In advance of their eighth and final session today (Tuesday, April 27), members of the Planning Commission Task Force on the proposed downtown UC Hotel complex are looking over the first draft of the report they’ll give the City Council in early June. -more-

West Berkeley, the proposed nine-story Seagate Building and the need for more performance and exhibition space dominated audience concerns Saturday when Civic Arts Commissioners called for public comments on its proposals for the Cultural Element of the city’s General Plan. -more-

The people at Berkeley High think the newest addition to their school has a lot going for it. On Sunday they gathered to share their exuberance with the entire community. -more-

Berkeley voters will get some clues about the future state of the city’s financial affairs tonight (Tuesday, April 27) when the City Council considers an array of potential November ballot measures to help plug a $10 million budget deficit. In addition, the council is scheduled to take a first look at reforming the city’s campaign financing rules. -more-

TUESDAY, APRIL 27 -more-

Something like a close cousin, St. Joseph the Worker Church fits right into the heart of Berkeley. The church is a reflection of a community with a unique history and strong commitment to social justice and equality. -more-

Sexual Battery Suspect Busted -more-

Piano tuner Ben Treuhaft says he started sending pianos to Cuba in 1995 “as sort of an enema to [then-President Bill] Clinton’s Cuba policy, but somehow his Commerce Department gave their approval.” -more-

Thursday Diners Contribute to AIDS Services -more-

Every spring I head for Alamos, a pink-adobed, cobblestoned village tucked against the western slopes of the Sierra Madres in the state of Sonora, Mexico. It’s a pinprick spot on the map, located at the end of a narrow, two-lane road. The way to Alamos was paved in 1962. Before that it was just a rugged, pot-holed dirt track through miles and miles of high Sonoran desert. -more-

ANSWERED FEARS -more-

The increasing development by UC Berkeley beyond its traditional boundaries and its resulting encroachment on the city’s central business district and adjacent neighborhoods has been accelerating at an alarming rate. New and proposed construction will require untold additional city services, including fire and police protection as well as public works expenditures. -more-

El Cerrito’s City Council is putting the finishing touches on a new view ordinance. Will view-deprived property owners get to preserve and restore views via an ordinance “with teeth,” as in Tiburon? Or, will tree lovers achieve an ordinance geared to compromise, as in Berkeley? El Cerrito’s past ordinance implied a right to views. This worked when downhill neighbors read it the same way. But when tree owners dug in their heels, and disputes went for resolution to a “Tree Commission,” it showed the rules weren’t suited for a clear-cut court decision, pun intended. -more-

RESPONSE FROM WINOKUR -more-

AIN’T BUYING IT -more-

Fact: In the United States over 550,000 children are in foster care. Over 150,000 of them are awaiting adoptive placements. -more-

Saturday April 24 was a hot day for a garden makeover, or any other strenuous outdoor activity. But approximately 30 volunteers turned out to help transform the grounds of Chaparral House, a skilled nursing facility at Allston Way, under the auspices of Rebuilding Together. -more-

TUESDAY, APRIL 27 -more-

To Bolivian-born author Edmundo Paz Soldan, Berkeley is a magnifying glass through which he examines the world from which he came. -more-

The just-published Quick Index to the Origin of Berkeley’s Names delivers on the promise of its title, offering in 28 pages a definitive account of the reasons behind the names of the city’s streets, creeks, walks, paths and parks. -more-

A cascade of doubts over the Iraq war has been resurfacing in U.S. Latino media, coinciding with the recent announcement that Honduras will join Spain in withdrawing troops from Iraq amid escalating violence. -more-

I have a love/hate relationship with fruitless mulberry trees—in fact, I have a love/hate relationship with the individual outside my house. It shades a big south-facing window quite nicely in summer, then drops its leaves so we get some much-needed sun in winter. It gives me a bird’s-eye view of birds, when the local robins and finches and chickadees hang out in it, and it provides a customary perch for Himself, the Anna’s hummingbird that rules our front-porch feeder. When we’re lucky and get the right sequence of weather in fall, the whole street glows a glorious yellow, between the trees and their runway carpet of fallen leaves. It has a friendly, leafy presence, and aesthetically, the row of them on our street is one of the best things about it. -more-