Page One

What Matters About Occupy Berkeley (News Analysis)

By Ted Friedman
Friday December 16, 2011 - 07:40:00 PM
Keeping the faith. At an Occupy Berkeley general assembly last month. They still show up at 6, all but Mondays, for G.A.

In October, we reported that Occupy Berkeley was on a collision course with city officials ("Is Occupy Berkeley on a Collision Course With Berkeley?" Planet, Oct. 28). -more-



Occupy Berkeley Health and Safety Plan

By Councilmember Jesse Arreguin
Thursday December 15, 2011 - 07:29:00 PM

To: Christine Daniel, Interim City Manager

Michael Meehan, Chief of Police

From: Councilmember Jesse Arreguín


RECOMMENDATION:

Consider the proposed strategies to develop an Occupy Berkeley Health and Safety Plan for immediate implementation.
-more-



Press Release: City Councilmember Arreguin Proposes Plan to Improve Health and Safety of Occupy Berkeley Encampment

From Anthony Sanchez
Thursday December 15, 2011 - 06:40:00 PM

Berkeley City Councilmember Jesse Arreguín submitted to Interim Berkeley City Manager Christine Daniel and Berkeley Chief of Police Michael Meehan this morning a Health and Safety Plan to address growing crime and public health issues at the ongoing Occupy Berkeley encampment. -more-



Training the Police: SWAT US 2011 (Sidebar)

From the Urban Shield web site
Thursday December 15, 2011 - 08:47:00 AM

During the 2011 Alameda County Sheriff's Office Urban Shield training exercise, SWAT and Tactical Response teams will participate in 29 individual events ranging from Search Warrant Service to Active Shooter/Immediate Action Team scenarios. Teams will arrive on Friday October 14, 2011, and will receive mission and safety briefings as well and an introduction to the latest technology to be used in the training scenarios. In addition, each team member is subjected to a medical assessment and firearms qualification at the Alameda County Regional Training Center Range Facility. -more-



I've Had It with These Masked Thugs (News Analysis)

By Gar Smith
Thursday December 15, 2011 - 08:41:00 AM

I don't know about you, but I'm getting fed up with these self-important gangs of masked, black-clad agitators running roughshod over our city streets. They've occupied parks, shut down roadways, vandalized private property, assaulted law-abiding citizens and left entire communities afraid to venture into financially struggling downtown business districts. They've wielded spray cans and left behind eyesores that have incensed the community.

I am speaking, of course, about the police. -more-



University Officials, Legislators Call for Clearer Police Procedures During Protests in Berkeley and Elsewhere

By Scott Morris (BCN)
Wednesday December 14, 2011 - 10:15:00 PM

Legislators, university officials and civil rights leaders at a hearing in Sacramento today seemed in agreement that campus police in protest situations needed stricter standards of conduct, and potentially a statewide crowd control policy. -more-



U.C. Berkeley Announces New Aid Program for Middle Class

By Jeff Shuttleworth (BCN)
Wednesday December 14, 2011 - 10:11:00 PM

Reacting to rising tuition costs and the state's high cost of living, University of California at Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau announced a new program today to make his campus more affordable for middle-class families. -more-



Features

Visit Telegraph for Holiday Gifts

By Steven Finacom
Saturday December 17, 2011 - 10:37:00 AM

Sunny skies and sparkling gifts are available this weekend and next at the Telegraph Avenue Holiday Fair. The 28th annual edition of the arts and crafts event runs from 11 am to 6 pm Saturday and Sunday, and next Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, December 22 through 24th. -more-


Public Comment

(More) Whistling in the Dark

By John Vinopal
Thursday December 15, 2011 - 10:44:00 AM

"The Berkeley Almanac" (1976) by Alfred Meyer provides additional data points to David Wilson's "Whistling in the Dark". Page 17 provides a percentage-wise breakdown of Berkeley's bicentennial year's expenses. Although there is no total budget provided, some multiplication suggests it may have been around $8.6m. (If 8.8% Community Agencies was $758k, see Pg 19.) -more-


Wine License Causes conflicted Loyalties in South Berkeley

By Jane Stillwater
Thursday December 15, 2011 - 10:40:00 AM

I have become very bothered, concerned and, well, torn in two directions lately because of the fact that my friendly neighborhood Walgreens store right across the street from me on Oregon and Adeline here in South Berkeley has apparently declared war on Bill Bahou, the kind-hearted owner of Roxie Deli, located at the corner of Shattuck and Ashby. -more-


Editorial

Occu-Puncture in Berkeley: Time to Occupy Everywhere

By Becky O'Malley
Friday December 16, 2011 - 01:59:00 PM

It’s becoming clear to most of us that the helium is slowly seeping out of the Occupy Berkeley balloon, which rose with great enthusiasm not that long ago. The movement has had enormous results, succeeding completely in the obvious goal of calling attention to the huge disparities between the super-rich and everyone else which are growing throughout the world. Now, however, it’s time to—sorry to use an overused slogan—move on to something else.

Berkeley Councilmember Jesse Arreguin has issued a lucid and intelligent summary of where Occupy Berkeley has been, along with an analyis of how the city of Berkeley should manage the settlement in Martin Luther King Civic Center Park in the near future. His document could serve as a model for other places which still have lingering Occupy encampments, but it probably won’t.

A quick crib sheet, for those who can’t be bothered to read three or four pages of print: As long as campers don’t break any other laws, the city will treat camping out as a form of protected speech, but that doesn’t mean campers can let their dogs run wild. (Arreguin’s use of the police-speak tag “zero tolerance” seems to have confused some commenters: it’s zero tolerance for repeat infractions of the stated rules, not zero tolerance for behavior explicitly defined as tolerable, i.e. camping.)

But he, correctly, doesn’t get into the question of whether camping out per se is still the best form of political expression. To understand that, supporters need to unwind the history of the Occupy actions to see what the next step should be. -more-


The Editor's Back Fence

Hallelujah, Corporations

Thursday December 15, 2011 - 09:55:00 PM

Thanks to Marty Schiffenbauer for passing along this jolly seasonal ditty, Hallelujah Corporations! A musical tribute to corporate excess: -more-


Columns

THE PUBLIC EYE:2011: The Year Corporations Attacked Democracy

By Bob Burnett
Saturday December 17, 2011 - 10:56:00 AM

For eighty years, Americans have feared robots, worrying they might one day rule the world. In 2011 we realized our real enemies are not robots, but multinational corporations, who have declared war on democracy. -more-


WILD NEIGHBORS: Alameda’s Turn (and Terns)

By Joe Eaton
Thursday December 15, 2011 - 10:49:00 AM

It’s been a long time coming, but the Alameda County Breeding Bird Atlas is finally available from Golden Gate Audubon. Based on intensive fieldwork in the 1990s, this book is a splendid addition to the shelf of Bay Area atlases. So far we have Marin, Sonoma, Napa, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, and now Alameda. I believe a Solano project is in the works. A San Francisco atlas would be slender, but perhaps surprising. How about it, Audubon? -more-


ECLECTIC RANT: Is Water Fluoridation Safe?

By Ralph E. Stone
Saturday December 17, 2011 - 11:01:00 AM

Fluoride is the name given to a group of compounds that are composed of the naturally occurring element fluorine and one or more other elements. In the early 1940s, scientists discovered that people who lived where drinking water supplies had naturally occurring fluoride levels of approximately 1.0 part fluoride per million parts water (ppm) had fewer dental caries (cavities). More recent studies have supported this finding. Fluoride can prevent and even reverse tooth decay by enhancing remineralization, the process by which fluoride “rebuilds” tooth enamel that is beginning to decay. In 1945, Grand Rapids, Michigan adjusted the fluoride content of its water supply to 1 ppm and thus became the first city to implement community water fluoridation in a public water system. -more-


MY COMMONPLACE BOOK: (a diary of excerpts copied from printed books, with comments added by the reader.)

by Dorothy Bryant
Saturday December 17, 2011 - 11:03:00 AM

He who despairs because of the news is a coward, but he who sees hope in the human condition is mad. Albert Camus, 1943, occupied France -more-


SENIOR POWER… Whatever became of

By Helen Rippier Wheeler
Thursday December 15, 2011 - 10:52:00 AM

As one ages, one wonders Whatever became of… -more-


Odd Bodkins: PoutingKitten

By Dan O'Neill
Friday December 16, 2011 - 12:05:00 PM

Arts & Events

AROUND AND ABOUT: Theater Review: 'The Wild Bride'--Kneehigh Theatre at Berkeley Rep

By Ken Bullock
Thursday December 15, 2011 - 10:41:00 AM

Under a slouch hat, the eyes of the guitarist shift; he grimaces as he sings Robert Johnson's Delta blues "Crossroads" under a tree with a mirror in its splayed branches, but no shade. -more-


EYE FROM THE AISLE: Give yourself a Holiday Present with THE WILD BRIDE at REP

By John A. McMullen II
Thursday December 15, 2011 - 10:38:00 AM
Patrycja Kujawska and Stuart Goodwin

If you wanted to tell a fairy tale on stage, what would you dream of? I’d want a bunch of actors all of whom could sing and dance and play instruments with expressive flexibility and astonishing appearances. -more-


Back Stories

Opinion

Editorials

Occu-Puncture in Berkeley: Time to Occupy Everywhere 12-16-2011

The Editor's Back Fence

Hallelujah, Corporations 12-15-2011

Coming Soon to a Neighborhood Near You? The Berkeley City Council grapples with a 17 bedroom monstrosity that the planning staff and the city attorney think is legal. 12-14-2011

Swanson to Challenge Hancock for Senate in 9th District--Which Still Includes Berkeley After Redistricting 12-13-2011

Cartoons

Odd Bodkins: PoutingKitten By Dan O'Neill 12-16-2011

Public Comment

(More) Whistling in the Dark By John Vinopal 12-15-2011

Wine License Causes conflicted Loyalties in South Berkeley By Jane Stillwater 12-15-2011

Occupy Berkeley Beer Committees from the OccupyBerkeley website: http://occupyberkeley.org/occupy-berkeley-beer-committees/ 12-14-2011

Oil Spill Shows that U.C. Berkeley's Disaster Plans Are Inadequate By Linda Franklin 12-12-2011

Republican Affect for 2012 By Jack Bragen 12-12-2011

News

What Matters About Occupy Berkeley (News Analysis) By Ted Friedman 12-16-2011

Occupy Berkeley Health and Safety Plan By Councilmember Jesse Arreguin 12-15-2011

Press Release: City Councilmember Arreguin Proposes Plan to Improve Health and Safety of Occupy Berkeley Encampment From Anthony Sanchez 12-15-2011

Training the Police: SWAT US 2011 (Sidebar) From the Urban Shield web site 12-15-2011

I've Had It with These Masked Thugs (News Analysis) By Gar Smith 12-15-2011

University Officials, Legislators Call for Clearer Police Procedures During Protests in Berkeley and Elsewhere By Scott Morris (BCN) 12-14-2011

U.C. Berkeley Announces New Aid Program for Middle Class By Jeff Shuttleworth (BCN) 12-14-2011

Visit Telegraph for Holiday Gifts By Steven Finacom 12-17-2011

LOST DOG ON OREGON STREET! (Letter) By John Herbert 12-14-2011

Ceremony Tonight Will Mourn Closing of Berkeley's Warm Pool (Event) By Gary Marquard 12-14-2011

Two Pedestrians Struck by a Car Near the Berkeley Bowl Market By Steven Finacom 12-13-2011

Updated: Port Protesters Vote to Continue Blockade--Mayor Quan Says It's "Economic Violence" By Zack Farmer(BCN) 12-12-2011

Oakland Port Blockaded by 1000 Tonight By Zach Farmer (BCN) 12-12-2011

Death of a Berkeley Deli (and More) By Ted Friedman 12-12-2011

Columns

THE PUBLIC EYE:2011: The Year Corporations Attacked Democracy By Bob Burnett 12-17-2011

WILD NEIGHBORS: Alameda’s Turn (and Terns) By Joe Eaton 12-15-2011

ECLECTIC RANT: Is Water Fluoridation Safe? By Ralph E. Stone 12-17-2011

MY COMMONPLACE BOOK: (a diary of excerpts copied from printed books, with comments added by the reader.) by Dorothy Bryant 12-17-2011

SENIOR POWER… Whatever became of By Helen Rippier Wheeler 12-15-2011

AGAINST FORGETTING: Occupy: You Can't Evict an Idea By Ruth Rosen 12-12-2011

Arts & Events

AROUND AND ABOUT: Theater Review: 'The Wild Bride'--Kneehigh Theatre at Berkeley Rep By Ken Bullock 12-15-2011

EYE FROM THE AISLE: Give yourself a Holiday Present with THE WILD BRIDE at REP By John A. McMullen II 12-15-2011

Defend Your Bill of Rights: Candlelight Vigil Thursday 12-15-2011- a public response to S 1867 aka the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)(Event) By Carol Denney 12-14-2011

New: AROUND AND ABOUT: Theater Review: 'Adoration of the Magi'--Inferno Theatre at South Berkeley Community Church By Ken Bullock 12-13-2011

EYE FROM THE AISLE: Theater Review: GOD’S PLOT at Shotgun Players By John A. McMullen II 12-13-2011

Get Ready for the Oakland Museum's White Elephant Sale By Dorothy Snodgrass 12-13-2011