Berkeley City Council asked citizens to come out to the regular meeting last Tuesday to air their opinions on the proposed March, 2004, parcel tax increase ballot measure. A large number of Berkeley citizens complied, packing Council chambers Tuesday night, and pretty much telling Council to take their tax and shove it. -more-

FRIDAY, NOV. 21

There are two ways to balance a budget, earn more or spend less. Berkeley’s mayor and city Council have decided to “earn more.” For you or I, “earn more” means work more; for city government it means charge higher fees and create new taxes. -more-

UC Berkeley plans to develop a downtown hotel and convention center which Mayor Tom Bates hopes will capture both millions in tax revenue in the near future and the imagination of residents by restoring Strawberry Creek sometime later. -more-

To Berkeley City Council: -more-

Critics of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) gave lab officials an earful Monday, arguing that planned expansion at the lab threatens to pollute their lungs, clog their streets and devour their tax dollars. -more-

It is time to start thinking about and discussing the renewal of our Berkeley Schools Educational Excellence Project (BSEP). For almost 18 years, in two different measures, Berkeley voters have authorized an additional special tax (a rate per square footage, both residential and commercial, with different rates assigned to each). The current BSEP measure sunsets in 2006; it is likely that the measure will be brought back to the voters much sooner than that 2006 sunset date. -more-

Oop, she did it again. Berkeley developer Christina Sun violated a stop work order issued by the Planning Department when under the guise of weatherizing the roof at her 3045 Shattuck Ave. building, she had construction workers proceed towards finalizing the project. -more-

Strawberry Canyon is in the city’s backyard, and for many of us, it’s as if it isn’t even there. How else to explain that in the span of less than a year, a six-story nanotechnology research facility was approved without the benefit of a public hearing, the Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zone was selected as the preferred location for six-story Building 49, and a water distribution upgrade project was deemed exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) despite significantly denuding the landscape? -more-

UC Berkeley’s Dean of Students Karen Kenney this week issued her ruling on the fates of three students charged with violating the student code of conduct during an anti-war sit-in at Sproul Hall last March. -more-

BOWL BOYCOTT -more-

One of y’all out there has got to help me out with this one—you really do—cause I’m a little bit puzzled here. -more-

Six UC Berkeley student photographers say they may sue the Daily Californian for copyright infringement after the independent student-run paper severed ties with them for refusing to sign away all future rights to their pictures. -more-

Berkeley officials say the city is owed less than originally estimated from property fees and assessments they say were inadvertently not billed to several buildings in the city. -more-

For those who believe that if something is good for you it has to taste bad, Vital Vittles bakery might be the cure. -more-

EDITOR’S NOTE: The author of this tribute to a veteran Berkeley activist is her daughter-in-law. -more-

Road Rage Victim Dies -more-

Honoring UN Convention -more-

With business booming at the Berkeley Bowl, the battle to unionize store employees that ended with a vote of rejection a few short weeks ago already seems a distant memory to most customers. -more-

ROME—The Vittoriano monument in central Rome, towering over the bustling Piazza Venezia, is usually one of the city’s most chaotic traffic areas and foremost tourist destinations. -more-

Lately I’ve been feeling warmly nostalgic for that comfy old Cold War. -more-

ORANGE COUNTY—Rachel Walters is among 71,000 Southern California grocery workers who are either on strike or locked out at Albertson’s, Ralphs and Vons supermarkets as they fight to keep company-paid health care, the best and often only reason for putting up with erratic part-time hours and low wages. -more-

If you tuned into radio-station KECG recently, you may have caught an interview with the woman who runs the cafeteria at El Cerrito High. Some students at the school were complaining that food quality had fallen off, so they had “The Cafeteria Lady” in to give her side of the story. -more-

The Jul. 22 story “Waterfront Artwork: An East Bay Tradition” mistakenly reported that statues of Snoopy and his nemesis the Red Baron built last year by local youth had fallen into San Francisco Bay. The statues remain nailed to posts in the waters by the Berkeley Marina. -more-