For the first time in recent memory, Berkeley has a professional politician in the mayor’s office — a schmoozer, a comedian, a dealmaker, a diplomat. He is a 20-year veteran of the state Assembly who, after terming out in 1996, fought like hell to overturn the law that pushed him out of office. -more-
For those accustomed to being spoon-fed our messages at the movies the documentary films of Frederick Wiseman can be a little hard to swallow. -more-
City Council previewed four budget-cutting proposals Tuesday that could result in higher parking fines, massive cuts to city services and the loss of over 100 city jobs. -more-
In his piece “Big Box Targets City” (Daily Planet, April 4-7), John Geluardi raises a number of issues regarding the construction of a Target Store on Eastshore Highway in Albany. -more-
Berkeley composer John Adams won the Pulitzer Prize in music this week for his homage to the Sept. 11 victims, “On the Transmigration of Souls,” but his elation was tempered by criticism of the award. -more-
I have lived in Berkeley for 34 years and have been actively involved in civic life for the past six. I have been often dismayed and occasionally sickened by the low, mean level at which many civic participants operate, and I know that this grim atmosphere keeps many intelligent and interested residents away from the civic table. -more-
I report this more in sorrow than in anger, but I have been flipped off three times in the past couple of weeks by middle-aged women driving expensive vehicles. -more-
The other day my wife brought home a baby bunny. She had stopped at the pet store on the way home from work and picked it out from a bunch of baby bunnies. There is nothing like a baby bunny. They are perhaps the cutest thing in the world. -more-
Both the Oakland Police Department and the demonstrators who clashed with them at Monday’s anti-war protest will have a chance to testify at a hearing later this month. The public hearing will be held before the Public Safety Committee on April 29 at 3 p.m. in Oakland’s City Hall. -more-
I work for a Berkeley-based nonprofit organization that offers comprehensive services to help homeless people gain independence. I have worked here for 17 years, and watched as attention to the war on poverty ebbed and flowed as public priorities changed. We are seemingly no closer to a solution than when I first arrived. Or are we? -more-
A UC Berkeley ceremony honoring Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control, as “Alumna of the Year” became an impromptu press conference last week on the mysterious disease SARS, which stands for severe acute respiratory disease. -more-
City Council handed a partial victory to neighborhood opponents of an American Baptist Seminary of the West proposal to demolish two century-old cottages to make way for a five-story building. -more-
“I’m scared,” she said as she stood on the sharp edge of the shallow end of Willard Pool in Berkeley. -more-
For those accustomed to being spoon-fed our messages at the movies the documentary films of Frederick Wiseman can be a little hard to swallow. -more-
At least a dozen anti-war protesters and six longshoremen were injured Monday morning when Oakland police fired wooden dowels, bean bags and other less lethal weapons at a group picketing at the Oakland port. -more-
Henry Norr was suspended without pay from Hearst Corporation’s San Francisco Chronicle for participating in an anti-war demonstration last week. Becky O’Malley wrote an excellent article in the Berkeley Daily Planet on April 4, criticizing the Chronicle’s actions for policy reasons. But what the Chronicle did to Norr wasn’t just an ethical lapse or an assault on journalistic freedom. It was illegal as hell. -more-
Three years ago, $1,175 per month for a three-bedroom flat in the East Bay was pretty reasonable by most measures. But for Felix Germain, a UC Berkeley graduate student with a small income and family to support, it was back-breaking. -more-
Henry Norr isn’t letting a suspension stop him from making his voice heard. -more-
Berkeley Camera Club, meets Tuesday evenings at 7:30 p.m. at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 525-3565. -more-
Whenever I speak to a group that comes to my Temple to learn about Judaism, I begin by asking the participants to look around the sanctuary. I then ask if they have any questions about what they are seeing or what they do not see. What they are not seeing is found in the majority of synagogues in our country: flags. -more-
City Council meets Tuesday at 5 p.m. to discuss possible budget cuts to compensate for a projected $11 million city deficit over the next two years. -more-
For years, the city of Berkeley has led its citizens to believe that its general plan and its constituent area plans actually articulate municipal public policy. -more-
In 1979 a group of local Chilean refugees came together as Grupo Raiz (Roots Group). They played as house band for Berkeley’s La Peña Cultural Center, home away from home for the Bay Area’s Latin American diaspora. -more-
In the mid-1990s, the well- known French filmmaker Claude Berri warned that without protection from American cultural exports, “European culture is finished.” He had plenty of pessimistic company. In that era, French Culture Minister Jack Lang spoke in terms of America’s irrepressible “cultural imperialism.” Strict programming quotas were enacted to prevent U.S.-made TV shows from overwhelming foreign prime time. -more-
Hambone Ham Tech with Derique, actor, acrobat and veteran of the Pickle Family Circus, will perform at 4 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, West Branch, 1125 University Ave., at San Pablo Ave. 981-6270. -more-
A group of European journalists, at a UC Berkeley forum last week, took their American counterparts to task for not being more skeptical of their government during wartime. -more-
Perched high in the Berkeley hills, Büldan Seka’s exotic army of colorful and heroic ceramic figures wait, ready to belay the eyes of passing bicyclists, walkers and commuters. Easily visible from the street, Seka’s garden at 707 Spruce St. is crowded with strange, exotic animals, colorful, voluptuous females and tall and mysterious males, many standing over seven feet tall. -more-
ohn Henry Mitchell, always concerned about the well-being of others, wrote several letters to the city pleading for a stop sign at the busy Shattuck Avenue corner near his home, the very intersection where he was killed by a car in January. -more-
I took my infant daughter, Percy, to her first protest march a few weeks ago in the hopes that nine pounds and 10 ounces of pure political muscle in pink footsie pajamas might be just enough to tip the scales toward peace. -more-
