On May 4, the City of Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission proposed a resolution in support of the people of the island of Okinawa, Japan. -more-

It has been said, in the Berkeley city council, as a statement of policy, that the planning department will allow neighborhoods and individuals to have input into the overall plan for the San Pablo Ave. corridor (and similarly for the other development zones in Berkeley), but that neighborhood residents won’t be able to participate in planning specific projects or buildings. Abstract planning is available to the people, but site-by-site planning is not.. -more-

Putting Becky’s editorial on “Bogus Traffic Stop” into a larger context: -more-

Plans to head across the bay this weekend? Unfortunately, Saturday and Sunday commuters will have to count BART out as a transit option. -more-

August 13, 2015, marks the 50^th anniversary of the first issue of the Berkeley Barb. While there are still many “factions” among those who worked at the Barb, there is also a feeling of community. To honor the best aspects of the Barb, there will be a series of events to mark the occasion. Please visit www.berkeleybarb.net to find out where to enjoy the festivities.

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Stories about African-Americans slain after traffic stops continue to proliferate. Is this a new phenomenon? No, of course not, just new video technology which is finally preventing some police officers from getting away with murder some of the time.

Let’s, for the moment, leave out the killings which were over-reaction to calls about people having mental or drug-induced breakdowns, cases of mistaken identity, or excessive use of force by a policeman making a lawful arrest.

Let’s just consider the number of Black people all over this country (and in the whole European-descended world where African descendants also live) who are stopped on trumped up traffic charges just because of what they look like, because the people in power, sometimes consciously or even more often subconsciously “feel threatened” when they see a dark face. It happens all the time, it happens everywhere, and sometimes it has murderous consequences when the arresting officer panics.

And yes, it even happens in Berkeley. Late last January a young Black guy, Berkeley resident LaMonte Earnest, a Coast Guard veteran who has worked for the U.S. Postal Service for almost ten years as a mail carrier, was on his way home from accompanying his pregnant wife for a sonogram. Heading southbound on San Pablo, he wanted to go east on Dwight Way. -more-

There's a battle underway between angry Berkeley residents and Berkeley's mayor and his followers on the city council and commissions, a battle playing out in many towns and cities these days as the 1% invest aggressively in real estate development. We are alarmed by the relentless pursuit of new developments, since Berkeley is already one of the most densely-populated US cities of its size, and we now have a surfeit of $3,000-$5,000 per-month rentals with long-vacant commercial space on their ground floors. Berkeley's most crucial need in 2015 is for affordable housing, both for low income and middle income residents, in inclusionary residential buildings built to rigorous water-saving and energy efficiency standards. New York City now requires 30% affordable units in all new developments, to ensure that low-income housing is available in all parts of the city. This is a requirement most Berkeleyans would doubtless support, as a way to sustain our culturally, economically, racially diverse population. Many kids who grew up in Berkeley cannot afford to live here as adults, nor can minimum wage workers who service those who can afford the new market-rate and "luxury" housing. -more-

For many Democrats, Hillary's politics are too embedded with Wall Street, while Bernie seems too independent to be electable. I recently discovered the candidate whose progressive politics are coupled with a proven ability to govern. Maryland's former Governor Martin O'Malley, also former Mayor of Baltimore, has the managerial experience and technical vision to apply information technology to make governmental decisions based on knowledge. He applied the same mapping technology we use when finding a route through traffic, to identify where Baltimore's worst crime was, and he allocated increased resources to those neighborhoods to fight the city's crime problems. -more-

Young Africans were thrilled by President Obama’s visit but many leaders must have been troubled with the President’s preachy style admonishing them with their many policy shortcomings. They must be wondering how the President could be so critical given the epidemic of police brutality against African Americans and their disproportionate high incarceration rate. Race relations are at an all-time low with African-Americans more than twice as likely to be unarmed and killed as their white counterparts. The incarceration rate for Hispanic and Blacks is at an all-time high. There is no ‘shining city on the hill’ for most minorities – more like ‘mole hills against a fading sky’. -more-

RECOMMENDATION

Adopt a proclamation that August 13, 2015 is Berkeley Barb Celebration Day in in order to celebrate the revolutionary publication that represented the City’s diverse and progressive community

BACKGROUND

The Berkeley Barb was an exceptional publication at the forefront of progressive politics and culture. It served as an underground voice for the people, and fostered support for a diverse panoply of issues, including the anti-war movement, struggles against racial oppression, sexual freedom, the women's rights movement, gay rights, the farmworkers' struggle, the psychedelic arts and drug culture, and environmental activism, to name a few. -more-

On July 20, 2015, the U.S. and Cuba reopened embassies in each other's countries that had been closed since 1961. As the freeze between the two countries thaws, I would expect the the commercial, economic, and financial embargo imposed by the U.S. on Cuba since 1960 will be ended in due time. Normalization of relations between the U.S. and Cuba will not be complete until the Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp is closed and Guantánamo is returned to Cuba. -more-

When persons with a psychiatric illness get to a point of basic recovery, we might ask the question, "What now?" -more-

As a privileged white man, I’ve always been cautious about writing about race, thinking that it was a topic best left to others. Like many liberals I’ve assumed that whenever race was discussed my best response was to listen to what my black brothers and sisters had to say. Nonetheless, in the face of the growing “Black Lives Matter” movement, I feel compelled to speak.

First, black lives do matter to me. (As do those of all the people-of-color who are part of my community.) My life is made richer and fuller by your presence. When you hurt, physically, psychologically, spiritually, it hurts me, too.

That said, my community – privileged white Americans – is responsible for the current state of race relations. The string of deaths and disgraces – from Trayvon Martin to Sandra Bland – is our fault.

When Barack Obama was elected President, many in my community were hopeful that the event signaled the end of widespread racism. That hasn’t happened. A recent New York times/CBS News poll finds that “nearly 6 in 10 Americans, including heavy majorities of both whites and blacks, think race relations are getting bad.” (After President Obama entered the White House, two-thirds of poll respondents ‘believed race relations were generally good.”)

The responsibility for the decline of US race relations falls on people like me, members of the white male power structure. We should have done more to build upon the positive feelings generated by the election of Barack Obama. -more-

Cellist Tanya Tomkins, fortepianist Eric Zivian with their ten faculty and performing artist colleagues and five apprentices have brought in greater scale to the new Valley of the Moon Music Festival—going into its final weekend—part of what they've been working at creating for years with their Benvenue House Concerts in Berkeley—a more complete environment for performance and enjoyment of chamber works from the Classical and Romantic repertoire—played on period instruments and copies. -more-

West Edge Opera last week staged Alban Berg’s Lulu in Oakland’s abandoned Wood Street train station; and this week they’ve staged Claudio Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (Ulysses’ Return to His Homeland) at American Steel Studios on Oakland’s Mandela Parkway. While American Steel turned out to be less magical a site for opera than the abandoned and decaying train station, nonetheless the acoustics at American Steel were excellent. Further, West Edge General Director Mark Streshinsky, who doubled as stage director for Ulysses, utilized the space at American Steel quite imaginatively, placing the 9-piece orchestra amidst a raised and stepped U-shaped platform on which the singers performed, while the audience was seated around three sides of the U-shaped platform. On the wall behind the stage area were hung at one time or another various large photos – of the sea, a pasture with sheep, a painting depicting Ulysses drawing his bow, another painting depicting Queen Penelope, etc. -more-