Nearly 400 neighbors of Ashby BART packed the South Berkeley Senior Center Tuesday night to voice their concerns about the transit village project proposed for the station’s western parking lot. -more-
What makes a great downtown? -more-
The surprise resignation of the manager of the Berkeley Housing Authority has left City Councilmembers puzzled and Housing Department officials scrambling to find a replacement by the end of the month. -more-
A month after announcing initial plans to regain public confidence over its handling of employee compensation, the University of California Board of Regents is considering several proposals to tighten controls over salaries of high-paid university officials and professors. -more-
Attorneys for the city and developer Patrick Kennedy are meeting today (Friday) to reach what Kennedy hopes will be a final settlement on the use of the Gaia Cultural Center. -more-
Berkeley City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque walked a dangerous line during oral arguments before the California Supreme Court in San Francisco a week ago—and probably didn’t even realize it. -more-
Three news items unresolved in 2005—outdoor dog care, cell phone tower radiation and a controversial homebuilding amendment—dominated discussion at the first Berkeley City Council meeting of the new year on Tuesday. -more-
The Daily Planet incorrectly reported that a meeting that will be held Monday evening focused on the Ashby BART transit village proposal. The meeting will focus on the Downtown Berkeley BART station. -more-
Elena Fernández Herr died in her apartment in Paris, France on Sunday Jan. 15. She was born in Madrid, Spain on Aug. 14, 1920, the daughter of a jewelry appraiser. Her primary and secondary education was at the liberal Instituto Escuela of Madrid, which moved with its students to Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War. -more-
Iran has long been a target of the Bush administration’s rhetorical ire. The president called it “the world’s primary state sponsor of terrorism,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice characterized it as “something to be loathed.” But with the U.S. military under siege in Iraq, and polls running heavily against the Iraq war, it seemed just bluster and so much talk. -more-
Last week’s column ended saying that Oakland needs some straight talk and some serious, adult conversation on this recent explosion of violence in our city, where it’s coming from, and where it may be leading. -more-
To view Justin DeFreitas’ latest editorial cartoon, please visit -more-
Thanks to the city’s very helpful online NewsScan service, we recently saw two different visions of what makes for a successful downtown—and neither of them goes far enough. It’s instructive to figure out why. -more-
I would like to help clarify the two competing plans on what type of sports field should be developed at the Derby Street field. One is labeled the Multi–Use—Don’t Close Derby Street plan. The other is the Regulation Baseball Ballfield—Close Derby Street plan. -more-
Requiring students to pass the California High School Exit Examination in order to qualify for a high school diploma is a misguided educational policy. In his Jan. 6 letter to the state Board of Education, California Superintendent of Schools Jack O’Connell said, “Some schools pushed each and every student to succeed while others, wallowing in the status quo of low standards, handed out diplomas to any student who simply put in seat time.” According to O’Connell, the goal of requiring seniors to pass the exit exam is to “hold every school in California accountable for improving student achievement...” -more-
Jesse Jackson is peeved that Martin Luther King Jr.’s chronicler, Taylor Branch, revealed that King regarded Jackson as an egoist and opportunist. Branch made the charge in At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-1968. He claimed that after a stormy meeting in Memphis shortly before his assassination, Dr. King shouted at Jackson that he wanted to carve out his own niche in society and was only interested in doing his own thing. -more-
In the cramped space of AsiaStar Fantasy, a video store that specializes in Chinese cinema in a predominantly Chinese neighborhood, DVDs of flashy Korean soap operas like “Jewel in the Palace” and “Greatest Hits of Korean Drama” have been edging their way in. -more-
The Pacific News Service article, “Arab Analysts Give Nod to Favored Oscar Contenders,” published in the Jan. 17 Daily Planet, stated that the film Munich had been banned in Israel. The film has not been banned there. Pacific News Service regrets the error. › -more-
Barn owls are more common in urban areas, including Berkeley, than you might think. Most of the time they’re just ghostly apparitions in the night. But on Jan. 28, you can meet one of these nocturnal hunters face to face at a fundraiser for the Hungry Owl Project (HOP), sponsored by Keep Barn Owls in Berkeley, a recently launched owl-advocacy group. -more-
I have known quite a few handymen and even a couple of handywomen over the years and there’s nothing especially distinctive about them as a group. Perhaps there is one thing and it might be worth taking note of. Each of them is willing to do something they’ve never done before…every day. -more-
You’ve found it! You’ve signed on the line, committed a scary amount of money and time, got your own piece of ground, a roof of your own over your own head, no landlord to answer to and the freedom to garden as you please. Congratulations! -more-
The state Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) has launched an investigation into the fall that claimed the life of a construction worker at the new Berkeley City College Building. -more-
A Berkeley High School student was gunned down in Oakland Saturday night as he was standing on the street with friends, police said. -more-
The three candidates for this June’s Oakland mayoral race—Oakland City Councilmember Nancy Nadel, Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente and former Congressmember Ron Dellums—have begun to increase campaign activity. -more-
The fate of Berkeley’s warm water pool—a treasured resource to many of Berkeley’s disabled and elderly residents—looks bleak, City Councilmember Dona Spring said Thursday. -more-
The University of California continues to harbor big plans for a 152-acre parcel of land near door to a massive chemical plant on the southern Richmond shoreline—both as an academic research facility and as the potential home for cash-generating corporate research programs. -more-
A test dig at the Richmond shoreline site where a retired UC Berkeley worker said barrels of possible radioactive waste had been buried has turned up no evidence of radioactivity or barrels, a state agency reported. -more-
Sometimes, apparently, government can act quickly. -more-
Prosecutors and Internal Affairs investigators have launched a criminal investigation into the handling of drug evidence at the Berkeley Police Department. -more-
The panel charged with helping draft a new plan for downtown Berkeley will hear from a panel of experts Wednesday discussing “What Makes a Great Downtown?” -more-
The Berkeley City Council will face a relatively light agenda when they hold their first meeting of 2006 Tuesday. -more-
Toward the end of the Jan. 13 article “A Samizdat For Our Time,” quotation marks were mistakenly omitted from a quote by playwright Harold Pinter, giving the impression that the words were those of the story’s author. We regret the error.. -more-
Berkeley High students Robert Coil, a senior, and Alexis Hooper, a junior, are two of the most gracious teens you could hope to meet. They have ambition, good manners, and guts—the kind of kids who would make their parents proud, if only their parents were around. -more-
Berkeley High School Principal Jim Slemp’s State of the School speech last week gave the picture of a high school that is ready to step into the future. -more-
In Sunday’s New York Times Book Review, I read that Louis Sachar has finally written a sequel to his best-selling, award-winning young adult novel, Holes. Reading the review of this new novel, Small Steps, reminded me of a trip I took three years ago. Although I didn’t go far, it made a lasting impression, just as the book Holes made an impression when I read it back in 1999. -more-
To view Justin DeFreitas’ latest editorial cartoon, please visit -more-
You’d never know it from reading his press releases, but Mayor Bates is pushing a proposal to effectively eliminate Berkeley’s Landmarks Preservation Ordinance (LPO). He recently told a group of concerned citizens, “This is going to happen, I have a majority on the council.” But there’s more to it than a council majority. -more-
Last weekend my son was confronted by a team of police in a parking lot when he was returning from watching the Chronicles of Narnia. He was held at bay on suspicion of robbing the nearby Circuit City store even though the description of the suspect was i n no way similar to his physical features except that he is an African-American. -more-
Thanks for publishing a lengthy obituary on Campbell Coe, one of Telegraph Avenue’s colorful characters and an important person in the local music scene. Scott Hambly’s writing evokes the wide-ranging talents of a true “Renaissance man” and observes his conversational style thoughtfully. His description of the “incredible” tales that turned out to be true was as well put as it’s ever been. I have a few corrections and comments: -more-
It would be impossible to write a comprehensive history of American poetry in the last century and not make significant reference to the Bay Area. Only New York would seem to exceed it in importance. And one couldn’t very well compose that Bay Area section without paying considerable attention to Berkeley, home at one time or another to a number of major poets, such as Allen Ginsberg and Gary Snyder. -more-
Political analysts in Europe and the United States a month ago reacted with horror to the news that a native-born Belgian woman had become the first female Western convert to Islam to blow herself up for “martyrdom.” It’s as if being born and raised in the West were a vaccine against religious extremism. -more-
For many years big budget Hollywood movies depicted Arabs as terrorists or greedy oil barons, but since Sept. 11, 2001, and the war in Iraq, it seems such films are finally falling out of fashion. Arab analysts and media are lauding portrayals of Arabs and Muslims in the recent films Syriana and Munich, and the smaller budget independent film Paradise Now. Each are contenders to be on the list of Academy Award nominations released on Jan. 31. -more-
Two small gray shorebirds pitched down into the new Berkeley Marina mitigation wetlands, among the ducks and geese, and swam off out of binocular range. They were red phalaropes, part of a huge involuntary invasion blown in by the winter storms, scattered along the coast from the mouth of the Columbia River to Morro Bay. Some were dying of starvation when they hit land; the luckier ones seemed to be hanging around and regrouping before heading back out to sea. -more-
Every year about this time I start feeling my California confusion. Though I’ve lived here for most of my life, my imprinting on the proper rhythm of the seasons came in the years I spent as a child and again as a young adult in the East and Midwest, where January is cold and the trees are bare. But even though the holiday wreath of bay leaves on our front door is still fresh and green, the spring bulbs next to the door are coming up fast, and the pear tree next door is already covered with white blossoms. Spring is here already, though this year, with a long warm fall, winter lasted less than a month. -more-
