The Week

Neighbors watch as Berkeley police establish a crime scene investigation area around the prone body of Marcus Mosley.
Jane Stillwater
Neighbors watch as Berkeley police establish a crime scene investigation area around the prone body of Marcus Mosley.
 

News

Interstate 580 Closed By Shooting, Bomb Scare until Sunday Evening

By Bay City News
Sunday July 18, 2010 - 06:07:00 PM

A bomb squad detonated a suspicious package found today in a pickup truck belonging to a man involved in an early-morning shootout with police on Interstate 580, a California Highway Patrol spokesman said. -more-



Popular Berkeley Video Store Closes

By Dan McMenamin(BCN)
Saturday July 17, 2010 - 03:20:00 PM

A popular video rental store in Berkeley closed its doors for good this week after fighting to stay in business when its parent company filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. -more-


Flash: Berkeley Man Shot Dead On Milvia Street (UPDATED)

By Janna Brancolini (BCN), Thomas Lord, Becky O'Malley
Monday July 19, 2010 - 07:49:00 PM

A man in his 30s was found fatally shot in a parked car in Berkeley today, a police spokeswoman said. A neighbor identified the victim for the Planet as Marcus Mosley Jr., and said that he grew up in Berkeley in the Savo Island Co-op and had attended Berkeley High. -more-


BART Police Oversight Bill Signed

By Bay City News Service
Friday July 16, 2010 - 05:35:00 PM

A BART police oversight bill signed into law on Thursday will take effect on Jan 1, 2011, exactly two years after a BART police officer shot and killed an unarmed passenger on the Fruitvale station platform in Oakland, BART officials announced today. -more-


Press Release: Intestinal Illness Closes Tuolomne Camp for the Weekend

From Berkeley Parks and Recreation Department.
Friday July 16, 2010 - 04:16:00 PM

Tuolumne Camp News Update (July 15, 2010): Due to multiple cases of an intestinal illness at Tuolumne Camp, the camp is being closed to campers for the weekend of July 16-19, 2010. Camp will re-open for dinner on Monday, July 19. -more-


Brown Sues to Defend PACE Financing Program

By Thomas Lord
Thursday July 15, 2010 - 12:15:00 PM

California’s Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. is striking back in defense of PACE programs. PACE (“Property Assisted Clean Energy”) programs, such as Berkeley FIRST, are described in a July 13 story in the Berkeley Daily Planet. Brown has filed a suit on behalf of the state of California against the Federal Housing Finance Agency, its director Edward DeMarco, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Freddie Mac, its CEO Charles E. Haldeman, Jr., Fannie Mae, and its CEO Michael J. Williams.. -more-


Cost of New Downtown Plan (so far): $1 Million

By Zelda Bronstein
Monday July 19, 2010 - 09:09:00 PM

In the nearly five years since the City of Berkeley started preparing a new plan for downtown, the actual costs of the planning process have never been publicized. On July 1, two days after the council voted 6-2-1 to place the “Green Vision for the Downtown” sponsored by Mayor Bates and Councilmembers Moore, Maio and Capitelli on the November 2010 ballot, the City’s Budget Office told this writer that since Fiscal Year 2006, the City has spent $939,760 on the still-to-be-formulated Downtown Area Plan. Of that sum, officials said, $651,827 has gone to the planner who’s overseeing the project, Matt Taecker. Taecker was reportedly paid with funds the City received from UC as part of the secret 2005 agreement that settled the City’s lawsuit of the University over campus expansion. What remains unclear is whether these arrangements honor the terms of the settlement agreement, and how these two avowedly cash-strapped public entities have found a million dollars (and counting) between them to fund this project. -more-


Solar Financing Program Invented in Berkeley, Now National, is In Trouble

By Thomas Lord
Monday July 19, 2010 - 04:42:00 PM

A plan that might sound like the work of those hooligans on Wall Street was in fact invented by an employee of the City of Berkeley in cooperation with Renewable Funding LLC, an Oakland-based corporation that helped to design, administer, and fund the Berkeley FIRST solar installation project.

Conceptually, it’s a simple business model: Issue loans to homeowners based on the value of their property, no deep credit check required. Combine those loans into pools and sell shares in those pools. The interest rates will be a bit high, so welcome borrowers who already have a lot of outstanding debt against their homes. Ensure that tax-payers are on the hook for these loans as much as possible. If you can, try to get some laws passed to ensure that, in the event of foreclosure, these loans are repaid first—even ahead of a primary mortgage on the property and even, if necessary, at taxpayer expense. -more-


News Analysis: Doctors without Morals

By Ralph E. Stone
Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 12:02:00 PM

There is increasing evidence that United States physicians, psychologists, nurses, and medics have been complicit in torture and other illegal procedures in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantánamo. They violated one of the principal precepts of medical ethics: "First, do no harm." Government physicians and psychologists who participated in and authorized the torture of detainees have escaped discipline, accountability or even internal investigation. The Pentagon, the C.I.A., state licensing boards, and professional medical societies have not initiated any action to investigate, much less discipline, these individuals. Presumably these health care professionals continue to treat an unknowing public with little or no fear of prosecution or disciplinary action. -more-


Temporary Transbay Terminal to Open Aug. 7

By Andy Hamilton (BCN)
Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 11:26:00 AM

Beginning next month, San Francisco's transit hub will move from the existing Transbay Terminal at Mission and First streets to a temporary terminal at Howard and Main streets. -more-


The Reaction to the Mehserle Verdict

Sunday July 11, 2010 - 02:21:00 PM

The big news last week was the relatively restrained reaction to an L.A. jury’s verdict that Johannes Mehserle was guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting of Oscar Grant. Last week’s Planet covered it in depth, on the theory that the Berkeley Bubble is not an island unto itself. We hope to cover, as well as we’re able, significant stories like this one which affect the whole urban East Bay, both Berkeley and beyond. Oscar Grant was a Hayward resident, and the policeman who shot him worked for BART, a regional agency which includes Berkeley in its coverage—it just happened that the initial outraged reaction to the shooting manifested itself in Oakland, many of whose citizens, like Oscar Grant, are African-Americans. Many Berkeleyans and people from all over the Bay Area took part in last week’s demonstrations—among those few who were arrested for intemperate behavior, 75% were from outside Oakland, some perhaps even from Berkeley. -more-


Opinion

Editorials

What's News in Berkeley? More Than You Might Think

By Becky O'Malley
Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 09:40:00 AM

The big news last week was the relatively restrained reaction to an L.A. jury’s verdict that Johannes Mehserle was guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting of Oscar Grant. Be sure not to miss the many fine pieces which appear as "Extras" in last week’s Planet, which covered it in depth, on the theory that the Berkeley Bubble is not an island unto itself. We hope to cover, as well as we’re able, significant stories like this one which affect the whole urban East Bay, both Berkeley and beyond. -more-


Cartoons

Odd Bodkins: A token of affection.

Dan O'Neill
Monday July 12, 2010 - 09:40:00 PM

Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 10:18:00 AM

Pelosi Backs Two Ferries for Berkeley;Post-Verdict Riots;Anarchism?The Post-Reagan Era;Arizona Cracks Down Again; The Walls Came Tumbling Down;Planning to Plan Downtown; Coal Kills; Mayor's proposed Downtown Area Plan Ballot Measure; Kenneth Thiesen’s 2008 Opinion; Feminists for Life

-more-


Facts and Figures Prove No New Landmark Rules Needed in Downtown Plan

By Steven Finacom
Monday July 19, 2010 - 08:10:00 PM

A major and pernicious element of the Mayor’s new, proposed, “Downtown Plan” involves sweeping away the existing, established, process governing the designation of historic structures and creating a special, abbreviated, procedure for reviewing potential historic resources in Downtown Berkeley only.

The Mayor and a majority of the City Council have essentially argued that this is necessary because developers and property owners are quaking in their boots, unwilling and/or unable to develop Downtown because they fear that historic regulation and all-powerful preservationists may stop them.

Nonsense. -more-


Wednesday Planning Commission to Address the Future of West Berkeley

From WEBAIC
Sunday July 11, 2010 - 04:59:00 PM

There’s a key Planning Commission meeting on Wednesday July 14th to decide the future of protected industrial spaces and the location and definitions of research and development. The Planning Commission is set to have their last discussion (before a final Commission Public Hearing in September) on opening up now-protected industrial space, on Wednesday, July 14th, 7pm, at the North Berkeley Senior Center - MLK at Hearst • As at the May 19th meeting, the Commission will likely take a "sense" vote on the issue.* -more-


Press Release: After Mehserle Verdict Community Should Turn to Human Rights Law

From the Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute
Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 09:45:00 AM

The Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute (MCLI), a Human Rights and international law think-tank, is calling for the use of United Nations treaties and treaty law in the aftermath of the Oscar Grant trial verdict. -more-


City of Berkeley Should Take Over Warm Pool Building in Trade with BUSD

By Terry Cochrell
Sunday July 11, 2010 - 04:42:00 PM

Warm-pool users at BHS read with interest the online letter by Mr. Henrik Bull, FAIA, who is interested in matters familiar to us: the value of upgrading and altering the old-gym complex where the City of Berkeley (COB) operates the therapeutic, highly valuable warm-pool. -more-


There are No “Outsiders” in the Struggle against Oppression

By Reiko Redmonde
Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 10:03:00 AM

To those who talk about “inoculating” people against the so-called “violence” of the masses. Who preach against protest. Who say “be cool.” Who say they want to preserve a “peaceful and thriving Oakland” when the reality is that every day the police run rampant, brutalizing and killing our youth. Who cynically invoke the names of Malcolm X and Huey Newton in attempts to pre-emotively quell the outrage of the people. Who speak of “love” while they denigrate those who have taken a stand, calling them “outside agitators” and “extreme fringe groups” We say: -more-


The Mehserle Verdict Illustrates Institutionalized Racism

By Maris Arnold
Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 09:55:00 AM

Now that the Mehserle verdict is in, the entire panorama of the case looks rotten to the core. It’s another crystal clear example of how institutionalized racism is perpetuated. It’s also a crystal clear example of the hidden (not so hidden) rule of government that the police mustn’t be held accountable for the grossest violations of human rights. The trial was tailored to fit this rule. -more-


Columns

New: Jane's Web Log: Spending the Night in Arnieville

By Jane Stillwater
Friday July 16, 2010 - 02:07:00 PM

Cold & Hard: Spending the night in Arnieville -more-


Dispatches From The Edge: Africa: No Butter but Lots of Guns

By Conn Hallinan
Sunday July 11, 2010 - 09:56:00 AM

The developed world has a message for Africa: “Sorry, but we are reneging on our aid pledges made at the G8 summit at Gleneagles, Scotland back in 2005, but we do have something for you—lots and lots of expensive things that go ‘bang’ and kill people.” -more-


Senior Power : “Noah’s Ark Was Built By Volunteers”

By Helen Rippier Wheeler
Sunday July 11, 2010 - 09:35:00 AM

(The complete quotation, according to Energize, Inc- Especially for Leaders of Volunteers, is “Don't ever question the value of volunteers. Noah's Ark was built by volunteers; the Titanic was built by professionals.”) -more-


Wild Neighbors: Tales of the Lone Parrot

By Joe Eaton
Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 10:08:00 AM

I got a handful of interesting responses to a column earlier this year about what I believed to be the last survivor of the wild parrots of Berkeley, a species known to the pet trade as cherry-headed conures and to ornithologists as red-masked parakeets. One writer bridges a gap in the story regarding the fate of the penultimate parrot. Another suggests that there may be another flock out there. -more-


Restoration Comedy: Phoning It In

By Jane Powell
Sunday July 11, 2010 - 04:59:00 PM

Having returned from Indiana to a typical East Bay summer (i.e. fog, or what a friend refers to as “barbeque in a parka” weather), I’m a little testy. As I’ve grown older I’ve come to actually like heat— not that I’m thinking of moving to the other side of the hill or anything. Nope, still attempting to hold on to my house. So I had another appointment at NACA last week.

-more-


News from Berkeley: The Alameda County Fair, Pick-N-Pull & Chez Panisse

Jane Stillwater
Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 10:53:00 AM
The Alameda County Fair: "We had fun!"

[Editor’s note: This is just a sample of Berkeleyan Jane Stillwater’s free-range blog. For the full treatment, complete with photos, click on her link at the right side of this page.]

If you are having trouble trying to keep from being driven completely nutso by all the grim, horrible and terrible national and international news headlines that just keep pouring down on our heads, then perhaps it's time to take a break and focus in on some of the good things in life instead. And there actually are a lot of good things happening here, locally, in my own home town -- which happens to be Berkeley. -more-


Corruption in the Repair Industry

By Jack Bragen
Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 12:12:00 PM

I worked as a television and video repairman in the 1980’s, was employed by several small repair shops and was self employed at it. I was pretty good at troubleshooting the circuitry in TV’s and VCR’s, yet some of the jobs were more stressful than I would have liked. -more-


Inside Northside's Fabled Spring Mansion

By Steven Finacom
Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 09:58:00 AM
The main façade of the mansion faces west, where the grounds step
                down in a formal terrace below the house.

Scores of curious sightseers—and perhaps some serious potential buyers—wandered this past Sunday through the closest thing to a residential palace in Berkeley, the John Hopkins Spring mansion. -more-


Arts & Events

Classical Music-East Bay Through July 25

Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 01:17:00 PM

BERKELEY ART MUSEUM AND PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE -more-


Readings-East Bay Through July 25

Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 12:54:00 PM

A GREAT GOOD PLACE FOR BOOKS -more-


Classical Music-San Francisco Through July 25

Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 01:16:00 PM

COMMUNITY MUSIC CENTER -more-


Galleries-East Bay Through July 18

Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 01:12:00 PM

"BAY AREA HEART GALLERY," -- Exhibit consists of photographs of children, youth and families, accompanied by their compelling stories. The joint exhibit opens in the Alameda County Administration Building, 1221 Oak Street, Oakland and at the Eden Area Multi-Service Center, 24100 Amador Way, Hayward. -more-


Galleries-San Francisco Through July 25

Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 01:11:00 PM

A440 GALLERY -- -more-


Museums-East Bay Through July 25

Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 01:02:00 PM

AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM AND LIBRARY AT OAKLAND The Oakland Public Library's museum is designed to discover, preserve, interpret and share the cultural and historical experiences of African Americans in California and the West. In addition, a three-panel mural is on permanent display. -more-


Professional Dance-San Francisco Through July 25

Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 12:54:00 PM

DANCE MISSION THEATER -more-


Stage-East Bay Through July 25

Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 12:52:00 PM

ALTARENA PLAYHOUSE -more-


Stage-San Francisco Through July 25

Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 11:28:00 AM

ACTORS THEATRE OF SAN FRANCISCO -more-


Exhibits-San Francisco Through July 25

Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 01:14:00 PM

"SUN SPHERES," -- "Sun Spheres'' is a trio of mosaic sculptures by artist Laurel True at the intersection of Ocean and Granada Avenues in the OMI District of San Francisco. -more-


Exhibits-East Bay Through July 25

Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 01:13:00 PM

CARMEN FLORES RECREATION CENTER -more-


Museums-San Francisco Through July 25

Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 01:00:00 PM

"TARGET ARTS AND WONDER FREE FAMILY EVENT," -- July 16 through July 18. The de Young Museum, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Contemporary Jewish Museum, The Museum of the African Diaspora, Zeum and Yerba Beuena Gardens Festival take turns opening their doors to the public for free with free art making activities. See website for more information. -more-


Popmusic-East Bay Through July 25

Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 12:55:00 PM

924 GILMAN ST. -- All ages welcome. -more-


It's Mozart Time Again

By Ira Steingroot
Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 03:18:00 PM

The wonderful time of the year has come, the time of the 2010 Midsummer Mozart Festival, the only all-Mozart festival in the country. This year’s celebration of the heartbreakingly beautiful music of the Salzburg-born genius will feature two programs, each presented at four locations around the Bay Area over the next two weekends. The selections include symphonies, concertos, ballet music and vocal arias performed by top local performers and internationally renowned artists, all under the direction of Maestro George Cleve, a Bay Area treasure and one of the world’s greatest interpreters of Mozart’s music. -more-


Silent Film Festival Celebrates Cinema’s First Golden Era

By Justin DeFreitas
Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 10:39:00 AM
Harry Langdon.

The silent era of filmmaking was an age of discovery, innovation and supreme achievement in the new medium. In the early years of the 20th century, motion pictures steadily grew from novelties and brief, flickering diversions to full-scale narratives. But it was in the 1920s that cinema truly blossomed into the great art form of the 20th century: techniques were refined; innovation was at full force; actors became international stars; and without the hindrance of nationalities and dialects, the medium established itself as a sort of universal language. -more-


Press Release: Benefit Concert Features Recent Graduates

By Debi Wong
Friday July 16, 2010 - 02:17:00 PM

I am a recent M.Mus graduate from the Yale School of Music's Voice Program. I am teaming up with a conductor from the Bay Area, and a graduate from the Choral Conducting program at Yale - Arianne Abela to give a benefit concert for the East Oakland School of the Arts. For this benefit concert we have programed a song cycle for Mezzo Soprano and piano by San Francisco composer, Joseph Gregorio, as well as Antonio Vivaldi's Gloria. Lastly we have commissioned American Composer, Colin Britt, to create a new work for Mezzo Soprano, Mixed Choir and Orchestra. His new piece "House of Clouds" written for this event will be premiered at this concert as well! -more-


Wild Neighbors: Tales of the Lone Parrot

By Joe Eaton
Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 10:08:00 AM

I got a handful of interesting responses to a column earlier this year about what I believed to be the last survivor of the wild parrots of Berkeley, a species known to the pet trade as cherry-headed conures and to ornithologists as red-masked parakeets. One writer bridges a gap in the story regarding the fate of the penultimate parrot. Another suggests that there may be another flock out there. -more-


Restoration Comedy: Phoning It In

By Jane Powell
Sunday July 11, 2010 - 04:59:00 PM

Having returned from Indiana to a typical East Bay summer (i.e. fog, or what a friend refers to as “barbeque in a parka” weather), I’m a little testy. As I’ve grown older I’ve come to actually like heat— not that I’m thinking of moving to the other side of the hill or anything. Nope, still attempting to hold on to my house. So I had another appointment at NACA last week.

-more-


News from Berkeley: The Alameda County Fair, Pick-N-Pull & Chez Panisse

Jane Stillwater
Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 10:53:00 AM
The Alameda County Fair: "We had fun!"

[Editor’s note: This is just a sample of Berkeleyan Jane Stillwater’s free-range blog. For the full treatment, complete with photos, click on her link at the right side of this page.]

If you are having trouble trying to keep from being driven completely nutso by all the grim, horrible and terrible national and international news headlines that just keep pouring down on our heads, then perhaps it's time to take a break and focus in on some of the good things in life instead. And there actually are a lot of good things happening here, locally, in my own home town -- which happens to be Berkeley. -more-


Corruption in the Repair Industry

By Jack Bragen
Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 12:12:00 PM

I worked as a television and video repairman in the 1980’s, was employed by several small repair shops and was self employed at it. I was pretty good at troubleshooting the circuitry in TV’s and VCR’s, yet some of the jobs were more stressful than I would have liked. -more-


Inside Northside's Fabled Spring Mansion

By Steven Finacom
Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 09:58:00 AM
The main façade of the mansion faces west, where the grounds step
                down in a formal terrace below the house.

Scores of curious sightseers—and perhaps some serious potential buyers—wandered this past Sunday through the closest thing to a residential palace in Berkeley, the John Hopkins Spring mansion. -more-


Dance-East Bay Through July 25

Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 01:15:00 PM

ASHKENAZ -more-


Highlights-East Bay Through July 25

Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 01:08:00 PM

"LASTSUNDAYSFEST," -- July 25. Event features two stages, one spotlighting up-and-coming and well known Bay Area bands, and a second outdoor cafi stage presenting smaller groups and individual performers, food, games and more. Event held on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley from Dwight to Bancroft Ave. -more-


General-East Bay Through July 25

Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 01:08:00 PM

"LASTSUNDAYSFEST," -- July 25. Event features two stages, one spotlighting up-and-coming and well known Bay Area bands, and a second outdoor cafi stage presenting smaller groups and individual performers, food, games and more. Event held on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley from Dwight to Bancroft Ave. -more-


Outdoors-East Bay Through July 25

Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 12:57:00 PM

ARDENWOOD HISTORIC FARM Ardenwood farm is a working farm that dates back to the time of the Patterson Ranch, a 19th-century estate with a mansion and Victorian Gardens. Today, the farm still practices farming techniques from the 1870s. Unless otherwise noted, programs are free with regular admission. -more-


Kids-East Bay Through July 25

Tuesday July 13, 2010 - 01:05:00 PM

ARDENWOOD HISTORIC FARM Ardenwood farm is a working farm that dates back to the time of the Patterson Ranch, a 19th-century estate with a mansion and Victorian Gardens. Today, the farm still practices farming techniques from the 1870s. Unless otherwise noted, programs are free with regular admission. -more-


Outings: The Historic Shinn House and Gardens

By Steven Finacom
Monday July 12, 2010 - 09:09:00 PM
The wooden Victorian style Shinn House dates to the 1850s and showcases four generations of Shinn family artifacts and early Alameda County rural life. Beyond the rose arbor on the right a two-story water tower rises.

“Thank you for visiting the beautiful half of Alameda County.”

Our guide was being somewhat facetious, but it was hard at the moment to disagree standing next to a handsome historic house surrounded by four and a half acres of gardens and grounds, with the golden—and undeveloped—hills of Fremont in the near distance.

Fremont? -more-