Earlier this week I took a walk around the perimeter of Berkeley’s fire-damaged First Congregational Church. These are impressions from the exterior. I’ve also had a chance to find out more about the details of the history of the church building complex.

First, press reports in the days after the September 30 2016 fire sometimes gave the impression that the whole church had burned. People out of town who know that I’m interested in Berkeley’s historic buildings called me to say they were so sorry to see a historic church was completely destroyed.

This was definitely not the case. First Congregational Church is a big complex and most of it is intact, although some unburned portions clearly have water damage. -more-

The initial presidential debate had a clear winner, Hillary Clinton.

The outcome of the vice-presidential debate was less clearcut. Many observers thought that Republican Mike Pence won on style points because Democrat Tim Kaine interrupted too often. On the other hand, Kaine seemed to score the most political points, repeatedly backing Pence into a corner, forcing him to “defend” Donald Trump and lie in the process. And Pence made the one obvious faux pas — attempting to defend Trump characterizing Mexican immigrants as “Criminals and rapists” — “Senator, you whipped out that Mexican thing again.” -more-

The initial presidential debate had a clear winner, Hillary Clinton. -more-

Activists from racial equality and immigrant rights group By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) will call for the reinstatement of a Berkeley middle school teacher at a school board meeting this evening, an attorney representing BAMN said. -more-

The water is flowing again today for dozens of Berkeley residents after crews worked overnight to repair a broken water main at the intersection of University Avenue and Grant Street, an East Bay Municipal Utility spokeswoman said. -more-

The water is flowing again today for dozens of Berkeley residents after crews worked overnight to repair a broken water main at the intersection of University Avenue and Grant Street, an East Bay Municipal Utility spokeswoman said. -more-

Given the monstrous possibility of a Trump victory nationally, it may seem petty to worry about the decline of public ethics in this little town of Berkeley. But the local air has carried the stink of corruption for a while now. The city council majority has rubberstamped a string of high rise luxury housing projects, about the last thing this city needs. A former city planning official, Mark Rhoades, sold his contacts and insider knowledge to the out-of-town developers pushing these projects. The City Council majority is eating out of his hands.

Now there’s a candidate for city council in the district where I live whose ethics are, if anything, even lower. His name is Stephen Murphy. Stephen Murphy is dishonest, a hypocrite, incompetent, frivolous, truculent, unprofessional, incapable of showing remorse, and careless of taxpayer resources. That’s not my personal opinion, it’s part of the written opinion of the California Court of Appeals. How’s that?

Murphy, a lawyer, represented one side in a divorce case where the other side was old and ill. If the matter was delayed long enough, the other party might die. According to the affected family, who also live in this same district of Berkeley, Murphy deliberately dragged on the litigation. One of Murphy’s delaying tactics was to prosecute an appeal even though the time limit for filing an appeal had already passed. -more-

The cause of a massive fire in a historic Berkeley church Friday is still under investigation but preliminary estimates put the damage total at roughly $2 million, according to a Berkeley fire official. -more-

A large water main break at University Avenue and Grant Street in Berkeley has closed the area to traffic while crews try to make repairs, according to a Berkeley fire department spokeswoman. -more-

In his Public Comment of September 30, [Christopher] Barlow [Partner, Wareham Development} stated, “The soil has been approved by the regulatory bodies for storage in Richmond and re-use in the garage project now under development in Emeryville.”
Also, in his September 30 letter to the City of Richmond, Barlow stated, “…the temporary storage at 505 Canal Boulevard has been approved by the Regional Water Quality Control Board...”

Based on the statement I received on September 30 from Bruce H. Wolfe, Executive Director of the SF Bay Regional Water Board, Barlow is flat out lying.

Wolfe wrote to me the following: -more-

The Berkeley Police Department this morning is reporting the closure of a portion of College Avenue due to a vehicle that has crashed into a building. -more-

UPDATE: Other media report that the main sanctuary of First Congretional Church was damaged but not destroyed in Friday's fire. Contributions can be sent to https://www.gofundme.com/Berkeleychurchfire.

A four alarm fire gutted part of the historic First Congregational Church complex on Dana Street between Durant and Channing early Friday afternoon.

The blaze began in the southern wing of the "C" shaped building which the Church calls Plymouth Hall. That wing, with two stories and a basement level, contained the rectory, church offices, and meeting rooms. The wing appeared gutted by the fire, with the roof collapsed, eaves burning, and the sky visible from the street through second floor windows.

The fire went to four alarms, with Oakland and Albany engine companies responding. A brisk wind blew heavy smoke north and east and down to street level, forcing the evacuation of the four-building Unit III dormitories directly across the street. Several streets were closed in the vicinity. At the time of this writing Channing Way, Dana Street, Haste Street, Ellsworth north of Channing, and Durant Avenue east of Ellsworth were closed to through traffic.

By late-afternoon the fire appeared to have been suppressed, with engines pouring both water and foam into the damaged structure. -more-

UPDATE

Berkeley Fire continues to work a structure fire in the 2300 block of Channing Way. At this time the fire is considered multiple alarms. Residents can expect to see and smell heavy smoke in the area.

Additional Fire units from neighboring jurisdications are responding to assist. They will be stagging on Dana between Dwight and Durant.

Dana Street is closed to all traffic, pedestrian and vehicular. Please avoid the area. Channing between Telegraph and Ellsworth is closed along with Haste between Telegraph and Ellsworth. -more-

Berkeley firefighters are battling a four-alarm blaze at a church on Channing Way and Dana Street, a fire department spokeswoman said. -more-

In the summer of 1960 I took the Erie railroad from Port Jervis to Chicago, my first trip away from home alone, to attend the National High School Institute in journalism at Northwestern University in Evanston.

It was an honor to be chosen as a Medill “cherub” and even better to get a $200 scholarship that covered all costs of five weeks on campus. Since 1931, the NHSI has enrolled high school students between their junior and senior years for an intensive learning experience in several subjects; the enrichment program now costs upwards of $5,000.

The news from Charlotte

The summer was transformative. Every day, we hundred editors of high school newspapers from around the country talked about current events and learned how to write news stories using the inverted pyramid, features, and editorials. We made friends and promises, led by the editors of two segregated high schools in Charlotte, North Carolina, scene of recent unrest following the police shooting of a black man, 43 year old Keith Lamont Scott.

That shooting gave me the goose bumps. I always considered Charlotte to be a liberal university city, a shining light of racial integration and harmony, because when I was seventeen, I had witnessed an historic meeting of minds from the “Queen City” of the South. -more-

P.S. on Tuesday: Since what’s below was posted on Saturday, things have gotten even more baroque. On Saturday night a quick glance at the New York Times provided an advance look at the bombshell in the Sunday issue: Trump used all those losses he racked up with his 90s bankruptcies to offset taxes on subsequent profits. What the newsies seem to be missing today is that all those deductible losses were on the backs of the people he owed money for work done. Stiff your plumbing contractor for a measly $100k and low and behold, you can skip some of your tax obligations for years into the future.

Quoting the master: “That’s business…I’m a smart guy.”

If you want to be really scared, you should make it over to the Berkeley Repertory Theater to see their dramatization of Sinclair Lewis’s “It Can’t Happen Here”. The Chronicle reviewer, who increasingly seems to have a tin ear for politics, found it boring, but I expect she’s younger than I am and can’t recall past near misses with “right-wing populism”, AKA fascism. The only false note for the contemporary situation was that the hero was a liberal small town newspaper editor, a breed that has been almost rendered extinct in the world of big conglomerates and social media. They don’t make them like that anymore.

And it's not as if the big papers hadn't been warned. Take a look at this, from 1990:

Banks Approve Loans for Trump, But Take Control of His Finances, By RICHARD D. HYLTON

[Full disclosure: the reporter is my son-in-law.]

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It is increasingly impossible to write intelligently about the presidential race, though many of us, some even in this issue of the Planet, continue to try. That’s because the familiar show that we watch every four years has disintegrated into a three ring circus, and what’s going on in each of the three rings is wildly different. -more-

Op-Ed: Laurie Capitelli is not a true progressive

Three-alarm fire damages Berkeley church -more-

There are more articles to post today, but contrary to our usual practice I'm posting this issue now because of the fire at First Congo. We have a reporter on the scene and hope to show photos soon. -more-

I don’t understand Robert Reich’s endorsement of Laurie Capitelli for Mayor of Berkeley. I have always had the highest respect for Robert Reich, shaken his hand, read a book or two, and read whatever he had to say in newspaper letters or articles. I don’t recall disagreeing with whatever he had to say. He is a relative newcomer in Berkeley and clearly doesn’t have the feel of the place. Laurie Capitelli, a real estate man himself, represents all that is wrong in new development in our little piece of heaven, which is being sold out to real estate developers, at a high cost to Berkeley’s citizenry. Maybe Robert Reich would tell us what thinking went into his thinking on this endorsement. I suppose politicians, like happy marriages, are alike. -more-

UPDATE:

The City of Richmond has refused to grant Wareham Development a permit to store the PCB-contaminated soil in Richmond and has ordered them to remove it. In a letter dated September 30, 2016, Wareham has committed to contact the City on Monday to “confirm exactly which day that removal will occur.”

The letter also indicates that the dumping was “approved by the Regional Water Quality Control Board.” I am looking into by what authority the Water Board approved this dumping of PCB-contaminated soil in Richmond without a permit.

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Without informing the City of Richmond and without applying for the required grading permit, Wareham Development dumped hundreds of tons of PCB-contaminated soils excavated from a site in Emeryville onto a vacant lot owned by Wareham in Point Richmond within only a few hundred feet of homes and Washington School.

The dumping appears to be a conspiracy that may involve the U.S Environmental Protection Agency, the Bay Area Water Quality Control Board, the California Department of Toxic Substance Control (DTSC) and Wareham. -more-

Today in your on-line newspaper you posted serious allegations against Wareham Development made by Mayor Tom Butt of Richmond regarding the temporary storing of soil on one of Wareham’s properties in Richmond.

Wareham Development strongly disputes Mayor Butt’s assertions that Wareham “dumped” contaminated soil in Richmond. This is a complete misrepresentation of the facts. -more-

There’s been lots of research about the disadvantages of too many stop and other traffic signs. The Netherlands and other countries have been at the forefront of getting rid of “excessive” signs. What researchers have found is that “[d]rivers will force the accelerator down ruthlessly only in situations where everything has been fully regulated. Where the situation is unclear, they're forced to drive more carefully and cautiously.”(1) ‘"When you don't exactly know who has right of way, you tend to seek eye contact with other road users,'' he said. ''You automatically reduce your speed, you have contact with other people and you take greater care."’ (2) -more-

Who is the funniest candidate for Berkeley mayor? I'm a serious student of local politics, and I think we need a rematch because even I can't tell. -more-

In that famous moment in O’Neill’s play about self-seduction and self-cockolding, Harry cries out, “What have ya done to the booze, Hickey? It’s got no kick to it.” And what have they done to our town? Where is the impressionist history that will trace our loss back to that never-never land known as berkeley (with a small b). Where is that famous artist who painted a psycho-history of machinic beasts to tell us, with his “paranoid method,” what we should have known all along, that something was being taken away. -more-

We are the pro-tenant, progressive Rent Stabilization Board slate of Christina Murphy, Alejandro Soto-Vigil, Leah Simon-Weisberg, and Igor Tregub (“CALI” for short). Our track record of success in our collective efforts to fight for Berkeley’s most vulnerable has earned us the endorsements of Senator Bernie Sanders, the Sierra Club, the Berkeley Tenants Union, theAlameda County Democratic Party, the Alameda County Labor Council, Councilmembers Jesse Arreguin, Kriss Worthington, and Max Anderson, and many others respected community leaders. -more-

To be Jewish, or even to have Jewish heritage, is for many of us to acquire a necessary sensitivity to ethnic antagonisms in connection to mass movements. The Trump campaign invites scrutiny in this regard. Exhibit A: the candidate himself famously indulges in racial and ethnic slanders. Exhibit B: the Trump candidacy is enthusiastically promoted by nazi revivalists who organize under the flags of a European "identitarian" movement that has acquired support throughout Europe and that now appears in the US at Trump rallies, on campuses, and in Sacramento stabbing queer communists. -more-

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

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

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

This is a Very Good Deal. Go for it! -more-

Whew! Even though I expected Hillary Clinton to win the first presidential debate with Donald Trump, watching it was a nerve-wracking experience. Here are my first thoughts about the debate:

1.Hillary had the best demeanor. In general, Clinton came across as composed and cheerful. Trump came across as angry and, occasionally, disdainful.

2.Trump interrupted Clinton either by talking over her or by making snide comments such as, "that's called business,by the way" -- when she noted that Trump "was one of the people who rooted for the housing crisis."

3.Although the Trump campaign has made a lot of fuss about Clinton's supposed "stamina" problem, it was Trump who wilted in the last half of the debate. -more-

It is harder than it was in the not so distant past for those with psychiatric illness to survive, live independently, and remain in a non-institutionalized situation. Various parties within the government and the business community have created rules and have created a scenario in which persons with disabilities, especially psychiatric, are being forced out. This entails submitting to institutionalization, excessive supervision, and the segregation that exists (which is partly classist segregation and partly segregation by means of keeping us sequestered by mental health treatment organizations). -more-

In the Muslim world, the tale of the inspired but tragic love of Layla and Majnun holds a place in the popular imagination similar to that held in western culture by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. However, the tale of Layla and Majnun, which originates way back in oral tradition in the Arabian peninsula, predates Shakespeare’s play by more than a thousand years. The ill-fated lovers Layla and Majnun have been celebrated by Turks, Arabs, Persians, Indians, Pakistanis and Afghans; but perhaps the most influential version of this story was a Persian one by Nezami Ganjawi (1140-1209 BCE). Another influential setting of this story was by Azerbaijani poet and philosopher Muhammad Fuzuli (1483-1556), whose work was later set to music by Azerbaijani composer Uzeyir Hajibeyli (1885-1948) in an opera, Leyli and Majnun, which premiered in Baku in 1908. Since then, this opera has opened every season at the Azerbaijani State Opera and Ballet Theatre; and it is a source of immense pride to all Azerbaijanis. -more-

Opens September 30 at the Shattuck Landmark

Cameraperson, filmmaker Kirsten Johnson's self-styled "memoir," is like an album of old photos (or a family member's summer vacation slideshow—anyone old enough to remember those?) but enhanced with sound and the added dimension of time.

The title, Cameraperson, is Johnson's jibe at yet another male-centric industry. All too often, "cameraman" is the title that women filmmakers are forced to bear. This film will help change that.

"The joys of being a documentary cameraperson are obvious and endless," Johnson writes, "I get to share profound intimacy with the people I film, pursue remarkable stories, be at the center of events as they unfold, travel, collaborate, and see my work engage the world."

Over the past 25 years, Johnson has racked up an impressive resume, providing cinematography for films like Michael Moore's Farhrenheit 9/11 and CItizenfour, the powerful, award-winning documentary profiling NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

-more-

In San Francisco Opera’s new production of Gaetano Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, which opened Wednesday, September 28, an old codger, one Don Pasquale, gets his world turned topsy-turvy when he foolishly weds, or thinks he weds, a much younger woman. However, the wedding itself is a mock ceremony designed by Don Pasquale’s physician, Dr. Malatesta, to trick Don Pasquale and demonstrate to the old codger that he is better off not getting married at his advanced age. There, in a nutshell, is the basic plot of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, an opera buffa composed late in Donizetti’s illustrious career. -more-

The Castro Theater's celebration of Anna Magnani, the dazzling diva of Italian film, has now crossed the Bay to Berkeley's new art museum/film house. -more-