Features

GROVE MARKET 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

My name is Muhammad Elbgal and I am the son of Mr. Nasser Elbgal who owns Grove Market at 2948 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. I am writing to ask that your newspaper please make a correction in the next edition on two accounts.  

First in your article entitled “Arsenal Found in Adeline St. Apartment” you mention that the owner of Black and White Liquor store is also the owner of Grove Market. This is wrong: Mr. Banger (owner of Black and White) does not own Grove Market; he owns the building in which Grove Market is located. We at Grove Market do not deserve to be affiliated with what happened at the Black and White Liquor store, so please let your readers know that your paper has made a mistake.  

Secondly you quote former City Council candidate Laura Menard as saying that neighborhood activists have been trying to close Grove Market and that we are a problem store. This is also not the case. We have worked hard to maintain a good relationship with our community and we are not a problem store, as Ms. Menard has said.  

Also we are not located in North Berkeley; we are located in South Berkeley. So if Ms. Menard has made a mistake we ask that you inform her of this. We have had nothing but support from our neighbors and customers and it is wrong to say that we are a problem store if there is no evidence to back up that claim.  

Thank you for your time and we are hoping to see some action taken on this matter. 

Muhammad Elbgal 

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LEAVE GROVE OUT OF IT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I want to put in a good word for the Grove Market. I don’t think they have anything to do with what happened to the other store. And the bust of guns and drugs may not have anything to do with the store. 

Grove is two blocks away, and shouldn’t be associated with what happened in that apartment. The people who run Grove Market are just trying to make a living, and are a service to this community. I like going there more than having to hassle with Berkeley Bowl, which is expensive (I go to Canned Foods, much more economical) and is also a human beehive, though they make some good burritos. 

Seriously, I don’t think Grove Market should be threatened like that by “neighborhood activists” because of something that happened two blocks away and that had nothing to do with them.  

John Delmos 

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MARITAL STATUS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

My husband and I don’t always agree on political matters. 

While Ms. Taubenfeld is certainly entitled to her own opinion, I think it would have been ethical to point out when she wrote defending Albany City Councilmember Robert Lieber that she is married to him.  

She has written two recent letters. If she writes on a topic such as homeless kittens, I see no problem. 

If she writes again defending her husband’s point of view, I respectfully request that the Daily Planet mention her marital status. 

Marsha Skinner 

Albany 

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KPFA 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As one who has been associated with KPFA since its inception in 1949 as a member, supporter, volunteer programmer and producer, and member of the unpaid staff organization, I would like to make two observations about the station’s current state. 

It is not my experience that there has “always been a running battle between (paid) staff and the general manager.” I would invite listeners and reporters to ask the three general managers preceding the current one if they had problems with paid staff. Paid staff is hungry for a sensitive general manager, as the documented complaints against the current one would indicate. 

I would like those who speak of “entrenched paid staff” to consider what they are saying. They are talking about people whose career is radio, who have jobs at the station. Isn’t it better that we have a seasoned experienced staff that establishes continuity, that understands radio and is proud when they do exceptional work in it? I’d hate to go to a restaurant where the cook was changed every two months and the waiters were learning their job. 

I have utmost respect for the current paid staff at KPFA. I see them as serious, hard working professionals of integrity who produce outstanding radio under onerous conditions. 

Adam David Miller 

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LANEY COLLEGE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Yipes. I had to read your front-page story on the Laney Africa trip (July 19, 2005) three times in an attempt to discern the controversy. After the first paragraph, it took 10 paragraphs (by my count), giving the history and rationale of Rehema Gueye’s actions, in order to get to the fact that money was allocated for only four Laney College students. Subsequently, there is one sentence in the article vaguely referencing Gueye’s fund-raising activities, and another sentence about “expressions of concern and skepticism from Laney College trustees and administrative staff members.” No details are given. The article then ends with a couple paragraphs about the presumed value of the trip. I’m glad that no one is likely to ask me what this front-page controversy is about because I would have no substantive information. 

Robert Gable 

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FATAL SHOOTING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Not to be missed in the tragic story of the fatal shooting of Meleia Willis-Starbuck is that though the victim was a Berkeley girl, her friend and alleged slayer is a Hayward youth. It is understandable why troubled youths from around the East Bay crash Berkeley High. No where else is there a school as supportive of angry culture. Berkeley’s resident’s pay a terrible price for the unique non-enforcement of residency in Berkeley schools. Until the school board decides to enforce residency requirements, the education gap and social problems will continue to mar our city. Meleia and others pay a steep price for this liberal policy. 

David Baggins 

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MISREPRESENTED 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It seems as though the liberals in the Bay Area has shoved their in their mouth again. Like so many others, including UC Berkeley students with an agenda, Ms. Mellow (Letters, July 22) grossly misrepresented this crime as a call for action for a completely irrelevant cause. If she had inquired further into this tragedy, she would realize that this was no misogynist crime, as she portrayed it. Shame on her for exploiting a tragedy as a platform for her own views! I fully support the advancement of women, and in this context, it would have been more appropriate to have celebrated Meleia’s life and accomplishments—instead, Ms. Mello incorrectly repainted the scenario as a hate crime, when in reality, it was her friend who shot her.  

Kathy Tieu 

Berkeley 

EDITOR’S NOTE: The letters published in the July 22 edition were all written before it was revealed that the shooting suspect was a friend of the victim. 

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BIAS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It is appalling to see, once again, the Berkeley Daily Planet publish under the rubric of objective reporting that which is in reality a reflection of the paper’s profoundly anti-Israel and anti-Jewish bias. The reference here is to the so-called “hostile takeover” of the Peace and Justice Commission (July 22 edition) by what might reasonably be inferred from the piece to be a conspiracy of appointees to create a pro-Israeli stance on the commission. 

The hackneyed canard of Jewish conspiracy implied by Planet’s reportage is a standard invocation of age-old anti-Semitism and the Planet owes the Jewish community an apology for it.  

Because a majority of the Commission no longer believes Berkeley should be a national laughingstock by promulgating inane city decrees on international matters doesn’t make said commissioners components of a pro-Israeli cabal. In fact, you don’t have to be part of a Jewish conspiracy to believe that measures like the Rachael Corrie matter should not be part of a city commission’s function. 

Indeed, there are far more pressing local issues to which the commission should confine itself, for by addressing these it just might actually have an impact instead of wasting time with the pathetic international ideological posturings we have seen it exhibit so often in the past. 

One matter for the commission to consider would be the incessant violence of local minority communities which has led to the murder of the gifted Meleia Willis-Starbuck along with scores of other young residents of the East Bay. As usual, we see plenty of letters from both gun advocates saying it was not the fault of access to handguns that precipitated the violence and typical rejoinders from left-liberals which would have one believe that handgun availability is the root cause of murder in minority communities. Both arguments have merit and both are all too simplistic.  

Left-liberals eschew the responsibility factor exhibited by the paucity of parenting in the minority communities and then condemn realistic criticism by the likes of Bill Cosby when he urges the black community to start doing right by its own populace rather than always projecting the blame on guns, racism, poverty, etc. Until the question of individual responsibility is properly addressed by left-liberals, Republicans who advocate it will find continued support by a public too intelligent to succumb to the facile societal excuses of the left. 

On the other hand, there is no doubt that the ease of obtaining firearms which are used far more for criminality than self-defense has facilitated the unspeakable death toll among minority youth. Until the nation addresses this murderous tool regularly utilized by violent youth, the carnage will continue. 

Dan Spitzer 

Kensington 

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HALF-TRUTHS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

My thanks to Mr. Doran who, in very few words, dramatically demonstrated the belittling attitude and lack of response to citizens’ questions and concerns displayed by BUSD during the discussions concerning the West Campus site. The Daily Planet would certainly be capable of responding to Mr. Doran’s sarcastic references to its decisions relating to publication of opinion and commentary, if a response were warranted. 

With respect to Mr. Doran’s gratuitous remarks about “half truths” and “ignorance,” I have the following response: As to ignorance, the point I made was precisely that West Campus neighbors feel that we are being kept ignorant of the school district’s processes, planning and funding. I did not detail the many hours I spent and the lengths I had to go to obtain basic documentation readily available once I was allowed to look at material that is not posted on the website and can only be viewed at the district’s office. I also didn’t point out the curious fact that to date, no one at the district has been able to locate the documents relating to the board’s voting to purchase the property at Sixth and Gilman, which should have included a description of the purpose for which the land was to be used. The response I received to my request to view these documents, mysteriously absent from the board’s minutes can only be characterized as a “run around.” 

As to “half truths,” had Mr. Doran taken the time to explain the other half of the statements he refers to as “half truths,” I’m sure the planet would have graciously printed however many words it took. And we would all have been the wiser. Instead, we now have a perfect example of the arrogant and frustrating conduct that impelled me to write to the Planet in the first place. 

Ruchama Burrell 

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UC DEAL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Your recent story on disclosure of the city’s nondisclosure agreement with UC ended: 

“In an effort to prevent controversy over future agreements, Mayor Bates and Councilmember Kriss Worthington introduced a proposal last month to require future confidentiality agreements dealing with major land use lawsuits to include provisions that allow for public review and comment before the council acts. 

“Last week, however, the mayor temporarily withdrew the proposal, according to his aide Cisco DeVries, because he was concerned that the City Council could not legally set a policy which would bind future councils.” 

I’m beginning to think Berkeleyites need a category in which to collect and remember such statements by city officials. It might be called “Can they be that stupid—or is it just that they think we are?” City councils, and above all those in the Bay Area, increasingly set policies increasing the transparency and inclusiveness of their processes. To that end, they bind themselves and future councils until and unless those future councils amend the policies through the regular legislative process. The policies are called sunshine ordinances. In light of recent events it’s hard to think of a community that needs one more. 

Terry Francke 

General Counsel 

Californians Aware 

Carmichael  

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SUPPORT THE PLANET 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

If you’re reading this letter, odds are you share my view that the Berkeley Daily Planet is providing an invaluable service to the greater Berkeley community. Yet the powers that be at City Hall are trying to drive the Planet out of business. 

Because some of the Planet’s editorial and news content has been critical of these powers, they’ve retaliated by withdrawing city public notice and other advertising from our local newspaper. Instead, they’ve decided to place city ads in the East Bay Daily News, a paper owned by the Knight Ridder chain whose apparent sole purpose is to financially crush the Planet in order to replace it with their pseudo-local-newspaper. Unfortunately, there are those at City Hall equally eager to accomplish this egregious goal. 

Becky and Mike O’Malley, who edit and publish the Planet, are at an age when most people retire. Nonetheless, they have devoted enormous amounts of their own time, energy and money to create a local newspaper that’s by far the best I’ve read in my 38-plus years as a Berkeley resident. The O’Malley’s efforts have not gone unrecognized. And, most recently, the Planet was awarded a number of prizes by the California Newspaper Publishers Association. But rather than honoring the O’Malleys as Super-Citizens, the decision-makers at City Hall are hoping to bankrupt and silence them. 

We can stop the politically-motivated boycott of the Berkeley Daily Planet by City Hall. Please call, write and e-mail the mayor, councilmembers and the city manager to demand that city advertising be returned to the Planet. 

Contact information for city officials is available at Berkeley’s website, www.ci.berkeley.ca.us, or in the phone directory. 

Marty Schiffenbauer 

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TAXES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Fred Foldvary doesn’t get it. The “club” is American society. Taxes are the dues. It is true that sales taxes are quite regressive and probably should be replaced by an increased progressive income tax and luxury taxes on certain goods. And the poor should be protected from excessive property taxes as well. 

But the point remains: If we want the “benefits” of a thriving society, police and fire protection, an adequate educational system to give us better trained workers and professionals, a health care system that is not driving our society and our employers into bankruptcy, etc., we need to pay for it and taxes are the mechanism (the dues as it were). We should be discussing which taxes do the job most fairly and successfully, not how to avoid taxes altogether as Fred seems to think we ought to do. 

Mal Burnstein 

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ROSE-COLORED GLASSES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I, like most of you, mourn and am sick at the death of yet another young person to the careless use of guns. It is time for many to remove their rose-colored glasses. Berkeley High School is a school where the Black Panthers are idols. A school where “radical” politics encourages the “by any means necessary” approach to social change, where social justice can be twisted to the “politics of blame” rather than personal responsibility. 

At BHS there is a huge problem of teaching by indoctrination rather than critical thinking. A few years ago, the school board adopted a “controversial” speaker’s policy, which of course is not enforced. Last year in my son’s English class the “Unity Day” speaker was a youth advocate (your tax money hard at work) who filled the students’ heads with utter nonsense. He suggested black males are discriminated against for minor behavior problems at school. Suspended, they find themselves home alone and end up arrested for selling drugs on the corner. His tale further explained that society eventually put this drug dealer away for good using the three strikes law. I complained, and rather than address the misinformation, my son was moved to a different class. 

Last evening one of the students from this English class jumped our fence running from the cops. My son had to stop mowing the lawn, while the cops searched our yard and the block for two hours. The search could have been done in a few minutes with a canine unit. But the Berkeley Police Review Commission voted against that request last year, and Mayor Bates did not provide leadership to move Berkeley out of the tired 1960’s rhetoric. The importance of civil rights has been exchanged for the “politics of blame.” 

Read Meredith Maran’s book, Class Dismissed, supposedly an accurate portrayal of BHS. Absent is any realistic picture of the thug culture on campus, which at that time was scarier than down in the ‘hood. Read how the teachers took students out of class and marched on the police station demanding the release of a youth who had run from the police. This community still believes the war is against the cops, not against the thug culture. 

Last night, my son who graduated from the same program as the murder victim finally decided to not listen to gangster rap again. Other young adults are feeling the same. Please for the sake of the youth; remove your rose-colored glasses. 

Laura Menard 

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SIDESHOWS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

J. Douglas Allen-Taylor’s most recent commentary (“Did L.A. Times Story Spark Brown’s Sideshow Law?” July 22) omitted some critical details about Oakland “sideshows.” For example, Mr. Allen-Taylor failed to mention that the same March 7 L.A. Times article reported that while the sideshow phenomenon began in Oakland about a decade ago as impromptu street parties featuring stunt driving, “about two years ago, it took an ominous turn, with crashes, beatings, fatal shootings, and a rave-like lunacy fueled by the psychedelic stimulant Ecstasy.”  

Mr. Allen-Taylor has consistently downplayed the violent—and all too often lethal—nature of sideshows in his opinion and news pieces. His most recent column failed to mention that since November 2004, there been have five homicides in which spectators were shot and killed during or near street races or sideshow events in Oakland. Moreover, spectators are often robbed, beaten, or sexually assaulted during sideshow events (San Francisco Chronicle, July 12).  

Finally, I urge Daily Planet readers to log on to www.yourcallradio.org and listen to an archived broadcast of a July 11 KALW radio call-in program, in which several Oakland residents vividly described the harmful impact that sideshows have had on their neighborhoods, such as not being able to leave their homes for fear of getting hurt. As one of the callers noted, it is preposterous for anyone to argue that legalized, regulated sideshows could ever be a viable alternative to the illegal kind, since it is the illegal nature of sideshows which makes them appealing to sideshow drivers and the spectators who cheer them on.  

Eric Tremont 

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