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Are those people in the bright chartreuse shirts patrolling the downtown streets the friendly helpful folks the Property Owners' Business Improvement District tries to tell us they are? Or are they hired cops? (picture 1) I was working on a project documenting homelessness when I took this picture of the man sleeping on one of those low walls on Shattuck and Kittredge. (picture 2)A few minutes later an 'ambassador' approached and rousted the man. He spoke to him briefly and walked away. I went over to the old man who had obviously been awakened from a sound sleep. I asked what the 'ambassador' had said to him. He told me that the 'ambassador' had informed him that he was not allowed to be here.
          --Lydia Gans.
Lydia Gans
Are those people in the bright chartreuse shirts patrolling the downtown streets the friendly helpful folks the Property Owners' Business Improvement District tries to tell us they are? Or are they hired cops? (picture 1) I was working on a project documenting homelessness when I took this picture of the man sleeping on one of those low walls on Shattuck and Kittredge. (picture 2)A few minutes later an 'ambassador' approached and rousted the man. He spoke to him briefly and walked away. I went over to the old man who had obviously been awakened from a sound sleep. I asked what the 'ambassador' had said to him. He told me that the 'ambassador' had informed him that he was not allowed to be here. --Lydia Gans.
 

News

Students and Neighbors Knock on Berkeley Doors to Promote Seismic Safety

By Sasha Lekach (BCN)
Wednesday April 11, 2012 - 09:52:00 PM

A series of earthquakes centered in the Berkeley area at the end of 2011 jolted a group of neighbors, students and elected officials to push for building safety near the University of California at Berkeley campus in anticipation of the "Big One." 

This evening a group is canvassing the north and south side of campus, handing out a two-page letter to tenants in buildings the city has listed as potentially hazardous as part of the Soft Story Ordinance, which passed in 2005. 

The ordinance states buildings with soft, or weak, ground stories "are recognized by engineers and other seismic safety experts as having the potential for sustaining serious damage including collapse in the event of strong earthquakes." 

As of March 2012, the city's list catalogues 320 buildings with soft stories that are legally obligated to inform tenants about seismic danger and post a warning -- the first step in an effort to mandate seismic retrofitting. 

City law states building owners have two years after they are listed on the inventory to submit a screening and "a detailed seismic engineering evaluation report prepared by a qualified California licensed structural or civil engineer."  

Berkeley Rent Board commissioner Igor Tregub, who is working on the seismic compliance issue as a private citizen, said this step lacks enforcement because of what he sees as a lack of funding and priorities.  

He claims only one inspector keeps track of the list of soft-story buildings and cites this as a factor in the slow progress of seismic compliance, along with a dearth of complaints from tenants who may not know the law about their building and earthquake safety. 

Berkeley Property Owner Association president Sid Lakireddy said seismic retrofitting cannot move forward until the first step, the inventory, is cleaned up.  

He said his association has reviewed the list and found many buildings that are in compliance marked otherwise. 

"There might be some property owners without a doubt who are not in compliance, but they need help," Lakireddy said. 

Many building owners have limited English, little legal knowledge or are on the verge of bankruptcy, Lakireddy said, himself a Berkeley building owner. 

Lakireddy said the required engineering report can cost up to $10,000, "It's the most expensive part aside from the actual retrofit." 

He advised owners to work with the BPOA which can assist with the rules of compliance. 

"Being in compliance is not that difficult once people are aware of what they need to do," Lakireddy said. 

Tregub acknowledged that a small minority is evading the law and housing tenants in unsafe conditions. 

"Eighty percent certainly want what's best for tenants and Berkeley," he said. 

With today's day of action Tregub hopes to "get the city to take concrete action" in enforcing the ordinance. 

The group was scheduled to meet at the steps of Sproul Plaza on the Berkeley campus at 5 p.m. before handing out letters about the ordinance to nearby neighbors. 

Included signatures on the letter are Berkeley Rent Board Commissioners Tregub and Jesse Townley and Joey Freeman, the external affairs vice president of the Associated Students of the University of California. 

City Councilmembers Jesse Arreguin and Kriss Worthington were expected to speak at the event.


Civil Rights Groups File Housing Discrimination Complaint Against Wells Fargo

By Patricia Decker (BCN)
Wednesday April 11, 2012 - 10:20:00 AM

A national organization dedicated to ending discrimination in housing filed an administrative complaint this week against a major national bank with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

The civil rights group National Fair Housing Alliance, or NFHA, filed the complaint today against Wells Fargo for what it says is a failure to maintain and properly market lender-owned properties in African-American and Latino neighborhoods in major metropolitan areas across the country, including the East Bay cities of Oakland, Richmond and Concord. 

The group conducted an investigation of more than 1,000 bank-owned homes located in and around Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Dayton, Miami, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Washington, D.C., and Oakland, and released the investigation's results on April 4. 

NFHA CEO and President Shanna Smith said today that the group was "astonished to see how poorly maintained the properties were in African-American neighborhoods in comparison to properties in white neighborhoods." 

The report found that lender-owned properties in predominantly white neighborhoods were more likely to have neatly manicured lawns, securely locked doors, and attractive "for sale" signs posted. 

According to the report, homes in neighborhoods of color were more likely to be littered with trash and unsecured and to have broken windows -- a combination that invites rodent and pest infestations as well as vandals and squatters. 

"It invites rodents, infestation of cockroaches -- it sends a message to the community that there's vandalism," Smith said. In Oakland, Richmond and Concord, bank-owned properties in African-American communities were nearly 3.5 times more likely to be missing a "for sale" sign than were properties in white neighborhoods, according to the report. 

A spokesman for Wells Fargo said the bank has a department that is dedicated to property management, including lawn and home maintenance, home security and conducting monthly inspections to ensure the properties are maintained in accordance with local standards. 

"Wells Fargo conducts all lending-related activities in a fair and consistent manner without regard to race, and this includes maintenance and marketing standards to all foreclosed properties for which we are responsible," spokesman Ruben Pulido said in the statement. 

"Regrettably, the complaint does not include specific property information that can allow us to investigate the circumstances in any of the markets they list," Pulido said. 

NFHA, along with four of its member organizations, is filing its administrative complaint against Wells Fargo and its subsidiaries today, Smith said, and plans to file a second complaint next week. 

An attorney for NFHA, Peter Romer-Friedman, said the Federal Housing Administration prohibits discrimination in the advertising of rentals or sale properties. 

Romer-Friedman said some of the properties have fallen into such a state of disrepair "that they must be demolished." 

The complaint means that the housing department will contact all involved parties, including Wells Fargo, to begin a mediation process. 

"We're trying to go the administrative route first hoping that the banks will want to come to the table and work out these problems," Smith said. 

Should the banks not be forthcoming, the process can be escalated by the housing department with the involvement of the Department of Justice and the filing of a case federal court.  

Smith said she thinks the report "will light a fire under the banks" because now there will be consequences. 


Press Release: Radical Library/Publisher and Prison Support Group Settle Lawsuit with FBI and UC-Berkeley Police over Improper Raid
Agencies Agree to Pay Damages, Delete Seized Data

From Hanni Fakhoury, Staff Attorney, Electronic Frontier Foundation
Wednesday April 11, 2012 - 10:16:00 AM

Berkeley, CA - Two radical groups have settled their lawsuits over an armed, over-broad police raid after the law enforcement agencies agreed to delete improperly seized computer data and pay $100,000 in damages and attorney's fees. Moreover, the University of California-Berkeley Police Department (UCBPD) acknowledged that at the time of the raid one of the groups qualified for federal protections designed to protect journalists, publishers, and other distributors of information from police searches, despite the police's persistent denial of that status throughout the lawsuit. 

UCBPD and the FBI raided the building housing the Long Haul, an alternative library, Infoshop and community center in Berkeley, in August of 2008 as part of an investigation into e-mail threats sent to UC animal researchers that allegedly came from public-access computers in the building. Agents conducted an armed search of both public and private rooms – cutting or unscrewing locks that protected private offices – and removed every computer from the building. The raid team seized clearly unrelated computers from behind the locked doors of the Slingshot collective, a division of Long Haul that has published the Slingshot newspaper for 24 years as well as the Slingshot Organizer, and from the office of East Bay Prisoner Support (EBPS), which published materials about prisoners' struggles. However, the federal Privacy Protection Act specifically protects publishers from search and seizure except in narrow, unrelated circumstances. The Long Haul and EBPS collectively filed suit and were represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the ACLU of Northern California. 

As part of today's settlement, the UCPD: 

* Conceded that it has no information that either the Long Haul or EBPS was connected with the e-mail threats; * Acknowledged that the Long Haul was at the time of the raid a publisher protected by the Privacy Protection Act, designed to prevent against such searches; and * Agreed to expand the scope and coverage of improved training regarding the provisions of the Privacy Protection Act that were first imposed in the wake of the 2008 raid.  

Both the UCPD and the FBI also agreed to: 

* Destroy the data they seized as part of the raid; and * Pay a total of $100,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees caused by the raid. 

"We hope that in view of this lawsuit and this favorable settlement, law enforcement will think twice before they raid other radical spaces on flimsy pretenses," said Jesse Palmer, a long-time participant in Long Haul operations. "The raid was an abuse of power. The police refused to show Long Haul representatives a copy of the search warrant, prevented anyone from watching what they were taking during the raid, and preferred to cut locks rather than accept our offer to unlock doors. The raid was a fishing expedition and an attempt to intimidate and harass radicals undertaken by the FBI and UCPD, but as the settlement demonstrates, it was the police who broke the law. We've done nothing wrong." 

"I have no faith that this agreement will change the attitudes or behaviors of the UC police or the FBI," said EBPS representative Patrick Lyons. "From kicking in our door and stealing our stuff, to the now-infamous UC Davis pepper spray incident, it is clear that the UC cops are at war with radicals, anarchists, and activists, and that will not change. I do, however, think that it is important that when they attack us, we fight back. I sincerely appreciate the hard work of EFF and the ACLU because in this situation our best weapon was our ability to make the UC police and FBI spend huge amounts of money defending their actions and concealing their agenda." 

Long Haul and EBPS plan to donate $500 of their portion of the settlement to the Occupy Oakland Anti-Repression Committee to assist others targeted by the police for their political beliefs. 

The Long Haul is an all-volunteer collective that operates a community space with free computer access, a historical archive, and a lending library of radical books to members of the public at its Infoshop in Berkeley, California. They have been at their current location since 1979 and have been a 501(c)(3) tax exempt educational organization since 1994. EBPS publishes a newsletter of prisoners' writings and distributes literature to prisoners. 

For the full settlement agreement: https://www.eff.org/document/settlement-agreement-0 


Bates: Let’s Tax Gasoline and Natural Gas in Berkeley (News Analysis)

By Zelda Bronstein
Tuesday April 10, 2012 - 04:24:00 PM

The city of Berkeley is falling apart. Deferred maintenance on the town’s deteriorating infrastructure—streets, public pools, street lighting, parks, recreation facilities and community centers, storm drains, seismic retrofits of city buildings—has led to $523 million worth of identified, unfunded projects. Between March 14-19, likely Berkeley voters were polled over the phone about possible bond measures for the November ballot whose passage would go toward paying for the repairs. On April 3, the council viewed the sobering results : none of the proposed measures came close to the 67% required to pass new property taxes. Grasping for alternative sources of revenue, Mayor Tom Bates proposed that a follow-up poll ask about a “green tax” on petroleum and a “carbon fee” on natural gas in Berkeley. 

The city paid Lake Research Partners $24,000 to poll 430 voters in a 17-minute survey. Though a majority of the respondents acknowledged the need for infrastructure improvements, and 68% rated both streets and storm drains as important or extremely important, the highest approval rate was only 59% for a $25 million bond for storm drains and water quality. A parcel tax that would raise $1 million for homeless services received a 58% yes response. 

Lake Associates’ David Mermin told the council that if tax measures face well-funded opposition, they generally lose. If there’s no opposition, “you can lift the yes vote” to the 67% threshold needed for approval. “It’s hard to lift,” he said, “but it’s possible”—if you’re starting at 62 or 63%. “That’s a lift that can be done.” But if you’re starting at 56 or 57%, reaching 67% is “pretty tough.” He also emphasized that undecided voters “tend to break toward a no vote in a bond election.” 

Mermin also explained that in the interest of maximum predictability, the sample of likely voters was weighted toward the hills (41%), homeowners (62%) and people who’ve lived in Berkeley ten years or longer (76%)—percentages that are not representative of the city’s entire voting population. In response to a question from Councilmember Wengraf, he said that the hills are defined as Districts 5, 6 and 8. 

With one exception, the council appeared to write off new property taxes. “The property tax is poison,” said Mayor Bates. “People have had it.” The exception was Councilmember Arreguin, who said that when the council had discussed the questions for the survey, he had asked that people be polled about adding 2% tax on the gross receipts of owners of 5 or more residential rental units. He wondered why that question hadn’t made it onto the survey and requested that it be included in the follow-up poll planned for May. Councilmember Wengraf asked the city attorney to see if such a levy would count as income tax, which, she said, would be illegal. 

Mayor Bates and Councilmember Wozniak had a different idea: assess a “green tax” on gasoline purchased in Berkeley and “a carbon fee” on Berkeleyans’ natural gas use. Revenues from the former would go to street repairs, from the latter to “climate action activities,” in particular watershed services. When Councilmember Capitelli noted that a sales tax is regressive, the mayor agreed: “It is regressive.” He went on to say, however, that rent, food and medicine are not taxed. Bates also said that if 67% of respondents in the follow-up survey were agreeable to the gasoline tax of ¼ cent, he would talk to other cities about imposing the same; otherwise, everyone would leave Berkeley to buy gasoline. 

Councilmember Moore headed in another direction. Citing the reduced size of the Berkeley police force and “the need for more police officers,” he said he’d “like to see a question on the follow-up poll about money that would go to hire more patrol officers.” 

City staff and the pollster will return to the council on May 1 with sets of questions to be reviewed for the follow-up survey. Should the council decide to place a bond or tax on the November ballot, it will provide direction on ballot language on June 12, review the final ballot measure language on July 10 and finalize the measures on July 17. 

The April 3 discussion could have been billed “Reaping What We’ve Sowed.” For years, the mayor and council have lavishly praised each other and the succession of city managers and budget directors for their collective “prudence” in managing Berkeley finances. After the council has approved each annual budget, Bates, now in the tenth year of his mayoralty, has triumphantly announced that once again, the city has balanced its budget. 

But California law requires every city in the state to balance its budget. The question isn’t whether you balanced yours, but what you had to do to balance it. At least, that used to be the question. Now, with Vallejo as the national poster child for municipal bankruptcy, with Stockton apparently about to follow suit and with many other cities grappling with multi-million dollar shortfalls, the question may be changing. 

The main reason Berkeley isn’t in Vallejo’s and Stockton’s shoes—yet—has been its citizens’ habitual willingness to tax themselves. There was a hiccup in November 2004, when Berkeley voters said no to four city tax measures. But that was the exception, as a glance at any property tax statement for a Berkeley parcel purchased after 1978 (the year Prop. 13 passed) will demonstrate. 

If the results of the March phone survey indicated that the party is over, Tuesday’s discussion suggested that our electeds are not prepared for that eventuality. Mayor Bates opened the meeting by saying, “This is unacceptable.” What neither he nor any of his colleagues on the dais also said is that their inordinate generosity to city staff is a major source of Berkeley’s fiscal woes. 

Before asking likely voters if they’re willing to pay higher taxes to fund more Berkeley police officers, the pollsters conducting the follow-up survey in May should inform respondents that in fiscal year 2012, Berkeley police officers’ average salary was $125,652; that their benefits (pension, health insurance plus workers comp) averaged 74% of their salary or $92,242; and that their total compensation averaged $217,894 a year. 

Indeed, before posing any questions at all about new taxes, the pollsters should tell respondents that last November former city Manager Phil Kamlarz retired with an annual pension of $250,000, joining 74 other city of Berkeley retirees who are getting pensions over $100,000. 

Also they should state that according to data obtained by the San Jose Mercury, in 2010 over a quarter of city of Berkeley employees—380 out of 1,529—had a base salary over $100,000; and that when cash payments, including overtime, are added, 30% of city staff landed in the $100 K club—and that’s not counting their fringe benefits. Mention, too, that personnel costs account for 77% of city expenses. 

Then and only then, ask those voters if they’re willing to pay higher city taxes.


New: Neighbors and Students to Knock on Tenant Doors in Seismic Compliance Day of Action in Berkeley

From Igor Tregub, Rent Commissioner
Wednesday April 11, 2012 - 08:39:00 AM

Recent seismic activity in the East Bay has been the latest series of events to highlight the importance of retrofitting Berkeley's apartment buildings. A magnitude 6.7 earthquake on the Richter scale, such as one that is predicted by the U.S. Geographic Survey to take place on the Hayward Fault in the next 30 years, could lead to the total collapse of hundreds of seismically unsafe apartment buildings in Berkeley and a terrible loss of life and limb.  

More than 75% of Berkeley's soft-story buildings surveyed in 2011 are not seismically retrofitted. Soft-story buildings refer to construction that has a garage, commercial space, or other space in an area where a solid supporting wall would otherwise be built. 86 of the 269 apartment thus surveyed are not even in compliance with the first, basic step (Phase I) of Berkeley’s Soft-Story Ordinance (passed in 2005), which requires landlords of soft-story buildings to notify their tenants of the buildings’ inherent seismic instability and to commission an engineering study.  

Efforts to mandate seismic retrofitting of soft-story residential or mixed-use properties by the City of Berkeley (Phase II) and to enforce the existing Phase I have been stymied over a lack of funding, staffing, and prioritization. 

This Wednesday, a coalition of concerned neighbors and tenants takes matters into their own hands by knocking on doors, handing out tips on disaster preparedness, informing tenants of soft-story buildings of the fact that their landlord is not yet in compliance with Berkeley’s Soft-Story Ordinance, and of the tenants’ rights under the municipal code.  

A press conference featuring elected officials and concerned community members will take place on the Steps of Sproul at 5pm. Immediately following the conference, these community members will walk to buildings in the vicinity of the UC Berkeley campus to inform their tenants of the high stakes. 

Wednesday, April 11, 5-7:30pm (Rain or Shine, but Hopefully the Latter!) 

5pm: Meet at steps of Sproul Plaza, UC Berkeley Campus 

5:30pm: Departure to buildings surrounding UC Berkeley campus (if arriving later, please contact Igor Tregub at 510-295-8798 to find out where to join walking group) 

Who: Berkeley City Councilmembers, other elected officials, and student leaders (ASUC, the Berkeley Student Cooperatives, and student organizations) will speak at press conference. The action is co-sponsored by the ASUC, CalPIRG, and Councilmembers Jesse Arreguin, Laurie Capitelli, and Kriss Worthington. 

This action is organized by Rent Board Commissioners Jesse Townley and Igor Tregub in their personal capacity and is not sanctioned by any public agency, including the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board. 


Berkeley Man Pleads Not Guilty to Murder Charge

By Jeff Shuttleworth (BCN)
Monday April 09, 2012 - 04:43:00 PM

An 18-year-old Berkeley man pleaded not guilty Friday to a murder charge stemming from the shooting death of another man outside a liquor store 11 days earlier. 

Randall Oscar Alston is accused of killing 24-year-old Devin Lee Whitmire of Berkeley in the 2800 block of Sacramento Street at about 7:35 p.m. on March 29. 

But Alston's attorney, veteran Oakland defense lawyer James Giller, said after Alston's brief hearing that "his position is that he didn't do it." 

Giller said he hasn't yet seen all the evidence in the case but he thinks the accusation that Alston committed the murder "is inconsistent with what his neighbors and other people say about it, which is that he's a very nice kid who is active in his church." 

In fact, Alston maintains that he was on his way to church at the time that Whitmire was fatally shot. 

Berkeley police, who haven't specified if they think Alston was the person who shot and killed Whitmire, say they believe there are additional suspects in the case and there is a $17,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of all the suspects in the case. 

Officer Shan Johnson said in a probable cause statement when charges were filed against Alston last week that Whitmire and his brother were on the sidewalk outside Bob's Liquors and Deli at Sacramento and Oregon streets when they were approached by Alston and a second suspect. 

Whitmire's brother knew Alston and acknowledged him and Alston responded by acknowledging Whitmire's brother, according to Johnson. 

But Whitmire's brother then saw Alston and the second suspect approach Whitmire and saw the second suspect displaying a black handgun, Johnson said. 

The brother yelled a warning to Whitmire and they both began to flee but the brother then heard "numerous gunshots" and discovered that Whitmire had been struck by the gunshots, Johnson said. 

About 30 minutes after the shooting, Whitmire's brother spotted Alston and "physically assaulted him," according to Johnson. 

Berkeley police who were nearby spotted the assault and detained the brother and Alston, he said. 

The brother identified Alston and said he was one of the people responsible for shooting Whitmire, Johnson said. 

Whitmire was taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland, where he was pronounced dead. 

Whitmire's death is the third homicide in Berkeley so far this year. 

Alston, who has a thin build, short hair and was dressed in a yellow jail uniform today, is scheduled to return to court on May 21 for a preliminary hearing. 

His mother and several other family members came to court to support him. 


How Long Before Park Hills Murder Were Berkeley Police Priorities Influenced by Occupy? (News Analysis)

By Ted Friedman
Friday April 06, 2012 - 02:12:00 PM
Feb. 18, day of Park Hills murder. Where were police?
Ted Friedman
Feb. 18, day of Park Hills murder. Where were police?
Don't let the smoke fool you. This was the finale to a peaceful Occupy demo the night, Feb. 18, odf the Park Hills murder.
Ted Friedman
Don't let the smoke fool you. This was the finale to a peaceful Occupy demo the night, Feb. 18, odf the Park Hills murder.

Were priorities that kept cops off telegraph all day on February 18 set so early they could not respond to Peter M. Cukor's plea for help, a response that could have saved his life? 

That's the question Oakland Trib reporter Doug Oakley and I should have asked the chief at the public safety meeting Mar. 8 at Northbrae Community church. 

Then the chief did something stupid that re-framed the story. Only hours after the chief had tamed an angry mob at the church, he, inexplicably sent his public info officer, reportedly armed, to Doug Oakley's home at 12:45 a.m. 

Within hours after reports of the BPD home-call, the story went viral. 

Oakley and I were drowning in sugar-coated details at Northbrae that the chief spit out at the speed of sound. The chief has the mind of a philosopher coupled to a rapid-fire delivery system--spreading info at Gatling gun speed. 

Oakley sought clarifications, and the chief demurred. He was already quagmired in the morass of his own details. I was a silent witness, unable to interrupt another reporter, buttering his bread. 

When I did get in a question, it was a softball about what the alleged killer had told police. 

It has only taken me a month to get to the core of the matter. 

In previous stories, I've asked where were the cops on Telegraph the Saturday Occupy Oakland walked into Berkeley with its new bosom-buddy, Occupy Cal. That was good policing, as a police clash with protesters could have started a riot. 

In the past, police have let small demos develop on the avenue, but at least watching from across the street until they could determine public safety was not threatened. 

But during a Bank of America demo the day Peter M. Cukor was murdered there were reasons to keep a police eye out. Here's what I saw that day that I did not report. The BA protest began around noon outside the Caffe Mediterraneum, often spilling into the street, and blocking side walk traffic. 

When the crowd was sufficiently worked up, it headed for BA on Telegraph, where demonstrators beat on the ATMs and the bank's glass doors. Berkeley has an ordinance banning close-proximity to an ATM by non-customers. Beating on bank glass doors might not have found favor with police, either. 

The BA security guard later told me he had considered calling police but didn't. But what if protesters (I was among a small group admitted inside) had jammed the BA lobby, instead of exiting politely out a side door? 

Rev. Billy told me privately that he had discussed with his wife whether he should get arrested in Berkeley, as he had been in Manhattan. He was not trying to get busted, he said. But might have in the heat of the moment, especially if police had moved in. 

The protest, which was more guerilla theater than protest, went smoothly. (http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2012-02-17/article/39332?)The day went well for everyone, except the Park Hills murder victim. Occupy staged a peaceful protest, and Rev. Billy's traveling roadshow was a four-star production. 

It's hard to believe police would not have been interested. I well remember noticing the eerie absence of cops that day, and made a point of looking for them. Never around when you need them? The situation that day was beyond normal indifference, and I noticed that. 

I was on Telegraph all day, and did not see my first cop until 12:20 a.m. when a lone officer in a squad car responded to a robbery near Moe's. Unusual for a Saturday on the ave. 

University police were also sequestered in their nearby headquarters, braced for the Fuck the Police march their "intell" had told them might have turned ugly. 

But was it good policing to set a crimes-in-progress priority so early--eleven hours early? 

Both departments must ask themselves how much public safety they want to defer while girding for an anticipated protest. 

I know better than to ask police this question and now there may be legal issues. in fact, at a recent police review commission, the Chief showed up with an attorney, and would only take written questions, to be answered later. 

This article is an attempt to smoke BPD out on this issue. Perhaps Planet readers could contact the chief with my question. I know he'll have a good and thoughtful answer, but watch out for the rapid-fire mind of the chief. 

Be seated when you call, you may become dizzy when you get the Chief's answer. 


Planet reporter Friedman stalks police from the Southside.


UC Berkeley Protesters Occupy Registrar's Office, Leave on Their Own

By Patricia Decker (BCN)
Friday April 06, 2012 - 10:32:00 PM

About 20 people who were occupying a University of California at Berkeley building today to protest what organizers say is a lack of minority students enrolled at the university left of their own accord late this afternoon, a school spokeswoman said. 

Campus spokeswoman Janet Gilmore, when reached by phone this afternoon, confirmed that there were about 20 individuals inside the office this afternoon and that they left of their own accord at around 4:30 p.m. 

"They all got up as a group, chanting, clapping and marched right out the door," Gilmore said. 

The group of Berkeley students, high school students and community supporters were occupying the registrar's office on the first floor of Sproul Hall, the school's administration building. 

The occupation, organized by the civil rights group By Any Means Necessary, or BAMN, comes one week after the school sent out admission decisions. 

According to protesters, even though minority students comprise about 50 percent of the state's high-school graduates, they make up about only 18 percent of UC Berkeley freshmen. 

BAMN attorney and organizer Ronald Cruz said that about 75 people participated in a noon rally preceding the occupation. 

Cruz said that protesters presented university officials with a petition and list of demands that had garnered 6,000 signatures. 

The protesters are demanding that UC Berkeley immediately double underrepresented minority student enrollment for this fall's class and that the university and the Alameda County District Attorney's Office drop charges against Occupy Cal demonstrators from a November action. 

"We are demanding an end to discrimination in UC Berkeley's admissions policies," BAMN organizer and UC Berkeley student Matt Williams said this afternoon. 

On Monday, a federal appeals court in San Francisco rejected a challenge by BAMN and 46 minority students to a voter-approved ban on affirmative action in UC admissions. 

According to a written ruling issued by the court, the three-judge 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel was bound by a 1997 decision of the same court upholding the ban, which was part of the voter initiative Proposition 209, enacted in 1996. 

The proposition bans state and local government preferences for minority groups and women in public education, employment and contracting. 

BAMN said it plans to file an appeal to the decision by April 16. 

"We cannot wait for the courts to bring justice," Cruz wrote in an email today. "BAMN will continue the fight to ensure that Latina/o and black students have access to the University of California."


Press Release: Holocaust Remembrance Day is April 22

From Alejandro Soto-Vigil, Office of Councilmember Kriss Worthington
Friday April 06, 2012 - 01:56:00 PM

The City of Berkeley will sponsor the 10th Annual Holocaust Remembrance Day event this year with special guests Robert Pave and Cecilia Sasana as Survivor Honorees, and Martha Fuchs author of recently published book. Legacy of Rescue: A Daughter’s Tribute. Musical performance by Cellist Isaac Pastor-Chermak, Cantor Linda Hirschhorn, and Kol Hadov. The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life at 2121 Allston Way will host the event on Sunday, April 22 at 12 noon.  

The theme, established by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., is “Choosing to Act: Stories of Rescue." Observances of Holocaust Remembrance Day will take place across the country during the week of April 15-22nd with candle lightings, speakers and readings. Berkeley's program is honored to have the participation of two distinguished survivors this year.
Robert M. Pave was born on August 3, 1929 in Warsaw, Poland. After spending his first 5 years in the Nazi concentration camps, he emigrated to the United States. Mr. Pave served in the Marine Corps from 1956 to 1958. Mr. Pave is married to Inger, and they have 2 adult sons, both in the computer field.
Nelly Cesana was 4 years old when she went to live in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1939. But even as a child, she was aware of her perilous existence. While in the Warsaw Ghetto, she survived typhus and malnutrition. Cesana and her mother worked as farm laborers until they were liberated in 1945.
Marta Fuchs was born in Hungary from parents who survived the Holocaust. Her writing focuses on the aftermath of the Holocaust in her amazing book, Legacy of Rescue: A Daughter's Tribute.
Musical performances: Cellist Isaac Pastor-Chermak pursues an eclectic variety of musical endeavors, ranging from baroque cello and viola da gamba to the most experimental of contemporary compositions. Cantor Linda Hirschhorn has been performing around the world for over 40 years. She has 8 recordings of original songs - with the Jewish Women’s acapella quartet Vocolot. Kol Hadov is a UC Berkeley student led acapella group.
Contact Information:
Rita Clancy, Jewish Family & Children Services (925) 927-2000
Linda Hirschhorn (510) 654-0799
Marta Fuchs (415)409-3739
Kriss Worthington, Berkeley City Council (510) 981-7170
Susan Wengraf, Berkeley City Council (510) 981-7160


Out On a Limb With People's Park Tree-Sitters (First Person)

By Ted Friedman
Friday April 06, 2012 - 12:18:00 PM
A few of the truncated limbs on tree-sit tree after university buzz-sawed them to prevent access.
Ted Friedman
A few of the truncated limbs on tree-sit tree after university buzz-sawed them to prevent access.
Eddie Mill, 23, a B.U. graduate and latest failed People's Park tree-sitter. A savvy social networker, and veteran of Occupys, he sought to call attention to his squat on university property in the lower hills. He hopes to attend graduate school in Costa Rica, in horticulture. He once owned his own tree-house. Here, in a pre-tree-sit interview at Cafe Med.
Ted Friedman
Eddie Mill, 23, a B.U. graduate and latest failed People's Park tree-sitter. A savvy social networker, and veteran of Occupys, he sought to call attention to his squat on university property in the lower hills. He hopes to attend graduate school in Costa Rica, in horticulture. He once owned his own tree-house. Here, in a pre-tree-sit interview at Cafe Med.
Will this most recent tree-sit platform, alongside a dumpster alongside Anna Head School across from People's Park, go up again? Is there anyone out there who cares?
Ted Friedman
Will this most recent tree-sit platform, alongside a dumpster alongside Anna Head School across from People's Park, go up again? Is there anyone out there who cares?

Not that anyone cares, but two recent attempts to re-start tree-sits in People's Park have been foiled, and oh yes, I was so inside the story, i'm starting to feel out-on-a-limb. 

The most recent failed tree-sit, Thursday, followed another failure two weeks earlier. 

Cause of failures: turf wars in the East end of the park, where a park camper has laid claim to tree-sit territory. 

Grouse, the first failed tree-sitter was good ground support for tree sitters but was not an experienced tree-sitter. The sitter, who came down Thursday owned his own tree-house as a boy, and often slept over on his own property.This would make him perhaps the world's first tree-house capitalist. 

Both tree-sitters were thoroughly briefed by me. I was in on planning protest demands, and even supplied water to Grouse, who was not being supported on the ground. If only I weren't too chicken to go up myself. 

But when I give my now standard speech to tree-sitters about the dangers they face, which is based on previous stabbings and broken backs in the trees, I frighten myself. 

I have covered four park tree-sits for the Planet, and those of you, who have not tuned out, have slogged through them. 

My questions to Grouse about self-defense in the tree (was he ready for an attack, like the one that threatened to dislodge a previous sitter?) only chilled Grouse's already cold feet. 

Nor was he cheered by the commotion that ensued at the base of the tree, at the late-night erection that brought him to his perch. The commotion led to an absence of supplies in the tree, or the usual banners and other tree-sit accouterments. In the commotion, Running Wolf, the tree-sit leader, fled after blood-drawing fisticuffs with a near-by camper. 

"I had to get out of there, because passing students threatened to call police, and I'm running for mayor," Running Wolf said." It wouldn't have looked good," he told me. 

By next morning, Grouse was running scared, after being threatened that morning by a fierce group of what he called "gang-bangers." 

After no more than thirty hours aloft, Grouse descended, probably for water or food, and university police used his absence to destroy his tree-sit platform, and later sawed off twenty tree-limbs, seemingly making the tree unscalable. 

Some said the tree was wounded and swaying. 

Running Wolf boasted he could rig a tree-sit platform to the dismembered old tree. He drew me a diagram to prove it. 

But according to reports from the park, Thursday's sit could not be rigged to the limb- challenged tree. It's days as a protest site are toast. 

A nearby tree was selected, but when Eddie Mill, 23, his real name, came down the next morning, the camper who fought Running Wolf weeks ago cut the rigging lines, and the sixty pound tree-sit platform, crashed to the ground. 

The sturdy platform, intact, was dragged across the street and propped against a dumpster, where it may be re-used for future sits, according to a back-up tree-sitter named Dante. 

The high-minded camper-sheriff who has squelched two tree-sits told me to tell the sitters, "Don't come back. I'll keep stopping you." 

I'll be incorporating this latest into my next tree-sit orientation lecture. 


Ted Friedman reports for the Planet from the always amusing, when not replicative, South-side. 

 

 


Bates: Let’s Tax Gasoline and Natural Gas in Berkeley (News Analysis)

By Zelda Bronstein
Tuesday April 03, 2012 - 08:10:00 PM

The city of Berkeley is falling apart. Deferred maintenance on the town’s deteriorating infrastructure—streets, public pools, street lighting, parks, recreation facilities and community centers, storm drains, seismic retrofits of city buildings—has led to $523 million worth of identified, unfunded projects. Between March 14-19, likely Berkeley voters were polled over the phone about possible bond measures for the November ballot whose passage would go toward paying for the repairs. On April 3, the council viewed the sobering results : none of the proposed measures came close to the 67% required to pass new property taxes. Grasping for alternative sources of revenue, Mayor Tom Bates proposed that a follow-up poll ask about a “green tax” on petroleum and a “carbon fee” on natural gas in Berkeley. 

The city paid Lake Research Partners $24,000 to poll 430 voters in a 17-minute survey. Though a majority of the respondents acknowledged the need for infrastructure improvements, and 68% rated both streets and storm drains as important or extremely important, the highest approval rate was only 59% for a $25 million bond for storm drains and water quality. A parcel tax that would raise $1 million for homeless services received a 58% yes response. 

Lake Associates’ David Mermin told the council that if tax measures face well-funded opposition, they generally lose. If there’s no opposition, “you can lift the yes vote” to the 67% threshold needed for approval. “It’s hard to lift,” he said, “but it’s possible”—if you’re starting at 62 or 63%. “That’s a lift that can be done.” But if you’re starting at 56 or 57%, reaching 67% is “pretty tough.” He also emphasized that undecided voters “tend to break toward a no vote in a bond election.” 

Mermin also explained that in the interest of maximum predictability, the sample of likely voters was weighted toward the hills (41%), homeowners (62%) and people who’ve lived in Berkeley ten years or longer (76%)—percentages that are not representative of the city’s entire voting population. In response to a question from Councilmember Wengraf, he said that the hills are defined as Districts 5, 6 and 8. 

With one exception, the council appeared to write off new property taxes. “The property tax is poison,” said Mayor Bates. “People have had it.” The exception was Councilmember Arreguin, who said that when the council had discussed the questions for the survey, he had asked that people be polled about adding 2% tax on the gross receipts of owners of 5 or more residential rental units. He wondered why that question hadn’t made it onto the survey and requested that it be included in the follow-up poll planned for May. Councilmember Wengraf asked the city attorney to see if such a levy would count as income tax, which, she said, would be illegal. 

Mayor Bates and Councilmember Wozniak had a different idea: assess a “green tax” on gasoline purchased in Berkeley and “a carbon fee” on Berkeleyans’ natural gas use. Revenues from the former would go to street repairs, from the latter to “climate action activities,” in particular watershed services. When Councilmember Capitelli noted that a sales tax is regressive, the mayor agreed: “It is regressive.” He went on to say, however, that rent, food and medicine are not taxed. Bates also said that if 67% of respondents in the follow-up survey were agreeable to the gasoline tax of ¼ cent, he would talk to other cities about imposing the same; otherwise, everyone would leave Berkeley to buy gasoline. 

Councilmember Moore headed in another direction. Citing the reduced size of the Berkeley police force and “the need for more police officers,” he said he’d “like to see a question on the follow-up poll about money that would go to hire more patrol officers.” 

City staff and the pollster will return to the council on May 1 with sets of questions to be reviewed for the follow-up survey. Should the council decide to place a bond or tax on the November ballot, it will provide direction on ballot language on June 12, review the final ballot measure language on July 10 and finalize the measures on July 17. 

The April 3 discussion could have been billed “Reaping What We’ve Sowed.” For years, the mayor and council have lavishly praised each other and the succession of city managers and budget directors for their collective “prudence” in managing Berkeley finances. After the council has approved each annual budget, Bates, now in the tenth year of his mayoralty, has triumphantly announced that once again, the city has balanced its budget. 

But California law requires every city in the state to balance its budget. The question isn’t whether you balanced yours, but what you had to do to balance it. At least, that used to be the question. Now, with Vallejo as the national poster child for municipal bankruptcy, with Stockton apparently about to follow suit and with many other cities grappling with multi-million dollar shortfalls, the question may be changing. 

The main reason Berkeley isn’t in Vallejo’s and Stockton’s shoes—yet—has been its citizens’ habitual willingness to tax themselves. There was a hiccup in November 2004, when Berkeley voters said no to four city tax measures. But that was the exception, as a glance at any property tax statement for a Berkeley parcel purchased after 1978 (the year Prop. 13 passed) will demonstrate. 

If the results of the March phone survey indicated that the party is over, Tuesday’s discussion suggested that our electeds are not prepared for that eventuality. Mayor Bates opened the meeting by saying, “This is unacceptable.” What neither he nor any of his colleagues on the dais also said is that their inordinate generosity to city staff is a major source of Berkeley’s fiscal woes. 

Before asking likely voters if they’re willing to pay higher taxes to fund more Berkeley police officers, the pollsters conducting the follow-up survey in May should inform respondents that in fiscal year 2012, Berkeley police officers’ average salary was $125,652; that their benefits (pension, health insurance plus workers comp) averaged 74% of their salary or $92,242; and that their total compensation averaged $217,894 a year. 

Indeed, before posing any questions at all about new taxes, the pollsters should tell respondents that last November former city Manager Phil Kamlarz retired with an annual pension of $250,000, joining 74 other city of Berkeley retirees who are getting pensions over $100,000. 

Also they should state that according to data obtained by the San Jose Mercury, in 2010 over a quarter of city of Berkeley employees—380 out of 1,529—had a base salary over $100,000; and that when cash payments, including overtime, are added, 30% of city staff landed in the $100 K club—and that’s not counting their fringe benefits. Mention, too, that personnel costs account for 77% of city expenses. 

Then and only then, ask those voters if they’re willing to pay higher city taxes. 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Berkeley Murder Suspect Arraigned, Police Seeking Additional Suspects

By Jeff Shuttleworth
Tuesday April 03, 2012 - 07:06:00 PM

A suspect in the shooting death of a 24-year-old man in Berkeley on Thursday night was arraigned on a murder charge in Alameda County Superior Court today. 

Randall Oscar Alston, an 18-year-old Berkeley man, was arrested about half an hour after the fatal shooting of Devin Lee Whitmire of Berkeley in the 2800 block of Sacramento Street at about 7:35 p.m. Thursday. 

Berkeley police spokeswoman Sgt. Mary Kusmiss said investigators believe there are additional suspects in the case and there is a $17,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of all the suspects in the case. 

Officer Shan Johnson said in a probable cause statement filed in court that Whitmire and his brother were on the sidewalk outside Bob's Liquors and Deli at Sacramento and Oregon streets when they were approached by Alston and a second suspect. 

Whitmire's brother knew Alston and acknowledged Alston and Alston responded by acknowledging Whitmire's brother, according to Johnson. 

But Whitmire's brother then saw Alston and the second suspect approach Whitmire and saw the second suspect displaying a black handgun, Johnson said. 

The brother yelled a warning to Whitmire and they both began to flee but the brother then heard "numerous gunshots" and discovered that Whitmire had been struck by the gunshots, Johnson said. 

About 30 minutes after the shooting, Whitmire's brother spotted Alston and "physically assaulted him," according to Johnson. 

Berkeley police who were nearby and spotted the assault then detained the brother and Alston, he said. 

The brother identified Alston and said he was one of the people responsible for shooting Whitmire, Johnson said. 

Whitmire was taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland, where he was pronounced dead. 

Whitmire's death is the third homicide in Berkeley so far this year.


Peter Douglas, Thomas Jefferson to the Coast

By Janet Bridgers, Earth Alert, www.earthalert.org
Thursday April 05, 2012 - 02:42:00 PM

Peter Douglas, who died on Sunday after a long battle with cancer, can be considered the Thomas Jefferson of the coastal protection movement. 

The first similarity was his youth compared to the age of his peers. Douglas was hired in 1969 by then-California Assemblyman Alan Sieroty straight out of UCLA law school. On his second day of work for Sieroty, he began drafting coastal legislation. 

Sieroty introduced the legislation three years in a row in the Assembly, where it passed. But the Coastal Alliance, the coalition of organizations statewide supporting it, was never able to overcome Senate opposition. In 1972, the Coastal Alliance decided to present the legislation as an initiative. Douglas redrafted it. Prop. 20 made it to the ballot on the strength of all-volunteer signature gatherers. 

Douglas participated in the Prop. 20 campaign. Once the Coastal Commission was launched, he became a legislative liaison. He worked for passage by the legislature in 1976 of the Coastal Act, which superseded the initial four-year phase of implementation of coastal protection established by passage of Prop. 20. 

In 1985, Douglas became the third executive director of the commission. Jefferson was the third president of the U.S. Douglas served for 26 years at that position, finally resigning last summer, as his battle with cancer worsened. 

The greatest way in which to compare Douglas to Jefferson was his brilliance in distilling ideas into the legal language that allows the ideas to proceed through the process by which those ideas may become law. Douglas’ legacy as the author of major legislation is secure. The Coastal Act has only been strengthened by subsequent court battles, most notably the California Supreme Court’s decision in the Marine Forests Society case that eliminated the ability of appointing authorities to remove commissioners before their term was completed. 

In an interview I did with him two weeks before he announced his retirement, I asked him what the significance of the coastal initiative was. He explained, 

“I think the coastal initiative was a visionary law and embodied many fundamental principles that changed the way we look at land use, environmental stewardship and protecting resources for current and future generations. So for example… 

Incorporating the precautionary principle, which hadn’t been done before; 

Incorporating a change in the burden of proof that basically anyone who wanted to change the status quo would have to prove that the project would not have an adverse environmental impact, as opposed to the government showing why a project shouldn’t be approved. That was significant; 

The fact that it was the people who stepped forward to protect their precious resource—the coast—making it the people’s law, was huge; 

The fact that it created an independent commission whose members were appointed by a variety of appointing authorities, so that no one ideology would control the decisions to be made and recognizing that decisions were subjective, you could have a good law but if you don’t have good people to implement it, it doesn’t really make much difference; and 

The fact that it came at the height of the environmental movement and changes to the way we deal with land was huge and California set the standard for the rest of the nation and, in fact, the world." 

Douglas explained that most of the things that [the coastal initiative and the Coastal Act] have achieved are things you don’t see, the access that hasn’t been lost, the wetlands that haven’t been filled, the views that haven’t been destroyed, the second home subdivisions that haven’t been allowed, the agricultural lands that haven’t been destroyed. 

“So it’s things that you don’t see that are the major accomplishments,” he said. 

“Also, other things you don’t see are attitudinal changes by elected officials who have come to recognize that coastal protection is a priority, empowerment of citizen activists, another one of those things that you can’t measure but clearly can be traced to the Coastal Commission because of its stress on public participation and transparency of process…Those are all incredibly important elements of our measures of success….” 

Lastly, Douglas recognized, as did Jefferson, that the battle is never done. Jefferson’s prescience that “the price of liberty is eternal vigilance” is the same look into the future that Douglas made in saying, “the coast is never saved. It’s always being saved.” 

No doubt there are those who are happy to see Douglas gone. Some may hope for new success in developing the most beautiful stretches of coast into private enclaves. It now requires a new generation to loudly demonstrate the public’s support for the coast. This generation will have the framework of the Coastal Act to help them. 

l


Opinion

The Editor's Back Fence

This is It, At Last

Tuesday April 10, 2012 - 08:42:00 PM

Oops. Too much excitement over the spring break, I guess. I seem to have neglected to convert this issue into the "current issue", the one with last Friday's date, until today. The remedy is that I'll just leave everything online as it is now until the new issue comes out next Friday, simply adding new stories to it daily as they arrive. But don't bother to try to understand what's happening—if you're reading this you're in the right place.


Holiday

Friday April 06, 2012 - 12:57:00 PM

The editor is taking a couple of days off, so there are no new sententious musings for today’s issue. Last week's are still posted, in case you missed them.

If you’re looking for seasonal inspiration in a quasi-spiritual vein, you might want to take a look at Rabbi Michael Lerner’s Passover Seder Haggadah, which he says might also be useful for Christians and other spiritual traditions.

And here's a holiday treat from Berkeley's own Magnatune.

Commusicare by Commusicare


Cartoons

Odd Bodkins: Fried Polecat (Cartoon)

By Dan O'Neill
Friday April 06, 2012 - 12:23:00 PM

 

Dan O'Neill

 


Bounce: Jr's Lieberry (Cartoon)

By Joseph Young
Friday April 06, 2012 - 12:28:00 PM

 

Joseph Young

 


Public Comment

Berkeley Iceland Initiative Petitioners Seek Signatures

By Tom Killilea / Save Berkeley Iceland
Monday April 09, 2012 - 04:43:00 PM

Because the current leadership of the City has failed to address the need for its restoration as a community recreation center, an initiative targeted for the November Ballot has been launched through which the Citizens of Berkeley would establish the restoration of Berkeley Iceland as a public community recreation center the official policy of the City of Berkeley. A drive to qualify the initiative kicked off on the fifth anniversary of Berkeley Iceland's closing in 2007 with the goal of getting the signatures of 3,000 Berkeley voters by May 10. The full text of the initiative is available at http://www.berkeleyiceland.org/advocacy/ballot_2012/resolution. 

When the current owners of Berkeley Iceland closed our 72 year old community ice rink in 2007, the City of Berkeley lost a valuable public recreation space. In the intervening years, the community has fought and won preservation of the structure in the face of significant opposition from the owners and little support from city leaders. With preservation of the structure achieved, the City of Berkeley needs a policy regarding use of the site that best serves the entire community: a public recreation and community center based on a sustainable ice rink as was the historic role of Berkeley Iceland. This initiative would set City policy so that any plans for Berkeley Iceland coming before the Council, Boards, Commissions and other official bodies use the need for community recreation in their decisions. 

While it was the the current owners who closed Berkeley Iceland, actions of the City of Berkeley were cited by the owners as contributing factors. Because the building was not designated for preservation and the City did not have a policy to preserve the valuable community space, Berkeley Iceland was allowed to become an unused eyesore neglected by its owners. While the landmark designation of the building is settled and the site itself protected, the attention is turned to the use of the building. The City of Berkeley needs a clear policy to ensure Berkeley Iceland is restored for the good of our community. A building designed for public recreation in a City lacking recreation space requires policies which favor its restoration as a community recreation center. 

The City of Berkeley Master Plan recognizes the lack of public recreation space in Berkeley. The restoration of Berkeley Iceland as a community recreation facility is an opportunity to return lost community space to the City of Berkeley. With active support for this goal set forth in the policies to be adopted through this petition by the City of Berkeley, resources from public, private and nonprofit sources can be combined to restore a truly world-class community recreation center in an acknowledged historic building - Berkeley Iceland. 

Petitions are being circulated throughout the City of Berkeley - look for us at the Farmers Markets and other popular sites. If you can volunteer to gather signatures, contact us through the Save Berkeley Iceland website , and follow our progress on the site as well. Help us in the next step to Save Berkeley Iceland! 

As always, we thank you!, our community, for all the support you have given over the years - without it we would not gotten as far as we have! 


Email Tom Killilea at: tom@SaveBerkeleyIceland.org


Three for History: Andy, Anthony and Sydney

By Councilmember Kriss Worthington
Friday April 06, 2012 - 03:01:00 PM

In fifteen years as a City Council member, I have never seen three ASUC Senators do so much work on so many issues that affect so many people. Although I have never endorsed a team of candidates in ASUC elections, this year is a very unique chance to get three officers who have been effective advocates all year long, not just at election time. I expect this talented team to make history as one of the most successful student governments in history.

I hereby ENDORSE Andy Albright, Anthony Galace, and Sydney Fang.  

Many people already seem to know their involvement on campus as senators, and in state and national issues. I am writing this message because it seems less visible for folks to know their exemplary record of involvement and achievement on dozens of local issues. A few examples: 

1. Pushing landlords to refund security deposits. First email in Summer alerting us to these problems. After months of work some tenants received refunds. Still working on others. 

2. Berkeley Inn site foreclosure: For 25 years this vacant site has been blighted. Successfully pushed City to take action from August until Sept 6 vote. (Now the owner has a new architect who says they will submit a complete proposal very soon.) 

3. Pedestrian Safety: Did research, community organizing and events to improve dangerous intersections in September and October.  

4. Telegraph Livability Coalition: helped create coalition working with businesses, long term residents, activists and students from October to December. Created consensus list of 21 things to do to make Telegraph cleaner, greener and safer. Encouraged communication and cooperation between diverse folks advocating for their own groups. 

5. Public Works: Lobbied head of Public Works Department on nuts and bolts of city services getting done in November.  

6. Second Response Ordinance expansion: Wrote first Senator letter opposing proposed additional restrictions in January. 

7. TAP/Walk the beat: lobbied Berkeley Police Chief in February and March for reinstating foot patrol for safety in Northside and Southside. 

8. B.R.E.A.K. Berkeley Researching Educating Advocating Knowledgeable solutions. Recruited students to work on spring break projects advocating for student empowerment. 

9. Student Pledge. Requested Mayor and City Council members at Student Working Group to sign student pledge in March. Protested City council making a finding of blight in student apartment buildings without consulting with student leaders and students affected. Also advocated for more affordable student housing by supporting BSC to build a new student coop. 

10. Student Commissioner Study: Contacted city staff and elected officials to compile numbers of students and people of different races serving on city commissions in March and April. Informed City Council on underrepresentation of API , Latino and Black residents, as well as drastic underrepresentation of students. 

 

INNOVATION: These students have earnest ideas, work hard, and are willing to try new ways of doing things. Their creative efforts motivated more students to do more for the community and helped make Berkeley a better city. 

INSPIRATION: The conventional wisdom about both the Berkeley Inn site and the Walk the Beat program has been that nothing would be done. Residents and businesses had begged the city to take action. I had written multiple Council items and got study but not action. Andy Albright’s timely advocacy from his personal experiences helped get actual results. 

INDEPENDENCE: Over the years some student leaders just side with Wozniak and the moderate side of City politics. Other students just work with the more liberal (Arreguin, Anderson, Worthington) side of City Council. Sydney Fang has written criticisms of BOTH sides of the City Council and proposed improvements to both sides. By proposing solutions, her passionate criticism was seen as polite and more powerful. 

Given their track record of intelligent activism and effective advocacy on so many issues, I hereby ENDORSE Andy Albright, Anthony Galace, and Sydney Fang to become officers of the ASUC. I also endorse YES on the V.O.I.C.E initiative 


My City Council title is for identification purposes. This is my personal opinion, and does not claim to represent the whole City of Berkeley. 

 


April Pepper Spray Times

By Grace Underpressure
Friday April 06, 2012 - 12:34:00 PM

Editor's Note: The latest issue of the Pepper Spray Times is now available.

You can view it absolutely free of charge by clicking here . You can print it out to give to your friends.

Grace Underpressure has been producing it for many years now, even before the Berkeley Daily Planet started distributing it, most of the time without being paid, and now we'd like you to show your appreciation by using the button below to send her money.  

This is a Very Good Deal. Go for it! 


Meet the Real 1%: OCCUPY BOHEMIAN GROVE This July

By Haig Patigian
Tuesday April 03, 2012 - 07:06:00 PM

In solidarity with a number of Occupations, as well as long-running protest group Bohemian Grove Action Network, the call for peaceful protests against The Bohemian Club this July in Monte Rio (CA) are hereby announced. Since Bohemian Grove is on private land, we respect those legal boundaries. Therefore, this communique only endorses peaceful, non-violent protests on the public land existing outside Bohemian Grove. 

The goal is not to “shut down” their party – we simply want to shine a spotlight on it. We feel it blatantly confirms the existence of an interconnected, international power elite that holds a systematic "good old boys" monopoly over portions of the public & private sector. We do not claim this to be a "one size fits all" mega-conspiracy. However, it obviously highlights a literal network (or "mob," if you will) of interconnected power players. 

Currently the framework is in place for two events – July 14th 2012 & July 21st 2012. Mary Moore of The Bohemian Grove Action Network will be the core coordinator for the July 14th protest involving members of Occupy Santa Rosa & San Francisco. 

Full explanation here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/86505846/Occupy-Bohemian-Grove-July-2012 

A group representing Occupy Portland (OR) will be holding a protest against the notorious “Lakeside Talks” on Saturday July 21st. Other events are to be scheduled throughout The Bohemian Club's Two Week Encampment. 

In Portland Oregon, a working group called the “Occupy Bohemian Grove PDX Committee” is assembling this framework. They will be helping to organize the official Occupy PDX protest in Monte Rio on Saturday July 21st. 

In Portland this group will be staging pickets outside events in their area when prominent Bohemian Club members appear at speaking engagements that are compensated with public tax-payer funds. They hope other decentralized groups like this will form across the USA. 

With official Occupy Portland endorsement (through a vote of GA consensus), this working group has sent out the call for any interested Occupy Group to show solidarity under this decentralized OCCUPY BOHEMIAN GROVE banner by participating in an International Awareness Day on July 14th, 2012. The concept is simply to distribute flyers, hold an informative workshop, or otherwise schedule a march as to spread info on this subject. 

The next official meeting will be hosted by Occupy Santa Rosa on Saturday April 14th at the Peace & Justice Center, 467 Sebastopol Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA. Any interested parties are invited. 

Learn everything about this action at the following link: http://www.scribd.com/doc/86505846/Occupy-Bohemian-Grove-July-2012 

What is Bohemian Grove? The short answer is that Bohemian Grove is a super-exclusive encampment/party for the most corrupt of the 1%, whose attendees have included every Republican President since 1888 as well as Fox News CEO Rupert Murdoch, Warren Buffet, Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Henry Kissinger, Alan Greenspan, John Lehman, Karl Rove, Norman Schwarzkopf & the Rockefeller Family. Other names include high-ranking members of ALEC, NATO, NAFTA, Stratfor, Haliburton, The United Nations, Bilderberg Group, CIA, FBI, Federal Reserve & the 9/11 Commission report committee. The list continues to spiral with a laundry list of major players in world politics, big business, the banking industry & the military industrial complex. 

Those involved are either guests or members of “The Bohemian Club.” Formed in the 1870's as an artists retreat, this 2700 acre campground (dubbed “Bohemian Grove”) exists 75 miles North of San Francisco. Formed in the late 1800's as an artists retreat, this camp slowly became an annual, clandestine party for the “1%.” 

Every year from mid-July to the beginning of August, these men hold secretive “Lakeside Talks.” This is the cause of concern for us – secret seminars involving unbelievable concentrations of wealth and power. One can ask “if it's secret, how do you know about this?” Because while the contents of these talks remain a mystery, we know for a fact they take place. Also, program guides which have been leaked contain dubious speeches involving everything from reshaping the Middle East through NATO involvement, nuclear energy, prison systems, war strategy, banking cartels, etc. 

Disclaimer: Those working on this action DO NOT ENDORSE the conspiracy talk which claims The Bohemian Club's mascot (a huge owl statue) is some Babylonian demigod. This owl statue IS NOT MOLOCH. This IS NOT a satanic cult. The misinformation comes directly from Alex Jones, who was the first person to infiltrate and film the entire ceremony. Without any evidence to support his wild claims, he built an entire career out of it and is now one of the most popular journalists on the web. As is why most never look deeper into this subject – lunatic websites often pop up with searches. The reality is that Bohemian Grove is more of a pseudo-mystical frat-boy kind of thing, on par with Fred Flintstone & the Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes. So yes, while it is true that burning an effigy under a creepy statue while wearing druid hoods has obvious connotations to ancient sacrifice religions, in reality this is a tongue-in-cheek reference to that sort of thing. And yes, once again, we know what this sounds like. But reality is stranger then fiction. 

Help us make history this July.


Columns

ON MENTAL ILLNESS: Parents are not to Blame for Schizophrenic and Bipolar Illnesses

By Jack Bragen
Wednesday April 11, 2012 - 09:31:00 AM

When someone becomes mentally ill in their young adulthood or late adolescence, the episode can be as devastating for the parents of that person as for the afflicted. I recall that my first episode of psychosis was a very wild ride, and not in a good way. At the end of this episode, I was finally stabilized, and I received a diagnosis of Schizophrenia, Paranoid-type. The psychiatrist, Doctor Trachtenberg, had my mom and I seated in a room, and he told us the diagnosis as well as the prognosis. I remember that this diagnosis was very upsetting to my mother and that I was too "out of it" to be upset about it. 

This came after months of me being very hard to deal with because I was having a whopper of a psychotic episode. I do not feel the inclination to share with you the details of this episode. During this psychotic episode, my parents were extremely fearful on my behalf, and went through a very hard time dealing with me. From my perspective it was very difficult also, especially because it had never happened to me before, therefore there was not a part of me that could understand or explain what was happening. (In subsequent episodes, because it had happened before, some part of me had an understanding of what was probably going on, and could provide some small amount of cushioning.) 

My parents did not create my schizophrenic illness. They had no control over the genes they passed along to me and had limited power over my environment. I have early childhood memories of feeling paranoid while in the public school system. I believe I had some level of this illness beginning at birth. 

Both of my parents have always been kind and gentle, and they have been living examples of how to be a good person. Credit ought to be given to them for the fact that I have finally had a good outcome after decades of struggling against the illness. They have been there to help me get back on my feet at times when I have figuratively fallen flat on my face. They have put my needs above their own. 

Schizophrenia and Bipolar illnesses are caused by genetic predispositions in combination with unknown environmental factors. The environmental component could include accidents in which there was a blow to the head, problems in the environment in the womb, viruses, television, movies and video games, eating too much fast food, and not fitting in socially, or being bullied by other children. Having mean parents (which I did not have) is not known to be a cause of schizophrenia and bipolar, although it might create offspring with a mean disposition. 

Parents might possibly be to blame for some mental illnesses other than schizophrenia and bipolar. My knowledge of this is very limited. Children who grow up in the foster care system are more likely to end up in jail than those who are raised by their parents. Parents who are abusive will produce offspring who are physically and emotionally damaged. This damage doesn't tend to show itself through schizophrenia and bipolar. Some people who are sociopathic could have been mistreated; or this illness could be another, distinct, neurobiological condition. I will not make the commitment of saying that any group of parents is bad. 

Schizophrenia and bipolar are illnesses that have plagued some families over a period of generations. Along with these conditions often comes brilliance. We could also be looking at our physical evolution trying to take the next step in the development of a future human species.


DISPATCHES FROM THE EDGE: China’s Economy: The Frog & The Scorpion?

By Conn Hallinan
Friday April 06, 2012 - 10:36:00 AM

Behind the political crisis that saw the recent fall of powerful Communist Party leader Bo Xiali is an internal battle over how to handle China’s slowing economy and growing income disparity, while shifting from a cheap labor export driven model to one built around internal consumption. Since China is the second largest economy on the planet—and likely to become the first in the next 20 to 30 years—getting it wrong could have serious consequences, from Beijing to Brasilia, and from Washington to Mumbai. 

China’s current major economic challenges include a dangerous housing bubble, indebted local governments, and a widening wealth gap, problems replicated in most of the major economies in the world. Worldwide capitalism—despite China’s self-description as “socialism with Chinese characteristics”—is in the most severe crisis since the great crash of the 1930s. 

The question is: can any country make a system with serious built in flaws function for all its people? While capitalism was the first economic system to effectively harness the productive capacity of humanity, it is also characterized by periodic crises, vast inequities, and a self-destructive profit motive that lays waste to everything from culture to the environment. 

Can capitalism be made to work without smashing up the landscape? China has already made enormous strides in using its version of the system to lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and create the most dynamic economy on the planet, no small accomplishment in an enormous country with more than a billion people. Over the past 30 years, China has gone from a poor, largely rural nation, to an economic juggernaut that has tripled urban income and increased life expectancy by six years. 

But trying to make a system like capitalism work for all is a little like playing whack-a-mole. 

For instance, China’s overbuilding has produced tens of millions of empty apartments. “If we blindly develop the housing market [a] bubble will emerge in the sector. When it bursts more than just the housing market will be affected, it will weigh on the Chinese economy,” said China’s Premier, Wen Jiabao. And, indeed, by controlling the banks—and thus credit and financing—real estate prices have recently fallen in most mainland cities. 

But since 13 percent of China’s Gross Domestic Product is residential construction, a sharp drop in building will produce unemployment at the very time that a new five-year plan (2011-2015) projects downshifting the economy from a 9 percent growth rate to 7.5 percent. 

What worries China’s leaders is that one of capitalism’s engines of self-destruction—economic injustice and inequality—is increasing. According to Li Shu, an economist at Beijing Normal University, from 1988 to 2007, the average income of the top 12 percent went from 10 times the bottom 10 percent, to 23 times the bottom 10 percent. According to the Financial Times, it is estimated that China’s richest 1 percent control 40 to 60 percent of total household wealth. 

Wealth disparity and economic injustice have fueled “incidents,” ranging from industrial strikes to riots by farmers over inadequate compensation for confiscated land. Endemic local corruption feeds much of the anger. 

The government is trying to address this issue by raising taxes on the wealthy, lowering them on the poor, and including more “poor” in a category that makes them eligible for subsidies. Wen said last year that China aims to “basically eradicate poverty by 2020.” According to the United Nations, some 245 million Chinese still live in extreme poverty. 

Beijing has also reined in the sale of land by local municipalities. But since the major way that cities and provinces generate money is through land sales, this has made it difficult for local areas to pay off their debts, maintain their infrastructures, and provide services. 

Whack one mole, up pops another. 

There is a growing willingness by the average Chinese citizen to confront problems like pollution, corruption, and even nuclear power. Part of the current debate in the Communist Party leadership is over how to respond to such increased political activity. Bo had a reputation as a “populist” and campaigned against economic injustice and corruption. But he was also opposed to revisiting the issue of Tiananmen Square, where in 1989 the People’s Liberation Army fired on demonstrators. 

Tiananmen has considerable relevance in the current situation, since the main demands of the demonstrators were not democracy but an end to corruption and high food prices. It is no accident that, when food prices began rising two years ago, the government moved to cut inflation from 6.5 percent to 3.2 percent this past February. 

While the government generally responds to demonstrations with crackdowns, that policy has somewhat moderated over the past year. When farmers ran local leaders and Communist Party officials out of the town of Wutan, the provincial government sent in negotiators, not police. Anti-pollution protests forced authorities to shut down several factories. At the same time, the government has tightened its grip on the Internet, still arrests people at will, and is not shy about resorting to force. 

It is clear the possibility of major political upheaval worries the current leadership and explains why Premier Wen recently called up the furies of the past. The current economic growth is “unbalanced and unsustainable” he said. “Without successful political structural reform, it is impossible for us to fully institute economic structural reform and the gain we made in this area may be lost,” and said that “such a historical tragedy as the Cultural Revolution may happen again.” 

Changing course in a country like China is akin to turning an aircraft carrier: start a long time in advance and give yourself plenty of sea room. If China is to shift its economy in the direction of its potentially huge home market, it will have to improve the lives of its citizens. Wages have gone up between 15 and 20 percent over the past two years and are scheduled to rise another 15 percent. 

But social services will also have to be improved. Health care, once free, has become a major burden for many Chinese, a problem the government will have to address. 

There are some in the Chinese government whose definition of “reform” is ending government involvement in the economy and shifting to a wide-open free market system. It is not clear that the bulk of China’s people would support such a move. All they have to do is look around them to the see the wreckage such an economic model inflicts in other parts of the world. 

Can capitalism work without all the collateral damage? Karl Marx, the system’s great critic, thought it could not. Can China figure out a way to overcome’s system’s flaws, or is this the tale of the frog and the scorpion? 

The scorpion asked the frog to ferry it across a river, but the frog feared the scorpion would sting him. The scorpion protested: “If I sting you, than I die as well.” So the frog put the scorpion on his back and began to swim. When he reached mid-stream, the scorpion stung him. The dying frog asked “Why?” and the scorpion replied, “Because it is my nature.” 

Can China swim the scorpion across the river and avoid the sting? Stay tuned. 


You can read Conn Hallinan at dispatchesfromtheedgeblog.wordpress.com and middlempireseries.wordpress.com 

 


THE PUBLIC EYE: Inside the Mitt

By Bob Burnett
Friday April 06, 2012 - 10:34:00 AM

It’s clear that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney will survive the GOP version of “The Hunger Games” and become their 2012 presidential nominee. The richest and most radical presidential candidate in modern times, Romney offers a retrograde vision for America and a surprising set of weaknesses. 

Romney’s a plutocrat leading a Party that dogmatically promotes the interests of the 1 percent. He’s admitted that his net worth is approximately "$200-and-some-odd million." (In 2010 and 2011 Romney made a total of $42 million and paid less than 14 percent in taxes.) Of course, wealth alone does not determine political philosophy – FDR and JFK were wealthy – but Romney’s actions indicate he has swallowed the radical conservative ethos that defines contemporary Republican politics. 

Before serving one term as Governor, Romney was a vulture capitalist. He made his money running a subsidiary of Bain capital, whose “modus operandi was to invest in companies, leverage them up with debt, and then sell them off for scrap, allowing Bain’s investors to walk away with huge profits while the companies in which Bain invested wound up in bankruptcy, laying off workers and reneging on benefits.” (Romney’s work at Bain was attacked in a 30 minute video released by an anti-Romney Republican Super-PAC.) 

As the 2012 Republican primaries progressed, Governor Romney’s opponents tagged him as a “flip-flopper,” a politician who panders to his audience. His campaign has attempted to counter this perception by having him take extreme conservative positions. On March 20th Romney embraced the radical budget proposal of Congressman Paul Ryan. (Ryan then endorsed Romney.) Romney lauded Ryan "for taking a bold step toward putting our nation back on the track to fiscal sanity." (This is a budget that cuts Medicare and Medicaid and further erodes the American middle class.) 

Romney has prevailed by running negative ads against his opponents. (When it appeared that Newt Gingrich would be Romney’s main opponent, the Governor defeated him in Florida by deluging Gingrich with attack ads – Romney outspent Gingrich by $12 million. This tactic has eroded his popularity with Republican voters. The latest Gallup Poll indicates that there has been a sharp drop off in enthusiasm for Romney: from 56 percent in January to 43 percent in March. 

While Governor Romney will win the GOP nomination, he is far from a Party favorite. He has seldom garnered more than 40 percent of the votes in any primary and has only 40 percent of support in the latest Gallup tracking poll of Republican voters. There are three reasons for this conspicuous lack of enthusiasm. 

The first is his record of flip-flopping on major issues. Romney began his political career as pro-choice but switched positions in 2007 and adopted the conservative stance. At the beginning of his career Romney supported gay rights but in 2005 he stated his opposition to gay marriage and civil unions. Romney once believed in man-made global warming and taking remedial action but has backtracked and now “is not certain to the extent that man is causing the change in the environment.” It’s difficult to find any issue where Romney hasn’t reversed his stance and, when challenged on these reversals, his responses have been disingenuous. 

Second, the social conservative wing of the GOP doesn’t trust Romney because of his pandering and the fact he’s a Mormon. In a June 2011 Gallup Poll,Twenty percent of Republicans and Independents indicated they would not support a Mormon for President. A December < a href= http://pewresearch.org/pubs/2144/newt-gingrich-mitt-romney-2012-republican-presidential-nomination-race-gop-tea-party-barack-obama-gender-gap >Pew Research poll examining Republican voter attitudes about the candidates found “high negatives for Romney among white evangelicals.” 

The third reason there is antipathy towards Romney is perception that he’s aloof and condescending. Journalist R.B. Scott, a fellow Mormon, wrote about the Governor: “His inability to empathize with common folk had long been his hoary hoodoo.” When questioned on the Today Show about growing concern about US economic inequality, Romney responded: “I think [this concern is] about envy. I think it's about class warfare." And, he’s been aloof on the campaign trail: “ Romney avoids the press (and most direct, unscripted human contact) almost pathologically… His campaign is also notoriously unwilling to speak to journalists for articles, or even to provide answers to seemingly straightforward questions.” 

Nonetheless, Mitt Romney is the perfect Republican candidate: a straight religious white man who is rich and can self-fund his campaign. And Romney shares a common Republican personality defect: he doesn’t empathize with average Americans. 

During the coming presidential contest, Republicans will emphasize Romney’s business experience and wealth; they’ll claim that he’s the right man to revitalize the economy. They’re dead wrong. 

Romney knows how to close businesses, but not how to create jobs. He knows how to make money for himself, but not for his employees. Like most Republicans, Mitt Romney doesn’t understand that the economy only thrives when it provides a decent living for all of us – the 99 percent as well as the 1 percent. 


Bob Burnet is a Berkeley writer. He can be reached at bburnett@sonic.net


SENIOR POWER: To be a Life-Long Learner & The Mysterious Messrs Moore and Pratt

By Helen Rippier Wheeler
Friday April 06, 2012 - 10:42:00 AM

“The mission of Berkeley Adult School (BAS) is to provide adult learners with access to a learner-centered lifelong education in a safe, supportive, multicultural environment.”  

The Equal Opportunity statement of the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD), of which BAS is a part, declares that the “BUSD does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, mental or physical disability, age or sex in any of its policies or procedures related to admissions, employment, financial aide, educational services, programs or activities.” (sic) One of six school wide learner outcomes is To be a life-long learner

The Superintendent's staff has recommended restructuring off-site (like senior centers) classes so that they are cost-neutral. The BAS does not consider that it is eliminating programming when it reduces hours of instruction and increased fees. I solicited input for this column from several sources; NBSC Advisory Council president, NBSC director, Berkeley Aging Services Division manager, and the Commission on Aging did not respond. 

The changes will be for the fall term, which begins in late August. All classes and all instructors in the programs for seniors and disabled will be affected. Life Long Learning Program Classes Designed for Adults55+, Adults with Disabilities, and Frail Elders are three BAS programs that greatly impact their health. Most are held onsite at senior centers and housing. There is already a $35.00 charge per class registration fee per student for each course.  

Academically-oriented classes include America 1776, Art History, Living Planet, and Spanish Conversation & Culture at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Arthritis Relief, Feldenkrais, Fun, Fitness & Dance, Iyengar Yoga, Parkinson’s Disease Movement, and Yoga are vital to many participants’ lives. Moving Qi, for example, is being offered at J-Sei (formerly Japanese American Services of the East Bay) and at the Jewish Community Center of the East Bay (JCC.) Tai-Chi is taught at J-Sei and South Berkeley Senior Center, where Dorothy Bryant attends George Yoshida's Tai-Chi class and says: “I pay $35. per semester Berkeley Adult School fee. The class is two hours long— one hour tai chi poses, one hour stretching… 20 to 30 seniors attend regularly and some of them have been attending for years. George is a wonderful teacher… His presence is part of the healthful effect of the class.” 

The Superintendent's Budget Advisory Committee’s charge is to present a budget reduction recommendation to the Superintendent, who sends his own proposal on to the School Board. The School Board passes a balanced budget by June 30. 

It is out of sync with our community's views to label some people of more importance than others. It is out of sync with our demographics to disregard seniors’ needs. Students have already been lost because of the $35. fee. For years classes were free, then $15, then $30., then $35. While the costs may seem reasonable to some working persons, for many senior citizens and the disabled, a fee can be an insurmountable obstacle. 

At the North Berkeley Senior Center, partial scholarships covering $20. of the $35. fee have been made available for students who declared a financial need. This spring, at the South Berkeley Senior Center five $20. scholarships were made available to students, enabled by the generous donation of a BAS teacher. She does not work at that site but was moved by the level of need there. Will the senior centers’ advisory councils continue to provide some support for their constituent senior citizens and disabled persons? The April Nugget reports that although South Berkeley Senior Center “Instructors [of new classes] are volunteering their time and expertise, a $3.00 donation is recommended.” 

Write letters of support for this BAS program to the BUSD board members (at boardofed@berkeley.net and at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way 94704) and to Superintendent Bill Huyett. Emphasize the key issues: making the programs "cost-neutral" by having students pay the full cost in reality terminates the programs and abandons some of the poorest and vulnerable members of the community. 

It is the BUSD school board that decides whether to fund the Life Long Learning Program classes onsite at senior centers. Their decision is strongly influenced by the superintendent's recommendation. The superintendent has stated that these are not programs of core importance. Many citizens are simply unaware of how many people rely on BAS for their wellbeing — for their mental and physical health.  

Contact your Councilmember. Ask the City Council to urge the school board to retain and maintain these senior power programs.  

XXXX 

Affordable housing in the U.S. and Canada is a commonly accepted guideline that usually considers housing cost not to exceed 30% of a household's gross income. It is not synonymous with low-income housing. Determining housing affordability is complex, and the commonly used housing-expenditure-to-income ratio tool has been challenged.  

Public housing is a form in which the property is owned by a government authority. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, definitions of poverty, and other criteria for allocation vary. 

Section 8 tenants are occasionally confronted in Judge Judith Sheindlin’s TV court as she exposes their illegal use of this Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) subsidized housing provision.  

The current Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) is an agency established in 2002 whose members are appointed by Mayor Tom Bates. First established in 1966, the BHA now administers approximately 1,939 subsidized rental-housing units through the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher and the Moderate Rehabilitation SRO programs. It also owns and manages 75 units of public housing considered by many to be in disrepair. The BHA wishes to convert its public housing units to "project based" housing contracts. 

Revenue for administering the project-based housing contracts is generated in exchange for selling the units to a private developer. 

The BHA could simply retain these public housing units, but it is felt that HUD does not provide sufficient funds to fix up and maintain them. I am not alone in preferring that they go to a “non-profit” housing developer.  

The BHA has been negotiating with The Related Companies of California, part of a nationwide real estate investment and development company. The agreement requirements include former public housing units remaining as affordable housing — they will get project-based Section 8 certificates — and the land under the buildings leased only to Related and continuing to be owned by the BHA or the School District as in the past.  

Related Housing Companies was founded in 1972 by Stephen M. Ross, an American real estate developer, chairman and CEO of the global real estate development firm. It began by developing government assisted housing developments. During the 1980s, offices were opened in New York City, Miami, Chicago and California, and the company name was changed to Related. Ross also owns the Miami Dolphins NFL football franchise and 95% of Sun Life Stadium. The University of Michigan renamed its business school Ross School of Business after receiving a $100 million gift from him. 

Satellite Senior Homes, Inc. was incorporated in 1966 with purposes to provide rental housing for elderly persons on a nonprofit basis, and to contract a multiple site residential complex for low or moderate income elderly. The central core building was to be sponsored by the Social Service Bureau of the Oakland Council of Churches.  

Satellite Housing, Inc, headquartered in Berkeley, is a private company. Records show it was established in 1982 and incorporated in California. With at least 21 properties in its portfolio, it is a provider of “affordable, service-enriched housing.” Unlike many rental entrepreneurs, Satellite provides no tenant reviews at its website; its reference to “archives” leads nowhere. 

Satellite Housing, Inc. owns and manages Stuart Pratt Manor and Lawrence Moore Manor. 

Who are Stuart Pratt and Lawrence Moore? What are their connections with the Stuart Pratt Manor (2020 Durant Avenue) and Lawrence Moore Manor (1909 Cedar Street) Berkeley apartments? The “Manors” are two of Berkeley’s several rent-subsidized, Section 8, project-based housing facilities. Neither is public housing.  

St. Stephens Presbyterian Church began in North Highlands, California, a growing community with new homes and businesses being established in the area surrounding McClellan Air Force Base. The Rev. Stuart Pratt (born 1900) led the efforts to establish the church. It was officially dedicated by the Sacramento Presbytery in 1953. By 1962, Rev. Stuart Pratt was listed in the Oakland Area Phone directory as residing at 275 Kenyon Avenue, Kensington. 

The Berkeley property at 2024 Durant is owned by the Presbytery of San Francisco. Stuart Pratt Manor next door at 2020 Durant was conceived as a “Church home. Religious.” It was built in 1969 with a total of 44 rooms. Today, Stuart Pratt Manor includes studios and one-bedroom apartments of affordable housing owned by the Satellite Housing, Inc. nonprofit housing development and management organization.  

In 1902 a group of undertakers founded the California Columbarium in Oakland. Later, “a young visionary” named Lawrence Moore was hired to manage the business and engineer its growth. In 1926, Moore took the step that would insure the future, when he commissioned Julia Morgan to design an expanded facility. The Chapel of the Chimes is considered Morgan’s masterwork by some.  

The 1924 City Directory describes Lawrence Moore, the Treasurer and manager of the California Crematorium and member of the Piedmont City Council. He was a prominent businessperson, Vice President and manager of the Chapel of the Chimes mortuary, member of several charitable clubs, and mayor of Piedmont from 1939-1946. His membership in the First Congregational Church of Berkeley likely influenced his support for Lawrence Moore Manor.  

In 1966 the property at 1909 Cedar Street was acquired by Satellite Senior Homes, with HUD Section 8 rent subsidies. In 1970 a variance was granted to Satellite Senior Homes/University Christian Church to allow construction of a building to house senior citizens, and a 46-unit multiple dwelling designed for occupancy restricted to elderly persons.  

Lawrence Moore Manor is Section 8 project-based rental housing owned and managed by Satellite, which administers HUD Section 8 rent subsidies to elderly and disabled tenants.  

The property was developed by Satellite Housing in 1972 using HUD’s Section 236(J)(1) program, a mortgage insurance program, as well as the Section 202 program, which provides capital funding and an operating subsidy, the Housing Assistance Payment.  

For many years, a portrait of Lawrence Moore graced the area just off the lobby of Lawrence Moore Manor. Recently it was removed by Satellite Housing, Inc. management.  

XXXX 

MARK YOUR CALENDAR: Be sure to confirm. Readers are welcome to share by email news of future events and deadlines that may interest boomers, seniors and elders. Daytime, free, and Bay Area events preferred. pen136@dslextreme.com.  

Fridays, April 6-July 13. 10 A.M. Mastick Senior Center, 1155 Santa Clara Avenue, Alameda. Conversiamo in Italiano. Learn Italian with instructor Donatella Zepplin. 510-747-7510. 

Saturday, April 7. Spring Bingo Event—Hot Cross Buns & Colored Eggs 

provided by the Mastick Senior Center Advisory Board and the Bingo Committee to be enjoyed by Bingo participants. 1155 Santa Clara Avenue, Alameda. 510-747-7510. 

Saturday, April 7. 1 – 5 P.M. Berkeley Public Library North Branch, 1170 The Alameda at Hopkins. Grand Reopening Event. Ribbon cutting ceremony planned with local and state officials, music and refreshments. Everyone invited. Library services begin at 2 P.M. (The final open day for BranchVan Service at Live Oak Park was Saturday, March 24, 2012.) Details at www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org

Saturday, April 7. 2-3 P.M. Artist's Reception @ Central Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge. Photographer Satoko Myodo exhibits digital color prints of Tilden Park from her Bay Area Nature series. All are invited to meet the artist and discuss her work. 510-981-6100. 

Monday, April 9. 2:30-3:30 P.M. North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst. “Receive help with basic technology needs from UCB students…. Also Wednesday, April 11, 12:30-2 P.M. and Friday, April 13, 10:30-11:30 P.M. 510-981-5190.  

Monday, April 9. 11:30 – 1:30 A.M. Older Adult Passover Seder. Jewish Community Center of the East Bay, Berkeley Branch 1414 Walnut Street. Kosher meal will include chicken and matzo ball soup, gefilte fish with horseradish sauce, fresh green salad w/ hard boiled eggs, roasted chicken, matzh kugel, and wine. The Seder will be led by Ron Feldman. $10 JCC East Bay Member. $13 Non-Member. RSVP was by March 29. Contact: Front Desk Phone: 510-848-0237. Email: samy@jcceastbay.org 

Monday, April 9 - Thursday, June 7. Alameda Adult School instructors provide computer instruction in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere at Mastick Senior Center, 1155 Santa Clara Avenue, Alameda. Classes are $40 per class. Students can register on-line at www.alameda-adult-school.org, the Alameda Adult School (2250 Central Avenue, Room 160), or Mastick Senior Center. Classes are available to individuals 50+ years old. Fliers outlining the spring term classes are available in the Lobby and Room C (Computer Lab). 510-747-7510. 

Tuesday, April 10. 1 P.M. Alameda Safety & Accessibility Program. Ruth Ann Crawford will explore the benefits of Alameda Fire Department’s Safety and Accessibility Program available for low-income Alameda residents age 62+ or 

disabled. Mastick Senior Center, 1155 Santa Clara Avenue, Alameda. 510-747-7510. 

Tuesday, April 10. 7-9 P.M. Albany branch of the Alameda County Library, 1247 Marin Av. Poetry Night. Featured Poet is Barry Goldensohn. Followed by Open Mic. Contact: Dan Hess dhess@aclibrary.org 

Tuesday, April 10. 7 – 8:30 P.M. Temple Isaiah, 3800 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Lafayette.  

Free workshop by experienced Elder Care Professionals who will provide tips, suggestions, and resources for adult children concerned about their aging parents. All are welcome! Same content, two locations and dates to choose from: Also Thursday, May 3, 5:30-7 P.M. JFCS/East Bay, Shattuck Avenue, Suite 210, Berkeley. RSVP to Rob Tufel at rtufel@jfcs-eastbay.org or 510- 558-7800 and indicate which workshop you will be attending. 


 

Wednesday, April 11. 12:15-1 P.M. Noon concert. UC,B Music Dept. Hertz Concert Hall. New Music by UC Berkeley graduate student composers, featuring Eco Ensemble resident professional new music ensemble directed by David Milnes. Lily Chen: Soundscape for violin, percussion, and piano. Andrés Cremisini: violin, cello, and snare drum. Ilya Y. Rostovtsev: Understatements for stereo fixed media. Tickets not required. Event Contact 510-642-4864. 

Thursday, April 12. Annual Volunteer Recognition Luncheon. Volunteers will be celebrated for their contributions at the hosted by the Mastick Senior Center Advisory Board. Last year, volunteers donated 22,000 hours of their time, creating a “home away from home” for our 3,300 members. National Volunteer Week is April 15-21. Mastick Senior Center, 1155 Santa Clara Av., Alameda. 510-747-7510. 

Thursday, April 12. 7:00 P.M. El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Avenue. Folk singer Tim Holt performs and discusses our heritage of traditional songs and sea chanteys. Sponsored by the Friends of the El Cerrito Library. 510-526-7512. 

Friday, April 13. 8:30 A.M. The Annual Thrift Shop Fashion and Spring Luncheon, Good Ship Lollipop. Tickets go on sale at 8:30 A.M. today in the Mastick Senior Center Office, 1155 Santa Clara Avenue, Alameda. The fashion show is scheduled for Thursday, May 10, in the Mastick Social Hall. Cost of the luncheon is $16 per person. This event guarantees good food, fashion, and fun! All proceeds support Mastick Senior Center. 510-747-7510.  

Friday, April 13. 12:15-1 P.M. UCB Music Dept. Noon concert. Department of Music students perform chamber music. Hertz Concert Hall. Free. 510-642-4864 

 

Saturday, April 14. Thrift Shop Half-Off Special. The Thrift Shop Committee is offering a half-off sale (except jewelry and electric carts) to celebrate the IRS tax deadline. All proceeds support Mastick Senior Center, 1155 Santa Clara Ave., Alameda. 510-747-7510. 

Saturday, April 14. 2-3 P.M. Be an expert— Genealogy. Berkeley Public Library Central, 2090 Kittredge. Free introduction to online genealogy tools and Ancestry.com, a database of searchable census tracts, immigration records, photos+. 510-981-6100. 

Monday, April 16. 12:30-1:30 P.M. Library Brown Bag Lunch Speaker's Forum: Richard Schwartz discusses "The Amazing Volunteer Relief Effort in the East Bay After the 1906 Earthquake." Go to www.richardschwartz.info for more information. The forum is co-sponsored by the Albany YMCA and the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av..
Contact: Ronnie Davis. 510-526-3720 x16. 

Monday, April 16. 7 P.M. Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Av. Author Panel: So You Want to Write a Book? Four local authors discussing their writing journeys. Free. 510-524-3043. 

Monday, April 16. 9:30 A.M. – Noon. Mastick Senior Center, 1155 Santa Clara Ave., Alameda. Join Rose O’Neill, custom jewelry designer. Beads and tools will be supplied unless you would like to redesign beads already in your possession. Cost is $15 per person. Sign up in the Mastick Office. 510-747-7510. 

Mondays, April 16, 23, 30 and May 7 and 14. 10 – 11:30 A.M. Free. Mastick Senior Center, 1155 Santa Clara Ave., Alameda. Pain Management 201: How Thoughts and Management Imagination Relieve Pain. 5-week class will provide 2 types of tools to assist you in managing physical pain. Elizabeth Dandenell, LMFT and Jeri Ryan, Ph.D. have used these tools with many people. They have also facilitated Pain Management 102 (Guided Imagery), and Pain Management 103 (Relieve Your Pain by Adjusting Your Thoughts) at Mastick Center. Sign up in the Mastick Senior Center Office. Free. 510-747-7510. 

Tuesday, April 17. 6:30 P.M. Oakland Public Library, Rockridge Branch, 5366 College Ave.. Vegan Outreach presents Jack Norris, author of Vegan for Life, speaking about the health benefits of a plant-based diet. Program is part of Oakland Veg Week, April 15-21. Linda Jolivet, 510-597-5017.  

Tuesday, April 17. 1 P.M. Stress Management with health educator Susan MacLaughlin. 2-part part workshop. In Part 2 (April 17), learn to use guided imagery to remember a state of perfect wellness. This powerful tool is helpful for stress reduction and self-healing. Mastick Senior Center, 1155 Santa Clara Avenue, Alameda. 510-747-7510. 

Wednesday, April 18. 12:15-1 P.M. Noon concert: Music Dept. event. Hertz Concert Hall. Songs of Persephone. Soprano Alana Mailes performs 17th-century Italian and French opera arias and cantatas by Caccini, Peri, Monteverdi, Rossi, Lully, Charpentier. Tickets not required. Event Contact 510-642-4864. 

Wednesday, April 18. 1:30 P.M. Berkeley Commission on Aging. South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis Street. Be sure to confirm. 510-981-5178.  

Wednesday, April 18. 7-8 P.M. Albany branch of the Alameda County Library, 1247 Marin Av. Adult Evening Book Group: Nadifa Mohamed's Black Mamba Boy. Rosalie Gonzales facilitates discussion. Come to one meeting, or all meetings. Books are available at the Library. Contact: Ronnie Davis 510-526-3720 x16.  

Thursday, April 19. 10 A.M. – 12 Noon. Dr. Alfred Chong will provide free dentistry, by appointment only. To make an appointment, visit the Mastick Senior Center office, 1155 Santa Clara Ave., Alameda or call 510-747-7506. 

Saturday April 21. 1-5 P.M. Oakland Public Library Rockridge Branch, 5366 College Ave.. California Writers' Club, a workshop open to all writers. Contact: Anne Fox 510-420-8775. 

Tuesday, April 24. 1-2:30 P.M. James Felton, Ph.D., associate director, UCD Cancer Center, presents “Why We Get Cancer.” Dr. Felton will explore cell division and tumor growth; the affects of diet and environmental exposure; and the role of genetics on developing cancer. This Cal State East Bay Scholar-Olli program is sponsored by the MSCAB. Mastick Senior Center office, 1155 Santa Clara Ave., Alameda. Sign up in the Mastick Office or call 510-747-7506. 

Tuesday, April 24. 3-4 P.M. Berkeley Public Library Central, 2090 Kittredge. Tea and Cookies at the Library. A free monthly book club for people who want to share the books they have read. 510-981-6100. See also May 22. 

Wednesday, April 25. 12:15-1 P.M. UC,B Music Dept. Gamelan Music of Java and Bali performed by classes directed by Midiyanto and I Dewa Putu Berata with Ben Brinner and Lisa Gold. Hertz Concert Hall. Free. 510-642-4864. 

Wednesday, April 25. 1:30-2:30 P.M. Great Books Discussion Group: William Butler Yeats’ poem, Lapis Luzuli. Albany branch of the Alameda County Library, 1247 Marin Av. Rosalie Gonzales facilitates the discussion. Come to one meeting, or all meetings. Books are available at the Library. Contact: Ronnie Davis 510-526-3720 x16. 

Wednesday, April 25. 1:30 P.M. Berkeley Gray Panthers. Monthly meeting at North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst. 510-981-5190, 548-9696, 486-8010. 

Wednesday, May 2. 12:15-1 P.M. UC,B Music Dept.: Renaissance Music, A Cappella.  

Perfect Fifth, Mark Sumner, director, is an a cappella choir in UC Choral Ensembles specializing in medieval and Renaissance music—sacred and secular, as well as contemporary art music. Hertz Concert Hall. Free. 510-642-4864. 

Thursday, May 3. 9 A.M. – 1 P.M. 6th Annual Senior Health and Wellness Resource Fair. Kenneth C. Aitken Senior and Community Center, 17800 Redwood Road, Castro Valley. 510-881-6738.  

Thursday, May 3. 1:30 P.M. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. Cherisse Baptiste from non-profit ECHO Housing will introduce Alameda County Library system audiences to the workings of the reverse mortgage, which is a loan against accumulated home equity that provides cash advances to certain homeowners at least 62 years of age. This free program is for older adults. 510-526-3720. For dates of this presentation at libraries throughout the system, call Patricia Ruscher, Older Adult Services, 510-745-1491 

Saturday, May 5. 1 P.M. Ribbon cutting ceremony. Music, Refreshments. Claremont Library Branch Library Reopening. 2940 Benvenue Ave. Library services resume at 2 P.M. Free. 510-981-6100. 

Monday, May 7. 6:30 P.M. Castoffs knitting group. Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Av. An evening of knitting, show and tell, and yarn exchange. All levels are welcome and help will be provided. Free. 510-524-3043.  

Thursday, May 10. 7-8:45 P.M. Cafe Literario at West Berkeley Public Library, 1125 University Ave. Facilitated Spanish language book discussion. May title: La Casa de Dostoievsky by Jorge Edwards. Free. 510-981-6270. 

Thursday, May 10. Annual Spring Luncheon & Fashion Show. The Annual Thrift Shop Fashion and Spring Luncheon, Good Ship Lollipop. Tickets went on sale Friday, April 13, at 8:30 A.M. in the Mastick Senior Center Office, 1155 Santa Clara Avenue, Alameda. Cost of the luncheon is $16 per person. This event guarantees good food, fashion, and fun! All proceeds support Mastick Senior Center. 510-747-7510.  

Friday, May 11. 8:30 A.M. – 2:30 P.M. The African American Caregiving and Wellness Forum V: The End of Alzheimer’s Starts With Me. West Oakland senior Center, 1724 Adeline Street. Registration required by April 27. 1-800-272-3900.  

Sunday, May 13. 12-4:30 P.M., 1:30 - 2:45 P.M. Hertz Concert Hall. Concert and Commencement Ceremony. Sponsor: Department of Music. Concert featuring award winners in the performing arts. Open to all audiences. Event Contact: concerts@berkeley.edu, 510-642-4864. 

Monday, May 14. 7:00 P.M. Identity Theft Program. Barbara Jue, a Legal Shield associate, will offer information and advice on how to prevent identity theft and how to cope should it happen. She will also talk about children and computer use and cyber bullying. Q&A follows. Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Avenue. Free. 510-524-3043. 

Monday May 21. 7 P.M. Kensington Library Book Club: Color of the Sea by John Hamamura. Each meeting starts with a poem selected and read by a member with a brief discussion following the reading. New members are always welcome. Free. 61 Arlington Av. 510-524-3043. 

Tuesday, May 22. 3 – 4 P.M. Central Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. Tea and Cookies at the Library. A free monthly book club for people who want to share the books they have read. 510-981-6100. 

Sunday, May 27. 130-4:30 P.M. Book Into Film: Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn at Central Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge. Read the book at home. Watch the movie together. Discuss the book, film and adaptation as a group. Registration required- call 510-981-6236 to sign up. 

Monday, June 4. 6:30 P.M. "Castoffs" - Knitting Group. Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. An evening of knitting, show and tell, and yarn exchange. All levels are welcome and help will be provided. Free. 510-524-3043. 

Monday, June 18. 7 P.M. Art historian Michael Stehr will discuss Gian Lorenz Bernini, who was the Michelangelo of the Baroque. He will also present a slide show. Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Avenue. Free. 510-524-3043. 

Monday June 25. 7 P.M. Kensington Library Book Club: The Chosen by Chaim Potok. 61 Arlington Av. Free. 510-524-3043. 


ON MENTAL ILLNESS: Magical Thinking

By Jack Bragen
Tuesday April 03, 2012 - 06:59:00 PM

An example of magical thinking is a gambling addict who has the belief he or she is going to hit the lucky number, win a million dollars and live happily ever after. Meanwhile that person is gambling away the food money and the rent money. Magical thinking of the previous President created the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan in the assumption that it would be a much easier and simpler enterprise than it turned out to be. (The U.S. military believed we could install a government in Iraq that is favorable to us, and Iraqi citizens would blithely allow themselves to be governed by it.) Magical thinking is responsible for gross errors in human behavior. It says that wanting something means you deserve it and will get it, in the absence of performing the necessary work. Magical thinkers falsely believe that God likes them better than other people. And they believe there will always be someone there to clean up their mess. 

Magical thinking is where the mind draws a correlation between unrelated events, and does this in order to bring about a desired conclusion. It is wishful thinking that has crossed the line into superstition. 

I am bringing up magical thinking because it is one category of delusions, out of many, to which schizophrenic people are subject. It is a borderline category of delusions which many people who do not have a mental health diagnosis also experience. George W. Bush's administration was an example of the damage that can be wrought by magical thought. By the end of his administration, the U.S. economy was teetering on the brink of collapse. The military was stretched to a dangerous thinness. The government was spending more money than was being taken in through taxes-leaving a huge mess for others after him to clean up. 

Magical thinking is like a more extreme version of wishful thinking, in which there is an element of mild psychosis. It pays the salaries of astrologers and psychics. 

If a person with a history of psychosis experiences symptoms of magical thought, sometimes an increase in antipsychotic medication will bring him or her out of that. Symptoms include a person revealing plans that seem unrealistic, and as a result of those plans, failing to take care of basic necessities. 

Sometimes, people will outgrow magical thinking as they become older and more mature. I have a past history of foolish thinking, I admit. It took me years of enduring the hard knocks created by my foolishness to discover how to have accurate thought. At one point, I was having difficulty finding a home in which I wasn't being harassed, and decided to rent an apartment that, in fact, I could not afford. I believed I would get a job and would be able to pay for this. I borrowed money from a relative which isn't paid back to this day. The outcome of this apartment rental was disastrous. 

There seem to be some churches that propagate forms of magical thinking. For example, the church may promote the belief that you can gain affluence if you ascribe to their practices. Gaining affluence through some type of hocus pocus is no more than fool's gold. Affluence is created either by work, by inheritance, or by some kind of business activity-not by the magic power of the mind, and not by the offers that keep showing up in your spam folder. 

It is interesting to see that organized or collective psychosis is often accepted in society and thought of as valid. On the other hand, if a person invents their own delusions, they become categorized as being mentally ill. The litmus test is to look at whether or not a person can function and survive in society and do the day to day tasks that everyone must do. If a person can function and survive, in the U.S. at least, they are free to manufacture any belief. 


Just a reminder that my book that contains a year's worth of columns is available at www.lulu.com and also at Amazon. It is called "jack bragen's essays on mental illness." Meanwhile, if you would like to send comments, I can be reached at: bragenkjack@yahoo.com please specify whether or not I have permission to publish part, none or all of your letter. You are also encouraged to send comments about the column directly to The Planet.


ECLECTIC RANT: Trayvon Martin Killing: Let Investigations Run Their Course

By Ralph E. Stone
Thursday April 05, 2012 - 02:50:00 PM

On Feb. 26, 2012, Trayvon Martin, an unarmed teenager, was shot to death by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watchman captain. The teen was walking inside a gated community in Sanford, Florida, where his father and stepmother lived. Zimmerman claimed self-defense and was not arrested or charged and little or no investigation was conducted by the Sanford police department. 

On March 19, the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division and the FBI decided to investigate the shooting. 

On March 20, the Seminole County State's Attorney office, which had been handed the case by Sanford police, announced that it was investigating the incident and would convene a grand jury on April 10 to hear evidence in the shooting. 

On March 22, Sanford police chief Bill Lee announced he was taking a temporary leave of absence. This announcement came a day after Sanford's City Commission voted by 3-2 "no confidence" in the chief. 

Everyday we hear about the public outrage about the incident. Isn't it time for everyone to step back and wait for the Justice Department and the State of Florida to complete their investigations. The Justice Department will determine whether Zimmerman violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which among other things, outlaws major forms of discrimination against African Americans and women, including racial segregation. The 911 tape does indicate Zimmerman might have used the word "coon" when referring to Martin and Martin is Black while Zimmerman father is White and his mother is Hispanic. 

Zimmerman was not a member of any neighborhood watch group recognized by the National Sheriff's Association, the parent organization of USAonWatch-Neighborhood Watch . All neighborhood watch programs are not required to be members. Zimmerman violated the central tenets of Neighborhood Watch by following Martin, confronting him, and carrying a concealed weapon. If he had been a member of a recognized group, he would have been subject to a background check, been psychologically evaluated, and trained. And it is not clear Zimmerman would have been allowed to register with a neighborhood watch program because in the months prior to the Martin homicide, Zimmerman had made over 40 calls to police to report suspicious activities. This over-zealousness alone should have raised suspicions about his suitability. 

In his article, "America as a Gun Culture," historian Richard Hofstadter popularized the phrase "gun culture" to describe America's long-held affection for firearms, with many citizens embracing and celebrating the association of guns and America's heritage. According to Hofstadter, the right to own a gun and defend oneself is considered by some, especially those in the West and South, as a central tenet of the American identity. Given America's gun culture, it is not surprising, but regrettable in my opinion, that the Supreme Court in District of Columbia vs. Heller found that Americans have a Second Amendment right to "keep and bear arms." 

In keeping with the Heller decision and our gun culture, Florida makes it easy to own a gun. It does not require a permit to purchase a handgun and there is no requirement to register or obtain a license for a handgun. Florida does require a license to carry a concealed weapon or firearm. I assume that the Sanford police checked whether Zimmerman was licensed to carry a concealed weapon. 

Federal and state laws recognize a defense to certain criminal charges involving force (self defense). Under federal and state laws, the use of force is justified when a person reasonably believes that it is necessary for the defense of oneself or another against the immediate use of unlawful force. However, a person must use no more force than appears reasonably necessary in the circumstances. Force likely to cause death or great bodily harm is justified in self defense only if a person reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm. 

In 2005, Florida took self defense a step further by enacting a "Stand Your Ground" law. Under this law, persons are not required to retreat in the face of danger. Backed by the National Rifle Association, the "Stand Your Ground" legislation won broad support from Florida lawmakers and praise from then-Governor Jeb Bush as "a good, common-sense, anti-crime issue." Critics of the law call it the "right-to-commit-murder" law. 

From 2005 through June 2010, there have been 420 justifiable homicides in Florida. 

Sixteen other states have enacted similar "Stand Your Ground" laws. 

Recently, Florida’s "Stand Your Ground" law was successfully applied in a case against Greyston Garcia. Pedro Roteta was trying to steal the radio from Garcia’s truck when a roommate alerted Garcia. Garcia then grabbed a knife and chased Roteta for over a block, before killing him. Roteta was unarmed. On March 21, a Florida judge dismissed the case against Garcia, citing the "Stand Your Ground" law. Similarly, the law seems to give Zimmerman several protections. Even though the 911 tape suggests he pursued Martin when the police told him to stay away, he has claimed that Martin attacked him and shot him in self defense. The Florida police are placed in a difficult position when faced with a shooting where there is a colorable self defense claim knowing that the courts will freely apply the "Stand Your Ground" self defense law. 

At the very least, states should rethink their "Stand Your Ground" laws, and Sanford should evaluate its neighborhood watch programs. 

I understand Zimmerman has gone into hiding. The New Black Panthers have offered a $10,000 reward for his capture. Vigilante justice is not, and never will be, the answer. Let's wait until all the evidence is in and evaluated. 

 


My Commonplace Book (a diary of excerpts copied from printed books, with comments added by the reader.)

By Dorothy Bryant
Tuesday April 03, 2012 - 08:10:00 PM

“ . . . the greatest writers inevitably demand too much of, and are failed by, readers.” 

——Susan Sontag (1933—2004) Novelist, essayist 

I scribbled this long ago and have no idea where I read it. Nor do I have a clear memory of what I thought about it—I was too awed by Sontag’s famous erudition to doubt that she must be right, whatever she said. 

Now I’m ready to look at it again, still admiringly, but with questions. 

Obviously, a great scientific writer demands more technical education than I have. Similarly, great or even just good poetry demands repeated reading (silently and aloud) to penetrate its layers of meaning. Ditto for most philosophical writers (bless Bertrand Russell for stooping to write a few books at a level an ordinary reader might understand.) 

Moreover, the meaning of books changes over time—as the reader ages into more experience. The now-hilarious example I can offer is my being required to read Hawthorne’s classic “The Scarlett Letter,” in seventh grade, back in the innocent days when half the class had no idea how Hester earned this emblem of shame, plus a baby whose origin was even more mysterious. In less dramatic examples, a novel like Butler’s “The Way of All Flesh” takes on new layers of meaning (and humor) endlessly, the story seeming to mature with the reader. 

Yet, part of me rebels against Sontag’s assertion. I still believe that the very greatest writers (apart from technical, scientific writers) are the one who achieve a rare simplicity with which they can convey the wisest insights to any mature (not necessarily in years), serious, and attentive reader. 

 

 

(Send the Berkeley Daily Planet a page from your own Commonplace Book)


Arts & Events

New: Berkeley Charrette to Plan Future of Telegraph Avenue on Friday and Saturday

By Becky O'Malley
Thursday April 12, 2012 - 11:55:00 AM

Berkeley Design Advocates, described at Manta.com as “a private company …established in 2009 and incorporated in California” with Anthony Bruzzone as its principal, is sponsoring a charrette (Wikipedia: “an intense period of design activity”) on Friday and Saturday on what it calls “The Telegraph Project 2012”. 

Goals are described in the schedule for the event. 

"The Telegraph Project focuses on the built environment of Telegraph Avenue from Dwight Way to Bancroft Way. We will use the charrette process to consider a range of questions, including but not limited to:
  • How can Telegraph regain its strength as a commercial destination?
  • What role can development play and what form should it take?
  • How can improvements to street and other public spaces accelerate Telegraph’s positive transformation, while retaining Telegraph's spirit?
  • How can Telegraph enhance the livability of the surrounding neighborhood?
  • Can Telegraph benefit from unrealized synergies with the University?
  • How can change promote Berkeley’s tradition of tolerance and social justice?"
The full schedule can be seen here  

There are two sessions planned: a background session at 5 p.m. on Friday April 13 at Trinity Methodist Church, 2362 Bancroft Way, followed by the actual charrette on at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday April 14 at First Presbyterian Church, 2407 Dana Street. A "walk-around" will start on Friday at 3:30 at UC's Unit 1 dormitory, according to Roland Petersen of the Telegraph Business Improvement District, which is participating in the event. 

According to an article by Tracey Taylor on berkeleyside.com, members of the public can attend but must register in advance at telegraph.project@yahoo.com

For more information about participating, Berkeley Design Advocates can be called at (510) 845-7009.


Requiem for the Death Penalty (Community Events Announcement)

Saturday April 07, 2012 - 10:36:00 AM

Please join us for a historic series of events entitled: “Requiem for the Death Penalty”.

April 2012 marks the 20th anniversary of the resumption of executionsin California. Since then 13 people have been executed. We encourage you to join us in honoring those who have fought against the continued use of capital punishment and to participate in a series of educational and cultural events on this important issue.

Here are the dates to save: 

April 21 (Saturday) 6–9 PM:
Reception at 111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco

to honor attorneys John Grele, David Senior, and Richard Steinken for challenging California's lethal injection procedures - as constituting crue land unusual punishment - for the past 6 years. Emcee: Scharlette Holdman; Jeannie Sternberg and Gary Sowards will present awards; guest artist Malaquias Montoya; live jazz ensemble featuring Harrison Goldberg (sax) and Alma Owens-Delucchi (vocals); refreshments. ($25/$30 at door)

April 22 (Sunday) 3–5:30 PM:
Interfaith Gathering of People of Faith
Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology

2301 Vine Street (@ Arch St.), Berkeley. (Free)
Survivors of victims of violence will share their views of the death penalty. Following the panel discussion, there will be an interfaith memorial service of healing.

April 23 & 24 (Mon/Tues) 7 PM:
Staged readings of Michael Kroll's play "Just Like a Dog" Shotgun Players Ashby Stage

1901 Ashby Avenue, Berkeley (@ Ashby BART)
Inspired by the playwright's witnessing a gas chamber execution 20 years ago, this is a fictional story of an impending execution and two people from opposite perspectives, both broken and floundering, who become each other's lifeline back into the world. *Starring: Attorneys Cliff Gardner, Scott Kauffman and Andy Love, as well as mitigation specialists extraordinaire Scharlette Holdman and Charlie Pizarro! ($15/$18 at door)

Additionally, at several venues around the Bay Area we will show:

"Procedure 769: Witnesses to an Execution"
an award-winning documentary by Dutch filmmaker Jaap van Hoewijk, focusing on those who witnessed the execution in 1992. Scheduled showings, with questions and answers afterwards:

April 3 (Tuesday) 5:30–7:30 PM:
San Francisco Public Library

100 Larkin Street (Civic Center), San Francisco (Free)
(Panel discussion to follow)

April 17 (Tuesday) 7–9 PM:
Newman Hall (in the Lounge)

2700 Dwight Way (@ College Avenue), Berkeley (Free)

April 22 (Sunday) 10:30 AM–12:30 PM:
Landmark Shattuck Theater

2230 Shattuck Avenue (@ Kittredge St.), Berkeley ($5/$7 at door) 

For More Information

www.requiemforthedeathpenalty.com 

For Tickets

requiemforthedeathpenalty.eventbrite.com 

Co-Sponsored by: 

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California
California Attorneys for Criminal Justice
California People of Faith
Death Penalty Focus
RioVida Networks


AROUND AND ABOUT MUSIC: The Alexander String Quartet at Berkeley City Club for Berkeley Chamer Concerts

By Ken Bullock
Tuesday April 10, 2012 - 11:31:00 AM

The Alexander String Quartet—Zakarias Grafilo & Frederick Lifsitz, violins; Paul Yarbrough, viola; and Sandy Wilson, cello, celebrating their 30th anniversary—will perform "Gems of the Classical Repertoire" (Beethoven, Janacek & Shostakovich), presented by Berkeley Chamber Performances, Tuesday, April 17, 8 p. m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2311 Durant (between Ellsworth & Dana). The program: Janacek: String Quartet no. 1, "Kreutzer Sonata;" Beethoven: String Quartet opus 95, "Serioso;" Shostakovich: Preludes & Fugues, opus 87 (arranged Grafilo) and String Quartet no. 4. $25. (High school students, free; post-high school students, $12.50) 525-5211; berkeleychamberperform.org


Theater Review:'Red' at The Rep--Mark Rothko in His Studio

By Ken Bullock
Friday April 06, 2012 - 12:33:00 PM

"Of course you like it. Everybody likes everything nowadays."

The crusty color field painter Mark Rothko coolly zings his new studio assistant, Ken, whom he's asked about his new painting in red, like the title of Berkeley Rep's new production. 'Red' beards the lion in his den—or studio, which is, in a way, the real protagonist of the show, as realized onstage by designer Louisa Thompson, with painting by Lisa Lazar. 

("My views on the theater ... whether seen though the big or little end of opera glasses, the chandelier's always seemed to me the real protagonist." A satiric remark by Baudelaire, whose writings on painters brought the first wave of modernism—and its first big personalities, like his friend Manet—into both historical and personal focus. A century and a half later, that remark often holds true for the sets—and designers—of this and other productions today.) 

'Red' seems to rely for its backstory on the artist's life and his own words ("I said that? It's like something I would say ... "), in part on the biography by the late James E. B. Breslin of Berkeley—and also on one art critic and curator: the cast and director visited Peter Selz, Berkeley's emeritus of art history, to find out more about Rothko, whom Selz knew well. 

Selz expressed himself as satisfied by David Chandler's portrayal of Rothko. Face often resolving into a mask, part defiant, part stoic, Chandler stares intently at the empty space above the first rows, absorbed in his evolving vision of his newest work. "Painting is mostly thinking," he declares to Ken (Mark Brummer). 

Playwright John Logan is maybe better known as a screenwriter ('Gladiator,' 'Hugo,' 'The Aviator,' 'Sweeney Todd'). In the movies, "biopics" are widely seen as one of the flimsiest genres, hardly ever escaping dilution, if not out-and-out kitsch. Logan has made an effort to avoid writing a biopic-for-the-stage by concentrating on the intimate in this two-hander, on the artist talking about art and his life as artist to an outsider (initially) within the confines of his studio, a locus that has become canonized as sanctuary and shrine. 

And Rothko speaks of the difficulty of letting his paintings out of the studio into the world, of finding the right place for them, the modern equivalent of the chapel for Renaissance and Baroque masterpieces—a search both spiritual and technical. 

The external conflict of the play, around which the conflict between characters gels, is Rothko's commission for murals to adorn the Four Seasons restaurant in the Mies van der Rohe/Philip Johnson Seagrams Building under construction. A classical music aficionado, Rothko's enthused by the Vivaldi reference in its name—and wary of its future as a see-and-be-seen destination for the wealthy and fashionable of Manhattan. 

Internally, it's a surrogate father-and-son chamber drama, something else open to the cliched and kitschy. Ken finally—though right on schedule, for anyone who sees a lot of dramas (or soap operas) and has a stopwatch—blows at Rothko's constant gibing and stands up for the younger generation of Pop Art Rothko excoriates. And, equally on schedule, Rothko reveals he likes the counter-punching. 

Many plays, movies, books come out purporting to be about art, poetry—or mathematics, modern physics—but prove to be about something else, merely using art or science and their special idioms as metaphor, analogy ... 

Logan admits 'Red' isn't really about painting, and from the start, the paintings and their bold, radiating colors, are used as metaphors for emotion. Springboards, as it were. Director Les Waters described 'Red' as a tour de force; the New York Times called the Broadway production "a master class of questions and answers." Someone at the reception opening night complained it was "a lecture." But 'Red' puts out a lot of exposition about and around painting, without ever settling down to the subject. All talk, no Action Painting. 

The actors perform well enough, but their vaudeville act is a bit pat: Ken's an invented interlocutor, to listen, get steamed (quietly at first) over Rothko's insouciance, and to deliver a straight line or two here and there for Rothko to slam back as a sarcastic punch line. The words on art and on the artist's mission and his life seldom get far enough past the typical cliches of the biopic type—'Lust for Life,' 'The Agony and the Ecstasy,' to turn over a couple Irving Stones—to distinguish themselves from that popular romanticism. Rothko the character rails against being typed, only to end up typing himself. If that's supposed to be part of the point, then it's really too pat! 

The character of Ken is fleshed out luridly by a Capote-esque Midwestern crime he witnessed as a boy, which he describes to Rothko—and to us. But the fix is in: art as a metaphor ... Red goes from emotion to the remembered color of blood, back to emotion again—sentiment instead of pigment and what can be created with it, transformed from the banal. 

Even the real protagonist, theatrically—the studio set—doesn't see much dramaturgical action ... Besides putting a canvas on stretcher together and priming it in rhythmic synchronization to Rothko's classical music, the studio's sort of inert. Even the record player isn't used very creatively. It's the opposite of Chekhov's dictum—and warning—"If you see a gun on the mantel in the first act, it will be discharged by the third." 

'Red' is promising, in that more authentic plays about the arts could take off from the life, the words—the practice—of great artists ... Van Gogh's super-lucid letters about painting, the poet Mallarme's relationships with Manet and Degas, Cezanne's extraordinary (and affecting) statements about the difficulties of making his innovations ... or, from Rothko's generation, the wild epistolary battles between Barnett Newman and art historian Erwin Panofsky or fellow painter Robert Motherwell in the pages of art journals ... 

Unfortunately, the results here remain muted. "Silence is so accurate," says Rothko in the play. Rothko and his generation, who sought to raise up America artistically by committing the ineffable to canvas, were also extremely articulate about what they were doing—and deserve a more active voice. 

(This is the last show directed at the Rep by Les Waters in his role of associate artistic director; he has assumed the reins of artistic direction for the Actors Theatre of Louisville.) 

Tuesdays through Sundays, different times, through April 29. Berkeley Rep Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison (near Shattuck). $17-$85. 647-2949; berkeleyrep.org