Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board members authorized a key document last week paving the way for the tallest structure to rise in downtown Berkeley in decades, the nine-story Seagate Building slated to replace four 1920’s era low-rise structures on Center Street. 

On an initial vote, ZAB members voted to deny the mitigated negative declaration, a document enabling the builder to bypass a lengthy environmental impact report. But minutes later they reversed themselves and voted 6-2 to approve the document. 

Approval came despite opposition testimony from eight Berkeley residents—including two former and one current city commissioner—and no favorable testimony save from the developer. Another former and one current planning commissioner signed a written protest. 

The board delayed action on a second key document, the use permit authorizing construction, pending the resolution of questions concerning the size and placement of units for low- and lower-income tenants. 

While Seagate Properties, a 17-year-old Marin County real estate, investment and management firm with major holdings in at least four Western states, had first told city officials they were building an apartment building, plans have now shifted toward condominiums. 

Their controversial giant—10 feet higher and nearly three times the mass of the nearby Gaia Building—rises four floors above the five-story limit for new buildings in the downtown plan. 

Two additional floors were allowed because Seagate is providing some apartments at rates affordable to low and lower-income tenants. The second extra two floors were granted for leasing ground floor space to Berkeley Repertory Theater. 

Zelda Bronstein, a former planning commissioner who resigned earlier this year, was actively involved in the formulation of the downtown plan. She read a prepared statement, cosigned by former planning commissioner Rob Wrenn and current member Gene Poschman, declaring that even with the bonus additions, the downtown plan barred buildings higher than seven stories. 

“[S]taff seems to have misinterpreted the plan so as to allow affordable housing stories to be piled above the explicit seven-story limit. . .ZAB has no legal obligation to agree to extra stories,” Bronstein said.  

“I am appalled that the board would approve such a colossal building without an environmental impact report,” said Clifford Fred, another former planning commissioner. “This Seagate high-rise would be the death-knell for Berkeley’s remaining small town character.” 

He then rattled off a list of smaller structures where the city had required EIRs. 

Fred also declared the application “in stark violation of the downtown plan,” citing the 14-year-old document’s strict height limit of seven stories and 87 feet in the downtown core. 

Wendy Markel, president of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA), also called for an environment impact report.  

Richard Schwartz, a contractor and Berkeley historian, said he was outraged at the lack of an EIR. “There are hundreds of Native American burial sites in the area,” he said. “CEQA (the California Environmental Quality Act) does not allow an exemption (from an EIR) when there is reasonable expectation of cultural resources.” 

Schwartz called the ZAB meeting “a cynical game in which the public good is sacrificed.” 

Landmarks Preservation commissioner, BAHA member and MoveOn.org Chief Operating Officer Carrie Olson said the Seagate Building violates the plan’s requirement that new development in the city center must take a back step to the historic nature of the area. 

“I’m shocked it’s not having an environmental impact report,” Olson told the board. “You guys should be requiring it. I went to 53 meetings of the General Plan Committee and came out of it thinking we couldn’t have a building like this.” 

Aiming a jab at the roof line housing the top floor penthouses, Olson said “that Quonset hut on top is going to scream out. This building is going to be glitzy, and once they’re condominiums, they’re going to be really junky. You can’t stop that.” 

Each of the critics drew applause. 

“Obviously, everybody has a different opinion,” said Seagate developer Darrell DeTienne. “The (city) Design Review Committee spent a lot of time and effort to make this thing work.” 

Following the testimony, ZAB members took the first of two votes on the project, rejecting the mitigated negative declaration on a 5-3 vote, with only Robert Allen, Deborah Matthews and Christina Tiedemann voting in favor. 

Allen, who said he wrote Berkeley’s first EIR in 1972, voted in favor because “the EIR has no effect on the final outcome except to raise housing costs and delay construction for at least a year.” 

“I think this will be the most elegant building to be put in the downtown for at least 40 years. We should be lucky to have this quality,” he added. 

“If we did an EIR it wouldn’t address most of the questions we’ve heard tonight,” Tiedemann added. “I don’t see a reason to reject this project.” 

Debbie Sanderson of the city’s planning staff said only “a handful of questions” involved EIR issues, while most of the others didn’t. 

At that point, member Laurie Capitelli announced he was ready to change his vote. Chair Andy Katz and Jesse Anthony followed suit. 

Sanderson and Senior Planner Greg Powell then dismissed concerns that the foundation might intrude on the undergrounded Strawberry Creek—which Powell said was far enough distant not to be a concern—and assured the board that construction would halt immediately if water or burials were discovered, pending appropriate remediation. 

Then, without the normal parliamentary niceties of introducing and passing a motion to reconsider, the board reversed its vote, leaving only David Blake and Carrie Sprague in opposition. 

Groans erupted from the audience, and several opponents walked out. 

“This building is so beautiful that it detracts from other buildings downtown,” said Tiedemann after the vote 

That left the issue of the cultural and inclusionary density bonuses for extra floors and the placement of low-income housing units within the complex. 

Civic Arts Commission Chair David Snippen huddled with DeTienne briefly, then announced that differences over the handling of a public gallery corridor had been resolved, eliminating one potential roadblock. 

During the discussion, Senior Planner Powell explained that under city rules, a developer who committed 5,000 square feet to arts and cultural space received one additional floor, with 10,000 square feet earning two floors—regardless of the overall size of the building. 

When ZAB discussed the Seagate Building two weeks ago, member Blake had challenged plans to restrict the 20 percent of units reserved for low-income tenants to the intermediate floors, while excluding them from the top two floors. 

At that time Land Use Planning Manager Mark Rhoades insisted that the upper two floors “are not subject to the inclusionary bonus.” 

When Blake asked, “So you’re going to make a class-based penthouse?” Rhoades answered, “No, the state law does that.” 

Sanderson told the board Thursday that inclusionary units had been kept off the upper floors because of a “request from the applicant. . .it is justified in this case, but we are not making a blanket recommendation for all projects.” 

It was that issue that kept the board from approving Seagate’s use permit. Instead, they continued a decision until their next meeting on Sept. 23.

Recovering from surgery, Councilmember Dona Spring planned to spend Thursday night in front of her television set watching one of the most important Zoning Adjustment Board (ZAB) meetings of the year. 

But when she turned to public access channel 33, the screen was blank. 

“I just figured somehow the meeting was canceled or something,” she said. 

But the ZAB did meet and approved what will be the third tallest building in Berkeley. They just didn’t do it from their usual home in front of the cameras at Old City Hall, which was listed as the meeting location on the city’s website. Instead, because of a scheduling conflict with the Rent Stabilization Board, the meeting was switched, without notice, to the North Berkeley Senior Center, which has no television hook-up. 

“I bet some people ended up going to the wrong building,” said Spring. “It just makes people so angry.” 

Even some of those who made it to the senior center were fuming.  

“They’ve just gotten really sloppy about this stuff,” said Zelda Bronstein, who learned from a friend the night before that the meeting location still listed on the city’s website was incorrect. 

While even its toughest critics agree Berkeley has made strides in getting information to the public and giving proper notice for meetings since the days when the school board was scolded for holding a closed meeting on an airplane en route to Los Angeles, trying to keep tabs on the machinations of city government and its 38 active commissions can still be a challenge. 

And the city’s most widely-read source for information, its website, isn’t always its most reliable. 

A quick check through the city’s homepage Friday showed that of four commission meetings scheduled for Monday, only one, the Peace and Justice Commission, had its agenda on-line. Last Tuesday morning, after the Labor Day holiday, seven out of thirteen commissions scheduled to meet that week hadn’t posted their agendas. Among them were two of the city’s most important citizen boards, the ZAB and the Planning Commission. 

Residents looking for online minutes of prior meetings might also be disappointed. Roughly half of city commissions that meet regularly were at least two meetings behind on posting minutes. 

“The web postings should definitely happen because people mostly rely on that,” said City Clerk Sherry Kelly. She added that she would remind departments to deliver agendas and meeting minutes promptly. 

Kelly said commission secretaries are responsible for delivering electronic copies of agendas to the clerk’s office five days before the scheduled meeting. 

“Sometimes it could be that the commission didn’t get [the agenda] to us, but some issues could happen on our end. If everyone sends us an agenda on the same day, we don’t have the capacity to post them all,” she said. 

Initially, individual commissions were supposed to post agendas and meeting minutes to the website, but Kelly said the city was concerned that there could be a breakdown if the clerk’s office didn’t take responsibility for posting. 

Anne Burns, secretary of the Design Review Commission, which hasn’t posted minutes for its past two meetings, blamed herself for her commission’s tardiness. “It seems things are a little more unmanageable than they usually are,” she said. “I know that’s no excuse.”  

Gisele Sorensen, secretary of the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), which hasn’t posted minutes for six of its meetings dating back to January, cited numerous factors contributing to the lag. The LPC, she said, demands a more thorough narrative description of the meetings which take longer to draft, the department’s intern now only works 19 hours a week and often when she presents meeting minutes for approval, commissioners request changes which further delay their completion. 

The LPC, like many commissions, is also supposed to deliver the staff reports sent to commission members to the main library for public viewing. But Berkeley resident and retired planner John English said when he visits the reference desk on Saturday looking for the LPC commission packet for a meeting that Monday, he doesn’t always find what he’s looking for. 

“Often it’s there, but too often it is not,” he said. “I’m not pointing a finger at individual members of staff, but one is not able to look at numerous controversial issues.” 

Berkeley is under no requirement to post commission agendas and meeting minutes to its website, said Terry Francke of Californians Aware, an organization that promotes open government. State law only requires that agendas for regular meetings be physically posted in the public view 72 hours before the meeting and that commission packets with staff reports be made available to the public no later than when the commissioners receive them. 

By merely trying to post commission information to its webpage Berkeley has gone above and beyond most California cities, including Oakland. But among cities that do put commission meeting information on-line, most are updated more diligently than Berkeley’s. Nearly all of San Francisco’s commissions, for instance, had their future agendas posted and their meeting minutes up to date this past week. 

One factor separating San Francisco and Berkeley is that San Francisco has a “Sunshine Ordinance” which regulates how it dispenses public information and sets up a task force to enforce the law.  

The San Francisco law requires that a commission must post its meeting agenda to its Internet site at least 72 hours before a regular meeting and must complete its official minutes no later than 10 days after the meeting at which the minutes were adopted. 

Berkeley’s drive for a similar ordinance stalled over a year ago, Kelly said, when a citizen group charged to work with her on a measure fell apart. 

“I never got back comments on what I submitted,” Kelly said. “I was uncomfortable drafting an ordinance without getting feedback from the public.” 

Judith Scherr, a member of the Berkeley Citizens’ Sunshine Committee, said that even though the citizen group disbanded, city officials shouldn’t just shrug and walk away. 

“It would have been good if professionals got reinvolved, even if citizens don’t push the issue,” she said. 

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Facing widespread public opposition, UC Berkeley announced Monday it will postpone submitting its Long-Range Development Plan (LRDP) to the UC Board of Regents. 

Originally scheduled to go before the regents for approval in November, the university will now submit the plan in January. School officials said the delay will give them time to reconsider two of the plan’s most controversial items: building 100 units of faculty housing high up in the Berkeley hills and building up to 2,300 new parking spaces, a 30 percent increase for the campus. 

“Those appear to be the two items that deserve the most analysis,” said UC Berkeley Planner Kerry O’Banion. He added that the university was still in the process of responding to over 300 letters of public comment and wouldn’t reveal if the university was considering other amendments to the plan, which was widely panned by residents, student leaders and city officials after the university released it last spring. 

The plan, which will guide new university construction on the central campus and neighboring city streets through 2020, calls for an aggressive expansion of university infrastructure. Besides the 2,300 new parking spaces, the plan envisioned 2,600 new dorm beds and 2.2 million square feet of academic and support space—about three-times more than the proposed increase in the university’s last strategic plan approved in 1990. 

To become official university policy, the regents must approve the university’s draft environmental impact report (DEIR) for the plan. Berkeley could try to stop implementation of the plan by filing a lawsuit against the university on grounds the plan violates the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). 

The city responded to the report with a critique charging the university’s plans would increase traffic, threaten the “eclectic and diverse” character of the downtown and add to the city’s fiscal burden by taking more property off the tax rolls. It also argued that the proposed faculty housing on the sparsely populated section of the Berkeley hills would exacerbate traffic and pose additional fire safety concerns.  

Although UC Berkeley has not conceded to the city’s demand to recirculate the plan for public comment, as they agreed to do in 1990, city leaders were pleased with the university’s decision to postpone seeking approval from the regents. 

“I think this is a good sign for the community,” said Assistant City Manager Arrietta Chakos, who coordinated the city’s reply to the plan. “It shows that the university is listening to criticisms of the plan.” 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington praised the university’s decision and said the postponement will give the city a hint as to what kind of partner it will have in incoming chancellor Robert Birgeneau.  

Birgeneau will take the reigns of the university next Wednesday, though Irene Hegarty, the university’s director of community relations didn’t expect his arrival to impact the plan. 

“Certainly the new chancellor has a role to play, but I wouldn’t expect dramatic changes,” she said. 

Hegarty said UC was looking into the city’s suggestions to reduce the need for parking by reducing the drive-alone rate. In October the university will unveil the “Bear Pass” which offers employees partially subsidized AC Transit bus passes. 

Student leaders, who last spring blasted the university’s parking proposal, welcomed news of the postponement. “Building parking at the expense of student housing and academic space seemed foolish,” said Student External Affairs Vice President Elizabeth Hall.  

ASUC Housing Director Jesse Arreguin argued that the new analysis on parking and faculty housing should require the university to recirculate the plan. “If they’re going to make significant changes the community needs to see what it looks like,” he said. 

Jim Sharp, a resident who lives on the north side of campus, remained skeptical the city would ultimately compel UC to alter its plans. Sharp fought against a university development plan for the northeast quadrant of campus, but said the city, after threatening a lawsuit, ultimately settled for minimal mitigations from the university. 

Councilmember Maudelle Shirek will mount a write-in campaign to keep her City Council seat, sources close to her said Monday. 

“She’s running, that’s definite,” said Dale Bartlett, her legislative assistant. 

Last Tuesday Shirek asked close friend Jacqueline DeBose to take out papers to run as a write-in candidate. The decision ended weeks of speculation among members of the 93-year-old councilmember’s inner circle as to her intentions to seek an eleventh term in office. 

Shirek, 93, had planned to run for reelection in South Berkeley’s District 3, but in an apparent mix-up she was disqualified from the ballot when her staffer Michael Berkowitz failed to collect the required 20 signatures from registered voters in the district by the city-mandated deadline. A campaign volunteer, assigned by Berkowitz, had collected signatures from across the city instead. 

Shirek refused to comment on her political plans when contacted by the Daily Planet on Monday. 

Her apparent re-entry into the District 3 race as a write-in candidate could be a blow to the candidacy of Max Anderson, a former Shirek supporter. Many city progressives endorsed him even before Shirek was disqualified from the ballot. 

“Certainly this will make things more difficult for me,” said Anderson, who said he fears that Shirek’s candidacy could throw the election to community activist Laura Menard, who he expects will draw support from more moderate voters. “The pool of voters Maudelle and I would draw from are the same in many respects.” 

Menard declined comment for this story. 

News that Shirek will mount a write-in campaign follows weeks of dizzying speculation over her future. For weeks Shirek had been signaling her intention to run. 

Two weekends ago she attended the endorsement meeting of the John George Democratic Club and two weeks prior to that she sought and received an endorsement from the Service Workers International Union Local 535. 

But at the same time that Shirek had asked DeBose to take out papers, rumors were spreading through city hall that she had decided to retire from public life. 

“Maudelle is pretty close with her thoughts,” said DeBose, who added she didn’t know Shirek’s intentions until she got the request to take out papers last week. 

Shirek has until Oct. 20 to submit at least 20 signatures from registered voters in the district to qualify as a write-in candidate. DeBose said she didn’t expect the campaign to file signatures until Friday, the day when aides have scheduled a meeting to organize the campaign’s chain of command. 

What role Berkowitz will play in the campaign, if any, after his apparent gaffe, remains uncertain. He has previously served as campaign treasurer, but DeBose’s husband, Charles Debose, a Cal State Hayward professor, said that he has been nominated for the post and a final decision will be made by Shirek on Friday.

With Mayor Tom Bates scheduled to unveil a financial recovery plan today, the city’s latest budget projections show Berkeley falling further into the red. 

The city is now facing a projected shortfall of $7.5 million for fiscal year 2006—$1.5 million higher than projected in June, said Tracy Vesely, the city’s budget director. 

The main culprit, she said, is higher than expected contribution rates charged by the California Public Employees Retirement System (CALPERS) that will cost the city an extra $1 million next year. Vesely said rising health care costs have also contributed to the additional shortfall. 

Current projections for future years appear rosier, or at least less bleak, she said, with a deficit between $3 to $3.4 million in fiscal year 2007 and about $2.4 million in 2008 and 2009. 

Cisco DeVries, the mayor’s chief of staff, wouldn’t reveal details of the mayor’s plan, but said Bates, along with councilmembers Miriam Hawley and Linda Maio, would call for the city to plug deficits projected through 2009 with spending cuts rather than additional tax hikes. 

The City Council has placed four tax measures on the November ballot that would raise a combined $8 million dollars if passed. Already, DeVries said, the city has cut a total of $14.3 million in spending since it started facing deficits in fiscal year 2003. 

The fiscal recovery plan is non-binding and will not have to go before the City Council, prompting some tax hikes opponents to charge that the plan’s release less than two months before the election sounds like nothing more than a ploy to boost support for the tax measures. 

“I think it’s a total lie,” Bob Migdal of Berkeley Budget Watch said of the mayor’s pledge not to raise taxes further. “They’re going to need more money every year; how else are they going to try to get it?” 

DeVries said that Bates had promised at his state of the city address earlier this year to release a plan by the end of the summer. 

Like many California cities, Berkeley’s pension costs have skyrocketed thanks to CALPERS’ poor stock market returns when the tech bubble burst four ago. The city’s labor expenses have also risen due to employee pension increases negotiated into current labor contracts. 

For fiscal year 2005 pension costs in the city accounted about $6 million of the $10 million general fund budget deficit. 

The revised CALPERS pension rates for fiscal year 2006 require the city, on top of regular salary outlays, to pay 39 percent of the salary for every police officer, 29 percent for firefighters and 17 percent non-uniformed employees. 

In 2000, when CALPERS was reaping double-digit returns, the city paid 2.5 percent for non-uniformed employees and 3.63 percent for police and fire in pension benefits 

That same year the state passed a law allowing cities to boost employee retirement benefits. Over the next two years, Berkeley signed long term deals with its biggest unions granting them raises and improved retirement benefits, which for police and firefighters meant they could now retire at age 50 with a pension that equaled three percent of their salary multiplied by their years of service.  

For instance, an officer who retired at age 50 after 25 years on the force would receive 75 percent of his or her highest salary annually for life. 

In 2002, 22 police officers—more than 10 percent of the force—retired and last year the city lost 72 employees to retirement. 

DeVries said the mayor’s plan would not address pension concerns or propose specific cuts. 

“It will be more of a budget overview. People want to see the big picture,” he said. 

The city’s budget problems could ease starting in fiscal year 2007 assuming two deals Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made with California cities materialize. Under their agreement the state will stop withholding local tax revenue and refund money lost by cities from last year’s repeal of the Vehicle License Fee. If the governor is true to his word, Berkeley stands to recoup $3.8 million in 2007, but Vesely warned that still won’t be enough to balance the city’s books. 

“We have a structural deficit,” she said. “Our expenses are greater than our revenue.”›

A watchful Berkeley Police officer and a crew of beefy private security guards kept a tight reign on revelers gathered Friday night during the second of in a series of “Battle of the Bands” events sponsored by a popular Shattuck Avenue tavern. 

The officer and added security resulted from a complaint by Berkeley City Councilmember Dona Spring after constituents called to voice their concerns after a similar event the week before. 

That evening, festivities ended two hours later than the permitted 10 p.m. closing time because a downtown power outage had delayed the opening. 

Sponsored by Beckett’s Irish Pub, the event was held in the public parking area in 2700 block of Shattuck Avenue as the second in a month-long Friday-night “Battle of the Bands” series. 

Spring said that when last week’s event ended late, some participants had carried the party to the roof of the Gaia Building, annoying neighbors and residents. 

She also received reports about offsite underage drinking—“probably with drinks given them by legitimate customers”—and complaints that bands had cranked up their amps to impermissible levels. 

Pub co-owner Martin Connelly acknowledged that the event had started late because of the power outage, and said the late closing came because “we want to give all the bands a fair shake. We did get a verbal okay from the police to continue.”  

As for the rooftop revelers at the Gaia Building, Connelly said, “I think it’s unfair that we’re being held responsible for someone else’s party.” 

Grace McGuire of the city manager’s staff said that because of Spring’s complaint, she instructed Beckett’s to close last Friday’s event promptly at 10 p.m., which they did. 

The guards kept sidewalk loiterers to a minimum, and the music was kept to a tolerable level. Entrance to the parking area was tightly restricted and IDs rigorously examined throughout as attendees walked through the six-foot-wide admission area. 

Spring said she’d received no complaints concerning the latest event, but she was concerned about another public drinking venue—a pair of rowdy tailgate parties in the city’s Oxford Street parking lot before Sunday’s Bears game. 

As a result, she said, lot attendants have been ordered to keep a close eye on game-time activities. 

Spring said she is “concerned with the inconsistencies in the city’s policies about drinking on the sidewalks on the public right-of-way. If you’re rich and can afford security guards, you can get a special event permit to serve drinks on the public right-of-way, but if you’re homeless and drinking on the streets, you get arrested.” 

While city policy prohibits restaurants and bars from serving drinks at sidewalk tables, the city does issue special events permits, which allow alcohol to be served at events like the Front Row Festival and other public events. 

“By calling it an event, Beckett’s is able to skirt the prohibition,” Spring said. “So much for a clean and sober downtown.” 

The councilmember said the city should be consistent in its drinking policies, and she would like to see to it that all outdoor alcohol consumption is banned. 

“Binge drinking is a nationwide problem on campuses and the city should be doing nothing to encourage it,” Spring said. 

John Martin, co-owner of Triple Rock Brewery at 1920 Shattuck Ave., said he’s participated in outdoor special events, but only on a non-profit basis. 

“If it’s done well, the event can be great for the community and great for the group,” Martin said. 

His microbrewery typically provides their beers and ales free, so the non-profit community groups can gain the full markup for their coffers. 

“Alcohol sales help defray the costs of putting on the events, but not so much if they’re restricted,” Martin said. “We’re a little disappointed with the Front Row Festival and the How Berkeley Can You Be parade for confining drinking to beer gardens.”

Uninsured patients are scheduled to hold a press conference today (Tuesday, September 14) to announce two class action lawsuits against Sutter Health, the corporate conglomerate that owns Alta Bates Summit Medical Center as well as hospitals throughout Northern and Central California and the state of Hawaii. 

The lawsuits, filed respectively in California Superior Court in Oakland and San Francisco, charge that Sutter Health is in violation of what they called “numerous laws” by overcharging uninsured patients. 

The suits are asking for restitution for overcharged patients, as well as a court injunction prohibiting what they call “unfair, unreasonable, and inflated prices for medical care to its uninsured patients.” 

The California State Legislature recently passed legislation introduced by Senator Deborah Ortiz (D-Sacramento), which would require each California hospitals to develop a charity care and reduced payment policy. 

Area residents will have the opportunity to pick up a free digital thermometer near the UC campus during an end-of-September promotion for National Pollution Prevention Week. 

There are two restrictions: Only one digital thermometer will be given per household, and a mercury thermometer must be given in exchange. The mercury thermometers should be brought either in their original cases or inside two sealed plastic bags. 

The exchanges can be made at the Cal Student Store on Bancroft Way at Telegraph, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday, Sept. 20 through Friday, Oct. 1. 

The exchange is being promoted by UC Berkeley, the East Bay Municipal Utility District, and the City of Berkeley as a way of getting the old mercury-based thermometers out of the public’s hands. Mercury is a toxic metal linked to numerous health risks, including neurological damage and death. 



Supporters of Academic Choice, a controversial program at Berkeley High School, packed the Little Theater Thursday and elected four of their own to the School Site Council that had been critical of the program since it began three years ago. 

Three of the parents (Juliann Sum, Marilyn Boucher, and Regina Simpkins) appeared on a four-person slate distributed by an ad hoc group of Academic Choice advocates, while the fourth (Da’Rand Shariah) indicated that he was in favor of the controversial program. 

Any parent with students attending Berkeley High could vote at the meeting. 

Prior to the PTSA meeting, a group identifying itself only as “Parents and Families in Support of Marilyn Boucher, Regina Simpkins, Juliann Sum, and Janet Wise” circulated a leaflet announcing that “Academic Excellence at BHS Is Threatened!” and calling on parents to attend the meeting and vote in the election. A “pink card” slate with the four candidates’ names was circulated at the meeting under the banner “Vote For Excellence.” 

Thirteen candidates vied for the four seats on the School Site Council. Among the losers was Federal Judge Claudia Wilken, who had served as president of the council for the last five years and shared the concerns of many council members that Academic Choice threatened to segregate the school. Wilken said Thursday that if she lost, she would continue to attend council meetings as an alter 

School Site Councils are state-mandated policy making bodies, comprised of parents, students, teachers, administrators and classified employees. Berkeley High’s council is entrusted to devise an annual site plan. 

The plan approved by last year’s council called for instituting a diversity requirement for Academic Choice, which combined with a scheduling decision by Principal Jim Slemp to cut Academic Choice classes led to Thursday’s backlash against the council. 

Comments by meeting participants reflected the disagreements in the closely contested election. 

“I like the people on the [pro Academic Choice slate] pink card,” said Elizabeth Scherer, a parent of a ninth grader who said she moved her child from private school to Berkeley High specifically because of the Academic Choice program. “[Academic Choice] offered excellent teachers and the ability to be stimulated and challenged. A lot of us wanted to know which of the candidates was in support of giving students the choice to take rigorous classes.” 

But another parent, Amy Beaton, called the meeting “a joke of an election. A group of organized, connected people created a nice little show,” she said.  

“These people showed up because they only have interest in the controversy over Academic Choice. But it’s just one issue in a much larger school.” 

Berkeley High School academics has been moving in two different directions in recent years, with some advocating the move to autonomous small schools and others promoting academic improvement within a large-school framework. As in many such battles in modern American life, race is a tinderbox backdrop. 

By next year, nearly half of Berkeley High’s 2,900 students will be enrolled in four autonomous small schools, each of which is required to mirror the entire school population’s ethnic diversity, which is roughly 37 percent white and 32 percent African American. By contrast, more than 55 percent of last year’s Academic Choice students were white. 

Academic Choice, which is open to all BHS students, focuses on higher level classes and teaches some of the school’s Advanced Placement courses, with a goal of offering students a more challenging curriculum than in the school’s regular program.  

Critics of Academic Choice have said that the program was promoting segregation at Berkeley High, while its supporters counter that the program’s racial ratio is not far from the school’s total student racial breakdown, and that rigorous classes are the best remedy for the school’s achievement gap between white and Asian students and African Americans and Latinos. 

In a less-hotly contested election at the PTSA meeting, Mary Elliott Reiter, Dan Lindheim, Barbara Coleman, Allen King, and Sabe Hundenski all won seats on the BHS Berkeley Schools Excellence Project Site Committee. 

Staff Writer Matthew Artz contributed to this story.›

A legal challenge to Berkeley’s school integration plan that made national headlines last spring has died a quiet death. 

The Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), a well-heeled conservative legal group that targeted the Berkeley plan for using race as a factor in assigning students to city elementary schools, failed to appeal a superior court ruling by an Aug. 31 deadline. 

John Findley, a PLF attorney said his group had planned to appeal the case, but the plaintiff, Lorenzo Avila and his two elementary-school aged sons, moved out of the district, depriving the PLF of standing before appeals court. 

Avila’s departure from Berkeley means that Berkeley Unified—which in 1968 became the first school district in the country to voluntarily desegregate—can continue to use race as a factor to produce diversity in its elementary schools. 

The PLF has argued that Proposition 209, approved by state voters in 1996, effectively prohibits districts from integrating schools by race. The proposition outlaws racial preferences or discrimination in public education, employment and contracting. 

Findley said the PLF now has no current cases challenging school desegregation plans, but still hopes to overturn Berkeley’s system. 

“We would welcome hearing from any resident of Berkeley who disagrees with their policy,” Findley said.  

Any new challenge to the district, Findley said, would have to be under a new school assignment plan, adopted by the school board last year. 

The new policy adds socio-economic factors in addition to race in assigning students. The plan still mandates that the racial mix for each grade be within five to 10 percent of the average for the district’s three school assignment zones. 

In dismissing the case last April, Alameda County Superior Court Judge James Richmond found the district’s former policy did not, on its face, violate Proposition 209. 

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On Election Day 2004, everyone’s attention will turn toward Florida—the quintessential battleground state which marred the reputation of the electoral system for many voters, especially blacks. But months before the actual casting of ballots, the black m edia have been reporting that Florida already is embroiled in an electoral controversy rooted in discrimination.  

When the Miami Herald broke the story this July of a flawed felon list that mistakenly included a large number of eligible black voters, the state was propelled back into immediate notoriety.  

The “newsworthiness” of the story faded in and out for mainstream media but African American publications have steadfastly tracked each emerging detail. For black voters, the implications are too impor tant to ignore.  

Bill Alexander, a writer for BET.com, posted an article headlined “A Mess in Florida” on the website on July 17.  

“Florida politics too often have been birthed in outrageousness and burped by shamelessness…(the) controversial Florida pr esidential vote count of 2000 is on its way to a sequel,” writes Alexander.  

He explains that more than 2,000 voters, many of them African American, were “accidentally” placed on the list of 47,000 ineligible voters who were ex-offenders. The pressure pu t on the state after the list was made public triggered the resignation of Ed Kast, head of Florida’s election division.  

Several media organizations sued to have the list made public. The Westside Gazette, a Miami newspaper serving a predominantly black community, immediately published a story when a Florida court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs.  

The decision, considered a “victory” by many, was seen as a crucial first step in resolving the crisis, according to the Aug. 6 article in the Gazette.  

Bu t some in the black community felt that more needed to be done.  

Kweisi Mfume, head of the NAACP, called on U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to stop the chaos, according to the J. Zamgba Browne in the Aug. 8 Amsterdam News.  

“We are now seeing the ni ghtmare of unjustified disenfranchisement unfolding before us, especially in Florida,” Mfume was quoted as saying.  

Another problem with the felon list is that in Florida ex-felons are not automatically returned their right to vote once their sentence is complete. Instead, they have to petition for their rights to be reinstated through a complex bureaucratic process.  

Unfortunately, the voting irregularities in Florida are not limited to the felon list. Black newsgroups are publishing some unsettling fi ndings.  

BlackAmericaWeb.com published a story on Aug. 17 that looks directly at the issue of voter intimidation by the state’s Republican Party and top law enforcement agency.  

Sherrel Wheeler Stewart quotes Democratic activists in Orlando, who believe the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) zeroed in on black voters during an investigation into voter fraud.  

After the close March mayoral race in Orlando, defeated candidate Ken Mulvaney summoned the FDLE to look into the absentee ballots that prevented a runoff.  

While the FDLE contends there was no malicious intent and interviews were conducted with “sensitivity,” a spokeswoman for the Voter Protection Coalition in Florida, Alma Gonzalez, was quoted in news reports at the end of July as say ing:  

“FDLE agents showed up at the homes of absentee voters, many of whom were minorities and asked them if they had really voted, if they had actually sold their votes, and otherwise questioned them in an unfriendly manner while revealing their side-ar ms.”  

African American columnist Bob Herbert noted in the New York Times that a similar investigation done earlier in the spring had already found no fraud.  

“Why go forward anyway?" writes Herbert. “Well, consider that the prolonged investigation dovetails exquisitely with that crucial but unspoken mission of the GOP in Florida: to keep black voter turnout as low as possible.”  

Doing just the opposite—getting a high black voter turnout—has become the unspoken mission for many now.  

Hazel Trice Edney, a writer for the NNPA (National Newspaper Publishers Association), also known as the Black Press of America, reports in an article posted on Aug. 17 in the Sacramento Observer that there are numerous groups and individuals working hard “to make sure the Black vote is cast and counted.”  

The article focused on measures by programs like Election Protection, a project run by the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation that will have lawyers and law students at precincts all over the nation.  

They also set up a toll-free hotline so anyone who is concerned about their rights can talk to lawyers and voting rights experts.  

Due to the efforts of Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Berkeley) and 12 other members of Congress, the Bush administration has heeded to the pleas for an outside, nonpartisan observer in Florida.  

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights has been called on to watch over this year’s presidential elections according to the Aug. 18 edition of the San Francisco Bay View.  

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Arnold Schwarzenegger’s exuberant speech at the Republican National Convention suggested that the Governator may be less the moderate Republican than advertised. Hailed by some during the convention as the Obama of the right, the California governor came across as a devout, rock-ribbed Bush lover. 

Just days after Schwarzenegger’s speech, more evidence emerged to indicate that this compassionate conservative may be borrowing not-so-compassionate tricks from the Bush-Cheney playbook: An Associated Press s tory last Friday revealed that a sweeping reform proposal for California state government commissioned by Schwarzenegger was “influenced significantly” by industry interests—in particular, ChevronTexaco, the largest publicly traded company in California a nd the fifth largest energy company in the world. 

“Many corporations and interest groups participated in the governor’s reform plan,” wrote the AP’s Tom Chorneau, “but state records and interviews with the participants show Chevron enjoyed immense succes s in influencing the report through its array of lobbyists, attorneys, and trade organizations.” 

The report repeatedly references ChevronTexaco input in footnotes, and its acknowledgments page names at least five lawyers and lobbyists associated with the company. 

Last February, some three months after assuming office, Schwarzenegger commissioned a team of 275 state employees to assemble recommendations for the California Performance Review, an analysis of the efficacy of state government. (The report is referred to as the CPR—apropos for a state that currently has a faint economic heartbeat.) 

Last month, the team unveiled a catalog of recommendations so colossal—coming in at a staggering 2,500 pages—that only the likes of Arnold himself could lift it s ingle-handedly. The proposals could significantly enhance the power of the governor to expedite the legislative process and affect everything from the levying of taxes to the procedures for siting oil refineries. 

“This is the biggest government restructuring proposal California has seen in years,” said Bill Magavern, senior legislative representative of the Sierra Club’s California branch and one of the few environmental advocates who got the chance to offer suggestions on the report during its drafting. 

“I know of only a few other environmentalists who were asked for input,” Magavern said. “In my case I got a call to attend one two-hour meeting, but I was never asked for feedback on the most important proposals, and very few of our recommendations were reflected in the report.” Magavern said he knew little about industry’s behind-the-scenes influence on CPR because everyone who worked on it was forced to sign a confidentiality agreement that prohibits discussions about the proceedings: “It was a rigoro usly secretive process.” 

Dozens of enviro groups and public-interest organizations say they were shut out of the process entirely. As Ann Notthoff, California legislative director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, explained it, “While the indust ry interests were able to deploy huge lobbying forces and resources to shoulder their way into the drafting process, public-interest groups simply didn’t have the manpower required to outgun industry at the front end.” 

NRDC and other environmental groups have been invited to air their concerns about the report’s recommendations during the formal public comment period, which will last through September, but even here activists are at a disadvantage: “I’ve talked to leaders of community groups in low-incom e neighborhoods in parts of L.A. who live near industrial sites and are concerned about rollbacks in pollution and siting regulations, but they simply don’t have the time or resources to make a dent in this massive and complex report,” said Notthoff. 

Che vron spokesperson Stan Luckoski said that by appointing a team of lobbyists and lawyers to contribute to the drafting of the CPR, the company was “just participating in the democratic process.” He said, “As a major California-based company, [it’s perfectl y reasonable] that we participated to make recommendations on how to improve the performance of the California economy.” 

And the participation didn’t stop there. Chevron donated $100,000 to a political fund directly tied to Schwarzenegger just weeks afte r the report’s release, according to AP. The company also helped foot the bill for the governor and his staff to attend the GOP convention, and last week Schwarzenegger held a closed-door meeting for officials from Chevron and the other companies that sponsored his travel. 

“You have to admit, with all the gag orders and corporate canoodling, this smacks of the Cheney energy task force debacle,” said Denny Larson, coordinator of the National Refinery Reform Campaign, an organization that works to protect communities around the U.S. from oil-refinery pollution. 

Executive Sweet 

Siting and expanding energy facilities in California has become a concern for oil and gas interests, Chevron in particular, which is currently trying to build a liquefied natural g as facility in Southern California in the face of strong community resistance. Among the long list of concerns enviros have about the reports’ recommendations are the proposals to expedite the permitting and siting processes for constructing and expanding refineries and other energy facilities. Refineries are the biggest generators of hazardous waste in California and among the biggest contributors to the state’s air-pollution problems, according to Magavern. 

Perhaps even more objectionable from enviros’ standpoint is the report’s proposal to eliminate the independent commissions and boards that govern the regulation of California’s air, water and utilities. This means that the California Air Resources Board, for instance, which is responsible for implem enting some of the most groundbreaking and effective statewide pollution regulations in the country, would be subsumed within the executive branch. 

“The overarching theme of the report is to find ways to put more power into the hands of the executive bra nch and remove checks on the governor’s power,” Magavern said. 

Restructuring is not necessarily a bad thing, said Notthoff, but eliminating key independent boards and commissions is going overboard. “Independent commissions are critical avenues for publi c input,” she said. “Eliminating them could substantially reduce the opportunities for public comment on decisions regarding the environment.” 

These are hardly the kinds of changes one would expect from a leader who has been compared to New York Gov. George Pataki and Arizona Sen. John McCain as one of the most environmentally ambitious Republican politicians in America today—the same man who pledged to build the first hydrogen highway and put solar panels on the rooftops of a million homes in his state. 

Some critics see the news of industry influence on the restructuring report as a gloomy bellwether. “Now we are seeing Schwarzenegger’s true environmental colors,” said Larson, “and they’re not green at all.” 

Schwarzenegger has insisted that the report doesn’t represent his ideas or those of his administration, pointing out that it’s simply a set of recommendations from an independent task force. “At times the governor and his appointees have sought to distance themselves from the report,” said Magaver n. “But then he turns around and talks out of the other side of his mouth, saying he’s going to do everything he can to execute it.” 

The governor will have to come down on one side or the other within the coming months, as he decides which proposals from the massive report he is going to press forward with. 

The problem, as many observers see it, is that Schwarzenegger wants to please everyone. He put Terry Tamminen, a highly reputable environmentalist, in charge of the California EPA to gratify the green community, even as he hired former industry lobbyists to work in key staff positions to make business interests happy. 

But he can’t go on playing to both sides. More than half a dozen pro-environment bills are piled up on his desk, including ones that would require stricter tailpipe regulations on old vehicles, crack down on diesel exhaust from idling ships in California ports, curb overfishing in oceans and protect residential communities from pesticide drift coming off industrial farms. 

“Between now and the end of September, he’ll either have to sign these bills into law and anger some industry lobbies, or reject them and seriously discourage his green supporters.” says Magavern. “He’s at a crossroads.” 

Enviros also hope Schwarzenegger will make mo re of an effort to follow through with his Million Solar Homes initiative and his hydrogen-highway program, both of which he touts but has made little concrete progress on. Let’s just hope he’s not waiting for ChevronTexaco to give him the go-ahead.  

Am anda Griscom writes the Muckraker column for Grist Magazine. 

ª

CORPORATION YARD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Well, it’s 2:57 Friday and I’m at the Corporation Yard get-together. I just talked to an employee who thought that “by the freeway” is a better place for the Corporation Yard. (I think he was fairly typical of the employees in general.) The employees are friendly with each other, but guarded concerning their jobs. The public is encouraged to sit at picnic tables, away from the employees, (and not next to the entrance to the food building where I staked out turf.)  

Mayor Bates was shaking hands and politicking less than 10 feet from me. Please, Planet readers, dig deeper into Corporation Yard issues for yourselves. 

Alice Jorgensen 

• 

EXPECTING RETORTS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I welcomed Ms. O’Malley’s Sept., 7-9, 2004 editorial, “Hostility and Ineffectiveness,” for its content. But I didn’t move quickly to my word processor—it was simply refreshing to see in print what one knew to be the situation, especially when expressed in communicative syntax, spelling, grammar and punctuation. So now we have the threatened male-bonding retorts. Ho hum. 

Helen Rippier Wheeler 

• 

ISLAMIC TERRORISM 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

While it was heartening to see a Muslim finally take a stand in print condemning terrorism done in the name of Islam (“To Muslim Extremists: Not in the Name of Islam,” Daily Planet, Sept. 10-13), Hassan Zillur Rahim will have to go a long way to convince a significant percentage of his co-religionists to sympathize with his perspective. A recent major international poll conducted by the respected Pew Foundation revealed that worldwide, the two international leaders a goodly percentage of Muslims held in most respect were Osama Bin Laden and Yasir Arafat. 

Moreover, while Rahim rightly castigates “Muslim fanatics” who “continued to wage one brutal terrorist act after another around the world — Moscow, Bali, Karachi, Madrid,” he conspicuously neglected to mention the cities of the country which has experienced far and away the most incessant violence done in the name of Islam. Until Muslims like Rahim are willing to condemn the non-stop acts of terrorism by Islamicists toward the citizenry of Israel, which has experienced on a per capita basis a thousand 9/11s, his commentary will appear more than just a little disingenuous. 

Dan Spitzer 

• 

WILLARD GARDEN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As a former Willard student, I was shocked to see the front of the school garden on Telegraph Avenue. Nearly all the hard work put into the Telegraph Avenue area was literally ruined. I remember, as a sixth grader, tending the front garden and appreciating the surroundings. Now it is history. All the hard work gone to waste. I am appalled by the Berkeley Unified School District’s destruction of this front area. And to add to the awe, BUSD claims that this was to “provide better handicap access.” This is confusing to me, as I think there is enough for four or five wheelchairs, side-by-side, to go through the Telegraph Avenue gate. For the next decision BUSD makes regarding this issue, it should consult with the PTA and Yolanda Huang, at least! Stop this now! 

Rio Bauce 

• 

THANKS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Your paper keeps getting better and better. Good choices and clear thinking and good writing—wow!  

I’m especially grateful for Ron Sullivan’s pieces on trees. Helping people recognize and appreciate our trees may result in more effective protest about the removal and/or mutilation of both public and privately-owned trees. Whenever I have asked why we can’t have more skillful pruners for our public trees, the answer has been “Prop. 13,” which has become a knee-jerk response to all problems. We can do better than that. 

Many thanks for your good work. 

Donna Davis 

• 

NEXUS BUILDING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thanks for your ongoing coverage of the efforts of the Friends of Nexus (including the 64 Berkeley residents, architects, neighbors, artists and craftspeople, businesspeople and others who signed the landmark nomination petition) to save Nexus. The accompanying picture, even if black and white, caught the charm of the historic structures (“Humane Society, Nexus Battle for Fate of Building,” Daily Planet, Sept. 10-13). 

I would like to suggest two corrections, however. The most important concerns the willingness of Nexus to invest in the buildings’ maintenance and upgrades. Over the years, we have spent over $100,000 for new roofs, electrical upgrades, and other improvements, including a $6,000 new sewer line this summer. 

We are eager to begin the seismic upgrade, underwriting all the costs, but are hopeful that can be tied to a lease extension considering the six-figure costs and disruption involved. 

The retrofit deadline extensions have been granted to the owner of the property—the Humane Society, not Nexus. A win-win scenario from our perspective would be to have Nexus assume the costs and responsibility for the retrofit as soon as possible, allowing the Humane Society to focus on their important mission of animal welfare. 

Robert Brokl 

• 

ACHIEVEMENT GAP 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Berkeley’s white liberals usually oppose diversity of thought or opinion but champion diversity of color, as long as they are not directly effected. Parents at Berkeley High are finally waking up to the fact that the manic attempt to erase the “achievement gap” is becoming detrimental to the education of their children. 

The four autonomous “small schools” planned for Berkeley High must reflect the demographic of the population at large (as per the school site plan). The Academic Choice program, which allows students to enroll in more challenging classes, is not a small school and therefore is not subject to the same quota system. 

As might be expected, the majority of students interested in Academic Choice were white and Asian. The Site Council suddenly became anti-choice and proposed a diversity requirement as per the small schools. Political correctness once again trumps common sense. 

Site Council President Claudia Wilken feared a segregated campus. If the closing of the achievement gap and a quality education were the true priority, segregation might not be a bad idea. Those at the lower end of the achievement gap have special needs and should receive special attention, but not at the expense of other students. Models which have proven to work best to help poorly achieving students include, separating not only by race but by gender, the wearing of uniforms and a learning environment with strict discipline. 

The biggest obstacle to closing the achievement gap was staring Principal Slemp right in the face as he addressed the capacity crowd at last Thursday night’s election for the Site Council. I counted a total of seven African American parents at the meeting! I estimate that to be less than two percent parental representation, where as they comprise 32 percent of the student body. 

The votes were cast, the people spoke, and Claudia Wilken and her group were swept out of office and replaced with a slate of candidates who ran on a pro-choice, pro-education platform. If these same Berkeley liberals would only apply such common sense to other issues in Berkeley, realize that political correctness makes it difficult to talk about actual reasons for many problems and therefor impossible to reach any real solutions, we might begin to make some real progress. Perhaps a step was taken Thursday night. 

Michael Larrick 

• 

BUSH’S RECORD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

CBS’s revelations that Bush got preferential acceptance into the Texas Air National Guard, and that he failed to serve his country throughout his term of duty were answered by Dan Bartlett, the White House’s flack, saying that these were “old charges,” “politically based,” and that they resurface every election year. True, but this time, the charges are substantiated by documents and testimonials of the people responsible for giving Bush that life-saving break. The White House’s denials, like the televised denial by Bush himself, are shown to be flat-out lies. 

Since we can’t trust the current president to tell the truth about his own military service, how can we trust him to continue as commander-in-chief of our sons and daughters who are actually serving our country with their lives? 

Bruce Joffe 

Piedmont 

• 

RADICAL EXTREMISM 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I find it disgusting that people on the right, especially politicians, columnists, and some ordinary citizens who describe other people who are uncompromising environmentalists as either “radical environmentalists” or “environmental extremists.” Does that mean that other people, including myself, who want clean water, clean air, and no storage of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, Nev., which is home of the Western Shoshone People, are radical extremists? 

If that is the case, then it seems that these people on the right enjoy having dirty water, dirty air, and support President Bush’s action of storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. Above all, people on the right enjoy dirty water, dirty air, and want to live comfortable with four more years of President Bush.  

Billy Trice, Jr. 

Oakland 

• 

CITY EMPLOYEES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Unlike all private sector employees who pay Social Security (payroll) taxes, all state, Alameda County, Oakland and City of Albany employees, and even Berkeley public school teachers, Berkeley’s city employees do not have to contribute anything to their own publicly funded pensions. This unique employee benefit was granted by the City Council under the previous mayor in better economic times for reasons unknown to the general public. It was a fiscally irresponsible and short-sighted decision, and by one estimate accounts for more than half of the city’s current budget shortfall of $10 million. 

This overly generous provision is part of the collective bargaining agreements city officials negotiated with unions representing city employees. These agreements don’t expire for another two years or so, but could be amended much sooner if all parties to the contracts agree to do so. 

Before we, the voters and taxpayers of Berkeley, go to the polls in November, the mayor and the leaders of the city employees’ unions owe us a detailed explanation, using figures verified for accuracy by the city auditor, as to why city employees should not have to share the costs of their publicly funded pension plan to help us avoid most of the proposed tax and fee increases or many of the planned budget cuts. If these official fail to provide an adequate explanation, the voters should hold their feet to the fire and reject the proposed tax and fee increases. 

Keith Winnard 

• 

A NASTY FLAVOR 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Regarding John Koenigshofer’s diatribe against Becky’s editorial about her recent Berkeley Police experience, I’d like to say that one can have a most unpleasant encounter with an officer and not file a complaint; so his statistics are undoubtedly way off the mark. 

I’m 63 and for ease of parking and gas conservation, I’ll ride a little Yamaha scooter to run errands. Last Sunday was sweltering and I couldn’t bear to wear my helmet. I got pulled over by Officer McDougall and ticketed! When he was finished with the 10 minutes of paper work (registration, insurance, license, etc.) he said, “You know, I could have your scooter towed.” Then he finished the process by saying, “Enjoy the rest of your day.” 

I’m sorry. It’s facetious, patronizing comments and attitudes like McDougall’s that put a nasty flavor in citizens’ mouths. I don’t think it’s typical, but it happens and it’s unnecessary. 

Mary Wilson 

• 

A NEW CAPTAIN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The crew of the giant sinking ship U.S. America will elect a new captain. Miraculously they are divided into two parties and every adult sleeping on the sinking ship will cast one vote for person A, the nominee for captain of party A, of for person B, nominee of party B. The nominee who gets the most votes will be the new captain of the sinking ship. 

Great effort is made and much money is spent by the managers of parties A and B to convince the people it is in their own best interest to vote for their party. How do you get the women to vote for you, the blacks, the Mexicans, the rich as well as the poor, organized labor, pensioners, lawyers and government service, people clamoring for free education and medical care and free drugs? You make all these promises, you pay for all these advertisement, you get all these votes. 

The winner wins. This is the famous American Democracy every country should adopt as its form of government, Once every four years the little man is made to believe he has a vote in the kind of society he lives in, that representatives he elects will protect his autonomy and his right to work and his ability to take care of himself and his children. 

Reality is different. Money rules absolutely now, the same money rules and runs the country before as after an election and money rules in its own interest, using people and their governments for its own purpose. Global money needs free trade in a global market to maximize profits.  

Governments, dependent for their election and re-election on this money, have to support always free trade legislation and are thus powerless to protect their own people from the ravages of free trade and unable to stop global capital from scouting all over the world for the cheapest labor to manufacture the goods to be sold in the rich countries to the lucky people who so far have escaped from the hell of unemployment caused by global capitalism. 

The people who are so excited about voting for or against Mr. A or Mr. B are not aware they are both lackeys of global money impotent to save them from the great rape of global capitalism for whom the war in Iraq, like the war in Vietnam, is just a welcome source of extra income. 

Also, lately, we Americans have become quite fanatic about religion. So Mr. A and Mr. B must proclaim belief in the Judeo-Christian God and ask often for His blessing. No non-reborn-Christian or non-pro-Israel person can ever be elected to the presidency. 

This is a call for protectionism and isolationism, for peaceful coexistence and non-interventionism, a call for the fulfillment of the ideas of the American Revolution. 

Jan H. Visser 

é

“Are you getting enough sleep?” asked Pearl, peering into my eyes over the Scrabble board.  

“Yes,” I said. 

“Are you sure?” added Rose. “You look tired.” 

“What’s with the hair?” said Louise. “You need to comb it back, or forward, or something.” 

I looked at Louise. Her soft, black hair was cropped short and there was a trace of carefully applied lipstick on her lips. She had a colorful scarf arranged artfully around her neck. 

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll get right on it when I get home.”  

“And another thing,” said Louise, holding her fork with perfectly manicured fingers, and taking a small, delicate bite of the apple crisp Pearl had made. 

“What?” I asked. 

“You need to slow down,” she said. 

“Yes,” agreed Rose.  

“Absolutely,” said Pearl. 

“Whose turn is it?” I asked, trying to change the subject. It was disconcerting having all three Scrabblettes stare at me at the same time.  

“Mine,” said Rose with the sound of victory in her voice. “I’ve got a J. I just love Js, don’t you? So many points, so many neat words.” She put a J and an O on the board above the O and N in onager (a wild ass found in the deserts of Central Asia), and spelled the word jo vertically and horizontally in addition to spelling the word on. The J is worth 8 points and Rose had placed it on a triple word square. “Yahoo!” she shouted, counting up her points. “That’s 24 and 24, plus 4 more which adds up to 52. Pearl, you got that?”  

“Dutifully noted,” answered Pearl, penciling in the number 52 on the scorecard. “You’re in the lead by 10 points.” 

“What the heck does jo mean?” I asked.  

“A cup of coffee,” said Rose. “You know, like, ‘Get me a cuppa jo, right now’.”  

“You want a cup of coffee?” asked Louise. 

“No,” said Rose. “I was just explaining to Suzy the definition of jo.” 

“Watch this,” said Louise. She added an E to the end of the vertical jo, and put letters in front of it to spell zonure. Zonure ran across a double word square. When the score was added up Louise had gained 40 points and taken over the lead from Rose. 

“What does joe mean?” I asked. “What’s the definition of zonure?” 

“A zonure is an African lizard,” said Louise. “I would have thought you knew that. And joe means ‘He’s a regular joe’. Haven’t you heard that expression before? It means he’s a sweetheart.” 

“Who’s a regular joe?” asked Pearl. 

“No one,” said Louise. “I’m defining the word joe with an E for Suzy.  

“Speaking of jo,” said Rose. “I mean jo without an E, this coffee needs to be stronger. Who wants more? I’ll make another pot.” 

“I’ll take a cup,” said Pearl. 

“Me too,” said Louise. 

“Not me,” I said. “I’m wired.”  

“Wired?” said Pearl. “You look tired to me.” 

“She’s wired, but then she’ll be tired,” said Rose. 

“She needs a vacation,” said Louise. 

“Oy,” I said defiantly, firmly placing a Y under the O in zonure. “The Y is on a triple letter score so give me 13 points, Pearl.” 

“Not a word,” said the Scrabblettes in unison.  

“It’s foreign,” explained Pearl.  

“Yiddish,” added Louise. 

“Not allowed,” said Rose. 

“All right then,” I said, with as much patience as I could muster. “I’ve got an O. How ‘bout if I put it above the Z in zonure and spell Oz for a measly 11 points.” 

“No,” said Louise. 

“No?” I asked. “Why not?” 

“Proper noun,” said Pearl. 

“Not allowed,” repeated Rose. 

“Maybe I am tired,” I said, sitting back in my chair in defeat. “Maybe I will have another cup of jo. Maybe I do need a vacation.” 

“To Oz,” said Pearl. 

“With Joe,” said Louise. 

“Joe who?” asked Rose. 

Author’s note: The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, Third Edition (Merriam Webster, Inc., 1996) has the following definitions: jo: a sweetheart; joe: a fellow; oy: used to express dismay or pain. Oz is not listed. The Scrabblettes have been informed. 

Strong-Arm Artist Gets Cash 

A bandit with ready fists convinced a pedestrian to hand over his cash shortly after 5 p.m. Thursday near the corner of Russell and King streets, then drove away, said Berkeley Police Department spokesperson Officer Joe Okies. 

Spat Takes Sharper Edge  

A Berkeley man called police after a row with an acquaintance evolved into a potentially deadly confrontation about 7:30 p.m. Thursday when one of the participants pulled and knife and stormed off, vowing to come back with a rifle. 

The suspect returned when police arrived at the scene near the corner of Michigan and Maryland avenues, Okies said. The incident is still under investigation. 

Upper Story Hot Prowler  

An alert citizen spotted a man with a ladder trying to force his way into a second floor dwelling near Delaware Street and McGee Avenue 20 minutes before midnight Thursday. 

Alarmed at being discovered, the would-be hot prowl burglar gave up his efforts and took flight before police arrived. 

Reluctant Bashing Victim 

When a man appeared in a the Alta Bates emergency room with a wound to the back of his head at 6:30 p.m. Friday, he wouldn’t tell health care workers how he’d been injured, so they called Berkeley Police. 

Under questioning, the injured man allowed that he’d been struck with a metal object. Police identified a possible suspect, but no arrest has yet been made, said Officer Okies. 

Battering Teens Sought 

Berkeley police are seeking a pair of teenagers on assault with a deadly weapon charges stemming from a fists and kicks beatdown administered to another young man Saturday morning near the corner of Russell Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

Elevated House Takes Tumble 

Something went awry last Monday after contractors elevated a house at 1112 Bancroft Way in preparation for building a new foundation and the dwelling slipped off its supports and into the adjoining driveway, said Berkeley Deputy Fire Chief David Orth. 

“We were able to secure the driveway and brace up the structure, but it did displace families living in two other properties to the rear of the site,” he said. 

The ailing dwelling is now fenced off, awaiting more repairs. 

Power Substation Blows 

The Pacific Gas & Electric substation at Hearst and McGee avenues blew a transformer just before 7 p.m. last Wednesday, igniting several trees and a car after red-hot 1,200-volt high tension lines dropped from their polls, according to Orth.  

The incident caused a wide-spread power outage. Power was restored to a majority of homes within an hour.

As a result of the actions by the U.S. Government after 9/11, what is the reality in the “war against terrorism” three years later? 

Some observers have noticed some interesting facts: 

• None of the agencies of the U.S. Government has stated why it believes that its actions since 9/11 will decrease the number of people in the world who now hate the U.S., its institutions, and its people and might therefore commit terrorist attacks on the U.S. 

• None of the U.S. Government agencies has made a point of working against terrorism with any of the U.N. bodies under the U.N. Anti-Terrorism Treaties that the U.S. Government has ratified. 

• Many U.S. military officers, and Bush as commander-in-chief, have expressed concern that U.S. military staff may have taken, or may take, actions under the stress of battle (as in Kosovo, Afghanistan or Iraq) that could lead to charges that they committed war crimes or crimes against humanity or crimes against peace forbidden by the Nuremberg Principles, or violated the Geneva Conventions.  

(This fear caused Bush to announce U.S. withdrawal from the new International Criminal Court, and to seek bilateral agreements with many nations that they would not seek to arrest or charge U.S. Troops with violations of the Nuremberg Principles or the law of nations.)  

• Many concerned people allege that U.S. Government officials repeatedly violated many fundamental principles of law. They have filed many law suits to stop some of these violations. 

• Many lawyers have gone to court to defend clients who said they could prove they were wrongfully arrested or accused.  

• The government has appealed virtually every decision by a U.S. court finding its actions in the “war on terrorism” to be illegal. 

• Many students of history wonder whether they are seeing the beginning of the end of the long evolution of the basic human rights of the people, from ancient Egypt to the United States before 9/11, at the moment when the people of Venezuela are trumpeting their first written bill of rights. 

• An unending “war against terrorism” was declared, with no victories in sight and with rumors of new nations to be invaded by U.S. troops. 

• Is it not becoming clear that human rights violations in the U.S., and by the U.S. at home and abroad, will not defeat terrorism. They will breed additional men and women and children willing to sacrifice their lives in suicidal attacks on “the U.S.” because the U.S. Government has acted violently toward their families and friends and faiths. 

1. Right of Every Human Being Not to be Killed or Disappeared 

(continued from column 1, Friday, Sept. 10) 

This right is clearly stated in the Fifth, Eighth and Fourteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution, in the United Nations Charter, Article 55c, and in the three human rights treaties ratified by the U.S. by 1994. There are clear limits to killings even in wartime, defined in the Nuremberg Principles, the Geneva Conventions, and in the customary international humanitarian laws of war. 

Report 1.9 

Deadly U.S. Attack on Afghan Wedding: Kakarak Village 

(“Civilian Catastrophe as U.S. Bombs Afghan Wedding,” The Guardian, July 1, 2002; Luke Harding, “No U.S. Apology Over Wedding Bombing,” The Guardian, July 3, 2002) 

Report 1.10 

Afghan Prisoners Die after U.S. Military Interrogation: Dilawar, et al. 

(Duncan Campbell, “Afghan Prisoners Beaten to Death at U.S. Military Interrogation Base,” The Guardian, March 7, 2003) 

Report 1.11 

U.S. Troops Charged with Massacre of Afghan Prisoners: Mazar 

(Genevieve Roja, “Documenting the Massacre in Mazar,” AlterNet, July 8, 2002; “Film Documents Alleged Massacre of 3,000 Taliban Prisoners in Afghanistan,” Democracy Now!, May 22, 2003; “Physicians for Human Rights Renews Calls for Full Forensic Investigation into Alleged Killing of Taliban Prisoners,” PHR, June 13, 2002; David Rose, “How we survived jail hell,” The Guardian, March 14, 2004)  

Report 1.12 

After Iraq Invasion, U.S. Soldiers Kill Unarmed Iraqi: Mazen Nouradin 

(Medea Benjamin, “The Occupations’ Hidden Victims—Innocent Iraqis,” Occupation Watch Center, Aug. 5, 2003) 

Report 1.13 

U.S. Sergeant Reported Killing of Iraqi Prisoner at Abu Ghraib: Ivan Frederick, et al. 

(Seymour M. Hersh, Torture at Abu Ghraib, the New Yorker, May 10, 2004) 

To be continued… 

Berkeley resident Ann Fagan Ginger is a lawyer, teacher, activist and the author of 24 books. She won a civil liberties case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1959. She is the founder and executive director of the Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute, a Berkeley-based center for human rights and peace law. 

This column is based on the report by Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute, Challenging U.S. Human Rights Violations Since 9/11, edited by Ann Fagan Ginger (Prometheus Books 2005). Readers can go to http://mcli.org for a complete listing of reports and sources, with web links. (c. 2004 MCLI)›

It seems everyone—politicians, voters, letter writers and editorial columnists—expressed surprise—shock even—at the process by which a small San Pablo card room could morph into a super-size slot machine mecca.  

But another deal being crafted nearby des erves an equally critical look. 

In October, 2002, just as Berkeley’s bitter mayoral battle was about to be decided, the Berkeley Daily Planet reported that then candidate Tom Bates had “facilitated” a deal whereby the East Bay Regional Park District woul d purchase 10 (or more) acres from Magna Corporation—which owns Golden Gate Fields racetrack. This land would be used for soccer fields, in spite of the fact EBRPD openly stated it doesn’t like including sports fields on their property. And in spite of th e fact that EBRPD has thousands of acres “land-banked,” closed to the public because of a lack of maintenance funding. 

The deal was heartily approved by local Sierra Club spokesman Norman LaForce and Robert Cheasty, the leader of Citizens For The Eastsho re State Park. The logic was that this removed the threat of ballfields on the Albany Plateau, part of the proposed Eastshore State Park. Tom Bates is quoted as saying that this deal could be settled by election day! The Sierra Club and playing field advo cates endorsed Bates for mayor of Berkeley. 

Doesn’t sound so bad, right? 

Those of us who questioned the Magna/Bates/EBRPD/Sierra Club soccer field deal asked “What does Magna get in return?” And as time has passed, we finally have our answer. It isn’t a pretty one, nor should it give any comfort to people who look to their local environmental groups for advice on land use. 

The Magna Corporation has been expressing their desire, for years, to build a 600,000-square-foot retail/hotel development on their north parking lot facing Buchanan Street. This scheme, along with the proposed ferry terminal at the base of Gilman Street, as well as visions of Gilman becoming a commercial strip, would make much of the Berkeley/Albany Waterfront look just like Emeryvi lle.  

In March this year, Norman LaForce was still talking tough: “We will sink any ferry boat that tries to get into Gilman,” he is quoted as saying. In the same Daily Planet article the myth was perpetuated. “They (environmentalists) are fighting a hot el and entertainment center planned by Magna Corporation….” 

So, imagine our surprise (not really) when just a few weeks ago, the same Norman LaForce announced at a public meeting that the Sierra Club had its own development plan for the north parking lot—325,000-square-feet of hotel and shopping. Right on the waterfront, right on top of the new state park. 

So this was the payoff for the 2002 deal for East Bay Regional Parks to buy the planned soccer field acres. Instead of 600,000 square feet, Magna Corporation gets environmentalist support to build 325,000 square feet.  

A recent Daily Planet article provides the information that a telephone “poll” being conducted might be forming opinion rather than receiving it. Obviously, Magna Corporation sees the prime waterfront site by the Albany Landfill as one of the most lucrative casino paydays this side of the Nevada border. 

And in the letters page, writers are expressing outrage at the decimation of the meadow in the Eastshore State Park “design” process. This land, which Norman LaForce declared the most ecologically sensitive area due to the abundance of bird and animal species, has been clear cut and surrounded by a chain-link fence. Clearly the nesting Northern Harrier liked the meadow just the way it was—non-native plants et al. 

The homogenizing and sanitizing of this newly created state park waterfront might yet prove to be an albatross around the necks of those who fought so hard for it—because the state will control and regulate how you can use yo ur local parks, and Magna Corporation has the Sierra Club’s blessing to build a 325,000-square-foot commercial center sitting like a festering boil on the face of the park.  

In their determination to see the Eastshore State Park built, the very people who fought valiantly to prevent development of the waterfront in the ‘70s may have inadvertently helped create a development nightmare. 

Those of us who spoke out against the restrictions implicit in a state park—saying we wanted cities to maintain control of urban parks to meet the needs of local people—were mocked in public meetings, and ignored by politicians, environmentalist leaders and planners alike. 

Thankfully there are many in Berkeley and the surrounding cities who still have the urge to protest. It is never to late to show our disgust—at the ballot box, in the media, in City Council chambers and in the parks themselves. 

›x

ZAB CAVES IN ON SEAGATE EIR 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

On Thursday, Sept. 9, I attended the Zoning Adjustment Board hearing about the Seagate project—nine-and-a-half stories and four lots wide on Center Street below Shattuck Avenue. The project would be the biggest building constructed in Berkeley in 30 years, with underground parking three stories deep. 

I knew from many maps that the north fork of Strawberry Creek was either under or adjacent to the proposed project in a very old brick culvert. As a contractor for over 20 years, I know that the weight of a huge building would impact underground soil laterally as well as under the building, and could destroy the culvert even if it is under an adjacent lot. This could happen during construction, or years later. 

This meeting was profoundly sobering. The Board initially denied the mitigated negative declaration (an end-run around the necessary environmental impact report). A city staff member then began to advise the board, behaving like a booster for the developer. She told them not to worry about architectural, traffic and density issues as they would be dealt with elsewhere. She told them not to worry about the creek or the culvert because if a creek was found, the developer would talk to the city and deal with it then. She urged ZAB not to vote for an environmental impact report! I thought the ZAB was meeting expressly to make sure CEQA laws were followed, and determine if environmental impacts might be caused by the project, thus triggering an EIR. An EIR would have neutral experts examine the salient issues and present their findings for public review. The public is supposed to have a say in the process. 

After the staffer spoke to the board, the board members, eager to follow her lead, changed their vote, allowing the project to go forward without an EIR. Buildings that are just one twenty-fifth the size in Berkeley have been required to draft an EIR. 

Then things started to become clear. Board member Allen stated that he was sure that any EIR here would offer nothing, but would cost the developer 30 percent more. Amazingly he knew that this massive project would have no environmental impact to access before the project would be approved. Another board member voted for no EIR because “Berkeley needs buildings.” They were not voting on the need for buildings. They were mandated to assess whether the project had a reasonable chance of having a substantial environmental impact. I witnessed the board abandoning their obligations. 

Meanwhile no one could tell the board exactly where the creek is even though they asked many times! 

In the New Berkeley there is clearly a pro-development culture from the mayor’s office down. The Landmarks Commission has been appointed with employees of developers. ZAB is staffed with people who claim to know worthless outcomes of studies that have not been performed. Public comment time is reduced and decisions are increasingly made by a city attorney, without public knowledge, review or comment. The attorney, behind closed doors, decided that a project in a five-story zone could have a bonus of 4.5 more stories. 

Staffers are hand picking certain rules to follow and ignoring others, such as CEQA, the Creek Ordinance, the Downtown Plan, etc. Monied players are given massive special favors by our planning department when the regular working people are simply required to obey the law. Berkeley was the home of free speech, environmental concern, and urban creek restorers. In the New Berkeley developers have taken over. Bad development planning is literally eating our land, creeks and culture alive. I urge people who care about our environment here in Berkeley to contact the mayor and the City Council. Ask why the Planning Department and ZAB have become bodies which advise developers on how to “score” rather than advocates for the greater good.  

i

When the Democratic National convention ended, on July 30, John Kerry had a slight lead in the presidential polls and George Bush had a negative approval rating. By the time the Republican National Convention ended, on Sept. 2, Bush had taken a lead in the polls and had gained a positive approval rating. What happened during the month of August that explains this reversal?  

In a word, Kerry was “Roved.” Bush’s bounce is more about the success of a skillfully orchestrated campaign to discredit Kerry, than it is about voter enthusiasm for his policies. During August, the president’s campaign manager, Karl Rove, launched a four-pronged attack on the challenger, which managed to shift media focus from Bush to Kerry.  

The Republican response to Kerry’s acceptance speech was to assert that he had done nothing as a U.S. senator. Immediately after the convention, every conservative pundit spoke dourly of the “hole” in Kerry’s resume covering the time between his military service in Vietnam and his presidential candidacy. The Kerry campaign failed to point out that he has had a solid career in the senate, most notably as a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, and as an expert on affordable housing, energy and the environment. 

Next came an avalanche of negative e-mails. In the fall of 2003, word circulated that Karl Rove had used some of the formidable Bush reelection war chest to build an e-mail list of over five million names. (To put this in perspective, MoveOn is said to have an e-mail list about one-third this size.) Once Kerry’s nomination was assured, the Republicans began to use this to circulate “flame-mail” aimed at Kerry. Many of these missives accused him of a consistently anti-defense voting record. (The guts of Zell Miller’s speech at the Republican convention attacking Kerry were lifted directly from one of these flamers—“As a senator, he voted to weaken our military.”) The Kerry campaign failed to make clear that all of the weapons systems that Kerry was said to vote again were part of a single 1990 appropriations bill—that then Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney lobbied against because it was loaded with pork. 

The third prong of the attack on Kerry was an effort to blur the distinction between his position on Iraq and that of the president. Bush challenged Kerry as to whether he would have voted the way he did, in the fall of 2002, if he had known that no weapons of mass destruction would be found in Iraq. Kerry answered foolishly. Where he could have simply dodged the question and said that the war was a mistake, he responded that he would have approved giving Bush the power to go to war. Bush immediately declared that he and Kerry had the same position about the war. The Kerry campaign failed to make the case that Bush was distorting Kerry’s response.  

The final prong of the attack was the notorious swift-boat ads. Presidential adviser Karen Hughes first voiced the charges that Kerry’s Vietnam medals were undeserved during her spring book tour. During the same period, a friend sent me a flamer from the Rove e-mail network that repeated these charges. Apparently this was the “test marketing” period, because the swift-boat accusations dominated the media during the bulk of August. 

These attacks featured two television ads accusing Kerry of misconduct during active duty and of undermining the war effort by his leadership of Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Republicans unleashed a media blitz to ensure that the public was aware of the ads and the simultaneous publication of a scurrilous attack on Kerry, Unfit for Command. The swift-boat strategy culminated in the convention speech of Dick Cheney who repeated the charge that Kerry was unfit for command. 

Given the ferocity of these attacks it comes as no surprise that Kerry’s poll numbers have shrunk. But this does not mean that the election is over, rather that the campaign battle lines are clearly drawn; the remaining 50-plus days will be as much about presidential ethics as about policies. 

What should Democrats do to turn the tide before Nov. 2? You and I can turn our disgust and anger into action; a good place to start is volunteering. Check out www.kerrynorcal.com. 

The Kerry campaign must make dramatic changes. To shift media focus back to failed Bush policies, Kerry needs to go on the attack. He should abandon “nuance” and speak directly about his policies that offer real alternatives to those of the Bush administration. He must assail the methods of the Bush campaign, their reliance on lies and distortions. Obviously the Kerry campaign must develop a capacity for rapid response to whatever new negative attacks are unleashed by Karl Rove.  

The majority of voters are not enthusiastic about Bush, but they don’t know John Kerry; they haven’t accepted him as the replacement for an incumbent president. The challenger has a reputation as a battler, as somehow who shows his true mettle when he is behind. Now is the time for Kerry to earn this reputation, and convince voters that he is fit for command. 

The roots of what might be called Berkeley’s counter-culture reputation go back long before the 1960s.  

While late 19th and early 20th century Berkeley was a small, often staid, town in comparison to today’s city, it was also home to a loosely knit group of self-identified “bohemians” who chose to live in alternative ways. 

The story of that early Berkeley is outlined in an interesting exhibit at the Berkeley History Center. “Berkeley Bohemia, 1890-1925” describes the lives, activities, and attitudes of the locals who not only marched to different drummers, but often made the drums and wrote the music themselves. 

If you haven’t yet seen the exhibit, don’t wait. It closes at the end of this week. It’s compact, intriguing, and worth a half-hour visit downtown. 

The idea for “Berkeley Bohemia” was, appropriately enough, according to exhibit notes, “hatched over breakfast at Au Coquelet Café.” Historical Society board members and volunteers Ed Herny, Shelley Rideout, and Katie Wadell went on a treasure hunt through archives and the local community unearthing fascinating traces of Berkeley’s early artists, artisans, thespians, and original alternative lifestyle practitioners. 

The exhibit features several photographic and written cameos of prominent locals including photographer Oscar Mauer whose Maybeck-designed studio home still stands on Le Roy Avenue, plein air painter Charles Dickman who “campaigned against the prevailing demons of ugliness and bad taste,” composer and “radical club” activist Charles Seeger (father of folksinger Pete Seeger) and Jaime De Angulo, “poet, linguist, rancher, atheist, medical doctor, anthropologist, socialist, transvestite and alcoholic.” 

Some of Berkeley’s early bohemians pursued what would have been considered, then or now, wild lives. For example, after De Angulo (who taught briefly at UC) married, he and his wife lived “in her home in the Berkeley Hills, which became a gathering place for students and ‘wild young people’.”  

And revered early California poet and Oakland Librarian Ina Coolbrith, who lived the last five years of her life in Berkeley, declined to write an autobiography because, as the exhibit quotes her, “were I to write what I know, the book would be too sensational to print; but if I were to write what I think proper, it would be too dull to read.” 

But, “unlike the wild young men and women of San Francisco,” the exhibit notes, “Berkeley’s hill dwellers lived respectable if unconventional lives.” 

“Only a few of Berkeley’s artists succeeded in living entirely off the proceeds of their artistic output. Most were content to lead a predominately middle class life centered on family and community and pursue artistic expression in their spare time.” 

Examples of that approach include Charles and Louise Keeler. They met when young and, eventually, “feeling that they were both doomed to die, they decided that they might as well die married as unmarried.”  

Instead of expiring early, they went on to build one of Berkeley’s first “brown-shingle” homes, designed by Bernard Maybeck, and vigorously promoted a Berkeley aesthetic of living through the Hillside Club and Charles Keeler’s book The Simple Life.  

Keeler was also a student of ornithology and poet and earned a living for a while as the manager of Berkeley’s Chamber of Commerce.  

The exhibit makes an interesting digression into the natural character of Berkeley and the role of organizations such as the Sierra Club and Hillside Club in combining appreciation and stewardship of nature with artistic pursuits. 

“Shapely oak trees and views of the glistening bay made the Berkeley hills inviting places to hike, picnic, and build a home,” the curators note. “Something about Berkeley’s climate and location attracted a large number of nature-lovers in the early 20th century. Many of the city’s artists were influenced by the natural world and then used their art to promote a radical new philosophy of natural living.” 

The exhibit contains text and photographs but is also rich in artifacts, from clothing to watercolors, to a sound recording of Charles Keeler reading from his collection of poems, Elfin Songs of Sunland.  

There are Japanese lacquer boxes, samples of tappa cloth, early arts and crafts tiles manufactured in Berkeley, hand-painted letters from Japan, and even a box of art supplies used by famed local architect Julia Morgan. 

The invitation to a 1921 “jinks” at the California School of Arts and Crafts, an institution founded in Berkeley, admonishes attendees to arrive, “at 8:15—Not Later,” hinting that fashionable tardiness was a Berkeley habit even back then. 

“Bohemian Berkeley” begins with a map of Berkeley identifying sites connected to early artists and bohemians, and ends with a short and clever section that invites visitors to match up names of local bohemians with some of their more famous or notorious activities.  

An example is Purple Cow author Gellett Burgess, who lost his job at the University of California after helping to topple what he considered an offensive statue on San Francisco’s Market Street. 

Along the way there are vignettes of Berkeley life and lifestyles, from descriptions of home theatres, which then meant rooms designed for live performances, to the Berkeley Playhouse, a leading light of the “Little Theatre” experimental movement in America half a century before the Berkeley Rep was conceived. 

A particularly charming item is a newspaper clipping and set of small, hand colored, photographs concerning a 1912 “fairy play” that a group of Berkeley children put on as a “vacation past-time.”  

“More than a hundred friends of the young actresses gathered under the trees and applauded their efforts” in the large garden of a Bonita Street estate, the article relates.  

“The stage and the grounds were lit with dozens of Chinese lanterns and made a very pretty effect.” So does this exhibit. 

Steven Finacom is a board member of the Berkeley Historical Society. 

There have been plenty of docudramas based on interviews or on confessional monologues, even a glut in recent years, but The Faith Project (playing Tuesday and Wednesday at the Ashby Stage) stands alone on this familiar ground. 

The unusual process of it s creation incorporates elements both so personal and so elusive as to defy cliché. It is a kind of auto-documentary of its own origin, and its testimony hits registers unusual to the live stage. The dynamics of these outpourings and the way they’re inte rlaced alone justify their staging. 

“Confessional, testimony, justify”—these words function as puns for the primarily Christian (Catholic and evangelical) outpourings of faith and doubt that make up the show. (Karuna Tanahashi adds energetic and humorous diversity telling about her Jewish-Shinto roots.) For me (and, I think, for the rest of the audience), the most profound moment experiencing this outpouring came when I became aware that these were direct statements, performed by the cast out of the mate r ial of their own lives, their own wrestling with faith and disillusion. 

This realization seeped gradually into the consciousness of audience members, who usually watch from a critical distance as actors perform stories about other people, real or imagi na ry. Not even the program notes really hint about what’s going on. 

Director Susannah Martin later explained her conception and the way it became fleshed out in the “brief talk-back” after the intermissionless show (running under 90 minutes). This was much more worthwhile than many post-performance discussions, if only for the unusually forthcoming nature of the cast. 

After 9/11, Martin became fascinated to discover what people in America (the presumptive home of tolerance versus “religious extremism . . . over there”) were really thinking about religion, belief, faith. She put out a call for multifaceted performers, and the five cast members wrote—and now perform—the script from their own backgrounds, life experience and musings. Martin’s hope, that t he experiment produces something greater than itself, “some modicum of both insight and entertainment—spectacle and reverence,” is realized. 

The Faith Project is put together with strong theatrical intelligence. A choir of six enters at the start with ca ndl es, singing and processing behind the audience. In the darkness after the candles are blown out, the performers’ multiple overlapped stories are told in gesture and movement using a great deal of the theater’s space, with fine singing, mostly melismat ic a nd rhythmical. 

The production’s wayward, almost formless shape avoids the artistic problem of the most familiar docudramas (for example Anna Devere Smith’s performance derived from interviews after the L.A. riots): lack of real theatricality, of anything  

really happening onstage in a truly dramatic sense, ending up as nothing more than a live depiction of the media’s endless talking heads. There are points when The Faith Project comes off like sociological cabaret, but the integrity and suppleness of th e cast make up for much of this structural lack. 

Takahashi, Samantha Blanchard, and Erica McIntire provide a show-stopping burst of song, the almost overly appropriate “I Get Along Without You Very Well.” This comes in the midst of grief recalled by Chri stopher Maikish, and excellent contrasting tale-telling by Carolyn Doyle, who goes from the humor of an unfamiliar Catholic summer camp to her anguish upon coming to grips with her son’s autism.  

This is real acting. Martin’s comment: Doyle found her own character, and played it. Playing yourself onstage is considered one of the most difficult tasks in many acting traditions. 

The cast’s stories are blended with taped interviews of people on the street (some conducted by assistant director-dramatu rge Kar en Marek, others by cast-members) as well as dance and physical theater. There’s something of a parallel to the excitement John Cassavetes’ films provoked in the candor of this piece still in progress, which is unusually polished and stageworthy f or a “la b” piece. But that’s what it is, subject to change as it evolves, a project of Shotgun Theater Lab, a program supporting collaborative ventures by mentoring emerging artists at the Shotgun Players’ new home at the Ashby Stage. 

A last thought for this pro ject and what Martin talks about as its “impetus . . . political, personal, and creative”: Bertolt Brecht’s recognition that, though the beginnings of theater are definitely religious, as soon as it becomes truly theatrical, it’s different from its origi ns, unique. 

r

TUESDAY, SEPT. 14 

THEATER 

Shotgun Theatre Lab “The Faith Project” runs Tues. and Wed. at 8 p.m. to Sept. 15 at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby at MLK. Free with suggested donation. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

Mitchell Johnson, “Paintings and Works on Paper” opens at North Berkeley Frame and Gallery, 1744 Shattuck Ave. and runs through Nov. 6. 549-0428. 

FILM 

Loose Ends: “The Early Years” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Larry Tye will read from his book “Pullman Porters and the Making of the Black Middle Class” at 11 a.m. at Merritt College, Newton-Seale Lounge, R Bldg., Campus Drive, Oakland. 531-4911. 

Joe Loya describes “The Man who Outgrew his Prison Cell: Confessions of a Bank Robber” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Mildred S. Barish, longtime Berkeley resident introduces us to “Tamalpais Tales: A Berkeley Neighborhood Remembers” at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave. 843-3533. 

The Whole Note Poetry Series, with Michael Kelly and Edwin Massey at 7 p.m. at The Beanery, 2925 College Ave., near Ashby. 549-9093. 

Jill Lubin discusses the importance of connections in “Networking Magic” at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Tom Rigney and Flambeau at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Peter Barshay Duo at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Jazz House Jam, hosted by Darrell Green and Geechy Taylor, at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donation $5. www.thejazz- 

house.com 

“George Bush is an Evil Man and other Patriotic Songs” CD release party at 8 p.m. at The Starry Plough. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com  

E.S.T. Esbjorn Svensson Trio at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$14. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays, a weekly showcase of up-and-coming ensembles from Berkeley Jazz- 

school at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

David Rovicks, songs of social significance, at 7 p.m. at AK Press Warehouse, 674-A 23rd St., Oakland. 208-1700. www.akpress.org 

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 15 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Threshold: Byron Kim 1990-2004” The first solo exhibition of Kim’s work opens at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant Ave. and runs through Dec. 12. 642-1295. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“De Colores,” the tropical fruit watercolor paintings of Margo Mercedes Rivera-Weiss. Reception for the artist from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the EBMUD Gallery, 2nd floor, 375 11th St, between Webster and Franklin, Oakland. Exhibition runs to Oct. 8. 

FILM 

Performance Anxiety: “John Baldessari” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Esmerelda Santiago reads from “When I Was Puerto Rican and Almost a Woman” at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Aimee Phan describes Operation Babylift before the fall of Saigon in “We Should Never Meet” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

www.codysbooks.com 

Ellen Weiss and Kiran Singh introduce “Berkeley: The Life and Spirit of a Remarkable Town” at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

Zack Rogow will read from his new translation of Colette’s classic novel, “Green Wheat” at 12:10 p.m. in 2515 Tolman Hall, UC Campus. 642-0137. 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik, featuring Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Wednesday Noon Concert, Monica Chew, piano, at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Jules Broussard, Ned Boynton and Bing Nathan at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Bluegrass Intentions and Evie Ladin, lecture and demonstration at 7 p.m. Concert at 9 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Soroa, salsa, at 8 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Taarka at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Paul Thorn, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Whiskey Brothers at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Acoustic Wednesday with Mikie Lee Prasad at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Cost is $8-$15 sliding scale. www.thejazzhouse.org 

Lee Sarah Big Band at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $12. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, SEPT. 16 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Tesoros Escondidos: Hidden Treasures from the Mexican Collections” opens at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, Bancroft at College, UC Campus. 643-7648. http://hearstmuseum.berkeley.edu 

Bella Feldman and Katherine Westerhout, sculpture and photography. Reception for the artists at 5 p.m., at the Craft and Cultural Arts Gallery, State of California Office Building Atrium, 1515 Clay St. Exhibition runs until Oct. 29. 622-8190. www.oaklandculturalarts.org 

FILM 

Maurice Pialat: “Loulou” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Threshold: Byron Kim 1990-2004” Curator’s talk at 12:15 p.m. Artist’s lecture at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant Ave. and runs through Dec. 12. 642-1295. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Word Beat Reading Series at 7 p.m. with featured readers Kirk Lumpkin and David Shaddock at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave., near Dwight Way. 526-5985.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

New Century Chamber Orchestra performs Borodin, Webern, Lutoslawski and Tchaikovsky at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $18-$39 available from 415-392-4400. www.ncco.org 

Kitty Margolis, with her new CD, at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $20. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Christine Lavin at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $17.50 in advance, $18.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Matt the Electrician, Shiftless Rounders at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

Gini Wilson, solo piano, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Chris James Band at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Pieces of a Dream, contemporary R&B, at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $22-$26. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Marci Geller and Sonic Underground at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. Suggested donation of $5-$10, no one turned away for lack of funds. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

Jazz Mine, string swing jazz quartet, at 6:30 p.m. at King Tsin Chinese Restaurant, 1699 Solano Ave. www.jazzmine.net 

FRIDAY, SEPT. 17 

CHILDREN 

“Sock Monkey Goes to Hollywood” at Barnes and Noble at 10:30 a.m. 644-3635. 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

Mark P. Fisher “Love for Sale” paintings, reception for the artist at 5 p.m. at Turn of the Century Fine Arts, 2510 San Pablo Ave. and runs to Oct. 20. 849-0950. www.turnofthecenturyfinearts.com 

FILM 

Neo-Eiga: “Bokunchi-My House” at 7 p.m. “Peep TV Show” at 9:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

THEATER 

Alameda Civic Light Opera, “Pippin,” Sept. 17, 18 at 8 p.m. Sept. 19 at 2 p.m. Kofman Auditorium, 2220 Central Ave. in Alameda. Tickets are $23 in advance, $25 at the door. Child and senior discounts. 864-2256. www.aclo.com 

Aurora Theatre Company, “The Persians” opens at the Aurora Theatre and runs through Oct. 10. Tickets are $28-$45. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org 

Berkeley Rep, “The Secret in the Wings” at the Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. until Oct. 17. Tickets are $10-$55. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

“General Waste-More-Land,” guerilla theater performed by Tom Dunphy at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. 393-5685. 

Impact Theatre, “Fluffy Bunnies in a Field of Daisies” a sexually-honest comedy, at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean Theater, 1834 Euclid, and runs Thurs. - Sat. through Oct. 2 Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468. www.impacttheatre.com 

“Landscape” by Harold Pinter, Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m., through Sept. 26, at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Tickets are $10 available at the door. 883-9872. www.nakedmasks.org 

Oakland Opera Theater “Akhnaten” an opera by Philip Glass, Fr. and Sat. at 8 p.m. Sun. at 2 p.m. through Oct. 3 at Oakland Metro Theater, 201 Broadway, at 2nd St. Tickets are $18-$32, available on line at www.oaklandopera.org  

Unscripted Theater Company, “The Short and the Long of It,” an improv theater experience, Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Temescal Arts Center, 511 48th St. at Telegraph, through Oct. 2. Tickets are $7-$10. 415-869-5384. www.un-scripted.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for Unaccompanied Violin” with Dr. John Holloway, Dept. of Music Regents’ Lecturer at 4:30 p.m. at 125 Morrison Hall, UC Campus. Free. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Chitra Divakaruni reads from “Queen of Dreams” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

Julia Vinograd at 7:30 p.m. at the Fellowship Café & Open Mic, Cedar & Bonita Sts. Donation of $5-10 is requested. The series is sponsored by the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Suzanne Farrell Ballet at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $30-$56 available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Sequoia Concerts Piano Recital and talk “The Fugue & Its Music” with Leonore Hall, pianist and founder of Sequoia Concerts at 7:45 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Tickets are $15-$25. 415-342-6151, www.sequoiaconcerts.com  

Organ Concert celebrating the Autumn Equinox with Dave Hatt at 7:30 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church of Oakland Sanctuary, 2619 Broadway. Suggested donation $10. 444-3555. www.firstchurchoakland.org  

Mike Zilber and Friends present new work at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Grito Serpentino, spoken word and music, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Dance lesson with Nick & Shana at 8 p.m. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Richard Greene & The Brothers Barton, acoustic string band, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Opie Bellas Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Timothy Daniel, singer songwriter, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

The Phenomenauts, Harold Ray, Bart Davenport in a benefit for Jesse Townley at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8-$10. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

Scarlet Symphony, Gasoline Please, Free Verse, Kudzu Wish at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Michael Zilber and Friends at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazz- 

school.com 

Most Chill Slack Mob at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$8. 548-1159. www.shattuckdownlow.com 

Angel Spit, Julia Lau Band, Mastema at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Plan 9, The Killers 3, The Undertaker & His Pals at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $7. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

The Lemon Limelights at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. Suggested donation of $7-$15, no one turned away for lack of funds. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

Most Chill Slackmob, hip,hop, at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$7. 548-1159.  

Glider at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

SATURDAY, SEPT. 18 

CHILDREN 

Kids on the Block Puppet Show promoting acceptance and understanding of physical and cultural differences at 2 p.m. at the Hall of Health, 2230 Shattuck Ave., lower level. Sug- 

gested donation $3. Children under 3 free. 549-1564. 

THEATER 

California Shakespeare Theater, “All’s Well That Ends Well” Tues.-Fri. at 7:30 p.m., Sat at 8 p.m., Sun. at 4 p.m. at the Bruns Memorial Amphitheater, through Oct. 10. Tickets are $13-$32. 548-9666. www.calshakes.org 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“To the Dogs” an art show featuring all canine artwork by Lori Cheung, Jonathan Palmer, Mitchell Rose and Elizabeth Taylor. At 7 p.m. at Strawberry Creek Design Center, 1250 Addison St., Suite 102. 883-1126. www.innersport.com 

“Metal Art 2004” an exhibition of wearable, ornamental and artistic metal art. Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St. 834-2296. 

Mitchell Johnson, “Paintings and Works on Paper” Reception for the artist at 4:30 p.m. at North Berkeley Frame and Gallery, 1744 Shattuck Ave. Exhibition runs through Nov. 6. 549-0428. 

FILM 

Neo-Eiga: “Shara” at 5 p.m., “Ramblers” at 7 p.m. and “Akame 48 Waterfalls” at 8:50 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Japanese Cinema Now” a lecture with Matsuhiro Yoshimoto, in conjunction with “Neo-eiga: New Japanese Cinema Showcase” at 3:30 p.m. at the Pacific Fim Archive. Free. http://ieas.berkeley.edu 

Oscar Penaranda reads his po- 

etry at 5 p.m. at Eastwind Books of Berkeley, 2066 University Ave. 548-2350. www.ewbb.com 

MIUSIC AND DANCE 

Suzanne Farrell Ballet at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $30-$56 available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Natto Quartet with Philip Gelb, shakuhachi, Shoko Hikage, koto, Tim Perkis, electronics, and Chris Brown, piano at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St., between Bancroft and Durant. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. www.Trinity 

ChamberConcerts.com 

Crooked Jades, old-time and bluegrass, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $16.50 in advance, $17.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Araucaria Dance Ensemble, Chilean folk dance, at 5:30 and 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $8 in advance, $10 at the door. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Geoffrey Keezer, modern piano, at 8 p.m. at the Jazz- 

school. Cost is $12-$15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Kotoja at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. African dance lesson with Comfort Mensah at 9 p.m. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Andrew Wilshusen and Chad Stockdale, jazz improv drum and saxophone, at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Cost is $6-$15. www.thejazzhouse.org 

Maye Cavallaro Cabaret Jazz at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

J-Soul, singer songwriter, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net  

The Cushion Theory, Espontaneos, The Audrey Session at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

Scribe, Thriving Ivory, Blammos, Redline at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $7. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Internal Affairs, The Donnybrook, Stop at Nothing, Set Your Goals at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Superbacana at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277.ô

Sycamores are among the West’s most biologically useful trees. They line creek-cut canyons in the desert, extending a green and gracious welcome to the human traveler and to whole plant and animal communities with their shade and shelter and, not least of all, the holes in their trunks. 

It’s one of those oddities that work well: they’re prone to developing hollow spaces when a branch breaks or falls off, and many of those holes are nicely suited to house squirrels and woodpeckers and even fancier birds. They’re the favorite housing option of elegant trogons, for example.  

The elegant trogon (yes, “elegant” is part of the name; it used to be “coppery-tailed trogon”) is the northernmost relative of the resplendent (yes) quetzal, Central America’s nearly mythical emblem. Trogons get into southern Arizona, and those sycamore canyons are where to see them, and Cave Creek Canyon near Portal is the sycamore canyon to try first. It’s a birder’s haven, lively and inviting and full of hummingbirds and other treats. And trogons.  

We drove there years ago, looked in vain for trogons in the evening, and crawled into the tent when it got dark. At some ungodly hour of the morning, we jolted awake at the distinctive “Gowp gowp gowp” we’d been hoping for, shot sheet-clad out of the tent, and focused on that incredible blue, no, green, no, blue iridescent back and intense red belly, and another bird, a soft-brown and coral female, following closely from hole to hole in the trees above us. 

We were watching part of their courtship, in which the male takes the female around to every available tree hollow he can find and says, “This one? This one? How about this one?” until she decides on their home for the season.  

Unfortunately I’ve never heard a report of a trogon in Berkeley, in spite of our numerous sycamores. Maybe we have the wrong ones. Mostly what we have, like innumerable other cities, is Platanus X acerifolia (or Platanus X hispanica, depending on what book you’re consulting), called London plane. The species is from Spain, and was cultivated and crossbred there and in Oxford, so I guess it has some academic cachet too.  

This has become a wallpaper tree, ubiquitous and taken for granted; one guide calls it “more at home in city than in country environments.” It’s something of a plain Jane in this climate, as it doesn’t even manage to turn yellow in fall. It does have its virtues as a street tree, though: relatively well-behaved vis-à-vis sidewalks; tough about air pollution; tolerant of drought and water and assorted kinds of drainage. It has a handsome profile, and the bonus of good looks up close, with its platy, mottled bark. It’s adaptable to pruning, too, including stunt-pruning like pollarding. 

There are several double rows of pollarded planetrees on the UC campus, one right by Sather Gate. This poodle-ish practice had a practical origin, as a way to harvest firewood every year without killing trees. After early training to a strong profile, a tree is cut back every winter to the same few limbs, and in spring it sends out a spray of shoots from each of those. After a few years, those points become huge knobs, which give an interesting winter profile to the tree. It’s important not to cut behind those knobs—and to choose your species carefully, as this is a mutilation that not every tree can tolerate.  

Sycamores, including planetrees, are susceptible to anthracnose, a fungus infection that hits the leaves late in the year and makes them look gray and listless and nasty. Of course it sets the tree back a bit. It’s also allergenic, a big consideration when you’re planting lots of the same species in a small space with lots of humans. Fortunately, tree mavens have bred resistant cultivars, and those are being planted.  

Some of our tame sycamores demonstrate the virtue of having trees—any trees—in cities, as vertical habitat. When I’m working at the Ecology Center in winter (which is starting now in bird terms) I can always look out a window to the median strip on San Pablo and see yellow-rumped warblers darting around in the planetrees. 

›

TUESDAY, SEPT. 14 

“The Unfolding National Tax Disaster” background and options with Prof. Alan Auerbach and Prof. John Ellwood at 7:30 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302.  

“The Polls: The Battleground States” a panel discussion at 3 p.m. at 109 Moses Hall, UC Campus. Sponsored by the Institute of Geovernmental Studies. http://politics.berkeley.edu 

“Preemptive Peace, Finding Solutions to the War System” with Jonathan Curiel from 7 to 10 p.m. at International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave. Sponsored by the World Federalists of Northern California, the International House and UC Berkeley’s Peace and Conflict Studies. 415-227-4880.  

Furthering the Movement End US colonial occupation of Iraq, presented by James Cosner with Shaka At-Thinnin from the Black August Organizing Committee and Carlos Padilla from Students for Justice at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St. Oakland. Donation $5-$10, no one turned away. 419-1405.  

“Saving the Coast: A Job That’s Never Done” with Peter Douglas, Executive Director of the California Coastal Commission, at 5:30 p.m. in 10 Evans Hall, UC Campus. Sponsored by the Water Resources Center Archives. 642-2666. 

Introduction To Sustainable Landscape Design Create an environmentally friendly oasis in your yard using the principles of sustainability. Use of native plants, recycled materials, water conserving techniques and pest control will be discussed. From 7 to 9 p.m. at the Building Education Center, 812 Page St. Cost is $35. To register, call 525-7610. 

“Trail Running” for fun or competition with Ethan Veneklasen at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Organic Produce at low prices sold at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon Streets every Tuesday from 3 to 7 p.m. This is a project of Spiral Gardens. 843-1307. 

Solid Waste Management Public Workshop on Organic Materials, residential and commercial services, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley Solid Waste Management Commission. 981-6357. 

Berkeley Youth Alternatives Flag Football for boys and girls ages 9 to 11, Tuesdays 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. at 1255 Allston Way. Cost is $10 for residents, $15 for non-residents for 5 weeks. 845-9066. sports@bysonline.org 

Family Story Time at the Kensington Branch Library, Tues. evenings at 7 p.m. at 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

Kurukula Self Defense Classes for girls ages 10-16 at 6:15 p.m. in Albany. Drop in for $15 a class. 847-2400. www.albanykarateforkids.com  

Dance and Visual Arts Classes offered by All Souls Episcopal Parish for middle and high school students. Classes begin Sept. 14. Scholarships available. 848-1755. www.youthartstudio.org 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers We are a few slowpoke seniors who walk between a mile or two each Tuesday, meeting at 9:30 a.m. in the Little Farm parking lot. To join us, call 215-7672.  

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

Acting and Storytelling Classes for Seniors offered by Stagebridge, at Arts First Oakland, 2501 Harrison St. Classes are held at 10 a.m. Tues.-Fri. 444-4755. www.stagebridge.org 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

Phone Banking to ReDefeat Bush from 6 to 9 p.m. at Cafe de la Paz, 1600 Shattuck Ave. Bring your cell phones. Please RSVP if you can join us. 415-336-8736.  

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 15 

Wednesday Bird Walk Discover the first of the migrants and help us with the monitoring of the shoreline, at 8:30 a.m. at Martin Luther King Jr. Shoreline. Turn into the park off Swan Way, follow the drive to the end and meet at the last parking lot by the observation deck. 525-2233. 

“Alternatives to Greed” a talk by Antonia Jiuhasz, project director of the International Forum on Globalization at the Berkeley Gray Panther’s evening meeting, 7 p.m. 1403 Addison. 548-9696. 

“Against the Grain” and “Genetic Time Bomb” films at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Admission is free. Part of the GMOs and Food series sponsored by GMO Free Alameda County. 527-9898. www.gmofreeac.org 

Forum on Transportation Affordability Panel discussion about a recent study by the Public Policy Institute of California on the subject of the Cost of Mobility: Transportation Spending by Low-Income Households in the Bay Area. At 9:30 a.m. at the Joseph P. Bort MetroCenter Auditorium, 101 Eighth St., Oakland. 415-431-7430 ext. 112.  

Walking Tour of Historic Oakland Churches and Temples Meet at 10 a.m. at the front of the First Prebyterian Church at 2619 Broadway. For reservations call 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday, rain or shine, at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes, sunscreen and a hat. 548-9840. 

Prose Writers’ Workshop meets at 7 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 524-3034. georgeporter@earthlink.net 

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters meets at 7:15 a.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 524-3765. 

“Cardiovascular Herbs” How they can save your life at 6 p.m. at Pharmaca, 1744 Solano Ave.  

Celebrate a Humanistic Rosh Hashanah with Kol Hadash, at 7:30 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Hall, 1325 Portland Avenue, Albany. 428-1492.  

THURSDAY, SEPT. 16 

UC Botanical Garden Volunteer Orientation from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at 200 Centennial Drive. Free, but registration required. 643-2755. http://botnaicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

Bridging Zapatismo to Our Communities a teach-in with proceeds supporting the Chiapas Community Mural Project at 8 p.m. at La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

“Redefining Agrarian Power” with Nancy Peluso, Dept. of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at 4:10 p.m. at 223 Moses Hall, UC Campus.  

LeConte Neighborhood Association meets at 7:30 p.m. at the LeConte School Library, Russell and Ellsworth. 843-2602. karlreeh@aol.com 

Simple Living, Fear, and Activism Come share your concerns on preserving balance and mental simplicity in the presence of fear and while contributing time and effort to important political issues. At 6 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, Claremont Branch, 2940 Benvenue Ave. 526-6596.  

Introduction to Green Building and Ecological Design A hands-on workshop from Thurs. through Sat. on solar energy, siting, building envelope, interior finishes, conserving and reducing waste, home and commercial green retrofits, rating systems and standards. Field trips will be arranged. Offered by the East Bay Watershed Center and the Environmental Program at Merritt College. Cost is $56. 434-3840. ecomerritt@sbcglobal.net 

Kairos Youth Choir Open House for boys and girls age 7-15 at 4:30 p.m. For information call 414-1991. www.kairoschoir.org 

FRIDAY, SEPT. 17 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Chi-An Hu, PhD on “China’s Role in the United Nations.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $12.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925 or 665-9020. 

“General Waste-More-Land,” guerilla theater performed by Tom Dunphy at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. 393-5685. 

Scottish Country Dancing in Berkeley Free introductory party at 8 p.m. at Grace North Church, 2138 Cedar St. near Walnut. 234-8985.  

“Women on the Threshold of Change” A participatory evening of community singing for women, with Kate Munger of the Threshold Choirs at 7:15 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Suggested donation $10, no one turned away.  

Inspiration Point Hike with Solo Sierrans. Meet at 4 p.m. at the trailhead. Take Hwy. 24 to Orinda exit, go north on Camino Pablo, which becomes San Pablo Dam Rd., about 2 miles. Turn left on Wild Cat Canyon Rd. at the signal light. The trail is at the top of the hills about 2 miles. Optional dinner in Orinda after the hike. For further information, call Phyllis at 525-2299.  

SATURDAY, SEPT. 18 

California Coastal Cleanup Day Meet at 9 a.m. behind the Seabreeze Market at the corner of University and Frontage Rd.  Here, everyone needs to sign waivers, we give you trash/recycle bags, pencils, tally cards and a map of the areas we need to clean.There are seven sites, most within walking distance of this area. For more information see www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/marina/marinaexp/cleanup.htm 

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tour of Rose Walk, Tamalpais Rd., Codornices Park, led by John Underhill. From 10 a.m. to noon. Cost is $8-$10. For information call 848-0181. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc/ 

Kids Garden Club Build a shade structure inspired by nature, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. For ages 7-12. Cost is $3-$5, registration required. 525-2233. 

“Howdy Farmers” come on up to the farm to pet a bunny, see some eggs and baa with the sheep at 10 a.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. Cost is $3-$5, registration required. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org 

Chilean Bellflower Tour Join Peter Klement, Horticulturist for the South American area, and Carlos Rendon, Lead Volunteer Propagator for Vines, on a tour to see Copihues (Lapageria rosea), the national flower of Chile and other Chilean plants in the collection. From 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $12-$17, registration required. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

Free Emergency Preparedness Class on Basic Personal Preparedeness from 9 a.m. to noon at 2100 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. To sign up call 981-5605. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/fire/oes.html 

Introduction to Permaculture for your garden. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at The Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. near Dwight Way. 548-2220, ext. 233. www.ecologycenter.org 

Spring Bulbs Learn how to use bulbs in landscape, as container plantings and as indoor floral displays in winter. At 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens Nursery, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. www.magicgardens.com 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club Open House from 11:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The public is invited come try lawn bowling at the greens, which are located at 2270 Acton at Bancroft. For more information, please call Ray Francis at 234-6646 or email Berkeleylawnbowl@aol.com   

Home Improvement Seminar: Decks at 9 a.m. at Truitt and White, 1817 Second St. Free, but registration required. 649-2674. www.truittandwhite.com 

BAHIA Silent Auction with dinner and music, to benefit bilingual childcare programs in Berkeley, at 2 p.m. at the Duran Foundation, 1035 Carleton St. for information call 525-1463. 

Theater Classes for Adults taught by Shotgun Players, begin at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Shakespeare Scene Study, Sat. at 2 p.m., Acting on Sun. from 2 to 5 p.m., Directing on Mon. from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. Clasees run through Nov. www.juliamorgan.org 

Oakland High School Class of 1964 Fourtieth Reunion Picnic For more information and to be added to our mailing list please contact elliot@pacbell.net or P.O. Box 10454, Oakland, 94610. 

Walking Tour of Oakland Chinatown Meet at 10 a.m. at the courtyard fountain in the Pacific Renaissance Plaza at 388 Ninth St. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

Collecting Good Water Quality Data, a workshop with Dr. Revital Katznelson, Environmental Scientist for the State Water Resources Control Board at Merritt College, Cost is $11. For information call 434-3840.  

Berkeley Alliance of Neighborhood Associations meets at 9:15 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, Sproul Conference Room, 1st Floor, 2727 College Ave. www.berkeleycna.com 

Friends of the Albany Library Book Sale from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. All items for this sale are 50 cents or less. Come early for incredible bargains on paperbacks, cookbooks and children's books. All proceeds benefit the Albany Library. For more information, please call the Library at 526-3720, ext. 5. 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

Dance Allegro Ballroom Youth Dance Program offers classes for ages 5-18, for $5 per class, at 5855 Christie Ave., Emeryville. 655-2888. www.allegroballroom.com  

“Living with Multiple Sclerosis” with Liane Mark, Miss Intercontinental, at 9 a.m. at the Claremont Resort, Tunnel Rd. To register call 866-955-9999. 

“Natural Migrane Cures” with Dr. Arn Strasser at 3 p.m. at Pharmaca, 1744 Solano Ave.  

“Wisdom of Breema” with Jon Schreiber, founding director of the Breema Center, at 10 a.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck at Cedar. 

SUNDAY, SEPT. 19 

“How Berkeley Can You Be?” Parade at 11 a.m. at University Ave. at Sacramento, followed by Festival at Civic Center Park at 12:30 p.m. The theme is “Loco-Motion!” focusing on unusual, alternative, and crazy ways of moving around. Festival includes arts & crafts vendors, food, libations, art installations, games, kids activities, non-profit organizations, and more.  

Botanic Garden and Summer’s End Explore the range of California’s flora in the native plant facility, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org 

Hopper Hike It is time to look for Orthoptera: grasshoppers, crickets and catydids. From 2 to 4 p..m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org 

Benefit for Middle East Childrens’s Alliance with Naomi Shihab Nye, Palestinian-American poet at 4 p.m. at Middle East Children’s Alliance, 901 Parker St. Tickets are $50. 548-0542. www.mecaforpeace.org 

“Conscientious Objection in a Time of War” with Steve Morse of the GI Rights Hotline, followed by a film on CO’s of WWII and their impact on soci- 

ety. At 10:30 a.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. 841-4824.  

Free Sailboat Rides between 1 and 4 p.m. at the Cal Sailing Club in the Berkeley Marina. Bring warm waterproof clothes. www.cal-sailing.org 

Sycamore Japanese Church Bazaar with Japanese food, crafts, and games for children, from noon to 5 p.m. at 1111 Navellier St. between Schmidt and Moeser Ave., El Cerrito. 

Introduction to the TaKeTiNa Rhythm Process with Zorina Wolf from 1 to 4 p.m. at Ashkenaz Back Dance Studio, 1317 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $25-35 sliding scale. 650-493-8046. 

“Religion and Spirituality in the Life and Work of Vincent Van Gough” with Marlene Aron at 9:30 a.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. Part of the Personal Theology Seminars. 525-0302.  

Tibetan Buddhism with Ken McKeon on “Sacred Dimensions of Time and Space” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, SEPT. 20 

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group for people 60 years and over meets Mondays at 10:15 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. Join at any time. 524-9122. 

Fitness for 55+ A total body workout at 1:15 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5170. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. 548-0425. 

Berkeley Rep School of Theatre Fall Classes for Youth and Adults begin at 2071 Addison St. For information call 647-2972. www.berkeleyrep.org 

ONGOING 

WriterCoach Connection (formerly Writers’ Room) seeks volunteers for this coming academic year. Help students improve their writing and critical thinking skills; become a WriterCoach Connection mentor to students at Berkeley High, King, Longfellow or Willard Middle Schools. For information call 524-2319. www.writercoachconnection.org 

Afterschool Center providing tutoring and support for Berkeley students age 5 to 14 at 1255 Allston Way. Cost is $20 per week. Sponsored by Berkeley Youth Alternatives. 845-9066. 

Regional Parks Botanic Garden offers docent-guided tours every Sat. and Sun at 2 p.m. starting at the Visitor Center, Wildcat Canyon Rd. and South Park Dr., Tilden Park. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

People’s Park Community Advisory Board is seeking members. Meetings are the second Thurs. of the month at 7 p.m. Application dealine is Sept. 30. For information call 642-3255. pplspark@uclink.berkeley.edu 

Twilite Basketball for young women age 11 to 18 Wed. and Fri. from 6 to 9 p.m. Sponsored by Berkeley Youth Alternatives. 845-9066. 

CITY MEETINGS 

Citizens Humane Commission meets Wed., Sept. 15, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Katherine O’Connor, 981-6601. www.ci.berkeley.ca. us/commissions/humane 

Commission on Aging meets Wed., Sept. 15, at 1:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Lisa Ploss, 981-5200. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/aging 

Human Welfare and Community Action Commission meets Wed., Sept. 15, at 7 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Marianne Graham, 981-5416. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/welfare 

Council Agenda Committee meets Mon., Sept. 20, at 2:30 p.m., at 2180 Milvia St., Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil/agenda-committee 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board meets Mon. Sept. 20, at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, Pam Wyche 644-6128 ext. 113. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/rent 

Design Review Committee meets Thurs., Sept. 20, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Anne Burns, 981-7415. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/designreview ç

Family members of a Berkeley man who mysteriously died in a California Youth Authority prison last weekend said Wednesday that they suspect foul-play and a cover up. 

“We need answers, we need to know why [he died],” said Twanisha Brewer, the sister of Dyron Brewer, 24, who was found dead, alone in his room, at the Chaderjian CYA facility in Stockton at 3:54 a.m. Sunday. 

Surrounded by several other members of Brewer’s family who held up pictures of the young man, Twanisha tried to hold back tears as she talked about her brother. 

“That was my heart, and that was ripped from me,” she said. Brewer’s mom, Constance, sat by but was too emotional to speak. 

In a preliminary inquiry the coroner found no signs of foul play and the autopsy results are pending. They will be released in three to four weeks when the toxicology tests are completed, said Nellie Stone, the public information officer for the San Joaquin Sheriff’s Department. CYA officials said they have an inquiry underway, but the coroner’s office will handle the primary investigation. 

Brewer’s death is the fourth this year in CYA facilities. On Jan. 12 another ward—as CYA inmates are called—at Chaderjian died after ingesting toxic chemicals. Days later, on Jan. 19, two wards hung themselves at the Preston CYA prison in Ione. The facilities are designed to hold most offenders up to the age of 25. 

The Stockton facility also drew fire in April from critics pushing for reforms to the youth prisons after California State Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) released a videotape that showed prison guards beating two wards at the site. 

Brewer’s family said Dyron had no previous signs of illness and no history of drug abuse. They were barred from seeing the body at the coroner’s office, and instead were shown a Polaroid picture of his face. They could hardly recognize Brewer in the photograph, they said, but they would not specify what he looked like other than to say his face was swollen. 

Stone, from the sheriff’s office, said it is standard procedure to keep families from viewing the body. 

Unable to get answers about what had happened, the family teamed up with Books Not Bars, a human rights advocacy organization that focuses on incarcerated youth. Together they are demanding that CYA release any information they have that would add to the coroner’s report. They said they are going to file a freedom of information request for all documents related to the death and the treatment of wards in the facilities. 

“Given the CYA’s horrible track record of neglect, abuse, and cover up, we need a full investigation of how Dyron lost his life,” said Lenore Anderson, the director of Books Not Bars. “The CYA should release its reports on this incident and let the family know what happened to their son.” 

Brewer, who grew up in South Berkeley, was originally placed in CYA in 1995 for robbery. He was released in April of 2002 and had been in Washington on an inter-state parole until he was picked up on a parole violation, according to Sarah Ludeman, a CYA spokesperson. He re-entered CYA on Aug. 3, one month before he died. 

Family and friends said they were unaware of how Brewer violated his parole. Ludeman said she did not have that information either. 

At the CYA in Stockton, Brewer’s family and friends said he complained during phone conversations about being picked on by guards. He told them the guards were trying to get him in trouble so they could add time to his sentence. They said he was also confused about why he was back in CYA and pleaded with them to contact his parole officer to find out. 

Ronnie Leggett said that in his last conversation with Dyron two weeks ago, his friend told him, “the cops are picking at me. Call my parole officer and find out what the hold up is.” 

›

Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board members authorized a key document last week paving the way for the tallest structure to rise in downtown Berkeley in decades, the nine-story Seagate Building slated to replace four 1920’s era low-rise structures on Center Street. 

On an initial vote, ZAB members voted to deny the mitigated negative declaration, a document enabling the builder to bypass a lengthy environmental impact report. But minutes later they reversed themselves and voted 6-2 to approve the document. 

Approval came despite opposition testimony from eight Berkeley residents—including two former and one current city commissioner—and no favorable testimony save from the developer. Another former and one current planning commissioner signed a written protest. 

The board delayed action on a second key document, the use permit authorizing construction, pending the resolution of questions concerning the size and placement of units for low- and lower-income tenants. 

While Seagate Properties, a 17-year-old Marin County real estate, investment and management firm with major holdings in at least four Western states, had first told city officials they were building an apartment building, plans have now shifted toward condominiums. 

Their controversial giant—10 feet higher and nearly three times the mass of the nearby Gaia Building—rises four floors above the five-story limit for new buildings in the downtown plan. 

Two additional floors were allowed because Seagate is providing some apartments at rates affordable to low and lower-income tenants. The second extra two floors were granted for leasing ground floor space to Berkeley Repertory Theater. 

Zelda Bronstein, a former planning commissioner who resigned earlier this year, was actively involved in the formulation of the downtown plan. She read a prepared statement, cosigned by former planning commissioner Rob Wrenn and current member Gene Poschman, declaring that even with the bonus additions, the downtown plan barred buildings higher than seven stories. 

“[S]taff seems to have misinterpreted the plan so as to allow affordable housing stories to be piled above the explicit seven-story limit. . .ZAB has no legal obligation to agree to extra stories,” Bronstein said.  

“I am appalled that the board would approve such a colossal building without an environmental impact report,” said Clifford Fred, another former planning commissioner. “This Seagate high-rise would be the death-knell for Berkeley’s remaining small town character.” 

He then rattled off a list of smaller structures where the city had required EIRs. 

Fred also declared the application “in stark violation of the downtown plan,” citing the 14-year-old document’s strict height limit of seven stories and 87 feet in the downtown core. 

Wendy Markel, president of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA), also called for an environment impact report.  

Richard Schwartz, a contractor and Berkeley historian, said he was outraged at the lack of an EIR. “There are hundreds of Native American burial sites in the area,” he said. “CEQA (the California Environmental Quality Act) does not allow an exemption (from an EIR) when there is reasonable expectation of cultural resources.” 

Schwartz called the ZAB meeting “a cynical game in which the public good is sacrificed.” 

Landmarks Preservation commissioner, BAHA member and MoveOn.org Chief Operating Officer Carrie Olson said the Seagate Building violates the plan’s requirement that new development in the city center must take a back step to the historic nature of the area. 

“I’m shocked it’s not having an environmental impact report,” Olson told the board. “You guys should be requiring it. I went to 53 meetings of the General Plan Committee and came out of it thinking we couldn’t have a building like this.” 

Aiming a jab at the roof line housing the top floor penthouses, Olson said “that Quonset hut on top is going to scream out. This building is going to be glitzy, and once they’re condominiums, they’re going to be really junky. You can’t stop that.” 

Each of the critics drew applause. 

“Obviously, everybody has a different opinion,” said Seagate developer Darrell DeTienne. “The (city) Design Review Committee spent a lot of time and effort to make this thing work.” 

Following the testimony, ZAB members took the first of two votes on the project, rejecting the mitigated negative declaration on a 5-3 vote, with only Robert Allen, Deborah Matthews and Christina Tiedemann voting in favor. 

Allen, who said he wrote Berkeley’s first EIR in 1972, voted in favor because “the EIR has no effect on the final outcome except to raise housing costs and delay construction for at least a year.” 

“I think this will be the most elegant building to be put in the downtown for at least 40 years. We should be lucky to have this quality,” he added. 

“If we did an EIR it wouldn’t address most of the questions we’ve heard tonight,” Tiedemann added. “I don’t see a reason to reject this project.” 

Debbie Sanderson of the city’s planning staff said only “a handful of questions” involved EIR issues, while most of the others didn’t. 

At that point, member Laurie Capitelli announced he was ready to change his vote. Chair Andy Katz and Jesse Anthony followed suit. 

Sanderson and Senior Planner Greg Powell then dismissed concerns that the foundation might intrude on the undergrounded Strawberry Creek—which Powell said was far enough distant not to be a concern—and assured the board that construction would halt immediately if water or burials were discovered, pending appropriate remediation. 

Then, without the normal parliamentary niceties of introducing and passing a motion to reconsider, the board reversed its vote, leaving only David Blake and Carrie Sprague in opposition. 

Groans erupted from the audience, and several opponents walked out. 

“This building is so beautiful that it detracts from other buildings downtown,” said Tiedemann after the vote 

That left the issue of the cultural and inclusionary density bonuses for extra floors and the placement of low-income housing units within the complex. 

Civic Arts Commission Chair David Snippen huddled with DeTienne briefly, then announced that differences over the handling of a public gallery corridor had been resolved, eliminating one potential roadblock. 

During the discussion, Senior Planner Powell explained that under city rules, a developer who committed 5,000 square feet to arts and cultural space received one additional floor, with 10,000 square feet earning two floors—regardless of the overall size of the building. 

When ZAB discussed the Seagate Building two weeks ago, member Blake had challenged plans to restrict the 20 percent of units reserved for low-income tenants to the intermediate floors, while excluding them from the top two floors. 

At that time Land Use Planning Manager Mark Rhoades insisted that the upper two floors “are not subject to the inclusionary bonus.” 

When Blake asked, “So you’re going to make a class-based penthouse?” Rhoades answered, “No, the state law does that.” 

Sanderson told the board Thursday that inclusionary units had been kept off the upper floors because of a “request from the applicant. . .it is justified in this case, but we are not making a blanket recommendation for all projects.” 

It was that issue that kept the board from approving Seagate’s use permit. Instead, they continued a decision until their next meeting on Sept. 23.

Berkeley school officials believe that recently-reported “plummeting” state test scores at highly-rated John Muir Elementary School are incorrect and are seeking to have them revised by the state Department of Education. 

The accumulated summary of Muir’s fourth grade scores on the California Standards Test (CST)—taken last May but only released to the public this month—appeared to show that the students had dropped 30 percent in English Language Arts from last year to this. 

But Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) Director of Curriculum and Instruction Neil Smith says that the score summary by New Jersey-based Educational Testing Services (ETS) is “absolutely” wrong, and does not agree with a manual adding up of the students’ actual test scores in the same report. Smith offered no theory as to how the ETS summary might have occurred, but said that he had “never seen an error like this before.” 

John Muir principal Nancy D. Waters said she was “relieved” at the discovery of the possible discrepancy between the test summary and the actual student scores, and looks forward to getting the matter cleared up. 

“My heart sank when it looked like we had gone down so much,” Waters said. “I didn’t know how it could have happened. I knew our teachers had worked 200 percent last year.” 

Waters said that a number of concerned parents contacted her office in the few days after the scores were published in local newspapers and posted on the websites of both the California Department of Education and the non-profit GreatSchools.net organization. 

CST scores are reported by the State of California under the STAR (Standardized Testing And Reporting) program, and are listed in five performance level categories: Advanced, Proficient, Basic, Below Basic, and Far Below Basic. Students in second through fifth grade are tested. 

According to the STAR summary, 23 percent (10 out of 43) of Muir’s fourth grade students scored in the lowest category, Far Below Basic, in last May’s English portion of the CST. But both Waters and Smith said that after they did a manual count of the individual student scores on which the summary is supposed to be based, only two of the students actually scored that low. 

Waters and Smith said the summary totals for Proficient, Basic, and Below Basic scores were less than the actual count of Muir students who scored in those categories. 

California public schools suffer no state rewards or penalties for the information listed on the CST summaries. A spokesperson for the California Department of Education said that the state agency bases its overall school rankings on the data taken from the reported individual student test scores themselves. And, in fact, Muir’s score on the California Academic Performance Index (API) actually went up this year—from 815 to 821 out of a possible 1,000 total score—keeping the school in the top 20 percent of all state schools with a comparable grade range. API scores are based, in part, on the individual student score results of the CST tests. 

But in an era when testing has become the popular judgment criterion for schools, the CST summaries—whether good or bad—can have a profound effect on both the staff morale and the teaching strategies of the schools themselves, as well as on the judgment of individual schools by the public. 

Lisa Rosenthal, senior editor of GreatSchools.net, said that “a large percentage” of people who access her organization’s site “are looking at the test scores as a criteria in choosing a school. We always provide the caveat: don’t judge a school by the test scores alone. There are lots of other factors. But [test scores are] definitely a first stopping point [used by parents] to decide on schools.” 

Principal Waters said that after she got the initial report of the test score summary last month, she was already “brainstorming [with colleagues] over how to proceed” to make up for what she thought were the school’s newly-discovered deficiencies. 

“I was preparing for the first staff meeting of the year, and I was trying to figure out how to motivate the staff after hitting them with such bad news right off the bat,” Waters said. 

After reviewing the John Muir test data online, Bob Bernstein, a Department of Education administrator, speculated that Educational Testing Services may have used what he called “modifications” to alter the totals in the summary, while leaving the individual test scores untouched. He said he had not previously heard about the discrepancy in the John Muir scores. 

Bernstein said that might account for why a manual adding-up of the individual scores does not bring the same figures as reflected in the summary. Bernstein said he found, for example, that nine Muir fourth graders were listed in the CST data as having needed a teacher to read to them certain passages during the test, rather than reading the passages themselves. 

Educational Testing Services could not be contacted for this story. 

GreatSchools.net’s Rosenthal called the Muir test discrepancies “puzzling,” and did some speculating herself, reasoning that “it could be a problem with the scoring. It could be a problem with the reporting. A whole host of things could be going wrong.” And she said she’d seen such problems before. 

“I was on a school board in Burlingame several years ago, there was some test that seemed way out of whack with the test results, and they went back and found that the state had made a mistake on the scores,” Rosenthal said. “When school districts get these results, it’s a good thing they go through them with a fine-tooth comb and try to figure it out, because very often the scoring is in error. So people need to question that.” 

BUSD’s Smith said a representative in the district office is expected to contact the State Department of Education today (Friday) with a formal query on the Muir test score discrepancy. 

When Almateen Tweedie heard someone pounding on her front door the morning of Oct. 30, she assumed the guests were friends of her young sons.  

Instead it was the Berkeley Police Department’s Special Enforcement Unit (SEU)—the force’s designated drug busters. Within seconds, Tweedie said, a team of five SEU officers had battered down her door, shoved her to the kitchen floor and pointed their M-40 carbine guns at her.  

“I felt so helpless,” said Tweedie, who was dressed only in a nightgown during the incident. “Guns were pointed to my head, all parts of my body. I told them I have diabetes and high blood pressure, but they just said, ‘shut up.’” 

Upstairs, officers, their guns drawn, ordered Tweedie’s husband, Jesse Burns and their two sons Jesse, 14, and James, 11, to the ground and handcuffed the father and elder son. 

“I was, like, ‘I’m only 14, don’t kill me,’” Jesse Jr. told investigators. 

Police herded the family into their living room, while officers rummaged through their apartment in search of drugs and James Coby, a convicted felon and known cocaine dealer. 

The police found Coby and a loaded .357 magnum revolver handgun next door at 1126 62nd St., Apt. 15 in Oakland. Tweedie, who has since moved, lived in apartment 16. Berkeley and Oakland have a mutual aid pact that allows Berkeley police to perform drug busts in Oakland. 

A Police Review Commission (PRC) hearing panel found that Tweedie and her family were victims of a faulty investigation and several PRC members said that the Tweedie case when coupled with a similar one involving many of the same officers indicated a possible pattern of abuses in SEU busts. 

“What made them bust into the home and terrorize a completely innocent family?” asked PRC Commissioner Jon Sternberg. “Either the confidential informant was lying or they made some other mistake.” 

Tweedie said SEU officers released her family after detaining them for about an hour, but not before they broke the family’s washing machine, dryer, stove and picture frames during their search and delivered one final indignity. Police, equipped with a video recorder, brought both Coby and Margaret Lott, a resident of apartment 15, who police arrested along with Coby, into the Tweedie home for questioning while Tweedie was still wearing only a gown.  

“I said, ‘how could you do this to me?’” she said. “You could see right through the gown. I felt like I was on display.” 

Then against Tweedie’s wishes, she said, a female officer took Lott upstairs into Tweedie’s bedroom and strip-searched her.  

In findings released last month, a PRC hearing panel sustained seven out of 22 allegations against Det. Jack Friedman and other officers involved, including failure to properly investigate, improper search, unnecessary display of weapons, failure to provide medical assistance, improper detention, abuse of discretion and damage to property. 

This week, in a separate case, a PRC hearing panel sustained three allegations against Det. Friedman and Sergeant David Reece, who also participated in the Tweedie raid, for their role in a sting operation against Roosevelt Oliver, a West Berkeley resident police suspect of dealing heroin. 

The officers were cited for using excessive force in apprehending Oliver, needlessly kicking down his front door which was already partly open and damaging his personal property during their search. Police found no evidence of drugs on Oliver or in his house and made no arrests in the bust. 

“We now have two cases of warrants being issued when nothing’s there and the information alleged is sketchy. It makes you wonder who the informants are,” said Commissioner David Ritchie at a PRC meeting Wednesday. “In [the Tweedie] case a warrant was issued for two apartments because they couldn’t tell which one had the drugs.”  

Berkeley Police Det. Friedman, however, insisted in an interview with a PRC investigator that he had good reason to seek a search warrant for both apartments 15 and 16. Friedman said a confidential informant alerted him that Coby was dealing drugs out of both homes and that during a surveillance operation he had seen Coby enter Tweedie’s home and then leave on his way to complete a drug deal.  

However when asked during the PRC hearing to pinpoint a location from which is was possible to distinguish between the two apartments, Det. Friedman refused to reveal the vantage point, claiming it would endanger his confidential informant. Police Chief Roy Meisner and City Manager Phil Kamlarz backed Det. Friedman’s position, PRC commissioners said.  

The PRC hearing panel toured the streets surrounding the apartment and determined it would have been impossible to identify either apartment unit. 

Ritchie also questioned SEU protocol in conducting the raids and searching homes. “One of their regulations is they’re not supposed to trash the place,” he said. “To a person who’s lying there with all of his belongings thrown in a pile, that’s what it looks like to them.” 

Berkeley officers defended their behavior in interviews with PRC investigator Dan Silva. Det. Friedman insisted the SEU unit announced themselves as police and waited 20 seconds before breaking down Tweedie’s door. Asked about entering with their guns drawn, he replied, “There is a very well known common correlation between narcotics dealing and violence. And Mr. Coby’s history is a violent one. 

Friedman also insisted that Tweedie had never alerted him that she had a medical condition and that she gave her permission to bring Coby and Lott into her house and strip search Lott in her bedroom. Asked why he made the request, Friedman said he didn’t have enough officers to detain people in two different homes. 

Sergeant Reece, the officer who kicked down Roosevelt Oliver’s open door explained it this way: “I saw the interior wood door was slightly ajar, but I had this thing in my hand (a pry metal/ring, used for prying open doors) so I just kicked the door open. When I did that, the door opened obviously but later on somebody found out that the top hinge came undone.” 

Beyond failing to compel Det. Friedman to testify to his surveillance location, the PRC reported other problems getting information from the police department. In both the Oliver and Tweedie cases the commission asked for copies of search warrant requests originally sent to a judge for approval. However, both warrant request copies the BPD delivered to the PRC had key sections of text erased. 

“The police department should never be able to redact information on a search warrant,” said PRC Commissioner and retired Alameda County prosecutor Jack Radisch. “The instant a search warrant is delivered it is a public document. The idea of it being redacted is a little humorous.” 

Yet on the Oliver case many of the redactions had nothing to do with protecting personal information about the defendant or the identity of the confidential informant. One sentence read: “On each occasion (the informant) returned directly to an SEU detective giving them an amount of narcotics, which had been purchased (redacted)...” The missing words included in the original request for a warrant, signed by a magistrate and obtained by the Planet, read that the narcotics had been purchased “by the SEU”. 

Jim Chanin, a Berkeley attorney representing both Oliver and Tweedie and a former PRC chairperson, said that in the past few years BPD redactions often have defied reason. “It all depends on who the censor is,” he said.  

Chanin connected what he perceived as Berkeley’s increasingly permissive attitude towards the police department with a surge in his caseload of police misconduct.  

“I’ve gotten more cases out of Berkeley in the last four years than I have in the previous two decades,” he said. “That’s a pretty good indicator that something is wrong.” 

Chanin has filed a complaint with the city in both cases, but said he hasn’t determined yet if he will file a lawsuit in superior court. 

.

Without Sylvia McLaughlin and her fellow “tea ladies,” San Francisco Bay might’ve become just another example of urban sprawl—filled in, paved over and transformed into a flat urban plain. 

Back in 1961, Berkeley city officials had ambitious plans to double the size of the city by filling in 2,000 acres west of the shoreline, while the Army Corps of Engineers [ACE] was floating projections of the Bay in 2020 in which most of the bay would have been transformed into filled development. 

McLaughlin was the right person in the right place to foil their plans at the time. 

Her newest concern? 

“Casinos.” 

McLaughlin’s presence has been a given at the ever-growing number of meetings in recent months along the East Bay called in response to the growing number of casino developers targeting the area with plans for Las Vegas-style gambling palaces. 

“Point Molate is such a beautiful area. I was just appalled when I saw plans for such a huge development covering much of it.” she said. “I would hope that there are a lot of people who are opposed to gambling. But this is one of the challenges and opportunities we have—a big one.” 

Her battle to preserve the bay began in the 1960s, when she formed the Save San Francisco Bay Association with a few friends. 

Her spouse, Donald—then chairman of the board of Homestake Mining, America’s largest gold mining company—was a San Francisco native and UC Berkeley graduate who had served as the first dean of Berkeley’s College of Engineering and was then serving on the UC Board of Regents. 

One of McLaughlin’s closest friends was Kay Kerr, spouse of UC Chancellor Clark Kerr.  

“We were both concerned about the bay, and I told her I would rather work on this than anything else,” McLaughlin said. 

Kerr suggested a third member of the team, Esther Gulick, who was married to a Berkeley economics professor. 

“We held a meeting with all sorts of conservation organizations, and David Brower,” Berkeley’s most famous environmentalist, “said somebody ought to start a new organization” devoted to the issue. “So that’s what we did,” she said. 

Their first mass mailing featured an ACE diagram of a filled-in bay captioned “Bay or River?” and invited recipients to send a dollar to join the Save San Francisco Bay Association. The $1 membership was picked to draw the largest possible numbers—and it worked, drawing about a 90 percent response. 

“Kay had been a journalism major, so she did most of the writing. Esther had been an economist, so she kept the books and kept track of the major donors,” McLaughlin said. “I was the French major, so I became the one to go around to other organizations, where I learned about all these other issue and their interrelatedness.” 

With their connections and a growing membership base, the group was gaining clout, and drawing requests for help from other Bay Area communities. 

“We did manage to get the Berkeley City Council turned around on” the 200-acre bayfill proposal already cleared by the city planning commission, McLaughlin said. “They changed their policy.” 

As for the larger issues, “we felt the only way to stop the bay fill was through state legislation, so we talked to Bill McAteer and Nick Petris,” two powerful state legislators. 

McAteer, who owned a waterfront restaurant in Sausalito, was a natural choice since the Army’s map showed a future in which his pristine views were filled in by miles of development. Petris had already sponsored bay-saving measures which had failed. 

“McAteer got a study commission appointed in 1965, a very top-level group that recommended the creation of a regulatory agency, the Bay Area Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC),” McLaughlin said. 

Created on a temporary basis in 1965, the agency became permanent two years later after a struggle in the Legislature in which McLaughlin’s group led a drive that flooded Sacramento with calls and cartons of letters. The measure won by a single vote in the Senate and was signed into law by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan. 

“It was the power of public opinion versus highly paid lobbyists,” she recalled. “I don’t know if we could’ve done it in today’s world, because so many of our volunteers were so-called homemakers with the leisure time to go to public meetings and write letters and so forth. Now many women’s organizations are having trouble attracting new members because so many women are now in the workforce.” 

Their opponents—including the railroads, Ideal Portland Cement, investment bankers Lazard Freres LLC and the Crocker Land Company—certainly mustered massive political clout. 

The “Save the Bay Bill” was the only piece of environmental legislation presented to the Legislature that year. In 1970, more than a thousand were submitted. Establishment of a permanent commission was a major step, but there have been plenty of other challenges along the way. 

When Westbay Community Associates presented a plan to chop off the top of San Bruno Mountain and dump it in the South Bay to make way for development, McLaughlin’s group joined the lawsuit that eventually blocked the grandiose plan. 

They also joined forces with the City of Berkeley when the Santa Fe Land Company and George Murphy sued the city for $12 million each after the planning commission blocked their bid to construct a regional waterfront shopping center. 

Though mining companies have been frequent targets of environmentalists, McLaughlin said her husband “greatly supported my efforts for the Bay.” She points to Homestake’s McLaughlin gold mine—named in his honor—at the confluence of Napa, Yolo and Lake counties, “which was held up as a model for handling environmental issues” and later turned over to the University of California for a preserve when the mine finally closed.  

With the passage of time, concerns shifted. 

“We recognized that wetlands are very important and needed attention, so we brought together 30 environmental organizations to save them,” McLaughlin said. “We’ve always been concerned with water quality and quantity, too—so there’s always been plenty to do. One of our major efforts has been watchdogging the BCDC to make sure they were doing what’s necessary.” 

McLaughlin said she has continually worked to save the BCDC from attempts to weaken the organization. 

“One of our chief concerns has always been public access to the waterfront,” she said. “In the beginning, it could be measured in feet. Now there are several hundred miles of access.” 

McLaughlin’s interest in waterfront access led in the early 1980s to the creation of Citizens for the Eastshore State Park, a group which now consumes much of her time. 

While the park itself has now been created, there’s an ongoing struggle to insure adequate funding, she said, although voters and municipal governments have been rising to the challenge. 

Though she stepped down from the Save the Bay board four years ago, she remains in frequent contact with Executive Director David Lewis. 

At 87, McLaughlin remains very active, serving on the boards of the Resource Renewal Institute and Eco-City Builders and deeply involved with the Public Trust Group, which is leading the fight to save the state Lands Commission from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s drive to eliminate state agencies. 

Then there are the meetings, which take up the largest part of her time, “public hearings, meetings, and sometimes meetings before meetings.”  

Her membership on the Friends of Bancroft Library Council has a more personal aspect. The library already houses the collected papers of her late husband, and she is currently assembling her own papers for their collection.

Commercial parking, landmarks and creeks consumed the lion’s share of the Berkeley Planning Commission’s Wednesday night session, producing lots of talk and no decisive action save for one member’s abrupt walkout. 

Three members of the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) were on hand for the discussion of technical changes to the zoning ordinance to support a proposed new ordinance that would govern their actions. 

The revised Landmarks Preservation Ordinance (LPO), undertaken at the request of the City Council, has been four years in the making. Deputy City Attorney Zach Cowan said part of what concerned the elected officials was the potential for legal liabilities posed by the current law. 

“Over the past four years, we went over the code issue by issue,” said Carrie Olson, LPC commissioner and former chair of the group. “Our goal was to ensure there was as little liability for the city as possible.” 

While the current statute limits the LPC’s review of the possibility of landmarking buildings proposed for demolition to consideration of non-residential structures older than 40 years, the revised draft would extend scrutiny to residential structures, but would apply only to buildings more than 50 years old. 

Berkeley Planning Director Dan Marks said the process “takes a lot of time.” 

His staff estimated that under the proposed revisions, the commission would have looked at 122 more buildings over the past year. 

“What this seems to do is that any sort of change becomes reviewable” by the LPC, said Planning Commissioner Gene Poschman. 

“As it’s currently written, the landmarks commission has authority over alterations but not demolition. This would give them authority over demolitions,” Cowan said. 

LPC member Adam Weiss defended the new ordinance, saying it “would frontload everything, so everyone would know from the beginning what they have to do...following a more understandable set of rules for the entire city.” 

Planning Commission Chair Harry Pollack faulted the revisions for putting the LPC “in the position of determining whether an application is complete, which is normally a staff decision. 

“There has to be a better solution,” he said. 

Cowan countered that the revisions don’t endow the LPC with that power. He described two other inaccurate characterizations of the effect of revisions, which appeared in a detailed communication from “smart growth” advocacy group Livable Berkeley, as “howlers”. 

Olson acknowledged that under the present regime, non-residential projects do appear on the LPC agenda, but “nearly all are passed over. Only about a half-dozen people write (landmark) applications, and I’m one. We’re not trying to search out landmarks ourselves. We are trying to pick them up early in the process” of development. 

Commissioners ended the hearing with clear signals that they would try to amend the proposed zoning changes before passing them on to the City Council, which has the final say on both on the zoning ordinance and on the LPO. 

Another hot potato on the planner’s agenda was the subject of parking for commercial businesses, an issue arising from the December, 2003 report of the Mayor’s Task Force on Permitting and Development, which identified parking issues as a barrier to new business. 

Because many commercial buildings have been restricted to single uses, any changes to new or multiple uses trigger a search for the new parking spaces mandated by the general standards for the district housing the building. 

The task force recommended changes in the zoning ordinance to waive the requirements when the new use fell under the same category as the old, and to grant discretionary powers to city staff and the Zoning Adjustments Board when changes involve new or multiple use categories. 

The staff proposal calls for a formal Commercial Parking Review involving a community stakeholder workshop and public hearings before submission of the proposed changes to the City Council. 

“Our view is that this is a very serious problem for us. In virtually all cases, providing parking on site is impossible. We’ve been asked to do this as a highest priority project,” said Planning Director Dan Marks. 

When Gene Poschman began questioning whether a proposed timeline for the process was realistic, commissioner Jerome Wiggins invoked the late and controversial New York City planning czar Robert Moses, drawing a barbed comment from Poschman.  

After commission Susan Wengraf accused Poschman of obstruction, Wiggins grabbed up his papers and stormed out of the meeting, declaring, “You micromanage the minutiae.” 

Poschman then moved to hold a workshop during the commission’s second October meeting, which immediately carried on a unanimous vote. 

The final incendiary on the agenda was the proposed revision to the city’s Creeks Ordinance, which governs property-owners’ responsibility for the city’s vast system of creeks buried in underground culverts. 

“What is going to be the responsibility of the Planning Commission?” mused Wengraf. “This is probably the most far-reaching land use issue for the city in a long time, and for the Planning Commission not to have a say” isn’t reasonable. 

Marks proposed a task force composed of stakeholders, including creek advocates and the property owners who would be forced to carry the heavy costs of repairing the crumbling concrete culverts buried deep beneath their homes and businesses. 

One of those who received a notice of a culvert beneath his home was Poschman, who regarded it as “as the kiss of death.” 

As a model, Marks held up the commission’s UC Hotel Task Force, which brought together a Planning Commission subcommittee and a collection of stakeholders to propose guidelines for the hotel, convention center and museums complex UC Berkeley has proposed for a two block area of downtown. 

The revisions will take at least two years to formulate, he said,. 

Pollack said he wanted the process to be handled by a subcommittee of planning commissioners, who would listen to the stakeholders as they appeared before them during a series of hearing. 

When Marks said it wasn’t clear who should have the leading role, commissioner David Tabb insisted that the planning board “should have more than an advisory role.” 

The commission then adjourned, leaving the matter for future meetings.?

Berkeley’s fourth murder victim of the year—all in the past two months—has been identified as John Hunt, 40, of Oakland. 

Hunt was gunned down on the 1700 block of Sixth Street at 12:23 a.m. Sunday morning, Police spokesperson Joe Okies wrote in a press release. 

Police know of no motive or suspects in the murder. The investigation is continuing. 

Witnesses indicated they heard gunfire and saw a car speed away with two to three occupants that may have been involved in the murder, according to police reports. The car was described as a newer, possible two-door American-made car, metallic champagne in color. 

Hunt was rushed to Alta Bates Summit Medical Center where he was pronounced dead a short time later. 

Hunt’s death comes nearly three weeks after Val Cooper, a 23-year-old from Tulsa, Okla. was gunned down in daylight at Adeline and Harmon Streets 

Two weeks prior Samuel Anderson, 64, was shot dead in his Alcatraz Avenue apartment and on July 18 Mario “Tip-Toe” Jackson died after a gunman opened fire as he stood in the driveway adjacent to his grandmother’s house on Ashby Avenue. 

The last three killings have all taken place within a one-mile area in South Berkeley. None of the murders have been solved and police do not know if there are any links in the killings. 

—

Is West Berkeley’s Nexus Gallery headed for the wrecking ball? Bob Brockl, a leading figure in the gallery and collective housed in a pair of buildings at 2701-2721 Eighth St., hopes it isn’t. 

As rumors circulated that his landlord intends to tear down the unreinforced masonry structure and accompanying steel workshop that have served as Nexus’ home for more than two decades, preservationists are filing an application to landmark the building. 

The Landmarks Preservation Commission are scheduled to take a first look at the proposal when they meet Monday at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

But the rumors of the structures’ impending demise may be greatly exaggerated. Nexus isn’t faced with a deep-pocket developer eager to build high-rise apartments or condos, as is often the case. Nexus’s landlord is another venerable community institution, backed—like Nexus—by its own contingent of devoted supporters. 

The owner of the buildings is the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society, which is looking to expand from its cramped quarters immediately to the east at 2700 Ninth St. 

“We just hired a structural engineering firm, which is creating a plan for a retrofit,” said Mim Carlson, the Humane Society’s executive director. 

Carlson said she couldn’t comment on the landmark application because she hadn’t seen a copy. “It’s interesting that you’ve seen a copy and the owner hasn’t,” she told a reporter. 

The society had explored a possible partnership with the city, which needs a new shelter and had $7.2 million in voter-authorized bonds to build one. 

“There had been high-level planning talks with the city about a joint shelter,” Carlson said, “but those are on hold, if not totally ended.” 

City officials have told Nexus they can’t occupy the site without a retrofit, but the gallery and collective had declined to lay out the six-figure costs with a long-term lease, Brockl said. The city had granted Nexus two extensions on their retrofit deadline, but can’t grant a third absent a building permit committing to the fixes. 

According to the landmark application, the main structure, a two-story red brick building, was built as a factory for Standard Die & Specialty in 1924 by the Austin Company of California—the same firm that built the landmarked H.J. Heinz Co. factory at San Pablo and Ashby avenues. 

The Humane Society began in a nearby building three years later, and over the years the Nexus building has been occupied by a variety of manufacturers until its acquisition along with the two adjoining metal buildings in 1969 by the Humane Society. 

The organizations and individuals who would eventualy comprise the Nexus Institute arrived in the early 1970s, and the institute itself was recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt organization in 1975. The gallery followed a few years later. 

Nexus emerged as a major force in the East Bay arts scene, winning recognition from academics and the arts community both for its collective presence and for the works of its members and the emerging artists showcased by the gallery.›

Scientists from the Berkeley-based California Department of Toxic Substances Control have discovered the world’s highest recorded levels of a recently banned class of fire retardants in the eggs of seabirds that nest along the shores of San Francisco Bay. 

The chemicals, frequently used to reduce the flammability of children’s sleepware, are PBDEs—polybrominated diphenyl ethers—banned from use or sale in California in August, 2003. 

The scientists also discovered that PBDE levels in breast milk samples from American women are 10 to 70 times higher than found in the breast milk of European and Japanese women. 

“Although the toxicity of PBDEs is not fully understood, the chemicals have been shown to harm neurological, hormonal and reproductive development and function in scientific animal studies,” said Angela Blanchette, spokesperson for the DTSC. 

DTSC scientist Jianwen She announced the findings of the three-year study during the International Dioxin Conference currently underway in Berlin. 

She told the conference that seabirds were selected for study because they “are useful for monitoring and assessing ecosystem health because they are high on the marine food web, are long-lived and are generally localized near their breeding sites”—making them “valuable tools in monitoring persistent organic pollutant in the environment.” 

—

Mekayla Blanck, 11 (right) and Celina Borucki-Gibson, 10, participate in an impromptu candle light vigil at the corner of Ashby Avenue and Adeline streets Thursday night where participants marked the death toll of more than 1,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq. The vigil at Ashby and Adeline, where a few dozen people gathered at 8 p.m., was one of several in the Bay Area, five of which were in Berkeley. The vigils were organized in part by MoveOn.org.

Seeking to undercut a ChevronTexaco legal action to block the sale of Point Molate, Richmond city councilmembers Tuesday reconfirmed in public their closed-door extension of exclusive negotiating rights with a would-be casino developer. 

The oil giant won a temporary restraining order that blocks the sale until after the outcome of a Sept. 20 hearing in Contra Costa County Superior Court, based in part on their contention that the city’s earlier closed-door vote to grant the extension violated the Brown Act. 

The move gives more time to Berkeley developer James D. Levine, who has teamed up with a Native American band and Harrah’s, the world’s largest gambling firm, to build a Las Vegas style waterfront gambling resort on the bay. 

With casino proposals in the works for San Pablo, Oakland, Richmond, North Richmond and, possibly, at Golden Gate Fields, word of yet another Richmond casino—this one at Hilltop Mall—was floated by San Francisco Chronicle columnists Matier and Ross.›

“I think we might have lost her.”  

With that heartbreaking statement, spoken by a North Carolina-based American Airlines employee, one of the greatest tragedies in U.S. history began.  

It was 7:59 on a radiant September morning when American Airlines Flight 11 lifted off from Boston’s Logan Airport, bound for L.A. On board were 81 passengers, two pilots and a cabin crew of nine. Sitting in Business Class were Mohammed Atta and four fellow terrorists. Less than an hour after take-off, Atta deliberately flew the Boeing 767 into the World Trade Center’s North Tower.  

The Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks killed 3,000 people in New York and Washington, D.C. It was the greatest American catastrophe of modern times.  

But for San Francisco’s Ong family the tragedy was dreadfully personal. The “her” referred to by American employee Nydia Gonzalez was Flight Attendant Betty Ann Ong—their beloved sister and daughter.  

Ong was a victim of the terrorists. She was also the first hero of that fateful day. Many people have heard of Todd Beamer’s courage (“Let’s roll”). But relatively few know about Betty Ong’s.  

Within minutes of the hijacking, and despite the murderous mayhem on board, Ong bravely grabbed a crew phone to call colleagues on the ground.  

For the next 23 minutes, she gave authorities a detailed account of what was happening. Ong calmly told ground staff there were possibly four hijackers of Middle Eastern extraction on board.  

Ong also reported on the carnage taking place—the First Class galley attendant, stabbed; the purser, stabbed. The terrorists also slashed the throat of a passenger, who was bleeding profusely. The hijackers locked themselves in the cockpit.  

Amid the mid-air horror, Ong remained cool. She identified the seats the terrorists had occupied, enabling the FBI to learn the hijackers’ passport details.  

Fifteen minutes after Ong first alerted the world to what was happening, the big Boeing suddenly lurched, tilting wildly. She said the pilots were probably no longer flying the airplane. The 767 approached Manhattan, flying ever lower.  

Still on the line, Ong said in a composed voice: “Pray for us. Pray for us.”  

Seconds later the line went dead.  

Her ground contact asked: “What’s going on, Betty? Betty, talk to me. Are you there? Betty?”  

Born in San Francisco’s Chinatown, Betty Ong enjoyed an idyllic childhood. The youngest sibling, she was doted on by elder brother Harry and sisters Cathie and Gloria. Their parents, Harry Snr, now 84, and Yee-gum Oy, 78, owned a small grocery store where they worked long hours.  

As a teenager, Ong grew to be a tall, attractive girl. Though self-conscious about her willowy 5’ 9” height, it helped her excel in basketball and volleyball.  

“Everyone who knew Betty really loved her,” says Harry, a youthful-looking pharmacist in his early fifties.  

Sister Cathie agrees: “Bee made everybody feel like they knew her right away.”  

“When we spoke to colleagues who had flown with Betty, they told us that on late night cross-country flights many flight attendants relax after serving dinner,” Harry says. “But Betty always strolled the cabin, especially mindful of older passengers, and always checked to see if there was anything they needed, an extra blanket, a glass of water, a cup of tea.”  

Even on her last day, Betty Ong took time to look after an elderly person. In an e-mail to Ong’s family, Joyce Toto wrote: “I never knew Betty. However, my dad did. He works for American Airlines in Boston as a gate guard; a gate which Betty passed to go to work every day. On that awful day, Betty had kissed my 78-year-old dad on the cheek, said goodbye and asked him to wish her luck. I can’t tell you the joy she brought to this man’s life every day with her smile. You see, my mum had just passed away, and Betty cheered him up daily.”  

Ten days after the Sept. 11 attacks, 200 mourners gathered in a San Francisco park to honor Ong. Mayor Willie Brown proclaimed Sept. 21 “Betty Ong Day,” saying, “When 180,000 San Franciscans say their prayers, they can say the angel, Betty Ong, by name.”  

Ong’s family always felt she was their hero. But it wasn’t till months after the attacks that they also found she was the nation’s. Last January, a tape of Ong’s urgent message was played before the 9/11 Commission. Hearing her poised voice relating vital information about the hijacking, commission chairman Thomas Kean declared: “Betty Ong is a true American hero.”  

Ong will again be honored on Sept. 22 in San Francisco, both as a city native and as an American hero, by the Chinese Community Center.  

For Ong’s parents, there is still immense pain. Harry recently found his father quietly weeping. At the thought of that, his voice, too, cracks. “It’s not easy.”  

The pain will always be there, but the Ong Family can be genuinely proud that their beloved daughter, and sister, was that rare person who embodied both exceptional courage and uncommon kindness. She literally made the world a better place simply by being in it.  

Steven Knipp is Washington, D.C. correspondent for the South China Morning Post.  

?

For the next few weeks, the Berkeley Planet will publish lists of alleged violations of human rights by the Bush administration for readers to think about, and perhaps use, in their work on the November election. 

The reports are from a forthcoming book, Challenging U.S. Human Rights Violations Since 9/11, prepared by Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute and edited by Ann Fagan Ginger (Prometheus Books March 2005). The book documents the effects of the earthquake in human rights since 9/11. One hundred and eighty-three reports spell out the 30 types of alleged violations, actions to stop them, the relevant laws, and the sources. 

The columns will quote from the book and will list the subjects of many reports, plus some sources. Readers can go to http://mcli.org for a complete listing of reports and sources, with web links. 

What is the Real Score in the “War on Terrorism?” 

As a result of the actions by the U.S. Government after 9/11, what is the reality in the “war against terrorism” three years later? 

On July 13, 2004, Attorney General John Ashcroft issued a report: “The information-sharing and coordination made possible by section 218 [of the Patriot Act] assisted the prosecution in San Diego of several persons involved in an al Qaeda drugs-for-weapons plot, which culminated in several guilty pleas. They admitted that they conspired to receive, as partial payment for heroin and hashish, four ‘Stinger’ anti-aircraft missiles that they then intended to sell to the Taliban, an organization they knew at the time to be affiliated with al Qaeda.” (Attorney General John Ashcroft, “Report from the Field: The USA Patriot Act at Work,” U.S. Department of Justice, July 13, 2004)  

Ashcroft did not mention that the conspiracy was actually with U.S. undercover agents who offered them the weapons. 

This report from a government official charged with finding the terrorists leaves a series of questions: 

• How many alleged perpetrators of the acts of 9/11 have been charged and convicted of that crime? 

• Have the reasons behind these terrorist actions been clearly spelled out? 

• How many millions of people in the U.S. innocent of crimes were detained, lost their jobs, or had their lives disrupted? 

• Did the loss of 180,000 union jobs through the Homeland Security Department Act actually “ensure airport security?” Was security heightened as a result of repeated efforts to break militant labor unions and destroy the right to organize? 

• When the Department of Defense demanded, and got, massive increases in the military budget, including funding for new types of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, did this increase homeland security?  

• Did it increase homeland security when the DOD denied discharges to service members who discovered they were conscientious objectors to war after joining the service in order to get an education and “to be all you can be?”  

• Is the country more secure because the government has made major cuts in the budget for education, health and human services, medical care, battered women’s shelters, federal courts, and for rehabilitation of parolees and first offenders? 

• Is the United States more secure because 83,000 people were required to register with the Immigration Office once and 13,000 of these people were deported or face deportation? 

• When thousands of foreign scholars and students had their academic work interrupted, or put to an end, although they were not even charged with any wrongdoing, did that help the war against terrorism? 

• Did it help that the U.S. did not honor many of its treaty commitments to other nations? 

• Did people in the U.S. feel more secure when, in December, 2003, the DOD announced that contracts for reconstructing Iraq after the massive damage by U.S. and U.K. bombing would be made only with corporations in nations that supported the U.S. war in Iraq? Did everyone agree to thus eliminating all contracts to corporations in China, France and Germany, among others?  

In this column we will talk about three things: first, the basic background; second, the rights of the people; third, the duties of the U.S. Government. We will give examples of 30 types of rights and duties described in 183 reports in the Challenging book (with sources), to give a sense of the urgency to act against new and continuing violations of human rights since 9/11. 

1. Right of Every Human Being Not to be Killed or Disappeared 

Every human being has a right not to be killed or disappeared—by agents of the United States or state governments, or by individuals. This right is clearly stated in the Fifth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, in the United Nations Charter, Article 55c, and in the three human rights treaties ratified by the U.S. by 1994. There are clear limits to killings even in wartime, defined in the Nuremberg Principles, the Geneva Conventions, and in the customary international humanitarian laws of war cited in the 1996 opinion of the International Court of Justice in the Nuclear Weapons case. 

Report 1.1  

Asylum Applicant Deported, then Killed: Ahfaz Khan 

(Louis Salmoe, “Deportation Becomes ‘Death Sentence’,” Palm Beach Post, June 8, 2003, p. 1-A.; Victor M. Hwang and Ivy Lee, “Wen Ho Lee Next Time: Patriot Act Threatens Asian Americans,” Pacific News Service, Sept. 12, 2002.) 

Report 1.6  

County Sheriffs Investigate Deaths at Arizona Border 

(Bob Moser, “Open Season,” Intelligence Report, Spring 2003) 

Report 1.8  

Cluster Bombs Kill after Invasion of Afghanistan Ended 

(Marc W. Herold, “Data on 11 Weeks of U.S. Cluster Bombing of Afghanistan,” Cursor, Feb. 1, 2002; Reuters, “Red Cross Warns Afghan Children off Cluster Bombs,” June 29, 2002)  

To be continued… 

Berkeley resident Ann Fagan Ginger is a lawyer, teacher, activist and the author of 24 books. She won a civil liberties case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1959. She is the founder and executive director of the Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute, a Berkeley-based center for human rights and peace law. 

Contents excerpted from Challenging U.S. Human Rights Violations Since 9/11, by Ann Fagan Ginger (c. 2004 MCLI).?

Once back South, some years ago, I passed a half-hour or so that could have been used for good fishing time trying to convince an old segregationist about an instance of racial injustice. Afterwards, T.C. Brown, who used to keep me in line, led me out of the meeting by the arm with a quiet lecture on the theory of time-waste. “Boy,” she said, “don’t you know you can’t wake up somebody what ain’t ‘sleep?” 

Comes the waning days of the presidential election of 2004, and my good Democratic Party friends find themselves in similar circumstances. 

They stream out from the Michael Moore movie, convinced that in the president’s seven minutes following the second Twin Tower attack, they have found the secret of their electoral salvation. They wave those seven silent minutes as a banner to the as-yet-unswayed masses in Joplin and Massilon and Alaquippa, shouting, “Don’t you see? Don't you see? It shows that Bush is not a leader! It shows that he is not in charge!” 

I suspect that in answer, a good portion of the American electorate is saying, quietly, under their breaths, “And thank God for that. What’s your point?” The great demonstration of What George Did, after all, does not seem to have made much of a dent in the electoral math. 

And I suspect that is because you can’t wake up people who ain’t asleep. 

The war goes badly, for the American side. Seven U.S. soldiers die in a single act of ambush, the worst casualties since the dark days of bloody April. The cities of Najaf and Falujah are all aflame, and we are told by American commanders-somewhat sheepishly-that there are some portions of the country where U.S. forces will not even go. 

Democrats seem befuddled. Why has this not made a difference? 

Have not the various rationales for the Iraqi war long since vanished, like cold ice set upon desert sand? There were no weapons of mass destruction. There was no link between al Qaeda and the regime of Saddam Hussein. Far from arresting terrorism, our little tank-trot along the Tigris seems to be creating more terrorists in its terrible wake than we manage to kill. You would think that all would be disaster for the President’s prospects. And yet, as summer wanes, the polls begin to drift toward the red end of the spectrum, slightly but deliberately, like the temperature gauge of a car which cannot stop to replenish its water, but must barrel onward, towards its doom. 

Can't the people see?, my Democratic friends wail. 

In Iowa, Mr. Cheney twists the knife. “If we make the wrong choice [this November] then the danger is that we’ll get hit again,” he tells a Des Moines audience. “We’ll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint that the United States will fall back into the pre-9/11 mindset, if you will, that in fact these terrorist attacks are just criminal acts and that we’re not really at war.” For those who do not quite get the point given the Vice President’s convoluted syntax, the Des Moines Register straightens it out by headline: “Cheney: Terrorists will attack if Bush loses.” 

But why do not these Iowans not realize, the Democrats wonder, that the “pre-9/11 mindset” actually belonged to Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney themselves, that the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks occurred on their watch, while their eyes were averted elsewhere? How can Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney dance around the edge of this precipice, like Smeagol madly waving the Ring of Power above Oridúin, and not themselves tumble over into the abyss? 

We turn, for answers, to another familiar English fable. 

Near the end of Kenneth Grahame's The Wind In The Willows, the Rat tells the homecoming Toad of the fall of his beloved Toad Hall to the stoats and weasels in what would be described these days as a terrorist attack. 

“A band of weasels, armed to the teeth, crept silently up the carriage-drive to the front entrance,” the Rat says. “The Mole and the Badger were sitting by the fire in the smoking-room, telling stories and suspecting nothing, … when those bloodthirsty villains broke down the doors and rushed in upon them from every side. They made the best fight they could, but what was the good? They were unarmed, and taken by surprise, and what can two animals do against hundreds? They took and beat them severely with sticks, those two poor faithful creatures, and turned them out into the cold and the wet, with many insulting and uncalled-for remarks! … And the Wild Wooders have been living in Toad Hall ever since… Eating your grub, and drinking your drink, and making bad jokes about you, and singing vulgar songs… And they’re telling the tradespeople and everybody that they’ve come to stay for good.” 

Toad is despondent and ready to give up his ancestral home, until the Badger outlines a plan to sneak into the Hall by a secret, underground passageway and retake the dwelling by force. Thence the celebration-of-anticipation begins. 

“‘We shall creep out quietly into the butler’s pantry-’ cried the Mole. 

‘-with our pistols and swords and sticks-’ shouted the Rat. 

‘-and rush in upon them,’ said the Badger. 

‘-and whack ‘em, and whack ‘em, and whack ‘em!’ cried the Toad in ecstasy, running round and round the room, and jumping over the chairs.” 

We were badly bloodied on September 11th, we Americans. We took a great hit, not so much to our national security as to our national psyche. Some three thousand gone, and we cannot shake that day’s images from our minds. Struck, we want to strike back, with all the weapons of mass destruction in our great and terrible arsenal. What is the use of such an arsenal, after all, if not for times like these? But there are no stoats and weasels around us to kill, because all the September 11th terrorists died in the September 11th attacks themselves, casting themselves into the fires even at the very moment they drove the dagger into our collective heart. 

And so, we seek their kin. Or any who associated with them, or even resembled them. Afghanistan did not last long enough. It did not satisfy enough. We wanted to whack ‘em, and whack ‘em, and whack ‘em, until their blood washes away the images imprinted on our brains. And so, on to Iraq, at whatever cost, and damn the justification. 

Why are so many Americans unmoved by the argument that Iraq is a war without logic, that the Iraqis possess neither threat nor culpability? Because for so many Americans, the war in Iraq has nothing to do with logic. It has everything to do with vengeance. And so you cannot wake so many of them from their slumber, because they are not ‘sleep. I wish this were not true, my friends, but I have lived among Americans for many years, and long and bitter experience tells me that it is. 

?

WINTER SWIM TRIUMPH 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I would like to thank Matthew Artz for writing a well researched and balanced article about the continuing community drama around the Berkeley pools (“Swimmers Fight For Public Acess in Winter,” Daily Planet, Sept. 3-6). For three years, with the help of King Pool swimmers, Berkeley politicians and taxpayers, we have forestalled the closure of Willard and West Campus pools for the winter. We from South and West Berkeley would like to thank all of you for supporting public access to public recreation during these difficult financial times. The success of this citizen movement reminds me of why I live in Berkeley. 

We are again faced with the closure of Willard and possibly West Campus pools to the public this year. I must make some important observations. 

• Swimming has universal appeal for people of all ages and conditions. 

• Serious swimming is not seasonal. 

• Life guarding is a great entry level job for both sexes and people from all economic backgrounds. 

• Recreational opportunities must be extended to all citizens of all economic backgrounds, especially during difficult times. 

• BUSD must find a way to reestablish a meaningful aquatics program that promotes aquatic recreation, sportsmanship, and health and safety, for all students, not just the lucky few who can afford the expensive Bears program. Students, parents, and the public are natural allies when it comes to managing the public pools. We must demand that the city and BUSD find a way to work together. 

Why is it that we are all of a sudden requiring that city pools be self sufficient? Would it not be a better goal to require that city pools be managed well enough to provide maximum services to the most people in the city? This should be the long term goal that the City Council requests of Parks and Recreation. 

In the short run, the United Pool Council has scheduled a Swim-A-Thon on Oct. 2-3 at King Pool to raise enough money to keep West Campus pool open for all of us during this next winter. Please be part of this by swimming an hour or pledging some money for a swimmer. 

Bill Hamilton 

• 

SLOGAN SUGGESTION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thank you for the report on the candidates for the Board of AC Transit, especially H.E. Christian Peeples who is described as the “seven-ear incumbent.” I can imagine his campaign slogan: He may be a mutant, but he has the capacity to listen.  

Thomas Yamaguchli 

• 

MURPHY MEADOW 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Years ago (the early ‘90s), Berkeley’s waterfront sustained a concerted push for intensive development. To remove this threat, a deal was made with a powerful deity for a state park. Now the down-side of this bargain is apparent to me. The Murphy Meadow, that refuge from civilization just west of the freeway, and north of University Avenue, has been laid waste. 

For those of you who have walked on those time-worn trails with friends, dogs or alone, there were many surprises to be found; varieties of birds, interesting plants, mysterious areas, such as the gathering places of rabbits. It was nice that a bit of wilderness was allowed to evolve—a balance of competition of plants, animals (wild and domestic) and Man. A nice compromise. I was personally fond of the patches of seeded grasses which, wet with the morning’s dew, caught the sunlight, stirring in my buried instincts to pick up the camera again. Of course, the territorial red-winged blackbirds, puffing out their red feathers, were a special pleasure for me, as were the house finches reflecting the Sun’s colors off their crimson breast. The hawks, in their now looping, now cruising flight, roused my appreciation for the beauty of flight. In the spring, ducks rested in the seasonal ponds. 

What greets the eye now is a chain-link fence, yellow earth-movers and diggers, a broad stretch of denuded soil and a few odd bunches of bushes with orange tags tied to them—the lucky few “natives” chosen to remain. Down is the giant eucalyptus on the southeast corner of the meadow, down are the berry bushes and grasses which fed the birds. Destroyed are the rabbit burrows and the paths I used to follow. 

Inquiring among the now displaced former-strollers, the following picture emerges. On this land, the state park developers will not allow non-native species of plants. Being an old dump, capped in the 1970s, a joyous cacophony of native and non-native types prevailed. Animals came to populate the land; an ecology developed; a happy balance. But the ecological “aberrants” are being removed. 

Ecological purists—eco-nazis I am calling them this morning—through their persistence and dedication to an ideal, have risen to positions of power, and have imposed their will on this formerly happy place. 

Just so you know, somebody noticed, and I think it stinks. 

Curtis Manning 

• 

CONVENTIONS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I found your editorial on the Republican National Convention very interesting (“Republicans Rant, Kerry Conciliates,” Daily Planet, Sept. 3-6). 

It’s funny how both sides sounded pretty much the same concerning the conventions. My observance is that whichever side your on the opinions are the same. And as a Republican I just wonder why the candidate from the Democratic side did not mention his years in the Senate, or explain why he suddenly became a dove when he was about to get run over in the primaries. I have a feeling that a vote for the Democratic candidate is really not a vote for him but rather a vote against the incumbent. I think that it would be detrimental to this country and the world if we change presidents, but in the same vein, since we do live in the greatest country in the world, we would come through. I noticed in your article all that was focused on was anger and not specifics; it makes it hard to take the article very seriously. 

Thank you for upholding freedom of speech. 

Stefan Nelson 

• 

GILBERT ON SEAGATE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I have been following with dismay and some amusement the “affordable penthouse saga,” written by my District 5 Council race opponent, developer Laurie Capitelli, and some other affordable housing fanatics on our Zoning Adjustment Board. The story goes like this: While we ordinary middle-class folks pay through the nose to live in Berkeley, poor people are entitled to luxury ownership accommodations at the expense of taxpayers and a lower-density livable Berkeley. My opponent Capitelli and some other affordable housing fanatics on the Zoning Adjustment Board insist that some number of the “penthouse” condominium units in the unpopular and dense proposed nine-story new downtown Seagate project should be allocated to poor people, since to do otherwise would be to “segregate” them amongst the less-than-elite occupants of the downstairs units. 

I am not making this up! You read all about it recently right here in the Planet.  

The cost of buying a home in Berkeley is about $700,000 with a real property tax bill of at least $10,000. Middle-income incomes are down and employee confidence in the Bay Area is among the lowest of major metropolitan areas. Berkeley local taxes are the highest in California and yet our city political establishment is proposing unnecessary new taxes. Some of these new taxes, if passed, would probably help buy penthouses for poor people. Many ordinary Berkeley homeowners are having real problems paying their tax bills and meeting their family needs. In walking my District 5, I have seen evidence of homeowner inability to properly maintain their homes, and many persons have contacted me to complain about the city drain on their family coffers. Few residents are happy with the type of multi-unit construction appearing all over town , or with the way our downtown is, literally, shaping up. 

It is time for some common sense. If elected, I will pursue policies to help and expand Berkeley’s middle-class population. I will not support subsidized penthouses for anyone. 

Barbara Gilbert  

City Council candidate,  

District 5 

• 

CRITIQUING THE EDITOR 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Regarding your recent editorial ( “Hostility and Ineffectiveness,” Daily Planet, Sept. 7-9): 

1. The Berkeley Daily Planet has always been prejudicial and bias in their perspectives and opinions. Printing whatever it is that catches your flavor. 

2. Becky O’Malley, the world does not stop and take notice just because you want to satisfy your curiosity. 

3. Becky O’Malley, you really must don’t have any other interesting story to write. 

4. Becky O’Malley, stop being a “hater” of anything apart from your world. 

5. Becky O’Malley, you are not “The People.” 

Peter Hong 

• 

POLICE AND THE PUBLIC 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

“Hostility and ineffectiveness” describes the editor’s attempt to communicate with one of our peace officers. Page Three featured a photo with what appears to be one of these fearless public servants shielding his face (preserving his anonymity, I’m guessing.) 

What gives? 

Do these officers have something to hide? 

Or is this fellow a private citizen dressed in storm trooper regalia? 

More than a year ago I approached University at Shattuck and saw what I surmised was a cataclysmic event: a tower fire engine, ambulance, three unmarked police cars, and four BPD squad cars.  

Bomb threat? 

Demonstration?? 

No. A fellow was passed out on the sidewalk. 

Padding the budget the old fashioned way. Is anyone accountable for this crap??? 

Neal Rockett 

• 

DEFENDING THE BPD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Becky O’Malley’s editorial depends on the reader’s acceptance of her dubious assertion that the police officers investigating a crime scene—a child on a bicycle had been hit by a car—had nothing better to do than to satisfy the curiosity of passing motorists. (If O’Malley thought that something serious was going on, how come she didn’t even bother getting out of her car? Must be a new trend: Drive-by journalism!) I don’t know O’Malley, but I’m very familiar with the officer she attacked. Jim Marangoni has been, yes, unfailingly courteous and effective as the beat cop in our troubled South Berkeley neighborhood. O’Malley’s peevish screed says far more about the arrogance of a small-town prima dona than it does about the state of the Berkeley Police Department.  

Paul Rauber  

• 

UNIVERSITY AVENUE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The new landscaping on the University Avenue median is very nice. However, the sprinklers are wasting water and can easily be changed. The sprinklers are using a “spray” nozzle. The wind causes “misting” and the water is lost. There is a frequent breeze coming up University Avenue. 

The small nozzles on top can be easily changed. There are nozzles called “stream” and “stream spray.” Also a “flat” or lower angle nozzle is available. These will help to avoid the fine drops being whipped up, around and away. 

Richard List 

• 

WILLARD GARDEN  

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Michael Yovino-Young’s comments about the Willard garden as an “eyesore” is very grinch-like indeed. Some see the flowers, he sees only the garbage. 

Garbage and the homeless are not the responsibility of volunteers. Where has the school district been for 20 years? Why haven’t they at least picked up the garbage? And indeed, after this conspicuous absence, to plow over and destroy is entirely inappropriate. Parents and volunteers should be supported and thanked for their efforts. We all lead busy lives. I would wager that Yovino-Young, like the school district, had contributed neither money nor time towards this commendable volunteer effort. 

Ten years ago, prior to the Willard Greening Project, the front of Willard was barren, with cars parked on it. There was the misshapen eucalyptus on the corner, whose seeds plugged the storm drain and caused regular flooding. Friends of mine then opined that the Willard building was really a penal facility, especially viewed at night in the sulfur lights. 

Lately, as more and more street trees have been removed along that part of Telegraph, I appreciate the Willard garden even more. The trio of yellow flowered trees are spectacular. And I look forward to the tree with pendulous wisteria-like blossoms in the spring. Telegraph Avenue is a challenging place to garden. As a neighbor, thanks for your work. 

Michael Haven 

• 

THE PRESIDENT AND HIS MEN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Yesterday Vice President Cheney threatened the American people— saying if they voted the wrong way in November there were likely to be more and devastating terrorist attacks. Is he trying to scare us into voting for George Bush? 

Also yesterday—the same day that the number of American soldiers killed in Iraq reached 1,000—Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld talked about Iran. He said Iran was a threat and called Iran uncivilized. Now that scares me! Rumsfeld is making an argument for the expansion of American foreign aggression. 

The reckless, unilateral, violent foreign policy of President Bush and the men who surround him is leading us further and further down a path to war, bankruptcy and national disgrace. Four more years? No thank you! 

Carole Bennett-Simmons 

Piedmont 

• 

ABU GHRAIB 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I’d like to add a domestic view to the excellent letter about the national and international damage to the U.S.A. caused by the Abu Ghraib prison atrocities: Blowback. The young men and women who should be considered sexual predators and punished as such will be returning to their spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, and communities having imprinted and eroticized brutal, destructive, humiliating, and sometimes lethal acts. These newly created monsters will be among us for a long time.  

Idea for a horror film: Mommy Lindy. 

Ruth Bird?

Rubber Band Bandits 

A pedestrian standing at University Avenue and Sacramento Street Tuesday morning faced a barrage of oncoming rubber bands from passengers in a passing car, said Police Officer Spencer Fomby. The victim suffered blows to the ear and neck. 

Beatdown 

Police arrived to a call that five males had jumped another male Wednesday night at the corner of Telegraph Avenue and Dwight Way. The five assailants fled before police arrived, Officer Fomby said. The victim lost $6 in the attack, but didn’t have any serious injuries. 

Botched Robbery 

A motorist stopped in front of the Bank of America at Shattuck Avenue and Allston Way Wednesday afternoon was greeted by a gunman who opened the victim’s car door, Officer Fomby said. Somehow the gunman left empty-handed and raced into the passenger seat of a small black car that fled westbound on Center Street. 

Bad Man, Good Boyfriend 

A homeless man inexplicably punched a woman as she was walking along the intersection of Harmon and California streets Tuesday afternoon, Officer Fomby said. The woman called her boyfriend who quickly arrived on the scene. The two led police to the assailant, Tyrone Head, who was arrested. 

Southside Attempted Robbery 

A Berkeley man took a beating but kept his belongings during an attempted robbery Tuesday morning. The victim was walking at Ellsworth Street and Ashby Avenue when four juveniles ap-proached him demanding money, said Officer Fomby. One assailant punched the victim and another threw a bicycle at him, but in the end they ran away without his bag. 

Muslim extremists often cite the Quran, out-of-context and contrary to the Holy Book’s spirit of mercy and compassion, to justify their crimes. Thus, for instance, in the four-page document that investigators found in Muhammad Atta’s luggage in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the terrorist ringleader invoked no fewer than 18 verses from the Quran to exhort his band of brothers to commit violence that took nearly 3,000 lives.  

Since the September attacks three years ago, we American Muslims have observed with increasing alarm and frustration how a minority of Muslim fanatics continued to wage one brutal terrorist act after another around the world—Moscow, Bali, Karachi, Madrid—leading to hundreds of lost and shattered innocent lives, all in the name of Islam and the Quran.  

It became clear to us that we had a supremely important role to play in fighting these fanatics: We had to clearly and unequivocally condemn the killing of innocents, particularly when Muslims were the perpetrators.  

As the world recoils from the horrifying images of bloodied, lifeless children being carried away by shell-shocked parents and rescuers from a Russian school in which Muslim Chechen radicals killed more than 300 people, our role becomes that much more urgent.  

There are positive signs. Recently, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Washington-based Islamic civil rights and advocacy group released a “Not in the Name of Islam” petition on its website (www.cair-net.org) that states: “We, the undersigned Muslims, wish to state clearly that those who commit acts of terror, murder and cruelty in the name of Islam are not only destroying innocent lives, but are also betraying the values of the faith they claim to represent. No injustice done to Muslims can ever justify the massacre of innocent people, and no act of terror will ever serve the cause of Islam. We repudiate and dissociate ourselves from any Muslim group or individual who commits such brutal and un-Islamic acts. We refuse to allow our faith to be held hostage by the criminal behavior of a tiny minority acting outside the teachings of the both the Quran and the Prophet Muhammad.”  

“As it states in the Quran: ‘O you who believe, stand up firmly for justice, as witnesses to God, even if it be against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be against rich or poor; for God can best protect both. Do not follow any passion, lest you not be just. And if you distort or decline to do justice, surely God is well-acquainted with all that you do. (4:135)’”  

About 700,000 Muslims have already signed the petition—the essence of which is that it is preferable for Muslims to suffer injustice than to commit it—and the number increases everyday.  

Similar sentiments are also being expressed in many mosques throughout America and by Muslim freethinkers on such websites as www.MuslimWakeUp.com and www.naseeb.com/naseebvibes. Ordinary Muslims are reflecting on their faith and looking into their souls for a more inclusive view of Islam and its implications for humanity.  

American Muslim women, in particular, are asserting themselves with a fervor unthinkable in the pre-9/11 days. The blind acceptance of the teachings of misogynistic imams and scholars is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. They are discovering new and holistic readings of the Quran that do away with gender apartheid and that calls for social justice and greater participation of women in the management of mosques and Islamic schools.  

A group called “The Daughters of Hajar,” known as Hagar in the Bible and Jewish history, a national organization dedicated to empowering Muslim women actively challenges women to pray in the main hall and to boldly use the front door in mosques in which they were required to enter by a back door. Other groups warn Muslims of the danger of bloc-voting in national elections. Yet others decry the religious narcissism of the self-appointed guardians of the faith and exhort them to shun anti-Semitism and practice humility, kindness and intellectual honesty.  

Ours is a community in which ordinary Muslims are beginning to explore their own understanding of the Quran and their relationship with the Creator, as opposed to allowing others to do it for them. A thinking, expressive and active community is the best antidote to the poison of fanaticism and nihilism that plagues the Muslim body today.  

Words get around at lightning speed in the Internet age. When Muslim extremists realize that the Muslim Ummah (community of believers) will not stand by their criminal acts and, if called upon to do so, will also fight them, they may have second thoughts about embarking on suicidal missions in the name of Islam. The lives of civilians and school children may ultimately depend on it.  

Hasan Zillur Rahim writes on Islamic issues and has been a long time editor of Iqra, a national Islamic magazine. 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Our current School Board election has brought to the surface an issue that, if not looked upon with clarity and a positive perspective, could make this race contentious.  

Karen Hemphill and Kalima Rose have been characterized as “small schools advocates” by local press. Karen has not participated in any small schools effort but is fortunate to have her oldest son in a small school this year. Kalima has been very active in the Communication Arts and Sciences small school as well as an important member of the Superintendent’s Small Schools Advisory. Even with that, it is shortsighted to say that either of them are small schools advocates. It is more appropriate that they be identified as school reform advocates, as they both champion the kind of reform that will give all of our students the support they need to be successful.  

Supporting all students is a Berkeley value. Our community’s commitment to each and every student needs to be clear, decisive and demonstrated by our actions, not just our rhetoric.  

The question for Berkeley residents is how do “we” realize the vision of success for all students? Currently, the small schools reform movement at BHS is the only significant movement designed to realize this vision. These two candidates support this strategy.  

As I’ve considered this, I’ve come up with a list of what needs to be kept in mind as one reflects on small schools as a reform strategy.  

• Small schools are not the goal. School reform is the goal.  

• Our goal is to have schools that more successfully meet the needs of all students in our district.  

• Our goal is to implement schools that value all students and develop creative strategies to meet the needs of each student.  

• Small schools are a strategy to help us realize school reform – the kind of needed reforms that have been well documented by the Diversity Project and WASC and FCMAT and our standardized test results.  

• Small schools help us focus our intention on success for each student.  

• Small schools help us become more deliberate about the educational services that we offer our students.  

• Small schools help us put the “PUBLIC” back in public education by supporting collaboration amongst teachers, students, parents and other community members/organizations.  

• Small schools allow for strong relationships within the school community, reducing distress and conflict.  

• Small schools allow much greater potential for monitoring and evaluating student success.  

If there are other viable solutions for broad student success in our district, bring them forward so that our entire community will benefit. Regardless of whether we choose to use a “small schools” model or some other strategy, we Berkeley residents must use our collective energy and determination to make all students successful. They are our most valued communal asset.  

Michael D. Miller 

Berkeley High School parent

An article recently appeared in the Daily Planet regarding police rights to challenge Police Review Commission findings (“Court Ruling Hamstrings Police Review Commission,” Aug. 31-Sept. 2). The article was somewhat indignant at the idea that the burden of proof should be on the accuser (Police Review Commissions) and not the accused, (even though this is a fundamental principle of American justice). It is implied that the Berkeley Police Department is insensitive to the public because it challenged 32 of 52 “sustained” complaints filed against it at the PRC. It compares this to numbers from Riverside and San Diego. A closer look at the numbers reveals that the Berkeley Police are not insensitive but rather portions of the public are hypersensitive and distinctly anti-police. 

In Riverside, (a community of 235,000 people) there were 107 complaints filed against the police in 2004, (one for every 2,196 citizens). Twenty-two were sustained by the local Police review Commission. That’s less than 1 sustained complaint to every 10,000 people. The police challenged none of these. 

In San Diego (a community of 2,420,000 people) there were 99 complaints filed against the police in 2004, (one for every 24,444 citizens). Nine were sustained. That’s one sustained complaint to every 268,889 people. The police challenged five of these. 

In Berkeley, a city of 103,000, 154 complaints were filed (one for every 668 citizens). Fifty-two were sustained. That is one for every 1,980 people. The police challenged 32 of these.  

Extrapolating from the Riverside numbers there should be 46 complaints in Berkeley (not 154) with 12 being sustained, not 54. Extrapolating from the San Diego numbers one would expect four complaints annually (not 154) with one sustained every other year instead of 54 per year.  

These numbers mean one of two things. Either Berkeley has a police department that is wildly out of control or a part of its population is markedly anti-police and the PRC is out of control.  

In personal dealings with our police I have found them to be intelligent, thoughtful and responsive. I have seen them exhibit extraordinary patients in dealing with abusive and aggressive individuals. I have seen them give comfort to victims in traffic accidents and help clean up the mess left when a vehicle careened through a fence and garden and nearly struck my house.  

Remember, all this in the town where you can buy a “F_ _ _ the Police” t-shirts on Telegraph Avenue.  

In the Sept. 7 issue of the Daily Planet, Becky O’Malley editorializes that our police are “hostile” and “ineffective” and that the public wants to “…know what is going to be done about the police.”  

Becky had a bad experience with an impatient and impolite officer. Agreed, officers should talk nice to citizens. But citizens in Berkeley need to make our police feel like we are on their side and editors need to make sure there is meaningful and complete analysis of statistics in their newspapers so citizens can draw accurate conclusions form the facts and filter out the ideological slant of the writer. 

Sadly, the very night Ms O’Malley may have been scribing “…Berkeley Police manage to combine ineffectiveness with hostile and belligerent behavior towards innocent citizens…” the police were on Sixth Street (near Delaware Avenue), responding to another fatal shooting. 

Remember Becky: Your bad day is full of poorly written paragraphs and misspelled words. When “Officer Jim______, Badge 114” has a bad day, he may be taking gunfire or comforting the mother of a homicide victim.  

›

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In 1942, my Japanese grandparents and their five children were forced by the U.S. government to move from their home in California to an internment camp in Arkansas. This family history instilled in me a profound appreciation for the personal freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and the responsibilities of the justice system. I recognize that our most fundamental Constitutional liberties are often most seriously challenged in times of crisis. It is in times like these that we are most obligated to remain true to our basic values of liberty and equality for all before the law. 

As a student at UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall), I am deeply disappointed and offended that Michelle Malkin was invited to the UC Berkeley campus last night to distort the truth about the historical facts of the internment and to justify the decision to imprison Japanese Americans. As the Japanese American Citizens League has stated, “The facts speak for themselves, and President Ronald Reagan concurred when he signed a law in 1988 acknowledging the injustice of the internment.” 

I join the members of the Coalition for Diversity and the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, in denouncing Michelle Malkin’s effort to justify the denial of civil liberties due to racism in time of war. The history of the Japanese internment teaches us that, particularly in wartime, the threat posed by national, racial, ethnic, and religious minorities may be exaggerated and distorted by the media, the government, and the public. Furthermore, the lessons of the internment teach us that all citizens have a responsibility to speak out against intolerance, racism, and bigotry. We concerned students will continue to be outspoken toward any policy that targets or profiles Arab and Muslim Americans or undermines the civil liberties of any American. 

Ms. Malkin’s book, In Defense of Internment, presents a distorted version of history that is contradicted by several decades of scholarly research, including works by the official historian of the United States Army and an official U.S. government commission. 

It is irresponsible for the student group sponsoring Ms. Malkin’s talk to permit her biased presentation of events to go unchallenged as a factual historical presentation. We urge the Berkeley College Republicans to invite a reputable historian or legal scholar to present a more even-handed and honest view of the evidence. 

Katie Oyama 

Second-Year Law Student 

Boalt Hall School of Law 

University of California, Berkeley 

• 

A NEO-NAZI IN BERKELEY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It is rare to see a true neo-nazi in Berkeley, but that is just what 250 people did yesterday. The term that I use is strong, but I believe it to be accurate in describing someone who supports the internment of racial minorities. On Sept. 8, Michelle Malkin, a right-wing commentator who advocates creation of internment camps for people of races and religions that she believes are a “danger to national security” spoke at UC Berkeley’s Dwinelle Hall. The event was entitled “In Defense of Internment and Racial Profiling.” Ms. Malkin was invited by the College Republicans to lead a rally for those in favor of racial profiling and internment of minorities. The event was protested by pro-democracy groups. 

More disturbing than this rally was the Daily Californian’s part in the matter. The Daily Californian has taken it upon itself to act as a cheerleader for the racist politics of internment profiling. The day before the event, the Daily Cal. ran an editorial by Ethan Lutske praising Ms. Malkin and racial profiling and, the day after, ran a front-page article that read more like an advertisement for Ms. Malkin’s event than like a journalistic piece. While the paper does have the right to air controversial opinions, the fact that it runs only pro-racism editorials with no counter-arguments shows that the paper’s intent was to promote Ms. Malkin’s views, not to promote an open discussion.  

Tom Smithh

You don’t need to be a newly arrived UC Berkeley freshman to be unclear on the concept of Economy Culture: in many years of regular attendance, I’ve been constantly surprised by those interested in opera, for example, but not bothering because “it’s so expensive.”  

Yes, orchestra seats in San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House cost up to $180, box seats sell for $215, but standing room tickets—which I used happily many, many times—were $5 until recently, and currently are $10...compatible with the cost of a movie ticket, then as now. There are two distinct possibilities for standees: on the orchestra level, where the view is better, or on top of the top balcony, in nosebleed country, or the “gods,” where you will see ant-like figures on the far-away stage, but with the best sound in the cavernous, 3,000-seat house. Sound rises, don’t you know. 

Must have a seat? Student rush tickets cost $15, senior rush is $30. What is “rush?” It means “unsold tickets,” available on the day of the performance, from 11 a.m. to 30 minutes before curtain. Keep in mind that the earlier you buy, the better the seats are likely to be. 

Recommendations this year: Mozart’s charming and brilliant Cosi fan tutte, with an excellent cast, Sept. 11-Oct. 2; Donald Runnicles, a world-class Benjamin Britten specialist, conducting the gripping Billy Budd, Sept. 26-Oct. 17; perhaps the most accessible Wagner, The Flying Dutchman, Nov. 10-Dec. 12. See www.sfopera.com. 

And, just one final (and ultimate) opera bargain: Opera in the Park, at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 12, in Golden Gate Park’s Sharon Meadow, with Runnicles conducting the full San Francisco Opera Orchestra, guest stars and young artists singing arias and duets. Can’t afford opera? It’s free. (In a noisy embarrassment of riches, the park will also host, beginning at 1 p.m., another mass-attendance free concert, by the Dave Matthews Band. Expect a— ahem—“parking problem.”) 

Closer to home, a reminder for the obvious: schools are hotbeds of performing-arts opportunities, mostly inexpensive at that. At UC, there is Cal Performances, of course, at www.calperfs.berkeley. edu/; a portal for all the arts, at www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/bca/; information about the school’s famed Music Department, at http://ls.berkeley.edu/dept/ music/; theater information at http://ls.berkeley.edu/dept/theater/; and a student-run entertainment information hub, at www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~superb/, which can send you information weekly. 

There are other schools with busy arts programs—for music, take note of the following: the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (www.sfcm.edu) has a rich season of free or low-cost student and faculty concerts, and master classes with international stars—for example, baritone Nathan Gunn, Oct. 11; mezzo Susanne Mentzer, Oct. 14; the venerable pianist Menahem Pressler (a founder of the 50-year-old Beaux Arts Trio), Oct. 18; and more. You haven’t been to the guts of classical music until you attend a working class with a great musician. 

Keep an eye also on San Francisco State University ( www.sfsu. edu), which has varied music and theater events, very much in the low-to-none price range we’ve been discussing here. Go to “News & Events,” and then “Events Calendar.” Note especially SFSU’s renowned and free Morrison Artists’ Series (www. collegeofcreativearts.org). 

The next program, at 3 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 12, presents the Alexander String Quartet. On Oct. 24, the free concert in McKenna Theater will have the young and explosive PSB Trio of pianist Navah Perlman, violinist Giora Schmidt, and cellist Zuill Bailey, performing Beethoven’s “Archduke” Trio and Brahms’ Trio No. 1. 

In the category of Unusual and Inexpensive Music: beginning next week and running through Oct. 3, the San Francisco World Music Festival (www.sfworldmusicfestival.org/index.htm). “World music,” a designation that originated in Berkeley 40 years ago (see a Daily Planet article at http://tinyurl.com/4zf9m), describes the crossover genre that encompasses ancient and contemporary music of East and West. This year’s festival will take place at a variety of venues throughout the city, no longer restricted to South of Market and Tenderloin locations that used to be home for such events.  

The festival-opening concert, Sept. 17, will be held in Grace Cathedral, featuring two acclaimed musicians from India: G.S. Sachdev (bansuri) and Zakir Hussain (tabla). On Sept. 19, the festival moves into the Asian Art Museum for the Youth World Music Showcase, presenting Bay Area student musicians, including the Alice Fong Yu School Chinese Orchestra. On Sept. 26, a rich program is offered in Herbst Theater, with the Kronos Quartet, Rahman Asadollahi (Azerbaijani garmon), Zhang Hai Yue (Chinese leaf), Zhao Gang Qin (Chinese gu zheng), and members of the Peking Opera.  

The Georges Lammam Ensemble performs Arabic music at two free events on Sept. 28, during the day and in the evening, in the Alice Fong Yu School, at 1541 12th Avenue, in San Francisco. From Macedonia, Esma Redzepova, “Queen of Romani music,” and Ensemble Teodoeosievki are featured in the ODC Theater on Oct. 3.  

Other items, randomly from a list that could run many pages: 

• Too late now for the summer’s free Stern Grove Festival concert series, but keep it in mind for next year: www.sterngrove.org. 

• San Francisco Performances, an outstanding organization presenting major recitals and chamber-music concerts, mostly in Herbst Theater, has a rather incredible deal for students: the Culture Card, advertised as “20 performances for $20.” Check with your school or www.performances.org. 

• The San Francisco Symphony has rush tickets for 50 percent, student rush tickets for $20, and there is a student rush hotline at (415) 503-5577, or go to www.sfsymphony.org. There are also special season subscription series available for students. Coming up Sept. 15-17: Michael Tilson Thomas conducting a progam of Steve Reich’s “For Strings,” Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2, and the great German baritone Thomas Quasthoff in orchestral songs by Schubert—a concert not to miss.  

And, finally, there is the share-world classic Craigslist, which list Bay Area events at www.craigslist.org/cal. 

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Two of the area’s orchestras, the Oakland East Bay Symphony and the Berkeley Symphony, will go into high gear unusually early this season. Regional orchestras, as a rule, start up a few weeks after the beginning of the season in San Francisco and nationally, but it’s different this time. 

Kent Nagano will conduct the Berkeley Symphony’s season-opening concert Monday night at 8 p.m. in Zellerbach Hall. The program will be even more contemporary and challenging than Berkeley audiences have come to expect from Nagano in the past quarter century of his pioneering music-making. Even a tried-and-true item on the program, a J.S. Bach chorale prelude, called “Komm, Gott, Schöpfer, heiliger Geist,” will be performed in Arnold “12-tone” Schoenberg’s orchestration. Sophisticated Berkeley audiences know that just because Schoenberg produced some difficult works late in life, as an orchestrator he is nothing to fear. The other mainstream item is Beethoven's Symphony No. 5. Students can buy tickets the night of the concert for $10. 

The rest of the program is new, in a hot-and-heavy way: George Benjamin, one of the new British wunderkind composers, is represented by “Viola Viola,” a concerto for two violists and orchestra, with two brilliant local musicians—Ellen Ruth Rose and Kurt Rohde—playing the solos. And then, the U.S. premiere of Korean-American composer Unsuk Chin’s Violin Concerto, with Viviane Hagner. See www.berkeleysymphony.org.  

Michael Morgan’s Oakland East Bay Symphony will not begin the official season until Nov. 19, but this Sunday, Sept. 12, it will play at a 9/11 memorial “Concert of Peace,” beginning at 4 p.m. in Berkeley’s St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison St. 

Pianist William Corbett-Jones, the orchestra, and the Peace Chorus will perform music by Handel and Gordon Getty, who will attend the concert, and the world premiere of John W. Vitz’ “Mass for Peace in the Third Millennium.”  

Donations for the church are suggested at $30 for general admission and $15 for students and seniors. For information, call 843-2244, but be sure first to turn off your phone’s privacy block by dialing *82. This is the first time I came up against this, and thought I'd save you the time and trouble. Apparently, *82 turns off protection only for one number at a time, so your privacy will be protected automatically thereafter. 

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FRIDAY, SEPT. 10 

THEATER 

Alameda Civic Light Opera, “Pippin,” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. Kofman Auditorium, 2220 Central Ave., Alameda. Tickets are $23-$25. 864-2256. www.aclo.com 

Aurora Theatre Company, “The Persians” opens at 8 p.m. and runs through Oct. 10. Tickets are $28-$45. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org 

Berkeley Rep, “The Secret in the Wings” at the Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. until Oct. 17. Tickets are $10-$55. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Impact Theatre, “Fluffy Bunnies in a Field of Daisies” at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean Theater, 1834 Euclid, and runs Thurs.-Sat. through Oct. 2. Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468. www.impacttheatre.com 

Woodminster Summer Musicals “Flower Drum Song,” at 8 p.m. at Woodminster Amphitheater in Joaquin Miller Park, 3300 Joaquin Miller Rd. Fri.- Sun. to Sept. 12. Tickets are $19-$31. 531-9597. www.woodminster.com 

Unscripted Theater Company, “The Short and the Long of It,” improv theater, Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Temescal Arts Center, 511 48th St. at Telegraph, through Oct. 2. Tickets are $7-$10. 415-869-5384. www.un-scripted.com 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

7th International Juried Enamel Exhibition at the ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. Reception 6 to 8 p.m. Gallery hours are Mon.-Fri. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 843-2527.  

www.accigallery.com 

“Blossoming” the floral works of Jane Magid, Chaya Spector and Karen Mills. Reception from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Women’s Cancer Resource Center, 5741 Telegraph Ave. www.wcrc.org 

“Times of India: The Woman and the Goddess” Reception at 7 p.m. at the Addison Street Windows Gallery, 2018 Addison St. 981-7546. 

Kei Mizuochi “Silkscreens” Reception for the artist at 6 p.m. at Schurman Fine Art Gallery, 1659 San Pablo Ave. 524-0623. 

FILM 

Maurice Pialat: “The Mouth Agape” at 7:30 p.m. “Police” at 9:15 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

International Literacy Day at 12:30 p.m. at Martin Luther King, Jr. Park. Local authors and adult literacy students will read their poetry, short stories and other works. 981-6299. 

Colin Channer reads from his new collection of stories “Passing Through” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Gary Erickson, founder of Clif Bar, discusses “Raising the Bar: Integrity and Passion in Life and Business” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Alfredo Muro, Peruvian guitar virtuoso, at 8 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

The Hogan, Emerge perform jazz, latin funk and eclectic in a free concert at 5 p.m. at Baltic Square, behind 121 Park Place, Pt. Richmond. 236-1401. www.pointrichmond.com/music 

Hitomi Oba Quartet at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$15. 845-5373. www.jazz- 

school.com 

Hot Buttered Rum String Band at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Vinyl, The People, funk, groove, at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$8. 548-1159. www.shattuckdownlow.com 

Larry Ochs with Fred Firth, Davon Hoff and Miya Masaoka at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donations of $8-$15 suggested. www.thejazzhouse.org 

Grapefruit Ed and David Gans at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com  

Mimi Fox Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

DJ & Brook at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Mingus Amungus at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Battle of the Bands at 6 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Toys That Kill, Rasputin, Bezerk, Rivithead, Stiletta at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SATURDAY, SEPT. 11 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Eyes Opened Wider” Recent panoramic landscapes by photographer Robert Reiter. Reception for the artist from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Photolab Gallery, 2235 Fifth St. Exhibition runs to Oct. 16. 644-1400. 

“Bodyspeak” paintings by Debbie Moore. Reception at 8 p.m. at Loop Gallery, 6436 Telegraph Ave. 590-0040. 

FILM 

“The Battle of Chile” at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Donations. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Maurice Pialat: “Graduate First” at 7 p.m. and “French Chronicles,” “Early Shorts” at 8:45 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Larry Tye will read from his book “Pullman Porters and the Making of the Black Middle Class” at 2 p.m. at West Oakland Library, 1801 Adeline St. 238-7352.  

Victor Villaseñor describes his memoir of life in Mexico, “Burro Genius” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Philharmonia Baroque “Cupid’s Arrow” with music by Rameau at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church, Dana and Durant. Tickets are $28-$62 available from 415-392-4400. www.philharmonia.org 

Bobby McFerrin, solo performance at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32-$68. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Zydeco Flames at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenez. Dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Angel Magik at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $10-$15. 548-1159. www.shattuckdownlow.com 

Larry Ochs, with Fred Firth, Mark Dresser and Miya Masaoka at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donations of $8-$15 suggested. www.thejazzhouse.org 

Brown Baggin, Low Fat at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Leftover Dreams with Tony Marcus and Patrice Haan at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

The Brunos at 2 p.m. at Down Home Music, 10341 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito. 525-2129. 

Frank Jackson Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Tangria at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

The Fleshies, The Frisk, Scattered Fall, Shadowboxer, in a benefit for Jesse at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

John Schott’s Typical Orchestra at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Wallace Roney Quintet at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SUNDAY, SEPT. 12 

FILM 

Maurice Pilat: “The House in the Woods” at 3 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Fictitious Marriage” at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. Donation $2. 848-0237. www.brjcc.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Where Do We Go From Here?” a discussion of Southeast Asian cultural legacies in conjunction with the exhibit “California and the Vietnam Era” at 2 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. www.museum.ca.org 

Poetry Flash with Forrest Hamer and Alice Jones at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852.  

www.codysbooks.com 

“Shoso-in Treasures: Reconstructing Musical Instruments,” a lecture and demonstration by Toshiro Kido at 1 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. http://ieas.berkeley.edu 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

East/West Canvas: “Questioning Beauty” Dance performance by Sue Li Jue at 3 p.m. Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Concert of Peace with the Oakland East Bay Symphony, Peace Chorus and William Corbett-Jones, piano, at 4 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison St. Honoring Fr. Bill O’Donnell and St. Joseph the Worker’s 125th Anniversary. Tickets are $15-$30, reservations suggested. 843-2244. 

Philharmonia Baroque “Cupid’s Arrow” with music by Rameau at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church, Dana and Durant. Tickets are $28-$62. 415-392-4400. www.philharmonia.org 

David Buice, organist, perfroms an all Bach program at 6:10 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. 845-0888. www.stmarksberkeley.org 

La Nina Flamenco with Carola Zertuche, guitarist Jose Valle “Chuscales” and dancer Antonio Granjero, at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $18-$20. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Music from Japan’s Reigaku and Gagaku: A Living Tradition at 3:30 p.m. at Hertz Hall. Tickets are $28. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Americana Unplugged with Pete Madson at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Deaf Electric, electronic experi- 

mental sounds, at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. www.thejazz- 

house.org 

Kenny Werner and Peter Barshay in a dinner concert fundraiser for the Jazzschool at 7 p.m. at Downtown. Cost is $60. 649-3810. 

John Stewart, singer-songwriter, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $17.50 in advance, $18.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

MONDAY, SEPT. 13 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

Bella Feldman and Katherine Westerhout, sculpture and photography at the Craft and Cultural Arts Gallery, State of California Office Building Atrium, 1515 Clay St. Exhibition runs until Oct. 29. 622-8190. www.oaklandculturalarts.org 

FILM 

“The Motorcycle Diaries” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Actors Reading Writers “The Unsuitable Object of Desire” at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Free.  

Stephen Ducat discusses “The Wimp Factor: Gender Gaps, Holy Wars & The Politics of Anxious Masculinity” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Poetry Express featuring contributors to the “Berkeley Review of Poetry” from 7 to 9:30 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Symphony, featuring Unsuk Chin’s Violin Concerto, Viviane Hagner, violin, at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $22-$49. 841-2800. www.berkeleysymphony.org 

Catie Curtis, contemporary folk, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50 in advance, $18.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jackie King at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, SEPT. 14 

THEATER 

Shotgun Theatre Lab “The Faith Project” runs Tues. and Wed. at 8 p.m. to Sept. 15 at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby at MLK. Free with suggested donation. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

Mitchell Johnson, “Paintings and Works on Paper” opens at North Berkeley Frame and Gallery, 1744 Shattuck Ave. and runs through Nov. 6. 549-0428. 

FILM 

Loose Ends: “The Early Years” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Larry Tye will read from his book “Pullman Porters and the Making of the Black Middle Class” at 11 a.m. at Merritt College, Newton-Seale Lounge, R Bldg., Campus Drive, Oakland. 531-4911. 

Joe Loya describes “The Man who Outgrew his Prison Cell: Confessions of a Bank Robber” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Mildred S. Barish, longtime Berkeley resident introduces us to “Tamalpais Tales: A Berkeley Neighborhood Remembers” at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave. 843-3533. 

The Whole Note Poetry Series, with Michael Kelly and Edwin Massey at 7 p.m. at The Beanery, 2925 College Ave., near Ashby. 549-9093. 

Jill Lubin discusses the importance of connections in “Networking Magic” at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Tom Rigney and Flambeau at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Peter Barshay Duo at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Jazz House Jam, hosted by Darrell Green and Geechy Taylor, at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donation $5. www.thejazz- 

house.com 

E.S.T. Esbjorn Svensson Trio at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$14. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays, a weekly showcase of up-and-coming ensembles from Berkeley Jazz- 

school at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

David Rovicks, songs of social significance, at 7 p.m. at AK Press Warehouse, 674-A 23rd St., Oakland. 208-1700. www.akpress.org 

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 15 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Threshold: Byron Kim 1990-2004” The first solo exhibition of Kim’s work opens at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant Ave. and runs through Dec. 12. 642-1295. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“De Colores,” the tropical fruit watercolor paintings of Margo Mercedes Rivera-Weiss. Reception for the artist from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the EBMUD Gallery, 2nd floor, 375 11th St, between Webster and Franklin, Oakland. Exhibition runs to Oct. 8. 

FILM 

Performance Anxiety: “John Baldessari” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Esmerelda Santiago reads from “When I Was Puerto Rican and Almost a Woman” at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Aimee Phan describes Operation Babylift before the fall of Saigon in “We Should Never Meet” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

www.codysbooks.com 

Ellen Weiss and Kiran Singh introduce “Berkeley: The Life and Spirit of a Remarkable Town” at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

Zack Rogow will read from his new translation of Colette’s classic novel, “Green Wheat” at 12:10 p.m. in 2515 Tolman Hall, UC Campus. 642-0137. 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik, featuring Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Wednesday Noon Concert, Monica Chew, piano, at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Jules Broussard, Ned Boynton and Bing Nathan at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Bluegrass Intentions and Evie Ladin, lecture and demonstration at 7 p.m. Concert at 9 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Soroa, salsa, at 8 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Taarka at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Paul Thorn, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Whiskey Brothers at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Acoustic Wednesday with Mikie Lee Prasad at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Cost is $8-$15 sliding scale.  

www.thejazzhouse.org 

Lee Sarah Big Band at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $12. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com

There’s a lot to be said for hard-to-reach places. If Muir Woods had been more accessible to loggers, it wouldn’t be here today. There’s also a lot to be said for vision. If William Kent and his wife Elizabeth Thacher Kent hadn’t seen something worth preserving, Muir Woods National Monument wouldn’t be here today. 

William Kent’s vision went beyond the establishment of one park. He recognized the importance of wilderness and natural areas and wanted the land he had purchased to be named after America’s foremost conservationist, John Muir. Muir’s response, “This is the best tree-lovers’ monument that could possibly be found in all the forests of the world.” 

In 1905, the sum of $45,000 was sufficient for William Kent to secure 295 acres of the Bay Area’s last old-growth redwood forest. He believed that saving the trees was more important than saving his money, and donated the land to the federal government. In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt established Muir Woods as America’s seventh National Monument, the first created from privately donated land. 

Today, entering Muir Woods is like entering a sacred habitat—a cathedral of majestic coastal redwoods, some as much as 250 feet tall and 12 feet in diameter. Sequoia sempervirens shares the cool moist forest and diffuse light with Douglas fir, big-leaf maple, tanbark oak, and bay laurel. Among the thick leaf litter on the forest floor, bracken and sword ferns, trillium, redwood sorrel, and ancient horsetails line the banks of Redwood Creek as it flows through the park and out to sea. 

Surrounded by pencil straight trunks shooting up toward the light, the eye is drawn by spotlights of sun highlighting the bright greens of needles and leaves. The breeze doesn’t reach the forest floor but its presence is still felt: you can hear it rustle branches high above, watch slender trunks sway to its gentle rhythm, and follow the path of needles floating to the ground like snowflakes. 

One hundred and forty million years ago coastal redwoods covered most of the Northern Hemisphere. The 560 acres of Muir Woods National Monument on the southwestern slopes of Mount Tamalpais symbolize a commensal relationship between man and nature. Redwoods require moisture for their survival and growth, both from rainfall and fog. In fact, the moisture from fog provides between a quarter and half of their total water needs. Man makes the commitment not only to the trees themselves, valued at around $100,000 each, but also to preserve the unique environment in which they thrive. 

Muir Woods National Monument is visitor friendly, from the helpful staff at the entrance Visitor Center to the numerous information kiosks along the paths. Some criticism has been levied at the park’s paved trails and strict restrictions concerning food, smoking, bikes, and pets, but there is more here than meets the eye. First, liken this monument to an outdoor museum, its collection nature’s works of art, accessible not only to the “fit,” but to everyone. Second, recognize that as with most things in life, a little effort to get off the beaten trail brings vast rewards. 

Within Redwood Canyon, there are six miles of loop trails between Bridge 1 and Bridge 4, crossing Redwood Creek. These paved trails lead you past well known landmarks: the Bohemian and Cathedral Groves, the Gift Shop and Café, Pinchot Tree where Ecology Talks are given four to five times a day, and several Family Circles. These circles consist of a ring of mature redwoods formed from burl sprouts off a central, often dead, original tree. Perhaps these are nature’s homage to the Neolithic standing stones of Great Britain, both preserving the past. A self-guided Nature Trail has ten stops introducing you to the unique features of a redwood environment. 

At intervals along the main path, kiosks with illustrations describe side trails leading into Redwood Creek Watershed, away from 90 percent of the park’s visitors and toward other scenic vistas. The Fern Creek Trail, between Bridges 3 and 4, follows Fern Creek past the, now fallen, Kent Tree, up to Camp Alice Eastwood, a picnic facility. Just a few minutes off the main path, the serenity of the forest settles like a cloak: the water over the creek’s rocks, the chirps and caws of birds and the rustle of the breeze overhead. Time for quiet reflection and enjoyment. Very little effort, much reward. 

After your visit, don’t cross Muir Woods off your list for a return visit. Each season here offers its own experience. In fall, enjoy the red of swarming ladybugs against the yellow carpet of big-leaf maple leaves on the forest floor. Winter brings water in swollen creeks and with it the migration of Coho salmon and steelhead trout. Spring is the season of new life in the park. The bright green of new growth and the colors of wildflowers: blue-eyed grass, Douglas iris, wood anemone, and redwood violet. In summer, the fog returns to nurture redwoods, western azaleas, aralias and California buckeye. 

From the cloisters of the redwood forest to the open expanse of the Pacific. Less than five miles from Muir Woods is the small community and sheltered cove of Muir Beach. Here, Redwood Creek flows down to the sea forming a lagoon and wetland area, crossed by a wooden boardwalk and bridge. Reminiscent of the scenic beauty of the northern coast and the town of Mendocino, Muir Beach consists of a small shaded picnic area, and two white sand beaches rimmed by headlands and rocky outcroppings. 

If your boots yearn for more hiking, from here you can access the Coastal Trail leading to Wolf Ridge and Coyote Ridge with their spectacular ocean views. If, like Steve Martin, you yearn for “Happy Feet”, take those boots off and partake of the sparkling, crisp water. Feet, legs, and, if you’re not watching, maybe more—cooled, refreshed. At low tide, walk on the sand north toward a second, smaller cove, below a hillside of attractive homes in varied architectural styles, from National Park “ranger” to San Francisco “cool modern.” 

John Muir said, “all life forms have inherent value and a right to exist.” A day spent among nature’s offspring from forest to ocean is a day given to wonder and peace. Go early to avoid the crowds at Muir Woods; stay late to enjoy the sunset at Muir Beach. You can’t ask for much more than that. 

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From the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge take Hwy 1 south and exit at Hwy 1/Stinson Beach. Follow signs to Muir Woods/Mount Tamalpais. Approx. 25 miles, 45 min.-1hour. Parking limited.  

Park open from 8 a.m. to dusk year round. Adults $3, children 16 and under free. Ranger-led programs monthly.  

Muir Beach: return to Panoramic Hwy, turn right and drive 1 mile to Hwy 1. Go north 3 miles to Muir Beach. Free parking, chemical toilets, no water. (415) 388 2595. www.nps.gov/muwo.

This Sunday, Sept. 12, Solano Avenue in Berkeley and Albany hosts the Annual Solano Stroll, a day-long fun and food festival. 

The high point is the traditional parade at 11 a.m. This year’s theme, “A Pearl of a Stroll,” celebrates the stroll’s 30th anniversary. And if your name is Pearl, you still have a chance to be one of the parade’s Grand Marshals. Bring a photo I.D. to the registration table at Solano and the Alameda between 9:45 and 10:45 a.m. 

Lisa Bullwinkel, executive director of the Solano Avenue Association, said one lady named Minnie Pearl, who will be 95 on Sept. 15, has already qualified and is practicing her waves by watching videos of Queen Elizabeth II, but there’s always room for a few more Pearls on the string.™

FRIDAY, SEPT. 10 

International Literacy Day celebrated from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. at Martin Luther King Jr. Park. Listen to authors and adult literacy students read their poetry and short stories. 981-6299. 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Anne Butterworth, PhD on “Solar Wind Mission.” At 11: 45 at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For reservations call 526-2925.  

“So How’d You Become an Activist?” with Gloria La Riva, Cuba solidarity activist and union leader and Richard Becker, co-founder, ANSWER coalition, at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St., at Bonita. Donation $5. 528-5403. 

“The Wild Buffalo of Yellowstone” a discussion with the Buffalo Field Campaign at 7 p.m. at The Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220, ext. 233. www.ecologycenter.org 

Old Oakland Outdoor Cinema on Washington St., between 9th and 10th Sts. Music at 5 p.m., and film, “Singin’ in the Rain” at 8 p.m. Bring your own chairs and blankets. Sponsored by the City of Oakland and the Old Oakland Historic District. 238-4734. www.filmoakland.com 

Berkeley Critical Mass Bike Ride meets at the Berkeley BART the second Friday of every month at 5:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Chess Club meets at 7:15 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. 652-5324. 

SATURDAY, SEPT. 11 

Mainstreet Moms Oppose Bush Marathon Letter-Writing Party from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at The Common Room at Redwood Gardens, 2951 Derby Street. All materials will be provided. Please bring your own pen. A donation of $5, or more, is requested. For additional information and to RSVP, email bobbie@themmob.com  

Berkeley Path Wanderers Stroll in Miller/Knox Regional Park. Meet at 10 a.m. in the main parking lot of Miller/Knox, off Dornan Drive. For more information call 235-2835. 

Mini Farmers A farm exploration program for children accompanied by an adult. Wear boots and prepare to get dirty. At 9 a.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. Cost is $3-$5, registration required. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org 

Meet My Tarantula and learn that spiders are essential in our world at 1:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org 

Educators Academy: Monarchs in the Classroom from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Coyote Hills Regional Park. You will construct and take home your own rearing cage, complete with milkweed and larvae. For grades K through 5. Fee is $45-$51. Registration required. 636-1684. 

California Natives Learn how natives benefit local wildlife, save water and are attractive additions to your garden, at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens Nursery, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. www.magicgardens.com 

Free Emergency Preparedness Class on Responding to Terrorism from 9 a.m. to noon at 2100 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 981-5605. www.ci.berkeley.ca. 

us/fire/oes.html 

Walking Tour of Oakland City Center Meet at 10 a.m. in front Oakland City Hall at Frank Ogawa Plaza. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. 

Collecting Good Water Quality Data, a workshop with Dr. Revital Katznelson, Environmental Scientist for the State Water Resources Control Board at Merritt College. Cost is $11. For information call 434-3840.  

Community Sing from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at 1216 Solano Ave., Albany. Adults $3, children $2. Sponsored by the Albany YMCA. 525-1130.  

Video Screening of the “Battle of Chile,” Parts 1 & 2, with introductory remarks by author, Roger Burbach at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave.  

Luna Kids Dance Open House with a free parent/child dance class, at 10 a.m. at Grace North Church, 2138 Cedar St. 644-3629. www.lunakidsdance.com 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

“Traditional Jewish Teachings on Spiritual Healing” the practice of Mussar with Dr. Alan Morinis at 8:45 p.m. at Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $10-$15. To register call 523-7709. 

SUNDAY, SEPT. 12 

Solano Avenue Stroll “A Pearl of a Stroll” from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Solano Avenue in Berkeley and Albany. Parade, entertainment, food, crafts, art and antique cars and Kidtown. 527-5358. www.solanostroll.org 

5K Run for for Kerry at 3 p.m. at the Berkeley Marina. Participants can either run the perimeter of Cesar Chavez Park twice or walk one lap. Race registration costs $20.00 and a check-in table will be open at the Marina at 2 p.m. Dogs, on leash, are welcome. 486-1420. fivekforkerry@hotmail.com  

Butterflies in the Garden Learn how to attract these colorful, delicate insects to your own yard at 11 a.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org 

Monarch Migration Celebration Learn about these amazing butterflies from 1 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org 

Fire Bush! A fundraiser for America Coming Together sposored by the Potter’s Studio, from noon to 6 p.m. at 637 Cedar St. Art auction, music by the BHS Jazz Combo and the Square Peg String Band, poetry, and a firing of Bush in the kiln at 5 p.m. 527-5268. 

Sunday in the Park Without George A concert and benefit for MoveOnPAC to benefit Kerry/Edwards featuring music by Bonnie Raitt and Taj Mahal, food and wine, young spoken word performances by semi-finalists of the San Francisco Poetry Slam, MoveOn founders Joan Blades and Wes Boyd, comedian and political satirist Will Durst. From 3 to 7 p.m. in Coventry Grove. Cost is $1,000. For reservations see www.sundayinthepark.org  

Herb Walk in Strawberry Canyon Learn to identify and use many edible and medicinal plants that grow wild in the Bay Area. Meet at noon at the Strawberry Canyon Fire Trail head, below the UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens on Centennial Drive. Walk lasts about two hours. Cost is $6 to $20 sliding scale. Offered by the Pacific School of Herbal Medicine. 845-4028. www.pshm.org  

Benefit for Habitat for Humanity and Berkeley Food and Housing Project from 2 to 5 p.m. at A New Leaf Gallery, 1286 Gilman St. Wine tasting, live improvisational jazz, food donated by Bay Area restaurants. Cost is $35. 525-7621.  

Appian Creek Clean-Up from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Refreshments, tools, and gloves provided. Meet at Appian Creek behind the Boys & Girls Club, 4660 Appian Way in El Sobrante. Youth under 18 years need signed permission. Contact us for a waiver. Sponsored by The Watershed Project. To register contact Elizabeth O'Shea, 231-9566 or Elizabeth@thewatershedproject.org 

“The Emerging Green Trend in the Political Landscape of Muslim-America,” a primer for Greens and Progressives. At 5 p.m. at Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave. at 65th, Oakland. 

Huston Smith will speak at 9:30 a.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. Part of the Personal Theology Seminars. 525-0302.  

Picnic for Jewish Families and Friends from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Joaquin Miller Park. Music, magician and raffle. www.jfed.org/picnicfest 

Rauda Morcos, Palestinian lesbian activist and poet from Kufar Yassif, Israel at 4 p.m. at Middle East Children’s Alliance. 901 Parker St. at 7th St. Donation $7-$20 sliding scale. 548-0542.  

“Is Israel’s Fence Legal or Necessary?” with attorney Ephraim Margolin at 7:15 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Sponsored by Bridges to Israel-Berkeley and the BRJCC. Donation $10. 848-0237, ext. 110. 

Neighborhood Disaster Training for Sante Fe and Gilman Sts. from 9 a.m. to noon. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley. To register call 981-5506. 

Hands-on Bike Maintenance Class Learn how to perform basic repairs on your bike, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $85 REI members, $100 others. Registration required. 527-4140. 

South Asian Bookclub meets to discuss “Lolita” by Vladimir Nabakov at 11:30 a.m. at Barnes and Noble, 2352 Shattuck Ave. 644-0861. 

Traditional Mayan Healing at 6 p.m. at Upaya Center for Wellbeing, 478 Santa Clara Ave., Suite 200, Oakland. Also on Mon. at 7 p.m. 444-8729. www.upayacenter.org 

“The Wisdom of Chakras” at 3 p.m. at Alaya’s, The Shaman Store, 1713 University Ave. Donations requested. 548-4701. 

“Breema: The Art of Being Present” Open House with Jon Schreiber at the Breema Center, 6076 Claremont Ave., at College. Call to schedule first-time Breema bodywork sessions 5:30-6:30, or attend the class at 7 p.m. 428-0937. www.breema.com 

“Dreamtime Rituals” a lecture by author/ritualist Antero Alli at 6 p.m. at Premalaya Books, 1713 University Ave. 548-4701. 

MONDAY, SEPT. 13 

Reclaim Democracy with Joan Blades, Patricia Ellsberg and Ronnie Gilbert at 7 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $5. 848-0237, ext. 110. 

9/11 Uncensored with a new film “The Great Conspiracy” at 6:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St. Donation $10-$20, no one will be turned away for lack of funds. 415-453-4023. 

Berkeley Community Garden Meeting at 6 p.m. at Spiral Gardens, 2838 Sacramento St. at Oregon. Potluck dinner and speaker, Rosalie Fanshel on “Growing our own Medicine.” 883-9096. 

Reportback on Haiti at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship, Cedar and Bonita. Please bring snacks and drinks to share. 644-1937. 

Afterschool Center providing tutoring and support for Berkeley students age 5 to 14 at 1255 Allston Way. Cost is $20 per week. Sponsored by Berkeley Youth Alternatives. 845-9066. 

Great Popular Fiction Bookgroup meets to discuss “Sandstorm” by James Rollins at 7 p.m. at Barnes and Noble, 2352 Shattuck Ave. 644-0861. 

Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra rehearsals begin at 7 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing at Dana. No auditions, all welcome. 964-0665. www.bcco.org 

Women’s Cancer Resource Center, volunteer training, every second Monday of the month, from 6 to 8 p.m. at 5741 Telegraph Ave. To sign up call 601-4040, ext. 109.  

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group for people 60 years and over meets at 10:15 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. 524-9122. 

“Ulysses” Discussion Book Group at 7 p.m. at the Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave. We will meet every Mon. night and hope to finish by Bloomsday 2005. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, SEPT. 14 

“The Unfolding National Tax Disaster” background and options with Prof. Alan Auerbach and Prof. John Ellwood at 7:30 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302.  

“The Polls: The Battleground States” a panel discussion at 3 p.m. at 109 Moses Hall, UC Campus. Sponsored by the Institute of Geovernmental Studies. http://politics.berkeley.edu 

“Preemptive Peace, Finding Solutions to the War System” with Jonathan Curiel from 7 to 10 p.m. at International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave. Sponsored by the World Federalists of Northern California, the International House and UC Berkeley’s Peace and Conflict Studies. 415-227-4880.  

Furthering the Movement End US colonial occupation of Iraq, presented by James Cosner with Shaka At-Thinnin from the Black August Organizing Committee and Carlos Padilla from Students for Justice at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St. Oakland. Donation $5-$10, no one turned away. 419-1405.  

“Saving the Coast: A Job That’s Never Done” with Peter Douglas, Executive Director of the California Coastal Commission, at 5:30 p.m. in 10 Evans Hall, UC Campus. Sponsored by the Water Resources Center Archives. 642-2666. 

Introduction To Sustainable Landscape Design Create an environmentally friendly oasis in your yard using the principles of sustainability. Use of native plants, recycled materials, water conserving techniques and pest control will be discussed. From 7 to 9 p.m. at the Building Education Center, 812 Page St. Cost is $35. To register, call 525-7610. 

“Trail Running” for fun or competition with Ethan Veneklasen at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Organic Produce at low prices sold at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon Streets every Tuesday from 3 to 7 p.m. This is a project of Spiral Gardens. 843-1307. 

Solid Waste Management Public Workshop on Organic Materials, residential and commercial services, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley Solid Waste Management Commission. 981-6357. 

Berkeley Youth Alternatives Flag Football for boys and girls ages 9 to 11, Tuesdays 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. at 1255 Allston Way. Cost is $10 for residents, $15 for non-residents for 5 weeks. 845-9066. sports@bysonline.org 

Family Story Time at the Kensington Branch Library, Tues. evenings at 7 p.m. 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

Kurukula Self Defense Classes for girls ages 10-16 at 6:15 p.m. in Albany. Drop in for $15 a class. 847-2400. www.albanykarateforkids.com  

Dance and Visual Arts Classes offered by All Souls Episcopal Parish for middle and high school students. Classes begin Sept. 14. Scholarships available. 848-1755. www.youthartstudio.org 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers We are a few slowpoke seniors who walk between a mile or two each Tuesday, meeting at 9:30 a.m. in the Little Farm parking lot. To join us, call 215-7672.  

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

Acting and Storytelling Classes for Seniors offered by Stagebridge, at Arts First Oakland, 2501 Harrison St. Classes are held at 10 a.m. Tues.-Fri. 444-4755. www.stagebridge.org 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

Phone Banking to ReDefeat Bush from 6 to 9 p.m. at Cafe de la Paz, 1600 Shattuck Ave. Bring your cell phones. Please RSVP if you can join us. 415-336-8736.  

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 15 

Wednesday Bird Walk Discover the first of the migrants and help us with the monitoring of the shoreline, at 8:30 a.m. at Martin Luther King Jr. Shoreline. Turn into the park off Swan Way, follow the drive to the end and meet at the last parking lot by the observation deck. 525-2233. 

“Alternatives to Greed” a talk by Antonia Jiuhasz, project director of the International Forum on Globalization at the Berkeley Gray Panther’s evening meeting, 7 p.m. 1403 Addison. 548-9696. 

“Against the Grain” and “Genetic Time Bomb” films at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Admission is free. Part of the GMOs and Food series sponsored by GMO Free Alameda County. 527-9898. www.gmofreeac.org 

Walking Tour of Historic Oakland Churches and Temples Meet at 10 a.m. at the front of the First Prebyterian Church at 2619 Broadway. For reservations call 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday, rain or shine, at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes, sunscreen and a hat. 548-9840. 

Prose Writers’ Workshop meets at 7 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 524-3034. georgeporter@earthlink.net 

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters meets at 7:15 a.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 524-3765. 

“Cardiovascular Herbs” How they can save your life at 6 p.m. at Pharmaca, 1744 Solano Ave.  

Celebrate a Humanistic Rosh Hashanah with Kol Hadash, at 7:30 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Hall, 1325 Portland Avenue, Albany. 428-1492.  

THURSDAY, SEPT. 16 

UC Botanical Garden Volunteer Orientation from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at 200 Centennial Drive. Free, but registration required. 643-2755. http://botnaicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

Bridging Zapatismo to Our Communities a teach-in with proceeds supporting the Chiapas Community Mural Project at 8 p.m. at La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

“Redefining Agrarian Power” with Nancy Peluso, Dept. of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at 4:10 p.m. at 223 Moses Hall, UC Campus.  

Kairos Youth Choir Open House for boys and girls age 7-15 at 4:30 p.m. For information call 414-1991. www.kairoschoir.org 

CITY MEETINGS 

Council Agenda Committee meets Mon., Sept. 13, at 2:30 p.m., at 2180 Milvia St., Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil/agenda-committee 

Landmarks Preservation Commission meets Mon., Sept. 13, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Gisele Sorensen, 981-7419. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/landmarks 

Peace and Justice Commission meets Mon., Sept. 13, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Manuel Hector, 981-5510. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/peaceandjustice 

Public Housing Resident Advisory Board meets on Mon., Sept. 13, at 4 p.m. at Berkeley Housing Authority, 1901 Fairview St. Angellique DeCoud. 981-5475. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/publichousing 

Citizens Humane Commission meets Wed., Sept. 15, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Katherine O’Connor, 981-6601. www.ci.berkeley.ca. us/commissions/humane 

Commission on Aging meets Wed., Sept. 15, at 1:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Lisa Ploss, 981-5200. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/aging 

Human Welfare and Community Action Commission meets Wed., Sept. 15, at 7 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Marianne Graham, 981-5416. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/welfare 

Fair Campaign Practices Commission meets Thurs., Sept. 16, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Prasanna Rasaih, 981-6950. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/faircampaignC

Sunday’s Solano Stroll was a typically festive Berkeley event. It started out cold and windy, but eventually the fog burned off and citizens came out to stroll in more than respectable numbers. The Planet was lucky—because we’d contributed space to the S olano merchants’ association for advertising the event, we got space across from Andronico’s to set up a table and chairs with a sunshade, where we could sit with our grandchildren and enjoy the passing throng.  

And throng they did. Easily one Planet re ader per minute stopped by our table to tell us how much they enjoy the paper. (And a few said they hate it—but they’re reading it.) We saw many people from outside Berkeley who are regular readers. One woman told us she comes all the way to 51st Street in Oakland from San Leandro to pick up every issue. Now that’s reader loyalty. Another person inquired about a mail subscription for someone in Mongolia. (We don’t know, but we’ll try to figure it out.)  

Because it was Berkeley, almost everyone voiced an opinion about what should be in the paper. All love the nature columns, without exception. Some said that though they disagree with most of the editorials, they enjoy the letters attacking the editorials. The only real complaint about the news coverage wa s that people would like even more of it. The Stroll is also in Albany, and Albany people said they’d like their Planning Commission and City Council to get the same scrutiny we give Berkeley bodies. Oakland, Richmond and El Cerrito people said the same t hing. We’re trying to increase our coverage of other cities as fast as our advertising increases, which allows us to increase our page count prudently. (The publisher has printed up some cards for readers to leave at places they do business, suggesting Pl anet advertising, and many visitors to the table took some to distribute. We’ll see if local businesses take the hint.) 

One person voiced a heartfelt plea for more news coverage of the controversy over the Willard Middle School landscaping. That was puzz ling at first, since we’ve printed so many letters pro and con that many readers must be tired of the whole thing. I suggested that enough information had been contributed to the opinion pages that the story has emerged on its own, with no intervention fr om a reporter needed, but she still wanted a news story. Why doesn’t she write her own letter, if she thinks something has been left out, I said? She didn’t want to do that, she insisted, and finally she gave me her card as she was leaving. She’s from the consulting firm which has been making the changes at Willard, and I suppose they are reluctant to have to argue the case for their work in the public forum. That’s understandable, but with limited reporting resources the Planet can’t always afford news c overage of every controversy, particularly since our literate and articulate readers do such a good job of letting other readers know what we miss. 

The November ballot has a number of revenue-raising proposals on it, and proponents would do well to study the Planet’s opinion pages if they want to know what their chances of success are. The Willard debate is emblematic of the sentiments that many public school parents have expressed in our pages, fairly or not: that the school district wants their childre n and their dollars, but not their participation or their opinions. Longtime residents still remember that the current Willard building, frequently compared to a penitentiary, replaces a gracious Mediterranean-style structure which the district chose to d emolish rather than renovate. They remember that the Telegraph frontage was ugly bare dirt for many years before parents undertook the planting. Lack of money is frequently given as the excuse for poor Berkeley Unified School District decisions like these, but sometimes that’s not the whole story. Residents also remember that BUSD “accidentally” painted over Osha Neumann’s wonderful mural on the building which houses the Willard pool (which is no longer used to teach students to swim.)  

A newspaper can’t possibly do a comprehensive job of reporting stories like these which are part of the community memory. That’s why the opinion pages of the Planet are hands down the most widely read part of the paper. Our readers’ eyes and ears are everywhere, as we are not. We make a sincere effort to print all the letters we get, and to respond to all our calls, though it’s getting harder, because we’re hearing from more of you all the time. But that’s a problem we’re delighted to have.  

It’s hard to believe that it’s been only three years since Saudi Muslim extremists commandeered commercial aircraft and crashed them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. What was before September 11, 2001, a small fire fanned by a few fanatics has become a firestorm which threatens to engulf the world. The historic willingness of human beings to kill and be killed for a religious ideology has been demonstrated again and again since 9/11, most recently in the appalling occurrences in North Ossetia, now part of Russia, where men and (most tragically) women were willing to kill defenseless children who had done nothing to harm them, in support of an abstraction which is essentially meaningless to non-believers.  

The Bush regime has supplied the gasoline for the conflagration. Iraq has been transformed from an admittedly vicious secular dictatorship, a pariah state even for religious fanatics, into a spawning ground for more fanaticism and inter-sect warfare which imminently threatens to spread beyond its borders. And while the U.S. has been preoccupied in Iraq, religious militants of every stripe have been actively recruiting elsewhere, including Chechinya, the Phillipines and Indonesia. Some originally secular nationalist movements whose militants came from an Islamic background, like Chechins and Palestinians, are being captured by religious extremists who are even more dangerous because their beliefs allow recruiting for suicide missions with the promise of an after-life to follow.  

People who are not religious have difficulty understanding how religion turns to fanaticism. Here in Berkeley the resurgent Christian right seems just about as alien to non-believers from a Christian cultural background as Islamic fundamentalism does.  

And it’s not only the monotheistic religions with roots in the desert which have bloodthirsty adherents. Hindus, Native Americans, African animists … if you can name a group, any group, it’s probably had members who have been willing to kill for belief. 

Religion does not have a monopoly on ideological fanatics, of course. Atrocities have been committed on behalf of secular beliefs ever since the Enlightenment at least: by the French Revolution and its progeny, during the Spanish Civil War, under Stalin and many other Communists, by Saddam and the Baathists in Iraq…the list is long and getting longer. Killing for the cause is part of the human gene pool, a curse which other species have been spared. 

Is there anything we can do about it? Dedicated believers have always attempted to restrain the extreme elements in their group, with varying amounts of success. Lysistrata recounts the attempt by Athenian women to stop a war with Sparta. Christian believers were the earliest and most persistent opponents of the war in Vietnam, and the Pope condemned the invasion of Iraq. Both religious and non-religious people from the world Jewish community have spoken out for peace and justice in Israel and Palestine. It is heartening to see the launch of Not in the Name of Islam in the United States, and the voices against extremism in the French Muslim community. As long as humans have lived on the earth, good people have always had to struggle with the killer instinct in their midst.  

Sometimes, as when footage of the tragedy in Russia is shown on television, it’s tempting to believe that this struggle can’t be won. And in truth it is the fate of humans to need constantly to push back the dark side of our inheritance. Many belief systems have stories about this aspect of the human condition. Christian theology calls the persistence of evil among humans Original Sin, and dates it back to the first humans on earth. The ancient Greeks had the myth of Sisyphus, condemned to rolling a rock uphill, else it would roll back and crush him. That’s where we are today as humans, rolling that rock up the hill. As hard as it is to continue to push back against those who want to kill for their cause, we’ve just got to keep doing it, all of us, or we’ll be crushed.  

—