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Grocery Outlet, West Berkeley's beloved bargain spot, fell to the wreckers' ball this week. It will be replaced by--wait for it!--luxury apartments in a big bland building.
William Woodcock
Grocery Outlet, West Berkeley's beloved bargain spot, fell to the wreckers' ball this week. It will be replaced by--wait for it!--luxury apartments in a big bland building.
 

News

Flash: Verbal exchange leads to fatal shooting in Berkeley this evening

Thursday September 22, 2016 - 10:36:00 PM

A male victim was fatally shot in Berkeley this evening after a verbal exchange led to gunfire, according to police. 

Dispatch received a number of 911 calls starting at 7:32 p.m. regarding gunshots in the vicinity of Fairview and Adeline streets. 

Arriving officers found the victim suffering from gunshot wounds in the 1800 block of Fairview Street. 

He was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced deceased, according to police. 

Investigators say that a group of men and women were standing at the corner of Harper Street and Fairview when they were approached by a suspect who fired multiple shots into the group after a verbal exchange. 

The group fled the scene - as did the suspect, who is still outstanding, according to police. 

Around 9:20 p.m. police said Fairview Street was still closed to traffic between Adeline and Ellis streets while investigators process the crime scene. Harper Street is also closed between Woolsey and Fairview. 

Anyone with additional information is being asked to contact homicide investigators at (510) 981-5741.


Mayor comments on BPD chief's resignation

Kiley Russell (BCN)
Wednesday September 21, 2016 - 07:06:00 PM

Berkeley police Chief Michael Meehan announced his resignation today and will be leaving his post next month, according to city officials.

Meehan's resignation was accepted by City Manager Dee Williams-Ridley, who sent out an announcement to city staff this morning.

Capt. Andrew Greenwood will take over as acting chief after Meehan departs on Oct. 14.

No reason for the resignation was given and Meehan said only that he decided "the time is now" after talking to his family, according to a letter he sent out via Twitter.

Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates suggested that, while Meehan made some admirable changes to the department, it was his inability to get along well with rank-and-file officers that led to his departure. 

"I think there were signs and indications that he was having trouble leading the force," Bates said. "There's been some strong signs that the Police Department actually lost confidence in his ability to lead, which I think was the main thing." 

Bates praised Meehan for implementing efforts to reduce bias in police work and to train officers to better identify and help people with mental illness. 

He also said Greenwood is the "ideal person to step in."  

The sudden news of Meehan's departure today drew a positive reaction from the department's rank-and-file leadership. 

"I can't say it was necessarily expected," said Berkeley Police Association president Sgt. Chris Stines. "We wish him the very best with his future endeavors and we're very much looking forward to some positive changes happening in the department. We have a lot of faith in the city manager and city leadership." 

The department will continue to build on "some of the good work he started," Stines said. 

Not all of Meehan's tenure was free of scandal, however. 

In 2012, he was roundly criticized for sending an officer to an Oakland Tribune reporter's home in the middle of the night to try to have a story corrected and for sending several officers in search of his son's missing cellphone. 

In his letter to city staff, Williams-Ridley expressed gratitude for Meehan's service and said that during his nearly seven-year tenure as chief, the department has "increased transparency by posting 30 years of crime data as well as department policies, arrests, bookings, calls for service, pedestrian and traffic stops on the city's website." 

Greenwood is a 31-year veteran of the Berkeley Police Department and is a lifelong resident of the city, the letter states.


Suspicious package at Berkeley Police HQ not dangerous

Jeffi Shuttleworth (BCN)
Wednesday September 21, 2016 - 07:04:00 PM

A suspicious package that was brought to the Berkeley Public Safety Building at 2100 Martin Luther King Jr. Way this afternoon - temporarily forcing police and fire employees to shelter in place - was determined not to be dangerous, a fire official said. 

Berkeley Deputy Fire Chief Donna McCracken said a citizen who found a package on his doorstep that contained suspicious liquid brought it to the Public Safety Building at about 3:30 p.m. 

Police and fire employees who work at the building were then ordered to shelter in place and the sidewalk in front of the building was closed while the Fire Department's hazardous materials unit and the Police Department's bomb squad responded, she said. 

But authorities determined that the package doesn't contain hazardous materials and isn't a bomb and the order to shelter in place was lifted at 4:30 p.m., according to McCracken. 

The Police Department took possession of the package and is now evaluating it to determine exactly what it contains, McCracken said.


Why Robert Reich Endorsed A Conservative For Mayor of Berkeley

Harry Brill
Wednesday September 21, 2016 - 02:04:00 PM

In Berkeley nine candidates are running for mayor to replace Tom Bates, who is retiring. The two top contenders, who are on the Berkeley City Council, are politically worlds apart. Laurie Capitelli tilts in a conservative direction, and Jesse Arreguin is among the most progressive council members. Because Capitelli is an ardent supporter of development projects, he receives substantial contributions from real estate interests. In fact, his habit of favoring developers and landlords as well explains why he raises more money than any other member of the Council. Also, despite Capitelli's recent support for a minimum wage law,-- elections are around the corner -- he has for a long while obstructed efforts to increase the minimum wage. 


Although Jesse Arreguin is not opposed to development, he is infinitely more sensitive to the impact of development on small business and residents. Particularly important, Arreguin strongly supports labor legislation that benefits working people. Unlike Capitelli, he has never wavered on minimum wage and any other labor issues. It is no surprise, then, that among his significant endorsers are Bernie Sanders and the Alameda Labor Council, AFL-CIO.

Very surprising to progressive activists, however, is that among Capitelli's endorsers is Robert Reich. Reich is among the nation's most progressive intellectuals. He has no problem criticizing big business, and exposing how they have stacked the deck. Clearly, Reich is many light years away from the politics of Capitelli and also from his close ally, Tom Bates, who Reich had said is "the best mayor in the country".

Just as startling is Reich's comment about Capitelli: "Laurie is a serious progressive, one that doesn't just talk about progressive values but who demonstrates them." The Progressive Student Association, which is based on the UC Berkeley campus, disagrees with Reich's endorsement, because Capitelli has "repeatedly voted to reduce funding for affordable housing and has opposed campaign finance reform".

Although Reich's endorsement of Capitelli is disappointing, it is really, if we think about it, not surprising. Reich pays little attention, as he admits, to local politics. And he certainly doesn't follow on a week to week basis what is transpiring at the Berkeley City Council. Reich was impressed with his campaign to increase taxes on sodas to discourage overdosing on sugar sweetened drinks. Capitelli certainly deserves to be commended for his effort. But that does not offset the damage he has committed by his support for legislation, particularly on development proposals, that has adversely affected many Berkeley residents and workers.
Reich is obviously unaware of the tremendous gap between Capitelli's rhetoric and his actual performance. That gap is not the result of any personal quirk. It is politically driven. Berkeley is the home of a substantial number of progressive residents. So generally speaking, conservatives who are interested in running for office and being reelected feel compelled to camouflage their conservatism with progressive language.

Take for example, Capitelli's recent letter printed in the Daily Cal newspaper (Sept.9th). Believe it or not, he takes credit for the recent enactment of a minimum wage law that he had for a long while opposed. Incredibly, his words read "I was proud to lead these efforts so our low-wage workers can earn more money for their families." The organization I am affiliated with -- the East Bay Tax the Rich Group - has worked along with other activists and progressive organizations to obtain a minimum wage law that is superior to the minimum wage law passed in 2014. The greatest difficulty we had in winning a better minimum wage law was overcoming the resistance of both Capitelli and Mayor Bates.

In fact, we had two demoralizing experiences that Capitelli was responsible for. The labor and community committee worked very hard with Capitelli to craft a compromise minimum wage ordinance, which would be voted on at the Berkeley City Council meeting. At this unforgettable meeting Capitelli's first words were "I Renege". We were stunned. We had reached what we were led to believe was a firm agreement. As a result of his changing his mind, we had to begin all over again.

Many months later a Council committee led by Capitelli met with labor and community groups to craft another ordinance. Again an agreement was reached. Yet at the next meeting he along with some other members of the City Council didn't show up without even notifying members of the committee. Since there was no quorum, the council meeting was canceled.

At the City Council, councilmen Max Anderson, Kriss Worthington, and Jesse Arreguin played a major role keeping the minimum wage issue alive. Since Capitelli is running for mayor, he apparently decided to move things forward. But those who haven't followed this issue closely are unaware of the history. That probably includes Robert Reich.

Earlier in the campaign, I had asked Reich to testify on the minimum wage at a Berkeley City Council meeting. Since he resides in Capitelli's district, I thought that his public testimony would be particularly important. He refused. For whatever reason, he seems to have kept his distance from local politics. As a result, he was not as well informed as he should have been in deciding who to endorse for mayor. Clearly, he made a decision to favor a candidate who not only has very different political perspective. Capitelli's political agenda clashes with his own values.

Reich's problem mirrors the larger issue of how do we keep the public informed. Individual activists, no matter how grass roots oriented they are, can only reach a small sector of the community. What Berkeley is lacking is a large, formidable organization that is committed to educating the public on political issues and problems that they have only scant information about. A relatively new organization, the Berkeley Progressive Alliance (BPA) has been formed that is committed to playing this important role. BPA is a very promising development, which includes very experienced and dedicated organizers. The organization deserves the support of those who live or work in Berkeley. Right now they are working on electing a progressive majority to the City Council in November, including Jesse Arreguin.

Please send an email to Robert Reich to let him know why he should make a dual endorsement by supporting Jesse Arreguin for mayor. His email address is: bob@robertreich.org

If you would like to learn more about the Berkeley Progressive Alliance, here is the web address: berkeleyprogressivealliance.org 


U.C. Berkeley Police investigate another rape

Kiley Russell (BCN)
Wednesday September 21, 2016 - 01:56:00 PM

Police are investigating another possible rape at the University of California at Berkeley that is the latest in a string of attacks reported recently, according to UC Berkeley police. 

The latest assault took place on Sept. 10 at a residence hall and was reported nine days later by the victim, who is described by police only as a 19-year-old student. 

No other information on the attack was released.  

"We've had a few reports (of sexual assault) over the past couple of weeks," UC Berkeley police Sgt. Sabrina Reich said. "We're looking to see if there are any possible similarities." 

Since early September, there have been five reported rapes on campus, Reich said. 

One occurred at a residence hall on either the night of Sept. 4 or the early morning hours of Sept. 5 and three separate attacks happened at a concert at the Greek Theatre on Sept. 10, the same night as the latest reported attack is suspected of happening. 

Investigations into all of the recent attacks are still underway, Reich said, and a man has been arrested for the first one this month. 

Police on Sept. 14 arrested Sardar Sikandar Wali Zia Khan, 25, on suspicion of the Sept. 5 dorm attack. Khan is suspected of raping a 19-year-old female student resident with whom he was acquainted, police said.  

Anyone with information about any of the assaults is asked to call UC Berkeley police at (510) 642-0472 or (510) 642-6760.


Flash: Berkeley Police Chief resigns, effective October

Kiley Russell (BCN)
Wednesday September 21, 2016 - 01:43:00 PM

Berkeley police Chief Michael Meehan announced his resignation today and will be leaving his post next month, according to city officials.  

Meehan's resignation was accepted by City Manager Dee Williams-Ridley, who sent out an announcement to city staff this morning. 

Capt. Andrew Greenwood will take over as acting chief after Meehan departs on Oct. 14. 

No reason for the resignation was given and Meehan said only that he decided "the time is now" after talking to his family, according to a letter he sent out via Twitter. 

Williams-Ridley expressed gratitude for Meehan's service and said that during his nearly seven-year tenure as chief, the department has "increased transparency by posting 30 years of crime data as well as department policies, arrests, bookings, calls for service, pedestrian and traffic stops on the city's website." 

Greenwood is a 31-year veteran of the Berkeley Police Department and is a lifelong resident of the city, the letter states.  

The sudden news drew a positive reaction from the department's rank-and-file leadership. 

"I can't say it was necessarily expected," said Berkeley Police Association president Sgt. Chris Stines. "We wish him the very best with his future endeavors and we're very much looking forward to some positive changes happening in the department. We have a lot of faith in the city manger and city leadership."  

The department will continue to build on "some of the good work he started," Stines said.


March planned on before wrongful death trial in Moore case

Scott Morris (BCN)
Tuesday September 20, 2016 - 10:59:00 PM

More than three years after a transgender woman died in a struggle with Berkeley police, a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the woman's family is set to go to trial and protesters are planning a march this evening to draw attention to the case. 

Kayla Moore, 41, died after police were called to her home for a mental health check at about 11:40 p.m. on Feb. 12, 2013. Moore suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and had numerous prior contacts with Berkeley police. 

The Alameda County coroner's bureau found that she died from toxic levels of methamphetamine and codeine, but the family alleges that she was killed by two officers holding her face-down on a futon as they tried to arrest her. 

The city is seeking a judgment in its favor and a hearing on that motion will be held in federal court in San Francisco on Friday. If that motion is denied, the case is scheduled to go to trial next month, according to court records. 

In addition to drawing attention to the upcoming court hearings, protesters are also seeking action from the City Council to change city policies in dealing with mental health crises. 

"We want to make as much noise as possible, to wake this town up and alert the City Council to the fact that we are tired of their inaction," Andrea Prichett of the Justice 4 Kayla Moore Coalition said in a statement. 

"They have had three years since Kayla was killed and they have done nothing to change the situation. Mentally ill people in Berkeley are still in danger because of the police," Prichett said. 

The Police Department faced heavy criticism in the months after Moore's death. The department released a lengthy report finding her death was an accident, based on the coroner's bureau finding that Moore died from acute combined drug intoxication from toxic levels of methamphetamine and codeine and that an enlarged heart and morbid obesity were contributing factors to her death. 

Police said Moore weighed 347 pounds and was a heavy smoker who used crack cocaine and methamphetamine. She was combative with officers who came to her apartment that night, necessitating officers to restrain her. 

Once she stopped breathing, officers removed the restraints, performed CPR and took her to a hospital, but she died there a short time later. 

But in the family's wrongful death lawsuit filed in February 2014, they allege that Moore was "unlawfully seized, restrained, arrested and battered by multiple city of Berkeley police officers." 

Moore was at her apartment in the 2100 block of Allston Way with her caretaker and a friend. It was the friend who called Berkeley police to request a mental health evaluation, according to the lawsuit. 

Officers Brandon Smith and Gwendolyn Brown were the first to arrive at the apartment and found Moore speaking irrationally and making overtly paranoid comments that the officers were not really police. 

Brown and Smith ordered the caretaker to leave the apartment, and rather than evaluate Moore to see if a mental health hold was necessary, they checked her and her friend's names for warrants to try and justify an arrest.  

They found a warrant for Moore's friend who had called police for the mental health evaluation, and also found a warrant for a person named "Xavier Moore," Kayla Moore's birth name. But police dispatchers told Smith that the warrant was for someone 60 years old, about 20 years older than Moore, according to the suit. 

Rather than confirm the warrant was in fact for Moore, Brown and Officer Kenneth Tu grabbed Moore's wrists and tried to put her in handcuffs, according to the complaint. Moore was frightened and confused and screamed, "no, no" as she struggled with the officers. 

The officers threw her face down onto a futon on the floor and called for backup. Officers Brian Mathis, Timothy Gardner and Nikos Kastmiler arrived, according to the suit. 

Brown held Moore face down, pressing her body weight into Moore's shoulder blades. Tu lay on top of Moore's lower body to keep her from moving her legs. Moore was screaming, "Get off me" while struggling to breathe, the suit alleges. 

Eventually Moore lost consciousness during the struggle. When officers turned her onto her side, they realized she was not breathing. Officers performed chest compressions on Moore but did not perform rescue breaths, the suit alleges. 

The reason that all CPR procedures were not followed, the suit alleges, is because she was transgender. The lawsuit says that Sgt. Amber Phillips and other officers made discriminatory comments about Moore during the incident, referring to her as "it" and making inquiries about her gender identification. 

The complaint, filed by the law offices of prominent civil rights attorney John Burris, is seeking unspecified damages for the family. 

S


The Secret Service targets Donald Trump

Gar Smith
Tuesday September 20, 2016 - 09:57:00 AM

A report on the September 18 edition of CBS Evening News contained a singularly disturbing image.

Reporting on the extensive efforts taken to protect the president, CBS's Margaret Brennan explained how members of the Secret Service's elite counter-sniper team "are trained to hit targets dead on and, in the worst case scenario, put themselves in the line of fire."

In Brenna's report—titled "Inside the Secret Service sniper team"—government snipers were shown polishing their skills at a private government shooting range.

Instead of aiming their powerful long-range rifles at a generic black silhouette, however, the snipers in the CBS report were shown shooting at an identifiable human face—in this case, a photo of a white, blond-haired male.

I caught a screen grab of the critical moment (at left). 

The CBS reporter apparently failed to notice the Secret Service snipers' target bore an uncanny resemblance to presidential candidate Donald Trump. (Note that the sides of the portrait were cut away before the photo was placed on the target.) 

A Daily Planet request to CBS asking for a response has so far gone unanswered. 

Here is the complete CBS video: 

 

There is another disturbing element to the report that is worth noting: In the Secret Service exercise filmed by CBS, the government snipers appear to be aiming most of their fire not at the source of a "would-be assassin's" high-rise window but at the line of cars in a mock presidential motorcade. 

I've never accepted the rationale that snipers are "protective" or "defensive." 

Snipers excel at dispatching individuals easily identified in public spaces. It is much harder for a hidden sniper to draw a bead on another hidden sniper. A sniper killed JFK. How could any number of Secret Service "counter-snipers" have prevented that? Snipers kill from a great distance. How does a "good" sniper identify and zero-in on a "bad sniper"? 

Trump's Reckless Assassination Talk 

Donald Trump has raised hackles and made headlines with a number of reckless statements that seem to suggest that his opponent, Hillary Clinton, should be taken-out-with-the-garbage and, failing that, taken out with a bullet. 

"If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know," Trump has said. 

Speaking of Hillary Clinton's Secret Service bodyguards, Trump recently told supporters at a rally in Miami: "Take their guns away — she doesn't want guns. . . — and let's see what happens to her." 

"I think her bodyguards should drop all weapons. They should disarm immediately," Trump told the cheering crowd. 

At the same time, Trump's backers have floated stories suggesting that it is Mr. Trump who is in danger from armed conspirators. 

Is Trump, Himself, an Assassination Target? 

On May 27, 2016, the conservative alt-right news service Breitbart.com reported that hundreds of protesters gathered outside a Trump rally in San Diego were "chanting 'F**k Donald Trump' and holding obscene signs—including one that included a death threat against Trump should he win the presidency in November." 

The "threat" consisted of a "young protester [who] held up a sign that read: 'If TRUMP wins He'll be DEAD with in A week The Cartel wont have his Bullsh*t.'" 

Clearly, that was not an actual death threat. It was simply a somber prediction of how the "Deep State"/Establishment/Hidden Government might be expected to react to the prospect of a Trump White House. 

On August 31, Gateway Pundit.com ran a short piece with the headline: "Despite Death Threats Donald Trump Flies to Mexico City to Meet with President Nieto." 

In July 2015, the story explained, jailed Mexican drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, used his son's Twitter account to threaten Trump prior to the candidate's trip to the Mexican capitol. Guzman allegedly tweeted: "If you keep p****** me off I'm going to make you eat your words you f****** blonde milk-s*****'." 

Milk-s******, for the record, is the English translation of "cagaleche," a homophobic slur. 

Colorful language, to be sure, but still not an actual death threat. 

If you're looking for a clearly articulated death threat, there's South Park

In an episode that aired on September 25, 2015, a cartoon Trump was ridiculed, raped and murdered. 

 

More recently, on February 20, 2016, someone going under the name "weird al yankmadik @drugcaat" posted the following comment on Imgur.com: 

"I have no pain in my heart or morality when I say if trump's elected I will perform an assassination attempt on him, and that i will succeed."  

"weird al" only succeeded in getting himself reported to the local police and the FBI. 

But South Park is fantasy, as is yankmadik's cyber-braggadocio. 

If you're talking about a presidential assassination, there's nothing quite as simple, quick, and untraceable as a bullet from a sniper's gun barrel. 

I think the Secret Service has some explaining to do. 


Gar Smith, a Berkeley-based investigative reporter, is the winner of several Project Censored Awards 


Man threatens to kill family, police in 3-hour standoff in Berkeley-- successful negotiations prevent violent outcome

Daniel Montes (BCN)
Tuesday September 20, 2016 - 10:24:00 AM

A dispute between a mother and her 34-year-old son resulted in a three-hour standoff situation outside a Berkeley apartment Monday, police said. 

Around 10:20 a.m., officers responded to an apartment in the 1500 block of Prince Street, according to police. 

A woman there told police she had locked herself in her bedroom because her son was using drugs and making threats toward her and her older son, police said. 

Upon arrival, officers witnessed the suspect go inside the apartment and come out with a knife, threatening to kill officers. The suspect's mother then came out of the apartment and was able to take the knife away from her son, according to police. 

The suspect then went back into the apartment and locked himself inside, alone. 

Officers were able to get the mother and her oldest son to safety as a police negotiator and mental health professionals tried to contact the barricaded suspect, police said.  

During that time, the suspect displayed erratic behavior and appeared to be under the influence of drugs. On two occasions, the suspect threw glass bottles at the officers. The bottles shattered at the officers' feet and no officers were injured, according to police. 

The suspect also repeatedly came to the window and threatened to kill officers, police said. 

After three hours of negotiations, the suspect ultimately came out and was detained by officers without incident, according to police. 

His name has not yet been released. He was taken to a medical facility where he was placed on an emergency psychiatric hold. 

Police are continuing to investigate the incident and said criminal charges may be filed.


Updated: Major damage avoided in downtown Berkeley fire

Scott Morris (BCN)
Monday September 19, 2016 - 03:50:00 PM

Firefighters managed to keep a fire in a small space enclosed between several downtown Berkeley buildings from seriously damaging either of two storefronts on Saturday afternoon, a deputy fire chief said. 

The cause of the fire at 2111 and 2115 University Ave. -- a closed copy shop and a small storefront used by the UC Theatre -- remains under investigation, according to Berkeley Deputy Fire Chief Donna McCracken. 

At one point, firefighters were concerned it could spread to the neighboring 44-unit Bachenheimer Apartments building. The building was evacuated but ultimately sustained no damage. 

Berkeley was crowded with people in town to watch the California Golden Bears take on the Texas Longhorns as a black plume of smoke rose over downtown at 3:43 p.m. 

The space between the buildings where the fire broke out is surrounded by four concrete walls and is only accessible through the copy shop and the UC Theatre's storefront, McCracken said. 

Some shacks and awnings were constructed over the back doors to the businesses and they caught fire, spreading the fire into the two storefronts.  

It was difficult for arriving firefighters to even find where the fire was burning at first because of the odd, hidden space between several buildings. 

Flames spread into the walls, leading firefighters to call a two-alarm response because of the complexity of finding the hidden fire, McCracken said.  

It took until about 5:30 p.m. to put the fire out. 

One firefighter suffered a minor arm injury while trying to put the fire out. He was taken to Alta Bates Summit Medical Center for treatment and will miss some work while he recovers, McCracken said.


Flash: Fire damages historic building in downtown Berkeley

Steven Finacom
Saturday September 17, 2016 - 09:49:00 PM
Smoke billows above Bachenheimer building
Steven Finacom
Smoke billows above Bachenheimer building
Berkeley fire truck one of several on scene
Steven Finacom
Berkeley fire truck one of several on scene
The view from University and Shattuck
Steven Finacom
The view from University and Shattuck
David Mayeri confers with firefighter as he removes posters from the U.C. Theater office.
Steven Finacom
David Mayeri confers with firefighter as he removes posters from the U.C. Theater office.
On the scene were seven fire engines, two ambulances and multiple police units.
Steven Finacom
On the scene were seven fire engines, two ambulances and multiple police units.

Smoke pillared above Downtown Berkeley this afternoon as a two alarm fire damaged the rear of a partially vacant historic commercial building on University Avenue near Shattuck. 

The fire was at the rear of 2111-13 University Avenue, built in 1911 as a one story structure which has housed markets and other businesses over the decades. The west half of the building most recently housed the Krishna Copy Center. That storefront is currently vacant.  

The adjacent storefront housed storage space for the Taub Family Music Hall, which is located in the historic UC Theater a block to the west. Immediately after the fire was quelled David Mayari, head of the UC Theater, was on the corner of University Avenue with his staff, hauling off framed posters and photographs brought out of the building by Fire Department personnel. Most of the items looked intact, but some appeared to be wet. 

Donna McCracken, a Berkeley Fire Department Deputy Chief and spokeswoman at the scene, said that the police response involved “almost all of our city here”, including seven fire engines, two ambulances and multiple police units. Oakland and Albany were providing mutual aid coverage for Berkeley. There were no initial reports of injuries, but there was a later report that a firefighter had suffered a minor injury. 

McCracken said the fire had burned outdoors in a courtyard area behind the structure, then into the rear of the building. White, gray, and black smoke billowed up from the roof several dozen feet behind the facade as fire engines parked two deep along University Avenue and firefighters entered through the storefronts and by ladders to the roof. 

The street facade of the building and adjacent structures did not appear to be damaged, although the Bachenheimer building to the east was evacuated and dozens of residents stood outside. From the street, Bachenheimer fire alarms could be heard blaring, possibly set off by the smoke from the fire next door. 

University Avenue east of Shattuck and portions of Shattuck Square were closed to through traffic, adding to the traffic congestion Downtown as thousands of Cal football fans—both Golden Bears, and orange-clad Texas Longhorns—streamed east through Downtown streets towards the night game at Memorial Stadium.  

The fire occurred 93 years to the day after the massive wind-driven 1923 Berkeley Fire that destroyed some 600 structures in the hills north of the UC Berkeley campus. The southwestern edge of the 1923 Fire was just a block east of today’s fire. 

The entire block frontage along University Avenue is awaiting development with apartments above the historic commercial facades, as part of the Acheson Commons project. City of Berkeley project approvals specified restoration of the historic facades as part of the development. All but one of the buildings facing University Avenue were built between 1908 and 1925, and several of them are designated City of Berkeley landmarks. (The Bachenheimer Building is a later, non-historic, structure). 

The block, once owned and developed by the Acheson family, was most recently owned by Equity Residential which successfully sought the permits from the city for housing construction behind the historic commercial facades. The University Avenue block frontage has recently been sold to another national apartment firm, McRef Acheson LLC in July. 

Construction has not started on the housing development, but many of the commercial spaces—including the Ace Hardware store at the east end of the block—have been vacated.  

There was no formal statement by the Fire Department on the cause of the fire at press time. Spectators at the scene who had been in the Campanile when the fire started said they had seen white smoke rising from the block, followed by fire department sirens. The smoke burned brown and gray for some time, then billowed thick and black for minutes as firefighters attacked the blaze from the roof and inside the building. 

Although there was a ladder truck at the scene, no ladders were raised during the fire and most of the firefighting appeared to be taking place from hoses brought through the storefronts


Press Release: FEMA funding for Hills tree removal is cancelled

from Hills Conservation Network
Saturday September 17, 2016 - 09:30:00 AM

[Editor's note: Based on statements on the Hill Conservation Network website yesterday, it appears that plans for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to fund extensive tree removal in the East Bay hills has been cancelled per a settlement of an ongoing legal challenge to the project. The Hills conservation network issued this press release:]


FEMA case is settled!

We are pleased to announce that FEMA and the Department of Justice have signed off the settlement agreement between HCN and FEMA to resolve the HCN lawsuit challenging the adequacy of the FEMA EIS for vegetation management projects in the east bay hills.

HCN is pleased with this agreement in that it rescinds funding for the portions of the project targeted at removing large trees but maintains funding for essential brush clearing work. In practical terms the effect of this agreement is to rescind funding to UC and the City of Oakland while maintaining funding for EBRPD.

This has been a very long and hard fight, a fight that could have been avoided had UC been willing to adopt accepted wildland fire risk mitigation methodologies rather than insisting on removing 3 species of tall trees. The City of Oakland is an unfortunate casualty in this conflict largely because what began as a well intentioned public safety initiative was hijacked by the same faction that has made reasonable dialog and compromise impossible.  

With this agreement in place HCN will move to abandon the lawsuit and will reach out to the various agencies involved to attempt to develop a consensus approach to managing wildfire risk while preserving this incredibly beautiful environment we call home. 

Once again, we want to thank all of you who have played an role in making this happen, whether it be in the form of monetary contributions, protests, attending meetings, talking to others, or just spreading the word. From the beginning it was clear that the vast majority of this community valued these beautiful forests and didn’t want to see them destroyed in the name of wildfire risk mitigation. What became evident as the lawsuit progressed was there was precious little evidence to justify attempts to destroy whole forests to reduce fire risk. In fact there was a great deal of evidence that destroying these forests would if anything significantly increase the danger to local residents. 

In the end science won out and FEMA/DOJ did the right thing. 

Having said this, we are still engaged in a legal conflict with UC Berkeley over their attempt to use their 2020 Long Range Facilities Development Plan as evidence of CEQA compliance. HCN filed suit on this matter several months ago asserting that this was not acceptable and that UC must prepare an EIR for their proposed vegetation management projects. With the FEMA news hot off the press it’s not entirely clear what UC’s plans are, but HCN is going to move forward with the legal steps to ensure that irrespective of funding source UC is not allowed to move forward on any large scale tree removal projects without truly complying with CEQA. Your ongoing support for this fight is still needed. 

Thanks again to all who have worked so hard for this outcome. 

Hills Conservation Network 


[The HCN site also reprinted this notice from UC Berkeley's vegetation management program:] 

Hill Campus Fire Hazard Reduction Program - Indefinite Delay

September 9, 2016 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has terminated grants awarded to UC Berkeley in January 2016 that were to fund fire hazard mitigation projects in the area known as the Hill Campus. Copies of the letters communicating the termination are available through the links below. The campus was not consulted regarding the decision to terminate the grants and has no information regarding why the grants were terminated by FEMA other than what is stated in the letters. 

FEMA has stated that as a result of its termination of the grants, no federal action is associated with the fire hazard mitigation projects and therefore the Incidental Take Statement issued by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) no longer covers the activities that were to be carried out pursuant to the terminated grants. If USFWS formally concurs with FEMA’s position, then the USFWS may not issue a new permit enabling the University’s fire hazard mitigation work for months or years. The campus is presently evaluating how to address compliance with USFWS jurisdictional requirements in light of FEMA’s decision to terminate the grants. The UC Berkeley’s Hill Campus Fire Hazard Reduction Program work will be delayed for an indefinite period while the regulatory issues arising from termination of the grants are resolved. 

The grants were awarded after approximately eight years of consideration and review by FEMA, including FEMA’s preparation of an extensive Environmental Impact Statement. The campus was preparing to begin work in Claremont Canyon in mid-September; the contractor bidding process was completed in August 2016, and contracts were expected to be finalized by September 16.  

The campus’s annual program to create and maintain limited defensible space by reducing wildfire fuels in the Hill Campus is not subject to the grants terminated by FEMA and this year's work is scheduled to continue through September 2016. 

Further updates to the UC Hill Campus Fire Hazard Reduction Program work plan will be posted on this webpage. 

Letters of notification: 

UC Berkeley Claremont Canyon PDM05 Termination Notice 

UC Berkeley Strawberry Canyon PDM05 Termination Notice


Opinion

Editorials

Arrivistes, carpetbaggers and schlemiels battle for Berkeley's future

Becky O'Malley
Friday September 16, 2016 - 02:05:00 PM

So today I opened my email to the usual flood of pleas from candidates and causes, most of which I support. It’s annoying, but I guess they need our money to keep on keeping on with whatever it is that they do.

However. On almost a daily basis I’ve been getting a begging letter from or on behalf of one Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, better known as Daily Kos. He and his staff are asking for contributions to fund a new site focused on elections, a spin-off from their very popular aggregation of mostly pseudonymous rants from self-identified progressives. Like the main Daily Kos site, this new one seems to be ad-heavy (“3 Ways To Stop Dementia--Learn the 3 simple habits that can stop dementia dead in its tracks…).

With a claimed 10 million unique hits the Kos enterprise is big business. Today he’s asking each reader to give him a dollar, which would be a cool $10 million if they do.

All of this is fine. The Daily Kos founder, like Tom Lehrer’s Old Dope Peddler, is “doing well by doing good.” And why shouldn’t he?

But when national figures like Markos wrap themselves in the progressive banner, it’s a good idea to check out who they really are when they’re at home.

So when I saw Kos’s recent comments on local news site Berkeleyside, deriding neighbors who spoke up at Berkeley’s Zoning Adjustments Board opposing expansion of a Honda repair shop into a historic retail building in a residential area, I was, shall we say, “shocked”. (Actually, not so much, because he’s done this before.) 

Some samples from his comments on that story: 

“There are a bunch of repair shops just south of Ashby, a couple of blocks from here. There's nothing in that neighborhood's character that precludes this sort of use, but NIMBYs will be NIMBYs in Berkeley…Their hysteria is ridiculous…[Re complaints that existing dealerships park display autos on sidewalks:] Public parking is public parking. Why wouldn't Volvo be allowed to park there? [Re complaints that the project threatens a historic structure:] Too late. Any Mountain [the current tenant] destroyed that "rich history" already, since apparently a building's history is determined by 1) some old tenant, and 2) a current tenant that is not the old tenant…Then again, this does speak to Berkeley's rich historical pedigree. Rome has the Coliseum. Athens has the Parthenon. Berkeley has [t]he place that once housed a supermarket!”
What kind of progressive moves into a neighborhood (he lives just a few blocks away) and trashes his new neighbors? 

To see his total oeuvre, click on Markos Moulitsas Zuniga to check out his Disqus record. 

Some more ugly stuff there: 

“So what if developers see downtown Berkeley as a cash cow? Who built the existing buildings in Berkeley, non-profit benevolent altruistic charities? People build stuff because 1) there's demand, and 2) money can be made. There's nothing inherently bad about that. In fact, that's why just about everything in this country is made, period.”  

And about the homeless in downtown Berkeley: 

“Where is this right to sit down wherever the hell you please enumerated? I'm curious! There's a park a block over if someone needs a place to chill. Me, I'm looking forward to being able to walk the area with my kids without having to step over human excrement, or having a barely constrained pit bull snapping at them.”
And he’s asking us progressives to send him money? Sorry, Kos, you’re not a nice guy. 

The South Shattuck neighborhood in question is not a fancy one. It’s small homes in the Flats, many multi-family, many owned by older people who bought them years ago before Berkeley was invaded by the lifestyles of the rich and famous. And yes, there was also an ageist comment on that thread, not from Kos but by someone who agreed with him: “Why are there so many grumpy retirees with nothing better to do in this city?” 

Exhibiting this kind of disdain for ordinary people who take an interest in what happens in their neighborhoods is exactly the kind of thing that swells the Trumper ranks. If a self-styled progressive like Markos Moulitsas takes the side of a major multi-national corporation like Honda against people who don’t want more automobiles near their homes (not just homeowners but also tenants) it’s no wonder some of the aggrieved are tempted by false prophets like Trump. 

And while we’re on the subject of arrivistes, parvenus and carpetbaggers, let’s take note of Robert Reich, who just announced his support for the Bates machine’s candidate for Mayor of Berkeley, realtor Laurie Capitelli. 

Let’s remember that he’s the councilmember who voted to pay out a half-million dollars of public funds as a sweetener for the newly hired Berkeley police chief’s private house (not in a Flatlands neighborhood, may we say, but in the plushier Hills) and then allowed his own real estate company to broker the purchase for a nice commission. Way to profit from public service, Cap! 

Reich was a prominent Berni-bro, eager to denounce Hillary (and Bill, reportedly his former classmate at Oxford) for as long as he could get away with it. But Bernie Sanders has endorsed Jesse Arreguin for Mayor of Berkeley, probably because Jesse endorsed him in the California presidential primary. 

I looked all around the Internet, but could find no record that Capitelli had ever endorsed Sanders ( though I left a message on the councilman’s machine, and maybe he’ll call back to contradict me.) 

Arreguin is one of only 100 local candidates to get this accolade from ol’ Bern. As far as I can determine, most of Bernie’s endorsees were local leaders who supported him in the primary. Full disclosure: another one is my son-in-law Chris Krohn, who is running for the Santa Cruz city council, and who worked hard for Sanders in June. 

Robert Reich has been on the wrong side of local history ever since he scored the prestigious slot of Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Richard Blum Center for Developing Economies. In furtherance of these fancy jobs, he has moved here, for at least part of the year, and has been busily sucking up to those in power, like Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates. 

On the big topics, Reich’s a clever and powerful writer. It’s a mystery to me why he doesn’t practice what he preaches when it comes to local controversies. Here’s a quote: 

“If nothing is done to counter present trends, the major fault line in American politics will no longer be between Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives. It will be between the 'establishment'—political insiders, power brokers, the heads of American business, Wall Street, and the mainstream media—and an increasingly mad-as-hell populace determined to 'take back America' from them.”
Yet Berkeley Councilmember Laurie Capitelli and his mentor Mayor Tom Bates are exactly the establishment described by this analysis. They are the quintessential political insiders, the power brokers, in a city increasingly threatened by speculative developers coming in with big money to profit from the building boom. And like Sanders and Reich, they’re Old White Guys. (I know, Some of My Best Friends Are too, but still…) 

Councilmember Arreguin, on the other hand, is a young Latino, the son of farmworkers, who has consistently sponsored progressive programs on the council and stood up for those being displaced by the city’s gentrification. 

In a complicated switcheroo on another progressive goal, Capitelli first opposed Arreguin’s minimum wage proposal at city council, which was then put on the November ballot by petition. Then he joined the council majority in putting a much weaker version on the November ballot to compete with it. THEN he ginned up a third proposal to supplant both ballot propositions and asked for a special city council meeting to pass it. THEN he didn’t show up for the meeting he himself had requested, which we only heard about via a downtown business association press release. And finally, he persuaded the council, in another special meeting, to pass a “compromise” ordinance, which unlike a ballot proposition could be repealed by a subsequent council vote. And THEN he told us schlemiels to vote no on both ballot measures. Slippery, right? 

Berkeley is increasingly being invaded not only by rich international investors but by global and national celebrities like Moulitsas and Reich, who have identified the city as a trendy happenin’ place to live. People like this who’ve moved around a lot seem to have trouble understanding what contributes to what’s sometimes called a sense of place. 

As defined by the Geography Dictionary: 

“Either the intrinsic character of a place, or the meaning people give to it, but, more often, a mixture of both. Some places are distinctive through their physical appearance, like the Old Man of Hoy; others are distinctive, but have value attached to them, like the white cliffs of Dover.”
Berkeley has been distinguished both for its unique architecture and for what’s happened here. For example, the interesting Moderne building which Honda proposes to take over for its repair shop was once was a theater which hosted the first reading of Howl.  

Yes, Markos, it’s part of “Berkeley's rich historical pedigree” which you so deride. Too bad you’re too tone-deaf to appreciate it. 

And Professor Reich, if your endorsees Bates, Capitelli and their ilk are eventually successful in giving away the city’s remaining development sites for ugly boxes marketed by out-of-town Real Estate Investment Trusts as luxury apartments, we will have lost both our diverse residents and our sense of place. 

More Kos: “Real democracy is at the polls, not the people who show up at arcane meetings.” Well, no, speaking out at meetings counts for lot too. 

My high school’s motto was “Actions speak louder than words”. Being a true progressive means more than just loudly claiming you are one when you have a platform on the internet. As a famous New Yorker once said, "Eighty percent of success is showing up." 

When you don’t show up you don’t make much progress. For the record, I’ve never seen either Kos or Reich at a Berkeley City Council meeting, and that’s not a good thing. 


P.S. An eagle-eyed reader has spotted, in the latest Capitelli press release, the news that (SURPRISE) Markos Moulitsas Zuniga has also endorsed Capitelli, the big developers' main guy.Birds of a feather flock together.


The Editor's Back Fence


New: More of the wit and wisdom of Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, aka Daily Kos

Kos
Sunday September 18, 2016 - 01:50:00 PM
Forget about the Post Office.
Forget about the Post Office.
AirB'N'B? No problem!
AirB'N'B? No problem!
Dump Worthington now!
Dump Worthington now!
And while we're at it, let's replace all three of the progressives on the Berkeley City Council.
And while we're at it, let's replace all three of the progressives on the Berkeley City Council.
What's wrong with greed? Let's hear it for developers!
What's wrong with greed? Let's hear it for developers!
Liberal cities: who needs them?
Liberal cities: who needs them?
 Support local labor? No way!
Support local labor? No way!

Another one of our sharp-eyed readers has been saving screenshots of some of the worst postings by the notorious Kos, here presented with sarcastic captions by the editor for your outraged amusement. It looks like he and the Donald might have the same speechwriter.


Public Comment

Is mayoral candidate Ben Gould playing the role of attack dog?

James McFadden
Thursday September 15, 2016 - 09:33:00 PM

Some thought on Ben Gould and his attack on Jesse Arreguin.

I’ve been wondering what inspired a grad student to run for mayor ever since I met the guy earlier this year. Why would Ben Gould run for mayor when: 1) he had no name recognition, 2) he apparently had no city government experience 3) he seemed clueless about most issues important to the city, 4) he seemed unmotivated since he rarely, if ever, showed up for any city council meetings (or any other city meetings for the past two years when I started attending), 5) he showed no passion about any issues, and 6) he had no chance of winning. Did he just like to wear suits and be on stage? Was grad school so easy that he had time for this? (I remember working 70-80 hours a week when I was a grad student). I had pretty much forgotten about the guy until he wrote an editorial in Berkeleyside that posted on September 12.

What is now clear is that Ben Gould joined the mayoral race to play the role of Capitelli’s attack dog -- or the developers’ attack dog since Capitelli is the developers’ candidate. Ben’s job is to attack Jesse Arreguin on non-issues and be the conduit of developer propaganda. Ben’s job is to distort Jesse’s record in order to keep Jesse distracted and on the defensive. Running for mayor gives Ben Gould the perfect platform he needed to play that role -- libertarian attack dog. 

I should have noticed Ben’s association with Eric Panzer and made the connection sooner. For those not in the know, Panzer is the guy who leads “version 2” of the developer shills at City Council meetings. Developer shills “version 1” were more entertaining. They started appearing about one and a half years ago defending developer interests. I’ve always wondered what motivated that group of misfits, apparently poor misfits who were having trouble paying their rents, who were led by a young woman with quite a mouth and temper. Why did they care enough about defending developer profits to sit through hours of City Council meetings just to speak for 2 minutes in support of market rate housing they could never afford. But apparently they were too shrill and confused for the developer beholden council members (Bates, Capitelli, Maio, Droste, Moore, Wengraf), so they just disappeared – never to be seen again. 

Soon after, they were replaced by Eric Panzer and his little group of like-minded libertarians (developer shills “version 2”). Like most trolls they scan Berkeleyside, or any other public information platforms, attacking anyone or any idea that might prevent maximization of developer profits – otherwise known as market-rate housing. They do this regardless of the impact on the current Berkeley citizens or neighborhoods, or on the character of the city, or on the environment. They construct their attacks in the language of libertarian myths – “free markets, not profitable enough, private-public partnerships” – mixing in a bit of greenwashing. They remind me of the climate chaos deniers – or the tobacco shills.  

But back to Gould and his attack on Jesse. This strategy seems to come right out of Frank Underwood’s presidential strategy on House of Cards (season 3, Gould=Sharp). Or maybe he got it from the Tom “newspaper thieving” Bates playbook of dirty political tricks. It is an attack strategy to put Jesse on the defensive. It is a strategy to help Capitelli look mayoral and avoid looking nasty (although that is difficult to do). It also helps distract the public from questions about Capitelli -- like his real-estate fees from the half-million dollar loan Capitelli brokered for the chief of police – a loan from city funds. It also helps Capitelli avoid questions about his real role in the Berkeley minimum wage fight – where he fought against any increase for years. And how, once the voter petition put a minimum wage measure on the ballot, Capitelli led the charge to subvert the voter initiative. He did this by introducing a competing City Council ballot measure in a cynical attempt to confuse and split the voters (divide and conquer strategy). And when he was finally pressured into a compromise – after all that subversion – Capitelli tries to claim that he was the champion of the working poor in brokering the minimum wage deal. Much like any shady politician trying to claim the lime light – Capitelli is trying to claim glory for something that he attempted to undermine for years. 

In contrast, based on watching Jesse for the last two years, I see in him someone who really cares about people and serving the community. From all his appearances I’ve witnessed on Council, and from conversations we have had, I believe Jesse is someone who cares about the future of the city, about the poor, about the housing bubble, about the environment, and about getting the right stuff done to keep our city healthy. Jesse doesn’t take any corporate money or developer money. He does not see his role as someone handing out developer permits to his backers -- as Bates-Capitelli cartel has for the last decade. And Jesse’s championing of the working class – rather than the investor class – has earned him the endorsement of Bernie Sanders. 

But back to Ben Gould. Has Capitelli promised to give Gould anything in return for his attack dog services? Did he get any promises for an appointment? A seat on a board? Backing for a future run for Council? Did any developer’s promise Gould anything? Did he take any developer or corporate money for his campaign or for any other purposes? What motivated Gould to take on the attack dog role? I guess if Capitelli is elected mayor, we might find out. And my advice to Gould: be careful whose political bed you get into – the smell is often difficult to remove. 

 

 

 


Statement on ZAB's action approving the Honda proposal for 2777 Shattuck

South Shattuck Neighbors
Sunday September 11, 2016 - 09:53:00 PM

In 2006 Berkeley voters overwhelmingly (by 82%) passed Measure G, with a goal to drastically reduce Berkeley's greenhouse gas emissions. In 2007 a comprehensive Climate Action Plan was adopted by the city after a lengthy community input process. Emissions from diesel and gasoline transportation make up nearly half of Berkeley's emissions according to the Climate Action Plan, and therefore transportation reform was greatly emphasized in this plan.

The South Shattuck Strategic Plan, which numerous South Berkeley neighbors worked tirelessly to develop, plus numerous other city plans (including the Climate Action Plan), call for drastic reduction of private auto use. These community-supported plans implore the city to adopt strategies such as promoting small retail storefronts, modern public transportation infrastructure, bike lanes, and discouraging auto dealerships in South Berkeley, among other strategies.

Unfortunately, on Thursday night, the Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) voted in favor of the fossil fuel economy.

The ZAB voted to grant an unprecedented use permit for a Honda repair shop and car dealership to move into a South Berkeley neighborhood, at 2777 Shattuck, with display of their wares on the triangle lot where Adeline and Shattuck merge, forming a gateway to downtown Berkeley. This is unprecedented because for the last quarter century our city's policy has been not to allow any new car dealerships, even relocated ones, in this area. At the request of Berkeley Honda in 2013 the city council quietly rezoned our neighborhood. Berkeley Honda's use permit, if upheld, would be the first such permit granted under this new scheme.

Neighbors believe that Honda’s repair service appears to be the primary use of the building based on detrimental impacts from the actual activities taking place inside the building, from repair service-generated traffic, and other factors. The 2013 zoning code revision clearly prohibits repair service as the primary use of a building in the new auto sales zone. Repair services may only be an "ancillary" use. The service component of the business will result in pedestrian and cyclist safety threats and excessive noise, among many other problems.

A group of neighbors near the proposed site of Berkeley Honda - some of whom live just two arms' lengths away from the site - are considering appealing the ZAB decision to the City Council. 

 

SUMMARY OF ZAB ACTION ON THE HONDA PROPOSAL 

1) ZAB permitted a building that will function mainly as a repair shop—a prohibited use for a building in the C-SA district. 

2) ZAB ignored long standing community-created area plans promoting neighborhood-oriented pedestrian-friendly development and reducing reliance on automobiles. By claiming the east side of Adeline Street as a de facto auto loading dock, the Honda proposal effectively blocks potential greenway development as envisioned by the ongoing Adeline Corridor Planning process. 

3) ZAB approved a scheme to place a left turn lane for a garage entrance in the middle of one of the most congested blocks on one of the most trafficked streets in town. It will threaten pedestrian & bicycle safety, & will almost certainly result in accidents on one of the city's designated "safe routes to school." The specifics of the plan will likely disrupt one of the most important links in the transit system, AC Transit’s #18 bus. The #18 bus serves 3 cities, connects with BART in multiple locations, and has important connections with intersecting bus lines, including the transbay F bus. 

4) ZAB held no discussion at all on CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act ) issues despite a detailed letter from the Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger law firm explaining why the Honda project is not categorically exempt from full CEQA review. CEQA places a statutory burden on municipalities to analyze, disclose & mitigate the harm from projects with potential to affect the environment. 

5) ZAB permitted auto service bays to count as "off street parking" for customers and employees—a dangerous precedent with unknown future consequences. ZAB also ignored clear ordinance language requiring twice as much parking for a change of use in a building formerly used for recreation and retail sales. ZAB approved business hours for auto sales & repair in excess of any other local shop, giving Honda an unfair competitive advantage likely to result in demands for equal treatment from auto businesses around town.  

6) This was all rationalized thanks to the 2013 Dealership Overlay—stealth legislation affecting a neighborhood that is normally deeply involved in planning efforts. However, plain language in the Dealership Overlay does not authorize what ZAB approved Thursday night. 

7) ZAB moved the Honda project from the first action item to last place on the agenda, guaranteeing that neighborhood representation would thin out in the late night hours. Additionally, ZAB limited public testimony, which did not begin until 10:30 pm, to one minute per speaker. Despite this, ZAB heard from dozens of neighbors articulating detailed objections. Dozens more neighbors with family obligations and health considerations were unable to stay for the entire hearing, which did not conclude until nearly 1:30 a.m. ZAB was filled with four new or substitute board members, three of whom had not heard the critical issues raised during lengthy public testimony at prior public hearings. 


The Unfair Media

Katherine Liepe Levinson, PhD and Martin H. Levinson, PhD
Thursday September 15, 2016 - 10:01:00 PM

The media’s faux attempt to appear fair and balanced has led them to egregiously equate the ravings of a lunatic presidential candidate with the performance of a flawed but stable politician who has received plaudits as well as criticism for her public service of three decades. The media has abetted Donald Trump’s flooding of the truth with so many lies that anything looking like a fact is washed away. His surrogates are allowed to spout all kinds of falsehoods often with gross impunity and very little push back. 

At the same time, the media hypes any whiff of Clinton impropriety through nonstop talk fests, disregarding the lack of evidence (e.g., “Hey, maybe the Russians did hack your server and nobody knows about it.” “Close down that well-regarded Clinton Foundation because Trump and cronies cry pay-for-play”). News cycle after news cycle has been dominated with allegations leveraged as facts, not unlike what happened to John Kerry when he was “swiftboated” in 2004. 

On the PBS Newshour, USA Today’s Susan Page smiled as she stated she wasn’t “one hundred percent sure” why there had been nonstop media chatter about the Clinton Foundation, while the true story of the Trump Foundation’s use of other peoples money, pay to play donation, and nefarious purchase of art work, reported months ago, was not given the same coverage. Allow us to answer your query, Ms. Page. The media, including the PBS Newshour, chose to run repeated negative stories on the Clinton Foundation despite a lack of evidence, while eschewing the same type of repetitive reporting on Trump’s illegal use of his own charity’s funds as evidenced by public record. 

The media’s embrace of “accusation as news,” with regard to one presidential candidate in order to balance the lunacy and bigotry of the opposition, has created a modern-day Frankenstein. This Frankenstein is a new body of voters for whom veracity no longer has meaning, and therefore can be easily done away with, which endangers our democracy. 

The advent of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has resulted in many more Americans publicly promoting racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic sentiments and actions. Many of us have lamented to our friends and communities that we find a large portion of Trump’s voters more disturbing and dismaying than Trump himself, in terms of their mendacity and public displays of bigotry. According to a number of Holocaust survivors on record, Trump’s presidential campaign could have been a blueprint for the ascent of Hitler and Mussolini. Much of our current media continues to play a great and terrible part in this despicable state of affairs. To quote Charles M. Blow of The New York Times, “If the basket fits…”


Reject TPP

Tejinder Uberoi
Thursday September 15, 2016 - 10:08:00 PM

The recent public disclosure of the provisions of the Trans-Pacific Partnership has galvanized some of the most highly respected economists in the country. More than 200 of these economists and legal scholars have written a letter urging Congress to reject the 12-nation trade pact, citing its controversial investor-state dispute settlement. Critics say the so-called ISDS regime creates a parallel legal system granting multinational corporations undue power.The letter states, "Foreign corporations can succeed in lawsuits before ISDS tribunals even when domestic law would have clearly led to the rejection of those companies’ claims." Among the letter’s signatories is Obama’s Harvard Law School mentor, professor Laurence Tribe. Senator Elizabeth Warren, an early opponent of the deal, said of ISDS, "This provision empowers companies to challenge laws and regulations they don’t like, with friendly corporate lawyers instead of judges deciding their disputes. Congress should not approve a TPP agreement that includes ISDS." Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, stated “this is an agreement so repugnant that members of Congress do not want to vote for it.” 

If the TPP were to be enacted, thousands of multinational corporations would be newly empowered to sue the U.S. government, in front of panels of three corporate attorneys, who could order the government to pay unlimited sums, including future profits There is no appeal process from these panels and there’s no limit on how much they can order taxpayers to pay. 

President Obama’s aggressive promotion of TPP is ill-advised. TPP should be rejected. 


Worker Cooperatives is the way to go

Harry Brill
Thursday September 15, 2016 - 09:58:00 PM

The well known writer, Upton Sinclair, developed a proposal during the 1930s depression that would encourage the establishment of worker cooperatives via substantial government investment to reduce unemployment and poverty. Sinclair ran for governor in 1934 as the Democratic Party candidate in California for the purpose of implementing his program, which he called End Poverty In California (EPIC). Business interests and their allies, including the leadership of the Democratic Party defeated his candidacy with a campaign filled with deception, dirty tricks, and voter fraud. In one San Francisco district, for example, just three votes were counted for Sinclair although 40 registered voters in the same district claimed they voted for him. Sounds familiar? 


The business community was willing to tolerate the WPA. But it bitterly opposed supporting a program with tax dollars that promoted worker owned cooperatives on a large scale. What history has taught us is that often in politics, particularly class politics, there are no umpires to protect against foul play. But we have also learned from history that we should never give up.

There are about 300 cooperatives with about 3,500 workers. In Berkeley there is the very successful Cheeseboard Collective, which offers us an ideal model of what a workplace should be. This business has been worker owned and controlled for 45 years. The Cheeseboard sells a wide range of products including several hundred different cheeses, an extensive selection of freshly baked breads and pastries and a few doors down it makes and sells pizza. It is among the most successful businesses in Berkeley.

The Cheeseboard is a thoroughly democratic workplace. There are no high paid executive officers that call the shots. The more than 50 co-op owners discuss issues that concern them, and if a vote is taken, each member enjoys one vote. Second, since it does not employ high priced executives whose income and bonuses are excessive, these workers are able to earn a living wage rather than a low minimum wage. Third, there is far more job security than in the private sector. A Cheeseboard member that was interviewed claimed that the cooperative during a serious economic downturn would cut hours of work rather than lay off its members. In private establishments, whatever decision managers make on how to cope with difficult times, they are rarely guided by empathy.

The Cheeseboard has a policy of rotating jobs. So its members all earn the same wage. In many other co-ops where jobs are not rotated, the wages are determined mainly by the skill level that a particular job requires. The wage spread from the lowest to the highest wage on average ranges from three to one up to five to one. In contrast, according to a Harvard Business School study, CEOs at major corporations make more than 350 times the earnings of the average worker.

Although belonging to a workers' co-op satisfies the employment needs of their members, their numbers are too few to impact the economy, particularly with regard to effectively addressing the unemployment problem Although New York City, for example, looks favorably on workers co-ops, and allocated 1,2 million dollars two years ago to promote worker owned cooperatives, there are still only about two dozen in the City. Unlike some countries abroad, among them Italy, France, and Spain, the laws in the US are not favorable to encouraging cooperatives. Banks resist making loans to worker controlled business, and when they are willing, the collateral demanded is unreasonable.

Sinclair was right. To appreciably expand the number of these democratic institutions requires the intervention of the government. Two years ago Bernie Sanders introduced two bills in the Senate on behalf of encouraging worker ownership. One bill would have created a U.S. Employee Ownership Bank to provide loans to help workers develop cooperatives. A second bill would have established worker ownership centers that would provide training and technical support for programs promoting employee ownership. Both bills were defeated.

Meanwhile, to increase profits, many businesses have shipped millions of decent paying jobs to low wage countries. Promoting cooperatives could fill at least some of the void. Their workforce would not relocate to China or anywhere else abroad. Moreover, these cooperatives, by providing job security, are much better for the mental health of their workforce.

Had Sinclair been elected along with a progressive legislature in California, taxes on the rich would have provided the investment dollars. As governor he would have used the power of eminent domain to take over failed businesses which would be fairly compensated. He would have then turned these establishments over to the unemployed. If necessary, the California government would also provide the funds to assure that the business is properly equipped. And it would keep in touch to assist these businesses to succeed.
.
But that's not all. Unlike managers in the private sector, whose main interest is in maximizing profits, Sinclair envisioned instead production for use. What is best for the consumer would take priority over maximizing profits. When Sinclair was first developing his proposal in 1933 for publicly funded worker owned and controlled cooperatives, FDR, in the same year, supported the Agricultural Adjustment Act to the disadvantage of millions of hungry and poor Americans. Farmers were paid by the federal government not to produce, which served to maintain higher prices. Also in 1933, FDR signed into law the right of business to fix minimum prices, which was also at the expense of working people.

If production for use prevailed, the government would instead subsidize farmers to encourage production rather than perpetuate hunger. And consumer goods would have become more affordable in these lean years. What is needed is not just worker co-ops. In difficult times, we need cooperatives which favor producing products that people really need. That was certainly Sinclair's inclination.

Unemployment and poverty are not going to disappear; it is likely to increase. Since unemployment and poverty are permanent problems they require permanent solutions. Certainly one important route that should be taken is to encourage the federal, state, and local governments to heavily invest in worker owner and controlled cooperatives.

Like the experience of the 1930s, the resistance of big business to heavy public investment in cooperatives would be enormous. You can count on business to take the same unethical approach now as then. But a broad base of support can be built because this issue is not only a politically left issue. The umbrella member organizations of cooperatives (including the national United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives) can play a leadership role in organizing a vigorous campaign. There is plenty of potential support out there, particularly since so many good paying jobs are disappearing and too many workers are earning poverty wages.

Who would have predicted that the City of New York would allocate a substantial amount of money to promote worker owned and operated cooperatives? Who would have thought that Ronald Reagan believed that worker ownership is a good idea? In a presidential speech that Reagan gave at the White House on economic justice (August 3, 1987) he claimed "I can’t help but believe that in the future we will see in the United States and throughout the western world an increasing trend toward the next logical step, employee ownership. It is a path that befits a free people."
The potential Interest in cooperatives is much broader than many people suspect. When most members of the public realize the benefits of employee ownership, they would be inclined to agree with the radical Upton Sinclair AND the conservative Ronald Reagan AND many of those in-between that worker owned and controlled cooperatives is the way to go.


USA for Sale?

Jagjit Singh
Wednesday September 14, 2016 - 10:07:00 PM

The New York Attorney General has launched an investigation into the Trump Foundation. 

The investigation reveals that Trump has falsely claimed that he is the source of money he has received for his foundation, noting he has not donated any money to his charity since 2008. Among other egregious activities - $20,000 of the foundation money was used to buy ‘the love of his life’ - a six-foot-tall painting of himself! To make matters worse, the foundation has made political contributions, including a campaign group for Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who had threatened to investigate Trump University. 

This comes on the heels of another investigation by Newsweek which raises questions about the Trump Organization’s potential serious conflicts of interests if Trump would became president. The investigation reveals the Trump Organization consists of a vast financial network that stretches from New York City to India, Ukraine, China, Brazil, Argentina, Turkey and Russia, where the organization has strong financial interests to Russian mining, banking and to real estate billionaire Vladimir Potanin. Potanin has close ties to the Russian government. This may explain Trump’s adulation for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Newsweek warns that if Trump is elected president and his vast overseas network is not shut down or severed from the Trump family, the foreign policy of the United States of America could well be for sale." Trump’s ‘latest fan’ – Colin Powell whose hacked email said Trump is a "national disgrace" and an "international pariah."


Money is buying our democracy

Romila Khanna
Thursday September 15, 2016 - 10:10:00 PM

Money power has taken over our democracy. 

The people who don't have a huge amount of money don't have a chance to win, even if they genuinely desire to improve the lives of all. The rich people can afford to buy TV ads. The ads. make the grand promises of the paying candidates familiar to all. The elections end up being a competition among grand promise of the rich candidates. 

The poor don't even have money to travel to the polling booth. Some people don't have the money to hire a baby sitter. Others are homeless, and afraid to leave their children on the street while they go in to vote. 

How can we design an electoral process in which one person one vote becomes real for both rich and poor?


Animal Rights Meets Chez Panisse: Which Berkeley Is It?

Zach Groff
Thursday September 15, 2016 - 09:37:00 PM

Last Friday, a dozen animal rights activists made headlines all around the Bay Area and the national food scene by disrupting dinner at Berkeley golden child Chez Panisse. If commentators and participants disagreed about the details, they all agreed about one thing: the event was classic Berkeley. 

“A Very Berkeley Protest”, SFist declared

“Alice Waters pioneered a food philosophy that prioritizes local, sustainable, and organic ingredients… but she still ended up as the target of Berkeley protesters,” lamented Grub Street

Why was this protest so classic Berkeley? With hipsters and hippies tripping over each other to see whose version of hipness was better, which one was more Berkeley? 

I was born in Berkeley’s Alta Bates and love few parts of the world more than the Bay Area. It’s undeniable that the Bay Area is a unique place. The people are uniquely warm, the culture is uniquely laid back, and – especially in Berkeley – the politics are unique as well. 

The culture of Chez Panisse feels more to me like a fake version of Berkeley culture than the real deal, though. It’s known for its trendy progressive nature, but it throws around concepts popular in foodie culture – sustainability, organic farming, local sourcing – more like buzzwords than a deep philosophy. 

Chez Panisse boasts about its work with school children on healthy eating and urban gardening, but those same children and their families would never be able to dine on its $100 meals. Chez Panisse goes further than just charging a lot for meals, though: it makes paying for such expensive food a moral virtue even as this virtue is out of popular reach. 

On the other hand, the activists – who are part of a group, Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), that I participate in - have some serious points that go right to the heart of Chez Panisse’s progressive goals – and where Chez Panisse comes up empty. Whether Chez Panisse’s meat was raised locally or far away, what matters more when it comes to sustainability is the fact that they’re serving animals in the first place, which is devastating for the climate. Chez Panisse and other restaurants’ selling of fish exacerbates the problems from climate change even more. Whether the fish and meat are organic is nearly as irrelevant when it comes to sustainability. 

Perhaps most poignantly, though, is the basic point the animal rights activists are making: how can it be humane to kill animals at all given that we would never accept that for dogs, cats, or other animals we care about? We can call it compassionate and raise animals with the nicest lives they can get, but at the end of the day, we still do something that they try to avoid with every fiber of their being (indeed, animals have been caught repeatedly trying to escape). 

It’s made worse when one looks at how obscure and corrupt so many of the supposedly ethical animal products are. Repeated investigations, including in the Washington Post and New York Times, have found horrific conditions at some of the most prestigious farms in the country. What are we to make of Chez Panisse’s supposed prestige? 

Of course, Chez Panisse’s prices speak for themselves when it comes to their supposed support for universal access to healthy food. Perhaps they suggest reason to doubt the pureness of its goal of sustainable, organic, local, and ethical cuisine. Chez Panisse is a business, after all, and businesses’ fundamental goal is to increase profits. 

If that’s really the case, and activists are pointing it out, then who is more true to the spirit of Berkeley? Is ethical marketing in the service of profits really the spirit of Berkeley? 

In the city that birthed the Free Speech Movement and nursed the disability rights movement in the suburbs of the capital city of the gay rights movement, perhaps it’s only natural for animal rights to start to have its day.


Columns

THE PUBLIC EYE:Hillary and I made the same mistake

Bob Burnett
Thursday September 15, 2016 - 09:49:00 PM

In 1968, I was writing a huge piece of software — part of an inventory management system — and I got a cold. I was under pressure to get my work done, so I ignored my cough. And, I ignored the fact that I was working in a terrible environment — a highly air-conditioned computer room — and smoking cigarettes.

My cough got worse. I said to myself, “I’ll work through this and then, when my project is complete, I’ll take time off.” My cough deteriorated to the point that I had prolonged hacking episodes. Then I started running a fever.

Finally, I went to the doctor, who determined I had pneumonia and sent me directly to the hospital. As I was being admitted, I passed out. I woke up in a hospital bed under an oxygen tent.

After a few days, I went home and back to work. I learned two things: to stop smoking and to take better care of myself.

From the press reports about Hillary Clinton’s pneumonia, it sounds like she made the same mistake I did: when she experienced the first symptoms of pneumonia , she tried to work through it. Then she had an episode at the 9/11 memorial and was forced to take better care of herself. 

Because the election is so tight, a lot of Democrats are upset about Hillary’s pneumonia and fear that it will tilt the race to Trump. I don’t agree. Trump may win in November — I don’t believe this — but it won’t be because Hillary got sick. 

In the long run, Hillary’s pneumonia episode will be beneficial. First, it will force her and Trump to reveal more medical information. This is a good thing, in general, but particularly for Trump — who looks to be at high risk for a heart attack or stroke. Second, this humanizes Hillary, makes it clear she’s a typical American. After all, thousands of our fellow citizens do not have adequate health coverage and, therefore, everyday are forced to go to work even though they have a bad cold or pneumonia. 


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


ON MENTAL ILLNESS: Insight Development vs. Force

Jack Bragen
Thursday September 15, 2016 - 09:50:00 PM

Ideally, if someone is afflicted with a psychotic illness, once medicated, she or he will gain insight into their condition--and into how their consciousness was or continues to be fooled by delusions and possibly hallucinations. Having insight into one's illness is the only way I know that someone can achieve a lasting and effective recovery from a psychotic condition.  

Developing insight into our condition and taking medication voluntarily is a better situation than someone forcing us to receive treatment. This is so for numerous reasons. Furthermore, forcing treatment on someone may interfere with the learning process. 

While acute psychosis probably interferes with learning, once someone is medicated, she or he has an opportunity to gain some understanding about what happened that led to the circumstances of being medicated and/or hospitalized. 

The mental health consumer should seize this opportunity, and should not ignore it. Family members and treatment professionals should realize that a mentally ill person, when they stabilize, at that point has the opportunity to learn from mistakes and to understand their illness.  

This is where therapy could have efficacy. Yet, many therapists make the mistake of trying to uncover deep pain from a person's past, and this could be not only useless, it can be harmful to the mentally ill individual.  

Therapy for those with a biologically caused mental illness can and should be about dealing with day-to-day problems, and it should be about helping the consumer realize that he or she has an illness that necessitates treatment.  

When stabilized, it is an opportunity to take the next step in recovery, which is often that of acknowledging having a psychiatric condition plus making a commitment to treatment. If enough insight can be gained, and if we reinforce that insight through understanding ourselves more, we have a chance at creating a better future for ourselves.  

When force enters the picture, it could pollute the learning process. Some force is needed some of the time. However, if we do not feel in charge of our own destinies, we could end up simply being at war with treatment professionals who we might perceive as oppressors.  

Concerning gaining insight, the responsibility is mostly that of the stabilized mental health consumer. We own our recovery--it is not owned by the people hired to treat us. We need to do things that help us do better; and if we do better, the credit for it is ours. When we let treatment professionals take "ownership" of our recovery, even though this is merely a perception, it is unhelpful.  

Certain things have helped me in my recovery, one in which I have gone more than twenty years since my most recent hospitalization. 

Journaling, writing down my thoughts and feelings onto reams and reams of yellow pads of paper, was one of the biggest things that helped me develop the capacity for insight into my condition. This insight would ultimately lead to being able to go more than twenty years since my most recent acute episode of psychosis leading to hospitalization.  

It didn't matter if I wrote down delusional thoughts--actually this was a very good thing. I could pick up the writings later in the day or the next day and realize that my thinking at the time was erroneous.  

I began journaling my thoughts back in the 1980's. I don't do as much journaling now, but I did do a great deal of journaling for well over twenty years. It is a way to express emotions, it is a way to help clarify thinking, and it can alleviate pain. While journaling, I have observed and studied how my mind works. 

No one other than the individual writing the journal should have the privilege of viewing the writings. Journaling should be a separate activity from writing things for others to read. These are a person's private thoughts, and they are none of anyone else's business.  

Other than journaling, I have developed my meditation ability to the point where I can often get pain relief from it on demand. While there are medications that can relieve emotional pain, some of which I consume, meditation picks up where medication leaves off. If reliant solely on pills to get relief from emotional pain, you could be on a slippery slope.  

I have developed my own personal method of meditation, by studying the internal causes of my emotional pain. While some kinds of emotional pain are necessary and even healthy, some emotional pain is excessive and we could do without. Taking a class in meditation is a worthwhile undertaking. 

While I believe the responsibility is ours to gain insight into our condition, I think the mental health treatment system could do more to educate people. If people can learn more about their illness and about what works versus what does not, many may never get to the point of needing to be forced to take the psychiatric meds that have been prescribed.


ECLECTIC RANT: Despite criticism, Mother Teresa is now a saint

Ralph E. Stone
Friday September 16, 2016 - 02:43:00 PM

On September 5, 2016, the Albanian Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, known worldwide as Mother Teresa, joined about 10,000 other saints in the Roman Catholic heaven.  

 

In full disclosure, I am not a Roman Catholic and I do admit that I find the whole concept of sainthood absurd -- the idea that a group of old men in the Vatican deciding whether a person is worthy of being a Roman Catholic saint.  

 

That said, Pope Francis has consistently pointed to the scandal of poverty in a world of plenty as a moral challenge for the church and the whole human community. The canonization of Mother Teresa, who had a reputation of ministering to the poorest of the poor, is in keeping with Pope Francis exhortation to care for the poor. 

 

However, Mother Teresa is not without her critics. 

 

Mother Teresa devoutly believed that suffering – even when caused by poverty, medical problems, or starvation – was a gift from God; as a result, while her clinics received millions of dollars in donations, their conditions drew criticism from people disturbed by the shortage of medical care, systematic diagnosis, and necessary nutrition, as well as the scarcity of adequate analgesics to those in need. It was estimated that she raised over $100 million for her charity, yet only 5-7 percent of this money was used in helping the poor. Why didn't she build a hospital in Kolkata with some of the money she raised? 

 

Interestingly enough, the late Christopher Hitchens, author of "The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice" was selected by the Vatican in 2001 to testify at a hearing on the beatification of Mother Teresa. The then Pope had abolished the office of the "Devil's Advocate," which had the job of confirming and canonizing an enormous number of new "saints." The church felt obliged to seek testimony from critics, and Hitchens was selected to represent the devil, pro bono. According to Hitchens and many others, "Mother Teresa is less interested in helping the poor than in using them as an indefatigable source of wretchedness on which to fuel the expansion of her fundamentalist Roman Catholic beliefs."  

 

A miracle is required for beatification. The first "miracle" attributed to Mother Teresa was the healing of a woman, Monica Besra, who had been suffering from intense abdominal pain. On September 5, 1998, as the Missionaries of Charity order was witnessing the first death anniversary of Mother Teresa with prayers in the chapel, Monica Besra felt a beam of light emanating from the photograph of Mother Teresa. In the evening, two sisters of the order tied a medallion with Mother Teresa’s picture around Besra’s waist and prayed over her. That night she slept peacefully after months of painful sleeplessness. When she woke up in the morning, her tumour was gone. Her doctors thought otherwise: the ovarian cyst and the tuberculosis from which she suffered were healed by the drugs they had given her. In spite of this plausible, reasonable explanation for the so-called medical "miracle" in question, the Vatican declared this a miracle.  

 

A second miracle is required for canonization. In December 2008, a Brazilian man, Marcilio Haddad Andrino recovered from multiple abscesses in his brain. When he was diagnosed with the abscesses, he and his wife placed a relic of Mother Teresa near his head and prayed to her regularly. When in December 2008 he was rushed to the hospital on account of a severe headache, Andrino claimed to have experienced a miracle which led to his eventual cure. He reported to have felt a sense of peace and the headache suddenly disappeared. When the doctors examined him the following day his abscesses were seen as receding and he was declared to be cured. 

 

To me, an outsider, this miracle business seems quite bizarre.  

 

Hitchens had no doubt that Mother Teresa, deservedly or not, would ultimately be proclaimed a saint. Hitchens was prescient.  

 

The Vatican has not refuted the criticism directed at Mother Teresa; they have just disregarded it. Why has the Vatican decided to canonize Mother Teresa? In my opinion, she is being rewarded posthumously for bringing fame and countless donations to her church.


Arts & Events

New: Theater Review--'Othello,' with Dameion Brown as the Moor

Ken Bullock
Friday September 16, 2016 - 04:21:00 PM

The title role in 'Othello'' has been performed by black actors since Ira Aldridge--son of a freeman minister, born in New York City in 1807, with a career onstage there by the 1820s, though it was only after moving to London that he played Othello, where he was praised by Edmund Kean, first in selected scenes, then the play in 1833; later touring Europe and Russia, fathering opera singers and dying in Poland, where he's buried. Perhaps the most famous black performer who took the role--and took it around the world--was the great Paul Robeson, whose Broadway version ran from 1943-45. Studio and radio recordings with photographs of Robeson as Othello as well as commenting on it are on YouTube.  

It's now customary for "The Moor" to be played by a black actor, though a few decades ago, great stars who weren't black played it in blackface, even on the screen--Orson Welles in 1951, Laurence Olivier in 1965. Only 30 years after Olivier's movie version would there be a black actor onscreen--Laurence Fishburne--playing the jealous Moor.  

Since its founding in 1989, Marin Shakespeare has produced 'Othello' once, in 2004, with Aldo Billingslea, an accomplished actor--and of color--in the lead. 

This season's production of the play, directed for the first time by artistic director and co-founder Robert Currier--onstage for just two more weekends--has been a media event: for the firat time, an alumnus from the company's Shakespeare for Social Justice program--which Marin Shakes managing director and co-founder Lesley Currier started in 2003 at san Quentin, since expanded to several other prison facilities and a juvenile program--appears onstage. And it's not in a bit part: Dameion Brown, released last year from Solano Prison after 23 years' incarceration, where he first performed onstage (as MacDuff in 'Macbeth,' directed by Lesley Currier, for a single performance), plays the lead role in The Bard's tragedy--and carries it with dignity and authenticity in voice and actions. 

Brown, who was set to play 'Othello' as a student in Tennessee, before both black and white parents' concerns caused the play to be cancelled, hadn't seen a professional stage production until the Curriers invited him after his release to Marin Shakes' 'Richard III' last year--and Brown has said he was enthralled. Invited to audition, he let the Curriers know of his conviction to appear someday as Othello--and they, too, were convinced, working intensively with Brown and the cast and crew to make it happen. The level of attention, of focus by all, in particular the Curriers (and director Bob Currier's lifelong theatrical experience and sensibilities come out finer and more magisterially than ever before) alone make it an engaging--absorbing!--show ... 

There're many reasons to catch this production, the finest I've seen in years ofreviewing Marin Shakespeare. The entire cast becomes an ensemble, with some outstanding individual performances. Jeff Wiessen is a splendid Cassio; two actors East Bay playgoers will recognize--Cassidy Brown (Iago) who's long been associated with Shotgun and Elena Wright (Emilia) turn in the best performances I've seen them give. (Cassidy Brown's "against-type" casting--he's been mostly known as a comedian--proves crucial and brilliant, revealing a side to Iago that would be more familiar to audiences of Shakespeare's time than ours, the comic schemer, a subtle undercurrent in his deliberately unexplained destructive conspiracy, directed at Othello's Venetian wife Desdemona with intent to topple their love, marriage, Othello's career, their lives ... ) 

The pacing is remarkable in its brisk, almost ironic rhythm, impelling the dialogue and action forward as the slow machine of revenge for an unknown slight works its way through various, often contradictory moods, scene by scene--and the wildly conflicting moods of the Moor himself. 

It's a remarkable presentation that gets across the shape and sense of one of Shakespeare's best-known stories, with all the word-play, action and conflict--internal as well as out in the open--a Shakespearean tragedy entails ... not something always seen, even in otherwise satisfying productions. 

Fridays through Saturdays at 8, Sundays at 4 through September 25 at Forest Meadows Amphitheatre on the campus of Dominican University, 890 Belle Avenue, san Rafael (about seven blocks north of the Central San Rafael exit off 101.) $10-$35. 

marinshakespeare.org or (415) 499-4488 (Forest Meadows is an outdoor theater; matinees can be very warm, evening shows cool and breezy. Cushions are available for a dollar rental. Picknicking's encouraged.)


Around & About--Dance, Music, Theater: 'Drowning Man' with Shinichi Iova-Koga & edward Schocker, This Weekend Only

Ken Bullock
Friday September 16, 2016 - 02:42:00 PM

Shinichi Iova-Koga and Edward Schocker--both associated with Mills College, Iova-Koga teaching dance composition and alumnus Schocker, founder of the Music for People & Thingamajigs Festival there--will perform collaboratively for the first time in their original show, 'Drowning Man,' 8 p. m. Friday the 16th and saturday the 17th only at NohSpace, 2840 Mariposa Street at Florida (between Harrison & Bryant) in Project Artaud, Mission-Potrero District, San Francisco. 

Iova-Koga, founder of InkBoat performance company in 1998, has worked and studied with Anna Halprin and Ruth Zaporah, among others, and toured internationally. Edward Schocker established Thingamajigs for music from found objects and with alternative tuning systems. He studied with Pauline Oliveros and Lou Harrison--and has worked extensively with Theatre of Yugen at NohSpace. 

Tickets are $20 general, $15 for students. www.theatreofyugen.org/home/


Around & About--Film: New Documentary About Samuel Fuller by Daughter & Mini-Festival of His Films with Personal Appearances ...

Ken Bullock
Friday September 16, 2016 - 02:41:00 PM

Next weekend's Bay Area screenings of 'Samuel Fuller: A Fuller Life,' a new documentary by his daughter on the Hollywood maverick filmmaker admired by a gamut of younger peers--from Godard to Wim Wenders, Scorsese to Jim Jarmusch to Tarantino--have become the occasion for a kind of mini-fest of 10 of Fuller's films, including a newly-discovered and restored director's cut of 'Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street,' shot in Germany and scarcely shown in America when released in a shorter form in 1973, a German documentary on the making of 'Dead Pigeon' ('Return to Beethoven Street') released last year, as well as a few classics and rarities--and the personal appearances of Fuller's widow and collaborator, actress and writer Christa Lang-Fuller and their daughter Samantha, author of the documentary on her father.

The screenings and appearances will take place over three days, Friday, September 23 through Sunday the 25th, at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco's Mission District and at the Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael. 

'A Fuller Life,' screening at 7 next Friday at the Roxie and at 4:15 that Sunday at the Rafael, features friends, collaborators and admirers of the director--including Jennifer Beales, Joe Dante, Bill Duke, James Franco, William Friedkin, Mark Hamill, Monte Hellman, Buck Henry, Tim Roth, James Toback, Constance Towers and Wim Wenders-- reading from and acting out Fuller's memoirs, 'A Third Face: My Tale of Writing, Fighting and Filmmaking,' which Christa Lang published in 2002, the last occasion of her appearance in the Bay Area, also at the Roxie and the Rafael. 'Return to Beethoven Street: Sam Fuller in Germany,' directed by Robert Fischer, features commentary by Christa Lang, who starred in 'Dead Pigeon' with Glenn Corbett, its composer Irwin Schmidt of the rock group Can, as well as German directors Wim Wenders and genre and crime film specialist Dominick Graf, screening only at the Rafael on Sunday the 25th at 2. 

The retrospective of Fuller's films--'Steel Helmet' (1951)--only at the Roxie; 'Pick-Up on South Street' (1952); 'House of Bamboo' (1955)--only at the Rafael; '40 Guns' (1957)--only at the Roxie; 'The Crimson Kimono' (1959)--only at the Roxie; 'Underworld, USA' (1961)--only at the Roxie; 'Shock Corridor' (1963); 'The Naked Kiss' (1965)--only at the Roxie; ''Dead Pigeon ... ' (1973) and 'White Dog' (1982, shown in the director's cut) will begin at both theaters Friday evening and run through Saturday and Sunday, afternoons and evenings. 

Appearances, introductions and discussions by Christa Lang-Fuller and Samantha Fuller will be at the Roxie at scheduled times Friday through Sunday and at the Rafael on Saturday and Sunday. See the theaters' websites for exact schedules and ticket info: www.roxie.com & rafelfilm.org  

The Roxie is located at 3117-16th Street (between Valencia & Guerrero, about two blocks from BART's 16th & Mission station), San Francisco. The Rafael is at 1118 Fourth Street (between 'A' & 'B' Streets, about five blocks from the Golden Gate Bus/Marin Transit Transportation Center), Downtown San Rafael