The Week

Erik Olson:
          
          Erik Landes-Brenman, city union representative, listens glumly as Council considers reopening the existing labor contract.
Erik Olson: Erik Landes-Brenman, city union representative, listens glumly as Council considers reopening the existing labor contract.
 

News

Nervous Council Tinkers With Parcel Tax Measure

By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR
Friday November 07, 2003

Amidst a growing uneasy restlessness throughout the city over Berkeley City Council’s proposed March money-raising ballot measure, an almost eerie quiet settled over the issue at this week’s Council meeting. Only a handful of citizens showed up to take advantage of what Mayor Tom Bates defined as “Your chance to weigh in on the issue.” -more-


Berkeley This Week

Friday November 07, 2003

FRIDAY, NOV. 7 -more-


Letters to the Editor

Friday November 07, 2003

RENTAL LAWS -more-


Unusual Play Probes Neighborhood

By Ira J. Spitzer Special to the Planet
Friday November 07, 2003

Elia Arce was leading a rehearsal with five artists at San Francisco’s Galeria de la Raza on a recent Thursday evening when a trio of street musicians walked by, playing Mexican Norteño music. -more-


Berkeley Lawyer Fights To Restore Civil Rights

By Jakob Schiller
Friday November 07, 2003

With civil rights in retreat in the wake of the Patriot Act and the prosecutorial zeal of Attorney General John Ashcroft, venerable Berkeley activist/attorney Ann Fagan Ginger has launched a counterattack, starting with a contest to identify the most egregious examples of trampled rights in the Bush era. -more-


Arts Calendar

Friday November 07, 2003

FRIDAY, NOV. 7 -more-


Report Puts ‘Escaped’ Tax At $267,957

By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR
Friday November 07, 2003

Berkeley failed to bill more than $250,000 for what city staff calls “escaped” property tax assessments over the past four years on seven city developments, according to a report given City Council this week by Acting City Manager Phil Kamlarz. -more-


Does City’s ‘Planner Wanted’ Ad Reveal Too Much?

By SHARON HUDSON
Friday November 07, 2003

A current job recruitment ad for a Berkeley city planner states that in Berkeley, “planners set the pace.” As one who once thought that the citizens and their elected representatives “set the pace” in Berkeley, I ask: Is this marketing hype, wishful thinking, or remarkable honesty from our enthusiastic planners? Is our planning department really a self-directed agency intent on implementing its own vision, an extreme version of “smart growth,” instead of Berkeley’s plans and laws? Let’s see… -more-


Neighbors Defeat Disputed Seminary

By Matthew Artz
Friday November 07, 2003

Score one for the neighbors. After a dogged two-year battle, the American Baptist Seminary of the West has pulled its application to demolish two turn-of-the-century cottages and replace them with a five-story building. -more-


First Time Homebuyer Loans Turn Into Economic Trap

Kent Brown
Friday November 07, 2003

The following letter was read during public comment at City Coucil’s Nov. 4 meeting. -more-


Homeless Survey Totals Provoke Hope, Surprise

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Friday November 07, 2003

There are fewer homeless people in Berkeley than previously believed, according to initial findings released Thursday from an Alameda County homeless survey. -more-


Kamlarz Picks Key Aides for New Era at City Hall

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Friday November 07, 2003

The aftershocks surrounding former City Manager Weldon Rucker’s September retirement announcement continue to rumble at Berkeley City Hall. -more-


Police Blotter

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Friday November 07, 2003

Newspaper thefts -more-


Singer, Mayor Join Forces to Honor Berkeley Veterans

By JAKOB SCHILLER
Friday November 07, 2003

In a city well-known for opposing wars, Tuesday’s upcoming Veteran’s Day ceremony has been designed to maintain the city’s traditional stance while ensuring that veterans are honored for their service to the community. -more-


Berkeley Hills Firestation Proposal Survives Couple’s Legal Challenge

By JAKOB SCHILLER
Friday November 07, 2003

Proponents of the proposed Berkeley Hills firehouse scored a victory Wednesday when an Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled against two homeowners suing to stop construction. -more-


Berkeley Hills Firestation Proposal Survives Couple’s Legal Challenge

By JAKOB SCHILLER
Friday November 07, 2003

Proponents of the proposed Berkeley Hills firehouse scored a victory Wednesday when an Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled against two homeowners suing to stop construction. -more-


Franklin School Plan Approved

Matthew Artz
Friday November 07, 2003

The Berkeley Unified School District Board unanimously approved changes to the site plan of the Franklin Adult School at their Wednesday meeting. -more-


UnderCurrents: Heed the Meaning, Not Dean’s Clumsy Remarks

J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR
Friday November 07, 2003

A small sandy-haired boy was throwing stones at the master’s recently invented (and highly successful) plow. Benignly Jefferson watched the boy…who was now periously climbing a tree. -more-


Telegraph Tour Looks Back Through History

By STEVE FINACOM Special to the Planet
Friday November 07, 2003

150 years ago, when the first American settlers were arriving in what would become Berkeley, the area now south of the university campus was a grassy slope with views in all directions and perhaps a few of the Peralta family’s cattle wandering through. -more-


BHS Small Schools Plans Gather New Momentum

By Matthew Artz
Tuesday November 04, 2003

When Berkeley High School sophomore Ian Ericksen first enrolled at the roughly 3,000-student school, he didn’t like what he found. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday November 04, 2003

TUESDAY, NOV. 4 -more-


Arts Calendar

Tuesday November 04, 2003

TUESDAY, NOV. 4 -more-


Immigrant Death Case Ends in Plea

By Matthew Artz
Tuesday November 04, 2003

A guilty plea by the fifth and final member of a notorious Berkeley real estate dynasty may spell the end of a sensational case that began with a young woman’s death by carbon monoxide poisoning in an apartment building owned by the family. -more-


Letters to the Editor

Tuesday November 04, 2003

CORRECTIONS -more-


State Official Challenges Builder Asbestos Claims

By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR
Tuesday November 04, 2003

A review of California Occupational Safety and Health (Cal-OSHA) documents relating to the temporary closing of Kimes Morris Construction’s Hayward building renovation site for asbestos violations two years ago reveals that another Berkeley businessman was cited in the violation as well. -more-


Gill Tract Should Be Used For Agriculture

Amy Kaplan
Tuesday November 04, 2003

Editors, Daily Planet: -more-


Development Committee Biased Toward Big Boxes

By Martha Nicoloff
Tuesday November 04, 2003

The mayor’s committee charged with cleaning up pesky development issues has just published its first draft. -more-


Council Faces Eventful Agenda

By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR
Tuesday November 04, 2003

With a Nov. 25 deadline looming to finalize any measures to be placed on the March, 2004 ballot, continuing discussion over four proposed ballot measures will dominate tonight’s (Tuesday, Nov. 4) Berkeley City Council meeting when members return from a one-week vacation. -more-


CENA Gives Qualified ‘No’To Proposed Tax Hike

Dean MetzgerPresident of CENA
Tuesday November 04, 2003

Dear Mayor and City Council, -more-


Adult School Driveway Set By CalTrans

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Tuesday November 04, 2003

CalTrans officials have given the green light to plans by Berkeley school officials to include a San Pablo Avenue driveway in their plans for the controversial Franklin Adult School. -more-


Police Blotter

By MATTHEW ARTZ
Tuesday November 04, 2003

Paper Route Robbery -more-


From Susan Parker: Crab Competition Almost Too Much to Stomach

From Susan Parker
Tuesday November 04, 2003

Finally, a really cool assignment! I was asked to be a judge at the Third Annual Crabby Chef Competition. -more-


Qualified Praise for Solano Avenue Complex

By JOHN KENYON Special to the Planet
Tuesday November 04, 2003

In the last two or three years, the popular top end of Solano Avenue has seen noticeable improvement. The Oaks Theater, for ages just a marquee and a pylon, has stripped off its upper-level disguise of ‘mansard roofs’ to reveal a substantial office wing with matching Moorish windows. Round the corner on Colusa (heading north), an old Masonic temple, attractively remodeled as luxury condos, faces across the avenue to the sprawling new Thousand Oaks School, architecturally uninspired but lavishly landscaped and neighborhood-friendly. -more-


Opinion

Editorials

French Cuisine, Free Wi-FiAwait Bateau Ivre Patrons

By Becky O’Malley
Friday November 07, 2003

So you’re writing a novel. Or you wish you were writing a novel. Right away, you come up against Virginia Woolf’s famous Hard Saying: “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” Men as well as women have read that sentence, looked around at their living space, and abandoned worthwhile writing projects. -more-


Editorial: Southside Needs Public Space

Becky O'Malley
Tuesday November 04, 2003

There’s a for sale sign on the MLK-Dwight recycling lot. The BOSS community garden next to the South Berkeley branch library has been evicted (though it’ s found a new home for a while). Plans for Franklin School will turn a playground for families into a parking lot for adults. UC is taking over the Gill Tract garden for a shopping mall; its Oxford agricultural tract is already a building site. And there are several competing schemes for building on the BART lot which is now the Berkeley Flea Market on weekends. -more-