as simple as stopping at the curb, and looking left and right, and then left again.” 

Silber, who has worked for Safe Routes to School—which works with six elementary schools in Berkeley and has been at Malcolm X for the last two years—said that she would be discussing engineering options that would make the intersection safer at the meeting. 

“It would be excellent if we could have a crossing guard at that intersection but unfortunately there’s no funding,” she said. “There may be an option of bringing a crossing guard from one of the other intersections near the school to this one. We are also looking at walking school buses for Malcolm X, where kids will be chaperoned by adults who walk them to school.” 

Malcolm X PTA forum to discuss traffic safety 

Malcolm X Elementary School 1731 Prince St. 

Wed., Feb. 11, 7-8:30 p.m. 

To view the city’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Project go to: www.cityofberkeley.info/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=11242 

 

 


Oakland Must Pay Back Measure Y Money, Says Judge

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday February 10, 2009 - 01:33:00 PM

An Alameda County Superior Court judge tentatively ruled this week that Mayor Ron Dellums "Augmented Recruitment Program of 2008" was an "impermissible use" of Measure Y violence prevention funds, and that the money spent on that program must be paid back. 

Oakland city officials are saying unofficially that the ruling will have no practical effect on the either the total number of police officers on Oakland streets or on the number of Measure Y Problem Solving Officers (PSO's) on staff, and that the money to be paid back to the Measure Y fund amounts to some $3.8 million. 

The tentative ruling by Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch on a Petition for Writ of Mandate came in a lawsuit filed by Oakland attorney Marleen L. Sacks filed against the City of Oakland last April. A final ruling is expected sometime after the judge hears further arguments on the case. 

The judge also tentatively ruled that the City of Oakland has never conducted yearly audits of Measure Y funds required by state law, and must immediately begin to do so once the tentative ruling is made final. Both the City of Oakland and Sacks will have an opportunity to contest portions of the tentative ruling before it is finalized. 

Representatives of the Oakland City Attorney's office have yet to issue a public statement on the ruling.  

Sacks, who represented herself in the lawsuit, called the mayor's augmented recruitment program "a sham from the get-go." Saying that Oakland's Measure Y, passed by voters in November of 2004, did not authorize recruitment or initial training of rookie officers but only the salaries of 63 problem solving officers and specific training for their community policing role, Sacks said by telephone today that "no Measure Y officers were ever going to be directly hired under [the mayor's augmented recruitment] program. Only veteran officers were going to be put into the community policing positions. The rookies hired under the program were then put in to replace those veteran officers." While Sacks said she agreed with Oakland Police Chief Wayne Tucker's decision only to hire veteran officers for the Measure Y PSO positions, she said the money for the recruitment and training of their replacements should have come out of the general fund, and not the Measure Y funds. "You can't use special tax money as a piggybank," Sacks said. 

Sacks said she believed the judge's ruling would not mean reductions in the ranks of the Measure Y community policing officers. "I don't see the city turning down the $20 million in Measure Y tax money each year" Sacks said, a situation that would happen if the city did not have the money to both reimburse the Measure Y fund as the judge ordered and keep the total police ranks above the minimum staffing needed to continue imposing the Measure Y tax. "If that means making cuts in other areas, that's what they are going to have to do," Sacks said. 

Measure Y was a $19 million per year, ten year tax measure passed by Oakland voters in 2004 in part to add 63 community policing "problem solving officers" to the city's police ranks. But hiring of the 63 PSO's languished for several years in part because the city could not hire and train police officers fast enough to keep up with retirements and attrition and keep the non-community policing ranks at full force. To break this logjam, Mayor Ron Dellums pledged in his 2008 State of the City address to bring both the regular police department and the Measure Y community policing officers up to full staffing levels by the end of the year. The City Council later approved the mayor's proposal for an accelerated police recruitment and training program for 2008, and by the end of the year, In November, the city reached a record-high 837 regular patrol officers, exceeding the authorized staffing levels of 803, and had fully staffed the 630 Measure Y community policing officer positions. 


Downtown Plan Chapters Up for Commission’s Approval

By Richard Brenneman
Monday February 09, 2009 - 04:55:00 PM

Berkeley planning commissioners will tackle three highly volatile chapters of the proposed new Downtown Area Plan (DAP) Wednesday: Land Use, Historic Preservation & Urban Design, and Environmental Sustainability. 

Together, the three documents would define the shape of downtown Berkeley for the next two decades. 

The chapters also formed key dividing lines in the deliberations of the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee (DAPAC), the citizen panel that spent nearly two years drafting the plan that the planning commission is now revising. 

Planning commissioners have been much more inclined than DAPAC to raise the city center skyline, and commission chair and architect James Samuels is firmly in the majority on the commission, while he was on the losing side of DAPAC on key votes about high-rises. 

While DAPAC wanted a rigorous system of tradeoffs for a limited number of tall buildings, commissioners have been more encouraging of tall buildings, which Samuels and his allies have said are needed to revitalize the downtown. 

The commission’s agenda had been posted on the downtown plan web page by Monday noon, http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=10828 

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

 


Thai Temple Brunch Dispute Returns to Zoning Board

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Monday February 09, 2009 - 04:55:00 PM

The nearly year-long zoning battle over Sunday brunch at the Berkeley Thai Temple may finally come to an end Thursday when members request the Berkeley Zoning Adjustment Board for a permit modification which would allow the temple to sell food weekly instead of only three times annually. This proposal has sparked much opposition from a group of neighbors. 

Last April, when members of Wat Mangolakaratam—as the temple is formally known— approached city officials to construct a Buddhist pagoda on its premises at 1911 Russell St., some neighbors criticized the institution for running a commercial restaurant in the guise of a religious assembly. 

Complaining that the Sunday festivities, which sometimes started as early as 5 a.m. but have now been pushed back to 8 a.m., were hampering their quality-of-life by bringing noise, trash, odor and congestion to the area, the neighbor group demanded that the event be shut down or at least moved to an alternate location. 

Temple supporters defended the brunch service by explaining that taking donations from the public in exchange for food was an ancient custom in Thai culture—one that helped Buddhist monks to earn their living and funded Sunday school and performing arts on the building’s premises for those who otherwise would never be able to afford them. 

However, an inquiry by the city’s Planning Department into the Thai temple’s original use permit, dating back to 1993, revealed that the temple had violated its permit repeatedly, prompting the zoning board to turn to the Seeds Community Resolution Center to carry out mediation between the two parties to settle the dispute. 

The temple’s supporters rallied neighbors, community members and organizations in an effort to save the popular Sunday brunch, creating a website, www.savethethaitemple.com, and a Facebook group which lists more than 1,300 supporters as of Monday. 

A report from city officials to the zoning board includes the results of the most recent mediation sessions, which took place on Jan. 10 and 29 and Feb. 4. The report says that representatives from the temple and three neighbors representing 16 households on Oregon Street were unable to come to any kind of resolution about the frequency of the Sunday brunch and the size of the crowds it attracts. 

The mediation report notes that although the temple indicated that it would be cooking food inside a kitchen and installing an odor absorption ventilation system and rubber matting to absorb the noise of pots and pans clanging, the neighbors were apprehensive that these steps would do anything to alleviate the problem. 

City officials said in their report that the proposed project would relocate the Sunday brunch from the rear of the property to a pavilion that would replace the current Buddha room adjacent to the South Berkeley Public Library, moving the activities further away from the houses on Oregon Street. 

It would also restrict the number of visitors to 200, who would be able to come in and buy food between 10 a.m and 1 p.m., and the temple would post additional signs around the block discouraging people from parking in driveways. 

The temple also plans to build a “green wall” between the brunch spot and the neighboring houses which they hope will act as a buffer on Sundays. 

 


Superintendent Asks School Board to Approve Berkeley High Block Schedule, Advisories—With Delays

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Monday February 09, 2009 - 01:57:00 PM

Bill Huyett, superintendent of the Berkeley Unified School District, and Jim Slemp, principal of Berkeley High School, have recommended that the Berkeley Board of Education approve the Berkeley High redesign plan—which will introduce block schedules and advisory programs among other things. 

They are asking the board to approve the plan with some exceptions, and delay implementation of it until the 2010-11 school year due to the state education budget crisis. 

The school board is scheduled to vote on the proposal Wednesday. 

Huyett’s decision comes after a study session with the Berkeley High administration and board members on Feb. 4 and a public forum hosted jointly by the high school and the Berkeley High Parent Teacher Student Association Wednesday, where the plan received mixed reactions from the audience.  

At Wednesday’s meeting, a majority of the parents present said that although they approved the advisory programs, they were skeptical about a block schedule since it would result in a loss of instructional minutes. 

In their report to the board, Huyett and Slemp state, “It is the intent of these recommendations to have the board approve the concepts of advisory and a new schedule to provide increased personalization and student support while directing the school and district to continue to develop the specifics of how to implement these reforms.” 

They asked the board to approve the implementation of weekly professional development time beginning in 2009-10 and the continued planning of a new small school. 

In terms of the redesign’s first goal, “increased personalization and student support,” the administrators advised the board to support the school’s 11-point recommendation to maintain the existing small schools and add a fifth small school, and give special consideration to “Green Academy” programs and grants currently being proposed at the state level. 

Huyett and Slemp also asked the board to approve an advisory program—which the high school wanted to implement this fall, with specific curriculum scheduled to be completed by April. 

The exceptions recommended by Huyett and Slemp include that instead of the plan providing that the “advisory will be one of each student’s eight classes,” advisories should be a part of the regular schedule for each student, with implementation recommended for fall 2010. 

Huyett and Slemp asked the board to approve the alternating block schedule—which the high school wanted to implement this fall—but recommended that it be delayed until the 2010-11 school year, given the “uncertainty of the economic environment.” 

Their report said that the “block schedule would provide opportunity for more courses during the span of a year and provide time on a regularly scheduled basis for advisory and academic support.” 

Additionally, it said that the high school and the district need to work together during the next six months to determine a schedule and a funding model, as well as to settle any contract issues, before Feb. 1, 2010. 

 


Downtown Merchants Unhappy With ‘Riots’ at the Gaia Building

By Richard Brenneman
Monday February 09, 2009 - 01:57:00 PM

Downtown Berkeley merchants are tired of the Gaia Building—or at least the series of disturbances stemming from wild parties held there by the business owned by the building’s former owner and a partner. 

Downtown Berkeley Association President Mark McLeod made his sentiments clear to planning commissioners during Wednesday night’s meeting. 

At least three disturbances—dubbed riots by commissioner Patti Dacey—have resulted in massive police turnouts to the building. 

The latest on Jan. 30 was punctuated by gunshots and forced a temporary Friday night closure of the downtown BART station and blocked traffic on Shattuck Avenue. 

“That is without question a disaster for the downtown,” said McLeod. “Unfortunately is not the first time. It’s not even the second time. Someone has to step up to the plate so that something like that is not allowed to happen again.” 

The Gaia Building, the tallest structure built in the city for years, has been a focus of controversy since before the first shovel pierced the dirt. 

Patrick Kennedy and partner David Teece, a multimillionaire UC Berkeley business professor who is currently fighting a tax battle with the IRS over his business ventures, won the city’s approval to add an extra story to the building under the downtown’s cultural density bonus. 

Gaia tenant Anna De Leon sued Kennedy and the city in an effort to bar the private parties which constitute much of the activities in the space. While De Leon won her lawsuit, so far she hasn’t been able to force the city to keep private parties out of the building. 

Dacey said that the city contends that its enforcement of conditions placed on the Gaia management's use permit for the building is not required by law, but is discretionary. The Jan. 30 disturbance broke out after more than 100 gate-crashers climbed fences and forced their way in, and it took police about an hour to clear the scene. 

Fighting broke out, and at as many as eight gunshots were fired during the fracas as it spread to Shattuck Avenue. No one was injured by the bullets. 

At least 22 police officers were involved in quelling the melee. 

“It's not good for business when you have that kind of disturbance,” said McLeod. 

While Kennedy sold the building to Chicago real estate baron Sam Zell’s Equity Residential, Kennedy leased the cultural space in partnership with a local caterer. 

The Cancun Taqueria restaurant adjacent to the Gaia Building at 2134 Allston Way was forced to close during the disturbance, and De Leon reported that customers had called to say they couldn’t get into her jazz club, Anna’s Jazz Island, which shares an entrance at 2120 Allston Way with the space Kennedy has leased. 

McLeod is an owner of the Downtown Restaurant, located at 2102 Shattuck Ave. 

 



LPC Secretary Bids Adieu to Berkeley, Elmwood Theater To Get New Marquee

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday February 06, 2009 - 04:16:00 PM

Terry Blount, the first person to be hired by the city to be exclusively the secretary of the Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission, is leaving his position Friday (today) to become the new planning manager for Martinez in Contra Costa County. 

Blount, who joined the commission in August 2007, was praised by Dan Marks, the city’s planning director, and members of the Landmarks Preservation Commission at a public meeting Thursday as an asset to the city during his nearly year and a half long tenure in Berkeley. 

Marks said that although the implementation of a full-time landmarks commission secretary had been a huge success, the current economic crisis made it difficult for the city’s Planning and Development department—which is in charge of the landmarks commission—to replace Blount. 

“I really love this job and working here, but I just wanted to take my career to the next level,” Blount told the Planet after the meeting. “I am happy I was able to bring in a new level of professionalism and help in historic preservation.” 

Blount has been a city planner for more than a dozen years, and worked as planner-in-charge and secretary of West Hollywood’s Historic Preservation Commission—where he managed the city’s historic preservation program—before moving to the Bay Area. He is a native of Los Angeles. 

A member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, Blount holds a master’s degree in planning from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and has taken numerous classes, seminars and workshops on historic preservation. 

With new projects dwindling, the planning department is facing challenges financially and has reduced Zoning Adjustments Board meetings to once a month. The zoning board, responsible for issuing use permits, formerly met twice a month. 

City officials said that the land use planning division saw a 10 percent decrease in the number of use permit applications last year, calling it a matter of concern, since the majority of the planning department’s $13 million budget comes from development fees. 

“There are severe financial issues for the city and we don’t have the ability to refill the position with someone of Terry’s ability,” Marks said at the meeting. “That is the situation now, and when it gets better—and it will get better—we will fill the position. Terry has been a tremendous gift to the city. I can’t imagine anyone doing a better job. He chose to leave his position to go to Martinez, management is always a challenge but he is up to it.” 

Martinez is in the process of drawing up a new general plan. 

Debbie Sanderson, the city’s planning manager, commended Blount for setting a standard for the rest of the department. 

“Thank you for being a diligent advocate for preservation,” said Gary Parsons, vice-chair to the landmarks commission. “This is the first time we have had a full time secretary and we have been able to actively search for funds for the downtown historic preservation survey and organize Mills Act seminars and historic preservation training. It would be great to carry on with a full-time secretary, though it’s not possible right away.” 

Alex Amoroso, the city’s principal planner, will take over Blount’s responsibilities until city officials find a replacement for him. 

During his tenure, Blount worked to create awareness about Mills Act contracts—a state economic incentive program offered to owners of historic buildings for restoration and preservation.  

In October the commission approved Mills Act contracts for two historic Berkeley landmarks, the Durant Hotel and the Charles Keeler House, for the amount of $3 million and $106,800 respectively, for renovations that will take place over a 10-year period. 

 

Elmwood Theater Marquee 

The Landmarks Preservation Commission approved a new marquee for the landmarked Strand—also known as Elmwood—Theater at 2966 College Ave. 

However, they were not too pleased with its owner’s proposal to inscribe “Welcome to Elmwood—Berkeley’s Best Neighborhood” on its northern wall, explaining that it might seem offensive to other neighborhoods in the city. 

Built in 1914, the Elmwood Theater was designed by Albert W. Cornelius in the Viennese Secessionist style, and the building’s exterior, including its marquee and entrance, were renovated in the late 1940s. 

The building’s owners, The Elmwood Theater Association along with Rialto Cinemas Elmwood, who manage the theater, told the board that the design for the marquee would be representative of the theater in the early 1920s. 

The theater is in the process of revamping its interiors, including its projector, sound system and carpeting. 

The owners said that the “Berkeley’s Best Neighborhood” painted mural, estimated to be less than 150 square feet, would help promote local businesses in the area. 

Board members acknowledged that although legally they could not dictate whether the sign could go up or not, they would prefer if it were removed from the proposal. 

“Elmwood doesn’t need that,” said local historian Steve Finacom. “It stands by itself.” 

 

 


Planners Give Thumbs Down To Closed Center Street Plaza

By Richard Brenneman
Friday February 06, 2009 - 04:18:00 PM

Planning commissioners sailed through two sections of the downtown plan Wednesday, in the process diluting a call for a Center Street pedestrian plaza. 

The notion of creating a pedestrian plaza on Center Street had proved controversial since it first emerged as a public issue five years ago during discussions of a city task force of options for the so-called UC Hotel project. 

UC Berkeley wants a hotel and conference center downtown to accommodate guests at meetings and public events, and had picked a site at the northeast corner of Shattuck Avenue and Center Street. 

Planning commissioners picked a citizen task force to come up with proposals, and the first recommendation in their final 13-page report was ”Create a public pedestrian-oriented open space or Plaza on Center Street between Shattuck Avenue and Oxford Street.” 

The proposal called for closing the street to through traffic. 

When the City Council named the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee (DAPAC) to create a new downtown plan to accommodate UC Berkeley’s desire to build 850,000 square feet of new off-campus construction in the city center, the committee came up with essentially the same recommendation. 

The key difference between the two was DAPAC’s decision to allow some access for deliveries and after-hour traffic. The two groups also differed on what to do with Strawberry Creek, with the task force calling for a full open channel with landscaping and DAPAC settling for a vaguely defined “water feature.” 

Through both public processes, the Downtown Berkeley Association fought the closure of the street, maintaining that the plan would adversely impact restaurants and merchants along the street’s southern side. 

When DBA President Mark McLeod and Deborah Badhia, the organization’s executive director, brought their arguments to planning commissioners, they found a noticeably friendlier audience. 

Planning commissioners have been steadily chipping away at the DAPAC plan, diluting many of the plan’s “greenest” elements on the grounds they would make it too hard for developers to build new housing. 

Driving the plan is a combination of Berkeley political realities, “smart growth” policies of developers and the dictates of the Association of the Bay Area Governments (ABAG), which tells local governments how many new housing units they must allow in their jurisdictions. 

Berkeley Planning and Development Director Dan Marks told DAPAC that the city wants to concentrate growth downtown because of political resistance to larger buildings in other neighborhoods.  

 

DBA worries 

“We remain opposed to the closure of Center Street,” Badhia said, urging the commission to add language saying the action “should be considered rather than mandated.” 

She said the DAPAC plan for the plaza amounted to “a harsh experiment” because it proposed reconsidering the traffic closure only “if the businesses failed.” 

“We’re generally happy with the way it’s going,” she said of the planning commission’s rewrites, but she urged commissioners to include discussions with downtown businesses before making final decisions about the shape of the city center. 

“Whatever is planned for Center Street should be considered in the context of the entire plan,” she said, including impacts on traffic on surrounding streets. 

She said a privately funded design project for Center Street, which has brought in UC Berkeley landscape architectural instructor Walter Hood, was aimed at meeting the needs of “a private client with an agenda,” Ecocity Builders. 

McLeod said DBA members were especially concerned about plans for the area near downtown’s BART Plaza, and with winning improved streetlights through the city center. Existing lighting, he said, “doesn’t make a lot of people feel comfortable walking around the area at night.” 

Commission chair James Samuels said Hood’s planning was almost complete, and he had asked his sponsors to make a presentation to the commission at an upcoming meeting. 

But whatever plan Hood completes “is being developed by a non-profit and it is in no way associated with the city,” said Matt Taecker, the planner hired with city and university funds to steer the planning process. 

His designs are available online at www.ecocitybuilders.org/center.html 

Badhia said DBA also opposed DAPAC’s call to build affordable housing at the city’s Berkeley Way parking lot if it would result in the loss of public parking spaces at the site, adding that adding all the plan’s elements together would result in a loss of downtown parking spaces. “It makes for a big squeeze,” she said. 

 

Two actions 

When it came time for commissioners to tell Marks and Taecker what they wanted, it was commissioner and architect James Novosel who made the first suggestion: drop the word closure, but create a space that would allow concerts, festivals and other public events, while allowing “limited auto access” for businesses. 

Then Harry Pollack suggested dropping the “limited” as the price for his support. 

“Take the word out,” said Novosel. “It doesn’t matter to me.” 

“I can live with that,” said Pollack. 

“So there’s no discussion of closing Center Street any more?” asked Victoria Eisen, one of the commission’s two newest members. While she supporting bringing merchants in on the discussion, Eisen said, “to do away with the idea of closing the street altogether feels like a lost opportunity.” 

As for the Walter Hood project, “It’s not going to happen,” said Novosel. 

“I just don’t understand how we can create a Center Street plaza that allows for auto access,” Eisen said. 

“Take the word out,” said commissioner David Stoloff. “It implies something we’re not doing here.” 

But a majority of his colleagues liked the word, so Stoloff said, “I take it all back. I’m going to go with the flow.” 

And with that, the name was back, but the idea of a plaza closed to traffic was gone. 

Commissioners whipped through two plan chapters, “Access” plus “Streets and Open Space,” as Marks stood before them, fielding questions and making clear that it was past time for detailed comments and grammatical fixes. 

 

Marina ferry option 

In their press to finish with the plan in a few weeks in order to give the City Council time to make its own fixes and then pass a final version in May, commissioners also rejected a plea to meet with Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA) officials later this month. 

WETA is pushing the city to name a preferred site of a new transbay ferry terminal at the Berkeley Marina. 

If a local site isn’t finalized by the end of the year, Marks said, the project automatically moves to Richmond. The two Marina sites the board picked would have major impacts on the waterfront, Marks noted in a letter to WETA officials, written after discussions with city commissioners. 

 


Facing Budget, Berkeley School Board Says ‘Prepare for the Worst'

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday February 06, 2009 - 01:42:00 PM

With the Berkeley Unified School District facing nearly $9 million in cuts over the next two years from California’s worsening economic crisis, the Berkeley Board of Education cautioned the public last week that the time has come “to prepare for the worst.” 

Speaking at the school board meeting last Wednesday, district superintendent Bill Huyett, who completed his one-year anniversary with the district on Feb. 4, stressed that if things continued the same way, teacher lay-offs would be unavoidable this year. 

However, Huyett also acknowledged that Berkeley Unified was in much better shape than some of its neighboring school districts, which have stopped construction mid-way or increased class sizes. 

Budget updates provided earlier this week by Jack O’Connell, the state schools chief, and Sheila Jordan, Alameda County superintendent of schools, projected a grim picture for school districts statewide, with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposing nearly $10 billion in mid-year reductions and cuts for 2009-10.  

In a presentation outlining the governor’s proposed budget for the new school year, Javetta Cleveland, Berkeley deputy superintendent, informed the board that a 0.68 percent cost of living increase had been eliminated. 

The proposed budget also adds a deficit of 9.7 percent for 2008-09 and brings the overall reduction to Prop. 98—a voter-approved statute that establishes a minimum level of funding for California schools—for 2008-09 to $6.3 billion. 

The governor's proposal includes an unfunded cost of living increase of about 5 percent and proposes some amount of flexibility to help school districts address the loss of funding, including reducing required reserves for economic uncertainty, reducing the Routine Restricted Maintenance reserve from 3 percent to 1 percent and using prior-year restricted fund reserves, with certain limitations. 

Cleveland said that these proposals had not been finalized and could change at any moment. 

“The governor’s proposal has many flexibility opportunities, however, caution should be used in adding back expenditures before the state budget is adopted,” she said. 

A list of guidelines provided by the Alameda County Office of Education to help school districts prepare their budget advises them against reducing the reserve for economic uncertainties by half because they would have to be restored in the fiscal year 2010-11. 

Instead, county administrators have asked districts to adopt a more conservative approach and try to build their budgets without flexibility. 

For the district, the net result of losing the cost of living increase and the deficit factor would mean a $2.6 million reduction for 2008-09. In the next fiscal year, it would mean a loss of $3.8 million. 

“We will be reducing our revenue and we have to balance our budget according to those reductions,” Cleveland said. 

As for coping with increased costs and additional loss of revenue in the current school year, the district would have to cover increased contribution to special education and food services, unrealized indirect cost revenue and projected loss in lottery revenue estimated to be $720,000. 

It would also have to cover other costs—including health benefits—in 2009-10, estimated to be $1.8 million. 

Although state law mandates that a balanced budget must be adopted by the district before June 30, 2009, Cleveland said that it was unlikely that the state budget would be approved by then. 

The district is required to make adjustments to its budget within 45 days of when the state budget is adopted. 

“It’s huge what we have to prepare for today,” Hywett said. “Maybe it will improve later but right now it’s pretty bad.” 

Board President Nancy Riddle and board member Beatriz Leyva-Cutler warned the Berkeley Unified community to get ready for the worst. 

Huyett said that the approximately $4 million set aside for Berkeley Unified under President Barack Obama’s proposed stimulus package would do nothing to eliminate the district’s budget problems, since out of the total money, $1.2 million was earmarked for construction, leaving the district with $3 million to address special education and other needs. 

At his annual State of Education address Tuesday, O’Connell called for school-funding reform, saying, "Beyond the immediate crisis and even more alarming to me is the long-term future of our common education system—if we continue down the road we are on, our public schools and our state itself face certain, perhaps irreparable, damage.” 

He announced that in an effort to cut costs, he had ordered the state Department of Education to immediately suspend all non-mandated on-site district monitoring visits and to use the time and resources saved to conduct a “top-to-bottom review of the compliance monitoring system.” 

O’Connell also suspended the California School Technology Survey, which he said would save teachers and administrators many hours of work, adding that he had directed his staff to make some data elements optional for the first year of reporting under the state’s new longitudinal data system known as CALPADS, to help alleviate the burden on school districts during “these days of fiscal crisis.” 

 

 

 


Monday February 09, 2009 - 09:46:00 AM


Far-Reaching New State Law May Reshape the Bay Area

By Richard Brenneman
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 07:00:00 PM
Construction on the Berkeley Arpeggio condo tower moves forward on Center Street, just the kind of project that would have enjoyed an easier approval process under provisions of SB 375.
By Richard Brenneman
Construction on the Berkeley Arpeggio condo tower moves forward on Center Street, just the kind of project that would have enjoyed an easier approval process under provisions of SB 375.

Editor’s note: This is the first of two articles on major changes in California development law. 

 

Will a new state law strip the last vestiges of local control over the “smart growth” projects that have triggered countless development battles in Berkeley in recent years? 

While early opinions are mixed, there’s little doubt that the laws created to battle globe-warming greenhouse gases (GHGs) could reshape the face of California cities in the decades ahead. 

“Ultimately, no one knows exactly what SB 375 will do, other than create a series of planning milestones that must be met between now and 2010, and then into the future,” declared three attorneys for one of the state’s leading land use litigation firms three weeks after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the law. 

But the Sheppard Mullin lawyers said two results could be “significant density incentives” and streamlining of the environmental review process “for certain transit-oriented projects.” 

The parameters spelled out in the law will streamline the path for developers who want to build so-called infill housing projects within a half-mile of any route designated as a major transit corridor. 

And the law gives extra clout to developers and “any interested parties” in legal actions when a city fails to grant the necessary zoning, placing the burden of proof on the government, rather than the developer or development advocate filing suit.  

Something that may be of equal concern to neighborhood activists in Berkeley is that one subset of projects would be totally exempted from the review requirements of California’s landmark environment law, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). 

The Bay Area will only learn what the law’s impacts will be four years from now when the first of a new generation of regional plans is put into place. 

 

Three laws 

The three pieces of legislation are: 

• CEQA, passed in 1970, modeled on, but stronger than, the federal National Environmental Protection Act passed earlier that year. 

• Assembly Bill 32 (AB 32), the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. 

• Senate Bill 375 (SB 375), signed into law at the end of September. 

CEQA is California’s flagship environmental regulation governing land use, mandating that significant development projects to be evaluated for possible adverse impacts to the physical and cultural environments, and requiring mitigations or special findings where significant adverse effects are found. 

Before any significant project can be approved by the city, county, state or educational system, the elected or appointed bodies governing the agencies must certify that either any significant negative impacts must be minimized or that overriding public policy needs override the adverse effects. 

Project opponents have successfully used CEQA to mount court challenges, blocking, limiting or requiring significant mitigations to major projects. 

AB 32, passed by legislators three years ago, mandates that California reduce GHG emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. A broad scientific consensus holds GHGs responsible for global warming and impacts which rangE from rising sea levels to loss of major swathes of farmland. 

The statute requires that the CEQA review of major construction projects must now include an analysis of development on GHG emissions. 

AB 375, passed by state legislators in August, requires regional planning agencies to link transportation and development policies furthering the goals of AB 32 by concentrating new development along urban transportation corridors. 

The law links GHG reduction to California’s regional land use and transportation planning agencies, embodied locally in the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). 

The result, according to a recent ABAG publication, is nothing less that “a planning and development paradigm shift.” 

SB 375, officially entitled “Addressing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Transportation Sector via Regional transportation Plans,” is the creation of Sacramento Sen. Darrell Steinberg. 

The legislation has already sparked one miracle in the unusual alliance of environmentalist and development industry organizations which gave it whole-hearted backing: It’s a rare bill that wins the support of both the Sierra Club and the California Building Industry Association. 

A densely worded 56-page text, AB 32 has already proven a bonanza for law firms and software developers, the lawyers marking up new billable hours advising their clients on the complex legislation and the computer nerds hacking out programs to crunch the arcane calculations. 

Steinberg’s legislation only applies to California regions covered by regional planning agencies, exempting 21 of the state’s 58 counties, primarily in rural areas of the north. 

For those regions that are covered by the law, the legislation furthers the process of shifting control of the planning process away from cities and counties and into the hands of regional organizations like ABAG and the MTC. 

 

CARB in charge 

Overall authority for implementing AB 375 is vested in the California Air Resources Board (CARB), a non-elected body charged under the law with overall authority to impose GHG reduction goals for each of the state’s 18 regional metropolitan planning organizations. 

Each of the planning organizations will be required to create a Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS) under the authority of the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). 

CARB will set goals for each region with the help of a Regional Targets Advisory Committee, composed of representatives of the League of California Cities, the California State Association of Counties (CSAC), metropolitan planning agencies, local and regional planners, developers “and other stakeholder groups,” according the a CSAC analysis circulated in October. 

While each metropolitan planning organization (MPO) such as ABAG can recommend a regional GHG reduction goal to CARB, the final decision rests with the board. 

Once the goals are set, each regional organization must then draft a Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS) to be adopted in the regional transportation plan. 

The SCS “sets forth a vision for growth for the region taking into account the transportation, housing, environmental and economic needs,” according to the CSAC report. 

While adoption and implementation of an SCS isn’t mandatory, the law cuts off state transportation infrastructure funds to affected governments that fail to adopt one—money urgently needed in a state where many roadways are far beyond their design lifespans and are rapidly crumbling. 

According to an Oct. 2 analysis by Morrison & Foerster, one of the state’s leading law firms, “cities may be required to rezone parcels to residential or may have less discretion to disapprove certain projects.” 

The state Legislative Counsel’s Digest attached to the bill says SB 375 “would exempt from CEQA a transit priority project, as defined, that meets certain requirements and that is declared by the legislative body of a local jurisdiction to be a sustainable communities project.” 

For Berkeley, the most portentous provisions of SB 375 may be those that exempt one subset of projects from any review under CEQA because those same provisions leave only one avenue of recourse for opponents: impacts of “historic resources.” 

Under SB 375 so-called Transit Priority Projects (TPPs) are qualified for a streamlined review under CEQA which exempts them from analysis of growth-inducing and increased impacts from car and light truck traffic, which will be covered for CEQA purposes by the regional transportation plan’s EIR, said Rebecca Long, legislative analyst for the Regional Transportation Commission. 


Study Reveals Impacts of New Downtown Plan

By Richard Brenneman
Thursday February 05, 2009 - 03:07:00 PM

The plan for Berkeley’s downtown results from the conjunction of two powerful sources arising outside the city itself. 

First is the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), one of the first of what are now 14 regional planning areas in the state which both conduct coordinated planning and administer certain state funds to their constituent city and county governments. 

The second force shaping the plan, autonomous even from ABAG, is the University of California, by far Berkeley’s biggest developer. 

The downtown plan’s draft environmental impact report (DEIR) also includes another plan and EIR “by reference”—UC Berkeley’s Long Range Development Plan 2020 and its accompanying EIR—and refers readers to the university’s website at lrdp.berkeley.edu. 

That plan calls for 850,000 square feet of university-only new construction, none of it residential.  

The city’s plan provides for construction of up to 3,100 new dwelling units downtown plus another one million square feet of non-residential space. 

The development in the Downtown Area Plan (DAP) would have significant, unavoidable impacts—the highest level of detriment spelled out under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), in these areas: 

• Reduction of views of the Berkeley hills from the downtown area. 

• Increased levels of air pollution above those spelled out in the regional 1991 Clean Air Plan. 

• Exposure of sensitive residents to higher levels of toxic air contaminants and odors. 

• Demolition of historic resources. 

• Increased traffic noise, both generally and related to specific sites, and 

• Construction noise. 

The analysis of the loss of views of the hills in the EIR only considers the impact from within the downtown, even though many speakers throughout the planning process said they were concerned about the loss of views from the residences in adjacent neighborhoods. 

The single reference to impacts on views from outside the downtown planning district is a mention that development might “obstruct existing views of Downtown Area from other areas.” 

The DEIR evaluates a skyline that would include two new 220-foot hotels in the downtown inner core area and four additional buildings at 180 feet, with an outer core that includes six new 120-foot buildings, two of which would belong to the university. 

By way of comparison, the existing downtown skyline’s lone high-rises at the Great Western building at 173 feet and the Well Fargo tower, which houses 13 floors in 180 feet. 

The hotel buildings would include both guest rooms and private condos for permanent residents. 

 

Landmarks  

As for historic resources, the touchstones of many political battles in Berkeley in recent years, the DEIR concludes that the only impacts which couldn’t be mitigated would be demolitions of historic buildings to meet the plan’s development quotas. 

While Berkeley has a Landmarks Preservation Ordinance, recently reaffirmed in a municipal referendum that turned down a City Council-backed revision, the law isn’t binding on property owned by the university. 

UC, as the DEIR notes, typically presents its projects to the city Landmarks Preservation Commission for review, but the city has no legal say over university projects. 

As the DEIR notes, UC can override historic and archaeological concerns “[u]nder certain circumstances warranted by public benefits in furtherance of the University’s educational mission.” 

Another possible concern raised in the DEIR is the possible impact of new construction on potential historic districts within the downtown. 

Berkeley has two National Historic Districts downtown, one encompassing the civic center complex of buildings and the second being the historic buildings of the Berkeley High School complex. 

While development could significantly alter areas with potential for historic district designation, the impacts could be reduced by updated design guidelines for so-called infill development, the DEIR declares, spelling out a page of specifics. 

 

ABAGed 

ABAG sets the regional housing needs assessments, quotas for each local government mandating the amount of residential growth they must allow if they are to receive critical state infrastructure funding. 

Regional government doesn’t mandate construction of all the assigned housing units; only that the local agencies don’t act to block construction of housing up to the number of units prescribed. 

In Berkeley, Planning and Development Director Dan Marks told DAPAC members early in the planning process, city officials had picked downtown Berkeley because it was the only area where significant growth could occur without provoking a strong reaction from neighborhoods. 

The DEIR estimates the population within the downtown plan’s boundaries at 3,000 as of 2007. The new plan would allow for up to 3,252 new residents within the plan’s lifespan in 3,100 new housing units. 

Just how likely the housing will actually be built is another question, given the state of the economy. But if built out to the extent allowed by the proposed plan, the DEIR states, downtown Berkeley could have a population of 9,780 by 2030. 

The draft also estimates that 2,200 Berkeley residents work downtown, but makes no estimates of how many people who work downtown live there, or vice versa—an interesting question given the high percentage of students residing downtown. 

The DEIR also predicts the plan would add 3,333 new jobs to the city’s payrolls. 

 

DAP vs DAPAC  

All EIRs must include an analysis of alternative developments, and the DEIR considered two: 

First, the document examined development under the current city general and downtown plans along with the development projections included in the university’s LRDP. And for a second alternative, the reviewers took DAPAC’s original draft of the new downtown plan, minus planning commission revisions. 

The main differences between the DAPAC and commission versions are in the maximum allowable building heights and numbers of high-rises allowed. 

“Since development under the DAPAC alternative would result in less residential development and shorter buildings than would be permitted in the Downtown Area under the DAP, in absence of the No Project alternative, the DAPAC Alternative would be considered the environmentally superior alternative,” the study declares. 

DAPAC’s draft, the DEIR authors conclude, would result in 1,300 fewer residences in Berkeley and lower vehicular pollution, but in turn might lead to greater impacts on traffic and climate change by forcing growth elsewhere in the region. 

The DEIR endorses the planning commission version, declaring that it “provides a path to meet economic development goals while revitalizing retail and providing fiscal benefits, promotes affordable housing and housing diversity, and would result in a stronger center for the community.” 

 

Traffic impacts 

The review’s longest sections, covering 87 pages of the main body of the report plus a study running to about 300 pages, covers the plan’s impacts on downtown traffic. Without specific mitigations, 13 traffic intersections “are forecast to operate at a deficient level of service” at afternoon commute times by 2030, up from nine without the additional construction, while morning commute traffic would cause deficient service at four intersections, compared with two without the additional growth. 

Many of the impacts would come from reconfiguration of the two one-way sections of Shattuck Avenue between Center Street and University Avenue into two-way traffic on the western side of the split, making Shattuck straight through the University intersection in both directions—a move favored by both DAPAC and, so far, by the planning commission. 

The most adversely impacted intersection would be Martin Luther King Jr. Way at Hearst Avenue, right outside the entrance to the North Berkeley Senior Center where the planning commission meets. 

During the afternoon commute peak, it could take 261.1 seconds to transit the intersection by 2030, a full minute longer than if development continued under the current plans, including the university’s LRDP. 

The DEIR states that the delay could be reduced to 131.2 seconds by the addition of a left-turn lane on westbound Hearst.  

The resulting time savings would reduce the impact to a “less than significant” level, according to the DEIR, as would similar reconfigurations of the other intersections. 

Other intersections needing reconfiguration at evening commute hours are MLK at Allston Way; Milvia Street at University Avenue, Center Street and Allston; Shattuck Avenue at University, Center, Allston, Bancroft Way and Durant Avenue and Oxford Street at Hearst and Allston. 

While the MLK intersections at University and Center would be unacceptably degraded during peak morning hours under existing plan conditions, the new DAP would shift the traffic tangle to four intersections: Milvia and University, Shattuck and Durant and Oxford at Hearst and again at University. 

But turn lanes and traffic calming would reduce all the problems to an insignificant level, according to the DEIR. 

 

Available online 

The entire report is available online at www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=33630. 

A viewing copy is available at the main public library in the heart of the downtown planning district, and copies are available at the city’s Permit Service Center, 2120 Milvia St. 

Planning commissioners will host a public hearing to take comments for consideration in the final version of the EIR during the regular Feb. 18 meeting at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. at MLK..


West Berkeley Zoning Battle Fills Planning Commission Seats

By Richard Brenneman
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 07:01:00 PM

The struggle over West Berk-eley’s future brought a packed house of worried small business owners, craft workers and artists to the Planning Commission last week.  

Everyone who rose to speak at the Jan. 28 meeting had one overarching concern: a proposed change in rules that could reshape most of the city’s remaining land zoned for production.  

City planning staff have proposed a new process that would allow changes in the rules for development of more than half the acreage now zoned for manufacturing and light industry— 

all of it located in a compact  

1.5-square-mile freeway-hugging belt.  

And adding to the complexity of the issue, although only mentioned in passing, is the city’s prediction that car traffic in West Berkeley is expected to reach gridlock conditions in seven years.  

“Cars will reach gridlock conditions by 2016,” said Debra Sanderson, the city’s land use planning manager. “They will overwhelm our local streets,” bringing more pollutants in their wake as well, she said.  

West Berkeley itself “is not very big,” Sanderson said. “It’s less that 10 percent of the area of Berkeley itself.”  

But it is a well-organized 10 percent, as commissioners learned once again during the session.  

One after the other, artists and owners of businesses ranging from recycling and industrial parts production to lumberyards, laboratory glassware manufacturing and printing rose to protest changes in the Master Use Permit (MUP) process that would be allowed on all parcels of two or more acres.  

Rick Auerbach, advocate for the West Berkeley Artisans and Industrial Companies (WEBAIC) alliance, said the proposal would cover between 52 and 60 percent of Berkeley's manufacturing and industrially zoned land.  

While the recommendations presented to the commission by city Principal Planner Alex Amoroso declared that revisions would “revitalize and protect the three industrial districts (M, MM, MULI) with strong emphasis on manufacturing, warehouse, wholesale, and material recovery use,” audience members weren’t reassured.  

The MUP changes, Amoroso told commissioners, “are part of this flexibility we’ve been talking about.”  

So contentious has “flexibility” become that planning staff had previously changed the very name of their task from “West Berkeley Flexibility” to “West Berkeley Project.”  

The flexibility proposed would allow developers to deviate from established limits on uses, building setbacks, structure heights, parking requirements and other conditions in exchange for unspecified benefits to the city.  

Developers like the idea, including the company representing the owners of the area’s largest relatively undeveloped parcel, the old American Soil Products site, bordering the northern end of Aquatic Park.  

James Bohar of the international real estate brokerage Cushman Wakefield didn’t speak during the meeting, though he had sent commissioners a set of recommendations backing MUP revisions.  

Other developers in the audience didn’t speak, either, leaving the podium for the sole use of critics plus one lone speaker—Harvey Sherback—who urged commissioners to back his proposal to close at least one city street mornings and evenings for the use of cyclists.  

Sanderson told commissioners that anything allowed into West Berkeley would have to be clean, since the area already draws in, thanks to the prevailing winds, significant amounts of particulates from freeway and rail traffic.  

Development would also have to be “tight,” given that the area lies within a zone where the water level is high, the bay is rising and an earthquake could liquefy the soil.  

Amoroso said he envisions that changes will be made to two chapters of the zoning ordinance after “a period of extensive public review.”  

One change might allow for an increase over the current height limit of 45 feet, while others might allow greater flexibility in floor area ratios, required setbacks from property lines, and changes in allowable uses, including those allowed when a site sits astride zoning district boundaries.  

Amoroso promised further meetings with three stakeholder groups—WEBAIC and its allies, with a developer and land owner group, and with members of the West Berkeley Project Area Committee (PAC)—before a return visit to the commission later this month with a revised proposal.  

“We’re looking to see if the concept makes sense, and are we missing any major areas of specific concern,” he said.  

John Curl, a cabinet maker and WEBAIC activist, said he was concerned that city staff seemed to have pulled back in recent weeks from what had been “a very constructive relationship.”  

While staff has raised the minimum size for MUP projects from one acre to two, Curl said “three or three-and-a-half acres makes a lot more sense,” while still freeing up “almost a million square feet for development.”  

But the two-acre minimum “would have a devastating impact on West Berkeley,” accomplishing “just the opposite of what the West Berkeley Plan set out to do,” he said.  

Bernard Marzalek of Inkworks printing said the proposal threatened businesses like his worker-owned shop, which has been in the city since 1982. “We’re not some big box retail that’s here today and gone tomorrow. We’re a stable, sustainable business.”  

Corliss Lesser, an artist who lives with her family in a live/work studio at 800 Heinz Ave., said she worried that the process was threatening “something we are all being asked to move toward in this country: the small, the local.”  

It would be a crime, she said, to implement changes that would drive artists out of the city.  

“We should leave the West Berkeley Plan alone,” said Primo Facchini of Pacific Coast Chemical. “We shouldn’t change it for some capricious reason.”  

“I’m new to the full-on contact blood sport of Berkeley land use politics,” said Jim Mason, owner of the Shipyard, an artists’ space that has had its own problems with city regulations.  

He said staff should be looking at ways to make it easier for small-scale activities to ensure the area’s “tremendous diversity of artisans and activities.”  

“I’m very concerned about the watering down of the West Berkeley Plan,” said Ashby Lumber owner Jeff Hogan, a business which he said employs more than 50 people, who receive living wages.  

Hogan, like most of the other speakers, urged at least a three-acre minimum for the MUP.  

Seth Goddard, chair of the West Berkeley PAC, urged the commission to figure out a way to address greenhouse gas emissions in whatever solution they devise.  

Dan Baker, owner of a business at Fourth Street and Channing Way that has fabricated industrial moldings for the last 55 years, said he was concerned that proposals on the table “would deny businesses like mine.”  

Adolfo Cabral, recently ousted from the West Berkeley PAC by City Councilmember Darryl Moore, said he feared the area was being sacrificed in a drive to bring more revenue and tax money into city coffers.  

“I don’t want a scenario where there will be more and more seven-story buildings blocking my view of the Bay or forcing out industries and artists,” he said.  

Cabral is the second appointee ousted by Moore in recent weeks. He also forced Roia Ferrazares off of the planning commission. Both had questioned some of the projects which a City Council majority seems intent on pushing through.  

Many of those who had come to the meeting weren’t familiar with the speaking process and hadn’t filled out cards.  

Chair James Samuels initially said he wouldn’t let anyone address the commission who hadn’t filled out one of the salmon-colored submissions, despite opposition from two commissioners.  

Comment had already taken up more than an hour, but after the break he agreed to give a minute to everyone else who wanted to speak.  

That left little time for commissioners at the end of the meeting.  

David Stoloff asked Amoroso if there were any other criteria in the MUP proposal than acreage.  

“The short answer is no,” said the planner, adding that others might be added as the result of further stakeholder meetings.  

Samuels asked city Economic Development Director Michael Caplan how long major development sites in West Berkeley had been vacant  

Naming the “largest, most obvious sites,” Caplan cited:  

• Flint Ink, a four-acre property, had been vacant since 2002.  

• The 8.2-acre American Soil site, which has one occupied 40,000-square-foot building, “has been vacant for years.”  

• The much more complex seven-acre site partially occupied by the Marchant Building. Though the main building is in Berkeley and partially occupied, the site also includes surrounding land in Berkeley, Emeryville and Oakland and could require a joint powers agreement between all three jurisdictions, Caplan said.  

• The now largely vacant 3.5-acre McAuley Foundry site, which includes 350,000 square feet of existing structures.  

• Finally, the Peerless Lighting factory site, a 5.5-acre property which lies astride two zoning districts, is “a huge opportunity site for West Berkeley,” Caplan said.  

Commissioner Patti Dacey called the MUP proposal “a radical rewriting of the (West Berkeley) Plan.” She asked Amoroso “why this is not an amendment to the plan and why wouldn’t it require an environmental impact report?”  

Amoroso acknowledged “there may be environmental impacts” which would be assessed once the direction of the changes is clear.  

Dacey said she was skeptical of any benefits that would be given the city after the MUP was issued, “because right now the city has 100 percent discretion whether or not to enforce a use permit.”  

Sanderson nodded in agreement.  

“To me, this is cultural density bonus redux,” Dacey said, referring to the long battle before commissions, the City Council and the courts over use of space in the Gaia Building supposedly dedicated to cultural uses that in reality used primarily for private functions such as parties.  

“I don’t quite get how the MUP would benefit the M zone,” said Theresa Clark, who was in her second meeting as Moore’s new commissioner.  

Amoroso said M zones were included because they contained some of the sites that had been vacant for several years, and because the permit would “allow for different development patterns on those sites.”  

Some of the sites also include both the M (manufacturing) and MULI (manufacturing and light industrial) zones.  

By the end of the meeting, there were still questions aplenty, and even the minimum size for an MUP development was still in play.  

And one issue briefly mentioned still hangs over everything. Just how attractive will development remain in an area where traffic gridlock is predicted by the end of the decade?  

 


Video of Friday Shooting Incident in Downtown Berkeley

Received from a reader on Monday
Thursday February 05, 2009 - 10:12:00 AM

I came across the article today about the shots shutdown at the GAIA building on Friday night. I was walking home through downtown Berkeley when the shots were fired. It was disappointing to have no mention on it from ANY bay area news source over the entire weekend. The berkeley police don't even appear to mention it in their bulletin. We had no idea what was happening - or what happened.. Police were out in force and even closed off the streets... Allston, Center, etc. Anyway, the article raised doubt as to how many shots were fired. I came across this video taken during the shots fired... there were 3 - they happened just after halfway. -- Moni


Police Shut Down Party At Gaia Arts Center

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:58:00 PM

The Berkeley Police Department shut down yet another party at the Gaia Arts Center in downtown Berkeley Friday night after it attracted a large unruly crowd that blocked streets at Shattuck Avenue and Allston Way. Gunshots were fired in its aftermath, authorities said Saturday. 

Lt. Rico Rolleri of the Berkeley Police Department said that the party had started out “OK” with 150 to 200 teenagers inside the venue, but turned uncontrollable when at least 100 others tried to crash the event by entering through the Gaia Building garage, climbing over a back fence and pushing their way through the front door. 

Rolleri said that police officers patrolling the neighborhood came across the large crowd and contacted the organizers, the Oakland Bay Area Chapter of Jack and Jill of America, who admitted they were unable to handle the situation. 

Denise Eaton-May, national officer for Jack and Jill’s far west region, said in a telephone interview Wednesday that the incident had occurred when an uninvited group of people had tried to gain entry to the party but were turned away because the venue had reached its maximum capacity. 

“None of the Jack and Jill children were involved in any of the fights or had anything to do with the guns being fired,” she said. 

Jack and Jill is a national organization formed during the Great Depression by a group of upper middle-class African American women in Philadelphia, with chapters worldwide. According to the organization’s website, “Jack and Jill of America, Inc. is a family organization that provides cultural, social, civic and recreational activities that stimulate and expand the mind to enhance life.” 

Eaton-May said the party, which was supervised by more than 30 parents and private security guards, had been a dance fundraiser for one of their teen groups and disadvantaged sections of the community. 

She said that the event was supposed to end at midnight but was shut down by police around 10 p.m. 

At least 22 police officers—comprising the bulk of the Berkeley police force working that evening—began dispersing the crowd around 9:04 p.m., a process that took them about two hours, Rolleri said. 

Two fights broke out after the police arrived, and BART officers helped BPD to control the crowd. 

“People were very uncooperative, and large groups were pushing one another,” Rolleri said, adding that 45 minutes into the officers’ efforts to send everyone away someone fired a gun three times on the 2200 block of Shattuck. 

He said that nobody had come forward with any injuries and that police had not been able to track down the person discharging the firearm. 

No one has reported any damage to property. 

A video taken by a Planet reader—available on www.berkeleydailyplanet.com—shows hundreds of teenagers walking or running down Shattuck Avenue with police sirens wailing in the background, followed by three shots, after which the crowd panics and starts running in different directions. 

Last October a similar incident forced Berkeley police to declare the Gaia Arts Center, located on the lower floors of the Gaia Building at 2120 Allston Way, a public nuisance after its owners failed to control the rowdy behavior of guests and would-be guests, some of whom tried to crash the party by climbing through the windows of Anna’s Jazz Island, another first floor tenant in the building. 

The notice of nuisance which was posted at the door of the facility in October states that the city would impose a fine on the owners if a similar incident occurred within the next four months.  

Officer Andrew Frankel, spokesperson for BPD, said that Gaia Arts would be fined $750 for violation of the notice and that a new 120-day nuisance notice had been posted outside its doors. 

The Gaia Building’s owner, Equity Residential—headed by real estate magnate and Tribune Co. proprietor Samuel Zell—has leased the Gaia Arts Center premises back to Berkeley developer Patrick Kennedy, who built the building and sold it to Equity in 2007. 

Calls to Kennedy at his real estate firm Panoramic Interests and to the Gaia Arts Center were not returned. 

At least three Berkeley residents have sued the city in the past for failing to impose the cultural mandates outlined in the Gaia Art Center’s use permit. 

The center’s website, www.gaiaarts.com, lists theater and mezzanine space available for art exhibits, business meetings, conferences, concerts, private parties and weddings—all at rates ranging from $350 to $1,800—and notes that all events are required to be staffed by a Gaia Arts representative at all times. 

Anna de Leon of Anna’s Jazz Island, the other ground floor tenant in the building, said that she has repeatedly complained to the city that the arts center was unlawfully renting space out to churches, weddings and private parties. 

At a Zoning Adjustments Board meeting last year to determine whether the owners were violating a condition on their original permit requiring a certain amount of cultural activities in the arts center in exchange for higher density, zoning commissioners voted to give Equity Residential six more months to promote culture use in the space. 

Kennedy and, subsequently, Equity’s lawyer Allen Matkins have informed city officials that finding tenants who would use the space for cultural use has proved difficult in the past. 

De Leon told the Planet that Friday’s party had once again exceeded the expectations of its hosts—just like the one in October—and that college-aged people started “mobbing” outside the Gaia Building when they weren’t able to get in, forcing her to call the police around 9:15 p.m. 

Frankel said Tuesday that 300 people had attended the party, the maximum capacity allowed inside the facility. 

“There were hundreds of young people all around, and I knew there was going to be a problem,” she said, adding that one of the party organizers told her that they were going to shut down the party early. “My customers were not able to get in.” 

De Leon said by the time the police arrived, the situation had turned pretty bad, prompting Berkeley police supervisor Sgt. Katherine Smith and several police officers to shut the party down. 

There were at least six to seven police cars on the scene, de Leon said, and part of Shattuck Avenue had been closed down, making it difficult for anyone to access the neighborhood restaurants and bars. 

“After the streets were cleared, the police made everyone leave the party,” she said. “Then I heard gun shots on Shattuck and everyone ran back inside the Gaia Building. But the police told everyone that they couldn’t stay there and made them leave again, and told me to keep my customers inside.” 

De Leon said that the city’s and the owner’s failure to control these parties and the lack of a resolution about the building’s cultural use permit were unacceptable. 

“The city must like these parties—that’s why they approve them,” she said. “They’d rather have me move out of town because that’s what I am thinking of doing. The fine won’t really make any difference to the owners, they make thousands of dollars by renting out the space.” 

Jorge Saldana, who owns Cancun restaurant on Allston Way next to the Gaia building, said that he too was frustrated with what he called the Gaia Arts Center’s poor management and lack of respect for its neighbors. 

“One of my managers called me last night around 8 p.m. and said that he was going to shut down the restaurant early because the party was going out of control,” he said. “He said that the people were looking aggressive and he didn’t know whether he should sell them alcohol. He was afraid they would turn violent or break in. So I told him to shut down the restaurant for security.” 

Saldana, who said Cancun usually stays open until 10:30 p.m. on weekends, closed the restaurant almost two hours early Friday. 

“I am very concerned that these parties are hurting my business,” he said. “I don’t know why they continue to be held. On top of that they are violent and close the streets. I am losing my customers.” 

Councilmember Jesse Arreguin, who represents the downtown district, said that he was sympathetic to the businesses being affected by these parties. 

“It’s ridiculous that another uncontrollable party is happening at a place that should not be holding them,” he said. “I feel bad that Cancun, Anna’s Jazz Island and other restaurants have to deal with so many people. Is that good for the city, for the downtown?—No.”  

To see a video of the shooting incident see video


Elephant Pharm Closes

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:59:00 PM

Elephant Pharm, which opened in Berkeley six years ago as a pharmacy promoting holistic health merchandise, closed down its three stores and declared bankruptcy Tuesday, blaming the economic downturn and the tightening of the credit market. 

Kathi Lentzsch, Elephant CEO, said in a statement that the company filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy after failing to raise capital and will seek liquidation. 

“The company has been burdened with obligations that were quite difficult for a company of our size to carry,” she said. “The current management team and board of directors worked diligently to grow the company to a size that could bear these obligations, but due to the current economic conditions and the tightening of the credit market, it has not been possible to raise the capital required to continue the business.” 

Lentzsch said that the company, which has 190 employees, had been in continuous discussions with potential investors over the past year and cut costs significantly by closing its Los Altos location in September and downsizing corporate staff but was ultimately left with no other choice but to close its stores in Berkeley, Walnut Creek and San Rafael. 

"We are extremely proud of our team and what we were able to accomplish in the six years since we opened,” Lentzsch said. “We would like to thank our vendors and our very loyal customers for their support over the years. Elephant has been both a leader in its industry as well as a reflection of a greater societal movement for healthy change." 

Elephant has instructed former customers who have prescriptions on file with the store to contact their doctors if they need refills. 

Former employees told the Planet that stocks started dwindling at the Berkeley store—a 13,000-square-feet space—almost four months ago. 

Customers and clients who came to the Berkeley store Tuesday morning to get their prescriptions and shop said they were surprised—and in some cases frustrated—to hear the news. 

Anastasia Russell, who came to pick up her prescriptions from Elephant around 11 a.m., stood in front of the store’s sliding glass doors with her hand on her head. 

“I received a call from the corporate office that they were closing down so I rushed here to get my vitamins,” she said. “But I didn’t get anything. I buy all my medicine here. Now I don’t know what to do. They had excellent customer service—it was a perfect spot. I am so much in shock. I have a heavy heart—I am really appalled.” 

Suzy and Eric Johannesson, returning a movie in the drop-box located in the pharmacy’s parking lot, stopped a few feet away from the building before walking up the steps to read the notice. 

“We were just returning a movie when we noticed people taking pictures,” Suzy said. “It’s really very sad ... We have bought a lot of stuff from here and like their products.” 

The couple, who live on Shasta Road, said they shopped in the Gourmet Ghetto regularly. 

“Another Berkeley business is going vacant,” Eric said. “We are going to go home and have a drink to drown our sorrows. What else can we do?” 

Starbuck’s recently closed across Shattuck Avenue from Elephant, and down the block, Waddle and Swaddle, a locally owned clothing boutique for babies and expectant mothers, which has been in Berkeley for eight and a half years, also had a out-of-business sign, its “Buy Local Berkeley” sticker still visible on the storefront. 

At Elephant, around 10 or 15 employees shuttled in and out of the store to collect their belongings and a couple of managers could be seen talking to clients inside. 

Gabe Dour, a former employee who was laid off Monday night, was handing out discount coupons for the Shen Clinic, a herbal pharmacy on the corner of Shattuck and Rose Street, where he works part time. 

“It’s a shame,” said Dour. “It was the hub of the community great model for what pharmacies could be and one of the first of its kind.” 

Dour said that he had started looking for a job almost four months ago when management stopped replenishing merchandise. 

“They have been telling us for a while that we could close but that there was still some hope,” he said. “Then they told us a week or so ago that we should look for a job. Apparently they made some phone calls to employees last night but I haven’t checked my messages yet. It’s a dicey situation since we have a lot of part time students working here as well as full time practitioners.” 

Dour said that the Berkeley location had around 60 employees, not counting its practitioners and teachers. 

“I know that everyone has been paid for the hours they worked,” he said, blaming the closing on the financial meltdown, explaining that it was becoming hard for the company to find investors who would finance expansion. 

A few customers took pictures of the “closed indefinitely” sign which read: 

“It is with a heavy heart that we post this notice: Elephant Pharm, which has served over 1 million customers in four Bay Area markets, has closed indefinitely. As a small business, we’ve been hurt by the terrible turn the economy has taken and the tightening of the credit market. It’s been a very special six years since we started this drugstore revolution, and we certainly couldn’t have made it as far as we did without you—our customers. We hope that you will continue your pursuit of a good, long life, well lived.” 

The notice also directed customers to the company’s website www.elephantpharm.com for further details and asked them to contact their doctor to have their prescriptions filled or re-filled. 

“We deeply regret any inconvenience this may cause you,” the notice’s end read. 

Mark Panzer, president of Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy, which plans to accept all Elephant customer prescriptions and pharmacy coupons at its Solano, Mill Valley and Oakland locations called Elephant’s closing “unfortunate.” 

“We like having competition, it keeps us on our toes,” he said. “It’s like Circuit City and Best Buy. Unfortunately it looks like Elephant hit a hard time. Fortunately our business is strong and continues to stay strong.” 

Panzer said that if Elephants’ customers did not have a copy of their prescriptions, they could give Pharmaca their doctors’ phone number and the company would arrange refills. 

Sara Horowitz, another customer, waited in front of the store for 10 minutes before finally taking off. 

“I was hoping to buy some lavender chocolate,” she said. “I came all the way from Lake Merritt just to come to Elephant Pharmacy. I don’t get it. I am totally confused.” 

Stuart Skorman, who started Reel.com, founded Elephant in 2002, focusing on offering health-conscious consumers a health- and wellness-minded product selection, good customer service and easy access to information through a free customer education program, selling merchandise that included over-the-counter drug store remedies, bulk herbs, vitamins, supplements, yoga gear, gifts, books and more.  

Skorman no longer has any connection to the business. 

In the fall of 2005, Elephant raised $26 million from Tudor Investment and the JPMorgan Bay Area Equity Fund, according to a company statement. National drugstore chain CVS also invested in Elephant. 

The store also offered a team of wellness practitioners who offered free, one-on-one consultations everyday and brought in local and visiting experts to lead hundreds of free classes and clinics every month at each store. 

“This is terrible, It’s my neighborhood,” said Elizabeth Wright, who has lived in North Berkeley for over 40 years. “It makes me feel very, very sad. I shopped here for myself and my grandchildren. My dog shopped here too. I am a great supporter of the local neighborhood and Elephant had such a lovely feeling of community. I shall miss that very much. I hope that something positive will happen so that they can open again.”


Malcolm X Kindergartner Expected to Survive

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:45:00 PM
The intersection where the elementary school student was struck by a car.
The intersection where the elementary school student was struck by a car.

The Malcolm X kindergartner hit by a car last Friday on her way to school in South Berkeley was moved from intensive care to a regular surgery recovery room at Children’s Hospital Wednesday and will start therapy soon on her fractured clavicle, according to authorities. 

Sgt. Mary Kusmiss, spokesperson for the Berkeley Police Department, said that a distraught man called 911 around 8:14 a.m. on Jan. 30 to report that he had hit the girl with his truck in the crosswalk of Ellis Street and Ashby Avenue.  

When Berkeley police arrived at the scene, they found the 6-year-old unconscious at the intersection and the driver sobbing near his Toyota 4 Runner.  

Paramedics from the Berkeley Fire Department took the girl to Children’s Hospital, where she was reported to be in serious condition and later underwent surgery for two hours for a fractured skull and fractured clavicle, among other things.  

Mark Coplan, spokesperson for the Berkeley Unified School District, said that doctors had spent the majority of the time performing cosmetic surgery on cuts on her face from the accident.  

She was given a breathing tube for bruises on her lung at which point she reached out for it with her hand, Coplan said.  

“That showed that she had got her motor control back,” he said. “All signs indicate that she will have a good recovery.”  

Coplan said that the mother of the girl did not want her daughter’s name released but expressed her appreciation for the generosity and prayers of the Malcolm X community members, many of whom had sent get-well cards and notes. 

“Parents and students are looking into simple ways to help the family,” Coplan said. “Simple things like a casserole for dinner can mean a lot for a parent stretched between the hospital and home.” 

Police said that according to the driver of the Toyota—who authorities said remained at the scene and cooperated completely—and eyewitnesses, the student was walking to school with her 8-year-old brother.  

The two children were heading south on Ellis Street in the crosswalk crossing Ashby Avenue.  

The Toyota was going north on Ellis, making a left turn onto Ashby Avenue when it struck the girl.  

According to the 8-year-old brother, who was found later in his classroom and interviewed by police officers, he and his sister were on the north side of Ashby at the intersection with Ellis, preparing to cross Ashby.  

Kusmiss said that the two children had not yet stepped off the curb when the school bell rang, and the girl, who was slightly ahead of her brother, looked back and dashed from the sidewalk to the crosswalk.  

Initial investigations, Kusmiss said, revealed that the little girl was at fault.  

“It’s hard to say what goes on in the mind of a 6-year-old when she hears the school bell,” Kusmiss said. “The driver is still very, very upset.” BPD Traffic Enforcement officers have ruled out drugs and alcohol as a factor in the accident  

Authorities said that although Ellis Street is controlled by stop signs on the north and south, there are no traffic controls for Ashby Avenue at the intersection.  

Classes at Malcolm X went on normally Thursday. Coplan said City of Berkeley mental health workers were on hand to provide counseling to parents and students if needed and a counselor had been with the young girl’s brother all morning.  

Malcolm X principal Cheryl Chin said that although there were no traffic guards at the intersection of Ashby and Ellis, they are stationed at Ashby and King Street, which she described as Malcolm X’s safe route to school.  

Across the street from the school, a group of regulars at the South Berkeley Senior Center discussed the morning’s events.  

Ron Brill, a city employee, said that he had given the girl first aid in the morning right after the accident happened.  

“I was fixing the water fountain around 8:15 in the morning, and I went out and saw a young black female, approximately 6 years old, lying on the street in a semi fetal position,” he said. “She had a pulse and was still breathing and her eyes were open, fixed and dilated. She had facial injuries—there was a cut on her cheek but not a lot of blood involved.”  

The family lives on the 2900 block of Ellis. Shortly after the accident, the mother of the girl who was hit came to the scene.  

“I didn’t touch her and kept everybody away till the paramedics arrived,” he said. “When you see something like that you automatically assume spinal injury or damage to the head. I kept the mother away as well. The paramedics arrived within three to four minutes and after they took her away, I controlled the scene.”  

Brill said that he and two others controlled the traffic until police took over the intersection where the accident happened, after which he moved to the next intersection.  

“Cars were getting backed up, some people were trying to get through by going around the scene and a couple of idiots were in a rush to get out of there,” he said.  

Brill described the driver of the car as a white man in his 40s “who was completely distraught” by the incident.  

“He was curled up in a ball sitting on the ground behind his truck and crying,” he said.  

Patty Thomas, director of the senior center, said that she had been in the building with her staff when one of the seniors came in and told them what had happened.  

“One of our drivers—she called the ambulance,” Thomas said.  

”It’s dangerous for seniors too. Are they going to put up a stop sign out there?” asked a young woman who works at the center.  

The intersection has a history of tragedy. In 2003, Fred Lupke, 58, an activist for the disabled community, was killed when his wheelchair was struck by a car on Ashby Avenue near the Ellis Street intersection.  

Coplan said that, although the city and the school district work together to develop an effective traffic enforcement formula, the Berkeley Police Department was responsible for the placement of crossing guards.  

“It gives me goosebumps to say this, there was a crossing guard once on that street, but she was always afraid to go out there because of the cars,” said a visitor at the senior center who did not want to be named. “She used to hold a stick in front of her before she went out there.”  

Mary Bell, who was sitting in her wheelchair in the senior center lobby, said that even with a traffic light the intersection, would still be dangerous.  

“It’s a scary little corner,” she said. “It needs some kind of recognition, especially since there are children right across the street.”


BHS Redesign Attracts Critics, Supporters

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:57:00 PM

The group of parents, teachers, administrators and students from Berkeley High School who spoke in support of introducing block schedules and advisory programs during a Berkeley Board of Education meeting Wednesday were joined by an equally vociferous bunch who criticized the proposed overhaul, citing research, personal experience and an online petition to prove their point. 

Bill Huyett, superintendent of the Berkeley Unified School District, announced at the end of the meeting that he would consult with board president Nancy Riddle and staff before deciding whether the school board would vote on the proposal at its Feb. 11 meeting. 

Community members had a chance to comment on the proposed redesign at a public forum hosted jointly by the Berkeley High administration and the Parent Teacher Student Association Wednesday. 

Berkeley High principal Jim Slemp presented the redesign to the board during a study session, along with vice principals Amy Frey, Kristin Glenchur and Maggie Heredia-Peltz. Their presentation was followed by an analysis of its challenges and financial feasibility by Rebecca Cheung, the district’s director of assessment, evaluation and research. 

Slemp said that the Berkeley High community had worked on the plan for the past four-and-a-half years—adding that it had “not been pulled out of a hat”—and was based on the BHS small schools’ guiding principles, the WASC school-wide action plan, the BHS smaller learning communities grant and the 2020 Vision, a city-wide program aimed at reducing the achievement gap. 

“We have been struggling, talking and discussing with parents about this plan for a long time,” he said, stressing that it had the ability to bump up lagging test scores. “To continue to do the same thing and expect different results is not something wise.” 

The plan, which was approved by the School Governance Council in December and has undergone some changes since then, promises a more intimate learning environment for students through advisory programs and an alternating day block schedule, where four classes would be scheduled each day, alternately on “red” and “gold” schedules.  

The final school bell would ring at either 3:28 p.m. or 3:30 p.m. instead of 3:15 p.m., allowing students to take an additional elective class geared toward increasing total instructional time. 

Currently students receive an average of 1,650 instructional minutes a week. Under the proposed changes, students could receive up to 1,712 minutes of instruction per week. 

However, specific student time in each course would decrease by 22 percent, a fact that accounts for most of the criticism. 

At the meeting, a couple of students contended that longer classes would help them focus better and allow teachers to complete their lectures instead of cutting them short midway. 

Noah Teller, a junior in the school’s international baccalaureate program, said he represented a Facebook group of 400 Berkeley High students who were against the block schedule. 

“If our goal is to close the gap by personalizing student-teacher relationships, we should increase the amount of time students have in class, not cut it,” he said. 

Margit Roos Collins, a Berkeley High parent, said that the high school had dropped block scheduling after implementing it in the past because it had not met with any success. 

Peggy Scott, another parent, turned in 250 signatures of Berkeley High parents opposing the plan. 

“Don’t count every hour of the day, make every hour of the day count,” said Jessica Quindel, a math teacher at the high school who spoke in favor of the plan, explaining that the current schedule left her with very little time to explain homework to students. 

Evy Kavaler, who has taught science at Berkeley High for 16 years, disagreed. 

“There are no studies that show that change in structure of classes will help close the achievement gap,” she said, adding that AP science classes would be reduced by 46 percent, making it difficult for her to teach her syllabus in that time frame. 

Amy Burke, who recently joined the school’s math department, said that she was excited about the new schedule. 

“I really like the time in the day for academics,” she said. “It’s looking at students who need more support and gives teachers the time to de-stress and meet with smaller groups of students every day.” 

Some parents acknowledged that although the redesign revealed a concern for at-risk students, it was an experiment which lacked clear goals. 

Slemp said that smaller learning communities, advisory programs and a student-friendly curriculum would help to turn around “a highly impersonalized environment” and motivate students to get on the college track. 

He said that contrary to the fears of some parents about students running wild during advisory periods, they were classes during which students would engage in community service and resume-building, among other things. 

Cheung told the board that the most viable cost scenario included 29 students in every class, incorporated labs into science classes and would need around seven additional teachers, at a cost of $674,100. 

School board member John Selawsky questioned whether eliminating science labs made sense at a time when the Obama administration was stressing the importance of strengthening science and math education for high school students.  

Board member Shirley Issel said that it was a little far-fetched to say that the advisory program would close the achievement gap completely, something both Selawsky and Huyett agree with. 

“They will affect some students and not affect others,” Selawsky said. “However, there is something that would help, and that is professional development.” 

Huyett reminded the board that although the school district was facing tough times because of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget cuts to public education, it would have to make a decision on the redesign soon since waiting any longer would mean the high school would not be able to introduce the program in the fall. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Dellums Hires New Staff With Berkeley Backgrounds

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:44:00 PM

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums—who once served as a member of the Berkeley City Council before being elected to Congress from the East Bay—has reached into his Berkeley roots to fill several key Oakland City Hall staff positions. 

Of five people recently named by Dellums to top City of Oakland jobs—Dan Lindheim as city administrator, Marianna Marysheva-Martinez as assistant city administrator, Dorlista R. Reed as public safety coordinator, Walter Cohen as director of the Community and Economic Development Agency (CEDA), and Theo Oliphant as director of Public-Private Partnerships—two of them, Lindheim and Reed, have Berkeley backgrounds. 

Lindheim, who has served as an aide to Dellums for several years going back to the mayor’s time as a member of Congress, is a Berkeley native with deep and continuing ties to the city, a graduate of Emerson, Willard, and Berkeley High School with a B.A. in economics and a master’s in city planning and public health from UC Berkeley. (Lindheim also has a law degree from Georgetown University.) 

Lindheim comes from a family that was prominent in local public affairs. One of Lindheim’s uncles, Stephen Lindheim, was a UC Berkeley electrical engineering graduate who founded an Oakland electrical contracting firm, became active in the city’s Chamber of Commerce. After his death, the 98th Avenue-Highway 880 overpass was named after him. 

Lindheim’s mother, Roselyn (Roz) Lindheim, was a longtime UC Berkeley professor of architecture and Bay Area social activist, for whom the university established the Roselyn Lindheim graduate student award in environmental design and public health. Roz Lindheim died in 1987. A 1991 UC Berkeley “in memoriam” document called her “one of the most respected professionals and academics in her field. She was one of the first persons selected for membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and the first architect to be so honored.”  

The article also credited Roz Lindheim with providing the “leadership that opened the doors of the Department of Architecture to black and Hispanic students. She was relentless in championing efforts to make the faculty and student body more representative in terms of race and gender.” 

Lindheim’s father, Richard, founded the Berkeley video company General Electronic Systems, Inc. (GESI), a leading reseller and integrator of professional and broadcast video and computer graphic systems. GESI operated a video editing studio on San Pablo Avenue and, at one time, film director Francis Ford Coppola edited and showed first releases of his films there. Richard Lindheim passed away unexpectedly in 1989 while Dan Lindheim was working in Washington, D.C., and Lindheim says he commuted back and forth between the two coasts for nine months to operate the video company and turn its fortunes around. He started a software company, Diaquest, which, according to the online company profile, provides “video animation control and network image transfer, offers a wide range of products for animation recording and capture, and video input/output solutions for Macintosh, Windows, and SGI computers.” 

“My dad was a leading light in the video world,” Lindheim said by telephone this week. “But I was a computer geek. I wasn’t much interested in the video, so I ran with the software side.” 

Lindheim says he feels his largest contribution to Berkeley was in the public school system, where he co-ran (with school board member Nancy Riddle) the successful 2004 Measure B and 2006 Measure A campaigns, and has chaired or co-chaired the school district’s parcel tax oversight committee for the past six years. 

Reed served as North Oakland Crime Prevention Liaison in 1978, a position she credited with “jump-starting” her career with the City of Berkeley. She served as Project Director of the Berkeley Community Partnership in 1994, introducing a community-involved policing proposal. Until she took the Public Safety job with the City of Oakland, Reed served as a Senior Management Analyst in Berkeley’s Public Works Department and served in other capacities over several years with the Berkeley City Manager’s office and the City of Berkeley Health and Human Services Department. Reed also served as director of the Berkeley Community Partnership, an alcohol and drug abuse prevention collaborative.


Citizens vs. Caltrans Suit Wins Berkeley Road Improvements

By Richard Brenneman
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:43:00 PM

Caltrans will fund $2 million in improvements to Highway 13 in Berkeley as the result of negotiations with neighborhood activists who had filed suit challenging the state’s plans to drill a fourth bore for the Caldecott Tunnel. 

That sum doesn’t include $750,000 Caltrans had already committed to the city street improvements. 

The agreement, signed by Caltrans Jan. 23, is the second pact signed by the state transportation department to compensate for impacts of the tunnel project, said Ann Smulka, who was instrumental in negotiations as chair of the Fourth Bore Coalition (FBC). 

A consultant who works on the human factors for computer game designers, Smulka is a member of the Claremont Elmwood Neighborhood Association, one of the groups that make up the FBC. 

Smulka signed the agreement, as did FBC attorney Stuart Flashman, Caltrans Director Will Kempton and Janet Wong, the agency’s lawyer.  

“We would have liked to have gotten more,” Smulka said, but Gov. Schwar-zenegger’s pending move to exempt highway construction projects from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) spurred the push to reach a settlement. 

“Given the choice, we certainly would have liked to win many more mitigations for the city and for other neighborhoods that will be impacted by a five-and-a-half-year, round-the-clock construction project,” she said. “Even with a temporary, 40-foot-high sound barrier, noise will be quite high for neighborhoods that are near the project.” 

The FBC is an alliance of the Berkeley Claremont Elmwood Neighborhood Association, East Bay Bicycle Coalition. Friends of Rockridge-Temescal Greenbelt, North Hills Phoenix Association, Parkwoods Community Association and the Rockridge Community Planning Council. 

Highway 13 is known for the greatest part of its course through the city as Ashby Avenue, turning into Tunnel Road east of Claremont Avenue. The highway carries traffic to and from the city, intersecting with Highway 24 not far from the tunnel. 

The Berkeley funds are to be spent on traffic signals and signal timing, and for improvements that make the road safer for cyclists and pedestrians, according to the 11-page agreement filed with the court of Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch. 

According to the agreement, “projects will be selected by the City of Berkeley,” with the approval of the FBC and subject to final approval by Caltrans based on safety and feasibility. 

An agreement with Oakland was signed last June under threat of a lawsuit, giving that city $8 million in mitigation projects to offset project impacts. 

Smulka said there are still important environmental issues on the table, and talks with Caltrans will continue. 

She said the FBC will remain involved, insuring that the provisions of the agreement are carried out. 

The FBC filed a petition Nov. 13, 2007, challenging the decision by Caltrans a month earlier to certify the tunnel project’s environmental impact report, a CEQA requirement before any major construction project with significant impacts on the physical or human environments can be approved. 

All of the arguments had been finished and the case was in Judge Roesch’s hands pending a decision when the settlement was reached. 

Among the Tunnel Road/Ashby Ave-nue improvements won by the FBC are: 

• Caltrans will designation a public information officer to liaise with FBC and neighbors. 

• Shielding of nearby neighborhoods from construction lighting, with contractors required to respond to violations within 24 hours. 

• Construction of the sound wall between Caldecott Lane and Highway 24. 

• Installation and monitoring of sound- measuring hardware at the site, along with a 24-hour complaint line. 

• Advance notice of construction blasting, and a ban on blasting between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. 

• Restriction on trucking and stockpiling soils to minimize impacts on neighborhoods and their streets.  

Caltrans also agreed to spend up to $50,000 to fence and protect FROG (Friends of the Rockridge-Temescal Greenbelt) Park from construction debris and to grant a 10-year lease extension on the park to the City of Oakland plus two five-year options. An additional $100,000 will be spent on park improvements, bike lane improvements at nearby intersections or a study of transportation management issues in the area. 

The settlement also gives FBC and its attorneys $100,000 for legal fees and costs.


Police Blotter

By ALI WINSTON
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:40:00 PM

Foiled robbery 

A 14-year-old Oakland girl was arrested after an attempted strong-arm robbery on Telegraph Avenue on Jan. 29. Around 6:45 p.m., the girl attempted to snatch a woman's purse off her shoulder. When the woman resisted, the girl threw her to the ground and kicked her repeatedly. Other pedestrians intervened, and one chased the girl for a distance down Dwight Way. The 14-year-old was arrested shortly thereafter by Berkeley Police. 

 

Auto burglary at Berkeley Bowl 

A woman's purse was stolen from the back seat of a car parked near the Berkeley Bowl on Jan. 30. The incident, which was recorded by Berkeley Bowl security cameras, took place around 5:36 p.m.. The suspect, a tall, heavy-set man between 30 and 40 years of age wearing a black long-sleeved t-shirt and jeans, shattered a window on the car, reached in and took the purse. Such crimes of opportunity are easily preventable by taking proper precautions. Citizens “need to make sure valuables are out of sight,” said BPD Officer Andrew Frankel. 

 

Shoplifting arrest 

A 26-year-old Berkeley man was arrested on the afternoon of Jan. 31 for stealing $10.50 worth of food from the Berkeley Bowl market. He was spotted by store employees when he walked out of the store with a bag full of groceries shortly before 1 p.m. He fled when confronted by store security and was detained by Berkeley police nearby.  

 

Armed robbery 

A 44-year-old man was robbed of his backpack and wallet at gunpoint in West Berkeley on Saturday evening. The Berkeley resident was accosted around 10 p.m. by two male teenagers. One placed a handgun against his ribs and demanded his money. The two assailants walked the man twenty yards further down the street and fled north after the victim handed over his backpack and wallets. Police say strong-arm robberies are uncommon in the neighborhood. 

 

Stolen cab 

A red 2001 Ford Crown Victoria belonging to an Oakland taxi company was stolen from the 2000 block of 10th Street on Saturday afternoon. The car, which belongs to Oakland Veterans Cab, was reported stolen around 1:30 p.m.  

 

Identity thefts 

Berkeley police received multiple reports of identity theft last week. On Jan. 24, a woman had her purse stolen from a common area of her residence in the 2200 block of Cedar Street. The woman told officers that a number of unauthorized purchases had been made with her credit cards.  

On Jan. 30, an Ordway Street woman informed police that someone had used her name to fraudulently open a credit card in her name with Bank of America and charged $5,000 to that account. The woman believes the ID theft occurred between Dec. 6 and Dec. 12, but is unsure how the perpetrator got hold of her personal information. 

A Durant Avenue woman reported a third case of identity theft on Jan. 30, stating that she believes her new credit card was stolen from her mailbox. The card has been used multiple times since Jan. 27 to make online purchases. In two instances, $1,000 was withdrawn from the woman's savings account.  

“Identity theft is a pretty regular occurrence,” said Officer Andrew Frankel. To avoid such instances, Frankel said, people should shred any documents with personal information before throwing them out, cut up all preapproved credit cards they don’t use and safeguard their personal belongings. “You’d be amazed at how much information you can get out of the trash about somebody,” Frankel said.  

 

Hate crime 

On Sunday evening, Berkeley police responded to a report of a hate crime at the Derby Market on College Avenue. Around 9:26 p.m., two men in their mid-20s were accosted inside the market by a man and a woman yelling anti-Jewish slurs at them. When one of the young men stepped outside to call the police, the man followed him outside, screamed in his ear to garble the call and threw him to the ground. The aggressor then punched the young man in the mouth while brandishing a 40-oz. bottle of liquor as a weapon. The suspects fled shortly thereafter. Berkeley Police are investigating the incident as a hate crime.


Charles ‘Ozzie’ Osborne, 1919-2009

By Derk Richardson Special to the Planet
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:39:00 PM

Charles Glenn “Ozzie” Osborne, proprietor of the legendary Elmwood Soda Fountain for nearly 40 years, died in the early morning hours of Thursday, Jan. 29. He was 89 years old.  

Ozzie (he would never abide the formality of “Mr. Osborne”) had been receiving dialysis treatments for several years, and after a gradual, progressive physical decline, he ultimately succumbed to kidney failure. He had been hospitalized the week before his death but for his final days returned, with hospice care, to the house he shared in Palo Alto with Joy Sleizer, his wife of 13 years. 

As soon as word of Ozzie’s passing reached Berkeley, a makeshift shrine began taking shape on the east-facing window of the now-shuttered Elmwood Health & Mercantile (formerly known as the Elmwood Pharmacy) at the corner of College Avenue and Russell Street. A large reproduction of a photograph from Ozzie’s last day at the soda fountain in 1989 (shot by lunch counter regular Richard Nagler) served as the centerpiece, with other photographs, historic menus and memorabilia, and a sheet of spontaneously scrawled tributes, farewells, and memories taped to the window, and bouquets of flowers left in homage on the sidewalk. 

Ozzie’s corner of the world, to borrow from Whitman, contained multitudes. 

“This guy was a soda jerk,” says Osborne’s son Rory Osborne, 59, of Davis, “and yet he influenced so many people’s lives. I’d be traveling in Europe, or I’d be in a doctor’s office getting physical therapy, and I’d meet people who’d say, ‘You’re Ozzie’s son?!’ It was amazing.” 

“That was a big life,” comments longtime Elmwood resident Bruce Riordan, who remembers slurping “suicides” (a little of every flavored syrup plus soda water “jerked” from the fountain) after school and sitting at the counter watching the Giants play the Yankees in the 1962 World Series. After Riordan and his wife, Virginia, settled in the Elmwood in the early 1980s, they, like countless other baby boomers, regularly took their kids, Neal and Louis, to the soda fountain, where Ozzie’s humble fare included grilled cheese, tuna salad, egg salad and chopped olive, and chicken-pecan sandwiches, milk shakes, ice cream sodas, and egg creams.  

Born on Dec. 31, 1919, in Sacramento, Osborne grew up in Folsom, the son of a prison guard father and schoolteacher mother. He was the middle child of three, outliving his elder sister, Bernice, and younger brother, William.  

As Rory Osborne remembers, Ozzie briefly attended the University of California but never graduated. His college years were cut short by the onset of World War II, during which Ozzie served as a fighter escort pilot, accompanying bombers on raids and reconnaissance in North Africa, Italy, the Balkans, and the Soviet Union. One of his soda fountain menus featured a photo of Ozzie in his flight gear next to a plane, plus the motto “Live in fame or go down in flames.” 

After the war, Ozzie settled in Richmond with his first wife, Lois. There would be a second wife, Marilyn, and dancing/life partner, Ruth, before Ozzie met his third wife, Joy. Lois gave birth to two sons, Rory and Greg (now 62 and living in Silver Springs, Nev.), and Ozzie worked as a partner in Danny’s Drive-In on MacDonald Avenue. When the opportunity arose in February 1950, Ozzie took over the soda fountain that had been in operation in the Elmwood Pharmacy since 1921.  

Under his proprietorship, the soda fountain became the social hub of the neighborhood, a place where anyone could feel at home, even if you didn’t share Ozzie’s left-liberal politics. Rory Osborne notes that while his dad told scores of war stories, he was staunchly antiwar and distanced himself from veterans who paraded their patriotism. “By the time I graduated from high school,” Rory remembers, “he was more radical than I was.” Throughout the 1970s and ’80s, Ozzie took part in marches, petition drives, public meetings, and electoral precinct walking, and was proud of having been arrested during demonstrations at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. 

In the early 1980s, the soda fountain became the launching pad for a movement that resulted in Berkeley’s short-lived commercial rent-control ordinance. With the pharmacy and soda fountain facing eviction by a prospective buyer of the entire corner building, local merchants and residents mounted a grassroots campaign that resulted in the passage of Measure I, an initiative that brought commercial rent control to the Elmwood business district. Although later nullified by state law, the measure opened a window for such local enterprises as Your Basic Bird and Lewin’s Metaphysical Books to condominiumize their buildings.  

“Ozzie just loved the idea of taking the law into our own hands and putting a commercial rent- and eviction-control law on the ballot,” remembers veteran rent-control organizer Marty Schiffenbauer. “He was an amazing petition-signature collector. The counter was a perfect place to get signatures, but I also remember working a movie theater line with him and what great fun he was having engaging people and convincing them to sign on.” 

On any given day at the soda fountain—which wasn’t formally called “Ozzie’s” until he handed the business off in 1989 to Robin Richardson, who operated it until 1998 with her business partner, Norm Shea—the mix might include local merchants, neighborhood characters, Berkeley politicos, kids on their way home from nearby schools, new and old friends seeking solace and advice, and the occasional homeless person finding brief respite on one of the 16 red vinyl stools, sipping a glass of water and often leaving with a free sandwich.  

The galvanizing force was Ozzie’s personality, a sometimes flinty, always compassionate admixture of strong opinions, curiosity, and generosity. He could make himself present for anyone. In addition to supporting social and political causes, his avocations included gardening (he was an early and avid advocate of organic horticulture) and round dancing (a cued form of ballroom dancing), both of which he practiced in retirement as long as his health allowed. Sober for 45 years, he served as an Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor for many younger people with substance-abuse problems. 

“He had room in his heart for almost everyone—except Richard Nixon,” says Sally Elkington, whose first visit to the counter in 1981 resulted in her working there until she graduated from law school in 1988.  

“We had many, many long talks—about relationships, school, parents,” Elkington recalls. “Oz had a great sense of humor and didn’t take himself too seriously. His advice was always sage and well rounded. He put things in perspective and helped me put my life in perspective.” 

On Oct. 19, 2008, Ozzie, in a wheelchair, escorted Elkington down the aisle in her wedding to Susan Lamb. As late as mid-January, he was making plans to attend the “Ozzie’s Valentine’s Day dinner,” an annual gathering of 30 or so former soda fountain regulars, family members, and friends.  

“I was on the phone with Caskey, my Ozzie’s Valentine’s Day date for the past 19 years, when I got the impulse to check my e-mails to see if there was anything about Ozzie,” says Marty Schiffenbauer. “And an e-mail from his wife, Joy, had just popped up with the sad news he had died. It felt as if Ozzie had planned that Caskey and I would learn about his passing at the same moment so we could share a good cry together.” 

Charles “Ozzie” Osborne is survived by his wife, Joy Sleizer; two sons, Greg of Silver Springs, Nev., and Rory of Davis; and four grandchildren, d’Artagnon (Darth), Steve, Glenn, and Katie. 

A public memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Feb. 14 at First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto, 1140 Cowper St., Palo Alto, CA 94301. Donations in Ozzie’s memory can be sent to the landscaping fund at the above church or to InnVision, 974 Willow St., San Jose, CA 95125.


$2 Million Bail for Frat Row Murder Suspect

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:41:00 PM

Acknowledging that Andrew Hoeft-Edenfield, charged with murdering UC Berkeley graduate Chris Wootton in May posed a threat to the community and a flight risk, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson set his bail at $2 million Monday.  

Jacobson explained that the excessive amount would guarantee that family and friends who raised it would ensure that the defendant showed up at his pre-trial hearing in two weeks.  

The judge also ordered Hoeft-Edenfield, who lives on San Pablo Avenue in West Berkeley with his mother Eileen, to stay 300 feet away from UC Berkeley and its fraternities and sororities, in light of the fact that the very actions that had put him behind bars had started from a frat row fight last May.  

Hoeft-Edenfield’s private attorney, Yolanda Hwang, asked the judge to set bail at $60,000, explaining that anything higher than that would make it unaffordable for Hoeft-Edenfield’s mother, who was employed at a nonprofit, and his father, a construction worker.  

She added that his parents did not own any property, saying that “if he posts bond it would be because of the faith and support of the community.”  

Alameda County deputy district attorney Stacie Pettigrew requested the judge to set bail at $3 million.  

Hoeft-Edenfield was denied his previous request for bail on Aug. 25 after Jacobson ruled that there wasn’t substantial evidence presented to prove that he had acted in self-defense, as his lawyer asserted in court documents.  

“After reading the police report, my presumption is there is a substantial amount of evidence that he is guilty of the offense charged,” he said. “Evidence available in the case supports first-degree murder, so I have to keep the charge of murder in mind. The maximum potential [sentence for the] charges may be 26 years to life—that’s a factor that shows that his incentive to flee is great.”  

Jacobson then asked Hwang about the defendant’s proximity to the UC Berkeley campus from where he lives in Berkeley, to which she replied two and a half miles.  

“I have some concerns that if the defendant is free and makes his way around Berkeley, he may encounter young men again and may pose a threat,” he said. “I am to consider potential danger to others.”  

Jacobson also noted, however, that Hoeft-Edenfield did not have a prior criminal record.  

“I know that he has spent his entire life in Berkeley, has family and friends here, has gone to school here and has significant attachment to the community,” he said.  

Hwang informed the judge that Hoeft-Edenfield had been admitted to an outreach program in the sheriff’s department but said that she was unable to produce the letter in the courtroom that afternoon.  

Hoeft-Edenfield’s mother and his friends—a few from Berkeley City College, where he was a student—were present in the courtroom during the bail hearing at 2:30 p.m. along with a group of 10 to 12 supporters, mostly friends and family, of Wootton.  

Jacobson said that there was enough evidence at this point to have Hoeft-Edenfield locked away for “many many years.”  

“Looks to me like people have a lot of evidence,” he said. “If the jury finds him guilty of manslaughter, the possibility of significant incarceration is real.”  

Jacobson said that Hoeft-Edenfield had given three different versions of the incident to investigators at the police station, the first two being “two rather-difficult-to- believe versions,” and the final one leading to the self-defense story.  

He said that the defendant had lied to one of his friends while talking to him on a cell phone, denying involvement in the incident.  

After stating his concerns, Jacobson set the $2 million bail and also ordered Hoeft-Edenfield to stay away from drugs and alcohol and restaurants and bars that serve alcohol, warned him against carrying any dangerous weapons or firearms and restricted his use of knives to cutlery.


Judge Grants $3 Million Bail For BART Police Officer

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:42:00 PM

While protesters and the family of Oscar Grant III reacted with anger and anguish to the announcement that former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle would be granted bail Friday afternoon, the most significant action taken at last week’s bail hearing may have been the words directed to the former officer by the Alameda County Superior Court judge in charge. 

The 27-year-old Mehserle, who quit the BART police force to avoid cooperating with a BART internal investigation, has been charged with murder in the New Year’s Day shooting death of the 22-year-old father and Hayward resident Grant. On Friday, despite a somewhat tepid no-bail request from prosecutor John Creighton, Judge Morris Jacobson ruled that Mehserle could be released on $3 million bail. 

Mehserle is being represented by high profile Bay Area attorney Michael Rains. 

Meanwhile, Oakland civil rights attorney John Burris, representing the family of Oscar Grant in an unlawful death civil claim against BART, filed a second claim against the embattled transit agency this week. Burris is requesting $1.5 million on behalf of Nigel and Jackie Bryson, Michael Greer, Carlos Reyes, and Fernando “June” Anicete, who were five of the seven men taken out of the BART train at the Fruitvale platform on the night Grant was killed. Those five were all arrested at the scene but later released. A sixth man taken off the train was reportedly not arrested, and has not been identified. 

Two of the claimants were the two young Latino men seen sitting next to Grant when he was shot dead by Mehserle in the widely viewed cellphone video recordings of the shooting. 

Burris’ new claim alleges that BART police and personnel “are responsible for the illegal detention, false arrest, use of excessive force and intentional infliction of emotional distress” on the five claimants. 

But in what may be an additional explosive revelation in what has already proved to be an explosive situation, Burris also released a letter sent this week to BART Police Chief Gary Gee in which he asked the chief to investigate a possible “non-professional” relationship with two of the BART officers who were on the Fruitvale platform on the night of Grant’s death, saying that “the conduct of one or more of these officers before and after the shooting may have been influenced by this non-professional relationship.” 

In his letter, Burris did not provide the names of the two officers, but said he would do so “if asked” by the chief. 

Meanwhile, following the Superior Court hearing last week, Grant’s mother, Wanda Johnson, left the courtroom immediately after the judge’s decision on Mehserle’s bail flanked by grim-faced family members and with tears streaming down her face, shouting “That ain’t right! That ain’t right!” over and over. 

Earlier, overflow crowds in the courthouse hallway just outside the seventh floor courtroom bail hearing chanted “I am Oscar Grant” so loud it could be heard inside the courtroom during the hearing. 

The Oakland Tribune reported nine individuals were arrested in angry protest demonstrations in downtown Oakland in the hours following the bail hearing, with at least one Oakland Police Department squad car damaged by vandalism. The Oakland Police Department did not return telephone calls requesting information on the arrests. 

But it was Jacobson’s words inside the courtroom, as the first judge to look into the details of the Grant shooting, that may have the greatest long-term effect on the legal aspects of this case. 

With Mehserle standing in a red Santa Rita County Jail jumpsuit in the dock at the side of the courtroom flanked by Alameda County Sheriff’s deputies, Jacobson called the defendant a “danger to society” and a “flight risk,” with a “character flaw” and a “clear propensity for violence.” In addition, the judge said that the inconsistent statements reportedly made by Mehserle and listed in his attorney’s bail hearing brief “creates a level of mistrust about any promises [Mehserle] would make to return to this court” if the defendant were freed on bail. 

Jacobson appeared particularly concerned about the widely varying reasons attributed to Mehserle in his bail brief for his reasons for shooting Grant. 

In a statement included in the brief given by BART Officer Tony Pirone, “Pirone said he heard Mehserle say, ‘Put your hands behind your back, stop resisting, stop resisting, put your hands behind your back.’ Then Mehserle said, ‘I’m going to taze him, I’m going to taze him. I can’t get his arms. He won’t give me his arms. His hands are going for his waistband.’” 

But later in the brief, Pirone’s statement continues that “after the shooting, Pirone was standing away from the shooting location. Mehserle approached Pirone and said, ‘Tony, I thought he was going for a gun.’” 

Pirone is the officer seen in the widely-viewed cellphone videos punching Grant in the head and then placing his knee on Grant’s head after the man was down on the pavement. 

Mehserle himself has yet to give a statement to authorities about his actions in Grant’s death. 

But Jacobson said that the two statements attributed to Mehserle by Pirone--that he thought Grant was going for a gun but that Mehserle intended to use his taser, not his own gun--”appear inconsistent” and an indication that Mehserle was “attempting to avoid consequences. He is adding to his story and changing his story.” 

But even though he characterized Mehserle as a danger to the community, Jacobson said that under the California constitution, the former officer was entitled to bail. The judge ordered that Mehserle’s two personal weapons--a 40 and a 45 caliber Glock--be surrendered and that he not have in his possession or control any dangerous weapons while on bail. Jacobson did not order that the officer surrender his passport. 

The judge, who said he will not be handling the Mehserle case when it goes to trial, set a preliminary hearing for March 23. 

Mehserle did not speak openly during the hour long bail session. He appeared somewhat shaken by the judge’s remarks, however, dropping his eyes and swallowing several times as he listened. As he was escorted from the courtroom, he nodded slightly and appeared to mouth the words “I’m all right” to family members sitting in the front row. As of Monday evening, he had not posted bail, and remained in custody in Santa Rita. 

Dereca Blackmon, co-founder of the Committee Against Police Executions (CAPE) and one of the organizers of the two Grant protest rallies that have taken place since Grant’s death, said that while she was “disappointed that [Mehserle] received bail, it was extremely high bail, and we have to look at this as a victory.” Blackmon, who was in the courtroom during the bail hearing, said it appeared to be “a mismatch between the District Attorney’s office and a high-powered, high-priced lawyer [representing Mehserle]. The DA did not handle his case very well.” 

Speaking at a press conference outside the courthouse following the bail hearing, attorney Burris, who did not take part in the bail hearing proceedings, said that while he thought $3 million bail was a high amount, “It was our view and hope that it would be no bail. But since I knew [Mehserle] had a right to bail, I thought it should be at least $5 million.”  

Asked by a reporter if he thought a special prosecutor might be in order to handle the Mehserle prosecution, Burris said that “I don’t see that the prosecutor is not doing a good job, so far. I don’t see at the present time that an independent prosecutor would be better. I haven’t seen enough evidence to justify that.” 

Meanwhile, representatives of the broad coalition formed in the Grant case—including CAPE and several local ministers—have broadened their demands in the case to include the firing of BART Police Chief Gary Gee. Earlier last week, Burris’ office circulated a memo to BART police officers on BART stationery giving information about how officers could put money in Mehserle’s jail account at Santa Rita County Jail. In an accompanying message, Burris called Gee’s conduct “unacceptable,” adding that “the Chief should be terminated. I can appreciate that Bart police officers and union members, out of friendship, may want to visit and or make financial contributions to Mehserle; however, it is unacceptable for the police chief, who ostensibly is investigating Mehserle and other officers, related to their conduct on the night that Oscar Grant was killed, to encourage officers to visit and make financial contributions to Mehserle.” 

That call for Gee’s termination was taken up at the weekly Oscar Grant Town Hall meeting at Olivet Baptist Church in West Oakland, where Grant coalition members have been handing out information and plotting strategy. Local minister Dr. Harold Mayberry said that even while the Gee letter was being circulated to BART police officers, the BART police chief was assuring a meeting of coalition members last week that “there is no effort by BART to help Mehserle monetarily.” 

Earlier, at Mehserle’s bail hearing, his attorney, Michael Rains, said that the officer’s legal defense is being paid for in part by the California Police Officers Association. 

For their part, Oscar Grant’s family has set up a trust fund for his young daughter, Tatiana, asking for donations to be sent to the Tatiana Grant Trust Fund, Account #3879027641, Wells Fargo Bank. A family representative said that donations can be made in that account number at any Wells Fargo Branch. 

While Blackmon said that in the light of continuing events in the expanding Grant case, including the call by BART Board members Lynette Sweet and Tom Radulovich for the ouster of Gee and BART General Manager Dorothy Dugger, CAPE and other members of the Grant coalition will be “exploring the expansion of our demands.” At least one group regularly participating in the Olivet Grant Town Hall meetings and other parts of the Grant protests has already moved forward with one new demand. Outside the Alameda County Courthouse during Mehserle’s bail hearing, members of the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration & Immigrant Rights And Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) carried placards reading “Wanted. Tony Pirone For Racist Execution Of Oscar Grant.” 


BART Hands Over Grant Murder Investigation

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:42:00 PM

Bay Area Rapid Transport (BART) announced last week that it will turn over its internal affairs investigation to an independent third party that will inspect the actions of all the officers involved in the events leading up to the killing of Oscar Grant on New Year’s Day at the Fruitvale station in Oakland.  

Grant, 22, was shot by BART police officer Johannes Mehserle while he was returning from a party with a group of friends in the early hours of Jan. 1.  

The transit agency’s Jan. 29 decision came after weeks of protest by community members, some of them not so peaceful, who say they are frustrated with BART’s failure to conduct a thorough investigation of the incident.  

BART Board Member Carole Ward Allen, who chairs the recently formed Board of Directors BART Police Department Review Committee, said in a statement that it was imperative to determine whether the actions of the BART officers on the Fruitvale platform violated the policies and practices of the BART Police Department.  

“A lot of people have said they have no faith that the BART Police Department can police itself,” she said. “By authorizing an independent, outside investigation, we hope to reassure the public that we are transparent and accountable.”  

Joel Keller, a BART board member and the vice chair of the BART Police Department Review Committee, said, “While we have every confidence in the capabilities of our BART Police Department to investigate its own officers, we believe that handing off this investigation to an independent third party will assure the public that we take this investigation extremely seriously and its outcome will be credible.”  

Keller added that the BART Police Department and the agency need to work on rebuilding trust with the public, explaining that “one way to do that is to hand this off to a third party and let the facts take us wherever they go.”  

There are two investigations regarding the shooting.  

The internal affairs investigation, as outlined in a BART press release, is looking into whether the actions of any officer on the platform violated the policies and procedures of the BART police, and its results could lead to changes in policies and procedures, retraining or disciplining action, up to and including termination.  

The second investigation is being headed by Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff with the help of the evidence BART police turned over to him on Jan. 12, which resulted in Mehserle being charged with murder.  

The DA is also using evidence from separate independent sources as well as the Oakland Police Department’s investigation to build his case.  

According to a press release, BART’s role in the criminal investigation is on-going, and will include examining what physical force was used to restrain the individuals on the platform, the results of which will be turned over to the DA, who will decide whether any of the officers’ actions need to be criminally prosecuted.  

BART also promised a “top-to-bottom, independent review of the BART police,” including having the BART Police Department Review Committee ask experts in the field of law enforcement to conduct a complete review of all BART Police policies and procedures and recruitment, hiring and training.  

The agency has not yet decided who will conduct the independent internal affairs review or the “independent expert top-to-bottom review of departmental policies and procedures.”  

“Whatever consultants we choose, they will include local experts who know and reflect this community and who understand the deep-rooted concerns minorities in my district have about police profiling and brutality,” said Allen. “My committee’s goal is to make sure what happened on New Year's Day never happens again.”


More Bad News for East Bay, Los Angeles Journalists

By Richard Brenneman
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:42:00 PM

The downward spiral of West Coast newspapers continues, with most East Bay reporters now scrambling to figure out just when to take an unpaid week off. 

Workers at all the newspapers in Dean Singleton’s Bay Area News Group-East Bay (BANG-EB) will be taking the unpaid leave over the next two months. 

Sara Steffens, chair of the California Media Workers Guild bargaining unit negotiating for a new contract with BANG-EB, told members the union had agreed to the company proposal, “hoping to help avoid further layoffs.” 

Furloughs will also be required at the San Jose Mercury News and the Monterey Herald, which are not part of the BANG-EB group. 

Singleton’s MediaNews Group, parent of BANG and the similarly structured Los Angeles News Group as well as other newspapers in the West and Northeast, is struggling with the same catastrophic declines in advertising revenues as the rest of the news business. 

His chain rings the bay, from Marin County on the north to Monterey County on the South, and from San Jose to Woodland. 

Since acquiring the Contra Costa Times and San Jose Mercury News, Singleton has become the state’s leading newspaper magnate, controlling the largest single group of subscriptions in the state. 

The state’s number two media mogul, Chicago real estate billionaire Sam Zell, owns the Los Angeles Times. His Equity Residential real estate firm also owns the largest single group of non-university residential units in the City of Berkeley. 

Zell’s apartment company reported Wednesday a rare loss for the fourth quarter of 2008, taking a 13-cent-a-share hit. Earnings for the full year totaled $2.18 a share, down from $2.39 in 2007. 

While both Singleton and Zell have laid off about half their California reporting staffs, Zell has raised the stakes to a new level with a company-wide order that penalizes grumpiness on salary reviews, a move that has roused media bloggers to new heights of ridicule. 

“New Job Performance Requirement: Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” headlined Business Week blogger Cathy Arnst. 

“We believe a positive attitude is crucial to our changing culture and all that must be accomplished for our company to be successful,” declared a company-wide memo announcing the change. 

Arnst captured some of the mockery at her blog, as did Newspaper Death Watch, a blog which reported one notable comment: “The beatings will continue until the morale improves.” 

“I don't have to work at the Tribune to know how journalists there felt as they read this. Winnecke’s memo is an offense to their self-regard as grownups,” said Chicago Reader blogger Dilbert at the Trib. 

The popular celebrity culture blog The Gawker dubbed Winnecke’s epistle “what may be, without exaggeration, the single most stupid internal memo ever sent to a newspaper staff.” 

The controversial memo came 10 days before the announcement from Los Angeles Times publisher Eddy Hartenstein that the paper was laying off 300 more workers, 70 of them from the Times’ already severely diminished newsroom. 

That brings the news staff down to less than half of what it had been when Zell bought the Times, according to LA Observed, a popular blog covering media and politics in California’s Southland. 

At the same time, the Times announced it was killing its popular local news section, integrating the local news with the world and national stories in the front section, a move that sent shockwaves through the Los Angeles political and media communities. 


School Board Approves Funds For Development of 2020 Vision

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:58:00 PM

The Berkeley Board of Education last week unanimously approved a $50,000 contract with the nonprofit Berkeley Alliance to oversee the process of developing a citywide plan to close the achievement gap for minority students, as outlined by the 2020 Vision, a partnership started by the City of Berkeley, the Berkeley Unified School District and a group of community organizations in June.  

Bill Huyett, superintendent of the Berkeley Unified School District, said at the Jan. 28 meeting that the Alliance had asked for $150,000 to complete the work assigned to them, but that the district was only able to contribute the amount in the contract. That amount was made possible by a one-time $400,000 Program Improvement Corrective Action grant the school district received as part of the millions of dollars in intervention funds awarded to 92 school districts by the state Department of Education in October.  

“The Program Improvement grant is also to close the achievement gap so we took it out of that fund,” he said, adding that the city, which he called an “equal partner in the 2020 Vision,” had committed about $20,000 to fund the Alliance and were looking at reaching $50,000.  

School Board Vice President Karen Hemphill said that it was important to pressure the city to put up the $50,000 and urged other board members to lobby their district representatives.  

Huyett informed the board that the Alliance was in the process of writing grants and soliciting funds to cover its expenses in case the city and the school district were unable to do so.  

Berkeley’s Deputy City Manager Lisa Caronna told the Planet Thursday that the city was trying to include a $25,000 commitment to the Alliance as part of its upcoming budget discussion.  

“The school board had a grant, and they were able to apply it very quickly,” she said. “We don’t have a grant like that. The city supports the Alliance, but, in terms of future commitments, we haven’t really talked about the needs, because we don’t even know yet what they are. It’s too early.”  

District officials said that the money set aside for approving the contract with the Alliance would go toward funding last week's three-day retreat at the Berkeley Yacht Club, which was scheduled to launch an All City Equity Task force, and pay grant writers and the salary of the Alliance’s outgoing executive director, Tracey Schear, who is shepherding the project.  

The Alliance, under a $61,800 one-year contract with the city to provide services for the 2020 Vision, among others, formed the 2020 Vision Planning Team in August, comprised of 19 members drawn from the city, the school district, United in Action, BayCES, UC Berkeley, Berkeley City College and Schear herself, to draw up an action plan, including forming the task force.  

Although the Alliance is posting dates and agendas for all the task force meetings on its website, www.berkeleyalliance.org, as it is required to do under the Brown Act, it has not posted information about the weekend retreat it is in charge of organizing.  

Messages left for Schear at the Berkeley Alliance office were not returned.  

District officials and community members called the event a “private, by invitation-only” affair, where around 60 to 80 individuals from the district, the city and the community would get together and brainstorm some strategies for the 2020 Vision, before taking it to the broader community.  

Both Huyett and Caronna said that although they couldn’t speak for the Alliance on whether it was violating the Brown Act by not making the meeting public, they were under the impression that since it was going to be a training session about education, it did not have to comply with the Brown Act, which states that all public meetings have to be noticed.  

“It’s related to youth and youth services and we are going to be discussing data from the city and the school district,” Caronna said. “There’s going to be a lot of people who may not even be in the final task force.”  

However, Terry Francke, an attorney for Californians Aware, who is an expert on the Brown Act, said that since the resolutions which created both the planning committee and eventually the task force were approved by both the school board and the City Council when Vision 2020 was first initiated in June of 2008, the meeting was subject to the Brown Act. 

“Without the City Council’s direction and approval, this task force would not have been formed,” he said. “The school district’s and City Council’s fingerprints are all over this task force, and for that reason it’s subject to the Brown Act.”


Opinion

Editorials

More Bad News for the News

By Becky O’Malley
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:17:00 PM

The economic news continues to be bad and worse. Today, we are sorry to say goodbye to our old friends at Elephant, founded by Stuart Skorman as Elephant Pharmacy, made over by investors after he moved on with the trendier-sounding name of Elephant Pharm. In the brave new world of the Awful Oughties, neither a good business plan nor honest business practices nor clever marketing turned out to be enough to save Elephant. Like an increasing number of retailers, from large (Circuit City) to small (the deli on your corner, perhaps), it’s not possible to survive without credit, and credit’s broken.  

Many customers don’t realize that it’s been the common, and sound, practice for retailers to purchase inventory with borrowed money and repay with interest after sales. Without product on the shelves, no free classes, no friendly clerks will make any difference. And no amount of advertising. The ads that Elephant ran on the front page of the Planet and on the website were excellent, and got good response from potential customers. But as the stock on the shelves dwindled, there was no way that advertising was going to save the business. 

In the capitalist model that started with California high technology and took over in the last quarter of the 20th century, if you weren’t growing, you were dying. When Elephant started out, some hoped that it would be able to survive as a locally-owned non-chain. It quickly became apparent that the amount of management that the modern business needs is more than one store can support, so the company expanded to several more locations in an attempt to achieve the critical mass needed to pay for a competent executive team. But just as inventory requires loans, expansion requires serious capital, and serious capital, if you haven’t noticed, is now spooked.  

Customers loved Elephant. It made no difference. Money rules, and when the money dried up, the business withered.  

Elephant’s executives, starting with Stuart Skorman and on through a succession of hopeful and enthusiastic people, were a pleasure to do business with. When a few misguided fanatics tried to persuade advertisers to boycott the Planet because we printed readers’ criticism of Israel, our Elephant contact of the moment, herself Jewish, called us up to laugh about it after she got the push. (That campaign, by the way, was a dismal failure—our ad sales actually went up. And now that even the MediaNews clones with which we’re surrounded are printing letters from the same critical voices, the boycotters have nowhere to turn with their venom.)  

Which brings us back to the boring question of the week. With retail on the ropes, who’s going to support local journalism? An old friend of ours, the late Elsa Knight Thompson, claimed credit for inventing the KPFA marathon, but we always advised her to keep quiet about it, because many found the concept annoying. And yet, here we are again, using precious editorial space to whine about money. Sadly, it’s becoming unavoidable. It’s getting clearer and clearer every day that if news consumers don’t support newsgathering, it will go away. 

There have been a couple of high-minded essays recently suggesting that the only thing that will save newspapers is big endowments. One fellow who works in the fundraising department (it has a fancier name) at Yale suggested that an endowment of about $5 billion would bail out the New York Times, now suffering the penalties for a series of bad investments. Many others have echoed his sentiments. 

When I have time (not any time soon, alas) I hope to compose an essay for some national publication pointing out how much we’ve been able to do around here with a whole lot less money. It is possible to do excellent journalism on the cheap, if you don’t mind low-rent offices in unstylish neighborhoods with chairs that should be taken immediately to the dump and no expense accounts. Our digs might be seen as seedy by some, but we’ve had tomatoes growing in the back yard for the six years we’ve been here. Can the Times match that? 

Now the publisher has come up with a new brilliant idea. We’ve always tried to contribute some modest financial support to music and arts organizations and other non-profits even though our major support has been of this paper. Many of our fellow donors to such causes tell us they’re also Planet fans. So why not give them the benefit of what we might call a Twofer, two contributions for the price of one? 

Here’s how it works. Make a contribution to your favorite non-profit cause, telling them that it’s earmarked for a Planet ad. (This is tax-deductible.) When the Planet gets such donor-sponsored ads, we’ll match them 50-50, doubling the advertising space purchased by the same number of dollars for a regular ad. We’ve already gotten the ball rolling by co-sponsoring some interesting literary events in the last week or so. 

The value for arts organizations with productions to advertise is especially great, but all kinds of non-profits these days could use more exposure for their mission. The group benefits, and the Planet benefits. Our advertising sales department can advise on how it’s done. They’re putting together a list of good causes in case you don’t have your own. 

Not, of course, that we wouldn’t accept a $5 billion endowment. Or even one of $5 million. Or even less. Berkeley is home to a few heavy-hitters, and who knows, they might kick in.  

Until they do, however, we’ll hope that our regular readers will manage to contribute whatever they can afford. As a rule of thumb, each “free” weekly paper you pick up from a box costs about a dollar to produce and distribute. You might just want to give that amount times 52 to our Fund for Local Reporting to pay your basic dues for the year, or give twice that amount to pay for someone else’s papers too.  

Our staff is having a lot of fun kicking around ideas for premiums to offer if we do a real public-broadcasting-style marathon. Mugs? Messenger bags? Lunch with the cartoonist? The possibilities are endless. But if that kind of stuff annoys you, you could always just contribute before we get started, and we might be able to avoid the whole thing.


Cartoons

'Lucky Phil' Kamlarz, and other Recession-Era Berkeleyans

By Justin DeFreitas
Monday February 09, 2009 - 06:19:00 PM


Meg Whitman for Governor

By Justin DeFreitas
Tuesday February 10, 2009 - 04:15:00 PM


Daschle's Departure

By Justin DeFreitas
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:49:00 PM


A Drought of Ideas

By Justin DeFreitas
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:31:00 PM


Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Monday February 09, 2009 - 02:37:00 PM

DISCONNECT THE PRESCRIPTION LINE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I read today your article about Elephant Pharmacy closing. Their phone prescription line is still accepting orders for refills! 

This is unconscionable—and potentially dangerous.  

I called the California Board of Pharmacy to ask them to take action today, Thursday, Feb 5, and got a recording saying that they are closed Friday, Feb 6, per the governor's order. OK, but why aren't they answering the phone today? 

Nancy Van House 

 

• 

UC ENROLLMENT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

For years now I've been reading about how wonderful it is that the UC campuses set a new record every semester for the total number of enrollments. Can somebody tell me what's so wonderful about congestion and housing shortages? Can somebody tell me what's so wonderful about our population exploding out of control from a level of mass immigration that is unprecedented in human history? Can somebody explain this to me? 

Ace Backwords 

  

• 

SANTA RITA 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Uncivilized by design and management, Santa Rita is a horrible place. So cops raised money for bail, and now Johannes Mehserle walks among us. Police forces can so coldly ignore, even ridicule, civilian calls to bring jails and prisons up to higher ethical standards. But when one of their own gets into the system, all of the sudden there's a humanitarian crisis. I used to work at a book store that regularly sent items to Santa Rita; the success rate of those books and magazines meeting their intended recipient was dismal. The simple joy of reading, of receiving that small gift from someone, could be hindered by guards for myriad reasons, or no reason at all. Having been inside Santa Rita, I know that having bail posted doesn't mean that anyone is legally obligated to sign off on it in a reasonable amount of time. Food is a joke, sanitation is questionable, and health care is a myth. Psychologically oppressive, Santa Rita breeds abuse and violence. Cops and guards take pride in sending people to places like Santa Rita. They lobby to build more jails, at the expense of education and social services. Cops say that they cannot relate to the prisons as an industrial complex. They think the accusation is just a gimmick by prisoners and their families to throw the blame off themselves—that the whole problem lies in a lack of personal accountability. But when one of their own is locked up, suddenly there's a victim of the system. Suddenly the quarters aren't decent enough, the food isn't proper, and the overall atmosphere is abysmal.  

I would hope that police, guards, and all who keep the system running, reflect on their chosen profession and their chosen ethics. If Santa Rita was no place for Johannes Mehserle, then why is it appropriate to fill Santa Rita with so many people who have committed offenses that don't even approach the grievousness of his actions? Will cops bail out an old man who was caught squatting, wanting to escape the cold? What about donations for an activist? Where's the bail for a guy who got caught with a sack of weed and shrooms? Police cannot continue to argue that the system is fair to the community they allegedly serve, while also believing the system is not right for themselves.  

Nathan Pitts 

 

• 

BART OVERKILL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Memo to Linda Smith ("Why are they carrying tasers on BART?", Letters, Feb. 5): They carry guns on BART, dear. Does that ease your discomfort about tasers? 

I have a couple of Why questions, myself. Why is nobody asking the Why question about guns? Guns in BART stations, aboard BART trains, carried by men and women given leave to use them at their personal discretion. I assure you it's not about post-9/11 armed air marshals in your plane, despite how it feels, Ms. BART commuter, though it's surely of a piece with the Homeland Securitization of every moment of our lives. 

No, the BART cops with guns issue arose a while ago, but not so long ago that the local media should be oblivious to it. There was a time, not that far back, when BART cops were in fact unarmed, and arming them for lethal action was actually debated.  Am I imagining this? There was a shooting incident—at the MacArthur station?—that an enterprising reporter for an actual local paper might want to track down. 

My other Why questions: Why does "He thought he was reaching for his taser" not imply lethal intent? Why has the question of taser lethality—well and horrifyingly documented, easily researched—not been part of the analysis and discussion of BART policies and management culpability? 

 

• 

WHY BE BIPARTISAN WITH AVOWED ENEMIES? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

If Republicans just want Obama to fail (Rush Limbaugh) and are so blinded by their failed ideology of tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts, why even try to be bipartisan with them by loading down the economic stimulus bill with tax cuts (42 percent in the Senate version—strangely similar to the Republican votes in the Senate) which are much less stimulative than spending? 

To get any compromise with Republicans in the Senate, the Democrats reduced aid to the states and education, both of which are vitally important. And the Republicans are still unwilling to join in. 

I say restore aid to states and education and reduce the less stimulative tax cuts. And, if the Republicans are determined to stay intransigent and resist, let them. Then pass the bill anyway, and reduce the number of votes necessary to prevent filibuster. 

Richard Tamm 

 

• 

DAILY PLANET SURVIVAL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Bad Thing: Becky O'Malley did not use her bully pulpit to admit what everybody already knows: that the Berkeley Voice business model worked because it was cheap to operate; and it helped a local sports reporter (yes, I realize the shock the reader may be feeling at this moment), Peter Mentor, to stay in Berkeley and report on prep sports for 14 years before he went to Santa Cruz to be a Waldorf School teacher. 

Good Thing: The hopeful realization that Becky O'Malley didn't establish the Berkeley Daily Planet Trust and then run for City Council on a Keep the Planet Green ticket in the 2008 election. I can only imagine when I venture her alternating slogans would be a folk song called, "O'Malley's as Irish as Barack Obama," and a button for children in all of Berkeley's schools emblazoned with the words, "Pay for Free Speech with the Dividend of Capitalism." 

A question I often ask in these situations is: What do you want to achieve with your philanthropy? 

John E. Parman 

 

• 

BEATING THE BEDBUG PLAGUE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I used to live in Puerto Rico and the bedbug problem there was very rare. From what I heard from several people from there, the problem usually was eliminated by just having some small eucalyptus branches put under the bed. This might also help get rid of head lice, fleas and other midnight biters, possibly some carrying diseases. The leaves may need to be bruised a bit to get quick action. Some people may have allergies to eucalyptus sap so some care should be taken by just testing with a few leaves at first. But eucalyptus ingredients are major parts of various additives for vaporizing steam inhalers indicating pretty widespread tolerance.  

James Singmaster 

Fremont 

 

• 

NORTH OAKLAND DEVELOPMENT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am amazed at the self righteous statements by Bob Brokl, who gloats over the misfortunes of the developers of the Creekside project, as if it was due to their stupidity and greed that the economy and housing market has tanked, and their project has to be put on hold indefinitely. This same project was endlessly modified and changed to meet neighborhood objections and was finally lauded as a reasonable and appropriate development by most of us who cared. Equally important, it would forever get rid of one of the ugliest buildings ever built in Oakland, a true eyesore if there ever was one. Mr. Brokl seems to like it and compares it to some equally ugly building in Nebraska; what a terrific recommendation. 

I do agree that the owners need to secure the building immediately, better yet, demolish it. Its rental value is minimal and there are too many vacant or marginally occupied retail premises in the Temescal to justify the costs of 

rehabilitating this building. I, for one, cannot wait to see it demolished. 

Michael Yovino-Young 

Oakland 


Letters to the Editor

Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:18:00 PM

BRAINS WIN! 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Despite the misinformation and conspiracy theories of the loonies in the room last Tuesday, the Berkeley City Council overrode the Peace and Justice Commission’s recommendation by granting a two-year waiver to 3M to provide the maintenance contract to the Berkeley Public Libraries RFID inventory and security system. In doing so, the council avoided trashing its million dollar investment made by taxpayers three years ago and the necessity of investing at least another $500,000 in a replacement. 

The loonies contended that allowing 3M the measly $70,000 annual contract would lead to nuclear ruin. 

In other news, North Korea, Pakistan and Iran could give a damn what Berkeley morons think and they will continue with their nuclear weapons programs. 

Jonathan Wornick 

Peace and Justice Commissioner 

 

• 

TIME FOR AN  

ORGANIC REVOLUTION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

With unemployment, food scares and demands on food banks all up, the time is now for an organic revolution. President Obama and Congress are currently considering a massive financial stimulus package to rescue our economy. Absent from the discussion has been any reference to supporting a sustainable and organic food system. 

Our economy and national security depend on relocalizing our food system, shifting away from chemically dependent industrial agriculture, and assuring that the food system supports living wages for farmers, farm workers and other workers in the supply chain. 

Redirecting the billions of dollars in farm subsidies away from corporate farms and industrial biofuels toward a just and organic food system is a solid long-term investment in America’s future. 

David Hartley 

 

• 

ADVERTISING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The Daily Planet is one of the few contemporary and local weekly papers that are free of charge that do not have advertisements for escort services. To quote your paper ‘advertising doesn’t cover all of our costs.’ 

Does advertising cover the costs of the other free papers out there? Is this because these papers run advertisements for escort services? I would like to know. I appreciate the Planet, as your paper accurately reports on Berkeley and other community events. I also appreciate that there are no escort services advertised in this paper. I had considered such services a necessary evil; perhaps they are not so necessary. Those advertising the services are generally earning money for personal survival; but those making the largest amounts of money from these services, the industry they serve, are exploiting people for profit. 

I thank the Daily Planet for not running advertisements for escort services. Aside from violating my principles, advertisements for escort services depress me, so I skip over them. In the Daily Planet, I have much less to skip over. 

Ardys DeLu 

 

• 

DURAFLAME SUES AIR BOARD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Regarding the Duraflame lawsuit against the EPA, how are we supposed to discern what type of smoke is spewing out of people’s chimneys on the few “Spare the Air” days? Even if Duraflame can prove their product does not create toxic particles to be released, we should not burn anything on “Spare the Air” days, period. Let’s keep working to clear the air we breathe.  

Tori Thompson 

 

• 

U.S. CANNOT CHOOSE PALESTINE SPOKESPERSON 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I voted, supported and helped the Barack Obama campaign for president. And so I want to give the man a chance given that he’s facing such an incredible array of crises. Nevertheless, I issue this prognostic warning: If President Barack Obama continues to assert that Mahmoud Abbas (whose term as PLO president expired on Jan. 7 and who, as ex-president is now as unpopular among Palestinians as George W. Bush is among Americans) is somehow the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people—while also claiming that Hamas is little more than a terrorist organization—he will find himself a one-term president, his hopes for real change defeated somewhat in the cast of President Lyndon Johnson. LBJ, recall, could not see his way out of Vietnam and so declined to run for a second full term in 1968. Today the road to peace for the world runs through Jerusalem. Obama and the United States have to come to terms with Palestine’s real history and current reality, not the fables of a European-Zionist narrative or the relentless aggression to ethnically cleanse Israel forever of indigenous Palestinian people.  

Marc Sapir 

 

• 

RAISES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Following on the heels of the executive branch’s elimination of raises for those making over $100,000, and of Robert Clear’s letter to the editor discussing free-floating CEO “compensation,” we now find that the Berkeley and Oakland city managers will both get raises, to over $230,000, to coordinate municipal messes of very different scales and geographies. How can this be explained? Ah, the Berkeley boss has to deal with the whole Planet, and its insightful investigations! 

Jeff Jordan 

 

• 

BLAGOJEVICH 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

We are all having an uproarious, entertaining time, being amazed at the naked greed of Gov. Blagojevich. The message is that here’s a one-of-a-kind, unique, politician who got caught with hands and feet in the cookie jar. And then there’s his audacious reaction, claiming that he’s innocent and wishes to join the ranks of MLK and Gandhi. But let’s face it, in spite of the corporate press and corporate late-night hosts’ hoo-hah, seeming to assure us that this guy is a rarity, he most certainly is not. The governor is not unique; he represents a significant percentage of more careful politicians who are loyally following the basic tenet of our capitalist economy: “Maximize the profits of the office, however, wherever and whenever you can.” Blagojevich turns out to be a much too arrogant tippy-top of the iceberg.  

Robert Blau 

 

• 

RECESSION IMMUNITY? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Is Berkeley immune from the recession? One would think so when the mayor wants an 8 percent increase in the city manager’s salary (now over $230,000) without public discussion. The fact that President Obama froze the salaries of White House staff earning over $100,000 has had no apparent effect on the perspective of the majority of City Council members. While a single act of fiscal imprudence does not justify the recall petition beginning to circulate, the city manager’s pay raise is symptomatic of the council’s unwillingness or inability to control the wages of city employees, including police and fire personnel. 

Robert Gable 

 

• 

JAN. 29 CARTOON 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

We all know all that Obama, serving at his masters’ will, is stuck maybe trying to do some stuff we need done, and not being able to do half enough. This is, after all, a capitalist system. It is not a charity. In fact it is what we see over and over: Capitalism is not a victimless crime. A different president might limit it here or there but will certainly not have any long lasting or major effect. The wars will continue; there is no economy of production of what we need and like by us—certainly not at wages that make any sense, certainly not in gentle care of Earth. 

The deprivation will continue—maybe more slowly—but I think not. Unfortunately we have this critic to tell us how out of place we are for knowing these are how we’re living, and ridiculing us for knowing it. 

A major problem since the communist advance of 1917 has been the incessant and insistent derision, marginalization and criminalization of any left, progressive, oppositional force. A result has been all phases, from accommodation/capitulation to extremist ranting, leaving us without any root in struggle. It’d be helpful to have that kind of criticism be enlightening instead of just stupidly derisive. 

Norma J F Harrison 

 

• 

TAXI TACTICS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

On reaching their destination, Berkeley senior citizens attempting to use their taxi scrip can expect that it will be rejected. Drivers assume passengers will be unwilling or unable to jump out of the vehicle without producing cash. And putting the Berkeley senior citizen on the spot does sometimes work. Some old persons can indeed be counted on to dig deep and pay the fare (the rate recently increased.) Few respond to intimidation tactics by simply exiting the cab. I fear that many more will cease using their scrip while curtailing needed trips. City fathers may wrongly assume from the amount of scrip being redeemed that fewer seniors now need scrip, as illogical as that would be in these times. 

As the expiration date approaches, taxi drivers, bluntly ask for (demand) “your leftover scrip.” I wonder whose name and city “rider’s ID number”—if any—they record when redeeming them. 

Helen Rippier Wheeler 

 

• 

SCHOOL CROSSING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am writing about the near-tragedy at Ashby and Ellis, in which a 6-year-old was struck by a vehicle. While it is a relief to hear that she will recover, I find it absurd that the police should place the youngster at fault. If little children are truly responsible for their own safety, they should be permitted to vote, so they may elect legislators who will protect them from being run over on their way to school.  

I hope by the time this letter is published, the parents at Malcolm X School will have taken steps to protect their children and the friends of their children. I have two suggestions. First: Two parents with stop signs should place themselves at the Ellis Street intersection, one on each side of Ashby, to act as crossing guards. Any vehicle that violates the crosswalk zone gets its picture taken and license number noted, to be turned over to the police. Second: Any parent who now drives their child to school should seek out at least one other child who would feel safer to be picked up.  

Malcolm X parents, these are two steps which can be taken now, without any action by the city. It is your school; these are your children. Take responsibility for them all and take charge.  

Chuck Heinrichs 

 

• 

MAKING REPUBLICANS HAPPY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The tax cuts really do not have great economic stimulative value, but were just inserted to make the Republicans happy. However, it appears that nothing makes the Republicans happy except pandering to their base of right-wingers and plutocrats. So let’s make their day less lank and long, and give them something else to grumble at. Anyone looking at the job-loss figures should understand the importance of immediate action. 

Harold Lecar 

 

• 

HOW TO STIMULATE  

THE ECONOMY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It is generally agreed that one of the most important ways to stimulate the economy is by increasing consumer spending. One simple way to do this would be via a lottery each month that would reimburse the winners for certain purchases they had made that month—cars, TVs, houses, say. Each purchaser would fill out a simple, one-page form and send it to the government. If the form were randomly chosen (there could be more than one random selection in each category, of course), the government would verify that the purchase had indeed been made, then send the buyer a check.  

The chance that a car or TV or house might turn out to be free, would, I think, motivate a significant number of people to buy. 

Peter Schorer 

 

• 

WAITING TO EXHALE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Waiting for something dire or wonderful to happen I hold my breath, sometimes literally: When I put $20 on black at the roulette table; when I pick up the mail and there’s a letter from the IRS; when my wife is wheeled into the hospital delivery room with our firstborn; when my son plays solo in his middle school concert.  

I desperately hope Obama will lead us out of domestic and global hellholes created by his predecessor (aided by a spineless Congress and abetted by the dominant media). I deeply fear that the job is too much for such a young, inexperienced chief; I worry that his best efforts will just make the hellholes deeper.  

I’m afraid he’ll fail and I’m afraid of what will happen if he does. I’m afraid to exhale. 

Marvin Chachere 

San Pablo 

 

• 

GOLDEN GATE FIELDS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Ray Quan, in a November letter to the editor, was right about moving the Cal football to Golden Gate Fields. There is plenty of parking compared with the city streets in Berkeley. 

There is access from four directions, if you count the ferries that can bring persons from all around the bay. 

Buses should have priority to park close to the stadium and to pull forward to leave. The bus occupants could all sit together and have painted lines to their buses. 

Charles Smith  

 

• 

BART 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As a former Berkeley resident, and Bay Area native, I used to ride the BART system all the time. Then I was guided by God to move up here to Siskiyou County. I’m glad I did this before they started carrying tasers on BART. America and BART have become entirely too paranoid since 9-11. It’s downright scary in the cities. 

My question is, “Why are they carrying tasers on BART?” Isn’t that overkill (no pun intended)? 

Linda Smith 

Weed, CA 

 

• 

GOP MENACE TO SOCIETY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Anti-tax Republicans have become a menace to society. In California, a handful of GOP politicians have used their minority status and an archaic law to hold California and its fiscal budget at bay. A group of fiscal fanatics that is forcing its will on the majority of residents. 

In the nation’s capital, Congressional and Senate Republicans, all, every one of them, voted against a stimulus plan meant to help America out of its financial doldrum. 

When will the people protest and stop being cowards in the face of this band of political neanderthals. 

Ron Lowe 

Nevada City 

 

• 

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

One item that I want President Obama to support is the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which was passed by the United Nations General Assembly two years ago.  

This declaration will preserve the rights of indigenous peoples to maintain their way of life, such as their institutions, cultures, and traditions, as well as having them participate in matters that concern them. Unfortunately, this country, along with Canada, Australia and New Zealand were the only four that voted against it.  

Billy Trice, Jr. 

Oakland 


Another Gaia Building Riot — With Gunfire

By Anna de Leon
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:18:00 PM

Once again, this past Friday evening, a riot in downtown Berkeley, with fighting and gunfire, was created by another out-of-control party at the Gaia Arts Center. Although the use permit does not allow private parties, and allows only cultural use, the landlord continues to rent to huge hip hop parties, attended by literally hundreds of teens and young adults. Party attendees then text message their friends who arrive by the hundreds, mobbing the streets. This event was closed down by dozens of Berkeley police officers at 9 p.m. It took two hours for police to move the crowd to Shattuck where, in front of the movie theaters, the fighting and shooting ensued. Imagine parents sending their children to the Shattuck Cinema only to be ensnared in a riot as the movies let out. 

Anna’s Jazz Island shares a lobby entrance with the Gaia Arts Center. After 8:30 p.m., virtually no one could get in or out of Anna’s due to a mob at the entrance. The sponsors of the party told me they were admitting 300 inside, with security guards patting down the young men for weapons in the lobby. Hundreds more mobbed outside the door. The police arrived at about 9 p.m. to shut down the party and move the crowd to Shattuck Avenue. For two hours, dozens of police officers attempted to control the crowd who refused to disperse. Police cars blocked off Allston Way at both ends of the block. These young adults were understandably angry that they were forced to leave a party they had paid $15 to attend. I heard eight gunshots from Shattuck Avenue, after which dozens of terrified youth ran past the officers and back into the Gaia Building. They were ultimately forced back to Shattuck. From 8:30 p.m. on, I received calls from my customers distressed that they could not get to our entrance due to crowd blocking it. Cancun restaurant next door closed two hours early. Shattuck businesses were harmed. Berkeley’s downtown revitalization efforts have been damaged. 

This is the third riotous Gaia party closed by police. In late October 2008 the City determined that the Gaia is a “Public Nuisance” and posted that finding on the premises. This new event will require payment of a fine, much less than the rental of the premises. The police report from the last party states that 27 officers were required to control the mob. This time, many more were needed. This use of dozens of police personnel leaves the rest of the city unprotected from criminal activity, at enormous financial cost to all of us. 

The city will be liable for any injury that results from these riots because the city has voiced its approval of these parties. In two separate litigations brought by Berkeley residents to stop these dangerous violations of the use permit, the city has argued in court and legal papers that it has complete discretion to enforce any city use permit, and that the only citizen remedy is to sue the landlord for damages resulting from a violation of the permit. City staff have also supported the parties with full knowledge of their impact. 

Anna’s Jazz Island was voted the “Best Jazz Club That Isn’t Yoshi’s” in 2007. We are often called a treasure, feature local musicians playing live music at affordable prices for all ages. The mayor, the council and city staff profess a love of the arts and their benefit to the city. How long will there be a Jazz Island when the city allows these unlawful and dangerous private parties? How much are citizens willing to pay for the police to enforce crowd control for this non-permitted private profit? How many people need to be hurt if the gunshots had hit someone, if the hundreds had gotten to the roof, if people had been trapped in a fire or other calamity? 

 

Anna de Leon is the proprietor of Anna's Jazz Island, located in the Gaia Building on Allston Way. 


Ending California’s Education Budget Rollercoaster

By Sheila Jordan
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:19:00 PM

People around the country are celebrating an historic event and a demonstration of the power of individuals united in a vision for hope and change. This is not about one man, Barack Obama, but in what his daring to do the seemingly impossible represents for us all. 

This time of national hope and optimism is blunted for many here in California as we face one of the worst budget deficits on record. Among the hardest hit are the children—for whom funding for education, health and social services will be cut. To alleviate a projected $41 billion budget shortfall, Gov. Schwarzenegger proposes cutting $2.5 billion from public schools alone. 

Scarcely adjusted to the decrease in last year’s budget, California’s schools are now bracing for yet another round of cuts. Speaking out against further cuts to education and advocating for new resources to fully fund our public schools is a fundamental strategy to turn the tide. However, this crisis deserves extraordinary consideration and effort. We need to begin setting the stage for what to do with those resources—to make a shift in our thinking about what constitutes a quality education and how to ensure that we provide one for every child.  

Using the recent success of President Barack Obama, I have the following recommendations: We think big; we stand together unified by a common goal to support and educate children; and we act. Our many years of riding on a rollercoaster of budget crises in public schools have conditioned us to a mindset of scarcity. And, while it is true that we lack the funding needed to do the job right, we still have a wealth of resources at our disposal. 

In tough economic times, it comes down to repurposing our existing resources—the great wealth of human capital and creativity to work together across districts, cities and throughout the region to solve tough problems. We have an abundance of innovative strategies to improve teacher practices and student engagement, a wealth of passionate teachers and advocates, and the political will to demand that our legislators break down partisan politics as usual to identify new funding sources for education and support a new vision for public education. Our legislators need examples of best practices to point to. It is our job as educators, parents and community members to show shining examples of what is possible when we dedicate the right resources to the right things. 

It’s disingenuous to assert that passion and good will alone will be enough to improve our schools; adequate financial resources must support the work. However, it is through the passion that we can work together to bring those much-needed resources to the table. It is also through our collective efforts that we can rally to reform our state’s dysfunctional budget process to allow passage by simple majority. Combined with a new mission that serves the needs of the whole child we have a winning formula: to improve students’ academic achievement; capacity to learn and grow as healthy individuals; and to make positive contributions to the well being of their peers, families, and communities today and in the future.  

 

Sheila Jordan is Alameda County’s superintendent of schools. 


Development Kudos and Woes in North Oakland

By Bob Brokl
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:19:00 PM

The Oakland Planning Commission recently unanimously green-lighted the 100-plus unit condo high-rise known as “Creekside” (dubbed “Creekover” by some) at the corner of Telegraph and Claremont, the site of the building that formerly housed Global Video. Given the state of the economy, there is no certainty when, if ever, that project will be built. But the building was emptied out of tenants, with jobs and retail tax dollars lost, plus the built-in security provided by people using the structure.  

Hauser Architects, the San Francisco-based firm behind Creekside, announced at the Planning Commission that the building had been stripped by vandals of salvageable metals and mechanical systems. There are posted “for lease” signs, but the neighboring Christmas tree lot flocked trees in the former video store. The building is now doubly trashed. While dog-walking from Frog Park, we spotted a head poking over the roof of the building. The person saw us, retreated, and then reappeared. Glass doors have been smashed but held by a bicycle lock. People are obviously getting in. The neighboring apartment building and tenants are at risk from crime and fire spreading from the “vacant” building. 

Developers promoting expensive condo projects (wrapped in “smart growth” rhetoric though they may be) may find that reality, in the form of a recession or depression, intrudes. The Global Video building—trashed and less rentable by the day—is an eyesore that could still be put back into use—with enough community pressure—as a contributor to the happening Temescal scene, as it was when the video store was a tenant. Overeager developers and a Planning Commission and City Council that played the enabling game for developers during the housing bubble—no matter how unrealistic or speculative their plans—are to blame. A more modest project might actually have been built before the crash.  

The good, if overlooked news, is that more realistic developers have already adjusted to the economic downturn. The following are just a few examples of developers downsizing expectations, rehabbing buildings that in the overheated past were toast with condos to follow. All of us benefit from blight removal and the creation of jobs, housing, and commercial space. Sometimes thinking smaller (adaptive reuse) is smart: 

 

The Exemplary  

4629 MLK Jr. Way (opposite Children’s Hospital Oakland’s main campus). The owner reconsidered condos, and beautifully rehabbed an unreinforced masonry, “A” rated, former Grove Street cable car barn into office/commercial use. 

4701 Shattuck. The developer, who’d said that nothing short of a high-rise condo project “pencilled-out,” kept the 1908 former ground floor saloon/apartments above the building and is rehabbing it into commercial space.  

Directly north, at 49th and Shattuck, Artesia Townhouses is a low-rise three-story condo project nearing completion. The proposed building was within zoning, requiring no variances, but fine-tuned for design at the planning staff level. No EIRs, no drawn-out fights with neighbors, no blight. 

 

The Pragmatic Realists 

5666 Telegraph. Developer/realtor Tom Anthony put on hold plans to demolish an old veterinary building and cottage for a five-story condo project looming over the neighboring apartment court and Clar’s Auction Gallery. He’s rehabbing and renting the existing buildings. 

780 54th at MLK Jr. Way. Developers Cotter & Coyle proposed to demolish the former Mutual Store/church to build a five-story condo project shadowing the venerable Ace Ellis Hardware. Now they’ve refurbished the existing building as part of a lease/option deal with another church.  

 

Holding Pattern Developers 

4700 Telegraph. Apartments and ground floor businesses remain, for the most part, rented out while the property with its approval for a five-story condo project stays for sale.  

4801 Shattuck and the neighboring houses all still occupied with the condo project on hold.  

Same for the Kingfish/co-housing project—the Victorian cottages are still rented out, but the bar is shuttered. 

 

In the short run, Hauser would be smart (and the neighborhood better-served) to put the Global Video building back into rentable shape and generate some income, providing onsite security if necessary to stop the thieves and vandals now. In the long term, as someone coming to appreciate if not yet love mid-century buildings, I can see that building fixed up. It’s got a cousin in Lincoln, Nebraska—a pretty-fine Philip Johnson-designed university art museum. 

Hauser needs to get with the program and drink the bitter brew of depression-era lowered expectations. We’d all be better off. 

 

Robert Brokl is a North Oakland resident.


The Debate Over ‘Clean Coal’

By Jack Bragen
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:19:00 PM

There has been a media campaign in the past year espousing the misnomer that there is such a thing as “clean coal.” In recent months, there has been a counter campaign from environmentalists that ridicules and disputes the myth. Then, the coal corporations found that sound bite of an Obama campaign speech in which Obama promotes the idea that “we can do it” with “clean coal.” 

Of course, nobody wants to argue with President Obama. That’s why the coal corporations believe they have trumped the anti clean coal movement through the Obama sound bite. 

However, I believe that in this case, President Obama was mistaken in believing there is such a thing as clean coal. I have a scientific explanation that follows: 

When we use fossil fuels, whether it is coal, crude oil or natural gas, we are taking carbon from the ground (that was deposited there a long time ago) and we are introducing this carbon into our atmosphere. When fossil fuels from the ground are burned, it means that they are chemically combined with oxygen from our air, and this becomes carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Carbon + Oxygen = CO and CO2. 

In the best-case scenario, the carbon from the ground is burned very efficiently so that there is very little carbon monoxide and a little more of the less harmful carbon dioxide. 

However, when you burn fossil fuels, you can’t avoid robbing our atmosphere of some of its oxygen. This is true especially if one were to capture and store the carbon dioxide. This is because of the fact that that carbon dioxide that got made during combustion contains oxygen from our atmosphere. 

When you store that CO2, you are preventing plant life on the planet from converting it back to oxygen and plant material. Plant growth, which contains carbon, is the original substance that became fossil fuels in our prehistory. 

When you take that carbon from the ground and introduce it into our atmosphere, it is like going backward in time. Our atmosphere will start to resemble what it was like during the age of the dinosaurs. It was a denser, warmer atmosphere with lush vegetation. It would mean a major change in our climate. It would be unsuitable for many people and many of today’s species. 

I am under the impression that capture and storage of CO2 was merely hypothetical and was used in the coal commercials to fool the public into believing there was no pollution. If you actually did capture and store the CO2, there would be less oxygen in our atmosphere and some of us would have difficulty breathing. If you didn’t store it, we would get the classic “greenhouse effect,” in which our climate gets warmer. 

Clean coal might refer in fact to coal in which the cancer causing soot is captured. This would be “less dirty coal.” When burning coal, it is possible to capture the solid particles that cause lung cancer for a lot of people. However, the coal miners would still be exposed. And we would continue to periodically have tragic accidents when the brave coal miners are in the process of getting that coal for us. 

When you burn vegetable oil or alcohol derived from crops, you do not increase carbon in the atmosphere because you are reintroducing carbon that already existed in our current ecosystem. The crops when they grew took CO2 from the atmosphere to grow, and when you burn them as fuels it just puts it back. There is no net change in the amount of carbon in the system. The difference with biofuels isn’t that they don’t introduce CO2; they do. The difference is that when the biofuels were produced, in the growing process, the same amount of carbon is removed from the atmosphere. When these same crops are grown, oxygen also gets put back into the atmosphere. 

The above explanation is merely high-school level science. It isn’t at the level of rocket science. 

So, I say it is OK to disagree with Obama on this one point, and I hope that the President will at some point acknowledge this mistake. Clean coal is a made up fantasy used to promote the use of fossil fuels and to prevent competition from “green energy.” 

 

Jack Bragen is a Martinez resident.


Real Sunshine Could Be in Berkeley’s Future

By Dean Metzger
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:19:00 PM

After two years of work, an independent citizens’ group has submitted a cutting-edge, open-government ordinance to the City Council for its consideration. The Citizens’ Sunshine Ordinance, if adopted by the council in its entirety, would shed real sunshine on city business. All city records, except for those otherwise protected by law, would be made available to the public in a timely way. There would be sufficient time before legislative bodies met for citizens to obtain and review records related to agenda items. Most significantly, this ordinance, unlike any other passed so far in California, would have an independent body to enforce its provisions. Now, it’s up to the City Council to take the bold step of adopting such a progressive ordinance without weakening its provisions. 

Approximately two years ago, the City Council held an open workshop to discuss the city attorney’s draft Sunshine Ordinance. The League of Women Voters, the Amercian Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Californian’s Aware, the Society of Professional Journalists, and Berkeleyans Organizing for Library Defense (SuperBOLD) were invited to participate in the discussion. At the conclusion of the workshop, the City Council asked the League of Women Voters to put together a group of citizens to review and rewrite the draft. The League invited all citizens to attend a meeting at its office to discuss the issue. The Citizens’ Sunshine Committee was formed at this meeting. 

The Citizens’ Sunshine Ordinance is the product of two years of work by this independent citizens’ group. This group has been, and still is, open to the public. We studied similar ordinances from San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, as well as the Berkeley city attorney’s draft ordinance. Then, we adopted their best provisions and added more, where we found them lacking. We also consulted with the First Amendment Coalition, Californians Aware, and other attorneys. 

Specific procedures for compliance and enforceability are key differences between our ordinance and any other found in the United States. Our ordinance will put Berkeley on the cutting edge of progressive legislation, if it is not watered down for political purposes. 

Some of the features of the Citizens’ Sunshine Ordinance are: 

• It removes vague and confusing language and procedures that are in the city Aattorney’s draft. It empowers the citizens of Berkeley to become involved in their city government by clarifying procedures for public comment and noticing of public meetings.  

• It details procedures for meetings, record keeping, and enforcement, so everyone knows the rules and has the same information as decision makers and that this information is made available well in advance of decisions being made. 

• It provides clear timelines and specifies exceptions for emergency situations.  

• It details how legislative action can be rescinded when violations occur and what remedies are available.  

• Most important is that the Citizens’ Sunshine Ordinance creates means of enforcement that are quick and practical, without taking away the right to judicial review. This makes Sunshine work. 

The procedures to be followed by the legislative bodies and city staff are spelled out so that all parties know what is required of them. This should reduce the cost of government and offset any cost of implementing the Sunshine Ordinance. When everyone knows the rules and procedures, they can be enforced without lawsuits. Under the status quo, far too much is spent by the city in defending itself against citizen lawsuits. Our ordinance allows for the settlement of any dispute at the local level, rather than having to go to Superior Court. 

San Francisco, Oakland, Benicia, Riverside, Vallejo, Gilroy, Milpitas, and Contra Costa County have all adopted Sunshine Ordinances. San Jose has been working on its ordinance for more than two years. All of these ordinances have one large problem: none have an independent enforcement provision. This means that those who are supposed to enforce sunshine are the same people who are violating the law—a conflict of interest to say the least. For this reason, San Francisco is considering whether to go back to the voters to enact an independent enforcement provision, not unlike ours. 

Another problem is that existing Sunshine Ordinances do not contain enough detail for a clear understanding by citizens; thus, citizens have a difficult time understanding how to be heard by legislative bodies or city staff, or how they may obtain documents that are critical for debating the issues. Our Sunshine Ordinance addresses this, providing, for example, that the city may no longer refuse to produce the critical intra-staff memos that are often the basis for council decisions. 

A primary consideration is whether any proposed ordinance will allow for an independent enforcement provision. Without this provision, Sunshine becomes just another piece of legislation that looks and feels good, but can be ignored. If real, independent enforcement is not part of Sunshine, then there is no guarantee that the workings government will be open and transparent. The strength of our Sunshine Ordinance lies within its enforcement provisions.  

We recognize that our draft compromises many important issues; some think it goes to far, and others think that it does not go far enough. That is why we want that the City Council and staff to work with us to reach a consensus without destroying the basic purpose of the ordinance, which is to have as strong a sunshine ordinance as possible. If we work together, we can come up with the first effective, practical, and enforceable Sunshine Ordinance in the State of California. 

Our Sunshine Ordinance can be viewed at berkeleysunshine.org 

We invite members of the public to contact us with comments or to invite us to speak to any community groups. Contact us at info@berkeleysunshine.org. 

 

Dean Metzger is a member of the Citizens’ Sunshine Ordinance Committee.  


Human-Scale Smart Growth for Downtown

By Charles Siegel
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:20:00 PM

The extreme wing of Berkeley’s smart-growth movement is pushing hard for high-rises in downtown. 

I am a long-term smart-growth advocate. I have supported every mixed-use project built in Berkeley in recent decades. And I oppose these high-rises precisely because I think they would discredit smart growth. Instead, Berkeley should build human-scale smart growth, attractive enough to be a model for other cities. 

The recent study of downtown development found that it would be economically feasible to build condominiums seven stories or less or 17 stories or more. It also found that five-story rental housing is the lowest-cost and most feasible form of housing that can be built in downtown. 

We could create a downtown with a traditional European scale by building five-story rentals and seven-story condos on sites that are now under-used. This scale could give us a downtown as vital, as pedestrian-oriented, and as attractive as a traditional European city. 

American tourists flock to Europe because they enjoy the experience of walking on the streets and sitting in the cafes of this sort of human-scale neighborhoodca sign that it could be popular here in America. But tourists don’t seek out the experience of sitting in a cafes with high-rises looming over them. 

There are two reasons that most people do not like high-rise neighborhoods. 

First, high-rise neighborhoods seem cold and impersonal. The famous Danish urbanist Jan Gehl has produced a series of photographs showing that there is strong visual contact between people on the ground and people on the second floor or fifth floor of a building, weak visual contact between the ground and eight floor, and no visual contact at all between the ground and the sixteenth floor. 

That is why a street of high-rises feels sterile and faceless when you walk through it. It is literally true that you cannot see human faces or any other human details on the upper floors, so the building seems impersonal. 

Second, high-rise neighborhoods cannot have a meaningful skyline. Leon Krier and many New Urbanist designers have shown that traditional urban skylines are attractive because their “fabric buildings (utilitarian buildings, such as housing and offices) are limited in height, while important public buildings and symbolic structures rise above the urban fabric. 

That is why traditional European skylines are attractive, with the Cathedral and the Campanile rising above the urban fabric. It is why 19th century American skylines were attractive, with church spires rising above the urban fabric. 

Today, Washington, D.C. is the largest American city with this sort of traditional skyline, with the Capitol dome and the Washington Monument rising above the urban fabric—showing that this sort of urban design still can work in a contemporary American city.  

Berkeley is the second largest American city with this sort of traditional skyline, with the Campanile rising above a mid-rise campus and downtown. 

This skyline is part of John Galen Howard’s design for the Berkeley campus, and it is of national importance. Building high-rises in downtown Berkeley would be architectural vandalism, like building high-rises around the Capitol dome. 

The general public recognizes these points about urban design instinctively, though it cannot articulate them, so there will be fierce opposition to high-rise projects in downtown. 

Why is the city moving to support the most politically divisive projects we could possibly build in downtown, rather than creating broad consensus around a plan to make downtown more like a traditional European neighborhood? 

The first high-rise downtown could lead to a backlash against smart-growth like the backlash that followed construction of the Great Western Building on Center and Shattuck, which give Berkeley its NIMBY-dominated development politics of the 1970s and 1980s. 

But if we build five- and seven-story infill projects, we could make downtown a model imitated around the Bay Area and even around the nation. High-rises would give downtown a relatively small number of added residents, not enough to have any significant impact on global warming, and we could have a much greater impact by providing a model that others would imitate. 

If American suburbanites get the idea that smart growth means traditional, European-style neighborhoods, most will react by thinking: “That is the sort of place I would enjoy going to. I would like to see something like that in my town.” 

But if American suburbanites get the idea that smart growth means high-rises, most will react by thinking “That is just what I moved to the suburbs to get away from—overwhelming buildings that make you feel insignificant when you go past them. I want to keep that sort of thing as far away from me as possible. And I’m sure we can deal with global warming by buying electric cars.” 

 

Charles Siegel began advocating for smart growth in Berkeley before the term “smart growth” was invented. 


Council Violates Berkeley’s Nuclear Free Berkeley Act

By Gene Bernardi
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:20:00 PM

At the Jan. 27 meeting where the City Council rammed through a waiver for the Library of the Nuclear Free Berkeley Act (NFBA), the council majority’s disdain for the public was palpable. Some 30 persons present to speak against waiving the NFBA were not called to speak until 11 p.m. By then the 20 remaining were forced by the mayor to confine their comments to one minute each unless someone else deferred time. This was not in the spirit of the Brown Act which requires equitable treatment of public speakers. Speakers on other agenda items had two minutes. 

Most unusual was the speed with which the Peace and Justice Commission’s (P&J) Jan. 5 recommendation that the City Council deny the waiver of the NFBA reached the Council agenda. A P&J recommendation generally doesn’t reach the council for a couple of months. This, undoubtedly, resulted in councilmembers not having time to read and analyze the communications and reports, many of which, unavoidably, due to time constraints arrived the day of the meeting and were issued at the meeting as a Supplemental Communication 1 to councilmembers. This supplement included a letter from the California Council of Churches representing 5,000 congregations and 1.5 million members, which asked the City Council to deny the Berkeley Public Library’s request of the waiver of the NFBA. 

Also, in the Supplemental Communication 1 were e-mails from the Library Users Association’s executive director and from two former librarians at the Berkeley Public Library. The Library Users Association research revealed that 3M, the company the library wants to contract with to maintain its RFID self-checkout system, in 2007 had over $34 million in federal contracts, most for the military, including “Missile Procurement,” “Weapons Procurement,” “Procurement of Ammunition,” “Procurement of…Tracked Combat Vehicles” (USA Spending.gov website). The librarians’ research pointed out that there is an alternative to assuming a high cost contract for maintenance of a proprietary RFID system. They carefully spelled out why a barcode self-checkout system would be more cost effective and, being non-proprietary, open to competitive bidding. 

The City Council’s approval of a waiver violates the NFBA. The Act states “The City of Berkeley shall grant no contract to any person or business which knowingly engages in work for nuclear weapons, unless the City Council makes a specific determination that no reasonable alternative exists…” considering three factors: the intent and purpose of the act, the availability of alternative services, and, quantifiable additional costs resulting from use of available alternatives. 

Despite the fact that the library currently has a maintenance contract until June 2009 and, despite Councilmember Worthington’s call for a postponement of the item in order that such a specific determination could be made, six councilmembers voted to waive the Nuclear Free Berkeley Act, in defiance of the NFBA, (a citizens’ initiative, passed by more than two thirds of voters) so the Berkeley Public Library can contract with 3M, a military contractor involved in the nuclear weapons industry. 

Thanks to Councilmembers Worthington, Arreguin and Anderson for wisely suggesting more study of the issue was needed before a vote. Sadly they were ignored. 

 

Gene Bernardi is a member of Berkeleyans Organizing for Library Defense (SuperBOLD). 


3M Company’s Military Contracts, Non-Equal Partner Benefits

By Peter Warfield
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:20:00 PM

A part of the military-industrial complex was invited by the Berkeley Public Library to call on the City Council last week, with favorable references provided by library head Donna Corbeil and Terry Powell of the Board of Library Trustees (BOLT)—and despite the best efforts of the Peace and Justice Commission (which voted 7-1 against granting the waiver of the Nuclear Free Berkeley Act, with two abstentions) plus some two dozen members of the public, the majority of councilmembers said: “Make yourself at home, at least for awhile.” 

As a result, the library may now sign a contract with 3M Company to service the radio frequency identification (RFID) checkout system that it purchased from Checkpoint Systems in 2004. Checkpoint turned over to 3M exclusive rights to service and sell its systems early last year.  

The NFBA is intended to prevent city contracts being given to companies that do “work for nuclear weapons”—and 3M has refused to sign a standard city form verifying that it does not, and will not for the life of the contract, do “work for nuclear weapons.” 

The council’s 6-2 vote Jan. 28, with one abstention, granting a two-year waiver, was a compromise. 

The library did not get the unrestricted waiver it had sought, while the no-waiver advocates didn’t get the unrestricted denial of the request. 

In the process, many important facts came out, including information about the poor performance of the library’s RFID checkout system, and the nature of the 3M Company’s business, which includes weapons contracts with the Defense Department—and the fact that that 3M does not provide equal partner benefits for its employees. 

“No one wants to do business with this company,” said Councilmember Linda Maio, referring to 3M Company. But she offered the compromise motion to approve a two-year waiver so that, she said, the Library would have time to find alternatives to doing business with 3M. 

Council Members Kriss Worthington and Jesse Arreguin voted against the waiver, while Max Anderson abstained. Voting in favor were Mayor Bates and Councilmembers Linda Maio, Darryl Moore, Laurie Capitelli, Susan Wengraf, and Gordon Wozniak. 

Ying Lee, a current member of BOLT, who cast the lone BOLT vote against granting the waiver, said RFID “is a very faulty system.” 

Retired Librarian Andrea Segall, who worked the last half of her 33 years as a librarian at Berkeley Public Library (BPL), said the information the library had presented in making its case was not accurate, greatly overstating the time and cost that a conversion to bar code technology would require. 

Former BPL worker Roya Arasteh, who, with Segall, co-authored a letter to the city council, stated the library could easily convert to bar code technology, without closing the library, and that it would save expenses of at least $112,000 annually.  

Arasteh’s and Segall’s joint letter said that a Library letter to the Peace and Justice Commission Dec. 5, 2008 “cites 18-24 months needed [for conversion to bar codes], plus an increased need for staff (item 5A). [However,] When the entire Central library was automated (including barcodes), it was only closed for 2 weeks!” 

Their letter went on to say, “The current system is not state-of-the art, but rather an expensive boondoggle that other libraries have rejected.” 

A Jan. 27 library letter to the City Council and sent over the city manager’s signature, described 3M Company’s many lines of business—without once mentioning its military work. The library made 3M sound like bunnies and daisies, all about handy and harmless Scotch Tape and Post-Its.  

But a search of USAspending.gov, self-described as a government website that is “required by the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (Transparency Act)” shows that for the year cited in the library letter, 2007, 3M had more than $34 million in government contracts, and the top five contracts, by dollar amount, were with defense-related agencies as follows: 

Defense Logistics Agency, $8.9 million. 

Defense Commissary Agency, 6.4 million. 

Navy, 4.7 million. 

Veterans Affairs Department, 3.3 million. 

Army, 2.9 million. 

3M Company’s Department of Defense contracts in 2007 included the following: 

“Automatic Data Processing Equipment;” also “Automatic data processing equipment” for Department of Homeland Security. 

“Missile Procurement, Army” (“Chemicals and chemical products”), $80,667, $64,800. 

“Missile Procurement, Air Force” (“Guided missiles”). 

“Weapons Procurement, Navy” (“Chemicals and chemical products”). 

“Weapons Procurement, Navy” (“Fiber optics materials, components, and accessories”). 

“Weapons Procurement, Navy” (“Electrical and electronic equipment components”). 

“Weapons Procurement, Navy” (“Nonmetallic fabricated materials”). 

“Procurement of Ammunition” for Army, Navy and Marine Corps, (“Aircraft components and accessories,” “Automatic data processing equipment”), five contracts. 

“Procurement of Weapons and Tracked Combat Vehicles, Army.” 

“Military Construction,” Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, Army National Guard; at least six contracts. 

And is this company all bunnies and daisies in other ways? No.  

There is something else that ought to give the library, and the City Council pause: 3M does not provide equal partner benefits for the partners of its employees. This is another City of Berkeley standard requirement for its contractors. 

Here is what 3M Company wrote to the library in an e-mail sent Nov. 20, 2008, which we recently obtained through a public records request:  

“This is the information I [the contact person at 3M] received: 

“3M provides same-sex domestic partner benefits, but it does not offer exactly the same benefits to same sex domestic partners of employees that it offers to spouses of its employees. 

“Examples of this is we do provide same for medical and dental and new employee retirement. However we have a defined pension plan that employees that [sic] may be on that does not offer this, Also some of our retiree health benefits and family leave. 

“If you need a more defined answer I can get that for you by Monday.” 

Surprisingly, the library’s response to this memo, which was sent the same day, did not ask for any more details. It said: 

“Thanks very much for the below. I think I don’t need more detail; however, if I’m asked for more I’ll get back to you.” 

Berkeley has an Equal Benefits Ordinance, but it can be waived if the contractor is a sole source provider. 

So, 3M Company will be coming to maintain the library’s checkout system in a split decision. We can expect this issue to come back all over again some time before the maintenance contracts reach the end of their maximum two-year duration. Stay tuned. 

 

Peter Warfield is executive director of Library Users Association. 


Columns

The Public Eye: The Challenges Ahead for President Obama

By Bob Burnett
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:21:00 PM

During his first 100 days in office, President Obama faces daunting problems, including a deteriorating economy and two wars. On May 1, how can we tell whether he is doing a good job, given that Bush set the bar so low? 

Two recent national polls present slightly different views of Obama’s challenges. The Jan. 22 Pew Research poll asked Americans what the president’s priorities should be. The top 10 were the economy, jobs, terrorism, social security, education, energy, Medicare, deficit reduction, and health insurance. The Jan. 19 Gallup poll constructed Obama’s to-do list based upon public perception of his campaign promises. Their top 10 included children’s health insurance, alternative energy, healthcare costs, infrastructure spending, working family taxes, Iraq, Afghanistan, stem-cell research, Guantanamo, and the rights of unions to organize. 

These polls indicate that Americans want our new president to focus on domestic issues, so that’s what’s discussed here. Obama’s dominant domestic challenge is the economy, which is reflected in the poll respondents’ concerns about job creation, healthcare and energy costs, tax reduction for working families, and the solvency of Medicare and Social Security. In his Jan. 5 column, economist Paul Krugman observed, “Let’s not mince words: This looks an awful lot like the beginning of a second Great Depression.” In the next 100 days, economic conditions are likely to get worse; forecasts indicate the national unemployment rate—7.2 percent in December—will slide above 10 percent. The key economic problems are painfully apparent: consumers and businesses aren’t spending money; banks aren’t lending; and manufacturers are cutting back production. 

Before May 1, there are four major steps Obama should take. First, he should follow through on his concrete campaign promises. For example, he should cut taxes for 95 percent of working Americans. Such an action would have a primarily psychological impact—tax cuts don’t stimulate the economy as much as infrastructure spending—but send a signal that Obama intends to keep all of his campaign promises. In the same vein, he should strengthen Social Security and increase the number of children eligible for Medicare. 

Second, our new president should sign job-creation legislation—a good first step would be the economic stimulus bill being considered by the Senate. Because the problems are systemic, this won’t bear results by May 1. Even before the onset of the recession, the Bush Administration didn’t create good jobs—they averaged 375,000 new jobs per year versus the Clinton administrations 2.9 million new jobs per year. Fewer jobs were created in the Bush era, the quality of these jobs was poor, and the number of underemployed increased. Obama must launch a long-term job-creation strategy and Americans must be patient. 

Obama has to sell Americans on his recovery and reinvestment plan, which emphasizes investment in the U.S. infrastructure; not only repairing our nations deteriorating roads and bridges, but also “modernizing more than 75 percent of federal buildings and improve the energy efficiency of two million American homes, saving consumers and taxpayers billions on our energy bills.” Much of the Obama job-creation plan has the dual emphasis of creating jobs while reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil. At the moment, public support for this plan splits along party lines: 73 percent of Democrats support it, 59 percent of Republicans oppose it, and Independents split, 46 percent in favor and 40 percent opposed. Obama has to get this plan passed by Congress, allocate most of the funds to infrastructure improvement, and generate bipartisan support for his recovery strategy. 

Because new jobs will not be created instantaneously, during the next 100 days increasing numbers of Americans will be unemployed, struggling to pay their mortgages and put food on the table. Obama’s third task will be to strengthen the social safety net: extend and expand unemployment insurance, provide relief to struggling homeowners, and guarantee access to healthcare. While Obama’s recovery plan wisely emphasizes “green” jobs, these will require new training programs and strengthening of America’s educational infrastructure, in general. 

President Obama’s fourth task will be straightening out a dysfunctional banking/financial system. The problem isn’t only that banks aren’t lending but that too often their strategy is dictated by greed rather than considerations of the common good. Obama must institute a new round of financial regulations, develop a strategy to deal with toxic assets such as sub-prime mortgages, oversee the dispersion of “bailout” funds to both spur lending and protect homeowners threatened by foreclosure, and deal with the problem of executive compensation, which has spurred many of the excesses. 

While these four metrics can be used to measure Obama’s domestic success over the first 100 days, the national psyche is also important. According to the Gallup Poll, 77 percent of Americans have negative consumer confidence and 78 percent are dissatisfied with the “state of the nation.” By May 1, both of these metrics should improve, as Americans come to the realization that economic conditions are getting better. If Obama is successful, Americans will continue to believe in his message of hope and opportunity. 

 

Bob Burnett is a Berkeley activist. He can be reached at bobburnett@comcast.net.


UnderCurrents: Reporting on Dellums Often Clouded by Conclusions Already Drawn

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:22:00 PM

Some years ago, I was part of a team asked by a progressive American organization to do a brief study of anti-black racism in the country of Cuba while we were there working on another project. During our tour of the country for about six weeks, we conducted interviews (as much as we could do with our limited Spanish) and made observations. While almost every Afro-Cuban we spoke with felt they were doing better economically since the 1959 Revolution, there were deep remnants of racism that Cubans seemed to neither acknowledge or even recognize. The country’s various beauty pageants, for example, all featured exclusively women of fair skin and European features and hair; women of visible African descent were not considered standards of “beauty.” And at one of the nation’s insane asylums—a system the Cubans are particularly proud of—the patients put on a minstrel show for the visitors, complete with blackface and buck-and-wing dancing. Our hosts could not understand why the African-American portion of the contingent was aghast. 

When we got back to the United States, we wrote up a report in which we concluded that while anti-black racism had a different history in Cuba than it did in the states, it had by no means been eliminated. 

There was a problem, however. Shortly after the Revolution, Cuban President Fidel Castro had declared that racism had been eliminated in Cuba, and the American group which had assigned us the study had close ties with the Cuban government. When the group later published a pamphlet on our study and results, the conclusion about the continuation of anti-black racism in Cuba had been, um, purged. 

The lesson I learned from this little experience is that it is the damned exceptional individual or organization that reverses a conclusion once it has been made. There seems to be a locking-in process that takes place, and any additional evidence—however contrary to the original conclusion—tends to get modified, bent, completely altered, or sometimes simply flat-out ignored so that it does not contradict or get in the way of the opinion already formed. 

That, I think, is what has been working with so many of the critics of the administration of Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums. Many of those critics declared the administration a failure early on—some of them even before Mr. Dellums took office—and so it should be surprising that everything they subsequently write reaches the same conclusion. 

Even, as I said, to the point of altering the facts. 

In a Tuesday column in which he somewhat bizarrely concludes that Mr. Dellums “sounds as if he’s already abdicated control [of Oakland’s streets] to the [Oscar Grant] protesters,” Chronicle columnist Chip Johnson writes the following about the mayor’s widely publicized walk through the tumultuous crowd down 14th Street on the night of the first Grant rioting: “Dellums, against the advice of his security detail, walked out and addressed angry protesters who shouted him down until he retreated back into Oakland City Hall. His words fell on deaf ears, and before the night was over more than 50 businesses were damaged in the mayhem.” 

There is something of a failure of logic and timing here. If Mr. Dellums words “fell on deaf ears” and vandalism ensued, then it would not appear that Mr. Dellums was “abdicating control” of Oakland’s streets, only that he was able to exercise control. Further, if you follow Mr. Johnson’s truncated timeline, Mr. Dellums addressed angry protesters, they shouted him down, and then they went out and damaged more than 50 businesses. In fact, the businesses and vehicles along 14th Street were damaged before Mr. Dellums appeared on the scene. It was the damage on 17th Street and along portions of Telegraph, Broadway, and in front of the federal and state buildings that occurred afterwards. 

But Mr. Johnson does a more serious alteration of facts. The Chronicle’s East Bay columnist makes it appear as if Mr. Dellums stepped out of City Hall to address a crowd of protesters—against the advice of his security detail—was shouted down, and then retreated back inside City Hall. In fact, there was a much longer series of events that occurred, as we have written before. There was no crowd at City Hall initially when Mr. Dellums came on the scene on the night of Jan. 7. The crowd and the police were strung out along 14th and adjacent streets from about Franklin to Oak, and the advice from security, presumably, was for the mayor not to walk down into that area. Instead, Mr. Dellums chose to walk down 14th Street down to about the area of McDonalds, addressing individuals and knots of people as he did. He was not shouted down along 14th Street, and did not retreat. Instead, he engineered a backing off between protesters and riot police, and then walked back up 14th Street to City Hall, bringing many in the crowd of protesters with him. The rest dispersed, and there did not appear to be any more trouble on the lower end of 14th Street that night. 

It is easy to see how Mr. Johnson might have gotten his facts mixed up about the events of the night of Jan. 7, since he was not observed in the downtown area that night. That is hardly surprising, since Mr. Johnson rarely attends many of the newsmaking events he writes about, choosing either to watch them on television or read about them in the newspaper, presumably, or talk with others who were actually there. Reporters and columnists can’t be everywhere, of course, but Mr. Johnson is so noticeably absent that when he showed up at a Ron Dellums press conference on the new staff appointments last week, a buzz went through the crowd of reporters and staff when he walked in the room. It seems somewhat odd, isn’t it, that the two major local columnists who beat the drum about Mr. Dellums’ failure to show up at City Hall are one—Mr. Johnson—who rarely shows up himself—and another—East Bay Express columnist Chris Thompson—who may not even show up in the East Bay at all. 

But Mr. Johnson and Mr. Thompson are not the only local columnists whose analysis of current events appears unduly colored by past conclusions. 

Late last month, in writing about Mr. Dellums’ State of the City address, Tribune columnist Byron Williams wrote, “If I were grading on style points, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums’ State of the City address, deserves an A-minus. … [T]he mayor gave a lucid, extemporaneous address for approximately 60 minutes. The problem, however, was content. In this all-important area, I give the mayor an incomplete. The mayor began with roughly 30 minutes about his reflections of President Barack Obama and the historic symbolism of his inauguration. That’s fine, but what about Oakland?” Mr. Williams concluded that the mayor failed to give either a detailed analysis of the current state of city affairs or detailed proposals as how to solve them, which Mr. Williams called “another missed opportunity, which is sadly the hallmark of this administration.” 

But Mr. Williams has already concluded that the Dellums administration is a resounding failure, writing two weeks before, following the swearing in of the new Oakland elected officials for Mr. Dellums to resign, saying that his “call for Dellums to resign is not based on a set of tangible results; rather it is the intangible of his body language that strongly suggests he does not want to do the job.” 

Interpretation of body language aside (isn’t that something they’re fond of doing on the Fox News Channel?), Mr. Williams also does a woeful job of reporting in the earlier column, writing that some said the mayor’s absence from the city inauguration ceremonies was because he was “attending the memorial service two blocks away for C. Diane Howell, publisher of the Black Business Listings and founder of the annual Black Expo business trade fair. Others dispute the claim that the mayor attended the service. I called the mayor’s office for a confirmation of his whereabouts, but my inquiries were not returned.” Odd. It would have seemed fairly easy to confirm that Mr. Dellums was at the Howell ceremonies, since the mayor was sitting on the dais in the Marriott auditorium in full view of a couple of thousand people in the audience, his name was listed on the program, and he gave remarks. But, yeah, facts are sometimes difficult to tie down. 

The real problem with Mr. Williams’ state of the city column is that in having declared the Dellums administration a failure, he appears to have little curiosity in looking into what was a deeply interesting story surrounding the mayor’s staff appointments. 

Mr. Dellums, indeed was somewhat lackluster in his State of the City address, which would not have attracted much notice from another public official, but which seemed especially odd about the mayor, since he is one of the best public speakers of our time, and rarely flubs such chances. Usually Mr. Dellums is well prepared—some might even say over-prepared—but at the State of the City he had little of substance to say. But there may have been a good cause. 

Earlier in the month, Mr. Dellums had announced that he would make his new staff appointments, including the new city administrator, during the week of Jan. 26. It was widely assumed that he would make those announcements during his State of the City. Many of us left City Hall that night puzzled that he hadn’t. That same week, it was announced that contrary to expectations that he would be rehired in Oakland as city administrator, former Oakland City Manager/Administrator Robert Bobb announced he was taking a one-year contract with the Detroit public school system. A few days later, Mr. Dellums announced that interim City Administrator Dan Lindheim would be hired for the permanent slot. If Mr. Dellums was, in fact, prepared to speak almost exclusively about his new staff hirings during his State of the City address, with the Robert Bobb hiring as the centerpiece, it would be understandable if he found himself at the last minute with his star catch gone, and nothing with which to subsititute. 

There may be a fascinating back story to this. We learn from both Mr. Bobb and Mr. Dellums that the job was offered to Mr. Bobb, but he ended up turning it down, reportedly after making contract demands that Mr. Dellums could not—or chose not to—meet. Mr. Bobb, it may be remembered, was hired by Mr. Dellums to do the national search for the new city administrator, and there are now rumors that the other choices recommended by Mr. Bobb turned down the job. There is a sort of Cheneyesque quality to Mr. Bobb’s actions, and one now wonders if he set up the process to back Mr. Dellums in a corner, making himself not only the best but the only viable candidate outside of Mr. Lindheim, and then using that leverage to try to bargain for a sweeter deal. But I’m only speculating here, and the truth of the Bobb hiring/not hiring we will, perhaps, never know.


Wild Neighbors: Do Burrowing Owls Bait for Beetles?

By Joe Eaton
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:27:00 PM
Burrowing owl near Niland, Imperial County
By Alan D. Wilson
Burrowing owl near Niland, Imperial County

Last weekend I checked in on the burrowing owls at Cesar Chavez Park. Their winter habitat at the park’s northeastern corner has been surrounded by orange temporary fencing—a good idea, given the volume of foot, bicycle, and dog traffic. At least one owl was visible, standing quietly among the scurrying California ground squirrels, swiveling its head back and forth. (Park visitors can’t resist feeding the squirrels; the owl area is littered with peanut shells.) 

My understanding is that these birds show up only in the winter. Their local breeding range is east of the hills. In both summer and winter quarters, ground squirrels provide housing for the owls, which are not so much burrowing as borrowing. But other burrowing owl populations have been known to dig their own. 

Whether they excavate or expropriate, burrowing owls have long been known to scatter bits of manure—cow, horse, bison, whatever’s handy—round the entrance of their homes. This was believed to mask the smell of fledgling owls from potential predators like coyotes, badgers, and skunks. A plausible story, but not until recently empirically tested. 

A little over four years ago, Douglas Levey at the University of Florida advanced a competing hypothesis in the journal Nature. Levey’s article was entitled: “Use of dung as a tool by burrowing owls.”  

“Bait” might have been more appropriate. 

Levey and his colleagues did their fieldwork in central Florida, home to a disjunct population of burrowing owls. They proposed that instead of using olfactory camouflage, the birds might be collecting manure to lure the dung beetles that make up 65 percent of their diet. The biologists tracked the fates of 50 ersatz nest burrows, stocked with quail eggs and enhanced with cow dung or not, and counted beetle parts in the owls’ pellets at active nests with and without manure. Their findings: predators cleaned out almost all the dummy nests, control and experimental alike, while the owls consumed ten times more dung beetles at nests with manure than without.  

Beetle-baiting is not as far-fetched an idea as it might seem. Herons have been observed using feathers or bits of bread to attract fish within striking range. Why couldn’t owls do something similar with cowpats? 

There’s always another hypothesis, though. It had been noticed that it was always the male owl who collected the stuff and spread it around. Could this be a form of display—a way of alerting passing females to the superior fitness of the territory—holder? Then again, the manure could simply be the male owl’s way of announcing to rivals that his burrow was occupied. 

So Matthew Smith and Courtney Conway of the University of Arizona did their own field studies in southeastern Washington, in ranchland near Kennewick (where those controversial Native American remains turned up), Richland, and Pasco. Their methods included monitoring own territories beginning in February, before males and females paired off; manuring vacant burrows and vice versa; creating experimental nests with chicken eggs; and using pitfall traps to measure insect biomass near treated and untreated burrows.  

Smith and Conway reported in Animal Behaviour that the male owls didn’t begin collecting and scattering manure until after the females had joined them. That seemed to rule out the display hypothesis. Although nest depredation rates were lower than in the Florida study, nests with and without dung had the same probability of being raided-a second strike against concealment by smell. 

The other two hypotheses fared better. The owls were more likely to move into burrows when manure was removed than when it was added. And burrows with dung scored higher in insect biomass-mostly beetles, but with a high proportion of grasshoppers and crickets. It’s not clear how well dung beetles were represented. 

As rare as they are, I doubt that burrowing owls are interfering with the vital work of the dung beetles. The ecology of manure is a more complex field than you might think. California lost at least three dung beetle species (whose exoskeletons have been identified in the La Brea tar pits) along with the mammoths, ground sloths, and the rest of the Pleistocene megafauna. The second-tier survivors like pronghorn and tule elk were not productive enough to keep the beetles going. So the remnant native dung beetle fauna was poorly equipped to process the leavings of all those cattle and sheep. 

Australia, where beetles that had evolved on a diet of kangaroo pellets found themselves similarly overwhelmed by European hoofstock, responded by introducing heavy-duty dung beetles from Asia and Africa. Somewhat later, California followed suit. A California Dung Beetle Project was active at UC Davis for some years, releasing 680,000 captive-bred beetles before funding ran out. The descendants of those unsung heroes are still at work. A dirty job, but the beetles are happy to do it. 

 


East Bay Then and Now: Berkeleyan Torrey Owned Duchamp’s Most Famous Painting

By Daniella Thompson
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:30:00 PM
The International House and Memorial Stadium figure in the sweeping vista commanded from the Torrey house.
Daniella Thompson
The International House and Memorial Stadium figure in the sweeping vista commanded from the Torrey house.
The Torrey house façade features an oversized bay window.
Daniella Thompson
The Torrey house façade features an oversized bay window.
An elegant stairway designed by Henry Atkins leads to the Torrey house.
Daniella Thompson
An elegant stairway designed by Henry Atkins leads to the Torrey house.
                An early photograph of the Torrey house.
BAHA
An early photograph of the Torrey house.
Rieber, Hutchinson, and Torrey houses,left to right, on Canyon Road, 1910. Behind the Torrey house is the Mouser house.
BAHA
Rieber, Hutchinson, and Torrey houses,left to right, on Canyon Road, 1910. Behind the Torrey house is the Mouser house.

He was only one of three partners, and the last of them to join the San Francisco firm of Vickery, Atkins & Torrey, purveyors of paintings in oil and water color, fine prints, objects of art, and picture frames. 

First came William Kingston Vickery (1851-1925), who immigrated from Ireland in 1876. He settled in Piedmont when the latter was a sleepy Oakland suburb and was instrumental in bringing about its incorporation as a municipality in 1907. 

Second came Vickery’s nephew Henry Atkins (1867-1920s), one of nine children, who arrived from England in 1888 and made his home near his uncle in Piedmont. The two founded a gallery at 236 Post St. in San Francisco. 

Frederic Cheever Torrey (1864-1935) did not begin working for Vickery and Atkins until 1891 or so, but he was the first of the three to arrive in California. His father, the Boston wholesale grocer James Morrell Torrey, moved the family to Oakland before 1875. Frederic is said to have made the journey in a side-wheeler at the age of 7. 

In Oakland, James established the successful grocery firm of Torrey, Whitman & Gardiner, which operated for many years on 11th Street near Broadway. In addition to Frederic, James and Elizabeth Torrey raised Arthur, an accountant; Harry, a professor of zoology; and Janet, who married rancher Adolph Edward de Fremery. 

In his mid-20s, Frederic worked as a salesman for Sam C. Partridge, who operated the West Coast’s largest photographic supply house at 226 Bush St. in San Francisco. Partridge was well-known for his artistic photographs of Chinatown’s residents. For Torrey, the switch from selling photographs to selling paintings for Vickery and Atkins was a natural one. His prospects looked bright, and in July 1892 he married Alice Bayley of Oakland. 

Vickery made Torrey partner in 1900. By then, the firm had branched out into Japanese woodblock prints, with an emphasis on the work of Hiroshige and other Ukiyo-e artists. They also sold artistic photographs. In his memoir, As I Remember, the pioneer Pictorialist photographer Arnold Genthe recalled his dealings with the gallery: 

The art arbiter of San Francisco at that time was Mr. Vickery, the founder of Vickery, Atkins and Torrey, an art firm that has been a far-reaching influence in the development of taste and appreciation in the West. I took portraits I had made to Mr. Vickery and asked him to criticize them. 

He looked them over carefully. “They are very interesting indeed,” he said. “But what are they? Mezzotints?” 

“No, they are photographs.” 

“They certainly don’t look it,” was his response. “Who took them?” 

“I did.” 

“I can’t believe it,” he said. 

Up to that time I had had no criticism from a professional photographer. Now I took my pictures to the man with the most fashionable clientele in the city. When he had gone rapidly through them he said, ‘Well, they may be art, but you’ll never be able to sell them. Take it from me, I’ve been in business here for twenty years and I know what I am talking about.’ Within a year he was saying to his clients, ‘What kind of pictures do you want? Carbons or platinum? Or perhaps you want the new Genthe style. I can do that, too. 

Although he was the firm’s junior partner, Torrey’s taste and judgment were so highly trusted that he was the one who traveled annually to Europe on buying trips for the gallery. On April 18, 1906, he was in Berlin on such a trip when the San Andreas Fault ruptured. Eight days later, Henry Atkins sent him a 12-page letter describing the trying days of the great San Francisco earthquake and fire in minute detail. Atkins had been “almost shaken out of bed at 5:13” of the 18th to see “my house and uncle Will’s racking themselves about horribly and all the chimneys tumbling about in bricks and dust.” 

From the deck of the ferry to San Francisco, Atkins saw “sheets of clear flames along the waterfront, under the great curtain of smoke and dust that overhung the city. Nearer, we could see fires along Market Street—and Wellman Peck’s big new building was flaming high.” 

Having worked his way to Post Street, Atkins found little damage and the store intact. Setting about with the firm’s employees to board up “broken places in walls and skylights for fear of rain,” he observed the Call Building burst into flames. “At five,” he wrote to Torrey, “I realized that if anything was to be saved in case we were burned (and it didn’t look likely even then) prompt action was needed, so I hunted up John and sent him for the wagon. I got ready three loads of things […] and as we drove off the third trip, at midnight, we were cleared off the scene at bayonet point practically—then the whole neighborhood was doomed.” 

Looking ahead, Atkins remarked, “No one will want jades or Japanese prints here for a long time—and I think we should ship them to Portland and open there … I don’t even think a framing shop would pay yet.” 

While Torrey was in Europe, his new house at the foot of Panoramic Hill was nearing completion. It was designed by Ernest Coxhead, who two years earlier had built a residence on the same block for Professor Charles H. Rieber. Torrey, Alice, and their daughter Dorothea had lived in Berkeley since 1898; first at 2222 Dana St. and later at 2329 College Ave. According to Dorothea, their new home at 1 Canyon Road was due to be completed on April 18, 1906. After being jolted awake that morning, she and her mother went up the hill to inspect the damage and found the solid redwood building standing unharmed. 

Like several other prominent Coxhead residential commissions, the Torrey house combined a rural shingled exterior with an opulent urban interior. Henry Atkins was responsible for the latter, which has been described as “baronial.” 

In 1908, Julia Morgan built a house for Prof. Lincoln Hutchinson between the Rieber and Torrey residences, and soon more newcomers were attracted by the beauty of the hill, occasionally creating friction. 

A notable fracas arose in November 1909, when Edward Taylor Parsons and his wife, Marion Randall Parsons—both key figures in the Sierra Club—sought to buy a lot adjoining the properties of Torrey and his Canyon Road neighbors. Like much of Panoramic Hill, the land had been owned by Dr. Silas Mercer Mouser, a San Francisco surgeon and professor of bacteriology, who built his country house on the hill in 1888. Dr. Mouser died in September 1909, and his son, Dr. Benjamin Mouser, offered the land to the highest bidder. 

A short while earlier, Torrey, Rieber, Hutchinson, and Prof. Albert W. Whitney had asked the city council for permission to build a parkway and ornamental roadway to Canyon Road, which the council granted. While the newspaper accounts of the time were vague as to the exact location of the land intended for the parkway, the lot sought by Parsons apparently stood in the way. The four gentlemen consulted an attorney and determined that possession was nine-tenths of the law. They seized the lot and built a stockade around it, hiring three men to stand guard. 

Dr. Mouser sued the interlopers, but the jury decided in their favor. The upshot was that Parsons bought the Mouser house and moved it further north on Mosswood Road. The approach to Torrey’s and Hutchinson’s properties was beautified with an elegant concrete staircase designed by Henry Atkins, who also created Orchard Lane and the Bancroft Steps. The old location of the Mouser house above Torrey and Hutchinson remained unimproved until 1929, when Julia Morgan built a house on that knoll for botanist Willis Jepson. 

After the 1906 earthquake, Vickery, Atkins & Torrey erected a new building on a lot they owned at 550 Sutter St. Atkins designed the elegant interiors, which received considerable press coverage. He also took charge of designing the interior of the reading room at Berkeley’s Doe Library. 

Exhibitions in the new gallery space featured local artists such as William Keith, Eugen Neuhaus, Ralph Stackpole, Mary Curtis Richardson, Sydney Yard, and Francis McComas, as well as fashionable 19th-century painters and big names like Turner, Hokusai, and Piranesi. 

Torrey, ever on the lookout for the dernier cri in art, purchased the most ballyhooed painting of the 1913 Armory Show in New York, Marcel Duchamp’s “Nude Descending a Staircase.” He hung it in the stairwell of his own house, where it caused no end of comment. One of the Nude’s most frequent observers was a straggly-looking boy of 16 who lived close by at 2350 Prospect St. and often entered the house without knocking, selecting a book from the shelves and settling down to read. His name was Thornton Wilder. 

Torrey kept the painting for six years. In 1919, he wrote art critic and dealer Walter Pach, “Counting the present high price of gasoline do you think that any one would pay a thousand dollars for the Nu Descendant? Walter Arensberg wrote to me about purchasing it that year I met him in NY, but I was not in a selling mood.” Arensberg was, in fact, eager to buy, and Torrey thanked Pach for acting as a go-between, concluding: “When I received your first telegram I did not tell Mrs. T. to whom I have not confided my intention to part with the painting if occasion offered; and I imagined more or less shamefacedly if she would object if I parted with it. The explosive nature of her reply “I SHOULD NOT!!!” requires probably small caps italicized if there are such things! You had hardly turned eastward before she bundled the Matisses off into a closet, and she looks upon the departure of the ‘Nu Descendant’ as a red-letter day on the hill. And yet we live happily together! Matrimony certainly requires a sense of humor to confront certain of its aspects.” 

Alice Torrey’s joy was premature. Her husband had a large sepia photograph made to the exact size of the original, and it occupied the same place in the stairwell for decades to come. 

 

Daniella Thompson publishes berkeleyheritage.com for the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA). 

 


Local House is Precursor to Pre-Fab Age

By Steven Finacom Special to the Planet
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:29:00 PM

On Jan. 30 in the Daily Planet, columnist Matt Cantor wrote thoughtfully about the past and potential of prefabricated dwellings. Although most of Berkeley is “custom made,” as Cantor noted, pre-fabricated structures can have a place here.  

And at least one such local dwelling survives from the days of our great great, grandparents, a special, and quite possibly unique, authentically Berkeley precursor of the prefabrication age.  

Community groups have been working to find a permanent home for the landmark Elizabeth Kenney Cottage, a five-room, one-story, 1887 “portable house” manufactured in Berkeley to a patented design. Remarkably, it has weathered more than twelve decades and two moves (one in 1906, one in 2003) that took it halfway across town, as well as the indignity of serving as a stucco-covered storeroom for half a century.  

Saved in 2003 from a development site, it now sits temporarily up on timbers on a vacant lot along University Avenue, awaiting a new home, restoration, and a permanent reuse.  

This weekend a newly organized neighborhood group is hosting a yard sale to help raise money to bring the Cottage to a West Berkeley lot owned by Berkeley’s Redevelopment Agency where it could be renovated and operated as a historic community center, surrounded by a garden.  

The yard sale is the idea and project of Patty Marcks, an energetic and long time Fifth Street resident and a founder of the new “Friends of the Kenney Cottage Garden” group. For years she’s held themed yard sales at her home after “discovering a modest flair” for organizing the events. She even met her husband at a sale. This past December, she decided that the next one should raise money for the Kenney Cottage project proposed for her block. 

The event, entitled “Colors of Love” because of the proximity to Valentine’s Day, takes place this Saturday through next Tuesday, February 7-10, at 1629 Fifth St., just north of Virginia. The sale runs 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Marcks forecasts “hundreds of items for sale, mostly small and inexpensive, and having to do in some way with love and romance.”  

She has been assembling “items in romantic red, passionate purple, and pretty pink,” and “romantic items, including the four elements of a romantic dinner; candles, music, wine glasses and accessories, and flower vases.” Her stock for sale—most items priced at just a few dollars—includes red or purple towels, pink bed sheets, stuffed bears, “lacy lingerie, night gowns and robes,” heart-shaped philodendrons and even “small, heart-shaped, rocks.” 

“Many people spend a lifetime collecting stuff,” Marcks says, “but then at a certain point you realize that’s all it is—stuff—which not only takes up space, but, with a few exceptions, can easily be replaced. I think it’s good to continually let things flow through our lives, and be owned by many different people.” 

She is still collecting items for the sale and can be contacted with donation offers at redbud53@juno.com, or 526-7828. 

Proceeds will benefit the non-profit effort to preserve the Kenney Cottage. 

The simple building is almost entirely redwood, held together with bolts. There are no nails, and the structural parts were cut to a pre-existing design and slotted into each other; they constitute a building that can move from site to site, rather than one custom built for a single, fixed, location. 

On Fifth Street—on a quiet block where restored Victorians stand side by side with light-industrial uses, all emblematic of the original mid-19th century character of west Berkeley—the idea is that the Cottage would be renovated as a small community gathering space, probably with regular arts related use, and the surrounding level lot would be used as a community garden. 

There’s also a big potential element of sustainability to the proposal. Just as Elizabeth Kenney wouldn’t have necessarily completely tied in her modest home to a still poorly developed 19th century network of utilities (water, sewer, electric, gas), the present day promoters of the Kenney Cottage project envision a structure that could be partially or entirely “off-grid,” utilizing rain water collection, photovoltaic’s, perhaps a residential wind turbine—to show how low impact, low carbon urban living can take place in urban environments today. 

If the name Kenney sounds familiar, it is because the James Kenney recreation center and park in West Berkeley is named for James Kenney, nephew of Elizabeth Kenney, and Berkeley’s first fire chief. He grew up in his aunt’s home when it stood on Addison Street near Oxford, next to a volunteer fire station. Remarkably, Berkeley’s second fire chief also grew up in the house as a member of the Meinheit family that bought the home in 1898 and moved it to University Avenue in 1906. 

 

Steven Finacom is active on behalf of Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association in the Kenney Cottage project. 

 

 

The “Colors of Love” yard sale is at 1629 Fifth St., north of Virginia, this Saturday through next Tuesday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. each day. 

 

For more about the history of the Kenney Cottage, and a photo of it being moved by horses in 1906, see this article from 2003: 

http://www.berkeleyheritage.com/ 

berkeley_observed/berkeleyobserved71803.html 


About the House: The Hidden Chimney

By Matt Cantor
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:28:00 PM

A lot of us live in wonderful old homes built in the days before modern furnaces, metal flues and self-venting stoves. These are houses built before 1935 that contain—among their many other dated and cherished facets—brick flues which have nothing whatsoever to do with fireplaces. Brick flues that are sure to crumble or crash when that much lauded earthquake finally makes its, somewhat overdue, appearance here in the East Bay. 

The age of the modern engineered flue pipe began with the patented ceramic-lined flues of the 1920s (though brick can be seen well into the ‘30s in some houses) and gave way to the double-walled metal flues still in use today (though some flues in use today are even plastic). Brick flues (or, if you prefer, chimneys) were used for furnaces, cooking stoves and water heaters. They were also used for coal-burning heaters that are often still present in the dining rooms of our Victorians, Classic Boxes and Craftsman bungalows.  

These small chimneys are generally quite small in cross-section because, unlike the earlier fireplace chimneys, they had only a tiny interior space for the evacuation of hot waste gases from our appliances. 

The earliest brick flues have no lining, as is true of our early fireplace chimneys too. This can lead to problems. When natural gas is burned in stoves, water heaters and furnaces, it creates an acidic, moist gas that eats away at the alkaline mortar between the bricks. Over time, this gas destroys the structure of the chimney (creosote in chimneys is also acidic and does the same thing, which is one reason you want to get them cleaned and keep a rain cap on top).  

Many of these chimneys get so soft through this process that I often can remove bricks by hand or indent the side of one of these chimney with a little push (which I do very delicately). This is scary when you think that lots of these are just hanging there in space, waiting for a modest shaker (or a very big one) to take them down into your kitchen, dining room or the upstairs bedroom. And we’re talking about a lot of weight. 

As awareness of this type of mortar deterioration grew, masons began using terra cotta linings for brick flues. Most of the brick flues still around today are of this improved type. These flues are often found in the walls between the kitchen and the dining room in homes from the 1800s up to about 1930. In these houses, cooking was often done on one side and heating (with a coal burner or gas heater) done on the other, with both components plugged into a double-barreled brick chimney stack.  

Although they experience less mortar deterioration, these lined flues are still extremely inefficient (as flues) and present a similar level of seismic risk. These flues tend (due to their mass) to cause the exhaust gases within, to reach dew-point and rain down along the inside, rather than escape above the roof. This means that the exhaust isn't escaping and some part may actually travel in vapor form into the dwelling. 

This is especially true when these brick flues are used for water heaters or furnaces. As noted earlier, this often leads to the brickwork's becoming soft and unstable.  

So what makes sense? What do we want to do with these forgotten serfs of smoke and heat? There's no appliance that requires a brick flue today. For any item that is still connected to one of these, a lighter, smaller and more efficient flue can be installed.  

Since many of the brick flues I see in houses today are doing no work at all, I'm strongly inclined to recommend that these be called to work as herringbone-patterned patios in our backyards. Bricks really want to be lying down here in California anyway in keeping with our laid-back modus-and our earthquake awareness. If we leave them running up through these hidden spaces in our houses, they're destined to come down through the plaster and the light framing of our houses when the big one arrives. The taller the stack, the greater the pressure at the base and the more dramatic the effect when the earth moves. 

I think it's a powerful act of seismic planning to remove one of these things, especially if your house is two or more stories high. Keep in mind that most fireplace chimneys run up the exterior of the house and are likely to end up lying in the side yard while the ones we're talking about are sure to end up inside the house, causing a lot more damage. Couple that with the lack of real usefulness and you've got a darned good argument for demolition. Even removal of an upper portion and blocking off of the points of entry is a good start.  

Removal of a chimney should be done by a qualified professional in gradual steps. It usually involves removal of some interior wall material, but perhaps not much. Chimneys of this kind seldom provide any structural support for the building, so they rarely need to be supplanted with framing as they are removed. Your contractor should be able to take it out and give you some nice choices for the use of the remaining space. For example, removal of a brick chimney can also provide additional space in the interior for storage or a slightly larger kitchen. Think about doing this job prior to replacing a roof so that you end up with fewer leaks from the roof/chimney junction (a common place for leaks to occur). 

Your newly liberated brick might take shape as that Arcadian patio I mentioned or could be transported to the local salvage yard. A pile was recently left out by a neighbor on our block and it nearly led to a fight by wheelbarrow wielding neighbors vying for possession, so it might not even be necessary to cart them away yourself. 

Old brick is generally of some value and if you have Clinker brick, even more so. Clinker, usually seen only on the more visible portions of upscale residential chimneys or facades, is malformed, bubbly and oddly colored, suggest a forgetful baker … which is pretty much the case. 

When I think of the effects that our inevitable earthquake are likely to evoke, the removal of needless brick (especially tall stacks of same) gets placed high on my to-do list. I hope it'll be on yours, too. 


Arts & Events

Arts Calendar

Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:21:00 PM

THURSDAY, FEB. 5 

THEATER 

“The Unsung Diva” written and performed by Angela Dean Baham at 7 p.m. at Mills College, Lisser Theater, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland. Free. 681-6859. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Beth Lisick on “Helping Me Help Myself” at 7:30 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Greatful Dead Night at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $6. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Chuck Brodsky at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Kelly Park & Friends at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ.  

The Tony Mayfield Experience at 6 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082  

Sheppard’s Krook at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

Ledisi at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $22-$26. 238-9200.  

FRIDAY, FEB. 6 

CHILDREN 

James Henry’s Music and Drum Workshop Celebrate Black History Month with a hands-on music and drum workshop at 1 p.m. at Okland Public Library, Elmhurst Branch, 1427 88th Ave. at International Blvd. 615-5727.  

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley “Exit the King” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave. through Feb. 21. Tickets are $12. 649-5999.  

Altarena Playhouse “Art” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at Altarena Playhouse, 1409 High St., Alameda, through Feb. 7. Tickets are $17-$20. 523-1553.  

Aurora Theatre “Betrayed” Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m., at 2081 Addison St. to March 1. Tickets are $40-$42. 843-4822.  

Berkeley Rep “In the Next Room (or the vibrator play)” at 2015 Addison St., through March 15. Tickets are $33-$71. 647-2949.  

Black Repertory Group “Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf” at 3201 Adeline St., through Feb. 22. Tickets are $15-$44. 652-2120. 

Contra Costa Civic Theater “Nine (The Musical)” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at 951 Pomona Ave., El Cerrito, through March 28. Tickets are $15-$24. 524-9132.  

Impact Theatre “A Midsummers Night’s Dream” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave., through March 14. Tickets are $10-$17. impacttheatre.com 

Masquers Playhouse “Absent Friends” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2:30 p.m. at 105 Park Place, Point Richmond, and runs through Feb. 28. Tickets are $18. 232-4031.  

EXHIBITIONS 

“Bond of Perpetuity: Oakland and the Lincoln Legacy” An exhibition commemorating the 200th Anniversary of Lincoln’s birth in the Oakland History Room, Oakland Public Library, 125 14th St. 238-3222. 

“Collections from Within” Drawings, paintings and mixed media by Chela Fielding and “Evidence of Love” by Ce Ce Iandoli. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Mercury 20 Gallery, 25 Grand Ave. at Broadway., Oakland. 701-4620. 

“Orchard Views” Paintings by Sonia Gill on display in the lobby gallery, 1947 Center St., through Feb. 27. 981-7533. 

“Forty Four Presidents” Works by Lena Reynoso. Reception at 7 p.m. at Blankspace Gallery 6608 San Pablo Ave., Oakland. www.blankspaceGallery.com 

“From Sea to Land” marine environmental photography by D.B. Kammerer on display at The Coffee Mill, 3363 Grand Ave., Oakland. 

“Lineage” An installation by Kimberly Campisano. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at the Red Door Gallery, 416 26th St., Oakland. 374-0444. 

Studio One Art Center, with ceramicist Blanks Soltys, and other artists exhibiting in “Fluid Mastery Part 2” at 6:30 p.m. at 365 45th St., off Broadway, Oakland. 597-5096. 

“Something About Love” Photography project by Ace Lehner. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Shibumi Gallery, 1402 Fifth St. 528-7736. 

“A Farewell Kiss” Mark Byron and Bruce Yurgill revisit the Bush era with their political art. Opening recption at 7 p.m. at Oakopolis, 447 25th St., Oakland. 663-6920. 

“Oakland Treats” Paintings by Cleo Vilett. Opening reception at 5 p.m. at Awaken Cafe, 414 14th St., Oakland. 836-2058.  

Ben Hazard talks about his charcoal drawings and D. Michael Cheers talk about his photo journalism, at 5:30 p.m. at Joyce Gordon Gallery, 406 14th St., Oakland. 465-8928. jvbgg@sbcglobal.net 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Mardi Horowitz describes “A Course in Happiness: Mastering the Three Levels of Self-Understanding That Lead to True and Lasting Contentment” at 7 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Yiyun Lee reads from her novel “The Vagrants” at 7:30 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Tony Lin, romantic piano, at noon at Hertz Hall, UC campus. Free. 642-4864.  

Elliot Randall, southern rock/ 

alt country at noon at lower Sproul Plaza, UC campus. Free. 

Winds Across the Bay “A Night at the Opera” Youth wind ensemble at 8 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $5-$15. 243-0514. 

SF Renaissance Voices Hildegard von Bingen’s “Ordo Virtutum” at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $15-$20. www.SFRV.org 

Barefoot Chamber Concerts at 6 p.m. at Parish Hall of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. Cost is $15. www.BrownPaperTickets.com/event/48826 

Benefit for Richmond’s Jane Doe, a lesbian who survived a brutal hate crime in December, Fri. and Sat. at 7 p.m. at Rose Street House of Music, 1839 Rose St. Donation $10-$99. 857-7562. 

“Then and Now” A Black History Month Concert at 7:30 p.m. at Allen Temple Baptist Church 8501 International Blvd. Tickets are $10-$15. 544-8924. 

Tom Rigney and Flambeau at 5 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak sts., Oakland. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2200. 

Taylor Eigsti at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC campus. Pre-concert talk at 7:15 p.m. Tickets are $15-$25. 642-4864.  

Uptones, Hectic and The Street Vendors at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568.  

John Scott Group at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ.  

Sister I-Live at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054.  

Chuck Prophet, Jerry Hannan, Jim Bruno at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $22.50-$23.50. 548-1761.  

The Watertower String Band, Squirrelley Stringband at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $12. 841-2082.  

Justin Ancheta at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

Jennifer Berezan, Julie Wolf, Michaelle Goerlitz and others at 8 pm. at Rudramir, 830 Bancroft at 6th. Cost is $15-$25. 486-8700. 

Lagtime at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

SATURDAY, FEB. 7 

CHILDREN  

Muriel Johnson tells African-American folktales for ages 3 and up at 10:30 a.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 3rd flr community room, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6100. 

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Gary Lapow at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $5 for adults, $4 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Black History Weekend with storyteller Kirk Waller, Sat. and Sun. at 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. at Children’s Fairyland, 699 Bellevue Ave., Oakland. Cost is $6. 452-2259. www.fairyland.org 

Active Arts Theatre for Young Audiences “Pippi Longstocking” Sat. and Sun. at 2 and 4:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave., through Feb. 9. Tickets are $14-$18. 296-4433. activeartstheatre.org 

Andy Z at 11 a.m. at Studio Grow, 1235 10th St. Cost is $8. 526-9888. 

THEATER 

Stone Soup Improv Comedy at 8 p.m. at Temescal Arts Center, 511 48th St. at Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $7-$10. www.stonesoupimprov.com 

FILM 

“Screenagers” Bay Area High School Film and Video Festival at 1 and 3:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5.50-$9.50. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Bay Area Poets Coalition open reading from 3 to 5 pm. at Strawberry Creek Lodge, 1320 Addison St. Park on the street. 527-9905. 

African American Celebration through Poetry from 1 to 4 p.m. at West Oakland Branch Library, 1801 Adeline St., Oakland. 238-7352. www.oaklandlibrary.org 

Women’s Poetry Reading with Offer, Grafton, Rudge, Wells, Weiss, and Wyneken at 2 p.m. at Lakeview Library, 550 El Embarcadero, Oakland. 238-7344. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Classical and Romantic Chamber Music Clarinet Trios by Beethoven and Brahms at 7:30 p.m. at Crowden Music Center, 1475 Rose St. at Sacramento. Free.  

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra “Midwinter Magic” Music by Mendelssohn at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $30-$72. 415-392-4400. www.philharmonia.org 

Tanya Vegvary Plescia, pianist at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Donation $8-$12. www. 

trinintychamberocncerts.com 

Chus Alonso and Potaje Ensemble at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12-$44. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Ed Reed Birthday Celebration at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $15. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Benefit for Richmond’s Jane Doe, a lesbian who survived a brutal hate crime in December, at 7 p.m. at Rose Street House of Music, 1839 Rose St. Donation $10-$99. 857-7562. 

Saturday Afternoon Gallery Acoustic (SAGA) music open mic series at 2 p.m. at the Frank Bette Center for the Arts, 1601 Paru St., Alameda. 931-7646. 

Tom Rigney & Flambeau at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10-$13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Burlesque ‘n’ Brass, featuring Hot Pink Feathers & Blue Bone Express, Orleans-inspired jazz, at 9 p.m. at Café Van Kleef, 1621 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Cost is $10. 763-7711. 

DF Tram at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

Go Home with Ben Goldberg, Charlie Hunter, Ron Miles and Scott Amendola, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Lisa Mezzacappa, Kasey Knudsen Septet at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Gateswingers Jazz Band at 7:30 p.m. at 33 Revolutions Record Shop and Cafe, 10086 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito. 898-1836. 

Steve Carter Jazz Trio at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Jacques Ibula at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Sotaque Baiano, Brazilian, at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Chris Waltz, Lee White, Jason Pollack at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 558-0881. 

High Country, Mighty Crows, Ahlambra Valley Band at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $10. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Ledisi at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $22-$26. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SUNDAY, FEB. 8 

CHILDREN 

5th Annual Circus for Arts in Schools at 1and 4 p.m. at Kofman Auditorium, 2200 Central Ave. Alameda. Tickets are $10-$15, children under 3 free. www.circusforarts.org 

Asheba at Ashkenaz at 3 p.m. Cost is $4-$6. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

FILM 

Josef von Sternberg: Eros and Abstraction “The Salvation Hunters” at 2 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5.50-$9.50. 642-0808.  

Talk Cinema Berkeley Preview of new independent films with discussion afterwards at 10 a.m. at Albany Twin Theater, 1115 Solano Ave., Albany. Cost is $20. http://talkcinema.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Artist and Curator in Conversation: Paul Chan and Elizabeth Thomas at 3 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Marcia Falk reads her poetry at 4 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

“Discovering Robeson” with performer Tayo Aluko at 7 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $12-$15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Poetry Flash with Marc Hofstadter and Josh Rogow at 3 p.m. at Diesel, 5433 College Ave., Oakland. 653-9965. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra “Midwinter Magic” Music by Mendelssohn at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $30-$72. 415-392-4400. www.philharmonia.org 

San Francisco Chamber Orchestra “Clarinet Crazy” at 3 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Free. www.sfchamberorchestra.org 

Larry Schneider, saxophonist, at 4:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Tickets are $20 at the door. 

Pulse Brasil at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Tito y Su Son “Cafe Havana” at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

The Claire Lynch Band at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Trash Talk, Two Gallants in a benefit for Oscar Grant’s family at 3:30 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Tickets are $12. 924gilman.org 

MONDAY, FEB. 9 

EXHIBITIONS 

“You’ll Never Walk Alone: Protest, Memory & Reenactment” by media artists Joseph DeLappe at 7:30 p.m. at 160 Kroeber Hall, UC campus. 642-0635. atc.berkeley.edu 

Painting Demonstration by Artist Qian Gao at 7:30 p.m. at El Cerrito Community Center, 7007 Moeser Lane, El Cerrito. Sponsored by El Cerrito Art Association. 527-9625. 

“The Age of Excess, from Vice to Virtue” Recent acquisitions at The Ames Gallery opens at 2661 Cedar St. 845-4949. www.amesgallery.com 

THEATER 

Aurora Theatre Company “Birnham Woods” by Wendy MacLeod at 7:30 p.m. at 2081 Addison St. Part of the Global Age Project new works initiative. Free. 843-4822. auroratheatre.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Julia Morgan and Bernard Maybeck” with Gray Brechin at 7 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Free. 883-9710. landmarkheritage@att.net 

“Poetry from the Heart” Readings and open mic with Maggie Morley and friends at 7 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

Andrew Schelling and Gloria Frym read their poetry at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Ladies of Bluegrass with Belle Monroe & her Brewglass Boys, Nell Robinson & Red Level, Rita Hosking & Cousin Jack at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Mads Tolling Quartet at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, FEB. 10 

CHILDREN 

“Take a Ride on the Underground Railroad with Harriet Tubman” with storyteller Jamie Myrick at 3:30 p.m. at Bayview Branch Library, 5100 Harnett Ave., Richmond. 620-6566.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Kala Fellowship Talk Artists Pawel Kruk and Lindsey White talk about their current work at 7 p.m. at 1060 Heinz Ave. www.kala.org 

Leslie Scalapino and Alicia Cohen read at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Osha Neumann reads from “Up Against the Wall, Motherf**ker: A Memoir of the Sixties with Notes for Next Time” at 7 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Sauce Picante at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Singers’ Open Mic with Kelly Park at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Marco Benevento with Skerik, Billy Martin and G. Calvin Weston at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 11 

CHILDREN 

“Take a Ride on the Underground Railroad with Harriet Tubman” with storyteller Jamie Myrick at 3:30 p.m. at West Side Branch Library, 135 Washington Ave., Richmond. 620-6567. 

EXHIBITIONS 

17th Annual Youth Arts Festival Works by Berkeley public school students. Opening reception at 5 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

FILM 

Film 50: History of Cinema “Meet Me in St. Louis” at 3 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5.50-$9.50. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Nadje Al-Ali talks about her new book “What Kind of Liberation? Women and the Occupation of Iraq” at 7 p.m. at La Pena Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $8-$10. Benefit for Middle East Children’s Alliance. 548-0542. www.mecaforpeace.org 

Bonita Hollow Writers Salon at 7 p.m. at 1631 Bonita Ave. Bring food, drink and your original work to read. 266-2069. 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Jewish Music Festival Bukharan Jewish Folk Ensemble “Hai, Nozanin” at 7:30 p.m. at JCC East Bay, 1414 Walnut St. Tickets are $15-$18. 1-800-838-3006. www.brownpapertickets.com 

BabShad Jazzz at 7 p.m. at Le Bateau Ivre, 2629 Telegraph Ave. www.lebateauivre.net 

Wednesday Noon Concert, with performances by the Young Musicians Program at Hertz Hall, UC campus. Free. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

UC Chorus and Chamber Chorus “Lucky in Love” at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC campus. Tickets are $5-$15. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

The Big Trio with Wayne de le Cruz on B-3 at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Whiskey Brothers, old-time and bluegrass at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Monthly Milonga, Argentine Tango, at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

James King Band at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Dhafer Youssef Acoustic Quartet at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, FEB. 12 

CHILDREN 

Kirk Waller tells “Tales to Take You Far and Away!” for ages 3 and up at 3:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, North Branch. 981-6100. 

“Take a Ride on the Underground Railroad with Harriet Tubman” with storyteller Jamie Myrick at 6 p.m. at Richmond Public Library, Main Children’s Room, 325 Civic Center Plaza, Richmond. 620-6557. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Tribute to Cody’s Books” A group show of paintings of the original Cody’s store on Telegraph Ave. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at the Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. 848-1228. 

“Where the Tongue Meets the Eye” mixed media works by Carla Woshawnee Heins. Artist’s reception at 7 p.m. at Far Leaves, 2979 College Ave. 625-0152. 

Works by Berkeley High Students opens with a reception at 6 p.m. at Pueblo Nuevo Art Space, 1828 San Pablo Ave., #1, and runs for two weeks. 452-7363. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Story Hour in the Library with Judith Freeman at 5 p.m. at 190 Doe Library, UC campus. storyhour@berkeley.edu 

Korina Jocson author of “Youth Poets: Empowering Literacies In and Out of Schools” at 7 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Mark Greenside reads from ”I’ll never be French (no matter what I do)” at 7:30 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Mike Skinner & the Final Touch Band at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. 

Elaine Lucia CD Release Event at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ.  

Fog Horn Duo, Bill Evans and Megan Lynch, Eric and Suzy Thompson at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $10. 841-2082.  

Dynamic with Kimiko Joy and Rico Pabon at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

The Courtney Nicole Creation at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. 

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

FRIDAY, FEB. 13 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley “Exit the King” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave. at Berryman, through Feb. 21. Tickets are $12. 649-5999. www.aeofberkeley.org 

Aurora Theatre “Betrayed” Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m., at 2081 Addison St. to March 1. Tickets are $40-$42. 843-4822. auroratheatre.org 

Berkeley Rep “In the Next Room (or the vibrator play)” at 2015 Addison St., through March 15. Tickets are $33-$71. 647-2949. berkeleyrep.org 

Black Repertory Group “Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf” at 3201 Adeline St., through Feb. 22. Tickets are $15-$44. 652-2120 

Contra Costa Civic Theater “Nine (The Musical)” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at 951 Pomona Ave., El Cerrito, through March 28. Tickets are $15-$24. 524-9132. www.ccct.org. 

Impact Theatre “A Midsummers Night’s Dream” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave., through March 14. Tickets are $10-$17. impacttheatre.com 

Masquers Playhouse “Absent Friends” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2:30 p.m. at 105 Park Place, Point Richmond, and runs through Feb. 28. Tickets are $18. 232-4031. www.masquers.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

“The Art of Living Black” 13th annual group exhibition. Reception at 3 p.m. at Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Ave. at 25th St., Richmond. 620-6772. 

“Generations” Oil and chalk pastels by Hilda Robinson and Minnie Grimes, part of “The Art of Living Black.” Reception at 7 p.m. at Women’s Cancer Resource Center, 5741 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Runs to March 12. www.wcrc.org 

“Who’s Your Baby” Group show of sculptural dolls and puppets opens at ACCI Gallery, 1625 Shattuck Ave. 843-2527. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Andrena Zawinski and Jeanne Wagner read their poetry at 7 p.m. at Nefeli Caffe, 1854 Euclid Ave. 841-6374. 

William Kleinknecht will discuss “The Man Who Stole the World: Ronald Reagan and the Betrayal of Main Street America” at 7 p.m. at Revolution Books, 2425 Channing Way. 848-1196. www.revolutionbooks.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Artists’ Vocal Ensemble “The Song of Songs: Music as the Food of Love” at 8 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. Tickets are $10-$20. 848-5107. www.ave-music.org 

Black History Month Concert Series at 7 p.m. at Allen Temple Baptist Church, 8501 International Boulevard. 544-8924. 

Operadance Co. “Medea” a quintet for voice and dance, and other works at 7:30 p.m. at at Arlington Community Church, 52 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Tickets are $15. 526-9146. 

Betsy Rose and Jennifer Berezan at 7:15 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, Large Assembly Room, 2345 Channing at Dana. Suggested donation $15-20. www.betsyrosemusic.org 

Tito y su son de Cuba at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Bill Bell Trio at 8 p.m. at Utunes Coffeehouse First Unitarian Church of Oakland, 685 14th St., Oakland. Tickets are $10-$18. www.brownpapertickets.com/event/50941 

Cathi Walkup & Her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $14. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Frankie Manning with Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Tracy Grammer at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Cliff Wagner and the Old Number 7, The Earl Brothers, Ida Viper at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $10. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Arise, Thousandswilldie, Destroy the Colassus at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $8. 525-9926. 

2ME at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Pshychokinetics at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $10. 548-1159.  

CV Dub at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

Pete Escovedo & Family at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $26-$30. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, FEB. 14 

CHILDREN  

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Orange Sherbert at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $5 for adults, $4 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Berkeley Playhouse Youth Company “Willy Wonka, Junior” Sat. at 4 and 8 p.m., and Sun. at 1 and 5 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $10-$15. www.berkeleyplayhouse.org 

Ravioli, clown, Sat. and Sun. at 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. at Children’s Fairyland, 699 Bellevue Ave., Oakland. Cost is $6. 452-2259. www.fairyland.org 

FILM 

“The Adventures of Prince Achmed” for all ages at 3 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5.50-$9.50. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Poets, Laureates & Music for Valentine’s Day” with Diane di Prima, Michael McClure, Carol Muske-Dukes, Kay Ryan and Al Young at 8 p.m. at King Middle School Auditorium, 1781 Rose St. at Grant. Tickets are $15-$20. www.kpfa.org 

“14th Annual Love Fest” Aya de Leon’s alternative Valentine’s celebration with spoken word and poetry at 8 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $12-$15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Works in Progress Open mic for women’s poetry and music at 7:30 p.m. at the Home of Truth, 1300 Grand St, Alameda. Cost is $7-$10. Pot-luck at 6:30 p.m.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Nils Bultmann Valentine’s Day Concert works by Bach for viola at 11 a.m. at St. Clement’s Episcopal Church, Palache Hall, 2837 Claremont Blvd. Tickets are $7-$10 at the door. www.nilsbultmann.com 

“The Collaboration of the Year” The Oakland Community Chrus and the Friends of Negro Spirituals at 4 p.m. at the African American Museum and Library, 659 14th St., Oakland. Free, but RSVP required. 637-0200. 

Anna de Leon & Trio, live recording, at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $14. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Valentine’s Hip Hop Love Fest with Triple Ave, V.E.R.A. Clique and others at 7 p.m. at BFUU Fellowship Hall, 1924 Cedar St. Cost is $15, no one turned away. 

“Feel the Beat” Tim Mooney Band plus flamenco, tango and belly dance at 7 p.m. at 4th Street Studio, 1717D Fourth St. www.fourthstreetstudio.com 

The Mighty Diamonds, Yellow Wall Dub Squad at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $20. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Stompy Jones, Romano Marchetti Orchestra in a Valentine’s Dance at 8 p.m. aboard the USS Hornet, 707 W. Hornet Ave., Pier 3, Alameda. Tickets are $40-$75. 521-8448. 

Leftover Dreams at 8 p.m. at Wisteria Ways, Rockridge, Oakland. Not wheelchair accessible. Cost is $15-$20. Reservations required. info@WisteriaWays.org 

John Reischman & the Jaybirds at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Roger Rocha and the Goldenhearts at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

Greg Pratt and Lawanda Ultan, folk, at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 558-0881. 

The California Transit Authority at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $15. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Fog of War, Zombie Holocaust, Exmortus at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $8. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, FEB. 15 

CHILDREN 

The Alphabet Rockers at Ashkenaz at 3 p.m. Cost is $4-$6. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

EXHIBITIONS 

“L.A. Paint” Tour of the exhibition at 2 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak sts., Oakland. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

The Poetry Workshop readings from the Berkeley Adult School program at 2 p.m. at JCC of the East Bay, 1414 Walnut at Rose. 848-0237. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“O Sweet Delight” 17th Century English songs and lute solos with Christine Brandes, soprano and David Tayler, lute at 4 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $10-$20. www.brownpapertickets.com/event/51032  

Annual Gospel Music with Bobby Hall & Friends at 5 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 201 Martina St., corner W. Richmond Ave., Point Richmond. Suggested donation $10. 232-1102. www.pointrichmond.com/methodist 

John Santos, Sandy Perez and others in rememberance of Enrique Carreras at 7 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $15, $7 for ages 12 and under. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Keith Terry’s Hoterryengelcress at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Noche de Amor, flamenco, at 7:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

The Junius Courtney Big Band at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

 

 

 


Exhibit Pays Tribute to Cody’s Books

By Dorothy Bryant Special to the Planet
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:23:00 PM
Vladimir Berberov’s Cody’s is one of the works on display at Giorgi Gallery.
Vladimir Berberov’s Cody’s is one of the works on display at Giorgi Gallery.

When Harriet Giorgi returned to Berkeley after a two-year stay in Europe, she suffered a shock. “Cody’s Books on Telegraph was closed, gone.” She felt this not as just the closing of a favorite retail outlet, but as a deeply “personal loss.” 

Harriet put aside her feelings and got back to work, arranging shows at her Giorgi Gallery on Claremont Avenue. One of her recent exhibits was titled “Bay Area Landscapes.” Her daughter Francesca Giorgi contributed an 18 x 22 inch fresco on wood panels, depicting the exterior of the glass-walled Cody’s Books when it dominated the corner of Telegraph and Haste, from 1965 to 2007. When people came to view the exhibit, groups inevitably gathered around this image, exchanging memories about events, encounters, talks, experiences, insights which came to them during their days of browsing or just hanging out at Cody’s. 

That’s how Harriet got the idea for “A Tribute to Cody’s Books.” She contacted several artists, inviting them to submit one or more works of art on the subject of Cody’s Books. These artists contacted other artists and photographers.  

One of them is painter Evelyn Glaubman (Berkeley City College). “Back around 1970, I arranged a benefit exhibit for the Free Clinic,” one of the Cody’s volunteer efforts (during the first five years, Fred was president of the Board and Pat was treasurer), she said. When Glaubman complained about the neglect of women artists at the time, Fred Cody invited her to establish the “Both-Up” Gallery upstairs at Cody’s Books. “Both” referred to the fact that male and female artists would be displayed in equal numbers. (If you can remember Both-Up, you qualify as a genuine old-timer, like me). 

For the upcoming show at the Giorgi, Glaubman has created “Homage to Fred Cody,” a collage built around photos from Pat Cody’s personal archives and memorabilia from Both-Up Gallery.  

Poet Owen Hill and photographer Robert Eliason, long-term staff at Moe’s Books, will display one or more of their inimitable image/text creations with a Cody’s/Telegraph theme. (See their website: lostinthestars.com) .  

Harriet estimates that six to 12 artists will submit one or more works each, in various media. In a central location of the Giorgi Gallery will be a blank book where visitors can write their memories and thoughts of the Times of Cody’s Books, as evoked by these images. 

I asked the two successive owners of Cody’s books, Pat Cody (1956-1977) and Andy Ross (1977-2007) what thoughts each of them might be inspired to write (as if they weren’t going to be too busy) at the opening reception. 

Andy Ross, who took over the bookstore in 1977, computerizing and modernizing the inventory, said, “I was 29 years old. What the hell did I know about selling books on Telegraph Avenue?” in the aftermath of political upheavals that had left the avenue staggering. “If I had known what I was getting into... .” His eyes widen, and he laughs. “Still, we did very well throughout the 1980s. We had fun, and good things happened while people were just hanging out and browsing at Cody’s.”  

One example: “John Gage says that the idea for Sun Microsystems (one of the superstars of Silicon Valley) got hatched in the math section at Cody’s.” He shrugs. “Then came the ’90s, and Internet sales.” Andy’s eyes flash. “Look, when you write this, mention the photos of authors who read at Cody’s—including you—that were spread across the walls. They disappeared when we closed. I did those photos, and I want them back, dammit.” 

Pat Cody took some time before she could give me a comment. “First of all, I’d just want to say or write down how touched I am by the very idea of this show—by the desire of people to commemorate Cody’s Books.” (That’s Pat, always turning a question outward, toward crediting other people.) So I pressed her. Beyond that, what would your favorite memory or story be? She paused again. “It was such an exciting time. I don’t know if it’s possible to convey that wonderful feeling, going into the ’60s, inspired by the paperback revolution, by Roy Kepler and Lawrence Ferlinghetti and their bookstores, selling cheap and beautiful editions of old and new books. Even publishing some. These stores were a political act, a social act, democratizing literature in a new way.”  

Are you sad that it’s over? She shook her head.  

“It’s not over,” she said. “Fred and I were part of a special moment, with a bookstore as a center of community concerns. We were part of a big change. Now there’s another big change in the way people buy books. And next month or next year, someone will come along with a new, brilliant idea we can’t even imagine—about how to get people together around books and ideas and community concerns.”  

She smiled. “Maybe someone who comes to this exhibit.” 

 

 

A TRIBUTE TO CODY’S BOOKS 

Feb. 12-March 12 at Giorgi Gallery, 

2911 Claremont Ave. 848-1228.  

Opening Reception, Feb.12, 6-9 p.m.  

Gallery hours: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.


Berkeley High Senior Premieres New Composition

By Ken Bullock Special to the Planet
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:24:00 PM

Berkeley High senior Dylan Mattingly will be featured both as composer and as cello soloist, when the Young People’s Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of music director David Ramadanoff, presents the world premiere of Mattingly’s Rain, Steam and Speed, for orchestra and solo piano (featuring Mattingly’s friend and fellow composer, Preben Antonsen), this weekend at the Moraga Valley Presbyterian Church. 

The program also includes three YPSO Concerto Competition Winners playing Bela Bartok’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra (featuring Mattingly), the first movement of Eduard Lalo’s Symphonie Espanole (featuring YPSO concertmistress Annie Sandholtz) and the Rondo from Carl Mario Von Weber’s Concerto No. 1 for Clarinet (featuring Madison Greenstone). George Gershwin’s Cuban Overture and Paul Hindemuth’s Metamorphoses on Themes of Carl Maria Von Weber, will also be played. 

Mattingly, 17, is a student in the John Adams Young Composers Program at Berkeley’s Crowden Music Center. “I know all his music backwards and forwards,” he said of Adams, and cited “Hail Bop,” the last movement of Adams’ piano concerto Century Rolls as an influence on “how to fabricate a piano concerto from something which naturally required a strong pulse at all times.”  

He said, “A couple things inspired my piece: the trains going by outside my dark window at night, and what it felt like in the fog in San Francisco, on a rainy night, coming out of BART in 2007 to hear Kevin Volans’ Piano Concerto—not so much the music as the memory of that night, what my piece is emotionally based on.” 

The piece is named after the famed 1844 J. M. W. Turner painting of a steam locomotive. 

He described some of the sounds: “The strings playing pizzicato fairly constantly, white noise like a chugging train or rain [elsewhere he mentioned that night at Davies, “with the chugging of Marc-Andre Hamelin’s hands flying through notes like rain, and the sense of some sort of intoning maximalism in the dark”], a huge brass marathon, holding one note for 50 seconds; instruments dropping out, jumping back in; very high, very low.” 

Mattingly said he’s “done a lot of different stuff since, with folk music in different forms recently.” Originally billed as playing with the orchestra on his piece, he said he’s decided “to listen” instead. “It’s interesting to hear what I was thinking about a year ago, which is not what I’m thinking about now. I want to be doing something new in every piece—otherwise, it should’ve been in the last piece. And I’m glad I’ve had the restraint not to try to change it!” 

Mattingly has played cello and composed music for 10 years, playing cello with Superdelegates, an improvisational quartet, guitar with Funky Bus and the U-Turns and is co-director of Formerly Known as Classical, a new music ensemble whose young players perform music written in their lifetimes. His solo piano piece Night #3 was premiered by Sarah Cahill at the Other Minds New Music Seance in December in San Francisco. He currently studies with Yiorgos Vassilandonakis of UC Berkeley, and has studied with Katrina Wreede of Crowden. 

The Young People’s Symphony Orchestra was founded in Berkeley in 1935, the oldest youth orchestra in California and second-oldest in the nation. 

 

YOUNG PEOPLE’S SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA COMPETITION  

WINNERS 

Saturday, Feb. 7, 8 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 8, 2 p.m., at Moraga Valley Presbyterian Church, 10 Moraga Valley Lane, Moraga. $15 general, $12 seniors and students. 849-9776. ypsomusic.net. 


First Congregational Church Hosts Philharmonia Baroque

By Ken Bullock Special to the Planet
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:24:00 PM

Philharmonia Baroque, “America’s Period-Instrument Orchestra,” brings Midwinter Magic, conducted by music director Nicholas McGegan, to the First Congregational Church this weekend for a celebration of Felix Mendelssohn’s 200th birthday. 

Another anniversary is also being celebrated with featured guest artists on the program. 

“To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the San Francisco Girls Chorus,” McGegan said, “I have arranged Men-delssohn’s beautiful motets to feature the girls’ voices with the orchestra. 

The program features Mendelssohn’s The Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave), Op. 26; Scherzo from the Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20; Three Motets, Op. 39 (in McGegan’s arrangement) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 21 & 61. 

“This program samples music from all stages of Mendelssohn’s life. With Shakespeare—the muse of poetry—to highlight the talents of a great composer, [we’ll also] honor this amazing group of girls. This will be a splendid affair!” The San Francisco Girls Chorus is directed by Susan McManus. Stephen Baker Turner will narrate for the program. 

The Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream was written when Mendelssohn was 16; the Overture for The Hebrides dates from the middle of his life (1809-1847). A Midsummer Night’s Dream was completed 17 years after the Overture was composed. Stephen Ledbetter remarks, “Though both Mozart and Schubert traveled further on their musical paths after a precocious beginning, neither of them had produced a work as brilliant as Mendelssohn’s Octet or the Overture to ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ before their 18th birthday ... Like both the earlier masters, Men-delssohn exploded in brilliance very early, then died far too soon. However, unlike them ... it is the works Men-delssohn composed before he turned 30 that dominate our picture of the composer.” 

Ledbetter says of the Octet: “Men-delssohn virtually created a new medium by fusing the two quartets [usually treated as two antiphonal groups] into a single large ensemble that combined the instruments in every possible permutation ...” Of the motets, he notes they were composed in Rome, where he stayed near the top of the Spanish Steps and could hear the singing from a nuns’ cloister. Mendelssohn’s friendship with Palestrina’s first biographer, Giuseppe Baini, might also have influenced the Palestrina-like melodic lines. 

 

 

MIDWINTER MAGIC  

Performed by Philharmonia Baroque at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 7 and at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 8 at First Congregational Church, on Channing Way and Dana Street. Other locations and dates for this program are: 8 p.m. today (Thursday) at Herbst Theatre, San Francisco, and 8 p.m. Friday at the First United Methodist Church, 625 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto. 

$30-72, $10 student rush. (415) 392-4400. philharmonia.org.


Ed Reed Celebrates 80th Birthday at Anna’s

By Ken Bullock Special to the Planet
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:25:00 PM

Jazz balladeer Ed Reed will celebrate his 80th birthday this Saturday evening, with two shows, 8 and 10 p.m., at Anna’s Jazz Island. 

Accompanying Reed will be well-known Bay Area pianist Larry Dunlap; Peck Allmond—Berkeley High alumnus, now playing in New York—on tenor saxophone, trumpet and flute; Robb Fisher, bass and drummer Bud Spangler, best known as a radio personality and producer. 

The Daily Planet first interviewed Reed two years ago, on his 78th birthday, the eve of another gig at Anna’s—the CD party for his first recording after a lifetime of singing. This week Reed talked about what’s happened since that CD (Ed Reed Sings Love Stories, produced by Spangler and Allmond, after Allmond met Reed at a Santa Cruz Mountains jazz camp in 2005)—and since an article on Reed by jazz writer Lee Hildebrand was featured in the Chronicle a half year later, when “the phone started ringing and never stopped,” as Reed put it. “I was bowled over by it. Everything was different after that.” 

Besides his first CD, which became the most played new release for 2007 on Bay Area jazz station KCSM, another recording—The Song Is You, also produced by Spangler and Allmond—was released in 2008. Reed placed fourth in last year’s Downbeat Critics Poll for Rising Star Male Vocalist, and has received good notices in other major jazz magazines and newspapers, some as far-flung as Rio de Janeiro. Most recently, Reed was featured in the December issue of Jazziz, garnering a big spread with full-page photos.  

He’s appeared onstage in New York at the Jazz Standard and Sculler’s, in Boston, Seattle and in other venues and at festivals elsewhere on the West Coast, including twice at Yoshi’s in Oakland—and on Marian McPartland’s National Public Radio program, Piano Jazz. 

This taste of a late-blooming career for Reed (who, as a boy in Los Angeles, was taught to sing over chord changes by a teenage Charles Mingus, babysitting for his sister in Reed’s neighborhood) elicits his humor. 

“I guess I’m carrying a torch,” he said. “Not too many are left like me ... but I was never looking for that kind of recognition. I guess I got a sound; I don’t know what that is. I sing a lot of stuff that makes me happy, no set stuff. And I can have a hard time listening to myself. I’ll walk out in the yard, go into a room and close the door—it’s not deliberate. I’m just not interested in him, not interested in the guy doing that, that day.”  

Reed teaches a class in jazz vocals at Berkeley’s JazzSchool. “I tell the students about being up on stage, with the musicians grabbing your attention ... no way I can use all of it; it’s frustrating,” he said. “But the part I CAN use ... We’re all grinning by the end of it, and I’ll say, ‘Was there an audience?’ You sing for yourself, not the audience, if you’re a jazz singer. But you’re not the gift, you’re the gift-giver. And you’re always struggling, always a novice. Every musician is. And the devil tries to get him to do something he can’t do. It’s very humbling—what you want, you can never get.” 

Reed lives in Richmond with his wife Diane, and sings Tuesdays at The Cheeseboard in Berkeley, accompanied by Brian Cooke and Robb Fisher. His website, with samples of his CDs, is at edreedsings.com. 

 

ED REED 

8 and 10 p.m. Saturday at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. $15. Call 841-5299 after 6 p.m.


Aurora Presents George Packer’s ‘Betrayed’

By Ken Bullock Special to the Planet
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:25:00 PM

"Ever since I was a schoolboy, I loved the English language. Even during the war with Iran, I listened to English songs...” So Adnan, portrayed by Bobak Cyrus Baktiari, recalls the romance with a foreign tongue, and what it meant to a young man growing up in the Iraq of Saddam Hussein—and what it came to mean, as he waits in the half-derelict Palestine Hotel for his comrade and former fellow translator for the American Embassy, Laith, played by Amir Sharafeh.  

Laith, whose Shia background would seem to a spectator of Stateside media to put him at odds with his friend, Sunni Adnan, is in a jam, caught between vengeful sectarians who target Iraqis working with the occupying forces, and the obtuseness and indifference of the American military and diplomatic corps bureaucracy, not knowing where to turn to escape death threats, living day to day—just as Adnan is forced to exist in the contradiction of his double life, shuttling the perilous streets back and forth between his neighborhood and the job in the Green Zone. They rehearse the memories of recent history, of how they fell into this half-world. 

This is the predicament, the double-bind, of the characters in George Packer’s play, Betrayed, onstage at the Aurora—distrusted, spurned even, by the Americans they’ve welcomed and wholeheartedly worked for, marked as traitors or spies by other Iraqis, forcing them to lie about or conceal who they are and what they know, whether inside the Green Zone, or the Red Zone outside, where they live. As Embassy worker and Adnan’s college friend Intisar, played by Denmo Ibrahim, asks the security officer (James Wagner) who tosses out the terms in a briefing, what he means by Red Zone, when he defines it as “what’s outside the Green Zone,” she replies “you mean Iraq?” Earlier, Laith is stultified when asked by the security officer whether he’s Sunni or Shia; puzzled he replies, “Can’t you tell by my name?” 

All three Iraqi characters are ardently secular. Laith recalls what he wrote in Arabic and in English on his wall at home: “Be honest without the thought of Heaven or Hell.” Intisar, in her interview for the Embassy job, tells of how she’s dreamed of the day when she can ride through the streets on a bicycle, like her brothers. Asked if he regards the American presence as a Liberation, not an Occupation, Adnan replies, “I see it as a chance, only that.” 

The three native Baghdadis also encounter the Ambassador (played by Keith Burkland, modeled on John Negroponte), who says “my door is always open” as he stalks out of a meeting, leaving the Iraqi employees’ security questions unanswered—and a fresh-faced, smiling diplomatic corpsman, Bill Prescott (Alex Moggridge), who begins by declaring, “I believe in American Exceptionalism, but within limits” and “the Middle East is my generation’s Europe,” but finally—after some sort of breakdown over the duplicitous Embassy policies on Iraqi workers and his return to the States—takes up the ignored plight of the Iraqi translators as his own mission, outside the foreign service. 

In a number of ways, Prescott is the closest to a true character in the script. The Iraqi characters remain composites—which the excellent cast, four of them (including Khalid Shayota as various “Iraqi Citizens”) of Middle Eastern background, have breathed something of their own life into, perhaps including some sense of living in two worlds.  

“You’re like me, another non-belonger,” Adnan addresses Intifar. There’s an unfulfilled Conrad-esque quality (as in Under Western Eyes or Heart of Darkness) lurking in Packer’s script, the situations and dialogue of which are cannibalized in great part from his celebrated New Yorker reportage of the same title, from March 26, 2007. It’s very much a first play, conveying the message, but remaining a melodrama, or melodramatic docu-drama, like a pretty good TV movie. Hints of the genius of colloquial Arabic seep through (“We’re blowing into a punctured bag,” Laith says to Adnan when the Ambassador abandons them in their plight to the suspicions of the security officer). It’s like a foreign twist on Horatio Alger story gone terribly wrong (Adnan ends his reminiscences to the audience, “To this moment, I dream about America”)—but not in the way Dreiser, another connoisseur of outsiders, could reveal the dysfunction of a whole society in the wreakage of that innocent dream. The people of Baghdad, of Iraq, remain shadowy figures in the background. The hapless translators become, like one of their own jokes, as recounted in the New Yorker, absurd double agents, “James Bond, without the nice lady or the famous gadgets.” A double life—one of the fundamental theatrical situations—in fact, that of the actor. 

Still, Packer has fulfilled his purpose: to give voice to these discarded and endangered Iraqis who have fallen between two chairs, in a different fashion than in his journalism. The situations and the words are related from experience. The interrogation scenes prove vivid—and there’s one fine tragic image: the hijab Intisar starts to put over her head, then tosses over the office chair at her desk, where it remains after she leaves—and still hangs, when Bill Prescott comes in to tell Adnan and Laith what’s become of their colleague. 

Aurora has put on a timely spectacle, one volatilized by its committed actors, cast by Jeanette Harrison and directed by Robin Stanton, reminiscent of a few other moments when something of the Middle Eastern situation found form on local stages: 9 Parts of Desire at Berkeley Rep a few years ago; the many shows Golden Thread (which Bakhtiari, Harrison and Ibrahim have worked with) has—and continues to—put on; that magnificent Iranian play The Death of Yazgird Darvag produced at Ashby Stage; Naomi Wallace’s soliloquy of a young pigeon-keeper in a Baghdad under sanctions the Eastenders produced in their “100 Years of Political Plays”—and the dramatic tradition of valorizing Otherness and those caught in between, from the Greek Tragedies through Marlowe and Racine to Genet’s The Screens ... those living presences onstage that enable the audience to crack the shell of cultural self-absorption.  

 

 

BETRAYED 

8 p.m. Wednesday–Saturday, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays through March 1 at the Aurora Theatre, 2081 Addison St. $40-$42. 843-4822. 


‘Absent Friends’ at Masquers Playhouse

By Ken Bullock Special to the Planet
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:26:00 PM

When Pamela Ciochetti, as Marge in the Masquers’ production of Alan Ayckbourn’s Absent Friends, calls Evelyn (Michelle Pond) and John’s (Philip Sales) baby (played by typecast Daniel Campbell) “Walter,” and is corrected sharply: “Wayne!”—she defensively says, “I thought his name was Walter ...” “Come on!” declares Evelyn, “You can’t have a baby named Walter!” “Well,” replies Marge, “Somebody must’ve done!” 

Like a vaudeville routine mysteriously unmilked, this quick exchange shows something of Ayckbourn’s impeccable comic sense. His characters are all eccentrically buried in themselves, each at right angles to the others. Give them some rope and they’ll happily go hang, trying to slip the noose around an-other’s head. But unlike  

most—dread word—situation comedy, the craziest statements and vignettes are delivered briskly, blindly, as if natural in this kingdom of one-eyed women and men. Tension builds, becomes unbearable—and the hostess briefly breaks down, bawling that she should’ve joined the Mounties. Or there’s a spree of outrageous slapstick, but all on the other end of a phone conversation. The descriptions of what, if enacted onstage, wouldn’t bring a laugh, are very funny indeed. 

Angela Mason, who once toured in a British production of this “real time’ ... grown-up comedy about married life,” directs the play in just the way she sees it: “drawing you into the living room rather like a telephoto lens focusing on the characters as they unravel.” She also reveals the author himself once was in such a predicament... 

Which is: In the midst of a milieu of middle-aged friends and neighbors, all talking about each other and carrying on behind their opposite number’s back—when they aren’t unloading suspicions and bellyaches in the form of loaded confidences to whomever will listen—are told their former neighbor and old friend (though some cast doubts on his claim to that honor), Colin (Simon Patton), is dropping by for the first time in eight years. What will they say to him? Especially as Colin’s fiancée of a year, who none of them ever met, has recently drowned. 

Colin, from the moment of his arrival, oblivious to all the pussyfooting around him—and, indeed, to everything else—proves serene, in fact hale, hearty and well-met. Unxious, banal and sentimental, he merely wants to wish good cheer to his never forgotten, beloved friends. They, in turn, are reduced to misery—the misery they live in—by his sunny well-wishes.  

The whole catastrophe and its meltdown is enacted in that living room, of Diana (Katina Letheule) and Paul’s (Michael Clark) upscale home, well-designed by Dave Wilkerson and lit by Renee Echavez, with sound by Joseph Ponder and costumes by Jo Lusk. The ensemble makes a fine gang of inmates for such a trophy asylum. 

It’s easy to see from this, the first of Ayckbourn’s now-signature “darker, richly tragicomic works,” why he is “celebrated around the world ... the most successful-in-his-own-lifetime playwright there has ever been, including Shakespeare.” He holds up a highly silvered glass to the hysterias and hollow complacencies of post-modern middle-class life. No exaggerations, no carnival mirrors necessary to capture the distortions of this sideshow. And no mistake that the great director Alain Resnais has adapted Ayckbourn to film.  

The program carries a poignant dedication “to two very dear absent friends who passed away in 2008—Dory Ehrlich [who lived in Berkeley] and John Stenger.” 

 

 

ABSENT FRIENDS 

8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays through Feb. 28 at Masquers Playhouse, 105 Park Place, Richmond. $18. 232-4031.


Around the East Bay: Discovering Paul Robeson

Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:26:00 PM

Tayo Aluko, Nigerian singer and actor living in Liverpool, who performed his one-man Paul Robeson show—a musical and political life—Call Mr. Robeson in San Francisco last year, will talk about Discovering Robeson this Sunday, 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center ($12) with performances of Call Mr. Robeson at Black Repertory Theatre, 3201 Adeline St., on Sun. Feb. 15 at 5 p.m. ($15–20), preceded by shows at the Phoenix Theatre in San Francisco, Fri.–Sun. Feb. 20-22. For information, call Mbali Creazzo (415) 710-5348. 

 


Around the East Bay: Noh Actors and Musicians

Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:27:00 PM

Japanese Noh Theater, an ongoing 700-year tradition, spare in movement, like martial arts, but rich in poetry and sumptuous costumes and masks, will be demonstrated in a program, “Noh—Pathos Behind the Mask,” by five performers from Kyoto, led by actor Shizuka Mikata of the Kanze School, including two drummers and a nohkan flute player, this Sun., 2 p.m., 252 McLaren St., University of San Francisco, 2130 Fulton St. Free admission. An increasingly rare treat for theater, dance, music and poetry lovers, Noh has been an inspiration to modern arts around the world. 


East Bay Then and Now: Berkeleyan Torrey Owned Duchamp’s Most Famous Painting

By Daniella Thompson
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:30:00 PM
The International House and Memorial Stadium figure in the sweeping vista commanded from the Torrey house.
Daniella Thompson
The International House and Memorial Stadium figure in the sweeping vista commanded from the Torrey house.
The Torrey house façade features an oversized bay window.
Daniella Thompson
The Torrey house façade features an oversized bay window.
An elegant stairway designed by Henry Atkins leads to the Torrey house.
Daniella Thompson
An elegant stairway designed by Henry Atkins leads to the Torrey house.
                An early photograph of the Torrey house.
BAHA
An early photograph of the Torrey house.
Rieber, Hutchinson, and Torrey houses,left to right, on Canyon Road, 1910. Behind the Torrey house is the Mouser house.
BAHA
Rieber, Hutchinson, and Torrey houses,left to right, on Canyon Road, 1910. Behind the Torrey house is the Mouser house.

He was only one of three partners, and the last of them to join the San Francisco firm of Vickery, Atkins & Torrey, purveyors of paintings in oil and water color, fine prints, objects of art, and picture frames. 

First came William Kingston Vickery (1851-1925), who immigrated from Ireland in 1876. He settled in Piedmont when the latter was a sleepy Oakland suburb and was instrumental in bringing about its incorporation as a municipality in 1907. 

Second came Vickery’s nephew Henry Atkins (1867-1920s), one of nine children, who arrived from England in 1888 and made his home near his uncle in Piedmont. The two founded a gallery at 236 Post St. in San Francisco. 

Frederic Cheever Torrey (1864-1935) did not begin working for Vickery and Atkins until 1891 or so, but he was the first of the three to arrive in California. His father, the Boston wholesale grocer James Morrell Torrey, moved the family to Oakland before 1875. Frederic is said to have made the journey in a side-wheeler at the age of 7. 

In Oakland, James established the successful grocery firm of Torrey, Whitman & Gardiner, which operated for many years on 11th Street near Broadway. In addition to Frederic, James and Elizabeth Torrey raised Arthur, an accountant; Harry, a professor of zoology; and Janet, who married rancher Adolph Edward de Fremery. 

In his mid-20s, Frederic worked as a salesman for Sam C. Partridge, who operated the West Coast’s largest photographic supply house at 226 Bush St. in San Francisco. Partridge was well-known for his artistic photographs of Chinatown’s residents. For Torrey, the switch from selling photographs to selling paintings for Vickery and Atkins was a natural one. His prospects looked bright, and in July 1892 he married Alice Bayley of Oakland. 

Vickery made Torrey partner in 1900. By then, the firm had branched out into Japanese woodblock prints, with an emphasis on the work of Hiroshige and other Ukiyo-e artists. They also sold artistic photographs. In his memoir, As I Remember, the pioneer Pictorialist photographer Arnold Genthe recalled his dealings with the gallery: 

The art arbiter of San Francisco at that time was Mr. Vickery, the founder of Vickery, Atkins and Torrey, an art firm that has been a far-reaching influence in the development of taste and appreciation in the West. I took portraits I had made to Mr. Vickery and asked him to criticize them. 

He looked them over carefully. “They are very interesting indeed,” he said. “But what are they? Mezzotints?” 

“No, they are photographs.” 

“They certainly don’t look it,” was his response. “Who took them?” 

“I did.” 

“I can’t believe it,” he said. 

Up to that time I had had no criticism from a professional photographer. Now I took my pictures to the man with the most fashionable clientele in the city. When he had gone rapidly through them he said, ‘Well, they may be art, but you’ll never be able to sell them. Take it from me, I’ve been in business here for twenty years and I know what I am talking about.’ Within a year he was saying to his clients, ‘What kind of pictures do you want? Carbons or platinum? Or perhaps you want the new Genthe style. I can do that, too. 

Although he was the firm’s junior partner, Torrey’s taste and judgment were so highly trusted that he was the one who traveled annually to Europe on buying trips for the gallery. On April 18, 1906, he was in Berlin on such a trip when the San Andreas Fault ruptured. Eight days later, Henry Atkins sent him a 12-page letter describing the trying days of the great San Francisco earthquake and fire in minute detail. Atkins had been “almost shaken out of bed at 5:13” of the 18th to see “my house and uncle Will’s racking themselves about horribly and all the chimneys tumbling about in bricks and dust.” 

From the deck of the ferry to San Francisco, Atkins saw “sheets of clear flames along the waterfront, under the great curtain of smoke and dust that overhung the city. Nearer, we could see fires along Market Street—and Wellman Peck’s big new building was flaming high.” 

Having worked his way to Post Street, Atkins found little damage and the store intact. Setting about with the firm’s employees to board up “broken places in walls and skylights for fear of rain,” he observed the Call Building burst into flames. “At five,” he wrote to Torrey, “I realized that if anything was to be saved in case we were burned (and it didn’t look likely even then) prompt action was needed, so I hunted up John and sent him for the wagon. I got ready three loads of things […] and as we drove off the third trip, at midnight, we were cleared off the scene at bayonet point practically—then the whole neighborhood was doomed.” 

Looking ahead, Atkins remarked, “No one will want jades or Japanese prints here for a long time—and I think we should ship them to Portland and open there … I don’t even think a framing shop would pay yet.” 

While Torrey was in Europe, his new house at the foot of Panoramic Hill was nearing completion. It was designed by Ernest Coxhead, who two years earlier had built a residence on the same block for Professor Charles H. Rieber. Torrey, Alice, and their daughter Dorothea had lived in Berkeley since 1898; first at 2222 Dana St. and later at 2329 College Ave. According to Dorothea, their new home at 1 Canyon Road was due to be completed on April 18, 1906. After being jolted awake that morning, she and her mother went up the hill to inspect the damage and found the solid redwood building standing unharmed. 

Like several other prominent Coxhead residential commissions, the Torrey house combined a rural shingled exterior with an opulent urban interior. Henry Atkins was responsible for the latter, which has been described as “baronial.” 

In 1908, Julia Morgan built a house for Prof. Lincoln Hutchinson between the Rieber and Torrey residences, and soon more newcomers were attracted by the beauty of the hill, occasionally creating friction. 

A notable fracas arose in November 1909, when Edward Taylor Parsons and his wife, Marion Randall Parsons—both key figures in the Sierra Club—sought to buy a lot adjoining the properties of Torrey and his Canyon Road neighbors. Like much of Panoramic Hill, the land had been owned by Dr. Silas Mercer Mouser, a San Francisco surgeon and professor of bacteriology, who built his country house on the hill in 1888. Dr. Mouser died in September 1909, and his son, Dr. Benjamin Mouser, offered the land to the highest bidder. 

A short while earlier, Torrey, Rieber, Hutchinson, and Prof. Albert W. Whitney had asked the city council for permission to build a parkway and ornamental roadway to Canyon Road, which the council granted. While the newspaper accounts of the time were vague as to the exact location of the land intended for the parkway, the lot sought by Parsons apparently stood in the way. The four gentlemen consulted an attorney and determined that possession was nine-tenths of the law. They seized the lot and built a stockade around it, hiring three men to stand guard. 

Dr. Mouser sued the interlopers, but the jury decided in their favor. The upshot was that Parsons bought the Mouser house and moved it further north on Mosswood Road. The approach to Torrey’s and Hutchinson’s properties was beautified with an elegant concrete staircase designed by Henry Atkins, who also created Orchard Lane and the Bancroft Steps. The old location of the Mouser house above Torrey and Hutchinson remained unimproved until 1929, when Julia Morgan built a house on that knoll for botanist Willis Jepson. 

After the 1906 earthquake, Vickery, Atkins & Torrey erected a new building on a lot they owned at 550 Sutter St. Atkins designed the elegant interiors, which received considerable press coverage. He also took charge of designing the interior of the reading room at Berkeley’s Doe Library. 

Exhibitions in the new gallery space featured local artists such as William Keith, Eugen Neuhaus, Ralph Stackpole, Mary Curtis Richardson, Sydney Yard, and Francis McComas, as well as fashionable 19th-century painters and big names like Turner, Hokusai, and Piranesi. 

Torrey, ever on the lookout for the dernier cri in art, purchased the most ballyhooed painting of the 1913 Armory Show in New York, Marcel Duchamp’s “Nude Descending a Staircase.” He hung it in the stairwell of his own house, where it caused no end of comment. One of the Nude’s most frequent observers was a straggly-looking boy of 16 who lived close by at 2350 Prospect St. and often entered the house without knocking, selecting a book from the shelves and settling down to read. His name was Thornton Wilder. 

Torrey kept the painting for six years. In 1919, he wrote art critic and dealer Walter Pach, “Counting the present high price of gasoline do you think that any one would pay a thousand dollars for the Nu Descendant? Walter Arensberg wrote to me about purchasing it that year I met him in NY, but I was not in a selling mood.” Arensberg was, in fact, eager to buy, and Torrey thanked Pach for acting as a go-between, concluding: “When I received your first telegram I did not tell Mrs. T. to whom I have not confided my intention to part with the painting if occasion offered; and I imagined more or less shamefacedly if she would object if I parted with it. The explosive nature of her reply “I SHOULD NOT!!!” requires probably small caps italicized if there are such things! You had hardly turned eastward before she bundled the Matisses off into a closet, and she looks upon the departure of the ‘Nu Descendant’ as a red-letter day on the hill. And yet we live happily together! Matrimony certainly requires a sense of humor to confront certain of its aspects.” 

Alice Torrey’s joy was premature. Her husband had a large sepia photograph made to the exact size of the original, and it occupied the same place in the stairwell for decades to come. 

 

Daniella Thompson publishes berkeleyheritage.com for the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA). 

 


Local House is Precursor to Pre-Fab Age

By Steven Finacom Special to the Planet
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:29:00 PM

On Jan. 30 in the Daily Planet, columnist Matt Cantor wrote thoughtfully about the past and potential of prefabricated dwellings. Although most of Berkeley is “custom made,” as Cantor noted, pre-fabricated structures can have a place here.  

And at least one such local dwelling survives from the days of our great great, grandparents, a special, and quite possibly unique, authentically Berkeley precursor of the prefabrication age.  

Community groups have been working to find a permanent home for the landmark Elizabeth Kenney Cottage, a five-room, one-story, 1887 “portable house” manufactured in Berkeley to a patented design. Remarkably, it has weathered more than twelve decades and two moves (one in 1906, one in 2003) that took it halfway across town, as well as the indignity of serving as a stucco-covered storeroom for half a century.  

Saved in 2003 from a development site, it now sits temporarily up on timbers on a vacant lot along University Avenue, awaiting a new home, restoration, and a permanent reuse.  

This weekend a newly organized neighborhood group is hosting a yard sale to help raise money to bring the Cottage to a West Berkeley lot owned by Berkeley’s Redevelopment Agency where it could be renovated and operated as a historic community center, surrounded by a garden.  

The yard sale is the idea and project of Patty Marcks, an energetic and long time Fifth Street resident and a founder of the new “Friends of the Kenney Cottage Garden” group. For years she’s held themed yard sales at her home after “discovering a modest flair” for organizing the events. She even met her husband at a sale. This past December, she decided that the next one should raise money for the Kenney Cottage project proposed for her block. 

The event, entitled “Colors of Love” because of the proximity to Valentine’s Day, takes place this Saturday through next Tuesday, February 7-10, at 1629 Fifth St., just north of Virginia. The sale runs 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Marcks forecasts “hundreds of items for sale, mostly small and inexpensive, and having to do in some way with love and romance.”  

She has been assembling “items in romantic red, passionate purple, and pretty pink,” and “romantic items, including the four elements of a romantic dinner; candles, music, wine glasses and accessories, and flower vases.” Her stock for sale—most items priced at just a few dollars—includes red or purple towels, pink bed sheets, stuffed bears, “lacy lingerie, night gowns and robes,” heart-shaped philodendrons and even “small, heart-shaped, rocks.” 

“Many people spend a lifetime collecting stuff,” Marcks says, “but then at a certain point you realize that’s all it is—stuff—which not only takes up space, but, with a few exceptions, can easily be replaced. I think it’s good to continually let things flow through our lives, and be owned by many different people.” 

She is still collecting items for the sale and can be contacted with donation offers at redbud53@juno.com, or 526-7828. 

Proceeds will benefit the non-profit effort to preserve the Kenney Cottage. 

The simple building is almost entirely redwood, held together with bolts. There are no nails, and the structural parts were cut to a pre-existing design and slotted into each other; they constitute a building that can move from site to site, rather than one custom built for a single, fixed, location. 

On Fifth Street—on a quiet block where restored Victorians stand side by side with light-industrial uses, all emblematic of the original mid-19th century character of west Berkeley—the idea is that the Cottage would be renovated as a small community gathering space, probably with regular arts related use, and the surrounding level lot would be used as a community garden. 

There’s also a big potential element of sustainability to the proposal. Just as Elizabeth Kenney wouldn’t have necessarily completely tied in her modest home to a still poorly developed 19th century network of utilities (water, sewer, electric, gas), the present day promoters of the Kenney Cottage project envision a structure that could be partially or entirely “off-grid,” utilizing rain water collection, photovoltaic’s, perhaps a residential wind turbine—to show how low impact, low carbon urban living can take place in urban environments today. 

If the name Kenney sounds familiar, it is because the James Kenney recreation center and park in West Berkeley is named for James Kenney, nephew of Elizabeth Kenney, and Berkeley’s first fire chief. He grew up in his aunt’s home when it stood on Addison Street near Oxford, next to a volunteer fire station. Remarkably, Berkeley’s second fire chief also grew up in the house as a member of the Meinheit family that bought the home in 1898 and moved it to University Avenue in 1906. 

 

Steven Finacom is active on behalf of Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association in the Kenney Cottage project. 

 

 

The “Colors of Love” yard sale is at 1629 Fifth St., north of Virginia, this Saturday through next Tuesday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. each day. 

 

For more about the history of the Kenney Cottage, and a photo of it being moved by horses in 1906, see this article from 2003: 

http://www.berkeleyheritage.com/ 

berkeley_observed/berkeleyobserved71803.html 


About the House: The Hidden Chimney

By Matt Cantor
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:28:00 PM

A lot of us live in wonderful old homes built in the days before modern furnaces, metal flues and self-venting stoves. These are houses built before 1935 that contain—among their many other dated and cherished facets—brick flues which have nothing whatsoever to do with fireplaces. Brick flues that are sure to crumble or crash when that much lauded earthquake finally makes its, somewhat overdue, appearance here in the East Bay. 

The age of the modern engineered flue pipe began with the patented ceramic-lined flues of the 1920s (though brick can be seen well into the ‘30s in some houses) and gave way to the double-walled metal flues still in use today (though some flues in use today are even plastic). Brick flues (or, if you prefer, chimneys) were used for furnaces, cooking stoves and water heaters. They were also used for coal-burning heaters that are often still present in the dining rooms of our Victorians, Classic Boxes and Craftsman bungalows.  

These small chimneys are generally quite small in cross-section because, unlike the earlier fireplace chimneys, they had only a tiny interior space for the evacuation of hot waste gases from our appliances. 

The earliest brick flues have no lining, as is true of our early fireplace chimneys too. This can lead to problems. When natural gas is burned in stoves, water heaters and furnaces, it creates an acidic, moist gas that eats away at the alkaline mortar between the bricks. Over time, this gas destroys the structure of the chimney (creosote in chimneys is also acidic and does the same thing, which is one reason you want to get them cleaned and keep a rain cap on top).  

Many of these chimneys get so soft through this process that I often can remove bricks by hand or indent the side of one of these chimney with a little push (which I do very delicately). This is scary when you think that lots of these are just hanging there in space, waiting for a modest shaker (or a very big one) to take them down into your kitchen, dining room or the upstairs bedroom. And we’re talking about a lot of weight. 

As awareness of this type of mortar deterioration grew, masons began using terra cotta linings for brick flues. Most of the brick flues still around today are of this improved type. These flues are often found in the walls between the kitchen and the dining room in homes from the 1800s up to about 1930. In these houses, cooking was often done on one side and heating (with a coal burner or gas heater) done on the other, with both components plugged into a double-barreled brick chimney stack.  

Although they experience less mortar deterioration, these lined flues are still extremely inefficient (as flues) and present a similar level of seismic risk. These flues tend (due to their mass) to cause the exhaust gases within, to reach dew-point and rain down along the inside, rather than escape above the roof. This means that the exhaust isn't escaping and some part may actually travel in vapor form into the dwelling. 

This is especially true when these brick flues are used for water heaters or furnaces. As noted earlier, this often leads to the brickwork's becoming soft and unstable.  

So what makes sense? What do we want to do with these forgotten serfs of smoke and heat? There's no appliance that requires a brick flue today. For any item that is still connected to one of these, a lighter, smaller and more efficient flue can be installed.  

Since many of the brick flues I see in houses today are doing no work at all, I'm strongly inclined to recommend that these be called to work as herringbone-patterned patios in our backyards. Bricks really want to be lying down here in California anyway in keeping with our laid-back modus-and our earthquake awareness. If we leave them running up through these hidden spaces in our houses, they're destined to come down through the plaster and the light framing of our houses when the big one arrives. The taller the stack, the greater the pressure at the base and the more dramatic the effect when the earth moves. 

I think it's a powerful act of seismic planning to remove one of these things, especially if your house is two or more stories high. Keep in mind that most fireplace chimneys run up the exterior of the house and are likely to end up lying in the side yard while the ones we're talking about are sure to end up inside the house, causing a lot more damage. Couple that with the lack of real usefulness and you've got a darned good argument for demolition. Even removal of an upper portion and blocking off of the points of entry is a good start.  

Removal of a chimney should be done by a qualified professional in gradual steps. It usually involves removal of some interior wall material, but perhaps not much. Chimneys of this kind seldom provide any structural support for the building, so they rarely need to be supplanted with framing as they are removed. Your contractor should be able to take it out and give you some nice choices for the use of the remaining space. For example, removal of a brick chimney can also provide additional space in the interior for storage or a slightly larger kitchen. Think about doing this job prior to replacing a roof so that you end up with fewer leaks from the roof/chimney junction (a common place for leaks to occur). 

Your newly liberated brick might take shape as that Arcadian patio I mentioned or could be transported to the local salvage yard. A pile was recently left out by a neighbor on our block and it nearly led to a fight by wheelbarrow wielding neighbors vying for possession, so it might not even be necessary to cart them away yourself. 

Old brick is generally of some value and if you have Clinker brick, even more so. Clinker, usually seen only on the more visible portions of upscale residential chimneys or facades, is malformed, bubbly and oddly colored, suggest a forgetful baker … which is pretty much the case. 

When I think of the effects that our inevitable earthquake are likely to evoke, the removal of needless brick (especially tall stacks of same) gets placed high on my to-do list. I hope it'll be on yours, too. 


Community Calendar

Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:21:00 PM

THURSDAY, FEB. 5 

Tilden Tots Join a nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! We’ll uncover the secrets of hibernation from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 1-888-327-2757. 

Tilden Explorers An after-school nature adventure program for 5-7 year olds. We will search for amphibians from 3:15 to 4:15 p.m.. Cost is $6-$8, registration required. 1-888-EBPARKS. 

“The Situation in Israel and Palestine” at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. 841-4824. 

Urban Micro-Farming Classes meet Thurs. at 6 p.m. at Oakland Housing Authority, 935 Union St. at 10th St. Learn how to grow vegetables on your apartment porch or deck. Cost is $10. 655-1304. 

“Keeping Elders Safe” An elder abuse program for older adults, their families and caregivers at 1:30 p.m. at Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720. 

“Personal and Global: Feminism, Sexual Liberation, and Contemporary Struggles” A panel discussion with Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz, Silvia Federici, Paola Bacchetta and others, at 6:30 p.m. a the Free Speech Movement Café, Moffitt Library, UC campus. 643-6722. 

Baby & Toddler Storytime at 10:15 and 11:15 a.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043.  

Avatar Metaphysical Toastmasters Club at 6:45 p.m. at Spud’s Pizza, 3290 Adeline at Alcatraz. namaste@avatar.freetoasthost.info  

Free Meditation Classes Tues. and Thurs. at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarians, 2nd flr., 1606 Bonita Ave. 931-7742. 

Circle of Concern Vigil meets on West Lawn of UC campus across from Addison and Oxford, Thurs. at noon and Sun. at 1 p.m. to oppose UC weapons labs contracts. 848-8055. 

Three Beats for Nothing South Mostly ancient part music for fun and practice meets every Thurs. at 10 a.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center, Ellis at Ashby. 655-8863. asiecker@sbcglobal 

Fitness Class for 55+ at 9:15 a.m. at Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. 

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 

FRIDAY, FEB. 6 

Golden Gate Audubon Society Walk at Jewel Lake in Tilden. Meet at 8:30 a.m. at the parking lot at the north end of Central Park Dr. for a one-mile, two-hour plus stroll through this lush riparian area to see wintering waterfowl. Sponsored by Golden Gate Audubon Society. 843-2222. ggas@goldengateaudubon.org 

“Causes and Consequences of the Israeli Aggression on Gaza” with Dr. Hisham Ahmed, PhD. at 7 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker Church Chapel, 1640 Addison St. Free, donations accepted. 499-0537. 

“The Legacy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Where Do We Go from Here?” Celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with William F. Schulz, former executive director of Amnesty International, at 7:30 p.m., in the Social Hall, Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. Free, but RSVP requested. rsvp@uusc.org 

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. 

Berkeley Chess Club meets every Fri. at 7 p.m. at the Hillside School, 1581 Le Roy Ave. 843-0150. 

SATURDAY, FEB. 7 

“The Colors of Love” Annual Valentine's Day Yard Sale A benefit fundraiser for Friends of Kenney Cottage Garden, a neighborhood effort to support a future community garden and the restoration of the boyhood home of James Kenney, Berkeley's first fire chief, on a vacant lot in West Berkeley, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. though Tues. at 1629 5th St., Free, donations welcome. 526-7828. 

Berkeley Path Wanderers: Geocaching on the Paths Learn treasure hunting with a GPS unit. Meet at 10 a.m. at the top of Fountain Walk, Marin (Arlington) Circle. 528-3246. www.berkeleypaths.org 

Walking Tour of Old Oakland “New Era/New Politics” highlights African-American leaders who have made their mark on Oakland. Meet at 10 a.m. and the African American Museum and Library at 659 14th St. 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

Nature’s Valentines Join a short nature walk to collect leaves, then make leaf prints and handmade paper, from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Lunar New Year Celebration and Parade, beginning at the top pf Solano Ave. at 11 a.m., and ending with performances at the Main Stage, Cornell School, Solano and Cornell. 527-5358. www.solanostroll.org 

Bird Watching Bike Trip: East Shore State Park and Aquatic Park Meet 8:30 a.m. at the southernmost pond at Bay and Potter sts. Bring bicycle lock, sunscreen, lunch, and liquids. Bicycle helmet required. All levels of birders and bicyclists welcome. RSVP to 547-1233, kathy_jarrett@yahoo.com  

The Cooperative Grocery Winter Workshop on Beans How to use them for a healthier diet, at 2 p.m. at The Cooperative Grocery, 1450 67th Street, Emeryville. Bring a small plate and eating utensil for tasting the dishes, Free, but RSVP required. winter@thecog.org, http://thecog.org 

“Let’s Talk: The Quest for Black Citizenship in the Americas” A community discussion at 2 p.m. at the African American Museu and Library, 659 14th St. Free. 637-0200.  

California Shakespeare Theater theater classes for youth and adults start at Cal Shakes Rehearsal Hall, 701 Heinz Ave. and in Orinda. Cost is $130-$275, scholarships available for youth. learn@calshakes.org 

“Future of Sequoias: Sustaining Parklands in the 21st Century” Exhibition opens at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak sts., Oakland. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

“The Great Kehilla Sing-&-Dance-Along: Fiddler on the Roof” at 7 p.m. at Kehilla Community Synagogue, 1300 Grand Ave., Piedmont. Cost is $18, $5 for children. 547-2424, ext. 100. www.KehillaSynagogue.org 

“After Gaza: Now What?” with Dr. Khalil Barhoum, Stanford University at 7 p.m. at the Buena Vista United Methodist Church, 2311 Buena Vista Ave., Alameda. 522-8005. 

“Imperialism and the Crisis in Gaza” with the Political Affairs Readers Group of the Communist Party, at 10 a.m. at Niebyl-Proctor Libaray, 6501 Telegraph Ave, between Alcatraz and 66th St. 595-7417. 

Friends of the Albany Library Book Sale from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 1247 Marin Ave., Albany. 526-3720. 

A Jewish Celebration of Trees for Very Young Children at 10:30 a.m. at Jewish Gateways, 409 Liberty St., El Cerrito. Free, but RSVP requested. 559-8140. 

Beginning Guitar Lessons at the James Kenney Recreation Center, 1720 Eighth St. Youth classes Sat. at noon, adults at 1 p.m. Cost is $89 for the month. To register call 981-6650. 

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.  

Oakland Artisans Marketplace Sat. from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sun. from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Jack London Square. 238-4948. 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

SUNDAY, FEB. 8 

Birding at Martin Luther King, Jr. Shoreline, Arrowhead Marsh, Oakland from 10 a.m. to noon to see Clapper Rails. Meet at the last parking lot at 9:30 a.m. Sponsored by Golden Gate Audubon Society.  

Winter Warm-Up Hike Join a fast-paced three mile loop in Tilden Regional Park, Inspiration Point, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Bring a snack to share and water. Heavy rain cancels. 525-2233. 

Darwin Day The 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of “The Origin of Species” with David Seaborg on “Current Ideas About Evolution” at 10:30 a.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. www.humanisthall.net 

Greywater Design and Installation A day long workshop in Berkeley Cost is $30-$100 sliding scale, work-trade option available. To register see http://www.greywaterguerrillas.com/events.html  

Black History Month: Feminist Leadership: From Africa to America” with Dr. Amina Mama of Mills College at 2 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak sts., Oakland. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

“Aristide and the Endless Revolution” A film about Haiti at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. Suggested donation $10. 841-4824. 

“Obama the Utopian?” at 5 p.m. at Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Sponsored by the Green Party of Alameda County. 

Old Time Radio East Bay Collectors and listeners gather to enjoy shows together at 4 p.m. at a private home in Berkeley. For more information please email DavidinBerkeley at Yahoo.  

Sweets for the Sweet Learn the basics of truffle making and discover the natural history of chocolate from 1 to 3 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center. Cost is $14-$16, registration required. 1-888-327-2757. 

Little Farm Open House Come grind some corn to feed the chickens, pet a bunny, groom a goat or help out in the Kids Garden, from 1:30 to 3 p.m., at the Little Farm, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

“Get on the Road to College” Workshops with the Gooden Family Scholarship Fund at 1 and 3 p.m. at De Jean Middle School, 3400 MacDonald Ave., Richmond. Registration required. 526-1985. 

Architecture Tour of the Oakland Museum building and grounds at 2 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak sts., Oakland. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

The Princess Project is collecting new and nearly new formal gowns and accessories to give to local girls for their proms. Dry-cleaned and bagged dresses may be dropped off at Crossroads Trading Co., 2338 Shattuck Ave., Kate’s Kouture Bridal, 82 Shattuck Square or Crush, 5550 College Ave., Oakland, until Feb. 14. For other locals or for more information see www.princessproject.org 

Free Hands-on Bicycle Clinic Learn how to repair a flat, from 10 to 11 a.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. Bring your bike and tools. 527-4140. 

Introduction to Golf from 10:30 a.m. to noon at Tilden Golf Course. For ages 14 and up. Cost is $50-$56, includes free range card. Registration required. 1-888-327-2757. 

“The Rumi Secret: Spiritual Lessons of History’s Most Revered Poet” with Victoria Lee at 10 a.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302, ext. 306. 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m. Call to confirm. 841-8732.  

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 

“Where is the Stranger?” with Rev. Kurt Kuhwald on hospitality and its spiritual and ethical meanings at 10:45 a.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. 841-4824. 

Tibetan Buddhism with Jack van der Meulen on “Awakening Loving Feeling” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 809-1000.  

MONDAY, FEB. 9 

Valentine Days at Habitot Heart-themed art projects for children, through Fri. at 2065 Kittredge St. Cost is $7-$8. 647-1111. www.habitot.org 

James Henry’s Music and Drum Workshop to celebrate Black History Month at 1 p.m. at Oakland’s Elmhurst Library, 1427 88th Ave. at International Boulevard. For information call the Children’s Librarian 615-5727.  

“The Colors of Love” Annual Valentine's Day Yard Sale A benefit fundraiser for Friends of Kenney Cottage Garden, a neighborhood effort to support a future community garden and the restoration of the boyhood home of James Kenney, Berkeley's first fire chief, on a vacant lot in West Berkeley, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. though Tues. at 1629 5th St., Free, donations welcome. 526-7828. 

Coalition for a Democratic Pacifica meets at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. 841-4824. 

“Sugars Can Actually be Good for Your Health” A talk by Dr. Carolyn Bertozzi, Director of Berkeley Lab Molecular Foundry at 5:30 p.m. at Berkeley Repertory Theater, 2015 Addison St. Free. 486-7292. 

“When the Sun Goes Down: A Pre-Copernican Turn of Remembrance” with Michael Taussig, Prof. of Anthropology, Columbia University at 4 p.m. in the Geballe Room, 220 Stephens Hall, UC campus. Hosted by the Townsend Center for the Humanities. 643-9670. http:// 

townsendcenter.berkeley.edu  

Red Cross Blood Drive from noon to 6 p.m. at West PAuley Ballroom, MLK Student Union, UC campus. To schedule an appointment go to www.BeADonor.com 

East Bay Track Club for girls and boys ages 3-15 meets Mon. at 6 p.m. at Berkeley High School track field. Free. 776-7451. 

Morning Meditation Every Mon., Wed., and Fri. at 7:45 a.m. at Rudramandir, 830 Bancroft Way at 6th. 486-8700. 

Small-Business Counseling Free one-hour one-on-one counseling to help you start and run your small business with a volunteer from Service Core of Retired Executives, Mon. evenings by appointment at Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. For appointment call 981-6134. www.eastbayscore.org 

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group, for people 60 years and over, meets at 9:45 a.m. at Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave, Albany. Cost is $3.  

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

Dragonboating Year round classes at the Berkeley Marina, Dock M. Meets Mon, Wed., Thurs. at 6 p.m. Sat. at 10:30 a.m. For details see www.dragonmax.org 

Free Boatbuilding Classes for Youth Mon.-Wed. from 3 to 7 p.m. at Berkeley Boathouse, 84 Bolivar Dr., Aquatic Park. Classes cover woodworking, boatbuilding, and boat repair. 644-2577. www.watersideworkshops.org 

TUESDAY, FEB. 10 

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 Oyster Bay Regional Shoreline. Call for meeting place and if you need to borrow binoculars. 525-2233. 

“Ocean, Road and Rail: A Year-long Family Travel Adventure” The Aiken/Widom family talk about and show slides from their world trip at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

California Colloquium on Water “Taking a Lesson for Australia’s New Water Law Regime” with Jennifer M. McKay, Director, Center for Comparative Water Policies and Laws, Univ. of South Australia, at 5:30 p.m. in Room 250, Goldman School of Public Policy, 2607 Hearst Ave. at LeRoy. www.lib.berkeley.edu/WRCA/ccow.html 

Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation from 6 to 8 p.m. at 6230 Claremont Ave., Oakland. Registration required. 594-5165. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Join a few slowpoke seniors at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm for an hour or two walk. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

End the Occupation Vigil every Tues. at noon at Oakland Federal Bldg., 1301 Clay St. www.epicalc.org 

Street Level Cycles Community Bike Program Come use our tools as well as receive help with performing repairs free of charge. Youth classes available. Tues., Thurs., and Sat. from 2 to 6 p.m. at at 84 Bolivar Dr., Aquatic Park. 644-2577.  

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991.  

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. 

Sing-A-Long Group from 2 to 3 p.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave., Albany. 524-9122. 

Ceramics Class Learn hand building techniques to make decorative and functional items, Tues. at 9:30 a.m. at St. John's Senior Center, 2727 College Ave. Free, materials and firing charges only. 525-5497. 

Rhythm Tap Exercise Class Tues. at 5 p.m. at Redwood Gardens, 2951 Derby St. Donation $2. 548-9840. 

Yarn Wranglers Come knit and crochet at 6:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Free Meditation Classes Tues. and Thurs. at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarians, 2nd flr., 1606 Bonita Ave. 931-7742. 

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 11 

“What Kind of Liberation? Women and the Occupation of Iraq” with Nadje Al-Ali at 7 p.m. at La Pena Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $8-$10. Benefit for Middle East Children’s Alliance. 548-0542. www.mecaforpeace.org 

“The Green Collar Economy” with Van Jones at 6:15 p.m. at the Bancroft Hotel, 2680 Bancroft Way. http://berc.berkeley.edu/ 

node/592 

“The Iron Wall” A documentary on the history of the Palestinian struggle at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donation $5. www.Humanist Hall.org 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. 548-9840. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Theraputic Recreation at the Berkeley Warm Pool, Wed. at 3:30 p.m. and Sat. at 10 a.m. at the Berkeley Warm Pool, 2245 Milvia St. Cost is $4-$5. Bring a towel. 632-9369. 

Playreaders Program for Adults meets Wed. at noon in the 3rd flr community room, Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. To register call 981-6241. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Sing for Peace at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil 

Teen Chess Club from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the North Branch Library, 1170 The Alameda at Hopkins. 981-6133. 

Berkeley CopWatch Drop-in office hours from 6 to 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. 548-0425. 

Stitch ‘n Bitch at 6:30 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

THURSDAY, FEB. 12 

Wage Theft in America: Why Millions of Working Americans Are Not Getting Paid, And What We Can Do About It with author Kim Bobo at noon at University Lutheran Chapel, 2425 College Ave., at Haste. Sponsored by the UC Berkeley Labor Center, East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE), East Bay Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice and University Lutheran Chapel. 642-6371. andreabuffa@berkeley.edu 

21st Annual African American Cultural Celebration at 7 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2501 Harrison St., Oakland. 285-9628. 

“The WPA and the Oakland Park System” with Gray Brechin at 7:30 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. Cost is $8-$10. 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

Valentine’s Day Parent’s Night Out Enjoy a night out while your children enjoy an evening of games, stories, crafts, snacks, and fun. For ages 5-12 from 6 to 10 p.m. at the James Kenney Recreation Center, 1720 8th St. Cost is $15 per child. Reservations required. 981-6650. 

Zen and the Art of Mushroom Hunting at 7:30 p.m. in the East Bay, with a field trip on Feb. 15. Cost is $35. To register call Golden Gate Audubon Society at 843-2222. 

“Protecting Lake Baikal, the Pearl of Siberia” A slideshow and discussion of the ecosystem of the lake and what is being done to save it, at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

East Bay Mac Users Group will discuss the digital storytelling application MemoryMiner at 7 p.m. at Expression College for Digital Arts, 6601 Shellmound St., Emeryville. http://ebmug.org 

“Losing Body Fat: Breakthroughs in Metabolic Understanding” with Dr. Jay Sordean at 6:30 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, Claremont Branch, 2940 Benvenue Ave. 981-6280. 

Baby & Toddler Storytime at 10:15 and 11:15 a.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043.  

Circle of Concern Vigil meets on West Lawn of UC campus across from Addison and Oxford, Thurs. at noon and Sun. at 1 p.m. to oppose UC weapons labs contracts. 848-8055. 

Three Beats for Nothing South Mostly ancient part music for fun and practice meets every Thurs. at 10 a.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center, Ellis at Ashby. 655-8863. asiecker@sbcglobal 

Fitness Class for 55+ at 9:15 a.m. at Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. 

Free Meditation Classes Tues. and Thurs. at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarians, 2nd flr., 1606 Bonita Ave. 931-7742. 

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 

FRIDAY, FEB. 13 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Prof. David R. Lindberg on “Snails, Birds, Spiders & Flies: How Science Really Works” 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 524-7468. www.citycommonsclub.org 

“Road to Roubaix” film screening to benefit the NorCal High School Mountain Bike League at 7:30 p.m. at Florence Schwimley Theater, Berkeley High campus. Cost is $12. www.norcalmtb.org 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 1 to 5 p.m. at Oakland Military Academy, Multi Purpose Room, 3877 Lusk St., Oakland. To schedule an appointment go to www.BeADonor.com 

“Sound Healing for Relationships & Interpersonal Communication” at 7 p.m. at Tian Gong International Foundation, 830 Bancroft Way, Lotus Room 114. Cost is $5-$10, no one turned away for lack of funds. 883-1920. tgif@tiangong.org 

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. 

Three Beats for Nothing Mostly ancient part music for fun and practice meets every Fri. at 10 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, Hearst at MLK. 655-8863. asiecker@sbcglobal 

Berkeley Chess Club meets every Fri. at 7 p.m. at the Hillside School, 1581 Le Roy Ave. 843-0150. 

SATURDAY, FEB. 14 

Predatory Lending Prevention and Foreclosure Intervention Workshop from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Emeryville Senior Center, 4321 Salem St., Emeryville. Sponsored by the Emeryville Redevelopment Agency. 596-4316. 

Walking Tour of Old Oakland “New Era/New Politics” highlights African-American leaders who have made their mark on Oakland. Meet at 10 a.m. and the African American Museum and Library at 659 14th St. 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

“Deadlock in California: What’s Behind the Breakdown of CA Government” with Sacramento Bee columnist and author Peter Schrag, at 7 p.m. at the Alameda Free Library, Conference Rooms A & B, 1550 Oak St. at Lincoln, Alameda. Suggested donation $5. www.alamedaforum.org 

transPOP: Korea Vietnam Remix Symposium to examine Korean and Vietnamese historical and contemporary cultural, political, and socio-economic interactions from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Institute of East Asian Studies Conference Room, 2223 Fulton St., 6th Floor. 642-2809. http://ieas.berkeley.edu 

Darfur Fundraiser with Stewart Florsheim, Jerry Falek and Steve Seskin at 7 p.m. at Temple Beth Hillel, 801 Park Central, Richmond. Tickets are $25 at the door. 741-1931. 

Sushi Basics Learn the natural and cultural history of sushi as you prepare and taste seven types, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center. Parent participation required for children ages 8-10. Cost is $25-$39. Registration required. 1-888-327-2757. 

Valentine’s Day Blood Drive from noon to 5 p.m. at the Red Cross Mobile Blood Bank, Colusa Circle, Kensington. 525-6155. 

Origami Valentines with Margot Wecksler at 2 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720 ext. 16. 

Valentine’s Day Family Story Time at 11 a.m. at Richmond Public Library, Main Children’s Room, 325 Civic Center Plaza, Richmond. 620-6557. 

The East Bay Chapter of The Great War Society meets to discuss “Dear Home Folks-Letters From a Doughboy” by Dale Thompson at 10:30 a.m. at the Albany Veterans Bldg., 1325 Portland Ave., Albany. 526-4423. 

“Ancient Tools for Successful Living” Workshops on the lunar cycle. Registration at 11:30 a.m. at ASA Academy, 2811 Adeline St., Oakland. Cost is $10 per workshop. 536-5934. 

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.  

Oakland Artisans Marketplace Sat. from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sun. from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Jack London Square. 238-4948. 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

SUNDAY, FEB. 15 

Family Explorations: Black History with music, cooking and craft activities from 1 to 4:30 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak sts., Oakland. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Prepeare Habitat for the California Least Terns from 9 a.m. to noon at the Alameda Wildlife Refuge. Meet at the main refuge gate at the northwest corner of the old Alameda Naval Air Station. jrobinson@goldengateaudubon.org 

Fireside Stories Join us for a cup of hot chocolate and listen to a few nature stories at 10:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center. 525-2233. 

Reptile Rendezvous Learn about the reptiles that call the nature area home, and meet a few up close, at 2 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden PArk. 525-2233. 

“The Underground Railroad” A film at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. Suggested donation $10. 841-4824. 

“Can the State Save Society from Self-destruction? The analysis of state-capitalism and the search for an alternative in Marx’s Humanism and the dialectic” at 6:30 p.m. at Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 658-1448. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. at Cathedral of the Ascension, Richmond Room, 4700 Lincoln Ave., Oakland. To schedule an appointment go to www.BeADonor.com 

Darwin Day with Kol Hadash Bagel brunch with Steven Newton, of the National Center for Science Education,from 10 a.m. to noon at Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. Suggested donation $5. 525-2296. 

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 

Tibetan Buddhism with Santosh Philip on “Inner and Outer Massage of Feeling” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 809-1000. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

Sew Your Own Open Studio Come learn to use our industrial and domestic machines, or work on your own projects, from 4 to 8 p.m. at 84 Bolivar Dr., Aquatic Park. Also on Fri. from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Cost is $5 per hour. 644-2577. www.watersideworkshops.org 

CITY MEETINGS 

Community Environmental Advisory Commission meets Thurs., Feb. 5, at 7 p.m., at 2118 Milvia St. Nabil Al-Hadithy, 981-7460.  

Landmarks Preservation Commission meets Thurs., Feb. 5, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7429.  

City Council meets Tues., Feb. 10, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. 

Homeless Commission meets Wed., Feb. 11, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5431.  

Planning Commission meets Wed., Feb. 11, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7416. 

Police Review Commission meets Wed., Feb. 11, at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-4950.  

Waterfront Commission meets Wed., Feb. 11, at 7 p.m., at 201 University Ave. 981-6737.  

Community Health Commission meets Thurs., Feb. 12 , at 6:45 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5356.  

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., Feb. 12, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. 981-7410.  

ONGOING 

Help Low-wage Families with Their Taxes United Way’s Earn it! Keep It! Save It! needs Bay Area volunteers for its 7th annual free tax program. No previous experience necessary. Sign up at www.earnitkeepitsaveit.org