Dear Becky: -more-

TUESDAY, OCT. 28 -more-

PROPERTY TAX -more-

They call it the Shipyard, and it’s a lot like Jim Mason’s art—so grandiose and revolutionary that some people just don’t know quite what to make of it. -more-

TUESDAY, OCT. 28 -more-

A Berkeley resident of my acquaintance has a bullfrog in her garden pond. She’s not sure how it got there, but it’s been in residence for a couple of years. Usually she just sees its periscope eyes. Sometimes, though, it ventures out of the water, leaving wet frogprints on the pondside tiles. -more-

Fourteen of Berkeley’s 15 public schools scored higher on the state’s Academic Performance Index (API) standardized tests last year than the year before, but the laggard—Rosa Parks Elementary School—had the most to lose and may now face a major administrative shakeup. -more-

Our national political system is in the grip of big money interests who flood the political class with virtually unrestricted donations, effectively shutting out all other citizens who are not well-connected professionals, or, in California, successful action heroes. The exorbitant financial costs of national and state-wide campaigns are seeping into the comparatively low-cost democracy of Berkeley. As local races demand more and more fundraising, residents who wish to add a diversity of voices and experiences to our roster of elected officials are being systematically shut out. On top these already rising costs, City Council is considering adding more expenses for candidates of all financial levels. -more-

Berkeley Bowl workers and union organizers rallied outside the store Monday, joined by community supporters, elected officials and labor legend Dolores Huerta as part of the last push before Thursday’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) vote on unionizing the store. -more-

Recently we have seen several articles and letters to the editor about violence in our society. The issue is of paramount importance and as long as it exists it must be constantly addressed and discussed. Until justice, equality of opportunity and celebrations of diversity are a reality, violence will continue to haunt us. Violence should never be condoned, and I don’t believe it ever has, in my experience in Berkeley. -more-

The fallout has begun at Berkeley City Hall following last week’s revelation that two mixed residential-commercial properties developed and managed by prominent developer Patrick Kennedy are not currently being billed for City of Berkeley and Berkeley Unified School District property fees and assessments. -more-

If you can't get through this list without wanting to throw up, I'll understand. But pass it around anyway. This is the nail in the Iraq War's coffin for any sane, thinking individual, regardless of their political stripe (thanks to TomPaine.com and the Center for American Progress). To get some perspective, here are some real-life comparisons about what $87 Billion means: -more-

When UC Berkeley graduate student Helen Poynton became pregnant during her second year on campus, university housing officials gave her two options: She could move into to a brand new spacious apartment filled with modern amenities or she could rent a unit in a 1960s complex with smaller rooms, fewer amenities and a reputation for mold. -more-

A splendid Indian Summer afternoon couldn’t dispel the dark cloud hovering over Saturday’s harvest festival at the East Bay’s last urban farm. -more-

Road Rage Shooting -more-

The Berkeley Community Fund (BCF)’s annual dinner Nov. 4 will celebrate more than a decade of providing financial support for the kind of social and community programs for which the city is so well known. -more-

SAN JOSE—In the back of the San Jose airport, 30-year-old Farhan Kahn is handing out samosas to the other cab drivers sitting in lawn chairs waiting for their dispatcher to call. Kahn, cabby by day, world-music sitarist by night, is giving his explanation for the never-ending Bin Laden references drivers hear. “Even in the Bay Area people are ignorant,” he says. “They need to watch less movies and more PBS.” -more-

In the back of my closet hangs a dress that I last wore in 1972. It is a shapeless shift, made of crushed blue velvet with red, yellow and green embroidery embellishing a v-neckline. The same embroidery edges the flared sleeves and matches the ankle-length hemline. It has an East Indian motif. I imagine three decades ago a dark skinned Hindu woman sat at an ancient foot pedal sewing machine matching seams together and hand stitching the flowery trim. -more-

After working for the Albertson’s supermarket in Irvine, California for 16 and a half years, Susan, 52, has been shut out of her workplace after she and other workers demanded to keep their health care benefits and wages even though their contract was over. -more-

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City Manager Weldon Rucker’s presence in Berkeley’s government has been so consistent, reassuring and unflappable that when he announced his retirement as of Nov. 1, some city employees broke into tears and many reacted as if the foundation had been suddenly yanked from beneath Civic Center. -more-

At least two major properties built by prominent developer Patrick Kennedy are not paying Berkeley special fees and assessments, according to Alameda County property tax records and officials interviewed by the Daily Planet. -more-

FRIDAY, OCT. 24

“As California has become more solidly Democratic, the name [Left Coast]—with its political connotation—is most closely associated with that state. (Oregon and Washington are still up for linguistic grabs.) -more-

Smiling, understanding and patient, Seymour Fromer ambled through the museum he’s been building for the past four decades, explaining the remarkable touchstones to history he’s selected for the show that will mark the reopening of a treasured Berkeley institution. -more-

FRIDAY, OCT. 24

n an occasional series by UC Berkeley journalism students. -more-

The future site for the Berkeley Adult School will have a different look as neighbors had demanded, but some now fear that the additional expenses required could cost them a planned playground. -more-

On this date in 1945, World War II battle-weary nations came together in San Francisco in the War Memorial Building, appropriately enough. They agreed to establish an international organization that could ensure world peace, and they brought the United Nations into existence with the highest of hopes. Today, the Bush administration charges that the UN has become an outmoded debating society lacking the gumption to act. But as the president should know, the UN was not designed to exercise power on its own; rather, it was intentionally set up to be almost entirely dependent on the will and wishes of its member states. Thus, when the Bush administration pulls the rug out from under the UN and then blames the UN for falling down, the administration is deliberately misleading the public on the rules by which the UN operates. -more-

As Casen Maloy leisurely walks down Billie Jean Walk she is following a timetable controlled by a bus. -more-

The Berkeley Rent Board entered a new era Monday, but the results looked a lot like the old as members agonized over a dizzying array of rent hike proposals—with the monthly dollar differences between the lower and higher increases barely enough to cover the cost of a cup of coffee. -more-

BOSS WOES -more-

Last Tuesday’s Berkeley City Council meeting began with a love fest and ended with a bloody fistfight...literally. -more-

Residents on a South Berkeley block victimized by a rash of car vandalisms are uniting to build a community they hope will be strong enough to stop the culprit from striking again. -more-

Hate Crime -more-

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Back home—meaning, the back South version of back home—there used to be an older woman who, under certain unusual circumstances, would raise her hands, roll her eyes, and declare, “Oh, my God, it’s scooty-time again.” By “scooty-time,” I think she meant a series of odd, unexplained circumstances that were not especially remarkable or noteworthy in and of themselves, but put together in a long string, they added up to a condition of general looniness. As for me, “scooty-time” always gave me the image of a pack of old men wearing dark shades and riding scooters, running around in circles bumping smack into each other and anything else that got in the way. But maybe it’s the same thing. -more-

EDITOR’S NOTE: For residents of a smoggy black neighborhood in a small Georgia city, federal agencies’ failure to address environmental racism—documented in a scathing new government report—is felt each time they take a breath. -more-

EDITORS NOTE: This is the first article in an occasional series by UC Berkeley journalism students. -more-

As Casen Maloy leisurely walks down Billie Jean Walk she is following a timetable controlled by a bus. -more-

Anybody with an ounce of anarchism in their blood felt a secret frisson of delight at San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly’s one-day coup last week. While Real Mayor Willie Brown was junketing in Asia, Mayor-for-A-Day Daly appointed two of the five members of The City’s extremely important Public Utilities Commission, and it looks like the appointments are going to stick. Some who believe in maintaining proper decorum (yes, we do have them, even in Berkeley) profess that they are Shocked, Shocked at Daly’s breach of political courtesy, of course. But that reaction misses the very real reason Daly felt justified in seizing the reins: the winner-take-all system for appointing commissioners in the city and county of San Francisco. Technically, the mayor (whoever that might be at the moment) gets to appoint all of the commissioners. Lately there’s been a nod to the power of the Supes, who can now veto some or all of the appointments, in some circumstances. (Here the Daily Planet must confess to haziness on the exact details. The San Francisco charter is a baroque, much-amended document that makes Berkeley’s somewhat fuzzy charter look crystal-clear.) -more-

A curmudgeon, according Merriam-Webster Online, is a crusty, ill-tempered old man, so I guess I don’t qualify as a full-fledged curmudgeon. But, except for the man part, every year as Halloween approaches I feel more like a curmudgeon than ever. Halloween used to be a nice, low-key, non-sectarian opportunity for the kids to have a little cheap fun. It wasn’t part of any religious group’s traditional calendar, so everyone could participate. -more-