The Week

 

News

Grizzly Peak Holdup on Monday

Dennis Culver (BCN)
Wednesday May 18, 2016 - 08:13:00 PM

Police in Berkeley are investigating a Monday robbery that occurred on Grizzly Peak.

Officers with the University of California Police Department responded Monday at 10:40 p.m. to Signpost 14 on Grizzly Peak to a report of an armed robbery that had occurred about 30 minutes before. -more-


Man Wounded in Shooting at San Pablo Park in Berkeley

Scott Morris (BCN)
Tuesday May 17, 2016 - 10:06:00 PM

A man was wounded in a shooting in Berkeley's San Pablo Park this morning, a police officer said. -more-


The Berkeley Public Library: just a few questions about what's going on there (News Analysis)

Helen Rippier Wheeler
Monday May 16, 2016 - 12:35:00 PM

"Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn't." Mark Twain

"All libraries are forums for information and ideas." Preamble to the Library Bill of Rights.


WHY:

… is the BOLT (Board of Library Trustees) meeting agenda buried at the BPL website?

… have recruitments for vacant BOLT appointments ceased to be shared with the media?

… are BPL trustees appointed, rather than elected?

…are BOLT meetings not held in the large meeting room of the Central BPL building, for example? -more-


A Final Salon Series Concert by Cypress String Quartet

Reviewed by James Roy MacBean
Sunday May 15, 2016 - 06:58:00 PM

On Friday evening, May 13, the locally based Cypress String Quartet performed one of their last Salon Series concerts at Berkeley’s Maybeck Studio. The group will disband later this year after 20 glorious years together. To celebrate their anniversary they put together a program of works each member of the quartet particularly liked. First on the program was violinist Cecily Ward’s choice, Joseph Haydn’s Quartet in E-flat Major, Opus 20, No. 1. Composed in 1772, this work influenced many later composers, including Mozart and Beethoven, Schubert and Schumann. In the opening movement, marked Allegro moderato, the first violin exchanges phrases with the cello in the opening measures. Then the other instruments chime in, trading phrases among all four members of the group. There is a graceful exuberance to Haydn’s writing in this piece. The minuet that follows is dainty and charming. A beautiful slow movement follows, with the group led by first violinist Cecily Ward’s luscious account of this movement’s glorious melodies. The fourth and final movement begins with great agitation, but in typical Haydn fashion soon transforms itself into an exuberant finale. -more-


Exemplary Service by a Mail Carrier: an Open Letter

Residents of Lawrence Moore Manor
Thursday May 12, 2016 - 10:42:00 AM

Local Director, U.S. Postal service 2000 Allston way, Berkeley, CA 94704-9998

Dear Sir/Madam:

Following this letter are the signatures of people who live at 1909 Cedar Street, a low-income senior-disabled housing operated by SAHA, called Lawrence Moore Manor in Berkeley, California (Alameda County). We are a diverse population ranging upwards of age one hundred whose first languages are for the most part not English.

For some time we have considered how best to express recognition of the consistently great service through the years and through thick and thin provided by our mail carrier.

It is easy to assume that one’s mail carrier can be counted on for reliable and pleasant pick-up and delivery in good and bad weather, but our guy delivers much more than the mail!

We ask that this statement be included in the personnel file of Xuong Nahn. -more-


Making Housing Affordable: The Vancouver Model

Thomas Lord
Saturday May 14, 2016 - 05:03:00 PM

If you think the housing crisis is bad in Berkeley, consider that it could be worse. You might live Vancouver, British Columbia. There, as here, vacancy rates are stubbornly low. Prices are well outside the range of affordability for a majority of working class people.

This year, Vancouver will break ground on a new project to produce 358 units of permanently affordable housing. If all goes as planned, move-ins will start next year. The project will be fully built in 2018. Vancouver will have: -more-


The Class Nature of the “Density Bonus” (News Analysis)

Steve Martinot
Thursday May 12, 2016 - 11:18:00 AM

We know the real source of the housing crisis now besetting Berkeley (and the bay area in general). It is not a supply and demand problem. According to census figures, Berkeley has (approx.) 49,000 housing units for around 112,000 people, whereas in 1970, it had 46,000 units for 117,000 people, and there was no crisis. The real source is a plan to change the class nature of the city by building housing for a new population of wealthier people. It is called Plan Bay Area. And the crisis it creates is not that nobody can find housing. The crisis is that low and moderate income people cannot find housing when they are forced out of their homes by landlords seeking to rent to wealthier people at higher rents. The crisis is the flood of dislocations resulting from fraudulent evictions, economic evictions, foreclosures, real estate speculation, ownership changes, etc. With the growing dislocations of low and moderate income families, those with higher income can find plenty of housing in Berkeley. Nevertheless, the plan allots the building of over 3900 new housing units in Berkeley. By the time there is a glut, and rents start to come down, most low and moderate income families will be long gone. -more-


Updated: Missing Person at Risk: Jimmy Shu, Asian Male, 58 yrs old, 6'0, 185 lbs, black shirt and blue jeans.

Berkeley Police Department
Sunday May 15, 2016 - 12:52:00 AM

UPDATE: This morning, May 16, at about 6:16 am, the Berkeley Police Department received notice that the missing person, Jimmy Shu, has been located and is now safe at home. -more-


June Primary Endorsements

Thursday May 12, 2016 - 02:20:00 PM

Alameda County Democratic Central Commitee: Brett Badelle, Floyd Huen, Kate Harrison, Vince Casalaina—and none of the incumbents, who will be identified as such on the Democratic ballot

State Senate: Sandré Swanson

U.S. Senate: Kamala Harris -more-


Opinion

The Editor's Back Fence

What's new?

Friday May 13, 2016 - 10:32:00 AM

This issue has the same editorial as last week, to remind readers to pay attention to the June election. -more-


Public Comment

Deceptive housing petition now circulating

John T. Selawsky, jwebsky@earthlink.net
Friday May 13, 2016 - 10:34:00 AM

Voters of Berkeley, beware. Housing activists/advocates and our City Council have agreed upon a ballot initiative that would generate significantly more revenue for Berkeley's Housing Trust Fund. However, there is a deceptive, cynical petition being circulated right now claiming to be an "affordable housing" initiative that is actually a landlord/property owner funded proposal that would substantially reduce those housing fees and revenues. The Berkeley Property Owners' Association is circulating a petition which purports to raise additional funds for the Housing Trust Fund. The problem with that assertion is that the property owners' proposal would only raise about 20% of the funds raised by the initiative agreed upon by housing advocates and the City Council and would not specifically go toward housing, but merely the general fund. Two ballot measures in competition likely results in neither receiving a majority of votes, which is what BPOA is hoping to accomplish. -more-


Can Californians Afford 18 Scheduled Executions In A Row?

Stephen Cooper
Thursday May 12, 2016 - 01:20:00 PM

On January 15, the Contra Costa Times reported on a new poll showing that "48 percent of registered voters would support proposals to accelerate" executions in California. One of many reasons these voters may want to reconsider: Cold hard cash starting with the "$718,632 for 18 executions in addition to unspecified fees" the L.A. Times reports (in a May 10, 2016 article) such a move would cost the already financially-burdened state.

Add to this the fact that on its website, the California Travel and Tourism Commission notes that California had 16.5 million "international person-trips" in 2014, and of that number, 686K came from the UK, 445K from France, and 439K from Germany. And so, in addition to the already well-documented costs of capital punishment in California—on our morals, our judicial system and on our taxes—do we as Californians really want to ramp executions up when we risk offending, even alienating, so many potential new and return European tourists (even the Pope)?

If we don't care so much about what they think of our refusal to, as the New York Times Editorial Board wrote, "join the rest of the civilized world and end the death penalty," don't we at least want their dollars? -more-


Flip/Flopping Trump

Tejinder Uberoi
Thursday May 12, 2016 - 01:33:00 PM

Gulliver Trump can’t seem to be restrained even by the most determined Lilliputian reporters who constantly bombard him with questions and expose his inconsistencies.

He fires back with guns blazing scornful of his party’s elite and determined to ‘shock and awe’ his way to the White House. His cult followers don’t seem to be concerned of his many contradictions in the blissful belief that their Pipe Piper will make ‘America great’ and bring millions of jobs back to American. Always scant on details, he is without doubt a master marketer much like a used-car salesman who is determined to sell you a car without burdening you with details of its many defects. -more-


US Aid to Israel

Jagjit Singh
Thursday May 12, 2016 - 11:24:00 AM

In yet another gesture of capitulation to Israeli demands, the Obama administration has proposed an unprecedented military funding package that could top $40 billion over 10 years. In a stunning admission, the former Israeli Defense Force (IDF) Commander-in-Chief, Gabi Ashkenazi stated that “U.S. taxpayers have contributed more to the Israeli defense budget than Israeli taxpayers in the past three years.” According to Rand Paul, “Israel’s per capita income is greater than three-fourths of the rest of the world.” Its economy is booming and is destined for even greater prosperity from its discovery of natural gas. On the home front, there is mounting disillusionment that our country’s domestic and foreign policies have been misguided and trillions squandered with failing alliances and never ending conflicts. -more-


Pittman Branch of the Berkeley Public Library hosts another overcrowded meeting of the Board of Library Trustees--and the public has standing room only

Cecile Pineda
Thursday May 12, 2016 - 04:33:00 PM

The evening of May 11, the agenda of the Board of Library Trustees included a period of public commentary in which speakers were allotted a mere one minute each. This period was followed by commentaries by two union members, representing SEIU Local 1021 Maintenance Clerical Units; and Community Service and PTRLA Units, and opposing commentary by two members representing Public Employees Local #1. At issue was a vote of no confidence in the current collections manager signed by 56 library employees representing every library department. Although library employees represent 1% of SEIU membership, the library is responsible for 90% of SEIU complaints. Lawyers are now involved to the tune of $375.00 an hour. -more-


Comparing Donald Trump with Mentally Ill People

Jack Bragen
Thursday May 12, 2016 - 02:19:00 PM

Prominent people in the Republican Party aren't backing Donald Trump in his desire to be our President. Recently, the two former Republican Presidents, George W. Bush, and George H.W. Bush, have indicated that they are not attending the Republican National Convention, also Mitt Romney isn't attending, and also, John McCain. And now, the House Majority Leader, Paul Ryan, has indicated that he can not endorse Donald Trump. Is this a case of Mutiny on the Bounty? What is going on here? -more-


Obama Admits US Military Policy Responsible for Terrorist Attacks in Europe

By Gar Smith / World Beyond War
Thursday May 12, 2016 - 10:58:00 AM

On April 1, 2016 President Barack Obama addressed the closing session of the Nuclear Security Summit and praised "the collective efforts that we've made to reduce the amount of nuclear material that might be accessible to terrorists around the world."

"This is also an opportunity for our nations to remain united and focused on the most active terrorist network at the moment, and that is ISIL," Obama said. Many observers would argue that the US represents the world's "most active terrorist network." And, in doing so, they would merely be echoing the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. who, on April 4, 1967, railed against "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today, my own government."

While Obama hyped the fact that "a majority of the nations here are part of the global coalition against ISIL," he also noted that this same coalition was a major recruiting conduit for ISIS militants. "Just about all of our nations have seen citizens join ISIL in Syria and Iraq," Obama admitted, without offering any thoughts as to why this situation exists.

But Obama's most remarkable comment came with his public admission that US foreign policy and military actions were directly linked to the spike in terror attacks against Western targets in Europe and the US. "As ISIL is squeezed in Syria and Iraq," the president explained, "we can anticipate it lashing out elsewhere, as we've seen most recently and tragically in countries from Turkey to Brussels."

-more-


Columns

THE PUBLIC EYE:Welcome to Trump World: Immigration

Bob Burnett
Thursday May 12, 2016 - 10:28:00 AM

Donald Trump’s signature issue is immigration. When asked by the New York Times what he would accomplish during his first 100 days as President, Trump responded: “rescind Obama’s executive orders on immigration,” design the wall with Mexico, and ensure “the immigration ban on Muslims would be in place.” Trump’s immigration policy has five pillars.

Immigrants are dangerous: A January NBC News poll found that 34 percent of Republicans thought “terrorism” was the biggest issue facing the US; another 13 percent said it was “immigration.” Trump has linked these two issues and staked out a position so extreme it outflanked the other GOP contenders, making him the presumptive Republican nominee.

In his June 15th announcement speech Trump said: -more-


ON MENTAL ILLNESS: Learning Acceptance Yet Employing Anger

Jack Bragen
Thursday May 12, 2016 - 01:24:00 PM

Acceptance of "what is" constitutes a large part of numerous religious and meditative traditions. Acceptance on an emotional level is very practical, because it allows individuals to work for change from a reality-based and nonviolent place. While certainly, anger has its uses, so does acceptance. I believe it is possible to be angry and in acceptance at the same time. This means that you acknowledge the reality you face, you are angry about it, but you are not creating violence of word or deed in your attempt to make things better. -more-


ECLECTIC RANT: Cubanization of Venezuela

Ralph E. Stone
Thursday May 12, 2016 - 01:30:00 PM

Since Hugo Chávez's death in 2013, Venezuela under Nicolás Maduro, Chávez's hand-picked successor, is facing economic and political turmoil. To keep fading Chavismo alive, Venezuela has turned to the Castro brothers for help and probably is getting more than it asked for. As Venezuela's former ambassador to the United Nations, Diego Arria, put it: “Venezuela is an occupied country. The Venezuelan regime is a puppet controlled by the Cubans. It is no longer Cuban tutelage; it is control.” -more-


Arts & Events

Architecture Review: the New San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Christopher Adams
Thursday May 12, 2016 - 02:21:00 PM

Northern and southern Europe come together in a not totally comfortable way in the design of the newly expanded San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which will open on May 14 after a three-year closure. The new addition designed by Snøhetta, a firm which originated in Norway but now operates out of New York, is attached to and behind the original building designed by the Italian Swiss architect Mario Botta. -more-


Yo Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott at Davies Hall

Reviewed by James Roy MacBean
Friday May 13, 2016 - 10:25:00 AM

In an eclectic program, cellist Yo Yo Ma and pianist Kathryn Stott gave a concert Thursday evening, May 12, at Davies Hall. Longtime collaborators in both live performances and recordings, Yo Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott have a wonderful feel for each other’s musicianship. They opened this program with five pieces from something they term the “Arc of Life Suite,” which they recorded in 2015. However, as with many of Yo Yo Ma’s themed projects, this grouping seems a bit arbitrary and forced, though he sees it “as an invitation to our audience to remember and imagine what the soundtracks of their lives might be…. Childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle age, old age: what do they sound like?” Personally, I can’t imagine anyone’s life having this group of works as its soundtrack; but, oh well, there’s beautiful music here, and, anyway, Yo Yo Ma often stretches the point of his themed projects way out of proportion. -more-


Voci Women's Vocal Ensemble will feature Calloway songs

Thursday May 12, 2016 - 11:40:00 AM

Voci Women's Vocal Ensemble will appear on May 15 and 21 in two performances of a concert on the theme of Traces of a Vanishing World, featuring Composer Ann Callaway's recently-completed ON MUSIC AND NATURE: Three Hopkins Settings, for SSAA choir and piano. -more-