Public Comment
Letters to the Editor
GENERAL ASSISTANCE CUTS
Editors, Daily Planet:
As part of our campaign against the general assistance cuts in Alameda County that the Board of Supervisors voted for last June, 3–2, we from the BOSS Community Organizing Team are planning to go to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors meeting, Dec. 10 at 9:30 a.m. at 1221 Oak St. between 12th and 13th, near Lake Merritt, to speak to the issue of the GA cuts at the public comment. This is their last meeting of 2009. We are asking others to come join us. Some of the cuts—$40 for medical costs, $82 for shared housing—are already taking place, and next year they plan to implement the three month cutoff for the 7000 folks considered “employable” at a time when folks on unemployment keep getting extended as there are no jobs to be found in this economy.
Michael Diehl
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OAK GROVE WOOD CHIPS
Editors, Daily Planet:
To Jerry Sullinger, who is vexed to discover “treesitter wood chips” at Anna Head, for him a new low in town-gown relations...Jerry, thousands of citizens of Berkeley and environs, and the vast majority of Cal students, are delighted that the oak grove has been reduced to chips and a student/athlete facility is replacing it. And at only $5 a bushel, we all can buy enough to make into wonderful little mementos to give to fellow Cal fans at Christmas.
To Charlotte Honigmann-Smith, who wonders why Caryl Churchill’s “Seven Jewish Children” doesn’t express what she wants, and wonders about Ms. Churchill’s dramatic skills...Charlotte, Caryl Churchill was expressing what she wanted to say, not what you wanted; and she is not only a remarkably skillful playwright, she is an important playwright.
Michael Stephens
Point Richmond
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TEEN LIBRARY SERVICES
Editors, Daily Planet:
My name is Jasmine Dominguez and I’m a student worker at the Central and North branch libraries. I love helping to organize and clean the libraries because I know those are two qualities patrons look for in a library. I love seeing new faces in the teen section because my generation doesn’t read enough and/or doesn’t take education as seriously as they should.
The best things that the Berkeley Public Libraries provide, other than infinite information and free Internet access, are the after school and summer programs for adolescents. After school is when we’re all vulnerable to reckless procrastination and trivial drama that comes along with middle/high school, but having something to do with our free time that we’re actually interested in is the grandest gift anyone can give us. Teens don’t need big, fancy chairs and expensive computers to be attracted to the library, we just need to know someone cares and doesn’t think we’re all obnoxious troublemakers. As long as there is a library, and old fashioned teachers, we will utilize it.
I also think it’s great that the library hires teens because we don’t have as many job opportunities as adults do. Most jobs want experience and time that we don’t have yet. Personally, I’ve applied for about five hundred jobs over the past two years, not including youth employment programs, and I haven’t been called back by one yet! This job is very important to me because I’m seventeen and I need to start taking care of myself and helping my family with finances. This job allows me to do both without cutting into my study time. A lot of teens my age are in the same situation, some worse, so this job is like a godsend. I’m excited to be able to put this job on my resume because I’ve been doing a lot of clerical work, which will help me when I start one of my choice careers, and even before when I’m looking for a job to pay for further schooling.
Jasmine Dominguez
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VISITING BERKELEY’S
DOWNTOWN
Editors, Daily Planet:
I am not afraid of going downtown, but I do feel sadness when I go there. No one can convince me it has been economically healthy, even before the recent downturn.
I have lived here in the hills a long time, happily shopping at Hinks, Penneys and local shoe stores. Now they have long been gone and I have to drive out of town for clothing and shoes. There still are some restaurants and a few hardware, drug and copy shops, and most fortunately we still have the Public Library, the YMCA, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Osher Lifelong Learning classes, and now Freight and Salvage.
Someday my husband and I may have to consider moving out of the house we built in the late sixties to a more manageable apartment or condominium (Horrors!!! Really? And why not?). Our first choice would be that it be in Berkeley’s downtown. This is why I support the Downtown Area Plan as adopted by the City Council in July 2009, and regret the Referendum against it.
Perhaps one can criticize how the plan started, but it is the result of a four year effort by a community group of dedicated citizens. The review by the Planning Commission and the City Council was required to be part of the process from the beginning, and it is not surprising they made some changes to the Plan.
I’m hoping Berkeley will be able to grow with more affordable housing in its downtown and improved transportation throughout the city, so we can achieve the goals of Measure G with more environmentally sustainable policies.
Helene Vilett
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LANDMARKS COMMISSION
OUT IN THE COLD
Editors, Daily Planet:
Delayed by a meeting elsewhere, I arrived—much out of character—late for the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s Dec. 3 evening meeting at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Someone had agreed to drop me off there. But as we drove down Hearst Avenue beside the building’s south wall, I was surprised to see that the LPC’s usual meeting room was still dark. Then I saw the crowd waiting in the building’s front plaza.
When I stepped onto the curb one of the standees quipped, “John, your entourage awaits you.”
The problem: No building-staff person was there to unlock the doors and let people in. The commission’s secretary tried to reach someone by phone who could, but to no avail. Commissioners, citizens, and applicants kept on waiting in the cold.
Finally the commissioners gathered together, standing right in front of the locked doors, and held an abbreviated meeting. But that alfresco session has subsequently been ruled invalid. And a regular (indoor) LPC meeting has now been scheduled for Dec. 17, to start at the oddly unusual time of 5 pm. It will include hearings on controversial projects at 1512 La Loma Ave. and 2525 Telegraph Ave.
John English
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DAPAC COMMISSIONERS
Editors, Daily Planet:
Are we well served that the former DAPAC commissioners continue to shape the destiny of our downtown? They breeze into city council and commission seats, they educate us via many column inches allocated by this newspaper and mentor our opinions by having theirs elevated.
I have been a slow student of the DAPAC majority’s way of seeing downtown. For I am very disappointed that the Toyo Ito design for the UC Art Museum has been discarded. In this opinion I differ from that of Patricia Dacey, one of the esteemed former commissioners quoted by the Planet on Nov. 19, “I felt that the design was an arrogant imposition on the context of our existing downtown,” she said. “It related to nothing around it—it just screamed ‘look at me.’” I doubt that this sentiment is limited to Ms. Dacey among the commissioners who shaped our downtown plan.
In my opinion an art museum is one of the building types supposed to say “look at me.” The design is judged a failure if it does not. Buildings which “say” nothing but are context sensitive certainly fare better in a place like our town. This formula is thoroughly grasped by our perceptive local developers who understand us far better than we want to understand ourselves.
Those of us who wait decade after decade for a building of international interest to happen in Berkeley will probably not live to see one. There shall be no magnet for architecture tourists, except to those who fancy the—very—old stuff. To see the architecture now playing on the world stage we must continue to expend much carbon and journey to the likes of San Francisco, Tokyo, L.A.
What of it, we’ve got a downtown plan which looks lovingly toward the past. Why can’t I be happy?
Bruce Wicinas
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JOURNALISM OR RACISM
Editors, Daily Planet:
Your hyphenated, wordy apologist for mismanagement at Oakland’s City Hall recently concluded a column about the income-tax misfeasances of Mayor Dellums by saying “That’s not the journalism I practice.”
Given the writer’s history of crafting alibis for Dellums and the nepotist Ms. Edgerly, we can define in two sentences the kind of journalism he does practice: “I don’t care if a politician is corrupt, greedy, lazy, incompetent, absent or disrespectful of the law. If a politician is African-American, they’re never wrong.”
This isn’t journalism; it’s racism.
David Altschul
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CARBON REDUCTION
Editors, Daily Planet:
Reducing carbon emissions doesn’t actually happen in Copenhagen, it happens when you decide you can take the bus instead of drive. We don’t need to wait for regulations to begin changing how we live. Seriously, we need to start now really making an effort to care for the future. Do you know where the bus lines are near your house? Can we plan public transit from the perspective that it is how you, and your customers, will be getting around? Will you think every time you would use your car; can I bike, bus, walk, carpool, avoid the trip, combine trips, offer a ride to someone else? Vacation locally. Put on a sweater instead of turning on the heat. Creatively conserve. Our actions do affect others on the other side of the earth. We can live well without consuming so much. Simplify and be happier. Try. Try. Try to drive less. Please.
T. Compost
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ALZHEIMER’S
Editors, Daily Planet:
The statistics are frightening! Alzheimer’s advocates call it a “looming avalanche.” A new report projectsthat dementia will double every 20 years and that the condition will affect 115 million by 2050. As many as 5.2 million Americans are currently living with the disease. In 2000 there were an estimated 411,000 new cases. That number is expected to increase to 454,000 new cases a year by 2010 and 615,000 new cases a year by 2030.
Much more troubling in this ominous scenario is a recent report published by the Alzheimer’s Association that roughly 10 million baby boomers will develop Alzheimer’s disease. That means roughly one out of every eight baby boomers will have the disease in coming years!
So, given this grim picture, I, like many other people, ask “Could this happen to me? How will I know if I’m a victim?” For whatever help it is, the Alzheimer’s Association has offered a list of 10 warning signs of dementia: (1) Abnormal forgetting; (2) Trouble doing tasks; (3) Language problems; (4) Loss of initiative; (5) Poor Judgment; (6) Problems with abstract thinking; (7) Misplacing things; (8) Changes in Behavior; (9) Personality changes; (10) Disorientation.
After reading that women are nearly twice as likely as men to develop AIzheimer’s, I’ve become very paranoid of late, often referring to these warning signs of dementia, wondering if I’m not showing some of those symptoms. But then I take comfort in the fact that many of us lose our keys and occasionally forget important appointments. I really don’t believe I’ve had changes in personality, nor am I disoriented—at least not that I know of. Nevertheless, I’m haunted by the thought that some day I may, just possibly may, be a victim of this cruel disease!
Dorothy Snodgrass
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“OBAMA THE BOMA
Editors, Daily Planet:
Now that another war escalation has begun thereby clarifying where the Democrats and Obama are, I would like to be one of the first to use the phrase: “Obama the Boma,” since it is likely those who voted for Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader will start using the less effective saying “I told you so.” Those of us who voted against hope, noted the Democratic party’s historic relationship to AIPAC (let Israel kill all Palestinians); Wall Street (Geithner and Summers) previously and currently responsible for delivering billions to the investment gamblers, stock brokers, bond holders, bankers; the Clinton’s foreign policy as in Honduras (supporting another South American coup), plus an expanded and continuous militaristic policy as headlined in the English capitalist press: “Obama’s troop surge mirrors Bush on Iraq” (FT, Dec 2nd 2009: p.3)
In his contribution to the useless debate, Obama stated each soldier will cost one million dollars a year thereby spending 30 billion dollars for the expanding occupation. As an ex-student I am lucky to have graduated before taxpayer funds for public education have been sent to Wall Street, the War Industry and the grotesque Military (in charge of US foreign policy).
RGDavis Ph.D.
San Francisco
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HOLIDAY SEASON SHARING
Editors, Daily Planet:
I have been thinking about the holiday season and our emphasis on marketing. The real meaning of the season is to have faith in the Creator who gave us bountiful gifts. We can share our gratitude for life with those who are less fortunate than us. Many people around us are poor. Many live without heat in the winter and without assurance of two meals a day. We have secret Santa gift exchanges but seldom include the homeless in our exchange circle. The real celebration will start not by promoting businesses and stimulating them to sell more products but by including the sick and the homeless in our holiday plans.
Romila Khanna
Albany
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WOMEN IN DARFUR
Editors, Daily Planet:
I am greatly concerned by the ongoing violence against women in Darfur and throughout Sudan. I am determined to elevate this issue within my community and for policymakers. 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an international campaign running from Nov. 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, to Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day.
I feel obligated to speak out for survivors of rape, violence and displacement in Darfur and Sudan whose courageous voices often cannot be heard.
I am writing letters to my members of Congress and asking them to join the chorus of concerned citizens on a legislative level and affirm that women’s rights are human rights.
I will continue my advocacy to end violence against women in Darfur and around the world and urge my friends and family to do the same.
Phillip Gibson
Danville
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LEGALIZE ALL DRUGS
Editors, Daily Planet:
What would happen if we legalized all drugs which would only be dispensed under medical supervision at a much lower cost? After a few months, poppy fields would be eradicated in Afghanistan and instead fragrant fruit trees would be planted with fruit exported to other countries which would provide a healthy living for the farmers. The Taliban would run out of money and leave towns. The exhorbitant amount of money we spend on drug enforcement and prisons could be used for drug prevention and rehabilitation. There would be plenty of money left for schools, poor, homeless people and health care. Most of all there would be no need for wars and weapons as all wars are based on greed and drugs. What an ideal world this would be!
Andree Julian
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MEDICARE FOR ALL
Editors, Daily Planet:
Medicare for All will build on a very successful, popular program that we already have in place. We must be brave enough to stand up to the “insurance” companies, companies that don’t even resemble the ‘gather one’s money to spread the risk’ insurance companies of years ago, like Blue Cross. It takes guts and courage to exercise power against the powerful. Please do so. Medicare for All. Now.
Mary Burmester
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HEALTHCARE REFORM
Editors, Daily Planet:
The point of health care reform, which is universal health care, is to take the health care system out of the hands of the insurance companies. In addition to that, it is now clear that putting capital money interests before the welfare of citizens results in wrongful illness and deaths.
Glen Kohler
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DOUGHNUT HOLE
Editors, Daily Planet:
In 2007, 3.4 million Medicare recipients fell into the “doughnut hole” responsible for covering their entire drug costs, but also required them to pay their Medicare Part D premiums.
Nearly 20 percent of Medicare recipients delayed or did not fill a medical prescription because costs were too high. And Medicare Part D coverage gaps are a big part of the problem.
Bruce Wexler
San Pablo
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STRATEGY FOR AFGHANISTAN
Editors, Daily Planet:
I have read and re-read President Obama’s speech on Dec. 2 at West Point announcing his strategy for Afghanistan and I fail to see any strategy in it. The speech follows classic form. President Obama reviews eight years starting with Sept. 11, 2001, details his plans, answers potential objections and ends with a patriotic peroration. It was well written, well reasoned and although Obama’s delivery was sincere it was neither passionate nor arousing thus prompting my suspicion that deep down the president was not at all sure his plans would work. My view of the speech may be biased because I am absolutely opposed to sending more troops; I want the president to order the young men and women who are there home.
In the end, the speech does not actually elaborate an honest-to-goodness military strategy which means that Obama’s strategy must be something other than military.
The core elements of his strategy, he said, were “…a military effort to create conditions for a transition; a civilian surge that reinforces positive action; and an effective partnership with Pakistan”. The first is rotten—we’ve been trying for over eight years. The second element is vague and the third is wishful thinking.
The word “strategy” evolved from “stratagem” which, in the 16th century, meant a trick to surprise the enemy (Oxford Concise Dictionary of English Etymology). Obama’s speech lays out an un-surprising stratagem, not a strategy. I hope the trick works, but I doubt it will.
Marvin Chachere
San Pablo
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MIDTERM ELECTIONS
Editors, Daily Planet:
The midterm elections are going to be a nightmare of negative reaction from progressive voters. Many of us feel so disenfranchised and defrauded. The Public Option is the core value of any progressive voter. That and the freedom of a woman to choose. But you already know all this.
Victor Miller
Alameda
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HEALTH CARE
Editors, Daily Planet:
It is time to provide quality, affordable, health care—insurance reform for all Americans. While Medicare needs audit and investigators to eliminate fraud—as do our banks, brokerage houses, etc. Medicare equalizes or improves comparison health between USA and other developed countries. It’s time.
Sheila Leonard
Alameda
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COPENHAGEN CONFERENCE
Editors, Daily Planet:
Over the past few weeks much media attention has been directed to the Copenhagen Conference on climate change that will be useless even if every “emission controlling” action gets roaringly approved. First simple point on this is that growing populations will thwart projected goals unless fuel burning is maintained at present levels restricting the fulfilling of the needs of the next generation; rather doubtful such restriction on energy will develop. But climate change is being triggered by much more than vehicle and power plant emissions as soot has just gotten a major National Research Council report on soot’s effects on climate change and health.
But the bigger problem is that no one at the conference understands the law. What law? Nature’s Law of Conservation of Energy that says releasing heat energy from trapped chemical energy in fossil fuels and from trapped nuclear energy in atoms has to accumulate in a our enclosed biosphere. Heat energy, what thermometers measure, is the motion of molecules and atoms in the biosphere, and they can not escape the biosphere due to the Law of Gravity. So the glaciers, sea ice and permafrost are melting away even as Anti-GW people with the recent hacking of weather data files in England try to claim temperature data have been doctored and meaningless. The Snows of Kilimanjaro are gone as are many glaciers in the Northern Rockies.
To get control of the climate crisis—I call it that because no one has any meaningful proposals on getting control of that heat energy—we can turn to our massive ever-mounting messes of organic wastes and sewage solids and make them a resource for generating some renewable energy and removing some energy and carbon from recycling in the biosphere. A process called pyrolysis can be applied to these messes to stop them from being allowed to biodegrade to reemit GHGs and to destroy germs, toxics and drugs in the messes greatly reducing costs and pollution problems in handling the messes. The process forms inert charcoal removing recycling carbon and energy from the biosphere as the process is remaking coal. And while energy has to be put in, that can come from a renewable fuel expelled out in the pyrolysis process.
I have outlined this pyrolysis process in previous letters to the Planet and in many blog comments such as the Green, Inc, NYTimes blog. I urge readers to get attention to this sustainability action of turning our waste messes into a resource. Now a company, First Power Limited, in Great Britain has started running such a program although it proposes to burn the charcoal formed. Much of it should be buried to remove some energy and carbon from their overloads already affecting the biosphere. Perhaps Berkeley might want to find out about getting this company to set up a plant for it.
James Singmaster
Fremont
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MEDICARE FOR ALL
Editors, Daily Planet:
We do not need a bail out for the insurance companies. We don’t need to forced to buy their faulty, worthless products at ever increasing costs. We need access to real health care. Medicare for all is the only way to do this simply and swiftly. Sixty percent of all U.S. citizens want this and are willing to pay taxes to achieve it.
Julie Keitges
