Berkeley fault lines—literal and legal—dominated long hours of argument Tuesday during an intense hearing in Judge Barbara J. Miller’s crowded Hayward courtroom. -more-
Neighbors of Alta Bates Medical Center denounced what they said was an effort on the part of the hospital on Wednesday to influence the results of a required parking and traffic survey by lowering the number of employees parking in the neighborhood on the days of the survey. -more-
It’s official. The Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Ordinance (LPO) is headed back to the ballot box. -more-
The Peralta Community College District’s conversion to running district operations through an information management system purchased from the former PeopleSoft company was hastily managed at the beginning, is two years behind its initial projected completion, and is costing the district millions of dollars in unanticipated consultant fees, according to a report given last week by the district’s information technology office to Peralta trustees. -more-
A massive dog with bared fangs stands atop the blindfolded half-naked man lying face down on the jail-cell floor; an unclothed hooded man is hoisted upside down by the rope tightly tied around his left ankle; a prison guard with large army boots beats and kicks a bound prisoner. -more-
The Berkeley Chamber of Commerce political action arm spent $100,000 in a much-publicized attempt to influence local November elections and to direct the path of economic development in the city. -more-
First you see them. Then you don’t. -more-
UC Berkeley’s building boom has chalked up plans for still more construction, with the unveiling this week of the final draft of another Long Range Development Plan (LRDP)—this one proposing to add nearly a million square feet of new construction by 2025. -more-
UC Berkeley is looking for a representative of the Berkeley community to fill a vacant position on the People’s Park Community Advisory Board. -more-
The city has removed median strips in the middle of Telegraph Avenue between Prince and Russell streets, alarming area residents about pedestrian safety. -more-
The Berkeley Planning Commission agreed to continue through February the public hearing for zoning changes on Telegraph Avenue designed to help businesses on the strip which has experienced an economic downturn according to the city. -more-
Three of the most prominent names in Berkeley politics ascended to an oak-borne platform Monday to put their bodies on the line in defense of a campus grove. -more-
Councilmember Dona Spring called a Fair Campaign Practices Commission decision not to pursue a complaint against those responsible for a July opinion poll “a whitewash of a blatantly political” survey. -more-
Despite a city attorney’s finding that a secret pre-election poll on Berkeley landmarks law didn’t violate city election codes, supporters of Berkeley’s defeated Measure J remain skeptical. -more-
A group of Berkeley community members and Bay Area skaters have come together to explore actions which could save the 67-year-old Berkeley Iceland from closing down in March. -more-
The 17-member Oversight Committee for Alameda County’s 2004 Measure A health services sales tax presented its first year of findings to the Board of Supervisors Health Committee this week, concluding that while funds were spent in compliance with the measure’s purposes during the ’04-’05 fiscal year, there were “inconsistencies” in expenditure reporting from organizations receiving Measure A “which did not allow consistent scrutiny of all fund recipients.” -more-
Marcia Freedman went to Israel in 1967 when her then-husband landed a temporary job as guest lecturer at Haifa University. She stayed for decades, becoming an Israeli citizen, a member of the Knesset (1973-77), an author, an out lesbian and a self-defined peace activist. -more-
Stores on economically ailing Telegraph Avenue will be allowed to keep longer hours and many new businesses there will find permits easier to get under new zoning ordinances to be considered by the Planning Commission Wednesday. -more-
The Zoning Adjustments Board on Thursday will once again hear a request by Verizon Wireless and Nextel Communications for a use permit to construct a new wireless telecommunications facility for 18 cell phone antennas and related equipment atop the UC Storage building at 2721 Shattuck Ave. -more-
Much glee in the Planet newsroom this week over the flock of photos in the bigger papers of what I affectionately call “the old birds in the trees.” (You shouldn’t call them that if you’re under 60, but at my advanced age it shows no disrespect.) A colleague observed that the story was “the real Berkeley.” We were not at all miffed that other papers had finally gotten around to copying the story about the struggle to save the oak grove, which we’d been following for a long time, though we did think our front page photo was the best of the lot. That’s always been a core mission of this paper: to persuade other media to give up their standard knee-jerk “Beserkeley” coverage and acquire some real understanding of what this city is all about. It’s about people who often and vociferously disagree with one another, but who get together when it counts to stand up (or sit down) for basic beliefs that most of us share. Conservation of natural resources is one of those core Berkeley values. -more-
“Freestylin’ 101: Hip-Hop D.I.Y.” (Do It Yourself) was the course of the day for some Berkeley Technology Academy students last week. -more-
There is no doubt that the present Bush administration has done serious damage to the image of the Republican Party. But as discredited as the Republican politicians may stand today, the Democrats could still lose the White House in 2008 if they choose the wrong flag bearer. -more-
The commentary in the Dec. 22 issue of the Daily Planet, while making some commendable points, fails to point out some of the problems and new twists to micro-lending. -more-
That any book should be so universally vilified, especially in these final days of George Bush’s America, suggests good reason to read it and take it seriously. -more-
The sight of Nancy Pelosi calling the House of Representatives to order would make a shocking sight for someone paying no attention to politics for a year or two. Yet the San Francisco liberal, riding the crest of a wave of indignation that swept the Republicans out of power, is now the most powerful woman in the world and the major obstacle for George Bush’s war powers. -more-
I am not familiar with the curriculum of the “Peace and Conflict Studies” at UC Berkeley. But if Matthew Taylor’s latest article (“Jimmy Carter: The Courage to Tell the Truth”) reflects the standards of the P&CS, I can only despair of its future graduates. For it seems to me that the resolution of conflicts and the search for peace ought to be primarily based on factual truths. Only when these facts are sought, understood, analyzed and corroborated, can we address the source of the conflict and propose a peaceful solution. It is clear that Matthew Taylor has done none of that. He just plunged head on into a sycophantic praise of Jimmy Carter and his book, without the slightest effort at fact finding. -more-
We owe a debt of gratitude for Dan Spitzer’s contribution to the Carter book debate. But not in the way he supposes. He represents the typical conservative position. His letter is full of generalizations and non-specific attacks. Where is the evidence? Saying that Carter misrepresents Security Council resolutions is not evidence. How does he misrepresent? Merely saying so and faithfully quoting authority is not enough. His authorities represent the neo-con, pro-Israel Lobby line. Their Israel ally is the extreme reactionary wing of the Likud Party, led by Netanyahu. Mud slinging against our honorable former President is disgusting. -more-
On Tuesday night, Jan. 23, the City of Alameda held an open house for citizens to meet the developers vying for status with the city as official “replacement master developer” for Alameda Point, the former naval air station. -more-
It is not at all unusual for newspapers, television and radio news outlets, and the various journalists who work for them to come away with a different story on the same event. Put five people in a room to witness the same event and, almost invariably, they will write five separate accounts of what happened—most often not because they are lying or because they are trying to cover something up, but because of differences in what they think is important, what they actually saw or heard, and what type of background they brought to the event that enhanced—or colored—their interpretation. Add to that the built-in biases of every news organization—what audiences they are aiming for and what areas of concern they are promoting—and you can easily see why a variety of news sources is necessary for an informed citizenry and a healthy democracy. If your news is coming from only one source, you will be almost as misinformed as if you got no news at all. It is only through sifting through several information outlets—looking at issues and events from several accounts and angles—that we can begin to discover what is fact, and what is truth. -more-
A lobbying group of 100 grandmothers from 20 states descended on Washington D.C. on Jan. 18, visiting all 100 senators and some representatives to protest the war in Iraq and to demand that American troops come home quickly. Four Berkeley/Oakland grandmothers were part of the contingent—Helen Isaacson, Marge Lasky, Renate Sadrozinski and myself. -more-
Ten days after I began a campaign to protest Amazon’s hostile presentation of former President Jimmy Carter’s book on Palestine, and a day after the petition with more than 16,000 signatures was delivered to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the company responded by revamping the page in a way that puts the book in a completely different light. -more-
The Save the Memorial Oak Grove tree sit-in is about to complete its second month. Among the campaign’s environmental supporters, which include the Native Plant Society and the Oak Foundation, the Sierra Club is the most powerful if not the most active. -more-
I am in love with old houses. When I get a chance to spend a few hours or a day in an older home that has been left unchanged over the decades, I’m really in something of a trance much of the time. -more-
We gardeners learn (or try to) that our work is worth doing despite disheartening setbacks. It’s the sort of nasty life lesson that somehow doesn’t stop hurting just as badly the tenth or hundredth time as it did the first. Still, we go on. -more-
On Jan. 16, PBS News Hour host Jim Lehrer interviewed President Bush. This encounter told us a lot about Bush’s brand of conservatism, in particular, his feelings about sacrifice. -more-
My mother and I went to see Dreamgirls on Dec. 25, the day it opened in theaters across the country. It was the first time Mom had gone to a movie on Christmas day, the first time she’d experienced a sold-out theater and had to wait two hours for the next showing, and the first time she’d thought about The Supremes since spring, 1968. -more-
If Chez Panisse were to serve up a menu to match its guardian bunya-bunya, it would include roast haunch of free-range sauropod and a salad of braised organic tree ferns. Maybe some wood-roasted hearts of sago palm and a gingko fruit crème brulee for dessert. If it ever gets around to producing its infamously huge cones—I’ve never seen the big ones here—the bunya-bunya’s seeds are edible, too. How about it, Alice? -more-
IRAQI LIFE IN A TIME OF WAR -more-
An anxious detainee faces two cops in traditional configuration, tough and charming, for questioning in a bureaucratically, old-fashioned high-ceiling office—where? Everything seems timeless, and foreboding. But of what? The police seem sure, as usual; the suspect puzzled. -more-
Pulitzer and MacArthur prizewinner Suzan-Lori Parks’ ongoing national dramatic marathon, 365 Days/365 Plays, for which Parks wrote a play a day for a year, is in its 11th week in the Bay Area theater round-robin, to be staged Sunday by 23 acting students of the Berkeley Rep’s theater school. -more-
Every few weeks a group of about 60 film lovers gather at 9:30 on a Sunday morning in the lobby of the Albany Twin on Solano Avenue, to sip hot beverages while waiting in anticipation for the day’s mystery movie. It’s a small room and it fills up quickly with people and chatter and the aromas of coffee and tea and bagels. Enthusiastic as the crowd may be, they’re in no hurry to enter the theater; it’s a Sunday morning, after all, and much too early to move at anything but a leisurely pace. So by the time 10 a.m. rolls around they almost have to be cajoled and herded into the theater. -more-
The Save the Memorial Oak Grove tree sit-in is about to complete its second month. Among the campaign’s environmental supporters, which include the Native Plant Society and the Oak Foundation, the Sierra Club is the most powerful if not the most active. -more-
I am in love with old houses. When I get a chance to spend a few hours or a day in an older home that has been left unchanged over the decades, I’m really in something of a trance much of the time. -more-
We gardeners learn (or try to) that our work is worth doing despite disheartening setbacks. It’s the sort of nasty life lesson that somehow doesn’t stop hurting just as badly the tenth or hundredth time as it did the first. Still, we go on. -more-
Kent Nagano, after a meeting with the musicians of the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra to discuss his plans, announced Friday that he will step down as music director of the symphony at the end of the 2008-09 season. -more-
“We are such stuff as dreams are made on.” A series of blackout tableaux like snapshots: Prospero and Caliban; “Melted into air, thin air;” then Prospero alone, touching the rude crown, cloak and staff that accoutered Caliban; then crowning himself, taking up the feathered magic staff: “Our revels now are ended ...” -more-
By KEN BULLOCK -more-
If Chez Panisse were to serve up a menu to match its guardian bunya-bunya, it would include roast haunch of free-range sauropod and a salad of braised organic tree ferns. Maybe some wood-roasted hearts of sago palm and a gingko fruit crème brulee for dessert. If it ever gets around to producing its infamously huge cones—I’ve never seen the big ones here—the bunya-bunya’s seeds are edible, too. How about it, Alice? -more-
